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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
November 16, 2003
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Anglers -
November 16, 2003
As much of the United States begins to feel the onslaught of chilly weather, crowds of tourists are heading south to Baja to enjoy the ideal climate and numerous outdoor sporting activities available. Days have been mostly sunny, with the exception of the weekend when a cooler cloud front from the west swept through. High temperatures were in 80s, the typical fall season north winds are now more persistent, making for rougher offshore seas for anglers. Though some quality fishing action was found closer to shore in the more protected waters. Water temperatures are averaging 80 to 82 degrees, slightly above normal for this time of year, we do expect there will be a cooling trend as the northeasterly winds continue to dominate. Water clarity has been clear and blue, though the areas to the north are showing signs of being cloudier due to winds. The bait situation has varied each day, with sardinas actually becoming more abundant and of nicer size, while it was good news that schools of mackerel are now reportedly moving into the
El Faro region off of Cabo San Lucas. Another option for baitfish was the wahoo candy bait chihuil, which were being caught by La Playita pangueros using a specialized technique that they have developed over the years. This past week started off with some fantastic action for wahoo, dorado and yellowfin tuna, but after the winds became more persistent and the cloud cover swept in, the bite slacked off over the weekend.
Wahoo activity was the most certainly the highlight for panga anglers fishing out of San Jose del Cabo, the areas from Punta Gorda to Iman Banks were produced big numbers of ‘hoo in the 30 to 60 pound class. In recent weeks it had been the high speed lures, such as skirted lead-heads, rapalas and marauders which had been enticing wahoo strikes, but this week the fish preferred live chihuil for bait. These mackerel-sized baits were being slow trolled on double-hook trap rig set-ups and this definitely proved to be the most successful technique for hooking into these elusive speedsters. Many pangas were returning early to the beach with limits of five wahoo for their clients, along with a mix of yellowfin tuna up to 25 pounds and dorado to 27 pounds. The cooling trend over the weekend dropped the fish counts to an average of several fish per boat in combination. The most consistent area had switched from Iman Bank to Cardon, La Fortuna and Punta Gorda ( Zero). We expect that wahoo will continue to bite into the month December, or as long as the water temper stays over 75 degrees.
Yellowfin tuna were being found as close to shore as one mile, traveling with porpoise, they would hit the various live baits, as well as trolled lures. Most of the tuna were in the 15 to 25 pound range, though there were reports of much larger fish being encountered. Other miscellaneous catches included pargo, yellowtail, amberjack, sierra, triggerfish, cabrilla and skipjack. Until the water temperature cools off, we do not expect big numbers of the bottom fish.
With mackerel now moving into local waters it will not belong before striped marlin become active, for the time being there has been scattered marlin action, as well as fair numbers of sailfish, though the larger black and blue marlin are scarce.
Good Fishing, Eric
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