LOS CABOS SPORTFISHING PANGA CATCH INCLUDES 115 RAINBOW RUNNERS

Sept. 18, 2005, Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas, San Jose del Cabo, Mexico Fishing Report:

The combined San Jose del Cabo panga sportfishing fleets launching out of La Playita sent out 55 charters for the week and anglers accounted for a fish count of: 2 striped marlin, 7 sailfish, 8 wahoo, 82 dorado, 550 yellowfin tuna, 220 bonito, 26 dogtooth snapper, 14 grouper, 12 amberjack and 115 rainbow runner.

The San Jose del Cabo fishing area is reaching the later part of the tropical storm season and we again had a week of clear and calm weather, though the humidity was creating a heat index that was reaching the red zone.

Anglers fishing from the panga fleets out of the San Jose del Cabo area continued to have outstanding action at the Iman Bank. The Iman has been the most productive local area lately, as can be noticed by the crowds of pangas, as well as cruisers, including scores of which are making the long run south from the East Cape region. Despite all of the sportfishing boats there was no problem filling up the fish box, plenty of fish to go around.

San Jose del Cabo had extreme tides this past week and high surf conditions, but it was not so large that sportfishing panga fleets had to shut down operations. Schools of sardinas off of La Playita were in good supply and they were the favored bait for the schooling yellowfin. Water temperatures off San Jose del Cabo were at the summer high, averaged from 85 to 89 degrees throughout the lower Sea of Cortez to the southern tip of the peninsula.

Drift fishing with live or dead bait was the popular method and anglers were pretty much catching as many tuna as they wished. Tuna sizes dropped, as the average sized fish is now in the 14 to 18 pound class, but everyday there were still fair numbers of larger tuna up to 60 pounds mixed in.

The cruisers that were making the long range trip to Iman from the East Cape had limited access to live sardinas and were relying more on fresh cut squid for bait and they were catching respectable numbers of fish, though not equal to charters having sardinas.

More dorado were caught this week. The same area of Iman was producing an average of one or two per San Jose del Cabo charter fishing boat. Sizes were not huge, but fish to over 20 pounds were weighed in. Rainbow runners were schooling on the banks and readily striking on bait, weighing 4 to 12 pounds. They were scrappy fighters and excellent eating. Sailfish were hooked on bait and lures and proved to be great sport on lighter tackle.

The wahoo became more active this past week. A handful of wahoo to 40 pounds were landed on trolled lures, and others were hooked on yo-yos or various live baits. These fish seemed to be congregated around the Iman Bank.

Grouper, amberjack and dogtooth snapper rounded out the exotic species list, as anglers soaking deeper larger baits such as bolito and various jacks encountered some monstrous hookups on fish weighing upwards of 75 pounds. San Jose del Cabo anglers also caught more than enough big skipjacks to additionally wear themselves out.

(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.