You are here: Home / Archives for Los Cabos Fishing

Los Cabos Fishing Report – 3-14-2015

March 14, 2015 by Leave a Comment

March 14, 2015 168_Tuna_Dorado

The month of March is when transition time begins, seasonal changes are very unpredictable, some years we can see warmer conditions arrive early, that could be occurring now, as weather patterns could not be more favorable at the present time, clear sunny skies, highs in the low 80’s and light winds. The first wave of Spring Break vacationers are now arriving in the Los Cabos area, this coincides with the annual San Jose del Cabo traditional fiestas which start this week, popular events such as the government sponsored fishing tournament out of Puerto Los Cabos Marina and the Off Road Races at the Luis Sandoval track will both be held on Sunday. Efforts on rebuilding the panga basin of the marina have been intense for the past month and things are certainly looking much improved and completion seems to be within sight. Then the chief engineers can draw plans for even a larger project, which is reconstructing the north jetty so that a repeat of 2014 will not happen again.

Anglers reported a complete turnaround in the fishing action, as last week conditions had been cool and the action slowed to nearly a standstill. Now, with this warming trend the yellowfin tuna and dorado bite has really improved. Local fleets have been finding great action near the San Luis Bank, with live sardinas being readily available from the commercial pangeros, who are finding these baitfish schooling inshore near Vinorama. Drift fishing over the bottom structure in about 150 feet of water with fly lined baits has producing good numbers of yellowfin tuna in the 20 to 30 pound range. Dorado have been roaming around on the same grounds, most of these fish are running in the 10 to 15 lb. class. Even a few wahoo in the mix, with some 15 to 25 lb. wahoo landed while using straight mono leaders targeted for the tuna and dorado. Other wahoo also were taken on trolled lures, as well as on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas.

Sierra action seemed to have slowed some, maybe the warmer 74 degree current is a factor. Bottom drops over rocky structure have produced sporadic action for bonito, a variety of pargo species, cabrilla and triggerfish. Not much going on in the way of yellowtail, though reports from Southern California of epic yellowtail action on large sized fish has been almost unprecedented, possibly another el Nino in the works.

Striped marlin have continued to be spread out, though the Pacific produced more catches than in the direction of the Sea of Cortez, unpredictable as to what is going to happen this season, bait migrations are shifting according to ocean temperatures as well.

The annual migration of whales is now in full swing, scores of humpback and gray sightings. We were all reminded this week of the power that these mammals have, earlier in the week tragedy struck on a tour boat out of Cabo San Lucas, when they accidently collided with a whale and one passenger was killed in the event, a Canadian woman. These magnetic animals are wild and must be given space. Our condolences go out to everyone involved in this accident.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 66 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of:
1 striped marlin, 8 wahoo, 88 dorado, 215 yellowfin tuna, 18 sierra, 95 Eastern Pacific bonito, 8 amberjack, 22 cabrilla, 16 huachinango, 8 roosterfish, 18 barred pargo, 24 yellow snapper triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

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

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

Los Cabos Fishing Report – March 8. 2015

March 8, 2015 by Leave a Comment

March 8, 2015 169_LarryChambers

We are seeing fairly good sized crowds of tourists visiting the Los Cabos area now, though not a great percentage of these people were interested in sportfishing. So fleets were not all that busy, though with the new month arriving, we all know that spring break is just around the corner and even greater numbers of visitors will be arriving. This time frame is a time of transition, when we start to have warmer days, up into 80s, scattered cloud cover at times, fluctuating winds, often picking up stronger later in the day. Can feel like late spring one day and then be a bit cooler the next, even feeling a bit wintry early in the morning.

Every season can be a little different, it does feel like the worst of the north winds are now over, we have seen signs of marine cloud layer developing, cooler ocean currents meeting with warmer land masses can cause this. Throughout most of the region ocean temperatures are averaging 74 degrees, up to 76 degrees outside of Cabo San Lucas, near the Jaime Bank. This is still several degrees warmer than what we normally might expect to have at this time. Baitfish migration, as well as striped marlin action seems to be affected. No mackerel or sardinetas now being found, these are one of the main food sources for the striped marlin. No concentrations of squid either, so if there is not the sustainable food source, the fish will scattered and be on the move, searching. Water clarity had been good for the most part.

Sardinas continue to be found schooling close to shore near Vinorama, a long run for the bait suppliers, not worth their while unless a certain numbers of charters are going to need this resource, on other days the low tides and increased swell activity made it a tough go for netting any of these baitfish, which were in close proximity to the rocky outcroppings. The majority of days though the sardinas were available, other option were caballito.

The all-around fishing action was less consistent this past week constantly changing conditions have things a bit unsettled, we are optimistic conditions will begin to stabilize soon and this should help put things back on the right track. Most local charters are fishing areas from the Gordo Banks, to Cardon, La Fortuna and as far as Vinorama.

Inshore sierra action became more hit of miss, this had been a sure bet bite in previous weeks. A few smaller sized roosterfish were found close to shore as well, particularly near Punta Gorda and the La Laguna area. These jacks were striking best on slow trolled bait, same for the sierra. Bottom action had been showing some promising signs, with more red snapper, yellow snapper, cabrilla and even some nice amberjack and yellowtail. But, then as weather changed the bite all dropped off, best bet now is either close to shore or over the various rock piles. No surface action now for yellowfin tuna or dorado, only a handful of small dorado being encountered. The Eastern Pacific bonito had been a mainstay recently, providing the most consistent action, with some bonito to over 10 pounds being accoutered for. This bite dropped off to a standstill and all we can do is wait for things to improve.

Off of Cerralvo Island towards the East Cape. We had heard of reports of out of season wahoo activity, the same things happened for one super panga out of La Playita earlier in the week, one boat landed six wahoo up to 25 pounds from an area just north of Vinorama, this was an isolated incident, as no one else reported getting into the action, which was kind of a fluke and also out of normal range for local charter fleets. Of course the next day these wahoo did not decided to bite. It just proves that anything can possibly happen on any given day.

Still many whales in the area, as these mammals have been entertaining people that are based on land and ones boats.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 67 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of:
3 striped marlin, 6 yellowtail,  6 wahoo, 21 dorado, 34 sierra, 120 Eastern Pacific bonito, 11 amberjack, 14 cabrilla, 15 huachinango, 24 roosterfish, 22 yellow snapper, 1 thrasher shark 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 – March 1, 2015

March 1, 2015 by Leave a Comment

March 1, 2015 170_JaimeYork

As the month of February comes to an end we have seen unpredictable crazy weather patterns continue. This week has been more like we would expect at this time, cooler currents, off colored ocean conditions, variable winds, predominately from the north. Though the climate has been very comfortable, lows in the mid-50s and high temperatures about 80 degrees, with plenty of sunshine. Whale watching is now at its peak, as scores of whale sightings are being spotting on any given day throughout the region.

Anglers encountered changing conditions and this meant tough times when looking for yellowfin tuna or dorado, those species have scattered and now we are finding more of the cooler water species as we would expect during the winter season. Catches have included bonito, sierra, roosterfish, pargo, red snapper, cabrilla, grouper, yellowtail, skipjack, triggerfish and others. The Eastern Pacific bonito has been one of the more abundant fish, striking off the high spots north of Punta Gorda on both sardinas and yo-yo jigs, average size is about 5 lb, some going as large as 12 lb. Good fighting fish and excellent eating, similar to tuna or even albacore. Supplies of sardinas were a bit harder to find, mainly because of the early low tides and the rocky areas where the schools of baitfish are now concentrated. They are finding some live sardinas, but supplies are not what they have been as in previous weeks.

A handful of nice yellowtail are just starting to show up, all of the fish landed have been in the 25 to 30 lb. class, from the Gordo Banks to San Luis Bank, these jacks should start showing in greater numbers. Live bait off the bottom and yo-yo jigs have both worked. A few sharks on the same grounds to deal with. Also the ongoing sea lion problem. The all-around bottom action is improving, we are now seeing red snapper (huchinango), barred pargo, yellow snapper, leopard grouper, pinta cabrilla, flag cabrilla, bonito and triggerfish.

Sierra have continued to be the main species running close to shore, most of these fish are averaging in the 2 to 5 pound range, though we saw one 15 lb. trophy brought in this week, also a couple of others near the ten pound mark. A few roosterfish in the mix, mostly smaller sized juvenile fish. Slow trolling with sardinas have proved the best bet for these fish.

Billfish action has been slow, a few scattered striped marlin, no feeding frenzies, as offshore bait schools have been hard to find, no concentrations, we expect the coming months will bring more consistent offshore action. There has been a lack of mackerel this season so far.

We have seen significant progress on rebuilding efforts of the panga dock area in Puerto Los Cabos Marina, in another month or so we are hoping things will be much improved. Local road crews in La Playita had dug up and closed the main access road, beginning work on the final long overdue pavement section from the Marine Group to Hotel El Ganzo, planned to install new drainage, water pipe work etc… Though the crew completely abandoned all efforts of this project and have left us with an embarrassing mess. Someone has got to step in and fix this situation. Another disaster is the gill and drift net operations going on in local waters, reports of netters filling pangas with thousands of pounds of so called protected species such as juvenile roosterfish, this just does not make any sense at all, where are the authority’s priorities, is there any thought at all about the state of the future fishery?

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 96 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 5 yellowtail, 18 dorado, 1 yellowfin tuna, 235 sierra, 310 Eastern Pacific bonito, 9 amberjack, 55 cabrilla, 58 huachiango, 12 roosterfish, 35 yellow snapper, 12 hammerhead shark and 80 skipjack.

Good fishing, Eric

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

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

Los Cabos Fishing Report – 2-22-2015

February 22, 2015 by Leave a Comment

February 22, 2015 171_Chuck_Christine - Copy
 
Last weekend a weather front sept in from the south, on Friday there were scattered thunderstorms through the afternoon, though nothing really developed from this system, after forecasts were calling for rain through Monday, it never happened, mainly just cloud cover and winds, which created choppy ocean conditions. Water temperatures are ranging from 72 to 75 degrees, slightly higher than what we usually see this time of year. Fishing action slowed over the weekend, mainly due to the weather condition factor.

The new week started off great, with increased numbers of anglers enjoying the weather as it settled down, with clear skies and high temperatures in the upper 80s. Calm ocean conditions and immediately the fishing action picked back up. Anglers were finding decent supplies of live sardinas from the commercial fleet near Vinorama. Center of the most consistent bite was found near La Fortuna and the Iman Bank. This is where yellowfin tuna, averaging 15 to 30 lb. were found schooling, a bit line shy and finicky, striking best on lighter size leaders on fly lined baits. Mixed in with the yellowfin were black skipjack, white tuna and Eastern Pacific Bonito. A handful of larger tuna from 75 lb. to 100 lb. were also reported. This has been an incredible bonus for anglers visiting during the month of February, normally a tough time to find any tuna action locally.

Dorado were still more numerous on the Pacific grounds, though they have been found closer to shore at times off of San Jose del Cabo grounds. A few nicer sized dorado to over 20 pounds were weighed in. A few wahoo were landed as well, blind strikes on lures, as well as on baits being targeted for the tuna action. Strange season, anything could happen on any day. Bottom action has been slow to pick up and become consistent, a lot has depended on the current, some days it has been just too swift to even get down and hold the bottom, but at times when currents did slack there were some nice fish found, including cabrilla, grouper, snapper, pargo, amberjack and bonito. We saw one 50 lb. amberjack, a couple of yellowtail, but still no numbers on these jacks. Anglers were using yo-yo jigs and various whole and cut baits for the bottom action, which has been found on the same fishing grounds as where the yellowfin tuna action is.

Billfish action was slow, scattered fish being encountered anywhere from three to twenty miles offshore, no concentrations or feeding frenzies to speak of. There were reports of swordfish sightings off of the 1150 spot, so these prized gladiators will be sought after for serious offshore enthusiasts.

Great time for whale watching now, with both humpbacks and grays in the area, there were also whale shark sightings reported.
Sierra have continue to dominate the inshore action, averaging 2 to 4 pounds, sardinas have been the bait of choice for this early morning bite.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 91 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of:
5 striped marlin, 2 yellowtail, 385 yellowfin tuna, 4 wahoo, 88 dorado, 145 sierra, 56 bonito, 18 white tuna, 19 amberjack, 26 cabrilla, 35 huachiango, 30 yellow snapper and 450 skipjack.

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 – February 15, 2015

February 15, 2015 by Leave a Comment

February 15, 2015 172_PatYellow
 
Weather patterns continue to vary greatly, we had felt the first signs of spring, with nearly 90 degree sunny days, now as the weekend arrives we are dealing with a storm front blowing in from the south that is forecast to bring scattered thundershowers possibly through Monday. We do not expect any significant measurable rainfall, but nevertheless this will make the roads slippery and put a hamper on planned outdoor activities.

Ocean water temperatures have been in the 72 to 75 degree range throughout most of the region. Winds have been swirling from the north and then shifting from the south, averaging 10 to 20 mph. These conditions have been a factor for where charters could practical fish on any given day. Recently the most consistent local fishing grounds have been found north of Punta Gorda, Cardon, La Fortuna to Iman. Anglers have been obtaining sufficient supplies of sardinas from bait boats that have been netting the schooling baitfish near Vinorama and hauling them back towards the same grounds where the fleet has been concentrated.

Early in the week some decent yellowfin tuna in the 15 to 30 lb. class were being landed, at a ratio of anywhere from 2 to 6 per boat, not bad for the heart of winter, this is normally not even yellowfin tuna season, the fish were striking on sardinas while using lighter leaders, they would bite in flurries, becoming quite finicky and not whiling to compete with the skipjack and bonito at times. As the weather deteriorated, so did this tuna action. Hopefully after this system passes through and as conditions settle back down, the action will rebound. While good numbers of dorado continue to be found on the Pacific, these fish have been more elusive in the directions of San Jose del Cabo, though actually a few more dorado were being found in recent days, often very close to shore, practically where the sierra bite has been happening, dorado sizes improved some, a handful of bulls up to 20 pounds or more were accounted for.

Bottom action was sporadic, quite a variety of species in the area, but no consistency or big numbers of any given species. A few yellowtail are starting to show up on the various rock piles, most of the yellows that were caught have hit on yo-yo style jigs and have been quality fish in the 25 to 35 lb. range. We will be anticipating more of these powerful jacks to arrive in the coming months, as this is the time when these fish migrate through the Southern Baja region. A handful of pargo, cabrilla, bonito, triggerfish and white tuna have been rounding out the action over the rocky structure.

Sierra have been the dominate fish found close to shore, also a few snapper, roosterfish and other jacks. Two separate incidents of whales being trapped in commercial net gear were reported from areas north of San Jose del Cabo, never did we hear what became of any rescue attempt, though hopefully this puts increased pressure on these bands of reckless commercial co-ops to relocate back to their mainland headquarters. Overall we have not been seeing as many whales as would be expected, maybe more are still on their way south, or have decided to stay on the Pacific side of the Peninsula.

Not much in the way of billfish activity being reported, though we have heard that striped marlin are being encountered in spread out numbers offshore, searching for their food source, this has been mainly 5 to 10 miles from shore, but still no large concentrations, they are on the move now, looking for schooling baitfish.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 69 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 striped marlin, 6 yellowtail, 47 yellowfin tuna, 82 dorado, 110 sierra, 8 roosterfish, 44 bonito, 22 white tuna, 20 cabrilla, 10 huachiango, 16 yellow snapper, 14 mojarra, and 160 skipjack.

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 – February 8, 2015

February 8, 2015 by Leave a Comment

February 8, 2015 173_KenBlue

Weather patterns continue to be changing daily, actually starting to warm up and feel like spring time already, after cloudy rainy days last week, we are now seeing clear sunny days and high temperatures to 85 degrees. Actually nearly a perfect climate now, winds have lighted up and anglers enjoyed more comfortable days on the ocean. Lots of whale activity, as well as dolphins, manta rays and sea lions.

Water temperatures have continued to be a cooling trend, but have stabilized now in the 70 to 76 degree range, still pretty warm considering that we are in the midst of winter. Clarity fluctuated accordingly to currents and wind cycles, especially on the inshore fishing grounds to the north of Punta Gorda.

The yellowfin tuna action came to standstill at the start of the week, but then started to show increased activity later in the week. Often times the tuna were seen feeding on the surface, but just would not be interested in striking a bait that had a hook placed in it, just a few yellowfin were being hooked into, most of them on either sardinas or strips of squid, average weights were in the 15 to 30 lb. range. The Gordo Banks became the best spot for a chance at landing a tuna in recent days, the other area of La Fortuna the fish were even more finicky. We must remember that any yellowfin tuna action at this time of year is a bonus, this is not the season that we would normally expect to find active yellowfin on the local grounds.

Same can be said for dorado and wahoo, still quite a few dorado being encountered, most of them have been juvenile sized, under 15 lb. and being found close to shore, often near where the inshore sierra action was. Supplies of sardinas remained steady, now being netting near Vinorama and delivered to the Cardon or La Fortuna areas.

There was a discouraging situation being dealt with now, as more Mainland commercial operations, which specialize in various forms of net fishing and have equipment capable of stripping both inshore and offshore reefs of all forms of sea life. These camps are set up in unpopulated zones where they do not seem to receive much negative responses by the unknowing public. This is an extremely destructive method of commercial fishing, even though these groups do supposedly possess legal permits, none of it make any sense at all and should be eliminated so that continued destruction of the ecosystem does not result in a complete collapse of a fishery that was always thought as an unlimited resource.

Bottom action has just begun to show signs of more consistency, still dictated by what the weather allows. Shallow water structure was producing a wide variety of fish, most of which were under ten pounds, with an occasional larger specimen mixed in. Various pargo and snapper species, triggerfish, mojarra grunt, bonito, skipjack, cabrilla, a few amberjack and at least one yellowtail. These fish were striking on yo-yo jigs, sardinas and strips of squid.

Sierra was the most common catch close to shore, best action was early in the day on slow trolled sardinas. Also in certain area near the marina jetties anglers found some roosterfish up to ten pounds.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 58 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of:
2 striped marlin, 1 yellowtail, 2 wahoo, 34 yellowfin tuna, 165 sierra, 14 roosterfish, 88 dorado, 24 bonito, 26 cabrilla, 35 pargo, 24 yellow snapper, 18 mojarra, 6 amberjack and 32 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 – 2-1-2015

February 1, 2015 by Leave a Comment

February 1, 2015 174_DaveHoneycutt_Brian_Tuna

This past week we saw more crowds of tourists traveling to the Los Cabos resort destination, airport activity was bustling and patience was necessary to get through International Customs. Lots of visitors, escaping the cold wintry conditions across much of the United States, despite this influx of people, not a high percentage of them were anglers and sportfishing fleets reported that though the fishing was very good, there were not many numbers of charters going out. That time of year, off season now for certain pelagic gamefish, spring time will be here soon enough.

Weather patterns were unpredictable, going from cold, cloudy, rainy, windy, to calm and quite warm, up to 90 degrees. Now we are starting the new month and as the local saying goes, “Febreo loco and Marzo otro poco”.Translated to “Crazy February and March even more”.

Actually in recent days the water clarity improved along the stretches north of Punta Gorda, ocean temperatures have dropped now into the 70/74 degree range, which might still be slightly higher than normal seasonal averages. Last week anglers were dealing with a challenging situation, having to wait for long as two hours for supplies of live sardinas to be delivered. Problem was that the baitfish schools shifted with the currents, in the direction of Cabo San Lucas, near Santa Maria, pangeros netters worked in the surf zone to net sardinas and then motor back to Puerto Los Cabos, where charters would obtain bait and head to the more productive northern fishing grounds. Bait supplies are no longer as abundant as in previous decades, more patience is needed, or later departure times arranged, there were not many options available for anglers to catch fish while waiting for this bait to arrive. Local pangeros were forced to regroup and now have found sardinas schooling north, near San Luis and Vinorama, they are hauling supplies to meet local sportfishing charters on the grounds such as La Fortuna, Iman and Cardon.

Yellowfin tuna are hanging around late into the season, or maybe this is the start of the new season, results will be dictated on what exactly happens with the ocean conditions and various food sources preferred by the gamefish. Spotty action, depending on what the weather and currents allowed. Tuna are being encountered on various grounds, most not far from shore, including the Gordo Banks, to La Fortuna, Iman and Vinorama. The bite was at random, sometimes early and often later in the morning, major issue with sea lions on other days. Average tuna was in the 15 to 30 lb., though the larger grade of fish was still lurking around the Gordo Banks, favorite choices for bait was sardinas or squid strips.

Dorado were found in decent numbers, La Fortuna and Cardon were good spots, fish ranging to 20 lbs., a handful even larger, slowly trolling or drift fishing with sardinas was a good bet, watch out for needlefish and skipjack.

Not much reported off the bottom, a mix of pargo, cabrilla, bonito and triggerfish for the few anglers that gave it a try when weather and currents allowed. Inshore action continued to be dominated by sierra, striking most readily on sardinas and earlier in the day, also some jack crevalle and juvenile roosterfish roaming the shoreline, remember to release these roosterfish, as they are a prized fighting gamefish that are only encountered and a limited natural range and need to be protected.

