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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
September 9, 2001
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Anglers -
September 9, 2001
Everyone has been prepared for a serious tropical storm to strike the Cabo area, as is the normal situation for late summer, but so far it just has not happened. This past week there were
a pair of storms that spun on out to the west, coming within 400 miles of Cabo San Lucas, creating high swells of six to fifteen feet, there was scattered rainfall and in certain places it was quite heavy at times. Seas were moderately choppy, due to the swell activity, but overall the offshore conditions were comfortable. Early mornings are now just starting to show a hint of the cooler fall feeling, but the days are still hot and humid.
Overall catches were slightly down from the previous week, this is often the case during the period immediately following the full moon, and still there was some world class action taking place. Marlin, yellowfin tuna and dorado were the most dominate fish found offshore, though the tuna bite slowed down in recent days. The water temperature was averaging about 85 degrees through most of the region and it was clear and blue on the offshore fishing grounds.
Pangas out of La Playita were able to launch all but one day, Wednesday, the 5 th, there was high surf though and the pangeros had to use extra cautious navigating through the surf. Live bait has all but scattered from the La Playita area, now the sardinas are being netted near Palmilla. Sardinas have been the bait of choice for all around action on the medium sized gamefish, especially tuna and dorado, also there have been plenty of skipjack and bolito available on the Banks, for use as either strip, chunk or whole baits. The best bite for yellowfin tuna was found on the Gordo Banks, it was switching back and forth form the Inner to the Outer Banks, but this past week the action has slowed way down to how it had been during the week building up the full moon, perhaps the tuna were feeding more at night lately. Tuna are now being caught on both chunk bait and live sardinas, but numbers are down, just an average of 1 to 3 per boat, weights are still running mostly in the 45 to 55 pound range.
Dorado is the most numerous species being caught now, they are being found throughout the zone, hitting on trolled lures, along with live and strip bait. Sizes have varied from 8 to 40 pounds, with most of the fish weighing less than 20 pounds. Most boats are catching from 5 to 10 fish per morning, with many of the smaller fish being released. Anglers working their lures and baits closer to the bottom took a few pargo, they were 6 to 10 pound fish. A couple wahoo were reportedly landed off the Iman Bank area, they were smaller 20 to 30 pound fish that hit on rapalas and marauders.
The monster black and blue marlin continue to bite on the Gordo Banks, the most successful technique was trolling the larger live baits, preferably a yellowfin tuna or skipjack in the 5 to 8 pound range. Several black marlin were landed from pangas out of La Playita this past week, including fish that weighed from 400 to over 600 pounds. The fish story of the week has to go to Antonio Guluarte, a local panga skipper from Punta Gorda Sportfishing Fleet. After catching their fill of yellowfin tuna, to over 50 pounds, Guluarte, along with his mate Tuto and two clients, spotted a free swimming marlin sniffing at a 50 pound tuna that they were fighting and was nearing gaff, quickly thinking, Antonio baited up the smallest dead tuna that they had in the fish box and threw it into the water, this yellowfin had been caught early in the morning and weighed close to 20 pounds, anyway as the bait was slowly sinking into the depths they witnessed the beautiful neon flash of the black marlin as it streaked towards the tuna and instantly inhale it. The battle was on, the crew was equipped with 80 pound mainline and a
300 pound leader, to a Penn 50 SW. It was almost noon when the fish was initially hooked and the grueling battle would not end until some 7 hours later, when the group of men finally combined to subdue the fish. A backup panga had been sent out to assist and provide added provisions, they definitely wanted this marathon to end before complete darkness set in. They reached the beach at 8:30 p.m. and with a crowd of over one hundred persons the fish was officially weighed in at 640 pounds.
Good Fishing, Eric
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