Los Cabos Open of Surf – June 15-21

If the Los Cabos region is known for only one thing, it is water sports. Los Cabos Surf

Fishing tournaments, kite surfing tournaments, triathlons, and other water-related events are held in the area all year, every year. The 2015 Los Cabos Surf Open, hosted by the ASP, is scheduled for June 15-21 this year. It will be held at Costa Azul / Zipper’s Beach in beautiful San Jose del Cabo. Whether you’re interested in competing or you just want to watch some of surfing’s best perform their craft, you can’t go wrong with buying tickets to this event.

While most details for this year’s Surf Open are still under wraps, last year’s event was a raving success. You can learn more at www.worldsurfleague.com. Simply search for Los Cabos Open of Surf. Standings, sponsorship details, and more can be found on this webpage.

The World Surf League is one of the most respected surfing organizations anywhere and they put on an incredible event in Los Cabos. Previous sponsors include Monster energy drinks, the Los Cabos Tourism Council, Expedia.com, and New Era hats and apparel. With names like this backing the Los Cabos Surf Open, you can trust that it will once again be a can’t-miss event in 2015. If you would like to participate in the open, you should contact the World Surf League at your earliest convenience to learn more about the process you need to go through before June.

Because the Los Cabos Surf Open is such a popular event, accommodations can be hard to come by. Although it is still six months away, it is certainly not too early to be thinking about where you will stay for the week of June 15. Contact the Los Cabos Villas office to discover our wide range of condominiums, villas, and vacation homes. We are sure to have something that will suit your needs perfectly, whether you want to be within walking distance of Costa Azul / Zipper’s Beach or you’d rather stay in the heart of Cabo San Lucas and travel to the Surf Open each day.

Call Cabo Vacation Rentals @ 888-655-4548

Catholic Churches in Los Cabos

If you enjoyed our recent post about Carnaval in Los Cabos, this information might of interest to you as well. Carnaval is a celebratory time leading up to mission-of-san-jose-delsomber Christian season of Lent. During this 40-day long period, religious individuals often choose to abstain from a particular item, such as chocolate, or a particular habit, like smoking, in order to remember daily the sacrifice that Christ made for them. Mexico is a traditionally Catholic nation, so religious traditions are an important part of the culture that you will be exposed to during your Cabo vacation.

If you plan to be in San Jose del Cabo or Cabo San Lucas during Carnaval, you may want to extend your trip through March 5. This date marks Ash Wednesday, or Miercoles de Ceniza, in 2014. Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent and there are a variety of traditions that go with it. Churches throughout Los Cabos will be hosting services on that day. Even if you are not a religious person, you might want to attend to learn more about the culture of the Los Cabos region. Many tourists find it fascinating to learn about the religious beliefs and conventions that exist in the regions to which they travel.

If, on the other hand, you do subscribe to the same religious leanings as many Los Cabos residents, you may find it comforting to spend Ash Wednesday with a congregation of like-minded persons. In San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas, there are a number of Protestant churches and Catholic parishes that observe Ash Wednesday.

You can learn more about Ash Wednesday’s history here: http://www.eventsloscabos.com/event/ash-wednesday-miercoles-de-ceniza/2014-03-05/  If you are interested in going to an Ash Wednesday service, you will need to contact individual churches that are located near your Los Cabos vacation rental.

Villa Penasco 6 Bedroom Pedregal Palace

Villa Penasco is a 6 bedroom Pedregal Palace overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Lands End in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
http://www.loscabosvillas.com/cabo-san-lucas-rental-villas/Villa-PenascoDSCN2530

Los Cabos Fishing Report

January 12, 2014 823_Eric_Cabrilla
Anglers –

The Holiday Season has come to an end, school’s are back in session, work schedules are set and it is now time to start the New Year. Also a great time to start thinking about planning another adventure south of the border, where there is plenty of warm sunshine and activities to enjoy. While there was an Arctic freeze that swept through much of the United States this past week, Southern Baja was basking in balmy winter weather conditions, sunny days with highs of 75 to 80 degrees.
Winds were blowing predominately out of the north, but not overly strong and anglers enjoyed comfortable ocean conditions most days.
Water temperatures ranged from 72 to 75 degrees, warmest areas located 30 to 40 miles offshore, in the direction of the Sea of Cortez.

