GORDO BANKS PANGAS

San jose del cabo

September 28, 2014

Anglers –

After enduring numerous near misses from being directly hit by tropical storms this summer, the Los Cabos Area was not nearly as fortunate with Hurricane Odile, which made a direct hit on Cabos San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo on Sunday, September 14. After developing slowly off of mainland Mexico, this system quickly changed course from a westerly motion and veered back towards the Southern Baja Peninsula while rapidly gaining strength at the same time, reaching category four strength, with the eye of the storm striking Sunday night. Packing sustained winds of 140 miles per hour, with tornado like gusts closer to 180 mph. Twelve to fifteen inches of rainfall in a matter of hours, though it was the twister like winds and huge storm swells that caused much of the damage.

This is said to be a once in fifty year storm and the wide spread property damage witnessed has been devastating, unprecedented for Southern Baja, this entire area has been shut down, without any utility services and people are just in survival mode. We have been without outside communication and have not posted any reports because of this. Some areas have reported now have limited water services, only certain areas have had their electricity restored, mainly in the downtown San Jose del Cabo, still no telephone, cellular or Internet.

Help has arrived from all local agencies and mainland resources and clean up has begun, we do expect to have utilities back up and running within another two weeks, some areas sooner than others. Many tourists resorts have been completely devastated, the International Airport has been shut down to foreign flights. Though we are seeing impressive progress and people are really exerting exceptional effort to start the rebuilding process as quickly as possible.

Businesses are expecting to reopen quickly, as services are restored, though no specific dates has been set yet. Local Sportfishing operations do expect to open within a couple of weeks. The La Playita Panga Area in Puerto Los Cabos Marina suffered overwhelming damage and will need to be completely rebuilt. In the mean time plans are in place for the fleet to work from a provisional temporary area during this rebuilding project.

Gasoline stations are now back in operation and lines are not much more than normally would be expected. Groceries are still very limited, without refrigeration, just basic supplies. We will be anxiously anticipating return of electricity, telephone and Internet, all things that we take for granted and when without, we are completely out of touch. Next report will be as soon as possible. As we try to normalize our daily lives, this natural disaster will take years to recover from. We will keep you posted on our reopening date.

Sincerely, Eric Brictson

September 13, 2014
Anglers –

For the past month we have watched Tropical Storm systems develop on a weekly basis.
After enjoying clear and calm conditions ever since the passing of Hurricane Norbert, at the present time we are watching the development of Tropical Storm Odile, moving at a mere two miles per hour, some 250 miles south of Manzanillo. Forecasters have been more cautious in predicting exactly what this storm will do. It looks like the Southern Baja Peninsula might become lucky one more time, if Odile does follow a more northwesterly track as it gains strength to category two or higher before weakening over cooler waters.
Either way we do expect to see Red Flag closed Port conditions on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, surely more rain, hopefully no high winds.

Crowds of visitors continued to be moderate, as many people have stayed away due to frequent stormy forecasts. This is how the month of September goes, very tropical time of year and unpredictable from day to day.

Anglers were enjoying great wide open yellowfin tuna action since ocean conditions have calmed down. Sardinas continue to school near the rocks of the marina jetty and this has been the bait of choice for getting into the hot tuna action, hard to say how long this resource will remain plentiful.

Yellowfin tuna are now being found in various locations, over structure, such as La Fortuna, Iman and the Gordo Banks. The fish are coming up feeding on the sardinas, ranging in weights from 10 to 25 lb, to 40 to 80 lb and on up to 300 pounds. All sizes of yellowfin tuna in the area, most common catches were in the 15 to 60 pound range. The best chance at the hooking into a monster cow still seemed to be around the Gordo Banks, on Thursday a trio of local La Playita pangeros went on an afternoon trip and landed a 298 pound yellowfin while using 60 pound gear, so these cows are definitely lurking, just not in the numbers of the other smaller grade of tuna near La Fortuna or Iman Banks.

Several varieties of skipjack are now in the mix with the yellowfin tuna, also good numbers of wahoo on these same fishing grounds. Most of the wahoo landed were in the 10 to 30 pounds class, a few larger. Many hook ups were lost, as anglers were having wahoo strikes while they were using mono leaders targeting tuna. The wahoo were striking trolled Rapalas or skirted lures as well, just unpredictable as to when or where you might take a ‘hoo strike. Dorado were scattered and when found they were more often juvenile sized

An occasional sailfish of striped or blue marlin were hooked while anglers were on the tuna grounds, no large concentrations of billfish being seen. Plenty of food fish in the area now, so you figure there would be some large gamefish predators nearby. Not much bottom fishing being attempted now, with the surface action being so productive. One commercial pangeros out of La Playita did haul in two gulf groupers one day while using heavy hand line, both fish weighed over 120 lbs. Lots of triggerfish and an occasional dogtooth snapper. With water temperatures now in the upper 80s, many species that live near rocky structure will head deeper to find cooler and richer in oxygen habitat.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 58 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of:
8 sailfish, 620 yellowfin tuna, 450 skipjack, 36 dorado, 6 dogtooth snapper, 8 rainbow runners, 12 cabrilla, 15 wahoo and 8 dogtooth snapper.

Good fishing, Eric

September 6, 2014
Anglers –

Last week we saw the nearby passing of Hurricane Marie and then conditions settled down very nice for one week, before this latest storm Hurricane Norbert formed. This newest system is slower moving and has followed a path bringing it much closer to the Southern Baja Peninsula. Heavy storm swells pushing 20 feet high have once again shut down all Port activity, Red Flag most likely until at least Sunday morning. Marie was a monster storm of category five strength, fortunately staying further offshore, while Norbert is presently a category one Hurricane, packing 90 mph sustained winds. Expected to parallel the Pacific coast, just offshore and follow a northerly track. Flood damage and related wind damage has been the main consequences felt from this latest storm. This is the time of year that we do frequently see these tropical storm systems develop, we have had enough rain for now, everyone is ready for Norbert to pass and have conditions dry out.

Hard to say what will happen with the fishing action, after Hurricane Marie passed, the fishing picked up strongly, with sardinas being available for bait, found around the Marina Jetty, anglers found good action for yellowfin tuna, ranging in sizes to over 60 pounds. The fishing grounds from the Gordo Banks to Iman all producing action. Dorado were more scattered, small schools encountered sporadically. Most of the dorado found were smaller in size.

A few wahoo were also in the mix, weighing up to 40 pounds, found on the same local grounds. Incredible reports of one 50 pound wahoo being landed off of Orange County, Southern California, this is one crazy season. This could be one of those seasons that the Los Cabos area enjoys incredible fall and winter action. In the mean time we are dealing with back to back storm conditions, which is unfortunate for vacationers caught in the midst of storm conditions.

Not much bottom action now, a handful of dogtooth snapper, some rainbow runners, a lone yellowtail, a few cabrilla and various skipjack and bonito species. Scattered billfish action as well, more sailfish than anything else, a few black and blue marlin hook ups reported.

We are looking forward to calmer conditions and getting back to normal operations. The next few weeks can be a very unpredictable time, tropical weather patterns can develop quickly. Following forecast closely and taking precaution to protect personal interests.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 40 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of:
2 blue marlin, 9 sailfish, 215 yellowfin tuna, 250 skipjack,1 yellowtail, 15 rainbow runners,
7 cabrilla, 46 dorado, 7 wahoo and 8 dogtooth snapper.

Good fishing, Eric