INCONSISTENT SPORTFISHING ACTION
FOUND BY GORDO BANKS PANGAS BOATS

July 10, 2005, Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas, La Playita, San Jose del Cabo fishing, Baja California Sur, Mexico Report:

The combined panga charter fishing fleets launching out of La Playita sent out approximately 47 pangas for the week and anglers accounted for a fish count of: 2 striped marlin, 12 dorado, 16 yellowfin tuna, 1 wahoo, 18 amberjack, 12 African pompano, 16 roosterfish, 14 sierra, 22 jack crevalle, 18 cabrilla, 65 miscellaneous pargo and 32 triggerfish.

Tropical activity to the south created humid weather and higher surf conditions at San Jose del Cabo. Surfing enthusiasts were happy, but panga fleets launching through the surf had to take extra caution.

Live bait became a bit more scattered, particularly sardinas, as they were almost nonexistent. There were limited supplies of mackerel and along the shoreline mullet was the mainstay.

Crowds of tourists were lighter than usual in the San Jose del Cabo (Los Cabos) vacation area. The weather continues to be very unpredictable, still a bit cooler than usual, one of the reasons being the unrelenting southern winds that push in cooler and off colored green water from the Pacific, all this contributed to poor fishing conditions.

Even though some quality fish were accounted for at San Jose del Cabo, the action was very inconsistent. The average water temperature was 73 to 78 degrees, but in recent days it once again was in the 72 to 74 degree range close to shore, with blue water being found from 25 miles on out, out of range for most charters, especially since even in the cleaner water there were not any significant numbers of fish being found.

A wide variety of fish were accounted for at San Jose del Cabo, with the overall catches including dorado, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, striped marlin, amberjack, pompano, sierra, jack crevalle, roosterfish, amberjack and others. But, the numbers were very limited and by the weekend things even became more difficult with the influx of yet another cool current from the south. Everyone knows that the fishing action is bound to break loose any day, with the number one question recently being "when is the water going to be right for the fish to bite?" In the mean time San Jose del Cabo sportfishing fleets are working many different areas throughout the region.

Inshore action produced limited action for roosterfish to over 50 pounds, jack crevalle up to 20 pounds, sierra to 8 pounds, pargo of 5 to 20 pounds and one beautiful African Pompano that topped out at 27 pounds. Though numbers were limited there were some trophy-sized fish around.

Offshore action was also sporadic. Earlier in the week was better. The water was warmer and cleaner, and anglers found a handful of nice dorado up to 30 pounds, and some yellowfin tuna to 60 pounds. Yellowfin tuna counts dropped off, though some schooling fish were further offshore moving with porpoise.

Some sportfishing cruiser charters accounted for multiple marlin days, particularly those that had mackerel for bait. The bite fluctuated day to day, just as did the water clarity.

(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.