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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
April 29, 2001
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Anglers - April 29, 2001
Springtime definitely is starting to warm up , lots of sunshine, with high temperatures of 90 degrees and slick calm ocean conditions for most of the week were contributing factors to warming the water temperature up to an average of 72 to 74 degrees. Crowds of anglers flooded the San Jose del Cabo area and they were not leaving disappointed , the bite that had been inconsistent last week switched to near incredible. The water was becoming clearer and more blue with each passing day and the warming trend is just what was needed to really break the action wide open. There were plenty of live sardinas available off the beach of La Playita, which made it all that more convenient for the local panga fleets. The Inner and Outer Gordo Banks is where practically the entire fleet was concentrating efforts, there were some 30 to 40 boats working these banks everyday and at times this pressure did make the tuna a bit line shy, combined with the clear water anglers that used lighter 30 to 40 pound tackle had best success. The main species being targeted was yellowfin tuna but there was also a mix of striped marlin, shark, dorado and even wahoo being caught each day.
The yellowfin tuna were hitting on sardinas and chunk bait, though it seemed that in recent days the tuna have had a preference for dead sardinas, which is unusual, as typically you would be more confident using a fresh lively bait, that was not necessarily true this week.. Average catches for the pangas was anywhere from 2 to 6 tuna per day, though the numbers were not high, the quality sure was, as the yellowfin were averaging 30 to 60 pounds and the larger ones were 80 to 90 pounds. Many fish were lost due to light tackle break offs, at times the fish would be shy and using 30 or 40 pound line was fine for the medium sized fish, but proved difficult once a real monster was hooked. As all the boats gathered on the fishing grounds, there were cheers heard from happy anglers that had bent rods, it was quite a sight to see the schools of yellowfin tuna feeding on the surface, crashing on freely chummed sardinas and the other small baitfish that were abundant on the banks. Action was best the first fethe morning and then it would steadily taper off the rest of the day.
With out a doubt, the most exciting thing to happen this week happened on Friday when a school of hungry wahoo followed the warm current from Los Frailes to the Gordo Banks and provided an extra trill for the anglers that were lucky enough to be there at the right time. The wahoo were first noticed free swimming under the boats as they were drift fishing for tuna, pangeros reported seeing as many as 30 or 40 fish at a time. Quickly the high speed marauders and skirted lead headed lures were rigged up and the reels started singing that familiar wahoo song. Many double hook ups were reported and also the usual cut offs that happen when these fish are encountered in such numbers. The quality of the wahoo was unbelievable, as all of the fish landed were averaging in the 50 to 60 class and several other even larger. The next day out the anticipations were high for more wahoo action but though several were hooked up the action was nothing like it was when the school of fish had first arrived. Wahoo can become very boat weary when there is heavy angling pressure and the best chance is always very early in the morning. This was great news about the wahoo finally show up and now the hopes are that the fish will hang around.
As the water has been warming , it also brought in some dorado, which had become nearly non-existent, though there were just a handful of 10 to 20 fish being caught, the numbers should definitely increase now that conditions are more favorable. Striped marlin also were being hooked into on the Gordo Banks, while anglers fished for tuna without heavy leader material, so this meant that most of the hooked marlin ended up breaking off, much of the cruiser fleet was fishing next to the pangas, so that says something about how the action is further offshore.
Good Fishing, Eric
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