GORDO BANKS PANGAS

August 23, 2020

We had the first serious storm system strike the Los Cabos area this week. Hurricane Genevieve which developed off of the Southern mainland coast, strengthening rapidly to a category four storm, before weakening some as it past much closer to the Baja Peninsula than was originally forecast, with the eye passing within about 50 miles of land as it paralleled the Baja coast on a northwesterly track. Rainfall ranging from 6 to 12 inches was recorded, wind gusts to 60 mph and some fairly serious flooding in lower locations. There were local Port closure for three days due to heavy storm swells, reopening for Saturday morning. Most of the region was out of power for two to three days before utilities were restored. Overall the area escaped any serious devastating damage and did receive some much needed rainfall.

All of the rain caused a lot of muddy run off and ocean was stirred up and dirty to over five miles offshore, with weather now settled we should see clarity improve and rebound with each passing day. Live bait also became very scattered, with bait vendors scrambling to find limited resources for caballito, mullet and a few sardinas.

Before the storm most of the better fishing opportunities came off of the San Luis Bank and this is where the fleets resumed after the storm. Fighting greenish dirty currents made things tough for anglers over the weekend, though they did find a mix of species off the bottom and some limited surface action. Anglers used lures, yo-yo jigs and limited bait for a mix of pargo, red snapper, cabrilla, amberjack, bonito, dorado, with the highlight being a handful of yellowfin tuna in the 40 to 60 lb. range.

No inshore action was found as it seems that the high swell scattered all that had been going on close to the shoreline. This is the time of year that conditions can clear back up just as fast as they had turned over, as long as no new storms strike. We do see the forecast of new systems possibly developing for late next week, so we will be monitoring these reports and hope that they pass off further to the west. The next six weeks are historically the period when Hurricanes have developed and impacted this zone.

Light crowds, good fishing, Eric

GORDO BANKS PANGAS

August 16, 2020

Now into mid-August, feeling more tropical with each passing day, increased scattered cloud cover, humidity and very warm conditions. Another week of light crowds of visitors, will be the same pattern now until the fall season starts in October. At this time there is much increased tropical storm activity in the Eastern Pacific. Now situated off to the south west of Southern Baja is T.S. Fausto, we mainly felt higher humidity, but also some isolated rain showers were reported Saturday, not much increase in ocean swells. Though a much larger system is now forming off mainland Mexico, below Manzanillo, forecast to become a major Hurricane, named Genevieve. This storm is forecast to pass within 300 miles of Cabo San Lucas as it heads northwest, we do expect high storm swells, to possibly 25 ft., also most likely Port closures for Wed. and Thur., though still hard to predict exactly what will happen.

For the most part the winds had settled down, though on Saturday they picked up, gusting from the south, this has been a scenario of the past couple of months, just as water clarity improves, we have set backs again. This is the time of year where typically we find blue water within a mile or two of shore, has been a bit more stirred up this season, unpredictable from day to day. Caballito has been the main bait being offered from the marina area, though last week there limited amounts of smaller sized sardinas appearing. Angers have also been using yo-yo style jigs off of the various high spots, where the more consistent grounds were from San Luis to Vinorama, better looking water on these grounds, Ocean temperatures are averaging 80 degrees or more, once clarity stabilizes we should see much improved gamefish action on these local grounds.

Most charters were concentrating on areas north of Punta Gorda, cleaner currents were found in this direction. Working the bottom rock piles produced a wide variety of catches, much of this on yo-yo jigs, but also on bait. We saw amberjack to 50 lb., dogtooth snapper, red snapper (huachinango), pompano, barred pargo, yellow snapper, leopard and broomtail grouper, bonito and black skipjack.

We also saw more yellowfin tuna action on these same grounds, still spotty, but numbers were greater than in previous weeks, average size tuna were 40 to 65 lb., many of these were also taken on yo-yo jigs versus live bait. A few much larger yellowfin tuna were hooked into while using baits such as bolito, found on the same grounds and then slowly trolled. Also there were sightings of large black marlin, one of which speared a tuna that was being reeled to the boat, following it in and making for a show under the panga, before leaving the tuna and disappearing.

There were a handful of dorado and wahoo also reported, no big numbers or particular hot spot yet to find these fish.

Along the coastal shoreline we are still seeing good numbers of mixed sized roosterfish, as well as jack crevalle and a few nice pargo. Late season now for this inshore action and the arrival of large storm swells could put an end to this action.

Much further offshore there were reports of medium sized yellowfin tuna being found associated with traveling porpoise, also a few blue marlin hooked into.

Light crowds, good fishing, Eric

GORDO BANKS PANGAS

August 9, 2020

Fairly uneventful week, with updated warnings regarding International travel risks due to Covid 19 pandemic, many people are changing plans and deciding not to travel yet. Many Resorts, restaurants, super markets and most other businesses are operating now with high safety standards, though crowds are much lighter than we would normally expect. At this time there is a newly developing Tropical Storm Elida gaining strength and momentum off offshore from Manzanillo. This system is expected to become a hurricane by Monday and is also forecast to follow a track about 250 miles southwest of Cabo San Lucas, so we are not expected to feel much impact in Los Cabos besides some larger ocean swells, scattered cloud cover, increased humidity and perhaps isolated rain showers.

Though most of this past week the winds were laid down and this gave a chance for ocean clarity to improve, blue water was much closer to shore now, though on Friday south winds kicked up again setting conditions back some. Water temperature dropped back to 74 degrees along the shoreline, though 80 degree currents were still within several miles offshore. Seasonal patterns seem to be behind schedule this year, we do anticipate conditions to stabilize and get back on track within a couple of weeks.

Bait supplies remained steady for caballito, some mullets still mixed in, no sardinas reported yet. Most popular and consistent fishing grounds this week were near the San Luis Bank. Anglers using yo-yo jigs found a mix of species, amberjack, cabrilla, grouper, bonito, red snapper, yellow snapper, barred pargo and pompano. No huge numbers of any particular species and everyday would be different. We saw amberjack close to 50 lb. also a handful of yellowfin tuna were accounted for off these same grounds, some hit on yo-yo jigs, others on caballito. Far offshore some boats were venturing deep in search of moving porpoise which in turn could attract yellowfin tuna, most reports were of spotty action. We did hear a report of more porpoise activity found offshore of Cabo San Lucas, mostly small to medium sized tuna, but heard of one fish that weighed in at 180 lb.

We saw quite a few dorado moving into local waters, though the majority of these fish were very small juveniles which should be released with care in order to have a chance to mature and reproduce.

Marlin action we saw was more for striped marlin, though we did hear of the one 306 lb. black marlin taken outside of San Luis Bank during recent Bisbee event, of which a 700 lb. blue marlin won on final day.

Along the shoreline we are still saying some monster sized roosterfish up to 60 lb., late in the normal season, but for the time being these fish are remaining in the region while they are finding enough food source. Big jack crevalle also are found along same beach stretches. Local surf anglers reported some evening tripletail action, as well as a couple of nice sized snook, though more jacks than anything else.

Light crowds, good fishing, Eric