Los Cabos Fishing Report

September 29, 2013 838_Kingston
Anglers –

With the fall season now officially here we have seen a substantial increase in anglers arriving in the Los Cabos area. After the near miss of Hurricane Manuel last week conditions have now settled down, though still very tropical, high humidity and scattered cloud cover threatening rain squalls at times, it is that time of year when we see local tropical weather patterns develop in the afternoon, often raining in areas north of the airport, while the rest the region just swelters in the muggy conditions. Despite the day time temperatures being in the 90s the early mornings are now cooler and some north winds are starting to make their presence felt.

Strong ocean currents persist, predominately from the south, water temperatures have ranged from the upper 70s on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas to an average of 85/86 degrees in the direction of the Sea of Cortez and towards Los Frailes. The majority of the sportfishing fleets have been concentrating efforts on the fishing grounds where the warmer water is present. Large schools of baitfish are spread out on the offshore grounds, plenty of food sources for attracting gamefish. Commercial bait supplies were scrambling to find new resources, as during recent storm activity and full moon phase the bait became scarcer. In recent days pangeros were traveling as far as La Ribera to obtain sardinas for the fleet, selling fresh dead bait and limited supplies of live sardinas. Squid were no longer being found in local waters, but were plentiful off the East Cape region. Some anglers are finding some early morning action for bolito, which are making great trolling baits, though have not been easy to catch once the sun rises.

The most consistent action recently has been found from La Fortuna, Iman, San Luis and Vinorama, this is where anglers have been drift fishing with strips of squid and either live or dead sardinas, catching good numbers of yellowfin tuna in the 10 to 15 pound class, anglers have had better success using sardinas in recent days, compared to the squid. These is a lot of pressure on these grounds now, increased local crowds, as well as the East Cape Fleets were traveling the long run to get into this same action, where their abundant supplies of live sardinas have been enticing the tuna into a feeding frenzy. Using lighter leaders of 25/30 lb. has resulted in greater number of strikes.

The larger yellowfin tuna are still lurking on the Gordo Banks, though this past week for anglers did try to hook into a cow, they did not have success, we only heard of one yellowfin of 120 pounds being taken off the Gordo, this was on Thursday, trolling alive bolito. There were many sailfish and a few striped marlin, but the tuna did not want to cooperate, with the swift current and concentrations of bait on these grounds, these tuna have plenty to eat, hard to say what is going on, though the tuna are not seen feeding on the surface either, perhaps hanging deeper, escaping the currents and preferred cooler depths. We are anticipating seeing these giants become more active soon.

Dorado have been found in good numbers, though most of them are smaller fish and only a small percentage are topping the 15 pound mark, remember to release as many of these juvenile fish as possible so that they can have the chance to mature and reproduce.

Still no consistent action for wahoo, these elusive fish are in the area though, normally they become more active as water temperature lower into the 78/80 degree range. A handful of wahoo in the 25 to 35 lb. class were landed, many of these were taken incidentally while drift fishing for tuna on straight mono leader, though when anglers added wire leader then these fish would not strike the same baits.

Rounding out the action were limited numbers of bottom structure species, including amberjack, grouper, barred pargo, bonito and dogtooth snapper, not many of these fish were encountered in the strong currents, though some impressive specimens were accounted for. Also some rainbow runners being found, these jacks congregate on the high spots and prefer the warmer water temperatures, scrappy fighters and good eating, ranging up to 15 pounds.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 126 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of:
5 striped marlin, 18 sailfish, 8 wahoo, 9 amberjack,18 rainbow runners, 15 bonito, 3 dogtooth snapper, 8 barred pargo, 6 grouper, 715 yellowfin tuna and 320 dorado.

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

Los Cabos Fishing Report

September 22, 2013839_Nico_Leo_367Tuna
Anglers –

Crowds of tourists visiting Los Cabos were relatively light this past week, this is the normal pattern for the later part of September, though with the fall season just about ready to start in earnest, surely there will be a flood of visitors swarm the area in the coming weeks, as this is always one of the busiest times of the year. The great all around fishing action and ideal weather conditions, along with world famous high stake fishing tournaments attract people from all over the world. Another reason for limited numbers of tourists this past week was the highly publicized forecast of the most recent Tropical Storm Manuel, which first struck the southern mainland near Acapulco and cause disastrous flood damage, resulted in many deaths, the system was downgraded to a depression after making landfall but then regenerated strength once getting back over the warm ocean waters and heading in the direction of the Sea of Cortez, forecasters were unsure of its erratic path, with water temperatures near 90 degrees Manuel did reach category one hurricane status and ended up making landfall in Sinaloa, where it again caused major flood damage.

The Southern Baja region was bracing for probable impact, though they were spared any major damage, on Wednesday afternoon there was wide spread lightening, thunder and rain squalls, but there were not any reports of high winds or heavy ocean storm conditions developing. Local ports were closed for both Wednesday and Thursday, reopening for Friday morning. As a precaution the government also closed schools for the same two days, despite clear calm conditions on Thursday, this seemed a bit over overcautious, as there are already so many holiday vacation days scheduled.

Building up to this latest storm, anglers reported the most consistent fishing action for dorado and yellowfin tuna. The majority of the dorado were now juvenile sized, with a small percentage of these fish going over 15 pounds, scattered throughout the area in medium sized schools, striking on lures and various baits. Baitfish were scarcer during this period, as bait suppliers were finding it harder to jig up caballito during the dark hours and the squid that had been in the area the past couple of weeks had all but vanished, the commercial fleet is now scouting out new bait sources. The East Cape had been finding good supplies of sardinas, but apparently these schools were scattered from higher surf conditions that struck this area with the passing of TS Manuel.

The best action for the yellowfin tuna was found from Iman to San Luis Bank, anglers were using strips of squid to entice tuna up to 25 lb., while fly lining these baits on the surface they could find limits of five fish per license. Then when the source of fresh squid disappeared anglers had to rely again on trolling hoochies, smaller feathers or cedar plugs and the numbers of yellowfin were not as high. East Cape boats had been making the long run south to these same fishing grounds and with live sardinas they were having a field day for the yellowfin tuna, but now they are scrambling for bait as well. With the weather once again settled down we expect the bait situation to improve, even though we are also now dealing with the full moon phase, which never seems to help the abundance of bait sources. We do expect to see sardinas moving into local waters very soon, as this is the annual migration pattern.

On Friday, the first day that the port reopened after Hurricane Manuel, a group of three local La Playita pangeros hooked into a super cow sized yellowfin tuna while trolling a live bolito on the Gordo Banks from a 22 ft. panga, after a two and a half hour battle they were able to bring the fish to gaff, back at the docks the yellowfin was weighed in at 367 pounds, largest tuna reportedly caught this season, a definite tournament jackpot contender.

There has been limited bottom fishing opportunities due to very persistent strong currents, almost unprecedented, we do expect with weather patterns now transitioning that this current will reside and will open new option for anglers.

With the arrival of fall, we see the water temperatures start to fall and with this species such as wahoo normally become more active, so are all anticipating this, as well as improved bait resources. Though this is now always the period when we feel high humidity, the worst of the summer heat is past and we will now be enjoying ideal weather in the coming months.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 48 charters for this storm shortened week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 2 striped marlin, 1 sailfish, 4 wahoo, 2 amberjack, 4 dogtooth snapper, 225 yellowfin tuna and 160 dorado.

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

Los Cabos Fishing Report

September 15, 2013 840_GerryMcKay78Amber
Anglers –

Local weather has settled down this past week, this has given the area a chance to dry out after all of the recent rainfall. The desert landscape has transformed to a lush green color, days remain warm, with scattered tropical cloud cover and high humidity. With each passing day we are starting to feel a hint of fall in the air, particularly early morning. There is now a low pressure system developing off of the Southern Mexico mainland coast and we will be monitoring its progress closely, as this is the time when the local environment is favorable for tropical storms to form rapidly.

Crowds of tourists are light now, this is the time when family priorities shift towards starting the new school year. It will be soon enough when the busy fall fishing season is in full swing. For the anglers that are making the trip they have enjoyed great fishing action in recent days. Most consistent bite has been found on the areas north of Punta Gorda, from La Fortuna to San Luis Bank, for yellowfin tuna and dorado. Ocean current has been swift from the south, this has made any bottom fishing that much more difficult. Water temperatures are in the 84 to 87 degree range, clear blue conditions are found within a couple of miles from shore.

Squid has been the best bait for the yellowfin tuna, the giant squid are being jigging up by the commercial fleet in dark hours and sold to charter boats in the morning, there are also limited supplies of caballito, still no sardinas available. Drift fishing with strips of squid on light tackle has been the best bet for catching limits of yellowfin tuna, the fish were now larger than in previous weeks, averaging 15 to 20 pounds. The larger cow sized tuna that were starting to show up on the Gordo Banks have not been active this past week, though surely they are still in the area, we expect these cows to become more active soon.

Dorado schools have been spread throughout the area, found by trolling lures and baitfish. The majority of the fish have been smaller sized, though with patience anglers have been able to find some larger sized dorado mixed in. Limit on these fish is two per license and the inspectors are enforcing these regulations. Only a few wahoo being accounted for, they become sluggish in the warmer water, we expect that these speedsters will become more active as fall conditions transition in the coming weeks.

Billfish have slowed this past week out of San Jose del Cabo, only scattered reports of mostly smaller sized striped marlin, surely there are black and blue marlin lurking on the grounds, they just are not readily striking lately, the way the conditions are anything could happen on any given day.

No inshore action being reported, bottom action was limited to a handful of amberjack, pargo and grouper, though no numbers to speak of, though a few impressive fish were accounted for, amberjack up to 78 lb. and one grouper over 100 pounds landed by a La Playita commercial pangero, current has been relentless, hard to effectively drift fish the bottom structure when moving so fast.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 75 charters this past week with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 3 striped marlin, 8 wahoo, 5 amberjack, 2 grouper, 16 red snapper, 300 black skipjack, 415 yellowfin tuna and 550 dorado (many released).

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

Los Cabos Tuna Jackpot

Ok folks its time to get all your entries in so we can get you a team number. We have 32 teams do far, about on par with last year when we had 122 teams, up from 112 the previous year. A LOT of new teams have been calling and asking about entering and how to just DO it.
The website loscabostunajackpot.com answers them all. New on the site in preview 2013 is a story on the sponsors and who is coming and what they providing in prizes and services, new this year and in a big big way is Pisces who provided this years free bags. They are beautiful. Of course Tracy and Marco Ehrenberg are helping in a dozen others ways as always, so many great things about the event are in store for everyone, all designed to make it a fun event..
The big tuna are arriving on the banks but no too many tourists on charter boats who want get a hernia pulling on them..

Bisbees Los Cabos Offshore and Black and Blue Marlin Tournaments are coming in October

Bisbee’s Black & Blue Tournaments have been taking place in the Los Cabos region of the Baja Peninsula in Mexico for over 30 years. The Bisbee’s are currently producing three tournaments – Bisbee’s East Cape Offshore in Buenavista which takes place each July, and the Los Cabos Offshore Charity Tournament and Black & Blue Marlin Tournament which take place every October in Cabo San Lucas.

Started in 1981 by Bob Bisbee, the Black & Blue Marlin Tournament has grown from six teams with a purse of $10,000 to more than 150 teams with millions of dollars on the line. In 2006 the Black & Blue had its biggest overall cash payout of $4,165,960. This was, and remains, the largest payout in sportfishing history.

In 2000 Bisbee’s expanded to the east side of the Baja California Sur peninsula with the East Cape Offshore Tournament in Buenavista. In addition to marlin, this tournament included dorado and tuna and became so popular that a third event with the same format was started in 2002 – the Los Cabos Offshore Tournament.
Over the years each tournament has developed its own personality with the East Cape Offshore being a laid back “Cabo fishing as it used to be” type of event, the Los Cabos which takes place just days before the Black & Blue and nick-named the “Little Bisbee’s”, is a very social event full of comraderie where friends can meet, swap stories and get in a few days of fishing before the “Big Show”.

