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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 Nov 04, 2025
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Dec 19, 2011; 11:35AM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
December 12-18, 2011
WEATHER: We had a week of cloudy skies and it seemed that the only sunshine that lasted very long happened Thursday afternoon. The rest of the week we kept thinking that it would begin raining any moment. That said, we still had great temperatures as the early morning lows were in the high 60's and the daytime highs in the high 80's. We did get just a little spit of rain, dotting the windshields of the cars and showing you how dusty they were, but nothing heavy here in town. There were some breezy mornings as well, not enough to keep you off the water but enough to have an effect on the golf courses!
WATER: The swells this week were mixed with some days small ones coming in from the east and other days normal ones coming from the northwest. All in all there were no large swells, the biggest were on the Pacific side at 4-6 feet, the smaller on the Cortez at 1-3 feet. Water temperatures were the key this week as the warmest water we had was to the southwest 20 miles, there it warmed to 77 degrees. Elsewhere it stayed fairly stable at 74 degrees with the water directly to the south of the Cape a bit cooler at 73 degrees.
BAIT: Some Caballito and a few Mackerel were to be had at $3 per bait, mostly boats were getting junk bait for their money so many were going with frozen Ballyhoo instead. There were some Sardinas at $25-$30 a scoop as well.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Still waiting! The word from private boats working the area to the north of Mag Bay is that the fish are there, one boat reported releasing 50 Striped Marlin in one day, but the concentrations have not yet moved this far south. The boats that are going out are releasing between one and four per day and the methods have varied. Some boats have done well by dropping a live bait to 250 feet off the points and have been getting one or two per day, others are running a rigged ballyhoo on the long line and are getting bit on that. Some boats are having better luck pulling plastic lures and dropping back rigged bait to fish that come into the pattern and that won't bite on the lures. Anyway that is being used seems to work for a few fish, the trick is to find them! Almost all the action we have seen has come from the Pacific side but there have been a few showing up on the 95 spot and the 1150.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: We are still experiencing very good fishing for Yellowfin Tuna, and there are still some large fish out there. Of course most of the boats are getting fish between 12 and 25 pounds with a few in the 60 pound range but there have been several fish this week that have been over 200 pounds. Most of these larger fish have been caught by boats flying a kite. The majority of the schools have been found between 14 and 24 miles to the south and west among spotted and spinner dolphin, the white bellied dolphin have not seemed to have as many fish with them. If you are thinking about getting some tuna it's time to get here, we expect the purse seiners to start back in operation the first of the year, but right now it's possible to limit out on every trip. That's no guarantee of course as the tide can have a strong effect on your success. At the end of the week the bite was good early in the morning and then as the tide changed the bite turned off.
DORADO: There are still plenty of Dorado out there even thought the water has cooled down, the trick is getting them to eat! Boats that have concentrated on pulling lures have not been having a lot of luck. The best way has been to slow troll a live bait or two, hooking one up and leaving him in the water to attract other Dorado. It's possible to limit out at two fish per angler this way, and the fish are fairly decent size at 15-25 pounds. Most of the effort has been on the Pacific side but I did hear of some decent fishing happening off of the Palmilla area.
WAHOO: The Wahoo bite died off this week as the moon started waning, but there were still a few caught, just no large ones. Those that were hooked up came from the usual areas, just off the beach along the rocky areas and off of the shallow sea-mounts like the Gorda Banks.
INSHORE: Sierra are starting to bite good and there are some Snapper in there among the rocks if you have the hooks and lead to spare. Most of the Pangas are fishing live bait for Dorado and venturing offshore for Tuna and Marlin as the fishing for these have been pretty good and the water comfortable.
FISH RECIPE: posted on the blog Thursday or Friday.
NOTES: Whales, cloudy skies and fish, not our normal Cabo weather, but everything else is the same! This weeks report was written to the music of Steppenwolf from a facebook friend who keeps posting clips! Thanks to everyone for reading, and tight lines!
We would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and safe travels for all of your family!
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Dec 19, 2011; 09:43AM - BAJA OR ALASKA
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: MARK RAYOR
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Baja or Alaska?
There is only a small handful of charter fishing boats
still in the water on the East Cape. Without daily
departures there has not been reports of conditions
off shore.
The beach has been a different story and you almost
have to take a number to get a good fishing spot. The
sea life has been putting on an incredible show with
birds diving and fish in a feeding frenzy driving huge
schools of sardines to the waters edge. Sierra
Mackerel, rooster fish, ladyfish, and jack cravelle have
all been in the mix.
For the entire week I have awakened to voices of
fishermen on the beach. As dawn unfolds fishermen
can be seen lined up almost shoulder to shoulder.
