You are here: Home / Archives for Los Cabos Fishing

Los Cabos Fishing Report – October 29, 2017

October 29, 2017 by Leave a Comment

October 29, 2017

Large crowds of anglers and visitors alike are arriving in Los Cabos, as we are now in the midst of the peak fall season. This past week the huge story was the Bisbee Black and Blue Tournament, which is the highest paying fishing tournament in the world, with this year’s event attracting 120 teams from across the globe, with over 800 participants. For final results you can check on Bisbee’s web site. Swirling winds from the north finally resided late in the week, with prevailing clear sunny skies and warmer than normal high temperatures, this all made for ideal conditions, actually still feeling almost like summer.

Heavy pressure now on bait resources, but so far supplies have held up, though if wishing to obtain sardinas, that meant traveling towards Chileno and waiting each morning as netters worked overtime to find enough bait to go around. Other options were caballito and slabs of squid. Some panga guides are starting to scout out chihuil options, as well as smaller sized skipjack.

Sportfishing fleets, as well as tournament teams, have been scouting fishing grounds in all directions. For fleets out of San Jose del Cabo, thought much of the week they were heading south towards Cabo San Lucas, in order to find calmer waters, since north winds had their normal grounds from Gordo Banks to Vinorama all stirred up and very choppy. Also with the sardinas now being located close to Cabo San Lucas, that is a long back tack, to travel that far south to wait around for sardinas and then motor back to grounds such as Iman or San Luis Banks, not a normal plan, this takes way too much time, not to mention how much extra fuel is needed. Charters were fishing areas from the Hyatt, Cabeza Ballena, Los Arcos and to el Faro around the corner on the Pacific. Main target species being the yellowfin tuna. Drift fishing with sardinas was the most productive technique, the tuna were seen in flurries, at times proved to be very finicky, catches ranged from zero up to ten fish per boat, depending where you happened to be at a given time, lots of black skipjack were mixed in with the yellowfin tuna. Average size of the tuna were 5 to 10 lb. though other larger fish were mixed in. The biggest yellowfin tuna for the week was taken Friday off of the Outer Gordo Banks, angler Bob Deeter hooked into the cow tuna while trolling a live chihuil, after a crazy surface battle, the fish actually expired and was subdued in relatively easier than normal manner. Back at the docks the yellowfin weighed in at 304 lb.

Dorado were very scarce early in the week off of San Jose del Cabo grounds, better chances were found trolling in Pacific waters, though later in the week we saw more dorado showing up, still not in significant numbers, but at least somewhat encouraging. Sizes ranged up to 15 lb. Wahoo action finally showed much more activity later in the week, as ocean conditions calmed down and charters were able to comfortably work areas such as the Iman Bank. With a slight change in climate as well, this seemed to trigger the wahoo. Many boats reported having six or more chances of wahoo strikes, most on baitfish such as chihuil or caballito. Other reported strikes on skirted lead heads and Rapalas. Of course as is usual with wahoo fishing, a higher percentage of strikes were lost, as compared with actually wahoo being landed. Several charters had two or three wahoo in the box, at least one had four. Sizes were not huge, but average of about 20 to 25 lb..

Bottom action was limited, one 60 lb. amberjack was accounted for, but only sporadic catches of snapper, cabrilla and triggerfish were reported. This is not the normal season for that type of fishing, with more surface action going on, nor has much at all been reported close along the beach stretches.

Billfish was spread out, but the tournaments have found a respectable number of qualifying black and blue marlin that have passed the 300 lb. minimal weight limits, Not many striped marlin now, water too warm for them, with temperatures now averaging 84 to 85 degrees.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 162 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 3 blue marlin, 1 black marlin, 28 wahoo, 4 amberjack, 215 yellowfin tuna, 75 dorado, 11 yellow snapper, 34 huachinango, 2 pompano, 18 Eastern Pacific bonito, 13 cabrilla (leopard grouper), 6 barred pargo and 96 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 22, 2017

October 22, 2017 by Leave a Comment

October 22, 2017

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

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

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

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

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 185 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 blue marlin, 1 black marlin, 3 sailfish, 4 wahoo, 6 amberjack, 880 yellowfin tuna, 78 dorado, 28 yellow snapper, 54 huachinango, 6 pompano, 95 Eastern Pacific bonito, 9 cabrilla (leopard grouper), 12 barred pargo and 140 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

—

GORDO BANKS PANGAS

Eric Brictson / Operator

619 488-1859

Los Cabos (624) 142-1147

e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com

WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM

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

Los Cabos Fishing Report – October 15, 2017

October 15, 2017 by Leave a Comment

October 15, 2017

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

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

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

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

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

Good fishing, Eric

—

GORDO BANKS PANGAS

Eric Brictson / Operator

619 488-1859

Los Cabos (624) 142-1147

e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com

WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM

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

Los Cabos Fishing Report – October 8, 2017

October 8, 2017 by Leave a Comment

October 8, 2017

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

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

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

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

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

Good fishing, Eric

—

GORDO BANKS PANGAS

Eric Brictson / Operator

619 488-1859

Los Cabos (624) 142-1147

e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com

WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM

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

Los Cabos Events 2017-18

October 3, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Event Season Kicks Off in Los Cabos

Los Cabos has now become such a popular year-round travel destination that the traditional lines between high and low tourist seasons have become blurred. The distinction is still observed, however, when it comes to event scheduling. October remains the banner month for signature local events in Cabo San Lucas, symbolically kicking off the high season – October through May – in high style.

