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Come to Cabo for Fun in the Sun!
January 19, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Best in Show – Canines Set to Compete at the Los Barriles Dog Show
January 17, 2017 by Leave a Comment
The Baja Kennel Club doesn’t run its yearly dog show with the same solemnity or seriousness of purpose as the Westminster 
Kennel Club.
At the latter, it’s almost impossible to conceive of a trophy winning French poodle whose lineage does not extend back in time to at least the era of Louis XIV. At the Baja Kennel Club’s Los Barriles Dog Show, which this year returns to the Hotel Palmas de Cortez in the picturesque East Cape community of Los Barriles, awards are given in categories like Best Costume, Cutest Pair, and Dog that Looks Most Like its Owner.
The event is, suffice it to say, much more freewheeling and fun-spirited. Yes, exquisitely groomed pure breeds get their due, but so too do mutts – mixed breeds – and aesthetic categories are balanced by ones that prize agility, skill and obedience.
In addition to participating local pets, special celebrity appearances will be made by the high-flying Disc Dogs of Mexico, as well as the high caliber canines that comprise the Schutzhund Association of La Paz.
Face painting and face-in-the-hole photo booths will be on hand for the young and young at heart, while other vendors will showcase arts, crafts, jewelry and clothing. In fact, the Baja Kennel Club is proud to announce that its new branded t-shirts and hoodies are now available in both cotton and fleece.
Food and drinks will be provided at the Los Barriles Dog Show by local restaurants and cafes, including Joe’s Pizza, La Buena Vida tea bar, Uneeda Popcorn, and traditional Mexican comfort food specialist La Playa. Purina Dog Chow has also come aboard as a sponsor.
The event will take place Sunday, Feb. 26, from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Hotel Palmas de Cortez. The hotel is offering special rates for those traveling to the show starting at $110 U.S. per night. Dog show admission is 50 pesos for humans aged 10 and over, 40 pesos for each dog. Registration is only available on the day of the event. For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/LosBarrilesDogShow/.
Photos courtesy of the Baja Kennel Club.
Los Cabos Fishing Report – January 15, 2017
January 15, 2017 by Leave a Comment
January 15, 2017 
As we progress into the New Year we have seen many tourists arriving, most of them to escape frigid northern winter season temperatures and to relax in Los Cabos’s pleasant climate. With daytime highs nearing 80 degrees and mostly sunny skies, this is a great choice for a quick getaway trip. Not many anglers in town now, though often these vacationers are looking for outdoor activities and many do decide to go fishing on late notice. With the annual whale migration now peaking, this is also another reason to get out on the water and see what the area has to offer.
The north winds were light throughout the week, swells were minimal, though there were strong currents running, pushing in cooler water temperatures, as currents are now in the 70 to 74 degree range, we expect this cooling trend to continue throughout the next month. Sportfishing fleets are fishing in different directions now, trying to find the best possible all around action. We finally can say that some schools of sardinas are appearing off of Palmilla Point in recent days, this is favorable news, these baitfish have been absent from local waters for over one year, we hope that this is sign that we will see this bait source rebound, fragile fishery that needs to be cautiously protected. Lots of mackerel also being found on the normal bait grounds, mixed with sardinetas. Slabs of squid and caballito are also being offered by commercial bait vendors, so the overall bait situation is better at this time, hopefully this will be a trend throughout the season.
This is another transition period, where we see warmer water species start to move out of the area and others that prefer cooler waters begin to move in. It appears that the El Nino current of the past couple of years is vanishing and we will see more normal patterns for the coming months. In recent days we have seen sporadic action for a variety of fish, many of them smaller sized structure species, being found in the same area where anglers are still targeting yellowfin tuna, most consistent places have been off of Punta Gorda to the Iman Bank, though things have changed from day to day, cooler waters, strong currents, off colored greenish at times, all normal patterns for this time of year. Some day’s action was early, other days late, and on other days the fish did not seem to cooperate at all. Most of the yellowfin tuna landed were in the 15 to 30 lb. range, we heard of the big cow sized yellowfin landed off of the Finger Bank on the Pacific last week, but that is a long range charter in order to reach those grounds.
Dorado were a bit more numerous this past week, though the majority of them were smaller sized female fish that in reality should be released to help this species have a chance to rebound. We are heard reports about an occasional dorado to 20 lb., but these were an exception. Wahoo were almost nonexistent this past week, a few reported lost strikes, but did not see any landed, these fish will be heading south soon, if most of them have not already done so.
