|
|
From Jan 01, 1999 To May 16, 2008
|
Feb 18, 2008; 12:45PM - Cabo Bite Report
|
|
Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
|
|
Author Name: George Landrum
|
|
Author E-mail: gmlandrum@hotmail.com
|
Report Description:
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
Feb 11-17, 2008
WEATHER: We had partly cloudy skies early in the week, then things cleared up at the weekend and it was bright and sunny. We also had quite a bit of wind from the northwest up until the weekend; it then died down here in town. There was no rain associated with the early week cloudy conditions.
WATER: Surface conditions on the Pacific side of the Cape were rougher than they had been last week due to the continuing wind. Choppy seas, running at 4-6 feet with 12-15 knots on top made for unstable footing and a lot of spray and pounding while running to and from the banks. On the Sea of Cortez the surface conditions were much better, but there were few boats fishing the area due to green, cold water. With the surface temperatures at 67-69 degrees all the way up to Punta Gorda, and down to 64 degrees north of there, the fishing was not very good. On the Pacific side things were warmer and the water a bit clearer, but the cool water seems to be working its way toward us there as well. There remains a plume of warm 71 degree water running from across the Golden Gate bank to three miles outside the lighthouse as well as an area on the western edge of the San Jaime bank that is as warm, but the warm water seems to be receding southward.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price. There were Sardinas up around Chileno Bay at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Striped Marlin have continued to remain scarce with the only concentration found atop the Golden Gate Bank, and there were not many of them willing to eat. Most boats fished the bank with slow drifted live Mackerel caught on the site and felt they were doing well with a couple of Marlin bites and possibly one or two releases. Boats using smaller diameter floura-carbon leader with circle hooks were having better luck than others with most of them able to get up to a half-dozen bites a day for up to that many releases. Running to feeding Marlin, marked by the diving birds, was not as productive as the fish did not stay up long. On Saturday and Sunday there were up to 60 boats working the bank with most of them only getting one or two bites, and almost all of them having sick anglers on board due to the surface conditions.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There are still only football fish being found out there, and most of them have been between 18 to 30 miles to the south. Boats working westward past the banks were not doing well with only an occasional pod of porpoise showing, and few of them holding fish. Once again red hootchies were the best bet for these fish as most of the stomach contents were found to be red crab.
DORADO: I did not see any Dorado myself, but I did overhear one conversation concerning a decent catch made by a boat that found a piece of wood in the water 30 miles to the south, and they were apparently able to pick off 5 fish between 15-20 pounds.
WAHOO: Once again I didn’t hear of any Wahoo this week. The flags you see flying are for “Mexican Wahoo”, or better known as sierra.
INSHORE: Mexican Wahoo, also known as Sierra, have been the mainstay of the Panga fleet this week with most boats able to get at least a half-dozen or more. Yellowtail action dropped off again, it seems to be a “good one week, slow the next” type of fishery. Snapper fishing has again improved and there are a few more grouper being found by those targeting bottom fish. The usual smaller Roosterfish to 5 pounds, some small barracuda and Bonita have rounded out the catches inshore.
NOTES: Still lots of whales out there, everyone is seeing them during the fishing charters. There are also quite a few small Mako Sharks being caught at the Golden Gate Bank, but I have not heard of any large ones. This weeks report was written to the music of “Mighty Lester” on their 2006 release “We are Mighty Lester”, released by themselves, some really swinging blues! Until next week, keep your fingers crossed that the fishing picks up and the nice weather continues! Tight Lines!
|
|
|
Feb 11, 2008; 11:22AM - Cabo Bite Report
|
|
Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
|
|
Author Name: George Landrum
|
|
Author E-mail: gmlandrum@hotmail.com
|
Report Description:
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
Feb 4-10, 2008
WEATHER: It felt like winter this week even though it never got below 56 degrees. Maybe it’s just that I am used to the warm weather now. Our lows, alt least the lowest I saw, was 58 degrees, but with a bit of wind on it, it felt colder. Our daytime highs were in the high 70’s and most of the week we had partly cloudy skies most of the week. On the 9th the skies actually cleared enough for the sea-surface temp charts to come through on the Terrafin web site.
