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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
January 11, 2004
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Anglers -
January 11, 2004
Wintertime conditions in Southern Baja are now paradise like, as compared to the cold wave sweeping across the United States. There has been no rain to speak of, only some scattered cloud cover and daytime temperatures were ranging from 75 to 80 degrees. The north winds have not been as powerful as in other seasons and for the most part anglers are enjoying relatively mild ocean conditions. Early morning temperatures did dip down into the 50s on some days, though the rising sun quickly warmed the chill off. Water temperature was averaging 74 to 76 degrees offshore, with inshore areas dipping to about 72 degrees. The clarity was improving, with blue water being found 5 to 12 miles from shore and the southern current which has been so strong, showed some signs of slacking off a bit. Sportfishing fleets reported a wide variety of species caught this past week, daily catches consistently included striped marlin, yellowfin tuna, dorado, skipjack, pargo, sierra, pompano, cabrilla, grouper, yellowtail and others. Overall, the action has not been equal to traditional Cabo standards, though most all people are catching some fish and signs are favorable for the coming months. Bait supplies were adequate for mackerel and sardinas, they were scarcer during the recent full moon period.
Striped marlin action is now swinging in the direction of the Sea of Cortez, the cruiser fleet reported increasing numbers of stripers in the areas from 3 to 12 miles offshore, from Gray Rock, Santa Maria, Chileno to Red Hill. The billfish have been found spread out, many fish were striking on trolled lures, though anglers were more successful using live mackerel. Most of the striped marlin were ranging from 100 to 140 pounds and some boats reported catching as many as three marlin in one day. The same areas were holding scattered schools of dorado, with the majority of boats accounting for one to three dorado per day. The dorado were found close to shore and further out, with most of the fish found close to the beaches being juveniles of less than ten pounds, while offshore anglers reported landing bull dorado to over 30 pounds.
The Gordo Banks is now holding larger yellowfin tuna, the action has not been consistent, with the average day only producing a handful of hook ups for the local panga fleets. Some mornings the tuna would bite early, then some days late and on others not at all, but for a handful of serious and lucky anglers, they were rewarded with yellowfin tuna up to 150 pounds. There were massive schools of monster sized skipjack to deal with before having a chance at the larger tuna. When they did decide to bite, anglers reported hook ups on sardinas, mackerel, chunk bait and chihuil and of the fish landed most all of them were over 60 pounds, with many big hook ups reportedly lost by anglers using too light of tackle. There have been several large commercial tuna seiners seen in the area recently and hopefully they do not clean out the local stocks.
Early morning inshore action was good for sierra, pretty much all of the rocky points and beach stretches were holding fish, though the pesky needlefish and sea gulls proved to be a nuisance at times. The sierra would readily hit on live sardinas, as well as hoochies and rapalas, sizes averaged two to four pounds. Mixed in were pompano and a variety of other swallow water rock species. Off the deeper rock piles there were now more numbers of grouper, cabrilla, huachinango and other pargo being accounted for, bait was the best bet, though yo-yo’s also did the trick.
Good fishing, Eric
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