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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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Aug 6, 2007; 10:27AM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
July 30-August 5, 2007
WEATHER: Up until August 2nd we were enjoying some very non-seasonal weather here in Cabo, it was more like spring with our nighttime lows in the mid 70’s and daytime highs in the mid 80’s, along with some slight breezes. Of course it had to change and now we have the normal situation with daytime highs reaching 99 degrees and on the 4th at 6 am we had 86 degrees here at the house. The humidity has kicked in as well and this morning we have a fairly good amount of cloud cover, the result of a small storm system moving across the Sea of Cortez from the mainland and crossing the Baja north of us.
WATER: The warm water we have been waiting for has finally arrived! On the Sea of Cortez we have had water in the 80-86 degree range while on the Pacific side it has been 78 degrees at the San Jaime Bank. Of course we have also had great surface conditions to go with this and it has made for some very good fishing trips! Swells have been moderate at 2-5 feet with just a light afternoon chop at the end of the week. Earlier in the week there were a couple of days when things got ugly when you returned to Cabo as the winds did pick up strong from the southwest, but it was only late in the day and did not affect many people.
BAIT: There was no problem getting bait this week with plenty of Mackerel, Caballito, Mullet and Sardinas. The bigger baits were the normal $2 per bait while the Sardinas were $25 per scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: I mentioned on the last report that I would be doing a fair amount of fishing this past week and I did get out for three days. I was amazed at the number of Striped Marlin still being caught! On Monday we released two small ones and had a few others in the pattern, Wednesday we released one nice fish out of about a dozen hook-ups (they did not want the live bait that day, just toying with it, and we are using single hook rigs on the plastic lures) and on Friday we released two Striped Marlin (a double strike, one on a lure and the other on a drop-back bait) out of 6 bites, one big Sailfish of over #100 out of three bites (all at the same time) and on the way home stopped just outside the bay when we say a free jumping Striped Marlin, trolled a few minutes and hooked, fought and released a small Blue Marlin! Now that was a good day! All this action has been within 5 miles of the coast on the Sea of Cortez between Palmilla and home, so there was no real need for a long run, all the action was within 12 miles. Of course that made it pretty crowded as well so a few of us just kicked it in gear and went farther to the north to escape the crowds and still found good fishing. It seemed that except for Wednesday when we had a run of fish that would not eat the bait, the action was evenly divided between artificial lures and live bait.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: These fish are still not here in any real numbers of large sizes yet, but I hope that will change any day now. The few fish that have been found close to home are still in the “football” category but there have been reports for the last two days of some decent fish in the 20-30 pound class outside of the San Jaime. The Bisbee East Cape Tournament had no qualifying fish (over #40) in the Tuna category for the first two days but on the third day a boat fought a fish of #160 for an hour before bringing it to the scale, so there is hope!
DORADO: The Dorado action continued to improve as the water warmed and the fish have been a bit larger on average as well. We caught a couple of fish this week that were over #40 and it seemed that every other boat returning to the marina had at least one yellow flag flying.
WAHOO: Just a few fish were reported this week but I have no information on them, sorry about that, just the rumors.
INSHORE: The reports were that the inshore action has been pretty much limited to either Roosterfish or bottom fishing. Most of the Pangas have been working on the large number of Striped Marlin, Sailfish and Dorado just off the beach.
NOTES: The fishing has improved and that has everybody here happy! Now, if the Tuna just make an appearance it will be that much better. On a musical note, my friend Daniel Tuchmann has returned from 6 months in Ireland, visiting all the stone circles possible, meeting other musicians and trying to get a little Irish influence into his music. It only took him a couple of days to settle back in and now he is playing every Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Hemmingway’s, just behind Cabo Wabo. An excellent guitarist, he plays covers with his own influence as well as some of his original work. Please check out the Billfish Foundation web-page concerning the recently passed shark fishing law in Mexico. http://www.billfish.org/new/NewsArticle.asp?ArticleID=60
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Jul 31, 2007; 05:06PM - 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
July 29, 2007
Anglers –
Southern Baja saw the affects of the seasons first tropical storm, as Dalila passed within two hundreds of Cabo San Lucas as it followed a track into the cooler Pacific waters, where it quickly weaken. On Wednesday there were heavy isolated thunderstorms combined with wind that were enough to cause minor flooding in certain areas, also high surf conditions creating choppy seas that all but shut down sportfishing operations for the day. Swells up to ten feet pounded the shoreline and were perhaps just a prelim of what might develop as we enter the warmest part of summer.
