October 12, 2019

Anglers –

Increasing numbers of anglers are arriving each day, in the next couple of weeks the crowds of the fall season crowds will be peaking. Weather is now transitioning, noticeably cooler early mornings, though days are still warm, very humid, more tropical cloud cover and over the weekend scattered rain squalls, We saw wide varying ocean conditions this week, from flat glass, no breeze at all, to swirling winds and choppy seas.

The fishing action was almost as unpredictable as the wither patterns. One day very few fish would cooperate, next day we had great action for the elusive wahoo, then the yellowfin tuna action became more active, dorado were spotty, but some nice schools were occasionally encountered, at times close to shore, others further offshore. On Friday, legendary La Playita local pangero Hugo Pino brought in a yellowfin that weighed in at 264 lb., impressive cow, first of this class we have heard about this season off of the Gordo Banks, the tuna hit on a live skipjack. On Saturday local super panga skipper Chame Pino landed a 111 lb. tuna

Through most of the week the more consistent all around action was near Iman Bank, also north to San Luis and Vinorama. Sardinas were now being netted ear the marina jetty, already becoming more limited as season becomes busier, ballyhoo was a great option for wahoo, slabs of squid were using for drift fishing for the tuna, caballito were another option. A few charters were searching for chihuil, which were ideal for wahoo, when obtainable. Through mid-week the wahoo went on a great bite, fish to over 40 lb., striking trolled Rapalas, skirted lead heads and various baits. Rigged ballyhoo proved to work especially well. Some charters had as many as four wahoo, while losing other strikes. Things can happen quickly with these speedsters are aggressive.

Yellow tuna action was mainly centered on Iman Ban, but this week a handful of nicer quality tuna came off of the Gordo Banks. Bite was spotty from day to day, as currents and water clarity was fluctuating, best bet for the yellowfin seemed to be drift fishing with sardinas, squid and also slow trolling smaller sized skipjack. We saw yellowfin tuna this week from football sized, all the way up to cows of 264 lb. most tuna we are seeing were in the 15 to 70 lb. range.

Dorado became more scattered that they had been, though there are some decent schools of these fish being found, of the fish we did see, we saw more respectable sized 10 to 20 lb. specimens.

We heard of more striped marlin activity out of Cabo San Lucas, though on the grounds off of San Jose del Cabo and towards the north there was some striped marlin and a few sailfish reported.

Off the bottom there was no consistent bite going on, a scattering of pargo, snapper, cabrilla, bonito and the highlight were several dogtooth snapper up to 45 lb., we have not seen many of those fish this season.

The combined sportfishing fleet launching out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out an estimated 110 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 1 sailfish, 6 striped marlin, 68 yellowfin tuna, 29 dorado, 47 wahoo, 7 leopard grouper, 8 Mexican bonito, 8 yellow snapper, 3 dogtooth snapper, 2 barred pargo, 3 pompano, 6 sierra, 4 amberjack, 4 surgeon fish and 95 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric

GORDO BANKS PANGAS

October 5, 2019

Anglers –

 The busy fall season has already started, we saw much larger crowds of anglers arriving and this will continue through November. Last week we were all closely watching the development and progress of Tropical Storm Norda, we ended up being very fortunate as this system stayed along the mainland and never made much impact at all on Southern Baja, just a few sprinkles and cloud cover and of course increased tropical humidity. Weather patterns are changing progressively now, cooler mornings, though high temperatures are still around 90 degrees. Forecast looks clear for now, which is a relief for all of the vising anglers and fleet operators as well,

Calm ocean now, with very slight breezes, water temperature in the 83/84 degree range and clear blue water close to shore. Bait has consisted of sardinas, being netted near the marina jetty areas, also some caballito, ballyhoo and slabs of squid available. Main fishing grounds being concentrated on have been from Palmilla Pint to Iman Bank and in between.

The action for yellowfin tuna slowed way down, as more black skipjack were schooling on the same tuna grounds, early in the week a handful of yellowfin up to 70 lb. were landed, but after that it was more dorado and wahoo which were dominating the action, though over the weekend the tuna action did seem to start back up near the Iman bank, as several yellowfin tuna in the 40 to 60 lb. class were accounted for.. A new group of dorado moved in, especially off of the Palmilla Point, where limits were the rule for fish of 10 to 20 lb., they were striking on a variety of trolling lures as well as baits. Inspectors are now regularly checking limits, so make sure to not go over your two fish limit of dorado.

Wahoo became more active as well, areas to the north of Punta Gorda, as well as off of Palmilla produced wahoo to over 40 lb., trolling Rapalas accounted for the majority of strikes, some charters accounted for up to three ‘hoo, which is good for this early in the season.

We heard of some larger sized bull dorado on the Pacific, up to 40 lb., though no big numbers at all. Also we heard of a handful of cow sized yellowfin tuna being encountered offshore traveling with porpoise, we expect to start seeing these large tuna to make their way towards the Gordo Banks soon, as they are running behind schedule this year.

Not much going off the bottom, though there were a few amberjack in the 50 lb. class landed, also a selection or pargo, cabrilla, bonito, pompano and triggerfish. Current has slacked, so maybe that will help improve bottom action, though most anglers now have preferred to target the surface species.

Billfish action out of San Jose del Cabo was scattered, a few sailfish and striped marlin being the main deal, found on the same grounds such as Iman Bank.

The combined sportfishing fleet launching out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out an estimated 102 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 3 sailfish, 5 striped marlin, 22 yellowfin tuna, 325 dorado, 24 wahoo, 12 leopard grouper, 14 Mexican bonito, 16 yellow snapper, 12 big eye jack, 12 barred pargo, 8 pompano, 5 sierra, 9 amberjack and 75 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric

September 28, 2019

Anglers –

Last week we were preoccupied with the progression of Hurricane Lorena, though the Los Cabos area ended up not getting hit very hard at all, as this small but the powerful system changed direction and followed a path towards the East Cape, where they felt more substantial impact. Local marinas were shut down for three days over the weekend, reopening on Monday morning. We are still seeing light crowds of visitors, though within a couple of weeks that will all change. The weather is now transitioning, noticeably cooler in the mornings, though daytime highs are near 90 degrees and it even feels warmer when you combine the humidity heat index. Ocean water temperature is now in the 82 to 84 degree range, still favorable for storm activity. Weather is now very tropical, can be unpredictable, presently we are watching a new low pressure area forming near Acapulco, which has a good chance to become Tropical Storm Narda, we will watch what happens with this in coming days. With limited numbers of anglers in town, most charters were now fishing the grounds from Iman to Vinorama. Sardinas were found off the beach stretches north of Vinorama for the first part of the week before scattering, over the weekend the bait vendors searched for sardinas schooling back near the marina jetty.

The all-around action was spotty through much of the week, as water conditions had turned over and were off colored, also there was a very strong current sweeping through. As the week progressed conditions rebounded and reports were much better for the weekend. Yellowfin tuna and dorado were the most common species, an occasional billfish or wahoo, also a mix of bottom dwellers.

Drift fishing with sardinas, strips of squid, chunks of skipjack or bolito was the main method for enticing the yellowfin, fish ranged in sizes from 15 to 75 lb. Bite was still a bit scratchy, but some charters did account for up to five tuna. Dorado numbers were down from how they had been, found in scattered schools, hard to find one much larger than ten lb., so many of the smaller dorado were released, as anglers tried to fill out their two fish limit with nicer sized specimens.

With the strong currents running that did not help the bottom action, hard to stay down, fish do not like battling that either. We did see a few smaller amberjack, leopard grouper, yellow snapper, barred pargo, bonito and triggerfish.

The combined sportfishing fleet launching out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out an estimated 59 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 1 black marlin, 2 blue marlin, 2 striped marlin, 145 dorado, 10 wahoo, 74 yellowfin tuna, 11 leopard grouper, 18 Mexican bonito, 12 yellow snapper, 6 rainbow runner, 8 barred pargo, 4 pompano, 4 amberjack and 35 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric