Baja Bytes Fishing – Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Gary Graham – That Baja Guy
Bluefin are offshore below the border, well within reach of the Ensenada and San Quintin fleets. BOLA fishing is wide open as dorado tease down at Loreto. From La Paz to the tip, huge roosterfish dazzle, plus multiple releases of stripers have been found and a few cow-sized tuna.
Que Pasa Baja
Sharp rise in deaths in Baja California Link
Tijuana Bull Ring
Calico bass fishing is very good-to-excellent right now. Fly line sardine, plastics, and even surface iron are all working well. Lots of shorts for sure, but plenty of legals over the 14″ mark too. Some barracuda are still around following the spots of anchovy. There have been little flurries of yellowtail in the flats and a few barracuda.
Slow-trolling mackerel is the ideal way to search around while looking for “meter marks” and breaking fish. Have a surface iron and yo-yo iron standing by.…Fish Dope
Coronado Islands / Rockpile
It’s hit and miss yellowtail fishing right now. Little flurries (when the current picks up) seem to be the rule here lately. There are still some nice fish around, including in tight around the Middle Grounds at the north end of South Island, and with an occasional one found at Pukey Point when the current switches around and pushes them down from the north. Fly-lined sardine and surface iron both work fine; they are also working for the nice big calico in tight to the Middle Grounds. Some barracuda and bonito are around and biting some.
**** ATTENTION **** You must stay at least 250 meters (820 feet) away from any tuna pens. If you don’t you are at risk of losing your boat and landing in a Mexican jail. Click here for more details on this subject…Fish Dope
226-302 Late Report from William.
Solo mission south from Dana early Fri a.m. I found a few nice kelp paddy’s just below the 182 and went one for three on good grade yellowtail (with sardine). Got to the 43 at 11 a.m., flew a dead flyer under a kite for an hour (saw meter marks but no love). Moved southeast to the zone just west of 302, around 2 p.m., and saw some boats hooked along with good marks. Flew the kite again, and 45 minutes and two gaffs later, I boated a 100-pounder. Started the 60-mile trek back. It was a hell of a day!
43 / Corner and inside the Weather Buoy down to East Butterfly and San Salvador Knoll (both sides of the border).
There were bluefin, yellowfin, and now even a few bigeye tuna showing in this area, along with some very good kelp paddy yellowtail fishing if you find the right one.
What seems to be working best for the bluefin is locating a sonar mark and setting up a long drift while chumming and putting out a balloon with a dead flyer, while that rig is out dropping a sinker rig down to the depth you metered the tuna. If you are dragging the kite and yummy flyer, you best have a couple of Nomad DTX plugs running too! Bluefin and yellowfin are both biting these this year. The sardine color has proven to be an excellent choice.
If there’s no wind, you still need to get the balloon and dead flyer out away from the boat – dump it over the side and slowly drive away from it. You can also bump your boat in and out of gear to slow-troll it through the areas where you’re seeing good marks and surface signals. You don’t want any wake or whitewater behind your boat – just bump in and out of gear to keep it well away from the boat and moving just a little bit.
The yellowfin will eat trolled jigs but you can also slide in on breezing or breaking fish and chum heavy to get them to stick to the boat. Then keep them interested with one’s and two’s and cast your hooked bait right into the same spot as the chum at the same time. Even if the spot you’re on looks like straight 20- to 40-pound grade yellowfin, start with the heaviest gear you can get away with since there have been so many bigger bluefin mixed in the same areas. Small 1/0 Mustad circle hooks on fluoro leaders have been effective.
The last few days have also seen some good kelp paddy yellowtail fishing, with many kelp in the area holding nice schools of 12- to 20-pound yellowtail and even some bigger fish up into the 30-pound range. There have also been bluefin and yellowfin holding in some of the kelp, with several guys getting spooled while fishing 20- or 25-pound gear for the yellowtail…Fish Dope
Ensenada
A mixed bag of bottom and surface action is producing limits for the inshore fleet…Maras Sportfishing
San Quintin
Same action as Ensenada for the inshore and bluefin farther offshore.
SW of Colonet to the west of San Martin
This zone is still producing good numbers of yellowtail, fair numbers of yellowfin tuna, some smaller-grade bluefin, and the odd dorado. Also, the boats are getting quite a few jig stops of BIG bonito from 10- to 15-pounds. In general, it is a long way down – from 115 to 150 miles and only the one and a half-day and longer trips are coming down…Fish Dope
Bahía Ascensión
Bahía de Los Angeles
Photo gallery
BOLA, lived up to what I had heard about. I fished six straight days with Captain Juan Cook, Kirk Faulkner, and my uncle Denis Quesnel, the owner of Deadhead Lures. The fishing was amazing! Captain Juan kept us on the fish every day. What an amazing captain!! Limits of yellowtail and cabrilla on the Bastard Series from Deadhead Lures. The cabrilla love that Brown Bastard!!! Chris Quesnel
Baja Sur-Que Pasa
TROPICAL FOUR-E DEPRESSION IS FORMED IN THE PACIFIC. Its center is located 385km southwest of Cabo San Lucas, BCS. It has sustained winds of 55km / h and streaks of 75km / h, moving northwest at 11km / h; this depression will be leaving rain from this morning through the next few days in Baja California Sur. LINK
Loreto
We hit 100 degrees this week which rarely happens. On top of that a 20-mph wind with the dust blowing for hours. here are not yet enough boats out fishing to get a good handle on where we are in the summer fishing season.
Normally we have many boats searching before and after tournament fishing, so the locations are well known and the dorado are being whacked!
We have been catching dorado around Coronado Island where the water temps are higher. All the bottom fish spots are pumping out reds and some stellar-sized whitefish.
Few of the outside spots are being reported on. The blue water usually gives a clue about all the famous possibilities. The only boats heading out that way isn’t talking. Their “no bragging” when they return also tells the story or maybe their competence…Rick Hill, Pinchy Sportfishing
06-26-20 Wind and rough waters kept us off the high seas today so we went back to the Rooster hole and it was pretty sparse but we did catch a few. We searched out another hole and found lots of bigger Roosters up to about 25 pounds and had a blast with them – love that pull on the 9-wt. High winds are predicted for the next couple of days but when things calm down we’ll go hunt for Dorado again. We don’t have any competition from any other boats. There are only about three other boats fishing. If anybody’s wondering we have not had any virus scares and everyone seems to be doing very well with the safety protocols…Carl Blackledge
La Paz
East Cape
Scorpion Sportfishing East Cape Report – June 28, 2020
Fishing has been great, and anglers are enjoying all the beauty of the East Cape. On our first charter of the year, El Regalo showed it was back with a bang landing a 222-pound yellowfin tuna along with 15 other tuna. Tuna fishing continues to be good; they have been found outside on the porpoise with hoochies, cedar plugs, and kite bait as well as close to shore. Marlin fishing was likewise on fire! On one day, El Regalo released eight striped marlin with most days’ marlin fishing seeing multiple releases. Marlin came on both trolled lures and ballyhoo. We should begin seeing some blue marlin mixed in soon! Dorado are always being found close to shore and at the buoys. Some real quality dorado are coming aboard for those targeting the species. Finally, the fishing for roosterfish has been epic. The presence of good quality live bait and grande-sized roosterfish have put lots of smiles on the faces of anglers. Most boats targeting roosterfish have been releasing multiple roosterfish up to 60-pounds…Matt Clifton, Scorpion Sportfishing.
Water- 81-84. Clear, flat, cooler water South, much warmer North…
Air- Beautiful clear days with some light rain yesterday. Highs in the 80s with light afternoon SE breezes.
The fishing this past week was particularly good, especially inshore. The hotel sent out three boats a day all week. Lots of good bait was available – sardine, tube mackerel, and caballito. The rooster fishing was nothing short of spectacular! Big Gallo’s averaging 40- to 60-pounds were common. Most anglers were opting to stay inside and take advantage of literally a wide-open bite. All anglers were releasing big fish! Big pargo, both dog-toothed and barred, pompano, and jacks were also biting aggressively. Yellowfin tuna were taken outside under porpoise and inside of the lighthouse. Lot’s of striped marlin are outside off Pulmo Park.
The bite is on for big roosterfish cruising in very shallow water close to the beach. The larger fish are taking the caballito and barracuda. They have been the most deadly bait! Lots of roosterfish are around the lighthouse, spread along most Palmas Bay Beaches. Big fish from 50- to 60-pounds are common.
Several schools of porpoise are holding yellowfin tuna outside from 10 to 30-miles offshore to the East. Footballs-sized yellowfin are mixed in with some nice fish in the 20 to 30-pound class, but most are taken on hoochies, cedar plugs, and sardina. Inside of the lighthouse, big solitary tuna in the 15 to 40-pound class are biting consistently. Not much pressure as most anglers are targeting the roosters inside.
Lots of stripers are around, though they are picky biters this week, there is not much fishing pressure. Big fish are being released daily off La Ribera and they are thick outside the Pulmo Park boundary taking trolled ballyhoo.
Big pargo and pompano were taken on the inside drop-offs. Live sardina, chunk squid, and barracuda were all working…John Ireland, Rancho Leonero
Puerto Los Cabos
Although we have seen a limited number of tourists arriving, at least we are seeing people arrive, and this is helping to restart businesses that have been shut down for nearly three months! Business openings will be a slow process, but the local population is putting in the extra effort to make the safest environment possible so that people can relax and enjoy themselves. The weather was more tropical this past week as a series of disturbances passed off to the southwest – no impact on land was felt, except some cloud cover, humidity, and increased swells. Winds were relatively light, picking up occasionally in the afternoon.
Ocean conditions were changing day-to-day; off-colored and cooler currents pushed in, dropping water temperature into the lower 70-degree range over the weekend. Large schools of baitfish congregated on the fishing grounds north of Punta Gorda. Some larger-sized yellowfin tuna were seen in the area, though not many were hooked, as there was limited angler activity. One tuna around 80 pounds was caught mid-week.
Most consistent catches were for red snapper (huachinango), amberjack, a few cabrilla, and trophy-sized, 50-pound roosterfish that were patrolling the shoreline. A few late-season, larger-sized sierra, as well as jack crevalle, were in the mix.
Striped marlin action slowed somewhat due to changing water conditions, though early in the week there were still decent numbers of stripers encountered. As conditions stabilized, we expect action to improve. The black and blue marlin will soon move onto local grounds.… Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas
Cabo San Lucas
Although there were only 12 boats that went out since opening, there were still enough fish for everyone. Marlin picked up, and then slowed, only to return. The top Marlin Release boat was the Pisces 35-foot Bill Collector 2, which went five for seven on the number of striped marlin released in one day. They also targeted yellowfin which are finally showing up, and they landed seven of them along with other boats fishing the area nearby. For example, Captain Ty Valli on the 64-foot Chupacabra reported 17 for 26 on striped marlin released, all hitting on ballyhoo; and the custom-built 77-foot Merritt, Artemis, which just arrived in Cabo, went 16 for 23 released. The Pisces 45-foot Chasin’ Tail 2 landed 17 yellowfin and released 4 striped marlin as well. Most tuna averaged from 10- to 35-pounds.
In our “Other” category, we have had some BIG roosterfish (around 40-pounds), with a few sierra mackerel and yellowtail sprinkled in.
LOCATION: The Gordo Bank area is now holding school-sized yellowfin along with striped marlin and dorado. Plus fishing from shore has been inexpensive as well as productive along the beaches.
BEST LURES: Live and dead sardina, ballyhoo, mackerel and caballito bait, plus squid, cedar plugs, and large billfish lures for the yellowfin tuna have worked the best.