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Los Cabos Fishing Report – February 12, 2017

February 12, 2017 by Leave a Comment

February 12, 2017

This past week we saw moderate crowds of anglers visiting and they were enjoying what felt more like spring time weather patterns, ideal climate now, clear sunny skies with 80 degree temperatures. Lighter winds compared to previous weeks, ocean temperatures were in the 70 to 71 degree range, light swells and water clarity was clean and blue within a couple of miles from shore. Very favorable signs for this early in the season.

Schooling sardinas continue to be found, though the baitfish are now moving further south off of Chileno, they had been near Palmilla. The main fishing action found this week was for yellowfin tuna off of the Cabo San Lucas arches, without sardinas you did not have much of a chance, the bite was on and off, lots of boat pressure after the word got out, this being the best option going on. Also there was the problem with sea lions, tuna were seen in big numbers on the surface, but proved to be very finicky, some days anglers were lucky to catch one fish, other days average catches were up to five or six tuna. Sizes ranged to over 30 lb., average fish more in the 15 to 25 lb. class.

Most charters were opting to fish in the direction of Cabo San Lucas, since this is where the sardinas were being found, very long back tracking run to travel to where the sardinas were and then return back to Iman Bank where yellowfin were also being found. Same situation on Iman, lots of tuna were seen in the area, but getting them to bite was another problem, often they would not want to strike anything until later in the day. Some of the tuna off of these grounds were as large as 45 lb., but anglers were fortunate to land one or two fish. Not much going on off the bottom, an occasional leopard grouper or amberjack. Off of the Santa Maria area there were some smaller sized yellowtail being found, most of these in the 3 to 5 pound range, striking best on sardinas close to shore, similar to where sierra and smaller sized roosterfish were found. There were reports of yellowtail off of the Pacific grounds as well, so this is encouraging news, we are hoping to see  some larger sized yellowtail show soon, this is the time of year for these popular gamefish, it has been a few years now since we have seen any significant numbers of these fish.

Still good numbers of whales in the area, by the end of this month these mammals will begin to move back on their northern migration. The way the climate has been recently, it appears that spring will be arriving early this year. Great time to visit Los Cabos, perfect weather and crowds are light.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 65 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 striped marlin,  136 yellowfin tuna, 5 dorado, 12 bonito, 14 yellow snapper, 8 leopard grouper, 10 huachinango, 15 misc. pargo, 48 sierra, 8 roosterfish, 15 yellowtail, 4 amberjack and 35 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

Filed Under: Cabo San Lucas Blog, Fishing Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Los Cabos Fishing Report – February 5, 2017

February 5, 2017 by Leave a Comment

February 5, 2017

Entering the month of February now, always known for having unpredictable, often being cooler and windy, we are hoping with so much wind during this past January that maybe patterns will shift and now settle down. So far this first week of the new month has been very nice, north winds have laid down, days have been clear, with high temperatures in the mid 70’s, early morning low temperatures are down near the 50 degree mark, so be prepared with proper clothing for early in the day before the sun warms things up. Crowds of tourists have been light, local businesses are feeling the crunch on fuel prices and other increasing operating costs, fuel rates are slated to be marked up again this coming week, not an easy situation, compounded by the devaluation of the Peso.

Supplies of sardinas are limited off of Palmilla Point, though with lighter crowds the bait vendors have been able to work hard to net enough bait for the number of charters. After obtaining bait boats are back tracking north to area from Cardon, La Fortuna and Iman Bank. This is where the action for yellowfin tuna has been found, drift fishing with sardinas, both live and dead bait is being used, still some squid strips being rigged as an options as well. The action has been respectable considering this is not the normal time we find a lot of yellowfin tuna. We have seen tuna in the 10 to 50 lb. range, most fish are in the 20 to 35 lb. class. Average catches per charter has been ranging from two fish, up to six or more. Not much variety now besides the yellowfin tuna. Only an occasional snapper, pargo, cabrilla or triggerfish off the bottom. No dorado to speak of, just a couple of smaller fish. We did see one nice 40 lb. class wahoo caught from the same grounds as where the tuna were schooling, hit on a sardina, lucky catch on mono leader, other wahoo have been seen free swimming, so these fish still are hanging around, though with water temperatures now in the 70 degree range, they are not very aggressive at all.

Strong currents have been running, though water clarity is still very good considering the cooling waters. Mackerel and sardineta are holding on local bait grounds, though very few striped marlin are being encountered, still better chances for billfish at this time on the Pacific Banks.

Not much going on inshore, an occasional juvenile sized roosterfish and a handful of sierra. Lots of whales remain in the area, also plenty of hungry sea lions on the fishing grounds, waiting to have the chance at easy picking of a hooked and struggling fish.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 72 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 striped marlin, 2 wahoo, 225 yellowfin tuna, 6 dorado, 8 bonito, 18 yellow snapper, 5 leopard grouper, 15 huachinango, 54 sierra, 2 roosterfish, 1 island jack and 28 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

Filed Under: Cabo San Lucas Blog, Fishing Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Los Cabos Fishing Report – January 29, 2017

January 29, 2017 by Leave a Comment

January 29, 2017

Visitors to Southern Baja are enjoying warm sunshine, with high temperature of around 75 degrees. Much of this past week there were strong northern winds that made for some rougher days on the water for anglers, early morning there as the wind chill factor to deal with until the rising sun helped warm the day up. Fortunately there were still some yellowfin tuna fond close to shore off of Punta Gorda, this was the highlight of catches in recent days.

The schools of sardinas which had just recently appeared in local waters for the first time in over a year, are already starting to vanish, recently the commercial bait netters are working hard to find minimal quantities and anglers were waiting for an hour or more to sometimes not even get the sardinas. So this is a bit discouraging to see this resource collapsing so quickly, we will hope that more schools of these preferred baitfish will move into the region soon. Other bait options have included sardineta, mackerel, caballito and slabs of squid. Just not much action being found by trolling lures, so bait has been the better choice to find action.

Anglers were drift fishing for the yellowfin tuna, using various baits, but sardinas were the favorite if you were able to obtain them. The tuna were ranging in size from 15 to 40 lb., average catches being one or two or up to six or more, depending if you were at the right place at the right time. These yellowfin were hanging close to shore over rocky structure where anglers were also catching a mix of bottom species, though no significant number, except for possible triggerfish. A few nicer sized amberjack were accounted for, in the 50 to 60 lb. class, also a handful of red snapper and leopard grouper.

Ocean clarity actually improved in recent days, as greenish current were pushed aside by bluer water within a mile of shore. Water temperatures now averaged 70 to 71 degrees, which is back to around normal for this time of year. We are hoping to see more yellowtail start to move in, there were increased numbers of striped marlin being seen off of the normal fishing grounds out of San Jose del Cabo, though still only a handful were actually hooked into.

Sierra are dominating the inshore activity, moderate numbers of fish averaging 2 to 4 lb. A few roosterfish were also accounted for, up to 15 lb. Not the normal season that we find many roosterfish, normally the ones we do see are smaller juvenile sized fish. The north winds have limited where charters could reasonably have a chance to fish in comfort, need some calmer days in order to work the grounds of Iman to San Luis, this is where there can be more bottomfish opportunities during the winter season.

Whales continue to entertain viewers, as they are now in peak season. Also some sea lions hanging around the fishing grounds taking their share of the catch.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 62 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 7 striped marlin,120 yellowfin tuna, 7 dorado, 11 bonito, 21 yellow snapper, 18 leopard grouper, 34 huachinango,124 sierra, 5 roosterfish, 5 pompano, 12 mojara, 6 amberjack and 85 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

Filed Under: Cabo San Lucas Blog, Fishing Tagged With: , , , , ,

Los Cabos Fishing Report – January 22, 2017

January 22, 2017 by Leave a Comment

January 22, 2017

Frigid temperatures sweeping across much of North America is sending fair numbers of tourists in a southerly direction, many choosing Los Cabos as their convenient destination. This past week we felt cooler winter weather patterns, low temperatures down to 50 degrees and daytime highs near 75 degrees, light cloud cover, giving way to sunshine, winds were moderate out of the north, swells were minimal as well, overall conditions were still very pleasant compared to northern regions.

The cooling air temperatures contributed to ocean water temperature dropping into the 70 degree range. The clarity actually was blue in most areas, with some splotchy green areas. The whale migration is definitely peaking now and should continue for the next month. Big news for the bait situation is that for the past week now there has been schooling sardinas found off of the Palmilla Point area, will be interesting to see how long this resource will hold up, very fragile fishery, we had not seen these baitfish for well over one year. Congregations of mackerel and sardineta are being found spread throughout the area as well, always a favorable sign.

More sierra are moving in along the beach stretches now and with sardinas being available, this has opened up another option inshore, though we have not seen big numbers of the sierra yet. Cooling waters also put the bite on roosterfish on hold, wahoo seem to be moving out as well, with numbers of dorado declining as well, that time of year, when gamefish that prefer warmer water move south, while other species which do prefer cooler currents move into local waters.

Yellowfin tuna continue to be the most common fish being found, at least for the fleets out of San Jose del Cabo. In recent days the most consistent fishing grounds were back in the vicinity of the Iman Bank. The bite was sporadic most days, with boats averaging one, two or three yellowfin in the 15 to 40 lb. class, drift fishing with sardinas for bait proved to be the best bet. On Wednesday the action went wide open, with most charters accounting for limits for their anglers, while the very next day the bite was very slow, the tuna could be seen on the surface, but proved finicky once again. We are really fortunate to have these yellowfin tuna hanging around so late in the season, they have been a savior since the bottom action has not developed into much so far. A few snapper and amberjack were landed, but the snapper bite of last week slowed way down. We are hoping to see some yellowtail moving in with the cooling water.

Not much going on for striped marlin off of San Jose del Cabo at this time, though some stripers were being hooked into near Iman where the yellowfin tuna action was found. We believe we will see more numbers of billfish move in soon, following the mackerel food source.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 58 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 4 striped marlin,   290 yellowfin tuna, 16 dorado, 18 bonito, 16 yellow snapper, 12 leopard grouper, 46 huachinango, 24 tijareta, 145 sierra, 8 pompano, 7 amberjack 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

WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM

Filed Under: Cabo San Lucas Blog, Fishing Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

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

WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM

Filed Under: Cabo San Lucas Blog, Fishing Tagged With: , , , , , ,

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

WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM

Filed Under: Cabo San Lucas Blog, Fishing Tagged With: , , , , , ,

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

WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM

Filed Under: Cabo San Lucas Blog, Fishing Tagged With: , , , ,

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

WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM

Filed Under: Cabo San Lucas Blog, Fishing Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Los Cabos Fishing Report – December 18, 2016

December 18, 2016 by Leave a Comment

December 18, 2016

We are now seeing light crowds of tourists visiting, this is always the pattern during the couple of weeks before the Christmas Holiday. People are busy with preparations now, this slack time gives us all a little more freedom to take care of personal agendas, actually a relief to have a lighter schedule in order to catch up on other things that have been put aside through the busy fall season. Winds were much lighter this past week, though it was cooler early in the morning, temperatures down in the 50s, though daytime highs did reach up near 80 degrees. While most of the U.S. and Canada are enduring frigid conditions, we are enjoying the great Southern Baja climate.

There are now large concentrations of mackerel, with sardineta mixed in, being found several miles off of the San Jose del Cabo hotel zone, this is always a favorable sign that this food source will attract more gamefish, most notably striped marlin and dorado. So far we have seen a few dorado and marlin in this area, but no significant numbers. We are also coming off of a bright full moon, which can cause feeding habits of gamefish to change. Ocean water temperature has been averaging in the 75 to 77 degree range, which is still a few degrees higher than normal for this time frame. Water clarity was greenish on the grounds north of Punta Gorda, depending from day to day where you were, some areas were off colored, though blue water was also found near these same grounds, currents moving through, changing daily, a lot depends on how persistent the north winds is. The annual whale migration is behind schedule this season, same thing happened last year, we do expect to start seeing more numbers of both humpback and gray whales soon.

Anglers were using strips of squid to target the yellowfin tuna, Punta Gorda continued to be one of the more productive areas, yellowfin tuna in the 10 to 30 lb. range were schooling on these grounds. Some days the fish would not bite until later in the day. There were porpoise found a bit further from shore that were holding yellowfin tuna as well, charters were chasing these schools down and dropped strips of squid and hooked similar size tuna. There were some much larger tuna, to over 150 lb. still holding on the Gordo Banks, though the only fish that were being hooked were by local anglers fishing the twilight bite, as the sun was setting, one local panga came in with three tuna in the 150 lb. class on Thursday evening.

This week there was good action on red snapper (huahinango), found close to shore off of Punta Gorda, same place where the yellowfin tuna bite was, the snapper were hitting on the strips of squid and ranging from 4 to 10 lb., mixed in were some triggerfish to 8 lb. as well as a locally rare sheepshead of about 24 lb. A few scattered wahoo on these same grounds, though not many are being landed, an occasional fish to 40 lb. As the moon darkens and if conditions remain calm enough, we do expect for the wahoo to go on another bite.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 71 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 3 striped marlin, 285 yellowfin tuna, 19 dorado, 9 wahoo, 1 sheepshead, 6 pompano, 18 yellow snapper, 4 leopard grouper, 290 huachinango, 13 sierra, 3 barred pargo, 1 mako shark, and 180 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

Filed Under: Cabo San Lucas Blog, Fishing Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Los Cabos Fishing Report – December 11, 2016

December 11, 2016 by Leave a Comment

December 11, 2016

Though overall we are presently not seeing any significant numbers of tourists, we actually saw quite a few anglers appearing, most of them spur of the moment, ready to try their luck and brave the elements. The most common gamefish being encountered off of the San Jose del Cabo region and towards Los Frailes has continued to be yellowfin tuna, with other species in the mix, including some lightning fast wahoo action found on Tuesday and Wednesday near Vinorama, which was on the two days when the north winds did finally lay down, enabling some local charters to reach these more distant grounds. Weather patterns definitely cooled off this week, we felt l\early morning low temperatures of 50 degrees early in the week daytime time into the 70’s, very persistent north winds, which in turn contributed to a cooling trend of the ocean water temperatures, down in the 75 to 77 degree range, with warmer currents of 80 degrees further offshore. If these north winds slack up some, we could see fall type gamefish action into the New Year, though if winds become too relentless we will certainly see species such as dorado, yellowfin tuna and wahoo vanish in the direction temperature southern waters. Spots of green water moving in were also reported, a pattern we do see during cooling times. So we are in the midst of another transitions period, waiting to see what exactly unfolds.

Anglers had choices for bait, slabs of squid, caballito and ballyhoo, we expect we will soon find some sardineta and mackerel. Wind from the north played a factor to where fleets were able to fish in reasonable comfort, most charters concentrated on grounds from the Gordo Banks to Vinorama. Yellowfin tuna were being accounted for while drift fishing with strips of squid over high spots, such as Iman, close to shore off Punta Gorda as well. Some of the more productive yellowfin action was encountered associated with fast moving porpoise, with the tuna hitting on strips of squid drifted near the concentrations of the porpoise. The tuna this past week were most commonly in the 15 to 30 lb. range. We did see one 150 lb. tuna caught mid-week from a private boat from off the Gordo Banks.

Dorado became more scattered by the day, not seeing any numbers, an occasional report of a couple of dorado here or there, more often in the direction of Cabo San Lucas, heard of at least one 25 lb. bull. On Tuesday the wahoo went on a frenzy feeding mood near Vinorama, first opportunity in a week or so that charters were able to scout out these further grounds. Slow trolling with trap hooked baits enticed most strikes, though anglers also had hook ups on trolled lures and while casting yo-yo jigs. This action really only lasted two days, as on Thursday the north winds picked up nasty once again. Wahoo ranged in sizes to 45 lb.

Billfish action was slow off of our local grounds, though early in the week we did hear of a black marlin being hooked into off of the Gordo Banks, estimated to be in the 400 lb. class, the fish eventually broke the 100 lb. leader. Should start to see some numbers of striped marlin  move in as water cools and food sources such as mackerel appear.

Not much going off the bottom, particularly with the winds creating choppy conditions. Mostly picking away at some shallow water structure species, such as triggerfish, yellow snapper, pompano, bared pargo, cabrilla and a few rainbow runner.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 87 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 260 yellowfin tuna, 9 dorado, 49 wahoo, 12 pompano, 2 amberjack, 11 yellow snapper, 5 leopard grouper, 8 huachinango, 9 sierra, 6 rainbow runner, 8 barred pargo and 170 triggerfish.

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

Filed Under: Cabo San Lucas Blog, Fishing Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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