Baja Bytes Fishing – Tuesday, September 1, 2020
Dorado, from Ensenada to Magdalena. As grande yellowfin make their presence know at Cabo and San Jose. While fly flingers at Muertos delight as roosters, pompano, dorado and jacks join the party..
Que Pasa Baja California
▪ Courts have reopened. Criminal Cases are being heard four hours a day and Civil Cases are being heard the other four hours.
▪ Twenty percent of the restaurants have opened.
▪ If you try to take more than one case of beer, the surtax can be up to 190% of the cost – that’s one hundred and ninety percent!
▪ Some have installed special floor mats to try to detect COVID-19, while others are taking your temperature.
Tijuana Bull Ring
Sand bass and a few halibut are biting on the flats.
Up to 75% short to 25% legal-sized calico bass, along with mostly short barracuda and small bonito are biting in the kelps. Smaller sardines and the smaller Colt Snipers are getting the job done.
Seabass have been showing lately, not a lot on hook and line, but divers are seeing plenty..… Fish Dope
Coronado Islands / Rockpile
There are yellowtail around; some guys are getting them and some are not. Sardines, both fly-lined and slow-trolled are working best. We’re not hearing much lately about them coming on the surface iron or the plastics.
As for locations, the lee of North Island through the Middle Grounds has mixed schools of bonito and yellowtail, and the rockpiles in the same general area are giving up good numbers of calico bass.
The yellows appear to be mostly in the 10- to 15-pound class. The bonito are in the 3- to 7-pound class and the bass seem to be nice legal-sized fish over the 14″ mark.
No reports of any bluefin lately. The last ones caught were found below South Island in the SKR area. This was before the winds though…Fish Dope
226-302 / Coronado Canyon
It has been on the quiet side today. There may be kelps between the Islands and the 226-302 and north to the Border that might be holding yellowtail and dorado. There could be yellowfin or bonito there too.
The best water appears to be in the zone just mentioned.
West of the 226-302, the water gets very dirty and stays that way well out to the western Border and beyond for some 20 or so miles….Fish Dope
371 / 425 / Upper Hidden Bank / Above 32 00
This zone continues to improve but it is still hit and miss. Plenty of dry kelps but there are some good ones too scattered around. If you find that good one, it can make your entire day.
The numbers of yellowtail, dorado, and yellowfin tuna appear to be on the increase. There is also a hint of skipjack now.
The yellows are ranging from small 2-pound rats up to about 15-pounders with a lot of them in the 4- to 6-pound class. The dorado are in the 4- to 15-pound class with a lot in the 5- to 7-pound class. The yellowfin are running from little 6- to 8-pound stuff up to about 25 pounds. Most are in the 10- to 15-pound class and there are skipjack in the 8- to 12-pound class.
Some boats reported getting jig stops on yellowfin and open-water dorado. Cedar plugs were the ticket..Fish Dope
Below 32 00 / Hidden Bank / West of Ensenada / Upper 500 / 238
Some excellent fishing was found in dead flat calm conditions.
It was a bit far south around 31 30 to 31 28 but it was worth the run. There are a few kelps here and they are holding “tonnage” of dorado. Boats limited out by 8 a.m. This area is also seeing some spots of yellowfin and some spots of skipjack as well…Fish Dope
Ensenada
San Quintin
Headed down to San Quintin Sunday, August 23 to fish with George Catian from K&M fishing yet again. Crossed the border in Tecate and drove straight to the Old Mill with no issues at all! …rojo loco
Bahía Asunción
The fishing season is finally cranking up in beautiful Covid free Bahia Asuncion! Spearos Alex & Willy were stoked Capt. Juan Arce got them on the hot spots… sharpening my knife for sashimi! These fishing fanatics have kayak fished, shore fished & panga fished all week!…Shari Bondy
Baja Sur-Que Pasa
Coronavirus restrictions will be lifted further next week in Baja California Sur (BCS) the Ministry of Health reported, as the state moves from level 5, or critical risk, to level 4, considered high risk on the state’s health alert system.
As of Monday, businesses will be able to operate at 40% capacity, up from 30%.
Churches, movie theaters, and gyms may also reopen next week for the first time in five months.
Loreto
The boats are working the bays along the North Coast for an assortment of tiny sea monsters. Both dorado and cabrilla are feeding among the cornered clouds of sardina, halfbeaks, and baby flying fish that decided the small coastal bays would be a safe place to hide!
From Punta Colorado north to the bay at Mangle, the water is boiling! The rocky points in between are where the cabrilla emerge to attack. The dorado have been cruising offshore along the coast and will zoom into the shallow buffet whenever they choose.
