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| Around 10% of the world's total fish species can be found just within the Great Barrier Reef. |
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| Starfish can re-grow their arms. In fact, a single arm can regenerate a whole body. |
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| Starfish do not have blood. Their blood is actually filtered sea water. |
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| Starfish don't have brains. Special cells on their skin gather information about their surroundings |
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| Not all animals with the word fish in their names count as fish. |
| Though their names may suggest otherwise, cuttlefish, starfish, and jellyfish aren’t actually fish. Generally-speaking, fishes must have skulls, gills, and fins. Surprisingly, though, not all fishes have proper spines. |
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| In three decades, the world's oceans will contain more discarded plastic than fish when measured by weight, researchers say. |
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| As of 2020, there were 34,000 known fish species around world. That’s more than the number of species in all other vertebrates: birds, reptiles, mammals, and amphibians combined. |
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| Just how man species of fish are there? |
| As of 2020, there were 34,000 known fish species around world. That’s more than the number of species in all other vertebrates: birds, reptiles, mammals, and amphibians combined. |
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| Even Catfish are finicky |
| Taste Buds ? Catfish have a more refined sense of flavor than humans. Our 10,000 taste buds may seem like a lot, but catfish can have as many as 175,000. This helps them find the exact location of their next meal. |
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| A bit of Humor |
| My brother has 2 German Shepherds named Rolex and Timex. You guessed it they are Watch Dogs. |
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From Jan 01, 1999 To Sep 21, 2025
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Apr 9, 2013; 01:58PM - GORDO BANKS PANGAS San Jose del Cabo April 7, 2013
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric Bricston
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GORDO BANKS PANGAS
San Jose del Cabo
April 7, 2013
Anglers –
Spring vacation is now winding down to the final days, large crowds of
tourists have been arriving in Los Cabos, many college students on break
and many families traveling together. They have all been enjoying the
exceptional weather conditions, as winds have resided, sunny days have been
warming into the upper 70s, perfect climate to get outside and enjoy all of
the available activities. Beaches have been busy with crowds of vacationers
taking advantage of the miles of pristine beaches that abound in this
tropical desert paradise.
More anglers were in town this past week, appreciating the improved
offshore conditions, calm seas for the most part, with sportfishing fleets
concentrating on the grounds straight outside of Cabo San Lucas and north
in the direction of the Sea of Cortez. Water temperatures as cool as 65
degrees were reported outside of Todo Santos on the Pacific and outside of
the Gordo Banks there were readings of 75 degree water, most of the region
is averaging in the 70 to 73 degree range. Currents have been moving
swiftly, cooling off and then warming back up just as quickly, lots can
happen from day to day during the spring season. Baitfish schools are also
moving according to their preferences, this in turn have the gamefish
scattered and following their food source.
This week there were schools of skipjack, mackerel and sardinetas
encountered sporadically on the fishing grounds, also early in the week
there were pelagic red crabs found drifting to the surface in a masses
around the Gordo Banks, this natural occurrence lasted for a couple of days
and anglers, both commercial and recreational, were catching good numbers
of the true Pacific red snapper using these small crabs for bait, locally
known as huachinango, this was the first significant bite on these prized
table fare species for the season, encouraging to see these quality fish in
the area. These fish normally range 6 to 12 pounds and are very fun sport
on light to medium weight tackle and of course produce very fine eating
fillets.
Dorado numbers were down this recent period as well, only a handful of
these fish are being encountered, some on the offshore billfish grounds and
others were found near the shore, where they were attracted by baitfish
activity, sizes ranging up to 25 pounds. Same deal for yellowfin tuna, not
many were found this past week, many reports of large pods of porpoise
being found, but more often than not these was no tuna action was found
associated with them. The main attraction offshore has now been for striped
marlin, good concentrations of these billfish are now scattered on the
fishing grounds off of San José del Cabo and north towards Los Frailes,
many charters are accounting for multiple catch and release days. These
fish were encountered in feeding frenzies at times, other times they came
up as blind strikes on trolled lures, readily taking dropped back baits, it
is shaping up now for some wide open marlin action in this same region for
the next several months, as this is typically peak season for the striped
marlin.
Yellowtail action tapered off, only scattered fish being found on the
various rock piles, these jacks were not being found on the surface like
during the previous week. Mixed in were some nice amberjack, a few cabrilla
and various pargo species. Along the shore there were sierra and this week
we saw more numbers of juvenile roosterfish moving in along the beach
stretches. Live sardinas became harder to obtain in recent days, as these
baitfish are now schooling off the beaches far north of Punta Gorda and
this has not been practical for the commercial fleet to travel these
distances. We do hope that these baitfish move back within normal range.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos
Marina sent out approximately 88 charters for the week, with anglers
reporting a fish count of: 2 sailfish,
3 wahoo, 46 striped marlin, 7 yellowfin tuna, 43 dorado, 22 amberjack, 18
yellowtail,
55 sierra, 225 huachinango, 12 cabrilla, 115 roosterfish and 6 mako shark.
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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Mar 24, 2013; 03:10PM - GORDO BANKS PANGAS San Jose del Cabo March 24, 2013
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric Brictson
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GORDO BANKS PANGAS
San Jose del Cabo
March 24, 2013
Anglers
–
This
past week was super busy with all of the events going on during the annual
traditional carnival days of San Jose del Cabo. There was a noticeable increase
in numbers of tourists arriving in the area. Spring season is now officially
here and this is the time when we see more spring break vacationers incoming.
Just like clockwork the weather is quickly warming and we are seeing
temperatures ranging in the upper 80s. Actually the climate is perfect now,
great time to visit, before the heat of the summer arrives and when the
humidity seriously rises.
Overall
offshore conditions improved, as winds resided and warmer currents pushed into
the region. Then we saw south wind that brought back in some cooler Pacific
currents. So just like the conditions, the fishing action has varied from day
to day, but we did see much improvement for a variety of species, from close to
shore and on the offshore grounds. At this time local ocean temperatures are down
to 65 degrees near the 95 spot and outside of the Gordo Banks there are spots
up to 72 degrees.
Early
in the week fleets found great yellowfin tuna action outside of the El Cardon
area, about 10 to 14 miles offshore, schooling yellowfin in the 15 to 25 lb.
class traveling with rapidly moving porpoise. These fish were striking cedar
plugs, feathers and live sardinas. Later
in the week this action scattered, this is the pattern we should see for
yellowfin during the spring, scattered offshore, moving and feeding with
porpoise. There are still chances at hooking into a nicer grade of tuna, on
Sunday there was a 120 pound tuna landed off of the Gordo Banks, this fish was
landed by team “Reina de Wahoo” and proved to be the winner of a local
government sponsored tournament out of La Playita.
Dorado
were harder to find this week, just a scattering of these fish being
encountered, no particular place, inshore and offshore, weights up to 25 lb., a
percentage are striking on lures and others on bait. As the ocean currents warm
back up, there will be more of these gamefish moving in. Also this will be the
time we start to hear reports of some wahoo. A
few of these speedsters were encountered this past week, a couple them were
hooked in an area very close to shore near Cardon, same spot where the sierras
have continued to provide fun light tackle sport.
Yellowtail
action started off with a fury for anglers that were lucky to just happen to
get in on the action. Close by, off of the Estuary Hotel Zone, with a mile or two
of shore, in about 150 feet of water, anglers landed good numbers of yellowtail
in the 15 to 28 pound range. These fish were hitting best on larger baits, such
as caballito, sardinetas, moonfish, jacks, etc.. Also some hit on yo-yo’s.
Baitfish were not always easy to obtain, same with the smaller sardinas being
netted off the beaches north of La Fortuna, increased swells and lower tides
made it more challenging for the pangeros. This was the hot spot now, for close
by bottom action, not the normal local grounds where yellowtail are usually
found, so who knows where these migrating jacks will go next. We have perfect
conditions now for more schools of yellows to arrive, encouraging to finally
see these fish and of such nice quality.
Striped
Marlin action broke wide open again off of San Jose del Cabo, from 3 to 15
miles out. Good numbers of marlin were found, sometimes free jumping in all
directions, others seen feeding on the surface, as well as tailing on the
surface and coming up into to trolled lure spreads was a common scenario,
dropping back live baits resulted in solid hook ups. The striped marlin were
ranging in sizes up to 130 pounds, many charters accounted for two, three or
four fish per morning.
The
combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent
out approximately 96 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count
of: 1 wahoo, 42
striped marlin, 108 yellowfin tuna, 85 dorado, 330 sierra, 3 amberjack, 86
yellowtail, 32
various pargo,13 bonito, 3 mako shark and 30 triggerfish.
Good
Fishing, Eric
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson
Owner/Operator
619 488-1859
Los Cabos 011 52 624 142-1147
ericgordobanks@yahoo.com
gordobanks@gmail.com
WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM
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Mar 19, 2013; 06:07PM - GORDO BANKS PANGAS San Jose del Cabo March 17, 2013
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric Bricston
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GORDO BANKS PANGAS
San Jose del Cabo
March 17, 2013
Anglers –
Up until now we are only seeing moderate crowds of visiting spring break
vacationers, though this coming week will be a very busy time for local
residents. The annual San Jose del Cabo Fiesta Week has just begun, many
events are planned, including a world class full length triathlon, off road
vehicle race, carnival rides, fishing tournaments, etc.. Should be a fun
time for all, but remember that there will be some annoying street closures
during this period, traffic and parking will be challenging. The weather is
now as nice as it gets, scattered cloud cover, residing winds, with high
temperatures up to 85 degrees.
With the spring time fishing season just starting to show signs of coming
to life, anglers are still finding the action to be up and down. Northern
winds have been more persistent than usual this year, they do seem to be
tapering off some now, ocean water temperatures are ranging 67 to 73
degrees, at this time there is a warming trend and this should help improve
the all around conditions. Baitfish schools have become scattered for the
past week, some days there have been reports of balled up mackerel found
offshore and along the shoreline near San Luis is where schooling sardinas
are being netted, tides and increased swell activity made this job tougher
for commercial pangeros.
Charters launching from Cabo San Lucas Marina are finding large numbers of
yellowfin tuna in the 15 to 20 pound range on the Pacific side near the San
Jaime Banks, los of porpoise activity in this same area. This action is out
of range for the San Jose fleets, though there has been a chance at hooking
into a much larger sized yellowfin tuna on the Gordo Banks, only a few of
these fish have actually been landed, but these tuna are all in the 50 to
200 pound class. We are hopeful that some warmer weather can help improve
this action. There are some yellowtail on these banks as well, but only a
handful are being landed, too many hammerhead sharks on the same grounds,
makes fishing with bait impossible and the yellows are not consistently
striking on yo-yo jigs at this time, preferring the same larger baitfish
that the sharks do.
Fleets based out of La Paz and the East Cape region reported great
yellowtail action on the days that the north winds allowed them to
comfortably reach the grounds. The overall bottom action for the San Jose
fleet has not been up to expectations, mixed success for various pargo
species, amberjack, cabrilla and an occasional yellowtail. This is never
peak season during this time frame and we do expect to see improved action
with the arrival of spring just around the corner.
After last week’s wide open striped marlin bite around the Gordo Banks the
cooler windy conditions over the weekend scattered this bite and just in
the past couple of days we are starting to see more marlin showing up
within local charter boat range. We do expect that the main concentration
for striped marlin will now shift to the grounds from San Jose del Cabo
towards the East Cape, this is the typical pattern. This is also the time
when whales move out of this area and head to their northern summer feeding
grounds.
The fishing close to shore remains consistent for sierra, with a few dorado
mixed in. More sierra action than anything else, sizes ranging up to 5
pounds, using live sardinas for bait was the best bet, slow trolling or
drift fishing. A handful of much larger dorado were found further offshore
by charters targeting billfish.
This week the combined panga fleets launching out of Puerto Los Cabos
Marina sent out approximately 68 charters and anglers accounted for a fish
count of: 16 striped marlin,
22 yellowfin tuna, 26 dorado, 315 sierra, 8 roosterfish, 16 amberjack,18
cabrilla, 33 various pargo species, 8 yellowtail, 15 bonito, 3 mako shark
and 25 triggerfish.
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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Mar 13, 2013; 11:07PM - San Jose Del Cabo Fish Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric Bricston
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GORDO BANKS PANGAS
San Jose del Cabo
March 11, 2013
Anglers –
We saw weather patterns change during this first week of March, as
conditions felt much more spring like, overcast, scattered clouds,
increased humidity and high temperatures in the mid 80s. Not so cold in the
early mornings, as near of a perfect climate as anyone could wish for.
Great time to visit the Southern Baja area now, crowds are increasing as
spring break has begun for some, not overly busy, just about right amount
of visitors. North winds let up finally and this gave a chance for offshore
ocean conditions to settle down and anglers reported having some epic
marlin action on the fishing grounds of the famed Gordo Banks.
On Wednesday fleets fishing offshore of San Jose del Cabo reported finding
concentrations of mackerel and other baitfish balled up on the surface and
started to see number of striped marlin on these same grounds. The next day
this baitfish activity switched to the Gordo Banks, where anglers were able
to jig up their own mackerel in a hurry and then witness incredible marlin
action, similar to what happens on the Pacific banks, such as Golden Gate.
Striped marlin were seen in schools, at times by the hundreds and many
charter boats accounted for multiple hook ups and three, four or five
marlin landed in a short period of time. It is incredible how action can
change just overnight, conditions switch around, currents move, cleaner
water pushes in and with the huge influx of mackerel, the gamefish were
right behind, following their food source. Will be interesting to see how
long this action can sustain, local pangeros need to remember to not become
overly greedy and take too many of these marlin for themselves, this is a
good time for authorities to enforce regulations, such as no commercial
sale of any billfish.
The marlin bite was definitely the highlight of the week, but the bottom
action also started to heat up, particularly off of the rock piles further
north, towards San Luis and Vinorama, this is where anglers reported
quality action while using yo-yo jigs for amberjack up to 40 pounds,
grouper, cabrilla, pargo and a couple of yellowtail in the mix. East Cape
and La Paz areas are now reporting very impressive catches on large sized
yellowtail and we are encouraged that these same fish will also take up
residence on the local grounds off San Jose del Cabo. Promising signs now,
with the winds residing, loads of baitfish on the fishing grounds, supplies
of sardinas rebounding near San Luis, water clarity improving and with the
weather now on a noticeable warming trend, these favorable conditions
should only improve. Though we most certainly will have some more northern
winds this month, it does appear that the worst of these persistent
northerlies are over with and we will start to have more options open up as
offshore conditions become more comfortable.
Ocean temperatures are now ranging from 68 to 72 degrees. There are still
significant numbers of whales in the area, expecting that they will be
headed north soon as the weather continues to warm. Sierra are the most
common fish found close to shore, also some smaller sized roosterfish, jack
crevalle and a handful of dorado found near shore, often seen chasing
ballyhoo.
