September 13, 2010
As is typical for the month of September the crowds of visiting anglers are light. The Tropical Depression that formed last week dissipated just as quickly and never really did much besides increase ocean swells some, as well as creating higher than usual humidity. We are now in the pattern where local thundershowers have been developing daily over the hills to the north of San Jose del Cabo, but these isolated showers have yet to reach to coastal areas, though the areas near the airport are turning green, as the scorched landscape quickly soaks up the welcome moisture.
The bait situation has consisted mainly of fresh dead sardinas that the local pangeros have been netting from the East Cape region each afternoon, occasionally limited amounts of live sardinas have been obtainable, as well as a mix of caballito, moonfish or mullet. The fresh dead sardinas continued to work well for the yellowfin tuna, which have been found in sizes ranging from footballs to 100 pound specimens. The two main areas where local San Jose del Cabo fleets are now concentrated on are the La Fortuna/Iman Banks area and the Gordo Banks.
In the past couple of days the action on the Outer Gordo Banks came to a standstill and the bite switched to the Inner Bank. Larger sized yellowfin to over 100 pounds could be seen coming up and feeding on the surface, these fish proved to be somewhat finicky and anglers needed larger amounts of chummed sardinas and lighter mono leaders in order to entice them to strike. These tuna ranged from 30 pounds and up and individual pangas were accounting for an average of one to four fish per morning. This same area has continue to produce a few blue and black marlin hooks ups, though no huge marlin were landed in recent days, just a few heartbreak stories of lost hoop ups, a couple of marlin in the 200 to 250 pound class were landed. Then there was a black marlin released on Friday off of the local La Playita 32 ft. "Alejandra" cruiser that was estimated to be close to 600 pounds.
The tuna bite found north of the banks near La Fortuna and Iman varied daily as to exactly where, what time, quantity, as well as how many black skipjack were mixed in. The majority of the time the bite was better early in the day while drift fishing with sardinas, most of these yellowfin were in the 10 to 30 pound range, charters averaged up to five tuna per boat. Dorado action was found more by trolling medium sized feathers or skirted lures, though practically all of the dorado encountered were juvenile fish of ten pounds or less.
Other action included some quality sized amberjack and dogtooth snapper, though with strong currents this action was limited. Larger live baits such as caballito or moonfish were particular good for this action, with La Fortuna being the most productive spot. Only a couple of incidental wahoo were being accounted for by the combined fleet for the week, these fish become less active in the warmer waters, which have ranged to 85 degrees.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 54 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of:
4 striped marlin, 2 blue marlin, 1 black marlin,
2 sailfish, 2 wahoo, 18 amberjack, 14 dogtooth snapper, 7 cabrilla, 39 dorado, 198 yellowfin tuna, 21 bonito, 76 black skipjack and. 2 roosterfish and 12 jack crevalle.
Good Fishing, Eric
