Que Pasa Baja California
As U.S. requires COVID tests for re-entry, Baja resorts have opened test sites.
Baja keeps calling, but will Californians keep answering?
Dozens of the Mexico peninsula’s resorts reopened in the summer, courting Americans despite legions of U.S. officials and experts urging people to stay at home because of COVID-19. Thousands came anyway, and they kept coming throughout the holidays!
Tijuana Bull Ring
The weather will shut things down through Tuesday.
There have been a few calico and sand bass along the outside edge of the kelp beds as well as good signs of bait and birdlife, but not much in the way of yellowtail. Weather permitting, anglers might find quick spots of meter marks or breaking yellows now and then, especially on the slack tide, but generally, nothing is biting much out on the flats…Fish Dope
Coronado Islands/Rockpile
Ali Hussainy is at Islas Coronados (Baja California).· Tijuana, Mexico·
This slowpitch thing is a blast! Fishing 300’ of water with a tiny @pennfishing Fathom Low Profile and an ultra-light PENN Battalion II SPJ rod is so much fun. @nomadtackle_usa Gypsies and Buffalo jigs did the trick. The @mustad Invader got a few fish, too. Fishing just the lures seems to be working. Conditions in the morning were manageable for boats making the trip but we did not hear any decent reports. The weather will keep it shut down for the next few days.
CCA-Cal President Wayne Kotow fished the Islands earlier in the week and reported that around the Islands themselves, fishing was mostly dead, and all the life was south of the Islands. Once Kotow got down around and outside the South Kelp Ridge to the Rockpile though, he found lots of bait and red crab, plus there were biting rockfish, lingcod, and bonito…Fish Dope
Ensenada
Tue, Jan 26 Patchy rain possible: 58°F
Wed, Jan 27 Partly cloudy: 58°F
Thu, Jan 28 Partly cloudy: 60°F
There were yellows around last week, but will they still be there after the storms? We will keep you posted… Maras Sportfishing
Colonet
A few sports boats made it down to the zone on Saturday. Rockcod fishing was good with lots of quality reds caught as well. Some lingcod was found in the mix. There were not a lot of signsof yellowtail, however, and only a few were being caught among all the boats…Fish Dope
San Quintin
No report…Captain Juan Cook
Bahía Asunción
Stormy weather.…Photo…Daniel Powell
Baja Sur-Que Pasa
Guerrero Negro
Shari Bondy is with Samuel Barrios at Whale Magic Tours
The first mother and calf pair we got to know this season was remarkably interesting. The calf (we called Barbie) had her mouth open most of the time, which is very strange. The mother slept the entire half-hour we observed them and Barbie swam circles around her Mom and rested on her nose and back.
Upon editing my photos, I discovered the calf was opening its mouth because there are whale lice all around its lips and the gums were a strange reddish color which may be lice as well, causing discomfort.
The other highlight of our day was when a male breached eight times close to our panga! We saw a couple of dozen whales in all, several cow/calf pairs, some males, and a huge pregnant female who was asleep. A wonderful first trip out on Laguna Ojo de Liebre!…Shari Bondy
Punta Chivato
Sat., Jan 23 – Winds were down so we were able to get out of Punta Chivato today and head to the north end of San Marcos on the high spots. We fly-lined live mackerel that we had been able to make off San Lucas Cove and caught six nice hog yellowtail today!
The water was 61° F. It was a great day on the water! … Rick Forstall
Loreto
A few days of minor rain seems to have washed away the stuck-in-place north winds. Today the sun is out, and the seas are smooth and inviting.
Most of the fishing has been happening north of Coronado Island by the commercial handline fishermen in pangas.
Their bread-and-butter fishery has always been the red snapper type (as well as the yellow snapper) that hang out in the 200- to the 300-foot depth of water.
Sportfishing for yellowtail should start getting serious in the upcoming weeks. The other big draw for Baja this time of year is the annual migration of different whale species on both sides of the peninsula.
Much of this hinges on the interest and ability of people to travel. Baja is open for visitors as it has been in the past winter months. Many countries have been busy with pandemic policy changes and reforms hoping to slow the coronavirus outbreak – restricting travel, etc. – so we will just have to cross our fingers!
It would be terrible to be sitting on top of a thousand angry, hungry yellowtail with no other boats around to critique our technique!
We have group reservations for whale watching but I guess we will have to wait until the hardcore fishermen cannot stand the lockdowns any longer. Come down to Baja and do some panga isolation…Rick Hill, Pinchy Sportfishing
Magdalena Bay
Just a fun trip up to Mag Bay for a couple of days with my best friend to go chase some striped marlin on topwater lures and stickbait. Hungry marlin everywhere! Special thanks to some of the great gear companies that make this possible (and way more enjoyable!!!) … Cabosurfcaster
Adolfo López Mateos
Good fishing in the mangroves with more whales arriving in the bay!…Roddy García
La Paz
MEXICAN MINUTE FISHING REPORT from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Jan. 15-25, 2021
East Cape
Photos
Summertime-like weather, calm seas, warm temperature, and a day of gentle rain has been a welcome change for the East Cape. With little wind, the few kiteboarders in town have taken to the hills on their mountain bikes. From the beach, we sighted our first pod of humpback whales off Rancho Leonero. Life has been abundant with manta rays jumping and schools of bait puddled up along shorelines. Early mornings, pelicans and osprey have been putting on a diving exhibition feeding on bait. Also, the first shrimper of our winter season arrived. At night, the Sea is lit up like a Christmas tree and the groan of the boats’ motors can be heard all night while they work.
The town of Los Barriles is bustling with packed restaurants and markets that are remarkably busy. There are few visitors in town, but for the local Mexican and American residents, it has been business as usual. With just a handful of visitors, there have not been many fishing departures but there have been action-packed adventures for those venturing out. Bait has been plentiful and most of the action has been skipjack, white bonito, and sierra mackerel. One cruiser did return flying two marlin flags, and I heard an angler whisper about a score on mossback yellowtail.
Now it appears the wind is whooping back up and we will be in for a few cold, windy days…The Masked Angler
Puerto Los Cabos
The limited number of anglers now in town have found supplies of sardina, ballyhoo, caballito, mackerel, and sardineta. Charters have been going in different directions in search of better opportunities. Action around the Gordo Banks has slowed way down from how it had been for the past month, as this area had cold, green water that contributed to shutting down the bite. Though as currents shift and north winds backed, things have changed. On Friday there was one quality yellowfin tuna weighing 85 pounds hauled in off a super panga. We only had a few of the smaller-sized wahoo landed during the first days of the period, along with a couple of other tuna that were accounted for or hooked up and lost. There were fewer numbers of dorado as well, and as soon as the conditions turned over these tropical species went scattering.
Wesley sent January 20 at 6:36 AMI was with Ash Eggers out at Iman on his little 14’ Livingston and we landed this little Bluefin on a live sardine...Wesley Brough
Offshore, the main action has been for striped marlin, along with a few dorado that are being found in the same area. Still, there are no large concentrations of marlin, although lots of schooling mackerel and sardineta are being seen off the San Jose del Cabo hotel zone several miles offshore. The marlin being found now are scattered, depending on where the blue water is found, which recently has been 5 to 10 miles offshore. We do expect the billfish action to improve as these off-color conditions rebound. There were some reports of yellowfin tuna being found farther offshore associated with moving porpoise, though this has been a very hit or miss deal so far.
This is when more bottom structure fishing kicks in. So far, however, we have not seen anything other than a handful of bonito, smaller snapper, or cabrilla. We should start seeing improved bottom action soon and we expect the colder water will bring in the yellowtail. Along the shore there have been fewer numbers of sierra than we would expect for this time frame, off-colored currents seem to be an issue with these species as well. So as the weather does stabilize, expect the all-around action to improve. This is a normal transition period we are going through. This time of year is never really peak season for any of the more popular glamorous gamefish, although as the ocean changes from week to week, so can the bite. There are a lot of whales now, as well as some sea lions, turtles, and manta rays.… Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas
Cabo San Lucas
Tag and release of a beautiful roosterfish aboard Pisces 35′ Bill Collector 2 in Cabo San Lucas. Pisces Sportfishing is an official Research Center for GrayFishtag Research. When you fish with us, you can tag and release your fish, as well. Plus, you can track your fish online and see if it is recaught by following along at www.grayfishtagresearch.org.
Cool mornings and breezy afternoons have not slowed the striped marlin bite on the Pacific side of Cabo. It is not uncommon for the striped marlin to often be found off Cabo Falso or even farther up on the Golden Gate early in the year. Some boats had double-digit scores while the rest of the fleet settled for a handful of releases for their visiting anglers.
Despite the off-color, cooler water, there have been sprinklings of yellowfin tuna along with smaller dorado. Boats working their way back toward the marina in the afternoon also manage to score a tasty wahoo in the 20-pound category on Rapalas near Los Arcos.
Meanwhile, the inshore fishing has been a crowd-pleaser for the half-day anglers who located enough small dorado, sierra, skipjack, and red snapper around a few of the pinnacles dotting the ocean floor a few miles off Land’s End; there were also grouper taken on cut bait from the Lighthouse to Rancho Migrino.
LOCATION: Cerro del Golden, Los Arcos, the Lighthouse, and Rancho Migrino.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Excellent weather with partly cloudy skies. The seas have been calm in the mornings with strong breezes in the afternoons.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: Sea temps in the low-70s.
BEST BAIT: Live or dead mackerel, sardina, feathers, and Rapalas.
That Baja Guy-Gary Graham
Photojournalist
https://bajabytes.com/about/
Cellular (760) 522 3710
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