Sportfishing fleets found action for striped marlin on the Pacific, close to shore near the Old Light House, where concentrations of baitfish schooled. On the outside of Cabo San Lucas, 30 miles of more offshore, charters were finding action for yellowfin tuna which were associated with moving porpoise, many of these yellowfin were of the football sized, several days there were tuna close to the 100 pound class being accounted for while trolling lures in the area where porpoise were working. Still no source for sardinas, which would help start up a consistent bite for schooling tuna. Though one local pangero that acquired sardinas from a boat that netted them near Vinorama on Friday, landed a 80 lb. yellowfin tuna on a dead sardina while drift fishing the San Luis Bank. There good numbers of tuna on these grounds, though you need the correct baitfish to entice them, we are hoping the sardina situation becomes a more reliable consistent source. There have been caballito and ballyhoo available most days, skipjack and bolito have also been found on the fishing grounds, a good option for cut baits.

Inshore action was just starting to pick up on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas, lots of good sized sierra were being hooked into while trolling with hoochies. Though we have now heard of reported commercial gill net activity on these same stretches of beaches, these nets are set in the evening and hauled out early in the day in hopes of being more discrete, though the damage is blatantly evident, these pirate coop operations never seem to get much bad publicity until whales or porpoise become entangled, this form of fishing is absolutely indiscriminate, trapping any species that happens to swim through the particular set zone, including fish, turtles and mammals.
New sanctions are definitely in order to help protect this fragile inshore ecosystem from complete collapse, this unique diverse fishery is such a valuable natural resource and can be sustained for future generations if managed properly.

San Jose del Cabo fleets are now working areas from Santa Maria to the Gordo Banks and north to San Luis, ocean conditions were greenish as a result of the cooler north winds, though a few dorado and an occasional wahoo are still being encountered while trolling surface lures or rigged baits, though no significant numbers for these fish, these pelagic species are migrating south now, following their preferred temperate currents and food sources. Anglers have been finding good action on bonito while jigging yo-yo’s or trolling smaller sized rapalas, these fish averaged from 4 to 8 pounds. There were a handful of smaller sized yellowfin tuna being hooked into on the yo-yo jigs where the concentrations of bonito are. A few cabrilla, pargo and triggerfish were also in the mix.

Scattered billfish action off of the San Jose del Cabo, quite a few mako sharks in this region now, some even struck on high speed lures and many were hooked into on various baits, most resulting in cut lines. These sharks always seem prefer these cooling currents, usually a sign that mackerel schools are not far away.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 85 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of:
5 striped marlin, 3 wahoo, 16 yellowfin tuna, 315 bonito, 14 sierra,
10 roosterfish, 88 dorado, 8 mako shark, 2 grouper, 18 pargo and 40 triggerfish.

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

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Happy New Years from Los Cabos, Mexico

Wishing all a Safe and Happy New Year in 2014…OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Cabo Fishing Report

December 22, 2013 826_TunaCatch
Anglers –

Crowds of tourists were light this past week, we do expect to see increased crowds during Christmas week. The weather has settled, winds were light and ocean conditions were great, air temperatures ranged from 60/80 degrees and ocean currents have now varied from 74 to 77 degrees. Clarity of the ocean fluctuated, having become greenish closer to shore, though conditions are still favorable for this late in the year.

Anglers found improved action for dorado in recent days, the majority of these fish have been found within a couple miles of shore, at times they were found in larger sized schools, with fish ranging to over 20 lb. Striking on caballito, ballyhoo and various trolled lures, many charters were rapidly limiting out once they did find where the fish were. Sardinas were not available at this time and caballito also became less plentiful with the passing of the full moon.

Inshore action produced roosterfish, sierra and jack crevalle. Most of the roosterfish are juvenile sized this time of year and should be released with care in order to grow to maturity. Sierra bite would be wide open if sardinas were readily available, though these scrappy fighters are striking on rapalas and hoochies type lures, best action being early in the morning at first light.

Billfish action was once again now centered on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas, where good numbers of striped marlin are concentrated off of the old light house and the more distant banks. We should see schools of mackerel and sardinetas soon on local grounds, this is now the season when we start to find these baitfish schooling and attracting more gamefish into the region.