Heavy surf once again tested the new Puerto Los Cabos jetty, it held up fine, though storm waves were crashing over the top of the northern jetty and surf was closing out through the jetty entrance. It will be interesting to watch and see what happens when a real hurricane strikes this area, it is only a matter of time and we will find out. The Navy Corp of Engineers found out the hard way that local surf can be treacherous, as they were using their wooden panga style skiff to gather some loosened floats they became sideways in the surf zone and flipped the boat over with four of their personnel aboard, one of which was taken away by ambulance with undisclosed injuries.
The week started off with the fishing action improving before the storm, there were good numbers of striped marlin, dorado to 35 pounds, yellowfin tuna offshore with porpoise and even a handful of wahoo, as well as an assortment of snappers and amberjack. Since the storm water conditions became cooler and stirred up closer to shore, but 15 to 20 miles offshore the water was clean and 80 degrees. Lots of baitfish were seen on the surface, including bolito and particularly flying fish, by the dozens. Fleets were able to purchase mackerel, but sardinas became very scarce and were only available some of the time, this limited what options were open for anglers, the best bet was going further offshore, looking for the warmer blue water.
Dorado were not numerous, but most of the fish encountered were in the 15 to 30 pound class, striking on lures and trolled baits. Everyday there were scattered reports of yellowfin tuna being found traveling with porpoise, 15 to 25 miles offshore, anywhere from off Cabo San Lucas to Vinorama, most of the tuna were averaging in the 15 to 20 pound range. Though a few larger fish were also reported, including a couple reportedly weighing over 150 pounds, taken outside of the San Luis Banks by a boat based out of Palmilla.
The combined La Playita panga fleet sent out 33 charters in the weather shortened week and anglers accounted for a fish count of: 1 wahoo, 11 striped marlin, 2 sailfish, 15 yellowfin tuna, 22 dorado, 9 hammerhead sharks, 26 bonito, 55 various pargo, 18 jack crevalle, 9 cabrilla and 7 amberjack.
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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Jul 31, 2007; 05:04PM - Gordo Banks Pangas San Jose Del Cabo
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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
July 22, 2007
Anglers –
We thought the summer season had finally arrived last week when the weather had become hot and humid, more tropical, but once again this last week conditions cooled due to persistent south winds pushing in Pacific currents. Water temperatures were up to 80 degrees at the start of the week before dipping back down to a chilly 70 degrees and turning a murky green color throughout the inshore areas. By the weekend the conditions began to improve some and cleaner blue 73 degree water was reported found within eight miles of shore. Although the climate has been very mild and comfortable for this late in the month of July, the constantly changing ocean conditions have scattered the baitfish and gamefish as well. Just as we thought the cold currents are finally over with, we are set back once again with cooler off colored conditions, as we near the month of August we are optimistic that warm blue water will prevail and the offshore fishing action will get back on track.
Last year at this time there was wide open action for yellowfin tuna found around the Iman Bank, so far that has not happened yet this season, only a scattering of tuna were reported, most recently from the area of the 1150 off of Chileno. Dorado continued to be scarce as well, the few that are being found were in the warmer blue water and ranged in sizes from 10 to 30 pounds, striking on lures and trolled baits. Live bait supplies were limited, mainly just mullet and mackerel now available, sardinas have become very scattered off of the Puerto Los Cabos jetties where they had been congregating for so many months, all of the dredging activity and the higher surf conditions undoubtedly attributing to this situation. The recently opening of the channel of the new marina has also caused many of the schools of baitfish to move inside where they are not schooling on the surface and hard to be captured by throw nets.
There had been consistently good numbers of several species of pargo being found closer to shore, but now with the lack of their preferred baitfish (sardinas) the fleets have had one less option. Choppy ocean conditions also made it difficult for anglers to concentrate on the rock piles with yo-yo jigs, which had been producing amberjack and cabrilla, just too much current in recent days. The majority of charters are now trying their luck offshore, looking for the cleaner water and trolling a combination of lures and bait. There have been more striped marlin than any other species, often seen riding the swells on the surface, but at times they were not easy to entice into striking, a percentage were hitting on lures, but live mackerel proved to be the best bet, the stripers that were landed were ranging in size from juvenile 50 pound fish to hefty adult 150 pound plus specimens.
Quite a few large sized jack crevalle were found closer to shore while trolling with baits, but roosterfish were few and far between. Have not heard much from surf fishermen, this is normally the time when the season’s first snook are reported.
