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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
May 22, 2005
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
May 22, 2005
Anglers –
Warm sunshine is attracting increased numbers of visitors to the Los Cabos area, with high temperatures now reaching the upper 80s, though it was still slightly chilly early in the morning, if it was not for that it would feel more like summer than spring. Southern winds were more dominate this past week, pushing cool Pacific currents in the direction of San Jose del Cabo. Water clarity was reported to be clear and deep blue, especially on the fishing grounds north of the Gordo Banks, water temperatures varied from 70 to 75 degrees, with the warmer water being in the direction of the Sea of Cortez, this was where the sportfishing fleets were finding the most consistent action. With striped marlin and yellowfin tuna being the most common offshore species, there was also a scattering of dorado and wahoo accounted for. Mackerel and sardinas continued to be the main stay of the bait supply, on some days balled up schools of mackerel were found on the surface offshore and could be jigged up by anglers, bolito also appearing in greater numbers and were striking on hoochies and small chrome yo-yo’s, though they were finicky and were not easy to entice, they did prove to be excellent baits once they were rigged and slow trolled.
Striped marlin remained fairly wide open, the bulk of the action was taking place from the Gordo Banks to Vinorama and many boats targeting the marlin were catching several or more in one day, with sizes averaging 100 to 130 pounds. Mackerel and bolito proved to be very effective baits, marlin were seen tailing in sizable groups and were also hooked by anglers using smaller live sardinas while targeting other medium sized species. Stripers were found within one mile of shore, but the majority of the fish were found 4 to 8 miles offshore.
The yellowfin tuna action improved substantially this past week, with schools of 20 to 30 pound fish found moving with porpoise in the area of Vinorama, this was a long boat ride and not all fleets were able to practically reach this spot, for those who did the average fish counts ranged from 5 to 10 tuna per boat. The tuna were striking on various lures, but using live bait was most productive. Larger tuna continue to lurk around the Gordo Banks area, they could be seen feeding on the surface at times and this week the local panga fleets did account for several very impressive yellowfin of 110, 160 and 200 pounds. Though not too many of these big yellowfin were taking the hooked baits, the fish were line shy, but they would occasionally get fooled by 40 to 50 pound fluorocarbon leaders. Drift fishing the high spot with live or dead sardines was the most successful method. More tuna in the 20 to 30 pound class were being caught on the banks, but only an average of two to four per boat, not quite as abundant as the tuna that were found with the porpoise further north. The same spot is where more numbers of dorado were landed, found in smaller schools and ranging in sizes up to 35 pounds, some pangas landed as many as 5 dorado, though they were still considered to be scarce. Wahoo were even harder to find, though a handful were taken on baits and trolled lures, many other strikes were lost and on occasion they were seen free swimming under the boats.
Red crabs were found thick on the surface of the Inner Gordo Bank on Thursday and for anglers there on this day they did very well using the same crabs for bait, catches included various species of pargo (snapper) weighing up to 10 pounds, also a handful of amberjack and cabrilla were taken off these same banks. Whale sharks were seen daily with as many as three of these 30 to 40 foot long fish being spotted cruising around where the boats were congregating on the high spot, which comes up to as high as 100 feet.
Inshore fishing produced jack crevalle, dogtooth snapper, pargo, pompano, sierra and roosterfish, though none of the species were overly numerous. One 35 pound pargo was landed and more larger roosterfish are starting to be spotted feeding in the surf zone, not many hook ups on them yet, the next several weeks should really pick up for the roosterfish as more mullet are now schooling along the local beaches.
The La Playita panga fleet sent out approximately 85 charters for the week and anglers accounted for a fish count of: 35 striped marlin, 72 dorado, 4 wahoo, 170 yellowfin tuna, 275 pargo (various species), 40 pompano, 8 roosterfish, 18 amberjack, 45 jack crevalle, 22 sierra and 12 sharks.
Good Fishing, Eric
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