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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
January 27, 2002
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Anglers -
January 27, 2002
It was another beautiful week in this Baja winter paradise, sunny days with temperatures ranging up to 80 degrees. Only moderate crowds of tourists have been taking advantage of the multitude of activities available here, with the recession being blamed for the overall slow down. The winds were particularly light and this gave anglers ideal offshore conditions, the fishing action was still not quite up to Cabo expectations, but there was plenty of opportunity for an array of species. With the water temperature dropping to the 69 to 71 degree range throughout the region this has really sent things into transition time, fish are migrating to and from now and there is no particular species that is overly abundant at this time. There was an area of 75 degree water, straight out from Cabo San Lucas up to Chileno, from 10 to 25 miles from shore, this is also where clear blue water was, and accordingly where the better surface fishing action for striped marlin, dorado, yellowfin tuna and even some wahoo were found. The majority of the panga fleets are fishing closer to shore for a variety of gamefish, with the most common catches being amberjack, pargo, skipjack, bonita, cabrilla, grouper, sierra and jack crevalle. Out of San Jose del Cabo the live bait situation for sardinas continued to be bleak, with most charters not being able to purchase any. From Cabo there has been a plentiful supply of larger baits, and the commercial pangeros are now being persuaded to import the mackerel and caballito from Cabo to San Jose.
The cruiser fleets were now catching striper marlin and dorado on the Pacific side, as well as off of Chileno to Punta Gorda, with most of the action being found while trolling lures from 10 to 20 miles out. Reports of 2 to 6 dorado per charter were common, with anglers also having at least one or more opportunities per day on the billfish. Dorado were of good size, ranging from 15 to 30 plus pounds. With the offshore action now becoming closer for the San Jose fleets, the pangas will now be able to target the same zone and if the weather continues to cooperate there should be favorable opportunities.
In recent weeks the pangas from La Playita have for the most part been bottomfishing, and with the lack of live bait anglers were limited to using jigs and cut bait. The better action was reported from Iman to Vinorama, but it proved to be a lot of work for the limited results. It seemed that early in the mornings there were some quality sized amberjack and cabrilla hooked up, but then after that the bite was not consistent. Several varieties of pargo up to12 pounds were mixed in daily catches, as were plenty of toothy bonita and sierra. Strange to find sierra so far from shore, but with the lack of baitfish along the beaches they have been forced to roam further in search of food. Without the live bait the fishing along the shoreline was slow, with the better action for sierra being found from Red Hill to Cabo San Lucas. Local commercial pangeros are regularly setting gillnets along the beaches north of La Playita and this is one of the main reasons why few fish are now found along this stretch
Gordo Banks did show signs of improving conditions, with the water clarity almost returning to normal, strong currents seem to still be prevalent and the bite was still at a standstill on the Banks. Anglers working the yo-yo jigs hooked a few yellowfin tuna up to 40 pounds, but the better tuna bite lately has been out of range for most pangas, with cruisers reportedly finding pods of porpoise offshore holding the schooling tuna. Several wahoo were surprisingly found by a handful of lucky anglers, all on trolled lures, preferring the warmer offshore current, with one 85 pound 'hoo being taken eight miles off of Chileno.
Good Fishing, Eric
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