Leatherback Turtle steals the show

Baja Bytes Fishing – Tuesday, November 17, 2020

Que Pasa Baja California

Tijuana Bull Ring

Nice weather along the coast. Most boats are settling for rockfish and doing well at any of the usual locations. They might find a few sand bass biting on the hard bottom outside the kelp beds along the shore out toward the Coronados….Fish Dope

Lower 9 Mile Bank / Coronado Islands

No real report. It has been very quiet here for a while dating back to well before the last storm.
According to SST, the water temps have dropped down into the low 60s. the
chlorophyll shot shows that the water is probably green to dirty-green … not deep blue for sure…Fish Dope

Hidden Bank / Upper 500
This area, where the water is a little warmer, is where the more consistent big yellowfin scores are coming Even this zone is drying up though, with just a small handful of kelps or even just one or two of them producing most of the yellowfin and yellowtail for the fleet. An occasional skipjack or dorado might be found in this area as well…Fish Dope

Ensenada

We fished a half-day with Piri Jigs and killed the barracuda.  We also caught some nice calico bass and bonito fishing outside of San Miguel…It’s 4 Reels Sportfishing

San Quintin

Yellowtail and lingcod brightened the day for the Catian Fishing Family!

Bahía Asunción

Beautiful start to the day. We went fishing with Nelson, his dad Jorge, and nephew Alan. We started out with a couple of big yellows rocking us at Chorros, then we checked some rocks between there and Isla Asunción, where we found lots of marks, but no biters. Next, we went to Isla San Roque where we picked up a couple of yellows, some bass, whitefish, and a starry grouper. There were a few fat bonito in the mix.

We finished the day close to home, about a mile off the Ensenadita, where we caught more yellows for a total of 11. Jorge’s was the Hot Stick, Nelson caught the biggest yellow – around 30 pounds or more, and Alan did well also. I picked up the light end of the workload. Someone has to be the slacker… !  All in all, it was a great day on the water, even if it was green and cold with white caps on top. What a fun way to watch father and son on a double hook up…Daniel Powell

Baja Sur-Que Pasa

Theresa Comber 11.12.20 Leatherback

We received the gift of a massive momma Leatherback Turtle!.

Complete story Click Here

Loreto

There were yellowtail at the Pulpito Reef for the few boats that made the long haul. Only a few cabrilla were landed at the reef but the yellows were very cooperative. Fish from 12- to 22-pounds on both mackerel and iron was the story.

The wind played a big part in the fishing which is always the story in the Baja winter. Great days mixed in with three days of blowing north winds kept the smaller boats working La Cholla and Coronado.

Cabrilla, snapper, and yellows filled the quota close to town with most of the fish of average size.

Our scuba divers report that the water is starting to cloud up with the annual bloom of green stuff. Taking advantage of the lower visibility, the big grouper and cabrilla are moving back out of deeper dark waters to the rocky slopped points on Coronado and Danzante Island.

No divers have been out at Lobo to check for the big fish return. This is another prime spot to see the giant bass types. Hooking and getting one to the boat is another issue.

Baja social distancing is at its normal levels with the return of the usual snowbirds. Off-road and street bike clubs are back to their favorite destinations.

Another great winter in Baja. Beer, fish tacos, and the best sunrises anywhere…Rick Hill, Pinchy Sportfishing

Magdalena Bay

Frenzy…Pat Ford

Click Here

La Paz

MEXICAN MINUTE FISHING REPORT from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Nov. 10-17, 2020

East Cape

We just came back from my first of the season Pacific surf fishing camping expeditions and we had a blast – good action, awesome conditions, and much better company. Rudy Deutschmann landed this nice snook teaching us how it’s done at 76 yo, and Hans and Ron had fun with jacks…Felipe Valdez

Puerto Los Cabos

Most local charters were fishing more towards the north, on grounds from the Iman, and San Luis to Vinorama. These areas were producing more consistent action than the Gordo Banks, though no super cows were taken from these grounds. The yellowfin found here were more in the 50- to 80- pound class.  They were still finicky though, at times showing themselves, feeding on the surface, then vanishing quickly. Some days, they were biting early and on others later in the day. Boats were doing well to land one or two of these quality grade yellowfin, most of these were striking on sardina, leaders of no more than 50 pounds proved more successful.

On these same grounds and a little closer to shore, there were decent numbers of dorado found, though it was not easy to find many that were up to 15 pounds, the majority being under ten pounds. Wahoo action was still sporadic.  We did see a handful of these highly sought-after gamefish brought in on most days; of course, there were stories of fast wahoo strikes resulting in lost chances. Most of the wahoo strikes were taken on trolled Rapalas, though a handful were also taken on rigged baits. We look for this action to become more consistent in the next couple of weeks, as we are now nearing the traditional peak season for these fish. Of those caught, sizes ranged up to 35-pounds.

The main species found off the bottom were smaller-sized pargo, red snapper, triggerfish, and bonito, with an occasional leopard grouper (cabrilla) and a few prized 40-pound dogtooth snapper.

Along the shoreline, sierra are starting to show up.  These feisty little fighters prefer the cooling water temperatures, averaging 2- to 6-pounds. More whales are being sighted recently, as the annual migration for these mammals is just now beginning…Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas

Cabo San Lucas

An amazing 100% Catch Success Rate for the fleet this week – that’s 102 boats catching fish and lots of happy anglers!! Of those boats, 80% caught dorado, for a total of 720 fish (including releases and with catch and size limits respected) which has been nonstop for the past few months, and billfish numbers picked up. Almost 50% had marlin released, for a total of 157 striped, blue, and some sails too. Our “Other” Category – which includes wahoo, sierra, and roosterfish bumped up to almost 20%, plus we see a nice wahoo season moving in.

Shown here is Pisces 42’ Hot Rod with some great dorado catches, Pisces 42’ Whiskey, and Pisces 28’ Andrea…Rebecca Ehrenberg, Pisces Sportfishing.

Such an awesome morning!!! To get a fish this size in November is almost unheard of! The typical season for bigger ROOSTERS is from about Mid-May through beginning of August.

We saw a bunch of activity going on down the beach, so we ran down to where it was all happening and started casting. We instantly had about five big ROOSTERS fighting for our top water lure. @jeffrey.row had them follow his lure all the way to the beach. He ran out of water and so I cast the sardine jig I had tied on and managed to pick up the bite!! @jeffrey.row fought this guy for over 45 minutes before landing him on 30lb setup. We were able to get some awesome pictures, and I took a swim out in the water past the waves to get him revived for an awesome release!!…Cabosurfcaster, As always, TIGHT LINES!!…Wes

Nice Job like you say its not common to get these trophy sized rooster’s this time of year but we do seem to get a slight run of these bigger models this time of year although it is so unpredictable on when and where its really hard to plan for it. When you happen to be at the right place and right time it can be epic that’s for sure. Thanks for sharing and taking the time to revive and release this great fish. one note to those of us that may be lucky enough to hook and land one of these trophy roster. after a long fight many times they actually look like they are not going to survive but if you take the time and don’t give up hope they will come around. i cant tell you how many times we have released one on the boat and they go belly up. we swing the boat back around and sometimes all it would take would be a tap on the head with the butt end of the gaff and it wakes them right up and they get the hell out of there in a hurry… Mike Tumbeiro

That Baja Guy-Gary Graham
Photojournalist
http://www.thatbajaguy.com/
Cellular (760) 522 3710

Published by That Baja Guy - Gary Graham

That Baja Guy...Gary Graham Gary Graham turned his passion for all things fishing into a profession. Whether its boats, destination travel, adventure experiences, vehicles, tackle, methods or just the spinning of a good outdoors tale, Graham has evolved into the go-to guy.

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