Wahoo Surprise Anglers for Winter Action
Capt. Eric Brictson
January 28, 2010
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
January 28, 2010
Anglers –
The Southern Baja Californian winter time weather patterns continues to be mild and often has felt more like spring or fall rather than the heart of the winter. Days were mostly sunny and temperatures reached 80 degrees and despite variable winds, overall the ocean conditions were favorable for sport fishing anglers. Water temperatures are averaged warmer than during late January of last year, most areas are now in the 73 to 75 degree range. Clean warm water has moved in close to shore off the San Jose region and this is attracting a variety of game fish, including striped marlin, sailfish, dorado, yellowfin tuna and wahoo. It is not common to encounter all of these species at the same time of year. Perhaps it is an El Nino effect, weather patterns do seem to be warmer than average, with winds being more unpredictable. Finding baitfish has been a challenge at times, but also was worth the patience and travel time, as having the bait resulted in more options, particularly for the yellowfin tuna.
The striped marlin bite this season has not been as wide open as it was the previous few, schooling mackerel scarcer. There have been a mix of caballito, mackerel, sardineta and sardinas available most days, at times tougher to find and La Playita pangeros were having to travel as far as Vinorama in order to net supplies for the local charter fleets. Often the panga charters will troll lures early in the day, finding an occasional wahoo, dorado or yellowfin tuna while they were waiting for the carnaderos (commercial bait sellers) to meet you on the same grounds.
Not much consistent bottom fishing action being found now and inshore the sierra, roosterfish and jacks were not as reliable day to day, so the better action has been for surface species. Yellowfin tuna are being found close to shore from Punta Gorda to the Iman Bank. The yellowfin ranged from 10 to 140 pounds. Anglers used various whole baits, dead and live, as well as chunks, for spotty action, anywhere from one or two fish totals, up to over a dozen fish for others. Larger sized tuna were found associated with porpoise, as well as holding on structure, such as on the Gordo Banks.
Perhaps one of the biggest stories of this past week was the late season wahoo action that broke wide open on local fishing grounds. These elusive largest members of the mackerel family are normally seeking out warmer southern currents by now, so this frenzy can be considered a winter time bonus.
Heavy boat pressure was factor to slowing down the action at times, as the news of the action spread fast , coinciding with the fact that any consistent action was hard to be found elsewhere, there were charter and private boats of all sizes congregating on relatively small hot spots. Wahoo were found in a wide range of sizes, from 10 to over 60 pounds, many boats landed one or more wahoo in their mixed catch, but some anglers had a half dozen wahoo per morning while reportedly missing at least that many other chances at ‘hoo. These fish were striking on skirted chrome lead/jet heads, diving Rapalas and various dead or live baits. Many were also hooked into while casting to feeding wahoo. Fun action, also many lures were lost due to line splicing jaws of these speedsters.
Dorado were scattered through a wide range, striking a variety of baits and lures. Mainly traveling in smaller schools of fish averaging 5 to 15 pounds, but as normal there were always a few much larger bulls encountered.
If weather can stabilize in the coming weeks we expect similar type action will continue, though if weather patterns become more severe we might see this bonus action fade quickly.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 81 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 12 striped marlin, 164 yellowfin tuna, 44 bonito, 16 amberjack, 10 cabrilla, 12 pargo (huachinango), 114 dorado, 15 roosterfish, 81 wahoo and 110 sierra.
Good Fishing, Eric
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