The sight reminds me of fishing for salmon on the
rivers of Alaska. One big difference is not having to
look over your shoulder for bears. The hot spot has
been up and down the coast near Vista Del Mar right
in front of our home.
'The early bird catches the worm' as the beach bite
starts at first light and shuts off as soon as the sun is
above the horizon. Some anglers have been using
rods and reels while others are hand lining. I have
had good luck with a sardine patterned fly but a
chrome 3 inch lure made from a broken car antenna
has been most popular along with Crocodiles and
Rapalas. As full speed as the bite has been the fish
are shying away from lures rigged with wire. The
sharp teeth of the sierra has made it costly but it is
the price that has to be paid for success.
Luis Sylva told me his son has been waking him up
evey morning at 5AM to get to the beach. Luis is a
very talented fisherman and it looks like the kid just
might be a chip off the old block.
Mark Rayor
www.teamjenwren.com]www.teamjenwren.com
http://markrayor.blogspot.com
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Dec 12, 2011; 10:58PM - THE WITCH DOCTOR
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: MARK RAYOR
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THE WITCH-DOCTOR
Mark Rayor owner of Jen Wren Sportfishing bringing
you an East Cape NON-fish report. The wind has
blown so hard this week it has not been fishable most
of the week.
I'm happy to say our timing was good and we were
able to use the last calm day to get Jen Wren III out of
the water. It is sad but our season is over and we
won't resume charter fishing until March.
I do want to share an experience we had while fishing
last week along with some pretty cool photos. One of
our last days out there slow trolling for marlin with
skipjack for bait we were not having any luck. I
decided to try putting out a Witch-Doctor teaser. It is
a rather large mirrored thing that rocks back and
forth while being trolled and reflects sun light. In the
right conditions it looks like a strobe going off in the
water behind the boat.
We were fishing with a group of about a half dozen
boats on the La Ribera high spot. After a short period
of time a pod of orcas cruised by. Apparently our
teaser caught one of the whales eyes and the pod
came a bit closer. Before we knew it the whole pod
was in our pattern nudging our baits and checking us
out. One whale even came up almost to our swim
step and gently pushed on the Witch-Doctor. If it
attracted the orcas this has to be an effective tool to
attract marlin as well.
Now that we are not charter fishing and have our
cruisers in dry dock for the winter I will still try to get
out on calm days. I can use one of our small tenders
and fish the shoreline for sierra and a little further off
shore when the weather allows. I'll do my best to try
and continue to post reports as to what fishing
conditions are like on the East Cape.
Yesterday the seas starting to calm and it looks like
we might get a break for a day or two before the wind
ramps up again. Sierra fishing was good up and
down the beach today for tin boaters and beach
fisherman.
Mark Rayor
http://markrayor.blogspot.com
www.teamjenwren.com
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Dec 12, 2011; 11:17AM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
December 5-11, 2011
WEATHER: The closer we get to Christmas the cooler we seem to get. Our low for the week was 61 degrees in the early morning, enough to make us wear light jackets to the Marina in the morning! I know, I know, but when you have lived in the warm stuff as long as we have you get acclimated and when it drops into the low 60's it's COLD! Later in the week clouds moved in and it warmed up 10 degrees as the heat was trapped. Our daytime highs have been in the mid 80's, just about perfect as far as I am concerned. Early in the week we had mostly sunny skies. Early Saturday morning it was cloudy, a solid layer over us so we missed the lunar eclipse.
WATER: Surface conditions this week on both sides of the Cape were very good with only slight swells on the Cortez side and swells at 3-5 feet on the Pacific side. The Pacific side did experience a bit of chop in the afternoons as the wind seemed to start picking up around 10AM. Just as our air temperatures seem to drop as we get toward Christmas, so do the water temperatures. The water just off the tip of the Cape seems to be 77-78 degrees and extend all across our fishing area from Los Frailles up to Todo Santos out a distance of 20 miles. Outside of that area it drops a bit to about 75 degrees. That is the way it was at the end of the week at least. We started the week with a band of cooler water (75 degrees) running along the beach on the Pacific side, it extended out about 2 miles. This cool water had disappeared by the end of the week.
BAIT: It was a hit or miss approach this week when it came to getting bait. There were not many days when you could get a good quality live bait, there was a lot of junk showing up from the bait boats. If you were early, lucky and had a captain and deckhand with good eyes it was possible to get some decent Caballito at the usual $3 per bait. There were some mullet and a few, very few, Mackerel available, also at $3 per bait. Sardinas were also there at $25-$30 a scoop depending on the supplier. A few of the bait boats had thawed horse Ballyhoo at $3-$4 per bait as well.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: We keep waiting for the hoards of Striped Marlin to come down to us but there has not been a strong showing in our area as of this date. A few boats that have gone a bit farther up the line have encountered decent concentrations and have done well, but the distances involved right now put these fish out of reach of the daily charter trips. Hopefully as the water continues to cool the fish will come our way. For the moment we have to be content with an average of one to two Striped Marlin per trip for the boats that concentrate on them. The best results this week have come on trolled Ballyhoo and good live bait tossed in front of tailing fish. Almost all the action has happened on the Pacific side, but it has been a bit spread out. A few boats on half day trips have been lucky and found fish just off the lighthouse, but others have blanked in the same area. Some boats have found three or four fish to release up to the north past the Golden Gate Banks and others in the same area have nor seen a fish, so you can see that there is a lot of luck involved right now. We hope the concentrations arrive soon, it sure would be nice to be seeing double digit releases every day!
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There are still large fish out there as several boats have proven this week, it's just that you have to find which tree they are hiding behind. Get it? There is not any kind of pattern to these larger Yellowfin with the exception of the Gorda Banks, and there it has been a matter of putting in the time with the right bait and terminal gear. Offshore it has been a matter of finding the right pod of porpoise to work. There are plenty of pods out there but not all of them hold Tuna, and not all of those have large fish, and those that do have large fish often have fish that will just wave their fins at you and smirk. You like being frustrated? Try fishing just for large Tuna and you will be happy. There have been plenty of the small variety out thee but once again it has been a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Some boats are coming in with one or two footballs, others with five or six and once in a while a boat will have several larger #30-#40 fish aboard. The large fish, those over #100 pounds, have been there as well, but as I said they have been spread out. These larger fish have been coming in from boats using kites for the most part,but a few of them have been caught on trolled lures.
DORADO: Still the mainstay of the fleet boats, they are beginning to make themselves a bit more scarce. While several weeks ago it was common to come in with a near-limit load of fish, this week most of the boats have been lucky to get two or three fish and some have actually caught none at all. I think it is a matter of the water cooling off, but then I have to blame it on something! The boats that have done the best have been leaving the first fish hooked up in the water and dropped bait behind the boat, using the first fish as a teaser to bring in more Dorado. This method has worked well, but you always run the risk of loosing that first fish as a few anglers have found out! The best fishing for Dorado has still been on the Pacific side close to the beach.
WAHOO: There was actually a pretty decent Wahoo bite this week as we had the full moon at the end of the week. A lot of these were very small fish, I saw one come off a boat that I first mistook for a Sierra, was it not for the strong bars on the side I would have not known it was a Wahoo, perhaps it would have pushed the scale to 4 pounds, Sad, but there you go. Most of the fish that were caught were larger than that, averaging 25 pounds but even though there were more this week, they still were not common. The best areas were on top of the Gorda Banks and along the rocky points on the Pacific coast. A fair number were found offshore under the shark floats.
INSHORE: Inshore fishing at the beginning of the week was pretty good with a great showing of Sierra up off the beach at Migrineo, some good Snapper fishing among the rocks on the Pacific side as well as a few scattered small Roosterfish and a lot of Pompano. This was when we had that band of cool water running along the beach on the Pacific side. Mid-week things turned around for several days as the water switched, warmed a bit and became gin-clear along the shoreline and very few fish were caught. At the end of the week it has settled down again and while there were still no Sierra, the Snapper and Pompano had begin to bite again. The largest number of fish caught though seemed to be the Mexican Marlin (also know as needle-fish).
FISH RECIPE: posted on the blog Thursday or Friday. We have been really busy the past several weeks and promise to get a new one up this week! Really!
NOTES: Once again we experienced near perfect weather and very good fishing. The whales have started to put on the shows we love and the water has been in great shape. Christmas is coming up and maybe if you have been god this year, Santa will give you a trip to Cabo for a present! This weeks report was written to a mix of Texas rock-a-billy music, courtesy of my friend Mark Bailey. Oh, that's right, delivered to me by Mark and recorded by his son Alan! Thanks guys! Until next week, tight lines!
Gordo Banks Pangas
San Jose del Cabo
December 11, 2011
Late fall has brought cooler temperatures and more unpredictable winds sweeping
through Southern Baja, back to back cold fronts from the north, no rain, just
scattered cloud cover, at this time conditions have settled and anglers are enjoying
much more comfortable conditions. Currents are now on a cooling trend, average water
temperature has been 75 to 79 throughout most of the region, still a bit warmer than
usually for this same time frame. Clean blue water is being found within one mile of
shore.
Schooling mackerel are now on the local fishing grounds, mixed with sardinetas.
Smaller sardinas are also being found in limited quantities by the commercial fleet.
The number of visiting anglers dropped way off compared to previous weeks, as people
now prepare for the holiday season. Inside the jetty channel of the Puerto Los Cabos
Marina there has been plentiful supplies of caballito, wonder how long this resource
can hold up with so many throw nets being used in this small area?
Local charters have been concentrating their efforts from Santa Maria, Gordo Banks,
La Fortuna to Iman Bank. Most common species this past week has been dorado, found
while trolling lures and by slow trolling or drift fishing various baits. Numbers
were up from past week, still varied from day to day as to the best locations, if
anglers did find any type of floating debris they were pretty much guaranteed of
having wide open action. Charter had varied success of one or two dorado, up to a
dozen or more. Sizes ranged from small juvenile fish to 30 pound bulls. These same
fishing grounds produced a few wahoo, many smaller sized ‘hoo in the area, not often
to we see wahoo of ten pounds, they normally are more in the 30 to 40 pounds range.
The handful of wahoo that are being accounted for have hit on yo-yo’s, trolled baits
and high speed lures, such as Rapala X Rap’s. With the water temperatures still
favorably warm, we are optimistic that wahoo will
become more active, as there is lots of baitfish in the area and there is now
lighter angling pressure.
Yellowfin tuna action was slow during the recent cold fronts, but tuna are still in
the area and with the weather now calmed down for a couple of days we are
anticipating hearing more reports of yellowfin catches. On Thursday, several pangas
charters hooked into tuna on the Gordo Banks and at least three quality tuna in the
one hundred pound class were landed.
Not much bottom action being done recently, but as conditions stabilized some
anglers did report action on cabrilla, yellowtail and pargo. There are still a few
home guard yellowtail biting on the Gordo Banks, lots of hammerhead sharks competing
for baits though, at time making it impossible to keep a bait in the zone where the
yellows were found.
Striped marlin are arriving in larger numbers, following their favored food source,
with all of the mackerel now in the area we do expect to see another great year for
marlin. Still a few sailfish and larger marlin around, one black marlin was lost
from a La Playita panga on Wednesday
Roosterfish have been found in surprisingly good numbers for this time of year, The
beach stretches in front of the hotel zone off of San Jose del Cabo produced action
for roosterfish up to 20 pounds, trolling live caballito was the best bet to find
the better grade of roosters. Sierra were now arriving in increased numbers, as they
prefer the cooling water temperatures, typically these fish school in this area
through May, they average two or three pounds, but can do grow to 15 pounds and are
very aggressive fighters on light tackle.
More and more whale sightings now, as humpback and gray whales are now arriving to
their breeding grounds after spending the summer feeding in Alaskan waters.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent
out approximately 70 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a fish count
of:
15 striped marlín, 3 sailfish, 264 dorado, 15 wahoo, 12 yellowfin tuna, 18 pargo, 10
cabrilla, 16 bonito, 9 yellowtail, 106 roosterfish and 36 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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Dec 5, 2011; 11:08AM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
November 28 – December 4, 2011
WEATHER: Today was the low of the week as far as I saw with a temperature of 67 degrees at 6AM. We had warmer mornings earlier, some as warm as 78 degrees but the average was about 71 degrees. Daytime highs averaged 86 degrees with a couple of days getting into the low 90's. On Thursday clouds moved into the area but earlier in the week was sunny. Monday was a windy day all day but the rest of the week the breeze did not start up until about noon.
WATER: The week started out strange as on Monday the winds from the east that had started out light on Sunday really kicked in and started blowing. With the wind came the swells and chop, and coming from the east it was not comfortable on the Cortez side of the Cape at all. Winds to 25 knots and seas at 4-6 feet resulted in the Port Captain closing the Port to the entry and exit of Pangas. The main reason was that it was unsafe for the water taxis and the glass bottom boats in the bay. On Tuesday things returned to normal and the wind switched back and started to come again from the northwest. Water temperatures on the Sea of Cortez were warmer than on the Pacific side with most areas showing 81 degrees. On the Pacific the warmer water was close to shore inside the San Jaime and the Golden Gate Banks and was 80 degrees. Outside the Banks the water cooled to 78 degrees.
