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| Around 10% of the world's total fish species can be found just within the Great Barrier Reef. |
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| Starfish can re-grow their arms. In fact, a single arm can regenerate a whole body. |
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| Starfish do not have blood. Their blood is actually filtered sea water. |
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| Starfish don't have brains. Special cells on their skin gather information about their surroundings |
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| Not all animals with the word fish in their names count as fish. |
| Though their names may suggest otherwise, cuttlefish, starfish, and jellyfish aren’t actually fish. Generally-speaking, fishes must have skulls, gills, and fins. Surprisingly, though, not all fishes have proper spines. |
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| In three decades, the world's oceans will contain more discarded plastic than fish when measured by weight, researchers say. |
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| As of 2020, there were 34,000 known fish species around world. That’s more than the number of species in all other vertebrates: birds, reptiles, mammals, and amphibians combined. |
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| Just how man species of fish are there? |
| As of 2020, there were 34,000 known fish species around world. That’s more than the number of species in all other vertebrates: birds, reptiles, mammals, and amphibians combined. |
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| Even Catfish are finicky |
| Taste Buds ? Catfish have a more refined sense of flavor than humans. Our 10,000 taste buds may seem like a lot, but catfish can have as many as 175,000. This helps them find the exact location of their next meal. |
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| A bit of Humor |
| My brother has 2 German Shepherds named Rolex and Timex. You guessed it they are Watch Dogs. |
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From Jan 01, 1999 To May 13, 2024
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Sep 1, 2013; 02:01PM - GORDO BANKS PANGAS San Jose del Cabo September 1, 2013
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric Bricston
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GORDO BANKS PANGAS
San Jose del Cabo
September 1, 2013
Anglers –
This past week we witnessed how late summer tropical climate patterns can
change within a matter of hours. After enjoying relatively stable
conditions for a couple of weeks, this all changed on Wednesday afternoon,
as a disorganized low pressure system all of a sudden developed into
Tropical Storm Juliette. Within 12 hours this storm passed directly over
Cab San Lucas and continued towards central Baja. TS Juliette traveling at
a rapid pace, 30 mph hour, not giving much of a chance to gain more
strength, this was fortunate, as not a lot of damage was reports, normal
low land flooding and some moderate wind damage, as gusts of 45 mph were
steady and even higher winds of 75 mph were recorded in isolated areas.
Sportfishing fleet were shut down for last Friday and Saturday due to high
swells and rain caused by TS Ivo and once again there were closed port red
flag conditions on this Thursday, before reopening for Friday morning, as
ocean settled down and skies cleared. The next few weeks is always a time
when weather forecasts are monitored closely.
Most consistent fishing action recently has been for dorado, found
scattered throughout the region, traveling in schools of various sized
fish, the majority of which have been juvenile sized, though there is a
percentage of much larger dorado mixed in. There have been increasing
numbers of wahoo being reported, striking mainly on lures, over the
traditional high spots, as well as in the open blue water. This is
favorable sigh to see this many wahoo so easy in the season, as they
normally become more active later on in the fall.
There was excitement on the Gordo Banks, as the season’s first large sized
yellowfin tuna are moving on to these grounds. On Tuesday there were
several big tuna landed, up to 250 pounds, many other hook ups were lost
while battling huge tuna on heavy gear, the word traveled quickly, on
Wednesday there were heavy boat pressure and the big tuna did not want to
cooperate, though some of these cows were seen briefly feeding on surface.
Anglers have been using various baitfish, bolito, skipjack yellowfin,
chihuil and strips of fresh squid. As weather settles down we anticipate
this action will only improve, everyone is tuning up their heavy gear, so
that can be best prepared to battle these giants. There are football sized
yellowfin tuna being found throughout the zone, sometimes they have been
associated with porpoise, but often just encountered by blind strikes while
trolling hoochie type lures and cedar plugs.
Inshore action has really come to a standstill, this is normal during this
period of higher swell conditions, which also scatter inshore baitfish
schools. Not much bottom action now due to the continued strong current, a
handful of red snapper found alongside the anchored commercial fleet. Most
consistent fishing has found near the surface, charters are using a
combination of lures and the available baitfish. Anglers now have a chance
offshore of hooking into a grand slam of billfish, as there are striped,
blue and black marlin, as well as sailfish all present on the offshore
grounds.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos
Marina sent out approximately 45 charters for the week, with anglers
reporting a fish count of: 4 blue marlin, 2 black marlin, 8 striped marlin,
5 sailfish, 84 yellowfin tuna, 162 dorado, 4 wahoo and
18 huachinango (red snapper).
