Rock Piles Provide Best Action off of San Jose del Cabo
Capt. Eric Brictson
July 20, 2008
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
July 20, 2008
Anglers –
Tropical storm activity continues to be surprisingly active for this early in the summer season. Last week there was Hurricane Elida that developed off of the Southern Mainland Mexico coast and tracked on a northwestern path, staying clear of any impact on land. At the present time we have Tropical Storm Fausto developing from the same region and now gaining hurricane force strength, fortunately this system is also projected to follow a more western course, keeping it at safe distance from impacting the Los Cabos area. With the warming days, the water temperature continues to rise, offshore the water is now in the low 80s and is ripe for hurricane development.
For the sake of local businesses that are already hurting from the poor economy, we do hope that these storms continue to stay out of harm's way. Inshore waters are slightly cooler, 78 to 79 degrees, also due to the strong currents and swell activity the water near shore has been greenish within about five miles of shore, offshore 5 to 15 miles out, the clarity was much improved.
Now into middle of the month of July and we are still patiently waiting for conditions to become more stable, for currents to slack, southern winds to reside and for standard summer fish counts to return to normal. Offshore action is showing signs of more life, a mix of billfish are now being hooking into each day, though not in any real significant numbers. Sailfish, striped and blue marlin were spread out on the fishing grounds, stripers were most common, they were striking on lures, as well as baits such as bolito, caballito and mullet.
Dorado were found more often from the areas where the cleaner blue water was, typically this was three or more miles from shore, they were also striking lures and baits. During the previous week the majority of the do-dos that were accounted for, were larger sized fish, averaging 20 to 50 pounds. This week there were fewer of the big dorado being landed and a noticeable influx of smaller school sized dorado showing up in local waters. Yellowfin were not easy to find, only an occasional report of tuna being encountered, either by blind strikes on lures or bait, also some were found schooling further offshore, mixed in with rapidly moving porpoise. Increased schools of bolito and flying fish are being seen in the cleaner offshore waters and these baitfish are usually a favorable sign for attracting larger sized gamefish.
The Local Panga fleets reported finding more consistent fishing off the bottom rocky structure or closer to the shoreline. Numbers of fish were not that great, but there was quite a variety of species available, catches included, yellow snapper, huachinango (red snapper), dogtooth snapper, cabrilla, amberjack, bonito, black skipjack, surgeon fish, rainbow runner, roosterfish, jack crevalle, pompano and sierra. Drifting or slow trolling with live sardinas or mullet was very effective closer to shore, while retrieving yo-yo iron jigs off the bottom rock piles was most productive in depths of 100 to 80 feet. Jim Fleming was visiting from Quincy, Ca. and landed one of the most impressive specimens of the past week. Jim was fishing with skipper Chame Pino on a 26 ft. Super Panga out of La Playita near Iman Bank when he hooked into a 95 pound amberjack while using a four ounce elongated chrome patterned yo-yo style jig and after a long battle using light 30 pound tackle he was able to bring the monster to gaff.
The combined panga fleets launching from the La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos area reported sending out approximately 56 charters for the past week and anglers reported a fish count of: 3 sailfish, 1 blue marlin, 14 striped marlin, 41 dorado, 7 yellowfin tuna, 42 bonito, 36 amberjack, 6 dogtooth snapper, 66 yellow snapper, 28 huachinango, 19 pompano, 15 sierra, 9 rainbow runner, 44 jack crevalle and 98 roosterfish.
Good Fishing, Eric
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