 |
Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
May 16, 2004
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Anglers -
May 16, 2004
Tourists are now enjoying ideal weather conditions, clear sunny skies, with high temperatures in the 80s, little or no wind and with slight ocean swells. The numbers of anglers visiting Los Cabos are below normal for this spring season and fleet operators are crossing their fingers that business picks up before the hurricanes do. The fishing has not been consistent day to day, there has been a wide variety of species being caught, though there were not great numbers of any certain species biting on a regular basis. Last week warmer water had moved closer to shore and there were encouraging signs of better surface action to come, but this past week was another story, once again a cooler Pacific current swept its way into the Sea Of Cortez, water temperatures dipped down to 66 to 70 degrees, warmer water was strangely enough found closer to shore off of San Jose del Cabo, and was coolest from 2 to 15 miles offshore.
Offshore action slacked significantly last week, though there were many sightings of marlin throughout the region, they did not prove easy to hook into, some charters did have success on one or two striped marlin while trolling with lures or dropping live baits back to tailing fish, sizes ranged from 90 to 14 pounds. Overall the fishing was very scattered further offshore, besides the few billfish there was an occasional dorado, wahoo or yellowfin tuna being accounted for. The action seemed to be more consistent close to shore and off the bottom, though this fishing was also hit or miss. Inshore shore action included species such as pompano, pargo, sierra, jack crevalle, roosterfish and amberjack. Most production technique was slow trolling with live mullet or sardinas on lighter tackle. Jack crevalle and roosterfish were the most numerous fish along the shoreline, with a big increase of larger roosterfish now attracted by the schools of baitfish along the inshore areas. There were reports by local pangueros of large roosterfish feeding near La Laguna beach and fish up to over 40 pounds were caught while trolling mullet. Jack crevalle were running in the 20 to 25 pound class and continued to provide excellent sport for both boat and beach anglers. Early in the week there were jacks creating a feeding frenzy off of La Playita beach and action was hot and heavy while it lasted. Other surf fishermen reported catching a few nice halibut on bait off of the San Jose Estuary.
More schools of sierra came in with the cooler water, with the Red Hill area producing well over the weekend for fish in the 2 to 6 pound range. Off the bottom anglers found a mixed bag of pargo, cabrilla, yellowtail, amberjack and grouper, but the numbers were limited and smaller pargo (snapper) were most common while using smaller baits. One of the more impressive catches off of Gordo Banks was a 40-pound class yellowtail taken on chunk bait by Gary Weis of Santa Monica, Ca. There continued to be abundance of squid, red crabs and small shrimp congregating on the fishing grounds and this has attributed to making the fish picky and not aggressive towards other offerings.
Yellowfin tuna were seen in good numbers in the area of the Gordo Banks, but only a few lucky people were able to get any of them to strike on live sardinas, the tuna averaged around 40 pounds. Apparently they are feeding on the available bait in the area and at this time are shying away from anglers.
Good Fishing, Eric
More Fishing Reports:
|
|
|
|
