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Los Cabos Fishing Report

November 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment

November 24, 2013 830_GaryW_3
Anglers –

As we enter Thanksgiving Holiday week we are seeing a steady flow of tourists arriving, it has been a busy fall season, next week is typically when crowds will lighten, as many people will start preparing the Christmas Holiday season. Los Cabos weather has been pristine, highs of 80 degrees, with lows in the 60s, scattered cloud cover, but plenty of sunshine as well, very nice climate now, how you wish you could feel and enjoy year round. Winds are now prevalent from the north, though recently have been moderate and anglers were enjoying comfortable ocean conditions most days.

Sportfishing fleets were traveling in all directions, targeting the normal offshore fishing grounds, finding a mix of billfish, striped marlin, blue marlin and sailfish were all reported, with multiple billfish days reported from charters targeting the Pacific grounds. Water temperature are now on a cooling trend, down to 75 degrees on the Pacific and still averaging right about 80 degrees off of San Jose del Cabo and north towards Los Frailes.

Bait suppliers have been working overtime to obtain sufficient supplies and variety for the full load of charters. Sardinas were being hauled in from northern areas and were being sold by the bag, as brined fresh dead bait, also there were limited supplies of live sardinas just in recent days being offered. These baits have been working well for the for yellowfin tuna on the grounds off of La Fortuna and the Iman Bank, combined with strips of giant squid, also available at the dock in the morning, along with ballyhoo and caballito. Drift fishing while chumming and fly lining baits has been the most successful technique for finding yellowfin tuna in the 10 to 20 pound class, catches were a bit sporadic, some days fish would bite late and on others the action was best early. Light leaders of 25/30 lb. worked best. Catches ranged from a 2 or 3, up to 15 fish per boat. After last week’s new local record 386 lb. yellowfin was brought in, the action for the larger cow tuna on the Gordo Banks has been almost zero, surely a combination of factors are contributing to the slower action, cooling waters, heavy boat pressure, from pangas to large sportfishers, hungry sea lions, dive operations anchoring on high spot and ever increasing numbers of spear fishermen also concentrating on these same banks, this combined with the fact that we have just not seen as many numbers of these giant tuna this season.

Last weekend Wahoo Tournament out of La Playita was a success, a 54 lb. specimen won jackpot honors. This weekend there is a new inaugural tournament being held, Los Cabos Big Game. Anglers renting a charter boat can enter free of charge, with $25 K in prize money guarantee, sounds like a great deal. Anglers can enter one or both dates, participating charters can depart from Cabos San Lucas, Puerto Los Cabos or Buena Vista. Will be interesting to see how this goes, maybe next year with further advance notice in order to promote increased interest, this could be a popular format, with free entry, it is a no loose proposition, though the 7:30 a.m. departure time was not to the liking of anglers wishing to target the ever elusive wahoo.

Other action included drifting larger baits off the bottom structure for a chance at hooking into a grouper or amberjack, though numbers were not high, there were some impressive fish accounted for, amberjack to 40 lb. and grouper to 70 lb. Inshore this past week we have seen more sierra moving in, striking on trolled hoochies, as well as sardinas. A couple very nice sized sierra of 8 to 9 lb. were brought in.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 180 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 9 striped marlin, 6 sailfish, 55 wahoo, 125 bonito, 6 roosterfish, 15 cabrilla, 8 grouper, 32 sierra, 170 dorado and 410 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

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Los Cabos Fishing Report

November 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment

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

—

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Los Cabos Fishing Report

November 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment

November 3, 2013
Anglers –
833_Memo_314Tuna
Visitors to Los Cabos are enjoying exciting times, as we are now in the midst of the peak fall sportfishing season. The largest of all fishing tournaments, Bisbee’s Black and Blue, was held this past week and once again this event ended with the jackpot marlin being caught in the final moments on the last day and more exciting yet, the top two largest marlin were landed by women anglers.

