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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
December 29, 2002
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Anglers –
December 29, 2002
Crowds of Holiday tourists were fewer than in recent years and with the way the economy is going in the United States it seems that this could be a slow winter season for local businesses. The weather has been particularly pleasant, days were mostly clear and sunny with high temperatures reaching the upper 70s. For a couple days after the Christmas there were some very gusty north winds that were a nuisance, but by the weekend they settled down. The water temperature continued to cool and was now averaging from 72 to 74 degrees, ocean swells were slight and blue water was reported within a mile of shore. Whales were also now seen more frequently along the Pacific and Sea of Cortez shores.
The Pacific side of Cabo proved to be the best bet for both striped marlin and dorado, though the bite was hit or miss. Some cruisers reported catching one or two marlin to 150 pounds, while trolling with lures or casting baits to tailing fish, but other boats reported never seeing any signs of activity all day. On certain days the seas were quite nasty and the fishing proved to be that much more difficult. Most boats heading towards the Pacific did account for two or three dorado and most of them were in the 15 to 30 pound range. Yellowfin tuna reports were not as frequent, some football-sized fish were taken inshore near Cabo San Lucas on sardinas, but the bite was not consistent. Panga anglers were having best success fishing closer to shore, the most common catch was sierra, but there were also some dorado, pargo and cabrilla being found in the same areas. Small hoochies, feathers and rapalas were all working well, as were live sardinas, which were readily available from the pangueros from Palmilla to Cabo Real.
The area between Punta Gorda and Palmilla Point had been the hot spot for sierra, as anglers were basically able to catch as many of the 2 to 6 pound speedsters as they wanted to within an hour or so, but in recent days due to the continuing pressure of gill nets, the numbers of sierra are rapidly being depleted. There has been a group of several pangas setting these nets, they are based out of La Playita, and tonnage of sierra, along with other innocent bycatch were harvested in just the past week alone. It is definitely time that local authorities wake up, get their priorities straight and take immediate action. The commercial fishing industry is responsible for the overall decline in fish populations throughout Baja, but sport fishermen do also need to increase the practice of catch and release, there are just too many people in this world now for people to continue keeping so many fish, and a successful fishing trip should not be judged on how full an anglers ice chest is of fillets.
Surf anglers are now catching sierra from the shore, Chileno was reported to be very good early in the mornings. Small pompano and croaker were hitting on chunk bait off of San Jose. There was another report of several 20 to 30 pound snook being landed off of the San Jose Estuary, but this was just for a couple of lucky anglers. Schools of baitfish have been seen scattering on the surface as larger fish were slashing through and feeding, hopefully this will only attract more action close to shore.
Good Fishing, Eric
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