December 24, 2017

Again this week we saw lighter crowds, we do expect increased numbers of tourists to arrive over the Christmas and New Year’s Holiday. Weather patterns were feeling more like winter, on morning we felt a low of 53 degrees, some days the highs reached only into the low 70s, also had winds from the north on and off, hard to predict from day to day. Ocean water temperature was still in the 75 to 78 degree range and swells were minimal.

Despite the days not being ideal with really warm sunshine, as is normal for the Los Cabos area, anglers actually did very well for a variety of species. Dorado numbers were higher than they have been and often these fish were found within a half mile of shore, with many charters limiting out on these prized gamefish, average fish was weighing in the 10 to 15 lb. range, with some even larger. Best bet for these fish was using either sardinas or caballito for bait. Caballito were being netted inside the marina area, while sardinas were found schooling near Palmilla Point and south to Cabo Real, this area was hit harder by early morning wind from offshore and made it tougher for the bait netters to obtain sufficient quantities, so patience was needed to obtain these preferred baitfish.

Yellowfin tuna action rebounded on the Gordo Banks, but not every day, it was still a bit hit or miss and there were sharks to deal with as well. Though for anglers that were on these grounds at the right time, they accounted for some quality yellowfin to over 80 lb. Also tuna were found on the spots of La Fortuna to Iman Bank, but those areas had larger numbers of sharks and sea lions to shut down the action.

Inshore, closer off of Punta Gordo was one of the best areas producing dorado, a few wahoo were also in the mix, as well as a variety of excellent eating bottom species, striking while drift fishing with chunk bait in about 60 to 80 feet of water, included were yellow snapper, barred pargo, African pompano, triggerfish, leopard grouper and amberjack.

Billfish action was more on the Pacific now, where charters found fair action for striped marlin. Though in recent days a few striped marlin were seen in the direction of the Sea of Cortex, out of San Jose del Cabo, where the first reports of mackerel and sardineta being found off the Hotel zone were being jigged up on sabiki rigs. So this should be favorable for the coming weeks, where the bait goes, so do the gamefish.

Whales continue to move into the region in greater number, the next couple of months will be the peak season for the activity of both gray and humpback whales, whom both arrive here for their winter migration from their northern summer feeding grounds.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 72 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 6 wahoo, 14 sierra, 88 yellowfin tuna, 215 dorado, 14 amberjack, 28 yellow snapper, 4 island jack, 11 barred pargo, 9 Eastern Pacific bonito, 5 dogtooth snapper, 12 white skipjack, 8 roosterfish, 4 African Pompano, 24 cabrilla and 110 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

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GORDO BANKS PANGAS

Eric Brictson / Operator

619 488-1859

Los Cabos (624) 142-1147

e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com

WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM

November 26, 2017

Still very busy with visiting tourists now in Los Cabos, many of them here enjoying their Thanksgiving holidays and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, as the weather is pristine, clear sunny skies with temperatures averaging 85 degrees. Following this week we normally see a bit of slack time as far as numbers of tourists arriving, as people get back to work and school, then start preparing for the Christmas Holiday Season.

Early in the week there was persistent north wind creating rough conditions on the grounds to the north of Punta Gorda, but late in the week they resided and ocean conditions were great. Water temperature is now right around 80 degrees, this keeps prospects very favorable for the coming weeks. Bait supplies remained fairly steady for sardinas, now schooling near Palmilla beaches and further south, though on a few days they did become a bit more limited due to the extra heavy pressure during this holiday week. Other bait options continued to be slabs of squid, ballyhoo and the more elusive chihuil, which was the candy bait being used for targeting the highly sought after wahoo. Water was very clean and blue now, almost too clean on offshore high spots, as fish can also become more finicky at times when there is an abundance of natural food source and the water is crystal clear.

Though for most anglers they did report good success, most common species being the yellowfin tuna, there continued to be good action for the smaller sized tuna off of Palmilla Point, hitting mainly on the sardinas and ranging in sizes of 10 to 20 plus lb. The action for the larger grade yellowfin that had been happening on San Luis and Iman Banks, slowed way down this week, as more of the smaller tuna to 20 lb. also moved in on these grounds. Most likely the larger fish are still hanging around, but just have not wanted to compete with all of these smaller tuna. Dorado were scattered, not being being found in any particular area, best chances were on the same grounds where the tuna were schooling, we did see a few dorado up to 20 lb., which is nicer sized than we had been seeing, reports of more dorado were coming from the Pacific.

The wahoo action on closer by spots was very limited, just an occasional fish, though near Vinorama there has been an excellent bite on these speedsters. The deal was to first go and catch the bait of choice, chihuil, either on the Inner Gordo Banks or at times on Iman. Not all charters are even prepared to do this, this is more of a panga deal than cruiser, they are spooky mackerel sized baits that are chummed up and caught one at a time on very light leader. Some boats were landing over five nice wahoo and loosing many other strikes, sizes increased throughout the week, as several specimens over 50 lb. and one of 64 lb. were weighed in. We are looking forward when these fish move within closer range, as they should do soon as the heavy boat pressure lightens up.

Not much in the way of local billfish action out of San Jose del Cabo, though on the Pacific they were reported more striped marlin, though many were smaller sized juvenile fish. Still a chance of hooking into a black or blue marlin, with the warmer water and all of the skipjack and yellowfin tuna to keep them interested.

Not much bottom action reported, though we saw a few more exotics this week, besides the prevalent triggerfish, there were a few amberjack, island jack, cabrilla and various pargo. Every day we are seeing a handful of sierra in the mix, look for this inshore action to take off soon as the water temperature cools off.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 142 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 black marlin, 1 blue marlin, 107 wahoo, 24 sierra, 925 yellowfin tuna, 55 dorado, 13 amberjack, 11 yellow snapper, 18 huachinango, 8 island jack, 4 barred pargo, 18 Eastern Pacific bonito, 90 white skipjack, 8 cabrilla and 95 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