November 10, 2012
Anglers –
This time period always is one of the busiest of the year for the Los Cabos area, no exception this season, as anglers from across the globe are arriving by the plane load, with high expectations of fun times to be had by all. The weather has been ideal, sunny skies, with highs in the lower 80s. Some moderate winds blowing out of the north, but for the most part anglers enjoyed comfortable ocean conditions. The last event of this season’s high stake fishing tournaments is being held at this time, this is the WON Tuna Jackpot, with some 120 teams participating this year, surely there will be some monster fish stories developing.
Ocean currents are remaining a bit warmer than usual for this time period, temperatures have ranged 82/84 degrees throughout most of the region. Clean blue water is now moving right in close to the shoreline. Supplies of sardinas also become scarcer during these high pressure times, just too many charters to supply live bait to, the resource can be limited and these baitfish also have their migratory patterns. Waiting for bait was worth the time if you were after the fast action for the 10 to 20 pound yellowfin tuna, which were found within a mile of shore, several spots were holding schooling tuna, area off of Punta Gorda was one of the most productive, also the Iman Bank had good numbers.
The majority of charters out of San Jose del Cabo were concentrating on the inshore grounds, where the yellowfin tuna dominated the action, lots of skipjack were mixed in and there were scattered small schools of dorado. Wahoo were showing more signs of activity, The Iman Bank early in the morning was one of the reefs where these fish are now being encountered, many juvenile sized wahoo in the area, a few wahoo in the 40 to 50 pound class were landed. Slow trolling trap rigged larger baitfish or higher speed troll with Rapalas, purple once again has been the hot pattern.
The only place where anyone has heard about seeing or catching larger sized yellowfin tuna in the Southern Baja region has been on the Gordo Banks, this action has been going on for the last month, tuna to over 300 pounds have been taken, with scores of fish in the 150 to 250 pound class accounted for. Heavy pressure on these yellowfin makes them even more finicky. All of these tuna are striking on various baits, chunk, strip, whole baits, dead and live, active chumming necessary to entice the fish to feed. The panga fleets did account for several fish over 200 pounds this past week, the way the conditions seem now, this bite could last through the next month.
Only limited action being found off the bottom now, with a handful of amberjack, snapper and cabrilla being the most common species, most of these fish were in the 5 to 15 pound class. A few early season sierra are starting to patrol inshore waters.
The combined panga fleets out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina, sent out approximately 245 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of:
16 wahoo, 7 sailfish, 405 dorado, 1580 yellowfin tuna, 13 amberjack, 5 dogtooth snapper, 22 cabrilla, 22 sierra, 8 roosterfish, 20 pargo and 1250 skipjack .
Good Fishing, Eric