Pangas Score on Dorado and Tuna on the Iman Bank
Capt. Eric Brictson
November 22, 2008
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
November 22, 2008
Anglers –
Ideal fall weather conditions in the Los Cabos area attracting sizable crowds of visitors, many of them serious anglers, searching for billfish, dorado, yellowfin tuna, wahoo and other gamefish that might be present on the local fishing grounds. Sunny skies with high temperatures of about 85 degrees and morning temperatures in the 60s are pleasantly comfortable compared to many places in the north where wintry conditions are now prevailing. Winds out of the north have been slight, ocean swells are minimal and water temperatures are averaging 79 to 82 degrees, a couple of degrees above average for this time of year.
The fast and furious action for striped marlin continues on the Pacific, most notably on the Golden Gate Bank, where double digit catch and release for the billfish have been the rule, not the exception. Schools of mackerel holding in this same area are attracting huge numbers of the marlin, the recent full moon phase did not even seem to have an effect on the bite. We expect this action will start to shift closer towards Cabo San Lucas in the coming weeks, as the schools baitfish start to migrate in a direction towards the Sea of Cortez.
The action for yellowfin tuna, dorado and wahoo, all of the preferred eating species have been more consistent on the fishing grounds from Santa Maria, to the Gordo Banks and north towards the Iman Bank. Anglers have had to have patience trying to find their daily supplies of live sardinas, as the baitfish have become scarcer, with the main congregations now being found off of the Palmilla area, in rocky spots, difficult for the commercial pangueros to reach in the surf zone. Caballitos have been netted off of the rock jetties at the entrance to Puerto Los Cabos, these baits have worked for dorado and an occasional wahoo, but for the yellowfin tuna the sardinas have proved to be the ticket to success. Best spot for the yellowfin has been on the Iman Bank, particularly active early in the morning, average tuna weighing about 15 pounds, an occasional fish up to 50 pounds. On Wednesday a handful of pangas found schooling porpoise off of the La Laguna area and there were quality yellowfin tuna of 30 to 40 pounds traveling with the mammals, some panga charters landed as many as a dozen yellowfin, other who arrived to action later accounted for two, three or four fish.
Dorado have been spread out throughout areas off of San Jose del Cabo, a matter of finding the schools and then boats were able to limit without much problem, many releasing the smaller fish. Most of the dorado recently have been under ten pounds, but a percentage of the fish have been in the ten to twenty pound range.
Over this last weekend a very respectable bite for wahoo developed, the hot spots were off of Punta Gorda, less than a mile from shore and also on the Inner Gordo Banks, with a few other wahoo taken from the areas off of Cardon, La Fortuna, Iman and San Luis. These elusive fish were striking on a variety of baits, including chihuil, skipjack, caballito and even rainbow runners, as well as on the normal array of lures, like Marauders, Yo-Zuri Hydro Mags, Rapalas and skirted lead or jet heads. The ‘hoo ranging greatly in size, from juvenile ten pound fish, up to trophy sized sixty pound specimens. A greater percentage of big fish were caught on larger baitfish and more of the smaller fish were striking on the lures. With the annual local wahoo tournament based out of La Playita scheduled for Sunday, November 23, this has everyone gearing up and developing their individual game plans for strategy, should be a fun event and chances are we will see some quality sized wahoo weighed in.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 124 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 1 black marlin, 3 striped marlin, 7 sailfish, 552 dorado, 336 yellowfin tuna, 52 wahoo,14 cabrilla, 38 various pargo species, 16 sierra, 28 bonito and 56 triggerfish.
Good Fishing, Eric
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