BAIT: Most of the bait is still very small Caballito and junk fish but there have been a few Mackerel showing up, just not enough to depend on. The cost is still around $3 per bait. Some Sardines can be had here at $25 a scoop but better deals can be found by going to San Jose if you are going to be fishing in that direction. $20 can get you a full scoop up there, but if you are going to be fishing on the Pacific side it's not worth the time.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: There was no change in the situation with the Striped Marlin this past week as we continue to have reports of good numbers of Striped Marlin appearing to the north of us on the Pacific side. Some of the fleet boats are starting to get multiple fish on their day trips, occasionally as many as four or five releases, but they are still having to a way to get to them. Most of the action has been on live bait tossed in front of tailing fish, bu there has been decent action reported on lures as well. Quite a few boats have begun to drop live bait toward the bottom at the Golden Gate and the Los Arcos area hoping to intercept feeding fish that are not showing on the surface.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: This weeks result on Yellowfin Tuna can be show by a recap of the just completed one day Toyota Tundra Tuna Tournament, sponsored by Toyota and Monex. The fishing was on Saturday and since it was the inaugural tournament there was not a lot of notice given. 33 boats competed and with an entry fee of $2,500 pesos and jackpots of $500 and $1,000 pesos it was affordable. It was Tuna only and payouts were on the three largest fish. Fishing started at 7AM and lines out was at 4PM, scales closed at 6PM. The largest fish was caught on the Curandero III and weighed #275. Shark's Parlour weighed the second place fish at #212 as well as a #191. Third place was a #208 caught on the Bad Medicine. There were several other fish over #150 brought in and scores of fish from #30 to #80. We had one client fishing and they limited out on fish averaging #30 and hooked several larger ones. These were just the tournament fish, the fleet did pretty good as well and there were several fish reported over #200. I also had an unconfirmed report of a very large Yellowfin of #400 being caught earlier in the week by a commercial Panga using #200 test hand-lines fishing the Gorda Banks. The majority of the tournament fish came from the Pacific side to the north of the Golden Gate but there were a few, including one of the prize winners that were caught at the Gorda Banks. So there you go, we still have good Yellowfin fishing even though it's December!
DORADO: For most of the fleet boats the Dorado were the fish of the week once again, both because of the numbers out there and because they could be found closer to home. The boats that are getting the slightly larger fish are going offshore and looking for feeding Frigate Birds. They are not getting large numbers but there are some quality fish out there. One example is a boat getting 6 Dorado that averaged 25 pounds, but most of the boats are getting the smaller fish close to the beach. Live bait is the key here, but many of the smaller fish are coming in on hootchies and then the boats are leaving one in the water and feeding chunks of Bonita to keep the action going.
WAHOO: Not as many Wahoo this week as last week, the bunch that were being caught off of Palmilla Point seemed to have either moved on or stopped biting. There were some fish caught close to the beach on the Pacific side, but as usual most of them were lost due to mono leaders.
INSHORE: Dorado were the target for most of the Pangas but there is a decent Snapper bite starting as well as a few Sierra starting to show up. Football Yellowfin just off the beach has attracted quite a few of these small boat anglers as well.
FISH RECIPE: posted on the blog Thursday or Friday. We have been really busy the past several weeks and promise to get a new one up this week!
NOTES: Great weather, good water conditions and great fishing made for a fantastic week. The whales are showing up, not a lot of them yet but we are seeing a few every day we go out. This weeks report was written to the music of Radney Foster on his new album “Revival”. Excellent music and thanks once again to Mark Bailey for his continued support of my music habit! Until next week, tight lines!
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Dec 4, 2011; 04:00PM - SEA OF CORTEZ, HERE COME DA JUDGE
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: MARK RAYOR
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Here come da judge
In shore along the beaches of Buena Vista the action
has exploded. There is a huge abundance of bait right
now which on calm days is bringing game fish within
range of beach fishermen. Sierra mackerel, pompano
and quality sized roosterfish are all on the feed. Just a
few miles off shore dorado, striped marlin and sailfish
have provided the few anglers fishing excellent
action.
We had an outstanding week fishing with old friends
and making new ones as well. Early in the week new
found friends Ray Hafsten and retired federal judge
Bob Bayt traveled all the way from Indiana to fish Jen
Wren III.
The first couple days of Ray and Bob's visit we
encountered the normal north winds of this time of
year but it didn't slow them down a bit. The boys
landed a limit of dorado and a few nice sierra
mackerel to boot. On their last day the wind
subsided. They released 4 sailfish and left a dorado
for us because their cooler was already full.
It was interesting for me to watch how much
conditions changed this week and how it effected the
billfish bite. In one day the water temp dropped from
76 to 72 degrees and the color changed from blue-
ish to kind of an ugly green. For several weeks the
most effective way to catch marlin and sailfish had
been to slow troll small bonita. When the water
changed this method seemed to stop working. We
trolled several hours without a smell and the fish just
seemed to disappear.
