GORDO BANKS AND VINORAMA PRODUCE
BEST FOR LOS CABOS CHARTER PANGAS

June 19, 2005, Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas, San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico Report:

The La Playita panga fleet sent out approximately 85 panga charters for the week and anglers accounted for a fish count of: 16 striped marlin, 8 hammerhead sharks, 6 dorado, 16 yellowfin tuna, 165 roosterfish, 120 jack crevalle, 28 amberjack, 55 pompano, 70 sierra, 60 dogtooth snapper, 230 yellowtail snapper, 38 cabrilla, 45 parrotfish and 95 triggerfish.

The weather in the San Jose del Cabo vacation area has felt more cool than usual, with moderate breezes off the ocean to help keep conditions very comfortable, highs in the mid 80s and lows of about 65 degrees.

The unusual weather pattern has attributed to unstable ocean conditions, cool water temperatures and off-colored currents, which in turn has caused offshore fishing action to be limited and not up to typical San Jose del Cabo standards. The water is back on a warming trend and is now averaging 72 to 76 degrees through most of the San Jose del Cabo (Los Cabos) region.

The majority of the San Jose del Cabo sportfishing fleets are fishing in the direction of the warmer water, which has been from Punta Gorda to Los Frailes.

Anglers have accounted for a wide variety of fish, though no particular species has been overly abundant, with possibly the exception on some days while trolling the shoreline for roosterfish and snapper.

Live bait supplies consisted of caballito, mullet and sardinas.

This is now the tail end of striped marlin season as we wait the arrival of the larger black and blue marlin and with the cooler than average water temperatures there have still been good numbers of stripers found in local waters.

The most productive fishing area this week was from the Gordo Banks to Vinorama, anywhere from 3 to 8 miles offshore.

The marlin were averaging 90 to 120 pounds and early in the morning they were striking on lures while later on in the day it was the live bait that proved more productive, they were located tailing on the surface and when found in groups they were more likely to be enticed into striking. At other times they seemed to have lockjaw.

Dorado continued to be scarce, with only an occasional fish encountered in the same areas where the billfish were being found. As more bolito, flying fish and other bait fish start to congregate on the fishing grounds we expect dorado numbers to increase significantly.

Yellowfin tuna catches remained limited to occasional schools of fish averaging 25 to 30 pounds that were mixed in with dark colored porpoise as compared to the usual smaller gray and white spinners.

Out of La Playita on Friday a panga angler fishing with skipper "Chato" happened to find himself in the right place at the right time off of Iman Bank where some monster yellowfin were spotted feeding and he hooked into one of them while trolling with a mullet on 40 pound tackle and after a battle lasting over 3 hours landed a beautiful specimen of 190 pounds.

Many San Jose del Cabo fishing charters were opting to troll along the shoreline and at times they encountered some world class roosterfish action on fish weighing up to 60 pounds, though the bite was not consistent. Some days it would be an early morning bite and on other days the action picked up later in the morning, while on other days anglers could not seem to find them.

Other inshore action included jack crevalle, sierra, pompano and dogtooth snapper. The bottom rock piles produced limited catches for various species of pargo, cabrilla, grouper and amberjack. Most of the fish were taken on bait, with not much going on the yo-yo jigs.

Off the San Jose del Cabo beaches, the highlight recently has been the afternoon bite for roosterfish, with the area from La Playita to Punta Gorda being the hot spot. Fish to 60 pounds were landed by a few of the more experienced anglers while snagging mullet and casting them towards feeding roosters. It is very exciting action, but also requires expertise.

(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.