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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
February 1, 2004
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Anglers -
February 1, 2004
January saw cooler days with much cloud cover, even some significant rainfall, but now as we start the month of February the sun is shinning and the feeling in the air is that there will be a warming trend in the near future. For several weeks the early morning temperatures in Southern Baja have dipped to the low 50s, the arrival of springtime temperatures will be welcome. Daytime highs are ranging 70 to 75 degrees, which seems paradise like as compared to other northern countries. Sportfishing fleets have reported moderate numbers of anglers, but with improving fish counts and warming weather we expect crowds to increase. Water temperature cooled off this past week, dropping to an average of 68 to 69 degrees. For the most part the ocean conditions were calm, there was some wind out of the north, but it appears that the worst of the winds are past us. Fleets were fishing areas form the Jaime Banks to the Gordo Banks, finding the action to be spread out, but overall the fishing was respectable. Offshore it was striped marlin, dorado and yellowfin tuna that were included in daily catches, inshore it was the sierra that continued to dominate, while off the bottom there were now more numbers of pargo and cabrilla moving in. Bait supplies remained plentiful for both sardinas and mackerel.
Offshore fishing was not consistent due to the cooler and greenish currents that swept into the region, warmer blue water to 72 degrees could be found, but most of the time it was 20 to 40 miles from shore and out of range for charter fleets. Striped marlin were found tailing on the surface and were hooked on both lures and live mackerel, sizes ranged from 70 to 130 pounds, also a handful of sailfish mixed in. There were reports of good-sized yellowfin tuna being taken off of the Pacific Banks and football-sized tuna went on a big bite mid-week for San Jose del Cabo panga anglers fishing the La Fortuna area. These fish hit on fly-lined live sardinas and weighed from 10 to 20 pounds. The wide-open action was short lived, by the weekend anglers were fortunate to catch two or three of the yellowfin. Dorado became scarce in the cooler water as well, though a scattering of fish up to 20 pounds were accounted for, the majority were small females that were released. Much of the surface action happened late morning, after the water surface temperature had a chance to warm.
On the Gordo Banks it was the red crabs and pargo (huachinango) that dominated the scene. There were yellowfin tuna spotted on the Bank, but once they acquired the taste of the red crabs they were not interested in any other offerings. On some days the red crabs were thick on the surface and easily caught in scoop nets, then could be used as a sure fire bait for the pargo, which average 6 to 10 pounds. The various rock piles are now producing more numbers of cabrilla, pargo and amberjack, and the fish were larger,
many of them 10 to 20 pounds and jigging with yo-yos was becoming more affective.
Good Fishing, Eric
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