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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
May 19, 2002
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Anglers –
May 19, 2002
The weather has been unstable the past week, a slight cooling trend, with more cloud cover, wind and generally unpredictable conditions, typical for this late spring transition period. Two weeks ago the water had warmed up to 78 degrees and was very blue within only a couple miles of shore. With the wind and current stirring conditions up, the water has cooled off several degrees and turned greenish to as far out as 25 miles. It does appear the winds have now past through this area and the weekend looks to be much calmer than earlier in the week. Fleets found action to be spread out, and boats were searching throughout the area, from the Pacific, into the Sea of Cortez, with the Sea of Cortez showing higher water temperatures and overall more consistency. Live bait supplies have included mackerel, caballito, mullet and sardinas. Though overall catches were down from the previous weeks when the water was warm and blue, there have been increasing counts of dorado showing, along with catches of striped marlin, a mix of bottomfish and inshore species.
The wahoo action slowed to practically a stand still the same time that the water conditions soured, in the meantime, as we patiently wait for the water to clear back up, we are fishing for a combination of fish, the most common catches in recent days for the Panga fleets off of La Playita have been grouper, taken on yo-yo jigs, as well as live mackerel, with fish averaging 10 to 30 pounds, amberjack 10 to 25 pounds hit on the iron jigs, as did a handful of pargo, fire cracker sized yellowtail, bonita and black skipjack. The average catch per boat ranged from 2 to 12 fish in combination. Dorado were found spread out, being more common further north, from Iman to Los Frailes, most boats had one or two per day, with some fortunate anglers accounted for up to 8 in one morning. Sizes ranged from 10 to 30 pounds, fish were striking on a variety of trolling lures, with the medium sized feathers being especially affective, once a school was located the followers could be hooked on bait. There are reports of 50 to 60 pound bull dorado biting off the East Cape area and hopes are, that as the water conditions improve that these fish will migrate this direction.
No consistent action for yellowfin tuna to speak of, just a handful of fish found further offshore, mostly associated with porpoise, from the larger cruisers targeting marlin. Striped marlin action slowed, and was spread out, boats were searching for blue water that was not to be found, though marlin were being caught, the numbers were few, sizes were large, 120 to 200 pounds. The stripers seemed to prefer darker colored lures, purple, green/black, petrolero, along with live mackerel.
The shoreline has come to life with large schools of baitfish, this has attracted jack crevalle, sierra, croakers, pargo and roosterfish. The majority of the roosterfish were less than 20 pounds, the 30 to 60 pound fish should be showing at any time, now that mullet are stacking up along the local beaches. Surf fishermen are starting to finally get some decent action, with La Playita beach having major bait activity and being one of the hot spots.
Good Fishing, Eric
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