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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
February 8, 2004
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Anglers -
February 8, 2004
More tourists are now traveling to Los Cabos, most certainly searching for warmer wintertime sunshine. For the past month there has been more cloud cover than usual over Southern Baja, but on most days the afternoons have been clear and high temperatures are reaching 70 to 75 degrees. Mornings have been cool, so if you plan on visiting soon, remember your jackets. Despite increased crowds of visitors, not all that many of them were anglers, as sportfishing fleets reported a lull in recent charter activity. The overall fishing action did improve this past week, with most of consistent action being found close to shore. Mid-week there were strong northerly winds, but even on these days the fleets were able to find productive fishing in the protected inshore waters. Over the weekend the winds laid down and anglers enjoyed excellent ocean conditions. Water temperatures were averaging 68 to 70 degrees, swells have been almost nonexistent and water clarity has significantly improved over last week. Supplies of live bait were not as abundant as before the full moon, but with a little patience anglers were able to obtain both live mackerel and sardinas. Schools of mullet are now starting to appear along the local beaches and this will help to attract more numbers of gamefish close to shore.
Offshore the numbers of striped marlin dropped off substantially during the past week, but they were still be found scattered throughout the region, from 5 to 20 miles out, striking most often on live mackerel and occasionally on trolled lures, sizes ranging up to 130 pounds. With the cooler water temperatures, dorado were even more scarce than were the billfish, though a handful of fish in the 8 to 20 pound class were being accounted for. Yellowfin tuna was the most common offshore species this past week, they were found on both the Pacific and Sea of Cortez sides of the peninsula, associated with porpoise at times and also schooling on various rock piles closer to shore. The yellowfin tuna that were found traveling with the porpoise would readily strike on lures and it was live bait that proved most consistent for the tuna located closer to shore. The majority of the yellowfin being caught were weighing 10 to 20 pounds and most boats had at least four or five of them, and many charters accounted for over fifteen fish per day.
Inshore the sierra action continued to dominate things, they averaged 2 to 5 pounds, hitting on rapalas, hoochies and best of all, live sardinas. Commercial gill net activity has not been heavy this winter and it appears this has given the inshore species a boost. Rounding out the daily fish counts has been a mix of jack crevalle, pargo, cabrilla, amberjack, bonito, skipjack and other various bottom species. Shore fishermen are now catching sierra, jacks and a few small roosterfish, but the best bet was for small croakers on cut bait.
Good Fishing, Eric
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