Sammy Hagar Birthday Concerts – October 9, 11, 13 and 14 in Cabo San Lucas

Every year, loyal “Redheads” from around the world flock to Cabo San Lucas for Sammy Hagar’s Birthday Bashes. This year is particularly big, as the former Van Halen and Montrose frontman turns 70 on October 13. An all-star cast of visiting musicians – including fellow members of The Circle:  Michal Anthony, Jason Bonham, and Vic Johnson – will join the “Red Rocker” for a series of special shows at Cabo Wabo Cantina, the landmark local bar and live music venue that Hagar opened with Van Halen bandmates in 1990.

Patron Saint Festival – Oct. 17 – 22 in Cabo San Lucas

Many place names in Spanish, particularly those in the “New World,” were bestowed by explorers based on the Catholic calendar, in which days were associated with different saints. Cabo San Lucas was named for Saint Luke, whose feast day is October 18. Each year, the Land’s End city hosts a Patron Saint Festival (called Fiestas Patronales), remembering the day – October 18, 1541 – when the place was named by Spanish sailor Francisco de Bolaños. Highlights include the crowning of a festival queen, and a colorful parade down Marina Boulevard.

Los Cabos Billfish Tournament – Oct. 15 – 19 in Cabo San Lucas

Bisbee’s two cash-rich tournaments get most of the publicity, but the Los Cabos Billfish Tournament also sends out a siren call to big-game fishermen eager for big-money prizes and jackpots. The three tournaments combined this year are expected to pay out over $4,735,000 to the winners. The 19th annual LCBT has three entry levels:  a $5,000 base entry for each 6-person team; daily jackpots for the largest tuna, wahoo and dorado; and daily billfish release jackpots.

Bisbee’s Los Cabos Offshore – Oct. 19 – 22 in Cabo San Lucas

Commonly known as “Little Bisbee’s,” to differentiate it from the “Big Bisbee’s” Black & Blue marlin fishing tournament that also takes place each October in Los Cabos, the Los Cabos Offshore dates back to 2002, and is considered a more laid-back, charity focused endeavor than the Black & Blue. Cash prizes are awarded to the teams with the three biggest qualifying fish in the game and billfish categories at the LCO, and large amounts of money are always donated to local causes.

Bisbee’s Black & Blue – Oct. 24 – 28 in Cabo San Lucas

Oft billed as “The Super Bowl of Sportfishing” thanks to its million dollar payouts, this marlin focused fishing tournament originally premiered in 1981, and remains to this day the highest profile annual event in Los Cabos. The $4.165 million payout in 2006 was and still is the largest in sportfishing history. Those who can’t afford the base entry and jackpot fees can still gather each day behind Puerto Paraiso to watch the weigh-ins.

David Pack’s Legends Live at Bisbee’s Black & Blue – Oct. 28 in Cabo San Lucas

Bisbee’s Black & Blue is going bigger than ever this year, bringing in five rock star legends – David Pack of Ambrosia, John Elefante of Kansas, Kelly Keagy of Night Ranger, Wally Palmar of The Romantics, and Jim Peterik of Survivor and .38 Special – to perform at the post-tournament awards banquet on the A.P.I. Cruise Ship Pier in Cabo San Lucas. The concert is part of a fundraising effort for the Bisbee’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Fund.

For more information on local events, call us TOLL FREE at 1-888-655-4548, visit www.LosCabosVillas.com, or email us at Info@LosCabosVillas.com.

Photos courtesy of Bisbee’s and Cabo Wabo Cantina.

 Upcoming Event Calendar

October

Sammy Hagar Birthday Concerts – Oct. 9, 11, 13 – 14

Fiestas Patronales (Patron Saint Festival) in Cabo San Lucas – Oct. 17 – 22

Los Cabos Billfish Tournament – Oct. 15 – 19

Bisbee’s Los Cabos Offshore – Oct. 19 – 22

Bisbee’s Black & Blue – Oct. 24 – 28

David Pack’s Legends Live at Bisbee’s Black & Blue – Oct. 28

IAGTO Golf Tourism Convention – Oct. 29 – Nov. 4

Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) – Oct. 31 – Nov. 2

 November

San José del Cabo Art Walk – Thursday evenings, 5 – 9 p.m., November through June

Jim Flick Invitational Golf Tournament at Cabo del Sol – Nov. 7 – 12

Los Cabos International Film Festival – Nov. 8 – 12

Ironman Los Cabos Triathlon – Nov. 12

50th SCORE Baja 1000 – Nov. 14 – 18

Día de la Revolucion (Revolution Day) – Nov. 20

Extreme Sailing Series – Nov. 30 – Dec. 3

December

Sabor a Cabo Food and Wine Festival –  Dates Not Yet Announced

LigaMAC Christmas Party – Dec. 5

Dressed to the K-9s Charity Gala – Dec. 8

Feast Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe – Dec. 12

Whale Watching Season – Mid-December to Mid-March

Las Posadas – Dec. 16 – 24

Nochebuena (Christmas Eve) – Dec. 24

Navidad (Christmas) – Dec. 25

Día de los Inocentes – Dec. 28

Nochevieja (New Year’s Eve) – Dec. 31

January

Día de los Tres Reyes Magos (Three Kings Day)  – Jan. 6

Tropic of Cancer Concert Series in Todos Santos – Jan. 11 – 21

Los Cabos Pro-Am Golf Tournament – Jan. 15 – 19

La Ventana Classic (Kiteboard and Windsurfing Tournament) – Jan. 17 – 21

Todos Santos Writers Workshop – Jan. 27 – Feb. 3

 February

Todos Santos Open Artists’ Studio Tour –  Feb. 10 – 11

Valentine’s Day Dinner at Sunset da Mona Lisa – February 14

Carnaval La Paz – Dates Not Yet Announced

Los Barriles Dog Show – Dates Not Yet Announced

 March

Todos Santos Film Festival – Dates Not Yet Announced

Baja Shakespeare Festival – March 9 – 11, 14 – 17

El Triunfo Arts & Crafts Festival – Dates Not Yet Announced

East Cape Arts Festival – Dates Not Yet Announced

Fiestas Patronales in San José del Cabo – March 19

Annual Cheese & Wine Festival at Sheraton Hacienda del Mar – Dates Not Yet Announced

COME TO CABO FOR FUN IN THE SUN!

 

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

Los Cabos Fishing Report – October 1, 2017

October 1, 2017 by Leave a Comment

October 1, 2017

Finally the weather in Los Cabos has changed and it is now actually feeling like fall, with cooler mornings, slightly less humidity and daytime highs a moderate 85 degrees. No new tropical storms on the horizon, last week we were a bit nervous about TS Pilar, but it never amounted to much, as it make contact with mainland Mexica and dissipated. On Tuesday we did have some isolated rain showers which just kind of formed locally, not associated with any tropical storm front, charter boats still went out, because early morning things appeared okay, but most everyone that did venture out became drenched to some degree. Early in the week there were several water spouts sighted, as skies was very tropical. The Baja landscape has transformed into a lush green jungle as a result to this seasons high rainfall total.

Anglers were using a mix of strips of squid and sardinas, concentrating on the fishing grounds from the Gordo Banks north to Vinorama. Very strong current has been running, pushing in off colored greener water on certain grounds, changing daily as to clarity on one area versus others. As a general rule the fishing action can become more sporadic and tougher when such strong currents are present. The most common target species has continued to be the yellowfin tuna, sizes ranging from 5 lb. footballs to 100 lb. Numbers were down in recent days, but some quality tuna were accounted for, all were taken while drift fishing various baits, sardinas, chunks of skipjack, cocinero or strips of squid. The yellowfin were finicky and line shy, so best results came on lighter leaders and smaller pieces of bait. Some of the more significant catches per boat consisted of landing several nicer grade tuna in the 60 to 90 lb. class per morning, though for the most part anglers were fortunate to account for one nice tuna, along with maybe a mix of a few pargo, small dorado or others, no big numbers of anything, but there were some quality fish being brought in every day.

Dorado bite was scarce and mainly for an occasional fish under ten pounds, no wahoo to speak of, though if anglers were to specifically target these fish near Vinorama there is a chance, because East Cape charters have been doing that. A couple of nice amberjack to over 50 lb., one rare 17 lb. golden phased leopard grouper, a handful of huachinango (red snapper) and yellow snapper rounded out the limited bottom action.

Billfish were very scattered, not much being reported on the grounds off of San Jose del Cabo, perhaps better chance for marlin now on the Pacific. No inshore panga action reported, though local surf anglers out of La Playita reported good numbers of barracuda, jack crevalle and a couple of days of nice tripletail action.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 105 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 3 sailfish, 35 dorado, 4 wahoo, 1 rainbow runner, 6 amberjack, 225 yellowfin tuna, 12 yellow snapper, 26 huachinango, 1 golden leopard grouper, 1 sierra, 4 barred pargo, 3 glass eye snapper (local name) and 80 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

—

GORDO BANKS PANGAS

Eric Brictson / Operator

619 488-1859

Los Cabos (624) 142-1147

e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com

WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM

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

Los Cabos Fishing Report – September 24, 2017

September 24, 2017 by Leave a Comment

September 24, 2017

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

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

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

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

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

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 46 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 wahoo, 44 dorado, 1 blue marlin, 3 rainbow runner, 9 amberjack, 144 yellowfin tuna, 4 yellow snapper, 25 huachinango and 85 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

—

GORDO BANKS PANGAS

Eric Brictson / Operator

619 488-1859

Los Cabos (624) 142-1147

e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com

WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM

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

Los Cabos Fishing Report – September 17, 2017

September 17, 2017 by Leave a Comment

September 17, 2017

Now in the final weeks of the summer season, we are seeing lighter crowds of tourists, as families are now getting settled into the start of the new Fall School semester. This is now peak time for tropical storms to develop and potentially strike the Los Cabos area, this week is the three year anniversary of the incredibly destructive Hurricane Odile. Two weeks ago we felt the impact of a direct hit by TS Lidia, clean up and rebuilding is an ongoing process. This week we have been following three separate tropical systems off to the south of Southern Baja, Hurricane Max is now dissipating as it made landfall in Southern Mexico, the other low pressure area off to the west is not doing much, weakening and is circling far away from land. The storm we are now carefully watching is Tropical Storm Norma, forecast to reach category 1 hurricane status over the weekend. This system is presently moving very slowly and gaining strength, latest forecast has showed it veering further off the west, off of Todo Santos, but ii is unpredictable exactly what path Norma will follow. So precautious preparations are necessary, we are expecting storm surf surges to increase as large as 15 ft. to 20 ft. on Sunday, hopefully not too high of winds and surely we will have rainfall, hopefully nothing like the 27 plus inches we endured from TS Lidia.

Calm conditions prevailed this past week, light winds in the afternoons, mostly clear skies, very high humidity, slightly cooler temperatures at night, with daytime heat index averaging 100 degrees. Ocean water temperature has cooled slightly over the past couple of weeks, now averaging 84 to 86 degrees. Off colored greenish currents are swirling throughout the region, varied clarity in certain areas from day to day. Most of the floating debris from the storm wash out has now dissipated.  The fishing has been on and off ever since the passing of Lidia, there were good numbers of dorado found, though the majority were juvenile sized, an occasional fish over 15 lb. Dorado were found in schools throughout the region while trolling medium sized lures. Also they world readily strike on a variety of bait.

Bait suppliers were able to find sardinas near shore early in the week and along with strips of squid, these were the main bait options available. We expect sardinas will not be obtainable over the weekend with high storm swells, but as those reside hopefully sardina supplies will return and remain steady. Yellowfin tuna were being found from the Gordo Banks and towards the Iman Bank, action was sporadic, from scratchy to wide open, depended a lot on clarity and currents that were running at a given time. Often the yellowfin tuna were seen boiling on the surface, but they proved to be finicky, some days biting right off the bat early, then slim pickings, coming back up late, hard to predict. Average size tuna was in the 10 to 15 lb. class, yellowfin tuna to over 50 lb. were accounted for, though numbers were limited. Reports of tuna to 100 lb. seen in the mix, though the larger grade of tuna have not been striking much. The majority of all tuna action was found while drift fishing with strips of squid or sardinas.

Only a handful of wahoo strikes reported, more of them lost than actually landed. We expect when the water temperatures cool off a bit more and we see cleaner blue water back close to shore, that wahoo activity will improve. Billfish were scattered, a few sailfish, striped, blue and black marlin hook ups reported, though we only had limited numbers of angler visiting now and most of these were preferring to target species such as tuna and dorado. No bottom or inshore action to really report on, besides a few red snapper and triggerfish.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 49 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 black marlin, 6 sailfish, 12 white skipjack, 155 dorado, 3 wahoo, 170 yellowfin tuna, 5 yellow snapper, 14 huachinango and 42 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 Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Los Cabos Fishing Report – September 9, 2017

September 10, 2017 by Leave a Comment

September 10, 2017 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good fishing, Eric

—

GORDO BANKS PANGAS

Eric Brictson / Operator

619 488-1859

Los Cabos (624) 142-1147

e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com

WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM

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

Los Cabos Fishing Report – August 27, 2017

August 27, 2017 by Leave a Comment

August 27, 2017

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good fishing, Eric

—

GORDO BANKS PANGAS

Eric Brictson / Operator

619 488-1859

Los Cabos (624) 142-1147

e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com

WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM

Filed Under: Cabo San Lucas Blog, Fishing Tagged With: , , , , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »