TWO GORILLA TUNA OVER 300 POUNDS LANDED BY LOS CABOS SPORTFISHING BOATS

Oct. 22, 2006, Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas, La Playita, San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

The combined sportfishing panga fleets launching from La Playita beach sent out 205 charters for the week for a fish count of: 1,440 yellowfin tuna, 3 striped marlin, 9 sailfish, 6 wahoo, 3 roosterfish, 15 sierra, 155 various pargo, 18 cabrilla, 760 various species of skipjack, and 74 dorado.

On Saturday, Gordo Banks Pangas' Capt. Jesus Pino also caught a tuna tentatively identified as a rare kawakawa. The fish was caught within one mile of the beach off of the La Salina area, which is one mile south of Punta Gorda.

Anglers are now arriving in swarms at San Jose del Cabo. The annual tournaments are under way. The Los Cabos sportfishing fleets are operating at near capacity. There could be some changes in schedules as there is now a late season tropical storm named Paul off the west side of the Baja peninsula.

There was exciting news from the Outer Gordo Bank. Early in the week there were two monster gorilla sized yellowfin tuna accounted for, one weighed in at 310 pounds and the other weighed a whopping 350 pounds. Both fish were caught from Cabo San Lucas cruisers while trolling with live skipjack for bait.

These tuna were hooked right along pangas based at La Playita. Perhaps this will be the area that produces the big tuna for the upcoming Western Outdoor News Tuna Tournament, although at this time very few of these larger tuna are actually being hooked into.

Yellowfin tuna was the most common species caught this week by San Jose del Cabo sportfishing boats. The largest schools of 10 to 20 pound fish were located off San Jose del Cabo and north to Punta Gorda. The action has tapered off compared to the past couple of weeks, but boats continue to come from as far away as Buena Vista. The activity has been within one mile of shore. Average catches per boat ranged from 5 to 15 tuna per morning, with the action being best earlier in the morning before nearly one hundred boats of all types swarmed in.

There were more dorado found on the Pacific, with fish to over 30 pounds. Numbers were not huge, but most charters were landing anywhere from 2 to 6 dorado per outing.

The billfish bite has continued slow around San Jose del Cabo, although there is a chance of variety, as there were blue marlin, black marlin, and striped marlin, as well as sailfish in the region.

A 500 pound class black marlin was lost from a Gordo Banks Panga on Monday after a three hour battle with the fish right alongside the boat and actually getting a gaff partially into the fish’s head, only to have it take off and break the leader.

Another heartbreak occurred on Saturday. A Palmilla cruiser, after a battle lasting over five hours, had a black marlin estimated to be as large as 800 pounds break through 400 pound leader.

Wahoo action was very slim.

Bottom fishing around San Jose del Cabo did not produce much to speak of either, only a handful of smaller pargo species, triggerfish and cabrilla. There was a 35-pound class roosterfish taken from a panga while chunk bait fishing on the Iman Bank, but this was definitely a fluke and not the normal method or area where roosterfish are found.

(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.