GORDO BANKS PANGAS
February 29, 2020
The month of February has held up its reputation of being very inconsistent and with this being the Leap Year, things even seemed to be increasingly unpredictable. Last week we had the unseasonable warming trend push through, now again this week we felt cooler temperatures and more north wind though much of the week, finally settling down over the weekend. All of these back and forth changes, with ocean water clarity and temperature constantly fluctuating has a direct impact on fishing action as well.
Throughout the region we are now seeing ocean temperature in the 70 to 72 degree range. North winds were strong through the first part of the week, stirring up water clarity and cooling off surface temperatures, though later in the week the winds shifted, often making a full swing, turning from out of the south by mid-afternoon. Still unstable conditions from day to day, through this coming month we normally see these wind patterns tamper off and feel a general warming trend. Bait options remained similar, caballito being netted inside the marina area, also ballyhoo and slabs of squid were other options. Offshore there was now limited opportunities for jigging up sardineta, as that option faded out.
The week started out with north winds, making the grounds in that direction unreachable, fleets staying closer to port, actually finding a good bite off of Palmilla Point. Schooling yellowtail was the highlight, small fish in the 2 to 5 lb. class, scrappy fighters though, striking on trolled Rapalas and yo-yo jigs. An occasional amberjack was found, as well as various pargo and cabrilla. This bite seemed to be over within a few days, fish apparently moving on. At least this was a favorable sign that we saw numbers of yellowtail on local grounds, hopefully this was a prelim to larger sized jacks to follow.
Despite cooler conditions there were some dorado still being found every day, more active mid morning and closer to shore, where natural baitfish were congregated. The dorado we did see were mostly in the 5 to 12 lb. class. No wahoo were reported in recent days, Some yellowfin tuna still on the grounds from Gordo Banks to Vinorama, though action is spotty, drift fishing with squid proved to be the best chance, this bite could definitely pick up quickly if weather cooperates.
Bottom action was producing a variety of smaller sized snapper, pargo, triggerfish, bonito, etc… We did not see too many bottomfish over 10 lb. A couple of decent amberjack were the highlight, as well as a handful of leopard grouper.
Not much locally for billfish either, an occasional striped marlin encountered, but no concentrations or particular hot spot at this time, still early in the season for the annual striped marlin run off of the San Jose del Cabo zone.
Inshore there was slow roosterfish action, juvenile sized and not much activity, an occasional sierra, lack of sardinas has limited the inshore bite this year.
The combined sportfishing fleet launching out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out an estimated 62 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 26 dorado, 29 yellowfin tuna, 60 yellowtail, 14 amberjack, 16 sierra, 6 roosterfish, 12 flag cabrilla, 15 leopard grouper, 9 bonito, 38 red snapper, 14 yellow snapper, 19 spotted rose snapper, 2 mohara,1 sheepshead and 38 triggerfish.
Good Fishing, Eric