Good fishing, Eric
--
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson / Operator
619 488-1859
Los Cabos (624) 142-1147
e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com
WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM
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Aug 29, 2013; 06:08PM - GORDO BANKS PANGAS San Jose del Cabo August 25, 2013
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric Bricston
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GORDO BANKS PANGAS
San Jose del Cabo
August 25, 2013
Anglers –
For the past couple of weeks the weather was relatively calm, hot and
humid, with some afternoon breezes. At this time we are bracing for a
weekend of thunderstorms, forecasters predict rainfall of six inches
possible over the Southern Baja. High swells to 15 feet, with winds of 30
knots will shut down sportfishing operations through the weekend. This
storm, now named Tropical Storm IVO, is predicted to follow a path well to
the west of the Baja Peninsula, the system is expansive, several separate
areas of disturbance are joining forces, slow moving and holding a lot of
moisture.
Ocean conditions had settled, we enjoyed calm weather patterns, offshore
fishing action was improving steadily. Dorado were the most common catch,
with large schools of smaller grade fish now present, there were still some
nicer bull dorado to 30 pounds or more accounted for, lot of juveniles to
deal with, these should be released to mature and reproduce, dorado are one
of the fastest growing species, studies say they grow five pounds per
month. Best practice is to release all of the smaller dorado and if
interested in capturing your limit of two dorado for personally
consumption, choose a pair of the larger catches. Anglers have been finding
easy limits for dorado, anglers found these fish from within one mile of
shore, to the offshore grounds, these gamefish have been readily striking a
wide variety of trolled lures and baits.
Football sized yellowfin tuna have been consistently found in recent weeks,
these fish were found closer to shore and not associated with porpoise,
schooling on the Iman and San Luis Banks, as well on the Gordo Banks, mixed
in with skipjack, finicky to bite at times, striking on strips of squid and
trolled hoochies, anglers were fortunate to land several of these small
tuna, some anglers did find fast limits. On Tuesday, Gordo Banks Pangas
skipper Chame Pino, with angler Dave Martin, visiting from Colorado, while
trolling a live bolito on the San Luis Bank hooked into what would be the
season’s first La Playita Cow Tuna. While using 80 pound tackle, Dave and
Chame teamed to subdue this giant tuna in under two and a half hours..
Commercial pangeros targeting huachinango on this these same grounds had
reported that they had seen large tuna feeding on these grounds the
previous afternoon, apparently the larger grade yellowfin are now moving
into the area, right on schedule.
Billfish action has been steady, lots of striped marlin, some sailfish and
good numbers of larger sized blue marlin were reported, many blues were
caught and released from anglers on sportfishers. A group of local La
Playita pangeros teamed up to land a black marlin that was estimated at
easily over 500 lb., hooked while trolling a small yellowfin tuna on the
Gordo Banks. The season is showing encouraging prospects for an excellent
fall season to come. Wahoo were also more active this past week, despite
warm water temperatures near 85 degrees, wahoo to 50 pounds were landed
while trolling the blue water ledges, no great numbers, but good for this
time of year.
No inshore action now, a few late season roosterfish by the PLC Marina
entrance, bottom bite was off due to the persistent strong currents. Red
snapper (huachinango are being found in good numbers by the commercial
fleet, they have been anchoring on deeper areas and using cut squid. Giant
squid are being found in big numbers off of the Los Frailes and East Cape
area, small sized giants, under two feet in length, same food source that
attracts big fish.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos
Marina sent out approximately 65 charters for the week, with anglers
reporting a fish count of: 2 blue marlin, 1 black marlin, 23 striped
marlin, 6 sailfish, 115 yellowfin tuna, 250 dorado, 13 wahoo,
16 roosterfish, 38 huachinango (red snapper) and 7 cabrilla.
Good fishing, Eric
--
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson / Operator
619 488-1859
Los Cabos (624) 142-1147
e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com
WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM
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Aug 18, 2013; 03:50PM - GORDO BANKS PANGAS San Jose del Cabo August 18, 2013
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric Bricston
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GORDO BANKS PANGAS
San Jose del Cabo
August 18, 2013
Anglers –
Despite this time of year traditionally be known as the off season tourists
visiting Southern Baja, this summer there have been quite a few people
arriving. We are now in the midst of the most tropical period, which
normally lasts for the next four or five weeks. On Monday there was a storm
front that swept in from the east, lightening, thunder, some scattered
rain, sportfishing fleets canceled early morning charters, by 9 a.m. the
front had passed and some charters did launch later. This is local tropical
weather forming offshore, chance of isolated rain showers and more rain
over the weekend. Though there are new tropical storms that are forming to
the south, with ocean water temperature now 85 degrees or warmer the
environment is ripe for quick storm develop, heat index has been over 100
degrees, very high humidity and forecasts will be monitored closely.
With the warming tropical weather, light winds, ocean temperatures have
risen and the all around offshore fishing action has improved. Clean blue
water is now close to shore, concentrations of bolito, skipjack and
football sized yellowfin tuna are on the fishing grounds, attracting a
variety of gamefish, catches have included, sailfish, blue marlin, striped
marlin, dorado, wahoo, yellowfin tuna and skipjack. Inshore there are still
decent numbers of late season roosterfish hanging around the Puerto Los
Cabos Marina Jetty area.
