GORDO BANKS PANGAS
San Jose del Cabo
November 10, 2013
Anglers –
Weather patterns in Southern Baja California can often be unpredictable and
this past weekend we witnessed a surprise formation of a late season
tropical storm develop off to the west, before shifting directions and
heading east, passing just offshore of Cabo San Lucas on Sunday afternoon.
Tropical Storm Sonia made landfall near Culiacan, Sinaloa and was then
downgraded to a depression. This was an unusual event for this time of
year, though not unprecedented; remember the monsoon rains 20 years ago on
November 4, this drenched 25 inches of rainfall in 12 hours over San Jose
del Cabo. This latest system did drop up to 2 to 3 inches of rainfall in
isolated areas and there were steady winds of 30 mph plus, but this did not
last long and as the storm quickly moved past conditions cleared rapidly.
Ocean swells never did increase very much, winds apparently were not strong
enough to generate high swells. Conditions became stormy through Sunday
morning the local ports were officially closed to all smaller crafts and
did not reopen until about 7 a.m. on Monday. This was an inconvenience to
hundreds of anglers who were all set to go fishing on Sunday, this was an
act of Mother Nature and we were all fortunate that this only shut down
operations for one day.
The local climate has now settled and conditions are nearly perfect, sunny
skies, temperatures ranging from lows in the upper 60s to highs of about 84
degrees. Breezes were now predominately blowing out of the north, ranging
up to 15 mph. Ocean water temperatures were in 80/82 degree range
throughout the region, not much variance. Baitfish were now in extremely
high demand with so many numbers of charters to supply. Live caballito were
available, sardinas were very limited, schools of these baitfish are now
being found near Cabo San Lucas, only a percentage of charters were able to
obtain these baits. Other options for anglers were slabs of squid for strip
bait fishing and ballyhoo for troll rigging.
Local fleets were finding more consistent action on the fishing ground from
Santa Maria to Vinorama, versus the grounds on the Pacific. Overall the
action has been below normal standards, factors related to the relentless
winds and lack of sardinas, strong currents and gamefish migration patterns
all seem to play into this situation. We have seen signs of improvement the
past couple of days, more dorado being encountered than other species, most
of these fish under 15 lb., with an occasional bull up to 20 pounds.
Charters were using a mix of trolled lures, as well as drift fishing and
slow trolling various baits. Average catches ranged from 2 to 8 fish per
boat. Wahoo were scarce this past week, though everyday a handful were
accounted for. Areas near Iman to San Luis seemed to provide the best
chances for wahoo, anglers trolling rapalas and live baits reported
strikes, these fish have been averaging 25 to 50 pounds. We anticipate a
full other month of wahoo action, as water temperatures are still in
favorable range.
Yellowfin tuna action was not as consistent as would be expected, though
these fish are schooling in several areas, winds have not helped, the lack
of sardinas seems to be the main issue, but these factors can also change
on a daily basis, just as the weather can. Squid has been available at the
dock area most mornings and this has been used for chumming and strip bait
fishing for the yellowfin tuna, as well as dorado and others, even billfish
have been hooked into on these strips of squid. There are smaller grades of
yellowfin on the Iman, San Luis and Vinorama grounds, these fish ranged 10
to 20 pounds, though most anglers were fortunate to hook into these tuna,
they proved finicky this past week.
The larger yellowfin are congregated on the Gordo Banks, though they have
not been nearly as numerous this season as they have been in recent years,
though this is still the spot where you have the best chance at hooking
into a cow. Everyday there are reports of a handful of larger tuna hook
ups, many of which are lost after extended tug of war battles. Last cow we
weighed for the local panga fleet area was a 314 lb. on Saturday, Nov. 2.
We typically see these cow sized tuna stay in the area into the first half
of December, water temperatures and food source seem to determine when
these schooling fish migrate south.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos
Marina sent out approximately 210 charters for this past week, with anglers
accounting for a fish count of: 13 striped marlin, 11 sailfish, 16 wahoo,
32 bonito, 18 pargo, 12 rainbow runner, 20 triggerfish, 12 cabrilla, 22
sierra, 460 dorado and 145 yellowfin tuna.
Good fishing, Eric
--
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson / Operator
619 488-1859
Los Cabos (624) 142-1147
e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com
WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM
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