The last tournament in the series, Bisbee’s Black & Blue Marlin Tournament, is hard to describe if you’ve never been there. It’s five days of organized chaos full of hard-core excitement. With the beautiful and lively city of Cabo San Lucas as the backdrop, thousands of people crowd the marina walkways to shop, party and watch huge fish being weighed in at the scales in front of the world-famous Puerto Paraiso Entertainment Plaza. The Black & Blue is a once in a lifetime experience you’ll never forget, whether you take home memories or millions.

http://www.bisbees.com/

Los Cabos Fishing Report

September 1, 2013 842_StellCatch

This past week we witnessed how late summer tropical climate patterns can change within a matter of hours. After enjoying relatively stable conditions for a couple of weeks, this all changed on Wednesday afternoon, as a disorganized low pressure system all of a sudden developed into Tropical Storm Juliette. Within 12 hours this storm passed directly over Cab San Lucas and continued towards central Baja. TS Juliette traveling at a rapid pace, 30 mph hour, not giving much of a chance to gain more strength, this was fortunate, as not a lot of damage was reports, normal low land flooding and some moderate wind damage, as gusts of 45 mph were steady and even higher winds of 75 mph were recorded in isolated areas.

Sportfishing fleet were shut down for last Friday and Saturday due to high swells and rain caused by TS Ivo and once again there were closed port red flag conditions on this Thursday, before reopening for Friday morning, as ocean settled down and skies cleared. The next few weeks is always a time when weather forecasts are monitored closely.

Most consistent fishing action recently has been for dorado, found scattered throughout the region, traveling in schools of various sized fish, the majority of which have been juvenile sized, though there is a percentage of much larger dorado mixed in. There have been increasing numbers of wahoo being reported, striking mainly on lures, over the traditional high spots, as well as in the open blue water. This is favorable sigh to see this many wahoo so easy in the season, as they normally become more active later on in the fall.

There was excitement on the Gordo Banks, as the season’s first large sized yellowfin tuna are moving on to these grounds. On Tuesday there were several big tuna landed, up to 250 pounds, many other hook ups were lost while battling huge tuna on heavy gear, the word traveled quickly, on Wednesday there were heavy boat pressure and the big tuna did not want to cooperate, though some of these cows were seen briefly feeding on surface. Anglers have been using various baitfish, bolito, skipjack yellowfin, chihuil and strips of fresh squid. As weather settles down we anticipate this action will only improve, everyone is tuning up their heavy gear, so that can be best prepared to battle these giants. There are football sized yellowfin tuna being found throughout the zone, sometimes they have been associated with porpoise, but often just encountered by blind strikes while trolling hoochie type lures and cedar plugs.

Inshore action has really come to a standstill, this is normal during this period of higher swell conditions, which also scatter inshore baitfish schools. Not much bottom action now due to the continued strong current, a handful of red snapper found alongside the anchored commercial fleet. Most consistent fishing has found near the surface, charters are using a combination of lures and the available baitfish. Anglers now have a chance offshore of hooking into a grand slam of billfish, as there are striped, blue and black marlin, as well as sailfish all present on the offshore grounds.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 45 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 4 blue marlin, 2 black marlin, 8 striped marlin, 5 sailfish, 84 yellowfin tuna, 162 dorado, 4 wahoo and
18 huachinango (red snapper).

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

Los Cabos Fishing Report

843_Chame_Dave_282August 25, 2013
Anglers –

For the past couple of weeks the weather was relatively calm, hot and humid, with some afternoon breezes. At this time we are bracing for a weekend of thunderstorms, forecasters predict rainfall of six inches possible over the Southern Baja. High swells to 15 feet, with winds of 30 knots will shut down sportfishing operations through the weekend. This storm, now named Tropical Storm IVO, is predicted to follow a path well to the west of the Baja Peninsula, the system is expansive, several separate areas of disturbance are joining forces, slow moving and holding a lot of moisture.

Ocean conditions had settled, we enjoyed calm weather patterns, offshore fishing action was improving steadily. Dorado were the most common catch, with large schools of smaller grade fish now present, there were still some nicer bull dorado to 30 pounds or more accounted for, lot of juveniles to deal with, these should be released to mature and reproduce, dorado are one of the fastest growing species, studies say they grow five pounds per month. Best practice is to release all of the smaller dorado and if interested in capturing your limit of two dorado for personally consumption, choose a pair of the larger catches. Anglers have been finding easy limits for dorado, anglers found these fish from within one mile of shore, to the offshore grounds, these gamefish have been readily striking a wide variety of trolled lures and baits.

