Baja Bytes Fishing – Tuesday, August 11, 2020
Baja fishing has been great with a 704-pound blue caught at Bisbee’s East Cape Offshore , bluefin off the Coast from Ensenada to San Quintin, dorado, and chunky roosterfish, along with mobs of striped marlin farther south around the tip. Not a bad wish list to pick from.
Que Pasa Baja California
Tijuana Bull Ring
Got word that water temps dropped and the bass bite slowed again – not a drastic drop, and as such the bass didn’t stop biting completely. With light line and small hooks, a small sardine or anchovy will get you plenty of bites! … Fish Dope
Coronado Islands / Rockpile
We are hearing the yellowtail bite is very slow but there are a lot of 1- to 5-pound bonito and barracuda around.
The bonito are said to be all over – around and south of the Islands, and there may also be some legal-size barracuda around the Ribbon Kelp and south are the most likely areas to find them.
The Mexican Navy is checking boats so be sure and have all the proper paperwork done. It’s a good idea to collect IDs from everyone on the boat, including all the required permits, and keep them in one single large Ziplock bag ready to give them to the Mexican Navy when they come alongside and request them.… Fish Dope
Below 32 20 / 371 / 425 / Upper Hidden Bank
Not many boats are down this way now and those that are found slow fishing except for the odd kelp holding yellowtail in these areas. Otherwise, all seems pretty quiet. We need new tuna to move up this way.
Lots of green off-color water from the Islands out to the 302 and south to the 371 and 425.
There’s clean water below and the Upper Hidden Bank appears to have good water.…Fish Dope
Ensenada
Puerto Santo Tomas
My son and I went fishing with my 83-year-old ‘adopted father,’ Willy Cortez. There were no waves, flat seas, perfect temp, and not much current Thursday. The big reds were hungry and biting, but after about four hours of almost constantly reeling in fish, we tapped out. The border wait was about one and one-half hours, though it was an epic time with my son and long-time friend.
https://www.bdoutdoors.com/forums/threads/puerto-santo-tomas-fish-report-7-23-20.751649/
San Quintin
No report.
Cedros Island
Two problems at the same time!
Problem one: COVID-19 (things closed).
Problem two: The runway on the Island is in bad shape and the Government closed it as well.
Even before COVID-19, the runway was in bad shape. Someone complained/requested the Government to repair it. The Government closed it until November-ish when they would fix it. Before they could fix it, Coronavirus rolled in and terminated the plans to repair the runway. Now everything must be brought from the mainland by boat – concrete for the runway and even medical items. Rosie (on LETS TALK HOOKUP) said they hope the government will re-open the runway as-is until it can be fixed.
The Government has closed the country so people cannot travel from one town to the other which is preventing any workers from going from the mainland to the Island to bring supplies to repair the runway.
Rosie told the hosts on LETS TALK HOOKUP on air, that their July trip is canceled, and she will be giving details on the August trip.
https://www.bdoutdoors.com/forums/threads/cedros-covid-info.751386/#post-5178366
Bahía Asunción
We found all the local bottom fish in cold, green water. The boat didn’t sink, and the motor didn’t fall off so it was a good shakedown trip! Cheers to the improving conditions…Troy Ze
Sturgeon…
Bahía de Los Ángeles
No Report.
Baja Sur-Que Pasa
East Cape local merchants were pleased with the Bisbee East Cape Offshore event in early August and several echoed the quote of one of the representatives of the Rotary. “We think from a Public Relations standpoint the Bisbee Organization has done an incredible job of adhering to the Protocols issued by both the State and Municipalities while being fully respectful of everything that needed to happen to safely hold this event.
They are an exceptional example of how sportfishing contests should be responsibly conducted during this period when everyone is concerned over the world-wide pandemic.
The Bisbee ECO team along with Buena Vista Oceanfront & Thermal Resort have done a remarkable job of bringing together a record-breaking 72 teams of sport fishers to compete for the largest amount of money ever awarded in a single tournament in our East Cape community. Not only have they paved the way for promoting tourism, but at the same time, they have remained respectful of the rules and protocols that keep everyone safe.
We believe the Bisbee’s have done an outstanding job!”
Along with the assistance of anglers from around the world, the Bisbee Organization has created the first “Trifecta of Million Dollar Contests” in Baja California Sur, Mexico including:
- Bisbee Black and Blue, (Los Cabos, BCS, MX)
- Los Cabos Offshore, (Los Cabos, BCS, MX)
- And the newest – East Cape Offshore, (BCS, MX).
These are among the 9 or 10 tournaments around the world hosting Million Dollar Events annually!
This is a remarkable achievement that founder Bob Bisbee could not have imagined 40 years ago when he first began with a small flotilla of Southern California sport fishers looking for a good time billfishing!
https://www.bdoutdoors.com/bisbees-2020-east-cape-offshore-tournament-smashes-records/
Loreto
Fishing has changed with the Coronado action being a sure deal except the dorado are all on the small size. For the boats wanting something better, the dorado down south around Danzante Island are a good mix of larger fish.
Coronado is still a good bet with one complication. Late afternoon when all the tourist activities are back onshore, the big dorado show up. “Dinks” are around in the morning for the visiting fishermen and 15- to 25-pound bulls come out late in the afternoon.
Snapper and yellowtail are still hitting bait at the usual high spots. I saw a few 25-pound yellows coming out of the iced fish box at the marina. Our scuba trips report has the water still a little cloudy with “too warm to be comfortable” at the surface and “67 degrees at 30 feet.”
It looks like the summer season can go all the way to Christmas this year!…Rick Hill, Pinchy Sportfishing
La Paz
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of July 27- Aug 5, 2020
East Cape
Water-83-to 86-degrees. Cooler water inside this week, warmer outside, clear, flat, blue water.
Air-Clear skies, beautiful days, highs in the mid-’90s.
Very good, consistent fishing again this week. It has been excellent since the hotel reopened in July. Again dorado, yellowfin, big roosterfish, very good bottom fishing, and lots of billfish.
The East Cape Bisbee was a big success with over 72 boats and prize money well over $ 1,100,050! The biggest marlin ever caught in the tournament weighed 704 pounds!
Multiple pods of porpoise, very spread out, are holding yellowfin, the biggest this week 245 pounds. Lots of football-sized, average fish around 15 pounds. Some nice 30- to 40-pound tuna are being taken daily off the lighthouse, very close to shore. Good consistent tuna fishing!
Dorado were spread out, under any floating debris or structure. Some bulls in the 40-pound class were taken. Schooling dorado in the 10- to 25-pound class were common this week.
Lots of striped marlin mixed with sails were being released daily. The Bisbee 704-pound winning blue was taken on a lure directly off La Ribera about two miles offshore! Better than half the winning billfish in the East Cape Bisbee over the years have been taken off that same drop off.
Big roosterfish again this week. Lots around, cruising close inshore along all of the Palmas Bay beaches. Not much pressure as most anglers were banging the pelagics outside. Fly fishermen are releasing many.…John Ireland, Rancho Leonero
Puerto Los Cabos
Though the winds have laid down giving the ocean clarity a chance to improve, the blue water has been much closer to shore now, though south winds have kicked up again setting conditions back. Water temperatures have dropped back to 74 degrees along the shoreline, though 80-degree currents are still within several miles offshore. Seasonal patterns seem to be behind schedule this year, although we do anticipate conditions to stabilize and get back on track within a couple of weeks.
Bait supplies remained steady for caballito. There are still some mullets mixed in, but no sardina reported yet. The most popular and consistent fishing grounds have been near the San Luis Bank. Anglers using yo-yo jigs found a mix of species – amberjack, cabrilla, grouper, bonito, red snapper, yellow snapper, barred pargo, and pompano. There were no huge numbers of any species and every day has been different. We saw amberjack close to 50 pounds and a handful of yellowfin tuna were accounted for off these same grounds. Some hit yo-yo jigs, and others hit on caballito. Far offshore some boats were venturing deep in search of moving porpoise which in turn attracted yellowfin tuna; most reports were of spotty action. We did hear a report of more porpoise activity found off of Cabo San Lucas, mostly small to medium-sized tuna, but reports were that one fish weighed in at 180-pounds.
We saw quite a few dorado moving into local waters, though the majority of these fish were very small juveniles which should be released with care so they have a chance to mature and reproduce.
Billfish action we saw was more for striped marlin, though we did hear of one 306-pound black marlin taken outside of San Luis Bank.
Along the shoreline, we are still seeing some monster-sized roosterfish up to 60-pounds late in the normal season, but for the time being these fish are remaining in the area while they are finding enough food source. Big jack crevalle are also being found along the same beach stretches. Local surf anglers reported some evening tripletail action, as well as a couple of nice-sized snook catches, though more jacks are taken than anything else.…Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas
Cabo San Lucas
As a result of the pandemic, Baja Sur’s Sportfishing authorities established a protocol dictating adjustments to the event’s format.
https://www.bdoutdoors.com/bisbees-2020-east-cape-offshore-tournament-smashes-records/
Dorado fishing was slow, with few small fish on lures tight to the beach, from Gray Rock to the Lighthouse.
Tuna fishing was okay at the Horseshoe and the 1150 but the schools were scattered out, and they were very tough to find even on the schools of porpoise. The yachts that have been running 35- to 40-miles offshore have done okay when they can find them.
There are no reports of wahoo.
Inshore fishing
There are a few sierra at Solmar at first light on hoochies. Some small roosterfish can be found at the Lighthouse and Rancho Migriño. As for bottom fishing, there are a few triggerfish, as well as a few small snapper.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Sunny, 86˚ Category 1 hurricane “ELIDA” is located southwest of the Baja California Peninsula. Its cloud bands cause rains and waves of up to 2 meters in Baja California Sur.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 78 to 83 degrees F.
BEST LURES: Caballito live and dead, cedar plugs, feathers, guacamayo lures.