BY GARY GRAHAM
Cabo San Lucas
Torneo de Pesca ORSAN
The final sportfishing tournament of the season in Los Cabos was held on November 27 and 28, with the fishing day on November 28. The “Orsan” Tournament was created with local fishermen in mind, guaranteeing big prizes with an accessible registration fee of 4,509 pesos.
A purse of 600,000 pesos was distributed in this 10th tournament this year, with a first-place prize of 300,000, 200,000 for second place, and 100,000 for third place. The categories are dorado and wahoo.
Only two dorado could be weighed per team, as long as each exceeded 15 pounds. The wahoo did not have a minimum weight, the heaviest won.
Clicerio Mercado, Tournament Advisor, explained that this local tournament is expected to instill a remarkable 10,000,000 pesos into the economy of Los Cabos, in addition to being an event with a social cause, and it is planned to donate 60 Wheelchairs to the Municipal DIF and 10 to the Rotary Club.
Congratulations to the winners of this 10th Anniversary ORSAN FISHING TOURNAMENT 2023!
1er Lugar: #36 WILL 2 WIN 2 | 36.50 LB $500,000
2nd Place: #14 VILLAGOMEZ | 36.20 LB $300,000
3rd Place: #75 LOS MAYA | 33.60 LB $200,000
Jackpots Wahoo: #87 LET´S GO | 47.20 LB $1,086,000
$3,000 & $10,000 & $20,000 Jackpots of Gold: #98 RANCHO PARAISO | 30.00 LB $1,509,000
$30,000 Golden Jackpots: #119 THE DEVIL | 24.10 LB $600,000
$500 & $5,000 Gold Jackpots: #53 LOS CHAVO RUCOS | 29.50 LB $431,500
$1,000 & $2,000 Gold Jackpots: #43 DUCKS FISHING | 30.90 LB $284,000
Golden Release Prize: #101 Lolo’s Team $25,000
Golden Release Prize: #97 Stroller $25,000
Puerto Los Cabos
Gordo Banks Pangas – With the passing of Thanksgiving, we are now marking the end of our busy season. It usually settles down for a few weeks, and then new crowds arrive for Christmas break.
This week was very productive, even though we had a few windy days at the beginning of the week. The wind has made it difficult to reach the Vinorama Bank to look for the smaller-sized tuna. Our fleet focused mainly on Iman, Fortuna, Cardon, Punta Gorda, and Inner and Outer Gordo. Some of our boats also continued fishing off Palmilla Point. Even though Palmilla Point has produced some decent wahoo and dorado action, the bigger wahoo are being taken off Iman and Fortuna.
Overall, the wahoo bite has been on and off this week, but they are definitely around. Most of the boats are targeting wahoo and dorado daily with different techniques. On average, you can count on one or two wahoo strikes per day if you cover enough ground and put in the time. Trolling Rapalas and rigged ballyhoo throughout the early morning and switching to slow trolling live bait/ballyhoo later in the day has been the most productive. The biggest wahoo weighed this week came in at 51 pounds.
Although we are primarily looking for the elusive wahoo, this type of fishing is producing good dorado action. We are seeing some big bulls come in daily. On Thanksgiving Day, our fleet caught six bulls over 25 pounds, the biggest weighing in at 40 pounds. We weighed a couple more at 33 and 38 pounds. We noticed that the dorado are large but thin. Some of these larger-sized dorado were caught with live sardines. The majority were caught while either fast/slow trolling ballyhoo. While slow-trolling live/dead bait on the same grounds, a few sailfish were taken in the mix. We always encourage the safe release of smaller dorado (especially small female dorado), sailfish, and striped marlin to support their growth and our livelihood as fishermen. These species are unique as they are great contributors to the beauty of Sportfishing.
The tuna bite at the Gordo has been on and off for the last week. Due to the consistent dorado bite, not many boats are targeting these nice-sized tuna, even though they are definitely still there. This week, our fleet caught three nice-sized yellowfin, with the largest weighing 93 pounds. All three were caught with strips of squid. On Saturday (yesterday), a few boats looked for these tuna in the afternoon; they were successful as most of them caught one or two 70+ pound tuna.
We are beginning to fish off Punta Gorda on days when the wind picks up later in the day. Punta Gorda has produced excellent dorado action with an occasional wahoo in the mix. We have also seen a few sierra while fishing in this area.
We are also starting to target different reefs and rock structures at Fortuna, Cardon, and the inner Gordo. We are mainly using live/dead sardina and strips of skipjack; there is also a good chance of hooking something on the jig. Some species caught have been yellow snapper, grouper, barred snapper, and dogtooth snapper. Bottom action is more consistent throughout the early morning. Good Fishing. …Brian Brictson
East Cape
In the East Cape, the dorado bite continues with good fish throughout the bay. There has been some decent action in the East Cape the last couple of days for wahoo as well. I’m currently home for a quick trip and headed back to Magdalena Bay on Friday morning. The winds have been favorable for fishing here in the East Cape the last couple of days and as I mentioned the dorado action remains the most consistent. It looks like we may see the wind in both locations later this week…Jeff DeBrown
La Paz
FINDING FISH BETWEEN GUSTY NORTHERNS
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report’
WEATHER: The weather has been primarily sunny, in the low to mid-80s in the daytime. Evenings have been comfortable in the mid-60s. It is an excellent time for the holidays and all the snowbirds visiting. The problem has been the winds blowing 15-25 knots from the north. Some gusts are stronger. It is important to choose your activities accordingly. If you’re going to do something, do it in the mornings before the winds get stronger.
WATER: Cooler and rougher. If the wind is blowing, it is very choppy. Heading north out of La Paz Bay can be wet and bouncy at best – and impossible.
FISH HOOKED: Dorado, bonito, sailfish, jack crevalle, pargo, cabrilla, and snapper.
BAIT AVAILABILITY: Erratic. If winds are blowing and it’s rough, the bait guys have a hard time getting live bait, and you should plan on a day of trolling or using dead or frozen bait…Tailhunter, Jonathan Roldan.