Football sized yellowfin tuna have been consistently found in recent weeks, these fish were found closer to shore and not associated with porpoise, schooling on the Iman and San Luis Banks, as well on the Gordo Banks, mixed in with skipjack, finicky to bite at times, striking on strips of squid and trolled hoochies, anglers were fortunate to land several of these small tuna, some anglers did find fast limits. On Tuesday, Gordo Banks Pangas skipper Chame Pino, with angler Dave Martin, visiting from Colorado, while trolling a live bolito on the San Luis Bank hooked into what would be the season’s first La Playita Cow Tuna. While using 80 pound tackle, Dave and Chame teamed to subdue this giant tuna in under two and a half hours.. Commercial pangeros targeting huachinango on this these same grounds had reported that they had seen large tuna feeding on these grounds the previous afternoon, apparently the larger grade yellowfin are now moving into the area, right on schedule.

Billfish action has been steady, lots of striped marlin, some sailfish and good numbers of larger sized blue marlin were reported, many blues were caught and released from anglers on sportfishers. A group of local La Playita pangeros teamed up to land a black marlin that was estimated at easily over 500 lb., hooked while trolling a small yellowfin tuna on the Gordo Banks. The season is showing encouraging prospects for an excellent fall season to come. Wahoo were also more active this past week, despite warm water temperatures near 85 degrees, wahoo to 50 pounds were landed while trolling the blue water ledges, no great numbers, but good for this time of year.

No inshore action now, a few late season roosterfish by the PLC Marina entrance, bottom bite was off due to the persistent strong currents. Red snapper (huachinango are being found in good numbers by the commercial fleet, they have been anchoring on deeper areas and using cut squid. Giant squid are being found in big numbers off of the Los Frailes and East Cape area, small sized giants, under two feet in length, same food source that attracts big fish.

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: 2 blue marlin, 1 black marlin, 23 striped marlin, 6 sailfish, 115 yellowfin tuna, 250 dorado, 13 wahoo,
16 roosterfish, 38 huachinango (red snapper) and 7 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

Los Cabos Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report

August 18, 2013
Anglers –

Despite this time of year traditionally be known as the off season tourists visiting Southern Baja, this summer there have been quite a few people arriving. We are now in the midst of the most tropical period, which normally lasts for the next four or five weeks. On Monday there was a storm front that swept in from the east, lightening, thunder, some scattered rain, sportfishing fleets canceled early morning charters, by 9 a.m. the front had passed and some charters did launch later. This is local tropical weather forming offshore, chance of isolated rain showers and more rain over the weekend. Though there are new tropical storms that are forming to the south, with ocean water temperature now 85 degrees or warmer the environment is ripe for quick storm develop, heat index has been over 100 degrees, very high humidity and forecasts will be monitored closely.

With the warming tropical weather, light winds, ocean temperatures have risen and the all around offshore fishing action has improved. Clean blue water is now close to shore, concentrations of bolito, skipjack and football sized yellowfin tuna are on the fishing grounds, attracting a variety of gamefish, catches have included, sailfish, blue marlin, striped marlin, dorado, wahoo, yellowfin tuna and skipjack. Inshore there are still decent numbers of late season roosterfish hanging around the Puerto Los Cabos Marina Jetty area.

Not much bottom action now available, swift currents make it more difficult for drift fishing over the structure. The commercial panga fleet coming from the Los Frailes direction have been setting anchors on the San Luis Bank and hauling in big numbers of huachinango, the true red snapper, valuable commercial catch, averaging 6 to 12 pounds. Some of the charter boats are now getting into this action, drift fishing with pieces of fresh giant squid. The squid are being caught off Los Frailes in quantity, can be purchased from this panga fleet, $10 buys you a lot of squid, this is something that has just developed this week, it has been working though.

Still no supplies of sardinas, these baitfish would work great for chumming the yellowfin tuna into a surface feeding frenzy, it is time the local bait supplying pangeros should starting to scout out this bait source. In the mean time they are still finding plentiful caballito, mullet and moonfish. Surf conditions are moderate now, takes one group to start chasing the sardinas, then the rest will follow.

Dorado have been the most numerous gamefish being found, ranging in all sizes, up to 45 lb., offshore and inshore, throughout the blue water, striking a wide variety of lures and baits, blind strikes and found on set buoys or other debris. Many dorado are be released, the limit on these fish is two per license, best to release the juveniles and only bag the larger specimens. More wahoo were accounted for off the high spots north of Punta Gorda, most of these fish hit on trolled lures and ranged in the 25 to 50 lb. class. Wahoo are normally not that active when the water temperatures get so warm, but these fish are elusive and will feed when they feel like it.

Striped marlin have been hanging around, despite the warm currents, while most of the stripers would now be found in cooler Pacific waters, there are significant numbers of these fish still in the area, at times found in grounds of five or six, tailing on the surface, often proving to be finicky and not interested, other times readily striking lures and trolled baits. Everyday we are hearing stories of blue marlin strikes and an occasional black marlin encounter, we expect to see more of this action, as this is now the time, with the conditions ideal and the food prevalent, big fish will be lurking.

Yellowfin tuna action has been found from Iman to San Luis Bank, trolling hoochie type lures or drift fishing with strips of fresh squid, the action has been sporadic, feeding on their particular schedule, some charter would have 5 to 10 tuna in the box, though most anglers were fortunate to catch one or two. Sizes have averaged 8 to 15 pounds.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 78 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 blue marlin, 38 striped marlin, 8 sailfish, 124 yellowfin tuna, 215 dorado, 12 wahoo, 30 roosterfish, 14 jack crevalle, 45 huachinango (red snapper) and 11 cabrilla.

Good fishing, Eric

Los Cabos Fishing Report

 

 845_AllisonShawAugust 11, 2013
Anglers –

As the summer climate has progressively heated up, so has the offshore fishing action, as anglers are finding a mix of billfish, dorado, yellowfin tuna and even a few wahoo. Weather patterns have settled down, there was a tropical squall that moved in from the east last Sunday, bring some scattered rain showers and some eye opening lightening. There has been very little wind recently, some scattered clouds, very warm and humid. There are a series of tropical storm system now tracking on distant westerly paths, the coming weeks is when historically these storms can form in much closer proximity and threaten land, so we will be monitoring forecasts carefully.

Bait supplies for caballito, mullet and moonfish remained sufficient, though they are not as numerous as earlier in the summer. More bolito are now schooling on the fishing grounds and are being using for offshore trolling baits. The bolito are readily striking on small hoochies early in the day, but as the sun rose higher in the sky these great baitfish became hard to catch. There has been a long absence of schooling sardinas for the La Playita panga fleets, this past week the sardinas have been starting to move in along the beach stretch just to the north of the Puerto Los Cabos Marina Jetty, not in sufficient quantity to supply the fleets, but at least this is encouraging we are seeing these baitfish back in our area. Some locals have been able to net these sardinas from the beach and are using them to catch some very impressive sized snook, quite a few of these normally elusive fish have been landed, weighing in the 20 to 45 lb. class. One snook estimated to be at least 60 pounds was landed, this could have been a new IGFA world record, as the all tackle record for snook is now listed at 58 lb., those these local anglers just hauled the catch off to their home, not wishing to go through all of the record applications, etc…

Anglers are finding good numbers of late season roosterfish early in the day right in the vicinity of the PLC Marina Channel, still some roosters to 50 pounds in this area, striking on slow trolled live bait. Not much action found off the bottom rock piles now, there has been a persistent strong current running and this appears to be slacking up some now, in recent days some nice huachinango were being hooked into on yo-yo jigs on rock pile near San Luis Bank.

Most consistent gamefish action is now being found offshore, anywhere from 3 to 15 miles out, has varied from day to day, earlier in the week the best bite was found off of San Luis, then later in the week that action slowed and the bite was better straight out front of San Jose del Cabo and towards the Gordo Banks. Striped marlin, blue marlin, sailfish, dorado, yellowfin tuna and a handful of wahoo were all being found. Anglers used a combination of trolling lures and various baitfish, including slabs from giant squid, which were being sold at the dock area in the morning.

