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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
October 21, 2001
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Anglers -
October 21, 2001
With the hurricane season now winding down the clean up from Juliette continues and daily routines are returning more normal. The annual flood of fall season anglers is starting late this year, but the good news is that many people are now traveling again, this is what the local economy needs and anticipates during these coming months. The weather has been almost perfect lately, sunny days with highs in the upper 80's and lows of about 65 degrees. Very little breeze and ocean conditions have been smooth, with only a light southern swell running. Water temperature has ranged from 80 to 83 degrees on the Sea of Cortez side but apparently is a bit cooler just around the corner on the Pacific. The panga fleets from San Jose have had plentiful supplies of sardinas along the beaches from La Playita to La Salinas. The hot spot for fishing this week was on the Gordo Banks, switching back and forth from the Inner to the Outer Banks, both high spots were holding yellowfin tuna, dorado, pargo, black and blue marlin and a few wahoo.
The most consistent action was for yellowfin tuna, they were hitting on sardinas, live or dead, chunk bait and chihuil. The tuna ranged in sizes to over 70 pounds, with the average fish weighing 50 to 60 pounds. There were also football sized 8 to 10 pound yellowfin tuna available for anglers wishing to target the big marlin by trolling with the larger baits. At the start of the week the bite was red hot, with most boats returning early with the fish boxes full and the anglers worn out. Over the weekend though the bite did slow down, it is hard to say if the extra boat and angling pressure affected things but for some reason the action switched to being a mid-morning bite, instead of at first light. Even though the action tapered off some there were still quality fish accounted for and very few anglers were reporting being skunked. There were larger tuna reportedly hooked and lost and in recent days it appears the tuna on the Banks are increasing in size, this should make the upcoming WON tuna tournament very interesting.
Dorado action was steady for the anglers that targeted them by trolling lures further offshore, searching for any signs of floating debris was the key, once a school was located the action would turn into frenzy with any bait offered. The dorado averaged 10 to 15 pounds but everyday a few larger bulls to 40 pounds or more are being landed. There were not many dorado now being caught in the same areas as the yellowfin tuna, the tuna have just been too aggressive for the dorado to compete against. There were some small rainbow runners and medium size pargo being taken off the banks. In fact the commercial pangero fleet has been having a big week hand lining for pargo on the Inner Gordo Bank, they are one of the favorite for local restaurants and seafood markets.
A few wahoo were caught by anglers trolling lures on the Inner Gordo and to the north off of spots like Iman and San Luis. Marauders, skirted lead heads and cedar plugs all worked, though no one that I heard of had more than two wahoo in one morning. Sizes ranged up to 40 pounds, though most of the fish landed weighed 20 to 35 pounds. For a few days in a row the first anglers who trolled the Inner Gordo early in the morning were taking strikes by the wahoo, and then once the rest of the fleet arrived and bite would be mostly tuna the rest of the morning.
The marlin became more active over the weekend, several black and blues were reportedly caught and some other big hook ups were lost. One black marlin was taken from a panga out of Palmilla and it was reported to weigh close to 500 pounds, another 300 pound blue was caught and released from the panga "Mely" out of La Playita, that was a unusual story, as the blue marlin struck on a marauder that was being targeted for wahoo. Most of the marlin around the Gordo Banks were striking on the larger trolled live baits such as tuna and skipjack
Good Fishing, Eric
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