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Marlin Fishing from the Village of La Playita
The small village of La Playita is located one and half
miles east of downtown San Jose del Cabo, adjacent to the Tropical
Estuary that is fed by an endless supply of fresh water delivered by
the San Jose River. The majority of the residents in this village
are fishermen and have been so for many generations. There are now
over 1,000 people
living here, including close to 100 North Americans, who have fallen
in
love with the unique beauty of this little tropical paradise in
Southern Baja. In
recent years there has been a boom of development happening along
the entire Baja Penninsula and particularly in Cabo San Lucas, where
it is now becoming more and more just like another Southern
Californian city. Despite the rapid growth and changes that are
taking place nearby, La Playita has remained much the same as
the old days and has thus retained its charm.
There are no launch
ramps or marina facilities here so the only
way to get boats into the water is by man power. The type of boats
used by the locals fleets are called Pangas , they are extremely
seaworthy, of fiberglass construction and equipped with
powerful outboard engines. They range from 18 ft. to 25 ft., but the
average sportfishing panga is 22 ft. or 23 ft.
Especially practical boats for launching off of the beach and
through the surf, with all the luxuries of bimini tops for shade and
padded seats. The
beach of La Playita is ideal for launching pangas because of
it being more shallow than other areas in the vicinity and the surf
is more predictable. Local pangeros have been born and raised here
all their lives and are very knowledgeable of all the local offshore
fishing hot spots. One of the more well known fishing grounds is the
Gordo Banks and the fleet based at La Playita has an advantage in
that they are located only ten miles away
from this world famous area.
Anglers have the opportunity of catching a wide variety
of pelagic gamefish here, including wahoo, yellowfin tuna and dorado
( mahi mahi, dolphin fish ) but perhaps the most challenging
fish of all are the black and blue marlin. These larger marlin can
be taken during all the months of the year but the peak season is
when the water temperature is at its warmest, July through November.
Average weights of these largest members of the billfish family is
250 lb. to 350 lb. and every season there are several specimens that
are weighed in that tip the scales at close to 1000 lb. A common
question that is asked by visiting anglers is ; Is it possible to
catch
such a large fish from a chartered panga ? Well the answer is ; Not
only is it possible but it is quite an experience, a true hunt,
quite different from being in a larger yacht that can back down on
the fish for you, in a panga these marlin actually can pull you
through the water at a good rate of speed for hours on end and put
on a display of power that is unequaled by
any other fish. In recent years there have been several marlin over
800 lb. accounted for from these pangas and at least one monster
black marlin brought in that weighed 993 lb.
There is also a controversial debate among big game fishermen as to
which marlin is the most powerful adversary. From our experiences we
have learned that both black and blue marlin can give exceptional
accounts of themselves and display tireless stamina that will test
the most fit of expert anglers. Blue marlin are definitely the more
common species and are best known for their spectacular aerial
jumping displays, which can be a disadvantage to the fish that
spends too much effort on the surface and ends up actually jump
themselves out of energy. Black marlin on the other hand
do not jump as often as the blues do and seem to conserve their
energy more. It is common for the blacks to jump but typically they
will just come up a few times during the fight, unlike the blues
that will sometimes come out of the water countless times. The
blacks prefer to head towards the bottom and stubbornly pace
themselves for the ensuing marathon.
The
most popular techniques used by the local fishermen is to
troll larger live baits around the vicinity of the offshore banks.
Preferred baits are yellowfin tuna, bolito and skipjack. Heavy
tackle is suggested and most anglers opt to use 80 lb. main line,
with reel sizes of # 50 W common, capacity of at least 500
yards of line. Monofilament leader of 200 lb. to 500 lb. test
is used, with lengths of the leaders being from 12 ft. to 25 ft.
Hooks sizes range from 8/0 to 12/0, depending on the particular live
bait that is being trolled. Since these larger marlin are not
numerous it does take a great
deal of patience to have the chance of one coming up on your bait or
lure. At times the action does get very good and you can have many
strikes in one day. The periods around the full moon can be when the
big marlin are particularly active and in the feeding mood. Blue
marlin have a
tendency to strike artificial lures more than blacks do, who have a
preference for the live bait. The sizes of the lures most commonly
used are 10 to 14 inch in length and though there are endless color
combinations that are available it seems that the natural bait
colors have the most success, such as dorado colored green and
yellow patterns, green and black, blue and purple and squid colored
jigs in brown, black, and orange combos can be especially affective.
