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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 Apr 28, 2024
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Dec 30, 2013; 02:14PM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Capt. George Landrum
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FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
Dec. 23 - 29, 2013
WEATHER: We had beautiful weather this week as it was sunny every day! Not what most of you had for Christmas I know, but we loved it. Our highs during the week were in the mid 80's while the lows were in the low 60's. This morning at 4:30 it was 62 degrees, the same as yesterday.
WATER: At the end of the week the water in the Sea of Cortez continued to be a bit off-color and greenish while being in the 73-73 degree range. On the Pacific side the water was a bit warmer with 77 degrees being seen about halfway between here and Todo Santos and it slowly dropping to 73 degrees off of the lighthouse, with an occasional patch of 74 degree water. This water was cleaner as well. Surface conditions were great on the Pacific with swells between 2 and 4 feet and the prevailing wind early in the week was light and from the northwest. At the end of the week it shifted and blew out of the north. This caused some rough water on the Sea of Cortez side as the winds wrapped around the peninsula and came from the east, something we don't often see. As I write this the wind is from the north at about 4 MPH, very nice conditions.
BAIT: Caballito and a few Mackerel make up the choice of live baits this past week, and you were lucky to get the Mackerel. The price was the normal $3 each. There were also frozen Ballyhoo at $3 each.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: There was no real change in the Striped Marlin situation this week as the concentration of fish appeared to be on the ledge off the Pacific lighthouse. With 50 boats working the area the fish were getting pounded but there were plenty caught. For those who focused on the area the results were between one and four fish released (and some killed unfortunately) per boat. The favored method was once again dropping a weighted line with a live bait on the end down into the water column. Most boats dropped two baits, one almost to the bottom in 250 feet of water and another at 120 feet and had a third bait on the surface, or just under it. I would like to once again stress that if you plan on releasing you're Marlin (PLEASE release them!) then let your crew know your plans ahead of time so there is no confusion about what to do with the fish when it comes boat side. Take a picture of the fish in the water (take a lot of them if you have digital) then buy a release flag and mount the picture and the flag in a frame for a trophy. There is NO NEED to KILL the Marlin if you want a replica made. All you need is an estimated length. Once again, there is NO NEED to KILL the MARLIN! Ask the crew to use circle hooks when dropping bait down deep, it helps to keep the Marlin from becoming gut hooked, and the hook-up ratio is just as good as if you were using “j” hooks.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: I'm almost out of patience. These fish have still not shown up in any numbers and usually by this time of year they make up 50% of the catch. There are a few being caught, but my guess is that only 5% of the boats are getting any, and they are having to cover a lot of water to find them.
DORADO: I am slightly amazed that these fish are still hanging around, but the water on the Pacific side has not gotten really chilly yet. I was out on Friday and we worked the area off of Pedregal for the morning and got our limit of fish between 8 and 18 pounds with the larger fish coming early and on live bait trolled off a down-rigger. Most boats were getting a few as I did see plenty of flags flying for these fish at the end of the day. Smaller Mackerel were working just fine for these fish and we had a Marlin bite as well, even though we were several miles from the concentration of those fish.
WAHOO: I heard of a couple of Wahoo being caught but not many, and don't know where they were found. It was second or third had information anyway, I did not talk to anyone who had actually caught one themselves.
INSHORE: Sierra had to be fish of the week this week as anyone who wanted could get limits on these fish, ranging in size from 2 to 8 pounds. There were fish scattered all along the Pacific coastline but the big concentrations were up off of the Marguerite area, inside the Golden Gate Banks. The fish were concentrated in the area because of big schools of Sardines. Hootchies in light colors worked well on the smaller fish, on Thursday all our smaller ones came on pink or pink/white hootchies. Once the fish got a little finicky we put out Ballyhoo rigged with a trailing hook and caught some larger fish, to 7.5 pounds. Another method that worked for us was chumming with cut bait then drifting a strip back, using a 12” section of light wire leader to avoid getting cut off. Doing this also resulted in some non-targeted species being caught (Triggerfish). There were few Roosterfish found or seen but there were some Amberjack found in 180 to 200 feet of water and a few Snapper in the rocks along the beach.
FISH RECIPE: Remember simple? It does not get simpler than this one. Take a skinless, boneless fillet of Dorado and trim it into two lengths, removing the bloodline in the center. Slice each piece into strips about 2 inches wide, on the diagonal. Dredge them in flour, then whipped egg whites, then panko crumbs and lower into hot oil. Let them cook for about4 minutes or less, then remove and let them drain on paper towels. You now have fish fingers, and they are great in tacos (especially hot out of the oil) and as snacks later on. Whip up some tarter sauce to go with them and away you go!
NOTES: I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and be careful this coming New Years Eve! This weeks report was written to the music of “King Crimson” on the album “IN The Court of the Crimson King”, the 1969 Master Edition release. Until next week, Tight Lines!
And as always, George writes this report
and posts to the blog on Sunday morning. So if you
can't wait, click the 'FOLLOW' on the top of the blog
page! You will know whenever something new is posted!
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
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Dec 30, 2013; 12:04AM - GORDO BANKS PANGAS San Jose del Cabo December 29, 2013
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric Brictson
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GORDO BANKS PANGAS
San Jose del Cabo
December 29, 2013
Anglers –
We are all now enjoying Christmas Holiday times, with the last week of
2013 now upon us, families and friends all gathering to reminiscent of
past times and to experience new adventures. What greater place than
Los Cabos to bring in the New Year, where the winter climate has been
very mild and vacationers are soaking up warm sunshine, participating
in many outdoor activities.
We have seen ocean water temperatures now drop down into the 71/73
degree range, this is normal for the time of year, clarity has become
more greenish in areas, but still the water is not what you would call
dirty. Anglers were finding fair numbers of late season dorado spread
out throughout the region, often times found very close to shore,
where concentrations of ballyhoo and other baitfish have been
attracting them. More often they are found in smaller sized schools,
striking on lures, rigging ballyhoo and live caballito. Sizes averaged
10 to 15 lb., with some larger dorado to 20 pounds also accounted for.
Finding yellowfin tuna was much harder, with cooler currents and lack
of sardina baitfish, no tuna action was being reported. There have
been more school of Bonita moving in over the structure, these are the
good eating variety, also have sharp teeth, almost like sierra,
scrappy fighters on light tackle, readily striking on trolled rapalas
and retrieved jigs, weighed up to 10 lb. Cooling water temperatures
have brought in more sierra along the shoreline, these aggressive fish
are hitting on small rapalas and hoochies, the action is best early in
the morning, if new sources of sardinas are located that will really
help the overall inshore fishing action. There has been shortages of
caballito as well as no sardinas at all to speak of, many charters are
relying on lures and rigged ballyhoo. We are anticipating reports of
schooling mackerel moving in on the local fishing grounds, but this
has not happened yet, it seems to be the season of changing baitfish
migrations, will be interesting to see what happens during this cold
water transition period, every season can be different.
Only a handful of wahoo are being reported, these elusive gamefish
fish never really did go on a consistent bite this season, with ocean
temperatures now in the low 70s, this is typically when wahoo start to
migrate in a southern direction to follow preferred temperate
currents. Though we do expect we will see a few more wahoo in the fish
counts before they vanish for the winter, often these fish will bite
later in the day during this period of colder water, sunshine seems to
warm surface temperature up and gets them more active.
Anglers have found minimal success searching for bottom species,
finding more triggerfish, skipjack and bonita than anything else. The
month of December was windy more often than not, northern winds were
persistent, with only a few days of calmer conditions mixed in, this
stirs ocean conditions, scatters bait schools and makes it hard to
find productive bottom action.
Billfish are scattered on the offshore grounds, no concentrations,
striking lures and ballyhoo and caballito. Some striped marlin were
being hooked while drift fishing baits deeper over the areas where
they were seen occasionally free jumping of tailing on the surface. We
all know this is the season where a huge striped marlin frenzy could
develop on any given day, if any bait concentration is encountered be
prepared for action.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los
Cabos Marina sent out approximately 88 charters for this past week,
with anglers accounting for a fish count of:
6 striped marlin, 3 wahoo, 85 bonito, 134 sierra, 15 roosterfish, 165
dorado, 5 hammerhead shark and 22 pargo.
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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Dec 24, 2013; 12:01AM - GORDO BANKS PANGAS San Jose del Cabo December 22, 2013
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric Brictson
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GORDO BANKS PANGAS
San Jose del Cabo
December 22, 2013
Anglers –
Crowds of tourists were light this past week, we do expect to see increased
crowds during Christmas week. The weather has settled, winds were light and
ocean conditions were great, air temperatures ranged from 60/80 degrees and
ocean currents have now varied from 74 to 77 degrees. Clarity of the ocean
fluctuated, having become greenish closer to shore, though conditions are
still favorable for this late in the year.
Anglers found improved action for dorado in recent days, the majority of
these fish have been found within a couple miles of shore, at times they
were found in larger sized schools, with fish ranging to over 20 lb.
Striking on caballito, ballyhoo and various trolled lures, many charters
were rapidly limiting out once they did find where the fish were. Sardinas
were not available at this time and caballito also became less plentiful
with the passing of the full moon.
Inshore action produced roosterfish, sierra and jack crevalle. Most of the
roosterfish are juvenile sized this time of year and should be released
with care in order to grow to maturity. Sierra bite would be wide open if
sardinas were readily available, though these scrappy fighters are striking
on rapalas and hoochies type lures, best action being early in the morning
at first light.
Billfish action was once again now centered on the Pacific side of Cabo San
Lucas, where good numbers of striped marlin are concentrated off of the old
light house and the more distant banks. We should see schools of mackerel
and sardinetas soon on local grounds, this is now the season when we start
to find these baitfish schooling and attracting more gamefish into the
region.
Whale season is now in full swing and these mammals are being sighted
throughout the area. Increasing recreational dive tour operations have put
additional pressure on the Gordo Banks and it is getting to the point where
rod and reel anglers can hardly even have a reasonable chance on these
grounds with so many scuba divers in the water at a given time.
Additionally these boats are anchored up right near the high spot, this
makes it difficult to drift fish in the manner accustomed for productive
fishing on these banks. This is definitely a confliction of interests and
it appears that this situation will likely become worse before any changes
are made.
Many commercial drift netters have been seen in the area lately, it is a
shame these boats are even allowed to operate in touristic zones. They are
truly destructive, their main catch is dorado and marlin, both of which are
supposedly protected sport fish only species, but are blatantly being
commercially exploited as a by catch. It is time to seriously put some
thought into protecting the future fishery and set priorities straight.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos
Marina sent out approximately 56 charters for this past week, with anglers
accounting for a fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 5 wahoo, 22 bonito, 11
cabrilla, 6 amberjack, 14 pargo, 23 sierra, 18 roosterfish, 175 dorado, 24
triggerfish and 16 yellowfin tuna.
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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Dec 23, 2013; 11:58PM - GORDO BANKS PANGAS San Jose del Cabo December 15, 2013
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric Brictson
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GORDO BANKS PANGAS
San Jose del Cabo
December 15, 2013
Anglers –
Crowds of tourists were noticeably fewer this past week, with less than two
weeks to go until Christmas, people are now occupied with preparations and
other priorities. As much of Northern America has been enduring icy
conditions, the climate in Southern Baja has been comfortable, mostly sunny
skies with highs of 80 degrees. Northern winds increased in recent days and
this made for choppy ocean conditions, though water temperatures are still
averaged a bit warmer than normal at 76/78 degrees throughout the region.
We do expect currents to cool more rapidly now, as this is the month with
the shortest days of the year. More and more whales are now arriving from
the north, these mammals will be in this area for the next several months.
Supplies of bait consisted of caballito, ballyhoo, squid slabs and some
skipjack and chihuil offshore. Sardinas became scarce again as the north
winds made this a difficult task, limiting the range of the commercial
fleet. Sardinas have been very scattered this fall, when found have been
juvenile sized, a combination of factors contributing to this situation.
Fishing was spread out in all directions, inshore, offshore and some bottom
action, a lot depended on ocean conditions and available bait source, as to
where anglers targeted on a given day. Catches ranged from a couple fish
per boat, to over a dozen of combined species. There is a wide variety of
fish now in the area, though most of them were caught in limited numbers.
We have seen striped marlin, dorado, yellowfin tuna, wahoo, skipjack,
bonito, amberjack, yellowtail, cabrilla, pargo, sierra, roosterfish,
triggerfish and others.
We are seeing more commercial tuna pens being moved north offshore of San
Jose del Cabo, being towed at 1 or 2 mph, from 10 to 20 miles offshore.
Charters boats at times were fishing in proximity of these pens and were
finding good numbers of small 4 to 8 lb. yellowfin tuna and a few dorado,
mostly a long boat ride for smaller sized fish. The new trend of hauling
tuna pens filled with bluefin tuna from north Baja grounds into the Sea of
Cortez is causing some concern, because this will only increase the already
heavy pressure on the local bait resources, because these penned tuna
require tons of fresh bait. Same deal that has happened in Northern Baja,
discussion is that perhaps they are relocating these pens because the
bluefin are able to grow faster and with lengthier proportions in warmer
water.
Besides finding some small tuna action while fishing near these slow moving
tuna pens, anglers were not finding yellowfin elsewhere, the action on the
Iman Bank became fruitless due to northern winds. The exception was on
Thursday, when a few larger yellowfin tuna were hooked into on the Gordo
Banks, the prize was a 277 lb. yellowfin tuna that was landed by Bob Deeter
of Fort Brag, Ca. Deeter was drift fishing with a chunk of skipjack when he
hooked into the early Christmas gift. Last weekend during a local
tournament these were a pair of tuna over 100 pounds taken, 107 lb. and 130
lb., though for the past two weeks, no one had reported any big yellowfin
action, getting late in the season now, though there definitely still is a
chance, maybe someone will pull out another 300 lb. cow before the end of
the month.
Anglers are now starting to make more attempts off the bottom structure
when weather allowed, no big numbers of fish found, though a few nice
amberjack, pargo, yellowtail and cabrilla were accounted for, it is the
time of year where we will start doing more of this type of drift fishing
over shallow water rocky areas, this can produce a variety of quality
bottom dwellers, though it is also the type of fishing where it is best
when the seas are not too rough.
Schools of sierra are now found close to shore, striking trolled rapalas
and hoochies, though easier to entice with sardinas, which have not been
available on a regular basis. Lots of roosterfish also found in certain
inshore areas, mostly juvenile sized this time of year, though a few
roosters over 20 pounds were reported.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos
Marina sent out approximately 72 charters for this past week, with anglers
accounting for a fish count of: 2 striped marlin, 9 wahoo, 24 bonito, 13
cabrilla, 2 yellowtail, 8 amberjack, 1 dogtooth snapper,115 sierra, 55
roosterfish, 65 dorado, 80 skipjack and 88 yellowfin tuna.
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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Dec 16, 2013; 12:11PM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Capt. George Landrum
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FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
Dec. 9 - 15, 2013
WEATHER: Occasionally sunny skies this past week brought a few mornings of what have been the coldest of the season to this point. I was getting reading in the low 60's, as low as 62 degrees on Thursday morning, as I went to the marina at 5:30 am. It warmed up later on of course and we ended up averaging 82 degrees during the mostly cloudy days early in the week and in the 85-86 degree range later in the week. We had a bit of wind blow in on Thursday as well, mostly affecting us in the afternoon, and continuing on into Friday and Saturday. I did not notice much of a breeze this morning. We did not get any real rain from these clouds, but it did spit a bit on us on Monday, just enough to spot up the windshields on the cars.
WATER: The first few days of this week were a continuation of last weeks water as far as temperatures were concerned. On Monday the water on the Pacific side of the Cape was in the 78-79 degree range from the beach on out to the San Jaime and the Golden Gate Banks, to the west of there it dropped by four degrees very quickly. That was the only temperature break in our area. On Tuesday that started to change and by the end of the week our entire area was seeing water temperatures in the 77 degree range, from far west of those banks to up past the Gorda Banks area in the Sea of Cortez. The water color has been a bit off of “blue”, more of a blue with a green tinge to it, almost a glacial water look to it.
BAIT: Caballito and a few Mackerel make up the choice of live baits this past week, and you were lucky to get the Mackerel. The price was the normal $3 each.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Lots of Striped Marlin were being seen this week but not many of them wanted to bite. The Pacific side continued to be the best area to find these fish, and the usual bait holding areas were worked hard by the fleets. The ledge at the lighthouse and the canyon just on the north side, the ridge at Los Arcos, the drop at Migraino and the Golden Gate Bank all had fish, but few boats were getting bit, at least compared to how the action had been. In addition, we were seeing lots of small Striped Marlin, and I mean some of these fish were in the 40-50 pound class. When you did find a hungry fish it was aggressive and would readily bite on the lure or live bait, but these fish were few and far between. If you were fishing for Marlin this week your day consisted of throwing live bait at Marlin you saw on the surface, slow trolling live bait in one of the areas listed above or running out to one of the bait balls signaled by the swooping Frigate birds. The action was scattered up and down the Pacific coastline with little action seen on the Cortez side.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Well, we are starting to see a very slow improvement in the catch of Yellowfin Tuna as more porpoise show in our area. The fish are still mostly footballs in the 6-10 pound class, but when you get into them they bite well. Its just hard to get real excited when your limit on these small fish is 5 per person, and if you fill that limit you are done keeping any fish for the rest of the day. Get into one of the pods of porpoise that hold Tuna and you never know what might bite though, there could be some much larger fish out on the edges, as a few lucky anglers found out this week, with Tuna to 80 pounds occasionally grabbing a passing lure, or gobbling a bait dropped in front of the traveling pods of porpoise. For the large Tuna, the Gorda Banks appeared to be the place to go as there was a short bite for a few days there. If you could work the area with chunks you stood a chance to catch fish that went as large as 260 pounds, but the success ration was not very high. Then again, these were very large fish!
DORADO: There was little change in the Dorado action this past week from the week before. Lots of small 6 to 8 pound fish continued striking lures and trying to eat live bait on the Pacific side of the Cape. Most boats were shaking these fish off and waiting for larger ones to bite and since the limit is two per angler the small fish could fill a limit quickly. Getting a bigger Dorado this past week has been a matter of working harder and smarter. The larger fish continue to be found farther to the north, inside the Golden Gate area from the beach out to about two miles. Many boats that were slow trolling live bait, or drifting weighted live baits for Marlin were getting the larger Dorado. Working staggered depths with down-riggers and z-wings during a slow troll with live bait was effective, and you could be surprised at any time with either Marlin, Dorado, Tuna, Wahoo or if you were close to the beach, a large Snapper or Grouper.
WAHOO: The bite was not what it has been, and the fish seemed to be a bit smaller, at least the ones that were caught. I heard a couple of anglers call them wee-hoos as they had caught a couple of them that were only 8-10 pounds. I expect the bite to be a bit better for these fish this coming week as we approach the full moon, but I have been wrong many times before. The Wahoo that were caught were found in the usual haunts, on top of the high spots and along the drop-offs, but there were also some caught out on the flats in 100 feet of water, so you just never know.
