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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
October 6, 2002
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Anglers -
October 6, 2002
Crowds of anglers are now traveling to the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula with high anticipation of enjoying some world-class sportfishing. The weather has been pleasant, with cooler fall conditions now prevalent, high temperatures around 90 degrees and lows dipping down to about 68 degrees. The past week was clear and sunny, no new tropical storms have developed to the south and ocean swells are now very minimal. There has been some wind developing from out of the north on certain days, this is more of a sign that fall is here. Water temperatures are still averaging 80 degrees or more and for the most part clarity has been excellent, with blue water found within several miles of shore. The live bait situation continued to somewhat limited, but there were caballito, sardinas and mullet available on a limited basis. Overall the action did improve this past week, with daily catches including marlin (blue, black & striped), sailfish, dorado, yellowfin tuna, wahoo and skipjack.
Dorado were now showing in larger schools throughout the area, with larger concentrations found closer to shore. Fish were averaging 8 to 20 pounds, but there were larger bulls taken, especially so further offshore by the cruiser fleets. Anglers targeting the dorado specifically with a combination of medium sized trolling lures and various baits have been accounting for morning catches of up to a dozen fish, with the majority of the smaller females being released. Santa Maria, Red Hill, Punta Gorda and La Fortuna have been particularly hot for dorado. These same areas are now seeing more wahoo being accounted for, though they were in limited numbers, striking almost exclusively on trolled lures, with the brightly skirted lead heads being a favorite, average fish weighed from 25 to 40 pounds.
Yellowfin tuna are showing closer to shore, offshore the bite associated with the migrating porpoise has been hit or miss, but schooling footballs are now congregating closer in. Gray Rock produced some good action on tuna to 15 pounds, with the best bite coming with the use of live sardinas. They were also taken by trolling hoochies, feathers, rapalas and cedar plugs. Hopefully if the supplies of sardinas withstand all of the pressure in the coming weeks this tuna action will develop into something consistent.
Billfish action improved this past week on the Sea of Cortez side, with many striped and blues being landed, Chileno proved to be one of the more consistent places, anywhere from 3 to 15 miles out, with marlin striking both trolled lures and bait. Even pangas were getting in on the this bite, and over the weekend there were at least a couple of black marlin taken from the smaller 22 foot skiffs, including one 400 pound fish taken off of the Outer Gordo Bank on Saturday. A handful of sailfish were also mixed into the billfish bag, most of them found closer to shore where the smaller tuna and dorado were located.
Other catches included grouper, pargo, amberjack, sierra, and skipjack, most of them taken on jigs off of the rocky areas, they were limited and only a few anglers really showed good results. Nothing much to report being caught off of the beach, except for some small jack crevalle, pompano and croakers.
Good Fishing, Eric
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