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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
April 22, 2001
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Anglers - April 22, 2001
This past week saw the overall action for anglers go from poor to incredibly wide open. After going into near hibernation, the yellowfin tuna once again were dominating the frenzy on the Gordo Banks. The local panga fleets were bringing in catches of tuna, that ranged from 2 to 8 fish per boat, with the average weight being 30 to 60 pounds and the largest landed around 100 pounds. The main factor in the bite making a complete turnabout was the cleaner blue water and the recent warming trend. Calm seas in the Sea of Cortez, with the only breeze being in the afternoon. Water temperature was in the 69 to 71 degree range and abundant supplies of live sardinas were conveniently located off of La Playita beach. Though on Sunday morning the pangeros reported that the bait had scattered and this could be the only factor in slowing the action down, most certainly they will locate sardinas elsewhere.
Though it was great news that the quality yellowfin tuna were hitting on the Inner Gordo Bank, it was still no guarantee, this week the bite was not consistent and went to an every other day pattern, one day anglers would have all the action they could handle on tuna in the 50 to 100 pound class, then the very next day, in the same place, the entire fleet managed to land just a handful of fish. The tuna would be seen feeding on the surface on red crabs and small flying fish and would shy away from any other offerings. When the yellowfin did decide to bite it did not seem to matter much between live and dead sardinas or chunk bait, nor were the fish very line shy, as they were being hooked up on 80 pound mono. Many larger tuna were lost after extended battles because of too light of tackle. There were a couple of exceptional success stories, one most notable was by angler George Shortsleeves from Vermont, he skillfully brought to gaff a 75 pound fish on Penn # 155 with 20 pound line. Another very impressive catch was that of Sherry Bravo, visiting from San Diego, she out battled a 90 pound yellowfin on 40 pound gear. If you happened to be lucky enough to be out on one of the odd days when they were really biting you surely had a workout fighting these brutes.
In other action there were some yellowtail and amberjack up to 20 pounds being accounted for, best spot was off of Red Hill, but some were also taken from the Gordo Banks. They hit on live bait, rapalas and iron jigs. Closer to shore anglers found a mix of sierra, pargo, cabrilla and pompano. Over the weekend more pangeros reported finding schooling African pompano in an area just to north of La Playita, and had catches of up to 14 fish per boat, while trolling live sardinas.
The action for striped did improve substantially, as compared to how it was, at a standstill. Even though the panga fleets were mainly targeting the tuna bite, everyday several of the stripers were being hooked into while drifting sardinas for tuna, only several were actually landed, due to the lack of heavier leader material. Cruisers reported better offshore action, with more marlin being sighted daily. The fish that were hooked up were at an equal ration of bait and lures. Tuna were also found mixed in with pods of porpoise, most of this was going on more than 20 miles from shore.
Good Fishing, Eric
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