Best bottom action now was for red snapper (huachinango), with Punta Gorda being the most productive spot for this action. Snapper up to ten pounds were striking on various baits near the same place where late season tuna were schooling. Only a few leopard grouper, yellow snapper or other pargo species in the mix. Of course there have been decent numbers of triggerfish.
Billfish are mainly on the Pacific Banks now, even though we are seeing congregations of mackerel off of San Jose del Cabo, very few striped marlin have moved in the direction of the Sea of Cortez. With the food source at hand, anything could happen on any given day. With sardinas now appearing we are hoping to have chances at having a good season for inshore sierra as well. Roosterfish action seems to come to a halt with the cooling waters.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 68 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 5 striped marlin, 64 yellowfin tuna, 32 dorado, 6 bonito, 16 yellow snapper,11 leopard grouper, 150 huachinango, 25 tijareta, 16 sierra, 2 yellowtail,1 sheepshead, 2 amberjack and 80 triggerfish.
Good fishing, Eric
—
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson / Operator
619 488-1859
Los Cabos (624) 142-1147
e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com
Art, Culture and Magic: Festival Season in Todos Santos
January 10, 2017 by Leave a Comment
There is a special kind of light in Todos Santos: not just the warm sunshine that bathes all of Baja 
California Sur in a golden glow some 330 days a year; but the kind of light that seems to hint at something just beyond the known world.
It was this light, among other things, that convinced painter Charles Stewart and his wife Mary Lou to move to the Pacific Coast pueblo magico (a government designation that means, literally, “magical town”) in 1985, the first of a now thriving colony of artists to do so.
A wealthy sugar capital during the 19th century, Todos Santos is now a popular day trip destination for Los Cabos travelers – it’s only about 45 minutes by car from Cabo San Lucas – thanks to its distinctive blend of bohemian chic, stately red-brick buildings and world-class surfing.
This light shines at all times, but is never brighter than during the first few months of each new year, when Todos Santos hosts a series of cultural festivals celebrating art, film, music and literature.
Tropic of Cancer Concert Series: Former R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck pioneered the jam culture in Todos Santos with his annual music festival at landmark Hotel California and the main plaza, but for political reasons Buck is on hiatus and his music festival has morphed into a brand new event. This year, bands and performers such as La Santa Cecilia, Langhorne Slim, Las Cafeteras, Joan Osborne, The Autumn Defense, The Jag, Cordovas, Daniel Donato and Matt Haeck will inaugurate the Tropic of Cancer series at Hotel California and other local venues from Jan. 12 – 21.
Todos Santos Writers’ Workshop: Best known for its painters, Todos Santos has also been a congenial community for writers. The 4th annual writers’ workshop returns to the atmospheric Casa Dracula Feb. 5 – 11, and will feature seminars and workshops, speakers, publishing roundtables and other literary pursuits.
Todos Santos Art Festival/Open Studios Tour: All proceeds from this popular event, in which the town’s painters, sculptors, jewelers and other artists throw open the doors of their studios to the public, go to benefit art programs for local children. The 8th annual Open Studios Tour takes place the weekend of Feb. 11 – 12, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at art spaces throughout the historic downtown area.
Todos Santos Film Festival: This annual showcase for Mexican and Latin American films is based at the historic Teatro-Cine Manuel Marquez de Leon, a landmark WWII era movie theater that fronts the plaza principal. The 14th edition of this cinematic celebration returns March 1 – 5, however the screening schedule has not yet been announced.
Photo courtesy of Michael Kull.
Los Cabos Fishing Report – January 8, 2017
January 8, 2017 by Leave a Comment
January 8, 2017 
We are now settling into the New Year, the large crowds of visiting tourists have lighten up and normal routine continue. A very controversial newly instigated 20% fuel hike is causing uproar throughout Mexico and people are anxious over this ongoing situation. Weather patterns cooled off over the previous week, as winds from the north continue to prevail. Ocean swells were minimal, water temperatures are now holding in the 73 to 74 degree range, with greenish water being found pushing into certain areas. Whale migration now seems to be in full swing, after having been late to appear in significant numbers, these mammals are now in local waters for their winter migration.
