BIG HUMBOLDT GIANT SQUID APPEAR OFF LOS CABOS

March 27, 2005, Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas, La Playita, San Jose del Cabo sportfishing, Baja California Sur, Mexico Report:

The La Playita panga fishing fleet sent out approximately 53 pangas for the week, with anglers accounted for an overall fish count of: 1 tripletail, 10 yellowtail, 26 amberjack, 110 pargo, 32 dorado, 24 yellowfin tuna, 48 giant squid, 12 whitefish, 18 parrotfish, 12 pompano, 30 triggerfish and 325 sierra.

Traditional crowds of springtime tourists traveling to the San Jose del Cabo (Los Cabos) vacation area are being treated with plenty of sunshine and 80 degree temperatures for taking advantage of all the outdoor activities available.

The north wind was not too much of a nuisance. There were only moderate crowds of anglers in San Jose del Cabo and many of the local charter fishing skippers were not even available through the later part of the week, as they were spending time with their families camping on the beaches as is customary over the Easter Holiday weekend.

Water temperatures in the San Jose del Cabo fishing area continued to fluctuate from 66 to 70 degrees. There was a warmer band of water lurking offshore some 15 to 20 miles and this is where the clearer blue water was found. Inshore the currents have been pushing in greenish off-colored water that has attributed to slower fishing action.

The highlight for the San Jose del Cabo panga fishing fleets had to have been an unusual appearance of giant Humboldt squid that for several days came within a couple miles of shore off Palmilla Point. The squid were three to four feet in length and weighed up to 40 pounds and were seen feeding near the surface on red crabs. They would readily strike on yo-yo jigs that were dropped to a depth of 50 to 80 feet down and then jigged upwards. Some The highlight for the San Jose del Cabo panga fleets had to have been an unusual appearance of giant Humboldt squid that for several days midweek came within a couple miles of shore off of Palmilla Point. The squid were three to four feet in length and weighed up to 40 pounds and were seen feeding near the surface on red crabs, they would readily strike on yo-yo jigs that were dropped to a depth of 50 to 80 feet down and then jigged upwards towards the surface. Some San Jose del Cabo charter fishing boats reported as many as ten squid landed, many of them actually free gaffed during their surface feeding frenzy. This bite faded out by the weekend just as fast as it had appeared, but not before half the area had more calamari to consume than could be dealt with.

Striped marlin are now being located 10 to 20 miles offshore in the cleaner water, anywhere from straight out of Cabo San Lucas to off of Red Hill. The bite was not wide open, but better than it was the past week.

The same offshore areas have been produced sporadic fishing action for yellowfin tuna which have for the most part been associated with porpoise and been of the football sized variety. Dorado were caught on the average of one per every couple of charters, from 5 to 30 pounds.

There were even a handful of wahoo accounted for in the open water, striking on the same marlin style lures, a couple of them over 60 pounds.

Other inshore fishing consisted mainly for sierra. Some of them were hefty, weighing up to 8 pounds, though the average was more like 2 or 3 pounds. Palmilla was once again the hot spot for the sierra.

Just outside anglers found some hit or miss action for bottom species, including amberjack, pargo, cabrilla and yellowtail. There was even one rare tripletail of 12 pounds accounted for on a surface trolled sardina.

(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.