Anglers...
Ideal time to visit Southern Baja, clear sunny skies with highs in
the 80s, crowds are lighter than usual and fishing action is steady
enough to please most serious anglers. Ocean conditions have been a
bit unpredictable, but on most days anglers were able to find
comfortable seas. Water temperatures ranged from 73 to 77 degrees,
with the warmest currents now found near Los Frailes. Mackerel were
scarcer, but sardinas remained plentiful, particularly in the area
of the Puerto Los Cabos Marina Jetties.
Striped marlin were found in significant numbers from La Fortuna to
Desteladera, the marlin could be seen feeding and at times anglers
were able to jig up their own bait when they were found schooling on
the surface. The cruiser fleets launching from Cabo San Lucas had
better access to larger baitfish such as mackerel and caballito, so
they were able to target the billfish more efficiently.
The local panga fleets had a variety of options, one of them was on
the Inner Gordo Banks, where they targeted yellowtail and dorado
ranging in the 20 to 40 pound class These fish were hooked into
while slow trolling sardinas on the surface. The yellowtail were
seen in significant numbers, but were proving a bit finicky and
lighter tackle resulted in more hook ups, but also more lost fish,
because these yellowtail were extremely powerful and found many
different ways of gaining their freedom, one of them by going
straight down and cutting anglers lines off on the nearby rocky high
spots. There were a few days early in the week where cross winds
resulted in choppy conditions and some anglers opted to fish in more
protected areas closer to shore. There was good action found for
sierra, roosterfish, yellowtail and Mexican bonito found off of
Palmilla and to Chileno. Most of these fish were ten pounds of less,
but provided great sport on lighter tackle, again trolling with live
sardinas was the best technique, though yo-yos and rapalas also
produced well. After the yellowfin tuna schools were all but
decimated last week by the seiner fleets
Working the fishing grounds near Cabo San Lucas there were new
schools of tuna that moved back into this same region, only to be
followed once again by the commercial seiners, not the dozen or more
vessels that had initially raped the area the previous week, but
nevertheless several of the larger sized seiners with their
helicopter pads on top. This situation seems to be turning more
political, common sense would acknowledge that these vessels stay
clear of such a populated tourist zone, but authorities higher up
apparently are showing how influential they really are and that
these are their oceans and they will do as they please. Maybe it is
time for the U.S. residents to consider boycotting purchasing tuna
that is captured from Mexican waters.
A variety of snapper were found, though this bite was not consistent
from day to day, a couple of days saw anglers catching nice pargo
near the surface on the Gordo Banks, also a few pompano, cabrilla
and amberjack mixed in.
The combined panga fleet launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos
sent out approximately 55 charters for the week and anglers reported
a fish count of: 2 mako sharks, 8 striped marlin, 17 yellowfin tuna,
142 yellowtail, 24 dorado, 8 pompano, 13 cabrilla, 6 amberjack, 78
Mexican bonito, 74 roosterfish and 122 sierra.
Good Fishing, Eric
Eric Brictson
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Owner/Operator
800 4081199
www.gordobanks.com
