Yellowfin Action Breaks Wide Open on San Luis Bank
Capt. Eric Brictson
April 27, 2009
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
April 27, 2009
Anglers -
Light crowds of tourists are enjoying ideal spring time weather conditions, days are sunny and are steadily warming up, highs are now near 85 degrees. Winds have resided in recent days and ocean conditions have been smooth, water temperatures are ranging from 68 to 73 degrees, with the warmest currents being found off of the San Jose del Cabo region, in the direction of the Sea of Cortez. This is where the majority of sportfishing fleets are now concentrating their efforts. Anglers have been anxious for the offshore action to break loose, but so far it has not been consistent, but has shown some signs of coming to life. Other options have been to work the bottom structure and troll along the shore line.
Everyone has heard about the swine flu epidemic which has caused public events to come to a halt in the Mexico City region, we have no knowledge of any cases of this virus being encountered in the Los Cabos area, even though there are some cases now being reported across the United States. It is a situation that we all will be monitoring closely.
Bait became scarce this past week, sardinas were not easy to find, some days there were limited amounts, other times they were not even available. There have been some mullet, squid, caballito and mackerel, but never on a consistent basis, also bolito and skipjack are now being found on the fishing grounds. So skippers are working harder than usual to obtain fresh bait for their anglers, doing the best they can under the circumstances. Drift fishing over the rock piles, using both bait and yo-yo iron jigs have been producing a mixed bag of species, none in big numbers, but all good eating. There have been cabrilla, amberjack, yellowtail, various pargo, triggerfish, bonito, sierra and a few dorado. Good variety, even though they are not in large quantities and the fish had to be worked for.
A handful of yellowfin tuna were accounted for during the first part of the week, some of them associated with offshore pods of fast moving porpoise and others were just blind strikes while soaking live or dead baits on the same areas where the bottom species were being found. The most consistent areas recently have been from San Luis Bank to Vinorama. This bite broke wide open over the weekend, with no sardinas available anglers relied on catching giant squid to use for strip bait, the squid were easy to come by, concentrated off of the La Laguna area. On Saturday a commercial panguero from La Playita landed a 185 lb. yellowfin while using squid strip for bait. The sportfishing fleet averaged catches of 3 to 6 tuna per boat, sizes were mainly in the 30 to 50 pound range. Many hook ups were lost for various reasons, one of them being the aggressive sea lions. A few wahoo were hooked in the same vicinity as were the tuna, they were 10 to 20 pound fish, but at least it is a sign of activity for these speedsters. Water temperatures continue to warm and we will be looking forward to the coming weeks.
When live bait was available anglers found good action close to beaches trolling for sierra and roosterfish. They were several reports of pargo Colorado also being accounted for, as well as a few pompano and yellow snapper.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 51 charters for the week and anglers reported a fish count of: 2 striped marlin, 3 hammerhead shark, 78 yellowfin tuna, 12 dorado, 4 wahoo, 13 yellowtail, 22 amberjack, 156 various pargo species, 31 cabrilla, 28 bonito, 69 sierra, 18 roosterfish, 14 jack crevalle and 9 pompano.
Good Fishing, Eric
More Fishing Reports:
