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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
January 14, 2007
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
January 14, 2007
Anglers –
The weather patterns throughout much of the United States have been unusual this winter, with some areas reporting record heat waves, while other states have reported some of the chilliest temperatures in recent history. In general the Los Cabos area has had a mild winter with very pleasant conditions, but this last week was a bit crazy, there were cool days, winds out of the north as usual, then calm and unseasonably warm days mid–week, before turning chilly with drizzling rain over the weekend. Tourists continue to arrive in substantial numbers and the area is bustling with business, though there were not as many anglers at this time. The air temperature varied from 55 to 80 degrees and the water temperature was in the 72 to 75 degree range, slightly warmer than the previous week. A cleaner and warmer current pushed into the lower Sea of Cortez and this dramatically helped to improve the fishing action off of the San Jose del Cabo area.
Live bait supplies were a bit inconsistent, though on most days sufficient supplies of mackerel and sardinas were available, but the size and amount of bait received did vary.
Striped marlin action has now spread out, with the fish being found scattered from the Pacific into the Sea of Cortez, many charters were accounting for multiple billfish days. Striped marlin up to 140 pounds were striking on trolled lures, live mackerel and even sardinas, they were seen tailing on the surface, riding swells, or lighting up into the lure spread, the majority located from 3 to 12 miles from shore. Schools of mackerel are now being found in the normal holding areas and this should only attract more gamefish in the coming weeks.
Dorado appeared in greater numbers, scattered throughout the area, striking on lures and various baits, most of the fish were in the 5 to 20 pound class, but some impressive sized bulls up to fifty pounds were also accounted for. The Pacific produced big numbers of dorado this past week, but many of these fish were also found off of San Jose where the warmer water had moved in.
La Playita panga fleets were not very busy this past week, but it was not because of the slower fishing that plagued the area last week. The Gordo Banks once again came to life, anglers found great action on yellowfin tuna on both the Inner and Outer Banks. The yellowfin were averaging 20 to 40 pounds and there were several tuna to over 140 pounds also accounted for. The skipjack were so thick that it was impossible to fish with live sardinas for the tuna, drift fishing with chunk bait of skipjack proved to be the best technique for the tuna, also anglers had some success using whole small skipjacks for bait, this produced some of the larger fish.
On Saturday, Jan. 13 th, there was another Government Cup local tournament held, this time it was based out of Cabo San Lucas. The top results were the same as the recent event held from La Playita, as once again La Playita panguero Tony Miranda on his super panga “Hooker” was not to be denied and pulled off his second victory in a row with a 141 pound yellowfin tuna that was taken from the Outer Gordo Bank on chunk bait. His team also once again took home the first place prize of a 22 ft. panga with motor, congratulations to Tony and his crew for a well deserved and hard earned victory.
Strong currents made it more difficult to work the bottom rock piles, though there was a mix of pargo, amberjack, cabrilla and pompano accounted for, though there was no consistency to this action.
Along the shoreline there were some sierra and roosterfish found while trolling lures and bait, the numbers were not huge but at least it provided another option on the days when it was too windy further offshore, actually some of the roosters were as large as 15 pounds, fun sport on light tackle.
The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita sent out approximately 48 charters for the week, with anglers accounted for a fish count of: 12 striped marlin, 66 sierra, 18 pompano, 10 cabrilla, 36 pargo, 11 amberjack, 45 bonito, 105 yellowfin tuna, 112 dorado and 1 wahoo.
Good Fishing, Eric
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