WATER: I did not see anything warmer than 70 degrees this week, and most of that was a plume coming up from the south and running from 20 miles due south to the southern end of the San Jaime Bank. Inside that band it dropped to 67 and 67 degrees. On the Cortez side of the Cape it was a consistent 68 degrees until you got past the Punta Gorda area, and then it dropped to a very cool 63 and 64 degrees. The surface conditions were great with small swells from the Northwest on the Pacific side and almost pool-table smoothness on the Cortez at the end of the week.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price. There were Sardinas up around Chileno Bay at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Boats looking for Marlin were really having to scratch for them this week, and I mean that they were difficult to get to bite, not that they were hard to find. Some boats working deep bait on the Golden Gate Bank had luck, but it was not steady by any means. There were also some hungry fish found close to shore, within two miles, along the points on the Pacific side. Boats venturing farther offshore were seeing quite a few fish in small groups of two or three at a time, but they had lockjaw and most refused to bite. As an example, a large private yacht that has placed in quite a few tournaments spent 12 hours late in the week fishing for marlin, from 6 am until 6 pm and were only able to find two hungry fish, and that was a double hook-up.
YELLOWFIN TUNA The porpoise are starting to show up in fair numbers but not all the pods have Yellowfin with them. Fishing south of the San Jaime and west of there boats are finding pods of between 20 and several thousand porpoise. There have been Tuna of between 15 and 30 pounds caught among the mammals, but I did not hear of any large ones yet, and a good day so far has been getting eight or ten of these fish to bite. Most boats are having a hard time getting hooked up to them though as they have been feeding fairly heavily on red crab, according to the guys who have opened up the ones they catch. As a result, the small hootchies in red colors have worked best on these smaller Tuna.
DORADO: A few fish now and then, no steady action but the fish that have been taken have been from the warmer water areas.
WAHOO: I didn’t hear of any Wahoo this week. The flags you see flying are for “Mexican wahoo”, or better known as sierra.
INSHORE: Mexican Wahoo, also known as Sierra, have been the mainstay of the Panga fleet this week with most boats able to get at least a half-dozen or more. Yellowtail action is picking up once again with several fish to 40 pounds being boats as well as a few nice grouper to 50 pounds. The usual smaller Roosterfish to 5 pounds, some small barracuda and Bonita have rounded out the catches inshore.
NOTES: Whales, whales, whales and porpoise, there have been plenty of these out there for anglers that get bored of not catching fish this week. Well, for some of them at least! I am taking off for L.A. to re-new my Captains License and will be coming back in the middle of the week, maybe fishing will have gotten better by then! Until next week, tight lines!
|
|
|
Feb 4, 2008; 12:34PM - Cabo Bite Report
|
|
Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
|
|
Author Name: George Landrum
|
|
Author E-mail: gmlandrum@hotmail.com
|
Report Description:
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
Jan. 29-Feb 4, 2008
WEATHER: We finally had a couple of days where the sun actually shined all day long. The middle of the week was special, no clouds and it warmed up a bit. Our morning lows have been around the low 60’s to high 50’s, colder when there were no clouds. The highs for the days have been between the low and high 70’s with one day where it reached 82 degrees here at the house. Cloudy early in the week and at the end of the week.
WATER: Surface conditions on both sides of the Cape were good this week with slight swells and only light winds. On the Pacific side the water temperatures were in the 70-71 degree range with a light tinge of green to them while on the Cortez side the water was about a degree or two warmer and clearer. Due south at a distance of 20 miles the water warmed up to 74 degrees and became blue.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price. There were Sardinas up around Chileno Bay at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin bite remained slow, the concentrations of fish have moved and no one has been able to find them yet. Well, except for one day early in the week when only 10 boats were at the Golden Gate Bank and the Marlin re-appeared for the day. The action was pretty good on Monday and the top boats released double-digit numbers. That shut right back down though, as on Tuesday almost 40 boats worked the bank and there were only about ten fish released. Most boats have been happy to release one or two Marlin per trip and a few lucky (or good) ones have been in the 3 or 4 release range. The bite has been on a mix of live bait and lures with many of the live bait fish coming on deep dropped baits or slow trolled live baits on the Golden Gate Bank.
YELLOWFIN TUNA Well, for most of the boats out there a few football Tuna are all that they have been able to get onto, but every once in a while a larger fish in the 30 –pound range is hooked up. These fish are almost all with Porpoise and there are not many of them found right now. I sure hope things change soon as Tuna are one of our staples this time of year. The area due south to 35 miles has been the best producing, but the action has started to swing into the Sea of Cortez direction, perhaps following the warmer water movement.
DORADO: A few fish now and then, no steady action but the fish that have been taken have been from the warmer water areas.
