GORDO BANKS PANGAS

August 20, 2023

This week started out with normal, summer conditions, hot and humid weather greeting light crowds of visiting anglers. We were all following extended weather forecasts, which is always what we do during this peak season time frame for tropical storm development, we were particularly tuned in to the rapid development and strengthening of Hurricane Hilary off Mainland Mexico.

This system rapidly intensified to a category four storm, passing within a couple hundred miles west of Southern Baja, fortunately the eye of the storm was just far enough away from the Los Cabos area to keep disastrous effects to a minimal, of course on the Todo Santos side of the Peninsula and at Guerrero Negro they did receive more of the blunt force from Hilary.

Local Port authorities shut down all activities from Friday and through the weekend, we are hoping to reopen operations on Monday. This will mean hauling all of the boats back into the marina, since there was a mandatory haul out order given for our panga area. Scattered power blackouts were another thing local interests were having to deal with.

Before the latest storm developed, local fleets were busy working near Vinorama, this was the main center of activity the past couple of weeks. This is where the yellowfin tuna bite has been centered, best bet was to arrive early as possible, before heavy pressure came and made the tuna even that much more finicky. Drift fishing with strips of squid was what these fish were striking on. Sizes ranged from footballs, to up to over 80 lb. You had to work hard but many boats were landing up to four or five yellowfin. As the week progressed the winds from the south increased and made conditions that much tougher.

Not much going off the bottom now besides a handful of triggerfish and a few dogtooth snapper. Billfish bite was spread out, though there was 300 plus lb. black marlin landed from a small panga after a 4 hour battle, a few striped marlin in the mix as well.

A bunch of mostly smaller sized dorado found off the marina area and towards Palmilla. Also a couple of wahoo were seen for the first time in a while, including one monster specimen that weighed in at 72 lb., hit on a trolled lure in open water, while returning from the tuna grounds.

Good Fishing, Eric

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