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Los Cabos Fishing Report

February 2, 2014 by Leave a Comment

February 2, 2014 820_SunWahoo

Crowds of visiting tourists are arriving in the Los Cabos Resort area, looking to escape the frigid temperatures spread across northern territories. Local weather conditions have been very pleasant, scattered morning cloud cover, with plenty of warm afternoon sunshine, lows of about 60 degrees, with highs in the 75 to 80 degree range. The persistent northerly winds have tapered off some, not as strong as in previous weeks. This is now peak season for spotting whales in local waters, with common daily sightings of both gray and humpback whales.

Ocean clarity has been very clean close to shore, in the direction of the East Cape the conditions are a bit more off colored due to northern winds, but from La Fortuna to Cabo San Lucas the clarity has been great for this time of year. Water temperatures varied from about
70 degree around the corner on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas, to 74 degrees on the outside of San Jose del Cabo, inshore grounds through this same stretch was averaged about 72 degrees. Live bait situation is still lacking, though there has been various other options available, including ballyhoo, moonfish, skipjack for strip bait, brined dead sardinas, etc…

Anglers were finding a variety of species, from sierra, dorado inshore, with striped marlin and yellowfin tuna found further offshore. The tuna being accounted for have mainly been encountered twenty or more miles offshore of Cabo San Lucas and have been football sized fish striking on hoochies , feathers and cedar plugs. More sierra are now showing up throughout the area, some much larger sierra were found on the Pacific, medium sized fish now becoming more common in the direction of the Sea of Cortez. Trolling rapalas, hoochies and drifting with cut baits have worked well for these scrappy fighters.

Out of San Jose del Cabo the most common catches recently have been for dorado and bonito, these fish were striking various lures and baits. Most of the dorado found were in the 5 to 15 lb. class. The Eastern Pacific Bonito is a somewhat rare species, a member of the tuna family with limited range, normally preferring the cooler winter months, good eating fish with light colored flesh, very popular for use in local machaca dishes. Average sizes usually are 5 to 10 lbs., can reach up to 20 lb. Striking a variety of lures and jigs, as well as live and dead baits, powerful fighters for their size. This species is most commonly found within the first 200 feet of the water column.

Striped marlin are being encountered spread out through the entire area, more numbers encountered off of Cabo San Lucas, but also scattered off of San Jose del Cabo grounds. No mackerel schools being seen now, so fish are moving and searching for food sources.

Not much consistent bottom action being found, besides jigging for bonito over the rocky structure, chrome patterned yo-yo style jigs jig were most productive, there was an occasional pargo, cabrilla or amberjack in the mix. Near Punta Gorda and north towards La Fortuna there were a few wahoo hanging around, most of these fish were smaller sized, 10 to 20 pounds, striking rigged baits more often than on traditional lures, anglers were still fortunate to land one of these elusive highly prized fish.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 70 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of:
3 striped marlin, 8 wahoo, 18 yellowfin tuna, 205 bonito, 68 sierra,
155 dorado, 2 amberjack,1 yellowtail,18 pargo and 10 cabrilla.

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 Fishing, Cabo San Lucas Blog, Cabo San Lucas Fishing, Fishing, Los Cabos Fishing Tagged With: ,

Los Cabos Fishing Report

January 26, 2014 by Leave a Comment

January 26, 2014 821_Brady_Wahoo

Natural instincts are sending people traveling in southern direction during this winter season and in turn bringing many visitors to Los Cabos. Local weather conditions have been great, some scattered cloud cover, burring off normally by mid day and high temperatures reaching into the low 80s. This week we actually felt spring like weather patterns, it was feeling like the days will only become nicer in the coming weeks, though we all know that the month of February can be unpredictable. North winds have been persistent this year, though now seem to have tapered off and not so relentless, perhaps the worst is past and we will now see more stable patterns.

Water temperatures are holding in the 70/74 degree range, fluctuating currents and overall the clarity has improved, with clean water found in close proximity to shore. Baitfish schools continue to be scattered. Anglers found limited options now available, primarily caballito, moonfish, ballyhoo or skipjack. Mackerel and sardinas have not been regularly obtainable.

Sportfishing fleets have spread out in all directions, more concentrations of striped marlin on the Pacific, though we have also seen the billfish shifting in the direction of Sea of Cortez as well, with the baitfish being scattered, so have been the fish. Most of the marlin being seen now have been in the 80 to 120 pound range, striking on deep drifted baits, as well as on the surface lures and rigged ballyhoo.

Dorado are being found in limited numbers, as this is never the peak season for these gamefish. They have been found throughout the zone, inshore to offshore, the majority have been juvenile sized fish, there were some reports of larger bulls to 25 pounds being accounted for.
Still some late season wahoo hanging around, most of them encountered closer to shore, a handful were landed, striking on various baits, yo-yo’s or trolled lures, ranged in sizes up to 40 pounds.

Yellowfin tuna have been seen in different locations, some traveling with porpoise 20 or more miles offshore of Cabo San Lucas. Though the high spots from La Fortuna, Iman and San Luis Bank also were holding yellowfin, only a few are actually being hooked, some on trolled hoochies or yo-yo jigs, ranging to 20 pounds, without sardinas it is hard to entice these schooling tuna.

Bottom fishing has produced more numbers of bonita than any other species, striking on yo-yo jigs, an occasional pargo, cabrilla or amberjack in the mix. This is now the season when we should start to see a greater variety of fish congregated over the rocky structure.

We are still seeing lots of whale activity, as well as manta rays, sea lions and some turtles for added entertainment.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 74 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 12 striped marlin, 7 wahoo, 16 yellowfin tuna, 165 bonito, 34 sierra, 8 roosterfish, 82 dorado, 4 amberjack,14 pargo 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 Fishing, Cabo San Lucas Blog, Cabo San Lucas Fishing, Cabo San Lucas Vacation Rentals, Cabo Vacation, Cabo Vacation Rentals, Fishing, Los Cabos Fishing, Los Cabos Vacation Rentals Tagged With: , , ,

Cabo Fishing Report

January 19, 2014 by Leave a Comment

January 19, 2014 822_Greg_Bonita

Visitors to Los Cabos are finding the weather to be warm and very pleasant, while much of the U.S. has been freezing over, locally we have seen high temperatures in the 80s. Crowds of tourists are moderate now, this is common after the holiday season, we should see more snow birds from the north starting to arrive, seeking out warmer surroundings. Winds have been gusting persistently from the north and this has slowed down fishing action in that direction. The warmer and clearer ocean conditions have been found in the direction of Cabo San Lucas, water temperatures are now ranging from 70/74 degrees.

Baitifsh remain scattered, limited supplies of mackerel on the Pacific and out of San Jose del Cabo the fleets are relying on caballito and ballyhoo, early in the week there were minimal supplies of sardinas obtained, but with persistent north winds this option was shut down.
Large concentrations of skipjack, mixed with some bonito were found on the Gordo Banks and other offshore grounds.

There has not been any consistent action being found bottom fishing, most charters are targeting what available action can be found relatively close to the shore, mainly on the surface, while trolling a variety of lures and available bait. Scattered numbers of dorado are being encountered, most of these in small schools, with average sizes of 5 to 15 pounds. No big numbers, with one to three fish per boat being the average. Same areas are holding an occasional wahoo, most of these taken on trolled rapala type lures, these ‘hoo were in the 15 to
25 pound class, about time these fish head south and seek out more temperate zones.

Striped marlin were still concentrated on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas, most of these fish were striking on bait down deep off of the Old Light House, though this action has tapered down to an average of about one marlin per boat, some marlin are also  being found scattered on the surface, but this was hit or miss, no concentration of baitfish now to create any feeding frenzy. The billfish action has been behind schedule this season, as has about everything else. With the lack of sardinas this has hurt options close to shore for sierra and roosterfish, as well as shallow structure species. Hard to say what has happened to the normal migration of sardinas this year, combination of factors has them off course, though heavy commercial pressure is surely partially responsible.

