LOS CABOS CHARTER BOATS FISHING IN ALL
DIRECTIONS AFTER WESTERN OUTDOORS NEWS TOURNAMENT

Nov. 7, 2004, Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas, La Playita, San Jose del Cabo sport fishing, Baja, Mexico:

San Jose del Cabo weather has been absolutely ideal, plenty of sunshine, highs in the mid 80s, the only drawback is that the northerly winds have begun to become a factor and on some days has limited the options where San Jose del Cabo sportfishing fleets can effectively fish.

Los Cabos now has the feeling of spring break, except instead of mass crowds of college kids like during Easter vacation, the crowds are now made up mainly of serious anglers looking to cash in on one of the premiums of the mega buck tournaments, or just here in town to enjoy what angling opportunities are available.

San Jose del Cabo fishing water temperatures have started to drop a bit, the average through most of the region now is ranging from 78 to 80 degrees. Clarity has remained clear and blue to within several miles of shore, though there has been a very swift current that has effected how the fish feed on particular high spots.

Despite the near capacity crowds of anglers on most days there have been enough sardinas available, though some extra searching and patience was required.

Overall the best San Jose del Cabo bite was for football sized yellowfin tuna, but there was also some excellent action found for dorado and plenty of skipjack as well. Wahoo action has been almost nonexistent for the past week, but the conditions are still favorable for them to turn back on the bite at any time, most likely as the next full moon approaches.

San Jose del Cabo fishing fleets are now spread out in all directions, some of the more productive areas have been San Cristobal for wide open dorado action, Cabeza Ballena (Gray Rock) for similar action on yellowfin tuna, though on smaller fish in the 9 to 15 pound class and Iman Bank where the tuna were slightly larger, but still not brutes, averaging 10 to 20 pounds.

Though as most of you know by now, the recent Western Outdoor News Tuna Tournament did produce one tuna over 200 pounds, though the larger tuna are now further from shore and not numerous. The schooling football sized yellowfin are striking best on live sardinas fished on light tackle, with 15 to 25 pound line being the best bet. The lighter tackle enables the small sized bait to swim more naturally and definitely accounted for more consistent action. The dorado were striking on both trolled lures and bait, when the schools were located anglers could load up on limits rapidly and sizes were ranging from 10 to 25 pounds.

It was a disappointing fishing week for wahoo action at San Jose del Cabo, though a few are being hooked each day and we do expect that they should become more active in the next couple of weeks. Wahoo are finicky fish at times and if the water conditions, boat pressure or multitude of other factors is not to their liking they well simply refuse to cooperate. In recent days most San Jose del Cabo wahoo strikes have come on trolled skipjack, there have been plenty of them on the local fishing grounds and they have been unusually small, mackerel sized. Of the wahoo that were landed they weighed from 25 to 40 pounds.

Other miscellaneous catches at San Jose del Cabo included a couple species of bonito, sierra, amberjack, cabrilla, triggerfish and pargo, though none of these were very numerous. Off the beach anglers reported catching jack crevalle, sierra, small roosterfish, croakers and a couple of snook were also hooked into in front of the San Jose Estuary area.

(See "Mexico Fishing News" online for current fishing reports, photos, weather, and water temperatures from San Jose del Cabo and other major Mexican sportfishing areas. Vacation travel articles, fishing maps and seasonal calendars, and fishing related information for San Jose del Cabo may be found at Mexfish.com's main San Jose del Cabo page.