INSHORE: The Roosterfish made themselves scarce this week, at least early in the day they were hard to find. The ones that were found were once again the smaller ones in the 5-6 pound class, there were not many larger 20-30 pound fish found. Boats that were going up to the Marguerite area and the Migraino area were doing well when they found schools of Sierra, and some of these fish were decent size for the species at 6-9 pounds, but there were also schools of small 2-5 pound fish. Either size of Sierra were capable of ruining any hootchie skirts used, and could make a swimming Rapallas look decades old after a few fish had been caught. Most of these fish were tight to the beach. There were also some true Red Snapper being found off the beach. Boats bottom bouncing strip baits in 60-120 feet of water were having decent luck on Snapper to 5 pounds with an occasional fish to 10 pounds.
FISH RECIPE: I don't have a new recipe this week, but feel free to check out ones listed on my previous reports, they are all good. If I used one I found on the internet I give credit for it, and actually used the recipe, then listed it only if I would serve it again!
NOTES: I guess this was the week for small fish. Small Marlin, Tuna, Dorado, Wahoo and Sierra. Add in that the bite was off just a bit and many boats were scratching hard to put clients on some decent fish this week. Of course there are always a few boats that are in the right place at the right time, that is what keeps us going as anglers, right? We will keep crossed fingers that the Mackerel will show up, because usually the big fish follow the bait! Seeing the number of small fish is also a good thing as this implies a good spawning season, and plenty of fish for the future! Come on down for the holidays, with plenty of whales to be seen and steady action on small fish and the chance to catch something big, it sure beats sitting in a freezing cold car waiting for it to warm up! This report was writing to the country music sounds of George Jones. Until next week, tight lines!
And as always, George writes this report
and posts to the blog on Sunday morning. So if you
can't wait, click the 'FOLLOW' on the top of the blog
page! You will know whenever something new is posted!
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
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Dec 15, 2013; 12:33AM - GORDO BANKS PANGAS San Jose del Cabo December 8, 2013
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric Brictson
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GORDO BANKS PANGAS
San Jose del Cabo
December 8, 2013
Anglers –
Despite being the week after Thanksgiving there are still good numbers of tourists
in town, many simply looking for the warmer weather, as much of the northern
territories are now enduring icy wintry conditions. Local weather has been great,
mostly sunny days, some scattered cloud cover, highs averaging 80 degrees. Winds
were now predominately blowing from the north, this past week the breeze was
moderate and anglers enjoyed nice ocean conditions, this is the time of year when
there are cycles of gusty winds which last several days. Los Cabos is situated on
the Southern Peninsula, when offshore fishing grounds are blown out from too much
wind, there can be other options found in more protected areas.
Sportfishing fleets are now fishing all of the normal grounds in various directions,
ocean temperature is now steady throughout the region, from the Pacific banks to Los
Frailes, averaging in the 78/79 degree range, no great temperature break, conditions
are a bit warmer than normal, though we do expect to see a cooling trend as days now
progressively become shorter. Bait supplies have varied a bit from day to day,
caballito and sardinas have been available recently on a regular basis, sardinas
have been found towards Los Frailes and the commercial fleet has been delivering
them to panga charters on Iman to Vinorama. Other bait options included ballyhoo,
slabs of squid, chihuil and skipjack. Overall the bait situation has improved.
San Jose del Cabo fleets have been fishing mainly on the grounds from Santa Maria,
where there has been steady action for striped marlin, with dorado and a few wahoo
mixed in, more numbers of charters were now heading in the direction of the Iman
Bank, where the odds of finding yellowfin tuna were best, anglers were drift fishing
with striped squid or sardinas, the tuna were averaging 10 to 20 pounds, striking
more readily on lighter leaders, catches varied from one or two per boat, up to 15
fish, matter of being in the right place when the fish were in the feeding mood. On
Thursday there was one 100 pound class yellowfin tuna landed off the Gordo Banks,
first larger grade tuna we have heard about for the past couple of weeks, maybe a
chance still at a cow. Dorado were found on these same grounds and scattered
throughout the area, smaller sized schools, most of the fish were10 pounds or less,
though there were exceptions of larger bulls landed. Trolling medium sized lures or
larger sized baitfish was a productive technique for finding the dorado.
Wahoo are doing what they commonly do, remain elusive even during the supposedly
peak season. These fish are definitely in the area, there are hook ups being
reported daily, just no huge numbers or with any consistency, holding on the ledges,
along drop offs, over structure, normally encountered in water depths from 100 to
200 feet. Trolling with rapalas, skirted lead heads and with rigged larger sized
baitfish are what these fish will commonly strike on, rapid strikes, like no other,
many lost strikes, happen so fast, either on or off. With the water temperatures now
in the preferred range for wahoo we are optimistic that on any given day these fish
could become more increasingly active. Anglers recently have been fortunate to lane
one or two of these fish, the wahoo being brought in have been averaging in the 20
to 40 pound range.
Off the bottom structure, across the Iman Bank, anglers reported more success while
dropping larger baitfish, caballito, skipjack or chihuil, near the bottom, there
were amberjack, grouper and dogtooth snapper accounted for, no big numbers, but
quality fish in the 30 to 60 pound class. A couple of yellowtail were reported by
the commercial fleets fishing in deeper waters for snapper, these yellows were over
30 pounds, home guard fish, holding in the cooler depths. Several nice sized sierra
were taken on the offshore banks, a bit out of their normal habitat closer to shore.
Quite a few bonito now on the same grounds, mixed with yellowfin tuna and black
skipjack, this is normally a sign of cooling waters, as sierra become plentiful
along the beaches.
Many whales now being spotted, these whales are just showing in greater numbers,
arriving from their northern grounds, we are also seeing other sea life, including
manta rays, sea lions, turtles and lots of birds.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent
out approximately 135 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a
fish count of: 11 striped marlin, 2 sailfish, 39 wahoo, 190 bonito, 15 cabrilla, 13
amberjack, 2 dogtooth snapper,45 sierra, 260 dorado and 445 yellowfin tuna.
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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Dec 9, 2013; 12:13PM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Capt. George Landrum
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FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
Dec. 2 - 8, 2013
WEATHER: Partly sunny skies once again, and while most of our friend and clients in the U.S. were shivering we were enjoying temperatures in the high 70's and low 80's during the daytime. We did our shivering at night after the sun had set and the breeze cooled us off. It seems my blood has thinned a bit as 72 degrees makes me get goose bumps and put on long sleeved shirts or a light jacket or sweater. Please don't make fun of those of us who walk around with a sweater on while you gambol about in your swimsuits! I know we look funny while walking the beach but at least there is no snow or ice on the ground!
WATER: The Pacific side has had little change in water temperature this week, the water to the inside of the San Jaime and Golden Gate Banks is still warmer than elsewhere on the Pacific at a fairly consistent 78-79 degrees, down a degree or two from last week, but that's what happens in the winter here. Outside of the banks, to the west, the temperature has been in the 72-73 range, with this cooler water once again being a bit cleaner than the warmer inside water. Afternoon winds have had a fairly strong effect on the surface conditions as well with the swells in the mornings at 2-5 feet, but after the winds start (around noon every day) the wind chop picks up and we get a bit of cross swell of 1-2 feet from the wind that makes for interesting rides home. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water has been a consistent 78-79 degrees with a few spots peaking at 80 degrees. Surface conditions have been much better with swells staying in the 3 foot range and the wind chop not having much, if any effect once you get to the west and north of the 95 spot. The water on this side of the Cape has been a bit off-color, tending toward a clean green instead of a deep blue.
BAIT: While Caballito remains the most common of the larger baits (which are selling for the normal $3 each) there are a few more Mackerel showing up in the bottoms of the bait boats. Still not very common yet, there should be more soon as the water continues to cool. Other than those two species, your choice is Green Jacks and small Pompano. I have not heard of any Sardines available locally, but there might have been some available up in San Jose.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: There was not much change this week from last weeks Billfish report. They still seem to be hanging out along the temperature break on the Pacific side, but there are small concentrations as well along the coast at the normal high spots such as right off the Lighthouse on the peanut shaped ledge and on the ridge running straight out from Los Arcos farther up the coast. There is a small bump to the inside/north of the Golden Gate that has also been producing a few fish, not to mention the small concentrations atop the Golden Gate Bank. I have heard from a few boats that made the run that there are some decent concentrations found this wee at the Finger Bank as well, but it has just been rumors, third hand information, so I have not been able to confirm it. The key to getting a Marlin (and they have all been Striped Marlin) has been to keep an eye on the sky and an eye on the depth finder. When you see the Frigate birds start to swoop, head there, as the fish are beginning to force a bait ball to the surface. If you see a bait ball on the depth sounder, stay there until the Marlin force it to the surface. Basicly, follow the bait, the fish will be where the food is. Sight fishing by spotting tail and fin tips and tossing a bit also worked well, and often produced double hook-ups. Seeing a “picket fence” with several fish in a row is beginning to become more common and offers a good chance at multiple hook-ups. The preferred bait has been Mackerel, but the fish will eat Caballito as well if they are hungry, the smaller baits seem to get eaten more often than the larger ones. Fish found just off the beach are suckers for the small Pompano, it seems to be a matter of “matching-the-hatch”, so to speak.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: I am still being patient, I have no choice. There are a few football to 25 pound fish around, but the chances of getting into them are small as the pods of porpoise they have been found with are scattered all over the place. I know of Pangas working the Dorado inside that have spotted small groups of porpoise and have hooked and landed several Yellowfin to 25 pounds, and cruiser going 30 miles off the beach doing the same thing. Some boats have reported finding pods of porpoise that cover acres of water but have not had any fish under them, while they find just a few porpoise that have given up four to six small Yellowfin. No rhyme or reason to it, just chance as far as I can tell.
DORADO: Lots of small 6 to 8 pound fish have been striking lures and trying to eat live bait on the Pacific side of the Cape. The warmer, cleaner water has kept them around, trying the warm water on the Cortez side has not resulted in as many fish and the water is more green there as well. Getting a bigger Dorado this past week has been a matter of working harder and smarter. The plume of warm water running up the coast seems to taper to a point around Todo Santos, and boats going that far up have seen slightly larger fish. It may be a matter of the narrowing warm water concentrating the fish, but the fish caught toward the north have been consistently in the 12-15 pound class. Closer to home, in order to get the larger fish, you have had to make a slight change in tactics. Boats that were fishing using wire line or torpedo sinkers to get jet-head lures and swimming plugs down deep for Wahoo were hooking a few larger Dorado, some to 30 pounds, while boats pounding the surface were only getting the little guys. Having noticed this, quite a few boats began running down-riggers and Z-Wings with live bait to attract the larger Dorado. The only problem with this is that if there were Wahoo around, they would get the bait bitten in half or the leader cut without ever noticing it happen. Also, it is a great method for catching Striped Marlin as well and often one of these would gulp the bait. For anglers only wanting to fish for meat fish, this was not what they wanted. Well, I have always been happy to catch something rather than nothing, and would never turn my nose up at catching a Marlin!
WAHOO: These fish are still here, and still biting, but you have to be in the right place, at the right time, using the right gear in order to have a decent shot at them. We just came off the new moon on the third, and have the full moon coming up around the 17th, so the bite should, repeat, should, be good then for these speedsters. The right place means along steep drop-offs, high spots on the bottom, ridges projecting out from shore and canyons running right up to the beach. The right time has been just before and just after tide change, when the water starts moving again. The right gear means lures with a short trace of wire leader to prevent cut-offs, lures or swimming plugs that will go deep, the deeper the better, and run at speed. If using live bait, make sure there is a trailing hook wired to the front hook as to prevent having the bait cut in half without hooking up, and running the bait deep.
INSHORE: There were some decent sized Roosterfish reported this week, by decent I mean in the 18-25 pound class, but they were still out numbered by the little 5-6 pound fish. There were many more Sierra showing up as well with some of the fish coming in reaching the 8 pound mark on the scales, but most of them were 4-5 pounds. The Snapper bite dropped off, perhaps due to the new moon, but should improve once the full moon comes around. Once again, if you get into the stacks of Snapper that happen during the full moon, please limit your catch as these are spawning concentrations. I have not heard of any large Yellowtail this week but there have been fish to 10 pounds caught, and they are becoming more common every week. It should not be long before we start to see larger fish on a consistent basis.
FISH RECIPE: Simple is the key work. This is about as simple as it gets. Take a Dorado fillet cut to meal size (or Snapper, or Wahoo), marinate it for about 30 minutes in fresh lemon juice. Dust it with salt and pepper, then again with some smoked Paprika (I have a big bottle of Penzy's in the cupboard) and cook it in a frying pan with a couple of tablespoons of oil (I like using the Avocado Oil they have here at Cost-Co). Serve it up with some potatoes that have been diced small and dusted with Thyme and a bit of Paprika as well as with a small salad. Easy, tasty and good for you!
NOTES: I have forgotten to mention in my last two reports that the Whales are here! Grey Whales close to the beach and Humpback Whales farther out, both species have been putting on good shows for us on a daily basis. This weeks report was written to the music of “Two Tons Of Steel” on their CD “Not That Lucky”. A bit of Texas Rockabilly to keep my toes a tapping!
P.S. I was reminded by several anglers and Captains this evening that I forgot to mention the presence of three Tuna Pens that were fished on Saturday and today. I didn’t forget them, I just had a momentary lapse of memory, it happens when you get older. Anyway, there have been three pens being towed from the west and toward the east. Two of them, the front two, appear to have fish in them, and most of the boats going to fish the pens have been working behind the front two. The last pen appears to to be empty. The bite at these pens has been enjoyed by the first few boats to arrive, plenty of Dorado, some Striped Marlin and a decent Wahoo bite. There have also been some football sized yellowfin tuna scattered around within 1/2 mile of the pens, enough to provide lots of action and limits on these small, 5 to 8 pound fish. The Dorado were decent size with the larger fish being caught by the first boats on the scene Saturday, smaller fish today. The same thing occurred with Wahoo as there were decent numbers in good sizes for the first boats on the scene. As the bite died off, boats that were willing to drop jigs and work behind the nets continued to catch fish. These Tuna Pens were 17 miles to the south of Cabo this morning, headed east, who knows where they will be tomorrow. Mince this report is about what has happened I needed to up date the report, but don’t expect this to be the case for the coming week. Thank you for the comments, and tight lines.
And as always, George writes this report
and posts to the blog on Sunday morning. So if you
can't wait, click the 'FOLLOW' on the top of the blog
page! You will know whenever something new is posted!
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
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Dec 2, 2013; 11:57AM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Capt. George Landrum
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FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
Nov. 26 – Dec. 1, 2013
WEATHER: Once again we had a week with partly sunny skies. If I were a pessimist I would have said partly cloudy skies, but I am a fisherman and we fishermen have to be optimistic, that's just part of the sport. Anyway, partly sunny with our nighttime lows dipping into the mid 60's while the daytime highs have been just touching the 85 degree range on the thermometer on the patio. We ended last week with a spattering of rain as I finished the report but we have had none since then. It appears as if we have a chance of a bit of precipitation coming on Tuesday or Wednesday, but who knows, it could just as well be sunny and hot, but the animations (hurricane) for the eastern Pacific show some clouds working our way.
WATER: Everyone I talked to this week said that the water wherever they went was almost glassy and calm the whole trip. I know that in the afternoons the water on the Pacific side received a bit of wind that caused some chop, but the swells stayed down and it was comfortable everywhere. As far as water temperatures go, the Sea of Cortez side of the Cape was a fairly steady 81 degrees within 5 miles of the beach and 82 degrees farther out than that. The big news is the temperature break on the Pacific side. If you ran a line just on the eastern edge of the San Jaime Banks and northward to just to the eastern edge of the Golden Gate Banks you would have been on the break, at least at the end of the week. Inside (eastern side) of the break the water was 80 degrees, outside of the line it was 76 degrees, and there was not much blending, it was a fairly sharply defined break. Not surprisingly for this time of year, the cooler water was cleaner, a bit more blue to it. This is the opposite of what we see when the water begins to warm back up in the late spring.
BAIT: Caballito remain the most common of the larger baits, but there are still a few Mackerel showing up on the bait boats. As the water continues to cool we should start seeing many more of them, and fewer of the Caballito. There has also been a mix of misc. baits, a few Look-downs, a few green Jacks, a few small Pompano and of course this time of year some strips of Humboldt Squid. The live bait has been selling for the normal $3 per bait, there has been some frozen ballyhoo at the same price and the squid has been all over the place, depending on who you are buying it from.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Remember me mentioning how nice it was to not have to say, “You should have been here last week” last week? Well I had to say it this week, at least for the start of the week. The fishing for Striped Marlin went from red-hot to lukewarm almost overnight as soon as that had been written. It took until this Friday for the action to return, but it finally did. I have no idea why the bite dropped off, but boats that had been getting 5 to 6 releases per trip were suddenly only getting one, or sometimes none at all. During this time frame the temperature break slowly moved to the west, to where it is now, and it may have been the slow movement that threw everyone off. Now the fish are being found on the cool side of the break, or right on the edge of the warm water. Yesterday we had clients that hooked no Marlin on Thanksgiving release four and unfortunately tail wrap a fifth fish that died during the fight. Other boats were reporting the return of the bait-balls as well and once again the Frigate birds were pointing out the right locations to fish. This meant it was only an hour run to the break giving anglers plenty of time to find the Marlin concentrations.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: I keep telling myself “Self, be patient, the Yellowfin should show up anytime now”, but it is hard to be patient, I want my Sashimi now, dang it. Guess I will just have to continue waiting unless someone stumbles onto a pod of porpoise holding Tuna. It has been happening now and then this past week, and the Tuna have been footballs to 15 pounds, but they have been scarce for everyone. When a boat has found the Tuna they have been quiet about it until they have caught a few, then finally they will announce it on the radio. Everyone within 8 miles then piles on the school and puts them down. My fingers remain crossed that these fish will return soon, and in force.
DORADO: The action on Dorado went had in hand with the action on Striped Marlin this week. As soon as the week started the action dropped to a standstill, but thankfully the bite returned at the end of the week. While the Marlin action moved offshore with the temperature break, the Dorado stayed in the warmer water near the beach. Most boats were finding them from 100 feet to two miles out. I hate to keep repeating myself, but the best way to catch them continues to be trolling lures until one is hooked up, then leaving that first fish out and dropping a live bait back about 50 feet behind it in order to catch others that may be with it. Second most productive (and what happens quite often when the fish are playing hard to get) is boating the first fish so there is something for dinner, then working the area with slow trolled live bait. Where there is one, there is usually another, especially on the larger of the species. Dorado, once they get to about 18 pound or so, seem to start spreading out and you will only find two or three packed together, and the really large fish in the 40 range will be loners.
WAHOO: At the end of the week the Wahoo action picked up for boats working the shallow waters close to the beach. This may be due to the moon once again approaching the new phase, which will be on Dec. 1st. Once again many anglers and crew were surprised to pull in a live bait only to find it had been bitten cleanly in half, or find a lure that had the skirts chopped off. Crews that decided to forgo fishing for Dorado and concentrate on Wahoo changed to wire leaders and either fished their lures on wire lines as well, or placed heavy 24 ounce torpedo sinkers ahead of the lures, running the main line to a swivel, attaching the sinker then attaching the lure to the sinkers other end with another swivel. Working the shallows at 8 to 10 knots with this setup caught a lot of the Wahoo brought in at the end of this week. These fish were not giants, with the larger of them reaching 45 pounds, but the average was a decent 25 pounds.
INSHORE: The little Roosterfish we have been catching continue to bite small lures just off the beach, and there is a decent chance of running into a school of larger fish in the 15-18 pound class while fishing just outside the breakers with live bait. As long as the water on the beach remains fairly warm this bite should continue. While we are still seeing small Sierra and small Yellowtail, they have not been plentiful. Once the water temperature starts to drop we should see an increase in numbers on these fish. I am hoping that the snapper bite will turn on in a couple of weeks when we have the full moon once again, often this time of year the snapper start to school on the high spots in spawning congregations. When this happens the action can really turn on, but please, if you manage to be there at the right time, try to limit your catch, not catch your limit. These are spawning aggregations after all, and we do want fish in the coming years!
FISH RECIPE: Can you say “smoked”? As easy as pie (easier, actually as there is no cooking involved), making a sandwich using smoked tuna or dorado flaked into some mayo (I like using wasabi mayo, check last weeks recipe for that) with some diced celery and onion is magnificent. Use croissants instead of regular bread for a meal you would be willing to pay big bucks for.
NOTES: I hope your thanksgiving was as great as ours was, if you live where it is celebrated. We had a lot to be thankful for this year, and friends to share with at the house. Now, if those darn Tuna would just show up I could have Sashimi for Christmas, Ho-Ho-Ho! This weeks report was written to the music of Mark Knopfler on his second solo release, the 2002 “Sailing To America”. I hope you like it! Until next week, tight lines!
And as always, George writes this report
and posts to the blog on Sunday morning. So if you
can't wait, click the 'FOLLOW' on the top of the blog
page! You will know whenever something new is posted!
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
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Dec 1, 2013; 08:02PM - GORDO BANKS PANGAS San Jose del Cabo December 1, 2013
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric Brictson
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GORDO BANKS PANGAS
San Jose del Cabo
December 1, 2013
Anglers –
Thanksgiving vacationers visiting Los Cabos this week were greeted with
pristine weather conditions. As much of the United States was being
impacted by powerful storms, in Southern Baja the climate has been ideal,
highs ranging 75/80 degrees, scattered early day cloud cover, with plenty
of sunshine the rest of the day. Early in the week there were strong
gusting winds whipping in from the north, this limited angler’s options for
a few days, later in the week the winds resided and ocean conditions were
much more comfortable.
Water temperatures were ranging from 76 degrees on the Pacific to 79/80
degrees off of San Jose del Cabo and towards Los Frailes. Live caballito
and other jacks have been available, should not be long before we see
schools of mackerel appearing on local grounds. Sardinas are starting to be
found in closer proximity, but this is still a day to day situation on
quantity and exactly where these baitfish are located. Squid and ballyhoo
have been offered at the dock area, overall the bait situation has
improved, with lighter pressure in coming weeks, this should give the
resource a chance to rebound some.
The Iman Bank has been the most productive spot recently. There have been
wahoo, dorado, yellowfin tuna and billfish all found on these banks. Most
plentiful fish have been the tuna, these yellowfin are ranging from 10 to
20 pounds, anglers had best results while drift fishing with strips of cut
squid or with sardinas, we are starting to see the commercial panga fleet
from near Los Frailes traveling south to Iman Bank with supplies of freshly
netted sardinas for sale, this proved to be the best bet for finding wide
open surface action. Lots of bonito and skipjack were also schooling on the
same local grounds. Roaming dorado were found scattered throughout the
region, not in big numbers, most dorado were under 15 lb., though a handful
of larger dorado were mixed in.
We are still in peak season for the elusive wahoo, so far these fish have
not gone on any extended consistent wide open bite, though things appear to
shaping up in the direction of some quality wahoo action in the coming
weeks. Everyday these fish are being encountered in limited numbers,
individual charters have landed up to several fish per morning, while
loosing other strikes as well, most anglers were fortunate to land just one
of these speedsters. Of the wahoo being brought in, weights have averaged
25 lb. to 45 lb. The majority of wahoo strikes recently have come on slow
trolled baits, caballito or chihuil and there has been a recent trend of
more wahoo hook ups being reported later in the morning, versus the
traditional first daylight action.
Ocean temperatures have been on a slow cooling trend, we have seen
conditions remain a couple of degrees warmer than would be expected during
this time frame, we do expect to see temperatures continue to fall, as days
are now progressively becoming shorter and with northerly winds becoming
more frequent it will not be long before we experience transition time
again. The annual migration of whales is now arriving in the first wave and
will be peaking in the coming months, as these mammals arrive from their
northern feeding grounds to give berth to their offspring in the
subtropical waters of Southern Baja California.
With the offshore surface action continuing to be the most productive deal,
we are not seeing much bottom action reported. Sierra action is now an
inshore option for anglers having live sardinas.
Striped marlin action was wide open on certain areas, from the Pacific
grounds, multiple catch days were common and also these schooling fish are
now moving in the direction of San Jose del Cabo, marlin are being found
within a couple miles of shore, striking on trolled lures and various
baitfish, the late morning action has been most productive.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos
Marina sent out approximately 138 charters for this past week, with anglers
accounting for a fish count of: 23 striped marlin, 3 sailfish, 47 wahoo,
140 bonito, 10 cabrilla, 7 amberjack, 28 pargo, 22 sierra, 110 dorado and
610 yellowfin tuna.
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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Nov 25, 2013; 11:47AM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Capt. George Landrum
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FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
Nov. 18 - 24, 2013
WEATHER: We have been under partly cloudy skies for most of the week and it has been rather nice! I know that everyone loves the sun, and while you can still get a tan while it's cloudy, it's just not the same. However, from a fisherman's point of view, these partly cloudy skies help in several ways. Number one is less glare on the water, making it easier to see and find fish indicators such as bird piles, fin tips and tails and porpoise in the distance. Second is that without the direct sun, it is more comfortable on the water! Our daytime highs have been in the mid 80's while nighttime lows have been in the mid to low 70's, and, it's been much less humid than it was last week!
WATER: With no storms in the area the swells died back down to what we expect this time of year, 3-5 feet on the Pacific side of the Cape and 1-3 feet on the Cortez side. At least in our area that is. If you travel far enough up the Cortez you eventually end up on the East Cape, and there the wind has kicked things up so that a bumpy ride is almost a guarantee. Locally the water temperatures have remained steady with water from the Arch on the Pacific side to Los Frailes being 81-82 degrees, and outside of 10 miles by Los Frailes being several degrees warmer. We have had a cool spot of water hovering right on top of the 95 spot all week long, it has been 76 degrees and slightly off color. On the Pacific side the water has been blue and 76 degrees with slightly warmer 78 degree water to the west side of the San Jaime Banks.
BAIT: Caballito, Tortilla Chips (baby Pompano), a few Mackerel and assorted other small fish have been the larger live baits available at the usual $3 per bait.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Billfish action remained red hot this past week and you did not have to go far to get to the action as many boats fishing only half days, or anglers fishing on Pangas were able to find decent sized Striped Marlin close to home. With water temperatures at a perfect 76 degrees and blue, the area from the lighthouse to inside the Golden Gate Bank on the Pacific side of the Cape was a perfect area to focus efforts. At times I did hear complaints from anglers looking for meat fish that the Striped Marlin were getting in the way! Schools of baby Pompano, small Mackerel and Caballito close to the beach meant that the Striped Marlin were close as well. With the usual combat fishing we see this time of year, when every boat in the area races to be the first one on the scene, when the high flying Frigates suddenly appear, swooping down on escaping bait, it was exciting, although a bit nerve wracking. Fortunately the fish were thick enough that you did not need to compete in the “speed boat challenge”. Hanging around an area that everyone had just left was a perfect way to make sure you caught a fish with less competition. Slow trolling or drifting through an area everyone had just left gave you a great shot at fish, as the noise and commotion caused by so many boats in one spot drove the fish and the bait under surface. They came back up in a little while, so if you stuck it out you hooked up. The closer to the beach you were, the more likely you were to catch something on the little Pompanos, slightly farther off the beach the Caballito worked and if you were several miles out then Mackerel were the bait of choice. Fish were thick enough off of Los Arcos ridge, Golden Gate Bank and the lighthouse ledge that dropping live bait to 100 feet or more on the drift was a very productive technique. Please remember though, if you are using live bait and drifting like this, ask the crews to use circle hooks. This is less stressful on the Marlin and makes a safe release much easier. Also, please don't remove the fish from the water for a picture before releasing it, the internal organs are normally supported by the bouyancy of the water, and the weight when removed can tear the connective tissue holding them in place. Many charters stress catch and release for Billfish. We do as well, but with the understanding that there will be a few fatalities to the fish, and if fishing in a big money tournament we may take one or two. I just hate to see pictures of people holding a Marlin out of the water, then bragging that they “release” all the fish their anglers catch. Maybe, but what condition are those fish in?
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Tuna are definitely the low spot of our present fishery, at least for the past week. A few fish are being caught at the high spots on the Gordo Banks, but you may end up putting in days of effort to get one, but its a pretty sure thing you will be feeding the sea lions. Farther up the line off of Punta Gorda there has been an occasional flurry of football sized Yellowfin on the high spots, but nothing I have heard of indicates consistent action. Even boats that have been traveling 40 miles offshore have been having a bit of trouble finding Porpoise pods that have held fish. Those that have been able to fish pods that hold Yellowfin have done fairly decent using live bait dropped in front of the traveling schools and flying a kite over the advancing front of these pods of Porpoise. The usual lures pulled while trolling have not been nearly as successful, but when they have worked, they have been dark colored lures for the most part, dark purple or green hootchies, or medium sized 5” lures in dark colors. For some reason cedar plugs have not been very hot for the past week.
DORADO: I believe you could make a good case for either Striped Marlin or Dorado as being our “Fish of the Week” this past week, as they both have been found in the same areas and both of them have provided plenty of action. This week the Dorado action picked back up, with any angler that wanted to catch a limit finding it no problem at all, the only difficulty was holding off on the 10-12 pound fish until one of the 20 pound plus fish hooked up. Normally we would be working the Frigate birds for Dorado, but with the Striped Marlin being as thick as they have been the Frigates have been on them instead. The best way to ensure a good catch on Dorado was to troll a 5” to 7” lure at slightly higher speeds, often 10 knots or better, until hooking up a Dorado, then working the same are with slow trolled live bait. The only problem (and what a problem to have!) were the number of Striped Marlin that would come in and eat bait intended for Dorado. Many of the boats were working the area between the Arch and the desalinization plant on the Pacific side, and going no further than that to get limits on decent Dorado (legal limit is two Dorado per person).
WAHOO: There was no change in the Wahoo report for this week, it is a repeat of last weeks action as the occasional Wahoo continued to surprise anglers, and crews as well, as these toothy fish managed to snip many lures from leaders without anyone noticing! Boats that were using wire leader, or just happened to get hooked right, were bringing back fish averaging 30 pounds. There were not a lot of them, but enough to make each strike a possibility.
INSHORE: Small Roosterfish still dominate the beach fishery but there have been occasional schools of fish in the 15-18 pound class show up, to the enjoyment of the anglers! Combine these Roosterfish with some decent Red Snapper action in the rocks and if you did not want Marlin or Dorado you had options. Or maybe you were just tired of catching Striped Marlin and Dorado and wanted something different. While I do not recommend it for cruisers, Pangas were able to get right in tight to the rocks in order to sling out a small weight with live bait into the pockets among the rocks. There were many snags and break-offs, but there were also some very nice Snapper to be found as well. A few Sierra and a few Yellowtail continue to be caught, the numbers go up just a bit every week, and the size on both seems to be improving slightly.
FISH RECIPE: Seared Tuna with Sesame seeds: Just about as simple as you can make it (my favorite kind!) Recipe posted on the blog in a few minutes.
NOTES: Can you say “Red Hot”? I normally avoid using those words, but since I am not predicting, just reporting, I feel they are appropriate for this past weeks fishing action. Add in the unusual number of whales that are showing up early and it has been great to be on the water! We are approaching Thanksgiving, and we have many things to be thankful for this year. We hope to have 20-30 people over for dinner Thursday once again, and one of the things to be thankful for is the number of friends that we do have. It is time like these months past that you really come to appreciate who they are, and what they do for you. On that note I would like to wish all our U.S. Friends “Happy Thanksgiving”, and offer thanks to all our Canadian and Mexican friends for their continued support this year. This weeks report is written to the music of Roger Creagor on a mixed CD given to me by a good friend. Until next week, Tight Lines!
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