Baja Bytes – February 9, 2021
Que Pasa Baja California
Los Cabos International Airport
Los Cabos Airport is prepared to satisfy all travelers’ needs regarding COVID-19 testing for their return to the United States and Canada. The Tests are now available at the Airport.
Tijuana Bull Ring
The Imperial Beach Pipe is hosting the best “local” fishing right now. Anglers are catching sand bass along with about half-limits of sculpin.
Most of this is happening right on the pipe but some clouds of bass have been found on sonar on the hard-bottom close by on the Flats.
Plastics, knocker rigs, and leadheads with squid, along with sardines on dropper loops, have all been productive.…Fish Dope.
Coronado Islands/Rockpile
We launched from SD Bay @ 6:00 a.m., grabbed our bait, and headed towards the ‘nados. Great bottom fishing around Pukey Point on the weather side of North Island today. We caught an easy limit of assorted rockfish, and lots of short lings — all on live ‘dines. Everything was between 160- to 180-feet of water. We were back on the trailer by noon. Happy Monday! …The Slammer
A few isolated yellowtail catches over the weekend but in general, the surface action was slow. The bonito appeared to have bugged out too.
Brandon got a yellow at North Island but reported the fishing to be extremely slow except for that one bite/fish.
There was another yellow we know of caught on a dropper loop at the Rockpile by a guy fishing for lings and rockfish.
The only thing biting well were rockfish, whitefish, sheepshead, and lingcod.
The best zones for these are generally below the Islands at South Kelp Reef and the Rockpile…Fish Dope
Ensenada
Over the weekend the local panga fleet was catching both yellowtail and bonito at Punta Banda as well as near Todos Santos under birds off spots of bait.
The yellows were nice 10- to 15-pound fish and the bonito were big jumbos with many in the 10- to 15-pound class. All of them were over 8 pounds. As you might expect most of these are surface iron fish. We also hear some were being caught on trolled Rapalas…Fish Dope
Colonet
The Pacific Queen called in late Saturday with 17 yellowtail, 97 red rockfish, 53 reds, and 13 lings for the 34 anglers on their 1 1/2-day trip.
This is better than what the boats have been seeing the past 3 or 4 weeks. We were told most of the yellows that were caught came on large yoyo iron like the 6X full-size and the 7X. Scrambled egg, red crab, blue/white, and mint colors all worked…Fish Dope
San Quintin
Winter weather and very quiet…Captain Juan Cook
Bahía Asunción
Here in Asunción, we are closing in on the end of the yellowtail season. They have been going absent during February for the last four or five years and then they reappear in the July and August time frame. In my last four sessions on the water, I landed one, two, one, and zero yellows. Because the water is still warm and clean, I wasn’t ready to declare it over for the season, but it’s getting close. Today’s session was a little different. I managed to land 10 nice, fat yellowtail and I lost three more in a few hours. Very encouraging.…Ross Zoerhof
https://www.bdoutdoors.com/forums/threads/feb-in-asuncion.766205/#post-5333959
Somewhere in the middle of my siesta, I thought, “Now, that Krok needs a new hook…” after the previous treble was missing a point and bent due to a couple of extra-feisty halibut the last couple of days. That lure has caught more halibut than any lure I have ever chucked at the wily and finicky “lenguado.” It’s going on three years and has probably caught 30 this week, including over a dozen keepers, not counting the two escaped ‘cons’.
So I put a new hook on and I thought, “I should add a ring to drop it back a scosh,” because I was missing quite a few short bites. They are often tentative, those halibut. Then I thought, “I bet a small Gulp grub would complete the trick,” as Krocodile spoons have great action and the trailing grub flips about enticingly … instead, as is often the case when pairing, of taking from the action by dragging.
Fully awake from my nap and enthused by flat seas and light wind, I pinned a 3″ Gulp grub on and hopped the seawall to give it a few casts in front of the casita to check ‘n see how my new go-getter would do…and guess who was impressed? A 24.5″ flat fatty on the third cast!…Daniel Powell
Baja Sur-Que Pasa
Guerrero Negro
An outstanding day on Laguna Ojo de Liebre with the fun Slow Baja group. It was a hanky-panky sort of day with mating trios everywhere you looked! Within 5 minutes we were with dozens of whales and I was blessed to have contact with three different sweet whales. Sirena’s boat had a blast with two whales who were pushing their panga around like crazy and enjoyed some massages too! There were tons of spy hops and breaches to keep our heads spinning! It was magical! Here are some highlights of our day. Shari Bondy is with Slow Baja and Sirena Bondy is at Whale Magic Tours.
Loreto
http://webcamsdemexico.net/loreto1/live.jpg
This week looks as though it will be totally calm and sunny — great weather for finally hitting some of the farther out rock piles. Lobo and the “50” spot kicked out baqueta and yellowtail for the first boats this morning. No fish over 18 pounds were landed. There were a few break-offs so the bigger fish are there and biting. Closer to town the song remains the same with snapper, pinto, and whitefish the most consistent catches.
The whale season is hot right now with blue and fin whales feeding around Danzante and Carmen’s south tip. Big blues and fins with calves were the reports I received this afternoon. The Pacific side of Baja is having the annual visit by the gray whales.
If you can escape from the lock-downs, this is the time to be in Baja. The Conception Bay beaches are busy with the covid beach isolation complete with kayaks…Rick Hill, Pinchy Sportfishing
La Paz
It has been chilly and cold again but there were finally some opportunities to fish which has been rare over the past weeks with lots of gusty winds. However, the winds let up for about three days or, at least they didn’t start blowing until late. Since we are not having to go very far to get to fish right now, at least anglers were able to get in a few productive hours of fishing early before the winds kicked in.
Not many fishermen this time of the year. It is mostly locals or captains fishing for their families.
However, literally within 20 to 50 yards of the beach, there are large schools of yellowtail that have shown up near Punta Arena near Punta Perrico, where the old Hotel Las Arenas used to be. The fish are a nice hefty grade of 18- to 25-pound fish that are taking plenty of guys right into the rocks and breaking their line.
Sardina are working when you can get them, but it is often difficult getting live bait because of the winds and the bait guys cannot get to the rocky or sandy areas where the bait usually hang out. Waves either scatter the bait or make it hard for the bait guys to get into the rocky areas which are treacherous.
When there are no sardina, the guys are using the yo-yo iron. It’s tiring work, but productive dropping the iron and lifting and reeling back to the boat. Alternatively, trolling lures like Rapalas and Yo-Zuri’s are also working and producing other species like sierra, jack crevalle, cabrilla and barred pargo.
East Cape
The week brought better weather with several days of little wind and calm seas. Los Barriles and Buena Vista remain very quiet; very few anglers are arriving. Rancho Leonero remains closed until March and the other resorts are suffering from low occupancy.
There has been a lot of action for the hand full of anglers venturing out. White bonito, aka “dientone” by local Mexican fisherman have been full speed. Dientone is a Spanish slang word for big teeth which is appropriate for the white bonito with a mouth full of choppers. Yellowtail have been elusive but anglers with the touch have scored. Also in the mix has been a few sierra mackerel and striped marlin…Masked Angler
Los Cabos International Airport
Los Cabos Airport is prepared to satisfy all travelers’ needs regarding COVID-19 testing for their return to the United States and Canada. The Tests are now available at the Airport.
Puerto Los Cabos
We have felt a warming trend this past week; we saw high temperatures up to 80 degrees, and mostly clear sunny skies. Winds were still unpredictable, though the forecast for the coming week looks very calm, favorable to help stabilize ocean conditions. Ocean temperature has been in the 70 to72 degree range, clarity was changing daily with the strong currents that have been pushing through. Overall, the water was appearing cleaner on the grounds near the Iman Bank. This is where in recent days most of the light crowds of charters have been concentrated.
Every day we were seeing a handful of yellowfin tuna landed. Anglers were fortunate to land one of these tuna, and some charters even reported a couple of these fish. The yellowfin were very finicky but could be enticed with persistence and patience using a combination of sardina, caballito, strips of squid, or skipjack. The average size of the tuna were in the 50 to 80-pound class. On these same grounds and on other rocky high sports anglers found a mix of bottom species. Though the bottom bite with the strong currents running was not consistent, more bonito and black skipjack than anything else, a few varieties of pargo/snapper, an occasional cabrilla, almaco jack, or yellowtail. Strong currents were a problem, we do anticipate this pattern to change and should help improve the all-around action. Also, red crabs were starting to appear on the surface which can be used for red snapper bait, and with calmer conditions, this could develop into something.
Other options were found closer to shore, mainly in the southern zone towards Cabo San Lucas, where sierra, skipjack, and triggerfish were the main species caught. They are still spotty from day to day with no consistent hot spot now. A few dorado are still hanging around in the cooler waters, found scattered in small schools, but most of these are smaller-sized fish.
There are lots of whales throughout the region, as peak season will continue for at least another month. Sea lions, turtles, and manta rays are also providing sightseeing entertainment… Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas
Cabo San Lucas
Winds died down noticeably, water temp at about 70F. Marlin numbers picked up quite a bit, and lots of roosterfish showed up too; over 30 roosterfish were released total for the fleet. These two species were the main targets for anglers this week.
The top marlin boat this week was Pisces 31′ Rebecca, which went 9 for 14 on striped marlin released. Anglers aboard from Texas, Clinton Hargrove, and Jeremey Joseph also kept 2 snapper and released a mako shark.
Pisces 42′ Sea Senora had a similar day, releasing 6 striped marlin and keeping a 20-pound red snapper. Marlin took live mackerel bait at Golden Gate and snapper at Los Arcos, for anglers Daniel Medley, Thomas Zaves, Todd Booze, and Wade Hundley.
Pisces 28′ Adriana had 6 striped marlin Released, all between 120 and 140-pounds each approx. Again, fish took live mackerel bait at Golden Gate, for angler Jonathon Newton and friends.
Pisces 35′ Valerie had a good week, with back-to-back days of 5 striped marlin released. Anglers Robin Pottebaum and Scott Clausen released 5 striped marlin between 100 and 120-pounds each approx, taking mackerel bait at Golden Gate. They also released a mako shark of about 50-pounds and headed inshore afterward for small game eating fish. Pisces 35′ Caliente also released 5 striped marlin this week.
35′ Valerie was also one of the few to find dorado this week but released it as it was small. Anglers aboard that day, Joe & Karen Kroshus from Minnesota also released 4 striped marlin and another mako of about 60 pounds on live mackerel at Golden Gate. Pisces 46′ La Chingona had 3 striped marlin released this week as well.
Pisces 35′ Knot Workin was one of the only boats this week to find Tuna, with anglers Mike and Bari Dorman landing 15 yellowfin of about 30 – 50-pounds each. They headed 42 miles out to find them, and also kept one dorado.
ROOSTERFISH MADNESS has provided a delightful early spring surprise for visiting anglers wanting to add this sought after fish to their bucket list this week by producing extraordinary double-digit releases for most of the boats targeting them inshore.
Small game fishing this week was nonstop, with just over 30 roosterfish released total for the fleet. The best day was for Pisces 31′ Tracy Ann, this day with Captain Roberto Padilla at the helm. Angler Cory Pardon from Minot, North Dakota, and friend released 18 roosterfish and also had 22 sierra mackerel at Migrino. Captain Roberto headed out on his own vessel, 28′ Andrea, the day prior with anglers Eric Keller, Robert Williams, and Sally Swavager landing 3 sierra, releasing 2 roosterfish, and a jack crevalle.
Pisces 58′ Tag Team with 4 roosterfish released.
Pisces 58′ Tag Team had 4 roosterfish released on live mackerel bait. The 37′ BBII had 2 roosterfish released, along with a striped marlin released and some other small game inshore.
LOCATION: Migrino, Inshore and offshore at Golden Gate.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Nicer weather this week. The winds died, and the skies were sunny.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 70 F.
BEST LURES: Live mackerel and caballito, hoochis.
In this video, Stephen Jansen is fishing in front of the Hard Rock Hotel in Cabo San Lucas. The mullet are inshore in big numbers and jacks and roosters are going crazy!
That Baja Guy-Gary Graham