Gordo Banks Pangas
San Jose del Cabo
August 10, 2007
Anglers –
Moderate crowds of tourists have been feeling the weather become increasingly tropical, lots of rain squall activity within close proximity offshore, but as of now there were no new named storms developed. Water temperatures are now holding in the 85 to 87 degree range inside of the Sea of Cortez and this means conditions are ripe for tropical storms to form in short notice. Swell activity has increased some and over the weekend reports are expecting even more surf. Sardinas have been very plentiful in recent days off of the Puerto Los Cabos jetty area, large size baits, but also weak and hard to keep alive due to the very warm water. The majority of fleets are now concentrating their efforts from off of Chileno 95 spot north to the San Luis Bank.
Not much to report close to the shoreline, but offshore the fishing has steadily been improving, with the action being found relatively close in, anywhere from 1 to 8 miles from shore. Daily catches have included sailfish, striped marlin, dorado and yellowfin tuna. The most consistent action for yellowfin tuna was found off of the Palmilla and Red Hill area, within a few miles of shore, these were smaller football sized tuna that were striking on hoochies, rapalas, feathers and sardinas. Charters were accounting for an average of 5 to 18 fish per outing, with the best action coming early in the day. Dorado were found throughout the region, ranging from small 5 pound peanuts on up to 50 pound bulls. They were striking on various baits, lures and by fly fishing anglers, but a larger percentage of the big fish were taken on trolled bolito or mullet. Boats averaged anywhere from one to four dorado per morning.
Mid week panga anglers reported seeing very large yellowfin upwards of 200 pounds feeding and leaping out of the water on the Inner Gordo Banks, so it should be only a matter of time before some of these monsters start hitting the deck. With the smaller yellowfin tuna now showing up in excellent numbers and with good concentrations of skipjack and bolito also on the fishing grounds this should attract more hungry blue and black marlin.
Striped marlin continue to be surprisingly numerous, most of the fish being hooked recently are smaller sized 50 to 80 pound specimens, but then there are some nicer ones ranging up to 140 pounds being accounted for. There also has been a variety of other sea life encountered, including whale sharks, killer whales (Orcas), porpoise, monster manta rays and out of the ordinary sea walruses.
Other catches included a few leopard grouper to 20 pounds, amberjack to 25 pounds, huachinango (red snapper) and bonito to 8 pounds on yo-yo jigs off of San Luis Bank and Iman Bank.
Surf fishermen reported a handful of more snook caught off of the San Jose Estuary, included one specimen that was reportedly weighed in at twenty kilos.
Not much new to report with the construction progress of the Puerto Los Cabos Marina, the main priorities and efforts now are on completing the dredge work of the entrance channel and finishing the rock jetty extension work of the southern segment of the entrance, which still has approximately sixty more yards to go straight out and then it also needs to brought up to height and have heavier 30 and 40 ton boulders placed in position on the exposed sides to reinforce this area from the direct exposure of southern swells.
The La Playita panga fleets sent out approximately 47 panga charters for the week and anglers accounted for a fish count of: 14 striped marlin, 8 sailfish, 88 dorado, 212 yellowfin tuna, 9 amberjack, 11 cabrilla, 22 huachinango, 18 yellowtail snapper, 26 jack crevalle, and 28 bonito.
Good Fishing, Eric
