TRIPS TO REMEMBER WITH GORDO BANKS
PANGAS' CAPTS. CHAME AND JESUS

Dec. 7, 2004, Randy Morishita, La Playita, San Jose del Cabo sport fishing, Baja, Mexico:

I finally got to go fishing with my friend Rasheed down with Eric Brictson's pangas. Went out with Jesus one day and got to fish with Chame another three days.

It was a trip to remember. Lots of different species to fill the coolers--tuna, dorado, snapper, wahoo, pargo. Lots of good catch & release--sailfish.

We fished primarily were closer to shore working the Iman Bank, Inner Gordo, and the Bajo. Basically, bait was spotty so that dictated how and where we fished. One day we ventured to the Outer Gordo and chased porpoise for some yellowfin tuna with hoochies but slim pickings further outside.

Lots of laughs and not to mention, perfect weather.

We were just beat from reeling in fish. Sometimes we had to race sea lions to boat 60-pound-plus tuna and one actually grabbed a 73-pounder I brought it to the boat twice. It was amazing to us how Chame worked the tuna away from the lobo, successfully gaffed it and put the big tuna in the box.

Even more amazing is how he spotted a basking sailfish while we were heading back to shore. Chame did an abrupt U-turn, cast a rigged, dead live bait towards the now charging fish, let the sailfish grab the bait, set the hook, and then handed off to Rasheed to bring him in, which he did in 8 minutes! The fish recovered quickly and was released virtually unhurt.

I cannot say enough about the knowledge that these pangueros possess and how hard they work when we just say we are going fishing.

The next week we hung out at Percebu--How nice it was to let the surroundings dictate our pace. We trolled a couple of days inshore "Baja Catch" style and caught 40-plus spotted bay bass and a couple of mojarra all released. What great fun, especially for the kids.

(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.