LOS CABOS SPECIES FISHING PANGA REPORT

Nov. 7-9, 2005, John Snow, San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

Three rather slow days of Panga fishing with Captain Pata at San Jose del Cabo. The water temperature was a consistent 83-degrees and was pristine blue with fishing a small area 25 to 30 miles north of La Playita, San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Water conditions and weather conditions were excellent. Overall, I came in contact with only 14 individual fish species. The bait guys were present but unable to produce quality bait and only limited amounts of small low quality sardines. Major targeted game fish species count from three days of Panga fishing: Dorado, 2; Leopard Grouper, 1; Striped Marlin, 1; and Yellowfin Tuna, 2. I would rate this week as slow and below average.

San Jose del Cabo Fishing Species, Executive Summary, 14 known and 0 new:

Balloonfish (Fish Number 54) Dorado (Fish Number 82) Grouper, Leopard (Fish Number 58) *Herring, Flatiron (Fish Number 19) Jack, Green (Fish Number 65) Marlin, Striped (Fish Number 167) Pargo, Mexican Barred (Fish Number 78) Pacific Porgy (Fish Number 2) **Snapper, Red (Fish Number 16) Triggerfish, Finescale (Fish Number 9) Triggerfish, Orangeside (Fish Number 26) Tuna, Skipjack (Fish Number 155) Tuna, Skipjack, Black (Fish Number 79) Tuna, Yellowfin (Fish Number 89) *Collected in the bait tank. **Surface floating fish. Fishing with Captain Pata, Panga Salome, La Playita. La Playita Sport Fishing activity picked up significantly granting that all the pangas have been fishing a very small area for the last 45 days or so and productivity is way down.

San Jose del Cabo, Day 1, November 7, 2005: Fishing for six hours with Captain Pata. Ocean was tranquil. Modest supply of live bait available limited to an abundance of 1 to 1.5 inch very small sardines that due the mass crowding conditions in the bait tank do not survive well. Also they are so small that they are not productive as a live bait. Water was pristine blue, 83-degrees. Fished a small area 25 miles north La Playita. Style was either traditional bottom fishing with yo-yo iron, sardines, fish scraps or squid or flylined Sardines. Catch can be summarized as: one Balloonfish (botete), 5 pounds of which 4.5 were water, one Leopard Grouper (sardinera), 10 pounds, one Green Jack (cocinero), 25 pounds, three Finescale Triggerfish (blanco), to 6 pounds, eight Orangeside Triggerfish (taxi), to 2 pounds – all catch and release, nine Black Skipjack Tuna (barrilette), all in the 8 to 10 inch category (I would catch them and he would send them down deep and all we would get back is a sawed off head), and one Yellowfin Tuna (atun), 10 pounds. Miscellaneous: NADA!

San Jose del Cabo, Day 2, November 8, 2005: Fishing for six hours with Captain Pata. Ocean was tranquil. Modest supply of live bait available limited to an abundance of 1 to 1.5 inch very small sardines that due the mass crowding conditions in the bait tank do not survive well. Also they are so small that they are not productive as a live bait. Water was pristine blue, 83-degrees. Fished a small area 25 to 30 miles north La Playita. Style was either traditional bottom fishing with yo-yo iron (non productive), sardines, fish scraps or squid or flylined Bonito or Sardines. Catch can be summarized as: two Mexican Barred Pargo, two 20 pounds, five Finescale Triggerfish (blanco), to 6 pounds, three Orangeside Triggerfish (taxi), to 2 pounds – all catch and release, two Skipjack Tuna (blanco), to 10 pounds, more than ten Black Skipjack Tuna (barrilette), available in unlimited quantities the majority of which were in the 8 to 10 inch category (I would catch them and he would send them down deep with two Pargos to show for the effort), and one Yellowfin Tuna (atun), 10 pounds. Miscellaneous: We collected a 15-pound Red Snapper that was floating on the surface; one whiff and it went immediately into the fish box. There are acres and acres of Green Jacks present about 5 miles off shore and heading slowly north.

San Jose del Cabo, Day 3, November 9, 2005: Fishing for fours hours with Captain Pata – we cut the day short due to the abundance of interlopers found in our Panga. Ocean was tranquil. Modest supply of live bait available limited to an abundance of 1.5 to 2 inch very small sardines that due the mass crowding conditions in the bait tank do not survive well. Also they are so small that they are not productive as a live bait. Water was pristine blue, 83-degrees. Fished a small area 25 to 30 miles north La Playita. Style was either traditional bottom fishing with yo-yo iron (non productive), sardines, fish scraps or squid or flylined Bonito or Sardines. Catch can be summarized as: two Dorado (dorado), to 40 pounds (the other was a 3-pounder!), one Pacific Porgy (mojarrón), 4 pounds, one Striped Marlin (marlina), in excess of 100 pounds, one Finescale Triggerfish (blanco), 4 pounds, one Skipjack Tuna (blanco), 4 pounds, three (I could of caught a zillion) Black Skipjack Tuna (barrilette), 8 to 10 inches. Miscellaneous: this was actually a very slow day until all hell broke loose – the marlin out the back peeling line like hell and the dorado off the bow peeling line like hell simultaneously. The marlin had two extraneous components – one a small (one fourth inch) round thing (about six collected) that was running around the surface; two, a stingray gaff on the lower side from which a strange exotic was attached/growing (also collected for photograph work and additional correspondence with Milton Love). And another “question of the day” is “what is the difference between a Dorado, Coryphaena hippurus and the Pompano Dolphinfish, Coryphaena equiselis and does anyone have a picture of the latter?

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