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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
February 29, 2004
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Anglers -
February 29, 2004
As springtime nears the weather continues on a warming trend, conditions have been unpredictable, sunshine turning to cloud cover and winds out of the north shifting to come from the south. Actually the all around climate has been ideal, highs around 75 degrees and lows in 60-degree range. Water temperatures have varied from a chilly 67 degrees to a high of 72 to 73 in areas further offshore. Crowds of tourists continue to be moderate, but will most certainly increase over the coming spring break period. This past week sportfishing fleets found excellent action for yellowfin tuna, there were also a variety of other species to keep most anglers busy and with smiles on their faces.
The highlight of the week was the tuna fishing, most of the action was being found from 15 to 25 miles offshore and was primarily within the range of the cruiser fleets. Anglers caught scores of quality sized yellowfin tuna ranging from 20 pounds to over 100 pounds, many charter boats landed double digit numbers of hefty tuna. The fish were found schooling with pods of porpoise in areas from Cabo San Lucas to off of San Jose del Cabo. They were striking on a variety of trolled lures, as well as live bait and there were monster sized fish being hooked into, including one reported 300 pound specimen which was landed from a cruiser out of Cabo. Many other anglers told stories of being spooled by huge fish while using too light of tackle. The same offshore region also produced a scattered number of dorado and striped marlin, but it was definitely the tuna that dominated fish counts.
Most of the panga fleets were fishing closer to shore and off the bottom, the overall action was good for a variety of fish. Most common catch inshore was sierra, they were abundant throughout most of the coastline, striking on rapalas, hoochies and casting spoons. Though anglers had more consistent wide-open action by using live sardinas, which continued to be plentiful off the beach of La Playita. The sierra ranged in sizes from 2 pounds up to trophy 10-pound specimens.
With most of the inshore water now in the 67 to 68 degree range this has limited the surface action that is available closer to shore. In the mean time pangueros are searching the various rock piles to target the smorgasbord of fish available. At times the gusty winds made for unfavorable conditions, but other days were calm, allowing for more affective drift fishing. Anglers worked iron yo-yo’s and fished baits near the bottom, catches include amberjack to 30 pounds, cabrilla to 18 pounds, several varieties of pargo ranging from 5 to 20 pounds, grouper to 25 pounds and a few deep water football-sized yellowfin tuna taken on jigs. Local pangueros reported hooking into mammoth sized groupers while soaking five pound skipjack for bait, but were unable to turn these brutes towards the surface before being cut off on the near by rock ledges.
Good Fishing, Eric
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