November 7, 2011
The Los Cabos area is now bustling with tourists, they have been enjoying pristine weather conditions and this week visitors are being entertained by the main event of the annual WON Jackpot Tuna Tournament. Scores of sportfishing teams will be in search of the cow sized yellowfin that could win them a big pay day.
In recent weeks the ocean water temperatures had warmed back up to 85/86 degrees, but now it is to back down in to the 82/83 degrees. This season the water temperatures have averaged higher than normal, this created different migration patterns for baitfish and the gamefish alike. Overall the Fall Season has not been producing as consistent catches as would normally be expected. We do anticipate as conditions normalize the action will become steadier. Winds have become more predominant from the north and should maintain this pattern through winter.
Out of San Jose del Cabo there were bait shortage issues, with anglers having to travel out of their way and patiently wait in order to purchase very limited quantities of sardinas. Schools of sardinas were now congregated mainly on the beaches close to Cabo San Lucas. We should start to see more caballito and then mackerel before too long.
Yellowfin tuna have been schooling now for a couple of months on the fishing grounds from the Gordo Banks to Iman Bank, these concentrations of fish have proved to be exceptionally hook shy this season, perhaps it has to do with warmer waters, abundance of food sources found at deeper depths, hard to say exactly what the reason is? One thing for sure, is that the fish are on the grounds, making good showings on the surface and everyday there have been numbers of tuna landed. The fish coming from the Iman area are weighing 20 to 40 pounds on an average and the fish found on the Gordo Banks are mainly starting at about 80 pounds, ranging up to cow sizes. Slow trolling with various baits, chihuil, bolito, skipjack produced strikes, as did drift fishing with dead and live sardinas and chunk baits. The key was consistent chumming, light leaders and being ready when the opportunities were there, lots of patience needed.
Dorado action was a bit more spread out, but once schools were encountered, anglers could put several in the box in a hurry. Most of the dorado found recently were weighing in the 5 to 15 pound range, with a percentage of larger bulls reported. Wahoo are showings signs of coming to life, as they became more active in recent days, anglers reported strikes while slow trolling trap hooked baits and on the high speed troll with various lures, areas from Santa Maria, Red Hill, towards Punta Gorda and Iman all reported 'hoo strikes. Wahoo to over fifty pounds were landed, we do believe we are going to have a great run of late season wahoo, from what we have seen the fish are larger sized this year.
Billfish opportunities included sailfish, striped, blue and black marlin, typically this is the end of the big black and blue season and the migration of striped marlin will be moving back with the cooling currents. At this time, with warmer water temperatures, you could hook any given species any day. This week there was a 340 pound black marlin caught by Dennis Powell from the Lake Tahoe area while fishing with local pangero Chame Pino. There was a larger blue marlin lost the next day from the same area, there were quite a few sailfish reported and some striped marlin found surprisingly close to shore. A handful of early season whales also reportedly seen in local waters.
The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 192 charters for the week, with anglers accounted for: 1 black marlin, 8 striped marlin, 18 sailfish, 17 wahoo, 242 dorado, 94 yellowfin tuna, 9 dogtooth snapper, 9 amberjack, 16 cabrilla, 8 yellowtail, 8 rainbow runner, 12 hammerhead shark and 8 pompano
Good Fishing, Eric
