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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
February 27, 2005
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
February 27, 2005
Anglers –
The month of February is in Mexico is known to be loco (crazy) and this year it has lived up to its name, always unpredictable, one day quite warm and then the very next day it can be cloudy and cool, some people do not realize that there is winter here in Southern Baja as well. In general the weather has been very pleasant, with signs of spring in the air, temperatures reaching 80 degrees on some days and the dominating northern winds have weakened, leaving anglers with comfortable ocean conditions and minimal swells. Water temperatures have ranged from 69 to 72 degrees throughout most of the region. Supplies of live bait have been adequate, with mackerel and sardinas both available, mackerel are schooling in the normal areas and sardinas are now congregated near Desteladera.
The cruiser fleet found striped marlin off of Chileno and the 95 spot, though during the recent passing of the full moon the action did slow compared to the previous week. The fish were found from 5 to 20 miles offshore, striking best on live mackerel, but also hitting trolled lures, weights averaged from 90 to 130 pounds. Dorado activity also slowed down, though some charters were accounted for as many as four or five of these highly sought after fish, but most boats are only averaging about one dorado and sizes were mainly under 10 pounds, of course there were some exceptions of bulls to 30 pounds accounted for.
Not much action to report for yellowfin tuna this past week, though some anglers did get lucky and find schools of porpoise that were holding tuna underneath and also the area of Iman Bank reported a couple of good days for football sized fish, but there was no consistency. Sea lions remained a serious nuisance, particularly off of the Cabo San Lucas arch area, where there was a great bite going on for 20 to 30 pound yellowtail, problem was that hardly anyone could land the fish before they were being devoured by the sea lions.
For the panga fleets out of La Playita the best bite in recent days was for Pargo Colorado near where the sardinas were now being netted at Desteladera. This is a variety of snapper that move into the coastal areas during the late winter and spring time, typically found in 20 to 40 feet of water, they readily strike on live bait and will also hit on various lures, the problem is that only an average of one or two fish out of ten strikes are actually landed because of their extreme close proximity to the rocky ledges, where these powerful fish will immediately head towards after feeling the hook penetrate their mouth. The pargo were weighing from 8 to 15 pounds, most pangas accounted for three or four of them, some of the more lucky and skillful anglers landed as many as eight fish in one morning. The bite was especially good early in the morning and then would slowly taper off the rest of the morning.
Sierra showed up in greater numbers in the Sea of Cortez during the first part of the week, with boats landing a dozen fish with no problem at all, they were striking sardinas, trolled lures and flies, but then this action slowed way back down over the weekend. The local rock piles were producing a mix of yellowtail to 20 pounds, amberjack to 15 pound, cabrilla to 15 pounds and huachinango to 8 pounds.
The combined La Playita panga fleet sent out approximately 81 pangas for the week and anglers accounted for a total catch of; 3 striped marlin, 2 mako sharks, 15 yellowtail, 18 amberjack, 24 cabrilla, 160 huachinango, 45 yellowtail snapper, 240 Pargo Colorado, 80 yellowfin tuna, 95 dorado, 18 roosterfish and 180 sierra.
Good Fishing, Eric
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