COOLER WATER AND TRANSITION TO WINTER FISHING AT LOS CABOS

Jan. 7, 2007, Gordo Banks Pangas Sportfishing, Eric Brictson, La Playita Beach, San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

The combined San Jose del Cabo sportfishing panga fleets from La Playita beach sent out approximately 37 charters for the week, for a fish count of: 24 yellowfin tuna, 145 skipjack, 5 striped marlin, 1 wahoo, 38 dorado, 42 pargo, 15 cabrilla, 26 pompano, 65 sierra, 8 roosterfish, 16 bonito, and 11 amberjack.

Good-sized crowds of tourists are visiting the Los Cabos vacation area and enjoyed mostly sunny skies and ideal weather. It is the season when the north wind kicks up, with breezes ranging from 10 to 20 miles per hour for most of the week.

There were not that many anglers in San Jose del Cabo. Sportfishing fleets out of the Cabo San Lucas Marina were busier because the better fishing action was found in the water near Cabo, especially for consistent striped marlin action from Chileno to the old lighthouse, Faro Viejo, and towards the Golden Gate Bank on the Pacific side.

San Jose del Cabo fishing water temperatures are steadily dropping and are at 71 to 74 degrees. Water clarity has been stirred up and greenish, particularly toward the Sea of Cortez. The cleanest fishing water is on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas.

Los Cabos fishing boats have had sufficient supplies of live bait, with both mackerel and sardinas available most days.

Striped marlin counts were respectable but down from previous reports, possibly due to the full moon and greener water that moved in.

Yellowfin tuna action also dropped off. A couple of days, the tuna came up late in the morning and provided some fishing action, but they were not consistent. There were more skipjack dominating the action on the Gordo Banks and Iman Bank where the yellowfin had been biting the previous week. The few tuna accounted for were striking on either chunk bait or sardinas and they were in the 15 to 40 pound class.

Dorado were averaging one or two in the daily catches, with weights averaging 10 to 20 pounds. With the cooling water temperatures off San Jose del Cabo, this is the time when dorado become more scattered and the numbers fall off accordingly.

With offshore surface fishing tapering off, anglers fishing at San Jose del Cabo are starting to search for action closer to shore and off the bottom.

So far this option has proved to be hit or miss. There should be more sierra moving in, now that cooler water and more bait fish are congregating along the shoreline, but so far the sierra have been disappointing.

Los Cabos anglers using yo-yo jigs over the various rock piles hooked into a few cabrilla, pargo and amberjack, and we anticipate doing more of this style of fishing in the next couple of months.

(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.