Anglers were using strips of squid, caballito and some mackerel to target a variety of gamefish Still no big marlin bite going on, despite mackerel moving in. Best chances to find the striped marlin now has been on the Pacific, only a scattering of billfish found in the direction of San Jose del Cabo now. Most local fleets have been fishing the grounds from straight off of San Jose Estuary, to Punta Gorda and north to the Iman Bank. Most common species has been the yellowfin tuna, which has been somewhat of a bonus for this late in the season. No huge numbers, but charters have accounted for one or two, or even up to six yellowfin per outing. Average sizes were in the 15 to 30 lb. class, but also quite a few tuna to 50 lb. are being accounted for. There was a recent trend for the yellowfin to strike more readily on either mackerel or caballito, instead of exclusively on strips of squid like during previous months. Either drift fishing or slow trolling the live bait has proved to be most successful technique recently.
Dorado continue to be quite scarce, only an occasional single fish, we saw a couple of dorado as large fifteen lb. More dorado were actually found closer to shore than further out, also later in the day, nothing much early. Wahoo have been very quiet for a few weeks now, though late this week we saw a few of the wahoo up to 45 lb. landed, these were found near the Iman Bank, so we are hopefully with the moon phase being favorable in the coming days that the wahoo will become more active, Water temperature surely will cool off more as winter season progresses, this normally sends wahoo on a southern migration.
Roosterfish action became very quiet this past week as well, a few sierra were found, no numbers though, also some jack crevalle. Bottom action was limited to mainly triggerfish and a mix of smaller pargo and snapper species. No grouper, amberjack or yellowtail to speak of.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 82 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 striped marlin, 168 yellowfin tuna, 9 dorado, 5 wahoo, 15 bonito, 5 pompano, 15 yellow snapper, 12 leopard grouper, 28 huachinango, 22 tijareta, 32 sierra, 6 rainbow runner, 5 barred pargo and 90 triggerfish.
Good fishing, Eric
—
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson / Operator
619 488-1859
Los Cabos (624) 142-1147
e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com
New Year’s Resolutions for Los Cabos Bound Travelers
January 4, 2017 by Leave a Comment
For many people, one of the first acts of any New Year – right after chewing a couple of aspirin to chase 
away the Champagne hangover – is to sit down and compile a list of resolutions, the bulk of which are geared towards self-improvement and an enhanced quality of life.
If you’re shivering while you read this, the first enhancement should involve a plane ticket to Los Cabos, where daytimes temperatures hover around 80 degrees, and the only things covered in ice are cervezas.
After the flight lands and you’ve traded in your parka for a pair of flip flops, here are three other resolutions you might want to consider.
Catch a Giant Fish…or Swim With One
Cabo San Lucas was built on big-game sport fishing, and local charter boasts stay busy chasing abundant dorado, wahoo and striped marlin during the winter season. Those unimpressed by bill and game fish can travel to Baja California Sur’s capital city, La Paz, to swim with 20-ton whale sharks, the world’s largest fish. Many of the world’s largest mammals are also within splash range, thanks to whale watching excursions that bring visitors up-close-and-personal with breaching humpbacks.
Drink Champagne and Watch the Sun Set Over Land’s End
Los Cabos’ famed Arch is one of many evocatively shaped granite monuments at Land’s End, the half mile headland that marks the southernmost point of the Baja California peninsula. Watching the sun descend in a blaze of red beyond Land’s End is one of the great local pastimes…best enjoyed from the Taittinger Champagne Terrace at Sunset da Mona Lisa, a scenically situated dinner specialist that the New York Times has called one of the five most romantic restaurants on earth.
Play One of the World’s Best Golf Courses
Los Cabos now boasts 15 completed golf courses, the majority of which were designed by major champions like Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Greg Norman, Davis Love III and Tom Weiskopf. Nicklaus has designed six local loops himself, including a breathtaking Ocean Course at Cabo del Sol. The Ocean Course, along with Love’s Dunes Course at Diamante and Tom Fazio’s gorgeous layout at Querencia, are currently ranked among the 100 greatest courses in the world by Golf Digest.
Party Like a Rock Star
Those unclear on the concept should start at Cabo Wabo, the bar founded by Sammy Hagar and his former Van Halen bandmates in 1990. If waboritas (margaritas made with the bar’s signature tequila) and live music don’t quite do the trick, head to one of the two local Rock & Brews, the cantina chain founded by KISS stars Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, where the operating ethos is “I want to rock and roll all night…and party every day.”
Live Like a Movie Star
Hollywood royalty aren’t the only ones living in the luxury villas that cling to the hillsides in Cabo San Lucas’ most exclusive neighborhood. Moderately priced villa rentals make Pedregal accessible and affordable for many travelers. Hence the saying: “You don’t have to be a king or queen to live like one.”
Potential Links:
Get Rich or Let Fly Tryin’ – Fishing Los Cabos Tournaments 2016
Los Cabos Pro-Am Golf Tournament Tees Off Again in January 2017
Why Villa Rentals are the Gold Standard for Los Cabos Getaways 2016-17
Los Cabos Fishing Report – January 1, 2017
January 1, 2017 by Leave a Comment
January 1, 2017 
Happy New Year’s !
The end of the year has brought many families visiting Southern Baja, ideal vacation spot to pass the holiday season and bring in the New Year. Busy times now, as everyone is actively preparing for annual festivals. Weather was a bit unusual, very windy from the north through the week, laying down on Friday for the weekend, warmer temperatures, highs near 90 degrees late in the week and early morning lows were a balmy 65 to 80 degrees, warm north wind was blowing. Ocean swells were minimal, though water temperature was cooling into the lower to mid-70 degree range, also green water splotchy throughout the inshore zones. Still decent conditions to hold a variety of pelagic gamefish late into the season.
Schooling mackerel are moving into the region, off of the Pacific Banks and off of the normal grounds off of San Jose del Cabo. This has been attracting more striped marlin, though still in limited numbers, we except for the action to become wide open in coming months. Dorado continue to be scarce, only an occasional fish, most of them small in size. Same deal with wahoo, only a handful of these fish were landed in the past week, though we do believe that many are still remaining in the area, has not become so cold yet to send them migrating south. Early week there was a blue marlin in the 250 lb. class landed from a charter out of La Playita, hooked on a trolled caballito, two hour battle to bring the fish to gaff.
Yellowfin tuna remains one of the main species being successfully targeting, Best action through the first part of the week, as wind shut down the northern grounds, was right near the arches off of Cabo San Lucas, yellowfin to 30 lb. were striking the drifted strips of squid, lots of sea lions to deal with in this area, though boats accounted for up to six yellowfin per outing. Then the action switched back to Punta Gorda, where using the same techniques, anglers found yellowfin ranging up to 50 lb. close off of the point, within one mile. No huge numbers, but charters accounted for one to five fish. Bottom action on the same grounds produced red snapper, triggerfish and a few pargo or pompano. We did hear of one report of a monster yellowfin tuna of over 300 lb. landed off of a larger sportfishing, not sure exactly where the cow was landed. The were 100 lb. plus tuna being seen surfacing on the Gordo Banks, but very few were actually hooked into, Dave Asher visiting from the East Coast did hook up with a very large yellowfin tuna on the Outer Gordo Bank, only to lose the fish after a grueling two hour battle. So it does appear that there will be a chance at these larger grade of yellowfin in to the first part of the New Year.
Live caballito were tougher to obtain early in the week, rebounding later, squid supplies remain sufficient and now the mackerel appear to be picking back up, of course still no reports at all of sardinas being located anywhere in the vicinity. More whales are arriving, after a lull in activity, the mammals now seem to being spotted more frequently.
Close to shore there was roosterfish, jack crevalle and sierra, we did have one super panga catch a release a roosterfish that was estimated near 40 lb., impressive size considering this is not peak season now for the roosters. Most of the sierra we saw were on the small side, Red Hill had a decent bite early in the morning for sierra for anglers trolling small Rapalas and hoochies.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 136 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 sailfish, 1 blue marlin, 13 striped marlin, 195 yellowfin tuna, 14 dorado, 3 wahoo, 8 bonito, 5 pompano, 2 island jack, 22 yellow snapper, 9 leopard grouper, 88 huachinango, 32 tijareta, 34 sierra, 12 rainbow runner, 12 barred pargo, 22 roosterfish and 140 triggerfish.
Good fishing, Eric
—
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson / Operator
619 488-1859
Los Cabos (624) 142-1147
e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com
Tiger Woods Opens Second Golf Course in Cabo San Lucas
December 28, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The first golf course design from legendary player Tiger Woods was El Cardonal in Cabo San Lucas, an 
old-school, So-Cal parkland style course that opened at Diamante in 2014. A few weeks ago, the 14-time major champion returned to the private 1,500 acre Pacific Coast luxury community, this time for the unveiling of his new par 3, dubbed Oasis Short Course.
Woods and former baseball star Roger Clemens were both on hand for the inaugural round at Oasis, along with a select group of Diamante members, local VIPs, and top Mexican golfers.
Distances at the truncated 12-hole layout range from 41 to 143 yards, and thus are perfect for young golfers, as well as recreational players looking for a more relaxed experience than that offered by some of the region’s more difficult courses; including The Dunes, the Davis Love III designed links course that put Diamante on the map in 2009.
“I learned how to play on a short par 3 course in Long Beach, California,” Woods said while explaining his rationale for the design at Oasis. “When I was a kid, a 100-yard hole for me at Heartwell Golf Course was a driver and a 7-iron, so I can relate to the challenges faced by younger players.”
Oasis is the 15th golf course to open in Los Cabos. Three of these, or a whopping 20 percent, are currently ranked among the 100 best in the world by Golf Digest: The Dunes Course; Tom Fazio’s gorgeous layout at Querencia, and Jack Nicklaus’ Ocean Course at Cabo del Sol, which the “Golden Bear” once referred to as “the best golf property I’ve ever seen.”
No wonder the region was recently declared the Latin American and Caribbean Golf Destination of the Year for 2017 by the IAGTO (the International Association of Golf Tour Operators).
Incredibly, even more world-class courses are in the works for Baja California Sur’s premier getaway destination. New layouts from major champions Greg Norman and Fred Couples are currently in development, and Woods and Diamante are in the planning stages for a third course at the exclusive coastal property.
Like The Dunes and El Cardonal, the Oasis Short Course is open only to Diamante members and their guests.
Photo courtesy of the Los Cabos Tourism Board.
Los Cabos Fishing Report – December 24, 2016
December 24, 2016 by Leave a Comment
December 24, 2016 
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Crowds of vacationers were arriving throughout the week in the Los Cabos area to enjoy the Holiday Season south of the border. Many were doing so to escape the frigid cold temperatures sweeping across northern territories. Weather conditions were definitely cooperating, as the persistent northern winds finally calmed down, clear sunny skies, with daytime highs in the 80s, feeling more like spring time than winter. The area was bustling with tourists and many families were reserving sportfishing charters as one of their preferred activities.
Ocean water temperatures were holding in the 74 to 76 degree range, still warmer than usual for this time frame, with the winds residing for a few days now, this has given the chance for clarity to improve and blue water was being found fairly close to shore. Bait supplies remained steady for caballito and strips of squid continue to be used for drift fishing, while targeting the yellowfin tuna action. The majority of the charters launching out of San Jose del Cabo area were fishing areas from Punta Gorda, Gordo Banks, Cardon and Iman Bank. Through much of the week the most productive place proved to be close to shore off of Punta Gorda.
All around action was a bit spotty, some days the bite would be early, some days late. Most common species caught was yellowfin tuna in the 10 to 30 lb. class, no huge numbers, but some charters were fortunate to land five or more tuna per trip. Caballito and the strips of squid was the main method that showed best results. There were a few larger yellowfin tuna still lurking late into the season around the Gordo Banks, but these fish were more finicky than the tuna found closer to shore. Not a tremendous variety of species now, only a few dorado being found, most of these closer to shore as well, the majority smaller size, though we saw a handful of dorado in the 20 lb. range. Wahoo are still hanging around the region, though not many were being landed, they did not seem eager to strike on the normal type of lures or trap hooked baits, though many anglers told stories of having wahoo cut lines that were rigged with lighter mono leaders, which were needed to entice the line shy yellowfin.
Where the tuna action was centered close to shore there were various species of pargo and snapper mixed in, as well as the ever present triggerfish. The commercial fleet were doing well targeting the red snapper with fresh shrimp heads that were able to obtain from shrimp trawlers which were passing through the area while on their way back to their home ports.
While we heard of more striped marlin action being found on the Pacific Banks, we did not see much action for billfish off of San Jose del Cabo, only an occasional striper of sailfish. No signs of any sardina schools and this seems to be hurting any inshore fishing opportunities for sierra or roosterfish. Though a few decent sized roosterfish were hooked into off the beach stretches while trolling with caballito.
After seeing whales earlier in the month starting to appear, recently they have been very few and far between, late to arrive for their annual migration.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 105 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 sailfish, 2 striped marlin, 235 yellowfin tuna, 26 dorado, 6 wahoo, 12 bonito, 3 grouper, 3 pompano, 32 yellow snapper, 8 leopard grouper, 140 huachinango, 35 tijareta, 12 sierra, 8 rainbow runner, 4 barred pargo, 16 roosterfish and 160 triggerfish.
Good fishing, Eric
—
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson / Operator
619 488-1859
Los Cabos (624) 142-1147
e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com