Most of the yellowfin being encountered were on the grounds from Iman to Vinormama, not associated with porpoise, blind strikes while trolling hoochies, cedar plugs and small feathers, sizes averaged 8 to 15 lb. Dorado ranged from small juvenile fish to trophy sized bulls, close to 50 pounds. Scattered action, some charters reported never seeing any dorado, while others accounted for 3,4,5 of more very impressive fish. Billfish were also hit or miss, though some incredible action was encountered, one cruiser charter out of La Playita accounted for two blue marlin, a striped marlin and sailfish, as well as tuna and dorado all in one morning.

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: 5 blue marlin, 9 sailfish, 28 striped marlin, 96 yellowfin tuna, 110 dorado, 3 wahoo, 38 roosterfish, 15 jack crevalle, , 22 huachinango (red snapper) and 13 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

Los Cabos Fishing Report

San Jose del Cabo

August 4, 2013

With the start of a new month we have finally seen more stable weather patterns and the summer season is now feeling more like we would expect, increased tropical humidity and warmer days. The next couple of months is when forecasters will closely monitor the progress of any low pressure areas, which can that quickly form into tropical storms. At this time there is Hurricane Gil which is now far off to the west and there are no other new systems developing that appear to threaten land. Ocean water temperatures are now averaging 80 to 85 degrees and clean blue water is moving within a couple of miles of shore, winds have resided and conditions are very favorable for offshore gamefish action.

Moderate crowds of anglers are now taking advantage of the much improved ocean conditions, no more having to travel far offshore to find blue water. The fishing grounds from Palmilla to the Gordo Banks, from 3 to 8 miles offshore have been consistent this past week for billfish, dorado and yellowfin tuna. Besides good numbers of striped marlin, were some sailfish, blue and black marlin. Schooling bolito and skipjack are now congregating on these same grounds and are attracting the normal variety of pelagic gamefish. Angles found action while trolling with lures and various baits. Yellowfin tuna were found throughout this area, much of the time without any presence of porpoise activity, these tuna were ranging in the 8 to 15 lb. class, striking mainly on smaller hoochies type lures, this is the first time this season where the tuna have made a presence in close proximity offshore of San Jose del Cabo. Dorado are increasing in numbers as well, with many charters accounted for several dorado per day, weights ranged to over 40 pounds, anglers now have a good chance at hooking into a trophy sized bull now.

There were some larger sized yellowfin reportedly seen breezing on the surface, but only the smaller football models are striking recently, we do expect something to develop for the larger yellowfin as the season progresses.

The commercial pangero fleet continues to find supplies of baitfish in the Puerto Los Cabos Marina channel, caballito, mullet and moonfish are all available. Though with the added pressure of having to supply the Cabo San Lucas fleet as well as local fleets, this bait source has become less plentiful. It is a good thing that we are now seeing quantities of other baitfish appearing on the fishing grounds. Migration patterns have been running behind schedule this season, nice to see things get back on track.

Inshore action has tapered off, though there is still some quality roosterfish striking early in the day in the vicinity of the Puerto Los Cabos Marina jetties. Not much bottom action being found now, strong currents had been a contributing factor in not finding any consistent bite off of the normally productive rock piles found north of Punta Gorda. Though August is a month known more for offshore surface activity, rather than bottom or inshore, it is a time when anglers can find dogtooth snapper, amberjack and grouper on these high spots where other surface pelagic are being targeted.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 77 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 3 blue marlin, 1 black marlin,11 sailfish, 70 striped marlin, 82 yellowfin tuna, 68 dorado, 84 roosterfish, 18 jack crevalle, 5 amberjack, 3 dogtooth snapper, 10 yellow snapper, 12 huachinango (red snapper) and 12 cabrilla.

Good fishing, Eric

GORDO BANKS PANGAS

Eric Brictson

Owner/Operator

619 488-1859

Los Cabos 011 52 624 142-1147

ericgordobanks@yahoo.com

gordobanks@gmail.com

WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM