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.