Anglers –
October 22, 2016
Plenty of activity going on now in Los Cabos, this is now peak fall season time, with the granddaddy of all marlin tournaments now underway, over one hundred teams from all around the world were participating for a chance at the multiple million dollar jackpot prize. The weather has been very ideal, with more wind prevalent than previous week, minimal ocean swells, water temperatures still in the mid 80 degree range.
Last Sunday a group of local San Jose del Cabo anglers fishing from a 22 ft. panga “Mako” hooked into a blue marlin while trolling a guacamaya patterned lure outside of the Cardon area that weighed in at a whopping 707 lbs. They landed the big blue on 100 lb. class tackle after a two hour battle, proved to be quite an event at the dock area for the weigh in, with this coinciding with the traditional Sunday beach crowds.
Another very impressive catch was accounted for on Thursday, angler Mike Mahoney, from San Leandro, Ca., teamed up with skipper Chame Pino on the super panga “Killer II” to land a 310 lb. yellowfin tuna off of the Gordo Banks, they were trolling a live skipjack for bait, the tuna took three and a half hour to bring to gaff. This fish weighed exactly the same as the previous largest yellowfin that Mahoney had landed some ten years ago with the same skipper.
Fleets are very busy now, most charters are fishing on the grounds from the Gordo Banks to Vinorama. The action had shifted more in the direction of Vinorama, full moon also seemed to have some impact, with the tuna bite becoming more finicky from day to day, some days early, some days late. Average size yellowfin being caught are in the 15 to 35 lb. class, but obviously there are some much larger fish in the area. Early in the week some charters encountered porpoise off of the San Jose del Cabo region and there were large concentrations of yellowfin tuna traveling with these mammals. The porpoise were traveling quickly, so the key was to get in front of them and drop down strips of squid, then repeat the process over and over, fast pace fishing, but also very productive for tuna in the 20 to 30 lb. class. This type of action can be there one day and gone the next, but has held up for about four days so far, moving in different directions daily.
Wahoo were starting to become more active, as they usually do this time of year. Best areas were from San Luis to Vinorama, slow trolling with trap hooked chihuil has been the best technique for enticing strikes, though these baits are not easy to obtain. A few fish were striking on trolled Rapalas as well. The wahoo landed ranged in sizes up to 50 lb. Lots of these fish are on the local fishing rounds now, so we are optimistic for a great season to develop on these sought after gamefish.
Dorado continue to be very limited, though we have seen a few more nicer sized specimens, bulls up to 30 lb. were brought in, no particular spot, scattered form offshore to inshore, most were taken on trolled lures, others on the same striped squid being targeting for tuna.
No inshore action to report beside a few roosterfish, jack crevalle and at least one snook, caught by shore anglers in the vicinity of the marina jetties.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 138 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 blue marlin, 7 striped marlin, 11 sailfish, 610 yellowfin tuna, 34 dorado, 23 wahoo, 34 yellow snapper, 16 leopard grouper, 6 barred pargo, 12 bonito, 3 surgeonfish, 32 huachinango, 6 dogtooth snapper, 14 amberjack, 65 rainbow runner and 200 triggerfish.
Good fishing, Eric