Not much yellowfin action found recently, though there were reports of
seeing yellowfin outside of Gordo breaking the surface, but they were hard
to hook into. On Thursday a couple of tuna up to 120 pounds were taken on
chunk bait off of the Outer Gordo Bank, first of these fish caught off of
these grounds that we have heard about for over a week. This does provide
proof that tuna are still hanging around the Gordo Banks, plenty of food on
these grounds, so the tuna proved finicky as they normally are.
This week the combined panga fleets launching out of Puerto Los Cabos
Marina sent out approximately 74 charters and anglers accounted for a fish
count of: 22 striped marlin, 3 yellowfin tuna, 46 dorado, 240 sierra,
16 roosterfish, 10 jack crevalle, 20 amberjack,19 cabrilla, 48 mixed pargo
species, 5 yellowtail, 14 bonito and
16 triggerfish.
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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Mar 6, 2013; 09:51PM - GORDO BANKS PANGAS San Jose del Cabo March 3, 2013
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric Brictson
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GORDO BANKS PANGAS
San Jose del Cabo
March 3, 2013
Anglers –
The month of February is now over, there was lots of wind throughout the
period, this last week was no exception, as northerly winds up to 20 mph
prevailed. This created very choppy ocean conditions offshore and limited
options on where anglers were able to comfortably fish. Water temperatures
were now ranging from 69 to 72 degrees throughout the zone. March is the
time when we can see have unpredictable winds, most of the time from the
north, but usually the worst of the winds are over with and we start to see
warmer and calmer days. This is what you would call a seasonal transition
period, winter to spring, great time of year to visit the area while the
climate is so ideal and there will be a wide variety of fishing
opportunities available, from offshore, inshore, as well as bottom action.
Crowds remain light at this time, but we are starting to see the first wave
of spring breakers arrive. Whales remain very active throughout local
waters, this is the final period now, as these mammals will be heading
north soon.
Schools of mackerel and sardinetas are now gone from the grounds off of San
Jose del Cabo, there are some caballito on these same spots and sardinas
are being netting off the beach stretches near San Luis. Ballyhoo are also
available for purchase and have been an option for enticing dorado.
This week there were reports of yellowfin tuna to 30 pounds being found in
good numbers on the Jaime Banks, a long run for most charters and too far
for San Jose fleets. Offshore marlin action slowed during the period,
scattered fish, more billfish found off of the Pacific than towards the Sea
of Cortez. This is the month we normally we would see the striped marlin
moving in this direction, so we do expect to see this same pattern. No tuna
found on the Gordo Banks this week and it was the same story on San Luis
Bank, where the persistent winds made this area off limits most days.
Local fleets out of Puerto Los Cabos found the most consistent action to be
closer to shore, in the direction of San Luis, Cardon, La Fortuna and Punta
Gorda. There were more sierra than any other species found, striking
readily on sardinas and also on rapalas and hoochies, some of these fish
weighed up to 5 lb. Despite it being off season for dorado, there were
surprisingly quite a few of these gamefish still being found, more of them
close to shore where baitfish have been concentrated, compared to offshore
where numbers were limited. Charters were accounted for as many as 4,5 or 6
dorado per day, average weights being 5 to 15 lb., with a few larger
specimens mixed in. Some days these fish preferred the larger sized
ballyhoo baits and on others sardinas worked just as well, a matter of
finding the schools of these fish, not large concentrations of dorado, but
when found the action was fast.
Bottom action was limited due to choppy conditions, but there was some
quality eating fish available when conditions allowed, cabrilla, yellow
snapper, barred pargo, huachinango and triggerfish were the most common
species now accounted for off of the rocky structure. Anglers reported
mixed success while using yo-yo jigs and various whole and cut baits.
This week the combined panga fleets launching out of Puerto Los Cabos
Marina sent out approximately 62 charters and anglers accounted for a fish
count of: 6 yellowfin tuna, 192 dorado, 255 sierra, 19 roosterfish, 12 jack
crevalle, 3 amberjack, 16 cabrilla, 26 yellow snapper, 15 huachinango ( red
snapper), 12 barred pargo and 16 triggerfish.
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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Mar 6, 2013; 09:47PM - San Jose del Cabo February 24, 2013
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric Brictson
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GORDO BANKS PANGAS
San Jose del Cabo
February 24, 2013
Anglers –
Much of the same patterns continue into the last week of February, light
crowds of tourists, cool mornings with scattered cloud cover, days warming
to 75 degrees, persistent northerly winds up to 15 mph are now showing
signs of residing and big numbers of whales remain in the region. Will not
be long now before springtime arrives, always a favorite time to visit and
enjoy ideal weather conditions and the world class sportfishing
opportunities. Ocean currents are now averaging 69 to 71 degrees and
clarity has been fair, considering the temperature.
Schools of mackerel seem to have scattered from the San Jose del Cabo
grounds, where caballito baitfish have taken their place and sardinas
continue to be netted off the beaches near the San Luis and Vinorama. Local
fleets have been finding a variety of action from Punta Gorda, La Fortuna,
Iman and to Vinorama. Sierra have provided the majority of action close to
shore, mostly smaller sized, some reaching up to 3 or 4 pounds. Roosterfish
have been encountered close to shore, just to the north of the PLC Marina
Jetties, some of these fish reaching 10 pounds. Dorado have been harder to
find in recent days, often being found later on when the sun warms the
ocean surface some, no big schools, just a few fish here or there, average
sizes ranged from 5 to 15 lb. Bottom action produced limited results on
pargo, cabrilla, amberjack and triggerfish. Juvenile sized yellowtail are
being found on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas, but no yellows reported
off of Palmilla or other grounds yet. We do anticipate much improved action
off the rock piles as weather transitions towards the spring season.
Striped marlin have been most numerous on the Golden Gate Bank and other
Pacific grounds, the billfish are starting to shift in the direction off of
San Jose as well, this migration occurs each season, all species of fish
follow their preferred food source.
Yellowfin tuna were being found offshore of Cabo San Lucas, traveling with
porpoise, charters that did encounter this activity reported fast action
for football sized tuna. This week the Gordo Banks produced a handful of
larger grade yellowfin, up to about 120 pounds, only a few numbers of these
tuna were landed, but it proves they are still schooling in the area, these
are the first tuna heard about on the local banks in several weeks, all of
the hook ups were taken while drift fishing with chunks of skipjack, which
have been very plentiful throughout the area. Encouraging to see that these
fish are hanging around this late in the season, maybe they will never even
leave this year.
On an extreme personal negative side, it would be hard for me not to
mention that this past Saturday night our newest fleet boat, a 26 ft.
Regulator, was stolen right from our panga dock area in La Playita, Puerto
Los Cabos Marina. At his time the boat has not been found anywhere and
investigators believe that the twin Yamaha outboards were removed quickly
at sea and then the boat was shuttled and sunk offshore. This has been the
operational history followed by thieves off of the East Cape region in
recent times, stealing the motors and sinking the boats. This is the first
of this type of crime to occur in Puerto Los Cabos Marina and hopefully
these organized pirates can be arrested and brought to justice so that no
one suffers the same consequences as we have. As in many similar incidents
it just so happens that there were commercial shrimp boats anchored off of
the Marina for several days prior and on the same night that our boat
vanished, the shrimp boats also were gone, quite a coincidence, does not
require being a trained detective to solve this case.
This week the combined panga fleets launching out of Puerto Los Cabos
Marina sent out approximately 59 charters and anglers accounted for a fish
count of: 5 striped marlin, 7 yellowfin tuna, 126 dorado, 325 sierra, 38
roosterfish, 12 jack crevalle, 5 amberjack, 14 cabrilla, 24 yellow snapper,
24 huachinango ( red snapper),
12 barred pargo, 3 dogtooth snapper and 22 triggerfish.
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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Jan 14, 2013; 11:41AM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Capt. George Landrum
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FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
January 7 - 13, 2013
WEATHER: It feels as if we are getting into our winter season as the morning lows have been in the high 50's and the daytime highs in the high 70's. I don't think I saw the temperature raise to 80 degrees this week. This is great if you have been dealing with below freezing weather at home, but cold for us who live here. We did have some wind from the north again this week and it kept things cool, combine that with cloud cover for about half the week and it feels like the season has changed.
WATER: At the end of this week there was not much change from the end of last week as far as the surface temperatures went. The cold green water we had seen to east of a line across the Gordo Banks and the area south had moved to the east, allowing cleaner, slightly warmer water on the Gordo Bank and across the flats just to the east of Punta Gorda. To the west of that area the water inshore of the 1,000 fathom line remained in the 72 degree range, and south of the 1,000 fathom line it warmed to 75 degrees. On the Pacific and across the Cape region to the south the water averaged 74 degrees. Due to the northerly wind the water on the Pacific side and offshore on the Sea of Cortez side remained a bit choppy and had a lump of 2-5 foot swells, spaced far enough apart that it was not strongly felt. On the Cortez side the swells were smaller, as is usual, at 1-3 feet.
BAIT: Caballito, Mackerel and frozen Ballyhoo could be had for $3 each this week, and there were very few Sardinas available.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin bite slowed down just a bit this week, perhaps due to the new moon phase, there has to be some reason. Instead of almost every boat getting one or two, sometimes four releases, we were lucky to get that many hook-ups, and get a release for the day. The fish are still there, we are seeing them tailing on the surface, they just were showing little interest in bait or lures this week. This is sure to change as the moon phase changes, it always does. The good point is that the fish are still here! Most of the fish were found on the Pacific side from the Golden Gate to the San Jaime and inside that line, in the canyon. Not as many this week were found inside the two mile line, more were found just outside there. Not to say there were no fish caught, contrary, there were plenty of fish caught and released, and unfortunately quite a few brought in to the dock, just not as many as were caught last week. My guess is that approximately 60% of the boats caught a billfish this week.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: The tuna pen that came though our area last week is gone, but the word is that there are several more that will be approaching soon. Hopefully they will be holding as many fish as the one that just passed. Meanwhile, there have been Yellowfin found outside and to the south of the San Jaime Bank, it was just a bit of a bumpy trip to get to them. The porpoise were holding Tuna so the trick was to find the porpoise and hope you were there at the right time. The tuna were footballs for the most part, but one of the schools was of fish between 25 and 45 pounds, and I did hear of an 80 pound class fish caught as well. The larger fish were biting on live bait drifted way back behind the boat, and the usual dark colored lures and cedar plugs accounted for the rest.
DORADO: As the water continues to cool the bite continues to slow, but there are enough Dorado around to still be the offshore fish of the week. Not as many anglers limited out this week as did last week, but the fish were still in the same areas and feeding the same. The week before last the fish count on Dorado really spiked due to the tuna pen coming by, this past week we returned to more normal conditions. I know I heard a charter broker telling potential clients that the Dorado fishing was off-the-chart good several days after the tuna pen was gone, hope they were not too disappointed! Meanwhile, fishing within two miles of the beach on the Pacific side resulted in the majority of the Dorado found, and these cool water fish were a bit larger, and keep getting larger, every week. My guess is that the average this week was 15 pounds, and there were probably about a quarter of the boats getting limits and the rest about one fish per angler, that was for the boats that were targeting the Dorado. As normal, keeping the first fish in the water to attract more worked well, as did slow trolling a live bait under feeding Frigate birds.
WAHOO: New moon but cool water, what more need I say? Wahoo really prefer slightly warmer water than we are experiencing right now, but there were still a few caught this past week locally. Most of the fish were small, in the 10-15 pound range, and there were not many of them, but you still had a chance. This just might have been the last week to get one of these speedsters hooked up until the water warms back up. The fish that were caught were found inside the 300 foot depth contour, and were caught by boats that targeted them using Rapallas and Marauders on wire leader. There were more fish cut off on mono-filament leader used on lures run for Dorado than were caught.
INSHORE: As I said on my mid-week up-date, the Sierra bite went wide open during the middle of the week with boats getting into the fish from the lighthouse all the way up the Pacific coast to Migraino. Bright colored hootchies worked great, and I had a client who fly-fished for two days with a guide who got tired of catching them after a fish count that went over 50! They went through many flies during the two days, starting with fully dressed ones and finally putting on new ones when all that was left was just a bit of dressing on the hook. Tired arms, a fish on every cast and the fish ranged from 3 pounds to 8 pounds, it doesn't get any better than that! As well as the Sierra, there have been some Amberjack, Grouper and a few Snapper being found. As far as Yellowtail are concerned, the commercial panga anglers working at night are getting a few, but there have been no real numbers found during the daytime. We are still seeing a few scattered small Roosterfish as well.
FISH RECIPE: Check the blog for this months recipe!
NOTES: There are plenty of whales to be seen when the fishing slows down so even if you are not a hard-core angler you deserve to get out on the water for that show. And of course since there are fish biting, catch dinner as well! Oh, and I was surprised this morning when I went to the dock to buy licenses for my clients that the dock price had gone up to 180 pesos per person for a one day license, or $15 US if you were paying with dollars. I thought I'd mention something about myself today. I am actually a Captain and don't just call myself a Captain, or Commander, or Admiral. I hold a 100 Ton U.S.C.G. License and am I.G.F.A. Certified, and am a Captain on a private boat. I have 10 ½ years in the U.S. Navy, 6 years experience commercial fishing in the tropics and extensive experience in wholesale/retail seafood. My Charter experience started after commercial fishing became hard on my body and I have been working charter and private boats for 18 years, and have been in Cabo, working on boats and chartering boats for 13 years. We have a business license, pay taxes and work out of the house since shop space is so expensive here. My reports have been going out every week (with a few weeks missed due to hurricanes) for 12 years, un-biased and honest, I don't try to lay it on thick in order to get you here, just try to give you information to help you make fishing decisions. I appreciate all the e-mails I get from you as readers and plan on continuing the reports as long as possible! This weeks report was written to the music of James Taylor and his “Best of” CD. Until next week, tight lines!
And as always, George writes this report
and posts to the blog on Sunday morning. So if you
can't wait, click the 'FOLLOW' on the top of the blog
page! You will know whenever something new is posted!
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
San Jose del Cabo
January 13, 2013
Anglers –
Only moderate crowds of anglers are visiting the Los Cabos area now, this
is the usual pattern to start off the New Year. We expect that as
temperatures continue to plummet and freeze across the United Sates, that
more people will be packing their suitcases and heading south in search of
warm sunshine. Local weather has been mostly sunny, with highs into the mid
70s. Though coming days are forecast to be cooler, as a northern front will
be sweeping our way, possibly several days of temperature in the high 60s,
there are always a few days of year that are like this, after all we are in
the midst of winter, sometimes we forget to realize that even pristine
Southern Baja can have seasonal changes. Anglers need to remember to bring
appropriate clothing, as early morning can dip to 50 degrees, without
figuring the wind chill factor, but as the sun rises temperatures quickly
become more comfortable.
The patterns of northern winds have continued, several days of winds, often
10 to 20 mph, then there will be a couple of nicer calm days, before the
breeze prevails once again. Typical winter cycle, as water temperature are
now averaging in the 70 to 75 degree range, depending on the location,
warmest areas off of Cabo San Lucas. Despite this cooling trend the fishing
has been very good considering the time of year, good number of dorado are
being found throughout the region, with some nice sized fish of 30 pounds
being encountered, lots of dorado in the 10 to 20 pound class. These fish
usually start to migrate towards southern grounds soon, so we could be
seeing the tail end of the season, then the dorado return later in the
Spring. Dorado are striking on a variety of baitfish and on the normal
array of lures, nicer quality dorado have been found offshore on the marlin
grounds, where stripers continue to be found in good numbers, more so on
the Pacific grounds.
There has been a variety of baitfish now available, but not all types on
every day. Sardinas are being netted off the beaches near San Luis to
Vinorama and then are brought south to off of Cardon or Punta Gorda in
order to supply morning charters. Live mackerel, caballito are sometimes
available and fresh ballyhoo is another option for targeting a variety of
species, particularly dorado. The traditional baitfish ground off of San
Jose del Cabo have been less consistent for the last two weeks, this is
where more numbers of striped marlin had been found, now the marlin are
scattered, further offshore and on the Pacific grounds.
Yellowfin tuna action has been slower now for the past several weeks, we
are hearing about an occasional hook up on the Gordo Banks on yellowfin in
the 40 to 150 pound class, but these are few and far between. There were
schooling football sized tuna found congregating around tuna pens that were
slowly be tugged north to new location, this was far offshore, 20 plus
miles and at this time this option is now near Los Frailes and out of
range. This lasted for several days though, but was never really a
practical morning charter boat deal, more of a private boat option.
Wahoo are still in the area, everyday there are limited numbers
encountered, some landed and more of them lost, typical thing when
encountering wahoo, fish ranged from 10 to 40 pounds, striking yo-yo jigs,
ballyhoo, sardinetas and a variety of lures. Anglers were fortunate to land
one of two of them, they were elusive as usual.
Not much going off the bottom yet, though some anglers did find mixed
action for pargo and cabrilla on days the winds allowed them to reach the
structure. Sierra are now found schooling along the beaches, using sardinas
have been the best choice of bait for finding this inshore action, with
some juvenile sized roosterfish mixed in. There is incredible whale
watching opportunities now, peak migration is in full swing, these mammals
will be in local waters for the next several months.
The combined panga fleets out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina, sent
out approximately 107 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a
fish count of:
2 sailfish, 17 striped marlin, 27 wahoo, 455 dorado, 125 yellowfin tuna, 88
sierra, 24 roosterfish, 12 cabrilla,15 bonito and 22 pargo
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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Jan 7, 2013; 10:40AM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Capt. George Landrum
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FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
Dec 31, 2012 – January 6, 2013
WEATHER: After I had posted the report last week, on Sunday, we had some rain come down, actually it was more like a little bit of Seattle sunshine (those of you from there know what I mean). After that it started to clear up and from early in the week until now we have had clear skies and great temperatures. The daytime highs have been in the high 70's to low 80's while the nighttime lows have been in the low 60's.
WATER: Let's see, if you draw a line from just to the east of the Gordo Banks southward to just to the east of the 1150 then everything to the east of that line was in the 71-72 degrees range and green. To the west of there the water warmed up a bit. In a east-west line from 5 miles off of Cabo San Lucas everything to the north appeared to be in the 74 degree range while everything to the south of it appeared to be in the 76 degree range. It was also much cleaner water west of the 1250 and the Gordo Banks. Northerly winds made the afternoons bumpy out there but most of the mornings were just fine with swells on the Pacific side at the usual 2-5 feet and on the Cortez side at 1-3 feet.
BAIT: Caballito, Mackerel and frozen Ballyhoo could be had for $3 each this week, and there were very few Sardinas available.
FISHING:
BILLFISH:
I never did get any confirmation of Black Marlin being caught last week off of San Jose, so who knows? The Striped Marlin action however has been great on the Pacific side and just out in front of Cabo. Our clients have been catching several every trip and hooking up many more, with 98% of the fish released. Perhaps we were just lucky but out Marlin catch ratio this week was 100%, every boat that went out caught at least one Marlin, and for many of the anglers this was their first attempt at saltwater sportfishing. Now that they are hooked, I hope they don't expect action like this every trip! Most of the fish were caught on live bait dropped back to fish appearing in the pattern (45%), some were caught by tossing a live bait in front of them as they were tailing on the surface (30%) and the rest were caught on trolled lures (25%). The action occurred close to home for most of the boats as there were decent concentrations of fish from the Arch to up the coast on the Pacific side as far as Migraino Beach, out to 5 miles. There were other fish scattered out across the area with small concentrations found on all the banks as well as the current lines.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Tuna were an on-off fish for most of this week. We had one group fishing that managed to get into some decent fish averaging 35 pounds while working a Porpoise pod about 25 miles to the southwest early in the week and several other groups that caught one or two fish per trip, but they were mostly blind strikes close to the beach. I still hear of an occasional nice sized fish caught at the Gordo Banks, but not enough of them to make it worth a trip up there for me. It looks like this bite may be done for the time being. On a short lived positive note, one of the local boats (thanks Mike!) spotted a very slow moving large vessel about 25 miles to the northwest of the lighthouse on Saturday and went over to check it out. It was a converted Shrimp boat towing a tuna pen at about 1 knot toward the southwest. Mike fished around it and said that he had to go at least a half mile away from the pen before he could set all his line for another pass, the fish were so thick near the pen that the lures were getting hit before he could get them all set. Plenty of Tuna, Dorado and Wahoo as well as Striped Marlin were trailing the pen as it was being towed. The Captain of the boat told Mike that there were two other pens being towed this was as well, but not how far away they were or how close they would pass to us. This was great for Mikes clients, they had a blast, and there will probably be at least half the fleet looking for the Tuna pen today.
DORADO: Fish of the week as far as numbers go, there were plenty of Dorado everywhere you went. 100% of our clients caught Dorado this week and most of them limited out at 2 per angler. These fish were nice as well with the average in the 12-15 pound range. Anywhere on the Pacific side held Dorado but most of the boats were working near the shore out to 5 miles since that also gave them a good chance at a Marlin as well. There were also Dorado scattered all along the Cortez side of the Cape, but they did not seem to be there in the numbers that were found on the Pacific side. The best method this week as leaving the first fish hooked up in the water behind the boat and dropping back either live bait or strips of fresh bait and waiting for the school to show up. This week it seemed as if the fish were starting to school a little, not just traveling in twos and threes, so waiting about five minutes before giving up was the key. Oh, and all the fish around the Tuna pen on Saturday was a bonus, I just hope plenty of boats get into that action today!
WAHOO: This may be the last hurrah's for our Wahoo this season as the water continues to cool down. We have just come through a l moon and the bite showed it as there were plenty of Wahoo out there if you wanted to target them, it's just that so many boats were focused on Striped Marlin and Dorado that the pressure was light. The fish ranged from We-hoos of 5-7 pounds to small fish of 8-15 pounds with an occasional 20-30 pound fish in the mix. Near shore drop-offs and ridges held the fish and trolling the usual arsenal of Rapallas and Marauders on wire leader was the best bet. There were plenty of fish caught on live bait as well, but many more of them were lost due to getting the mono-filament leader bit through than were caught. Mike caught six decent Wahoo off the Tuna pen.
INSHORE: There were still some small Roosterfish along the beach this week but I expect this action to shut down as the water cools off. Most pangas were working within five miles of the beach for Dorado and Marlin, but those that went inshore for Sierra found a wide-open bite on fish from 3 to 4 pounds off the beach at Migraino. Small hootchies and rapallas trolled with a short wire trace racked up the fish. There were a few Yellowtail reported this week, but no numbers of them, just an occasional fish or two, and no large sizes.
FISH RECIPE: Check the blog for this months recipe!
NOTES: Our winter season is approaching and as the water cools down we can expect the Striped Marlin bite to pick up as well as more Tuna start to show offshore. Inshore action should improve as well for Sierra and Yellowtail and I expect next month that Snapper fishing in the rocks during the full moon should be good. Let's keep our fingers crossed that the action continues on into our new year! This weeks report was written to the music of Richard Thompson on the 3 CD set “The History of Robert Thompson”, released in 1993 by RYKODISC. Dark, moody music from one of the co-founders of Fairport Convention. Until next week, tight lines!
And as always, George writes this report
and posts it on Sunday morning. So if you
can't wait, click the 'FOLLOW' on the top of the
page! You will know whenever something new is posted!
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
San Jose del Cabo
January 6, 2013
Anglers –
As the annual Holiday Season now winds down, there are many groups of
families in Los Cabos enjoying their final days in the warm sunshine of
Southern Baja before returning home to their normal daily routines. As the
winter season has now officially started, local weather has been
unbeatable, sunny days with high temperatures averaging 75 degrees. As is
the normal pattern for this time of year, there have been persistent
northerly winds developing; this contributes to a rapid cooling trend of
ocean waters. Currents sweeping in from the north are now averaging in the
72/73 degree range from Los Frailes to Chileno, while offshore of San Jose
del Cabo and south towards Cabo San Lucas, on the fishing grounds of the 95
and 1150 areas, there is warmer 75/76 degree waters found.
Conditions are changing now, cooler waters moving in, unpredictable
baitfish migrations, currents and winds also running strong. This is the
normal pattern during winter time, lasts through March and then slowly
begins the spring time warming trend, another transition period. Every year
there are unpredictable trends which constantly change what exactly
happens. So far this year seems to be following on a normal track.
While yellowfin tuna have become harder to find for the past few weeks,
some tuna are being found further offshore with porpoise, though choppy
seas made this hit or miss, still an odd yellowfin being landed off the
Gordo Banks, but we have seen this bite fade out now for the past month. In
the mean time there have been good numbers of striped marlin, a few late
season sailfish, dorado and wahoo keeping anglers occupied. Inshore there
are now more sierra appearing, these fast fish are readily striking
sardinas, hoochies and rapalas. Some juvenile sized roosterfish scattered
along the beach stretches, along with some jack crevalle.
There had been great marlin action off of San Jose del Cabo, this was prior
to the most recent full moon, when there had been concentrations of
schooling mackerel and sardinetas holding a few miles from shore. This
action has faded for the time being and now the better billfish action has
been found off of the Pacific grounds and around the 95 and 1150 spots,
when weather conditions allowed. Stripers were striking best on cast or
dropped back baits, with most marlin weighing in the 80 to 120 pound class,
surprisingly a few sailfish also hanging around in the cooling waters.
Dorado are still being found in respectable numbers, most of these fish
weighed 5 to 15 lb., a few larger bulls mixed in, these gamefish were found
throughout the region, from close to shoe to the offshore marlin grounds.
>From Punta Gorda, Cardon and La Fortuna, this was perhaps the most
productive area in recent days, protected from the northern winds, dorado
were found while trolling both lures and bait. Wahoo made a strong showing
on these same grounds, most of these fish were relatively small sized, 8 to
15 lb., but there were a handful of respectable 30 to 40 lb. wahoo mixed in
with the same juvenile schools. The ‘hoo hit on a wide variety of lures and
baitfish, including cast and retrieving jigs, slow trolling with small
sardina baits, as well as on rapalas and ballyhoo. With the rapid cooling
trend of northern currents, this could be the final bite for these pelagic,
which do prefer currents closer to 80 degrees, not 70.
We do expect that there will be more bottom action taking place, as well as
increased inshore surface action for the coming months. Striped marlin is
always the main offshore target species, now through April. Global weather
is increasingly more unpredictable, who knows, maybe another el Nino
current could develop at any time. Be it offshore, inshore of off the
bottom, there is always a variety of action to be found during the winter
months for anglers wishing to get out of the snow and feel some warm
sunshine.
The combined panga fleets out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina, sent
out approximately 98 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a
fish count of:
5 sailfish, 11 striped marlin, 116 wahoo, 6 yellowtail, 374 dorado, 13
yellowfin tuna, 115 sierra, 32 roosterfish, 18 bonito, 18 jack crevalle
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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Dec 26, 2012; 02:21PM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
Dec 16-23, 2012
WEATHER: It has been a strange week for us on the weather front as we started the week with a bit of high cloud cover then went into a period of sunny skies for a few days. After enjoying the sun it appeared that we had just been teased as the clouds moved in on Thursday morning. The rain began and it was on and off all day and night with an eventual dump of about 1 inch total. We expected the clouds to move away then but upon looking at the animated shots could see that this may last at least through the weekend, and perhaps even longer. I don't know if I should call this a “pineapple express” or not as it is coming at us from at least 800 miles south of Hawaii. There is a frontal system to the north of us that is preventing this system from going further north, if it lets up perhaps our skies will clear. Looking over my reports for the past 10 years we normally get this type of weather at the beginning of the year, and it is short lived giving us a little rain every week for about three weeks. One thing this has done for us is wash off all the trees and plants, giving back that green look, and of course it will help everything continue to grow. I just hope that since the weather is cooler with our lows in the high 60's that the mosquitoes and flies will not be as prevalent. Our daytime highs have been in the mid 80's.
WATER: Once again due to the cloud cover there were no good shots of the surface temperature, but from what we could see and what was reported by the boats it appears as if the water temperature across the area has dropped another degree or two. On both the Cortez and on the Pacific side of the cape we had inshore water at 75 to 76 degrees while just offshore on the Cortez side it warmed to 79 degrees and on the Pacific side to 78 degrees. With the rain came murky inshore water and the off-color conditions extended out for about ½ mile around all areas where arroyos entered the ocean. The cloud cover was moving in from the southwest but the surface winds were from the north, and with the north wind came choppy sea conditions on the Pacific side. Swells from the southwest collided with the wind from the north and it was a bit uncomfortable, at least on Thursday and Friday. By Saturday the winds had died off and the water settled down. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water was very nice with small swells at 1-3 feet, and if you were within 10 miles of shore the wind had little effect on you.
BAIT: There were bigger live baits such as Caballito (goggle-eye scad), some Mackerel (pacific greenback mackerel), Lisa (yellowtail mullet) and a few mixed baits available at the usual $3 each. Frozen horse-ballyhoo were available as well at $3 each and if you went north in the morning with plans to fish in the Punta Gorda area there were some Sardina available as well if you were there early, at the usual $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Not surprisingly there are fewer and fewer Blue and Black Marlin reported as the water cools off, but I know of at least one boat that caught and released a Blue Marlin they estimated at #250, and this was reported by experienced anglers. The fish was found inside the 95 spot to 1150 line, an area this boat fished heavily for several days. The Striped Marlin bite continued to pick up, and we do expect the action on these guys to improve on a steady basis. Drifting the high spots along the shore on the Pacific side with live bait dropped deep is still the most constant producer, but more and more fish are being found on the surface. As the cool water continues to wrap around the Cape from the Pacific side the Striped Marlin are following, and the fishing is improving on a daily basis on the Cortez side of the Cape. This was nice to have happen this week as conditions on the Pacific side were a bit bumpy. I think that perhaps 75% of the boats that went out this week were able to hook into a Striped Marlin. Unfortunately there are still many of these fish being killed by the crews, even though the anglers want to release the fish. I keep seeing the buckets going up the docks with a Marlin folded into it and no longer wonder why so many boats refuse to use circle hooks, I know that the crews want to keep the fish, sigh.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Perhaps we will not see good Tuna action in our area until the beginning of the year, but there are still some cows being caught on the Gorda Banks every day. The fish have been under some heavy pressure but they are there, it is just a matter of spending the time, waiting them out, waiting for the bite to happen. Most of the action has been on chunk baits with hooks tied directly to the main line, and the fish are running between 150 and 250 pounds. Elsewhere the porpoise pods continue to be a hit-or-miss experience, with the first boats that find pods holding fish managing to get two or three in the 25 to 75 pound class and boats showing up a bit later just getting practice at trolling lures or soaking bait. I heard from a couple of private boats that there is an on-off bite on fish averaging 25 pound on the high points off of Punta Gordo, but they are getting there before sunrise to get into the bite, shortly after sunrise the local fleet pangas out of San Jose show up and the bite quickly drops off. Porpoise have been found from 5 miles due south to all along the 1,000 fathom line, so you never know when or where they may appear, you just have to keep your fingers crossed that the ones you come across hold tuna. The larger fish have been caught on live bait while lures, especially cedar plugs and dark colored feathers have been the best producers on the medium and smaller fish mixed with porpoise.
DORADO: Dorado action continued, but at a reduced pace as the water continues to cool. Most of the action has been found within 5 miles of the beach on the Pacific side, and while there are fewer numbers, the size continues to improve. Many of the fish being found are in the 20-25 pound class, and most of these fish are being found under feeding Frigate birds, and caught on live bait tossed out directly under the birds. You have to be careful though, because these birds are also a good indicator of feeding Striped Marlin, and it has not been uncommon for a couple of baits tossed out to be inhaled by a pair of Marlin! My guess is that about 75% of the boats are coming in with Dorado these days, but only 20% of them are coming in with limits, compared with 60% coming in with limits two weeks ago. The Cortez side is now producing more Dorado as the warmer water is now in this area and the Pacific side is cooling off, so look for the bite to slowly move from the Pacific side to the Cortez side over the next few week.
WAHOO: As always, a hit or miss fishery is the best way to describe the Wahoo bite. Mostly this week it has been a miss, but there are a few boats that are having fairly regular action of fish ranging from 20 to 35 pounds, as well as a few fish that are only as big as Sierra. Trolling lipped plugs like Rapallas, or swimming plugs like Marauders has been the best method of getting a Wahoo bite, but boats that are chunking or live baiting are getting bit as well, it's just that most of these bites are cutting the leader!
INSHORE: The inshore bite has not changed from last weeks report with the exception of the fact that at the end of the week the areas around the arroyos have had dirty water due to the rain run-off. More and more Sierra are beginning to show up locally and while small at 3-5 pounds they have been biting when the schools have been found. Add in a few early Yellowtail to 20 pounds, a few red Snapper to 15 pounds and a few grouper to 20 pounds and the traditional inshore fishery is beginning to shape up nicely. Still, most of the Pangas are fishing slightly farther off the beach, taking advantage of the continued Dorado bite and the close proximity of Striped Marlin.
FISH RECIPE: Check the blog for this months recipe!
NOTES: We are seeing more and more whales showing up, both Humpbacks offshore and Gray Whales along the beach. Christmas is usually the start of the season for these guys (actually girls) to show up and they are not disappointing us this year. Just before the holidays is normally a slow time for tourism as family are staying home in celebration, but as soon as Christmas is over we expect to be very busy again, and hopefully the fishing continues to improve! My music choice for this week was the CD “Underground Whispers” by violinist Alex DePue and guitarist Miguel De Hoyas. I listened to this one again as Miguel was playing in Las Riberras this weekend and we wanted to go listen, but all the hotels and motels were sold out due to an off-road race taking place. I had to listen to the CD instead, sigh. Until next week, tight lines!
And as always, George writes this report
and posts it on Sunday morning. So if you
can't wait, click the 'FOLLOW' on the top of the
page! You will know whenever something new is posted!
http://captgeo.wordpress.com
From our house to yours!
http://www.msn.americangreetings.com/ecards/display_facebook.pd?p=3344721&m=7635&i=470101282&source=agfb
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
San Jose del Cabo
December 23, 2012
Anglers –
While much of the United States is now feeling the freezing chill of harsh
winter weather, just 1,000 miles south of the border, in the Los Cabos
area, holiday vacationers were being greeted with sunny skies and high
temperatures of 80 degrees. The previous week had seen cooler days and
persistent north winds, this contributed to dropping ocean water
temperatures into the 75/76 degree range, strong currents swept in off
colored water and the Fall to Winter ocean transition period was developing.
Baitfish options included mackerel, sardineta, sardina, moonfish, bolito
and skipjack. Some anglers were also using pieces of giant squid, which
were imported from La Paz or purchased at local super markets. Schools of
mackerel are now shifting onto the grounds off of San Jose del Cabo, this
always attracts pursuing gamefish, such as striped marlin, dorado and
wahoo. While anglers battled with rough seas on the offshore areas like
Gordo Banks, on the inside off of Punta Gorda, Cardon and La Fortuna they
found comfortable conditions and despite the off colored and not so
favorable water, the fish seemed to bite just fine.
Most common species were dorado, hooked on trolled lures and various
baitfish, sizes ranged from 5 to 40 pounds and many anglers were easily
landing their two fish limits, while releasing additional fish. Wahoo also
went on the bite in recent days, hot spot was off of Punta Gorda and live
bait, especially mackerel, were taking aggressive strikes, sizes were
averaging in the 15 to 30 pound class, many charters were accounting for
3,4,5 or more wahoo, this is the best it has been for a while. Depending on
water conditions and the persistence of northern winds, will dictate on how
long we might expect for this type of action to continue.
Yellowfin tuna action dropped way down, though at times, anglers who
happened to be at the right place, did get into some quality action, areas
closer to shore produced sporadic counts for yellowfin tuna in the 10 to 20
pound class, while on the Gordo Banks there were several larger sized tuna
accounted for this past week, the largest that we heard of was a 226 lb.
cow, taken once again by skipper Chame Pino on the super panga “Killer II”.
This fish hit on fresh squid that had been brought down from La Paz, where
the giant squid have been plentiful. There was problem drift fishing, very
swift current due to windy choppy seas. Forecasts call for a few warmer
days, this could be enough to produce a few more big tuna in the coming
days.
Only a scattering of bottomfish action, a few pargo and cabrilla being the
main catch, also some of the good eating bonito now showing, these are a
completely different species than are the bonito found off of So. Cal.,
these toothy fighters prefer cooler waters, as do sierra, which are now
being found in good numbers close to shore, where their favored food source
of sardinas are schooling.
The combined panga fleets out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina, sent
out approximately 95 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a
fish count of:
9 striped marlin, 2 yellowtail, 505 dorado, 52 yellowfin tuna, 62 wahoo, 68
sierra, 16 roosterfish, 24 bonito, 28 misc. pargo species and 50 skipjack .
Good Fishing, Eric
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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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Dec 17, 2012; 10:34AM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
Dec 10 - 16, 2012
WEATHER: It has been a strange week for us on the weather front as we started the week with a bit of high cloud cover then went into a period of sunny skies for a few days. After enjoying the sun it appeared that we had just been teased as the clouds moved in on Thursday morning. The rain began and it was on and off all day and night with an eventual dump of about 1 inch total. We expected the clouds to move away then but upon looking at the animated shots could see that this may last at least through the weekend, and perhaps even longer. I don't know if I should call this a “pineapple express” or not as it is coming at us from at least 800 miles south of Hawaii. There is a frontal system to the north of us that is preventing this system from going further north, if it lets up perhaps our skies will clear. Looking over my reports for the past 10 years we normally get this type of weather at the beginning of the year, and it is short lived giving us a little rain every week for about three weeks. One thing this has done for us is wash off all the trees and plants, giving back that green look, and of course it will help everything continue to grow. I just hope that since the weather is cooler with our lows in the high 60's that the mosquitoes and flies will not be as prevalent. Our daytime highs have been in the mid 80's.
WATER: Once again due to the cloud cover there were no good shots of the surface temperature, but from what we could see and what was reported by the boats it appears as if the water temperature across the area has dropped another degree or two. On both the Cortez and on the Pacific side of the cape we had inshore water at 75 to 76 degrees while just offshore on the Cortez side it warmed to 79 degrees and on the Pacific side to 78 degrees. With the rain came murky inshore water and the off-color conditions extended out for about ½ mile around all areas where arroyos entered the ocean. The cloud cover was moving in from the southwest but the surface winds were from the north, and with the north wind came choppy sea conditions on the Pacific side. Swells from the southwest collided with the wind from the north and it was a bit uncomfortable, at least on Thursday and Friday. By Saturday the winds had died off and the water settled down. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water was very nice with small swells at 1-3 feet, and if you were within 10 miles of shore the wind had little effect on you.
BAIT: There were bigger live baits such as Caballito (goggle-eye scad), some Mackerel (pacific greenback mackerel), Lisa (yellowtail mullet) and a few mixed baits available at the usual $3 each. Frozen horse-ballyhoo were available as well at $3 each and if you went north in the morning with plans to fish in the Punta Gorda area there were some Sardina available as well if you were there early, at the usual $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Not surprisingly there are fewer and fewer Blue and Black Marlin reported as the water cools off, but I know of at least one boat that caught and released a Blue Marlin they estimated at #250, and this was reported by experienced anglers. The fish was found inside the 95 spot to 1150 line, an area this boat fished heavily for several days. The Striped Marlin bite continued to pick up, and we do expect the action on these guys to improve on a steady basis. Drifting the high spots along the shore on the Pacific side with live bait dropped deep is still the most constant producer, but more and more fish are being found on the surface. As the cool water continues to wrap around the Cape from the Pacific side the Striped Marlin are following, and the fishing is improving on a daily basis on the Cortez side of the Cape. This was nice to have happen this week as conditions on the Pacific side were a bit bumpy. I think that perhaps 75% of the boats that went out this week were able to hook into a Striped Marlin. Unfortunately there are still many of these fish being killed by the crews, even though the anglers want to release the fish. I keep seeing the buckets going up the docks with a Marlin folded into it and no longer wonder why so many boats refuse to use circle hooks, I know that the crews want to keep the fish, sigh.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Perhaps we will not see good Tuna action in our area until the beginning of the year, but there are still some cows being caught on the Gorda Banks every day. The fish have been under some heavy pressure but they are there, it is just a matter of spending the time, waiting them out, waiting for the bite to happen. Most of the action has been on chunk baits with hooks tied directly to the main line, and the fish are running between 150 and 250 pounds. Elsewhere the porpoise pods continue to be a hit-or-miss experience, with the first boats that find pods holding fish managing to get two or three in the 25 to 75 pound class and boats showing up a bit later just getting practice at trolling lures or soaking bait. I heard from a couple of private boats that there is an on-off bite on fish averaging 25 pound on the high points off of Punta Gordo, but they are getting there before sunrise to get into the bite, shortly after sunrise the local fleet pangas out of San Jose show up and the bite quickly drops off. Porpoise have been found from 5 miles due south to all along the 1,000 fathom line, so you never know when or where they may appear, you just have to keep your fingers crossed that the ones you come across hold tuna. The larger fish have been caught on live bait while lures, especially cedar plugs and dark colored feathers have been the best producers on the medium and smaller fish mixed with porpoise.
DORADO: Dorado action continued, but at a reduced pace as the water continues to cool. Most of the action has been found within 5 miles of the beach on the Pacific side, and while there are fewer numbers, the size continues to improve. Many of the fish being found are in the 20-25 pound class, and most of these fish are being found under feeding Frigate birds, and caught on live bait tossed out directly under the birds. You have to be careful though, because these birds are also a good indicator of feeding Striped Marlin, and it has not been uncommon for a couple of baits tossed out to be inhaled by a pair of Marlin! My guess is that about 75% of the boats are coming in with Dorado these days, but only 20% of them are coming in with limits, compared with 60% coming in with limits two weeks ago. The Cortez side is now producing more Dorado as the warmer water is now in this area and the Pacific side is cooling off, so look for the bite to slowly move from the Pacific side to the Cortez side over the next few week.
WAHOO: As always, a hit or miss fishery is the best way to describe the Wahoo bite. Mostly this week it has been a miss, but there are a few boats that are having fairly regular action of fish ranging from 20 to 35 pounds, as well as a few fish that are only as big as Sierra. Trolling lipped plugs like Rapallas, or swimming plugs like Marauders has been the best method of getting a Wahoo bite, but boats that are chunking or live baiting are getting bit as well, it's just that most of these bites are cutting the leader!
INSHORE: The inshore bite has not changed from last weeks report with the exception of the fact that at the end of the week the areas around the arroyos have had dirty water due to the rain run-off. More and more Sierra are beginning to show up locally and while small at 3-5 pounds they have been biting when the schools have been found. Add in a few early Yellowtail to 20 pounds, a few red Snapper to 15 pounds and a few grouper to 20 pounds and the traditional inshore fishery is beginning to shape up nicely. Still, most of the Pangas are fishing slightly farther off the beach, taking advantage of the continued Dorado bite and the close proximity of Striped Marlin.
FISH RECIPE: Check the blog for this months recipe!
NOTES: We are seeing more and more whales showing up, both Humpbacks offshore and Gray Whales along the beach. Christmas is usually the start of the season for these guys (actually girls) to show up and they are not disappointing us this year. Just before the holidays is normally a slow time for tourism as family are staying home in celebration, but as soon as Christmas is over we expect to be very busy again, and hopefully the fishing continues to improve! My music choice for this week was the CD “Underground Whispers” by violinist Alex DePue and guitarist Miguel De Hoyas. I listened to this one again as Miguel was playing in Las Riberras this weekend and we wanted to go listen, but all the hotels and motels were sold out due to an off-road race taking place. I had to listen to the CD instead, sigh. Until next week, tight lines!
And as always, George writes this report
and posts it on Sunday morning. So if you
can't wait, click the 'FOLLOW' on the top of the
page! You will know whenever something new is posted!
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
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