Yellowfin Tuna Moving Closer to Shore
Capt. Eric Brictson
March 28, 2010
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
March 28, 2010
Anglers –
Despite the bad press and travel advisories being issued for Mexico we have noticed a slight increase in tourists arriving in the Los Cabos as the start of spring break vacation has begun. There has been plenty of warm sunshine, with temperatures reaching 85 degrees. However the winds continue to be unpredictable, predominately from the north, though at times switching powerfully from the south, would not want to be a weather forecaster for this area, hard to predict exactly what is going to happen.
Water temperatures have ranged from 72 to 74 degrees through most of the region and this past week saw murky water move in with swift the prevailing strong currents. Charter fleets were searching in all different directions for the best possible action, with the more consistent fishing action typically found close to shore. Schooling mackerel, chihuil and sardineta were being encountered on the surface just north of Punta Gorda and anglers were able to use sabiki rigs for them, though on windy days these baitfish would go down and become scattered. Giant squid were also remaining in local waters, and most likely will do so until warms up another few degrees.
Striped marlin were seen in increased number off of the San Jose area, but fluctuating conditions have kept this action from breaking wide open and the bite has been spotty, the few that were hooked into mostly were tailing fish that had live baits cast to them. A few mako and hammerhead sharks in the same area as were the marlin, most of these were juvenile sized fish under 70 pounds.
Sardinas were found schooling along the rocky beaches near San Luis and Vinorama, they were the bait of choice for the inshore action that consisted of mainly sierra weighing up to 5 pounds, with a handful of roosterfish and jack crevalle mixed in. The coming month of April generally brings with it better all around inshore, bottom and offshore opportunities.
The rock piles in 100 to 150 feet of water has produced a mixed bag of amberjack, pargo and cabrilla, most of these fish are striking on yo-yo jigs retrieved off of the bottom or larger baits drift with sinkers. This action has not been as productive as normal, current being a major factor, average catches ranged from a couple of fish to as many as ten fish in combination. It is the time of year that pelagic red crabs migrate into local waters and they usually attract masses of snapper into a feeding frenzy, we will be waiting patiently for this opportunity.
Only an occasional dorado being found now, they prefer cleaner warmer waters, which should be arriving before long now that spring time is here. Most of the dorado that have been found recently have been fish 15 pounds or less that were searching for baitfish closer to shore.
Yellowfin tuna were holding on the Inner Gordo Bank, though it took persistent and a little luck to actually to get one of these fish that were averaging 70 to 100 pounds to strike on strip squid, which did seem to be their preference when they decided to feed. The entire fleet was only averaged one or two of these tuna per day, on the windy days they often did not even come up. Earlier in the week some yellowfin were encountered traveling with porpoise within several miles of shore, from Punta Gorda to Zacaton, a couple of these fished topped 100 pounds, others were in the 30 to 80 pound class. They hit on larger live bait that were cast in front of rapidly moving porpoise.
The combined panga fleet launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 61 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 4 hammerhead shark, 3 mako shark, 15 yellowfin tuna, 2 yellowtail, 16 amberjack, 21 pargo, (red snapper), 15 cabrilla, 34 bonito, 12 dorado, 234 sierra, 9 roosterfish and 6 jack crevalle.
Good Fishing, Eric
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