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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
March 16, 2003
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Anglers -
March 16, 2003
With the official start of spring just a few days away, the weather has warmed up right on schedule, after a couple of weeks of cooler and cloudy conditions, the 80 degree sunshine was welcome. The winds continued to be unpredictable, mostly blowing from the north, picking up by mid-day. Anglers did find very good action in the protected areas close to shore, catches included dorado, sierra, pargo, cabrilla, skipjack and triggerfish. The most consistent action is now taking place on the Sea of Cortez side of Cabo, north towards Punta Gorda and Los Frailes, this is where water temperatures were holding in the 72 to 74 degree range. The clarity of the water was now a bit stirred up and off color due to recent winds, though 10 to 20 miles offshore there were reports of clean blue water. Supplies of live mackerel from the Cabo marina were adequate, as were sardinas from the La Playita pangueros, though on some mornings extra patience was required.
The wide open striped marlin bite out of San Jose del Cabo and towards the north, tapered off to almost a standstill, as the main concentration of billfish were now on a northerly migration and out of the range of most fleets. Stripers are still being found in scattered numbers throughout the zone, but catching them was not a guarantee as it had been, the tailing fish are taking live bait best. There have been more dorado actually caught close to shore, than have there been on the offshore marlin grounds. The panga fleets have been averaging from two to five dorado per boat, with weights ranging up to 25 pounds. They have preferred taking the live bait, but this past week there were quite a few taken on lures as well, including some epic action reported by fly fishermen. This is encouraging news and the prospects for a great dorado season looks favorable.
Inshore action continues to be dominated by sierra, once the schools were located along the rocky beach stretches, they would hit on about anything, live sardinas was their favorite, but casting with spoons and flies also produced fast action. Chumming with the live sardinas helped put the sierra into a feeding frenzy. In addition there were various species of triggerfish, pargo and cabrilla being accounted for along these same beaches. Some smaller roosterfish to ten pounds are now starting to show up along local beaches and they steadily become more numerous in the coming months, especially after the schools of mullet move in.
Yellowfin tuna action on the Gordo Banks is dead at this time, there were reports of anglers seeing nice sized tuna feeding on the banks, they just are off the bite now, still lots of red crabs in the area. The cruiser fleets found decent action on football sized tuna, but these fish were far from shore, anywhere from 18 to 30 miles out, traveling with porpoise, and with the unpredictable winds proved to be a bumpy ride on certain days.
Lots of different baitfish schooling off the San Jose Estuary area and surf fishermen are reporting some improved action, there were even a couple of snook caught, most common fish being croaker, pompano, jack crevalle and halibut. Bait fishing seemed to be the best bet.
Good Fishing, Eric
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