LOS CABOS FISHING SCATTERED IN ALL DIRECTIONS

Jan. 8, 2006, Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas, La Playita, San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

The combined San Jose del Cabo charter panga fleets launching off of La Playita beach reported sending out approximately 88 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 8 striped marlin, 1 wahoo, 420 yellowfin tuna, 300 skipjack, 46 dorado, 28 pargo, 14 cabrilla, 6 pompano, 22 sierra, 6 roosterfish and 12 triggerfish.

San Jose del Cabo fishing area water temperatures varied from 69 to 74 degrees and with increased swell and current activity, clarity was murky close to shore.

Tourists were arriving at San Jose del Cabo to take advantage of the great weather that has continued clear and sunny with temperatures reaching 80 degrees. There was north wind blowing up to 15 m.p.h. the first part of the week, but over the weekend conditions were much calmer.

Sportfishing fleets fished in all directions. The majority of charter boats concentrated on areas from the Old Lighthouse to Chileno. Live bait supplies were not as consistent, but it was worth the waiting and searching to obtain the bait.

The more consistent action for yellowfin tuna was found close to shore from Chileno to Cabo San Lucas while drift fishing with sardinas. The bite seemed to vary daily, with bait supply, water conditions, and bird and sea lion nuisances being factors. Average catches ranged from 5 to 12 yellowfin tuna in the 8 to 15 pound class. There were similar number of skipjack mixed in.

Striped marlin counts continued respectable, but were down from previous reports. Most of the stripers were found from 4 to 10 miles from shore.

Dorado were also found in smaller schools in the same areas and San Jose del Cabo sportfishing charters averaged one or two, with weights averaging 10 to 20 pounds. The water is on a cooling trend so we expect dorado counts will taper off.

A 14 pound dorado was caught by my eight year old son Brian Brictson on New Year's Day. There was no live bait available this day so we ended up trolling with strips of skipjack a few miles outside of the area of La Laguna. Besides the dorado, we also caught 15 skipjack and one sierra and were back at the beach by 10 a.m.

Other fishing action included a scattering of sierra and a few small roosterfish along the shoreline. Bottom anglers found assorted species like cabrilla, pargo, pompano and triggerfish, though none of these fish were very numerous. Some days it was difficult to fish over the rock piles due to a powerful current.

San Jose del Cabo anglers fishing off the beach have not had much to talk about of late, besides some early morning scattered action for sierra.

However, Len Benko from Canada, a long time winter resident of San Jose de Cabo, reported an incredible personal best catch of a trophy-sized world class snook caught off the beach in front of Coral Baja Resort. He hooked into the monster at eight o'clock Thursday evening while using cut shrimp for bait. The fish was some 45 inches in length and estimated to weigh at least 45 pounds.

(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.