Whale season is now in full swing and these mammals are being sighted throughout the area. Increasing recreational dive tour operations have put additional pressure on the Gordo Banks and it is getting to the point where rod and reel anglers can hardly even have a reasonable chance on these grounds with so many scuba divers in the water at a given time. Additionally these boats are anchored up right near the high spot, this makes it difficult to drift fish in the manner accustomed for productive fishing on these banks. This is definitely a confliction of interests and it appears that this situation will likely become worse before any changes are made.

Many commercial drift netters have been seen in the area lately, it is a shame these boats are even allowed to operate in touristic zones. They are truly destructive, their main catch is dorado and marlin, both of which are supposedly protected sport fish only species, but are blatantly being commercially exploited as a by catch. It is time to seriously put some thought into protecting the future fishery and set priorities straight.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 56 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 5 wahoo, 22 bonito, 11 cabrilla, 6 amberjack, 14 pargo, 23 sierra, 18 roosterfish, 175 dorado, 24 triggerfish and 16 yellowfin tuna.

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

Los Cabos Fishing Report

827_Bob277LBDecember 15, 2013

Crowds of tourists were noticeably fewer this past week, with less than two weeks to go until Christmas, people are now occupied with preparations and other priorities. As much of Northern America has been enduring icy conditions, the climate in Southern Baja has been comfortable, mostly sunny skies with highs of 80 degrees. Northern winds increased in recent days and this made for choppy ocean conditions, though water temperatures are still averaged a bit warmer than normal at 76/78 degrees throughout the region. We do expect currents to cool more rapidly now, as this is the month with the shortest days of the year. More and more whales are now arriving from the north, these mammals will be in this area for the next several months.

Supplies of bait consisted of caballito, ballyhoo, squid slabs and some skipjack and chihuil offshore. Sardinas became scarce again as the north winds made this a difficult task, limiting the range of the commercial fleet. Sardinas have been very scattered this fall, when found have been juvenile sized, a combination of factors contributing to this situation.

Fishing was spread out in all directions, inshore, offshore and some bottom action, a lot depended on ocean conditions and available bait source, as to where anglers targeted on a given day. Catches ranged from a couple fish per boat, to over a dozen of combined species. There is a wide variety of fish now in the area, though most of them were caught in limited numbers. We have seen striped marlin, dorado, yellowfin tuna, wahoo, skipjack, bonito, amberjack, yellowtail, cabrilla, pargo, sierra, roosterfish, triggerfish and others.

We are seeing more commercial tuna pens being moved north offshore of San Jose del Cabo, being towed at 1 or 2 mph, from 10 to 20 miles offshore. Charters boats at times were fishing in proximity of these pens and were finding good numbers of small 4 to 8 lb. yellowfin tuna and a few dorado, mostly a long boat ride for smaller sized fish. The new trend of hauling tuna pens filled with bluefin tuna from north Baja grounds into the Sea of Cortez is causing some concern, because this will only increase the already heavy pressure on the local bait resources, because these penned tuna require tons of fresh bait. Same deal that has happened in Northern Baja, discussion is that perhaps they are relocating these pens because the bluefin are able to grow faster and with lengthier proportions in warmer water.

Besides finding some small tuna action while fishing near these slow moving tuna pens, anglers were not finding yellowfin elsewhere, the action on the Iman Bank became fruitless due to northern winds. The exception was on Thursday, when a few larger yellowfin tuna were hooked into on the Gordo Banks, the prize was a 277 lb. yellowfin tuna that was landed by Bob Deeter of Fort Brag, Ca. Deeter was drift fishing with a chunk of skipjack when he hooked into the early Christmas gift. Last weekend during a local tournament these were a pair of tuna over 100 pounds taken, 107 lb. and 130 lb., though for the past two weeks, no one had reported any big yellowfin action, getting late in the season now, though there definitely still is a chance, maybe someone will pull out another 300 lb. cow before the end of the month.

Anglers are now starting to make more attempts off the bottom structure when weather allowed, no big numbers of fish found, though a few nice amberjack, pargo, yellowtail and cabrilla were accounted for, it is the time of year where we will start doing more of this type of drift fishing over shallow water rocky areas, this can produce a variety of quality bottom dwellers, though it is also the type of fishing where it is best when the seas are not too rough.

