Reports for East Cape, Gordo Banks & Cabo

by Cass Tours

EAST CAPE REPORT

Water- 83-88 mixed, rain on Wednesday

Air- Cooler than last week, first real rain of the year on Wednesday. Highs in the low 90's.

Another stellar week of fishing. Limits of Yellowfin for all anglers. Most hotel boats returning by lunch with limits of Yellowfin and Dorado. Billfish are available, however, most anglers are staying with the tuna. Inshore has been wide open, lots of Pompano, big Pargo and as usual for all this season, the Roosterfish are big and plentiful, 50 #er's are common.
We enjoyed our first real rain of the season, the E Cape needed the water.

Yellowfin- Big tuna are being taken very close inside and under Porpoise outside. Limits for all anglers. The average fish is around 20 # with 50 to 100 #ers a daily occurrence. This has been the best tuna fishing year I can recall . Live Sardine best, Chunked Squid, bright Hoochies and cedar plugs all working.

Dorado- Mixed with the tuna. Most in the 10 pound class. Lots around, limits for most anglers. Larger bulls in the 40 to 50 pound range are being taken daily. Live Sardine working best, trolled lures have been effective.

Billfish- A few released daily. Some big Blues in the area. Very liight pressure as most anglers opting for the Yellowfin. Very spread north and south. The inside banks, La Ribera in particular have been holding lots of Stripers and Blues. Not many Sailfish around this year. Live Caballito, trolled Squid colored lures.

Inside- As many Pompano as ranch anglers want. Lots and lots around, average fish 5 #'s to 10. Big Pargo to 30 #'s are being taken daily. Big Gallos again this week, our best Roosterfishing year by far. Live Sardine and Caballito working.

GORDO BANKS REPORT

As is typical for the month of September the crowds of visiting anglers are light. The Tropical Depression that formed last week dissipated just as quickly and never really did much besides increase ocean swells some, as well as creating higher than usual humidity. We are now in the pattern where local thundershowers have been developing daily over the hills to the north of San Jose del Cabo, but these isolated showers have yet to reach to coastal areas, though the areas near the airport are turning green, as the scorched landscape quickly soaks up the welcome moisture.

The bait situation has consisted mainly of fresh dead sardinas that the local pangeros have been netting from the East Cape region each afternoon, occasionally limited amounts of live sardinas have been obtainable, as well as a mix of caballito, moonfish or mullet. The fresh dead sardinas continued to work well for the yellowfin tuna, which have been found in sizes ranging from footballs to 100 pound specimens. The two main areas where local San Jose del Cabo fleets are now concentrated on are the La Fortuna/Iman Banks area and the Gordo Banks.

In the past couple of days the action on the Outer Gordo Banks came to a standstill and the bite switched to the Inner Bank. Larger sized yellowfin to over 100 pounds could be seen coming up and feeding on the surface, these fish proved to be somewhat finicky and anglers needed larger amounts of chummed sardinas and lighter mono leaders in order to entice them to strike. These tuna ranged from 30 pounds and up and individual pangas were accounting for an average of one to four fish per morning. This same area has continue to produce a few blue and black marlin hooks ups, though no huge marlin were landed in recent days, just a few heartbreak stories of lost hoop ups, a couple of marlin in the 200 to 250 pound class were landed. Then there was a black marlin released on Friday off of the local La Playita 32 ft. "Alejandra" cruiser that was estimated to be close to 600 pounds.

The tuna bite found north of the banks near La Fortuna and Iman varied daily as to exactly where, what time, quantity, as well as how many black skipjack were mixed in. The majority of the time the bite was better early in the day while drift fishing with sardinas, most of these yellowfin were in the 10 to 30 pound range, charters averaged up to five tuna per boat. Dorado action was found more by trolling medium sized feathers or skirted lures, though practically all of the dorado encountered were juvenile fish of ten pounds or less.

Other action included some quality sized amberjack and dogtooth snapper, though with strong currents this action was limited. Larger live baits such as caballito or moonfish were particular good for this action, with La Fortuna being the most productive spot. Only a couple of incidental wahoo were being accounted for by the combined fleet for the week, these fish become less active in the warmer waters, which have ranged to 85 degrees.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 54 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 2 blue marlin, 1 black marlin, 2 sailfish, 2 wahoo, 18 amberjack, 14 dogtooth snapper, 7 cabrilla, 39 dorado, 198 yellowfin tuna, 21 bonito, 76 black skipjack and. 2 roosterfish and 12 jack crevalle.

CABO SAN LUCAS REPORT
Gaviota Fleet

The billfish action is much better than the numbers reflect. On many occasions, the anglers just don't wish to focus on billfish and the catch numbers tend to make the catching appear to be on the downside and that is not necessarily correct. The "Gaviota IV", skippered by Captain Octavio Castillo, was high boat for the week, reflecting a total of 5 stripers released for 2 days fished and the "Gaviota X", skippered by Captain Jorge Gil Marquez, fished a single day for two stripers released. The overall fish counts for a combined 12 days fished reflected 9 stripers released, 1 shark, 2 wahoo, 2 yellowfin tuna ad 48 dorado for their efforts. A few black & blue marlin were reported throughout the Cabo Fleets but mostly smaller fish in the 200-300 lb. ranges.

Cabo Climate: Partly cloudy days with temps from 74 nights to 93 daytime highs and light NW breezes, 10-15 knots.

Sea Conditions: Remains good throughout the area. Pacific side at 79-81, rising to 83 at Cabo San Lucas and continuing to rise to 86-87 from Chileno and into the Sea of Cortez. Good water clarity in all directions.

Best Fishing Area: Two area seemed best. The 1150 Fathom spot for the billfish and Cabeza de Ballena, (Gray Rock) for a mixed bag catch.

Best Lure/Bait: Live bait was best but a few billfish taken on lures.

Live Bait Supply: Live bait remains OK for our boats and continues to be mostly caballitos.