Ready to give up on the area I remebered something
Jack Nilsen told me. It was 'keep em honest'. What he
ment was don't let the fish out smart you and give up
on an area without giving it a fair shot if you believe
they are there. With that thought I put on a planer
and started slow trolling a mackerel down deep. Yep,
in just a few minutes we were bit. With that we just
started drifting and soaking mackerel. That turned
out to be the ticket and once again with a different
technique the bite was WFO again.
Being out there everyday we experience a lot of
strange things and saw a good one with Ray and Bob.
Soaking mackerel both boys got bit at the same time.
One was using a circle hook and had the bait bridled,
the other was using a J hook with the bait hooked in
the dorsal fin. When the lines went tight both sailfish
jumped simultaneously. The battle was on! One fish
went north and the other south which made for some
good excitement. Ray was able to bring his fish to
leader first. Wiring the fish I discovered it had been
lassoed around the bill and was never hooked. We
don't see that often but once in a while an angler gets
lucky and it happens. Here is where the story gets
really strange. Upon leadering Bob's fish I discovered
it had also been lassoed around the bill and was not
hooked either. I guess the fish gods looked down on
us and said this is going to be your day.
It was good to see old friend Herb Lamb and his wife
Jennifer. They had outstanding luck with the weather
and good luck fishing with double limits of dorado
and a nice sierra for ceviche as well.
Mark Rayor
http://markrayor.blogspot.com
www.teamjenwren.com
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Nov 28, 2011; 11:05AM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
November 21-27, 2011
WEATHER: The low I saw this week was 65 degrees at 6 AM, the high I saw was 88 degrees at 4PM. With partly cloudy skies most of the week, we had a dry Thanksgiving but on Friday the clouds finally came together and let loose with some rain. San Jose got most of it but there was enough here in San Lucas to wet everything down good.
WATER: The Sea of Cortez was calm this week, for the most part, unless you got too far to the north. Then it was reported that the wind kicked in and it became a bit choppy and sloppy. I was not there myself but a few boats that went to the Los Frailles area reported those conditions. On the Pacific side the water was in great shape most of the week but on Wednesday and Thursday the offshore water was large and there was a bit of wind on top of it, enough that several good fishermen reported conditions as “rough”. The swells were Saturday were smaller but and the seas became a bit confused offshore. Water temperatures at the end of the week on the Pacific side ranged from 77 degrees along the beach to 75 degrees between the Golden Gate and the San Jaime Bank. On the Cortez side we saw 77 degrees along the beach, 80 degrees up around Los Frailles and outside the 1,000 fathom line south of the Cabrillo Seamount.
BAIT: We finally started getting some bait but they have been very small Caballito, and the bait guys are still very proud of them, asking 2-3 dollars each for bait that is 6 inches. There are also green jacks which I think are pretty much a wasted bait, so the Caballito have been the way to go, perfect size for the small Dorado we have been seeing. There have also been Ballyhoo at between 3-4 U.S. Each, but you had to check close on the quality of these baits as some of them had been frozen and thawed repeatedly.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: We have reports of good numbers of Striped Marlin appearing to the north of us on the Pacific side. Some of the fleet boats are starting to get multiple fish on their day trips, occasionally as many as four or five releases, but they are still having to a way to get to them. As we get closer to Christmas these fish should start to get closer to us and it won't be a matter of running for two hours to get to them. Most of the action has been on live bait tossed in front of tailing fish, bu there has been decent action reported on lures as well. I heard of s few more small Blue Marlin caught this week but not as many as last week. With so many boats focusing on Tuna and Dorado on the Pacific side, the warmer water on the Sea of Cortez has been given a miss by most of the boats.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Yellowfin are a fish that can drive you crazy, one day there and biting, the next day there but with their mouths closed and the very next day gone to somewhere else. That was the way it seemed to work this week almost everywhere. There was an off-on bite at the Gorda Banks with an occasional fish to 180 pounds that I heard of, there may have been larger ones as well, but it was a matter of putting in the time. On the Pacific side at the beginning of the week there were good schools of fish to the south side of the San Jaime Bank and to the northwest of the Golden Gate Bank, at the end of the week these schools were still there but the big fish were not biting and the smaller ones would only eat once in a while. At the end of the week the larger fish were scattered within 4 miles of the beach. Find a small pod of Dolphin and if you were lucky you might get a bite from a 180 pound fish.
DORADO: No different from last week, but the numbers are getting slightly smaller. Also, the size remains on the small side with an average weight of only 10 pounds. What they lack in size they make up for in numbers though, these are still the bread and butter of the charter fleet. Most of the fish have been found close to the beach, within a mile or less, and the standard technique of trolling lures at speed until a strike happens, then working the area with slow trolled live bait continues to work well. Limits of two Dorado per angler have not been difficult to come by.
WAHOO: The secret is out, there are Wahoo off of Palmilla point and they were biting this week. Most of the fish were in the 25-35 pound class and the best action was had by boats slow trolling live baits on light wire leader with a trailing hook pinned near the tail, There were more bites using mono leader, but most of these fish were lost. A good trip would result in one or two Wahoo per boats, a great trip sometimes resulted in three or four fish. I doubt this will continue for long and the only reason I am saying anything now is because as of Saturday there were 15 boats that I counted working the area where last week there were only two or three.
INSHORE: Just like last week, very little change. The water continues to cool so hopefully there will be some Sierra and Yellowtail showing in numbers in the weeks to come. Meanwhile, most of the Pangas are going after Dorado since they are close and plentiful (even if they are small on average). We did have one Panga catch a Roosterfish estimated at 60 pounds for a good release while fishing in 60 feet of water off of the Sol-mar Resort.
FISH RECIPE: posted on the blog Thursday or Friday. We have been really busy the past several weeks and promise to get a new one up this week!
NOTES: Great weather this week was really appreciated for our Thanksgiving dinner, all 33 of us were grateful! If things continue as they are we should have good fishing for quite a while. This weeks report was written to the music of Adele on her album “One and Only”. Until next week, tight lines!
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Nov 27, 2011; 03:56PM - IT WAS COCKPIT CHAOS!
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: MARK RAYOR
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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2011
IT WAS COCKPIT CHAOS!
We spent most of this week on the beach because of
no charters and mostly windy days. Wednesday
afternoon the wind started to subside and it looked
like Thursday would be nice. The problem was that it
was Thanksgiving and we had celebration plans for
that afternoon. I thought what the heck I'll get an
early start and come in at 1 or 1:30.
I heard there had been a pretty good dorado bite on
the buoys near Pescadero so decided to start fishing
there. Upon arrival we could see loads of small
skipjack feeding on the surface. We caught a few and
started slow trolling. With no action I looked at our
GPS and decided to change plans. We ran about 45
minutes to the La Ribera high spot where there had
been good marlin and sailfish action for weeks.
When we got to La Ribera there were five other boats
and 2 were hooked up. It was just me and Chuy on
the boat which makes things interesting when we get
bit. Clearing the lines, keeping the boat in position
and leadering a fish takes team work. We rigged and
started trolling 3 live skippies. It didn't take long and
bam we were bit. I was ready with my camera as Chuy
set the hook. Hang on, wham! The second rod goes
off. With the camera in one hand I set up on the
second fish. Wait a minute, slam! The third rod goes
off. We are both laughing so hard and with our hands
full we can't set up on the third fish. All this is going
on in the bridge where the rods were in our rocket
launchers. Jumping down on deck Chuy hands me a
rod with a fish on and then the second as he takes a
swing at the third fish. On deck I now have both bent
rods in the rod holders and pitch out a mackerel that
was already rigged. Kabam! We are bit again. Chuy's
last fish didn't stick but we still have 3 fish going
which turned out to be a striper, a sailfish and a
dorado. We ended up releasing both billfish and
keeping the dorado.
Once settled down we started slow trolling skippies
again and in just a few minutes hung another marlin.
Releasing that fish I looked at my wrist watch and it
was 5 minutes to ten. That's it. Lets head for the
barn. We had time to fuel, clean up the boat and
make my afternoon commitment.
As we left the area Chuy's brother Javier rolled in. He
didn't have to be in early and later told us they
released ten billfish that afternoon.
I can hardly wait to do that again.
Mark Rayor
[url]http://markrayor.blogspot.com[/url]
[url]www.teamjenwren.com[/url]
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Nov 22, 2011; 09:00AM - BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: MARK RAYOR
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BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
East Cape is experiencing the best dorado bite of the
season. In shore and near shark buoys dorado have
arrived in big numbers and are on the feed. Striped
marlin have also been plentiful off La Ribera and
Punta Pescadero. In shore sierra mackerel along with
rooster fish are cooperating with anglers up and
down the coast.
Today Steve Schroer of Boulder Colorado brought his
2 sons Bridger and Colter fishing on Jen Wren III.
Initially Colter was a little apprehensive about the
whole ocean fishing thing until hooking his first
dorado. His tune changed when that first dorado hit
the deck. Both boys ended up with limits before
lunch.
