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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
February 4, 2007
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
February 4, 2007
Anglers -
As crowds of tourists travel to Los Cabos in search of warm sunshine and to escape the freezing conditions that are sweeping across much of the United States, they are being greeted with mostly sunny skies, though the weather is still cooler than normal for this Southern Baja paradise. Many long time locals cannot remember it being this cool for such an extended period of time, daytime highs are still reaching into lower 70s, but early morning lows were in the 50 degree range. We expect this cooler weather pattern to turn around in the next few weeks as the days gradually become longer. Northern winds continue to blow most of the days, peaking in the afternoon at around 10 to 15 miles per hour. On other days the breeze switched from out of the west and south, in other words the winds and all around conditions were not easy to predict.
The water temperatures averaged from 67 to 71 degrees, the coolest areas being found close along the shoreline and the warmest spot being in the vicinity of the Gordo Banks. Off shore currents were strong, despite there being only minimal swells and the water clarity turned a murky green color due to the cooler currents near Cabo San Lucas. At this time the majority of the sportfishing fleets are concentrating their efforts in the direction of the warmer waters around the Gordo Banks. This added angling pressure on the Gordo Banks, as the word got out over the weekend that this was now the most productive area around, especially for yellowfin tuna that were striking on a variety of baits and averaging 20 to 40 pounds. Live sardinas were probably the most productive bait, but more of the larger fish were hooked by using chunk bait, nothing much on lures.
Mackerel continue to school off of the San Jose del Cabo area and this has attracted greater numbers of striped marlin on the local fishing grounds. Many stripers were being found near the Gordo Banks and they were striking on mackerel best, but also many were hooked on the smaller sardinas that were used to target the yellowfin. Dorado numbers dropped way off with the arrival of cooler waters, though a scattering of these fish were found, most of them medium sized, with a handful of bulls in the 30 to 40 pound class accounted for. On Saturday there was a floating bait tank found drifting near the Outer Gordo Banks and for the boats that found this tank first they loaded up on some nicer sized dorado.
Besides the yellowfin tuna and striped marlin action anglers were not finding a whole lot of other productive options now available, we do expect more shallow water rock fish and inshore action to start up in the coming weeks.
The combined panga fleet from La Playita sent out approximately 63 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 24 striped marlin, 284 yellowfin tuna, 22 dorado, 5 mako shark, 76 pargo, 25 bonito, 6 amberjack, 18 sierra and 14 cabrilla.
Good Fishing, Eric
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