Schools of sierra are now found close to shore, striking trolled rapalas and hoochies, though easier to entice with sardinas, which have not been available on a regular basis. Lots of roosterfish also found in certain inshore areas, mostly juvenile sized this time of year, though a few roosters over 20 pounds were reported.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 72 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 2 striped marlin, 9 wahoo, 24 bonito, 13 cabrilla, 2 yellowtail, 8 amberjack, 1 dogtooth snapper,115 sierra, 55 roosterfish, 65 dorado, 80 skipjack and 88 yellowfin tuna.

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

Los Cabos Fishing Report

December 8, 201828_Rick2

Despite being the week after Thanksgiving there are still good numbers of tourists in town, many simply looking for the warmer weather, as much of the northern territories are now enduring icy wintry conditions. Local weather has been great, mostly sunny days, some scattered cloud cover, highs averaging 80 degrees. Winds were now predominately blowing from the north, this past week the breeze was moderate and anglers enjoyed nice ocean conditions, this is the time of year when there are cycles of gusty winds which last several days. Los Cabos is situated on the Southern Peninsula, when offshore fishing grounds are blown out from too much wind, there can be other options found in more protected areas.

Sportfishing fleets are now fishing all of the normal grounds in various directions, ocean temperature is now steady throughout the region, from the Pacific banks to Los Frailes, averaging in the 78/79 degree range, no great temperature break, conditions are a bit warmer than normal, though we do expect to see a cooling trend as days now progressively become shorter. Bait supplies have varied a bit from day to day, caballito and sardinas have been available recently on a regular basis, sardinas have been found towards Los Frailes and the commercial fleet has been delivering them to panga charters on Iman to Vinorama. Other bait options included ballyhoo, slabs of squid, chihuil and skipjack. Overall the bait situation has improved.

San Jose del Cabo fleets have been fishing mainly on the grounds from Santa Maria, where there has been steady action for striped marlin, with dorado and a few wahoo mixed in, more numbers of charters were now heading in the direction of the Iman Bank, where the odds of finding yellowfin tuna were best, anglers were drift fishing with striped squid or sardinas, the tuna were averaging 10 to 20 pounds, striking more readily on lighter leaders, catches varied from one or two per boat, up to 15 fish, matter of being in the right place when the fish were in the feeding mood. On Thursday there was one 100 pound class yellowfin tuna landed off the Gordo Banks, first larger grade tuna we have heard about for the past couple of weeks, maybe a chance still at a cow. Dorado were found on these same grounds and scattered throughout the area, smaller sized schools, most of the fish were10 pounds or less, though there were exceptions of larger bulls landed. Trolling medium sized lures or larger sized baitfish was a productive technique for finding the dorado.

Wahoo are doing what they commonly do, remain elusive even during the supposedly peak season. These fish are definitely in the area, there are hook ups being reported daily, just no huge numbers or with any consistency, holding on the ledges, along drop offs, over structure, normally encountered in water depths from 100 to 200 feet. Trolling with rapalas, skirted lead heads and with rigged larger sized baitfish are what these fish will commonly strike on, rapid strikes, like no other, many lost strikes, happen so fast, either on or off. With the water temperatures now in the preferred range for wahoo we are optimistic that on any given day these fish could become more increasingly active. Anglers recently have been fortunate to lane one or two of these fish, the wahoo being brought in have been averaging in the 20 to 40 pound range.

Off the bottom structure, across the Iman Bank, anglers reported more success while dropping larger baitfish, caballito, skipjack or chihuil, near the bottom, there were amberjack, grouper and dogtooth snapper accounted for, no big numbers, but quality fish in the 30 to 60 pound class. A couple of yellowtail were reported by the commercial fleets fishing in deeper waters for snapper, these yellows were over 30 pounds, home guard fish, holding in the cooler depths. Several nice sized sierra were taken on the offshore banks, a bit out of their normal habitat closer to shore. Quite a few bonito now on the same grounds, mixed with yellowfin tuna and black skipjack, this is normally a sign of cooling waters, as sierra become plentiful along the beaches.

Many whales now being spotted, these whales are just showing in greater numbers, arriving from their northern grounds, we are also seeing other sea life, including manta rays, sea lions, turtles and lots of birds.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 135 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 11 striped marlin, 2 sailfish, 39 wahoo, 190 bonito, 15 cabrilla, 13 amberjack, 2 dogtooth snapper,45 sierra, 260 dorado and 445 yellowfin tuna.

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

Los Cabos Fishing Report

November 10, 2013  832_LaurynLewis
Anglers –

Weather patterns in Southern Baja California can often be unpredictable and this past weekend we witnessed a surprise formation of a late season tropical storm develop off to the west, before shifting directions and heading east, passing just offshore of Cabo San Lucas on Sunday afternoon. Tropical Storm Sonia made landfall near Culiacan, Sinaloa and was then downgraded to a depression. This was an unusual event for this time of year, though not unprecedented; remember the monsoon rains 20 years ago on November 4, this drenched 25 inches of rainfall in 12 hours over San Jose del Cabo. This latest system did drop up to 2 to 3 inches of rainfall in isolated areas and there were steady winds of 30 mph plus, but this did not last long and as the storm quickly moved past conditions cleared rapidly. Ocean swells never did increase very much, winds apparently were not strong enough to generate high swells. Conditions became stormy through Sunday morning the local ports were officially closed to all smaller crafts and did not reopen until about 7 a.m. on Monday. This was an inconvenience to hundreds of anglers who were all set to go fishing on Sunday, this was an act of Mother Nature and we were all fortunate that this only shut down operations for one day.

The local climate has now settled and conditions are nearly perfect, sunny skies, temperatures ranging from lows in the upper 60s to highs of about 84 degrees. Breezes were now predominately blowing out of the north, ranging up to 15 mph. Ocean water temperatures were in 80/82 degree range throughout the region, not much variance. Baitfish were now in extremely high demand with so many numbers of charters to supply. Live caballito were available, sardinas were very limited, schools of these baitfish are now being found near Cabo San Lucas, only a percentage of charters were able to obtain these baits. Other options for anglers were slabs of squid for strip bait fishing and ballyhoo for troll rigging.

Local fleets were finding more consistent action on the fishing ground from Santa Maria to Vinorama, versus the grounds on the Pacific. Overall the action has been below normal standards, factors related to the relentless winds and lack of sardinas, strong currents and gamefish migration patterns all seem to play into this situation. We have seen signs of improvement the past couple of days, more dorado being encountered than other species, most of these fish under 15 lb., with an occasional bull up to 20 pounds. Charters were using a mix of trolled lures, as well as drift fishing and slow trolling various baits. Average catches ranged from 2 to 8 fish per boat. Wahoo were scarce this past week, though everyday a handful were accounted for. Areas near Iman to San Luis seemed to provide the best chances for wahoo, anglers trolling rapalas and live baits reported strikes, these fish have been averaging 25 to 50 pounds. We anticipate a full other month of wahoo action, as water temperatures are still in favorable range.

Yellowfin tuna action was not as consistent as would be expected, though these fish are schooling in several areas, winds have not helped, the lack of sardinas seems to be the main issue, but these factors can also change on a daily basis, just as the weather can. Squid has been available at the dock area most mornings and this has been used for chumming and strip bait fishing for the yellowfin tuna, as well as dorado and others, even billfish have been hooked into on these strips of squid. There are smaller grades of yellowfin on the Iman, San Luis and Vinorama grounds, these fish ranged 10 to 20 pounds, though most anglers were fortunate to hook into these tuna, they proved finicky this past week.

The larger yellowfin are congregated on the Gordo Banks, though they have not been nearly as numerous this season as they have been in recent years, though this is still the spot where you have the best chance at hooking into a cow. Everyday there are reports of a handful of larger tuna hook ups, many of which are lost after extended tug of war battles. Last cow we weighed for the local panga fleet area was a 314 lb. on Saturday, Nov. 2. We typically see these cow sized tuna stay in the area into the first half of December, water temperatures and food source seem to determine when these schooling fish migrate south.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 210 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 13 striped marlin, 11 sailfish, 16 wahoo, 32 bonito, 18 pargo, 12 rainbow runner, 20 triggerfish, 12 cabrilla, 22 sierra, 460 dorado and 145 yellowfin tuna.

Good fishing, Eric