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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
February 25, 2001
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Anglers - February 25, 2001
It seemed more like the month of November this past week as crowds of
anglers had local panga fleets operating at near full capacity level. Typically February
can be one of the slower times for charter businesses, but not this year, apparently the
cold spell up north is convincing people to head south for some warmth. Many apparently
unfamiliar tourists have assumed that this is one of the peak times to go sportfishing,
when in actuality it is the complete opposite, we are in the midst of perhaps the toughest
fishing season, primarily due to the cool water temperatures and persistent winds. This
year it has been a bit different, the fishing has been above average and the although there
has been significant wind from the north anglers have still been able to find consistent
action in the protected areas.
Supplies of live sardinas continued to be abundant for the fleets out of San
Jose Del Cabo and it has been the bait of choice for all of the medium sized gamefish
that are available. Daily catches have included yellowfin tuna, dorado, skipjack, pargo,
sierra and roosterfish. There was one out of season wahoo of 35 pounds reported and a
couple of grouper taken on iron yo-yo jigs that topped 50 pounds.
The week started off with respectable numbers of tuna in the 15 to 20 pound
class being caught by anglers in the areas between Gordo Banks and San Luis, where
boats had anywhere from 5 to 12 tuna each day. By the weekend the water turned
greenish and had dropped to about 68 degrees, which in turn slowed the tuna action down
to almost a standstill. On Saturday strong north winds made it almost impossible to fish
the offshore banks and there were also the red crabs that had moved in on the Gordo
Banks, turning the surface red and bringing the pargo up but filling the stomachs of the
tuna and making them turn their noses at the sardinas. Pangeros were netting the red
crabs and catching some nice pargo using them as bait, but that can be tricky and is not
the normal method that the charter boats use.
The best action in recent days was along the shoreline from La Playita to Punta
Gorda, where schools of roosterfish and sierra kept anglers busy. Though most of these
fish were under 10 pounds, they provided excellent light tackle sport. Trolling live bait
was the best bet, but other anglers did well on Rapalas, especially for sierra. It was
common to have over 10 roosterfish and 10 sierra per boat, with the majority of the
roosterfish being released. Though there were a couple shameful cases of greedy
pangeros killing over a dozen small roosterfish in one day, while they should be the ones
promoting the catch and release, but apparently they do just not care or are unaware of
the damage they are causing to the future of the sport. It must be up to anglers to insist
that these fish are released unharmed and if your skipper does not do as you wish
definitely refrain from tipping them.
Dorado were very scarce but were being taken in limited numbers each day,
some angerls were lucky and found as many as three of them in one morning, with sizes
up to 18 pounds, but this was definitely the exception because for the most part you were
lucky if you ended up with one of them. The majority of the dorado hooked were while
fishing close to shore with live bait.
With the rougher offshore conditions it was not a good week for billfish but as
the weather settles down this situation should improve.
Good Fishing, Eric
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