GORDO BANKS PANGAS

Anglers –

September 1, 2019

Since the passing of Tropical Storm IVO last week, where the Los Cabos region did receive some much needed rainfall without too high of wind, weather patterns have been stable, though just now there is a new T S Juliette brewing to the southwest, this system is forecast to follow a path further away from the Baja Peninsula new storms developing at this time. The next three weeks is historically the time frame with the highest chance of hurricanes striking Southern Baja, so we are all hoping that this year we do not have any disasters. We have felt a very slight cooling early morning, but days have been warm and humid with heat index over 100 degrees.

Starting last weekend there was decent action for yellowfin tuna up to 100 lb. on the Iman Bank. Through this week the bite became more sporadic, lots of boat pressure on this one area since this has been location where the best chances of catching nice fish has been. Boats from as far away as the East Cape are making the long run south to fish these same grounds. Drift fishing with strips of squid was the main deal, some limited availability of sardinas, the tuna also were hitting on the live caballito. Anglers were feeling fortunate to land just one yellowfin, a handful had as many as three, and average size were 35 to 60 lb. anglers had better success using leader material of 50 to 60 lb., many of the larger tuna were lost after extended battles. Also one black marlin estimated to be well over 400 lb. was battled for over three hours before finally being lost due to lighter leader.

Dorado were found a little closer to shore than were the tuna, off of Cardon, La Fortuna, Punta Gorda, many juvenile sized dorado in the area, had to search to find any over 10 lb. Overall numbers of dorado were down from previous weeks. Wahoo are in the area, as they were seen free swimming and feeding in the chum, though these fish proved finicky and only a few were actually landed, these fish can become sluggish when water temperature are over 80 degrees.

Off the bottom there was limited action for yellow snapper, red snapper, cabrilla, amberjack and triggerfish, more snapper on yo-yo jigs early in the day, after that tough pickings. Only a few roosterfish found trolling closer to shore, smaller sized, mixed in was an occasional jack crevalle, not much inshore trolling this time of year.

Billfish action also slowed down, more smaller sized striped marlin, a couple of larger black marlin that were lost after long battles. Weather is looking good for the time being, slight swells, warm blue water with lots of baitfish in the area so we are optimistic that reports will improve soon.

The combined sportfishing fleet launching out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out an estimated 62 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 5 striped marlin, 3 blue marlin, 185 dorado, 6 wahoo, 70 yellowfin tuna, 6 leopard grouper, 26 Mexican bonito, 14 yellow snapper, 4 barred pargo, 1 amberjack, 2 dogtooth snapper, 3 roosterfish, 5 jack crevalle and 38 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric

Anglers –

August 24, 2019

The week started off with calm weather patterns, though far off of Southern Mexico there was a low pressure system that was developing, this season has been very quiet for tropical storm strikes on the Los Cabos region, so everyone was anxious, watching forecasts closely. Starting Thursday morning through Sat. there were local Port closures due to stormy ocean conditions, though this system was name Tropical Storm Ivo stayed over 300 miles away, off to the west, paralleling the Baja coast towards the north. Seas were up to three meters, sporadic wind gusts ranging 15 to 30 mph, scattered thunder showers, with several inches of measurable rainfall received and even more in isolated areas. Great to actually final receive the rainfall, though also unfortunate for anglers who were not able to fish during shut down conditions. Ever ting does look clear for this coming week.

This was a shortened week for sportfishing operations, though the first half of the week was decent, there were caballito, ballyhoo, moon fish and slabs of squid available for bait. Also large schools of baitfish on the same popular fishing grounds, bolito, small skipjack, etc…Main target species were dorado, yellowfin tuna and billfish. Not much off the bottom except some early morning jig action for various pargo, cabrilla and a few amberjack. Most charters were targeting the surface action, with clean blue water being found close to shore and ocean currents in the 80 to 84 degree range. The majority of the charters were working areas from off of Palmilla Point to the Gordo Banks, Iman and San Luis, a few venturing to Vinorama.

Yellowfin tuna were congregated around the Iman Bank and to the inside, though getting them the bite was not easy, seemed he best chances came early in the day, while drift fishing strips of squid, these tuna are finicky, lots of natural food source to gorge on and also becoming wiser to the boat pressure every day, fleets as far away as Buena Vista are fishing these same grounds. Most of the yellowfin tuna were in the 20 to 65 lb., chances at larger though. Anglers were fortunate to land one or two. More numbers of dorado, while trolling various lures and baits, not as numerous as previous weeks, the majority were juvenile sized, with many were being released, a handful of nicer sized keeper dorado in the mix. Also even an occasional wahoo lurking on these same areas, no numbers, but they are in the area.

There were now chances at very large marlin, this is the time of year when the blue and black marlin are found in local waters, attracted by all of the food fish, such as black skipjack, bolito, dorado and smaller yellowfin tuna. There were at least a couple of black marlin up to 400 lb. landed early this week, quite a few blue marlin as well, most were in the 120 to 250 lb. range, striped marlin were hanging around, many small 50 to 70 lb. stripers, trolling lures or bait was the main techniques, on the high spots of covering open blue water.

So we are hoping for more days on the water with better weather and steadily improving action this coming week

The combined sportfishing fleet launching out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out an estimated 38 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 2 black marlin, 9 striped marlin, 7 blue marlin, 115 dorado, 3 wahoo, 22 yellowfin tuna, 4 leopard grouper, 7 Mexican bonito, 5 yellow snapper, 2 barred pargo, 2 pompano, 2 amberjack, 2 dogtooth snapper, 2 roosterfish, 6 jack crevalle and 24 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric

Anglers –

August 17, 2019

The word travels quickly these days, as more number of anglers were arriving after hearing about reports of yellowfin tuna finally biting, as well as wide open dorado and some blue marlin action. So we saw the sportfishing fishing were busier this past week, weather cooperated, light winds, moderate ocean swells, no tropical storms to deal with. There is a new system just developing off Southern Mexico, late next week we will know what happens with this, could finally get some measurable rainfall. This week the humidity increased, a couple of mornings we felt very light drizzle, did not amount to much at all. Ocean temperature ranged from 78 to 84 degrees.

Bait suppliers were still able to find the schooling sardinas just north of the marina jetty, also there were some caballito, slabs of squid and ballyhoo. Most charters were now working the fishing grounds from the Gordo Banks’ and north to Vinorama.

The best chance at the yellowfin tuna was inside of Iman Bank, near La Fortuna and the Twenty-five spot, anglers were have chances at one, two of three tuna up to 65 lb. Sometimes hard to keep away from schooling dorado which were on these same grounds, most were small sized and being released, though a few nicer fish mixed in. Outside of Cabo San Lucas we heard of a few cow sized yellowfin tuna and there were reports of some larger tuna seen on the Outer Gordo Banks, this time of year things can change rapidly.

Early morning there were a few snapper, cabrilla and amberjack accounted for on yo-yo jigs over the high pots, though with the calm, hot and humid conditions most anglers were wishing to move around some to cool off.

Blue marlin were hitting throughout the region, striking on trolled lures, a few striped marlin as well, we also heard of at least one 300 lb. black marlin that was landed from a small panga. Most of the blue marlin we have seen were in the 120 to 250 lb. range.

 Not much inshore action being done now, time of year that this action fades out. We did see a few dogtooth snapper this week, though these were found over same high spots where charters were drift fishing. A handful of pompano, bonito and yellow snapper were found off shallow rock piles.

The combined sportfishing fleet launching out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out an estimated 84 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 1 black marlin, 13 striped marlin, 10 blue marlin, 420 dorado, 3 wahoo, 105 yellowfin tuna, 11 leopard grouper, 18 Mexican bonito, 16 yellow snapper, 3 barred pargo, 4 pompano, 11 amberjack, 3 dogtooth snapper, 5 roosterfish, 9 jack crevalle and 24 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric