RED SNAPPER GO WIDE-OPEN AT PUNTA GORDA ROCK PILES

Jan. 16, 2005, Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas, San Jose del Cabo fishing, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

The overall fishing at San Jose del Cabo was excellent, with the most common daily catches being striped marlin, yellowfin tuna, dorado (mahi-mahi), sierra, pargo and roosterfish.

Off of San Jose del Cabo's La Playita beach, a total of 98 panga fishing charters for the week produced an approximate total catch of 3 wahoo, 7 striped marlin, 185 dorado, 245 yellowfin tuna, 45 cabrilla, 12 pompano, 45 roosterfish, 65 sierra, 10 amberjack, and 590 pargo.

San Jose del Cabo sportfishing water temperatures are dropping slowly and are now averaging 70 to 72 degrees through most of the region. Swells are minimal and the water clarity in the fishing areas for the most part has been favorable. Live bait supplies have been abundant at San Jose del Cabo for mackerel and sardinas. The sardinas continued to be found schooling inshore in the area of Santa Maria, so that has meant some waiting each morning for panga fishing fleets out of San Jose del Cabo. Mackerel schools are now being found into the Sea of Cortez and we expect that this will attract more striped marlin towards this direction in the coming weeks.

San Jose del Cabo skies have been clear and with no rain in sight. Early mornings have been dipping into the 50s in certain areas, but daytime highs are reaching well into the 70s and with the exception of a couple of days the northern winds have resided and ocean conditions have been ideal for anglers.

In marlin fishing at San Jose del Cabo, good numbers of striped marlin are now being hooked off of Chileno, from 5 to 15 miles offshore. Live mackerel has been most productive, but the billfish are also striking on trolled lures, with the petrolero color pattern being one of the top choices. Many San Jose del Cabo charter fishing boats that are targeting the marlin are landing multiple stripers per day, ranging from 90 to 120 pounds.

With the cooler sea water temperatures now pushing in there were very few wahoo reported and dorado numbers were also on the decline. Although most fishing boats were catching one or two dorado in their overall catch, the majority of them being 5 to 10 pound fish, there were some exceptions of larger bulls to 35 pounds taken, particularly earlier in the week.

Yellowfin tuna fishing at San Jose del Cabo remained steady from Punta Gorda to La Fortuna, though in recent days the best bite developed late morning and early afternoon, pretty much exclusively on sardinas. It was not what you would call wide open, but many San Jose del Cabo charter fishing pangas were ending up with three, four or five tuna per day in the 15 to 25 pound range.

Most certainly the best San Jose del Cabo fishing bite of the week was over the weekend when anglers got into wide open action for pargo, the red snapper or huachinango variety, on the various rock piles just to the north of Punta Gorda. The fish were striking on fly lined sardinas or with the use of lightweight sinkers and proved to be very fun sport of light tackle, with the fish ranging in sizes up to 12 pounds and providing anglers with top quality fillets. There was also a mix of cabrilla to 15 pounds and pompano up to 12 pounds taken from the same spots by San Jose del Cabo sportfishing boats.

Inshore fishing at San Jose del Cabo showed signs of rapid improvement with more schools of sierra moving in and also there was a strong showing of early season roosterfish that provided bonus action, as even fly fishermen were able to entice these jacks, most of them were weighing in the 8 to 15 pound class, but several 20 pound roosterfish were also accounted for.

(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.