Not much bottom action now available, swift currents make it more difficult
for drift fishing over the structure. The commercial panga fleet coming
from the Los Frailes direction have been setting anchors on the San Luis
Bank and hauling in big numbers of huachinango, the true red snapper,
valuable commercial catch, averaging 6 to 12 pounds. Some of the charter
boats are now getting into this action, drift fishing with pieces of fresh
giant squid. The squid are being caught off Los Frailes in quantity, can be
purchased from this panga fleet, $10 buys you a lot of squid, this is
something that has just developed this week, it has been working though.
Still no supplies of sardinas, these baitfish would work great for chumming
the yellowfin tuna into a surface feeding frenzy, it is time the local bait
supplying pangeros should starting to scout out this bait source. In the
mean time they are still finding plentiful caballito, mullet and moonfish.
Surf conditions are moderate now, takes one group to start chasing the
sardinas, then the rest will follow.
Dorado have been the most numerous gamefish being found, ranging in all
sizes, up to 45 lb., offshore and inshore, throughout the blue water,
striking a wide variety of lures and baits, blind strikes and found on set
buoys or other debris. Many dorado are be released, the limit on these fish
is two per license, best to release the juveniles and only bag the larger
specimens. More wahoo were accounted for off the high spots north of Punta
Gorda, most of these fish hit on trolled lures and ranged in the 25 to 50
lb. class. Wahoo are normally not that active when the water temperatures
get so warm, but these fish are elusive and will feed when they feel like
it.
Striped marlin have been hanging around, despite the warm currents, while
most of the stripers would now be found in cooler Pacific waters, there are
significant numbers of these fish still in the area, at times found in
grounds of five or six, tailing on the surface, often proving to be finicky
and not interested, other times readily striking lures and trolled baits.
Everyday we are hearing stories of blue marlin strikes and an occasional
black marlin encounter, we expect to see more of this action, as this is
now the time, with the conditions ideal and the food prevalent, big fish
will be lurking.
Yellowfin tuna action has been found from Iman to San Luis Bank, trolling
hoochie type lures or drift fishing with strips of fresh squid, the action
has been sporadic, feeding on their particular schedule, some charter would
have 5 to 10 tuna in the box, though most anglers were fortunate to catch
one or two. Sizes have averaged 8 to 15 pounds.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos
Marina sent out approximately 78 charters for the week, with anglers
reporting a fish count of: 2 blue marlin, 38 striped marlin, 8 sailfish,
124 yellowfin tuna, 215 dorado, 12 wahoo, 30 roosterfish, 14 jack crevalle,
45 huachinango (red snapper) and 11 cabrilla.
Good fishing, Eric
--
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson / Operator
619 488-1859
Los Cabos (624) 142-1147
e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com
WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM
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Aug 12, 2013; 01:33AM - GORDO BANKS PANGAS San Jose del Cabo August 11, 2013
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric
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GORDO BANKS PANGAS
San Jose del Cabo
August 11, 2013
Anglers –
As the summer climate has progressively heated up, so has the offshore
fishing action, as anglers are finding a mix of billfish, dorado, yellowfin
tuna and even a few wahoo. Weather patterns have settled down, there was a
tropical squall that moved in from the east last Sunday, bring some
scattered rain showers and some eye opening lightening. There has been very
little wind recently, some scattered clouds, very warm and humid. There are
a series of tropical storm system now tracking on distant westerly paths,
the coming weeks is when historically these storms can form in much closer
proximity and threaten land, so we will be monitoring forecasts carefully.
Bait supplies for caballito, mullet and moonfish remained sufficient,
though they are not as numerous as earlier in the summer. More bolito are
now schooling on the fishing grounds and are being using for offshore
trolling baits. The bolito are readily striking on small hoochies early in
the day, but as the sun rose higher in the sky these great baitfish became
hard to catch. There has been a long absence of schooling sardinas for the
La Playita panga fleets, this past week the sardinas have been starting to
move in along the beach stretch just to the north of the Puerto Los Cabos
Marina Jetty, not in sufficient quantity to supply the fleets, but at least
this is encouraging we are seeing these baitfish back in our area. Some
locals have been able to net these sardinas from the beach and are using
them to catch some very impressive sized snook, quite a few of these
normally elusive fish have been landed, weighing in the 20 to 45 lb. class.
One snook estimated to be at least 60 pounds was landed, this could have
been a new IGFA world record, as the all tackle record for snook is now
listed at 58 lb., those these local anglers just hauled the catch off to
their home, not wishing to go through all of the record applications, etc…
Anglers are finding good numbers of late season roosterfish early in the
day right in the vicinity of the PLC Marina Channel, still some roosters to
50 pounds in this area, striking on slow trolled live bait. Not much action
found off the bottom rock piles now, there has been a persistent strong
current running and this appears to be slacking up some now, in recent days
some nice huachinango were being hooked into on yo-yo jigs on rock pile
near San Luis Bank.
Most consistent gamefish action is now being found offshore, anywhere from
3 to 15 miles out, has varied from day to day, earlier in the week the best
bite was found off of San Luis, then later in the week that action slowed
and the bite was better straight out front of San Jose del Cabo and towards
the Gordo Banks. Striped marlin, blue marlin, sailfish, dorado, yellowfin
tuna and a handful of wahoo were all being found. Anglers used a
combination of trolling lures and various baitfish, including slabs from
giant squid, which were being sold at the dock area in the morning.
Most of the yellowfin being encountered were on the grounds from Iman to
Vinormama, not associated with porpoise, blind strikes while trolling
hoochies, cedar plugs and small feathers, sizes averaged 8 to 15 lb. Dorado
ranged from small juvenile fish to trophy sized bulls, close to 50 pounds.
Scattered action, some charters reported never seeing any dorado, while
others accounted for 3,4,5 of more very impressive fish. Billfish were also
hit or miss, though some incredible action was encountered, one cruiser
charter out of La Playita accounted for two blue marlin, a striped marlin
and sailfish, as well as tuna and dorado all in one morning.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos
Marina sent out approximately 85 charters for the week, with anglers
reporting a fish count of: 5 blue marlin, 9 sailfish, 28 striped marlin, 96
yellowfin tuna, 110 dorado, 3 wahoo, 38 roosterfish, 15 jack crevalle, , 22
huachinango (red snapper) and 13 cabrilla.
Good fishing, Eric
--
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson / Operator
619 488-1859
Los Cabos (624) 142-1147
e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com
WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM
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Aug 5, 2013; 05:06PM - GORDO BANKS PANGAS San Jose del Cabo August 4, 2013
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric
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GORDO BANKS PANGAS
San Jose del Cabo
August 4, 2013
Anglers –
With the start of a new month we
have finally seen more stable weather patterns and the summer season is now
feeling more like we would expect, increased tropical humidity and warmer days.
The next couple of months is when forecasters will closely monitor the progress
of any low pressure areas, which can that quickly form into tropical storms. At
this time there is Hurricane Gil which is now far off to the west and there are
no other new systems developing that appear to threaten land. Ocean water
temperatures are now averaging 80 to 85 degrees and clean blue water is moving
within a couple of miles of shore, winds have resided and conditions are very
favorable for offshore gamefish action.
Moderate crowds of anglers are
now taking advantage of the much improved ocean conditions, no more having to
travel far offshore to find blue water. The fishing grounds from Palmilla to
the Gordo Banks, from 3 to 8 miles offshore have been consistent this past week
for billfish, dorado and yellowfin tuna. Besides good numbers of striped
marlin, were some sailfish, blue and black marlin. Schooling bolito and
skipjack are now congregating on these same grounds and are attracting the
normal variety of pelagic gamefish. Angles found action while trolling with
lures and various baits. Yellowfin tuna were found throughout this area, much
of the time without any presence of porpoise activity, these tuna were ranging
in the 8 to 15 lb. class, striking mainly on smaller hoochies type lures, this
is the first time this season where the tuna have made a presence in close
proximity offshore of San Jose del Cabo. Dorado are increasing in numbers as
well, with many charters accounted for several dorado per day, weights ranged
to over 40 pounds, anglers now have a good chance at hooking into a trophy
sized bull now.
There were some larger sized
yellowfin reportedly seen breezing on the surface, but only the smaller
football models are striking recently, we do expect something to develop for
the larger yellowfin as the season progresses.
The commercial pangero fleet
continues to find supplies of baitfish in the Puerto Los Cabos Marina channel,
caballito, mullet and moonfish are all available. Though with the added
pressure of having to supply the Cabo San Lucas fleet as well as local fleets,
this bait source has become less plentiful. It is a good thing that we are now
seeing quantities of other baitfish appearing on the fishing grounds. Migration
patterns have been running behind schedule this season, nice to see things get
back on track.
Inshore action has tapered off,
though there is still some quality roosterfish striking early in the day in the
vicinity of the Puerto Los Cabos Marina jetties. Not much bottom action being
found now, strong currents had been a contributing factor in not finding any
consistent bite off of the normally productive rock piles found north of Punta
Gorda. Though August is a month known more for offshore surface activity,
rather than bottom or inshore, it is a time when anglers can find dogtooth
snapper, amberjack and grouper on these high spots where other surface pelagic
are being targeted.
The combined panga fleets
launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 77
charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 3 blue marlin, 1
black marlin,11 sailfish, 70 striped marlin, 82 yellowfin tuna, 68 dorado, 84
roosterfish, 18 jack crevalle, 5 amberjack, 3 dogtooth snapper, 10 yellow
snapper, 12 huachinango (red snapper) and 12 cabrilla.
Good fishing, Eric
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson
Owner/Operator
619 488-1859
Los Cabos 011 52 624 142-1147
ericgordobanks@yahoo.com
gordobanks@gmail.com
WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM
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Jul 28, 2013; 10:17PM - GORDO BANKS PANGAS San Jose del Cabo July 28, 2013
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric
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GORDO BANKS PANGAS
San Jose del Cabo
July 28, 2013
Anglers –
Weather patterns have stabilized this past week and conditions are feeling
more like we would expect during mid summer season. Tropical cloud cover is
forming over the mountainous areas in the afternoon, that is always a sign
that summer season is progressing normally, increased humidity with high
temperatures in the 90s. Winds were moderate, has shifted from the north,
east and the southwest, ocean water temperatures are now in the 80 to 84
degree range, from Cabo San Lucas to Los Frailes. Clean blue water is now
being found as close as several miles from shore. There is presently
Tropical Storm Flossie located far off to the west, appears to be heading
in the direction of the Hawaiian Islands, and is forecast to weaken as it
does. No other storm systems are forming on the horizon at this time.
During the recent full moon baitfish such as caballito became harder to
find, moonfish were plentiful, though they are not the best offshore
baitfish. Lots of ballyhoo now schooling on the offshore grounds,
occasionally these baitfish were chased into meat balls and pushed to the
surface by feeding porpoise. There were more encounters in recent days of
yellowfin tuna found traveling offshore with porpoise, most days this
action was found 20 or more miles offshore and the tuna were more often
than not of the football sized variety, 5 to 15 pounds, though a local La
Playita pangero did account for one 40 pound fish, so that was encouraging,
there were reports of larger yellowfin tuna being seen in the swells. The
East Cape area has been seeing some larger sized tuna, the East Cape Bisbee
Tournament now has a 192 pound yellowfin tuna leading the tuna jackpot
category, with a 46 lb. dorado also at the top board, so far no qualifying
marlin over 300 pounds have been landed. Though on Wednesday there was a
black marlin in the 500 pound class that was caught off of a sportfishing
charter trolling outside of San Jose del Cabo, however they were not
participating in the ongoing tournament.
Good numbers of striped marlin now spread out throughout the region, most
commonly found 5 to 15 miles from shore, striking on lures and various
rigged baitfish, sizes averaged in the 70 to 120 pound range, a few
sailfish were mixed in. An occasional wahoo is striking on the same marlin
type lures on the offshore grounds, traveling through the blue water, one
wahoo weighed 65 lb., it was taken off a La Playita panga. Many charters
accounted for multiple billfish days, two or three fish was not uncommon.
Dorado were being found most days just as random single fish, some trophy
sized catches to over 45 pounds were weighed in, no significant numbers of
these fish.
Inshore action was mainly for late season roosterfish, the action has
tapered way off compared to previous weeks, which is the normal pattern for
late July, but there were still some larger roosters to over 50 pounds
accounted for, some boats accounting for up to a half a dozen big fish. The
inshore amberjack action that had been so good, has come to a standstill
and the deeper rock piles where we would normally be concentrating on, have
been harder to fish due to a very strong current sweeping through, when
this does slack we expect to find some better opportunities for the spots
around La Fortuna, Iman and San Luis Banks. One local panga charter
accounted for a 57 lb. dogtooth snapper on Thursday, angler Jason Shipman
was trolling bait inshore, near Vinorama.
Shore anglers have reported a handful of very impressive snook catches in
recent days, they were all reportedly hooked into near the Puerto Los Cabos
Marina and Estuary area, fish up to 46 lb. were caught, also several other
in the 20 to 30 pound range. These fish were taken on available baitfish
and on cast and retrieved jigs. One was actually caught from a panga while
trolling a bait for roosterfish, all others were from the beach.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos
Marina sent out approximately 69 charters for the week, with anglers
reporting a fish count of: 1 snook, 5 wahoo, 29 yellowfin tuna, 32 dorado,
48 striped marlin, 7 sailfish, 4 dogtooth snapper,
7 amberjack, 15 jack crevalle, 7 broomtail grouper, 15 cabrilla and 86
roosterfish.
Good fishing, Eric
--
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson / Operator
619 488-1859
Los Cabos (624) 142-1147
e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com
WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM
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Jul 21, 2013; 04:23PM - GORDO BANKS PANGAS San Jose del Cabo July 21, 2013
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric Brickston
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GORDO BANKS PANGAS
San Jose del Cabo
July 21, 2013
Anglers –
Moderate crowds are now arriving in the Los Cabos area, as summer weather
patterns continue to be more unpredictable than usual. No new tropical
storms have developed at this time and the conditions are feeling more
tropical, with scattered cloud cover and isolated showers on Thursday, as
clouds blew moisture in from the east. This cloud front and associated
breeze helped keep the climate very comfortable, high temperatures were
around 90 degrees. Ocean currents have been strong and constantly shifting,
ocean water temperature is around the 70 degree mark on the Pacific side of
Cabo San Lucas, while towards the Gordo Banks and north there has been
water temperatures up to 80 degrees or more.
The majority of sportfishing fleets now are fishing in the direction of the
warmer blue water. Winds were shifting from out of the north, east to west
and offshore waters were choppy at times. Striped marlin action turned on,
on the grounds from the 95 spot, the 1150, Gordo Banks and north to
Desteladera, multiple catches per day was common, stripers weighing up to
130 lb. were striking on the normal array of lures, readily hitting trolled
or dropped back live baits.
Some scattered reports of yellowfin tuna being found traveling with
porpoise, most of this action was found 10 to 20 miles from shore and the
tuna have been smaller sized footballs. No larger sized yellowfin tuna are
now being reported in local waters, though with 80 degree blue water now
present, anything could happen on any given day. An occasional wahoo was
being reported, most of these fish have been single fish, striking on lures
in open offshore water.
There was a dorado frenzy found midweek in the vicinity of some buoys that
were set in an area 10 to 12 miles offshore of the Cardon to La Fortuna
area. Anglers who were fortunate to get in on this action will remember it
for a long time, wide open action, as neon streaks of flashing blue, green
and yellow could be seen all around, the fish were averaging in the 30 to
50 pound class. These fish were striking on any type of baitfish thrown in
the water. Of course word travels quickly and the whole fleet arrived on
the scene and the dorado became more weary in the coming days, first boats
arriving in the morning hooked up, after that it was very scratchy.
Inshore action continues to produce roosterfish to 50 pounds or more, this
is usually the later part of the season for them, this year we have
experienced the best roosterfish bite as we have seen in the past decade,
simply for the sheer numbers of big roosterfish found throughout the
region. The amberjack action that had been going strong in recent weeks
while trolling surface baits over inshore rock piles, seem to have faded
out and now anglers are starting to find more action off of the deeper
areas, such as the Iman Bank, San Luis Bank and La Fortuna reefs, with
depths ranging from 100 to 180 feet. A mix of grouper, cabrilla, snapper,
amberjack and other species can be found on these grounds. Techniques
include, drift fishing with various whole and cut baits off of the bottom
and using yo-yo style jigs, bounced and rapidly retrieved off of the high
spots.
The supplies of baitfish in the PLC marina area continue to be plentiful
for caballito, mullet and moonfish. We should start to see more offshore
schooling batifish, such as bolito and small skipjack, move onto the local
fishing grounds, this always seems to attract more predators, these make
great live baits for the larger sized pelagic gamefish.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos
Marina sent out approximately 69 charters for the week, with anglers
reporting a fish count of: 4 wahoo, 19 yellowfin tuna, 78 dorado, 27
striped marlin, 2 sailfish, 5 dogtooth snapper, 12 hauchinango (red
snapper), 18 amberjack, 33 jack crevalle, 9 broomtail grouper, 25 leopard
grouper and 135 roosterfish (majority released).
Good fishing, Eric
--
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson / Operator
619 488-1859
Los Cabos (624) 142-1147
e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com
WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM
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Jul 11, 2013; 10:14PM - GORDO BANKS PANGAS San Jose del Cabo July 7, 2013
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric Brickston
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GORDO BANKS PANGAS
San Jose del Cabo
July 7, 2013
Anglers –
The summer season has just begun and we are now seeing increased numbers of tourists
arriving in Southern Baja. The climate has been different this year, more Pacific
breeze and marine layer, keeping temperatures bearable, tropical conditions, highs
near 90 degrees, mild compared to the record heat Wave sweeping across parts of the
western U.S. Tropical storm season has started with a flurry, in the past week we
saw the formation of Hurricanes Cosme and Dalia, both of which had no impact to
land, following a westerly path. Presently on the horizon and gaining more strength,
is Hurricane Erick, this system is forecast to pass very close to the tip of the
Baja Peninsula, possibly bringing some moisture, surely some higher swells, along
with the associated humidity.
Ocean water temperatures have rebounded and in the direction of the Gordo Banks and
towards Los Frailes currents have been averaging 80 degrees or warmer. Still some
spotty off colored areas, but there has been clean blue water found within 5 to 15
miles from shore. Striped marlin have been the most common catch found offshore,
lots of stripers encountered from the Gordo Banks and to the north, anywhere from 5
to 15 miles from shore. Found in schools, the billfish are readily striking trolled
lures, majority of these fish are now running smaller sized, 50 to 80 lb., some
specimens are ranging up to 130 lb.
Dorado are now scattered on the same fishing grounds where the marlin are, striking
on the same type of lures or bait, no significant numbers, though the dorado they
are finding are mostly larger sized 20 to 40 lb. fish. Anglers had the chance at
finding schools of dorado if they found any type of floating debris or set buoys.
Just this past week we received more reports of yellowfin tuna activity, these fish
were being found traveling with porpoise farther offshore, anywhere from 20 to 30
miles out. Off of the San Jose del Cabo grounds most of these yellowfin were in the
15 to 20 pound class, while off of the East Cape there are now some reports of
yellowfin over one hundred pounds being accounted for. This is some encouraging
news, there has been a long absence of any tuna action.
Inshore, it remains the same, with roosterfish being the most common catch, the
incredible wide open action we enjoyed in June has tapered off some, currents had
turned over the inshore conditions, but now the clean warm water is back and the
roosters are back on the prowl, patrolling the sandy beach stretches, fish to over
50 pounds are still being hooked into almost daily. These fish are a trophy catches,
not known for eating qualities and should be released as carefully as possible.
Rounding out the action were some quality sized amberjack, some weighing as much as
80 pounds, they are now being found over shallow rock piles to the north, similar
shallow rock piles that attract dogtooth snapper and grouper. There have been more
amberjack than these other species, hit or miss on the ambers though, traveling long
distances to the more remote spots, highly susceptible to too much boat pressure,
not the type of spot where the fleet can all congregate, too shallow, fish spook
easily. Soon this action will shift back on to the normal grounds such are Iman or
San Luis Bank, areas that can accommodate more numbers of boats and anglers.
Live baits supplies have been holding inside of the Puerto Los Cabos Marina channel,
caballito, moonfish and mullet are available. Though quantities were scarcer this
past week, the fact that commercial pangeros from La Playita have been netting and
selling hundreds of bait to Cabo San Lucas vendors, who have had no bait source in
their own area, they have special salt water reservoirs in the back of pickup
trucks, all rigged with pumps, for quick transport back to the CSL Marina. Problem
is this has added heavy impact on this fragile bait source. Not a good deal when
local charters are facing bait shortages due to lack of resource, there is not an
endless supply of baitfish to support two marinas worth of sportfishing charters.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent
out approximately 92 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of:
4 sailfish, 15 yellowfin tuna, 20 dorado, 64 striped marlin, (many released), 11
dogtooth snapper, 34 amberjack, 22 jack crevalle, 15 cabrilla and 310 roosterfish.
Good fishing, Eric
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson
Owner/Operator
619 488-1859
Los Cabos 011 52 624 142-1147
ericgordobanks@yahoo.com
gordobanks@gmail.com
WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM
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Jul 4, 2013; 04:15PM - GORDO BANKS PANGAS San Jose del Cabo June 30, 2013
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric Brickston
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GORDO BANKS PANGAS
San Jose del Cabo
June 30, 2013
Anglers –
The summer season has just begun and on the Eastern Pacific we have already
seen the third named tropical storm, as this week Hurricane Cosme developed
off the coast of Manzanillo, before heading on a westerly path, coming
within 300 miles of Cabo San Lucas and quickly encountered cooler water
causing it to dissipate, never did threaten land. We never did feel more
than a few sprinkles of rain, though the ocean swells quickly rose up to
fifteen feet high on Tuesday and Wednesday, before residing on Thursday and
Friday. Local ports of Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Los Cabos were closed to
all boating activities, red flag conditions, by late Thursday morning the
ports were reopened for operations.
This latest storm system brought in more tropical and humid weather, high
temperatures were staying in the 80s, mild for this time of year, thick
marine haze, almost fog, has been hanging over the Southern Peninsula and
Pacific breezes are keep conditions comfortable. Anglers had encountered
turned over inshore water conditions prior to this recent storm, which
stirred things up even more and it could be a while before the water cleans
and warms back up. In the mean time more consistent action was being found
offshore, in the direction of the warmer currents north of the Gordo Banks
and towards Los Frailes. This is where sportfishing charters have been
finding decent numbers of striped marlin, a few sailfish and dorado also on
these same fishing grounds. Offshore trolling with lures, looking for signs
of activity, seeing some marlin on the surface and taking blind strikes by
a few larger sized dorado that are starting to move into the area, also a
few wahoo in the mix. Dorado to over 40 pounds were accounted for, just
there are no numbers to speak of yet, though if you happened to encounter
any type of floating debris you could be in for a wide open bite. This is
definitely the time of year where anything could happen on any given day.
The epic roosterfish action that had been happening close to shore has come
to a standstill as the water temperatures fell, water turned greenish and
baitfish scattered. There is warmer water near 80 degrees now on the
offshore grounds towards the north. The inshore rock outcroppings from
Cardon to Vinormama have produced some quality sized amberjack, weighing up
to 80 pounds, these fish are striking on surface trolled live baits,
preferably moonfish, mullet or caballito. Shallow water areas of less than
50 ft., these fish migrate close to shore during this early part of summer,
searching for congregated baitfish, also these are the same rock piles that
hold dogtooth snapper and various grouper, good luck keeping them away from
the rocks after hooking up. These are fragile reefs, susceptible to heavy
boat pressure, not an area where the entire fleet can successfully target,
with increased tourism and local population there is added pressure,
additionally there are many more spear fishermen targeting these easily
accessible spots. This is now the peak season for this inshore fishery,
within several weeks this action typically would start to shift onto the
deeper, more spread out rocky structure, such as the Iman and San Luis
Banks, these grounds are much larger and can handle more pressure.
The combined panga fleet launching out of Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out
approximately 58 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count
of, 1 wahoo, 25 striped marlin, 13 dorado, 16 amberjack, 12 pargo colorado,
10 yellow snapper, 6 dogtooth snapper, 14 cabrilla, 15 jack crevalle, 4
sierra and 12 roosterfish.
Good fishing, Eric
--
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson / Operator
619 488-1859
Los Cabos (624) 142-1147
e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com
WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM
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Jun 23, 2013; 11:07PM - GORDO BANKS PANGAS San Jose del Cabo June 23, 2013
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric
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GORDO BANKS PANGAS
San Jose del Cabo
June 23, 2013
Anglers –
Well the official summer season has now started, though the weather
patterns seem all mixed up and it still feels a bit like spring, with
breezes off the ocean keeping conditions comfortable. Days have been mostly
sunny, a mix of marine haze and some tropical cloud cover formation, high
temperatures have been moderate, averaging in the upper 80s. The climate
has been ideal, sure would be great if the entire summer was this mild.
Great time to travel to Southern Baja now, airline tickets have been
discounted and crowds are relatively light, perfect time to come have fun
in the sun.
Ocean temperatures have stabilized from Cabo San Lucas to Los Frailes,
where water temperatures now ranged from 75 to 78 degrees. Swift currents
have swept inshore and even though the water is warmer, it has turned over
once again and is a murky greenish color through most of the inshore zone.
Clean blue water has been spotty offshore, most often found 8 to 15 miles
from shore. Swells are moderate now, variable winds have been predominately
out of the Northeast and then switching directly out of the east, before
turning from out of the south. Common pattern that affects the Southern
Baja region each season during this transition period from the spring
season into the tropical summer, by next month these Pacific air flows and
marine moisture normally give way to the sultry tropical patterns.
Anglers continued to enjoy perhaps the best roosterfish action in the past
ten years, with many trophy sized fish of over fifty pounds being accounted
for. Trolling baitfish such as caballito, mullet and moonfish, which have
been plentiful around the PLC marina jetties, have resulted in epic action
for the past several weeks now. Just yesterday the action did taper way
off, as the current switched and brought in green water along the coastal
stretches where the roosterfish had been so plentiful, as conditions
rebound we expect to see more of these jacks providing trills to anglers.
We do encourage practicing the sport of catch and release on these
particular gamefish, not renown for favorable eating qualities, but more so
as an aggressive inshore adversary which sport anglers can only encounter
in certain parts of the Pacific coast.
The marlin action improved this past week, as good numbers of striped
marlin were found in the blue water, most of the time about 8 to 15 miles
from shore, many charters were accounting for multiple billfish days, often
up to five per boat, most all boats targeting the billfish accounted for
one or two. The stripers were readily striking on lures, many reports of
multiple hook ups, also striking trolled or cast baits. No consistent
counts of dorado being reported, but these gamefish are scattered
throughout the offshore blue water fishing grounds, bull dorado to 40
pounds were weighed in, this is the time of year where we normally can find
larger sized dorado, but more often they are solitary fish or in small
groups, unless you happen upon some floating debris which could be
attracting large concentrations of dorado of all sizes.
Other action found close to shore included amberjack, dogtooth snapper,
pompano, jack crevalle, cabrilla and pargo colorado. This action was best
early in the morning and was hit or miss from day to day, but some quality
sized fish were accounted for anglers while slow trolling live baits over
shallow water rock outcroppings, often in only 30 or 40 feet of water, one
80 pound amberjack was accounted for, snapper to 40 pounds, of course many
hook ups resulted in cut lines due to the close proximity of the sharp rock
piles.
Last weekend the local Father’s Day Tournament based out of La Playita,
Puerto Los Cabos Marina, saw 32 teams compete for three qualifying species,
yellowfin tuna, dorado and wahoo, first place fish was a 42 pound wahoo,
runner up was a 40 pound dorado and there were no tuna accounted for. This
week there were a few reports of fleets spotting tuna on the surface while
trolling offshore waters, but these fish disappeared as quickly as they had
appeared, also quite a bit more porpoise activity being reported offshore,
this is always a favorable sign that we should start to see some more
yellowfin move into the region.
The combined panga fleet launching out of Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out
approximately 112 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish
count of, 7 sailfish, 26 striped marlin, 15 dorado, 1 wahoo, 24 amberjack,
16 pargo colorado, 20 yellow snapper, 15 barred pargo, 14 dogtooth snapper,
19 cabrilla, 14 pompano, 8 sierra and 230 roosterfish.
Good fishing, Eric
--
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson / Operator
619 488-1859
Los Cabos (624) 142-1147
e-mail:gordobanks@yahoo.com
WWW.GORDOBANKS.COM
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