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Fishing Report for San Jose del Cabo, Baja
Capt. Eric Brictson
January 29, 2006
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
January 29, 2006
Anglers -
Sun worshipping tourists were traveling to the Los Cabos area in escalating numbers as the winter season progresses. The weather the past week varied from day to day, there was bight sunshine, also much cloud cover and on Friday there was the first recorded rainfall of 2006, as a front moved through the peninsula from the west, it was not a substantial amount of rain, with different areas recording from one half to one inch totals, nevertheless it was welcome to the parched landscape after being in the midst of a drought for two years. Prevailing winds blew from the north, but not as stiff as the previous week, staying in the 10 to 15 mile an hour range and this helped water clarity to improve. Water temperatures ranged widely from 65 to 75 degrees, though over the weekend where the water had been warmest earlier in the week, off of the Cabo San Lucas Pacific side, this region also was now on a cooling trend, back down into the 70-degree range. Further north into the Sea of Cortez the water was coolest and offshore surface action was almost non-existent. Sportfishing fleets were scattered in all directions, though the Pacific was more concentrated since that is where the billfish action was now concentrated. Schools of baitfish including mackerel and sardinas were more abundant and spread throughout the region.
For the pangas launching out of La Playita the most common catches were pargo, sierra and miscellaneous bottom species, the opportunities were basically limited to inshore or bottom action due to the cooler currents, the offshore efforts were limited to a few stray dorado, yellowfin tuna and skipjack, but numbers were few and far between and most anglers settled for the inshore action. Most consistent areas were either from Red Hill to Chileno of near Cardon or La Fortuna, nothing reported off of the Gordo Banks in recent days, The red crabs continued to be on the fishing grounds and many days did come to the surface, recently the pargo (huachinango) bite was best off the bottom, in about 150 to 180 feet of water, with the majority of the snapper under five pounds. Fishing with either red crabs or sardinas was most productive, though limited action was also accounted for while using yo-yo style jigs retrieved over the rock piles, this was for various pargo species, cabrilla and amberjack, a couple specimens weighed up to 30 pounds.
Along the shoreline there were increased numbers of sierra off the beaches between San Jose and Cabo San Lucas, striking on hoochies, rapalas and sardinas. These fish were averaging under three pounds, with the largest being in the six pound range, scrappy light tackle fighters and tricky to hook on the small baits, even for the most experienced of anglers.
The combined panga fleet from La Playita sent out approximately 83 charters for the week, with anglers catching a total of 445 pargo (huachinango), 14 amberjack, 2 yellowtail, 13 dorado, 10 yellowfin tuna, 1 striped marlin, 380 sierra, 22 cabrilla, 36 whitefish and 44 bonito.
Good fishing, Eric
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