Baja Bytes – March 9, 2021
Que Pasa
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Tijuana Bull Ring Rockfish is what most anglers are after. After a slow opener, the bite has improved in recent days.
To the guys fishing the southern area, the hard bottom did okay on rockfish although the size and quality weren’t that good. There were lots of little stuff like square spots, Santa Marias, Treefish, etc. The Imperial Beach Pipe is still working for sand bass and sculpin. And the guys fishing the knocker rig with fresh dead squid were doing the best. …Fish Dope.
“One fish, two fish, redfish, redfish!” It’s nice to get out and put some groceries in the fridge for the week. Everyone had a great time, except Jake. He almost died! …Ali Hussainy Papas & Beer Rosarito.
Coronado Islands/Rockpile Surface fishing remains slow. No yellowtail, bonito, or barracuda.
Rockfish are biting though below the Islands at SKR and the Rockpile. The few boats that were out found good action on reds along with various mixed red rockfish, whitefish, sheepshead, and fairly good numbers of lingcod.
Coronado Canyon / 226-302 / 230 / 371 / San Salvador Knoll This zone has seen the most signs of bluefin over the past week to ten days. That said, today was quiet and yesterday was completely blown out.
The last sign of bluefin was in the area between the 230 to about 10 to 12 miles south to southwest of the 371 and west out to about the San Salvador Knoll. There is a lot of micro-bait in this area and that is what the bluefin are feeding on.
The most recent chlorophyll shot shows the water has turned dirty but the tuna don’t seem to care. The most recent SST shows the temps to be from 58 to 59 degrees tops. Again the bluefin do not seem to care about the water being cold.
**** ATTENTION ****
You must stay at least 250 meters (820 feet) away from any tuna pens. If you don’t you are at risk of losing your boat and landing in a Mexican jail! …Fish Dope
Ensenada
Rockfish are good off Salsipuedes and all of the deep-water spots (150 ft. +) from above San Miguel Reef and Todos Santos to Banda Bank. Big bonito are feeding on the tonnage of anchovies that are under bird schools around two miles off Punta San Miguel. There are yellows mixed in from time to time, and under the right conditions, there are big calicos and barracuda on and around the high spots of San Miguel Reef. …It’s 4 Reels Sportfishing
Colonet No report this weekend. All of the boats were canceled due to weather concerns.
The most recent dope is from last weekend when some boats found pretty good kelp paddy fishing for 8- to 15-pound yellowtail and along with a few schools of 30- to 60-pound class and bigger units in the 80- to over 100-pound class fish that responded to chum but completely refused anything with a hook in it.
On the High Spot there were few signs of yellowtail down deep, but no biters on the yoyo iron.
Rockfish and lingcod were biting full speed though and provided the boats with full limits. …Fish Dope
Bahía Asunción It was a slow pick today on corbina, but they were quality fish, including these two hogs over 22″ long. The freak winter halibut spawn seems to be over, but there are sand crabs and corbina around. California corbina are sporty fish, muscling up as they feed in the surging waves. When the corbina are this size, they are ‘super sporty!’ I would put them up against any other fish in the sea, pound for pound, in power and strength. They are certainly high on that list.
The fossil gods were kind, too, allowing me to find my fourth shark’s tooth in over two years of keeping my eye peeled for them when on the beach. They are usually found inland at the fossil grounds; there are very few that can be found on the beach where the watershed deposits them. They get mixed into the rocks and shells that migrate up and down the beach as they are constantly churned by waves and tides. …Daniel Powell.
Gonzaga Bay 3/4-5/21 Gonzaga Bay in late winter, Jimmy fished on the 4th and 5th and found good orange mouth corvina; cabrilla was slow but our friend Gill caught a couple while casting. On day two, we found the covina on the surface and they were wide open. We caught our limits and went looking for gulfies which were slow, though we ran into our friends, Mr. Rafa Rodrigues and his son – more on that later. The weather was cold and somewhat windy on the 3rd, though it was much better now with warm sunny days. The water temp is 61 degrees with lots of bait in the area. …fishonnn&onnn-Captain John Cook
Bahía de Los Ángeles Still windy by all accounts.
Baja Sur-Que Pasa
Guerrero Negro
The whales worked hard today in a stiff wind and chop to play with the humans in Laguna Ojo de Liebre! This windy week is a challenge for all of us! Shari Bondy Whale Magic Tours.
Loreto
…Rick Hill, Pinchy Sportfishing
Marina Puerto Escondido
Rebecca Ehrenberg, along with her family and friends, spent some time at Robert Ross’s home in San Cosme up in the Sea of Cortez below Marina Puerto Escondido. Much to their delight, the huge mossback-sized yellowtail were on the chew. If you have ever muscled a 30-plus pound yellow you can appreciate the tenacity of the two girls landing several of the monsters by themselves…
Lopez Mateos
Brian Solomon, owner of the well-known Solomon’s restaurant on the Malecon at Cabo San Lucas returned to the Lopez Mateos area for the second time in 2021 along with three of his amigos – Dave, Jim, and Todd! It was another nonstop laughing and B.S.’ing time with lots of fishing plus some great eating. According to their hosts, Judith and Captain Saul Aragono, Brian promised he would return soon…
La Paz Winds have come up strong the last few days, but our own Esteban Romero took his grandson, Esteban, Jr., and friend Hector Sanchez out. Esteban got a very nice-sized yellowtail just outside of Muertos and, as you can see, the boys had a hoot on white bonito! …Tailhunter International
East Cape
Yellowtail and dorado showed up for a family outing on “Sunday Funday!” Congrats to Knox on your first yellowtail!!...Scorpion Sportfishing.
Puerto Los Cabos The month of February is finally over! It lived up to its reputation of being unpredictable, as we saw a little bit of everything these past few weeks. We are glad to see that it is past, and we are feeling a slight warming trend as springtime nears. The ocean temperature is now in the 68-degree range, as the north winds continue to pick up in cycles. The clarity of the water is also up and down – this is how it often is during this time frame. Still, only limited numbers of tourists are arriving, and even fewer anglers, though we anticipate times will improve, as many people in the U.S. and elsewhere now have had their Covid 19 vaccinations or will be having them soon and then will be more open to making travel plans.
Most fishing action has taken place from Chileno, Palmilla, Gordo Banks, and north to Vinorama. Bait netters are having trouble finding supplies of sardina and the main bait source has been caballito as a lot of yo-yo style jig fishing is going on now with anglers drift fishing over the rocky grounds, more often in 120 to 200 feet of water with whatever bait is available, but more so on yo-yo jigs.
The main catch by far has been the bonito, some of them up to 8 pounds, hitting best earlier in the morning. The same areas were producing a variety of grouper, snapper, cabrilla, yellowtail, and Almaco jacks, in limited numbers, but quality fish. Some charters would have up to three to four yellowtail, with sizes up to 25 pounds. Most of these yellows came from areas farther north near Vinorama.
Closer to shore anglers found sierra, pargo, and triggerfish. We heard a couple of reports of dorado and wahoo being seen – it’s uncommon to see these gamefish in such cold water.
No local billfish bite has been reported, though as conditions improve, we expect to see more striped marlin move in. We did hear of a couple of reports of swordfish sightings from sport fishers searching farther offshore.
A handful of smaller-sized yellowfin tuna was brought in, fishing the same local grounds. Also, there were sightings of much larger yellowfin, up to 150 pounds, coming up for a quick showing on the surface and then disappearing even faster. They are in the area, though the cold, off-colored water and the full moon does not help…Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas
Cabo San Lucas
Angler Jeff Clark and Captain Ray Romero on Pisces Sportfishing’s 48’ “LISTO” out of Cabo San Lucas needed three and a half hours to subdue this rare March swordfish remarkably hooked and fought on 30-pound test line.
A swordfish on 30-pound tackle took three and a half hours to subdue aboard the Pisces Sportfishing’s “LISTO” out of Cabo San Lucas. This was in addition to double-digit roosterfish that were released by several different groups fishing aboard Pisces’ charters.
PLUS – EXCELLENT ROOSTERFISH FISHING IN CABO. On our best day, we had 51 roosterfish released by only SIX anglers on THREE different boats! The yellowtail showing up in Cabo, too.
Billfish have been scarce despite the great conditions available to search for them. The few boats looking farther offshore managed to locate a few schools of the smaller yellowfin tuna in the 10- to 15-pound class range.
Closer to the beach, a mixed bag of fish was taken including the double-digit roosterfish releases, and while some anglers busied themselves with sierra, red snapper, and a couple of California sheepshead, rounding out the catches on other boats fishing half-days were jack crevalle, bonito, grouper, ladyfish, and a few triggerfish.
LOCATION: Rancho Migrino, 15-miles SSE, the Lighthouse, and the Golden Gate.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear seas with calm two to three-foot swells, the weather was mostly sunny, with temps in the 80-degree range, and winds in the afternoon ESE at 11- to 15-mph.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: Sea temps were from 67 to 68 degrees.
BEST BAIT AND LURES: The best bait was live or dead mackerel, sardina, feathers, and Rapalas.
That Baja Guy-Gary Graham