Yellowfin Tuna, Wahoo and Dorado on Local Grounds
Capt. Eric Brictson
September 16, 2013
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
September 16, 2013
Anglers –
Local weather has settled down this past week, this has given the area a chance to dry out after all of the recent rainfall. The desert landscape has transformed to a lush green color, days remain warm, with scattered tropical cloud cover and high humidity. With each passing day we are starting to feel a hint of fall in the air, particularly early morning. There is now a low pressure system developing off of the Southern Mexico mainland coast and we will be monitoring its progress closely, as this is the time when the local environment is favorable for tropical storms to form rapidly.
Crowds of tourists are light now, this is the time when family priorities shift towards starting the new school year. It will be soon enough when the busy fall fishing season is in full swing. For the anglers that are making the trip they have enjoyed great fishing action in recent days. Most consistent bite has been found on the areas north of Punta Gorda, from La Fortuna to San Luis Bank, for yellowfin tuna and dorado. Ocean current has been swift from the south, this has made any bottom fishing that much more difficult. Water temperatures are in the 84 to 87 degree range, clear blue conditions are found within a couple of miles from shore.
Squid has been the best bait for the yellowfin tuna, the giant squid are being jigging up by the commercial fleet in dark hours and sold to charter boats in the morning, there are also limited supplies of caballito, still no sardinas available. Drift fishing with strips of squid on light tackle has been the best bet for catching limits of yellowfin tuna, the fish were now larger than in previous weeks, averaging 15 to 20 pounds. The larger cow sized tuna that were starting to show up on the Gordo Banks have not been active this past week, though surely they are still in the area, we expect these cows to become more active soon.
Dorado schools have been spread throughout the area, found by trolling lures and baitfish. The majority of the fish have been smaller sized, though with patience anglers have been able to find some larger sized dorado mixed in. Limit on these fish is two per license and the inspectors are enforcing these regulations. Only a few wahoo being accounted for, they become sluggish in the warmer water, we expect that these speedsters will become more active as fall conditions transition in the coming weeks.
Billfish have slowed this past week out of San Jose del Cabo, only scattered reports of mostly smaller sized striped marlin, surely there are black and blue marlin lurking on the grounds, they just are not readily striking lately, the way the conditions are anything could happen on any given day.
No inshore action being reported, bottom action was limited to a handful of amberjack, pargo and grouper, though no numbers to speak of, though a few impressive fish were accounted for, amberjack up to 78 lb. and one grouper over 100 pounds landed by a La Playita commercial pangero, current has been relentless, hard to effectively drift fish the bottom structure when moving so fast.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 75 charters this past week with anglers accounting for a fish count of:
3 striped marlin, 8 wahoo, 5 amberjack, 2 grouper, 16 red snapper, 300 black skipjack, 415 yellowfin tuna and 550 dorado (many released).
Good fishing, Eric
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