You are here: Home / Archives for Cabo Fishing

Los Cabos Fishing Report – November 20, 2016

November 20, 2016 by Leave a Comment

November 20, 2016 71_grayhooker

The fall season is now starting to wind down, still quite busy this past week, with visiting anglers and sun worshipers, though not quite as crowded as it was the previous weeks. With Thanksgiving Holiday scheduled this next week, we will see more families arriving, though many people do prefer to stay at home for these holidays and from now until Christmas  Holidays we will see the normal slack period for tourists, this is just not the time frame that many people are traveling, as they are more preoccupied with the approaching holidays.

We felt strong north winds through the first half of the week, then we had a couple of very calm days, before the wind picked back up late in the week, crazy weather patterns, still quite warm, reaching near 90 degrees. Ideal temperatures actually, early morning lows averaging 70 degrees. Early week there was a late season Tropical Storm Tina which formed farther off to the southwest, as fast it had developed, it dissipated, as it moved over cooler water. All around  the water temperatures from Cabo Sab Lucas towards Los Frailes has been ranging from 82 to 85 degrees, three or four degrees warmer than what would be normal for this time of year. This should prove favorable for fall type fishing action to last all the way through December.

Bait options continued the same, slabs of squid, caballito, ballyhoo available from bait vendors and opportunities to catch skipjack and chihuil on the offshore grounds, for use trolling live or drift fishing as. Combined factors of swells, strong northerly winds and the full moon phase, made for several tougher days, though anglers did catch some quality fish. Most productive areas were from Chileno, Gordo Banks, 1150 Spot and Iman Bank. Most common gamefish being encountered were yellowfin tuna, wahoo, dorado, and late season black and blue marlin.

Yellowfin tuna action was good to start off the week, increased wind made it tough to drift fish on the Outer Banks, but some quality sized tuna were accounted for, quite a few fish to 100 lb. and at least a half of dozen over 200 lb. Also there was good action found a couple of days for smaller tuna found traveling with porpoise, close to shore and moving fast, strips of squid was the main method of hooking up. The larger yellowfin were striking on baits such as skipjack or chihuil, either drifting or slow troll, in the vicinity of the Outer Gordo Banks. Same grounds have been producing some billfish strikes, both black and blue marlin were hooked into. One angler had quite a story of hooking into a 40 lb. plus yellowfin tuna, then during the fight a huge black marlin inhaled the hooked up tuna and the battle was on with the marlin, as the fish was spooling off hundreds of yards of line and being chasing down by the super panga skipper, after close to 30 minutes of that the marlin heading deep, line went slack and then heavy again, but now the marlin had spit out the three and a half foot tuna, which to their amazement was still alive and continued to fight until they brought it to gaff, this whole scene took over two hours.

Wahoo was the main species being targeting closer to shore, from Cardon to the Iman Bank, good numbers of these prized fighting fish were being accounted for. Trolling with live chihuil was the most productive, ballyhoo and caballito worked as well. Also limited numbers hit on trolled lures, though far more strikes were reported on bait, versus lures. Many fish were seen following baits, but were finicky at times, other times action was fast and furious, with wahoo fishing, a good average percentage seems to be about one fish actually landed for every three strikes, many things happen, very fast fish, with hard bony jaws, slashing at baits, not just  strike and swallow like most fish. Many charters accounted for two, three and even up to five wahoo, sizes ranged from 20 to 45 lb.

Dorado numbers increased toward the end of the week out of San Jose del Cabo, still only a handful of these fish being found in this area, more number were reported from the Pacific, though reports were varied from different sources. We saw quite a few dorado in the 15 to 20 pound class, though we had more wahoo in the fish counts.

