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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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Jun 20, 2011; 10:58AM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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Cabo Fish Report
Posted on June 19, 2011 by captgeo
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
June 13-19, 2011
WEATHER: A bit of change was in the works for us this week. On Thursday the wind started to blow from the northwest pretty hard but it was dying off around sunrise, then picking up again in the afternoon. It brought cooler temperatures with it as well. While we started the week with lows in the high 70′s, by weekend we had morning highs of 68 degrees two days in a row. Our daytime highs started the week in the mid 90′s and as of the weekend we had highs in the high 70′s. Mid week delivered a bit of cloud cover as well, but no rain.
WATER: Either wind wind pushed it around or the current along the Pacific side became much stronger, but whatever the reason the cool water from the Pacific side wrapped itself around the Cape and intruded as far up the Sea of Cortez as the East Cape. While the water on the Cortez side of the Cape began the week being in the low 80′s, it ended the week in the mid 60′s, a significant change. Along with the cool water came a color change and with a green tinge to it the water was not quite a good as we had been seeing. Couple that with the wind in the afternoons and the associated choppy conditions it is understandable that many charters came in around noon or 1pm. The mornings were fine but once noon came around it was time to head back. We had some good sized swells early in the week but they tapered off at the end of the week and were averaging just 3-5 feet instead of 5-7 feet.
BAIT: Water conditions were not favorable for Sardinas this week so it didn’t matter where you went, there were none to be found. Most of the bait boats had plenty of Mullet for sale as well as some decent Caballito, and a few of them had Mackerel, all available at the normal $3 per bait. Ballyhoo, thawed out, were also available at $3 or $4 each, depending on who you bought them from.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Striped Marlin were scarce for most of the boats this week but a few were able to do well on them. A private boat I know of caught four in one day, as well as two small Blue Marlin, and a charter boat we use released three Striped Marlin one day as well. You really had to be in the right place at the right time. The private boat reported catching his Striped Marlin in the vicinity of the 1150 while the charter boat found his close to Palmilla point. Other boats working the same areas reported seeing fish but could not get them to bite. Like I said, right place at the right time! I heard of a few other Blue Marlin being caught early in the week but as the water on the Cortez side cooled down they disappeared.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Still very on-off fishing, those that got into a decent school and worked it hard were rewarded with limits on Tuna that averaged 25 pounds in the area between just outside the 1150 and withing 6 miles of the arch. There one day, gone the next, as often happens with these fish. The better catches were had by boats that lucked into schools associated with porpoise, but blind strikes were also significant. With a blind strike, and specially with a double or triple, working the area in a grid often resulted in many more hook-ups, at least until the school was lost. There were reports of some nicer fish from up in the Punta Gorda area, offshore, but beating it back home against the wind made that a trip only for the experienced, and those willing to take a gamble. There one day, gone the next!
DORADO: With the cool water moving in the bite for those nice Dorado we had been seeing dropped off quite a bit. There were still fish being found, but they had followed the warmer water so most of them were from the Gorda Banks area and farther up the Sea of Cortez. With an average weight of 25 pounds, these were a nice fish to have! Early in the week we were seeing quite a few larger fish, most of them in the 35-50 pound class, a good indicator of things to come once the water warms back up.
WAHOO: This being a full moon week the Wahoo were accommodating and many boats were returning flying an orange Wahoo flag. Most of the fish were between 35-45 pounds, but there were both smaller and larger fish reported. The largest I heard of was 78 pounds. Palmilla point and Punta Gorda as well as the associated small banks in the area kicked out most of the fish, but there were quite a few open water fish as well. I would guess that on average, about 15 percent of the charters caught Wahoo this week.
INSHORE: We had some decent Roosterfish in the surf this week, nothing big but averaging 15 pounds. There were a few larger 30 pound fish, but not many. The best method for these fish was slow trolling live Mullet. Also, since the water cooled off later in the week, some Yellowtail have returned to our area. Pangas were finding them around the Palmilla area as well as scattered around rocky points. Working yo-yo’s and slabs in 120 to 200 feet of water off the points brought some nice fish to 30 pounds, but averaging 12 pounds. A few boats were able to get Grouper to 80 pounds off of underwater rock piles using live Caballito.
FISH RECIPE: My recipe has been taking too much space so if you want to see it, check out my wordpress blog a little later in the week, or subscribe to the blog and you will receive an email as soon as I post it.
NOTES: Sure hope the water warms back up. As it is, the cool water once again has resulted in the inshore fishing getting a bit better for eating quality fish, but offshore it has depressed the bite a bit. This weeks report was written to some great music by Jean-Luc Ponty off of his 1978 Atlantic Records recording “Cosmic Messenger”. Until next week, tight lines!
I will be posting more to my blog now, please go to http://captgeo.wordpress.com/ and subscribe, you will be sent a notice every time I post a new article. Please feel free to send suggestions or if you have any ideas for articles. Thanks George
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Jun 20, 2011; 10:51AM - SEA OF CORTEZ, AWAY FROM IT ALL
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Mark Rayor
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AWAY FROM IT ALL
John Lowther has come to Rancho Buena Vista with
family and friends for the last 18 years. The last
several of those years he has chartered our Jen
Wren boats for fishing. Time after time he has
inquired about doing a multi-day trip where we
could have more time to explore the Sea of Cortez.
Now that his resort of choice is no longer in full
operation, he decided the time was right so we set
up a 5 day 4 night fishing/diving charter. John
planned on coming with his wife Mary Ann and
youngest son Max. He expressed to me that he has
always wondered how fishing would be in the late
afternoon/early evening if they didn't have to return
to the resort.
Upon requesting the families expectations of this
trip to help me with planning and provisions, John
sent me this short list.
Max has a bucket list.
He is the only one in the family without a Marlin.
He wants to shoot a fish with a sling or a gun
Max told me to have you bring your best snapper
recipe.
Mary Ann said any Vodka and OJ will keep her fine.
Max said a few cold beer and he can drink what
ever.
John wishes for great weather and a good time. A
nice lobster on the back of the boat would not be
bad either.
Day one we departed Buena Vista at 8AM and ran to
Pescadero. Chuy and I figured we could knock
Max's marlin off the bucket list right out of the
gate. We trolled to Cerralvo without a bite and
stopped at the southern point of the island for a
scuba dive. Thankfully the diving was much better
then the fishing had been. Then we headed north
for Las Cruces where we anchored up for the night.
Snorkeling in front of the crosses was excellent and
catching a large leopard grouper was a bonus. For
dinner we had barbecued spare ribs and corn on
the cob after a conch sashimi appetizer.
Day two we left Las Cruces after sun rise and
cruised to La Reina. Upon arrival we could see loads
of sea life, marlin jumping, birds feeding and big
spots of bait in our sounder. Max landed a dorado,
then a white Bonita before finally bagging his
bucket list marlin. La Reina is an excellent dive
sight, but the current appeared to be ripping so we
decided to forego the diving. We moved on to El
Bajo, then passed Los Islotes and spent the night
tucked in a cove at Isla Partida where the sunset
was spectacular. For dinner we enjoyed poached
grouper and beans and rice with a fresh dorado
ceviche for appetizer.
Day three we headed off to dive Las Animas.
Conditions were excellent and the diving
phenomenal. This sight is always a treat as the fish
look like they are on steroids! After the dive we
fished our way up to Agua Verde. In the bay
snorkeling was fun before a fruitful night dive. After
appetizers and cocktails, dinner was barbecued
ribeye steak and baked potatoes.
Day four we worked our way back south. Max
finally cried uncle so John took the rod and landed
a small striper. The highlight of the day was our
visit to Isla Coyote where John almost bought a
time share! From there we cruised past Isla San
Franciscito, Los Islotes and moored up in a different
cove at Isla Partida. After another fun dive and fresh
sashimi appetizer, dinner consisted of fresh lobster,
chicken cordon bleu and potato salad.
Day five we ran back to La Reina where the fishing
action was good. Mary Ann asked if there was a
place we could stop and have a traditional Mexican
lunch. I knew just the place. We picked up the lures
and ran to the Bay of Dreams. At the Baja Beach
Club the Lowther's dined on chili rellenos and
downed a couple pina coladas before our return to
Buena Vista.
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Jun 13, 2011; 11:00AM - 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
June 6-12, 2011
WEATHER: While we had great weather for most of the week we did end on a blustery note. Friday night a little breeze started, nothing much at all and it was still nice on Saturday morning. Then all of a sudden on Saturday about mid-day the wind started to blow hard from the south. It did not take long for the whitecaps to come up. We had a little bump of a swell that made the surfers happy, a result of the short lived hurricane “Adrian” far to the south. Our nighttime lows for the week were mostly in the mid 70's while the daytime highs were in the mid to high 90's and the humidity ranged from 60% to 40%.
WATER: At the end of the week we had 80-81 degree water from the beach out to the 1,000 fathom line on the Cortez side of the Cape and around across the top of the San Jaime Bank on the Pacific side. Outside this warm water it dropped 3 or 4 degrees except on the Pacific side where the water to the north dropped to 72 degrees just off of the Bank. 40 miles to the west was another large temperature change where the water went from 72 to 64 degrees. Surface conditions were fair with small swells at the start of the week slowly growing larger and then the hard wind on Saturday really chopped things up in the afternoon.
BAIT: There was a decent availability on Caballito this week at the normal $3 per bait, some Sardinas were found in the Palmilla area at $25 a scoop and of course you could get frozen ballyhoo at $3 each.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The concentrations of Striped Marlin that we had been finding up around the Destillidera area have moved once again and appear to have come a bit closer to us. During the middle of the week the move started and as often happens it coincided with their not eating once again. At the end of the week they became hungry again and if you found the fish (between the 1150 and the 95) and were pulling lures at the right speed (8.5 knots) then you got bit, but only on lures, very few fish were hooked on live bait. The color did not seem to matter, it was size (10-12 inches) and speed that got them going. Good catches at the end of the week were four or five releases per boat but the average was just two. There have been more reports of Blue Marlin but I have not heard of any Black Marlin yet.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: On again, off again fishing for Yellowfin Tuna was the way it worked this week. The open water fish we had been finding last week seemed to have moved on and we have been finding fish at the end of the week only with Porpoise. Well, not entirely true, there are still a few unassociated fish out there, but not the numbers we were seeing last week. Reports I have heard have been that the Los Frailles and north in the East Cape area have been fishy, with Tuna to slightly over 100 pounds among the porpoise there. Hopefully the fish move our way soon! I did see two purse seiners moving past us heading up on the Pacific side on Friday.
DORADO: As the water warms up the fishing gets better! Almost every trip is producing a few Dorado and just like last week the larger ones have been found offshore. Fish to 40 pounds have been biting lures meant for Striped Marlin and there have been plenty of smaller fish closer to the beach, that is plenty of them if you find the schools, otherwise there sure is a lot of water out there! Finding Frigate birds working was the key to getting the school fish as they could be seen swooping down on the flying fish being chased by the Dorado.
WAHOO: I heard of a few fish being caught but not as many as last week. The warm water helps but we are between moon phases right now. If the water stays warm we should be seeing more Wahoo in about 10 days.
INSHORE: The Roosterfish have not been right on the beach, at least not mid-week, but instead have been found in 80-100 feet of water. Slow trolling live mullet was the key to getting bit on a regular basis, and for those with plenty of Sardinas to chum with, tossing out a live one after chumming around the rocks in the shallows worked on the smaller fish. There were Amberjack and some Snapper (Snapper early in the week before the swells picked up) as well as some grouper found by the fishermen working the bottom or the rocks.
FISH RECIPE: My recipe has been taking too much space so if you want to see it, check out my wordpress blog a little later in the week, or subscribe to the blog and you will receive an email as soon as I post it.
NOTES: The whales are gone, but the fish are showing up, yea!! This weeks report was written to the music of Jeff Beck on his early album “Blow by Blow”. Sure brings back memories! Until next week, tight lines!
I will be posting more to my blog now, please go to http://captgeo.wordpress.com/ and subscribe, you will be sent a notice every time I post a new article. Please feel free to send suggestions or if you have any ideas for articles. Thanks George
Gordo Banks Pangas
San Jose del Cabo
June 12, 2011
Tropical storm season is now officially on track, before summer has even started. Some 500 miles south of Cabo San Lucas Hurricane Adrian quickly developed over warm waters and strengthening to a category four storm, the system was following a more northwesterly course, keeping it distant from land. It does not appear that Southern Baja will receive any much needed rainfall from Adrian, most likely all that will be felt, is increased humidity and larger ocean swells through the weekend.
Weather conditions for late spring were ideal, very few clouds in the sky, high temperatures close to 90 degrees, variable breezes from the Pacific were keeping things comfortable. A marine layer has been hanging over coastal stretches, spots of occasional fog. Strong ocean currents were sweeping in murky water closer to shore, though clear blue water has been found within five miles of shore. Ocean temperatures are mostly in the 78 to 80 degrees range. More flying fish spotted offshore, as well as schools of skipjack and bolito. The annual migration of schooling mullet has been late to arrive this season, but in recent days there has been an increase in activity. Anglers have hooked into roosterfish to forty pounds in recent days, though roosters in the 10 to 15 pound range have been more common. We expect to see the peak run of larger sized roosterfish to appear within the next few weeks, should be exciting. It is also the time when dogtooth snapper and amberjack follow bait schools close to shore.
Anglers can find a variety of options now, offshore looking for striped marlin, dorado and yellowfin tuna, to trolling over the ledges for the elusive wahoo, taking a look off the rock piles for snapper, amberjack or grouper, then there is the option of slow trolling live baits over the inshore rocky outcroppings for a chance battle with a bruiser of a dogtooth. In recent days there has been a great variety of fish encountered, though none of these species, with the exception of huachinango (red snapper) were found in great number.
The grounds near La Fortuna to Iman Bank were attracting schools of red snapper (huachinango), perhaps the small jelly fish bloom in the same region has brought these fish here. At times the ocean surface would turn red as the snapper came up to feed. Anglers were landing easy limits of five fish per person, for snapper that ranged 5 to 10 pounds, they were readily striking on yo-yo style jigs throughout the water column. A handful of yellowtail to 30 pounds were also landed, there were increasing numbers now for amberjack, including quality sized specimens of fish to 60 or 80 pounds. These fish were hitting on both yo-yo jigs and drifted baits.
Last weekend we saw more dorado in the counts, fish up to 40 pounds, throughout the week, variable currents have scattered the dorado, only an occasional fish or two being found, as conditions settle we expect to see more of these fish. Same deal for wahoo, everyday there are reports of a few fish landed and others lost, wahoo to 68 pounds were weighed in this past week, many others up to fifty. Encouraging to see such quality this early in the season.
Striped marlin action, which has been off the map for almost a month now, has tapered off this past week. Further offshore once again in cleaner waters, charters reported as many as five releases, others had one or two. The stripers were hitting trolled lures and dropped back live baits, mullet, caballito or jurelito, some larger stripers to 160 pounds were landed.
Yellowfin tuna are in the area, but have been difficult to entice on a daily basis and in any quantity. Though the quality was there, as at least several yellowfin over 100 pounds were brought into the La Playita panga docking facility in recent days. These tuna were found moving with small pods of larger sized dark porpoise, on the areas north of Punta Gorda to San Luis. There had been action for anglers on schooling sized tuna up to 20 pounds off of the Chileno area, but this action came to a standstill as the water became off colored in that area.
The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 104 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 5 sailfish, 29 striped marlin, 42 dorado, 20 yellowfin tuna, 46 amberjack, 9 yellowtail, 6 dogtooth snapper,
566 red snapper, 15 wahoo, 62 roosterfish, 24 jack crevalle, 16 cabrilla, 7 pompano, 28 bointo and 8 sierra.
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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Jun 9, 2011; 03:30PM - Sea of Cortez, Coming to the East Cape? Eat your Wheaties!
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: vseasport
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EAT YOUR WHEATIES!
There is nothing like the tail beat of a tuna. The
thump of their tail resonates up the line and can be
seen in the tip of an anglers bent rod. A small fish
goes thump..thump..thump.. A larger fish goes
thump....thump.... thump.... The bigger the fish the
slower the thump. Large or small there is not much
doubt that it is a tuna.
Fishing buddies Ralph and Lyle came for a visit this
week and fished on Jen Wren III. Their request was
to catch some tuna. One of my neighbors had done
pretty well the day before on the 88 spot so we
made the 33 mile run out there. Shortly after arrival
we could see huge tuna crashing and feeding.
Getting them to go was a different story. After more
than an hour Ralph finally hung what I know was a
monster. The fish ripped off more than a hundred
yards of 100 pound test line from Ralph's reel in a
short moment and never stopped before coming
unbuttoned. It was sickening to watch the line go
slack. He had the right fish on the right gear but I
guess it just wasn't the right time.
We gave the spot about another hour without a bite
and decided to move on. A school of bottle nosed
dolphin had been spotted about 10 miles from us
and the boats there were getting a few nice tuna.
Shortly after running to the dolphin Ralph got
hooked up and by the end of the day both anglers
had bagged a 100 pound class tuna.
Lyle toped it off with a wahoo.
I was really bothered that the big tuna we had
hooked on the 88 spot came unbuttoned. Yesterday
I had a day off and decided to go back out there and
look around. Fishing with a bullet tuna for bait it
didn't take long and I was on.
I don't think this fish was as big as the one we lost
but I have to say, it kicked my butt
After a 55 minute battle Jen Wren deck hand Diego
Romero sunk the gaff and ended the fight.
The yellowfin tuna taped out at 190 lbs.
Now I'm taking today off to recuperate from my day
off yesterday.
Mark Rayor
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Jun 6, 2011; 11:22AM - 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
May 30- June 5, 2011
WEATHER: Sure am glad I am here and not there! With nighttime lows in the low 70's and daytime highs in the mid 90's, humidity most day around 35% it just doesn't get much better than this. We had sunny skies all week long and at the start of the week we had a steady, but not too strong wind from the northwest. Today is going to be the hottest of the week though, as it is 77 degrees and not even 7 am yet!
WATER: On the Cortez side of the Cape, almost in a line running due east of us, the water to the north was 80 degrees until you got off of the Los Frailles area offshore. There it warmed to 84 degrees at the end of the week. South of that line it dropped to 74 degrees except for an intrusion from the Pacific side that ran right along the 1,000 fathom line where it dropped to 70 degrees. On the Pacific side of the Cape it was 66-70 degrees everywhere. Early in the week the Pacific side was a bit rough with large swells and some steady wind, but the swells died down late in the week as did the wind. On the Cortez side of the Cape the wind had little effect later in the week but at the beginning it made for a few days of rough riding back to Cabo if you went east to fish.
BAIT: There was a decent availability on Caballito this week at the normal $3 per bait, some Sardinas were found in the Palmilla area at $25 a scoop and of course you could get frozen ballyhoo at $3 each.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: I did not hear of any Swordfish being caught this week but there may have been a few. Most of the boats were concentrating on the Striped marlin that were being found up to the east in the Destillidera area. The best catches were in double digits but most boats were getting between 3 and 5 releases per day, with a lot of fish just giving quick strikes and not hooking up. Most of the action for the fleet boats was on lures and the fish were averaging a little bit larger at 130 pounds instead of the normal 110 pounds. The action fluctuated a bit day to day and the fish moved around a bit as well. While the concentrations were in the Destillidera area, there were fish found closer to home also. Scattered Striped marlin were found all over the place and it seemed that most of them were willing to hit a lure or bait, but the concentrations were not there for large numbers to be caught. For the boats not making the long trek to the concentrations, a release average of 1 per boat was the norm. There were still Sailfish being caught in the San Jose area as well, mainly closer to the beach and the structure with small pods of three or four fish coming in to attack lures. Not a lot of them but enough that any trip had the chance of catching one.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: We finally had some decent numbers of Yellowfin show up. To the east of us there have been occasional breezers, schools of fish that are traveling just under the surface, pushing the water so that it looks like a gust of wind is traveling through. If you see one of them, the chances of hooking up fish are good, just throw a live bait in the water in front of the school. Boats that were finding them and doing that were getting fish averaging 45 pounds with an occasional jumbo over 100 pounds. Most of the boats are catching smaller fish close to home. The area from 2 to 6 miles off the beach between the arch and Chileano Bay produced plenty of blind strikes on fish that averaged 18 pounds, a few smaller than that but nice fish anyway. Almost anything worked, lures big and small, live bait, rigged dead bait, it was just a matter of getting a strike and then working the area. A good catch was a dozen fish, a big catch was limits for everyone.
DORADO: Every week the numbers increase, and this week the size increased as well. There were quite a few fish in the 40-50 pound class caught, and a lot of fish in the 12-20 pound class. The warm water on the Cortez side of the Cape was producing almost all the fish with the larger ones found offshore and the smaller ones closer to the beach.
WAHOO: It sounded as if the Wahoo bite was decent this week if you were fishing out at Punta Gorda. Boats that concentrated their effort on the 50 fathom line and worked it hard with swimming plugs and lead head lures were getting between two and five fish per day, most of them in the 30 pound class with an occasional fish to 60 pounds. There were a few others caught offshore but there were no concentrations out there, just incidental catches.
INSHORE: Roosterfish were the stars of the week for the inshore fishermen as some of the larger fish arrived with the warmer water. In the white water you could see fish to 40 pounds cruising for something to eat and getting a live bait in there usually resulted in a hook-up. Almost all of the sandy beaches were producing the Roosterfish, but the average size was 15 pounds, the larger ones were not as common. There were also some nice snapper caught in the rocks if you were able to get a bait in there, but the large swells early in the week made that a bit difficult. Many of the Pangas were fishing for Yellowfin Tuna since they were so close and biting so well.
FISH RECIPE: My recipe has been taking too much space so if you want to see it, check out my wordpress blog a little later in the week, or subscribe to the blog and you will receive an email as soon as I post it.
NOTES: Reports on the weather stations say that we might reach 100 degrees today! I think it is time to head to the beach before the sand get too hot to walk on, Tawny does not like that hot sand on her paws! The weather is heating up and so is the fishing, I am planning on a meat trip tomorrow, going out for a half day to get some fresh Tuna. This means that my recipe mid-week will be something to do with Tuna, you betcha! This weeks report was written to the music of Mark Knopfler on my favorite album of his, the soundtrack for “Sailing to Philadelphia”. Until next week, tight lines!
I will be posting more to my blog now, please go to http://captgeo.wordpress.com/ and subscribe, you will be sent a notice every time I post a new article. Please feel free to send suggestions or if you have any ideas for articles. Thanks George
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Jun 5, 2011; 11:29PM - Gordo Banks Pangas June 3, 2011
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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
June 3, 2011
Late spring season in Southern Baja is greeting tourists with pleasant weather conditions, sunny days near, 90 degrees, water temperatures averaging 76 to 80 degrees, variable breezes circulating, north to south, keeping conditions quite comfortable. Anglers were finding options from offshore to inshore and in between. Most of the sport fishing fleets are now concentrated from Santa Maria towards the Gordo Banks and north to San Luis Bank. Swells have been moderate from the south, weather changing from day to day, now it seems to be stabilizing, with less wind and on a warming trend.
Commercial pangeros found it difficult to net sardinas due to more persistent surf conditions, the most consistent live bait source now for anglers out of the San Jose del Cabo area have been jurelito, caballito, moonfish and mullet. Ocean currents were stirred up and murky closer to shore, but clean blue waters were encountered within several miles of shore.
The most consistent and talked about action this week was for striped marlin, they were found in season high numbers, as anglers reportedly were seeing scores of these billfish on any given charter, scattered throughout the region, but particularly abundant straight off of San Jose del Cabo and near the Gordo Banks. The stripers were found as close as one mile or two miles from shore, tailing, free jumping, feeding and just blind striking on trolled lures. Slow trolling live baits was almost a sure bet, once you located an area of fish. Dropping baits back to the fish seen was successful more often than not. Of course there were a couple of days earlier in the week where the marlin seemed more finicky, even though they were seen on the surface in groups of up to ten fish, a case of lock jaw. A few sailfish up to 90 pounds were mixed in, with the majority of the striped marlin being hooked into weighing in the 80 to 120 lb. class. Many charters, both pangas to larger sportfishers, were landing and rereleasing up to five or more marlin in a matter of hours. For anglers departing from Puerto Los Cabos Marina, you could not ask for billfish action this wide open in such close proximity.
Yellowfin tuna action tapered off this past week, main reason being that conditions were not favorable for several days, now as things settle back down we anticipate improvement on the tuna bite. Yellowfin tuna ranging from large sized footballs to cow sized specimens over 200 pounds are schooling on the same grounds. These fish congregated from San Luis to the Iman Bank, within several miles of shore. Tuna were found associated with porpoise further offshore, but for the local panga fleets, the spot for yellowfin has been from Iman to San Luis Banks. At times these schools were spotted by keen eye sight, breezing just under the surface near food sources, drifting fishing with live jurelito has been the method that most of these inshore tuna were striking on, most of fish being landed from this area were in the 20 to 50 pound range, but fish to over two hundred pounds are lurking. Local pangero Jesus Pino was out with long time Baja angler Frank Harbin in the past couple of days, they encountered rippling currents near Iman that turned out to be a school of yellowfin, quickly they had a triple header going, all on jurelitos. Two tuna were brought to gaff relatively quickly, weighing in the 40 to 50 pound class, the last hook up was the big one, this fish towed the boat around some, as it circled and ran initially on the surface before heading deep. After well over an hour of heavy pressure on stout tackle with one hundred pound spectra with 80 pound fluorocarbon top shot, they finally spotted the fish, conservatively estimated to be in the 250 pound range, a couple more big circles and this cow would be gaffed, it was just not meant to be, as on what appeared to be the last circle the line parted and the fish was gone.
Dorado are now appearing in daily fish counts, most of the fish are found scattered offshore on the same fishing rounds as are the marlin, striking equally on trolled lures or bait. Most of the dorado now found are of quality size, 15 to 40 pounds, though they just have not been numerous yet, just really filtering in with warming currents in the past couple of weeks. Wahoo activity has been limited to scattered of strikes on trolled lures, most resulting in cut skirts and lines, but a few wahoo were brought in. As the conditions become cleaner, with more baitfish moving in, we do expect to see the wahoo to become more active.
Inshore there has been spotted reports of slow to frenzied action for species such as jack crevalle, roosterfish, amberjack and even the toughest of them all, the gladiator dogtooth snapper. We expect this inshore bite for these seasonal species to peak in the coming weeks. Slow trolling with larger sized baitfish has been the best bet for this, with areas from La Laguna towards Cardon all producing mixed action.
The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 76 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of:
4 sailfish,85 striped marlin, 22 dorado, 29 yellowfin tuna, 15 amberjack, 5 dogtooth snapper, 36 various pargo, 5 wahoo, 46 roosterfish,75 jack crevalle, 10 cabrilla, 6 pompano, 14 shark and 8 sierra.
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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May 31, 2011; 06:52PM - East Cape Bucket list roosters and more...
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Mark Rayor
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What a week we have had!
East Cape fishing has been outstanding. Both in
shore and off shore the bite has been full speed.
Doctors told David Wilson he doesn't have much
time and he should perpare his bucket list.
Catching a rooster fish was on that list. I was happy
that we were able to help David cross that one off
the list.
Dave Hellmers of Carlsbad California wanted to
hunt tuna. He was rewarded with a 110 pound tuna.
82 year old Russel Sauer has been coming to East
Cape's Rancho Buena Vista for 45 years straight.
This year, with 2 of his fishing buddies Dave and
Denny, they stayed at Buena Vista Beach Resort.
For 3 days the boys had outstanding marlin fishing
Russel still gets just as excited about battling a
striped marlin as he did 45 years ago
Denny is the new guy on the team. He has only
been visiting the East Cape for 16 years.
We Sighted our first spinner dolphin of the season.
Oh boy! This is going to get good!
Jaccurate just arrived with some new Accurate gear
to field test on the Jen Wren boats.
Stay tuned.
Mark Rayor
www.thejenwren.com
www.vistaseasport.com
markrayor.blogspot.com
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May 30, 2011; 11:50PM - San Jose del Cabo May 29, 2011
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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
May 29, 2011
There was a noticeable increase in crowds of tourists this past week, as southern swells attracted surfers and warming ocean currents brought in sought after gamefish, giving anglers a wide variety of options to choose from. The large swell has resided from last week’s peak, but lingering waves are still providing fun sport. Water temperatures are now up into the 80 degree range, clarity has fluctuated, blue water shifting closer and further from day to day, conditions are steadily stabilizing and anglers are anticipating wide open action on the horizon
The swell activity last week had a negative impact on the fishing action, scattered inshore bait schools and pushed in off colored currents, but now this cycle has reversed, as schools of mullet and other baitfish are appearing in greater numbers close to shore, this has attracted larger sized roosterfish, jack crevalle, sierra, pompano, dogtooth snapper, grouper and amberjack. In recent days there was one roosterfish weighed in at 84 pounds, landed from a 22 ft. panga out of La Playita, it was hooked into off of the La Laguna area. Many jack crevalle in the 20 pound plus range were seen chasing bait schools and dogtooth snapper are starting to move into the shallow rocky reefs, looking to ambush their prey. Remember to bring your heavy tackle if interested in targeting and actually landing one of these king of the snapper species, they average about 30 pounds and can reach 80 pounds or more. These same areas can also produce grouper, amberjack and pompano during late spring. Slow trolling with larger sized live baits seems to be the most productive technique for this style of inshore world class action. Surf anglers have had reports of catching roosterfish, pargo, sierra, yellowtail, jack crevalle and even at least one snook was reportedly landed off of the San Jose Estuary area, this action should begin to peak in the coming weeks.
Warming waters have brought in more exotic species, such as dorado and wahoo, still no significant numbers, but daily these fish are being found, trolling lures and drift fishing with baits both produced action. A few wahoo were taken on rapalas, others on sardinas and yo-yo’s, many lines were cut.. Wahoo were weighing 30 to 50 pounds. Most of the dorado now being encountered were quality sized, in the 15 to 30 pound class, a few larger bulls mixed in. Exciting to see these fish in local waters, it has been a while, should be here to stay through the fall, as days will only become progressively warmer.
Striped marlin were being found in big numbers, anywhere from 2 to 15 miles from shore, hot spot in recent days has been off of San Jose del Cabo, more often than not mid day has been best, these billfish are aggressively striking lures and readily taking dropped back baits, at other times they would act like they were not interested, apparently preferring to gorge on the available natural food supply. The majority of these stripers have been in the 80 to 120 pound range.
Yellowfin tuna has been a main target species, as fish ranging from 15 to 250 pounds have been found, schooling on the San Luis Bank and encountered associated with porpoise further offshore. There had not been any live sardinas available during last week’s high swell, but in recent days there has been a new source for anglers out of San Jose, as commercial pangeros are making the long round trip run to La Ribera and back to supply sardinas to local sport charters. This has been the bait of choice for drifting over the banks, besides the yellowfin tuna, there have been dorado, wahoo and an occasional billfish encounter.
Keith Maurer’s group from New Jersey was fishing on Monday with La Playita skipper Chame Pino when they first caught a 90 pound class tuna, which there were very pleased with and rightfully so. This proved to be just a warm up, the next fish they hooked into really tested their endurance, after a three hour marathon battle on stout sixty pound tackle they finally brought to gaff a monster cow sized yellowfin tuna of 250 pounds. This cow had hit on a live jack, which was being soaking underneath a large bait ball. Massive bait schools are now spread throughout the area and things are really shaping up to bust wide open. The fish are here now, a little finicky at times, no huge numbers, but quality is definitely there for the taking, would not be surprised to see the season’s first 300 pound super cow be brought in to the La Playita weigh stations in the near future. Most everyday now we have been seeing yellowfin to 80 or 100 pounds, other monsters have been hooked and lost. There are still more tuna of 15 to 30 pounds being hooked on the sardinas, while the best chance of hooking into a cow has been on larger live baits.
This nest week local residents are gearing up for the traditional national holiday of the “Dia de la Marina”. In La Playita they have always taken this fiesta seriously, celebrating with three days of activities, including all night dances, carnival rides, parades, horse races and of course plenty of cerveza (beer). There will be the annual dorado, wahoo, tuna tournament. Organizers have scheduled an off road race that will be circuited through La Playtita, then into the hills, before returning to finish in La Playita, should be exciting, to say the least, to witness Baja Trophy Trucks thundering through local roads.
The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 80 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of:
3 sailfish, 39 striped marlin, 57 dorado, 86 yellowfin tuna, 24 amberjack, 7 dogtooth snapper, 58 various pargo species,12 wahoo, 55 roosterfish,88 jack crevalle, 11 cabrilla, 9 pompano, 8 hammerhead shark and 18 sierra.
Good fishing, Eric
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson
Owner/Operator
800 4081199
Los Cabos 1421147
ericgordobanks@yahoo.com
www.gordobanks.com
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
May 23-29, 2011
WEATHER: We had sunny skies almost all week with nighttime lows in the low 70′s and daytime highs in the mid to high 90′s. Quite a bit of wind at the end of the week kept things from becoming too hot around here!
WATER: The water temperatures remained steady throughout our area this week with very little change. On the Cortez side of the Cape we saw 79-81 degrees while on the Pacific it was 62-65 degrees. Swells were smaller than last week with 2-4 feet on the Cortez side and 5-8 feet on the Pacific. There was some wind chop on top of that most afternoons but it did not get bad until late in the week. On the Pacific side the water got pretty rough in the afternoon Friday and Saturday but it was while on the down hill run if you fished that side. On Saturday the wind switched and we had it move from the northwest to the southwest, then east and it ended up coming from the north.
BAIT: Once again there was no change in the bait situation this week. A few decent Caballito but mostly junk bait at $3 each. Don’t buy the junk bait unless you are desperate. Sardines up at Palmilla at $25 a scoop. Frozen Ballyhoo at $3 or $4 each depending on the supplier.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Striped Marlin, an occasional Blue Marlin, and occasional Sailfish and a few Swordfish were the billfish that appeared on the scene this week. Of course there were more Striped Marlin than any of the others, but the others were there. Most of the Marlin action took place at the 1150 and the San Jose Canyon. Best baits were rigged Ballyhoo trolled at 4 or 5 knots but Ballyhoo dropped back to fish raised on the lures worked well also. Best colors for lures seemed to be either very bright or very dark, in one case silver/white and the other green/black or a petrelero. A few Swordfish were seen and baited with one solid hook-up that I heard of. There were a few more Blue Marlin reported this week than last week but no large fish, most of them in the 200-250 pound class, almost every one of them came in on lures. The Sailfish were a bit farther to the north than the rest of the Billfish, up where the water was a bout a degree warmer, mostly in the area off of Punta Gorda.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There have been football size fish size fish scattered just offshore all along the Cortez coastline, most of them found about 2 to 5 miles from the beach. Most of them have not been associated with dolphin, instead they have been blind strikes, but the schools have been staying with boats that have chummed them with sardinas after getting a blind strike. Offshore there have been some nice size fish to 60 pounds under the black porpoise, and a few larger fish as well, almost all of them biting on lures pulled for marlin. Not every boat has been able to get into the Tuna action but a few fish here and a few fish there has kept interest up.
DORADO: A few of these tasty fish have been found every day, most of them coming on lures. The best area has also been the Cortez side of the Cape in the warmer water. Areas close to the beach have generally held smaller fish to 12 pounds while the larger fish to 30 pounds have been found farther offshore. Not to say you can’t get nice ones inshore, there have been some decent catches made by the boats fishing Sardinas for Tuna.
WAHOO: New moon phase has kept the numbers of these speedsters down, but there have been a few caught this week. The warm water along Punta Gorda has been the best area to concentrate on.
INSHORE: A repeat of last week, the inshore fishery this week has been scattered as there have been some decent Yellowtail on the Pacific side for those who are willing to take the e-ticket ride to the fishing grounds, or going to the beach around the El-Tule area for some Sierra and small Roosterfish if the winds were not too strong.
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May 24, 2011; 11:09PM - Sea of Cortez, East Cape-Fanticies do come true fish
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Mark Rayor
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This morning we hooked a marlin at 7:30. While La
Rissa Travers battled her first marlin, my VHF
radios were going crazy. It was enough to make me
crazy. Dorado under serggaso grass, tuna on
spotted dolphin, marlin feeding, it sounded like the
whole Sea of Cortez had just erupted. The action
never stopped and at the end of the day most boats
returned to the dock flying outriggers full of flags.
Fpr photos and complete report check out my blog
Mark Rayor
www.thejenwren.com
www.vistaseasport.com
markrayor.blogspot.com
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May 23, 2011; 12:00PM - 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
May 16-22, 2011
WEATHER: I saw my low for the week at 66 degrees, and it was a windy morning, really glad I took a light jacket with me! Don't sneer, I've lived in the tropics for so long that is cold to me. Our daytime temps have gotten to the high 90's. We had afternoon winds this week from the northwest at 12 to 16 knots but they have died off about the time the sun comes up. At the tail end of the week (Friday) the clouds moved in and the wind went away. Of course it was partly to mostly cloudy on Friday and Saturday but the sun got out and about on Sunday, but so did the wind.
WATER: Water temperatures continue to climb as at the end of the week we were seeing 80-81 degrees on the Cortez side of the Cape. The Pacific side remained quite a bit cooler, if you went just north of the Golden Gate Bank (if you were a masochistic) the water was 20 degrees cooler. Surface conditions on the Pacific side were rough with swells at 6-9 feet and wind chop on top of that. The wind continued to blow all week from the northwest and the only fishermen who went on the Pacific side were die-hard Yellowtail fishermen working just off the beach 15 miles to the north. On the Cortez side the swells were to 5 feet but spaced well apart, there was a 2-3 foot wind swell on top of that, but depending on where you were the wind did not hit until later in the afternoon.
BAIT: There was no change in the bait situation this week. A few decent Caballito but mostly junk bait at $3 each. Don't buy the junk bait unless you are desperate. Sardines up at Palmilla at $25 a scoop. Frozen Ballyhoo at $3 or $4 each depending on the supplier.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Overall the bill fishing has improved and the fish are staying in the same spot, roughly. Anywhere around the 1150 area would produce fish this week but they were fairly tight to the bait. This made it necessary to watch other boats for signs of fish and to pay close attention to the electronics. Find the bait, find the fish, pretty basic and simple, but easy to forget. Most boats were able to release one or two Striped Marlin per trip, the better ones were releasing three of four, the best ones were releasing double digit numbers. What was the difference? Easy to answer, and the answer is bait. If you had no good bait and just used lures and junk bait for drop backs you might get a release or two if you were in the fish. If you had good bait (mackerel, Caballito) you might get a couple of them on a drop back and a couple on deep drops. If you were running rigged ballyhoo you chances for a great instead of good catch improved dramaticly. Don't get me wrong here, I have no interest in the bait boats nor do I sell ballyhoo. Also, not all the crews are willing (or know how) to rig them properly. Also, sometimes the ones you buy from the bait boats have been thawed and re-frozen several times, making them mushy and unsuitable for bait.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There was still scattered action on the smaller tuna close to the beach by pangas using Sardinas, but the quality fish were coming off of the area between the 1150 and the Cabrilla sea mount. Finding the right porpoise was the key, and not all the boats that found them were able to catch fish. The fish were shy and the best results were had by boats that had, and used kites to fly the bait well away from the boat. Fish to 80 pounds were caught this way. Also, there were some fish reported from the outer Gorda Banks on the same method.
DORADO: Same as last week. There were a few Dorado caught this week, almost all of them on the Cortez side of the cape. Small ones were found close to the beach, little guys of around 8 pounds. Offshore a bit farther were larger fish averaging 15 pounds. There were not a lot of them, but enough that you had a decent chance of getting one for dinner.
WAHOO: There were a few more Wahoo caught this week and a lot more strikes as we just eased past the full moon. No real numbers on these fish but they were nice as a surprise package when fishing.
INSHORE: The inshore fishery this week has been scattered as there have been some decent Yellowtail on the Pacific side for those who are willing to take the e-ticket ride to the fishing grounds, or going to the beach around the El-Tule area for some Sierra and small Roosterfish if the winds were not too strong. The bite on Yellowfin close to the beach that we experienced last week tapered off and was a hit-or-miss proposition.
FISH RECIPE: My recipe has been taking too much space so if you want to see it, check out my wordpress blog a little later in the week, or subscribe to the blog and you will receive an email as soon as I post it.
NOTES: Once again I was a bit late with the fish report, but hey, I got to go fishing so aren't you happy for me? I am out again tomorrow, leaving my lovely wife to deal with all the domestic stuff, like posting this report! Not written to any music this week except for the sound of the golf announcers on the television downstairs, if I had listened to some I think it would have been to Pink Floyd, from any album they ever did! Until next week, tight lines!
I will be posting more to my blog now, please go to http://captgeo.wordpress.com/ and subscribe, you will be sent a notice every time I post a new article. Please feel free to send suggestions or if you have any ideas for articles. Thanks George
Gordo Banks Pangas
San Jose del Cabo
May 20, 2011
Anglers –
The season’s first southern hemisphere swell arrived early in the week and waves
ranging up to ten feet high were keeping crowds of surfers happy. This swell had
been anticipated and surfers were arriving from across the globe. Ocean
conditions became stirred up closer to shore, high surf conditions made it too
dangerous for cast netters to net sardinas, the last few days there have not
been live sardinas available. There has been a mix of live moonfish, caballito
or mullet, as well as fresh dead ballyhoo or brined sardinas. Local water
temperatures ranged from 72 to 77 degrees, warmer areas being found in the
direction of the Gordo Banks to Los Frailes.
This recent full moon period saw the all around fishing action slow down,
several coinciding factors, including high swells, no live sardinas and
unpredictable winds swirling from all directions. This time period always seem
to produce rapidly changing weather patterns from day to day and anglers find
that the action can vary accordingly, both favorably and negatively..
Striped marlin action has been the most consistent bite for offshore charters.
The marlin are being found throughout the region, seem to be more concentrated
from Chileno to the Gordo Banks, weeks past most marlin were found 15 or more
miles from shore, recently they are being encountered with several miles of
shore. Action became more scattered in recent days and winds created choppy
conditions the later part of the week. The billfish were striking on trolled
lures, live baits and rigged ballyhoo, crews were crisscrossing areas where free
jumpers and feeders were spotted. Most of these stripers have ranged from 80 to
120 pounds.
Dorado counts are slowly increasing, mainly found in ones and twos, though there
were several reports of anglers finding larger sized schools, so that is
encouraging. Late spring to early summer as a rule is the time of year when we
see the largest sized dorado on the local fishing grounds. Often not in huge
numbers, but most all of the fish encountered are larger sized, then as the
summer progresses we see increasing numbers of schoolie sized dorado.
Yellowfin tunaare now schooling over various high spots, stirred up conditions
and lack of live sardinas in recent days halted this action, but should rebound
as the swells and winds reside again. Yellow fin ranging in size from ten to two
hundred pounds were reported this past week. Trolling larger baifish,
particularly bolito, accounted for majority of the biggest tuna. Most of the
yellowfin being landed by sport fishing charters were in the 10 to 50 pound
range. They were also found traveling with porpoise further offshore, it was
matter of being in the right place with the correct offering.
During this same time frame in 2010 we had great wahoo action develop along the
coastal stretches from Cabo San Luis towards Los Frailes, so far we have only
had a taste of these fish becoming active. We will keep our fingers crossed that
last year’s history repeats itself. With all of the baitfish now schooling
offshore on the various banks we do have high expectations for coming weeks.
Inshore there were reports of larger sized roosterfish up to 40 pounds caught
and released while trolling larger live baits (mullet, caballito or moonfish)
along the beaches north of La Playita. We have also noticed increased numbers of
mullet moving in. Some dogtooth action was also encountered north of Punta
Gorda, though this time the fish won and the anglers lost the battles due to cut
off lines on nearby reefs. A handful of amberjack were also found closer to
shore on larger live bait trolled on the surface, exciting way to fish for these
jacks, a couple of specimens recently topped fifty pounds.
There was not much bottom action found this last week, even though most charters
were targeting surface species, the anglers that did try the bottom action
reported limited success for various pargos, cabrilla and amberjack. We did see
a few nice grouper brought in by the La Playita commercial panga fleet, so maybe
we will see more opportunities as the weather stabilizes. This is also time we
start to see more pompano in the area, they sure are fun sport and great eating.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out
approximately 57 charters for the week with anglers reporting a fish count of:21
striped marlin, 2 sailfish, 8 hammerhead shark, 45 yellowfin tuna, 29 dorado, 8
cabrilla, 39 various pargo species, 24 jack crevalle, 6 yellowtail, 16
amberjack, 48 roosterfish, 6 pompano, 18 sierra and 3 wahoo.
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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