Busy schedules now for all sportfishing fleets, though local weather has seen an unusual late Tropical Storm Sonia developing off to the southwest, this contributed to creating windy and choppy ocean conditions, which have plagued the region now for several days and is forecast to continue through the weekend and into next week. This storm front is an unfortunate situation for the hundreds of anglers who plan their annual trips during this period when you normally expect to find much calmer comfortable conditions. Despite the bum conditions people are keeping their spirits high, knowing that all this is out of everyone’s control, the luck of the draw, weather patterns are becoming harder to predict worldwide.

Fleets have been traveling in all directions, scouting out all of the possible fishing grounds within range, ocean water temperatures are now averaging about 84 degrees throughout the area, not much temperature variance, though we do expect that a cooling off trend will begin during this next week. Bait situation has been day to day, with very small sized sardinas being netted off rocky stretches near Santa Maria, there were caballito available and even some mackerel were offered earlier in the week, as well as ballyhoo and slabs of squid at the dock area. There were options of catching larger baitfish on the grounds, overall the bait resource has been sufficient, main problem now was dealing with the relentless north winds that were swirling from out of the southwest as well.

Anglers were finding a mix of dorado, yellowfin tuna, wahoo and billfish, none of which were especially numerous. With ocean temperatures holding warm this late, we are expecting the action to become more consistent after these weather patterns stabilize. Recently the action has been limited to an average of several fish in combination per charter, though there were exceptions for other anglers that happened to be at the right place.

The large yellowfin tuna are still on the Gordo Banks, everyday there have been a couple of hook ups reported, not many of these larger tuna were actually landed, tuna up to 141 lb. were accounted for by the local panga fleet, with others lost after extended battles. Smaller football sized yellowfin were found near Santa Maria and on the Gordo Banks or Iman Bank, though this action was sporadic and most boats that did land these fish would only catch a few fish. Dorado were mixed in, found in medium sized schools spread out, most of these fish were weighing less than fifteen pounds, with an occasional specimen to 20 pounds being reported. The main factor for fewer all around numbers of fish was the relentless winds which limited where boats could comfortable and practically concentrate their efforts.

Wahoo were hiding out most of the week, only a handful of these fish were landed, with other numerous strikes missed. This is now the time we expect to see these fish make their presence known. Once again, as this weather front passes through we do expect things to get back on track.

Not much bottom action was even attempted during these winds times, anglers found it hard enough to troll or drift fish the surface, let alone try to hold the bottom.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 205 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 2 black marlin, 4 blue marlin, 16 striped marlin, 18 sailfish, 13 wahoo, 4 amberjack,  14 bonito, 14 pargo, 2 surgeonfish , 35 triggerfish,10 cabrilla, 15 sierra, 260 dorado and 125 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

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Los Cabos – 2 Twin Cities That are Very Differant

November 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment

LOS CABOS, Mexico — “Cabo” generally is thought of as one destination at the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula, but in truth, there is no single “Cabo.”Lands End

What sits at the rocky, sun-baked meeting of the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California is Los Cabos, a region that incorporates two towns that couldn’t be more different — Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo — and a 20-mile ocean-hugging corridor between.

Its bounty of options makes Los Cabos a choose-your-own-adventure destination where the desert meets the beach.

Want to lounge on the sand by day and dance to “YMCA” at night while waiters pour cheap tequila down your throat? That happens on the crowded beaches of Cabo San Lucas. Prefer a classic Mexican meal followed by a stroll through art galleries amid Old World charm? There’s that too — in San Jose del Cabo.

A luxury beachfront stay for $2,000 a night can be had at resorts in the corridor, and then there is my favorite: a bounty of charming, $100-per-night stays with days spent tasting inexpensive, just-out-of-the-ocean ceviche and exploring undisturbed beaches.

In Los Cabos, widely considered to be one of the safest places in Mexico, it’s all within a 20-mile drive.

Cabo San Lucas

Any local will remind you that Cabo San Lucas was a sleepy fishing village 25 years ago. Today it is a land of beach, bars and bikinis, English, dollars and televisions lit with American sports. It is vacation personified.

Because tourism drives the economy, there also is an endless effort to separate tourists from their money. The offers of jewelry, tours and activities — snorkeling, diving, dune-buggy rides, camel rides, zip-lining, rides on water-propelled jet packs, boat rides to Cabo’s famous stone arch (do it) and world-class fishing — are endless and exhausting.

If you want to avoid the party, however, it can be done. I spent my last day in Cabo walking for nearly an hour in its marina area (other than the beach, it’s the center of the action) and out to a rocky outcropping jutting into the ocean across Cabo San Lucas Bay at the southern edge of the city. (Visitors usually take a 10-minute boat across the bay.)

People tend to follow people, so tourists gravitated toward a lovely strand there called Lover’s Beach. I found my own sliver of empty Cabo beach a couple of hundred yards away, where I ran headlong into the Gulf of California and was soon bobbing in the clear blue-green salt water, refreshed and alone.

After a boat ride back across the bay, I was amid the resorts and restaurants. The sun was setting, and the beach began to smell of grilled seafood as music seeped out from every restaurant, be it Frank Sinatra or a mariachi band taking on Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll.” The party was about to begin anew.

San Jose del Cabo

Twenty miles and a world away, there is a reason that San Jose is fundamentally different from its rowdier cousin: It is about 250 years older.

Modern San Jose took root in 1730, with construction of a Spanish mission. Though it had some hard years, about the time Cabo San Lucas became party central in the 1980s, San Jose experienced a rebirth of its own, albeit on an opposite track: art galleries, restaurants serving authentic dishes (like moles and chiles en nogada) and turning its one-way streets into charming cobblestone.

It’s a quiet town, but something interesting always seems to be happening. On a Monday night, it was a small drum circle gathered in the central square as a woman set up shop to sell tamales to a trickle of customers. The big draw comes Thursday nights during tourist season, when all the art galleries stay open deep into the night for the town’s weekly art walk.

Though not a classic beach destination, it is becoming more of one. In recent years, a marina was dug out of an old park in the beachfront La Playita neighborhood for tourism development. The first new hotel to open is El Ganzo (elganzo.com; rooms start at $179 per night until high season begins Dec. 20, then climb to $315 per night), a hip, stylish hotel embracing both the arts and the fact that it is not Cabo San Lucas. What you will get at El Ganzo: friendly service, a stunning rooftop infinity pool and a quiet, private beach. What you will not get at El Ganzo: waiters pouring tequila down anyone’s throat.

jbnoel@tribune.com

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Ladies Say: Show Me the Money

October 28, 2013 by Leave a Comment

It was ladies night on the big stage as the top honors in the 2013 Bisbee’s Black & Blue Marlin Tournament went to two female anglers. Linda Williams and her crew aboard II Final BB 2013Success captured first place overall team, the overall tournament jackpot, top captain award and daily jackpots up to the $2,000 level after boating a 774-pound blue marlin on the Friday. That fish also turned out to be the biggest of the week and the largest ever weighed by a lady angler in the history of the B&B. It earned a payout of $368,675 out of the $2.9 million in overall prize money available.

Martha McNabb and her Retriever team missed the top prize again (she had finished second previously), although she settled for the largest overall payout for the event. Her 525-pound blue marlin was worth $1,185,862. Retriever won second place overall, second place jackpot, top captain honors for Tony Araiza and daily jackpots for the first two days since no qualifiers were weighed on the first day.

Team Sooner Reelin’ captured third place overall with the only qualifying black marlin for the week, a 342-pounder reeled in by James Long. The Oklahoma team’s prize money totaled $34,762. Go Deep, with one of the five Japanese teams on board, claimed fourth place with a blue marlin weighing 323 pounds. Yugi Takagi and his team are returning to Japan with $9,270 in cash prizes.

The Black & Blue is an optional jackpot tournament and Sea Angel showed why betting across the board can be so lucrative. Austin Angel and his family team boated a 313-pound blue marlin on Friday, just 13 pounds over the minimum weight, yet they earned an overall payout of $966,680 for that fifth-place fish by entering in all the regular jackpot categories.

Team Titan, the first sailboat ever competing in the Black & Blue, hung on to win first place in the release division. Titan won $63,537 for three blue marlin releases based on time. Cojones was second ($21,993), while Reel Pain II came in third ($12,218) with three marlin releases apiece. Ironically, both Titan and Reel Pain II also boated undersized marlin on Friday when an additional release could have determined the final outcome.

In addition to handing out nearly $3 million in prize money Saturday evening, the Black & Blue gave away more than $200,000 to local and international humanitarian organizations, including Casa Hogar and Reel Life International. Silent and live auctions also generated additional funds for RLI and The Billfish Foundation.

The Black & Blue is the last event in the Bisbee’s Baja tournament series. The 2014 season begins next August with the East Cape Offshore at the Hotel Buena Vista Beach Resort before shifting back to Cabo in October for the Los Cabos Offshore and the 2014 Black & Blue. Cabo Riviera is the presenting sponsor, with Baja Cantina, Wyndham Resort, Baja California Sur and Los Cabos Departments of Tourism, Puerto Paraiso Mall, Hotel Buena Vista Beach Resort and numerous other benefactors adding their support.

There have been many dramatic wins throughout the Black & Blue’s 33-year history. But 2013 will always be remembered as the year of the lady angler. As Martha McNabb said before walking off the stage, “Chicks catch fish!”

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The Story Behind the 774 LB Winning Fish

October 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Joy was evident in the voice of Captain Kevin “Cubby” Pahl captain of the 60 ft. Hatteras II Success, when we reached him     by phone the day after his team had landed the linda william & capt Cubbywinning 774 LB fish, in the Bisbee Black & Blue Tournament – the second largest qualifier in the competition’s 33 year history.

As tends to happen in the world’s richest billfish tournament, everybody was kept guessing right up until the end, especially as Martha McNab, a well know local woman angler looked set to be a shoo in to be the first ever female to win the Super Bowl of fishing, with her 525 LB blue marlin caught on day two of the three day event. That milestone was to be reached, but surprisingly not by Martha, but by Linda Williams from Rancho Cucamonga, California.

Captain Cubby told us that he had fished the Pacific the two previous days as everybody knew that several big blues from the charter fleet had  been caught there as well as the fish landed by Martha aboard Retriever; he fished all the well- known spots and came up blank. On the last day of the tournament he thought “the clock is ticking and at least a hundred boats are turning right to the Pacific, I am going to go the other way, up to Destiladeras, the water looks good and there is no traffic”. Team Success worked the area trolling their lures without action so Cubby systematically worked his way to the outer Gordo as the clock ticked on and with only thirty five minutes left to go in the tournament, the water behind the boat exploded as a massive marlin charged the Petrolero lure with its mouth wide open. “Everybody saw it bite” said Cubby, “my team were all in their positions and we were all watching the lures; I drive the boat standing backwards so I can see them. We could see that the fish was over 500 lbs. and it jumped at least six times, which is a lot for a fish of that size. We had the fish to the wire in an hour, but it was still strong and headed away from us, so we decided to let it go more time. After about another hour we had it in the corner and threw all the metal (gaffs) we had into it; we didn’t want to take any chances. The team did their job perfectly and the hardest thing was getting it into the boat, no easy feat with an almost 800 LB fish”.Success winds Bisbee BB 2013

Cubby praised his crew consisting of his Mexican deckhand Antonio “Pelon” Zuniga, his brother Craig Pahl who was aboard as an angler along with Dave Reid, who is a captain on another boat,  Jan Howard and of course owner of II Success, Linda Williams. Cubby stated “Linda loves to fish and this could not have happened to a nicer or more generous person. The guys on the dock respect Linda for her fishing skills. This is a dream come true for her, she was thrilled just to participate, definitely something on her bucket list.” Linda’s husband John, who owns a house framing company, had urged her to fly down to fish the tournament, which she did bringing along friend Jan Howard. He was totally shocked to get a phone call to say they had won and flew into Cabo Saturday to be present for the awards ceremony.

Captain Kevin “Cubby” Pahl is well known and liked around Cabo; the 51 year old is originally from Carlsbad, California and grew up fishing out of Oceanside. He has been a professional skipper in Cabo for the past 29 years and this win is the highlight of his fishing career and his largest fish to date. This day almost didn’t happen though, as last year he underwent his second hip replacement surgery, during which he contracted a severe infection, followed by an adverse reaction to the drugs given him, which put him in the critical care unit for six days. There was a moment when he thought it was a possibility that he would never fish again, making this victory even sweeter.

 

 

 

 

 

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Bisbees Black & Blue Marlin Tournament Final Fish

October 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Dramatic finishes are a Bisbee’s tradition and the 33rd edition of the Black & Blue continued that trend quite nicely.Bisbees BB 2013 Winner
Today’s last fish on the last day was also the biggest. Linda Williams, fishing aboard her 60 Hatteras II Success,
whipped a monster blue marlin after a battle lasting just under two hours. When her prize was hoisted aloft at the scales, the crowd of several thousand roared as the weight–774 pounds–was announced. It was the largest fish of the tournament and the largest ever weighed by a lady angler in the Black & Blue.

“This was a fish of a lifetime and one definitely on my bucket list, especially in the Black & Blue,” a tired Williams said afterwards. “I love this tournament and I love the people.”

Williams, who is from Alta Loma, California, was fishing with her long-time skipper, Capt.  Kevin Pahl and mates Antonio Zuniga Ruiz, David Reed, Craig Pani and her friend, Jan Howard. The fish was fooled by a Hi-5 Petrolero lure made in Cabo. The acrylic plunger with a black, orange and silver skirt had a red eye, a combination that has fooled several previous big Bisbee’s fish.

“I love lady anglers,” Pahl says. “They do what they’re told by the crew and Linda did a great job on that fish. She really whipped it. We’ve waited a long time for this moment.” The big blue measured 125 inches from the lower jaw to the fork of the tail and had a girth of 72 inches.

“I think this week we showed what lady anglers can do,” Williams added. “We can compete on this level without question.”

II Success’s trophy wasn’t the only fish of the last day. Angler Austin Angel and his family team aboard Sea Angel, a 58 F&S homeported in Baytown, Texas, got on the board with a 313-pound blue that was also fooled by an orange-based lure. His brother, Capt. BC Angel, was at the helm.

“It doesn’t get any better than this,” he explained. “I’m fishing with my dad and little brother in the Black & Blue and we weighed a qualifying fish. Great day!”

Four other boats brought in marlin that failed to meet the 300-pound minimum weight. Fantasmas, Sporty Game, Reel Pain II and Titan all weighed fish, although the latter two teams are also contending for the top release boat title.

“This is just an awesome way to end the week and I can’t remember how many times we’ve come down to the last day with the biggest fish. We really do like to save the best for last,” says Tournament Director Wayne Bisbee.

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Bisbees Black & Blue Marlin Tournament Day 2

October 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment

The Bisbee’s Black & Blue is renowned for its twists and turns so Thursday’s late-afternoon antics should have been predictable.
But this is the richest fishing contest in the world Bisbee BB 2013and anything can happen. And it did.

Martha McNabb, fishing aboard her 61 Viking Retriever, took a little over an hour to boat her blue marlin after it ate a purple and black Islander lure in Grid D-5 due south of the cape. It tipped the scales at 525 pounds and instantly became the tournament leader and top money winner so far. Based on Friday’s outcome, McNabb’s marlin is worth at least $1.13 million dollars overall.

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Los Cabos Billfish Tournament Final Standings

October 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment

The 15th annual Los Cabos Billfish Tournament culminated with the traditional surf-and-turf gala awards dinner and banquet held at the

beautiful beachside terrace of the 2013lcbt_extraction_625bluemarlinBrigantine Restaurant at the Playa Grande Resort & Grand Spa. Team Extraction’s 625-pound blue marlin caught on the first day of fishing held up to take the lion’s share of the purse due to no other qualifying marlin coming to the scales on the second or third day of fishing. As a result, Extraction — with Capt. Ramon Hiram Montaño, mate Jamie Gonzales from Cabo San Lucas, and angler-owner Tom Lansing of Phoenix, Arizona — won Furuno First Place Team ($45,000) and the IGY Largest Marlin Categories ($27,000). Team Extraction also won the optional Airmar Daily Marlin Jackpots ($155,925), and the Fin-Nor Winner-Take-All Largest Marlin Jackpot ($67,500) for total winnings of $295,425. The team also received AFTCO championship clothing and an invitation to the 2014 Offshore World Championship.

The Rick Bogert Second Place Overall Team award from the base entry went to Team  Expedition, a 65-foot Viking with Capt. Wilks Hammock at the helm. Angler and owner Glenn Richardson from Abbeville, Louisiana, bested a 516-pound blue after a three-hour battle on the first day of fishing with teammates Lance Hightower who caught a striped marlin, Jason Buck, Bruce Montino, Osiel Winkler, and Tony Fransconi. Second place in the base entry earned $27,000. This was a nice catch for team Expedition but was trumped byExtraction’s 625 on the same day.

The AFTCO First Place Billfish Release Points Team award from the base entry went to Team Chupacabra, a 64-foot Hatteras with Capt. Mick Thompson, which earned 1,300 points from two blues and two striped marlin caught by Clay Hensley of Florida and Boyd Decoito of Hawaii, and one Pacific sailfish caught by Sam Choi of Hawaii, with owner Mike Mullen of Texas, Blake Stamper and Francisco Castillo.

Team Chupacabra also won the optional King Sailfish Mounts Day 1 and Day 2 Billfish Release Jackpots and Playa Grande Third Place Overall Team award because of only two on the dock qualifiers for total winnings of $39,150.

Second Place Billfish Release Point prize went to Team Galati, a 55-foot Viking with Capt. Brad Richards, earning 700 points on time from one blue marlin caught by Pat Healy of New Gretna, N.J., one striped marlin, and one Pacific sailfish caught by Jesus Francisco, Cabo San Lucas. Owner Bob Hixson, Carmine Galati, Zach Ferrell and John Mumford completed the team winning $5,400 plus prizes.

Third Place Billfish Release Points Team went to Cisco a 35-foot Cabo with Capt. Kerwin Masunaga, with 700 points from two striped and one blue marlin caught by Steve Spina of Malibu, California, with teammates Jordan Karen, Louis Aboroa, Ivan Gomez and Jesus Beltran winning $3,600 plus prizes.

The Day Three King Sailfish Optional Billfish Release Jackpot Winner was Reel Quest, a 68-foot Hatteras with Capt. Ty Valli with 600 points from a blue marlin caught by Patrick Gee of Chino Hills, California and a striped marlin caught by Louis Anaya, Cabo San Lucas, and teammates owner Dick Landfield, Walker Evans, Jose Antonio Bojoquez and Vicente Bojoquez, winning $6,075

In the TransCabo Optional Tuna/Wahoo/Dorado Jackpot, there were no qualifying dorado, so by rule the purse was split among the tuna and wahoo winners.

Day 1 Wahoo Winner — Miss Behavin 61-foot Garlington owned by Dave Finkelstein of Texas won with a 26.5-pound fish caught by Jose Loria of Costa Rica. Capt. Jose Reyes, Stephen Weitzen, Tony Berkowitz, Pado Soto, Ben White, Bill Platt: $6,693.75

Day 2 Wahoo Winner —El Suertudo 61-foot Viking Capt. Greg DiStefano,

32.8 pounds caught by Jeff Richardson, San Clamente, California. Owner Guy Yocom, Todd Clark, Oswald Ortega Cruz. Alfonso Orlega, Victor Barreda: $6,693.75

Day 3 Wahoo Winner —Minerva II 33-foot Bertram Capt. Epigmenio “Pimi” Fiol 34.5 pounds caught by Katrina Prasse from Prince Albert, Canada. Gary Anderson, Gary Mowat, Bertha Rivera, Epigmenio Fiol, Damian Parra: $6,693.75

The Days 1–3 Tuna Jackpot Winner — Reel Gold 35-foot Cabo Capt. Antonio Romero

Day One 49.8 pounds caught by Jason Snyder. There were no qualifiers on day two so the prize rolled to day three. On day three, a 65.4-pound yellowfin tuna caught by Richard Matson, Alaska, with teammates Murray Wright, Mitch Kishimoto, Antonio Romero Castro: $20,081.25

But the story on the tuna Jackpot for day three included an unforeseen incident at the weigh-ins, with the victims being the team of Ole Ole, which also had a tuna to weigh. Team Ole Ole handed their tuna to a dockhand that turned around with the tuna in both hands at waist level, only to be greeted by a large sea lion nicknamed Poncho that jumped out of the water and snatched it out of the deckhand’s hands. The young man appeared to be in total shock and hundreds of spectators witnessed the incident. We will never know how much the fished weighed, which is what can only be described as “Poncho’s Law” for the team and tournament. To our knowledge, this has never happened before in a Los Cabos Blue Water Tournament, but this incident is something that must be considered in the future for the tournament and destination.

Owners John Moorehouse Jr. and Denise Moorehouse, Capt. Aristeo Gonzales, teammates Scott Linn, Ciro Gonzales and Roberto Rodriguez were understandably upset and shocked at what happened. During the awards banquet, the team was brought up on stage and the tournament director recognized team Ole Ole as the winners of the new Poncho Award, which came with a trophy and prizes for the most unusual event of the competition.

The tournament awarded over $440,000 in cash and prizes with a great time had by all.

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Los Cabos Fishing Report

October 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment

October 19, 2013 835_BartWahoo
Anglers –

The week started out with the passing of Tropical Storm Octave, this latest system followed a path a couple of hundred of miles off to the west of the Southern Baja Peninsula, before  making landfall north of Magdalena Bay. Local Ports were officially closed Sunday afternoon until reopening Tuesday morning, higher ocean swells, winds gusts to 30 mph and moderate to heavy rainfall was the main impact felt, with isolated rainfall totals of 3 to 5 inches were reported. Needless to say the roads were a flooded mess. With tournament season now here, there are large crowds of anglers arriving from all around the world. The weather has now settled and conditions are ideal, highs in the upper 80s and early mornings are very comfortable with a light wind breaker jacket.’

Ocean water temperatures are still in the 85 degree range, clean blue water is found within a few mile of shore, though baitfish have become harder to obtain. Sardinas are now schooling near Cabo San Lucas, though this preferred baitfish have not been schooling near San Jose del Cabo. Caballito has been another bait option, available in limited quantities. Out of San Jose del Cabo fleets have been using fresh caught squid, imported from the Los Frailes area, though over this recent full moon phase, suddenly this resource of squid has vanished and carnaderos (bait suppliers) are once again scrambling to find new options. Ballyhoo have not been available on a regular basis either, this is the time when more artificial lures, jigging and other alternate techniques will be used, we do anticipate that the bait situation will rebound, hard to say exactly when this will happen, as global weather patterns can alter normal migration habits. Of course the heavy presence of factory processing ships targeting sardinas in Mag Bay certainly does not help the situation.

The most consistent fishing action recently was found from the Iman to San Luis Bank. This is where sportfishing fleets from all directions are congregating, dicing and chumming with fresh cut squid, while drift fishing with strips of the same bait on light tackle, this technique has been producing good numbers of yellowfin tuna in the 8 to 20 lb. class. At times the yellowfin proved to be finicky, moving around rapidly, up and down, appearing and disappearing just as quickly. The same fishing grounds were producing a mix of wahoo and dorado, but not in any significant numbers, more wahoo were actually landed on stripped squid, as were caught on traditional trolling lures. The wahoo that have been accounted for averaged 25 to 40 lb. Dorado schools have spread out, even though the warm water conditions would seem favorable for these fish, hard to say where they have gone. There are some sailfish and marlin hanging around the same grounds where the yellowfin tuna are schooling. A handful of marlin over 500 pounds have been accounted for by tournament teams trolling these same grounds.

Off the bottom there were a few quality sized grouper landed, as well as a handful of amberjack, dogtooth snapper, pargo colorado, cabrilla, bonito and huachinango. Anglers used various whole and cut baits and yo-yo jigs to find mixed success off the bottom
structure.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 155 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 2 blue marlin, 8 striped marlin, 13 sailfish, 32 wahoo, 6 amberjack, 7 rainbow runner, 6 dogtooth snapper, 20 bonito, 18 huachinango, 14 grouper, 28 dorado and 730 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

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