STRIPED MARLIN COUNTS STEADY FROM GORDO BANKS TO IMAN BANK

June 13, 2004, Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas, San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico sportfishing report:

The transition period from spring to summer shifted into high gear at San Jose del Cabo this past week, as high temperatures topped the 90-degree mark everyday, humidity increased and there were tropical clouds starting to appear in the skies over the Southern Baja. South winds that had dominated for several weeks switched to more out of the northwest and this in turn helped push in cleaner blue water and increase the water temperatures up to 78 to 80 degrees through the areas into the Sea Of Cortez, though the waters off the Pacific side of the peninsula remained cooler.

Ocean swells increased, but were not so large as to keep San Jose del Cabo’s panga fleets from launching and offshore conditions were generally considered to be very comfortable. San Jose del Cabo anglers found the overall fishing to be inconsistent, though with the rapidly improving water conditions there was excitement that the bite could break wide open at any time. Live bait supplies included sardinas, mullet and caballito.

Striped marlin action was steady throughout the region from Cabo San Lucas to Vinorama, though the most productive area was from the Gordo Banks to Iman. Marlin were seen in substantial numbers tailing on the surface and many boats did report multiple striped marlin days, though at other times the fish seemed to have lock jaw and would not show much interest. Best technique proved to be by casting live baits after spotting fish, but the stripers also were striking on lures. Size of the marlin ranged from 90 to 170 pounds. The billfish were being found fairly close to shore anywhere from 2 to 10 miles.

After months of slim reports on dorado, these popular game fish are now appearing in fair numbers around San Jose del Cabo, best areas were north of Punta Gorda, producing dorado to over 40 pounds, the fish were found in the same areas as were the marlin and hit on the similar baits and lures. The numbers were not huge, but most San Jose del Cabo charters did report at least one or two hook ups per day, which is encouraging considering that in previous weeks we were hardly seeing any dorado in the reports at all.

yellowfin tuna continued to be very scarce for charters out of San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas, though there were reports out of the East Cape of tuna being found near Los Frailes. This is the time of year when things can change incredibly fast, one week to the next can be a completely different story and at this time the conditions are favorable for the coming weeks.

Roosterfish dominated the action along the shoreline around San Jose del Cabo, the bite was not wide open, but anglers trolling with live mullet close to beaches faced good odds at having the chance of hooking into a trophy-sized rooster. The time of day did not seem to matter, it was more of being in the right place at the right time. There were several fish landed in recent days that topped the 50 pound mark and untold stories of monster sized fish that were lost. Other San Jose del Cabo inshore action included a scattering of jack crevalle to 20 lb., sierra to 12 lb. and pargo to 30 lb.

(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.