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Los Cabos Fishing Report – October 22, 2017

October 22, 2017 by Leave a Comment

October 22, 2017

This week is traditionally really the time when things become very busy for local sportfishing fleets and sure enough the crowds have arrived in force, almost to capacity levels. The high stake billfish and yellowfin tuna tournaments are in progress, with the granddaddy of all events, the Bisbee Black Blue, scheduled for this next week. Weather conditions are near ideal now, though we have felt warmer than usual conditions recently, just the past couple of days we saw early mornings just slightly cooler, still in the 70s. We do believe the next couple of weeks should have pristine conditions. Ocean water temperatures have remained warm as well, with most of the region averaging from 85 to 88 degrees. Clean blue water now within a couple of miles from shore, swells were moderate, though slightly increased with the recent higher tidal swings, larger waves make it more difficult for the bait netters to safely reach where the schooling sardinas are. Most days they were able to find sufficient supplies of the sardinas, with schools found off of Palmilla, near marina jetties, as well as north near Vinorama. Squid has been the other bait that is being offered and if possible it is best to obtain both sardinas and slabs of squid in order to increase your chances, the more the better. This is always the time frame when bait supplies feel the heaviest demand, we will cross our fingers that supplies hold up throughout the fall season.

This week we saw scattered numbers of dorado up to 20 lb. accounted for, but as the week progressed we saw much fewer dorado, hard to say what the deal with that is. Only a handful of wahoo were reported for the entire fleet, warmer than usual water temperatures help make wahoo more sluggish. As currents cool down to the 80 degree range this will usually trigger more activity out of these highly sought after gamefish.

Most consistent action was for yellowfin tuna, bite was more hit or miss that the previous week, heavy pressure and long waits to obtain bait, just part of the factors that come into play this time of year. Best action was found near San Luis Banks. Though other areas also produced. The yellowfin were striking on sardinas and strips of squid while drift fishing over the grounds, sizes of the tuna ranged from 5 lb. footballs up to 100 lb. specimens. Catches varied from a few fish per boat, to easy limits, some days we saw a higher percentage of yellowfin in the 30 to 80 lb. class, while other days more numbers of smaller fish, with a handful of larger fish weighed in. Lots of tuna now in the area, though they can become even more finicky with increased angling pressure.

Very little billfish action reported, though tournaments teams are landing a few and there is definitely the chance that someone will be hooking into a big black or blue marlin during the big buck events. No inshore action to report, such as sierra or roosterfish, some big jack crevalle hanging around the marina jetty area. Off the bottom there was only sporadic catches of various pargo, cabrilla, bonito, pompano, amberjack and triggerfish

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 185 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 blue marlin, 1 black marlin, 3 sailfish, 4 wahoo, 6 amberjack, 880 yellowfin tuna, 78 dorado, 28 yellow snapper, 54 huachinango, 6 pompano, 95 Eastern Pacific bonito, 9 cabrilla (leopard grouper), 12 barred pargo 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 – October 15, 2017

October 15, 2017 by Leave a Comment

October 15, 2017

Large crowds of anglers are arriving early this fall season and sportfishing fleets are very busy with near capacity crowds. Weather settled down after we saw very strong wind gusts last Sunday, lingering until Wednesday, this limited what options were practical, especially in the direction of Vinorama, being too far north when the south winds picks up is not fun. Calm days are prevailing once again and anglers are scoring well for both yellowfin tuna and dorado.

Ocean swells were minimal, supplies of sardinas were still holding up, anglers were also using strips of squid. Ocean temperature was averaging in the 82 to 85 degree range and water color was clean and blue close to shore. Most productive fishing grounds were found from the Gordo Banks, north to Vinorama. Drift fishing over the various high spots produced limit style numbers for yellowfin tuna, most of the tuna were in the 7 to 15 lb. class, but every day there were much larger yellowfin found mixed in the same schools, or on other quieter locations, that were ranging up to 80 lb. or more. The tuna were a bit line shy and anglers found better success using lighter leaders, but then they could be in trouble if they hooked a larger fish.

This week with we saw more numbers of dorado moving onto the same tuna grounds, striking on trolled lures, as well as on various baits. Most of the dorado found were under 15 lb., with an occasional larger bull reported. Only a scattering of wahoo reported, though they are in the area, on Thursday there was a 50 lb. wahoo landed out of Puerto Los Cabos, this fish hit on a strip of squid, lucky with no wire leader. Actually more wahoo were talked about this week, as compared to last, they did show more signs of activity, usually the first part of November they start biting more readily.

Not much billfish action being reported, though there was a 200 lb. blue marlin landed off of a panga early in the week. A few sailfish scattered about as well. Bottom action consisted of huachinango, yellow snapper, cabrilla, island jack, bonito, pompano and amberjack, no big quantities, but as strong currents resided some, this was opening up more opportunities for working the bottom structure with both yo-yo jigs and bait.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 139 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 blue marlin, 1 black marlin, 9 wahoo, 8 amberjack, 1150 yellowfin tuna, 110 dorado, 4 sailfish, 18 yellow snapper, 52 huachinango, 1 island jack, 2 pompano, 6 bonito, 11 cabrilla (leopard grouper), 5 barred pargo and 120 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 – October 8, 2017

October 8, 2017 by Leave a Comment

October 8, 2017

We are now seeing increasing numbers of tourists and visiting anglers arrive in Los Cabos, as the fall season is now underway, in another couple of weeks things will be crazy busy.. Weather patterns have settled down, calmer days, though still quite warm and humid due to low pressure systems forming further to the south, none of this is expected to have any impact with land, just makes it more humid and tropical, increase in swell expected over the weekend. The Baja landscape has definitely transformed to lush green foliage.

The majority of the fleets based out of Puerto Los Cabos Marina are now fishing the grounds from the Gordo Banks to Iman, San Luis and Vinorama. Bait options have included sardinas, caballito and slabs of squid. Most consistent action recently was for yellowfin tuna, drift fishing with various baits was the main technique and average size yellowfin was in the 6 to 15 lb. class, though these same grounds have produced larger tuna in the 30 to 100 lb. range, though there were no big numbers of the larger grade tuna, just mixed in with the smaller fish. Though there is definitely a chance at hooking into a bigger fish.  The largest Yellowfin reported this week was taken on Friday by Frank Harbin, from Chico, Ca., while fishing with Gordo Banks Pangas skipper Jesus Pino, the tuna weighed in after a long three hour battle and having died down deep, then slowly inched towards the surface. All around the numbers of fish caught increased this week.

Dorado remained scattered and in limited quantity, most fish were under ten pounds, only an occasional larger specimen accounted for. A few more wahoo starting to be seen, most of these came from the San Luis Bank area and were striking on Rapalas. Sizes ranged 20 to 35 lb. Though still no significant numbers. Ocean water temperatures now in the 82 to 85 degree range, when it cools down a few more degrees that usually helps make the wahoo more active.

Minimal bottom action going on, an occasional red snapper, pargo, amberjack, leopard grouper or triggerfish. Not a lot of billfish action going on, but the anglers that did specifically target these, there were a couple of black marlin landed this past week, other blue and blacks were seen chasing hooked tuna, so even though these billfish are not being found in big numbers, they were in the area, just need a lot of patience if looking to hook into one.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 114 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 black marlin, 12 wahoo, 4 rainbow runner, 4 amberjack, 630 yellowfin tuna, 38 dorado, 1 sailfish, 5 yellow snapper, 23 huachinango, 8 cabrilla (leopard grouper), 2 barred pargo and 110 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, Fishing Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Los Cabos Fishing Report – September 24, 2017

September 24, 2017 by Leave a Comment

September 24, 2017

Last week we were preoccupied following Tropical Storm Norma, local Ports were shut down for three days, Saturday thru Monday, due to higher storm swells, though the storm stalled and veered further off to the west and never did impact land. Hardly any rainfall at all was reported in Los Cabos and we felt 30 mph wind gusts, but basically we dodged a bullet this time. We have now officially started the fall season, though with the high humidity it still feels more like summer. Light crowds the past couple of weeks, with people being more nervous about traveling during possibility of storms moving through the area.

Fishing action has been mainly centered on the Gordo Banks and north to Iman Bank. Early in the week water clarity was greenish near Iman and the better action was found on the Gordo Banks, most common catches were for yellowfin tuna in the 50 to 100 lb. class, drift fishing with strips of sardinas, no big numbers of tuna being landed, though at times lots of yellowfin could be seen breezing the surface, just very finicky in striking the baits that had hooks in them. Anglers were doing well to land one or two of these quality tuna. Later in the week bait suppliers found some sardinas off the beach stretches further to the north and with the water cleaning up on the Iman Bank the medium sized tuna in the 5 lb. to 30 lb. range bit well there. Also some dorado in the mix, but most all under ten pounds and not nearly as numerous as before the most recent storm system passed by.

Some days the yellowfin tuna were more active early in the day, especially on the Gordo Banks, but then things switched around and more action on these grounds was found later in the day. Tuna of 170 lb., 238 lb. and another close to 300 lb. were accounted for by groups of local anglers, specifically targeting these larger tuna, putting in long extra hours and bringing ample supplies of slabs of squid to continue chumming throughout the day.

Anglers using yo-yo style jigs had mixed success on various red snapper, pargo and amberjack, no big numbers, but a few nice fish accounted for, a handful of nice yellowfin were also hooked into on these jigs.

Not much billfish action reported, though this week most anglers were targeting the tuna or dorado action. There was a lack of skipjack and other baitfish on the grounds early in the week, but as the week progressed and water conditions stabilized, there was more bait schools being reported.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 46 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 wahoo, 44 dorado, 1 blue marlin, 3 rainbow runner, 9 amberjack, 144 yellowfin tuna, 4 yellow snapper, 25 huachinango 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 – September 9, 2017

September 10, 2017 by Leave a Comment

September 10, 2017 

The cleanup from the devastating flood damage produced by Tropical Storm Lidia last week continues. Most of the region has now had power, water and telephone services restored. Though many areas will never be the same after this event and recovery work will continue for months to come. So far the month of September has started off predictably unforgiving, historically always being the most vulnerable to strikes from Tropical Storm systems. Not many tourists in town this week, as local airport had been closed and many others canceled their planned trips due to concerns over conditions, others canceled because of damage to particular hotels. Weather has stabilized in recent days, though tropical cloud formations are present and have produced isolated rain showers. Ocean has been calm and sportfishing fleets resumed operations with not many charters launching because of light numbers of anglers. Good news is that no new storms are heading our way at this time.

Bait options were more limited, no sardinas so far this week, bait vendors remained local, involved in clean up operations, not enough action for them to travel long distances to scout out new resources of sardinas, with so few charters boats going out to make it profitable for them. Reports from the East Cape were that they had plenty of schooling sardinas in their area, but not many charters going out either. Local charters relied mainly on slabs of squid for bait, this seemed to work fine for the yellowfin tuna action. Trolling lures produced dorado and scattered wahoo action. Water clarity was stirred up, lots of current moving around as well. Early in the week much of the inshore zone was very dirty and green, conditions cleared rapidly, though lots of debris is spread throughout the entire region, so caution was needed when motoring about in order to avoid any collision with heavier objects.

The most consistent action found was for yellowfin tuna in the 10 to 15 lb. class near Iman Bank, drift fishing with strips of squid is what the tuna were striking on. On Tuesday there was one monster yellowfin tuna landed from a super panga while fishing on the Gordo Banks, the fish hit later in the late morning on a strip of squid and weighed in at a whopping 314 lb., making it the first official super cow landed this season for the local panga fleet out of La Playita. Other action on these same grounds produced a handful of wahoo and marlin strikes, the big tuna are definitely in the area, they had been late to show up this summer, but are lurking on these banks now.

Dorado were found in good numbers, mainly by trolling medium sized lures, once the schools were found they would readily hit bait. Sizes varied up to 20 lb., though the majority were smaller in size. Remember the limit on dorado is two fish per license, so it is always better to try and release the small fish, especially the females and hold out to try to fill your limit on a couple of better size specimens.

We did not try any inshore action this week, not really the time of year for that now. Not much bottom action found either, strong currents made that option tougher, plus just mot many charter boats were going out, most all of these were looking for species such as yellowfin tuna and dorado.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 24 charters for the storm shortened week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 striped marlin, 22 white skipjack, 82 dorado, 5 wahoo, 120 yellowfin tuna and 15 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 – August 27, 2017

August 27, 2017 by Leave a Comment

August 27, 2017

There were greater crowds of anglers arriving this past week, possibly taking advantage of the calm weather patterns and wide open yellowfin tuna action. With no new tropical storms having developed on the horizon at this time, all looks okay for the coming days. This time of year the weather can change quickly, so you have to work when the conditions are favorable. Tropical conditions continue, high humidity, scattered cloud cover, light winds, calm ocean swells, all making for great conditions offshore for anglers.

Charters have been relying on slabs of squid and live sardinas for bait, surprising to actually see the sardinas this time of year, usually these baitfish would be scattered by this late in the summer, mainly due to higher surf conditions and too warm of water temperatures for their liking. Surf conditions have been unusually light recently, this has given the commercial bait fleet more opportunities to net the schooling sardinas.

The main action this past week was for the yellowfin tuna, an influx of smaller sized fish in the 10 to 15 lb. class dominated the bite on the Iman Bank, where fleets from as far as way as Buena Vista have been getting in on this action. Best bet was drift fishing with free lined sardinas, limits were the rule. Mixed in with the football sized tuna were white skipjack up to 8 lb. and an occasional much larger yellowfin tuna in the 50 to 80 lb. class, though those were few and far between. One tuna in the 150 lb. class was also reported early in the week off of the Gordo Banks. This time of year we would expect more numbers of quality sized tuna, we do believe they are still in the area, but are hanging lower in the water column perhaps, not wanting to compete with the greater number of smaller tuna, who knows what is up with that.

With all of the yellowfin tuna around there have been more reports of black and blue marlin being hooking into, early in the week there was one black marlin brought into the scale that weighed in at

547 lb. Others in the 200 to 250 lb. range were also landed. Most of these marlin strikes came while slow trolling larger baits, such as skipjack or yellowfin tuna.

Only a couple of wahoo strikes were reported all week, these fish are just not very active now in the warmer waters. Though we did see fair numbers of dorado spread throughout the region, striking on trolled lures and various baits. Average size for these fish was under 10 lb., with some exceptions reaching up close to 20 lb.

This week we saw more dogtooth snapper than we have seen all summer, still no significant numbers, but at least we are seeing them. These fish hit while anglers were drift fishing and targeting yellowfin tuna, snapper up to 45 lb. were landed, the Inner Gordo Bank produced the majority, but others were also hooked into on the grounds from La Fortuna to the Iman Bank.

Not much inshore fishing being done now, this action does usually fade out this late in the season. Most fishing activity is now centered on the high spots offshore.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 85 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 6 black marlin, 3 blue marlin, 2 striped marlin, 3 sailfish, 162 dorado,1 wahoo,9 dogtooth snapper, 8 yellow snapper, 660 yellowfin tuna, 125 white skipjack, 5 barred pargo, 13 leopard grouper, 1 pinto cabrilla, 13 huachinango, 5 amberjack and 44 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 – August 13, 2017

August 13, 2017 by Leave a Comment

August 13, 2017

It seems that with each passing day the weather is becoming more humid, increasing cloud cover, we have not had any rain recently, but presently we are feeling the remnants of Tropical Storm Franklin (now renamed TS Jova) which had passed through the Gulf or Mexico and made land fall over Southern Mexico. Forecast are for possible thundershowers over the weekend. Winds have been very moderate, most likely will increase as this latest tropical system passes through and moves off to the west. Swells have been very light, though they are predicted to increase up to five or six feet by the start of this coming week. Ocean water temperatures have been up into the 85/87 degree range.

The main species of gamefish being found now has been yellowfin tuna, areas from the Gordo Banks to Iman Bank have been most productive, though schooling of fish have been found spread out throughout the region as well. Live bait has been limited to some mullet and caballito, also still a chance at obtaining sardinas in limited quantities, this is only because surf conditions have been so light, giving the bait netters a chance to find some scattered schools of the sardinas, also on some days fleets are bringing these baitfish down from areas further towards the East Cape. Using strips of giant squid is now becoming more of an everyday deal. Some chihuil and bolito have been jigged up at times on the offshore grounds and are being used for slow trolling.

The yellowfin tuna are ranging in sizes from small footballs, to over 80 lb. The larger fish have been striking on strips of squid, sardinas or trolled whole baits, on the Inner Gordo Banks and north on the Iman Bank. Bite varied from day to day, some days fish bit early, some days later, overall they proved to be more finicky and line shy, leaders not heavier than 50 lb. were best. The full moon is now waning and these darkening nights should help the bite get back on track. Average catches have ranging from 1 or 2 tuna, up to 10, depending on size and where you happen to be on a given day.

As it commonly occurs in August, it can be hard to find much variety, besides the yellowfin tuna, a few scattered mostly small dorado, as well as a handful of sailfish, an occasional wahoo sighting or missed strike, angler’s did land one 35 lb. wahoo early in the week. Not much off the bottom, strong current has been persistent and this made it even hard to affectively work the bottom, a couple of dogtooth snapper, huachinango, cabrilla, bonito, amberjack and triggerfish rounded out the structure action.

Not many charters fished along the shoreline now, late in the season for this, though we did hear of a few roosterfish being caught and released. Billfish action was limited, though one black marlin of about 360 lb. was landed and another couple of big marlin strikes were lost, also more sailfish moving in with the warmer currents and of course some striped marlin stragglers still hanging in the area, while most of these cooler water marlin have moved towards Northern Baja.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 88 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 black marlin, 3 striped marlin, 4 sailfish, 16 dorado, 1 wahoo, 3 amberjack, 3 dogtooth snapper, 12 bonito, 8 yellow snapper, 238 yellowfin tuna, 11 leopard grouper,2 pinto cabrilla, 18 huachinango, 9 roosterfish and 38 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

—

GORDO BANKS PANGAS

Eric Brictson / Operator

619 488-1859

Los Cabos (624) 142-1147

e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com

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

Los Cabos Fishing Report August 5, 2017

August 6, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Aug. 6, 2017

Light summer time crowds of anglers enjoyed calmer weather patterns this past week, with no new tropical storms presently forming to the south, it appears conditions will be favorable at least through the later part of next week. It is hard to predict tropical weather forecast too far in advance this time of year. Humidity has increased, August is always a muggy month, there is more could cover, though heat is intense, with the combined heat index nearing 110 degrees. Ocean water temperatures are warming daily, up to an average of 87 degrees now, ocean swells are moderate, as no storms are near at this time.

The main target species which has been cooperating is the yellowfin tuna, with action now being found from the Gordo Banks, Cardon, Iman, San Luis to Vinorama. Sizes for the tuna has ranged from 10 lb. to 80 lb. Most all of this action has been found while drift fishing with various baits, from live and dead sardinas, caballito, chunks of skipjack and strips of squid. It is always beneficial to have as many bait options as possible for this style of fishing. Some days these fish were hitting early, other days late, so you also need to know how to ration your bait supplies accordingly. Just in recent days the yellowfin have been more active on the Gordo Banks, this will be a welcome relief for local fleets, which have had to travel as far as Vinorama to find action and then compete with all of the East Cape fleets that were traveling south to the same grounds. Numbers of tuna were not huge, but many charters were accounting for up to five fish, with many of these in the 40 to 70 lb. class, nice quality fish. A bit line shy as well, so using 30 to 50 lb. tackle has produced more action, though also many bigger fish have been broke off.

Wahoo and dorado were very sporadic, a scattering of mostly smaller sized dorado and wahoo which had bit well last week, tapered way off this week, as they often do become more sluggish when the water temperatures reaches into the upper 80s. Billfish bite was slow as well, who knows what is up with that. Plenty of sharks in the area, as many of the hooked up tuna were being bit into as they neared the boats, from the size of the bite marks, these were not small sharks.

Bottom action was not consistent, but produced a mix of huachinango, amberjack, pompano, bonito and various cabrilla species. Highlight were a few amberjack in the 40 to 50 lb. range. These fish were striking more often on yo-yo style jigs, some on whole and cut baits.

Not much inshore fishing action being dome now, some anglers did scout this option out, but did not have much to report, a few roosterfish, jack crevalle and at least one dogtooth snapper.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 76 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 2 sailfish, 22 dorado, 6 wahoo, 7 amberjack, 3 pompano, 1 dogtooth snapper, 8 bonito, 12 yellow snapper, 202 yellowfin tuna, 14 leopard grouper, 4 spotted cabrilla, 55 huachinango, 11 jack crevalle, 6 roosterfish and 72 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 – July 30, 2017

July 30, 2017 by Leave a Comment

July 30, 2017

We are really starting to feel like the tropical desert climate is dominating. With a series of tropical storm system developing in succession from the south, before following western paths. The latest on the list being Hurricanes Irwin and Hilary, both moving further off to the west and now downgraded to tropical storms. In Los Cabos the impact felt was increased ocean swells, to 8 to feet or more, more cloud cover, higher humidity and some isolated rai squalls on Thursday, moderately heavy in certain areas. Looks to be clearer in the coming days, though this time of year it is very hard to predict weather patterns more than a couple days in advance.

Ocean swells were definitely much larger early this week and will continue moderately for the next week, this commonly is the time of year that we see this. Though winds have been mainly increasing later in the morning or afternoon, morning hours on the water were relatively nice. Water temperatures are now averaging 80 to 84 degrees throughout the region. Clarity a bit stirred up closer to shore, due to currents and swells, but clean blue water is being encountered within a few miles of shore. Early in the week there were sardinas found in limited quantities, as well as caballito and mullet. With increased wave activity it is has been not possible to safely reach where the sardinas were schooling, though there are some sardinas found inside of the marina channel area. Other bait options has been using strips of squid, which is just beginning to prove to be a successful option.

Most common areas now being targeted by local sportfishing fleets have been from off of Chileno Bay and north towards Vinorama, for the most part during summer months the waters are calmer in the direction of the Sea of Cortez, rather than on the Pacific.

In recent days the billfish action has improved, decent numbers of blue and striped marlin were being hooked into while trolling lures in open offshore waters most of the stripers being under 100 lb., blues were averaging 150 to 200 lb., with one blue marlin, estimated at 500 lb., lost due to tangling lines of a commercial fishing boat, not a good way to lose a trophy fish like that. Dorado have still been slow, but most days we are seeing some do-do’s striking on various trolled lures, small in size, ranged up to 15 lb. Wahoo became a bit more active for first time in a while, as more hook ups on the ’hoo were reported later in the week, as these fish were striking on trolled lures in the La Fortuna to Vinorama, so this is encouraging, A possible good chance now for another quality option.

Bottom action has been slim recently, strong current being part of the issue, also warmer waters, this often means certain species move to deeper and cooler zones. Most common species now being targeted for panga, cruisers and center console charters, was the yellowfin tuna action. This week the best bite was near Vinorama and on most days later in the morning was better than early. Perhaps the currents slacked near higher tide, you never really know when fish will be more aggressive towards feeding. These yellowfin tuna ranged from 5 lb. to 80 lb. Most consistent action was found on sardinas, as well as on caballito, some strikes on strips of squid. Trolling small to medium Rapalas and hoochies produced mainly the smaller grade of yellowfin, with the larger specimens taken on bait. You also had to fish persistently, with patience, waiting for your chance when the fish would come up and be actively feeding. Also these yellowfin were also line shy, finicky, often anglers needed to go down to 30 lb. line to buy a strike, some of these larger tuna can take close to two hours to land when using such light line. Catching one, two or three of these nice tuna was average, some boats had up to five or more, these fish are definitely on these grounds, using more chum was better to help entice them, but being there when they actually would come to the surface and feed was the key factor

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 84 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 16 striped marlin, 8 blue marlin, 42 dorado, 18 wahoo, 4 amberjack, 12 bonito, 18 yellow snapper, 6 barred pargo, 175 yellowfin tuna, 7 leopard grouper, 73 huachinango, 16 jack crevalle, 18 roosterfish and 38 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 – July 23, 2017

July 23, 2017 by Leave a Comment

July 23, 2017

Another week with light crowds and increasingly warmer weather. The latest tropical storm which has developed off of Southern Mexico is named Greg, it is following the recent trend and heading on a westerly track offshore, all we felt from this system was perhaps more tropical climate with increased humidity. Winds were relatively light, morning calmer, with breeze picking up mid-day on. Ocean temperatures are back up in the 80 to 84 degree range on the Sea of Cortez side of the Peninsula and on the Pacific Banks it is about 78 degrees.

Sportfishing fleets have been fishing from Chileno, Palmilla, Gordo Banks, to Iman and San Luis. Action was spread out now. Largest fish we heard of was early in the week, a 428 lb. black marlin which was hooked into while trolling a lure around the Gordo Banks, other highlight was a 100 lb. class yellowfin tuna landed on Thursday. Most common catches were for a smaller grade of 10 to 20 pound yellowfin, these fish were scattered throughout the inshore region, striking on trolled hoochies and smaller Rapalas. This action started out strong early in the week, was more spread out by the weekend. These schooling tuna were not associated with porpoise, just found in open water, along the inshore drop off.

A few more numbers of dorado, though most of these were under 8 lb., only an occasional larger specimen seen. Tolling same type of tuna lures was the best bet to find these fish. Inshore there was decent action for roosterfish, hot spot perhaps off of the San Jose Hotel zone, fish to over40 lb. were landed, also many juveniles mixed in.

The action off the bottom was up and down, one day good, next day slim, mainly targeting red snapper (huachinango), in the 4 to 12 lb. range, found near San Luis Bank and hooked up  with yo-yo style jigs. Only a few amberjack were found. No dogtooth snapper to speak of either, only a couple of small ones. The months of July and August is when we normally to find the largest of amberjack and dogtooth snapper, so our fingers are crossed that these normal patterns are just running a little being typical schedules.

Bait supplies consisted of mullet and caballito, some anglers are starting to try their luck with strips of squid, but so far noting has been consistent with that, need a larger grade of yellowfin to move in, it is the time of year we do regularly see the quality grade tuna move in.

Some limited wahoo activity was reported this week, more strikes missed and lures cut off than fish caught, this happened while trolling for the tuna, though a couple of wahoo up to 25 lb. were landed. First of these we have seen in a while. With inshore waters cleaning back up, blue water is what wahoo prefer. If water temperatures become too much warmer these fish often become more sluggish.

We heard of one 45 lb. class snook landed off the beach in the evening, these world class fish are in the area, though you have to put in some serious effort and be fortunate to land one.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 59 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 black marlin, 4 striped marlin,24 dorado, 2 wahoo, 8 amberjack, 16 bonito, 11 yellow snapper, 4 barred pargo, 185 yellowfin tuna, 10 leopard grouper, 2 dogtooth snapper, 84 huachinango, 9 jack crevalle, 68 roosterfish, 2 pompano and 22 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

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