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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
October 20, 2002
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Anglers -
October 20, 2002
Typically mid October is the time when the locals consider the hurricane threat over for the season, so it appears that the area has been spared this year of any direct hits creating major floods or other disasters. This is also the time that the weather changes, nights cool off and daytime highs are not unbearable, in fact very pleasant, generally topping out at about 90 degrees. It is a crowded time for tourists in this resort area, especially this season, as this year's APEC meetings accompany the annual big buck marlin tournaments. Anglers have enjoyed excellent offshore conditions, particularly on the Sea of Cortez side of the Peninsula, where there has been minimal ocean swells and very light breezes, just enough to help keep things comfortable.
Though the billfish action was on the slow side, there was enough action to keep things interesting, as several marlin over 400 pounds were accounted for. There was a mix of blue, black, striped marlin, as well as sailfish hitting throughout the area. It did appear that the majority of the action was found around the Gordo Banks area, where there were large concentrations of schooling skipjack, bolito and small yellowfin tuna. Of course there was tremendous fishing pressure put on by all of the tournament boats and there were only so many fish in the ocean to go around. There is also a very bright moon at this time and this can also have negative effects on how the fish feed during the daylight hours. The water was reported to be clear and blue throughout most of the region and average water temperature was 80 degrees or more.
Due to the APEC meetings the Mexican government has closed the waters to all fishing within three miles of shore from Palmilla Point to Cabo San Lucas until October 27. This shut down all of the action that had been going on off of Red Hill and Chileno, where there had been plentiful supplies of sardinas and where anglers had been catching good counts of wahoo, dorado and yellowfin tuna. Local San Jose panga fleets had no choice but to concentrate on the fishing grounds to the north, from Punta Gorda to San Luis. The week started off with anglers finding quality action for wahoo, averaging two or three per boat. The 'hoo were striking on skirted lures, rapalas and marauders, with the average size ranging from 30 to 50 pounds. This bite faded out over the weekend, as the full moon approached and panga anglers were limited to scratching away for a mix of small yellowfin tuna and dorado, with the majority of the action happening late morning. One of the most consistent areas was within one mile of shore off of Punta Gorda, where drift fishing with live sardinas on light tackle produced action for the football sized tuna and dorado up to 10 pounds. There were a small percentage of anglers that tried their luck for bottomfish and they had mixed success for a combination of amberjack, pargo, cabrilla and grouper.
More sardinas and mullet were now schooling close to shore off of La Playita beach and roosterfish could be seen everyday chasing these baitfish, though not many of them were hooked. One shore caster did land an 18-pound specimen while using a live mullet for bait, the fish did not seem interested in any of the artificial lures offered. For the past week now there were no new reports of snook action, though they were also seen feeding at times, so they are still around the area, just not biting. These fish seem to become more active during swell activity and at the present time there is virtual no surf at all.
Good Fishing, Eric
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