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: 5 striped marlin, 76 yellowfin tuna, 220 sierra, 18 roosterfish, 88 dorado, 20 bonito, 16 cabrilla, 34 various pargo and snapper species, 10 jack crevalle and 8 amberjack.

Good fishing, Eric

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

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

Los Cabos Fishing Report – January 25 – 2015

January 25, 2015 by Leave a Comment

January 25, 2015 Mike_Carla

Similar patterns this past week, winter weather hard to predict, though the all-around climate is very pleasant and light crowds are enjoying themselves, soaking up the available warm sunshine. Winds have been more predominate again from the north and this has limited what areas the sportfishing charters could comfortably operate on any given day. Inshore areas north of Punta Gorda are seeing more greenish colored cooler current push in from the north, water temperatures are dropping as well, from the lower 70s up to the 75 degree range. Baits sources are supplying charters with sardinas, caballito and there are ballyhoo available as well. Lots of whale activity now being seen on a daily basis.

Anglers found billfish action offshore, a bit hit or miss, but this week the bite for striped marlin improved offshore of San Jose del Cabo, anywhere from four to six miles out, many marlin were hooked into while drift fishing live baits down deep, also trolling on the surface. Dorado were spread out, more being found closer to shore than further out, these fish are traveling where their food source is. The majority of the dorado were small to medium sized, an exception of a handful of fish being over 20 lb. Striking more often on bait than lures.

Yellowfin tuna action picked up, especially in the Inner Gordo Banks, the wind factor was an issue, too much wind and swift current on certain days made this option difficult to impossible. Though there were a larger grade of yellowfin now on these grounds, up to 100 pounds, many in the 30 to 80 lb. class were hooked into, biting best on sardinas rigged on lighter leader of forty pound test. Some charters had as many as three or four of these nice tuna, other days we would see maybe one or tuna all together. So this late season bite was still sporadic, though fairly impressive to even have a chance at these quality fish at this time of year. Tuna were also found on the banks such as La Fortuna and Iman, these fish were mostly in the 15 to 30 lb. range, again hit or miss, depending on the north wind conditions.

These same fishing grounds were producing a mix of bottom structure species, not a lot of large fish, most were under fifteen pounds, though always a chance of a much larger specimen and all of these fish are the excellent eating variety. Catches were made on yo-yo jigs, as well as on whole and cut bait, including pargo, snapper, porgy, island jacks, bonito, triggerfish, amberjack, cabrilla and parrot fish.

Close to shore the sierra run is now in full swing, once found, these schooling fish are voracious feeders and the action often can be fast and furious on these scrappy gamesters that were averaging three to five pounds. Also a few roosterfish and jacks rounding out inshore catches. Most of the roosterfish now being found are juvenile sized and should be released unharmed whenever possible. Early in the morning while panga charters were waiting for bait suppliers some nice fish have been hooked into directly outside of the Puerto Los Cabos jetties, including yellow snapper, cabrilla and amberjack. This was a early bird special and would happen one day and then maybe not the next, though a few fish in the 20 to 30 lb. class were accounted for.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 68 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 16 striped marlin, 95 yellowfin tuna, 325 sierra, 15 roosterfish, 72 dorado, 45 bonito, 18 barred pargo, 28 yellow snapper, 15 island jack, 14 amberjack, 28 cabrilla, 12 porgy, 8 parrotfish and 32 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 – 1-18-2015

January 18, 2015 by Leave a Comment

January 18, 2015  176_tunacatch

As we progress deeper into the winter season, we are now seeing light crowds of tourists arriving in Los Cabos. With airplane fares becoming more reasonable, as fuel prices drop, we expect more people will realize this and take the opportunity to visit this winter wonderland. We have seen varying weather patterns, some days with cloud cover, with some scattered rainfall earlier in the week, scarcely measurable, then again on other days there was plenty of warm sunshine, with highs reaching near 80 degrees.

Winds were variable as well, the week started off very tranquil, then later in the week there were stronger breezes blowing from the north. These patterns contributed to anglers adjusted their game plans accordingly, as to where they could comfortable fish on a given day. Options varied from offshore, inshore and reef fishing. Ocean temperatures were ranging from 74 to 77 degrees throughout the region, greener off colored currents now pushing in from the north.

Anglers enjoyed excellent action for yellowfin tuna during the first half of the week, tuna were striking on sardinas off of the normal grounds, such as the Gordo Banks, Iman, Vinorama, La Fortuna and Punta Gorda. Easy limits were taken on yellowfin that averaged 15 to 25 pounds, with a larger grade of fish mixed in as well, some 30 to 50 pounds and even a handful topping the 70 pound mark. A local angler reported one tuna over 100 pounds while fishing with slabs of squid on the Gordo Banks, so even though this is now very late in the season, there is still a chance at a larger sized yellowfin.

Dorado were more hit or miss, though there were actually more of these gamefish accounted for this week, as compared to the previous. Found in small schools. Many very close to shore, ranging 5 to 25 pounds. Wahoo were seen, but not many were being hooked into, remember last season, when the wahoo action went wide open during mid-February, we are hoping for a repeat of that non typical scenario.

Inshore action remained steady for sierra, scrappy gamesters, ranging up to eight pounds, striking on sardinas, trolled hoochies and Rapalas. Some juvenile sized roosterfish and various jacks also found close to shore. Off the shallow rock piles there has been a variety of structure species encountered, though this action was not consistent from day to day, depended greatly on how strong currents and winds were.

We are now seeing the main concentration of both humpback and gray whales arriving for their annual breeding and feeding voyage to Southern Baja. Sea Lions are bountiful as well remaining a pesky nuisance on the fishing grounds.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 58 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 8 striped marlin, 2 wahoo, 365 yellowfin tuna, 134 sierra, 18 roosterfish, 38 dorado, 28bonito, 12 white skipjack, 42 miscellaneous pargo, 5 island jack, 16 amberjack, 18 cabrilla and 25 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 – January 12, 2015

January 12, 2015 by Leave a Comment

January 11, 2015 184_Matt

After one week of colder weather patterns we have now seen the winds calm down and a return to pristine conditions, clear skies and warm sunshine, with highs of 80 degrees. Incredibly ideal, considering the freezing forecast across much of United States and Canada. Crowds are relatively light now, as is normal right after the holiday season, great time to visit, airfares have dropped and the Los Cabos area has made impressive rebuilding headway, most areas are now back to normal, pre-hurricane status.

The colder currents pushing in the last couple of weeks have dropped ocean water temperatures into the 74 to 77 degree range, which would still be considered warmer than average by several degrees for this time frame. The cooler currents also brought in greenish colored water, which in turn scattered the pelagic gamefish, but now conditions are rebounding and opened up more options for anglers.

Anglers are using sardinas to fish close to shore and are catching good numbers of sierra, ranging to as large as eight pounds, these sierra were also striking on trolled hoochies and Rapalas. These fish, in the mackerel family, do prefer the cooler water. A mix of shallow water structure species are now becoming more prevalent as well, pargo, of several varieties, cabrilla, triggerfish, pompano, island jack, porgy, bonito, mero hawkfish, even sheephead, as well as and others, all very good eating fish, striking on various baits, as well as jigs.

Dorado were very scattered, but handful are being accounted for every day, most were under 15 pounds. Only a few smaller sized wahoo were reported, these were found in the direction of Cabo San Lucas. Yellowfin tuna had become very scarce during the windy days, but in recent days we have seen some nice yellowfin being accounted for from the Inner Gordo Bank, as well as from areas further north, near Vinorama. These tuna ranged in the 20 to 50 pound class, nice for winter time fish. Anglers were using sardinas, strips of squid and chunks of skipjack to entice these tuna. No great numbers, but there was a chance at catching several.

The striped marlin action continued off of San Jose del Cabo, anywhere from 3 to 6 miles offshore is where most of this action was taking place, concentrations of baitfish have been attracting the billfish and anglers were trolling and drift fishing with live baits, as well as casting into feeding fish when the opportunities arose.

If the weather conditions how it is at this time, we could all be in for some great winter action, hard to predict, but last year we had warm water all winter and chances are this season might be the same.

Many more whales are now arriving for their winter stay in the Southern Baja region, other attractions included manta rays, seas lions and porpoise.

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: 18 striped marlin, 3 wahoo, 27 dorado, 24 bonito, 15 white skipjack, 49 yellowfin tuna,140 sierra, 13 roosterfish, 1 sheephead, 15 porgy, 4 hawkfish, 65 various pargo, 8 island jack, 7 amberjack, 22 cabrilla and 30 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

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

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