There are a few reports of yellowfin tuna, some of these have been 20 to 40 offshore traveling with porpoise, other schooling yellowfin were hooked on yo-yo jigs off of San Luis and Iman Banks, but just a couple of fish here or there, though if weather and bait supplies of sardinas improved we could still some late season tuna action. Most of the tuna we have seen in recent days were in the 10 to 15 lb. class. There have been aggressive and very hungry sea lions hanging around all of the normal fishing grounds, apparently having trouble catching their own food and readily attacking any hooked fish they can easily grab off of an angler’s line. This situation compounded with lack of sardinas and gusting winds has made for tough angling all around. This is the time of year, when conditions can determine where you can comfortably fish and bait supplies can limit options as well. Though comparatively the local weather is great for winter time and there is a variety of species being accounted for.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 68 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of:
3 striped marlin, 3 wahoo, 23 yellowfin tuna, 105 bonito, 28 sierra,
14 roosterfish, 76 dorado, 2 mako shark, 3 hammerhead,13 pargo and 22 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 Fishing, Cabo San Lucas Blog, Cabo San Lucas Vacation Rentals, Cabo Vacation, Cabo Vacation Rentals, Fishing, Los Cabos Fishing Tagged With: , ,

Los Cabos Fishing Report

January 12, 2014 by Leave a Comment

January 12, 2014 823_Eric_Cabrilla
Anglers –

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good fishing, Eric

—
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson / Operator
619 488-1859
Los Cabos (624) 142-1147
e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com
WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM

Filed Under: Cabo Fishing, Cabo San Lucas Blog, Cabo San Lucas Fishing, Cabo San Lucas Vacation Rentals, Cabo Vacation, Cabo Vacation Villas, Fishing, Los Cabos Fishing, Los Cabos Vacation Rentals Tagged With: , ,

Cabo Fishing Report

December 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment

December 22, 2013 826_TunaCatch
Anglers –

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good fishing, Eric

—
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson / Operator
619 488-1859
Los Cabos (624) 142-1147
e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com
WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM

Filed Under: Cabo Fishing, Cabo Real Estate, Cabo San Lucas Blog, Cabo San Lucas Fishing, Cabo San Lucas Vacation Rentals, Cabo Vacation, Cabo Vacation Rentals, Cabo Vacation Villas, Cabo Villas, Fishing, Los Cabos Fishing, Los Cabos Real Estate, Los Cabos Travel Info, Los Cabos Vacation Rentals Tagged With: , , ,

Los Cabos Fishing Report

December 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment

827_Bob277LBDecember 15, 2013

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good fishing, Eric
—
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson / Operator
619 488-1859
Los Cabos (624) 142-1147
e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com
WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM

Filed Under: Cabo Fishing, Cabo San Lucas Blog, Cabo San Lucas Fishing, Cabo San Lucas Vacation Rentals, Cabo Vacation, Cabo Vacation Rentals, Cabo Vacation Villas, Fishing, Los Cabos Fishing, Los Cabos Travel Info, Los Cabos Vacation Rentals Tagged With: , , ,

Los Cabos Fishing Report

December 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment

December 8, 2013  828_Rick2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good fishing, Eric

—
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson / Operator
619 488-1859
Los Cabos (624) 142-1147
e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com
WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM

Filed Under: Cabo Fishing, Cabo San Lucas, Cabo San Lucas Blog, Cabo San Lucas Vacation Rentals, Cabo Vacation, Cabo Vacation Rentals, Cabo Vacation Villas, Fishing, Los Cabos Fishing, Los Cabos Travel Info, Los Cabos Vacation Rentals Tagged With: , , ,

Los Cabos Fishing Report

December 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment

829_KatyCavallinDecember 1, 2013

Thanksgiving vacationers visiting Los Cabos this week were greeted with pristine weather conditions. As much of the United States was being impacted by powerful storms, in Southern Baja the climate has been ideal, highs ranging 75/80 degrees, scattered early day cloud cover, with plenty of sunshine the rest of the day. Early in the week there were strong gusting winds whipping in from the north, this limited angler’s options for a few days, later in the week the winds resided and ocean conditions were much more comfortable.

Water temperatures were ranging from 76 degrees on the Pacific to 79/80 degrees off of San Jose del Cabo and towards Los Frailes. Live caballito and other jacks have been available, should not be long before we see schools of mackerel appearing on local grounds. Sardinas are starting to be found in closer proximity, but this is still a day to day situation on quantity and exactly where these baitfish are located. Squid and ballyhoo have been offered at the dock area, overall the bait situation has improved, with lighter pressure in coming weeks, this should give the resource a chance to rebound some.

The Iman Bank has been the most productive spot recently. There have been wahoo, dorado, yellowfin tuna and billfish all found on these banks. Most plentiful fish have been the tuna, these yellowfin are ranging from 10 to 20 pounds, anglers had best results while drift fishing with strips of cut squid or with sardinas, we are starting to see the commercial panga fleet from near Los Frailes traveling south to Iman Bank with supplies of freshly netted sardinas for sale, this proved to be the best bet for finding wide open surface action. Lots of bonito and skipjack were also schooling on the same local grounds. Roaming dorado were found scattered throughout the region, not in big numbers, most dorado were under 15 lb., though a handful of larger dorado were mixed in.

We are still in peak season for the elusive wahoo, so far these fish have not gone on any extended consistent wide open bite, though things appear to shaping up in the direction of some quality wahoo action in the coming weeks. Everyday these fish are being encountered in limited numbers, individual charters have landed up to several fish per morning, while loosing other strikes as well, most anglers were fortunate to land just one of these speedsters. Of the wahoo being brought in, weights have averaged 25 lb. to 45 lb. The majority of wahoo strikes recently have come on slow trolled baits, caballito or chihuil and there has been a recent trend of more wahoo hook ups being reported later in the morning, versus the traditional first daylight action.

Ocean temperatures have been on a slow cooling trend, we have seen conditions remain a couple of degrees warmer than would be expected during this time frame, we do expect to see temperatures continue to fall, as days are now progressively becoming shorter and with northerly winds becoming more frequent it will not be long before we experience transition time again. The annual migration of whales is now arriving in the first wave and will be peaking in the coming months, as these mammals arrive from their northern feeding grounds to give berth to their offspring in the subtropical waters of Southern Baja California.

With the offshore surface action continuing to be the most productive deal, we are not seeing much bottom action reported. Sierra action is now an inshore option for anglers having live sardinas.

Striped marlin action was wide open on certain areas, from the Pacific grounds, multiple catch days were common and also these schooling fish are now moving in the direction of San Jose del Cabo, marlin are being found within a couple miles of shore, striking on trolled lures and various baitfish, the late morning action has been most productive.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 138 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 23 striped marlin, 3 sailfish, 47 wahoo, 140 bonito, 10 cabrilla, 7 amberjack, 28 pargo, 22 sierra, 110 dorado and 610 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

Filed Under: Cabo Fishing, Cabo San Lucas Blog, Cabo San Lucas Fishing, Cabo Vacation, Cabo Vacation Rentals, Fishing, Los Cabos Fishing, Los Cabos Travel Info Tagged With: , , ,

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

Filed Under: Cabo Fishing, Cabo Real Estate, Cabo San Lucas Blog, Cabo San Lucas Fishing, Cabo San Lucas Vacation Rentals, Cabo Vacation, Cabo Villas, Fishing, Los Cabos Fishing, Los Cabos Infomation, Los Cabos Travel Info, Los Cabos Vacation Rentals Tagged With: , , ,

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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