GORDO BANKS PANGAS

February 8, 2020

Good number of tourists are arriving now to our Los Cabos destination, many of these visitors are anticipating enjoying warm weather. Though the winter season is now upon us, with this continued cold trend, we felt low temperatures a chilly as 48 degrees and day time highs barely reached 70 degrees through much of the week, scattered cloud cover, though by the weekend the pattern shifted and we had slightly warmer conditions. North winds were brisk through most of the week, finally diminishing over the weekend. Ocean water temperature were in the 67 to 71 degree range and off colored currents were plaguing the area from off of San Jose del Cabo towards Los Frailes. Limited numbers of serious anglers now in town, as they are following reports and realize this is not normally peak season for much besides northern winds and peak whale migration. Even though last February we did see much more consistent action, was a season when we did not have such consistent winds and was not as cold overall. So much is depending on weather conditions this time of year, we do expect to see some warmer more stable conditions in the coming weeks.

There continues to be bait schools concentrated off of San Jose, mainly sardineta and chihuil at this time, not many mackerel, also some limited numbers of caballito, as well as ballyhoo and slabs of squid. No sardinas reported, would be nice to have the option of live sardinas, but these baitfish have been scarce in our local region in recent months, hoping they move within range soon. Lots of baitfish are also reported on offshore grounds, gamefish have more than enough natural food source. The all-around action was slow this past week, cold conditions and off colored water being a main factor.

Anglers worked hard for a handful of fish, still a chance at finding a dorado or two, but the surface action became very scattered, best bet was while slow trolling bait. Many charters were also trying more of the options off of the bottom, though there was limited action found, a mix of pargo, snapper, cabrilla, bonito, triggerfish, etc., no big fish, all good eating, but just no numbers at all, fortunate to land a mix of a half dozen fish.

Yellowfin tuna were seen breezing the surface on the Outer Gordo Banks, but were not interested in biting, on Saturday there was one 80 lb. class tuna accounted for while drift fishing with squid.

Billfish action was better towards Cabo San Lucas, but still scattered and hit of miss, reports were decent on the 1150 spot for striped marlin. Also more mako sharks appearing in the cooler water. As water conditions settles we expect more offshore porpoise with tuna action will develop, it is the normal time of year for this.

Inshore action reported some roosterfish, sierra and shallow rock species. Though this was not a guarantee, but we saw a couple of sierra near ten pounds, roosterfish were not so active in the cold water, but fish 5 to 15 lb. were reported.

We are optimistic for a turnaround in coming days and weeks, been a tough stretch the past couple of weeks, so will be time for things to rebound some.

The combined sportfishing fleet launching out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out an estimated 55 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 16 dorado, 1 yellowfin tuna, 12 sierra, 12 roosterfish, 11 cabrilla, 4 bonito, 22 red snapper, 10 yellow snapper, 4 glass eyed snapper, 6 spotted rose snapper, 7 Pacific tile fish, 2 mako shark, 4 porgy and 26 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric

February 1, 2020

This past week we felt an overall cooling trend, scattered cloud cover, variable winds, strong at times, predominately out of the north, high temperatures reaching into the lower 70s. We are in the midst of winter season now, so these cooler conditions are not unusual, we expect similar weather through the month of February, which is always known to be full of unpredictable patterns. Local resorts are now seeing large crowds of tourists, though not a high percentage of them are serious anglers. This is a common scenario, as this time frame is not the peak season for most of the highly sought after game fish.

The all-around fishing action slowed this past week, with cooler and gusty ocean conditions being the major factor. Best action out of San Jose del Cabo seemed to be straight out front, from Palmilla to the Hotel Zone and north towards Punta Gorda. The grounds to the north, where fleets do regular concentrate their efforts, have been turned over with greener cooler currents, better looking water and more schooling baitfish are presently right off of the Marina entrance. Ocean is now in the 70 to 71 degree range through most of the region, the coolest currents are near Los Frailes and are pushing further south every week.

Off of San Jose del Cabo there continued to be sizable schools of mackerel and sardineta reported, also more black skipjack moving in on these same grounds. Bait vendors have limited supplies of caballito, ballyhoo and slabs of squid.

The yellowfin tuna action stalled out through the week, also dorado became scarcer with each passing day. Early in the week a few wahoo were reported, also more dorado, but as week progressed with not so ideal conditions, ocean temperatures cooled and surface action slowed way down. Billfish was very slow as well, some days the striped marlin would be more active, but the very next day they could not be found, again more consistent early in the week.

Not much going close to shore, a handful of sierra, a few roosterfish, though the cooler off colored current slowed that action way down. There had been mid-morning frigate bird activity followed, with feeding dorado found close to shore, but that action faded, we hope that as weather settles and we see a slight warming trend, that action will improve.

Currents were swift, but there was a mix of bottom fish being found, not large fish, but a few quality leopard grouper to 15 lb., yellow snapper, with other pargo and cabrilla species.

The weather patterns in the coming weeks will be a factor as for how the fishing action shapes up.

The combined sportfishing fleet launching out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out an estimated 58 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 10 striped marlin, 29 dorado, 1 yellowfin tuna, 6 wahoo, 32 sierra, 8 roosterfish, 13 cabrilla, 9 bonito, 32 red snapper, 12 yellow snapper, 4 barred pargo, 1 halibut, 1 yellowtail, 2 amberjack and 26 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric