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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
October 30, 2005
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
October 30, 2005
Anglers –
With near capacity crowds of anglers now traveling to Los Cabos there was tons of excitement in the air, this was the week of the richest paying marlin tournament in the world, this was the year of the 25 th annual Bisbee’s Black and Blue Marlin event. It also surpassed last year’s total tournament purse by about one million dollars, reaching a total payout of over three million dollars. The largest marlin caught during the three-day event was a 531 pound black marlin landed by angler Peter Hoertig from the boat “ Pez Espada” during the first hour of the tournament, the team pulled in a record payout of close to one and a half million dollars. Ocean and air conditions were practically perfect for most of the week, though there was north wind picking up by mid-morning, overall everyone was enjoying their selves and lots of fish were caught, including over four hundred released billfish.
Tournament time also means heavy pressure on the bait supplies and the local fishing grounds. Obtaining sufficient supplies of sardinas became an over time project for local commercial pangueros, with patience most anglers were able to buy the live bait, though amounts were sometimes not up to standards and the size of the bait also continued to be of the one to two inch variety. Sportfishing fleets found the two best spots for catching yellowfin tuna to be either Santa Maria or Iman Bank, so this is where the majority of both pangas and larger cruisers and yachts were starting out early in the day. The football-sized tuna are of course one of the preferred and proven baits for hooking into big marlin.
The tuna found off of Santa Maria were mixed in with white skipjack and a handful of dorado and most of these yellowfin were weighing from 6 to 12 pounds, striking best on the small live sardinas, though the bite became tougher due to all of the boat pressure. To the north at the Iman Bank the tuna also had lots of boat pressure, they were striking on both strip squid and sardinas, weights on these fish were definitely a better grade of fish, weighing anywhere from 15 to 55 pounds. The wind from the north did pick up over the later part of the week, but typically not until late morning and was not that much of a factor besides adding to an already strong current.
Water clarity continued to fluctuate daily from certain areas to the next and the water temperature was averaging 80 to 83 degrees through most of the region. Very few wahoo so far this season, but that is how this elusive species can be, when all of a sudden conditions get just right these highly sought after speedsters can go on a wide open bite and that is what we are all hoping that they will do in the coming weeks. Dorado were also scarce, though this week there were more numbers caught and some were of very impressive sizes, 20 to 30 pounds. One of the stranger catches of the week was a 40-pound class roosterfish that was released by Pat Walsh off of a Gordo Banks Panga while trolling a live bolito on the surface some three miles from the shoreline where they are typically found.
Other miscellaneous catches included a mix of pargo species, amberjack, sierra, rainbow runners, sailfish, grouper, triggerfish and cabrilla.
The combined panga fleet launching off of La Playita beach sent out approximately 174 charters for the week, with anglers accounted for a fish count of: 7 wahoo, 1 roosterfish, 2 striped marlin, 18 sailfish, 82 dorado, 525 yellowfin tuna, 160 white skipjack, 180 pargo, 22 cabrilla, 14 grouper, 6 sierra, 32 rainbow runners, 28 amberjack and 175 triggerfish.
Good Fishing, Eric
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