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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
February 23, 2001
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
We are now in the midst of the coolest month of the year, where average high temperature are 75 degrees and unpredictable winds from the north can cause havoc. So far anglers have continued to have very respectable overall catches despite the wintry weather. Actually there has been substantial wind that has been blowing on and off, especially since the passing of the last full moon, but it has not been as strong as it can be sometimes and generally the panga fleets have been able to find protected waters where they could comfortably fish and that produced species such as dorado, yellowfin tuna, skipjack, amberjack, sierra, roosterfish, jack crevalle, sailfish, striped marlin and even mako shark. The live bait situation out of San Jose became a bit more difficult in recent days for sardinas, it is time for the commercial pangeros to scout out new areas, because where they had been netting the bait at Cardon, they have now all but scattered and only small schools remain.
Striped marlin sightings continue to increase in the waters around the Gordo Banks but with the lack of larger live bait, like mackerel or caballito it has made it difficult for the San Jose pangas to target the marlin. The cruiser fleets from Cabo San Lucas did have access to the right bait and of course they reported much better action for the billfish. Despite the bait problem several stripers were landed from the La Playita pangas, hooked while drift fishing with sardinas for tuna, the marlin ranged from 120 to 150 pounds. Also a couple of sailfish were hooked into, which is somewhat unusual at this time of year.
Yellowfin tuna continue to be the main target species for the panga fleets and since the full moon, a week ago the bite has slowed down from where it was at, another factor was that the water temperature was down to an average of 68 to 70 degrees due to cool north winds. With it being harder to find the live sardinas, that also contributed to less action, because the majority of fish that are being hooked have been on live bait. Despite the numbers of fish actually landed per boat being down, the variety of fish was excellent and the size of some of the yellowfin tuna taken was impressive. The most productive spots have been the Gordo Banks, Cardon and Punta Gorda, with the average tuna weighing about 25 pounds and a few of the largest topping the scales near the 90 pound mark. Anglers did have success using both live sardinas and chunk bait, but trolling artificial lures did not prove to be that affective. Pangas were accounting for anywhere from 1 or 2 tuna, up to 8 or 10, depending on the particular day and location.
The numbers of dorado now in the fish counts continue to fall off, just as the water temperature has, but they are being found daily mixed in the same areas as the tuna, at the rate of 1 fish for every couple of boats.
Along the shoreline roosterfish, sierra and jack crevalle were providing anglers with good light tackle opportunities. The numbers of fish were not great but it was consistent enough to keep most people busy. Average sierra was running about 3 or 4 pounds, while some of the larger roosters and jacks were close to twenty pounds.
Bottom fishing was another option on the days that the wind slacked and a mix of amberjack, pargo and cabrilla were found while working yo-yo style jigs up off the rocky bottom structure of spots like La Fortuna and Iman. Most of these species were averaging under 15 pounds but reports of larger fish breaking lines were told.
Good Fishing, Eric
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