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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
March 2, 2003
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Anglers -
March 2, 2003
As springtime approaches, excitement can be felt and without a doubt the warm sunshine will lure large crowds of vacationers to this Southern Baja resort. This past week there was a cool front that swept in from the southwest and this brought much cloud cover along with accompanying winds. By the weekend the weather system had passed and conditions were again paradise like. The majority of the most consistent fishing action is now taking place on the Sea of Cortez side of the peninsula, where water temperature are ranging from 71 to 73 degrees, large concentrations of squid, mackerel and flying fish are attracting the main migration of striped marlin, wide open action was reported. Other daily catches included dorado, yellowfin tuna, pargo, cabrilla, skipjack, sierra and grouper. Supplies of live mackerel and sardinas were adequate, though not as plentiful as it had been.
The striped marlin bite that was now taking place from outside the Gordo Banks to Desteladera was the main attraction, with the majority of the Cabo San Lucas fleet also fishing in this direction.
Charters were having a high percentage of billfish success, with most boats catching multiple marlin each day. Fish were located feeding on the surface and tailing in the swells and were striking on live bait as well as lures. There were reports of double and even triple hook-ups on trolled lures and there was one accountant of a private yacht having seven striped marlin on at the same time while using mackerel for bait. The greatest numbers of marlin were found 10 to 15 miles offshore and in recent days the fish seem to be on a northerly migration. The majority of the striped marlin are weighing from 90 to 120 pounds. With the quantity of schooling squid in the area, the stripers have become increasingly attracted to skirted lures, though the higher percentage of actually landing the fish was with the use of live bait.
Yellowfin tuna were not as consistent as the marlin, but were being found in certain spots, with the best bets for large fish coming from the Gordo or Jaime Banks, there were reports of tuna weighing over one hundred pounds. La Playita panga fleets have been nearest to the action taking place on the Inner Gordo Bank, though the bite has been sporadic, there have been some impressive yellowfin accounted for. One day the fish would come up and take live sardinas, while on other days they would only take the drifted chunk bait. On the days when the fish did cooperate there were catches of one to four tuna per panga accounted for. There were other days that the only success was by the sea lions that were lying in wait to steal all of the angler's potential trophies. Most of the tuna landed off of the Gordo Banks were all over 40 pounds and most averaged
70 pounds or more. There were reports of gorilla sized yellowfin tuna, to over 200 pounds being hooked up on the Jaime Banks. It looks as though these big tuna are arriving ahead of schedule and should stay through spring.
Dorado catches were scattered, compared to how they had been, but most boats are landing one or two per day, in the ten to twenty pound class. This has been a very good winter for dorado, especially off of San Jose del Cabo, where large schools of baitfish have attracted the dorado close to the shoreline. Sierra weighing up to five pounds continued to provide fast early morning action along the local beaches, this was great for light tackle enthusiasts. A mix of pargo, yellowtail snapper, cabrilla and grouper are rounding out daily catches and providing some excellent eating fillets.
Good Fishing, Eric
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