Marlin, Dorado and Tuna Highlight Surface Action
Capt. Eric Brictson
January 18, 2010
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
January 18, 2010
Anglers –
Winter conditions are quite pleasant in Southern Baja, sunny skies, high temperatures near 80 degrees and lows of about 50 degrees, all in all very comfortable considering we are in the midst of winter. Water temperatures are ranging from the lower 70s up to 76 degrees, Clarity has fluctuated with the varying currents. Live sardinas continue to be hard to come by and larger baitfish like mackerel, caballito and sardineta have been available most days. Whale watching is now in full swing and will be peaking in the next couple of months.
Fleets have concentrated most of their efforts on surface fishing for billfish, dorado, tuna, wahoo etc…Not much bottom fishing now, for the few that have tried they have reported minimal success, as the water temperatures cool we expect bottom action to improve. The sierra action also slowed way down this past week, the lack of schooling sardinas most likely the reason for this.
Striped marlin continue to highlight the offshore scene, the Old Light House being one of the hot spots, these fish are also spread out in the direction of the Sea of Cortez, striking on various baits, as well as on trolled lures. Most of the marlin are ranging 90 to 130 pounds. A few (70 to 100 lb.) sailfish still around as well, a bit unusual for January.
The yellowfin tuna have been playing hide and seek, early in the week a handful of yellowfin in the 40 to 60 pound class were accounted for off of the Gordo Banks. Other larger tuna were seen breezing the surface, but just were not in the mood to strike, the fish that were landed hit on chunk bait from skipjack or concinero. Breaking news is that one 220 pound yellowfin tuna was caught by a trio of local La Playita pangeros on Thursday, they had been trolling a live skipjack on the Outer Gordo Bank when the cow hit, on 80 pound tackle they were able to tag team the tuna to gaff within one hour.
Dorado were being caught throughout the area, most of the fish were taken on bait, but they were hitting lures as well. The majority of the do dos were in the 5 to 15 pound range, with a few larger fish in the 20 to 30 pound class accounted for. A dead sea lion was encountered drifting offshore of San Jose del Cabo and it attracted a huge school of nicer sized dorado, so anyone that was able to get in on that action had a day to remember. For the most part normal catches per charter for dorado was 2,3,4 or 5 fish.
The water conditions near Cardon and La Fortuna actually improved to start the week, it was very clean and blue, this triggered the wahoo to become more active, perhaps their last hoorah for the season. Anglers reported taking numerous strikes on caballito, sardineta and mackerel, at times they also hit trolled skirted lead heads and Rapalas. This latest group of wahoo were running larger sized, 30 to 50 pounds.
The combined fleet of pangas launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 59charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 4 sailfish, 16 striped marlin, 4 hammerhead shark, 18 wahoo, 30 yellowfin tuna, 194 dorado, 32 sierra, 8 roosterfish, 7 amberjack, 8 cabrilla, 16 pargo and 18 triggerfish.
Good Fishing, Eric
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