Gordo Banks Pangas
San Jose del Cabo
February 3, 2008
Anglers -
After a couple of weeks of cooler weather with lots of scattered cloud cover the weather in Los Cabos improved this week, as skies were clear and there was warm sunshine, highs averaged 75 degrees and for the limited crowds of visiting tourists they were able to enjoy all of the outside activities available. There was still the north wind blowing persistently, this is normal for wintertime, the average cycle being two, three or four days of wind and then one or two calmer days, before the pattern repeats itself. The ocean water temperature has ranged from 67 to 72 degrees, the warmest areas are now from the Gordo Banks to the 95 spot off of Chileno. In this same region the clarity has improved in recent days and this has been where the majority of local sportfishing fleets have concentrated their efforts. Live bait has been plentiful, both mackerel and sardinas available.
Only few reports of yellowfin tuna being found closer to shore, though there were some reports of anglers encountering tuna further offshore, either near floating debris or traveling with porpoise, these fish were football sized and this bite was not consistent. Numbers of dorados increased this week in the areas where the warmer and cleaner currents were, many charters were accounting for several dorado and there were also some exceptional reports of over a dozen of these fish accounted for. The dorado were striking various lures as well as live baits and most of the fish were in the 10 to 20 pound class.
Billfish action slowed down over the full moon, but has started to improve again, many stripers are now being seen in the direction of the Sea of Cortez and the fleets were finding good action 3 to 5 miles offshore from Chileno to Red Hill. Schools of mackerel are also congregated off of San Jose del Cabo, so it is only a matter of time before the main concentrations of stripers show in this same area.
The rock piles north of Punta Gorda are now showing signs of red crab activity, on some days they were seen drifting on the surface and could be netted for use as bait for the ever popular commercial species, the huachinango or true Pacific red snapper. On the days that the bait was obtainable and the weather cooperated, the fleets, particularly the commercial pangueros from La Playita did well on these fish which averaged 6 to 10 pounds. Giant squid were also in the area feeding on these same red crabs and as is normal when these crustaceans show up in local waters, the other bottom species also gorge on them and show less interest in other baitfish offerings. There was a powerful current to deal with as well and this never makes it very practical for targeting bottomfish, though a handful fish were taken on yo-yo style jigs, including amberjack, cabrilla, pargo and yellowtail.
Inshore action seemed to be better on the Pacific side of Cabo now, where there reports of good sized sierra being caught near the lighthouse. There were also sierra and smaller roosterfish found off of the San Jose del Cabo beaches, but the numbers were not significant and the sizes were smaller.
The combined fleets launching from the La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 47 panga charters for the week and anglers reported a fish count of: 13 striped marlin, 53 dorado, 7 yellowfin tuna, 114 Mexican bonito, 11 amberjack, 6 yellowtail, 22 sierra, 1 wahoo, 14 roosterfish, 5 pompano, 7 hammerhead sharks and 88 huachinango (red snapper).
Good Fishing, Eric