The combined panga fleet from La Playita sent out approximately 52 charters for the week and anglers accounted for a fish count of: 24 striped marlin, 28 skipjack, 34 bonito,13 dorado, 3 yellowfin tuna, 76 various snapper species, 12 amberjack, 62 jack crevalle, 4 hammerhead shark, 4 roosterfish and 17 cabrilla.
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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Jul 30, 2007; 12:13PM - 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
July 23-29, 2007
WEATHER: I love it when we have daytime temps in the mid 90’s, we get to sweat and clean out our systems. When we add a light breeze in the evenings as the temperature drops to the mid and low 80’s it means that things are just about perfect here in Cabo. I know that these temperatures a too hot for a lot of people, and we did have the humidity raise up a bit this week, but it sure beats 112 degrees, and I don’t care it that is a “dry” heat or not, that is just too damn hot for me. I guess what I am trying to say is that things were just about perfect this week considering that we are in a summer weather pattern. We did have Tropical Storm Delilah pass to the southwest mid-week and she brought a scattering of rain to us on Wednesday along with some winds that decreased the temperatures but for the most part she was a “non-event”, but a warning of what might happen during the next several months.
WATER: As far as the basics are concerned we had storm swells at the middle and end of the week from Tropical Storm Delilah, large enough that there were high surf warnings out at all the hotels and resorts on both sides of the Cape. The wind combined with the swells were enough to convince the Port Captains office to close the Marina to departures after 7:30 AM on Wednesday, a lot of boats returned very early due to seasick clients. The storm came up from the south and pushed warm water with it. Early in the week prior to the storms arrival we were seeing offshore temperatures in the low 70’s, on Thursday we has a steady 79 and over across the board. At the end of the week the California current re-asserted itself and we had temperatures in the mid 70’s along the Pacific coast and as far up the Sea Of Cortez as Punta Gorda, and extending up to 10 miles off the beach on the Pacific side and 3 miles on the Cortez side.
BAIT: There were plenty of Mackerel and Caballito available this week as well as Mullet and Sardinas. The Mullet and Sardinas were difficult to get at the beginning for the week and of course on Wednesday there was no bait available, at least fresh caught bait, the water was just too rough for the guys to catch bat. At the end of the week there were bait balls all over the place, both up close to the beach and far offshore. Prices were the normal $2 per large baits and $25 per scoop of Sardinas.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Striped Marlin action was close to the beach on the Cortez side for moat of the week with most of the action happening place in the cool water within three miles of the coast. There were groups of fish tailing on the surface, occasionally as many as 7 or 8 fish together, and there were also lots of sleepers on the surface. Farther offshore the water was warmer and there were not the numbers of fish to be found. There were a few Blue Marlin reported and this was expected as the offshore water warmed up. Hopefully we will start seeing some good numbers of these fish as the warming continues and spreads. Also, there were Sailfish reported. These are not as common in our area as they are in many parts of Mexico, but here they are also an indication of warming water and a precursor to good Dorado fishing!
YELLOWFIN TUNA: I keep hoping for the Tuna fishing to improve and this week there were a few days when almost every boat that went out returned with Tuna flags flying. Unfortunately most of these fish were only footballs in the 6-12 pound class, very few larger fish were found. Most of the action occurred wither 5 miles off of Chileno beach early in the week, 12 to 18 miles south of the Cape during mid week or at the San Jaime bank at the end of the week. Sounds like they are traveling, yes? As is often the case with the football fish, the best results were had with small re hootchies or dark colored feathers, slow trolled while being “jigged” among the porpoise.
DORADO: A few boats really did well on Dorado this week but most of the guys were lucky to get a fish or two. The clue was to find something floating on the surface or slow troll live bait in the area where Frigate birds were seen to be working. Most of the fish were in the 12-20 pound class with a few stretching the springs on the scales to 45 pounds. The best action was prior to the storm, early in the week, on the Cortez side of the Cape, but I believe that things will pick up really fast now that there is more warm water in the area.
WAHOO: We are just coming up on the full moon on the 29th and I am surprised that I have not heard of more Wahoo being caught. There were a few fish reported, but not in any numbers or from one particular area.
INSHORE: Inshore action was good for Roosterfish early in the week but the rough conditions as a result of Tropical Storm Delilah really had the inshore bite drop off. While it has been a few days since the storm passed, it nor until just now that the swells have died down enough to make the fishing comfortable close to the beach again.
NOTES: I am going to be very busy the next few weeks so I will have more “hands-on” report information in the next couple of reports. I really like that, it makes for better first hand information and also allows me to do an informal check on the “b.s.” factor of information I receive. Until next week, please take a few minutes to check out the following link, especially if you like fishing here!
http://www.billfish.org/new/NewsArticle.asp?ArticleID=60
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Jul 23, 2007; 11:07AM - 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
July 16-22, 2007
WEATHER: I just got back from a trip to southern Orange County, California on the 17th as was gone for a week so bear in mind that I missed most of the daily information usually contained in my report. Almost everything in this weeks report is relayed second hand. While I was gone it appears I missed the summertime weather we normally get this time of year. It was reported to me that the temperatures actually got above 100 degrees with 80% humidity for three days. The day I returned (the 17th), things cooled off with breezes from the northwest returning and dropping the daytime temperatures back into the mid 80’s. There was no rain while I was gone and of course there were only a couple of partly cloudy days. Since I have been back we have not had to use the air-conditioner in the evenings in order to sleep, our nights have been in the mid 70’s, very comfortable!
WATER: Surface conditions were reported as being very good all week long with the only problem being some fairly large swells coming from the southwest due to storms in that direction. With winds locally mostly light and variable, there was no chop on the water on either side of the Cape. The water temperatures have changed almost daily however as the California current continues to have a great effect on the water temperatures. At the beginning of the week the Pacific side was very cool and the Cortez side of the Cape had water in the high 70’s and occasionally into the low 80’s all the way to the beach. The California current brought cool water close to shore and it wrapped around the Cape so that water within 20 miles of the coast line on the Pacific side and as far up the Sea of Cortez as Punta Gorda was in the low 70’s and slightly off color. At the end of the week we had an intrusion of warm water from the south and the southeast, water on Saturday at the Cabrillo Seamount was 85 degrees! Basically anything outside the 1,000-fathom curve on the Cortez side and immediately south was warm, everything else was cool.
BAIT: Caballito with some Mullet in the mix were the larger baits available this week, a few boats were able to score on Mackerel but they were not available in large numbers. The normal $2 per bait prevailed. I don’t know if there were any Sardinas available or not.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: At the end of the week there were Striped Marlin to be found in the cool green water close to the beach on the Sea of Cortez side between the Chileno beach area and the Palmilla area. Most of these fish were between 4 and 6 miles of the beach. A few boats did well with release counts of up to five fish per boat, most boats were happy to get one or two hook-ups per trip. The water was still too cool for there to be many Blue Marlin, but on Thursday there was one of #350 caught at the Cabrilla Seamount in the warmer water.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Once again there were scattered schools of football fish to 15 pounds found in with the white-bellied dolphin on the Cortez side of the Cape. I heard word of better quality fish being found 15 miles off the coast up at the East Cape and hopefully these fish will make their way down to us soon. The negative on this is that I have also seen a lot of purse Seiners, including several super-Seiners (with helicopters on the deck) crossing the Cape heading up in that direction.
DORADO: As the water warms up the Dorado catch continues to improve. This is one of the basics we can count on in sport fishing, warm water equals Dorado. I was out on Thursday and while fishing the Seamount we caught on bull that weighed between 50 and 60 pounds and also a cow that was about 25 pounds. It seemed that that was about par for most boats that were able to get into the Dorado, two or three fish per boat. There were also fish found in the cooler water closer to shore, but they were smaller on average, with fish in the 12-pound class being the norm. Best baits for these fish were feathers in bright colors; the larger fish fell for live bait.
WAHOO: I did hear of a few decent Wahoo being caught while I was gone but other than that I have absolutely no information.
INSHORE: The cool water inshore continues to produce a few Sierra, but not in any great numbers. The talk of the week was nice sized Roosterfish to 50 pounds being found in fair numbers up in the San Jose-Punta Gorda area. The best bait there was slow trolled live mullet with most of the action coming in less than 25 feet of water.
NOTES: It’s nice to be back home, and also nice to know that my timing was right to miss the three hot days. It appears that our water is late in warming up this year and that has its positive side as well as the negative. On the minus side, everything we expect to appear this time of year is late; the water is not warm enough for the Blues and Blacks to appear in any numbers. On the positive side, the cooler water keeps any storms from coming out way! Speaking of witch, there is one developing well to the southeast of us but it is projected to pass well to the southwest so the only effects we might receive would be a slight chance of feeder band cloud cover and some larger swells. I have my Jeep here finally and if you are interested I will post a picture of it next week, or maybe not, we’ll see. Until then, tight lines!
http://www.billfish.org/new/NewsArticle.asp?ArticleID=60
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Jul 16, 2007; 07:32PM - Gordo Banks Pangas
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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
July 15, 2007
Anglers –
The tropical storm season has yet to show much signs of life, but this week the weather did become significantly more humid and the feeling of summer heat was in the air. Water temperatures rose to an average of 75 to 78 degrees and seemed to be on the way to getting back to normal, blue water was found as close as 8 to 12 miles from shore and more offshore baitfish activity was reported. Swells did increase from the south and this made all of the surfers happy. Perhaps the biggest local news report this past week was that on July 10 the Puerto Los Cabos Marina channel was finally opened, this happened by surprise during the middle of night, with an armada of heavy equipment attacking the last sand bar separating the Sea of Cortez and the marina basin, which will soon be home to some 500 vessels, ranging from pangas, cruisers to super yachts. There is still an incredible amount of work to be done on all of the docks, slips, infrastructure, five star resorts, etc., but the opening of the channel was a big step in the right direction of finally getting this much anticipated project actually into the operational mode.
With the increased swell and the extreme tides associated with the new moon phase, commercial pangueros found baitfish more scattered and worked hard to obtain sufficient amounts for the charter boats. On most days there was a mix of sardinas, mullet, caballito and mackerel available. Sportfishing fleets found the action spread out, no particular hot spot, everyday seemed to be different as to where the better action was found. Offshore the most common species encountered was striped marlin, though often they proved finicky and difficult to entice into striking, though with a combination of patience and experience many stripers in the 80 to 140 pound weight class were accounted for. Dorado were being found while trolling on the same fishing grounds as were the marlin, but they were not very numerous and anglers were fortunate to land one of them, of the fish landed most of them were in the 10 to 30 pound range.
Yellowfin tuna continued to be scarce, though early in the week some schooling tuna were found mixed with porpoise some 20 to 30 miles offshore from Vinorama to Los Frailes. This was an extra long run for charter boats and considering that the majority of the yellowfin were under 15 pounds it proved to be not a very practical option. There were reports of larger tuna seen feeding on the surface, but they did not strike and disappeared as fast as they were seen. A couple reports of lost wahoo strikes on trolled lures had anglers excited at the possibilities of a bite for these prized gamefish developing.
Cooler and stirred up inshore waters were not producing much, roosterfish action was almost non existent, as the whole season for these fish off of the San Jose del Cabo area has proved to be a disappointment. The Gordo Banks and the various rock piles closer to shore were producing a mix of huachinango (red snapper), yellowtail, amberjack, yellow snapper, pargo colorado, pompano, bonito and triggerfish. Though the overall numbers were not consistent, some days anglers would account for just several fish in combination while on other days catches produced over a dozen fish of varying species. Techniques included baits on dropper loops and working fast retrieve yo-yo jigs up off the bottom structure.
The combined panga fleet launching from La Playita sent out approximately 68 panga charters for the week with anglers accounting for an overall fish count of: 23 striped marlin, 27 yellowfin tuna, 18 dorado, 24 bonito, 2 halibut, 8 pompano, 22 cabrilla, 2 yellowtail, 29 amberjack, 26 triggerfish, 12 sierra and 284 combined pargo/snapper 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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Jul 9, 2007; 10:39AM - 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
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
July 2-8, 2007
WEATHER: It is finally time to admit that nature has brought summertime weather to us here in Cabo. This week our daytime temperatures have been in the mid to high 90’s while the nighttime lows have been in the high 70’s and low 80’s. A breath of wind from the northwest has kept the humidity down but that is soon to become a thing of the past. This week we had mostly sunny skies with a few scattered clouds early in the week but no rain at all.
WATER: The California current had a great effect upon our fishing this week as it brought cool, green water down the west coast of the Cape and as it passed Cabo it turned into the Sea Of Cortez. The current only ran to 20 miles offshore on the Pacific side, outside that boundary the water warmed to 78 degrees and was nice and blue. Inside the 20 mile zone the water averaged 71-75 degrees and had an increasing green tint the closer to the beach you got. On the Cortez side of the Cape the cool green water extended south for 30 miles and wrapped around to affect the water as far to the east as the Cabrillo Seamount. Surface conditions were great on both sides of the Cape as our winds were light and for the most part the seas were fairly glassy even though we did have some large swells from the south.
BAIT: Mostly Caballito this week with the new moon having a great effect on the fishing and there were some Mackerel available from the bait barge just outside the Marina. Some Sardinas were available as well if you ventured up toward San Jose. The asking price for the little baits was the usual $20 per scoop and for the larger baits was the normal $2 per bait.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: We are between seasons on the Billfish right now, the water is warm enough that the Striped Marlin are off their feed and it is still not warm enough to bring in any numbers of Blue or Black Marlin. There were great numbers of Striped Marlin spotted on the surface this week but the combination of warmer water and a new moon seemed to have a negative effect on their willingness to strike a lure or eat a live bait. Most of the fish were found on the boundary between the cool and warm water on the Pacific side of the Cape, but there were occasional concentrations found on the Cortez side around the 95 spot and the 1150. I also had the chance to see a Swordfish estimated at #250 being carted along the Malecon as it was being taken to the Smokehouse. It was reported to have been taken along the green-blue boundary 15 miles to the south of the Cape. The blue water on top of the San Jaime bank and to the west of there drew a large number of boats to the area, but the fishing was spotty, there seemed to be better luck on the green side of the break.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: All I can say here is that there were some scattered schools of football fish found but no concentrations of larger fish. I did hear of an #80 fish being caught near to home, but no other information on big fish reached my ears.
DORADO: Once again Dorado were the fish of the week as it seemed every boat that went out was able to get at least one or two of these great eating fish. Most of them were in the 15-20 pound class but there were still enough in the 30-pound range to keep things interesting and I did see one boat bring in a pair of fish in the 50-60 pound class. It appeared that most of the Dorado were found in one of two areas, along the blue-green color break (also a current line) when floating debris was found, or along the coastline within 1 mile of the beach. The larger fish were found offshore but there seemed to be bigger numbers close to the beach. Small bright colored lures worked well as did slow trolled live bait.
WAHOO: Hmm? The red flags I saw this week were for shark, though I did hear a conversation on the radio where one 20-pound fish was caught.
INSHORE: Inshore fishing this week consisted of Dorado and Lady Fish, there were few other species taken on a regular basis although the inshore standbys did make an appearance at times. Snapper, Grouper, the occasional Roosterfish and a few stray Yellowtail were found here and there. As the water warms the Rooster fishing ought to get better and the Dorado and Yellowfin Tuna bite should improve.
NOTES: It was slow for me this week and I did not get a lot of fishing in. Most of the information here is that relayed to me by the guys that managed to get out. I am going to be gone for a week starting on the 11th but will try and get out some information next week. I will be calling home everyday and hopefully will be receiving good news about the fishing, which I will relay on to you. Don’t forget about the long-line problem we face as a sport-fishing destination, it may soon have a major effect on us. Check it out at the following link and add you voice to ours!
http://www.billfish.org/new/NewsArticle.asp?ArticleID=60
Until next week, Tight lines!
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Jul 8, 2007; 06:44PM - 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
July 8, 2007
Anglers –
Compared to last summer when conditions were scorching early on, this year the weather has been on the mild side. The cooler than normal water temperatures around the southern portion of the Baja Peninsula have attributed to keeping the temperatures on land below the boiling point. Of course it is only a matter of time before these La Nina patterns neutralize and we start counting the days left of the extreme summer heat. This week started out with the water temperatures being on a warming and clearing trend, then towards the end of the week and on through the weekend once again the persistent breeze from the south relentlessly pushed in yet another wave of cooler Pacific currents. Depending on the location, water temperatures have ranged from 69 to 79 degrees and the gamefish have been scattered accordingly, following their preferred habitat while searching for their constantly variable migrating food source.
Fleets went in all different directions looking for consistent action, for the most part the better action was found in the direction of the Sea of Cortez and anywhere from 5 to 15 miles offshore. Striped marlin were seen in significant numbers throughout the area, tailing on the surface, effortlessly riding the swells, they appeared to have a case of lock jaw and most of the time proved difficult to entice into striking anglers offerings. Though with persistence many stripers were accounted for, the majority taken on live bait, with a smaller percentage hitting on artificial lures, sizes ranging from 80 to 140 pounds.
The bait situation was a bit more limited recently due to more swell activity and the major dredging activity now under operations inside the two jetties of the soon to be opened channel of Puerto Los Cabos. There was a mix of sardinas, mullet and caballito being netted each morning by the commercial pangueros. The long anticipated opening of the marina channel appears to be fast approaching and port authorities have recently stated that they do plan on breaking through to the ocean within the next two weeks. Local panga fleets have been enduring very harsh and cramped working conditions as the marina project has entered into these final stages and it makes one wonder why these fleets were simply just given some kind of temporary compensation to close down operations and clear the beach of pangas so that all of the heavy machinery could be used more efficiently in order to rapidly finish this project that is already so far behind schedule. Especially of critical importance now is the fact that tropical storm season is upon us and it is only a matter of time when the season’s first hurricane develops.
As offshore waters warmed during the first part of the week there were increased numbers of dorado being encountered, found mainly in ones and twos, on a combination of lures and various baits, most of the dorado accounted for ranged in the 15 to 30 pound class. Not much to report as far as yellowfin tuna action, though some larger sized yellowfin were spotted by a Palmilla cruiser skipper coming out of the water in an area outside of Desteladera, they were located in the same area as dark colored porpoise and they disappeared quickly, no hook ups were reported.
The Gordo Banks region showed signs of life mid week, massive schools of mackerel were found swarming on the surface and could be easily jigged up. For the few lucky anglers that got into this action they shared stories of wide-open action for yellowtail, amberjack and huachinango (red snapper), all while slow trolling live baits on the surface. Fish to 60 pounds were landed and many other larger fish were so powerful that they could not be turned even on heavier tackle before reaching their freedom by cutting off the lines on the rocks some one hundred feet below.
Inshore action continued to be slow, as this is where the coolest currents were and the increased swell activity did not help the situation either. There was a on and off bite for yellow snapper on the inshore rock piles off of Cardon and a few pargo Colorado and dogtooth snapper mixed in, along with a handful of late season sierra.
The combined La Playita panga fleets sent out approximately 69 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 23 striped marlin, 16 dorado, 25 bonito, 9 roosterfish, 17 amberjack, 11 yellowtail, 7 dogtooth snapper, 32 huachinango (snapper), 128 yellow pargo, 14 barred pargo and 18 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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Jul 3, 2007; 08:11AM - 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
July 1, 2007
Anglers –
The pattern of unpredictable cooler than normal ocean conditions continued this past week. The relentless breeze from the south persisted and pushed cold and dirty currents into the lower Sea of Cortez. Early in the week the ocean swells significantly increased and this particularly stirred up the inshore areas. At this time there are no tropical storms developing to the south, but the weather is becoming increasingly more humid and reaching in the 90s. The water temperatures were ranging from 70 to 77 degrees, with most of the area off of San Jose del Cabo averaging 72 to 74 degrees. Sportfishing fleets were fishing off of the Pacific near Jaime Bank and north to the Gordo Banks, finding a varying of slow to very respectable action, depending on the day and location. Live bait availability consisted of sardinas and mullet, with mackerel schools also being found balled up on the surface on the offshore fishing grounds, they proved to be the bait of choice.
Striped marlin were spotted in good numbers offshore, but it was another story hooking up, especially if you were armed with only mullet, they were not that eager to strike on them, though for anglers that had mackerel in their arsenal they reported much better success. During the later part of the week anglers that scouted out the Outer Gordo Bank area reported good action on amberjack and yellowtail, these fish were seen feeding on the surface, trolling with live mackerel proved to be the best bet, but some fish hit on iron jigs. The fish that were landed were of quality size, all in the 25 to 45 pound class. No sign of yellowfin tuna on the banks, only a few scattered reports from cruisers searching further offshore of finding football sized tuna underneath porpoise, though there was no consistency on them. The vicinity of the Jaime Banks is where the fleets found a series of floating Sargasso weed patches and reported fast action for nice sized dorado and a few wahoo taken from the same areas, this bite was a matter of finding the weeds and being one of the first boats to be on the scene.
The San Jose panga fleets concentrated most of their efforts closer to shore and off the various bottom reefs from Cardon to San Luis. Using mainly baits and also some yo-yo jigs they were accounting for a mix of huachinango, yellow snapper, cabrilla, amberjack, pompano, pargo colorado, dogtooth snapper, bonito, surgeon fish, jack crevalle and triggerfish. Very few reports on roosterfish this week, though some larger roosters were spotted feeding, but they disappeared just as fast as they appeared.
The La Playita panga fleets sent out a total of 59 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for an approximate fish total of: 4 striped marlin, 7 dorado, 3 hammerhead sharks, 26 sierra, 27 amberjack, 14 roosterfish, 13 jack crevalle, 215 yellowtail snapper, 12 barred pargo, 21 huachinango, 15 cabrilla, 72 bonita, 8 dogtooth snapper, 20 pargo colorado, 11 yellowtail, 16 surgeonfish, 22 pompano 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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Jul 2, 2007; 10:24AM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
June 25-July 1, 2007
WEATHER: It was a very confusing week this past week with the beginning being so nice. We had great weather to start the week and then it all turned around, the swells kicked up due to some small circulations to the south, we got overcast skies at the end of the week due to the same conditions and then the winds changed. At the end of the week we had winds coming in from the south and the swells from the south along with cloudy skies, not the best conditions for fishing for sure.
WATER: The Pacific side was much warmer than the Cortez side close to home with water temperatures in the high 70’s and this was nice at the start of the week. As the days wore on though the wind shifted and at the end of the week you did not want to go on the Pacific side of the Cape if you had any little hint of seasickness. Swells from the south at 4-6 feet and winds that seemed to reach an occasional 20 knots really kicked things up on both sides of the Cape. On the Cortez side at the beginning of the week the water was a lot cooler and a lot greener, and it was not until you were 25 miles off the beach that it started to clean up. At the end of the week the green water extended out 40 miles and the cool temperatures stretched up past the Punta Gorda area. With the wind switching to the south at the end of the week, there was really no place to hide and get out of the choppy conditions. Thankfully it was not due south, the was a lot of west in it and that allowed conditions close to the beach here in the Los Cabos are to be decent enough to run home in.
BAIT: There was a good mix of Pacific Greenback Mackerel and Caballito this week at the normal $2per bait. Up towards San Jose there were plenty of good qualities of Sardinas available at the usual $20 per bucket.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The bite on billfish really dropped off this week with very few Striped Marlin being caught. There was the occasional hot spot and a few boats were able to get in three or four releases a day, but they were by far the exception, and defiantly not consistent o a day-to-day basis. The water turned over when the wind shifted and once again the bite really suffered. There were Striped Marlin found along the 1,000 fathom curve between the Doughnut and due south early in the week but that bite disappeared, there were a few fish found out past the Cabrillo Seamount but these fish were pushed to the south with the change in water conditions as well. A few Swordfish were sighted this week but no one brought a Swordfish in that I am aware of. The Blue bite dropped off a lot as the water changed as well. I seems as if the Striped Marlin are on the way north and the conditions have not improved enough for the Blues and Blacks to really take their place yet.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: I sure wish we had some consistent Yellowfin action to concentrate on. Instead we have scattered pods of porpoise that only occasionally kick out football size fish and an occasional school that a boat will get on that allows a #80 fish to be hooked up in. I think that there is a strong chance that the number of Purse Seiners working the water near here is having a strong influence on the catch as well. Several boats sighted Purse Seiners setting on schools of fish on the Pacific side in the vicinity of the Golden Gate and the San Jaime Banks this week. I got into a great pod of Dolphin on Tuesday but there were no fish under them. This pod numbered close to a thousand Dolphins but you could not get the boat close to them, they had already be set on by a Seiner and were scared. I found another large pod close to shore, within 1 mile of the beach on the Pacific side and they were working a big school of Sardinas. We stayed with these animals for over an hour and managed only one small 6-pound tuna from them.
.DORADO: There were a lot more Dorado flags flying this week than in past weeks and that is definitely due to the warming water. In the middle of the week a boat found a floating patch of kelp that produced fish for every boat visiting it, all fish in the 20-30 pound class, and a lot of boats were able to get three to five fish each off of the paddy. The first few boats to get there loaded up and caught fish far in the excess of the legal limit, but like they said, if we don’t catch them, the long liners will. Boats that visited the kelp patch the second day were rewarded with fish as well, but after being hit by 20 or so boats the fish left the area. Close to the beach there was fairly consistent action on smaller Dorado in the 3-8 pound range but no large fish. There were scattered fish caught by boats trolling for Marlin and the largest I heard of was in the low 50-pound class.
WAHOO: The patch of kelp that produced all the Dorado also delivered a few Wahoo in the 20-25 pound class to the first few boats to get there. Other than that the Wahoo action was a bit on the slow side with only an occasional fish reported by the fleets.
INSHORE: Inshore fishing was very inconsistent this week with most of the action moving far up the coast toward the East Cape and warmer water. The water on the Pacific side had been producing Roosterfish and Amberjack as well as some nice grouper, but the shift in the wind and change in water conditions really moved things around. There were Ladyfish in plenty though, and at least there was something to put a bend in the rod.
NOTES: It was a much better week to be golfing (if you know how to play the game, and my results this week show I need some big-time lessons) than to be out fishing. Hopefully water conditions will change again and the fishing will improve. Until then, have another beer and watch the fishing channels on T.V Saturday mornings! Oh, by the way, the government captured and confiscated two commercial fishing boats this week, one of the reported to be using gill nets to capture Marlin and another running a long line within the 15-mile limit (see the link below). When the crews left the boats at the dock after being brought in, they turned off all the freezers and the fish turned rotten. That’s a win-lose situation.
http://www.billfish.org/new/NewsArticle.asp?ArticleID=60
Until next week, Tight lines!
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