STRIPED MARLIN SLOW TO BITE FOR LOS CABOS PANGAS

June 6, 2004, Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas, La Playita, Los Cabos, San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

With the official start of summer just a couple of weeks away the days are steadily warming, highs are now reaching into the low 90s, though the nights are still cool enough to sleep comfortably without air conditioning. Nice time of year to visit Southern Baja. Southern winds have plagued San Jose del Cabo this past week, helping to make the days feel cooler, though the breeze also pushed cooler water back towards the Sea of Cortez, where things had been warming up nicely, now conditions are once again set back, the weather has just not decided what it wants to do, typical for this period of transition from spring to summer seasons.

Water temperatures were ranging from 69 to 75 degrees throughout most of the region, with the warmest currents found from 10 miles on out, north of the Gordo Banks, this is where blue water was also located, with much of the water closer to shore green and cloudy. Bait supplies at San Jose del Cabo were adequate and consisted of sardinas, mullet and caballito. Ocean swells increased over the weekend and combined with the extreme low tides now occurring early in the morning, made for tricky launch conditions for the panga fleets out of La Playita.

San Jose del Cabo offshore action tapered off for striped marlin, tailing fish were seen spread throughout the areas from Chileno to Desteladera, but the stripers would not readily strike on lures or bait, though some charters did report multiple marlin days early in the week, by the weekend the bite became more scattered.

Billfish were the dominant catch offshore and of the striped marlin that were landed they were averaging 100 to 150 pounds. A handful of dorado, yellowfin tuna and wahoo rounded out the offshore catches, but these fish were few and far between, with the more consistent action now found close to shore.

Same deal though, the inshore bite was better early in the week, before cooler water once again worked its way from the Pacific towards Los Frailes. Anglers at San Jose del Cabo found quality species such as pompano, sierra, roosterfish, jack crevalle, pargo colorado and dog tooth snapper all eager to strike live bait, hot spots were near Cardon to San Luis, as well as from Regina to Chileno. Snapper and roosterfish to 50 pounds were accounted for, with larger hook ups reportedly lost. Trolling with mullet was particularly affective for the larger roosters and snapper, while using sardinas proved better for pompano, sierra and smaller pargo. Pompano weighed from 8 to 20 pounds and provided incredible sport on lighter tackle, sierra were not as numerous now, but the few that were found were larger specimens of 4 to 8 pounds.

Off the bottom San Jose del Cabo anglers reported mixed success on grouper, cabrilla, pargo, triggerfish, amberjack and croaker, these fish hit on yo-yo jigs as well as whole and cut baits. Shore fishermen reported some sporadic action for roosterfish, jack crevalle and amberjack, but this bite varied from day to day, hot spots were near Regina Hotel and Punta Gorda.

(See "Mexico Fishing News" online for current fishing reports, photos, weather, and water temperatures from San Jose del Cabo and other major Mexican sportfishing areas. Vacation travel articles, fishing maps and seasonal calendars, and fishing related information for San Jose del Cabo may be found at Mexfish.com's main San Jose del Cabo page.