Archives for June 2015

June 21, 2015

With the summer season now officially upon us we have seen an increase of crowds, as many school have already ended school semesters are now on vacation. The latest Tropical Storm, “Carlos” dissipated off of mainland Mexico and never amounted to anything for Southern Baja, except for raising the heat and humidity factors, ocean swells barely even were visible and very few clouds were seen. Sunny days, with highs in the lower 90’s, winds predominately from the south, out of San Jose del Cabo, ocean conditions were calm and this is where the water temperatures were up to 80 degrees. Currents have fluctuated, pushing in cleaner water and then perhaps even the next day, shifting currents would sweep in off colored greenish water, this is time of year when we can see these rapidly fluctuating currents, which can affect how active the fish can be in certain areas on a given day.

Anglers were relying on the bait source found in the marina area, caballito and moonfish most readily available. Though there were reports of massive schools of mullet seen along the beaches just on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas, have not seen these mullet in significant numbers for some time. Just like clockwork the larger sized roosterfish have arrived and are now patrolling inshore beach stretches, roosters weighing up to 70 lb. were landed and released this past week. Please remember to catch and release these prized trophy gamefish whenever possible, as they are not known for their eating qualities, instead they are sought after for their fighting quality and for being a true gamefish, being found only in few places of the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

Striped marlin were the main species found offshore, at times found very close to shore, striking on trolled lures, as well as on available baitfish. Main center of action was found offshore of San Jose del Cabo and Red Hill. A few sailfish now in the mix as well, swordfish were encountered by sportfishers venturing further offshore, 15 to 30 miles from shore. There have been reports of some blue marlin strikes that were lost. So anything could happen on any given day. Nothing much going on for yellowfin tuna now, though a handful of private charters found yellowfin further offshore traveling with porpoise, this is the season where we see the tuna moving with these mammals.

Dorado action was limited, an occasional larger bull being accounted for, one 37 lb. dorado was brought in La Playita, there were more juvenile sized schooling dorado found, these fish should be released with care, so that they can have the chance to mature, reproduce and help maintain healthy fish stocks.

Wahoo were definitely in the area, but anglers were fortunate to land one, as they were just not striking very aggressively. Most that were hooked into were from Palmilla Point and north of Punta Gorda, weighed to over 40 pounds. With more bolito appearing on the local grounds and favorable water conditions, these fish could go on a big bite anytime.

Panga charters were working inshore reefs and finding some amberjack, pargo, snapper, bonito, cabrilla and others, most of these fish were striking on the larger baitfish or on cut bait, a few of the amberjack were in the 70 pound class. Though last week we saw more numbers of these amberjack, conditions have fluctuated some, mainly clarity of the water, this could be a factor of the bite being off, could turn back on at any time. The roosterfish have been striking fairly consistently, quality sized fish, not uncommon to hook into a half dozen or more of these fish.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 102 charters for the shortened week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 sailfish, 13 striped marlin, 44 dorado, 7 wahoo, 3 grouper, 27 amberjack, 13 cabrilla, 5 dogtooth snapper, 9 pargo colorado, 6 sierra, 15 yellow snapper, 7 jack crevalle, 8 bonito and 88 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric

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GORDO BANKS PANGAS

Eric Brictson / Operator

619 488-1859

Los Cabos (624) 142-1147

e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com

WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM

June 14, 2015

Hurricane Blanca passed off to west of Cabo San Lucas last weekend, although everyone was heeding the warnings and preparing for worse conditions, this system never really amounted to much, very little rainfall at all was felt, though on Sunday night there were some wind gusts up to 50 or 60 mph the blew through the Los Cabos Region. Sportfishing fleets were shut down for three days due to stormy conditions, resuming operations on Tuesday. Ocean conditions were a bit stirred up, water was off colored and fleets were searching all the known local grounds for signs of the best possible action. Ocean currents were strong, even though swells diminished, water temperature ranged from 76 to 80 degrees through most of the area. Baits supplies of caballito and moonfish were being found in the Puerto Los Cabos Marina channel, only scattered numbers of mullet now showing up and no signs yet of sardinas.

Center of the most consistent action was found around the 25 spot, off of La Fortuna, inside of the Iman Bank. This is where hog sized amberjack have been testing the skill and strength of anglers, with fish to over 60 pounds being accounted for. These fish were striking on live baits while either slow trolling or drift fishing over the rocky structure. The few charters that did use downrigger equipment had particularly good results. Various varieties of cabrilla and pargo rounded out the catches from this area, with one more golden phased leopard grouper being accounted for.

Dorado were spread out, though a percentage of charters were finding limited numbers of these fish, with a few larger bulls starting to be accounted for. With the water now being an off colored greenish blue, we have not had any wahoo action this past week. Yellowfin tuna were also scarce during this past storm shortening week, though on Wednesday one angler did report losing a nice yellowfin, of an estimated 80 pounds, right as it neared the boat.

Striped marlin were spread out through the region, one charter boat had a double hook up close to shore while trolling ballyhoo, marlin were also found further offshore. There were reports from a couple different private sportfishers of landing cow sized yellowfin tuna while traveling offshore and encountering porpoise.

This is always the time of year when we see big roosterfish moving into the local inshore grounds and in recent days we have seen roosterfish up to 65 pounds landed, still no big numbers, but these fish are definitely in the area now. There were also some dogtooth snapper starting to appear along shore, near the rock outcroppings, these fish will test even the most skilled of anglers.

Presently we are closely monitoring the progress of Tropical Storm Carlos, as this system is forecast to move in the direction of Southern Baja by next Wednesday.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 52 charters for the shortened week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 8 striped marlin, 19 dorado, 3 yellowfin tuna, 1 golden leopard grouper, 34 amberjack, 15 cabrilla, 3 dogtooth snapper, 4 pargo colorado, 2 sierra, 10 yellow snapper, 12 jack crevalle, 8 bonito and 20 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric

—

GORDO BANKS PANGAS

Eric Brictson / Operator

619 488-1859

Los Cabos (624) 142-1147

e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com

WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM