The holiday season is here and large crowds of vacationing families are arriving, enjoying mostly sunny skies and all of the various outdoor activities available. While much of the continental United States is dealing with ice and snow, temperatures are reaching the mid 70s in the Los Cabos area and all around the weather conditions are very pleasant for wintertime. It is the time of year when the north wind can be persistent and that has been true to form this year, relentless and on most days has been averaging 15 miles per hour. Though anglers were able to find calmer water close to shore south of Palmilla Point and this is where most sportfishing fleets are now concentrated. Water temperatures have plummeted down to the 68 to 72 degree range and off colored greenish water has also swept in. Baitfish have remained plentiful, sardinas were being netted along the beaches from Palmilla to Santa Maria and mackerel were available out of the Cabo San Lucas Marina. Smaller sized skipjack were congregating on the fishing grounds and these were being used as trolling baits.

The consistent action out of San Jose del Cabo for yellowfin tuna that had lasted since September has finally faded out due to the recent cooling trend and there were only a handful of charters that accounted for the tuna this past week, these fish were found from San Luis to Vinorama where north winds made conditions very difficult on most days and water conditions were green, with 68 to 70 degree temperatures. Not much bottomfishing, also due to the northern winds, but even on the calmer days anglers that tried their luck on the rock piles reported limited activity.

Anglers reported the best action towards Cabo San Lucas, where they were concentrating for dorado or striped marlin. Through mid-week there were decent numbers of dorado found close to shore, striking on medium sized trolling lures and on various live, dead and strip baits. Sizes ranged mostly under 15 pounds, but there were a few exceptions of bulls up to 30 pounds being accounted for. Numbers were not high, but respectable for the start of the winter season, average catches per boat ranged from 1 to 5 dorado per morning. Over the weekend the water became even cooler and greener and the bite became increasingly tough, though some charters accounted for up to two or three dorado, other anglers reported not even landing one. Most of the marlin action remained on the Pacific, with decent number now found off of El Faro, catches of two or more striper were common for daily charters, with mackerel being the bait of choice. Striped marlin are now moving off of Chileno as well, but so far these fish are not biting as well as the ones found on the Pacific.

Inshore action included jack crevalle, roosterfish, sierra and there are a few pargo showing up. So far the majority of these fish have been smaller, but we look for improved inshore action in the coming weeks.

The combined panga fleet launching from La Playita sent out approximately 49 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for: 3 striped marlin, 26 yellowfin tuna, 114 sierra, 22 jack crevalle, 28 roosterfish, 19 pargo, 15 amberjack, 17 cabrilla and 124 dorado.