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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
December 24, 2005
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
December 24, 2005
Anglers –
Merry Christmas!
The winter season has now officially started and crowds of tourists, the majority being families, are now traveling to Southern Baja to enjoy the warm sunshine and they have not been disappointed, as the daytime highs were reaching 80 degrees. The mornings have been cooling down into low 60s, but considering the temperatures throughout the United States that sounds like paradise. The winds have continued to be persistent from the north, though by mid-week and through the weekend they did let up some and overall the ocean conditions were very good. Water temperatures fluctuated from 69 to 73 degrees and anglers were reported very respectable catches on the offshore fishing ground for striped marlin, yellowfin tuna and dorado. Sportfishing fleets have been fishing throughout the region, ranging from Golden Gate on the Pacific to the Iman Bank in the Sea of Cortez, with the warmer water actually now be found in the direction of Cabo San Lucas and the Pacific. Live bait supplies have been adequate for mackerel and sardinas, with the sardinas now being found along the beaches from Palmilla to the Hilton Hotel and they are now of much better size.
The billfish action continued to very hot on the Pacific, especially in the area of the Golden Gate Bank, many charters were reporting catches of five or more marlin per outing, as this has been the spot where large schools of mackerel are congregating, which in turn were attracting all of the stripers. The most productive method was to drift fish with live mackerel down deeper with a few ounces of lead. Most of the marlin being landed were released and ranged in weight from 90 to 150 pounds. Also mixed in were some mako sharks, most of them were in the 40 to 80 pound class. Striped marlin and even a few sailfish were also found inside the Sea of Cortez, but not as numerous as they were off the Pacific. Good numbers of whales were also providing an added attraction.
For the panga fleets out of San Jose del Cabo yellowfin tuna continued to be the most common catch, at the start of the week the bite was towards Cabo, off of the Finistera, but later in the week the action switched back towards Iman and La Fortuna Banks and the fish were also larger in size. The bite for tuna was on live or dead sardinas, with the fish ranging in size from 10 to 40 pounds. There were also plenty of hungry sea lions that proved to be a major nuisance and were getting more than their share of the yellowfin. Mixed in with the tuna were schools of both black skipjack and the good eating variety of white skipjack, most of them in the 6 to 10 pound range.
Dorado counts improved substantially over the weekend, as many boats reported catching anywhere from 3 to 5 dorado of the 6 to 15 pound variety, they were striking best on bait in the same areas as were the tuna, but would also hit trolled lures. A few larger bulls to 25 pounds were accounted for.
Off the bottom anglers found a combination of dogtooth snapper, cabrilla, pargo and amberjack, but these species were not numerous and had to be worked for, they hit on a yo-yo jigs and a variety of whole and cut baits.
Inshore schools of sierra were dominating the action, most of them were weighing 2 to 4 pounds, striking hoochies, rapalas and bait. Some small roosterfish and jack crevalle were rounding out the action along the shoreline.
The combined panga fleets out of La Playita sent out approximately 62 charters for the week with anglers reporting catches of: 4 sailfish, 2 wahoo, 9 striped marlin, 1 mako shark, 72 dorado, 310 yellowfin tuna, 190 skipjack, 12 amberjack, 8 dogtooth snapper, 22 cabrilla, 28 pargo, 130 sierra, 26 roosterfish and 16 jack crevalle.
Good fishing, Eric
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