Que Pasa Baja California
Baja Bytes December 29, 2020
We are coming to the end of the 2020 Baja fishing season. The North winds have begun to pick up, and the winter weather has arrived. The snowbirds have returned to their Baja homes up and down the peninsula where they have left the snow and dropping temperatures behind and are enjoying the warmth of the sun.
They look around and the effects of the past year have taken their toll, and many of their neighbors have not returned. In their place, in the homes or businesses, are new faces or no faces at all…just signs in windows indicating the property is “For Sale.”
I just wanted to THANK EVERYONE who survived this year!!! As tough as it was, it certainly didn’t stop the tournaments, nor the “hard-core” anglers, nor those who have their hearts planted in Baja.
So we will miss those who did not return. Baja will not be the same without you.
And we will see the rest of YOU in Baja in 2021.
Happy New Year!
That Baja Guy\-Gary Graham
Photojournalist
https://bajabytes.com/about/
Cellular (760) 522 3710
Tijuana Bull Ring
No report since last Tuesday and we are not likely to hear much of anything for at least several more days. … Fish Dope
Coronado Islands / Rockpile
No report since last Tuesday and we are not likely to hear much of anything for at least several more days. …Fish Dope
Ensenada
Tue 29 | Day 62° NNW 12 mph
There were early showers, then clearing with ample sunshine by the afternoon. High from 62 F, with ENE winds shifting to NW at 10 to 15 mph. There was a 60% chance of rain.
The rest of the week was “back to normal” sunny skies...Leon R. Orozco
San Quintin
one more time in 2020… Garcia’s Pangas Sportfishing San Quintin (and soon Garcia’s Fish Processing).
Ejido Eréndira
There are a lot of good outfits to fish with, but as far as going in a few weeks, you had better do your homework first! The town has a Covid problem right now! There have been two people die in the last few days and Ramon told me a lot of people are sick. We canceled our trip to the house for this reason and are going to LA Bay instead. …Michael E. Bingham
Punta Eugenia
Just a heads up from Tomas Arce from Bahia Tortugas: Sportfishing out of Punta Eugenia has been curtailed by the fishing cooperative there, so no outsiders can visit the camp. No one can surf at the Islands either, not even if they surf from a panga.
Everything is open here in Bahia Asuncion – visitors are welcome and the fish are plentiful. …Shari Bondy
Bahía Asunción
Christmas at La Bufadora Inn with … Shari Bondy and Friends.
Bahia de Los Angeles
Baja California woman has been missing for eight days
The Bahía de Los Ángeles resident, a woman, has been missing for eight days and was last heard from December 16.
Authorities in Baja California have been unable to determine what happened to Mary Ann Humfreville, 74, since she spoke by phone with her son on December 16. This was published on Friday, December 25, 2020.
Baja Sur-Que Pasa
Loreto
We’ve had a wide selection of winter winds for the holiday that reminded me of watching vegetables flying around inside a food processor. There were North winds mostly with gusts out of every imaginable direction on Christmas Eve.
Looking on the brighter side, the boats that did go out on the following days stayed close to home and found consistent action for medium-sized yellowtail. Candeleros was the most solid spot with mackerel being the winning ticket. The yellowtail ranged from ten to fifteen pounds and the cabrilla which were all under ten pounds came up on the sardina rigs. Pinto bass, yellow snapper, and “reds,” were also eager to bite on multi-rigs baited with cut mackerel. Sierra are still in the area but the winds seem to have scattered the schools.
The scuba water report is coinciding with the dates on the calendar. Late December is when the water gets cold and green. Die-hard divers with serious wetsuits will be the only humans braving the Cortez waters from now until April! The near-shore dive sites along Coronado Island have “three-foot-deep layers of sardina and hovering below those are foot-long cabrilla” waiting for a stray dinner guest.
The New Year outlook is very positive, especially when you consider the stellar year for baitfish in the area. The overstuffed toads will be breaking lines and bending hooks well into the spring months…Rick Hill, Pinchy Sportfishing
Magdalena Bay
I don’t have a ton of pics, our clients are so busy catching all these marlin plus we have so many marlin pics already, haha. But we do have a kayak fisherwoman that got a marlin two days ago on a kayak (4 hours and 25 minutes to bring in). Yesterday she got more marlin from the boat and roosterfish from the kayak. Her content is professional so as soon as she has finished fishing and returns, I should get some great pics from her and will forward them. The other anglers have a whole bunch of marlin pics along with a few wahoo photos so I should get those soon as well. Tomorrow we will go inshore to fish and I will try to get photos of fishing inshore.
That’s the update. It is truly epic out there right now for anyone looking to get marlin. Wahoo at the south banks is very good as well but we have to only run deep wahoo lures for them, and the marlin will grab anything else… Toby Larocque, Mag Bay Lodge.
La Paz
Regretfully, as nice as it is onshore, on the water it’s not always so accommodating. November to April, because of the North Winds, there aren’t many fishermen. When those northerly winds blow down the Sea of Cortez this time of year and it can be incredibly and deceptively rough, there are times when it’s impossible or worthless to even go out.
So, for anyone who wants to fish, we try to ask them to be flexible with their dates so we can check the forecasts to see which days might be better than others. This time of year, maybe two to four days per week might be okay. Other days, the winds can howl!
So, we did have some folks out, and surprisingly, it wasn’t that they caught fish. It was the quantity and quality of fish! This time of year, we’re into the inshore species like cabrilla, snapper, jack crevalle, and pargo. But there are still some warm water spots here-and-there holding schools of quality dorado, wahoo, and even some billfish.
The biggest issue, really is that with so few boats on the water, it’s tough to find some spots sometimes. When there are a lot of boats on the water like during the regular season, word gets out and spreads about the hot spots. When there are only 1 or 2 boats out, it’s a different story! Fortunately, we can jump into the good areas and hit the bite this past week.
This coming week looks pretty gusty with winds up to 25 knots per hour as the day goes on. Maybe two days look promising. Check with us! Jonathan Roldan, Tailhunter International
East Cape
Weather is typical for the end of December probably for five windy days out of the week; temperature is dropping down into the 50s at night but very comfortable during the day. I think the main fishing event has been very small dorado and barrilete mostly, along with a few sierra …The Masked Angler
Puerto Los Cabos
We are all enjoying the great weather now, sunny skies with high temperatures averaging 75 degrees. Variable northern winds, normal patterns of cycles of a few windy days, followed by calmer conditions. The majority of the fishing action is now concentrated on the Gordo Banks and north to La Fortuna.
The most popular spot now has been the Inner Gordo, which creates heavy pressure, with panga, cruisers, yachts, tank, and spear divers all congregated on this relatively small area. This has made the fish that much spookier. Wahoo action has been probably the most consistent, these fish are averaging in the 8- to 15-pound class, with an occasional 30-pound fish mixed in. Best action was found while casting smaller-sized chrome patterned yo-yo style jigs, also some were strikes on Rapalas and sardina. With the ocean temperature still averaging 75 degrees, these pelagic species are hanging around, as pressure resides some after the New Year we do expect continued action, at least until the water drops into the low 70s.
Dorado were abundant early in the week but tapered off some through the weekend. Some were still found scattered throughout the region, the majority were fish under ten pounds, though we did see a few dorado over 20 pounds. We expect continued action to be found as long as ocean conditions remain favorable as they are now.
More striped marlin are showing up on local grounds, as is the normal pattern in late December. This is when they follow their food source in the direction off of San Jose del Cabo. We look for this action to break wide open in the coming weeks.
Yellowfin tuna were scarce; they are still congregating on the Inner Gordo Bank, but a few fish in the 60- to 100-pound class were accounted for, they were just super weary with all of the added holiday pressure. It’s hard to concentrate on drift fishing for these tuna with so many boats and divers.
Not much bottom action now, a few cabrilla up to 20 pounds as well as a mix of yellow snapper, triggerfish, and bonito, though there were no big numbers. We also expect this action to improve after the winds lay down more and the water cools.
Whales continue to arrive in greater numbers, as they will now be in the area into April when they once again migrate back north.… Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas
Cabo San Lucas
Striped marlin fishing has been good at the Cabo Falso soaking bait to 160-feet and drift fishing, also a few on lures and casting live bait.
Dorado from the Lighthouse up to Los Arcos on ballyhoo, lures, and live bait.
More yellowfin tuna in the count spread out from inshore to various banks in the area.
Inshore, a few dorado, and sierra along with bottom fishing for grouper and snapper.
LOCATION: Pozo Cota, Cerritos, from Migrino to Gaspareno, Pozo Cota to Golden Gate, and San Jaime, Gray Rock to Los Arcos.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Daytime temperatures 73° F, with winds WNW at 15 mph although there is plenty of sunshine. The sea temps are averaging around 73 to 74 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
https://bajabytes.com/about/
Cellular (760) 522 3710
Great post thankyyou
THanks for your comment and let me know if you have any suggestions for improving…