With winter winds upon us, I'm always searching for
accurate weather predictions. Last week I found a
great wind prediction web site. It took a little time to
figure out but is very powerful and has loads of info:
[url=http://windalert.com/en-
us/Search/ViewResults.aspx#23.89,-
108.916,9]WindAlert - Search Results[/url]
Thanksgiving reflection makes me want to comment
on some of the changes that have taken place in the
20 plus years I have lived here. Back in 1991 was our
first Thanksgiving in Buena Vista. It was then I
realized the holiday is not celebrated here. The only
restaurant in the community that offered a turkey
dinner was Tio Pablos. I used to joke with my friends
in the US about the great recipe my wife had for road
runner because we couldn't buy a turkey. Now we
have Costco, Wal-Mart, Sam's Club plus several huge
super markets that all offer turkeys. Reading today's
Baja Pony Express I found 12 restaurants offering the
holiday dinner:
[url=http://thebajaponyexpress.com/2011/Novembe
r/1202---112111.htm]Baja Pony Express[/url]
Mark Rayor
http://markrayor.blogspot.com
www.teamjenwren.com
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Nov 21, 2011; 07:05PM - Gordo Banks Pangas San Jose del Cabo November 19, 2011
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric Bricston
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SJDC Fish Report
Gordo Banks Pangas
San Jose del Cabo
November 19, 2011
Sizable crowds continue to arrive in Southern Baja, ideal weather patterns now
prevalent, mostly sunny days, highs reaching the low 80s. Early in the week there
was one nighttime rain flurry, did not account for much, besides making the roads
muddy. Winds were strong out of the north, first real blow of the season, later in
the week conditions settled. This is the time of year where day to day, weather
patterns can change rapidly. Water temperatures are now averaging 79 to 81 degrees,
cooling trend should continue through winter.
Anglers found limited bait options and supplies, live caballito and sardinas.
Ballyhoo were available, being rigging for trolling. On the fishing grounds pangeros
were catching chihuil and skipjack, using these for targeting larger gamefish. The
week started off with steady action for wahoo, the best area seemed to be around the
Iman Bank, anglers reported many strikes, while trolling live baits and various
lures, average strike to actual landing ratio, was not high. Some charters did
report multiple fish in the box, sizes ranged from 20 to 60 pounds.
The same fishing grounds of Iman produced scattered numbers of dorado, sailfish,
striped marlin and some yellowfin tuna. Lots of live sardinas were necessary in
order to entice the yellowfin tuna into feeding on the surface. Most action was
found near the surface, not much going off the bottom now, more triggerfish than
anything else.
The yellowfin tuna bite steadily slackened off since the first week of the month,
but this week we did see the action get hot on the Gordo Banks, especially on
Wednesday. At least six tuna in the 200 pound class were accounted for and one super
cow over 300 pounds was landed. This monstrous yellowfin was weighed in
unofficially, with discrepancies ranging from 365 pounds, up to 378 pounds,
depending on which story you believe. This fish was taken from a 22 ft. panga by
legendary La Playita pangero Hugo Pino, his son and long time friend from Greece,
angler Apostolo Poulos. On Saturday, the father son team of John and Jordan
Williamson, from California and South Carolina respectably, battled for three hours
on eighty pound tackle a 249 pound yellowfin tuna while fishing with Gordo Banks
skipper Chame Pino.
After a good day all around on Wednesday, the very next day, Thursday, anglers found
very scarce fishing action, in all directions, there were very few fish accounted
for. Hard to say, conditions seemed favorable, bait schools were plentiful, winds
and currents minimal, just the fish did not want to cooperate.
Anglers were now finding some close to shore action for sierra and medium sized
roosterfish. Trolling with live baits, hoochies and rapalas all worked, this inshore
action will peak in the coming months.
Billfish is now in between main seasons, no significant numbers, but it is the time
when sailfish, black, blue and striped marlin are all found in local waters. This
week there were several large marlin hook ups reported from the Gordo Banks,
extended battles resulting in broken lines.
The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out
approximately 178 charters for the week, with anglers accounted for, 1 blue marlin,
7 striped marlin, 17 sailfish, 66 wahoo, 205 dorado, 84 yellowfin tuna, 6 dogtooth
snapper, 4 yellowtail, 24 pargo, 36 triggerfish, 25 bonito, 9 pompano, 38 sierra, 28
roosterfish and 10 hammerhead shark.
Good Fishing, Eric
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson
Owner/Operator
800 4081199
Los Cabos 1421147
ericgordobanks@yahoo.com
www.gordobanks.com
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