Stand up style fishing for monster black and blue marlin
from a 22 foot panga is a true test of a persons strength and
endurance as these fish possess unbelievable power and have the
ability to tow a panga at a good rate of speed for hours on end.
This is not a sport for the weak or faint hearted and takes a
seriously dedicated angler to be up to the challenge. Although the
average time of a battle can take under two hours, this for a
200 to 400 pound specimen, it is when they are over 500 pounds that
they really can put up a fight. These fish can take an angler for a
ride, testing the limits of even the most fit and experienced
fishermen and at times they can take all day to finally subdue and
bring along side the boat. There of course are numerous stories told
of epic battles with huge fish in these same local waters, for
the most part they have ended up in the marlin's favor. Each summer
the fleet of pangas out of La Playita combine to hook into many nice
sized marlin, typically the largest marlin actually landed will be
in
700 to 900 pound range. The black and blue marlin here in Baja are
of similar size, some years the largest fish caught will be a blue
and during others it will be a black. The largest marlin ever
recorded in Baja is a blue of about 1,200 pounds. As far as records
show the largest specimen landed from a local panga was a 993 pound
black marlin, this fish was not
actually officially weighed until close to 10 hours after it was
landed, no doubt it was well over the 1,000 pound mark before it
lost weight to dehydration.
This past summer there was a group of three local anglers that headed out with
their heaviest 80 pound tackle to target big marlin. They would be
in for quite a surprise. Well, while they were slow trolling a live 8 lb. yellowfin tuna for
bait they ended up hooking into a monster sized black marlin that was estimated to
weigh between 1,200 and 1,500 pounds, the trio of experienced fishermen had a good
chance to see the size of this fish when it made a series of jumps along side their
panga. It would be the closest they would ever get to it, as the fish began steadily pulling the
boat
through the water with seemingly minimal effort. These men were Mexican locals that
had been born and raised in the area and had battled monster fish many times before,
but never had they seen such a large and powerful marlin like this one. They continued
fighting this fish throughout the day, trading off when one angler would wear down and
weaken, this way they could maintain the maximum amount of pressure on the marlin.
They continued the
marathon battle into and throughout the night, still they were not making any headway
and by this time their provisions of drinking water and food were
completely exhausted. The three men were completely beaten by this fish and had no other
choice but to cut the line themselves and head back to the beach empty handed. All this
after having the monster hooked up for a total of 25 grueling hours.
Another incredible story was when three Californian
anglers got together for a trip to southern Baja. It was during the second week of June, there
had been a good early run of wahoo going on and some quality bottomfish being taken off
the various rock piles using yo yo style jigs. They had brought with them some top of the
line equipment and an
excellent choice of lures but still while trolling most of the
morning over the areas to the north they ended up with only two wahoo in the 40 pound class, also
a couple of 25 to 30 pound amberjack off the bottom. They decided to head back and pass
over the Inner Gordo Bank to see if they could find one last wahoo. After arriving
on the bank they immediately caught a 2 pound bolito and pinned it onto a two hook
wahoo rig with 90 pound wire cable. They were trolling for about five minutes when all
hell broke loose and they had a freight train of a strike, everyone knew that this
was no wahoo, as it just continued pulling the 50 pound line off of the Penn 30 International
reel like it was nothing. The three anglers were quick to think about clearing all
other lines and give chase to the fish in order to keep from being spooled. Then as they
were running after it, out in front of them the fish broke the surface in one fantastic
leap, they had tied into a monster black marlin that appeared to be close to 800 or 900 pounds.
The battle was on and the fish from the onset sounded and just headed straight out to
sea, towing the 22
foot panga along with it. Worried about only having a five foot
length of leader the anglers kept thinking the battle would be over with soon because of
frayed line, well that never did happen, and the fact that the fish only jumped a few times
helped from it not getting tangled up in the line and breaking off. At one point in the
fight the fish seemed to be ready to come in but as it was being inched in close to the
boat and in reach of the leader it once again exploded into a full out of the water leap and
headed straight towards the horizon at full speed. It did eventually slow down to a steady 3
or 4 mph tow, but it was relentless and appeared to be headed all the way to mainland
Mexico. Actually it ended up towing the boat with four people, the skipper and the three
anglers, to a point about 40 miles offshore.
It was a beautifully calm sunny day, not a ripple of wind
on the seas surface, during this day long battle there was not much life to be seen on
the water, an occasional flying fish, jumping manta ray and above in the skies there could be
spotted a few frigate and booby birds. The highlight of the day as for seeing other signs
of fish tailing on the surface was when at about 25 miles offshore they almost ran into a
sleeping swordfish that appeared to be huge itself, maybe 300 to 400 pounds, anyway
they could not give up on their marlin that they were attached to, so they had to just
watch as long as they could and see the sword just drift towards the horizon as they passed it
by. Everything seemed to be going as well as could be expected, after about 8 hours of
being hooked up the big black did seem to be slowing down a little, the 500 plus yards of
line that at one point had been run off the reel could be seen spooling back onto the Penn
30. They started to think well maybe they did have a fair chance at actually landing the
giant. Numerous calls for assistance on the VHF radio could not contact anybody and
nobody back at the beach had any idea of their exact whereabouts.
This was not a reassuring feeling as nightfall was nearing
and they were not very prepared to head into an all night ordeal. They then decided to put
as much strain and drag on the fish as they could possibly muster and try to get it to
come in or break off before dark, which was by then only 30 minutes away. Well it seemed
to be working, the fish was being hauled in a few inches at a time. It then came to the
surface and gave a good showing of itself as it came around half way out of the water
within 100 yards of the panga, straight forward of the bow. It now seemed certain that
they would land this beast within maybe another 20 minutes. It was going to be too big to
get into the boat and was too tired to try and release it alive but they had plenty of
rope and could tie it either in back of the boat or along side as they did in the Old Man and the
Sea. As they were going all over the mental check lists on what each person would do
as the fish came close enough to gaff suddenly in the not so far distance there was a large
splash that caught everyones attention. All eyes focused on this spot only to see for
real what was then going on, it was a large sea lion that had been thrown close to
twenty feet into the air by a pair of hungry Orcas ( Killer Whales). At the same time they
devoured the sea lion for a snack, the Orcas which were both very large males, noticed the
silent panga drifting through the water. They put on an aerial show that would make Sea
World seem like a
back yard event. They easily were twice the size of the boat and
were within 100 yards and closing, jumping in a very aggressive manner. apparently they
sensed the marlin's distress and were closing in to see what they could find. Four
people can sure feel small when they find themselves in a little boat 40 miles from shore with
no radio contact or help of any sort in sight and two hungry male Orcas are jumping
around their boat. The fishermen turned their attention back to the fight that they had on
hand, but as panic was setting in they decided the only ting they could do was start the
panga as fast as they
could and run for land. This is what they did and they broke off the
marlin in the process that had been hooked for over ten hours. It was agreed upon
that this fish was not worth risking injury over and all they could do was
hope that somehow it
had escaped into the depths before it was attacked by the Orcas. They did not hang around
to see what happened but it did definitely appear that the marlin did not stand
much of a chance. It was a hell of a way to end up loosing a fish that they had so
carefully worked all day to finally get close to the boat, but it did make an incredible fish
story.
One fish that did not get away was a 848 pound blue marlin
that was hooked on the morning on July 4, it was a day to celebrate. The fish initially
struck on a trolled six pound yellowfin tuna and after an hour of a tug of war it came
within range of the boat where they could grab onto the twenty foot 400 pound leader and clip
on another swivel
that was connected to a second 80 pound outfit, this would be
considered
cheating according to some true sportsman and IGFA rules, but it was an
opportunity that the team of anglers just could not pass up. One thing you learn after years
of battling big marlin from pangas is that you must occasionally go out of the normal mode
of operations and take what ever advantage you can get. This extra pressure of the
second 80 pound rod
proved to be too much for the blue marlin but it did take 6 hours to
land it. The most amazing thing about the whole incident was that they were able to
actually get the monster part way inside of the boat, about half way in, with the mid
section and tail hanging over the back of the panga. With all the extra weight, the
boat moved very slowly on the ride in and to top things off they ran out of fuel and
had to radio in for another panga to come out deliver some extra gas to them. It was
quite an event for the local village when the fish was being hung up for photos and to be
officially weighed. At least two hundred people had gathered and of course as is tradition
most of them would end up taking a piece of fresh marlin back home with them.
These are just a few of the hundreds of stories that can
be told of the different adventures that anglers have experienced while fishing for marlin
from the village of La Playita, San Jose Del Cabo, Baja California. There can be marlin
caught during all of the months of the year but there are certain periods that the particular
species of billfish are more prevalent. Here is a run down on the various peak seasons.
Sailfish - July through November
Swordfish - April, May & June
Striped Marlin - December through June
Blue Marlin - June through November
Black Marlin - July through November
Good fishing , Eric Brictson
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