COOL, GREEN WATER AND MIXED
SPECIES FISHING WITH CAPT. PATA

April 10-14, 2005, John Snow, San Jose del Cabo, Baja, Mexico Species Fishing Report:

Executive Summary: Two ninety minute surf trips and got skunked on both occasions attributed to large pounding surf, ice cold green water, and new unfamiliar turf.

The best catch of the week was a 1-inch “anchovy type” unknown species collected in a bait net as they passed under the Panga being herded by a large school of feeding needle fish. The bait guys also provided a Naos Halfbeak which is new to me but also found on Bajadestinations.com and Mexfish.com.

Three days of Panga fishing with Captain Pata had one strong day, one mediocre day and one exceedingly slow day. The San Jose del Cabo (Los Cabos) area continues to be plagued by ugly ice cold green water which Captain Pata attributed to a strong El Sur.

Due to productivity (or lack thereof) there were only a limited number of Gringos fishing but the Panga fleet in residence at La Playita has grown to 50, the normal commercial fish buyer has been replaced, and the commercial guys are suffering as well.

Overall came in contact with only 23 individual species with at least one and possibly two new species for me--some form of an anchovy and a halfbeak.

The bait guys were present and provided good bait in limited amounts. The weather from a temperature perspective improved to the mid-70’s-degrees with strong sun all days. Wind was only a significant factor for two hours on two of the three days of Panga fishing. Major targeted game species count from three days of Panga fishing: Sierra – 3, Red Snapper – 1. I would rate this week as far below average from a sportsfishing perspective.

April 10 - 14, 2005:

Species, Executive Summary – 22 20 known and 2 new:

*Anchovy, Slender (Fish Number 28) Anchovy, sp. (Fish Number 184) – NEW! Barracuda, Mexican (Fish Number 81) Cabrilla, Flag (Fish Number 61) Creole Fish, Pacific (Fish Number 62) Graysby, Panamic (Fish Number 3) *Grunt, Yellowstripe (Fish Number 108) *Halfbeak, Naos (Fish Number 181 – New! *Herring, Flatiron (Fish Number 19) *Herring, Yellowfin (Fish Number 10) Hogfish, Mexican (Fish Number 7) Jack Crevalle (Fish Number 37) Jack, Island (Fish Number 95) Needlefish, Flat (Fish Number 44) Pargo, Barred (Fish Number 78) *Scad, Bigeye (Fish Number 88) Sierra (Fish Number 60) Snapper, Blue and Gold (Fish Number 73) Snapper, Mullet (Fish Number 27 Snapper, Yellow (Fish Number 4) Triggerfish, Orangeside (Fish Number 26) Triggerfish, Finescale (Fish Number 9)

*Collected in the bait tank. **Collected at sea with a bait net

Part I, Surf Report, 100% Catch and Release.

Day 1, April 10, 2005:

Fishing at San Jose del Cabo at Km 26, Cero Colorado, one and half hours at sunset, raging surf, falling tide, water temperature 70-degrees, utilizing a fish finder rig – 15-pound test, 0.5-oz barrel sinker, bead, swivel, 15 pound test and size 6 and 8, Mustad 92553 hook with frozen cut Squid. Catch summary: skunked.

Part II. Fishing at San Jose del Cabo with Captain Pata, Panga Solome, La Playita. La Playita Sport Fishing activity was exceedingly slow with about 15 of the 40 Pangas in use each day. Captain Pata attributed this to very slow fishing with no Dorado, Tuna or Wahoo present as the strong and consistent El Sur continued to blow keeping water quality down.

Day 1, April 11, 2005:

Fishing at San Jose del Cabo for six hours with Captain Pata. Ocean was quite friendly being more or less flat calm with good sun all day but the wind started at 10:00 a.m. and that was more or less the end of the day. Limited amount but high quality live bait available. Water a quality 70-degrees of and an off blue. Fished an area 5 to 15 miles south of La Playita (from the River to Cabo Real). Style was traditional bottom fishing with cut bait (cut Yellowfin Herring or Squid) or live Sardines down deep or flylined Sardines. Catch can be summarized as hot and cold with a wide variety of species: one Mexican Barracuda, 8 pounds, six Flag Cabrillas to 3 pounds, three Pacific Creolefish, to 2 pounds, four Panamic Graysby, to 2 pounds, one Jack Crevalle, 5 pounds, one Island Jack, 8 pounds, one Flat Needlefish, 3 pounds, one Pacific Sierra, 3 pounds, one Mullet Snapper, two pounds, one Yellow Snapper, 2 pounds, four Finescale Triggerfish, to 4 pounds, and eight Orangeside Triggerfish, to 3 pounds (catch and release). Miscellaneous: limited action of note.

Day 2, April 12, 2005:

Fishing at San Jose del Cabo for six hours with Captain Pata. Ocean was quite friendly being more or less flat calm with good sun all day and limited wind. Limited amount but high quality live bait available. Water a quality 70-degrees of and an off blue. Fished an area 5 to 25 miles south of La Playita (from the Palmilla Point to Cabo del Sol). Style was traditional bottom fishing with cut bait (cut Yellowfin Herring or Squid) or live Sardines down deep or flylined live Sardines or dead Anchovy. Catch can be summarized as cold: three Flag Cabrillas to 4 pounds, three Pacific Creolefish, to 2 pounds, one Panamic Graysby, 2 pounds, more than 10 Mexican Hogfish, to 5 pounds (all catch and release), one Barred Pargo, 4 pounds, two Pacific Sierra, to 4 pounds, one Mullet Snapper, two pounds, three Blue and Gold Snappers, to 2 pounds (catch and release), one Finescale Triggerfish, 2 pounds, and more than ten Orangeside Triggerfish, to 3 pounds (catch and release). Miscellaneous: a Sea Lion visit us, bother others but not us and a school of juvenile Manta Rays was present in Palmilla Bay.

Day 3, April 13, 2005:

Fishing at San Jose del Cabo for six hours with Captain Pata. Ocean was quite friendly being more or less flat calm with good sun all day and limited wind. Limited amount but high quality live bait available. Water a quality 70-degrees of pristine blue (a sign of improvement) to ugly green in the areas we fished. Fished an area 5 to 25 miles north of La Playita. Style was traditional bottom fishing with cut bait (cut Yellowfin Herring or Squid) or live Sardines down deep or flylined live Sardines or yo-yo iron (unproductive). Catch can be summarized as ice cold: one Blue and Gold Snapper, 2 pounds (catch and release), one Red Snapper, 10 pounds, two Finescale Triggerfish, to 3 pounds, and more than ten Orangeside Triggerfish, to 3 pounds (catch and release). Miscellaneous: on two occasions we were fished by schools of surface feeding schools – red snappers and needle fish – chowing down balled up “anchovies” of the one-inch variety.

(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.