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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
November 9, 2003
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Anglers -
November 9, 2003
It is nice when all the sportfishing operations are staying busy, keeps people happy, though it leaves fleet operators very occupied and with little spare time. It would be great if it were always like the fall season. The weather is ideal, you could not really ask for more, sunny skies, with high temperatures in the upper 80s and the early mornings just cool enough where anglers might think about taking along a light windbreaker. Offshore fishing conditions have been near perfect, though the Pacific has experienced more wind
chop than the Sea of Cortez side, water temperature still is averaging about 80 degrees and clean blue water is being found within several miles of shore. Most common catches have included yellowfin tuna, wahoo, dorado, sailfish, skipjack and pargo. Scores of charter boats are now launching each day, spreading out in different directions, but concentrating around local hotspots, particularly the Gordo Banks. Fishing has improved steadily for the past few weeks, though the bite would not be considered wide open, it has been good enough to keep most anglers happy and there have been some exceptional catches reported.
Though the numbers of yellowfin tuna taken in recent days has dropped off, perhaps a
contributing factor being the full moon, the WON Tuna tournament did not match the incredible big fish counts of last year’s event, but nevertheless was a success. There were some extremely disappointed local anglers who were not allowed to enter the event at the last moment as they had been during past events. Tuna were found on the banks, as well as offshore with porpoise, no particular hot spot, once located, it was the live bait that produced the most consistent catches. The majority of the tuna were in the 15 to 30 pound class, but others topped out at more than 150 pounds.
Just like clock work the wahoo have become more active this past week and the panga fleets out of San Jose del Cabo have reported some excellent action from the fishing grounds of Gordo Banks north to Vinorama. Though the fishing pressure was heavy, boats were averaging one or two wahoo per day while trolling various rapalas, marauders and skirted lures. Some anglers accounted for five wahoo per morning, along with many other lost strikes, that makes for a fun and busy day. Sizes ranged from 25 to 65 pounds. Chihuil have been tougher to catch on a regular basis, but pangueros are starting to use them as bait for wahoo as well and have reported success. The most recent hot spot was from Cardon to Iman, about 2 to 3 miles offshore. We expect this wahoo bite to last through the month, since the water temperatures are favorable and the north winds have yet to become a nuisance.
Dorado continued to be more scarce than usual, though some charters have ended up with as many as five of them in their combined daily catches, on the average they were being found at about the rate of one or two per several boats, most of the dorado were medium sized, 8 to 15 pounds.
Off the bottom anglers found a mix of pargo, amberjack, grouper and triggerfish, but this bite was not that reliable and the surface action was more consistent.
Good Fishing, Eric
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