Captain “Gali” had a trip in the “baitfish soup” and spotted a few huge cabrilla mixed in the violent buffet. There were 5- to 15-pound dorado and at least one cabrilla that was “probably over 30 pounds!”
The little bay in front of the Oasis Hotel exploded with several hundred roosterfish sifting through a school of baitfish. Roosters from 15- to 20-pounds had cornered dinner in 3-feet of water only 100 feet from the beach.
With all the close to town action, there has been no word from anybody working the blue water. No word on marlin, and if there had been any tuna, anglers would have kept silent due to the possibility of the sudden appearance of commercial net boats from the other side of the blue water.
The weather is still hot and humid but it will be starting to taper off to the best time of year in Baja!
(Our divers changed the terminology of the baitfish schools from “schools” to “clouds” due to the resulting blackout they caused when they swam overhead. Divers are confined to the immediate area they are in plus the squeeze they get from wearing a mask. Add to that a sudden darkening of their world and new angles on the real world come flying out their mouths! A baitfish “cloud” throws the same dark cast as other sea monsters we can find in our Baja waters…WHAT was THAT?)…Rick Hill, Pinchy Sportfishing
Magdalena Bay
So the last report was before the hurricane which came and a lot changed. The water temp dropped back down from 71- to 72-degrees (from 80+) out at the ridge. The water was no longer deep blue and the dorado seemed to be scarce for a bit.
A few days later, the wahoo showed up out at the 23, but the Thetis still had green water. Now both look fishy again.
The water has come back to good color, still at 72- to 73-degrees, and the red crab and tuna have returned. There are dorado here and there but not like before where they followed the boat around like pests.
Yellowtail seem to be an easy target and the inshore anglers have had some fun with small grouper and nice-sized pargo. (Clients have some great pargo pics that we are waiting to receive!)Marlin are lurking daily, but no large numbers yet! …MagBay Lodge
La Paz
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING REPORT from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Aug. 20-27, 2020 …Jonathan Roldan, Tailhunter Sportfishing
East Cape
Puerto Los Cabos
Early in the week, the ocean conditions were slowly rebounding; cleaner water was found farther offshore. The average water temperature was in the 78- to 82-degree range, yet by mid-week, the conditions closer to shore were looking much better and anglers reported some great action for popular gamefish species such as yellowfin tuna, dorado, and wahoo. Caballito were once again available around the marina area, after becoming scarce early in the week.
The most consistent action was found near the San Luis Bank, using both lures and bait. The tuna hit on caballito and were in the 40- to 70-pound class. There had been much larger yellowfin tuna found around porpoise, but this was some 30 to 40 miles offshore, and it was not a normal option for local charters. Though with cleaner currents now pushing closer to shore, we expect the cow-sized tuna to start to congregate on local high spots – it’s that time of year.
More dorado are also encountered inshore – mixed sizes, ranging up to 20- pounds, though there were more numbers of smaller-sized fish. With the cleaner water, we also saw wahoo become more active on the same grounds north of Punta Gorda. Several charters accounted for a couple of these speedsters, with strikes also being missed. Sized ranged from 25 to 40 pounds.
Billfish action was limited with the changing conditions, though there were sailfish, striped, blue, and black marlin all hooked into, with the larger billfish being lost. We expect the upcoming weeks will produce some of the seasons larger marlin; however, a lot will depend on what weather might develop. Historically, the month of September can be the most unpredictable of all.
Bottom action and inshore action was limited this past week, though there were a few nice-sized roosterfish reported near shore, which is very late in the season for these.
Light crowds, good fishing! .…Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas
Cabo San Lucas
We’re catching…With Capitan Jaime Gonzalez, Jr!….Charlie Plum
Terrific Tuna Day TODAY! We had a total of 76 yellowfin landed by our boats plus 4 dorado and 2 striped marlin released. That includes this 155-pound yellowfin (1 of 20 total!) caught on Pisces 31-foot Ruthless by anglers from San José, Calif.
The fish hit on everything! Cedar plugs, hoochies, feathers, and a combination of black/red lures on the Pacific side.
Pisces 31-foot Tiburón landed 14 yellowfin (as did Pisces 42-foot Sea Señora!) and released 2 marlin.
Plus, Pisces 31-foot Rebecca landed 8 nice ones, the biggest weighing about 60 pounds.
The 31-foot La Brisa followed suit with 7 YFT.
And Pisces 31-foot Tracy Ann was of the few to land dorado along with 10 yellowfin.
Pisces 35-foot Bill Collector 2 closed it out with 3 dorado as well.…Rebecca Ehrenberg
That Baja Guy-Gary Graham
Photojournalist
http://www.garycgraham.com/
Cellular (760) 522 3710