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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
February 17, 2002
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Anglers -
February 17, 2002
This week was pretty much a repeat of the previous one, with anglers being greeted by beautiful mild wintertime conditions, clear sunny skies, highs in the upper 70's, calm seas with virtually no wind at all to speak of. Crowds were moderate at best, with many businesses just hanging on and waiting for tourism to return to normal levels. Swells and currents were minimal and helped improve the water clarity, with reports of blue water being found even closer to shore. Average water temperatures ranged from 69 to 74 degrees, with the warmest areas located 15 to 30 miles straight out from Cabo San Lucas. Daily catches included striped marlin, dorado, yellowfin tuna, sierra, skipjack, amberjack, pargo, bonita, cabrilla, roosterfish and jack crevalle.
The overall bite did improve some, especially closer to shore for sierra, where despite the heavy pressure of local gill nets along the beaches off of San Jose del Cabo and the lack of live sardinas. Anglers targeting these 2 to 6 pounds speedsters with both hoochies and rapalas were easily able to land a dozen or more early in the morning before heading out to try their luck at the combination of other species. Plenty of live mackerel were available, but this bait was best for anglers targeting offshore species, while closer to shore and off the bottom the best bet was to use artificial lures. For the pangas out of La Playita, they found the most consistent action from La Fortuna to San Luis Bank, there were reports of the water being clear blue, with large schools of small skipjack and bolito seen throughout this area, which in turn should attract larger gamefish. Anglers working the yo-yo jigs off of the bottom found a mix of amberjack, skipjack, bonita, pargo, cabrilla and grouper, but these fish were not numerous and required persistent work and lots of patience. A few yellowfin tuna were also taken from these same banks on rapalas and yo-yo's, but it was generally considered fortunate if one or two of the 15 to 20 pound tuna were accounted for. Offshore the cruiser fleets reported some great action on yellowfin tuna that were found traveling with migrating porpoise, but this was also a hit or miss proposition, but for the anglers that were in the right place at the right time they had reports of tuna to over 60 pounds while trolling lures through the porpoise. This action was found some 20 to 30 miles from shore and was out of range for the panga fleets.
Even with the cooler water temperatures there were limited numbers of dorado being accounted for, they were found from close to shore to far offshore, striking on both bait and lures and weighing from 10 to 25 pounds. More often than not just single fish, but at times they were found in schools, especially if you were lucky enough to encounter some type of floating debris further from shore. The striped marlin action was far behind schedule from how it was last season, with the majority of the billfish being found further offshore in the warmer water off of Cabo San Lucas.
Though the fishing was considered only marginal by typical Cabo standards, the majority of visitors were enjoying themselves. February is probably the all around toughest month of the year and catches should only improve in the coming months. Along with the ideal weather, anglers also had the added attractions of sightseeing for the numerous whales, porpoise, sea lions, manta rays and turtles that were now present.
Good Fishing, Eric
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