Bottom fishing was very limited, only an occasional snapper and triggerfish, wind made this even harder, water temperature still warm, more bottom action when currents cool some. Commercial pangeros did catch a few nice sized yellowtail off of the Gordo Banks, so that is encouraging, maybe something will happen on this. We do expect to be targeting the tuna, wahoo and dorado through this month and next. No inshore action to report, except for a few roosterfish and sierra.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 166 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 3 blue marlin, 4 black marlin, 4 striped marlin, 4 sailfish, 320 yellowfin tuna, 46 dorado, 165 wahoo, 11 yellow snapper,4 leopard grouper, 12 bonito, 14 huachinango, 4 roosterfish, 14 sierra,14 rainbow runner, 6 surgeonfish and 45 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 – November 6, 2016

November 6, 2016 by Leave a Comment

November 6, 2016 73_198tuna

Near capacity crowds are arriving now, as this is the peak fall season for the Los Cabos area, the influx of tourists will start to taper off by the end of this month. With the WON Tuna Jackpot being the main event going on this week, with some 169 teams competing for three quarters of a million dollars in prize money and next week there is the annual Wahoo Tournament out of La Playita, in Puerto Los Cabos Marina. Weather has been feeling more like fall now, cooler mornings and also the first predominate north winds sweeping in during the latter part of the week, making tournament conditions a bit rougher that what would be ideal. Ocean temperatures have ranged from 82 to 86 degrees, we should see a cooler trend in the coming weeks.

Anglers have continued to rely on slabs of squids as the main bait sources for targeting the yellowfin tuna, which has been the most common species now being found. As dorado continue to be scarce and wahoo have not been consistent either, though are showing some more signs of becoming more active. Other bait options were small skipjack, chihuil and caballito.

Most sportfishing fleets are concentrated on the areas from the Gordo Banks to Iman, San Luis and Vinorama. In recent days the more consistent action switched from around the Iman Bank to the Gordo Banks, though heavy boat pressure and gusty winds have made efforts more challenging the past couple of days. The yellowfin tuna have ranged from 10 lb. footballs, up to 200 lb. plus cows. Most of the tuna landed were in the 15 to 30 lb. class. Action was up and down, sometimes not until later in the day, charters accounted for catches ranging from one yellowfin to a half dozen fish.

The few wahoo per day on an average that we have seen brought to the docks have been taken on slow trolled trap hooked baits, as well as on Rapalas. Fish averaged 25 to 40 lb. We expect with cooling conditions that the wahoo should start to bite more consistently, best areas recently were near Iman and to the north.

Nothing to speak of near shore now, though we did hear reports of some out of normal season roosterfish seen off of the San Jose del Cabo resort stretch. A few more sierra starting to be seen, sure would be nice if we would see signs of sardinas moving in, but we have heard of no signs at all, this limits options, especially for the winter inshore action.

The bottom has not been producing any consistent bite either, of course there are triggerfish, but only limited numbers of pargo, snapper, cabrilla or amberjack.

We did not see much billfish action this past week out of San Jose del Cabo, this is transition period now for the blues, blacks, stripers and sailfish, these fish are in the area, but numbers are now more limited..

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 168 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 blue marlin, 6 striped marlin, 8 sailfish, 355 yellowfin tuna, 17 dorado, 23 wahoo, 18 yellow snapper, 12 leopard grouper, 6 barred pargo, 45 bonito, 35 huachinango, 2 dogtooth snapper, 6 amberjack, 1 roosterfish, 21 sierra and 125 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 30, 2016

October 30, 2016 by Leave a Comment

October 30, 2016 74_janetnorm

Large crowds of tourists and visiting anglers continue to arrive in Los Cabos. All tourist related business operators are now very busy. Weather has remained calm, earlier in the week there was major Hurricane Seymour churning some 500 plus miles off to the west of the Baja Peninsula, this system made no impact on land, except for increasing the heat index some with higher humidity. Swells were minimal, there were a couple days where we felt some north wind, these patterns are must starting, as we are transitioning towards late fall season.

Most local charter are concentrating on the fishing grounds from the Gordo Banks and north to Vinorama. Yellowfin tuna continued to be the most common species targeted. Drift fishing with strips of squid has been the main technique for having success on the yellowfin. Average size tuna was in the 15 to 30 lb. class. Other much larger tuna are lurking, particularly around the Gordo Banks, but getting them to bite is another matter. There were schools of porpoise being encountered within several miles of shores and charters were chasing down these porpoise and drifting strips of squid on lighter leaders for the tuna, these fish have become more leader shy with the increased boat pressure. Catches varied from day to day, as to which area might be a bit more productive. Charters accounted for catches ranging from one or two tuna, to over ten tuna.

Very few dorado this past week, only occasional single fish, most of them small in size. The hot action we heard about for the dorado on the Pacific also reportedly slowed to a standstill, hard to say what is going on with these gamefish. There are some good numbers of wahoo in the area, though no consistent action has been found for these fish, though one super panga early in the week did land a triple header on wahoo up to 40 lb. though on the average we are only seeing a coupled of these fish per day. Most strikes were on slow trolled baits, though others were taken on yo-yo jigs or trolled Rapalas, you never know with wahoo, you have to be ready with an arsenal, trying proven lures and baits. Anglers drift fishing with strips of squid for tuna also hooked into many wahoo, which occasional were landed without the monofilament line being cut.

Some quality dogtooth snapper were being landed from the La Fortuna region, larger baits off the bottom, with buttoned down drags needed in order to turn these fish away from the rocks. No big numbers on these fish, but more than we had been seeing. Also off the structure were an occasional amberjack, yellow snapper, cabrilla, barred pargo, surgeonfish, rainbow runner and of course the ever present triggerfish.

Billfish were not very numerous either, though one blue marlin of 500 pounds was accounted for from a small panga, it hit on a yellowfin tuna, which had just been landed, and then pinned onto a heavy leader and dropped back in the water, this after the skipper had seen the big blue marlin chasing their hooked 15/20 lb. tuna to the boat, the battle to land this big blue took some eight hours, until ten at night when the panga returned to the dock area.  We also saw black marlin to over 200 lb., sailfish and striped marlin, though in limited numbers.

With the WON Tuna Jackpot now just around the corner, we will be seeing many teams pre-fishing in hopes of gaining knowledge of where to find the monster cow tuna that will take the grand prize.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 152 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 black marlin,1 blue marlin, 5 striped marlin, 9 sailfish, 464 yellowfin tuna, 22 dorado, 16 wahoo, 32 yellow snapper, 8 leopard grouper, 1 broomtail, 6 barred pargo, 24 bonito, 6 surgeonfish, 22 huachinango, 21 dogtooth snapper, 11 amberjack, 1 roosterfish, 6 sierra, 28 rainbow runner and 180 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

—

GORDO BANKS PANGAS

Eric Brictson / Operator

619 488-1859

Los Cabos (624) 142-1147

e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com

WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM

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

Get Rich or Let Fly Tryin’ – Fishing Los Cabos Tournaments 2016

October 26, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Like the bumper sticker says, there are “no bad days” in Cabo San Lucas…at least where fishing is bisbees-002concerned.

But let’s face it. There are only a few times each year when it can make you a millionaire.

Don’t believe me? Ask Tampico native Julio Fernandez, whose Quiteña team took top honors in this year’s Bisbee’s Black & Blue marlin fishing tournament. Fernandez’s day-long battle with a bruising 534 lb. black marlin translated to a payout of over $2.1 million U.S. dollars at last Saturday night’s awards banquet at Puerto Paraiso Mall on the Land’s End city’s marina boardwalk.

Not bad for a day on the water, huh?

Bisbee’s, whose flagship Black & Blue is billed as “The World’s Richest Fishing Tournament,” disbursed $4,165,960 at its 2006 event, the largest overall cash payout in sport fishing history.

At this year’s affair, over $3.5 million was divvied up among the 121 boats that entered. Fernandez got the million dollar plus purse and a lifetime of bragging rights, but Capt. Frank D’Anna and the crew aboard C-Bandit didn’t fare too badly either, bagging a 416 lb. black for a second place prize of $685,000.

The Black & Blue is the third of Bisbee’s annual trio of fishing tournaments in Baja California Sur, following the East Cape and Los Cabos Offshores. The latter, affectionately referred to as “Little Bisbee’s,” is a charity focused event that traditionally takes place the week before “Big Bisbee’s.” Master-caster Rick Daab and his Wild Hooker team earned $263,591 in winning the 2016 LCO, but the big winner was the Los Cabos municipality, as thousands of pounds of fish were donated to feed children in the area’s low-income neighborhoods.

In addition to Bisbee’s two big-time October tournaments, the region also welcomed back the annual Los Cabos Billfish Tournament on Oct. 11 – 15, which angler John DeDominac won with a 378 lb. black marlin.

If you think your chances of hitting it rich fishing this year are over, though, better think again.  The world’s richest tuna fishing tournament, the WON Tuna Jackpot, will take place in Cabo San Lucas Nov. 2 – 5, with an estimated 150 teams will competing for over $700,000 in prize money.

Photo courtesy of Bisbee’s Black & Blue Marlin Fishing Tournament.

Get your accommodations through Los Cabos Vacation Rentals for the 2017 season

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

Los Cabos Fishing Report – October 23. 2016

October 23, 2016 by Leave a Comment

October 23, 2016 75_310tuna

Plenty of activity going on now in Los Cabos, this is now peak fall season time, with the granddaddy of all marlin tournaments now underway, over one hundred teams from all around the world were participating for a chance at the multiple million dollar jackpot prize. The weather has been very ideal, with more wind prevalent than previous week, minimal ocean swells, water temperatures still in the mid 80 degree range.

Last Sunday a group of local San Jose del Cabo anglers fishing from a 22 ft. panga “Mako” hooked into a blue marlin while trolling a guacamaya patterned lure outside of the Cardon area that weighed in at a whopping 707 lbs. They landed the big blue on 100 lb. class tackle after a two hour battle, proved to be quite an event at the dock area for the weigh in, with this coinciding with the traditional Sunday beach crowds.

Another very impressive catch was accounted for on Thursday, angler Mike Mahoney, from San Leandro, Ca., teamed up with skipper Chame Pino on the super panga “Killer II” to land a 310 lb. yellowfin tuna off of the Gordo Banks, they were trolling a live skipjack for bait, the tuna took three and a half hour to bring to gaff. This fish weighed exactly the same as the previous largest yellowfin that Mahoney had landed some ten years ago with the same skipper.

Fleets are very busy now, most charters are fishing on the grounds from the Gordo Banks to Vinorama. The action had shifted more in the direction of Vinorama, full moon also seemed to have some impact, with the tuna bite becoming more finicky from day to day, some days early, some days late. Average size yellowfin being caught are in the 15 to 35 lb. class, but obviously there are some much larger fish in the area. Early in the week some charters encountered porpoise off of the San Jose del Cabo region and there were large concentrations of yellowfin tuna traveling with these mammals. The porpoise were traveling quickly, so the key was to get in front of them and drop down strips of squid, then repeat the process over and over, fast pace fishing, but also very productive for tuna in the 20 to 30 lb. class. This type of action can be there one day and gone the next, but has held up for about four days so far, moving in different directions daily.

Wahoo were starting to become more active, as they usually do this time of year. Best areas were from San Luis to Vinorama, slow trolling with trap hooked chihuil has been the best technique for enticing strikes, though these baits are not easy to obtain. A few fish were striking on trolled Rapalas as well. The wahoo landed ranged in sizes up to 50 lb. Lots of these fish are on the local fishing rounds now, so we are optimistic for a great season to develop on these sought after gamefish.

Dorado continue to be very limited, though we have seen a few more nicer sized specimens, bulls up to 30 lb. were brought in, no particular spot, scattered form offshore to inshore, most were taken on trolled lures, others on the same striped squid being targeting for tuna.

No inshore action to report beside a few roosterfish, jack crevalle and at least one snook, caught by shore anglers in the vicinity of the marina jetties.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 138 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 blue marlin, 7 striped marlin, 11 sailfish, 610 yellowfin tuna, 34 dorado, 23 wahoo, 34 yellow snapper, 16 leopard grouper, 6 barred pargo, 12 bonito, 3 surgeonfish, 32 huachinango, 6 dogtooth snapper, 14 amberjack, 65 rainbow runner and 200 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 16, 2016

October 16, 2016 by Leave a Comment

October 16, 2016 76_johnolson130tuna

As more crowds of visiting anglers continue to arrive in progressively increasing numbers the weather continues to cooperate, no late season storms are forecast at this time to head our direction, ocean conditions are great, light winds, minimal swells,  with clear sunny skies. Daytime temperatures are still quite warm, though the early mornings are now starting to have a slight chill. Water temperatures are still warm, should start to cool off in the next couple of weeks.

The main bite now has been centered from the Gordo Banks to Iman, San Luis, Desteladera and Vinorama. This is where anglers are targeting the yellowfin tuna, sizes have ranged from small football five pound fish to as large as 300 lb. Average yellowfin being landed have been in the 10 to 40 lb. class. Best bait for this action has been strips of squid, though some of the larger hook ups have been while trolling baits such as chihuil, bolito or skipjack. Best chance at hooking into a cow sized tuna has been from around the Gordo Banks, though numbers of these big yellowfin are very limited, the one yellowfin tuna we heard about that was over 300 lb. was caught by local anglers in the afternoon. Charters are finding more numbers of tuna on the northern grounds, also more chance at catching a variety of species from these grounds. Daily catches have ranged from a couple of fish to over a dozen, some days fish were biting early, some days late, still a very strong current to deal with.

Only an occasional wahoo being landed, up to 45 lb., striking trolled baits and Rapalas, though these elusive fish are definitely in the area, as water temperature cools some we expect they will become more active. Same deal for dorado, scattered action on mostly small sized fish, some people are killing dorado of very small size, does not really make sense, should be released to mature and reproduce. Off the bottom more triggerfish than anything else, but also a mix of cabrilla, various pargo species, rainbow runner, pompano, amberjack and others, though sporadic action off the bottom and at times not easy with the fast drift.

Billfish action has seen a mix of striped marlin, black marlin and sailfish, though no big numbers, trolling larger baitfish around the offshore high spots has produced black marlin hook ups, fish up to 380 lb. were reported, stories of larger fish lost.

No inshore action to be reported, surf anglers are catching a few jack crevalle and roosterfish in the marina channel area, also we saw the season’s first sierra.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 117 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 black marlin, 6 striped marlin, 7 sailfish, 565 yellowfin tuna, 58 dorado, 12 wahoo, 28 yellow snapper, 15 leopard grouper, 1 sierra, 4 barred pargo, 18 bonito, 1 pompano, 23 huachinango, 3 dogtooth snapper, 8 amberjack, 21 rainbow runner and 225 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 9, 2016

October 9, 2016 by Leave a Comment

October 9, 2016 77_mattcatch

While the Caribbean and the East Coast of the United States were dealing with major destruction from Hurricane Matthew, conditions have been calm in the Eastern Pacific, this week we could definitely feel the climate transition into the normal fall pattern, cooler temperatures early in the day and in the evening, though days continue to be quite warm and humid. A little more offshore breeze now being felt as well. Water temperatures have ranged 84 to 86 degrees in the direction of San Jose del Cabo, slightly cooler on the Pacific.

Crowds of anglers arrived in larger numbers this past week, busy time now for the next couple of months. The main bait being used continues to be slabs of squid, no signs of any sardinas showing up, there have been limited caballito available and on the fishing grounds there have been skipjack, chihuil and cocinero.

Most charters were fishing areas from the Gordo Banks to Iman and San Luis Banks. This is where there have been schooling yellowfin tuna concentrated. Chance at larger fish was on the Gordo Banks, a couple of tuna in the 200 to 300 lb. class were landed in recent days, late in the day by local anglers, morning action on these same grounds were sporadic. Better numbers of fish were found to the north near Iman Bank, yellowfin tuna mostly in the 10 to 40 lb. class, an occasional scattered dorado or wahoo encountered on the same vicinity. In recent days the tuna bite was better late morning. There was a strong current to running, this makes drift fishing that much more challenging. Overall the action did improve some this past week, of course it varied a bit from day to day. Average catches per charter was several tuna with a handful of other species mixed in.

Not a lot going off the bottom now, more triggerfish than anything else, but there were some days when a mix of yellow snapper, rainbow runner, amberjack, huachinango and cabrilla were landed from the same banks where the yellowfin tuna action was centered, a lot of rock piles in this area, though the more productive bottom action typically occurs during the winter and spring months.

Billfish was spotty, though we did see some sailfish and striped marlin, a couple of larger marlin reportedly lost after being hooked up on lighter tackle.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 102 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 5 striped marlin, 4 sailfish, 245 yellowfin tuna, 31 dorado, 7 wahoo, 14 yellow snapper, 11 leopard grouper, 22 bonito, 18 huachinango, 12 amberjack, 26 rainbow runner and 160 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

—

GORDO BANKS PANGAS

Eric Brictson / Operator

619 488-1859

Los Cabos (624) 142-1147

e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com

WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM

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

Los Cabos Fishing Report – September 25, 2016

September 25, 2016 by Leave a Comment

September 25, 2016 79_jasensmithgroup

Although we are now officially into the first week of the Fall season we are feeling very tropical weather in the Los Cabos area. This is always the time of year when weather patterns can be very unpredictable, as well as very humid. The landscape is now lush green from significant rainfall the past month. The most recent Tropical Storm Paine stayed far off to the west, paralleling the Pacific coast of Baja before it dissipated, there was no significant impact on land. Presently we are having some isolated local thunderstorms threaten, mainly in the afternoon, though this has not amounted to much of anything. We are also closely monitoring a new low pressure system developing off to the west, which is forecast to slowly gain strength, most likely become Tropical Storm Roslyn and move in the direction of Southern Baja, precise track is not yet determined.

On Monday the red flag was posted early in the morning, closing the Port, presumably as a precaution, even though the day turned out to be calm, with no rain or high swells at all. Most scheduled charters were forced to cancel this day, only after the Port reopened at about 10:00 a.m. did a handful of boats go out. The remainder of the week sportfishing fleets operated normally, seas were calm most days, late in the week we had some wind pick up later in the day, threatening tropical clouds, but did not rain on the fishing grounds. Ocean swells increased, but were moderate and overall conditions were very favorable considering what time of year it is. Most of the fishing action now is centered on the grounds from the Gordo Banks to San Luis.

The bait now be used consisted of caballito, slabs of squid and various skipjack, bolito and chihuil, which were being found on the fishing grounds themselves. The yellowfin tuna bite definitely improved, anglers found various grades of tuna, ranging from football sized, many fish in the 20 to 50 lb. class, a handful to over 100 lb. and even at least a couple of super cows of over 300 lb. that were caught by local anglers fishing on the Gordo Banks later in the day after the crowds lightened up. Drift fishing with strips and chunks of various baits was the technique now being used. Action came in spurts, sometimes early, other times late, lots of pressure on these areas now, since this is where the only real bite is now being found. Individual charters accounted for a couple of tuna per morning, up to ten or more.

Yellowfin tuna was definitely the most common species being targeted with success now, only a scattering of bottomfish, a few amberjack, grouper, rainbow runner, triggerfish and various snapper/pargo being encountered, this action is on the same grounds as are the tuna. Wahoo went on a limited bite earlier in the week on the grounds north of Punta Gorda, though these fish have not been very active overall. Dorado were found scattered throughout the same areas, though recently it has been rare to see a dorado over ten pounds.

There were reports of good billfish action off of the East Cape, lots of blue marlin. Off of our area the action was limited for a mix of striped, blue, black marlin and a few sailfish. Lots of natural food fish on the high spots now, so there is more than enough food for the largest of gamefish to feed on, makes it tough to get them to bite. Several stories of black marlin being hooked on lighter leaders that were targeting the more leader shy yellowfin tuna and resulted eventually in losing the marlin due to sawed off leaders.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 74 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 sailfish, 3 striped marlin, 1 blue marlin, 235 yellowfin tuna, 58 dorado, 7 wahoo, 7 yellow snapper, 1 gulf grouper, 9 leopard grouper, 12 bonito, 12 huachinango, 85 triggerfish, 2 surgeonfish, 5 amberjack and 12 rainbow runner.

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 18, 2016

September 18, 2016 by Leave a Comment

September 18, 2016 80_mwtuna

As summer season now is entering its final week we continue to see light crowds of visitors, though our busy fall season will be upon us soon. We continue to follow weather forecast closely, this week there was Hurricane Orlene which headed far off to the west, making no impact at all on land, except for increasing the already high humidity. Now we are watching a newly forming low pressure system off of the mainland coast, they are forecasting this system to travel offshore, paralleling the west coast of Baja, far enough away to not cause any problems, hopefully this will be the case. Most of the area is now finishing up cleaning the debris and damage caused by Newton, though our local panga dock area will require more rebuilding than most areas, clean up has begun, but will be an ongoing process.

Ocean conditions are great now, practically no winds, light swells, clear blue water of about 85 degrees, lots of baitfish activity on the local fishing grounds. Anglers were fishing the spots from the Gordo Banks to San Luis, using strips of squid, some caballito, bolito, skipjack and chihuil for bait, finding a variety of species, but no great numbers of any particular fish at this time. Yellowfin tuna are being seen feeding and breezing on the surface, but with all of the natural food source available on the same grounds, they are tough to entice into striking. A handful of tuna in the 100 to 150 lb. class were accounted for and other yellowfin in the 10 to 60 lb. range, best bet has been on the Iman Bank, though the Gordo Banks is producing some fish as well. Most charters were fortunate to land one or two tuna in their overall catch.

Overall catches averaged a few fish per boat, tuna, dorado, snapper being the most common catch, a few billfish encountered as well. Large numbers of tuna are in the area, just a matter of them going on the bite, with so much food on the grounds, they are not that hungry to aggressively attack anglers offerings at this time, a lot can happen though from day to day, week to week.

Off the bottom there were yellow snapper, triggerfish, leopard grouper, barred pargo, amberjack and dogtooth snapper, though limited numbers, except for the triggerfish, which were plentiful as usual. Dorado were scattered, some fish up to 20 lb. landed. Wahoo were scarce, but one quality sized wahoo of 60 lb. was landed from a panga on Thursday on a lure near Punta Gorda.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 54 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 57 yellowfin tuna, 17 dorado, 1 wahoo, 8 yellow snapper, 1 dogtooth snapper, 8 leopard grouper,55 triggerfish, 3 amberjack and 5 rainbow runner.

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 28, 2016

August 28, 2016 by Leave a Comment

August 28, 2016  83_3Tuna

Light crowds of tourists visiting at this time, weather patterns continue to be very tropical, hot and humid, chances of thundershowers forecast throughout the week, though we did not see much rainfall, except on Tuesday afternoon, when a major electrical storm passed through the area, vicious thunder and lightning strikes, which left most of the region without power for a couple of hours, two inches or more of rain fell in a matter of 30 minutes, then skies cleared back up just like that. The latest Tropical Strom Lester is far off to the west, having no impact on land, though the ocean swell did pick up some, as we saw surf over two meters high pounding the shoreline. Winds have been light for the most part and just this morning we felt that slight hint of fall season in the air, as early morning was slightly cooler than it has been for the past couple of months. Water temperature is ranging from 80 to 85 degrees, coolest area right close to shore off of Cabo San Lucas.

Anglers have been using strips of squid and live caballito for bait, also some skipjack and bolito being caught on the fishing grounds and being rigged for larger gamefish baits as well.

The Gordo Banks have been producing some of the larger fish as usual, though numbers of actually fish landed from these grounds are low, a handful of black marlin hook ups, one yellowfin tuna caught by a local pangeros estimated at 280 lb. earlier in the week, another later in the week at 130 lb. Lots of sharks again biting on these same banks. Anglers used larger whole baits or drift fished with strips of squid. Clean blue water, lots of natural food source as well, stronger than usual currents running, these can be factors why the bite is not what we would expect for this time of year, of course this can change, just as fast as the weather can.

The action around the Iman Bank has been a bit more productive and chance at more variety. This is where anglers are hooking into some yellowfin tuna that have been averaging 20 to 40 lb., most of these have come on strips of squid, again no numbers, anglers lucky to land one or two of these tuna.

A handful of dorado are being accounted for, but not in any quantity, most of these fish have  not been larger than 15 lb. Striking on trolled lures and various baits, no particular location, scattered throughout the area. Very few reports of wahoo that we heard of, they can become more dormant when water temperatures reach the mid-80s. Not much bottom action found this past week either, more triggerfish than anything else, swift current makes it hard to effectively fish the structure. We did hear of one 80 lb. class amberjack, when currents slack we do expect to see more options off the bottom, time of year we can see some quality grouper and dogtooth snapper.

Not much inshore action now, more jack crevalle than anything else. Surf conditions are up now, this scatters baitfish schools, normal pattern for late August.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 52 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 black marlin,

6 striped marlin, 33 yellowfin tuna, 36 dorado, 2 wahoo, 8 rainbow runner, 13 huachinango, 12 yellow snapper, 4 surgeonfish, 48 triggerfish, 3 amberjack and 8 jack crevalle.

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: , , , , , , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »