 |
Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
April 11, 2004
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Anglers -
April 11, 2004
Easter week brought with it a variety of conditions, days were mostly sunny, though there was wind from the north that brought in cooler air and high temperatures peaked in the lower 70s. Water temperatures ranged from 64 to 69 degrees through most of the region, there were reports of 72 to 74 degree water north of Los Frailes. Swells were minimal inshore, but on a number of days anglers dealt with heavy white capping seas offshore. The local beaches were filled with holiday campers, though crowds of tourists were only moderate. Sportfishing fleets continued to find better action on the Sea of Cortez side of the Peninsula, water conditions on the Pacific have been cooler and choppy. Daily catches included yellowfin tuna, dorado, striped marlin, sierra, pargo, amberjack, yellowtail, cabrilla, jack crevalle and roosterfish. Live bait supplies were adequate for sardinas, mackerel and caballito.
Yellowfin tuna were found schooling 8 to 20 miles offshore of Chileno to Red Hill, most of the time the fish were associated with porpoise, but anglers also reported having blind strikes. Sizes of the tuna averaged 10 to 20 pounds, but schools to over 50 pounds were mixed in. Due to the rough sea conditions the tuna action was for mainly for the cruiser fleet. Action for striped marlin was slow over this past full moon period, though many fish were seen fining on the surface, it was another story getting them to hit. With the cooler water temperatures the numbers of dorado remained scarce, the scattered ones and twos that were encountered were good-sized, averaging 15 to 30 pounds.
The highlight of the week for the combined La Playita panga fleets was a one day bite for pargo Colorado (red snapper) that occurred on Thursday, April 8 th. The spot was incredibly close by, right off of the San Jose Estuary, with 100 yards of the sand. A huge school of migrating pargo were attracted to the bottom structure of this area in front of the river mouth and with large schools of sardinas congregating along this same stretch, the fish were in a feeding mood. Pangueros reported incredible wide-open action using sardinas, rapalas and casting lures, with most of the fish ranging 5 to 10 pounds. The very next day the action was nonexistent, as the school had moved off the spot. Over the weekend the best bet was close to shore off of Red Hill, very good action for sierra, live sardinas being the preferred bait, fly fishermen also reported success. Fish ranged up to
5 pounds and boats were landing an average of 15 – 20 in one morning, jack crevalle and roosterfish were found while trolling bait along the shoreline, the crevalle were large, up to 20 pounds, but the roosters were mostly under 10 pounds.
Bottomfish provided another option, using chunk bait and yo-yo jigs anglers accounted for amberjack, yellowtail, cabrilla and grouper, the numbers were limited, but the quality of the fish landed was impressive, with several specimens to 30 pounds reported.
Good Fishing, Eric
More Fishing Reports:
|
|
|
|
