Baja Bytes Fishing – Tuesday, June 9, 2020
Que Pasa Baja
Los Cabos is second Mexican destination to get Safe Travels stamp
As of Sunday, Tijuana had 2,335 confirmed cases and 643 deaths, according to Secretaría de Salud del Estado de Baja California. But Mexicali cases have surpassed Tijuana’s in recent weeks, and a report by Radar BC lays out the numbers.
As of May 1, Mexicali had 603 confirmed cases of COVID-19, while Tijuana had 912. But something happened over the next couple weeks, because by May 22 the state capital registered 553 new infections — compared with 267 in Tijuana.
Mexicali also showed a huge spike in deaths, from 61 on May 1 to 496 on June 5, an increase of 713 percent. For six consecutive days, Mexicali has registered more positive cases of COVID-19 than the rest of the municipalities throughout the state combined, according to Radar BC.
Tijuana Bull Ring
Those barracuda that have been around are still here and biting. It has been somewhat hit and miss but if you locate them, they are usually biters. They were being caught on fly line sardines and jigs. Most likely jigs like the Tady C single fixed hook or Colt Snipers.
Guys dropping plastics right in the kelp are doing well for calico bass. Doesn’t hurt to add a little strip of squid to sweeten it up a bit.…Fish Dope
Coronado Islands / Rockpile
Took a quick half day trip to Coronado Island yesterday. Water averaged 65°. North island specifically Pukey point and Keyhole, mark yellowtail down deep, but they did not want to play. Great marks in 20 to 30 fathoms.Went to the middle grounds and it was all the calicos you wanted between 14 and 18 inches in close to the boiler rocks on the weather side.
Finally found some nice yellowtail on the Lee side of South Island between the island and the tuna pen operations. Quite shallow at 45 feet, a nice grade 18 to 20-pound range. We were finding them under small groups of birds. They were running around in small wolf packs and were eating sardines voraciously. Was surprised that we did not get anything on surface iron…Sea Section
Erik Landesfeind published a fantastic interview in the latest Pacific Coast Sportfishing with Capt. Ryan Bostian on the San Diego about fishing for yellowtail at the Coronado Islands.
He shares lots of great tips for private boaters, including how to read the current to focus on the up-current points of the islands and finding other similar types of structure to be able to spread out to other productive zones when the crowds are heavy.
Check it out here: PCS Mag Coronado Islands article
HeadsUp: The Mexican Navy has been at the Coronado Islands over the last few days and has occasionally been checking boats as they return to San Diego from the offshore grounds. Nothing to be concerned about as long as you’ve got your paperwork in order.
Outside and below the 302 / 230 to the 371
It has been very rough and snotty.
There was a report of a yellowfin jig stop with several bait fish just after 10am. The same source as said they saw several spots of bluefin in the same general area that wouldn’t bite.
In general, the yellowfin are showing best in the lower part of this zone around the 371 but scattered reports of them are happening well up the line to west of the 302.
Most of the bluefin continue to come on either the dead flyer/balloon rig or on the yummy flyer/kite rig although over the past several days a number of bluefin have come on 40-pound fluoro with a fly line sardine meant for yellowfin or kelp paddy yellowtail.
That said be sure and fly line sardine while you drift dead flyers. Yellowfin have been showing good lately and in many cases are mixed in or close to the bluefin.
Be sure and check out kelps, especially those with deep stringers. There have been some very good kelps and even the odd dorado on them. The yellows are running from 8-12-pounds with an occasional twenty pounder in the mix. The dorado are 12-15-pound. Just 1 reported so far but where there is one there is likely more around.
The general info section below still applies as well, with the bigger tuna mainly being found in smaller wolfpacks as meter marks at 50-180 ft and the “smaller” 50-80 lb. bluefin and the yellowfin found in bigger schools…Fish Dope
Ali Hussainy wrote up a good overview of how to work a bluefin zone with a mix of techniques, including trolling cedar plugs and DTX minnows while skipping a yummy flyer: Bluefin zone tactics
Bluefin: These are running in the 50 to over 300-pound class currently with a high percentage over 150 to just under 250-pounds. Both yummy flyers and dead flyers are working well for the bigger bluefin. The last couple days a little higher percentage of the yummy bites were the 120-150-pound grade fish, with the bigger 200+ eating dead flyers a little better. Really, though, a lot of it comes down to the weather conditions and your ability to get a kite up and out away from your wake when trolling, vs. drifting with a balloon that will sit at the right height above the water and not get blown down to the surface, letting the bait sink out.
When it’s windy (8-10 kts), skip a yummy flyer. When it’s calm, send out a dead flyer under a balloon or kite (8-10 kts). You can also still fish a dead flyer in windy conditions, but you’ll be best off drifting it under a kite. Attaching a helium balloon to the top of your kite with rigging line and double-sided tape is a great way to give extra lift and use the kite’s surface area to catch any breeze to get it out away from the boat.
Keep your eyes up to watch for kites and balloons so you don’t run over lines! The kites especially will seem to be extremely high and far away from the boats flying them. You should turn to avoid kites and boats well in advance of when you think you need to dodge them, especially if you have your own kite line out!
Yellowfin: There have been some decent numbers of 25 to 40-pound class yellowfin around, mainly now in the 371 area but they appear to be slowly sliding north. These are coming on trolled cedar plugs and often on fly lined sardines fished on 30-40-pound while guys are also putting the balloon dead flyer rigs out.
Yellowtail: There are also some incredibly good kelps loaded with 6-12 lb. yellowtail scattered from the 302 down through this whole zone. They are eating flylined sardines, surface iron, and stick baits very well.
Heads Up: There are a bunch of tuna pens and boats 2 miles north of the 425.
Please use extra caution especially at night that you don’t accidentally run into a pen or between a pen and the boat it’s tethered to.
Ensenada
San Quintin
No report
Bahía Ascensión
No report
Bahía de Los Angeles
Fishing with friends and family, wide open yellowtail on the surface, south end of La Guardia, cabrilla fishing has been slow, but not without its rewards, Cousin Pauly caught and released a beautiful golden cabrilla, I caught a solid fish but overall its slow, tails are from smallest to huge…fishonnnn…Juan Cook
Baja Sur-Que Pasa
| Los Cabos is second Mexican destination to get Safe Travels stamp Mexico News Daily Baja California Sur Governor Carlos Mendoza Davis said “it is an honor to include our state in the list of destinations with the [travel seal]. We strongly … |
Cabo is Officially Reopening June 15th!
It is with great pleasure and relief that we announce that after almost 3 months of a stay at home order, the majority of Cabo San Lucas will be reopening on June 15th to include hotels, resorts, restaurants, tourist shops, the mall and all of Cabo‘s famous outdoor activities including its beautiful pristine beaches.
Some timeshare hotels as well as some other activities and businesses have already re-opened as of June 1st. We would recommend waiting until after June 15th when the beaches, restaurants and tourist activities will be open and waiting for our tourist to return
Loreto
One of our captains that also does commercial when things are slow found some yellowtail. Big yellowtail at Punta Lobo are off Carmen Island.
“Big mackerel for big yellowtail” was the story I heard. What I saw told me that yellows from 20 to 30 pounds all were caught in quick succession. I saw 15 yellowtail piled in the back of a pickup and they all looked fresh out of the water.
No dorado have been spotted. The handline guys are doing the usual and the clam hunters are working every corner.…Rick Hill, Pinchy Sportfishing
La Paz
Everything still shut down but some of our captains have been out fishing for their families catching triggerfish, pargo, snapper and cabrilla to eat. No one can really go far because no one has worked in almost 6 months so there’s no money for gas. They tell me there’s rooster fish, jacks and bonito in the shallows and lots of bait. Disturbing thing is that they tell me commercial poachers are out there using nets in the fishing spots and none of the inspectors are around to stop the taking of fish…Jonathan Roldan, Tailhunter International
East Cape
The water on the East Cape has been a nice blue color, between 78-79 F, with no wind.
Air – Sunny, 85 high, and 72 degrees low with afternoon breezes from five- to ten-mph.
The reports of sightings of hundreds of Striped Marlin continue, with the 61’ Pour Decisions reporting 54 Striped Marlin released on their way to Buenavista from San Jose, on the Sea of Cortez side over the past two days. Lots of mackerel bait in the area as well…Pisces Sportfishing, Rebecca Ehrenberg
Puerto Los Cabos
Gradual Reopening Set for June 15
After nearly three month of lock down during this ongoing virus pandemic everyone is anxious to have tourists be able to return and see all the shutdown businesses reopen. There is a financial crisis now, as the Los Cabs region depends basically solely on tourist for their livelihood.
As summer season now settles in, the days are becoming progressively warmer. This is time to work and be able to save a little money for the upcoming tropical storm season. The latest news we hear is that the government expects by June 15 to start gradually open economic activities. This will be in stages, with health and safety being the top priority. So we are hoping by the end of this month we will be able to see some return to our normal routines.
On June 1, some 14,000 local construction workers returned to work. Local fishermen are still able to fish for personal consumption. The main action for this past week has been a big bite for striped marlin, anywhere from 2 to 15 mile offshore, straight out of San Jose del Cabo and towards Punta Gorda. Good numbers of mullet are starting to move in along the beaches, and this will surely attract gamefish, such as roosterfish, dogtooth snapper and amberjack. We are looking forward to getting back to work and enjoying some great fishing…Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas
Cabo San Lucas
The most productive fishing this week has been for Roosterfish and Striped Marlin mostly, with all fishing concentrated in the Sea of Cortez from San Jose to Destiladeras and beyond.
This Friday the new addition to our fleet, the 42’ Post “Sea Señora” headed out of Puerto Los Cabos marina and fished in front of Palmilla point for a few hours only, but released 3 roosterfish and 3 striped marlin. Owners Rebecca and Frank were aboard, and mentioned the weather was beautiful, and water temperature at 75 F.
Another boat, private, the Cabo 38’ “Shock & Awe” fished from Buenavista to San Jose and saw many marlin, and released 2 on the fly, along with 4 Roosterfish.
The marlin at the Punta Gorda and Destiladeras area also continue, where last week we had the 38’ Reel Cast have 48 striped marlin over two days. Dorado is scarce with only a few reported and in small size. Some grouper and snapper still around in good size.
The port remains closed to Sportfishing and all boats mentioned in this report were with owners aboard or for consumption fishing only. The port captain has imposed restrictions for the past two weeks on consumption fishing also though, closing the port because of strong winds on the Pacific.
LOCATION: Gordo Bank area is holding school-sized yellowfin along with striped marlin and dorado.
LURES: ballyhoo and mackerel, lures: petrolero and tigrillo mostly.
WATER TEMP: 75-79 Sea of Cortez
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Great conditions from San Jose to East Cape, sunny skies, no wind. Pacific: windy and fog on some days. A few clear days/no wind sprinkled in.
IGFA
Ricardo Reyes Martinez recently caught this incredible 39.9-kilogram (88-pound) white seabass to potentially set the new IGFA All-Tackle and Men’s 30-lb Line Class World Records. Ricardo was surf casting a 60g Shimano-Fishing Colt Sniper from shore on the Pacific Ocean, Southwest of La Paz, Mexico 🇲🇽, when the monster seabass struck. This catch has the potential to beat the current All-Tackle Record of 37.98-kilograms (83-pounds, 12-ounces) that has stood for over 67 years!
However, there are some questions by both locals and Professional Captains. Suggesting that it may be a totoaba that looks remarkably like the white seabass. #fishIGFA
Thanks Gary!
Today, I went to the beachfront with my kids. I found a sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She placed the shell to her ear and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear. She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is entirely off topic but I had to tell someone!
Dominick, I laughed out loud! Thanks made my day.