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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
October 28, 2001
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Anglers -
October 28, 2001
This was the big tournament week in Los Cabos, when the richest event of all takes place, the Bisbee's Black & Blue, it is a very busy time for all now, as crowds of anglers travel here to take advantage of the ideal fall time weather and the excellent fishing opportunities available. The offshore conditions have been perfect, a very slight swell, calm sea surface and only a slight swell. Water temperatures varied from 78 to 82, the warmer water found on the Sea of Cortez side of the Peninsula. There were plenty of live sardinas available off the area of Ranchito, near La Playita, they have been the preferred bait of choice. Pangas fleets have been for the most part booked to capacity levels, they were fishing the spots from Gordo Banks to Vinorama and catching species including yellowfin tuna, dorado, pargo, bonita, skipjack, sailfish, amberjack, sierra and wahoo. Overall catch success was down from the previous week, there was tremendous boat pressure throughout the offshore fishing grounds in recent days, due to the tournaments and the heavy crowds of fall anglers. Conditions are very favorable though, warm blue water, minimal current and supplies of sardinas plentiful. Most people are catching fish, with average catches ranging from 2 or 3 fish per boat, up to 10 or 12 fish. Most common catches were tuna and dorado with a mix of other species also.
On the Gordo Banks it was very crowded in recent days and the fish did not want to cooperate with all that activity and engine noise. Some quality yellowfin to over 75 pounds were taken from the Banks, but they were not numerous. The tuna hit on sardinas, chunk bait, chihuil and trolled lures, the best bet seemed to be the sardinas. Tuna were spread out throughout the region, with the smaller football sized ones being found closer to shore. The bite for the tuna was switching back and forth, one morning they would be active early, while the next day the bite would happen during the late morning. The more consistent action for the panga fleets the past week was found to the north, in the areas between Iman and Vinorama. There was no particular spot that was better each day, one day the fish would bite at Iman and then the next it would be off of Vinorama.
The wahoo action remains very limited and spotty. Everyday anglers are telling stories of having opportunities at wahoo, but more have been lost than actually landed. There was one exception though for angler Charlie Klug of Mailbu, he was fishing with Gordo Banks skipper Jesus by himself and had 8 wahoo, the largest was 52 pounds, 4 dorado to 25 pounds and a 90 pound sailfish, this was all before 10:00 a.m. It was a trip of a lifetime for Charlie, he caught the wahoo on chihuil, chunk bait, yo-yo and on trolled marauders, he was lucky to be at the right place at the perfect time, at times like that it does not seem to matter what you throw at the fish, they were in a frenzy and would hit anything. The past few days it seems that the few wahoo were landed hit on trolled lures, with the old stand by orange marauder being the most consistent lure. The chihuil have not been consistent each day on the Inner Gordo and when found are running very large size, hard to keep them alive in the normal bait tanks.
Dorado were scattered now, but when found they would be in schools and several could be taken on one stop. A hot spot recently was off of Vinorama, trolling the usual medium sized lures. Most of the dorado were weighing 8 to 15 pounds, but there was several bulls that came in at over 40 pounds and at least one that was over 60 pounds. Most boats would have one or two dorado mixed in their daily catch but other anglers landed as many as eight or ten dorado.
A few sailfish are being hooked in the same areas where the tuna and dorado are being found, most of them hit on live bait, either chihuil or sardinas and weighed up to 100 pounds. There was one large marlin caught from a Palmilla panga, but the details were not clear, something about it weighing close to 500 pounds. No monsters caught off of La Playita this week, as most panga anglers did not want to compete against the monster yachts that participated in the Bisbee.
Good Fishing, Eric
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