WAHOO: I have heard of a few boats getting Wahoo in the warm water to the south, but there has been no numbers, just a fish now and then in the 40-pound class.
INSHORE: Sierra, small Roosterfish, Ladyfish, Snapper and some Bonita have been the inshore production this week. The Sierra bite has been on and off on the Pacific side but the best results have been while using Sardinas as bait. Snapper are being found in the rocks, I mean right up in there, and a lot of them are being lost due to that fact.
NOTES: There are more whales showing up, I had a good time watching them while sitting in the Cost-Co parking lot waiting for my wife yesterday! The Humboldt Squid are still around feeding on the red crabs and Swordfish are still being sighted, but I didn’t hear of anyone catching on this week. Until next week, Tight Lines!
|
|
|
Jan 31, 2008; 12:19AM - San Jose Del Cabo panga report
|
|
Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
|
|
Author Name: eric
|
|
Author E-mail: none
|
Report Description:
Gordo Banks Pangas
San Jose del Cabo
January 27, 2008
Anglers -
Wintertime in Los Cabos continues to see only moderate numbers of tourists and they have been enjoying pleasant weather conditions, scattered cloud cover and actually on Tuesday there was light rainfall throughout the morning, high temperatures have averaged 75 degrees. Winds have been predominately from the north, ranging from 10 to 20 miles an hour, this has continued to push in cooler ocean currents off of San Jose del Cabo, now averaging 68 degrees, outside of the 95 spot off of Chileno there is a temperature break of 73 degrees. There were mackerel, sardinas and some caballito available for live bait, mackerel being the best choice for offshore billfish action and sardinas the better option for the smaller gamefish inshore.
Anglers reported improved action close to shore for sierra and roosterfish. Sierra were striking best on trolled sardinas, but would also hit on lures such as Rapalas, hoochies and yo-yoʼs. The area just off of Punta Gorda has produced some particularly large sierra in recent days, a handful of specimens in the 7 to 10 pound class. The local beach stretches were holding schools of roosterfish, just south of Punta Gorda off of La Laguna, has been a hot spot for the roosters which have been running in the 4 to 6 pound range, a few larger fish mixed in, fun action on light tackle.
La Playita panga fleets were limited on what options were practical and productive, most charters were doing a mix of inshore trolling and drift fishing over the rock piles from La Fortuna to San Luis. With the north wind being prevalent, you had to choose the right time to be able to fish effectively off these bottom spots. When the conditions cooperated, anglers using yo-yo type iron jigs accounted for some quality catches of huachinango (red snapper), amberjack, Mexican Bonito and cabrilla, with the majority of these species weighing 8 to 15 pounds.
Whale watching is now at its peak, both humpback and grays, also there have been manta rays, sea lions and porpoise to add to the entertainment. On the offshore fishing grounds many marlin were seen free jumping, repeating jumping high out of the water, for no apparent reason except just for the fun of it, always exciting to witness. The action for striped marlin is continuing to shift closer to Cabo San Lucas and into the lower Sea of Cortez, charters working the waters around the 95 spot have been averaging one or two stripers per outing, while on the Pacific some boats are still scoring double digit catch and releases. These same areas are also producing late season action for dorado, with some anglers reporting as many as four dorado in the 15 to 20 pound class while trolling marlin type clones and medium sized feathers.
Not much going on for yellowfin tuna, a handful of reports of anglers finding tuna mixed underneath schools of porpoise further offshore, these fish were in the 15 to 20 pound class. The action off of Vinormama, which had been producing good numbers of tuna on Rapalas and sardinas came to a standstill, as only a few yellowfin were reported by the entire La Playita fleet. The Mexican bonito were basically the closest species that the panga anglers were finding that were related to the yellowfin, once located the action could be fast and furious on yo-yo jigs for these scrappy fighters that averaged 4 to 7 pounds.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 46 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 9 yellowfin tuna, 205 Mexican bonito, 25 amberjack, 11 yellowtail, 21 cabrilla, 82 pargo (huachinango), 9 dorado, 184 roosterfish and 148 sierra.
Good fishing, Eric
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson
Owner/Operator
800 4081199
Los Cabos 1421147
ericgordobanks@yahoo.com
www.gordobanks.com |
|
|
Jan 28, 2008; 11:10AM - Cabo Bite Report
|
|
Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
|
|
Author Name: George Landrum
|
|
Author E-mail: gmlandrum@hotmail.com
|
Report Description:
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
Jan. 23-29, 2008
WEATHER: It has been cloudy most of the week so sun seekers were not very happy; I saw a lot of folks that were very burned, thinking that the clouds were stopping the tanning rays. Oh well, at least the clouds helped hold the warmth in and we didn’t see temperatures lower than the mid 60’s at night. At the end of the week early I the morning it was 69 at our house. Daytime highs were around the low to mid 80’s, warm enough that I had no need of a sweater most of the time. With all the clouds I thought that we were going to get some rain but all that happened was a bit of spit, you know, the kind that just dots the dusty windshield on the car? That was early in the week on Tuesday, and it was probably my fault as I had just washed the Jeep when it started.
WATER: There did not appear to be any real change in the water conditions from the week before. The cloud cover made it almost impossible to get an updated sea surface shot from space so reliance on the boats that were fishing was very strong. It appears that the water within 5 miles of the beach on the Pacific side up to just past the Golden Gate Bank remained warmer than that farther offshore and was a nice blue color as well. On the Golden Gate and the San Jaime Bank the water was off color green and quite a bit cooler at 70 degrees and lower. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water was green and off-colored everywhere and the area off of Punta Gorda was reported as almost a brown color by some boats. To the immediate south on an east-west line across the arch the water warmed up and blued up. As you reached 8 miles to the south the temperature rose to 74 degrees. Surface conditions across the area were good since this cloud cover arrived without any wind. Some swells on the Pacific side with a light ripple on top most of the time, but on the Cortez side up past Punta Gorda the wind started howling.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price. There were Sardinas up around Chileno Bay at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin bite remained off for another week for most of the boats. The fish were found on the Pacific side and to the south but while there were a lot of fish seen on the surface, not many of them were hungry. A few, very few, boats managed to come in with between three and five Marlin flags flying, but most boats were feeling lucky if they were able to get a couple of fish to eat and get one to the boat for a release. The big new for the week is the appearance of some Swordfish. This week several of these fish were spotted on the surface and at least two that I know of were hooked. One was hooked on a live Mackerel while fishing 23 miles to the south and was fought for six hours before the 100-pound leader parted. The Captain estimated to fish at over #300! It’s tough to get a fish like that on Striped Marlin gear!
YELLOWFIN TUNA I overheard a conversation about a private boat being hooked up on a very big Yellowfin just off the Golden Gate Bank on Saturday, and then nothing else. I know a few boats have been having a little luck on fish in the 30-pound class out past the San Jaime Bank, but it has been very inconsistent. The same has been the case on the football sized fish, they have been out there but the bite has been slow, a few fish have been the average with a few boats able to get into double digits.
DORADO: Once again there have been a few fish caught, one or two here and there, but no large numbers have been reported. The best area has been the warm water to the south.
WAHOO: Inconsistent, but there have been some quality fish out there. One boat caught two of them between 80-100 pounds in the warm water 20 miles south and a few other smaller ones were reported from the same area.
INSHORE: The Sierra action picked back up on the Pacific side as schools of fish to 10 pounds have moved in off of the beaches and rocky points to the north of the lighthouse. Double-digit catches were not a problem. Either whole Mackerel rigged with a stinger hook I the tail or large Sardines were needed for the larger fish, hootchies and plugs did not work on fish over six pounds. Off of the Rocky points Snapper have begun to show, it is time for the normal spring spawning groups to begin gathering. A few Yellowtail continue to be caught but the numbers have really dropped off over the past several weeks.
NOTES: There were acres of Humboldt Squid reported on the surface feeding on red crab this week, and this may have been a contributing factor in the Swordfish being seen. There are still whales out there and the numbers seem to be increasing. This weeks report was written to the guitar of Marshall Crenshaw on the 1989 Warner release “Good Evening”, great stuff! Until next week, Tight Lines!
|
|
|
Jan 21, 2008; 10:59AM - Cabo Bite Report
|
|
Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
|
|
Author Name: George Landrum
|
|
Author E-mail: gmlandrum@hotmail.com
|
Report Description:
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
Jan. 8-21, 2008
WEATHER: For the past two weeks our cool wintertime conditions have continued. Our nighttime lows have been down in the mid 50’s while the daytime highs have reached the high 70’s but have mostly been in the mid to low 70’s. As of the end of this week the skies have been only partly cloudy and we have had no rain. It has become windy in the afternoons but the mornings have been calm for the most part.
WATER: The water close to the beach on the Pacific side has remained warmer than most of the area with an average temperature of 71 degrees out to a distance of three-four miles from the beach at the inside of the Golden Gate Bank area. This warm water extends to the southwest across the San Jaime Bank and then in a thumb-shaped are with the tip 15 miles south of Cabo it warms to 73-74 degrees. The 71-degree water extends into the Sea of Cortez across the 95 Spot but stops short of the 1150. Water outside of this range on both sides of the Cape drops in temperature to the mid and high 60’s. At the end of this week, there was cold and dirty water across the Golden Gate Bank, the Finger Bank and the 1150 and Gorda Banks. The area inshore between Cabo and Punta Gorda was reported as being very dirty and green.
BAIT: Today is the full moon and as usual, as the full moon approaches the number of Caballito available for bait has fallen off. There are still plenty of Mackerel however and all these larger baits are at the normal $2 per bait. I have been told that there were no Sardinas available due to dirty water conditions up in the San Jose area.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin bite has dropped off quite a bit over the past week and instead of boats coming in with double digit numbers of flags, the high catch boats were getting four or five fish. Most boats were happy to get one or two releases and many were happy just to get a shot at a fish. One of the reasons may have to do with the temperature and clarity of the water in most areas, but the moon phase may have had an effect as well. Most of the Striped Marlin action was taking place between the San Jaime Bank and the 95 Spot and areas to the south of there, down in that warmer water area I mentioned earlier. I also heard form a Captain on a fleet boat that they hooked up a Blue Marlin earlier this week for a short while down in that warmer water, but the fish came off after the first run.
YELLOWFIN TUNA The Yellowfin Tuna that I have heard about have all been from the San Jaime area and for the most part have been football sized fish in the 10 pound range, found mixed in with porpoise. There have been a few fish to 40 pounds mixed in with them as well, but the numbers have been low. I have also hear unconfirmed reports of some nice sized fish being found occasionally 40-50 miles to the south of us. These fish have also been mixed in with porpoise and are reported to be in the 50-60 pound class. As far as I am aware no one has yet gotten into any concentrations of #100 + fish in the past two weeks, but we are hoping that it happens soon.
DORADO: The cool water of the past month has really slowed down the Dorado bite as they move south into warmer water. A few fish have been caught every day and for the most part they have been either just off the beach on the Pacific side or in the warmer water due south. The average size has been around 12 pounds with a few fish in the 25-pound class, but most of them are average size. The number of fish per boat is much lower as well, with an average catch of .3 fish per day, or 1 fish per three days of effort. I expect the Dorado to almost disappear as the water continues to cool.
WAHOO: As the full moon approached there were a few Wahoo caught, and there will probably be a few more on the waning side of the moon as well, but they have been incidental fish caught in the open water due south. Wahoo like warm water and just like the Dorado; there are fewer of them around right now than there were earlier in the season. The fish that were caught averaged 40 pounds and were caught on dark colored Marlin lures.
INSHORE: The Yellowtail bite dropped off as the water on the Cortez side of the Cape became dirty. A few have been caught on the Pacific side off of the rocky points on live bait dropped to about 250 feet, but there has been no consistent bite on them. The Sierra bite has slowed down as well with most boats getting only a half-dozen or so per trip. The Pargo are starting to show among the rocks on the Pacific side, and hopefully action on them will improve this coming week as the moon starts to wane.
NOTES: The fishing really slowed down the past two weeks as the water cooled off. Hopefully the Yellowfin will show in force and give us some alternative action, they are overdue based on the past six years catch records. On the positive side, the water conditions have been pretty good! This weeks report was written to the music of Mark Knopfler on his new solo release “Kill To Get Crimson”, a melancholy set of songs, sort of like the fishing the past two weeks! I just returned from visiting my father in Oklahoma City, his birthday was Saturday and it was nice seeing him for his 71st! Happy birthday dad! So, for those of you who were wondering why there was no report last week, now you know! Until next week, tight lines!
|
|
|
Jan 7, 2008; 10:31AM - Cabo Bite Report
|
|
Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
|
|
Author Name: George Landrum
|
|
Author E-mail: gmlandrum@hotmail.com
|
Report Description:
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
Jan. 1-7, 2008
WEATHER: Here at the end of the week we are in a wintertime heat wave as our morning temperatures have been in the high 60’s for the past four days and the daytime highs have been in the mid 80’s. The skies have been clear and there has been no rain.
WATER: On the Sea of Cortez from a line due east of Cabo and north of that line the water was green and cold with the water at 71 degrees and dropping down to 69 degrees off of Punta Gorda. All the banks on the Pacific side, the Finger, Golden Gate and the San Jaime, had water at 73-75 degrees and the water was considerably cleaner. The 95 Spot, 1150 and the Cabrillo Seamount were on the line and for the most part saw the warmer, cleaner water. Surface conditions were good all week long close to home. There was an occasional day of breezy conditions on the Pacific but nothing too uncomfortable. Up on the Sea of Cortez, once you went north of the Punta Gorda area the northerly winds made fishing very uncomfortable.
BAIT: Just like last week, the bait was mostly Mackerel but there were a few Caballito in the mix. These larger baits were the normal $2 per bait. Up in San Jose there were Sardinas available at $25 a scoop, but they were tiny ones with the biggest only 2 inches, better for chum that as bait.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Striped Marlin were the fish of the week, no doubt about that. Almost every boat that went out caught at least one, and if they wanted to work at it a little bit there was no problem getting into double digit numbers. The great thing about it was you did not have to go far for them. If you wanted to burn the fuel the water allowed a trip to the Finger Bank, and there were still great concentrations of fish there, but closer to home you did almost as well and did not spend so much time in transit. Most boats did just fine drifting live bait but I always like it better when the fish appear in the lure pattern and you get to drop back a rigged bait and see them eat it. We had several clients this week that did just that, only they dropped back a streamer on a fly rod and hooked up!
YELLOWFIN TUNA We still have not seen any solid concentrations of Yellowfin this season. Once in a while a boat will find a school with porpoise but they have been few and far between, and the size of fish has been lacking, most of them have been football fish. They have mostly been found on the Pacific side outside the banks, but a few schools were reported within a mile or two of the coast on that side as well.
DORADO: I saw a few more Dorado flags this week than last week and we are hoping that the water stays clean and above 70 degrees for a while longer, maybe we will continue to find them. I had a friend get two fish in the 30-pound class early in the week up past the Golden Gate Bank, and there are still scattered fish in the 10-15 pound class being caught close to the beach on the Pacific.
WAHOO: I did not hear of any concentrations of Wahoo this reporting period but I did see one of about 70 pounds being wheeled along the Marina in a cooler, a really nice fish!
INSHORE: There was no change in the inshore report for this report period. Sierra were the fish of the week for the inshore fishermen and they were consistently on the feed off of the Solmar-Finesterra beach early in the morning. They seemed to move up to the north later in the day. Yellowtail continued to produce scattered action off of the rocky points on the Cortez side with some decent fish being taken off of Gray Rock and the drop at Chileno.
NOTES: We are seeing more whales every week. The weather has been great, my golf game is sadly lacking consistency and my ears had a treat as I wrote this report while listening to some cuts from the CD collection “Watching the Dark, the history of Richard Thompson”, a 1993 release by RYKODISC. Until next week, tight lines!
|
|
|
Dec 31, 2007; 11:47AM - Cabo Bite Report
|
|
Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
|
|
Author Name: George Landrum
|
|
Author E-mail: gmlandrum@hotmail.com
|
Report Description:
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
Dec. 17-31, 2007
WEATHER: Wintertime in Los Cabos still beats wintertime anywhere to the north of us! Sorry about the one-week no-report zone, I have only missed three reports in 6 years but I am in a transition time, job hunting, Christmas, mom visiting and football play-offs, just too much going on for the last couple of weeks. Anyway, no snow for us in Cabo, things did remain cool however and I felt like it was going to snow on a few mornings when the lows hit the mid 50’s. At least we warmed up to the high 70’s on those days. We did get a bit of cloud cover just at the beginning of this report but now at the end of the year the skies are clear and there is nothing appearing on the horizon.
WATER: On the Pacific side the water has been much warmer with 71-74 degree and fairly blue water. The warmer water at the end of this reporting time was closer to shore and between the San Jaime Bank and us and in a long plume running directly south of the bank. On the Cortez side the water was warm as far as east to the 1150 spot, but became much cooler, down to 67 degrees at the Cabrillo Seamount, cooler and much more green, almost a pea-soup green in places just to the east of the 1150 and along that small temperature break.
BAIT: Bait was mostly Mackerel these past couple of weeks but there were a few Caballito in the mix. These larger baits were the normal $2 per bait. Up in San Jose there were Sardinas available at $25 a scoop, but they were tiny ones with the biggest only 2 inches, better for chum that as bait.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: As we expected to happen, the Striped Marlin have started to move our way. The bait moved south and the Marlin followed. The bite is still very good at the Finger Bank but there was no need to go that far. At the end of this reporting period there was an excellent bite going on at the San Jaime Bank on fish in the 100-120 pound class with a lot of boats releasing up to 20 Marlin a day. There was great activity on the Golden Gate as well, but there were a few days right around Christmas when the fish moved off of the Bank and the boats really had to search hard to find them. As well as the Golden and the Jaime Banks, there are good concentrations of Striped Marlin appearing off of the points and ledges just off of the beach. With just a hint of wind there are good numbers of tailing fish to be found close to shore in the afternoon. Almost all these fish are feeding on small Mackerel and slow trolling or drifting with these live baits has resulted in the best catches. It is more exciting to run in to bait balls popping up to the surface, but it was not needed in order to catch fish. A few boats were not able or not interested in catching Marlin however and directed their attentions elsewhere, and reported a distinct lack of Marlin anywhere else. Boats going up toward the Vinorama and Punta Gorda area on the Cortez side reported very green water and only a couple of Marlin sighted.
YELLOWFIN TUNA Once again at the end of this reporting period the football size Yellowfin were reported appearing up outside of San Jose, but the bite was sporadic, the size of available Sardines apparently had a strong effect on the bite. There were fish in the 15-20 pound class reported from the south side of the San Jaime Banks mixed in with pods of Porpoise but the moved around fast. A few boats going north on the Pacific side toward the Finger Bank reported fish in the 80 pound class but they were scattered out and the boats had a difficult time getting bit on these fish.
DORADO: Once again there were a few Dorado found but for the most part these were small fish, less than 15 pounds. A few boats caught one or two fish, most boats had none. The fish that were caught were found in the warmer water on the Pacific side and were caught on live Mackerel with a couple coming on bright colored lures.
WAHOO: I saw no Wahoo flags this week that were for Wahoo, I did see quite a few that were flown for Sierra.
INSHORE: There was no change in the inshore report for this report period. Sierra were the fish of the week for the inshore fishermen and they were consistently on the feed off of the Solmar-Finesterra beach early in the morning. They seemed to move up to the north later in the day. Yellowtail continued to produce scattered action off of the rocky points on the Cortez side with some decent fish being taken off of Gray Rock and the drop at Chileno.
NOTES: There are whales out there so be careful early in the mornings. Quite a few Makos (small ones) have been seen and caught at the Golden Gate Bank, averaging 30 pounds. Santa was nice to me this year; I must have been a good boy. No complaints but I am looking for a new boat to captain. This report was written to a variety of music from my collection so I don’t get into a rut! Until next week, tight lines!
|
|
|
Dec 20, 2007; 01:24PM - Gordo Banks Panga Report
|
|
Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
|
|
Author Name: eric
|
|
Author E-mail: email
|
Report Description:
Gordo Banks Pangas
San Jose del Cabo
December 16, 2007
Anglers -
Light crowds of tourists were now traveling to Los Cabos and this past week they saw
a change in weather patterns, as a cold front from the north attributed to dropping temperatures to the mid 50s in the early mornings, with daytime highs or about 75 degrees. Still very comfortable compared to many areas across the United States, people get spoiled in Southern Baja and anytime you actually feel the need to possible put on pair of paints, instead of shorts, we consider it quite wintry. Northern winds have become more steady, most days picking up to 10 or 15 miles per hour by mid day, there were reports from the East Cape region of winds even stronger than this, even to the point that charter boats were not even launching. Ocean water temperatures ranged from 71 to 74 degrees throughout most of the area and clarity varied from the day to day, there were encouraging reports over the weekend that the water was cleaning and nice and blue in the vicinity of the Iman Bank.
The week started off with a couple of slower days for the fleets searching areas north of Punta Gorda, as the wind created choppy conditions and stirred up the water. The live sardinas continued to be found along the rocky beach stretches from Palmilla to Chileno, they were available in sufficient quantities everyday. By mid week a new bite developed for yellowfin tuna, in very close proximity to shore, within one to two miles from the beaches, straight out in front of the San Jose del Cabo / La Playita / Puerto Los Cabos areas. Pangas and cruisers alike were catching limits and more of yellowfin tuna in the 10 to 20 pound size. Using the live sardinas was the ticket to success, drift fishing while fly lining or using light sinkers to get your bait down a little deeper. This same area also saw a few striped marlin up to 120 pounds accounted for, as well as a handful of dorado up to 20 pounds. Often times small krill / shrimp will congregate in this region and this in turn attracts the yellowfin and other game fish, even though at this time it is the tuna that continue to dominate the action.
With the water clarity now reportedly improving in the areas to the north of Punta Gorda, we are still holding out hope that the wahoo will decide to cooperate and go on one last bite before they all decide to migrate in a southerly direction. In fact on Saturday a commercial panguero reported seeing a free swimming school of over one dozen wahoo on the Iman Bank, but was not able to hook any of them, at least this means they are still around and with this coming full moon phase chances are that a few will be hooked into during this coming week.
Other catches included a mix of pargo, cabrilla, triggerfish, bonito, sierra and amberjack. Though most of the week the popular bottom spots were not productive due to windy conditions and fast drifts. The better bottom action was found closer to shore had most of these fish were under ten pounds, though they produced very tasty fillets.
There were still some great reports of striped marlin action from areas on the Pacific, though it was not like it had been, many fish were seen, but they could not be enticed, the influx of cooler water had the baitfish and the marlin on the move, look for the action to pick back up in closer proximity to Cabo San Lucas and in the direction of Chileno.
The combined panga fleets sent out approximately 48 charters for the week and anglers accounted for a fish count of: 2 wahoo, 3 striped marlin, 18 sierra, 24 bonito, 15 cabrilla, 7 amberjack, 46 triggerfish, 58 various pargo species, 18 dorado and 395 yellowfin tuna.
Good Fishing, Eric
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson
Owner/Operator
800 4081199
Los Cabos 1421147
ericgordobanks@yahoo.com
www.gordobanks.com |
|
|
Dec 20, 2007; 01:17PM - San Jose Del Cabo Panga report
|
|
Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
|
|
Author Name: eric bricston
|
|
Author E-mail: email
|
Report Description:
Gordo Banks Pangas
San Jose del Cabo
December 9, 2007
Anglers -
While downtown Cabo San Lucas remained busy with visiting tourists, a large percentage of them arriving via cruise ships, twenty miles north in San Jose del Cabo things have been relatively quiet. Though holiday decorations are up and local residents are starting their annual shopping sprees. No rain this week as had been predicted, though there was quite a bit of cloud cover, high temperatures were averaging in the upper 70s. Water clarity continued to be murky and greenish closer to shore inside the Sea of Cortez, ocean temperatures ranged from the low 70s up to about 76 degrees. Larger swells did sweep in off of Cabo San Lucas, but did not get too far inside of the Gulf side of peninsula. Live sardinas were now being found from Palmilla to Chileno and were very scarce off of the La Playita and Puerto Los Cabos area.
The action for striped marlin continued on the Pacific, moving a bit closer off of Los Arcos, boats targeting the stripers were accounting for multiple fish days on a regular basis. The marlin were striking best on live mackerel, but others were striking artificial lures. A scattering of dorado mixed in throughout the region, most of these fish were ranging 10 to 20 pounds and being found in ones or twos.
For the fleets out of San Jose del Cabo the dominate action continued to be for yellowfin tuna. The hot bite off of Palmilla point became less consistent, though on some days the tuna were found there, fleets found better action on the San Luis Bank and off of Punta Gorda, this bite was exclusively on bait, so it was worth while patiently waiting and searching for the sardinas early in the morning. The average sized yellowfin were around 8 to 14 pounds, but there was also another grade of tuna mixed in that ranged up over 20 pounds. Panga anglers accounted for average daily catches of anywhere from 6 to 20 fish per boat.
There was a bonus for anglers fishing in the vicinity of La Fortuna on Wednesday and Thursday, as good numbers of yellowtail were found schooling underneath where the yellowfin tuna were found, these yellows were readily striking on yo-yo jigs and bait, weighing up to 25 pounds. There were also reports of yellowtail found off of Los Arcos, Chileno and Palmilla. Though the hot action for the jacks off of La Fortuna only lasted two days. A handful of amberjack, cabrilla and pargo rounded out the action off of the rock piles.
Surf fishermen continued to report good early morning action for sierra and jacks off the beaches where the schools of sardinas were congregating.
The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita sent out approximately 53 charters for the week and anglers reported a fish count of: 34 sierra, 18 cabrilla,
114 pargo, 16 amberjack, 69 yellowtail, 62 dorado, 44 bonito and 645 yellowfin tuna.
Good Fishing, Eric
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson
Owner/Operator
800 4081199
Los Cabos 1421147
ericgordobanks@yahoo.com
www.gordobanks.com |
|
|
|
