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

September 20, 2019

Anglers –

Tropical storm season is now at its peak, with TS Kiko was still lingering far off to the west, we have seen in recent days the development of two new systems, Lorena and Mario. Expecting land impact from Lorena, which at Hurricane 1 strength is taking a path almost directly towards the southern tip of Baja. We are expecting major rainfall and winds, all Port activity has closed now and most likely through the weekend. Forecast believe Mario and Lorena will move together as they parallel the Peninsula heading northwest.

So anglers had a shortened week fishing through Thursday, before Red Flag conditions closed the Port. Light crowds of tourists, so numbers of charters were limited. Sardinas were being netted off of beach stretches near San Luis and delivered to the grounds near La Fortuna and Iman. Ballyhoo, caballito and strips of squid were also being used. Sardinas were now the best ticket for enticing the yellowfin tuna, action varied from where the best bite could be found, in recent days more tuna were found near Vinorama, smaller grade of 15 lb. fish, though boats could catch ten or more. While action near Twenty-Five spot and Iman was more sporadic, though this is where a handful of yellowfin up to 70 lb. were landed. Still no reports of the cow sized tuna showing, even on the Gordo Banks, late showing this season. Lots of large black skipjack biting on all these same grounds, so that was kind of a nuisance

Number of dorado were less now than in previous weeks and most fish that were found were smaller in size. Wahoo became more active and we were seeing a few of these fish most every day, they weighed 20 to 40 lb. and were striking on trolled rapala type lures off of the north grounds, near where the tuna and dorado were also encountered.

Not much bottom action was even attempted, though we did see a few amberjack, cabrilla, snapper, pompano, bonito, surgeon fish and of course triggerfish

The combined sportfishing fleet launching out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out an estimated 32 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 2 blue marlin, 1 sailfish, 24 dorado, 12 wahoo, 92 yellowfin tuna, 150 black skipjack, 2 island jack, 3 surgeon fish, 4 leopard grouper, 12 Mexican bonito, 4 yellow snapper, 2 barred pargo, 3 pompano, 5 amberjack and 26 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric