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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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Mar 8, 2010; 11:59AM - 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 SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
March 1-7, 2010
Weather: We had a great weather week until Thursday evening when the clouds started to move in. It was nice and sunny earlier in the week with morning lows in the low 60's and daytime highs in the mid 80's. Once the clouds moved in it warmed up a bit so that on Saturday our low was 71 degrees and our high was 83 degrees, but the clouds also brought rain. It was just a good spit on Friday but on Saturday it came down steadily, but lightly, almost all day. Great for all the plants but it was uncomfortable out on the water, and it got worse in the afternoon when the wind suddenly changed and came from the east. Everything had settled down after 7 pm but the shift surprised a lot of boats. It looks as if we are in for a few more days of cloudy weather before things clear up.
Water: It looked as if conditions had not changed before the clouds moved in as far as water temperatures go, it was warm on both sides of the Cape with an average of 73 degrees out to 30 miles almost everywhere. Once the clouds moved in we had no shots from above, but the boats were reporting pretty much the same thing on the water. There was a bit of a swell all week from the northwest on the Pacific side, as well as a bit of wind so the conditions were a bit choppy at times. The Cortez side was smoother with smaller swells and less wind. The water everywhere was a little off in color, it all had a green tinge.
Bait: There were Pacific Green-backed Mackerel and Caballito at the normal $3 per bait and up in the Palmilla area a few boats were selling small Sardinas for $25 a scoop.
FISHING
Billfish: Marlin fishing has remained slow, the best I saw this past week was one boat flying three flags as he returned from a charter. Quite a few more boats were able to find the fish this week, compared to last week and they were biting a bit better, but it was still nothing to write home about, at least for those of us who go out all the time. The fish seemed to be concentrated closer to shore than normal, most of the fish were found within three miles of the beach, and on both sides of the Cape.
Yellowfin Tuna: Just like last week, most of the Tuna that were found were quite a long way from home, necessitating a two hour or more cruise to get to where you might find some. At least that was the conditions for most of the week. There are always exceptions though and on Saturday there was a pod of Dolphin found three miles off of Chileno Beach that had loads of football tuna, 5 to 20 pound fish, and the first dozen boats to get there had a blast. There were a few other close in fish found this week as well but for the most part tuna were a long run from home with your fingers crossed!
Dorado: Just a few yellow flags were flying this week, most of the boats did not have any luck with Dorado and those that did only got one or two at the most. The fish were found offshore on the Cortez side by boats searching for Tuna and there were a few very small ones in close to the beach, also on the Cortez side of the Cape.
Wahoo: Just like last week, what Hoo?? I saw lots of orange flags flying this week, but they were all for Sierra.
Inshore: For the fourth week in a row, inshore fishing was the way to go. The Sierra bite busted wide open on the Pacific side late in the week and I was disappointed to see so many of these so called “conservationist” captains load up with two, three or more times their limits. Come on guys, you have two clients on the panga, come in with 40 Sierra and then the next day complain that the fish have disappeared? Get a clue, please. Anyway, the bite was good and there were a few decent Yellowtail caught as well as a few grouper and snapper. The surprise for many was the Marlin that were found so close to the beach. While dropping bait to the bottom for grouper and snapper, many boats keep a live bait half way down for Amberjack, but there were quite a few marlin caught this week doing that.
Notes: I didn't see as many whales on Saturday as I thought I would see, and there were still plenty of Humboldt Squid out there if things got really slow fishing. The rain is great and I am looking forward to the trips into the desert in a few week to take pictures of all the flowers! Until next week, tight lines!
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Mar 1, 2010; 12:11PM - 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 SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
Feb. 22-28, 2010
Weather: Mostly sunny skies made us happy all week and the temperatures could not have been better. The morning lows were down to 59 degrees a couple of days and our daytime highs were as high as 87 degrees. We had no rain but did have a bit of a breeze during the middle of the week.
Water: Water conditions were mixed this week. At the end of the week the water on both sides of the Cape were in the 73-74 degree range from Past Punta Gorda on the Cortez side to the San Jaime Bank on the Pacific side and this warm water extended to the south 30 miles and more. In a change from our usual, the warm water was off color, being a bit on the green side and occasionally very green. The only place anyone was able to find good blue water was 40 miles to the south, but it was 71 degrees and a long run. Surface conditions were decent on both sides of the peninsula but directly south the currents collided and for 25 miles the water was very disturbed and cross-chopped and swelled.
Bait: There were Pacific Green-backed Mackerel at the normal $3 per bait and up in the Palmilla area boats were selling Sardinas in the 3' size for $25 a scoop.
FISHING
Billfish: I wish I had better news on the Billfish, but it seems to have become a common refrain every week for me, once again there were Striped Marlin caught, but not in numbers to get excited about. Fish were seen close to the shore in the greenish water on the Cortez side, we had anglers this week bottom fishing for Grouper and Snapper who dropped a live mackerel halfway to the bottom while fishing in 150 feet of water and they hooked two Marlin, releasing one and losing the other. Other boats were seeing one here and one there on the surface in the same type of conditions. There was no consistent bite nor was there any regularity to the areas they were being found.
Yellowfin Tuna: Well, the Yellowfin had some regularity to where they were being found, and that was way out there! Most of the fish found this week were from football size to 30 pounds and it was a long run for a consistent bite. While there were fish found as close as 18 miles due south and 24 miles at 210 degrees, most of the action this week was due east 35 miles or due south at 40 miles, a long two hour run for the charters. If you got into the right porpoise pod the action was hot and heavy, but there were a lot of pods that were not associated with fish. If you were in the right ones, almost anything was working, from feathers to marlin lures to cedar plugs, it didn't seem to matter.
Dorado: The Dorado seemed to be missing in action this week. While boats were able to find the type of debris that would normally hold these fish (weed lines, dead seals, wood) there were no fish under any of them. An occasional flag was flying from outriggers at the end of the day, but I saw no boat with more than two yellow flags.
Wahoo: What Hoo?? I saw lots of orange flags flying this week, but they were all for Sierra.
Inshore: Once again inshore fishing was where you wanted to be for consistent action. While the fish were not large, there was an abundance. The most common catch was Sierra and most boats did not have any problem limiting on them. Small swimming plugs, hootchies and live Sardinas, all rigged with a small trace of wire leader resulted in plenty of fish in the box. Anglers working yo-yo style jigs of rocky bottom did well on Amberjack to 25 pounds, Grouper to 20 pounds and Snapper to 20 pounds with an occasional larger specimen of each in the mix. There were also plenty of Roosterfish to be had, unfortunately most of them were the small 5 pound or less class, but there was an occasional school of 20-25 pound fish that gave good action. Yellowtail provided some steady action with fish to 30 pounds for boats that worked the points on the Pacific side, but several shrimp boats put a crimp on the action as they anchored on the schools and had 10 guys hand-lining with shrimp heads as bait. Watching the fish come over the rail one after the other really let you know how many there were in the school. After the boats left (two days on the spots) you were lucky to find one Yellowtail.
Notes: Whales are still providing a show for everyone, both Humpbacks and a few Gray whales are always in view. I don't know if there is any correlation between these things, but along with the warm, green water has come the Humboldt Squid. A lot of the boats are stopping to jig up a few of these after a long offshore trip just to get something for their anglers to pull on. Spot the bird piles working just off the surface and you can see the squid. Pull up so that your lures sink and pretty soon you are hooked up. Don't get inked though, it's pretty nasty to get off. Our Tsunami after the earthquake in Chile was a non-event. We had a few hours of the marina water ebbing and surging, stirring up the bottom silt and turning the water in the Marina a really dirty color. I heard that the marina in San Jose had a few issues, mostly because of the narrow entrance causing a 5-knot current during the surges, but all in all things are fine. Until next week, tight lines!
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Feb 22, 2010; 11:01PM - San Jose Del Cabo February 21, 2010
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric
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Gordo Banks Pangas
San Jose del Cabo
February 21, 2010
Anglers –
There seemed to be an increase of visitors traveling to the Los Cabos area this past
week, most likely people are seeking out warmer wintertime weather conditions, as
harsh temperatures continue to sweep across much of the United States. February is
one of the more unpredictable and cooler months in Southern Baja, water temperatures
typically are on a cooling trend, there are exceptionally strong currents, varying
wind patterns contribute to off colored currents moving in and this can change
clarity from day to day . At this time the water temperatures are above normal,
ranging from 73 to 75 degrees throughout most of the region, with an area of 78
degree water hanging 18 to 20 miles offshore of Cabo San Lucas. Last week there were
several days of gusty winds, predominately from the north, but also turning around
and blowing from the south. This turned over the inshore waters, where blue water
had been found as close to one mile from shore, now the color
in the same areas is greenish and this usually means that pelagic species such as
wahoo, dorado, striped marlin and yellowfin tuna become scattered and
uncooperative.
Anglers found much different fishing action this week due to the change in
conditions, wahoo, dorado, tuna and marlin were either very scarce or nonexistent.
Most of the dorado found were actually very close to shore, this is where there were
more baitfish schooling to attract the migrating dorado, as well as sierra and
smaller sized roosterfish. Sierra action is normally a sure bet during the winter
months along local beaches, so far this season has been an up and down situation,
some days there were big numbers to report, while on other days anglers were lucky
to find one or two fish. Hard to pinpoint what the reason for this is, though there
were reports of gill net activity happening along the remote and unpatrolled East
Cape region and this is never a good thing.
While surface action slowed and came to a standstill, the good news was that bottom
action started to show favorable signs of improving. The San Luis Bank was where
local panga fleets were concentrating their efforts, working with yo-yo jigs in
depths ranging from 120 to 180 feet, they were finding a mix of quality sized
amberjack up to 70 pounds, grouper, snapper, pargo, cabrilla, bonito and even a few
yellowfin tuna that were holding in deeper waters. Many charters were accounting for
a dozen fish in combination, but there was the factor of the breeze picking up early
and creating too fast of drift conditions.
We expect that the coming month will provide more consistent action for bottom
species, in addition there will be the option of trolling close to shore for sierra,
roosterfish and jacks. As conditions offshore stabilize, there should be improved
reports for striped marlin. It will also be the time when yellowfin tuna can be
encountered offshore schooling with fast traveling porpoise. So many options will be
available and prospects of the rapidly approaching spring season and the return of
more consistent surface action is just around the corner.
The combined panga fleet launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out
approximately 77 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 3
striped marlin, 1 sailfish, 6 hammerhead shark, 3mako shark, 39 dorado, 13 yellowfin
tuna,134 Mexican bonito, 192 sierra, 13 roosterfish, 3 pompano, 38 pargo, 31
amberjack, 23 cabrilla, 2 yellowtail and 28 triggerfish.
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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Feb 22, 2010; 12:42PM - 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 San Lucas Fishing Report
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
Feb. 15-21, 2010
Weather:
All right, finally a week with no rain but I think I like it better when we
get one day, at least! We had mostly sunny skies (even though I did not see
much of them) with our daytime highs in the high 70's, occasionally
touching the low 80's and our nighttime lows were in the high 50's.
Water:
We had interesting things happening with our water temperatures this past week.
Contrary to our normal pattern this time of year, the water on the Sea of Cortez
was, on average, cooler than that of the Pacific side, at least within 30 miles of shore.
On the Pacific side we were seeing an average of 74-76 degrees and on the Cortez
side it was averaging 72 degrees. There were a couple of anomalies however as at
the end of the week there appeared to be an intrusion of very warm (for this time of
year) 78-80 degree water at the end of the week from the east. This warm water
appeared 15 miles off of Punta Gorda as well as across the Cabrillo Seamount and
up to the 1150 spot.
Bait:
Caballito were the bait of the week at the usual $3 each and there were
some Sardinas available in the San Jose area at the normal $25 per scoop.
There were few if any Mackerel to be found this week.
FISHING
Billfish:
Marlin and Sailfish continued to be scarce this week and while a few were spotted
as well as caught, there were no large numbers of them anywhere. It appears that we
are not going to see a repeat of the fantastic Striped Marlin fishery we have been this
time of the year for the past three years, or if we do it means that everything else is
going to be all contrary for the rest of the year as well. The few fish that were caught
this week were found up in the Punta Gorda and Gorda Banks area as well as very close
to the beach on the Pacific side up around the Golden Gate Bank.
Yellowfin Tuna:
News for the Yellowfin Tuna fishermen is still bad as this week was a repeat of the
last week. The catch on Tuna is still spotty, a few fish found here and a few found there,
mostly it seems to be a matter of luck by boats that are actually in the historically
producing areas such as west of the San Jaime, due south 40 miles and outside the
1,000 fathom line anywhere on the Cortez side. The fish that were found were smaller
school fish to 35 pounds, but most of them were footballs at 5-15 pounds. All the fish
found were associated with porpoise.
Dorado:
The good news for the week was the reappearance of the warm water and a few
more Dorado showing up, and most of them were actually worth catching. If you
remember, last week there was a large school of very small fish at Gray Rock, well,
those fish were either all caught or got smart and moved on. This warm water brought
in some larger fish, and while the numbers have not been high, the fish have been
quality fish in the 25-40 pound class. A few of these fish were found on the Pacific
side around the sea mounts in the warm water, but the better ones came in on the warm
water flow from the east, and at the end of the week the area around the 1150, Cabrillo
Seamount and outside Punta Gorda were the places to be. Most of the fish were
hooked on lures being trolled for Striped Marlin, but there were some hooked up on
live bait as they followed a lure-caught fish in.
Wahoo:
Surprisingly there were still Wahoo to be caught out there. Most of those I heard of
were incidental catches, but at least they were there. The fish were not large, averaging
just under 25 pounds, but there were a few larger ones reported in the warm water
offshore. As incidental catches, most of them were caught on lures pulled for Tuna or
Striped Marlin, resulting in the majority of hook-ups being lost due to sliced leaders.
Inshore:
Overall the inshore fishery was the way to go this week if you wanted action, but
that didn't work for everyone. Unlike the last several weeks where the fish would
concentrate in one area for several days, this past week the fish seemed to be constantly
on the move. The Sierra, Yellowtail and Amberjack would be in one place in the
morning and 2 miles away in the afternoon. This may be due to the changing water
temperature moving the bait around, but for whatever reason one day could be red-hot
and the next ice-cold.
Notes:
The whales are still providing thrills and if you were fishing offshore that was a
good thing as sometimes that was the only action you might see. There were whales
inshore as well so combine the inshore action with the whale action and this week
inshore was the place to be. Things might change this coming week with the warm
water moving in, we will just have to wait and see how long that lasts. I didn't get out
much myself this week as I was down for 5 days with a nasty cold. I am feeling better
now and listening to Jack Johnson on his 2000 Everloving Records release 'Brushfire
Fairytales' helped me feel better! Until next week, tight lines!
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Feb 15, 2010; 11:39AM - 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
Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report
Capt. George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Feb. 8-14, 2010
Weather:
Two weeks in a row now we have had rain for at least one day,
and a decent plant watering rain at that, not the window spotting stuff we
normally get. On Wednesday of this week we received over a 1/2 inch
during the day and almost the same that night. The rest of the week was
partly cloudy to mostly cloudy. Our nights were as low as 58 degrees
while the days were averaging 80 degrees. We had two days of strong
winds that kedpt most of the fleet working close to shore on the Cortez
side of the Cape, but that was all right as that was also where most of the
fish were found.
Water:
Water temperatures on the Cortez were in the 74-75 degree range while
on the Pacific side north of a line between the Cape and the San Jaime Bank
it cooled off to 71-72 degrees. Tuesday and Friday of this week the wind
was blowing stgrongly enough from the northwest that the Pacific side was
extremely uncomfortable to fish. The rest of the week water conditions on
the surface were good on the Pacific, but the fish were scarce. Conditions
on the Sea of Cortez were much better, but once you got north of Punta
Gorda the wind started to pick up.
Bait:
Caballito were the bait of the week at the ususal $3 each and there were
some Sardinas available in the San Jose area at the normal $25 per scoop.
There were few if any Mackerel to be found this week.
FISHING
Billfish:
For most of the week the Marlin and Sailfish would not bite, you could
find them but they were not hungry. Finaly at the end of the week the bite picked
up a little and boats began to get them to bite on both bait and lures. Most of
the fish I heard caught were found on the Cortez side of the Cape and the majority of
them were Striped Marlin. There were some Sailfish caught as well, a real suprise
considering the water temperature. The area outside of the 95 spot to the 1150
produced fish for a number of boats and a few were able to release as many as three
marlin per trip, not the numbers we have been expecting considering the last several
years production, but not bad.
Yellowfin Tuna:
The catch on Tuna is still spotty, a few fish found here and a few found there, mostly
it seems to be a matter of luck by boats that are actually in the historicaly producing
areas such as west of the San Jaime, due south 40 miles and outside the 1,000 fathom
line anwhere on the Cortez side. The fish that were found were smaller school fish to
35 pounds, but most of them were footballs at 5-15 pounds. All the fish found were
associated with porpoise.
Dorado:
We had almost no Dorado in the area at the beginning of the week, but just after the
first heavy winds came throught there was a big school of small fish (and some of them
were really small, smaller than Sierra) just off of the beach between Gray Rock and the
Westin on the Cortez side. These fish were within a mile of the beach and unfortunately
they were hammered hard by the fleet, many of the boats were keeping fish that only weighed
four or five pounds. The school was blasted quickly and by the end of the week the fish were
almost gone. There were a few larger fish found offshore on the Cortez side with some
of the fish going as large as 35 pounds, and most of these were caught on lures by
boats looking for Marlin.
Wahoo:
I did hear of a few Wahoo being caught this week, and they were found close
to the beach by boats working for the Dorado in the area. None of the fish were
large, averaging just 15 pounds, and a few more were lost due to monofiliment
leader, but it was still nice to see a few around.
Inshore:
Once again the inshore fishery was the way to go if you wanted action. While the action
offshore was slow, there were plenty of Sierra on both sides of the Cape to keep rods
bent and fishermen happy. Along with the Sierra were the occasional showing of Yellowtail,
Snapper and Grouper. Combine these traditional inshore species with the Dorado action and
everyone had some luck this week.
Notes:
Whale watchers were excited this week as there seemed to be action wherever you
looked, breaching whales, blowing whales, singles and small pods. Inshore was where the
fishing action was this week, but we hope the Marlin start to show up on the Pacific side soon!
This weeks report was written to the music of 'Yes' on their 1999 Beyond Music release 'The Ladder'.
Until next week, tight lines!
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Feb 11, 2010; 09:26PM - Gordo Banks Panga Report Feb 7 2010
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric Brictson
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Gordo Banks Pangas
San Jose del Cabo
February 7, 2010
Anglers –
The rain front that had been predicted to arrive over last weekend did finally arrive on Tuesday and throughout the day left steady rainfall over a wide portion of Southern Baja. Enough to mess the roads up and put the cleanup crews into overtime action. Unusual to receive rain fall in this area during mid winter, so this was a welcome bonus for the local landscape. Skies are now mostly clear with scattered clouds and high temperatures are reaching the mid to upper 70s. Water temperatures have fluctuated from 70 to 75 degrees, in recent days as the variable winds weakened, the ocean temperatures returned with a slight warming trend. Outside of the Gordo Banks, towards the Cabrillo Sea Mount there was a current line of about 77 degrees.
Anglers were finding a variety of live bait available on most days, sardinas, caballito and some mackerel. Sardinetas were also found and have been productive baits, rigged up dead with trap hooks. Dorado were the main species striking these baits, but also a few wahoo and striped marlin are being attracted. Dorado are being found in small schools, sizes ranging from 5 to 25 pounds, most charters were landing two to four of them per morning. Currents have been swift, causing rapidly fluctuating clarity, not uncommon to see murky green water turn blue in a matter of a couple of hours, this has affected the fishing action accordingly.
With water temperatures running warmer than normal, fleets are continuing to have better results for offshore surface species, rather than bottom dwellers, which have not been consistent. Most charters are targeting dorado, yellowfin tuna, striped marlin, wahoo, with maybe some brief inshore trolling and bottom drops added as an option. The majority of the more consistent fishing action has been found within five miles of shore. Anglers using live sardinas for bait along the shoreline have found scattered action for sierra and a few smaller sized roosterfish.
Early in the week there were some yellowfin tuna of 40 to150 pounds found on the Gordo Banks, these fish hit on chunk baits and sardinas, most of the time later in the day, only a handful of them were brought in, but enough to say that these nicer grade tuna are still in the area. Other tuna were located schooling with porpoise, ranging from footballs to over 100 pounds, on some days these yellowfin did hit live sardinas, most of these biters being fish in the 10 to 20 pound class, but other times when the larger sized tuna were seen breezing among porpoise on the surface anglers were not even able to entice a strike. That can be a common trait of yellowfin, if they do not feel like striking a certain offering at a particular time then anglers will simple have to rely on some old fashioned luck.
Wahoo action had been very good early last week, then south winds shut that action down, now in recent days as the winds have quieted some, the wahoo have again become more active, Chileno Bay, Palmilla Point and the Gordo Banks all had reports of wahoo being encountered, particularly early in the day, at first light before the congregation of charter boats arrived. The wahoo were striking on rigged ballyhoo, mackerel, sadinetas, sardinas, yo-yo jigs, Yo-Zuri, Rapala and skirted lead heads. The wahoo that were accounted for had mostly been juvenile fish under 20 pounds, but this past week a group of larger fish moved into this region and some wahoo of 30 to 50 pounds were landed.
The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 75 charters for the past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of:
2 sailfish, 8 striped marlin, 4 hammerhead shark, 5 mako shark, 29 bonito, 68 yellowfin tuna, 146 dorado, 16 wahoo, 104 sierra, 14 roosterfish, 10 amberjack, 13 cabrilla, 2 yellowtail and 48 miscellaneous pargo species.
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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Feb 8, 2010; 01:25PM - 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 SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
'Fly Hooker Sportfishing'
www.flyhooker.com
Feb. 1-7, 2010
Weather:
Thank goodness that the coldest we have seen here in the past week was 58 degrees! None of the snow storms and ice that has been plauging the mid-west and the east coast. We did have some weather this week though. As my wife picked me up at the airport on Tuesday it started to rain, and it continued through the night until the early hours of Wednesday morning. Since then we have has only partly cloudy skies with cool evenings and early mornings and daytime highs that just reach 60 degrees. At least I am not out shoveling snow!
Water:
The Pacific side of the Cape had some large swells this week along with occasional stiff breezes from the northwest that made it uncomfortable for some anglers and the water on that side has cooled off quite a bit as well and now is averaging just 70 degrees out to the San Jaime and the Golden Gate Banks. It drops a little more once you go west of there, sometimes down to 68 degrees. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water has been much calmer with small swells and only light chop in the mornings, picking up a bit later in the day. The water has been warmer there as well averaging 73 degrees five miles from the beach. Closer than that between Cabo and San Jose it has averaged 71 degrees.
Bait:
The bait has been a mix of Caballito and Mackerel at the normal $3 per bait. I am not sure if there has been any Sardinas, but believe there have been some in San Jose based on what I have been told.
FISHING:
Marlin:
These have not been the best choice to target as the success rate for those looking for a trophy fish have been low. There have been fish spotted but very few have been brought to the boat this week. The few that have been caught have been hooked on live bait, very few were caught on lures, and most of them were found on the Cortez side of the Cape. These are Striped Marlin I am talking about. I did not hear of any other species of Marlin being caught this week.
Yellowfin Tuna:
Another scarce species this week, the Tuna that have been found were mostly football sized fish up to 20 pounds and it was a long run south, sometimes 40 miles, to get to the fish. There were plenty of schools of Porpoise to check out, but few of them had Tuna. A few boats were able to score fish closer to home, also to the south but we are talking about one or two fish per boat. At the end of the week I heard that there had been some fish show up in the area of the Gorda Banks.
Dorado:
The cool water has really shut down the bite for Dorado, if you were able to find any. They were scarce, and the word I got from a few boats that got into schools on Thursday was that regardless of what the crew tried, the fish would not eat. No lures, no live bait, no fresh cut strips, nothing seemed to interest them. Hootchies and flies were ignored, rigged dead bait, it was as if the fish had their mouths sewn shut for the most part. During the week there were a few Dorado brought in, but the consensus was the season is over for Dorado unless we get a warm water eddy come through.
Wahoo:
What Hoo?
Inshore:
All right, finally some good news! The Sierra have shown up in good numbers with most anglers able to catch easy limits. While most of the fish are in the 5-6 pound class there have been a few good ones to 10 pounds. Don't turn away from these fish in disgust at their size, match your tackle to the fish and they are lots of fun and great smoked or for seviche. Both side of the Cape have been producing well. Yellowtail are begining to show up as well, mostly firecrackers this early in the year but there have been some fish to 20 pounds. Fishing around the points and rock bottom areas using live bait or iron jigs produced the majority of the fish. The Pangas have also been getting into some Grouper and a scattereing of smaller sized Roosterfish.
Notes:
I just returned from seeing my family in Oklahoma. While it was nice seeing everyone again, and getting to see relatives I have not seen in 30 years, the cold really got to me, guess I have lived in the tropics too long. I really feel bad for all of you who have to put up with those conditions all winter long! Anyway, that was my way of letting you know why there was no fish report last week. I got my wife a new computer as well and forgot to have Office installed (sometimes I do stuff like that). In the next week or so that should be rectified and things will get back to normal. This weeks report was written to the music of Jack Johnson on his 2008 Universal Records release 'Sleep Through The Static'. Until next week, tight lines!
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Feb 2, 2010; 03:23PM - Gordo Banks Panga Report Jan 31 2010
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric Bricston
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Gordo Banks Pangas
San Jose del Cabo
January 31, 2010
Anglers –
The Southern Baja Californian winter time weather patterns continues to be mild and often has felt more like spring or fall rather than the heart of the winter. Days were mostly sunny and temperatures reached 80 degrees and despite variable winds, overall the ocean conditions were favorable for sport fishing anglers. Water temperatures are averaged warmer than during late January of last year, most areas are now in the 73 to 75 degree range. Clean warm water has moved in close to shore off the San Jose region and this is attracting a variety of game fish, including striped marlin, sailfish, dorado, yellowfin tuna and wahoo. It is not common to encounter all of these species at the same time of year. Perhaps it is an El Nino effect, weather patterns do seem to be warmer than average, with winds being more unpredictable. Finding baitfish has been a challenge at times, but also was worth the patience and travel time, as having the bait resulted in more options, particularly for the yellowfin tuna.
The striped marlin bite this season has not been as wide open as it was the previous few, schooling mackerel scarcer. There have been a mix of caballito, mackerel, sardineta and sardinas available most days, at times tougher to find and La Playita pangeros were having to travel as far as Vinorama in order to net supplies for the local charter fleets. Often the panga charters will troll lures early in the day, finding an occasional wahoo, dorado or yellowfin tuna while they were waiting for the carnaderos (commercial bait sellers) to meet you on the same grounds.
Not much consistent bottom fishing action being found now and inshore the sierra, roosterfish and jacks were not as reliable day to day, so the better action has been for surface species. Yellowfin tuna are being found close to shore from Punta Gorda to the Iman Bank. The yellowfin ranged from 10 to 140 pounds. Anglers used various whole baits, dead and live, as well as chunks, for spotty action, anywhere from one or two fish totals, up to over a dozen fish for others. Larger sized tuna were found associated with porpoise, as well as holding on structure, such as on the Gordo Banks.
Perhaps one of the biggest stories of this past week was the late season wahoo action that broke wide open on local fishing grounds and latest through mid week. These elusive largest members of the mackerel family are normally seeking out warmer southern currents by now, so this frenzy can be considered a winter time bonus.
Heavy boat pressure was factor to slowing down the action at times, as the news of the action spread fast , coinciding with the fact that any consistent action was hard to be found elsewhere, there were charter and private boats of all sizes congregating on relatively small hot spots. Wahoo were found in a wide range of sizes, from 10 to over 60 pounds, many boats landed one or more wahoo in their mixed catch, but some anglers had as many as a half dozen wahoo per morning while reportedly missing at least that many other chances at ‘hoo. These fish were striking on skirted chrome lead/jet heads, diving Rapalas and various dead or live baits. Many were also hooked into while casting yo yo’s to feeding wahoo. Fun action, also many lures were lost due to line splicing jaws of these speedsters.
Dorado were scattered through a wide range, striking a variety of baits and lures. Mainly traveling in smaller schools of fish averaging 5 to 15 pounds, but as normal there were always a few much larger bulls encountered.
If weather can stabilize in the coming weeks we expect similar type action will continue, though if weather patterns become more severe we might see this bonus action fade quickly. Actually, due to the strong south wind that did pick up on Wednesday afternoon the cooler Pacific currents swept in and by the weekend the water temperatures near Punta Gorda where this wahoo action had been found dropped to about 71 degrees and also became greenish, this combined with the full moon attributed to slowing the all around action down, with wahoo being off the bite and only a handful of dorado and tuna rounding out the average catches per day.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 81 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 12 striped marlin, 164 yellowfin tuna, 44 bonito, 16 amberjack, 10 cabrilla, 12 pargo (huachinango), 114 dorado, 15 roosterfish, 81 wahoo and 110 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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Jan 25, 2010; 12:01PM - 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
Cabo Fish Report
January 18-24, 2010
WEATHER: Our highs this week were in the mid 80’s and the low we experienced was 59 degrees, enough to require a light sweater in the early mornings and in the evenings. We had mostly sunny skies and some strong winds at the end of the week. We did have a bit of rain on Thursday night and during the day on Friday, but no downpours.
WATER: Water temperatures on the Pacific side of the Cape this week remained in the 73-74 degree range while well offshore 40 miles to the southwest there was an area of 76 degree water. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water was several degrees warmer at 75-76 degrees. The water on the Pacific side became very rough, almost un-fishable in the later part of the week as the southern end of the frontal system that struck the U.S. west coast came across our area bringing strong winds and rough seas. With the Cape protecting the Sea of Cortez from the strongest winds the water there was in much better shape with the seas beginning to get choppy in the early afternoon each day.
BAIT: Mackerel and Caballito were available at the normal $3 per bait.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Fishing for Striped Marlin was spotty this week, the success ratio was down as the fish were difficult to find, and once found were not in the feeding mood. This, combined with the rough seas made most of the boats try to target other species. One friend of mine did see, early in the week, several Blue Marlin and a Black Marlin feeding on a school of Dorado just off of the lighthouse on the Pacific side. He reported that the fish looked to be between 600 and 800 pounds but were focused on the schooled Dorado and would not touch what he had out, and even if they had, his #30 gear would have not been able to handle them. A few other boats reported seeing an occasional large Marlin on the Cortez side as well, but there were no reported hook-ups.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There have been some smaller school sized fish found on occasion along the ridge between the Golden Gate and the San Jaime Bank early in the week before the wind began to blow, but since then the Tuna catch has been pretty much confined to an occasional hook-up on the Gorda Banks. There was a decent bite for one day around the 1150 spot but those fish had moved on by the next day, and they were just larger than footballs anyway.
DORADO: We had some decent action on Dorado along the Cortez coastline between the Santa Maria Bay and Red Hill just off the beach. The fish averaged 12 pounds and while there were good numbers to be found early and mid-week, at the end of the week the fish had moved elsewhere. Watching the boats return Saturday afternoon there were not many yellow flags flying.
WAHOO: Still around and still biting, really amazing that boats are still getting Wahoo this time of year! There was a decent bite on fish averaging 30 pounds in the same area the Dorado were found, probably feeding on the same baitfish. While there were no big numbers, there were about two dozen caught each day. A few boats targeted them and were able to come in with two or three per trip.
INSHORE: With the strong winds and big swells almost all the action took place on the Cortez side of the Cape. The action was fair for Sierra most days but a few days the fishing really shined as when the schools were found the anglers were able to get limits on fish averaging 5 pounds fairly quickly. There was sporadic action on other near-shore species such as snapper and grouper with the action really spread out.
NOTES: Overall I have to say that we can’t refer to this past week as one when “You should have been here” as the fishing action was sporadic at best and occasionally just bad. The heavy, strong winds had a lot to do with it as about half the week the fish on the Pacific side were unreachable. Hopefully the situation will return to normal quickly. This weeks report was written to the music of the Bryan Flynn Band, once again back in Cabo and playing at the Cabo Lounge and at Tanga-Tanga. Brian will be playing at the Talketna, Alaska Folk Festival this year (how is southern rock folk music?) so if you get a chance, check him out. Until next week, tight lines!
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Jan 24, 2010; 10:22PM - Gordo Banks Pangas San Jose del Cabo
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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
January 23, 2010
Anglers –
As the west coast of the United States continues to be hammered by a series of back
to back powerful storms the Southern Baja California region has been enjoying warmer
than usual mild winter time conditions. There have been scattered clouds and high
temperatures are hovering around 80 degrees. Winds have been moderate, ocean
conditions have been comfortable for anglers, though the south wind is predicted to
gust up to 20 miles per hour the next couple of days. Water temperatures are
averaging 75 degrees throughout most of the area, this is several degrees higher
than normal for this time of year. Live bait has consisted mainly of caballito,
sardinas and sardineta, with mackerel being very scarce.
Billfish action slowed down, below normal for this period, charters targeting
striped marlin worked hard to catch one marlin and multiple billfish catches were
not common. It was strange that sailfish were still being hooked into on a fairly
regular basis. Casting live baits to tailing marlin was the most common method,
other boats did hook fish while drifting live baits deeper in the areas where they
had seen free jumping stripers.
Not much inshore action now, sierra and roosterfish were scattered and not numerous.
Bottom fishing was not producing consistent numbers of fish either, a few yellowtail
were starting to show in the reports, so hopefully more of these jacks will migrate
into the area and start providing a welcome option for anglers.
Yellowfin tuna were schooling on the Gordo Banks, fish ranged in size from 10
pounds to over 100 pounds. Lots of skipjack and pesky seagulls were making anglers
work that much harder to hook into the yellowfin tuna. Most strikes were coming
while drift fishing with sardinas or chunk bait from skipjack and sardineta. The
pressure also increased on these fishing grounds since this was one of the few areas
where there was a good chance at catching tuna.
Dorado were found spread out through most of the zone, being found close to shore,
as well as offshore. Striking on a wide range of baits and lures, most of these fish
were smaller schooling size fish under 15 pounds, but there were some exceptions of
fish over 25 pounds being landed.
This winter has had its share of unusually activity, among them being the
availability of nicer sized tuna on the Gordo Banks and the fact that there are
still wahoo holding in the area. The few wahoo that have been accounted for recently
have preferred striking on bait versus lures. Rigged dead baits have probably
accounted for more fish than live baits, with sardinetas being their favorite, more
wahoo were hooked mid morning after the surface of the ocean had a chance to warm
some than early in the morning when the wahoo were more in a hibernation mode.
The combined panga fleet launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out
approximately 58 charters for the past week, with anglers accounting for a fish
count of: 7 sailfish, 6 striped marlin, 9 wahoo, 118 dorado, 83 yellowfin tuna, 11
roosterfish, 29 sierra, 13 amberjack, 15 bonito, 10 cabrilla, 7 yellowtail and 16
pargo.
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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