NEW WORLD RECORD YELLOWFIN TUNA

From the watery desk of Mark Daugherty

From the docks of the San Diego Long Range Fleet, a new pending IGFA world record yellowfin tuna was landed by Mike Livingston of Sunland, CA. The SUPER COW weighed in at 405.2 pounds topping the current record of 388, 12 ounces held since 1977. Livingston fought the pending record fish for just under three hours on a Penn 30W filled with 100lb. PowerPro spectra, 100lb. SoftSteel Ultra and a 9/0 Owner Mutu circle hook on a sardine bait. The fish was landed on the 80-foot deluxe sportfisher Vagabond captained by Mike Lackey.


Mike Livingston 405.2-pound yellowfin from paul@fishingvideos.com on Vimeo.

Buena pesca,

Mark
EastCapeGuides.com 

VAN WORMER RESORTS FISHING REPORT 11/12/10

by Eddie Dalmau, Van Wormer Resorts

15 Sailfish Day

Small Black Marlin

Billfish numbers on the rise in the East Cape of Baja California Sur, Mexico. October and November turned out to be the biggest two months of the year when it came to billfish. Hotel Palmas De Cortez hosted several billfish tournaments in October and November including the East Cape Classic, Dark of the Moon, Dove Island Pickle fest, and the Salt Patrol annual tournaments. Each of these tournaments includes billfish as part of their scoring system and are 100% catch and release. In early October we started to notice that the billfish numbers were on the rise. Many sailfish and stripe marlin were being reported by captains and anglers each day at the docks. As October came to an end, the East Cape Classic came to Hotel Palmas De Cortez for its annual tournament. 37 boats fished the tournament and after 3 days of fishing the total numbers were incredible. 134 sailfish, 72 stripe marlin, 19 blue marlin and 2 black marlin for a total of 227 billfish over the three day tournament. Next up was the Dove Island Pickle fest annual tournament. This tournament was much smaller with only 6 boats fishing the three day tournament and they landed 120 billfish. At the same time, over at hotel Playa Del Sol, the Dark of the Moon tournament was taking place. They had 5 teams fishing the two day tournament and they landed 50 sailfish, 26 stripe marlin, 46 dorado, and 11 tuna. As if this wasn’t already great news, on November 4th the annual Salt Patrol tournament arrived at Hotel Palmas De Cortez. 20 boats fished this three day tournament and the results were staggering! This tournament broke the all time Baja’s Van Wormer Resorts record for 20 boats or less with 221 Sailfish, 112 Stripe Marlin, 4 Blue Marlin and 1 Black Marlin for a grand total of 338 billfish. It was really great to see so many billfish in the East Cape over the past few weeks. Catch, Photograph and Release….IT WORKS!

Eddie Dalmau
Baja’s Van Wormer Resorts

VAN WORMER RESORTS FISHING REPORT 11/6/10

by Eddie Dalmau, Van Wormer Resorts

As the fishing season winds down and the East Cape prepares for the windsurfing and kite boarding season, one thing that most will agree on is that it has been one of the best fishing seasons in quite a long time. Many anglers that I spoke with told me that they had been coming down to the East Cape for over 10, 15, 20 years and that they have never seen the fishing as good as it was this season. The East Cape is closing out its season with a bang! Yesterday was the first day of the annual Salt Patrol marlin tournament and it was quite a day. 20 boats entered this year’s tournament, many whom fish the tournament every year. Yesterday’s fish counts were off the charts with 105 billfish consisting of 75 sails, 28 stripe marlin and two blues. Quite a start to this, the last tournament of the season. Earlier in the week we saw some nice numbers in the dorado and tuna, with some nice size fishing coming to the dock. The dorado have been in the 15-40lb. range, much bigger than in past weeks, and the tuna have been coming to the dock in the 30-80lb. range. We are still seeing quite a few wahoo as well, most have been landed near Punta Pescadero. The billfish have been staying to the north of Palmas De Cortez still being landed along the buoy line all the way up to the ocho ocho. We are still seeing roosters and jacks near the shore line, with some nice 30-40lb. roosters being landed by clients at Punta Colorada and Palmas De Cortez. As a matter of fact, one guest was fishing off the dock at Palmas De Cortez and a rooster hit is bait and within 10 seconds his rod exploded into several pieces. The guest was shocked at first, but then was very excited as he had a great story to tell everyone.

That’s it for this week amigos! Until next week!

Eddie Dalmau
Baja’s Van Wormer Resorts

Van Wormer Resorts Fishing Report 10/29/10

by Eddie Dalmau, Van Wormer Resorts

Hola Amigos! Once again the hot topic down in the East Cape was the number of billfish being landed. If you’ve never landed a billfish, then you must make a trip to the East Cape. There just isn’t any place like it in the world when it comes to fishing for blue marlin, stripe marlin and sailfish. We had boats that landed in one day 8 sails, 5 stripes and 2 blues. It doesn’t get much better than that my friends. The hot spot for billfish continues to be a few miles north of the “ocho ocho”, which is a little over 1 ½ hours north of hotel Palmas De Cortez. The hot bait seems to be ballyhoo and try to go as light on the line as you can. As if great marlin fishing wasn’t enough, the tuna bit, which had slowed down a bit earlier in the week, picked up quite a bit on Thurday and Friday. We had a good number of 40-80 pound tunas come to the dock along with some nice dorado up to 41lbs. If you like fishing close to shore or from the beach, there was plenty of action near Punta Colorada where the skip jacks were schooling. The biggest fish this week was landed by Roberto Gil of Chula Vista, California. Roberto landed this nice 185lb. yellowfin that took him close to 3 hours to land (see picture below).

That’s it for this week….hope to see you in the East Cape soon!

Eddie Dalmau
Baja’s Van Wormer Resorts

BIG Blue in Sea of Cortez Almost Wins Bisbee Tournament

From the watery desk of Mark Daugherty

800lb. blue marlin landed in the Sea of Cortez almost wins the Bisbee Black and Blue Tournament.
Read more...

I tell all my clients, "YOU HAVE TO BE READY FOR THE BIG FISH YOU HOOK, NOT THE FISH YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING TO HOOK."

Check out Bisbee.com for the full story...

Buena pesca,

Mark
EastCapeGuides.com 

East Cape Guides Report

From the watery desk of Mark Daugherty

Aftermath of a wide open tuna bite

Here's a recap from the last few weeks on the East Cape. Weather on the East Cape has been consistent in the low 90s, and perfect nights with a light breeze. We had some wind a few weeks back but everything has settled down and the tuna bite took off. Although we had to make an hour to run down to the Iman Bank, we were rewarded with wide open bites when we arrived. Tuna were biting none stop on sardinas and bait was plentiful. Remember to bring that 20 and 30 flourocarbon, and plenty of size 1 and 1/0 bait hooks. 

We also had a steady bite on the blue marlin with two clients taking blues on trolling lures. The magic color has been purple/black for lures for both billfish and dorado. A large school of striped marlin and sailfish have been actively taking lures about 10 miles off of Rancho Leonero.

Blue marlin on the move after being hooked

Healthy blue marlin ready to be released

Brutus from Makaira Pulling Lures = the hot blue marlin lure

Suzie with a very nice sailfish

Buena pesca,

Mark
EastCapeGuides.com 

Van Wormer Resorts Fishing Report 10/15/10

by Eddie Dalmau, Van Wormer Resorts

Let’s Talk Hookup’s annual tournament came to town this week and they couldn’t have picked a better week. The weather has been a comfortable 90 degrees and fishing has been even hotter. Early in the week the hot spot continued to be south of Los Frailes where anglers were hooking up to tuna up to 50lbs., dorado up to 35lbs, stripe marlin and lots of sailfish. Later in the week the action switched to the north and those who made the 45 mile trip were rewarded with big tuna, blue marlin, stripe marlin, sailfish, dog tooth snapper, dorado, roosterfish and white bonita. Today was the last day of the Let’s Talk Hookup tournament and it was quite a day for most anglers. I can’t remember a day like today when it came to wahoo. I think there were 15 wahoo brought to the Palmas De Cortez dock today alone. The wahoo ranged from 10 to 38 pounds and were landed just off of Los Frailes. I also couldn’t believe the amount of sailfish that were landed and released this week. I believe there were something like 80 sailfish landed this week. We also saw some nice amberjacks this week, the biggest weighing in at 70lbs. caught on the Fresh Catch. Average day time high = 92degrees, Average night time low = 73degrees, average water temperature = 82degrees. I know I’ve said this before, but it truly has been a great fishing season and there is still time to get in on the action. Hope to see you all real soon.

Marc Pilkvist of Southern California and the boys landed 4 nice wahoo.

Pete Gray radio host of Lets talk hookup and the boys with their 38.6lb. wahoo

Until Next week…

Eddie Dalmau
Baja’s Van Wormer Resorts

Reports for The Gordo Banks & Cabo

by Cass Tours

Gordo Banks - San Jose del Cabo

The start of the fall season was greeted with clear sunny skies, after last week's rainfall from T.S. Georgette the parched Baja landscape has rapidly turned lush green. Crowds of tourists are now light, but within a couple of weeks that will certainly change as the big money tournament events are slated to take place. The weather warmed up dramatically during the later part of this week, as the record heat wave that swept through Southern California seems to have drifted south. Light winds have kept ocean conditions very calm and with water temperatures now averaging 85 degrees or higher throughout the region, this has made for warm fishing days, be sure to bring lots of beverages in order to stay hydrated.

The La Playita panga fleets have been fishing mainly from the Gordo Banks to La Fortuna and Iman. Most common species being targeting were yellowfin tuna, dorado and wahoo. The bite has been up and down, as to where and when the best action was encountered on any particular day. Bait supplies continue to be the fresh dead brined sardinas, with some live sardinas now being found in closer proximity, off of the Palmilla area. Also there have been jacks, small tuna, bolito and skipjack which were caught on the fishing grounds themselves and used as trolling baits.

Yellowfin tuna continued to be found on both the Inner and Outer Gordo Banks, these fish were striking on dead sardinas that were near the high spots. The yellowfin were finicky as to when they became more aggressive, apparently they were content to feed on the natural baits sources that are on the banks at this time and not always interested in taking the sardinas. Though most charters averaged one to three fish per day while targeting this area, these tuna were ranging in sizes from 30 to upwards of 200 pounds, with even larger super cow sized fish being reportedly lost after being battled on heavy tackle for three, four or five hours. Anglers have most commonly been using main line of 60 to 80 lb. with fluorocarbon leader of 60 to 90 lb.

Palmilla became a spot where smaller football sized tuna and medium sized dorado were being found, live sardinas were now available near this area and proved to be a good options for finding plenty of action on medium sized fish, instead of going for the one or two big fish further offshore.

Wahoo were spread throughout the zone, the Gordo Banks, La Fortuna to Vinorama all produced strikes for anglers trolling Rapalas and skirted lead or jet heads, a bit sluggish in the warmer waters, but some anglers accounted for as many as three wahoo in the box per morning, with other short strikes lost. The wahoo were ranging in sizes from 20 to 45 pounds.

Dorado action was much the same, more juvenile sized fish found in the direction of the Sea of Cortez and lager sized bulls found further offshore and on the Pacific. Charters were accounting for an average of 2 to 6 dorado per boat.

Billfish tapered off a bit over the previous couple of weeks, but there still were some larger sized black and blue marlin being hooked into, in the past couple of days there were several blacks that were hooking into on the Gordo Banks while trolling with larger live baits, which more often than not was either a skipjack or cocinero (jack) in recent days.

Other catches include a mix of grouper, dogtooth snapper and amberjack, despite the calm surface, there still was a swift current on most days and this made it more difficult to concentrate on the bottom.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 61 charters for this week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 1 striped marlin, 1 black marlin, 2 blue marlin, 2 sailfish, 14 wahoo, 122 dorado, 154 yellowfin tuna, 18 bonito, 8 cabrilla, 2 grouper, 7 dogtooth snapper and 10 amberjack..


Gaviota Fleet - Cabo San Lucas

WOW! You should have been in Cabo San Lucas this past week as the fishing flared to it's highest level in many months, (probably the best for this year so far) and it is still happening as this goes to print. The dorado bite has truly set the fishing pace and provided easy limit style fishing opportunities for nearly all boats fishing. The largest fish for the week was taken aboard the "Gaviota XI", skippered by Captain Victor Cota, a 325 lb. blue marlin. The trophy was taken by angler Ronnie McCormick, using 60 lb. mono and following a 5 hour battle at the Jaime Bank. The "TUNA TIME" had a terrific 4-day fishing stretch that produced the largest tuna for the week, a 200 lb. yellowfin, taken by anglers David Word and John Wells, Florida, 22 miles offshore from White Hill. In addition to the big tuna, the anglers also released 3 stripers, 1 wahoo and limited out on dorado for their 3 fishing days. The 4th fishing day provided everlasting memories for the Guillermo "Memo" Zavala party, (part of my annual hunting group) consisting of his wife, Rosie, (Jamul, CA) son Eddie, (San Diego, CA) Eddie's Fiance, Corinne Durazzo, (San Diego, CA) and Mark & Lupe Burruell, (Phoenix, AZ). Rosie released what may have been a world record sailfish that was estimated at 180 lbs., Corinne released a huge striper that was estimated near 200 lbs., Mark landed a yellowfin tuna and lost another that nearly spooled him and Lupe, Eddie and Memo caught dorado with Memo's dorado nearing the 50 lb. mark. According to Memo, it was the trip of a lifetime; the kind of trip that makes you want to go back, again and again.The overall combined fish counts reflected for a total of 33 days fished produced 2 blue marlin, 14 stripers, (13 released) 1 sailfish, 9 wahoo, 4 yellowfin tuna and 264 dorado. While the billfish counts were at 50% it was only because the boats were very busy with the dorado catching. Almost all of the billfish were taken on artificials while the effort was being focused on the dorado. It was an incredibly good fishing week for the entire fleet from Cabo.

Cabo Climate: Mostly sunny and warm days, temps from 74 nights to 92 daytime highs.

Sea Conditions: Excellent on both sides with temps at 82-83 on the Pacific side, rising to 84-85 at Cabo Falso and continuing the rise to 88-89 just above the Gorda Banks and excellent clarity throughout the area.

Best Fishing Area: The Pacific side remains the hot spot, especially for the dorado catches and stretches from near Cabo to the Golden Gate and offshore to the Jaime Bank.

Best Lure/bait: Black & purple colors were the hot ticket this past week and everything seemed to want'em. The blue marlin, tuna, dorado, wahoo, all were eager on the artificials.

Live bait supply: Caballitos were available but were mixed in with small jacks.

Van Wormer Resorts Fishing Report 9/17/10

by Eddie Dalmau, Van Wormer Resorts

Fishing this week out of the Van Wormer Resort’s fleet was above average. The hot spot this week continues to be La Ribera. From La Ribera to Los Frailes seems to have been the spot for the past few weeks. This week was no exception. One angler landed a 120lbs. Pargo and a 400+lbs. Black Marlin in that neighborhood. I will hopefully have pictures and more details on this next week. That is also where you will find the large school of tuna that seems to have settled in down near the south end of the East Cape. This week, the VWR fleet landed over 600 yellowfins, 300 dorado, 22 pargo, 18 blue marlin, 60 sailfish, 15 striped marlin, 110 triggerfish, 18 wahoo, 13 pampano, 2 amber jacks, 7 cabrilla, 14 roosters and 1 black marlin. I always say that if you want variety, there is no place like it in the world. I was told by the boat dispatchers that the fishing is very close to the hotels. They told me that many boats were coming in at 1:30pm full of fish. That’s it for this week amigos. Remember that Punta Colorada will be reopening on October 1st.

Until Next week…

Eddie Dalmau
Baja’s Van Wormer Resorts

Reports for East Cape, Gordo Banks & Cabo

by Cass Tours

EAST CAPE REPORT

Water- 83-88 mixed, rain on Wednesday

Air- Cooler than last week, first real rain of the year on Wednesday. Highs in the low 90's.

Another stellar week of fishing. Limits of Yellowfin for all anglers. Most hotel boats returning by lunch with limits of Yellowfin and Dorado. Billfish are available, however, most anglers are staying with the tuna. Inshore has been wide open, lots of Pompano, big Pargo and as usual for all this season, the Roosterfish are big and plentiful, 50 #er's are common.
We enjoyed our first real rain of the season, the E Cape needed the water.

Yellowfin- Big tuna are being taken very close inside and under Porpoise outside. Limits for all anglers. The average fish is around 20 # with 50 to 100 #ers a daily occurrence. This has been the best tuna fishing year I can recall . Live Sardine best, Chunked Squid, bright Hoochies and cedar plugs all working.

Dorado- Mixed with the tuna. Most in the 10 pound class. Lots around, limits for most anglers. Larger bulls in the 40 to 50 pound range are being taken daily. Live Sardine working best, trolled lures have been effective.

Billfish- A few released daily. Some big Blues in the area. Very liight pressure as most anglers opting for the Yellowfin. Very spread north and south. The inside banks, La Ribera in particular have been holding lots of Stripers and Blues. Not many Sailfish around this year. Live Caballito, trolled Squid colored lures.

Inside- As many Pompano as ranch anglers want. Lots and lots around, average fish 5 #'s to 10. Big Pargo to 30 #'s are being taken daily. Big Gallos again this week, our best Roosterfishing year by far. Live Sardine and Caballito working.

GORDO BANKS REPORT

As is typical for the month of September the crowds of visiting anglers are light. The Tropical Depression that formed last week dissipated just as quickly and never really did much besides increase ocean swells some, as well as creating higher than usual humidity. We are now in the pattern where local thundershowers have been developing daily over the hills to the north of San Jose del Cabo, but these isolated showers have yet to reach to coastal areas, though the areas near the airport are turning green, as the scorched landscape quickly soaks up the welcome moisture.

The bait situation has consisted mainly of fresh dead sardinas that the local pangeros have been netting from the East Cape region each afternoon, occasionally limited amounts of live sardinas have been obtainable, as well as a mix of caballito, moonfish or mullet. The fresh dead sardinas continued to work well for the yellowfin tuna, which have been found in sizes ranging from footballs to 100 pound specimens. The two main areas where local San Jose del Cabo fleets are now concentrated on are the La Fortuna/Iman Banks area and the Gordo Banks.

In the past couple of days the action on the Outer Gordo Banks came to a standstill and the bite switched to the Inner Bank. Larger sized yellowfin to over 100 pounds could be seen coming up and feeding on the surface, these fish proved to be somewhat finicky and anglers needed larger amounts of chummed sardinas and lighter mono leaders in order to entice them to strike. These tuna ranged from 30 pounds and up and individual pangas were accounting for an average of one to four fish per morning. This same area has continue to produce a few blue and black marlin hooks ups, though no huge marlin were landed in recent days, just a few heartbreak stories of lost hoop ups, a couple of marlin in the 200 to 250 pound class were landed. Then there was a black marlin released on Friday off of the local La Playita 32 ft. "Alejandra" cruiser that was estimated to be close to 600 pounds.

The tuna bite found north of the banks near La Fortuna and Iman varied daily as to exactly where, what time, quantity, as well as how many black skipjack were mixed in. The majority of the time the bite was better early in the day while drift fishing with sardinas, most of these yellowfin were in the 10 to 30 pound range, charters averaged up to five tuna per boat. Dorado action was found more by trolling medium sized feathers or skirted lures, though practically all of the dorado encountered were juvenile fish of ten pounds or less.

Other action included some quality sized amberjack and dogtooth snapper, though with strong currents this action was limited. Larger live baits such as caballito or moonfish were particular good for this action, with La Fortuna being the most productive spot. Only a couple of incidental wahoo were being accounted for by the combined fleet for the week, these fish become less active in the warmer waters, which have ranged to 85 degrees.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 54 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 2 blue marlin, 1 black marlin, 2 sailfish, 2 wahoo, 18 amberjack, 14 dogtooth snapper, 7 cabrilla, 39 dorado, 198 yellowfin tuna, 21 bonito, 76 black skipjack and. 2 roosterfish and 12 jack crevalle.

CABO SAN LUCAS REPORT
Gaviota Fleet

The billfish action is much better than the numbers reflect. On many occasions, the anglers just don't wish to focus on billfish and the catch numbers tend to make the catching appear to be on the downside and that is not necessarily correct. The "Gaviota IV", skippered by Captain Octavio Castillo, was high boat for the week, reflecting a total of 5 stripers released for 2 days fished and the "Gaviota X", skippered by Captain Jorge Gil Marquez, fished a single day for two stripers released. The overall fish counts for a combined 12 days fished reflected 9 stripers released, 1 shark, 2 wahoo, 2 yellowfin tuna ad 48 dorado for their efforts. A few black & blue marlin were reported throughout the Cabo Fleets but mostly smaller fish in the 200-300 lb. ranges.

Cabo Climate: Partly cloudy days with temps from 74 nights to 93 daytime highs and light NW breezes, 10-15 knots.

Sea Conditions: Remains good throughout the area. Pacific side at 79-81, rising to 83 at Cabo San Lucas and continuing to rise to 86-87 from Chileno and into the Sea of Cortez. Good water clarity in all directions.

Best Fishing Area: Two area seemed best. The 1150 Fathom spot for the billfish and Cabeza de Ballena, (Gray Rock) for a mixed bag catch.

Best Lure/Bait: Live bait was best but a few billfish taken on lures.

Live Bait Supply: Live bait remains OK for our boats and continues to be mostly caballitos.

Van Wormer Resorts Fishing Report 9/10/10

by Eddie Dalmau, Van Wormer Resorts

“FISHING IS EVERYWHERE”.....This was the answer I received today when I asked one of our Captains where the bite was this week and how far out are they running. Captain Alberto Cota of the J & B said that it did not make much difference which way you went, whether you went 20 miles to the north or 20 miles to the south, you were going to find fish. There were plenty of tuna and dorado brought to the docks this week. Most were in the 20-40 lb. range, but if you were willing to go out a little further, then you had a shot at getting into tuna in the 100-150lbs. range. The hot spot this week had to be Los Frailes (no surprise), located just south of Hotel Punta Colorada. It was a hot bed for tuna, dorado, pargo, and roosters. Talking with a few guests this week, there was plenty of billfish action as well this week. We saw 20 blue marlin ranging from 200-400lbs., 23 sailfish and 35 striped marlin. Some of the other species caught this week, but not in any great number included 6 wahoo, 18 pargo, 23 roosters, and 3 cabrilla. The day time temperatures continue to be in the upper 90’s with a night time low in the low 80’s. Water temps. continue to be in the low to mid 80’s in the East Cape, so conditions couldn’t be any better.

That’s it for this week amigos.

Until next week….

Eddie Dalmau
Baja’s Van Wormer Resorts

East Cape Guides Report

From the watery desk of Mark Daugherty

We are starting to get some nice fish on the East Cape, blues and a few blacks. Here's the crew from Hotel Punta Colorada with a nice blue marlin.

Johnny, Nacho, Francisco, Roberto

Buena pesca,

Mark
EastCapeGuides.com 

Van Wormer Resorts Fishing Report 9/3/10

by Eddie Dalmau, Van Wormer Resorts

We are still seeing nice size yellowfin tuna and they are not very far out. Some of the best fishing this week was right in the Bay of Palmas, directly in front of most East Cape resorts. Anglers could find schools of Dorado, Yellowfin, Pargo, Pampano and bonitas just a few miles from the dock. As most know, that is not usually the case, but for several days this week anglers enjoyed the short boat ride to the fishing grounds. Not all the fishing was close enough to see land. The Marlin and Sails were tougher than usual this week. We did see some nice Striped Marlin and Sailfish out there, but with the inshore action being as good as it was this week, many decided to stay close. We are still seeing some nice Roosters near the beach at Punta Colorada, with the biggest this week coming in at 45lbs. The Squid have moved on and most anglers are now using sardines, mullet, frozen ballyhoo, and lures. This week’s picture is from Jim Gallivan of Santa Clarita, CA who landed this nice 35lb. Dorado while fishing out of Hotel Palmas De Cortez. Jim was on the super panga Splash II with captain Ernesto. The dorado was landed while in a tuna boil near Punta Pescadero. Having landed 5 medium size tuna, Jim threw back another sardine and to his surprise hooked this nice Dorado.

That’s it for this week amigos!

Eddie Dalmau
Baja’s Van Wormer Resorts

Reports for La Paz, East Cape, Gordo Banks & Cabo

by Cass Tours

Cabo San Lucas - Gaviota Fleet
The billfish catches were right at the average of one per boat per fishing day and the "Gaviota VI" was the only boat landing a blue marlin for the week. Fishing with Captain Plutarco Cesena, angler Jaime Blay, Santa Fe, NM, landed his first blue marlin, a 250-pounder, taken on 50 lb. test, following a 90 minute battle. The blue was taken on an artificial and off the Herradura area. The "Tuna Time", skippered by Captain Christian Lopez, fished a single day for 1 single striper released, 2 wahoo, 1 mako shark and limits of dorado on the edge of the Jaime Bank on the Pacific side of Cabo. The dorado counts were up a bit this past week and some of the fish were of nice quality, approaching the 45 lb. mark. The overall combined catches for a total of 10 days fished reflected 1 blue marlin, 9 stripers released, 2 sharks, 3 wahoo, 3 yellowfin tuna and 56 dorado.

Cabo Climate: Cloudy, hot & humid and Tropical Storm Frank pushing southwest swells to Cabo while hovering in the Clarion Island area, about 400 miles or so offshore. Temps ranged from 75 nights to 96 daytime highs.

Sea Conditions: Some bigger south-southwest swells but not enough wind on them to hamper the fishing effort. Water temps on the Pacific side to Cabo Falso were at 84 and rising to 85-86 by Cabo and up to the Gorda Banks, then rising to 87-88 above the banks. Good blue water conditions throughout the area.

Best Fishing Area: Still good fishing fairly close to home port but starting to scatter around with good fishing at the Jaime Bank, a few marlin at the Golden Gate, big yellowfin tuna at the Gorda Banks and scattered blue marlin strikes on both sides of the peninsula.

Best Lure/Bait: Live bait was best for the dorado and the stripers but the blues were more active on the dorado colored artificials on a faster troll.

Live Bait Supply: Mostly caballitos this past week with good availability. Sardinas scarce with the high surf/swell conditions.

San Jose Del Cabo - Gordo Banks
With the month of August now winding down we can say that all around it definitely turned out to be busier and more productive that did July. Crowds have lightened this last week as families are returning to their school routines. The mild summer conditions gave way to more normal like serious heat and humidity this past week. At this time Hurricane Frank has been downgraded to a tropical depression, turning back toward the Southern Baja Peninsula as it dissipates, though there still a chance of some isolated thundershowers and the swell that had picked up is now diminishing. There is a new low pressure area near Acapulco, so we will be monitoring this system in the coming days.

Water conditions were mostly calm with variable ground swells of four to eight feet, water temperature ranged up close to 85 degrees in the direction of the Sea of Cortez. Local pangeros are driving to La Ribera in the afternoon to net sardinas off the beach in order to supply the La Playita fleets with fresh dead sardinas, which have been the ticket for catching the yellowfin tuna, as the tuna continued to dominate the action.

Fleets were fishing from the Gordo Banks to Iman. Drifting with the fresh dead bait has been the most productive method. The largest concentrations of tuna were found on the Iman Bank, these fish averaged 20 to 35 pounds. The fish on the Gordo Banks were not as numerous, but were weighing 30 to 100 or more pounds. Most charters were averaging anywhere from 4 to 10 yellowfin per morning. Also quite a few bonito and skipjack mixed in. Dorado were found spread out throughout the area, striking on trolled lures and bait once the smaller sized school were located, most of the dorado were 15 pounds or less, but there were a few exceptions of larger bulls being accounted for. Wahoo were encountered on occasion while trolling lures over the structure near La Fortuna to Iman, weights ranged to 40 pounds.

Most anglers were concentrating on the tuna action, as this was the surest bet of filling up the fish box and coolers. A few nice sized dogtooth snapper were landed off of the same spots where the tuna were schooling, also a handful of amberjack and cabrila.

The billfish action produced a mix of striped, blue and black marlin, sailfish have been surprisingly scarce this summer. Black marlin up to 450 pounds were landed from the La Playita panga fleet in recent days, also at least one blue marlin of 400 pounds was accounted for. Most of these larger marlin were hooked into while trolling larger baitfish in the vicinity of the Gordo Banks, several were hooked into on trolled lures as well. Something about the full moon always seem to make the black and blue marlin more active, they like the larger tidal swing that produces more upwelling on the high spots, this seems to make the whole food chain more lively.

The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 58 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 2 blue marlin, 4 black marlin, 5 hammerhead, 54 dorado, 404 yellowfin tuna, 4 wahoo, 12 cabrilla, 10 amberjack, 6 dogtooth snapper, 11 huachinango and 42 bonito.

Vista Sea Sport - East Cape Dive Report
Prior to Hurricane Frank coming on the seen diving was simply spectacular. We were enjoying the best conditions all year with Tidy Bowl blue 88 degree water and 80 to 100 ft. plus vis.

As Frank passes by our biggest impact has been bumpy boat rides and a little less vis. Sea life sightings have been the normal parade of large pelagic fish and huge schools of reef fish the Sea of Cortez is famous for. With any luck conditions will be back to normal in a day or two with calms seas.

Makaira Lures - BIG BRUTUS & BIG 19

From the watery desk of Mark Daugherty

Two new lures from Justin at Makaira Pulling Lures for 2010

"Big Brutus" and "Big 19"

From Justin:
Just like the name implies, they are grown up versions of the original "Brutus" and "19", sporting a 1 7/8" diameter head. They also come in weighted or non-weighted versions and like yall know can be made to order with whatever head color and skirt color combinations you like. Check out the picture with the original "Brutus" and "19" in there for reference.

From Mark:
I've been running Justin's lures for about 4 years with excellent result. His Brutus has been "blue marlin money" for us on the long corner. This lure digs in, throws a huge smoke trail and really is a great fish raiser. The 19, with it's slight angled head and long lines creates a beautiful smoke trail, running well in rougher seas. Now with the BIG Brutus and BIG 19 on the short corner Justin has the spread covered. Throw in weighted/keeled options and these baits will cover all sea conditions. I don't do too many product endorsements but Justin's line of lures are worth checking out.

Go to Makaira Pulling Lures Website...

Buena pesca,

Mark
EastCapeGuides.com 

Reports for La Paz, East Cape, Gordo Banks & Cabo

by Cass Tours

Big Fish Round Up 2010 Tournament Results
East Cape

Tuna Category

1st Jochen Madleisky 166.4 lbs
2nd Gregory Stitzinger 144.7 lbs
3rd Jeremy Davis 104.4 lbs
4th Henery Seul 103.3 lbs
5th Robert Robles 75.7 lbs

Dorado Category

1st Marlon Bechtol 45.6lbs
2nd Richard Schlager 45.4 lbs
3rd Mike Hanratty 45.3 lbs
4th Jim Davis 38.1 lbs
5th Dan O'Shea 31.9 lbs

Dates for next year August 5-9, 2011

San Jose del Cabo
Gordo Banks

As we reach the middle of August the weather conditions are feeling increasingly tropical, more cloud cover, at times there were threatening rain showers, which to this date have yet to develop. Increased crowds this past week, perhaps the family rush before school starts back up and also maybe due to the more favorable fish reports for the past couple of weeks. Days are quite warm as would be expected at this time, but actually there has been some relief due to breezes off of the Pacific Ocean and cloud cover. Conditions have been relatively calm in the direction of the Sea of Cortez, moderate swells with water temperatures averaging 76 to 82 degrees. The next five weeks are historically the period when the greatest numbers of hurricanes have formed and made land fall on the Southern Baja Peninsula, we will be watching the weather forecasts closely during this time.

Local San Jose fleets have been concentrating mostly on the fishing grounds from the Gordo Banks, La Fortuna, to Iman and the San Luis Banks. Large concentrations of baitfish were seen schooling on the surface of these local fishing grounds. Sardinas have been the main bait source, bags of fresh dead bait as well as limited quantities of live sardinas which were delivered mid morning to the fishing grounds have been available. There also has been a mix of mullet, caballito and moonfish available.

This last week there were more big marlin hooked into around the Gordo Banks area than all of last summer combined. Two black marlin of 500 pounds were accounted for by the local panga fleets, as well as a couple of other fish that ranging in the 300 to 400 pound class. Another black marlin weighing an estimated 600 pounds was brought into the panga docking weigh fillet area at 11:00 p.m. on Monday by the local Daniel Fisher team aboard Cabo 35 ft. Sportfisher named the "Fisherman" same boat that won last year's WON Tuna Jackpo t with the 383 lb. yellowfin. All of these big marlin were hooked into while trolling larger live baitfish, such as yellowfin tuna or various skipjack species.

Other highlights and significant catches this past week included a 155 pound yellowfin tuna that was subdued by Dave Marcias of Yorba Linda, Ca. while fishing on the 32 ft. Alejandra, this tuna hit on a smaller sized Mexican flag patterned feather near the San Luis Bank. There was an even a larger tuna landed, a super cow of 319 pounds was weighed in on Monday by local La Playita pangero Efrin Arripez. This is the first yellowfin over 300 pounds this season that we know about taken off of the Gordo Banks. It hit near the Outer Bank while Efrin's group were drift fishing on the 22 ft. panga "Faty" with two dead sardinas pinned on the same hook with straight 60 pound mono, no leader.

Yellowfin tuna were the main stay of the daily catches. Most charters were avenging 4 to 10 fish per day, size ranged from 10 to 300 plus pounds. Average size tuna was 20 to 40 pounds. Fishing were hitting best on either the fresh dead or live sardinas. The area near La Fortuna to Iman produced the biggest numbers of fish. Dorado were being caught at perhaps a 1 to 5 ratio compared to tuna, sizes ranged up to 30 pounds.

Only a handful of wahoo were reported this past week, these fish can become a bit sluggish in the warmer waters. A few quality sized dogtooth snapper are being landed each day by the combined panga fleets, these fish are now being found on the offshore structure while drift fishing with whole or cut baits. Some amberjack and cabrilla rounded out the bottom action, with yo-yo jigs accounting for most of this action, strong currents continues to make this type of fishing more difficult.

The combined panga fleets launching from the La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos area sent out approximately 89 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 1 sailfish, 5 striped marlin, 1 blue marlin, 4 black marlin, 5 wahoo, 11 cabrilla, 15 huachinango (red snapper), 8 roosterfish, 88 dorado, 378 yellowfin tuna, 13 amberjack, 8 jack crevalle, 34 skipjack, 26 bonito and 16 dogtooth snapper.

Cabo San Lucas
Gaviota Fleet

There were some excellent catches this week from the Gaviota Sportfishing Fleet that started with a 240 lb. yellowfin tuna taken aboard the "Gaviota VI" on Monday, August 9, 2010, followed by a 400 lb. blue marlin, taken aboard the "Gaviota X" on Tuesday. The "Gaviota IV" had a terrific 2 fishing days that reflected 4 stripers, and a sailfish released and a dinner dorado for the charter group. The overall combined catches for a total of 26 days fished reflected 1 blue marlin, 23 stripers, (21 released) 3 sailfish released, 1 wahoo, 17 dorado and 13 yellowfin tuna. (I had been waiting on additional angler information that may yet arrive, concerning the anglers of the big fish and the details for the catches, but since it has not yet arrived, I wanted to get this portion of the report out, today. I may have supplemental information later today or tomorrow and will forward it on).
Cabo Climate: Intermittent sunny-cloudy days with temps that ranged from 75 nights to 97 daytime highs and very light tropical breezes.

Sea Conditions: Waters are pretty warm on both sides of the peninsula. The Pacific side reflects 77-80 degrees and rises to 85 degrees going into the Sea of Cortez side. Water is clean green to about 7 miles then clean & blue on out from there.

Best Fishing Area: There appears to be a couple of good areas now that include the 1150 fathom spot at about 25 miles from Cabo, (the two big fish for the week came from the 1150 fathom spot) and Gray Rock (Cabeza de Ballena) to Chileno and out 3-6 miles from shore.

Best Lure/Bait: Both live bait and artificials were working well this past week. The blue marlin was taken on a green colored lure and stripers were being taken on both, live bait and artificials.

Live Bait Supply: Remains good for Caballitos at the $3.00 per bait rate.

Van Wormer Resort Fishing Report 8/13/10

by Eddie Dalmau, Van Wormer Resorts

As the August heat descends on the East Cape, fishermen descend on the Sea of Cortez in search of big game. August is considered by many as the best month for large fish such as 500-800lb. blue marlin, 200-300lb. tuna and 50-60lb. dorado. This August did not disappoint. So far this month we have seen a 560lb. blue marlin, a 246lb. yellowfin tuna, and a 62lb. dorado. Many will say that August is too hot to be in the East Cape, and I don’t blame them. But if you can handle temps. in the upper 90’s, you just can’t beat the fishing in August.

This week we saw some incredible fishing once again. Most boats right now are landing plenty of tuna, stripe marlin, sailfish, dorado, and roosters. The tuna bite has been relatively close to the hotels, as has most of the good fishing this week. There has been lots of roosterfish action just off shore of hotel Punta Colorada with some nice 50-60 pounders boated this week. Mike Rieser of Baja Fly Fishing Co. reported that the surf fishing around Punta Colorada continues to be tough, with a few jacks and roosters being landed, but not in any great numbers.

If you like fishing for a big variety of species, I mean something like catching 15 different species in one day, then you need to be in the East Cape right now. Everything from Wahoo to Billfish to Jacks are in right now. So pack a bag and Escape to the Cape….East Cape, B.C.S., Mexico. Great specials available for August and September.

Until next week!

Eddie Dalmau
Baja’s Van Wormer Resorts

East Cape Guides Special Report

From the watery desk of Mark Daugherty

$100,000 REWARD FOR LOS BANDIDOS DE LA PESCA. THEY ARE VERY DANGEROUS, ARMED ONLY WITH LOLLIPOPS AND BIG FISH. PLEASE APPROACH THEM WITH EXTREME CAUTION AS THE ARE KNOWN TO ASSOCIATE WITH THE CHUPA CABRA.

RECOMPENSA DE $100.000 LOS BANDIDOS DE LA PESCA.  SON MUY PELIGROSOS, ARMADOS SOLO CON PALETAS Y PECES GRANDES. POR FAVOR, CON PRECAUCION EXTREMA COMO SON CONOCIDOS EN ASOCIAR A LA CHUPA CABRA.

THEY ARE CURRENTLY BEING HUNTED BY THIS MAN. HE IS KNOWN TO BE THE MOST INTERESTING MAN IN THE WORLD...

ACTUALMENTE ESTÁN SIENDO PERSEGUIDOS POR ESTE HOMBRE. ES CONOCIDO POR SER EL HOMBRE MÁS INTERESANTE DEL MUNDO...

Cass Tours Fishing Report

East Cape Fishing with Cass
by Cass Tours

August 3, 2010
Mike Chavira scored on this 130lb yellowfin tuna. He caught the fish on 40lb test with a chunk of squid......it took him 25 minutes to boat the fish. Of course his success was due to my instruction other wise he would have lost the fish, sitting next to Mike is Jo Barcimo his filipino house boy.

August 4, 2010
This one put up a tougher fight and took 1 and 1/2 hours to get on the boat. There's alot of big fish on the Iman bank which is about a 2 hour run from the East Cape and an hour run from San Jose del Cabo. Prime bait was chunking with squid and drifitng with 40 to 60 pound test outfits. Pictured left to right is our friend and great guide Santos, Jo Barcimo, Mike Chavira and me. There also alot of smaller yellowfin about a 1/2 hour from Rancho Leonero, most are in the 10# to 20#

BIG FISH ROUND UP RESULTS- DAY 1:

My oh my what a great first day, first tuna we weighed today was a 104lb'er and thats what I wanted, one fish to set the mark, next boat brought in a 45.6lb dorado so we were eleated that this was a good sign for a competitive tournament. As boats continued to arrive with more tuna and dorado we continued to weigh them to fill in the top five tuna and dorado for the first day of fishing. With 5 minutes left before we closed the scales at 4:00pm Ryamond Kawamata's boat the El Loco came to the dock and dropped a nice big tuna on the dock, this was an impressive fish. The fish was weighed and tip the scales at 166.4lbs, yikes......this is going to be hard to beat as this the biggest tuna ever in the BFRU.....I hope someone can catch a bigger one to make this exciting til the last day......attached are the biggest tuna and dorado leading the first day. The angler catching the biggest dorado is Marlon Bechtol.

Have a great week everyone...

Sincerely,
Richard, Rauna, Robin, Roxy and Becky
Cass Tours

East Cape Guides Fishing Report - The Land of BIG Roosterfish

From the watery desk of Mark Daugherty

The tuna bite has cooled off a bit after over a month and half of wide open fishing. BUT, the rooster fishing has been phenomenal over the last week with 40, 50 and 60lb. fish being landed and released daily. The roosters are readily taking live jacks at Punta Arena with fights lasting over an hour on the larger units. Dorado have been plentiful but small with a nice 55lb. bull landed yesterday on the boat Jack Daniels. Marlin have been steady with some stripers, sailfish and a few blue being landed daily. The wind has come up the last few days but it looks like it will be laying down tomorrow. The water has been a steady 84 for the last week or so.

Photos this week are of Ben Throolin of El Sobrante, CA with a very nice 60lb. roosterfish on 40lb. test, Michelle of Auburn, Tennessee with another beautiful 40lb. rooster and yet another roooooster for Brian of Mississippi.

Buena pesca,

Mark
EastCapeGuides.com 

Van Wormers Fishing Report 7/30/10

by Eddie Dalmau, Van Wormer Resorts

MORE BIG TUNA! The big tuna were back this week in the East Cape and lot of them. The week started out with some very nice tuna in the 50-100 pound range, but as the week came to an end, we saw some monsters arrive. From Wednesday to Friday we say tuna come in weighing 120lbs., 130lbs., 165lbs., 170lbs., 180lbs., and the biggest of them all was landed by Richard Kingsmill of Mokelumne Hills, CA, weighing in at a whopping 224lbs. Needless to say, the tuna fishing is wide open. As is the dorado fishing, with boats coming in with limits on both tuna and dorado. The biggest dorado this week weighed in at 52lbs. with many medium size bulls as well. This week in the East Cape the Bisbee tournament took center stage, and it was an incredible tournament with lots of big Blue Marlin landed over the three day event. The first two days saw some nice blues in the 300-370 pound range, but on Friday the winning fish was weighed at approximately 450lbs. The award ceremony will be held tonight, so as of yet I do not have any results. I do know that our own Chucky Van Wormer landed a nice 119lb. yellowfin today while fishing in the Bisbee, but this was not enough to win the biggest tuna award.

Blues were not the only billfish being landed this week. There were over 80 Stripe Marlin and 60 Sailfish landed and released this week as well. In shore we are still seeing lots of medium size roosters, some nice sierras, and Jacks as well. It was another great week in the East Cape, and the best part about it is that the fishing is all happening about 2-3 miles from the hotel. One angler that I spoke with out of Playa Del Sol told me that his boat landed 15 tuna, 8 dorado, a stripe marlin and a sailfish all in one day, and he was back at the hotel before 2pm. Not a bad day on the water. If you don’t have plans to be down here this month, it’s not too late. Van Wormer Resorts is offering up some great August deals for last minute reservation and the fishing could not be better. Hope to see you down here soon.

Until next week!

Eddie Dalmau
Baja’s Van Wormer Resorts

Van Wormer Resorts Fishing Report - 6th Annual Dorado Shootout Tournament

by Eddie Dalmau, Van Wormer Resorts

The sixth annual Van Wormer Resorts East Cape Dorado Shoot Out was held last Saturday, July 17th and what an event it was. I’d like to personally thank each and every one of the participants for attending and making this the premier event in the East Cape for the sixth straight year. This years event saw 122 teams participate with close to 400 anglers bidding for the grand prize, a 2010 fully loaded 4x4 Honda Ridgeline courtesy of Honda of Los Cabos, plus thousands in cash. Third place went to Ray Figueroa from Reno, NV with a 49.1 lb. Dorado. Mr. Figueroa also won the $500 and $1,000 jackpots totaling $33,150.00. Second place went to Samir Manriquez from La Paz, B.C.S., Mexico with a 50.1 lb. Dorado. First place went to Edmundo Castro from Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico with a 53.3 lb. Dorado. Mr. Castro not only won the Honda Ridgeline, but also won the $200 and $300 jackpots totaling $28,560. There were also nice prizes given to the angler with the largest Tuna and Wahoo. The biggest Tuna of the tournament was landed by Dennis Boelts weighing in at 56.7 lbs. The biggest Wahoo was landed by Manuel Mackliz weighing in at 47.5 lbs. There was a bigger Wahoo weighed that day, but came to the weigh station after it was closed. Jesus Aragon was given honorable mention award for his 56.6 lb. wahoo. Once again, a big thank you to all of the participants, sponsors and volunteers that made this event possible.

There was some pretty good fishing the rest of the week as well in the East Cape. We are still seeing an incredible yellowfin tuna bite, with tunas in the 50 lb. to 100 lb. still making there way to the dock every afternoon. The dorado bite picked up just in time for the Shoot Out and has been steadily getting better with each passing day. There were over 250 dorado landed this week between the four resorts, the biggest weighing in at 59 lbs., caught a few days after the Shoot Out. There is also a tremendous amount of marlin in the area right now. More than 10 large blues were landed this week with an average weight of approximately 400 lbs. The stripe marlin were also a big target this week with more than 50 landed and released. Closer to shore, the roosters, jacks and pargo were keeping the fisherman busy. There were more than 20 roosters, 12 pargos, and 20 jacks landed this week. We also saw the return of the sailfish this week. The sails had moved away when the water turned cold, but are starting to come back as the water warms. The day time highs are reaching the upper 90’s now and the water temperatures are in the high 70’s to low 80’s.

That’s it for this week amigos


Eddie Dalmau
Baja’s Van Wormer Resorts

East Cape Guides Fishing Report

From the watery desk of Mark Daugherty

Water conditions are improving with temps increasing into the mid 80s and nice blue water 4-6 miles offshore. This week was consistent again with a variety game fish being landed. Schools of dolphin are still holding tuna offshore with catches ranging from 10-70lbs. We also had a very good bite on smaller tuna up to 45lbs. off of Hotel Spa Buena Vista with limits being caught within an hour or two. Marlin have been consistent with many boats flying one or two release flags per day. Blue marlin are also showing well for this time of year. The counts on dorado are increasing with the warmer water but we're still not see very much size with most fish under 30lbs.

Photos this week are of Steve Jensen of Fountain Valley, CA with 1 of 3 blue marlin landed and released this week and Glen Stanton with a nice yellowfin.

Buena pesca,

Mark
EastCapeGuides.com 

East Cape Guides Fishing Report

From the watery desk of Mark Daugherty

The water continues to be in the chilly low 70s but fishing has still been pretty consistent. Tuna are still on the chewy with boats getting an ample supply of tuna in the 10-50lb. range. Although it has been long awaited, we're also seeing a few more dorado flags flying this past week. Striped marlin have been in the mix with most bites coming in the afternoon. We did get a few blues this week with one weighing in at an estimated 350lbs. and another hooked by a client was an estimated 450lbs. This fish came bounding out of water multiple times not more that 30 feet off the starboard side of the boat, all lit up and ready to dance.

Photo this week is of Tom Nordrum of Montana with his two grandsons Jacob and Joey with a nice Striped Marlin. Excellent team effort on the CPR (catch, photo and release).

Buena pesca,

Mark
EastCapeGuides.com 

Van Wormer Resorts Fishing Report

by Eddie Dalmau, Van Wormer Resorts

Hola Amigos,

The fishing in the East Cape cooled off a bit…literally! With water temperatures in the Sea of Cortez dropping into the mid 60’s, fishing was a bit tougher than weeks past. We still saw plenty of Tuna, with the biggest coming in at a year’s best 242lbs., but not in the quantities we saw last week. The 242lb. yellowfin was landed by long time guest Alan Gibbs of Folsom, CA. Dorado ran for warmer water and were also hard to come by this week. Only a few bulls were landed this week and must were caught down south were there was warmer water. The marlin and roosters didn’t seem to mind the water turning over, as we had some nice roosters and marlin caught this week. The marlin seem to be gathering just off shore of the hotels approximately 10 miles straight out. We did see some nice blue and stripe marlin this week, with the biggest blue estimated at 400lbs. and the biggest stripe estimated at 170lbs. The monster Striped Marlin was landed by Leonard Jarrott from Santa Barbara, CA. The rooster fishing continues to be hot to the south of Hotel Punta Colorada. Most of the nice roosters landed this past week were either in front of the hotel or south towards Los Frailes. Some of the other species around this week included Pargo, Trigger Fish, Amber Jack, and Jack Cravalle.

The air temperature in the East Cape also came down a bit this week, with day time highs in the upper 80’s and night time lows dropping into the upper 60’s. Most of the captains I spoke with today told me that the water is turning once again and expect the water temperatures to be back to normal in a few days. With the biggest tournament of the year only a week away, let’s hope they are right. That is all for this week amigos! Until next week…..Eddie Dalmau/Baja’s Van Wormer Resorts.

This weeks Picture:
Alan Gibbs from Folsom, CA with his 242# Yellowfin Tuna.

All the best!

Eddie Dalmau
Baja’s Van Wormer Resorts

Van Wormer Resorts Fishing Report 7/2/10

by Eddie Dalmau, Van Wormer Resorts

Fishing is seriously crazy right now. It is wide open in the East Cape! Roosters up to 50lbs., Tuna up to 200lbs., Pargo up to 60lbs., Wahoo up to 100lbs., Dorado up to 50lbs.(finally), Stripe Marlin, Blue Marlin, Cabrilla, Amber Jack, Jack Cravalle, trigger fish and squid. I can’t tell you how many guests have come up to me and said that it’s been the best fishing they’ve ever seen.

Now that the Dorado are finally starting to come in, the fishing in the East Cape feels right. This week was the first time since April that we saw dorado in the 35-50lb. range on a consistant basis. Most of the big dorado were landed south of Hotel Punta Colorada where the water is a bit warmer. This comes just in time, as the Dorado Shoot Out is only 15 days away. Jim Sammons of La Jolla Kayaks is in town this week with his group over at Hotel Punta Colorada. Jim reported catching his biggest roosterfish ever on a kayak at 50lbs. Jim said it was the fastest he’s ever been pulled by a fish while on a kayak.

The biggest fish of the week was landed by Gary Elrod and Tom Reid of Reno, NV, who had a double hookup on two monster tunas on board the Fresh Catch. Gary’s tuna weighed in at 204.8 lbs and is now the biggest of the year. Tom’s tuna weighed in at 136lbs. You’d be hard pressed to find a better double hookup anywhere. The 204lb. tuna was landed using a Seeker Rod with a Penn International 50 wide reel. The monster tuna took a piece of chunck squid and put up a 1 ½ fight before giving in. These were not the only big tunas caught this week. We had tunas weighed in at 87lbs, 93lbs, 120lbs, 136lbs, 154lbs, 198lbs, and 204lbs, along with hundreds from 15-40lbs.

This weeks picture:
Gary Elrod from Reno Nevada with is 204lb. Yellowfin Tuna

Have a great 4th of July Weekend!

Eddie Dalmau
Baja’s Van Wormer Resorts

East Cape Guides Special Fishing Report

From the watery desk of Mark Daugherty

We are in an epic tuna bite right now with fish topping 200lbs. being brought to the dock daily. The smaller units are taking hoochies, cedars, and marlin lures with the BIG MOs taking squid strips. Our biggest tuna weighed in at 163lbs., nice gordo. It took Andrew Pedroncelli, myself and Daniel, the mate, to land the fish in just under an hour. If you like tuna fishing, it's wide open off of Hotel Palmas De Cortez.

Buena pesca,

Mark
EastCapeGuides.com 

East Cape Guides Fishing Report

From the watery desk of Mark Daugherty

This week has been all about the tuna and BIG roosterfish. We have been experiencing some cool green water but that hasn’t stop the tuna bite that is literally 50 yards off of the Punta Arena Lighthouse. These fish are so close to shore you could surf cast to them. Tuna are ranging from 20 to 80 pounds and are readily taking chunks of squid. Also on the scene are very large roosters in the 40-60 pound range. These fish are within 500 yards of the tuna bite. You really have to ask yourself what is inshore and offshore fishing when roosterfish and yellowfin tuna are swimming a few hundred yards of each other? Striped marlin are in the mix with a good number of fish being release every day. You can also throw in some nice pargo to boot. The down side is the dorado counts have been lagging behind with very small fish being landed. All in all, a lot of quality fish have been taken this week. Oh, the weather has been perfect at 85 degrees every day without a cloud in the sky.

Photos

Frank “Chip” Stearns and wife Leanea with one of three 40+ pound roosters landed, a tuna in front of the lighthouse and a 25 pound pargo. Both Leanea and all around great guy Tommy landed their first striped marlins. Tom Spencer with a nice tuna landed on 30lb. test after a 2hr. fight.

Buena pesca,

Mark
EastCapeGuides.com 


 

Van Wormer Resorts Fishing Report

by Eddie Dalmau, Van Wormer Resorts


2010 Keep´n It Reel Fish and Chips Tournament
Palmas de Cortez

The 2010 Keep´n It Reel Fish and Chips Tournament got under way today and what a day it was for everyone involved. 15 boats participated in this year's tournament and every single one of them came back with some very nice yellowfin tuna. The third place tuna weighed in at 122lbs. The second place tuna weighed in at 133lbs. The winners of the 2010 KIR Fish and Chips tournament were Jack Wright, Troy Peterson, Kevin Chrisman and Jermy Galatio from the state of Washington, whose tuna weighed in at a whopping 143lbs. It took these guys only 45 minutes to bring in this monster while fishing aboard the Jen Wren with Captain Mark Rayer. Tomorrow the tournament will conclude with the always exciting no limit poker tournament at Hotel Palmas De Cortez.

It was all about the tuna this week in the East Cape. There was well over 500 yellowfin tuna landed this week ranging from football size to the biggest this week coming in today at 143lbs. There were approximately a dozen tuna that were weighed or estimated at over 100lbs this week and many more that came up just a few pounds short of the 100lb. mark. Once again there was quite a bit of sashimi being passed around the bar area this week. A special thank you goes out to Mrs. Saiki, who prepared some of the best sashimi I´ve ever had the pleasure of eating. Because of all the tuna that came in this week, Mrs. Saiki prepared enough sashimi for everyone at the hotel to enjoy. "Thank you for all your hard work Mrs. Saiki".

The tuna bite was fantastic, but let´s not forget about all the other species that were landed this week. After all this is the East Cape we´re talking about and the East Cape is known for year round marlin. There were plenty of stripe marlin to be had this week. For those fishermen who reached their limits on tuna, many went after striped and blue marlin with great success. There were over 200 marlin landed this week out of the three hotels. The wahoo are still around as well, with approximately 15 landed, and the biggest weighed in at 105lbs. The only down note to this report is the lack of dorado right now. Captains are seeing big schools of dorado, but everything that is being landed is too small to keep. We are seeing the occasional 20 to 30 pound dorado, but not in any great numbers at all. All in all it was another great week down here at Van Wormer Resorts. Hope to see many of you down here very soon.

Eddie Dalmau
Baja’s Van Wormer Resorts

Reports for La Paz, Gordo Banks & Cabo

by Cass Tours

Baja Pirates - La Paz

Strong winds, Rough water, green water? Who cares BAJA PIRATES crew still filling everybody ice chest with only good eating fish like Pargo, Cabrilla, Dorado, Telowtail and even amberjack.

Weather is being crazy this last week with lots of changes in the water temps one day is very cold with green waters and the next one is nice and warm with blue water every where, but the experience and skills of the BAJA PIRATES CREW plus the patience of our fishermen are making the diference between an empty or full cooler.

We have seing that as the week goes by the fish is getting bigger, but the small ones like the 10 - 15 pounds dorado are lot of fun to catch when you doit with a 10-15pounds light speening gear and we provide those ones to every body.

Gordo Banks - San Jose del Cabo

Late spring is transition time, this past week visitors to Southern Baja felt weather patterns that ranged from early spring like to summer like. It started last Thursday when strong winds out of the southwest pushed colder green Pacific currents in the direction of the Sea of Cortez and actually dropped water temperatures close to ten degrees within 24 hours. This created cooler air temperatures that were very comfortable, but also made for tough fishing conditions through the weekend, until conditions rebounded to start the week. Tropical storm season has also begun, at this time there are two systems further to the south, off of mainland Mexico that are threatening to develop and will need to be monitored closely. Air temperatures at this time are quite warm and humid.

Water temperatures are now back in the 75 to 80 degree range from Cabo San Lucas towards Los Frailes. Winds have settled down and swells are moderate, looks as though the summer fishing season is about to start off with ideal settings. There are now good supplies of mullet and caballito, but there are no sardinas being found. The fishing grounds are seeing increased concentrations of bolito, which should attract a variety of gamefish for the coming weeks.

The inshore fishing action has produced a mix of action for roosterfish, amberjack, jack crevalle and dogtooth snapper. Recent days have seen larger sized roosterfish appearing throughout the region, anglers trolling live baits just outside the surf zone reported chances at fish in the 20 to 60 pound class. This is now peak season for inshore fishing, should last through July, before shifting to offshore structure and open water trolling. Surf fishing anglers have reported excellent action as well, particularly early in the morning while casting with surface plugs, they hooked into a variety of species, including dogtooth snapper, pargo colorado, jack crevalle and even several large sized snook were accounted for off of the San Jose Estuary area.

Dorado still were not found in any significant numbers, just scattered single fish for the most part, most of them juveniles, though with how the water conditions are shaping up we except that the larger sized dorado should be appearing any day. This is the same time period when we saw many larger bulls appearing last year, fish to over forty pounds were common. So we will be anticipating the same type of action this season.

Yellowfin tuna became more scattered since the passing of changing ocean currents, early in the week anglers found varied action near Iman to Vinorama on tuna ranging in sizes up to 50 pounds, striking on chunks of squid, rapalas, hoochies and caballito, at times associated with porpoise and other times on blind strikes. Then later in the week these schooling tuna seemed to have moved in the direction of Los Frailes, out of range for most local charters.

As water conditions stabilized, with warmer clean currents returning, this triggered the wahoo to become active once again. The best areas were north of Punta Gorda, Iman to Vinorama, trolling with a variety of lures and baits were all producing strikes by 'hoo that ranged from 30 to 60 pounds. Rapala type lures in silver patterns were particularly productive. Schools of wahoo were being encountered and this resulted in many multiple strikes, with a couple of charters reportedly even having four hook ups at once, that is a major fire drill, four speeding wahoo heading in different directions.

At least one swordfish was landed from a Cabo San Lucas based charter while fishing outside of the Gordo Banks near the Cabrillo Sea Mount. A commercial pangero out of La Playita reported seeing a couple of other swordfish on two successive days, one of them a monster fish possibly as large as 800 pounds, it was circling their panga feeding on cut bait they had been using to target yellowfin before swimming into the depths.

Bottom action was not consistent due to swift currents, anglers had mixed success for cabrilla, amberjack, pargo or yellowtail, but most anglers were targeting the more consistent surface action.

The combined panga fleets launching from the La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 97 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a total fish count of: 28 yellowfin tuna, 14 dorado, 6 striped marlin, 1 sailfish, 14 amberjack, 1 yellowtail, 31 various pargo species, 26 jack crevalle, 14 cabrilla, 5 sierra, 26 bonito, 27 wahoo and 48 roosterfish.

Gaviota Fleet - Cabo San Lucas

The highlight for the week was the Gaviota Fleet's first swordfish of the year, captured by Angler Dave Dominique, Illinois, while fishing aboard the 33' Crystaliner, "GAVIOTA VIII", with Captain Juan Dominguez. The trophy fish was taken near the 95 fathom spot and weighed in at 75 kilos, (165 lbs.) following a 70 minute battle on 50 lb. line, using a caballito for bait.. Overall, the fishing was a bit difficult this past week, albeit, a few of the boats did well. The "Fish Cabo" had a single billfish and the only two wahoo for the week for a single day fished and the "Tuna Time" had 15 yellowfin tuna for a single fishing day. The overall fish counts for a combined total of 12 days fished reflected 1 swordfish, 4 stripers released, 2 wahoo, 6 dorado, 1 roosterfish, 1 shark and 25 yellowfin tuna.

Cabo Climate: Mostly sunny and warm with a few passing clouds, temps from 71 nights to 92 daytime highs.

Sea Conditions: Breezy on the Pacific side but fishable. Sea temps on Pacific side at 70-71, butting up to 73-75 at Cabo Falso and gradually warming to 79-82 degrees at Gorda Banks area.

Best Fishing Area: Stretches from Cabo Falso to Chileno and out to the 95-fathom spot.

Best Lure/Bait: Still seeing good numbers of stripers but just not willing to bite the lures and remain finicky on the live bait, too.

Live Bait Supply: Good supply and mostly caballitos.

Have a great week everyone...

Sincerely,
Richard, Rauna, Robin, Roxy and Becky
Cass Tours