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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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Dec 4, 2011; 04:00PM - SEA OF CORTEZ, HERE COME DA JUDGE
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: MARK RAYOR
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Here come da judge
In shore along the beaches of Buena Vista the action
has exploded. There is a huge abundance of bait right
now which on calm days is bringing game fish within
range of beach fishermen. Sierra mackerel, pompano
and quality sized roosterfish are all on the feed. Just a
few miles off shore dorado, striped marlin and sailfish
have provided the few anglers fishing excellent
action.
We had an outstanding week fishing with old friends
and making new ones as well. Early in the week new
found friends Ray Hafsten and retired federal judge
Bob Bayt traveled all the way from Indiana to fish Jen
Wren III.
The first couple days of Ray and Bob's visit we
encountered the normal north winds of this time of
year but it didn't slow them down a bit. The boys
landed a limit of dorado and a few nice sierra
mackerel to boot. On their last day the wind
subsided. They released 4 sailfish and left a dorado
for us because their cooler was already full.
It was interesting for me to watch how much
conditions changed this week and how it effected the
billfish bite. In one day the water temp dropped from
76 to 72 degrees and the color changed from blue-
ish to kind of an ugly green. For several weeks the
most effective way to catch marlin and sailfish had
been to slow troll small bonita. When the water
changed this method seemed to stop working. We
trolled several hours without a smell and the fish just
seemed to disappear.
Ready to give up on the area I remebered something
Jack Nilsen told me. It was 'keep em honest'. What he
ment was don't let the fish out smart you and give up
on an area without giving it a fair shot if you believe
they are there. With that thought I put on a planer
and started slow trolling a mackerel down deep. Yep,
in just a few minutes we were bit. With that we just
started drifting and soaking mackerel. That turned
out to be the ticket and once again with a different
technique the bite was WFO again.
Being out there everyday we experience a lot of
strange things and saw a good one with Ray and Bob.
Soaking mackerel both boys got bit at the same time.
One was using a circle hook and had the bait bridled,
the other was using a J hook with the bait hooked in
the dorsal fin. When the lines went tight both sailfish
jumped simultaneously. The battle was on! One fish
went north and the other south which made for some
good excitement. Ray was able to bring his fish to
leader first. Wiring the fish I discovered it had been
lassoed around the bill and was never hooked. We
don't see that often but once in a while an angler gets
lucky and it happens. Here is where the story gets
really strange. Upon leadering Bob's fish I discovered
it had also been lassoed around the bill and was not
hooked either. I guess the fish gods looked down on
us and said this is going to be your day.
It was good to see old friend Herb Lamb and his wife
Jennifer. They had outstanding luck with the weather
and good luck fishing with double limits of dorado
and a nice sierra for ceviche as well.
Mark Rayor
http://markrayor.blogspot.com
www.teamjenwren.com
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Nov 28, 2011; 11:05AM - 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
November 21-27, 2011
WEATHER: The low I saw this week was 65 degrees at 6 AM, the high I saw was 88 degrees at 4PM. With partly cloudy skies most of the week, we had a dry Thanksgiving but on Friday the clouds finally came together and let loose with some rain. San Jose got most of it but there was enough here in San Lucas to wet everything down good.
WATER: The Sea of Cortez was calm this week, for the most part, unless you got too far to the north. Then it was reported that the wind kicked in and it became a bit choppy and sloppy. I was not there myself but a few boats that went to the Los Frailles area reported those conditions. On the Pacific side the water was in great shape most of the week but on Wednesday and Thursday the offshore water was large and there was a bit of wind on top of it, enough that several good fishermen reported conditions as “rough”. The swells were Saturday were smaller but and the seas became a bit confused offshore. Water temperatures at the end of the week on the Pacific side ranged from 77 degrees along the beach to 75 degrees between the Golden Gate and the San Jaime Bank. On the Cortez side we saw 77 degrees along the beach, 80 degrees up around Los Frailles and outside the 1,000 fathom line south of the Cabrillo Seamount.
BAIT: We finally started getting some bait but they have been very small Caballito, and the bait guys are still very proud of them, asking 2-3 dollars each for bait that is 6 inches. There are also green jacks which I think are pretty much a wasted bait, so the Caballito have been the way to go, perfect size for the small Dorado we have been seeing. There have also been Ballyhoo at between 3-4 U.S. Each, but you had to check close on the quality of these baits as some of them had been frozen and thawed repeatedly.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: We have reports of good numbers of Striped Marlin appearing to the north of us on the Pacific side. Some of the fleet boats are starting to get multiple fish on their day trips, occasionally as many as four or five releases, but they are still having to a way to get to them. As we get closer to Christmas these fish should start to get closer to us and it won't be a matter of running for two hours to get to them. Most of the action has been on live bait tossed in front of tailing fish, bu there has been decent action reported on lures as well. I heard of s few more small Blue Marlin caught this week but not as many as last week. With so many boats focusing on Tuna and Dorado on the Pacific side, the warmer water on the Sea of Cortez has been given a miss by most of the boats.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Yellowfin are a fish that can drive you crazy, one day there and biting, the next day there but with their mouths closed and the very next day gone to somewhere else. That was the way it seemed to work this week almost everywhere. There was an off-on bite at the Gorda Banks with an occasional fish to 180 pounds that I heard of, there may have been larger ones as well, but it was a matter of putting in the time. On the Pacific side at the beginning of the week there were good schools of fish to the south side of the San Jaime Bank and to the northwest of the Golden Gate Bank, at the end of the week these schools were still there but the big fish were not biting and the smaller ones would only eat once in a while. At the end of the week the larger fish were scattered within 4 miles of the beach. Find a small pod of Dolphin and if you were lucky you might get a bite from a 180 pound fish.
DORADO: No different from last week, but the numbers are getting slightly smaller. Also, the size remains on the small side with an average weight of only 10 pounds. What they lack in size they make up for in numbers though, these are still the bread and butter of the charter fleet. Most of the fish have been found close to the beach, within a mile or less, and the standard technique of trolling lures at speed until a strike happens, then working the area with slow trolled live bait continues to work well. Limits of two Dorado per angler have not been difficult to come by.
WAHOO: The secret is out, there are Wahoo off of Palmilla point and they were biting this week. Most of the fish were in the 25-35 pound class and the best action was had by boats slow trolling live baits on light wire leader with a trailing hook pinned near the tail, There were more bites using mono leader, but most of these fish were lost. A good trip would result in one or two Wahoo per boats, a great trip sometimes resulted in three or four fish. I doubt this will continue for long and the only reason I am saying anything now is because as of Saturday there were 15 boats that I counted working the area where last week there were only two or three.
INSHORE: Just like last week, very little change. The water continues to cool so hopefully there will be some Sierra and Yellowtail showing in numbers in the weeks to come. Meanwhile, most of the Pangas are going after Dorado since they are close and plentiful (even if they are small on average). We did have one Panga catch a Roosterfish estimated at 60 pounds for a good release while fishing in 60 feet of water off of the Sol-mar Resort.
FISH RECIPE: posted on the blog Thursday or Friday. We have been really busy the past several weeks and promise to get a new one up this week!
NOTES: Great weather this week was really appreciated for our Thanksgiving dinner, all 33 of us were grateful! If things continue as they are we should have good fishing for quite a while. This weeks report was written to the music of Adele on her album “One and Only”. Until next week, tight lines!
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Nov 27, 2011; 03:56PM - IT WAS COCKPIT CHAOS!
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: MARK RAYOR
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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2011
IT WAS COCKPIT CHAOS!
We spent most of this week on the beach because of
no charters and mostly windy days. Wednesday
afternoon the wind started to subside and it looked
like Thursday would be nice. The problem was that it
was Thanksgiving and we had celebration plans for
that afternoon. I thought what the heck I'll get an
early start and come in at 1 or 1:30.
I heard there had been a pretty good dorado bite on
the buoys near Pescadero so decided to start fishing
there. Upon arrival we could see loads of small
skipjack feeding on the surface. We caught a few and
started slow trolling. With no action I looked at our
GPS and decided to change plans. We ran about 45
minutes to the La Ribera high spot where there had
been good marlin and sailfish action for weeks.
When we got to La Ribera there were five other boats
and 2 were hooked up. It was just me and Chuy on
the boat which makes things interesting when we get
bit. Clearing the lines, keeping the boat in position
and leadering a fish takes team work. We rigged and
started trolling 3 live skippies. It didn't take long and
bam we were bit. I was ready with my camera as Chuy
set the hook. Hang on, wham! The second rod goes
off. With the camera in one hand I set up on the
second fish. Wait a minute, slam! The third rod goes
off. We are both laughing so hard and with our hands
full we can't set up on the third fish. All this is going
on in the bridge where the rods were in our rocket
launchers. Jumping down on deck Chuy hands me a
rod with a fish on and then the second as he takes a
swing at the third fish. On deck I now have both bent
rods in the rod holders and pitch out a mackerel that
was already rigged. Kabam! We are bit again. Chuy's
last fish didn't stick but we still have 3 fish going
which turned out to be a striper, a sailfish and a
dorado. We ended up releasing both billfish and
keeping the dorado.
Once settled down we started slow trolling skippies
again and in just a few minutes hung another marlin.
Releasing that fish I looked at my wrist watch and it
was 5 minutes to ten. That's it. Lets head for the
barn. We had time to fuel, clean up the boat and
make my afternoon commitment.
As we left the area Chuy's brother Javier rolled in. He
didn't have to be in early and later told us they
released ten billfish that afternoon.
I can hardly wait to do that again.
Mark Rayor
[url]http://markrayor.blogspot.com[/url]
[url]www.teamjenwren.com[/url]
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Nov 22, 2011; 09:00AM - BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: MARK RAYOR
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BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
East Cape is experiencing the best dorado bite of the
season. In shore and near shark buoys dorado have
arrived in big numbers and are on the feed. Striped
marlin have also been plentiful off La Ribera and
Punta Pescadero. In shore sierra mackerel along with
rooster fish are cooperating with anglers up and
down the coast.
Today Steve Schroer of Boulder Colorado brought his
2 sons Bridger and Colter fishing on Jen Wren III.
Initially Colter was a little apprehensive about the
whole ocean fishing thing until hooking his first
dorado. His tune changed when that first dorado hit
the deck. Both boys ended up with limits before
lunch.
With winter winds upon us, I'm always searching for
accurate weather predictions. Last week I found a
great wind prediction web site. It took a little time to
figure out but is very powerful and has loads of info:
[url=http://windalert.com/en-
us/Search/ViewResults.aspx#23.89,-
108.916,9]WindAlert - Search Results[/url]
Thanksgiving reflection makes me want to comment
on some of the changes that have taken place in the
20 plus years I have lived here. Back in 1991 was our
first Thanksgiving in Buena Vista. It was then I
realized the holiday is not celebrated here. The only
restaurant in the community that offered a turkey
dinner was Tio Pablos. I used to joke with my friends
in the US about the great recipe my wife had for road
runner because we couldn't buy a turkey. Now we
have Costco, Wal-Mart, Sam's Club plus several huge
super markets that all offer turkeys. Reading today's
Baja Pony Express I found 12 restaurants offering the
holiday dinner:
[url=http://thebajaponyexpress.com/2011/Novembe
r/1202---112111.htm]Baja Pony Express[/url]
Mark Rayor
http://markrayor.blogspot.com
www.teamjenwren.com
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Nov 21, 2011; 07:05PM - Gordo Banks Pangas San Jose del Cabo November 19, 2011
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric Bricston
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SJDC Fish Report
Gordo Banks Pangas
San Jose del Cabo
November 19, 2011
Sizable crowds continue to arrive in Southern Baja, ideal weather patterns now
prevalent, mostly sunny days, highs reaching the low 80s. Early in the week there
was one nighttime rain flurry, did not account for much, besides making the roads
muddy. Winds were strong out of the north, first real blow of the season, later in
the week conditions settled. This is the time of year where day to day, weather
patterns can change rapidly. Water temperatures are now averaging 79 to 81 degrees,
cooling trend should continue through winter.
Anglers found limited bait options and supplies, live caballito and sardinas.
Ballyhoo were available, being rigging for trolling. On the fishing grounds pangeros
were catching chihuil and skipjack, using these for targeting larger gamefish. The
week started off with steady action for wahoo, the best area seemed to be around the
Iman Bank, anglers reported many strikes, while trolling live baits and various
lures, average strike to actual landing ratio, was not high. Some charters did
report multiple fish in the box, sizes ranged from 20 to 60 pounds.
The same fishing grounds of Iman produced scattered numbers of dorado, sailfish,
striped marlin and some yellowfin tuna. Lots of live sardinas were necessary in
order to entice the yellowfin tuna into feeding on the surface. Most action was
found near the surface, not much going off the bottom now, more triggerfish than
anything else.
The yellowfin tuna bite steadily slackened off since the first week of the month,
but this week we did see the action get hot on the Gordo Banks, especially on
Wednesday. At least six tuna in the 200 pound class were accounted for and one super
cow over 300 pounds was landed. This monstrous yellowfin was weighed in
unofficially, with discrepancies ranging from 365 pounds, up to 378 pounds,
depending on which story you believe. This fish was taken from a 22 ft. panga by
legendary La Playita pangero Hugo Pino, his son and long time friend from Greece,
angler Apostolo Poulos. On Saturday, the father son team of John and Jordan
Williamson, from California and South Carolina respectably, battled for three hours
on eighty pound tackle a 249 pound yellowfin tuna while fishing with Gordo Banks
skipper Chame Pino.
After a good day all around on Wednesday, the very next day, Thursday, anglers found
very scarce fishing action, in all directions, there were very few fish accounted
for. Hard to say, conditions seemed favorable, bait schools were plentiful, winds
and currents minimal, just the fish did not want to cooperate.
Anglers were now finding some close to shore action for sierra and medium sized
roosterfish. Trolling with live baits, hoochies and rapalas all worked, this inshore
action will peak in the coming months.
Billfish is now in between main seasons, no significant numbers, but it is the time
when sailfish, black, blue and striped marlin are all found in local waters. This
week there were several large marlin hook ups reported from the Gordo Banks,
extended battles resulting in broken lines.
The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out
approximately 178 charters for the week, with anglers accounted for, 1 blue marlin,
7 striped marlin, 17 sailfish, 66 wahoo, 205 dorado, 84 yellowfin tuna, 6 dogtooth
snapper, 4 yellowtail, 24 pargo, 36 triggerfish, 25 bonito, 9 pompano, 38 sierra, 28
roosterfish and 10 hammerhead shark.
Good Fishing, Eric
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson
Owner/Operator
800 4081199
Los Cabos 1421147
ericgordobanks@yahoo.com
www.gordobanks.com
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Nov 21, 2011; 11:24AM - 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
November 14-20, 2011
WEATHER: Would you like the evenings to be in the high 60's, the daytime in the mid 80's, mostly clear skies with no rain and light winds? Well, come on down!
WATER: At the end of the week the water in the Sea of Cortez to the east of Punta Gorda was the warmest in our area with a surface temperature of 82-83 degrees. Closer to home, the area inside the 1,000 fathom line in the Sea of Cortez had water that was 80-81 degrees while outside the 1,000 fathom line it cooled to 78-79 degrees. On the Pacific side there was a thin band of cool water along the shore with 78 degree water, then it quickly rose to 80 degrees. Surface conditions were great with 2-4 foot swells and only a light breeze. In close to shore in the afternoons it chopped up a bit but offshore remained smooth.
BAIT: We finally started getting some bait but they have been very small Caballito, and the bait guys are still very proud of them, asking 2-3 dollars each for bait that is 6 inches. There are also green jacks which I think are pretty much a wasted bait, so the Caballito have been the way to go, perfect size for the small Dorado we have been seeing.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: While the Striped Marlin fishing has not gotten red hot yet, hopefully it is a matter of time. Boats going up the beach toward Todo Santos are seeing more and more fish out there, most of them fairly close to the beach. On Captain fishing a few hours Sunday saw 6 on the surface by the lighthouse but they would not bite. Some of the boats have been releasing two or three a day and seeing many more. There are still some Blue Marlin around as well as I can attest to personally. Sunday we were fishing south of the San Jaime Bank and hooked up young Brice (14 years old) to his first Blue Marlin and after 40 minutes released one we estimated at 250 pounds. Other boats reported hook-ups in the same area over the course of the week as well.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Still an off and on fishery, the Yellowfin have been hard to figure out. My deckhand fished another boat at the start of the week and reported a steady bite on fish ranging from 80 to 300 pounds at the Inner Gorda Bank, but on Friday the bite totally shut off. There were reports of large Tuna being found on the Pacific side to the north and inside of the Golden Gate Bank but the fish moved out fast, only a few boats getting into the action. On Sunday we were fishing on the south side of the San Jaime and found a good pod of Spinner Dolphin and managed to catch 17 footballs between 12 and 20 pounds. Like most fishing it was a matter of being in the right place at the right time.
DORADO: Still the bread and butter of the fleet and the Pangas, this has been an off and on bite as well. At the beginning of the week there were plenty of fish showing along the beach on the Pacific side, but it seemed to be mostly a live bait fishery, find one by trolling then working the area with live bait while keeping the first one hooked up behind the boat. Of course it helped to find something floating in the water and that happened to several boats this weed as a tree trunk was found to the north of the Golden Gate and it produced plenty of fish for the first few boats that got there. Closer to home there are still plenty of Dorado but the average size is much smaller. One of the Panga Captains reported 7 Dorado in three hours with only two of the fish larger than 15 pounds while another managed to get 17 of them under his commercial license with all the fish being under 10 pounds. So, they are there, but they are small.
WAHOO: There were some average size Wahoo in the 25-30 pound class reported this week by the boats working the beach areas for Dorado, but most of the fish hooked were lost. One of the larger boats, first on the scene of the tree trunk, reported catching five We-hoo's off of it, lol!
INSHORE: The water continues to cool so hopefully there will be some Sierra and Yellowtail showing in numbers in the weeks to come. Meanwhile, most of the Pangas are going after Dorado since they are close and plentiful (even if they are small on average).
FISH RECIPE: posted on the blog Thursday or Friday. We have been really busy the past several weeks and promise to get a new one up this week!
NOTES: Once again great weather for the week, decent fishing and good water. Perfect combination and it makes me think about our friends the Shorts and Lawrences up in Alaska. Mike Short reported removing 14 inches of snow from his truck last week and yesterday had 3 degree weather. Get back here where it's warm, what do you think you are, Polar Bears? My thanks once again to Mark Bailey for the music selection of the week as I listened once again to the Rodeo Clown Dropouts. Until next week, tight lines!
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Nov 14, 2011; 11:27AM - 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
November 7-13, 2011
WEATHER: Wow, it just keeps getting better every day! Daytime highs in the low 90's and nighttime lows in the low 70's, does it really get any better than this? We had partly cloudy skies for most of the week and toward the end of the week we had some really blustery days, Saturday was a bit windy in the afternoon. No rain here in town but it looked as if there might have been some in the mountains.
WATER: Surface temperatures were 84 degrees close to Cabo from the shore to about 5-8 miles out, then they dropped to 81-82 degrees. The water stayed at 84 degrees up toward San Jose. On the Pacific side it was in the cooler side with most of the water 81 to 82 degrees. Thee was a plume of warm 84 degree water that ran from the tip of the Cape toward the west and across the southern end of the San Jaime Bank for several days. Mid week the water on the Pacific side was a bit on the rough side due to the winds, but it calmed down at the end of the week. Swells on the Pacific side were in the 4-6 foot range and in the 2-3 foot range on the Sea of Cortez.
BAIT: It was still tough to get good bait this week, some of the bait guys were bringing it down from San Jose but by the time it got here after an hour of running full bore and pounding and slapping on the way it was a bit beat up and did not last long in the bait tanks. It's hard to justify spending $30 on live bait just to have it die within 4 hours so a lot of anglers were opting to just buy a few and see if they would be able to catch something else to use later on. Caballito and Mullet were $3 each, or sometimes $4 each depending on the supplier. There were some sardinas, but not many and they were pricy at around $35 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Small Blue and Black Marlin as well as a decent showing of Sailfish combined with an increasing number of Striped Marlin kept anglers excited this week. The big news was the increase in the number of Striped Marlin being caught. For the boats that were able to get farther up the coast toward the north side of the Golden Gate Bank there were plenty of Striped Marlin to see, and many of them were hungry. A good day was three releases, a great day was 5 releases but the average was one or two per day. Mackerel are beginning to show up and the water is cooling down so perhaps we are going to have a good season on these billfish. Some of the private boats that have been fishing in the Mag Bay area have reported that the Striped Marlin bite is almost wide open so if the fish continue to move in our direction....well, remember 4 years ago? Look out buddy, better put new line on them reels!!
YELLOWFIN TUNA: What a change! One week the Tuna fishing was world class and then it tanked for five or six days. I don't know the reason but the fleet was getting skunked just three days after one of the best Tuna Tournaments we have had in a long time. At least by the end of the week the fish had started to show up again. This is not to say that there were no Tuna being caught because there were, and they were nice ones, it's just that the school fish we had been seeing in the 25-40 pound class seemed to have disappeared. Boats were still getting some of the larger fish in the 100-200 class. We had one party that caught a 65 and 45 pound tuna and that made everyone happy because it had been slow.
DORADO: The Dorado continue to bite and have become the bread and butter of the charter fleet for the past few weeks. Most of the fish have come on live bait slow trolled in areas where the fish have been found after getting strike on a lure. Averaging 12 pounds, they have not been large but there have been enough of them for most anglers to limit out if they want to. A few larger fish have been caught but anything over 30 pounds has been rare. Almost all the action has been on the Pacific side of the Cape between the lighthouse and the inside of the Golden Gate Bank.
WAHOO: Never a very common fish, the approach and arrival of the full moon helped in the catching of Wahoo this week. My guess is that about 50% of the boats fishing close to shore for Dorado had at least on bite from a Wahoo. The problem of course is the razor sharp teeth these fish have. Slow trolling a live bait on 80 pound monofiliment line is not the ideal way to keep one hooked up! If you use a wire leader you won't catch very many Dorado, so there were quite a few bite offs from Wahoo. Nothing is quite as frustrating as seeing a splash behind your bait and pulling it in just to find that the back half has been surgically removed.
INSHORE: Still no reports of Sierra that I have heard of, but we did have a client that managed to get a 20 pound Yellowtail this week by jigging close to the bottom in 200 feet of water. Most of the Pangas were focused on the Dorado and Marlin because they were close to shore and not far from home.
FISH RECIPE: posted on the blog Thursday or Friday. We have been really busy the past several weeks and promise to get a new one up this week!
NOTES: Let's see. Perfect weather, great fishing, sunshine, the whales are beginning to show up, guess it's time to make travel plans! We hope you manage to take advantage of our present conditions and visit Cabo soon. This weeks report was written to the music of Cory Morrow on his 2010 release “Brand New Me”. You really need to check him out, my heartfelt thanks to Mark Bailey (once again) for introducing me to this album! Until next week, tight lines!
Gordo Banks Pangas
San Jose del Cabo
November 11, 2011
This is now peak Fall Season for the Los Cabos region and tourists are now arriving
in large numbers. The weather is just about perfect now, highs in the low 80s, lows
mid 60s, sunny skies, varying winds, now becoming more predominate from the north.
We are now enjoying very pleasant weather conditions.
Water temperatures averaged in the 80/83 degree range throughout this past week.
Clean blue water, baitfish on the fishing grounds, things looking good, but ever
since the passing of the WON Tuna Event, anglers have found that the fishing action
has slowed and spread out more, anglers were having to patiently search for limited
catches of yellowfin tuna, dorado, wahoo, sailfish and other species. There has been
heavy pressure now for months on baitfish schools and anglers had to search and
often wait to find available sardinas and caballito from the commercial pangeros.
The season’s first northerly winds blew in on Tuesday, gusting to 25 mph through
most of day, on and off several days, though tapering off compared to that first
day. This made for very wet and choppy seas, more powerful towards the north,
anglers could find protected calm waters towards Cabo San Lucas and on the Pacific,
a difference of thirty nautical miles can mean a huge difference in wind patterns in
this area.
Anglers did report yellowfin tuna off of the La Fortuna, Iman and Gordo Banks. These
fish ranged from 20 to 100 pounds, the largest tuna found were the fish schooling on
the Gordo Banks, conditions seem to shut down action, though quality yellowfin are
still on these grounds and with water temperatures still favorable we should see
continued opportunities of finding cow sized tuna. The action was slow this past
week, wind did not help at all, with the breezes residing this will hopefully help
put things back on track. These tuna have been striking various baits, dead, live or
chunk, with lots of chum needed to get them up in the feeding mood anglers reported
success while using lighter and longer fluorocarbon leaders. On La Fortuna and the
Iman Bank, catches included yellowfin tuna, wahoo, rainbow runner, sailfish, pargo
and bonito, no significant numbers, mainly in ones or twos,
Trolling with live chuihil on the Gordo Banks was producing hook ups on yellowfin in
recent days. Only a handful of fish being accounted for now, some of them quality
sized, there are fish in the area and any given day this bite could bust wide open.
Despite these things the majority of people are having a good time.
Dorado were more numerous in the direction of Cabo San Lucas, trolling medium sized
lures to find the schools and then using bait worked well on fish in the 5 to 20
pound size. Wahoo have been slow to become active this season, spotty action for the
past month, this weekend, on Saturday, was the first time these fish really went on
a frenzied bite, for the handful of panga anglers that were trolling the Iman Bank
on this morning, they reported taking as many as a dozen big strikes for wahoo,
landing up as many as 6 fish per boat, sizes up to fifty pounds, some anglers did
not have as high of hook up ratio. Anglers had most of these strikes while trolling
live caballito or chuhuil, some wahoo also hit high speed trolled lures. Very
encouraging news on the wahoo and there were favorable reports also from the Gordo
Banks, as larger sized yellowfin tuna were accounted for the past couple of days.
On November 20, the planned La Playita Wahoo Tournament is scheduled, a one day
event with various jackpot categories, also the keys to a new car will be up for
grabs in a separate raffle. Hopefully the wahoo will wake up in time for this event,
which either way will be a fun event.
The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out
approximately 248 charters for the week, with anglers accounted for, 2 blue marlin,
3 striped marlin, 23 sailfish, 68 wahoo, 226 dorado, 118 yellowfin tuna, 9 dogtooth
snapper, 14 yellowtail, 18 rainbow runner, 44 pargo, 30 triggerfish, 35 bonito 6
pompano and 12 hammerhead shark.
Good Fishing, Eric
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson
Owner/Operator
800 4081199
Los Cabos 1421147
ericgordobanks@yahoo.com
www.gordobanks.com
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Nov 14, 2011; 08:45AM - A BIZZARE FISH TAIL
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: MARK RAYOR
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A bizzare fish tail
Our week started out with strong winds and angry
seas. It was so rocky 'n rolly I didn't pack my cameras,
for fear of damaging them. That didn't stop Brent
Kison and Phil Bidarn from fishing on Jen Wren III for
three days. During that time they released one bill
fish or more each day, caught a fish locker full of
dorado and even a wahoo. On their last day they
added 8 nice 30 pound yellowfin tuna to the tally. All
the action came just a few miles off shore near La
Ribera.
Finally the seas have calmed and yesterday I fished on
Mi Corazon with owner Andrew Hughes and a couple
of his buddies. We fished in shore between Punta
Colorada and the light house and witnessed dorado in
a feeding frenzy. Andrew also landed his first sierra
of this season.
Mark Rayor
[url=http://www.teamjenwren.com]www.teamjenwren
.com[/url]
[url=http://markrayor.blogspot.com]Fishing the East
Cape with Mark Rayor[/url]
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Nov 7, 2011; 01:09PM - KNOWING WHEN TO FOLD EM
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: MARK RAYOR
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Knowing when to fold em
We had not been fishing for a few days when I heard
chatter on the VHF that the fleet was experiencing the
best blue marlin bite of the season. With no charters
on the horizon for a couple more days I decided to go
out and give it a look. Reportedly the best bite was
near the buoys off Pescadero.
It was not hard to find the spot because when we
arrived there was already about a half dozen boats
slow trolling baits around the area. It only took a few
minutes and we hooked a sailfish. The action seemed
slow though and it didn't appear the other boats were
hooking up.
Later in the morning we hooked a marlin. It was about
the same time that word came out on the radio there
was a huge comarilla (feeding frenzy in spanish) of
striped marlin off the high spot of La Ribera. I could
hear the skippers in that area talking and it sounded
like the bite was full speed. One by one the boats in
our area pealed off in the direction of La Ribera until
we were alone. The chatter on the radio continued
and it sound like everybody was hooked up and many
of the boats had already released several fish.
Okay, what to do. The run to the hot spot off La
Ribera was only about a half hour. Should we join the
fleet or wait for the fish to show? With clients we
probably would have left a long time ago and headed
for the sure thing. I liked my cards though. All alone
with no traffic in the area where several blue marlin
were landed the day before. I decided to stand pat
and play the day out where we were. Looking back
maybe we should have folded and made the move.
We never had another bite. That's fishing!
Later in the week one of my best buddies, Spa Buena
Vista home owner Jim Bull fished Jen Wren III. Jim had
much better luck trolling live skippys off La Ribera
and finished the day with 3 sailfish and a couple
small dorado.
The hot bite had been going on for almost a week
when Spa Buena Vista home owner Matt Clifton
arrived with the goal of catching a striped marlin on
the fly. Matt is an accomplished fly fishing guide and
my thoughts were that his timing might just be
perfect. We spent the day slow trolling live baits
without hooks with the idea we could tease the marlin
closer to the boat to give Matt a shot with his fly. As
luck would have it the fish decided to play hard ball
that day. In the course of the day three marlin came
in and kamikazied baits off our lines so fast there was
no time to react. It was frustrating for me to not be
able to give an angler that can handle a fly rod so well
at least a shot. That's fishing!
Mark Rayor
[url]www.teamjenwren.com[/url]
[url]http://markrayor.blogspot.com[/url]
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Nov 7, 2011; 10:38AM - 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
October 31-November 6, 2011
WEATHER: What great weather! Our nighttime lows have been in the low 70's while the daytime highs have pushed the mid 90's on a few days but have been in the low 90's most of the time. No rain, a few clouds and not a lot of wind, just a light breeze. I really don't think it gets any better than that!
WATER: Surface conditions have been great this week with normal swells from the west at 2-4 feet and a light breeze in the afternoon from the northwest at 10 knots. Water on the Pacific side of the Cape has averaged 8 degrees from three miles off the beach and out, in close it has been 82 degrees. On the Sea of Cortez things have averaged just a bit higher with the warm water at 85 degrees from the shore to the 1,000 fathom line, from the 95 spot and to the north. Outside of there it has been 83 degrees.
BAIT: Just like last week, bait, at least good live bait was hard to come by. The tournaments we have just had really stressed the ability of the bait boats, or perhaps they just got a bit lazy the past few weeks, after all, they have to be making a lot of money at the price they charge. There were a few live baits of the larger size, but not much in the way of quality baits. Toward San Jose you could get decent Sardinas at a better price, there was a high demand here because of the tuna tournament and the price was high.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Some decent size fish were caught during the Western Outdoor News Tuna Tournament by boats looking for big Tuna. I heard of one fight with a Blue Marlin estimated at 450 pounds and another with a Black Marlin estimated at right around 500 pounds. There were smaller fish caught as well with a number of Blues in the 150-250 pound class. Not as many Striped Marlin were caught as were seen, they tended to ignore the lures and go for live bait instead, unlike the Sailfish who would jump on anything that came their way. I don't mean it to sound as if there were billfish everywhere, there weren't, but there were enough of them out there that every anglers stood a decent chance of catching one. Most of the fish were found on the Pacific side, but the Black Marlin were all reported from the area around Punta Gorda.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Big fish and plenty of them were the words of the week as we had two days of full on tournament Tuna fishing. Results posted by the Western Outdoor News Tuna Tournament only showed the larger fish, but there were PLENTY of ones in the fish boxes that never reached the scales. With a minimum qualifying weight of 30 pounds 108 boats fishing two days managed to weigh three Tuna over 200 pounds, all caught on the second day. The largest at 213 pounds took home 36K, second place overall took home 158K for their 206 pound cow and third place overall had a fish that weighed 205 pounds and was worth 21K. The second place fish was brought in just minutes before the scale closed and since they were across the board in all the jackpots they took all the money for the second day. There were plenty of fish caught that were over 100 pounds and uncounted numbers in the 40-80 pound class. A 48 pound fish took home 36K since it was the only qualifying fish caught by a boat entered in the 10K jackpot on the first day. Almost all the action happened on the Pacific side this week but there were fish caught at the Gorda Banks and due south of us, but the majority were to the west.
DORADO: Once again it was almost impossible to avoid catching a Dorado, but it appeared difficult for any of the 108 boats in the tournament to get one over 30 pounds since none that size were weighed in. With no really large fish reported there was no shortage of smaller fish out there, most of them in the 10-18 pound class. An average trip resulted in several of these per person, most anglers catching their limit, or at least as many as they wanted. Once again most of the action happened on the Pacific side. Great results were had by pulling lures up the coast until getting a bite, then drifting or slow trolling the area with live bait.
WAHOO: I was truly surprised that the largest Wahoo weighed during the tournament was only 55.5 pounds the first day and under 40 pounds the second day, but they still managed to make 26K for each of their teams. There were many other Wahoo caught by boats entered in the tournament, as well as by daily charter boats, but none that were very big. On average the Wahoo brought in were in the 20-25 pound class. Not every boat caught one, but there were enough out there that you stood a good chance.
INSHORE: Just like last week. The water temperatures are staying warm, so still some nice Roosterfish around, snapper, groupers, almost November, but I haven't seen any sierra yet. The Dorado fishing is also good close to shore.
FISH RECIPE: posted on the blog Thursday or Friday.
NOTES: Most of the focus this week was on Tuna, and for good reason. The water is perfect and the fish are here! Toss in the numbers of Dorado and the Wahoo that are being caught and it is hard to pick a better time to get on down here with an empty cooler to fill with fish. We have seen a few Humpback Whales this week so those giants should start putting on a decent side show soon. If the weather and fishing gets any better I will think I dies and went to heaven! Many thanks from me to Mark Bailey for the re-supply of CD's! This week's report was written to the music of the Rodeo Clown Dropouts, strange but true.
Gordo Banks Pangas
San Jose del Cabo
November 6, 2011
The Los Cabos area is now bustling with tourists, they have been enjoying pristine
weather conditions and this week visitors are being entertained by the main event of
the annual WON Jackpot Tuna Tournament. Scores of sportfishing teams will be in
search of the cow sized yellowfin that could win them a big pay day.
In recent weeks the ocean water temperatures had warmed back up to 85/86 degrees,
but now it is to back down in to the 82/83 degrees. This season the water
temperatures have averaged higher than normal, this created different migration
patterns for baitfish and the gamefish alike. Overall the Fall Season has not been
producing as consistent catches as would normally be expected. We do anticipate as
conditions normalize the action will become steadier. Winds have become more
predominant from the north and should maintain this pattern through winter.
Out of San Jose del Cabo there were bait shortage issues, with anglers having to
travel out of their way and patiently wait in order to purchase very limited
quantities of sardinas. Schools of sardinas were now congregated mainly on the
beaches close to Cabo San Lucas. We should start to see more caballito and then
mackerel before too long.
Yellowfin tuna have been schooling now for a couple of months on the fishing grounds
from the Gordo Banks to Iman Bank, these concentrations of fish have proved to be
exceptionally hook shy this season, perhaps it has to do with warmer waters,
abundance of food sources found at deeper depths, hard to say exactly what the
reason is? One thing for sure, is that the fish are on the grounds, making good
showings on the surface and everyday there have been numbers of tuna landed. The
fish coming from the Iman area are weighing 20 to 40 pounds on an average and the
fish found on the Gordo Banks are mainly starting at about 80 pounds, ranging up to
cow sizes. Slow trolling with various baits, chihuil, bolito, skipjack produced
strikes, as did drift fishing with dead and live sardinas and chunk baits. The key
was consistent chumming, light leaders and being ready when the opportunities were
there, lots of patience needed.
Dorado action was a bit more spread out, but once schools were encountered, anglers
could put several in the box in a hurry. Most of the dorado found recently were
weighing in the 5 to 15 pound range, with a percentage of larger bulls reported.
Wahoo are showings signs of coming to life, as they became more active in recent
days, anglers reported strikes while slow trolling trap hooked baits and on the high
speed troll with various lures, areas from Santa Maria, Red Hill, towards Punta
Gorda and Iman all reported ‘hoo strikes. Wahoo to over fifty pounds were landed, we
do believe we are going to have a great run of late season wahoo, from what we have
seen the fish are larger sized this year.
Billfish opportunities included sailfish, striped, blue and black marlin, typically
this is the end of the big black and blue season and the migration of striped marlin
will be moving back with the cooling currents. At this time, with warmer water
temperatures, you could hook any given species any day. This week there was a 340
pound black marlin caught by Dennis Powell from the Lake Tahoe area while fishing
with local pangero Chame Pino. There was a larger blue marlin lost the next day from
the same area, there were quite a few sailfish reported and some striped marlin
found surprisingly close to shore. A handful of early season whales also reportedly
seen in local waters.
The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out
approximately 192 charters for the week, with anglers accounted for: 1 black marlin,
8 striped marlin, 18 sailfish, 17 wahoo, 242 dorado, 94 yellowfin tuna, 9 dogtooth
snapper, 9 amberjack, 16 cabrilla, 8 yellowtail, 8 rainbow runner, 12 hammerhead
shark and 8 pompano
Good Fishing, Eric
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson
Owner/Operator
800 4081199
Los Cabos 1421147
ericgordobanks@yahoo.com
www.gordobanks.com
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