Que Pasa Baja California
Please use a mask and stay safe. As of December 19th, it is mandatory by decree of the governor of the State for everyone in Baja California Sur to use a mask in common areas, streets, and any transport.
Together we can keep safe. The magic word is: CABO...Marco Ehrenberg Stiles
Baja California and Tijuana set Records for COVID-19 Patients on Ventilators
TIJUANA — The state of Baja California, directly south of the California border, has set a record for the number of people on ventilators since the pandemic started.
As of Thursday morning, 205 COVID-19 patients were requiring mechanical ventilation to stay alive in Baja hospitals.
“It’s a record for Baja California … this is the highest number of people we’ve ever had on ventilators,” said the state’s Secretary of Health, Alonso Pérez Rico. More info
Tijuana Bull Ring
The hard bottom outside the kelp to the south, toward the Islands, is giving up some sand bass, legal halibut, and some small mixed red rockfish such as square spots, Santa Marias, tree fish, barber poles, etc… Fish Dope
Coronado Islands / Rockpile
Small yellowtail in the 12- to 15-pound range are around but not in big numbers and the bite is not wide open. You must work hard for them.
They are on the flats east of the Middle Grounds, south to the Rockpile, and then east to Descanso.
There are some signs of yellows in the Middle Grounds proper too, but the better volume is on the flats.
This is all sonar fishing. The yellows are coming on yoyo iron after a school is found on the sonar, and it’s run and gun fishing! The schools are moving around quickly and not holding to the boat even when lots of chum is thrown.
Also biting are nice quality reds in the area around the Rockpile and on various stones scattered about in the Descanso area…Fish Dope
San Quintin
Still biting with Capt. Bertoldo Garcia at Garcia’s Pangas Sportfishing San Quintin (and soon Garcia’s Fish Processing).
Bahía Asunción
Just a few photos were taken on my Christmas light tour. Many homes that were lit up earlier in the week were dark tonight, though the biggest disappointment was the church which normally has a very elaborate nativity scene. They had nothing this year. Some trophies were awarded and listed with the photos. I might make another run at it later in the week. I was going to finish my tour with one of Robert’s special coffees, but he wasn’t even open tonight. …Ross Zoerhof
Gallery
The weighted PILI worked fine on a bit of a frustrating day. I ran across the Rossman and could see a sea lion tossing a yellow around a hundred yards or so from him, so I veered toward the Island. There I caught a couple of decent bass in the 4- to 5-pound range and released them. The goats were not cooperative, they mostly just stole my bait. I metered some decent yellows back in 100′ of water, and there were no sea lions close…oh boy! But, as soon as I was hooked, the dog(s) found me. The yellows bit a little, but the sea lions didn’t let me get even one close to the ‘yak…So, back to goat ropin’ por nada; I finally tossed in the towel and paddled in with no meat in the box…Daniel Powell
Baja Sur-Que Pasa
Loreto
Same old story, at least for the past few weeks, although I have one little interesting twist.
Ditto on the fishing off the arroyo and south along the coast. The Danzante scene remains the same, as well.
Little roosters, sierra, cabrilla, and oversized firecracker yellowtail have all been eager to bite.
This has been the close-to-town action that we have been thankful for. Mix in the abundance of sardina and that gives us the double whammy to celebrate!
Consistent fishing as long as the winds allow. The wind constraints remind me of the Florida rocket launching attempts over the past few weeks. One day it’s a 70% chance of no violation mixed in with a 90%, a 40%, and maybe a 10% chance of a “no go.”
The big twist might pop up on the days when the weather (wind) permits. Puerta Almejas has had some great yellowtail action and farther up the coast at Isla San Ildefonso one might score on some huge yellowtail! Almejas has been kicking out quick limits for the boats making the long trek north. Small mackerel in the six- to eight-inch lengths are the ticket and at least at Almeja, the big macs are getting skunked.
If your fishing day corresponds to a less than 8 mph north wind, Pulpito and Isla San Ildefonso would be a great gamble for big yellowtail!
Have a great holiday and a fantastic new year …Rick Hill, Pinchy Sportfishing
Magdalena Bay
Here are a couple more, fishing has been quite good lately. Just a ton of marlin out there. The roosterfish continues to be good as well as inshore for snook and golden trevally.
La Paz
TBA
East Cape
Puerto Los Cabos
Juan Carlos Leon Vazquez with León Cristopher in Puerto Los Cabos, San Jose del Cabo, BCS. Mexico…Photos Joseph Turano III
The local International airport has been busy this past week; hundreds of travelers are arriving to enjoy the holidays in the warm sunshine of Los Cabos. Despite all of these people arriving, not many have been taking advantage of the fishing, so fleets have not been overly busy at all, even though the all-around fishing action has been exceptionally good, especially considering that we are in the midst of the winter season with high temperatures reaching 80 degrees. There have been mostly clear sunny skies, even though early mornings have been in the upper 50s, so remember to bring appropriate clothing. Ocean water temperatures have been averaging 74 to 77 degrees, a bit warmer than we expect for this time of year. Lots of whales are now arriving, giving visitors opportunities to watch these magnificent mammals in their natural habitat.
Anglers are using sardina and ballyhoo for bait, with limited numbers of caballito. We have yet to see the large schools of mackerel and sardineta arrive on local bait grounds. Most charters are concentrated on the fishing grounds off Chileno, Palmilla, Gordo Banks, Punta Gorda, Cardona, La Fortuna, and Iman. Favorable ocean conditions have been found on these grounds, though farther to the north, the water has been greenish and cooler. We have still been dealing with north winds, in the normal cycles, a few days of gusty conditions, then we have two or three calm days before the pattern repeats itself. Even on the days it has been windy, often it was calm until later in the morning and anglers were able to find good action closer to shore in the more protected areas.
Dorado were found in good numbers and mixed sizes. We have seen larger fish this past week, some in the 20- to 25-pound range, but we have not seen these big bulls on our local grounds for some time. The dorado were hitting on various bait and trolled lures. Lots of sierra have been encountered throughout the inshore zone, some over five pounds striking readily on the live sardina, but also the small hoochies and Rapalas.
Tuna action was spottier, although they are being seen and are definitely in the area, they just have not been willing to bite consistently. We did see a handful of nicer yellowfin brought in, weighing in the 60- to 90-pound range, also some medium-sized 20- to 40-pound fish were caught. There were other reports of larger cow-sized tuna breezing the surface around the Gordo Banks, but we did not hear of any of these big fish hooked into or landed.
More reports of numbers of striped marlin being found on our local grounds, as this is the time that these billfish shift in the direction of the Sea of Cortez; we also saw at least a couple of sailfish recently. With the surface action being the primary focus, we did not see many of the limited numbers of charters looking for bottom species.
Wahoo were abundant on the inshore grounds, particularly Punta Gorda, Cardon, La Fortuna, and the Inner Gordo Banks. This season we have seen more juvenile-sized wahoo than we can ever remember, average-sized wahoo that were being brought in in the 5- to 15-pound range; we have only occasionally seen any fish in the 30- to 40-pound class.
On a dire note, is the progression of spearfishing we have seen in recent years, it seems we are seeing more and more of these operators advertising these world-famous grounds and making a big business out of this.
The major issue is that they do not have any manners at all! In past years spearfishermen would concentrate on other grounds and during different hours. Now they concentrate their activities on the same fragile inshore fisheries where rod and reel anglers are.
This region cannot sustain such pressure on these same grounds, and it is unrealistic that they simply can exploit this activity using the same type of fishing license that rod and reel anglers use. This is not the same sport. These people often target the larger female home-guard species that are too weary or wise to chase down a trolled lure or baited hook but will simply swim towards the pointed spear to investigate and guard their breeding grounds, only to be shot in the head. We also see that many of these fish are being sold illegally, and authorities just seem to turn their heads in other directions. Some control is needed, perhaps tags such as deer, elk, moose, and other hunting sports require, with certain zones that they can use and others that are off-limits.… Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas
Cabo San Lucas
Striped marlin action has been good at the Lighthouse dropping bait to 160-feet and drift fishing. Also, a few were taken on lures and pitching live bait.
Dorado have been off and on all week. One day it’s limits and the next day only one or two, plus the fish are scattered out. There are not big schools but from the Lighthouse up to Los Arcos, they are biting on ballyhoo, lures, and live bait.
Fair catches of yellowfin tuna from 8- to 25-pounds.
Wahoo has been slow this week at Gray Rock on Rapalas and also up at Los Arcos on lures and slow-trolling ballyhoo. The largest caught was reported in the 50-pound class.
Inshore, it has been surprisingly good with a few dorado and lots of sierra, also bottom fishing. It has been good for small grouper and snapper.
LOCATION: From Cabo Falso to Migrino, Pozo Cota to Golden Gate, and San Jaime, Gray Rock to Los Arcos.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Temperatures are remaining in the mid-70s during the mid-day, a windbreaker or sweatshirt is needed in the mornings. Light winds in the afternoons to 5 knots with sea temps averaging around 73 to 77 degrees; on the Pacific side, it has remained 76 degrees.
BEST LURES: The best bait and lures have been live sardina, mackerel, or dead caballito along with ballyhoo, hoochies, and feathers…Pisces Sportfishing.
That Baja Guy – Gary Graham
Photojournalist
http://www.thatbajaguy.com/
Cellular (760) 522 3710
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Jim thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.