October 9, 2010

Nice time of year to now visit the Los Cabos region, kind of like the lull before the storm, ideal weather, with moderate crowds, only a week or two away from when capacity filling crowds will arrive for the peak tournament time season. Cooler mornings now, but daytime temperatures and humidity are still running high. No storm systems are on the horizon at this time, there have been clear sunny skies, with light winds and ocean swells. Water temperatures from Cabo San Lucas and in the direction of the Sea of Cortez are averaging 85 to 87 degrees. Clear blue currents are being found very close to shore, so most of the fishing action now has been taking place within five miles of land, often times much closer.

Live sardinas are now migrating inshore off of the Palmilla Point area and this has given anglers another option, besides buying the fresh dead brined sardinas. In the Puerto Los Cabos Marina channel some pangeros are jigging up Pacific moonfish with sabiki rigs and these small pompano like baitfish are being used as live baits as well.  

The action on the Gordo Banks for the larger grade of yellowfin tuna came almost to a standstill, as only a handful of yellowfin in the 40 to 100 pound class were reported taken on these banks this past week. Hard to say if these tuna have moved out of the area or if they are just feeding deep on the available food sources. Conditions have remained favorable so we are optimistic that this bite will pick back up before long.

Everyday a few wahoo are being hooked into on these same banks, particularly early in the morning before boat pressure becomes a factor. A handful of larger black and blue marlin also were hooked into while trolling larger live baits such as skipjack, cocinero jacks or chihuil, but the majority of these marlin were lost due to the lighter leaders that were being used while targeting the more line shy yellowfin.

The fleet has been finding good numbers of schooling football sized yellowfin tuna on the Iman Bank, though some days there were too many skipjack beating the tuna to the sardinas. These tuna were readily striking the fresh dead bait, but in the past couple of days have once again started to have a preference for the live sardinas, which only recently have become available. The same area of Iman has produced a variety of species, included some wahoo and dorado on the surface, as well as a mix of quality bottom dwellers, namely dogtooth snapper, amberjack and grouper, most of these fish are striking on larger baitfish and some specimens weighed in the 60 to 85 pound class. This type of bottom fishing takes more experience than many anglers realize, even for the most skillful local skippers, it proves a real challenge to be able to hook these powerful fish and turn them away from the rock piles before they are able to cut off even your heavier eighty pound tackle.

As daytime temperature begin to cool with the progressively shortening fall days, the water temperature will drop more closer to the 80 degree range, with is ideal for triggering a more active wahoo bite. These fish are now definitely in the area and have been striking both lures and baits, but surely as the conditions become more favorable anglers could find themselves in some truly epic wahoo action this fall season.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 68 charters, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 1 blue marlin, 3 sailfish, 19 wahoo, 123 dorado, 324 yellowfin tuna, 20 bonito, 14 cabrilla, 8 grouper, 14 dogtooth snapper and 26 amberjack.. 

Good Fishing, Eric

Gordo Banks Pangas 

  San Jose del Cabo

October 2, 2010

The start of the fall season was greeted with clear sunny skies, after last week’s rainfall from T.S. Georgette the parched Baja landscape has rapidly turned lush green. Crowds of tourists are now light, but within a couple of weeks that will certainly change as the big money tournament events are slated to take place. The weather warmed up dramatically during the later part of this week, as the record heat wave that swept through Southern California seems to have drifted south. Light winds have kept ocean conditions very calm and with water temperatures now averaging 85 degrees or higher throughout the region, this has made for warm fishing days, be sure to bring lots of beverages in order to stay hydrated.

The La Playita panga fleets have been fishing mainly from the Gordo Banks to La Fortuna and Iman. Most common species being targeting were yellowfin tuna, dorado and wahoo. The bite has been up and down, as to where and when the best action was encountered on any particular day. Bait supplies continue to be the fresh dead brined sardinas, with some live sardinas now being found in closer proximity, off of the Palmilla area. Also there have been jacks, small tuna, bolito and skipjack which were caught on the fishing grounds themselves and used as trolling baits.

Yellowfin tuna continued to be found on both the Inner and Outer Gordo Banks, these fish were striking on dead sardinas that were near the high spots. The yellowfin were finicky as to when they became more aggressive, apparently they were content to feed on the natural baits sources that are on the banks at this time and not always interested in taking the sardinas. Though most charters averaged one to three fish per day while targeting this area, these tuna were ranging in sizes from 30 to upwards of 200 pounds, with even larger super cow sized fish being reportedly lost after being battled on heavy tackle for three, four or five hours. Anglers have most commonly been using main line of 60 to 80 lb. with fluorocarbon leader of 60 to 90 lb.

Palmilla became a spot where smaller football sized tuna and medium sized dorado were being found, live sardinas were now available near this area and proved to be a good options for finding plenty of action on medium sized fish, instead of going for the one or two big fish further offshore.

Wahoo were spread throughout the zone, the Gordo Banks, La Fortuna to Vinorama all produced strikes for anglers trolling Rapalas and skirted lead or jet heads, a bit sluggish in the warmer waters, but some anglers accounted for as many as three wahoo in the box per morning, with other short strikes lost. The wahoo were ranging in sizes from 20 to 45 pounds.

Dorado action was much the same, more juvenile sized fish found in the direction of the Sea of Cortez and lager sized bulls found further offshore and on the Pacific. Charters were accounting for an average of 2 to 6 dorado per boat.

Billfish tapered off a bit over the previous couple of weeks, but there still were some larger sized black and blue marlin being hooked into, in the past couple of days there were several blacks that were hooking into on the Gordo Banks while trolling with larger live baits, which more often than not was either a skipjack or cocinero (jack) in recent days.

Other catches include a mix of grouper, dogtooth snapper and amberjack, despite the calm surface, there still was a swift current on most days and this made it more difficult to concentrate on the bottom.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 61 charters for this week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 1 striped marlin, 1 black marlin, 2 blue marlin, 2 sailfish, 14 wahoo, 122 dorado, 154 yellowfin tuna, 18 bonito, 8 cabrilla, 2 grouper, 7 dogtooth snapper and 10 amberjack..

Good Fishing, Eric

Gordo Banks Pangas 

  San Jose del Cabo

September 25, 2010

The Southern Baja region had been waiting patiently for the season’s first measureable rainfall and that did finally happen earlier this week. The low pressure system that had been threatening to develop off of Manzanillo for several days, did quickly gather strength over warmer currents on Monday evening, becoming Tropical Storm Georgette, passing almost directly over Cabo San Lucas, raining on and off all day Tuesday, accompanied by wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour, before quickly following a course towards San Carlos, La Paz and then towards Loreto, then downgraded to a depression into the Sea of Cortez. Georgette dumped four or more inches of rainfall locally and made a mess of the roads, a few landslides and moderate flooding, but no major disasters were reported. The long summer is finally officially over and we are all looking forward to a great Fall Season.

Before the storm hit anglers were reporting very consistent fishing action, as well as greater variety, particularly on the fishing grounds from the Gordo Banks, then north towards La Fortuna and Iman Bank. Most charter fleets shut down for both Tuesday and Wednesday and were all back operating on Thursday. Water conditions changed dramatically after the storm, water temperatures plummeted into the lower 70s in some areas, particularly closer to shore, along with these cooler currents were greenish colored waters. At this time water conditions are most favorable in the vicinity of the Inner and Outer Gordo Banks, where cleaner waters of 80 to 82 degrees are being encountered.

Always after a system like this the ocean conditions become stirred up and can take a few days to rebound. Anglers did report some quality dorado action out of Cabo San Lucas, with some bulls up to 45 pounds being accounted for. In the direction of San Jose del Cabo the dorado action has been scattered, only an occasional fish being found and most of them juvenile sized. Wahoo action slowed down compared to pre storm numbers, but a few of these elusive fish were reportedly hooked in around the Inner Gordo Bank and La Fortuna areas on Thursday, so we expect as conditions improve these fish will become more active again, as they do prefer the cooling trend of fall conditions.

The yellowfin tuna action around the Iman Banks slowed almost to a standstill, with only a few small footballs being found, this situation will certainly improve as waters warm back up and stabilize. Good news was found on the Gordo Banks, where the better water conditions were more prevalent. On Thursday there were two cows reported, a 261 lb. and 206 lb. yellowfin tuna accounted for, both were hooking into on bolito. These baitfish were found closer to shore on small hoochies and then used further out on the banks. A couple of other tuna in the 130 to 140 pound range were also taken the same day, all this for a handful of boats. These were the larger grade of tuna that were being seen breezing on the banks before the rainfall hit, but were not on the bite, they had been feeding on small squid and mini sardinas, perhaps this food source moved on and now they are hungrier for the larger offerings. These cow sized tuna hit on both live and dead bolito, did not really care, it was just a matter of having the bait in the right place when they came up. An estimated 450 pound black marlin was battled for several hours on Thursday as well, from a 23 ft. super panga, before breaking the line as it was nearing the boat.

Some larger amberjack up to 75 pounds had hit the decks before the storm and a few nice dogtooth snapper as well, this action slowed due to the off colored waters and strong currents, should pick back up as currents settle back down.

Thursday was a day off for local La Playita pangeros and many of them decided to try fishing off of their own docking area and they ended up getting into some epic action. The key was to first catch the Pacific moonfish for bait and then fly line them out into the channel, main catch was for roosterfish, ranging up to 45 pounds, also two tripletail were landed, a few nice snapper, barracuda, but the most incredible fish tale was of the possible new all tackle world record snook that spit the hook after being battled by a local angler who had managed to work the fish back out of the mooring structure into open water and had the fish inching up to gaff before it spit the hook. This fish was estimated to be as large as 80 pounds and everyone who saw it jumping said that it easily was over 60 pounds, the existing record is listed at 58 pounds, this means it well only grow larger now.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 43 charters for this shortened week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 2 striped marlin, 1 black marlin, 3 blue marlin, 1 sailfish, 16 wahoo, 18 dorado, 89 yellowfin tuna, 14 bonito, 6 cabrilla, 2 grouper, 7 huachinango, 6 dogtooth snapper and 12 amberjack..

Good Fishing, Eric