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| Around 10% of the world's total fish species can be found just within the Great Barrier Reef. |
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| Starfish can re-grow their arms. In fact, a single arm can regenerate a whole body. |
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| Starfish do not have blood. Their blood is actually filtered sea water. |
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| Starfish don't have brains. Special cells on their skin gather information about their surroundings |
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| Not all animals with the word fish in their names count as fish. |
| Though their names may suggest otherwise, cuttlefish, starfish, and jellyfish aren’t actually fish. Generally-speaking, fishes must have skulls, gills, and fins. Surprisingly, though, not all fishes have proper spines. |
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| In three decades, the world's oceans will contain more discarded plastic than fish when measured by weight, researchers say. |
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| As of 2020, there were 34,000 known fish species around world. That’s more than the number of species in all other vertebrates: birds, reptiles, mammals, and amphibians combined. |
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| Just how man species of fish are there? |
| As of 2020, there were 34,000 known fish species around world. That’s more than the number of species in all other vertebrates: birds, reptiles, mammals, and amphibians combined. |
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| Even Catfish are finicky |
| Taste Buds ? Catfish have a more refined sense of flavor than humans. Our 10,000 taste buds may seem like a lot, but catfish can have as many as 175,000. This helps them find the exact location of their next meal. |
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| A bit of Humor |
| My brother has 2 German Shepherds named Rolex and Timex. You guessed it they are Watch Dogs. |
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From Jan 01, 1999 To Sep 21, 2025
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Jun 26, 2007; 05:50PM - 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
June 24, 2007
Anglers –
Although this week marks the official start of the summer season, you sure would think it was more like winter or early spring by the way the local ocean conditions were. Persistent southern winds pushed in chilly Pacific currents, reaching as far as Los Frailes and this dropped water temperatures to the mid 60s, with a break of 72 plus degree water being found some twenty plus miles offshore. This influx of cold off colored water caused a dramatic affect on the fishing, scattering any inshore action that had been going on and forcing fleets to travel long distances in search of more favorable water conditions. Live bait remained plentiful, with sardinas, mullet and caballito all available. It was hard to believe the weather forecast from day to day, they would predict light winds and then on the same day the south wind would kick up to nearly 25 mph. This pattern is not that unusual for the month of June, except that this year it has definitely proved to be more extreme than in the past decade or so. It appears that this will be one of those years that weather pattern will not normalize until mid July, then surely the water will remain warm throughout the remainder of the summer.
The cruiser fleet found that their best chance was to head straight out from Cabo San Lucas and Chileno, anywhere from 20 to 40 miles offshore, this is where they found cleaner blue water of 74 degrees and a mix of striped marlin, dorado and yellowfin tuna. Often times the striped marlin that were found had lock jaw, but with persistence some of them did bite. Dorado were not numerous, but some very nice sized fish were accounted for, with reports of bulls weighing 30 to 60 pounds striking on trolled lures. Yellowfin tuna continued to be scarce, but some schools of football-sized fish were encountered further offshore traveling with porpoise.
Panga fleets found little options besides searching for any available action close to shore or off rocky high spots. The cold water brought any roosterfish activity to a standstill and it was mainly some scattered jack crevalle and sierra that were found along the sandy beaches and the numbers of them were limited. There was a better chance at hooking into either a pargo colorado or dogtooth snapper while trolling mullet along rocky beach stretches in about 30 to 40 feet of water, some fish up to 30 pounds were landed, but once again not in any significant numbers. Yellow snapper in the 4 to 8 pound class were probably the most common species being caught, striking on sardinas in about 50 feet of water on spots from Punta Gorda to La Fortuna. San Luis Bank produced a mix of amberjack and huachinango for anglers working yo-yo jigs and various baits off the bottom. Amberjack weighed up to 30 pounds and the huanchinago (red snapper) ranged from 5 to 10 pounds. Cabrilla, sheephead, whitefish, triggerfish, pompano, bonito and halibut rounded out the catches, though none of these species were particularly abundant.
We expect similar fishing action until the conditions offshore improve, this could happen in a couple of days or weeks, just have to be patient and follow the reports, it is only a matter of time that our summer season breaks wide open.
The La Playita panga fleets sent out approximately 73 panga charters and anglers accounted for a fish count of: 3 striped marlin, 2 dorado, 2 mako sharks, 9 dogtooth snapper, 31 pargo colorado, 124 yellowtail snapper, 15 cabrilla, 11 pompano, 17 amberjack, 18 roosterfish, 22 sierra, 19 jack crevalle, 25 Mexican bonito, 32 triggerfish and 4 halibut.
Good fishing, Eric
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson
Owner/Operator
800 4081199
Los Cabos 1421147
ericgordobanks@yahoo.com
www.gordobanks.com
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Jun 25, 2007; 10:14AM - 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 18-25, 2007
WEATHER: It was so nice this week, no hot weather, just daytime highs in the mid 80’s and nighttime lows in the low to mid 70’s. We had the wind start to blow from the west during the middle of the week and that cooled things off a bit as well. We had mostly sunny skies with an overcast morning now and then, burning off mid-day.
WATER: On the Cortez side of the Cape the water cooled off a lot between the Cape and San Jose. Cold water, as low as 63 degrees on the satellite shots but registering 62 on my boat ran from right in front of the marina and up the Cortex and across the Gorda Banks extending out past the 1150 spot. The water was green and did not get blue until you got outside of the 1,000-fathom line. On the Pacific side things warmed up quite a bit with water temps on the San Jaime and the Golden Gate banks in the 73-75 range with just a tinge of green to it.
BAIT: Almost all the bait this week was Pacific greenback mackerel at the normal $2 per bait.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The most consistent are this week was at the doughnut, 20 miles to the east at the 1,000-fathom curve. That is where they were concentrated and a few boats did as well as two or three fish a day with one boat reporting releasing five fish. There was a nice size Swordfish reported caught this week as well by one of the fleet boats, supposedly in the #350 range. I released one small Blue, estimated at #110 on Thursday as well as a couple of Stripers at the doughnut area and released one more on Saturday. The water was choppy with the westerly winds and northwesterly swells but even with that there were very few Striped Marlin reported up and tailing down swell.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: I have almost given up on the Yellowfin this year. I keep going out and looking for them but have not had a lot of success. I keep hearing of a boat now and then getting lucky with a fish or two in the 50-100 pound class in among the black porpoise, and a few boats getting into fish in the 20 pound class among the white-belly porpoise, but I have not been able to find any of these fish myself. No sashimi for me this week!
DORADO: There were a few fish to 50 pounds caught this week and a few boat reported on the radio of catching three or four in the 10-20 pound class. Most of them were found at the temp-color break along the 1,000-fathom curve and a few were reported from up north along the Inman Bank area.
WAHOO: I heard of one small Wahoo caught this week form a source I trust along with a few radio reports of scattered fish at the 1,000-fathom line.
INSHORE: There were nice Pargo found in the rocks along the points on the Pacific side as well as up in the Punts Gorda-Los Frailles area. The Yellowtail bite dropped off when the water turned, as did the Roosterfish bite.
NOTES: Humboldt Squid to 50 pounds were found due south of the Cape mid week and I baited a Swordfish estimated at #300 in the same area, along the 1,000-fathom line. We spotted this fish jumping. Overall the fishing has been slow this past week, I went out five days and was skunked on two of them catching three Humbolts on one trip, two Stripers and a small Blue on another and one Striper on the fifth trip. With the fishing slow, my golf game got a workout and with a very hazy brain today I managed to turn out a very non-respectable 103 (lots of margaritas lass ninth, don’t-cha-know!).
http://www.billfish.org/new/NewsArticle.asp?ArticleID=60
Until next week, Tight lines!
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Jun 18, 2007; 11:38AM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
June 11-17, 2007
WEATHER: We had a quick and thankfully short reminder of what to expect later in the year early in the week. Waking up to early morning temperatures in the mid 80’s and muggy air let us appreciate the rest for the week. Monday and Tuesday were a bit on the mid-summer side of hot but the rest of the week was great with nighttime lows in the low to mid 70’s and the daytime highs in the mid 80’s. There was a light wind from the northwest early in the week and on Sunday we had a switch to winds from the East. All in all it was a great week on the weather front.
WATER: The Cortez side of the Cape continued to be the warmer side with water up off of the East Cape around the 80-degree mark. Closer to home and between the 95 spot and the Punta Gorda area the water was cooler with most of it being in the high 70’s early in the week. During the middle of the week a combination of extreme tides and shifting wind dropped the water temperatures across the area by an easy 5 or more degrees and put the fish into shock mode. Surface conditions remained good but the water cooled off and became very green in most of the areas that we had been getting good fish. At the end of the week the cleanest water was from the 1150 area on the Sea of Cortez and out to the Cabrilla Seamount and outside the 1,000-fathom line on the Cortez side. On the Pacific the water remained cold and green almost everywhere, with water temperatures in the sub-70’s to as low as 65 degrees.
BAIT: As is normal for this time of year there was a good mix of Caballito and Mackerel available from the bait boats at the normal $2 per bait. Sardinas were available as well and they were quality baits, most in the 3-4 inch size. In the San Jose area you could get them for $20 a bucket but here in Cabo they averaged $25 per scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Ouch, the water turned over and the fish moved offshore to the Cabrilla Seamount area. You could go out there and find fish but they were in temperature shock (sounds as good a reason as any) and getting them to bite was very difficult. That was just about the only area there were Marlin in any numbers. The area around the Vinorama Canyon produced some fish as did the area within 3 miles of the beach on the Cortez side, but the bite in these locations was early in the week. Also early in the week and continuing slightly into the end of the week was the sighting of Swordfish on the surface. A few of them were hooked up and a couple of them brought in. My friend Martin (Kiwi) caught a #200 fish on Wednesday.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: We did finally have some Yellowfin show up this week but they were all small football fish, and not in any great numbers. On Saturday there were some enormous bait balls of Sardinas in the vicinity of the 95 spot and the small Yellowfin and Skipjack Tuna were harassing them all day long. Farther offshore in the 15 mile range there were small scattered pods of Dolphin holding the small Tuna under them as well. No one scored high numbers but there were fish caught by boats that put in the time and effort. Considering how slow the fishing was for everything else, getting a few Yellowfin was nice.
DORADO: The sudden change in water temperature and clarity had the Dolphin on the run but a few boats were able to get three of four fish on Saturday by finding the Frigate bids working the Sardinas. Using very small lures in Green-silver to imitate the Sardinas they were able to get small skipjack hooked up and slow trolling them in the same area brought in the Dorado.
WAHOO: I had no reports of Wahoo this week.
INSHORE: The inshore fishing had been great but when the currents changed and the clarity and temperature dropped the fishing did as well. There were still a few Sierra caught on the Pacific side but the green water made fishing for the Yellowtail difficult at best and Roosterfish were almost non-existent.
NOTES: June has always been a difficult month to figure out as things are in constant flux. This year is no different and we can only hope things settle down soon. Until next week, tight lines and give Ottmar Liebert a listen to. One of my favorite guitarists and hopefully to become one of yours.
http://www.billfish.org/new/NewsArticle.asp?ArticleID=60
Until next week, Tight lines!
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Jun 17, 2007; 05:42PM - 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
June 17, 2007
Anglers -
Happy Fathers Day!
With the official start of the summer season just around the corner the crowds of tourists visiting the Southern Baja did seem to increase this past week. The days were steadily getting warmer and the humidity was also starting to increase the sweat factor, better get used to it, there will be at least one hundred more days of similar conditions. As for the ocean conditions, unusually strong currents continue to sweep through the region and this has contributed to very unstable situations from day to day. The water temperatures have ranged from the mid 60s on the Pacific, to the low 70s off of San Jose del Cabo, to as high as 80 degrees off of Buena Vista. There were reports of areas that were clean and blue one day, turning greenish and cool the very next day, this was a repeated pattern throughout the week off of the Los Cabos area and made for difficult offshore fishing, the sportfishing fleets found better action within ½ mile of shore than they did venturing as fart as 40miles offshore. For the most part the wind was mild, though on a few days the breeze from the northwest did kick up some, stirring the water up more than it already was.
Anglers did report a wide variety of species caught this week, but the numbers of overall catches were not all that impressive for this time of year, it just seems that conditions have not stabilized yet and has resulted in inconsistent catches. Looking back on last years reports from the same time period we saw similar patterns and we know that all we can do is wait for it to pass, certainly by July, as the days become increasing warm and north wind dissipate, conditions will once again become favorable for the pelagic gamefish.
The water in the Sea of Cortez was warming to a point where the majority of striped marlin were becoming sluggish and on the verge of starting their northerly migration for the summer and a handful of blue marlin were reportedly hooking into to. Plenty of bolito on the offshore fishing grounds, this is always a favorable sign, though there still has been a lack of any consistent yellowfin tuna throughout the area, only spotty reports of football sized tuna here and there. Some striped marlin were still biting, but not as they had been, striking on lures and baits, at times being found as close as one mile from shore where the concentrations of baitfish were.
Local panga fleet out of San Jose del Cabo concentrated mainly closer to shore where they found better action than there few scout trips offshore. Catches were down from the previous week, though there were still a decent variety of fish being accounted for. Most common fish were pargo colorado, yellow snapper, jack crevalle, sierra, and roosterfish. These fish were averaging 4 to 10 pounds, but there were some much larger specimens accounted for, including roosterfish to 60 pounds. Up until now the roosterfish season ahs been a disappointment, just not that many larger fish being found, considering this is normally the time when anglers would expect to have the best chance at hooking into a quality sized roosterfish, well we still are only in mid-June, so we will just hope that we will have a big late season bite for these popular jacks.
Other action include a mix of pompano, bonito, jack crevalle, cabrilla and grouper, though these were not numerous, they did provide an added bonus for the anglers who happened to be at the right place and the right time.
The La Playita panga fleet sent out approximately 89 panga charters for the week and anglers accounted for a fish count of: 7 striped marlin, 5 hammerhead sharks, 7 mako sharks, 13 dorado, 4 yellowfin tuna, 116 roosterfish, 32 jack crevalle, 19 amberjack, 17 pompano, 42 sierra, 9 dogtooth snapper, 46 pargo colorado, 145 yellowtail snapper, 23 cabrilla, 55 Mexican bonito, 38 triggerfish and 3 hailbut.
Good fishing, Eric
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson
Owner/Operator
800 4081199
Los Cabos 1421147
ericgordobanks@yahoo.com
www.gordobanks.com
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Jun 17, 2007; 05:41PM - 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
June 10, 2007
Anglers -
Crowds of tourists continue to be lighter than usual, though we do anticipate more visitors in the coming weeks as school terms terminate and summer vacation begins. The weather has been near perfect, ocean water temperatures have dropped due to a northern current pushing in Pacific water and this has created cooler air temperatures accordingly, averaging in the lower 80s. Early in the week there were moderate winds out of the northwest, but they all but subsided by the weekend and anglers enjoyed excellent ocean conditions. Water temperatures have continued to fluctuate greatly, varying from the low 60s on the Pacific to the upper 70s in the East Cape area, but mid-week the cooler currents actually reached as far as Buena Vista, dipping down to 70 degrees before gradually starting to warm back up. These rapidly changing conditions has not helped the fishing stabilize and has made for inconsistent action, as concentrations of baitfish keep moving and gamefish are scattered.
Depending on where your charter launches from, there was a mix of mackerel, mullet, caballito and sardinas for bait, most of the time the supplies were plentiful. Though no particular species of fish was overly abundant there was a good variety of species being caught, catches included striped marlin, dorado, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, bonito, roosterfish, dogtooth snapper, yellow snapper, jack crevalle, cabrilla, pompano, amberjack and sierra.
The marlin bite dropped off some this week, but some charters were still landing multiple stripers per day. Sizes on the billfish averaged in the 80 to 150 pound range. Dorado had showed up in the fish counts last weekend, but as the water temperatures cooled throughout the week they became very few and far between. Yellowfin tuna reports were limited as well, with most of the action reported coming from 30 to 50 miles offshore of the East Cape region.
Wahoo had started to appear in the areas from Gordo Banks to north of Los Frailes, but with the influx of cooler water this came to a standstill, though hopes are that as the currents swifts and warms back up these highly sought after gamefish will once again become more active.
Along the shoreline angles were targeting dogtooth snapper, pargo colorado and roosterfish. The numbers of roosters are increasing, but still have not peaked, the fluctuating water conditions being a factor, they can now be seen chasing bait in the surf line, very exciting to watch the surface explode in white water of frantic mullet with slashing roosterfish attacking from underneath.
Yellow snapper continue to be the mainstay of the La Playita panga fleet, as the area of Cardon was producing good numbers of these quality-eating snapper in the 4 to 10 pound class. There were also a few amberjack, cabrilla, surgeonfish and pompano being accounted for from this same region.
Puerto Los Cabos marina project continues to progress in the final stages. This weekend they brought in a mega sized dredger that apparently will be able to break up and remove the remaining rocks blocking the entrance channel, an armada of Navy personnel is operating this project.
The combined La Playita panga fleet sent out approximately 55 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 5 wahoo, 11 striped marlin, 1 sailfish, 15 dorado, 9 yellowfin tuna, 215 yellowtail snapper, 14 dogtooth snapper, 58 sierra, 22 Mexican bonito, 9 amberjack, 18 cabrilla, 29 pompano, 22 surgeonfish, 18 jack crevalle and 88 roosterfish.
Good Fishing, Eric
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson
Owner/Operator
800 4081199
Los Cabos 1421147
ericgordobanks@yahoo.com
www.gordobanks.com
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Jun 11, 2007; 11:34AM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
June 3-10, 2007
WEATHER: Once again we had a beautiful week go by with our daytime temperatures in the high 80’s to low 90’s and the nighttime lows averaging 70 degrees. We had one mid-week day with high winds but for the most part the wind was a minor consideration either blowing itself out by 6 am or not picking up until 1 pm. No rain of course and only a scattering of clouds this week.
WATER: The Cortez side of the Cape remained much warmer than the Pacific side with the average temperature being 76 degrees up to 15 miles offshore. The 95 and 1150 spots were the outer boundaries where the temperature dropped to 70 degrees or less and the warm water continued up into the East Cape region well offshore. On the Pacific side the water was much cooler with a finger of cold water from the beach inside the Golden Gate bank down to Cabo extending out to the southwest across the San Jaime Bank. This water was in the mid to low 60’s and very green. Surface conditions were good on the Cortez side of the Cape with small 2-4 foot swells most of the week with no wind o top of them. We did have one say of 4-6 foot swells (made the surfers happy) but with no wind they were not very noticeable. On the Pacific side the afternoon or early morning winds made things very interesting and most of the boats avoided working the cold green water.
BAIT: As is normal for this time of year there was a good mix of Caballito and Mackerel available from the bait boats at the normal $2 per bait. Sardinas were available as well and they were quality baits, most in the 3-4 inch size. In the San Jose area you could get them for $20 a bucket but here in Cabo they averaged $25 per scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: On a good note, the Striped Marlin have shown up close to home. I fished on Tuesday for Marlin and it was great, we never went farther than 5 miles for the marina and released one Striped Marin estimated at 120 pounds and one small Blue Marlin estimated at 170 pounds as well as seeing a lot of fish free jumping and sleeping on the surface. The one day mid-week when the wind blew like a banshee resulted in very few fish but for most of the days this week the Marlin were there, and in numbers. Best bets were slow trolling live baits or throwing live bait to tailing or sleeping fish. As well as Marlin, there were still quite a few Swordfish being seen, and a few caught and brought to the dock. They were also being seen close to home and a few of the boats have made plans for overnight Swordfish trips for the coming week. I’ll let you know if things work out for them.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Yellowfin Tuna were just about the only slow fishery this week. There were a few fish found but they were small fish in the 10-15 pound range. Most of them were caught on the Pacific side in the rough water and there were no great numbers found, for the most part it was a picky catch. There were good fish reported from boats fishing the East Cape region 30 miles off the beach, but that is too much of a run for our local boats. Hopefully these fish will move into our area soon.
DORADO: The Dorado bite has continued to pick up and the numbers are increasing every week as the water warms. For the most part the fish are small with a large number of fish less than 6 pounds reported (please release these month old fish, they will be eating size soon) but there were still good numbers of fish in the 20-35 pound range being found. The Cortez side of the Cape in the warmer water was where most of the larger fish were found but waters close to home had larger numbers albeit the smaller fish. Small lures in bright colors trolled between 7 ½ and 9 knots did well on the Dorado as well as slow trolled live baits.
WAHOO: There were still Wahoo reported this week but they were still small ones, in the 20-30 pound class for the most part. Once the water warms up a bit there should be more action. The fish that were found and caught were from the Punta Gorda area as well as on the temperature break at the 95 and 1150 areas.
INSHORE: Inshore fishing has been hot this week with good numbers of Sierra continuing to hold angers attention on both the Pacific and the Sea of Cortez side of the Cape. The majority of the cooler water fish, Sierra and Yellowtail have been found between the Pedregal and the Lighthouse between 50 and 200 meters from the shore. Large schools of Sierra have given anglers all they can handle on live bait and hootchies as well as small jointed Rapallas. Slow trolled Mackerel have resulted in nice Yellowtail to 35 pounds, but a lot of Sierra bite-offs have occurred due to the use of light Mono leaders needed to get the Yellowtail to bite. In close to eh beach, the rocks have produced consistent action on Dogtooth Snapper to 20 pounds as well as Red Snapper to 8 pounds.
NOTES: The fishing continues to pick up as the water warms up offshore and meanwhile the inshore action is just great, everyone is having fun! If things continue this way there can be smiles on everyone’s face. I have hope for the Tuna showing up soon as that is the only thing we are really lacking at the moment. So far this year I have released two Blue Marlin and that is a sign that the water is warming and things are getting better! Fingers crossed for tight lines for everyone out there. Until next week!
http://www.billfish.org/new/NewsArticle.asp?ArticleID=60
Until next week, Tight lines!
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Jun 4, 2007; 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
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
May 28-June 2, 2007
WEATHER: After the warming trend last week I was expecting things to get really hot this week. The arrival of that high-pressure system was a good intro to the temperatures to expect later in the year, and without the humidity. At the beginning of this week the warmest morning I recorded was 84 degrees before the sun came up, and 98 degrees during the middle of the day. At the end of the week the high-pressure system had moved on and we were back to having our morning lows in the low 60’s and our daytime highs around the mid 80’s. Of course we had no rain.
WATER: There was absolutely no doubt that the water was warmer on the Cortez side this week, and clearer also. We were seeing temperatures in the 78-79 degree range from the beach on out to the Cabrillo Seamount. The cleaner water was a band running from the Vinorama Canyon across the Outer Gorda Banks to the 1150 spot, elsewhere it was slightly tinged with green. The Pacific side started out with a push of warm water up the coast but as the week went on that push tapered off a bit and the water temperatures dropped a bit as well. Right now there is a significant temperature break off of the lighthouse and extending to the southwest. On the south side the water is showing a warm 72 degrees. 2 miles farther north it drops to 62 degrees and becomes very green. Surface conditions on both sides of the Cape were great with little surface chop and very light winds, with the exception of Thursday as the edge of the high-pressure system came across us.
BAIT: I really thought that bait would be harder to come by this week since it is the week after the IGFA Offshore Championship and the week of the World Championship Billfish Release Tournament but there was no problem getting all you needed. Of course there were not many Caballito yet, mostly it was Mackerel with a few Mullet at the normal $2 per bait. Up toward San Jose there were some really nice Sardinas in the 3-4 inch size at $25 per bucket, closer to home here at the marina the price was a bit higher with ¾ bucket costing the same.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Probably the best was to describe the fishing for Billfish this week was, in the right place at the right time. Having the full moon this week helped and the bite was definitely tide related with the best bite happening close to the tide change on most days. The Billfish most folks found were the Striped Marlin and while they were out there in good numbers, they were pretty concentrated as well. During the three days of the World Championship Tournament 23 boats were successful in releasing a total of 325 billfish for an average of 5 fish per day per boat, the large majority of which were Striped Marlin. There were a few Sailfish mixed in as well as two reported small Blue Marlin. Most of the action was concentrated up to the north on the Cortez side around the Vinorama Canyon area, the Gorda Banks and the 1150. I had fair luck Monday finding fish on the Pacific side to the south of the lighthouse but the water changed and the fish moved away. Almost all the fish reported released were hooked up on live bait. Light leader seemed to be the way to go, as the fish were a bit leader shy. There has been an abundance of squid in our area and the Marlin have been too full to chase artificials (on average). There were quite a few Swordfish sighted as well (comparatively speaking) and at least once was caught. There were several hookups reported to last between 2 to 6 hours where the fish were lost.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Just as I reported last week, there were some fish found offshore up around the Vinorama area mixed in with Porpoise. They were decent fish in the 35-pound class. Other than that there was not much found in the way of Tuna. A few boats reported finding fish in the greenish water south of the San Jaime area early in the week but those fish did not stick around.
DORADO: The Dorado bite has started to pick up a bit with a few more fish showing up in the catch’s every week. We had two on Wednesday while fishing up to the north in the Sea of Cortez in 79-degree water using live bait. They are not large fish yet with the biggest I heard of in the 35-pound class, but it is a definite improvement and hopefully a sign of things to come.
WAHOO: I was amazed that I did not hear of more Wahoo being caught during this Championship Billfish Tournament. Most of the boats were fishing in areas that traditionally hold Wahoo this time of year. A few were caught but they were not large fish, mostly in the 30-pound class, and on artificial lures.
INSHORE: Inshore has still been good for Sierra to 8 pounds with a lot of boats getting double digit numbers of fish on the Pacific side of the Cape. The Roosterfish have begun to show as well with some Pangas reporting up to 10 releases in a days fishing, and the fish have been a decent 10-20 pounds. At the end of the week there was a reported bit on Dogtooth Snapper (Pargo) on the Pacific side up in the rocks at the points.
NOTES: There have been many protests locally this week about the Shark Norma 029. Several winning teams in the World Championship Billfish Release Tournament donated part of their winnings to the Billfish Foundation to help fight this law. For more information on the shark longline fishing law, you can go to this website for updates.
http://www.billfish.org/new/NewsArticle.asp?ArticleID=60
Until next week, Tight lines!
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May 28, 2007; 06:06PM - 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
May 27, 2007
Anglers -
The month of May continues to be a bit of a disappointment for local businesses, as crowds have been below normal levels, but for the people that are visiting the Los Cabos area they have been treated to excellent weather conditions and this week the offshore fishing also started to show promising signs of improvement. There were moderate breezes out of the north west and for the most part anglers reported very ideal ocean conditions, particularly in the direction of the Sea of Cortez, where the majority of sportfishing fleets are now concentrated. Throughout most of this area the water temperatures were now averaging from 72 to 78 degrees and in recent days the clarity is becoming much better, with clean blue water now being found from Desteladera to north of Los Frailes. This week the local offshore hot spots were from Chileno to around the Desteladera Bank.
Live bait supplies were adequate, with a mix of mackerel, caballito, mullet and sardinas being available. The new jetties off of La Playita¢s Puerto Los Cabos are attracting large schools of baitfish, with caballito, mullet and sardinas all equally abundant. Roosterfish, jacks, sierra and various pargo species have dominated inshore action. The majority of the roosterfish are in the 8 to15 pound class, but some much larger specimens up to 50 pounds were accounted for in recent days, the best technique has been slow trolling with mullet or caballito close to shore, we look for the roosterfish action to break wide open in the next couple of weeks, as this is the time when these gamefish are at their peak in the Los Cabos area. Scattered schools of dogtooth snapper and pargo colorado were now being found close to the rocky shorelines, we look for this action to become more consistent in the next month as well and remember to not underestimate the power of these brutes, they can easily reach the close proximity of the rocks and cut off even the heaviest of tackle.
With the warming inshore water the sierra action has started to fade compared to how it was, but still many are being hooked into, most of them under five pounds, the sierra seemed to have become more line shy have not been so eager to hit baits rigged with wire leaders, preferring straight monofilament, which makes if a bit frustrating with the actual strike to fish landed ratio.
Striped marlin continued to be the most common fish found offshore and this past week the bite improved compared to the last couple of weeks, fish were found spread out over a wide area from Chileno to Desteladera, over the weekend the best action was found from La Fortuna and Desteladera. At times they were seen tailing on the surface and free jumping, though often it required repeated attempts in order to entice them. Slow trolling bait and having blind strikes proved to be productive, also trolling various rigged lures in combination with dead baits worked well. The majority of the stripers were weighing 80 to120 pounds.
Dorado continued to be very limited, though with the cleaner and warmer water there were a few more of these fish being encountered in recent days. It is time that the government takes some immediate action to halt the illegal drift net and set line commercial activity that has been going on in areas further north in the Sea of Cortez, this has definitely been contributing to a noticeable decrease in the dorado populations for the past couple of seasons.
Finally there were some reports of yellowfin tuna on the local fishing grounds, namely the Desteladera area, where over the weekend there were tuna found feeding on this Bank. One commercial panga from La Playita found these fish, they accounted for one yellowfin in the 100-pound range on Saturday and this was along with a box full of smaller specimens. These same pangueros told a story of loosing a much larger tuna after a three-hour battle on heavy tackle, they saw this fish at one time near the boat and estimated it to be close to 300 pounds and then shortly after, due to extreme pressure, they broke the monster off. After a long absence this is encouraging news that these yellowfin are finally making an appearance within range of local fleets.
The day of June 1 is when the Mexican National holiday of 'Dia de La Marina ' is celebrated. The village of La Playita traditionally has the largest fiesta in the area, with the Puerto Los Cabos marina project now nearing completion they have been very busy constructing the new area where the activities of crowning the queen and having all night dances will take place, needless to say the local are all very enthusiastic about this coming event. There will also be the local annual Dorado panga fishing tournament that takes place on Sunday, June 3.
The combined panga fleets from La Playita sent out 58 charters for the week with anglers accounting for an overall catch of: 12 striped marlin, 2 sailfish, 3 mako sharks, 78 roosterfish, 15 pompano, 13 pargo colorado, 8 dogtooth snapper, 18 cabrilla, 88 sierra, 6 dorado, 8 amberjack, 18 jack crevalle, 32 Mexican bonito, 132 yellow snapper and 14 yellowfin tuna.
Good Fishing, Eric
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May 28, 2007; 09:39AM - 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
May 21-27, 2007
WEATHER: What a change seven days can make! We started this week with our evening and early morning temperatures in the high 50’s, specifically on Monday morning it was 58 degrees here at my house, and there was a lot of wind with it. For the next three days I had on long jeans and a light jacket every morning. This morning, Sunday, I got up and it was 78 degrees at 4:30 am here at the house! Yesterday it was registering 94 degrees downtown and there was just a light breeze out of the west. Now the skies are clear, the weather great and it feels like a non-humid summer!
WATER: Along with a change in the weather we saw a great change in the water as well. On the Pacific side early in the week there was water as cold as 58 degrees according to the sea-surface charts, the water was too choppy and green for us to go that direction and check it out. On the Cortez side of the Cape we had much warmer water, on occasion as warm as 81 degrees up around the Punta Gorda area. At the end of th4e week it appears as if the warm water is starting to wrap around the Cape and intrude into the Pacific as we are reading temperatures in the range of 76 degrees encroaching onto the southern edge of the San Jaime Banks. Just to the north of there the water quickly cools to 67 degrees and colder with a fairly well defined temperature break. On the Cortez side of the Cape the 80-81 degree water runs right up against the coast, extending out no more than five miles from the Punta Gorda area to Cabo, outside of this area it is just a bit cooler at around 74 degrees with no defined break. The warmer water is the blue water so most of the action we have seen has been within 5 miles of the beach.
BAIT: Bait became a bit scarce this week, and the IGFA Offshore Championship Tournament boats received the first pick for the most part. With the water warming up quickly Pacific Mackerel has become a commodity much in demand and supplies were scarce. Four days of tournament fishing put quite the dent in available supplies, and with three days of tournament fishing starting Monday you can expect things to remain on the lean side. Most of the fish were in the 1/3-pound range and the cost remained at $2 per bait. There were a lot of Caballito available early in the week but with the full moon coming up soon they have become hard to get as well. Sardines, nice sized ones, were available at $25 a scoop from the bait boats up in the Palmilla area.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: As a change of pace there were some Swordfish hooked up close to home this week. I had confirmed reports of two fish, one of them fought for 6 ½ hours and another for 2 ½ hours and both of them ended up getting away. More were sighted but refused to eat. I managed to catch and release my first Blue Marlin of the year at the inner Gorda Bank, a little guy of about 130 pounds. On the radio I hear reports of some Blues caught up in the East Cape area in the warmer water so more of them should be arriving soon. The just completed IGFA Offshore Championship Tournament had a total of 62 teams fishing for four days and resulted in the release of a total of 325 marlin for an average of 1.3 marlin per day, per boat. That is a bit slow by our standards but it just goes to show that the bite has been a bit off for the stripers. There were a lot of tailing fish early in the week due to the wind, but later on it was a matter of searching for feeders and being there at the right time. There were concentrations of fish up at the Vinorama area but they scattered mid-week and seemed to move in closer to Cabo. The bite happened for a lot of boats in the area of the 1150 spot and that was right at the edge of the warm blue water and the slightly cooler green water and at the end of the week it seemed as if the fish had moved in even closer with a lot of tailing fish seen off of Punta Ballena.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: At the end of the week there were some fish found offshore up around the Vinorama area mixed in with Porpoise. They were decent fish in the 35-pound class. Other than that there was not much found in the way of Tuna.
DORADO: Dorado are still an occasional catch with a few small fish being found in close to shore in the warmer water. With the influx of 80 -degree water we hope to see more of them soon.
WAHOO: There were a few scattered Wahoo in the 20-30 pound class reported this week from the Punta Gorda area. With the upcoming full moon on the 31st we will probably be catching a few more.
INSHORE: Inshore has still been good for Sierra to 8 pounds with a lot of boats getting double digit numbers of fish on the Pacific side of the Cape. The Roosterfish have begun to show as well with some Pangas reporting up to 10 releases in a days fishing, and the fish have been a decent 10-20 pounds. At the end of the week there was a reported bit on Dogtooth Snapper (Pargo) on the Pacific side up in the rocks at the points.
NOTES: The IGFA Offshore Championship Tournament is now over and starting Monday is the World Championship Billfish Release Tournament. http://www.wcbrt.com/ I am fishing in that one so will be pretty busy this coming week. I golfed this morning and finally broke the magic 100 mark with a score of 98; maybe I can buy a good driver now! Our local protest against the Shark Norma #029 was given a ½ page in the L.A.Times along with a photo of the boats in the marina protesting the law just recently passed and signed by the President. For more information on the shark longline fishing law, you can go to this website for updates.
http://www.billfish.org/new/NewsArticle.asp?ArticleID=60
Until next week, Tight lines!
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May 21, 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
May 14-20, 2007
WEATHER: O.K., we have had partly cloudy skies for most of the week but as we came closer to the end of the week the winds picked up and the skies started to clear a bit. As of this morning, we had an early morning cool temperature of 58 degrees here at the house, yesterday our low was at 64 degrees. One of the reasons for the lowering temperatures has been a strong wind from the Pacific, it is always a few degrees cooler, often as much as ten degrees when we have the northwesterly wind coming through town. Our daytime highs have ranged from a high of 96 degrees top a low of 82 degrees, again depending on the wind.
WATER: Water temperatures of 64 degrees on the Pacific side of the Cape combined with green water and rough conditions have made the Pacific an untouched region for most of the week. Immediately to the south of the Cape things warmed up a bit to 70 degrees but the water has still been a bit off-color. If you headed due east from Cabo you had temperatures that were consistently in the 74 degree range with just a tinge of green and if you went up the coast on the Cortez side things warmed up and blued out a lot. From the coast out to a distance of five miles from Cabo to San Jose the water was an occasional 80 degrees (mostly in the 78 degree range) and blue, outside of that it dropped to 74 degrees. Once you got past the Punta Gorda area it warmed to 80 degrees and became a deep blue for the most part.
BAIT: Smaller Mackerel were the normal $2 per bait, there were few if any Caballito around and there were some large Mullet at the $2 per bait price. A few bait Pangas were selling Sardinas brought down from San Jose at $20 a scoop, but these went quick to the fishing Pangas, and if you wanted Sardinas you needed to make arrangements in advance.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: I almost don’t know what to say about the fishing this past week, not just for Billfish but also for all of the species. I had a friend spend three days fishing the East Cape area offshore and only catch one small Blue Marlin, estimated at #100. I spent the day fishing on Thursday and had one unidentified knockdown out at the Cabrillo Seamount. A couple of other friend went skunked as well on various days this week. Then I had a couple go on a Panga yesterday and land a #200 pound Striped Marlin yesterday at the last minute, right in front of Cabo. The Marlin bite is off, way off, and I am not sure of the reason. The fish that have been found have been in the warm water boundary from Cabo to San Jose out 5 miles and then again up to the Punta Gorda and Vinorama area within five miles of the beach. There have been fish there but they have not been real hungry. We have a couple of release tournaments coming up at the end of the month and there are a few teams pre-fishing for them. One of these teams reported releasing 7 Striped Marlin up around the Vinorama area.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Who knows? A few fish were caught this week but there was no consistency to location or method, one day they were there and the next day they were gone. Most of the fish that were caught were in the football size range, I did not hear of anything larger than 35 pounds. Where-o-where have these fish gone?
DORADO: Just like last week, there were some small Dorado found close to the beach and a few scattered large ones off shore. I had one the size of my shoe come out from under a turtle and strike a swivel, when we turned around and dropped a live bait back the bait was bigger than the Dorado!
WAHOO: There were a few scattered Wahoo in the 20-30 pound class reported this week but I did not see any of the fish myself. Who Knows?
INSHORE: We are still finding some Sierra inshore on the Cortez side and a good day will result in 6-10 fish in the 6 pound class. A few Yellowtails are still being caught off of the arch and the lighthouse on the Pacific side, but you have to get both the bait and the hooked fish past the Sea Lions. Up around the Punta Gorda area the bottom fishing has been fair, but still nothing to write home about.
NOTES: Fishing this past week left a lot to be desired. All right, let me be honest, it sucked. There were a lot of boats coming in skunked, and knowing the fishing, listening to the radio and seeing what is going on out there, I find it difficult to believe that some fleets are still reporting outstanding action. Honestly, there are a few boats that have done well on one day, but I don’t know of any of them that have been hammering the fish on every trip. I hope things change quickly as we have the four day IGFA Offshore Tournament happening this week and then the World Championship Release Tournament right afterward. Our fingers are crossed, I hope yours are as well!
As for our shark longline lining law, you can go to this website for updates.
http://www.billfish.org/new/NewsArticle.asp?ArticleID=60
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