Baja Bytes – June 8, 2021
Tijuana Bull Ring
Bird schools on bonito are the No. One choice. They are mainly working a couple of miles west of the Bull Ring in the Flats and out to South Island.The barracuda popped under birds one day this week but they have gone MIA since. Inshore, the calico bass bite is decent and improving at the Bull Ring. The afternoons and evenings are the best times for fishing them but some bass are biting in the morning as well.
Anchovy chummed and fly-lined on light line and small hooks are working best, but plastics are working too, especially if you have plenty of anchovy for chum. Plastics are also working well once you have the bass chummed up...Fish Dope
Coronado Islands/Rockpile
The water at the Islands has rolled over and turned green. The chlorophyll images shot on June 5th in the afternoon shows the Islands to be in very dirty water and the Rockpile is in even dirtier water – close to being brown.
Over the past week, the yellowtail fishing has been slow. There are some bonito scattered around the Islands and some barracuda on all the spots below South Island. Heads Up: We have received some reports of loose, submerged buoy lines in the Middle Grounds so use extra caution in the area! … .Fish Dope
Coronado Canyon / 226-302 / 230 / 371 / 425 / 475 Knuckle / Above 32 00
In general, there is dirty water on the east side and clean on the outside. Boats are reporting a lot of kelp. Some of them are big but only a small percentage appears to be holding. Bluefin likewise are hard to find. There are still some around but they are widely scattered and not eager to play.
The few bluefin that are being found/caught are coming off sonar marks mostly. Breezers, puddlers, and foamers have been hard to come by lately. The sinker rig sardine on 60-pound fluorocarbon are accounting for most of the bluefin in this zone lately.
Dirty green water has spread from the Islands almost due south. The 226-302, 230, and the 371 are in clean water, but the 425 – 101 and the 475 Knuckle are not. The Upper Hidden Bank is also in green water. this green water has big bonito and some signs of kelp paddy yellowtail, but we didn’t hear of very many bluefin in it.
The bonito are impressive fish. Most are running at least 10-pounds and some are in the 12- to 14-pound class. You could get a blind jig stop on these at anytime, anywhere in this zone if you are dragging feathers. Bonefish will jump on trolled feathers up to 10- or 11- knots so you don’t have to crawl around all the time. From 7- to 8-knots is the preferred speed though. … .Fish Dope
Ensenada
Limits all around! …Sammy Susarrey Sportfishing
San Quintin
Packing my gear to head back down!! Oscar Fdez villanueva
Bahía Asunción
Took a little break from organizing and cleaning and such and ran with the dog out to a favorite hole for an hour or so to see if the flatties are showing up yet. They are. Only one 24.5″ fish on the 5th cast (Krok), then nada as the tide dropped, but the wingman got to run and roll, and Molly got some scraps. It was a bit surgy and rough, can’t wait for a smaller swell and the mid morning high to see just how lively it will be. Three happy campers here today, with some fresh yums for lunch! And dinner. And probably breakfast tomorrow……Daniel Powell
Bahia de Los Angeles
A couple of photos from today’s catch in Bahia de Los Angeles. I Don’t like to post photos of dead fish unless there is a story to go along with it, but these fish were NOT dead and were released after the photo, along with about twenty others that I caught. If there must be a story, I am toasty warm, even sunburned in early June and happy to escape the windy cool clime of Bahia Asuncion for a few days. … Ross Zoerhoff
Baja Sur-Que Pasa
Bisbee’s Offshore Tournaments and Elite Financial Management raised $128,638 at the movie premiere of “Blue Miracle” in Dallas, Texas for the Casa Hogar Orphanage held in DALLAS, TEXAS, UNITED STATES, on May 27th, the Bisbee’s Offshore June 7, 2021
Tournaments organization (Bisbees.com) and Elite Financial Management (EliteFM.net) both Dallas, Texas-based companies, hosted a spectacular premiere screening of the newly released Netflix movie entitled “Blue Miracle” at the historic Granada Theater in Dallas, TX.
The official trailer for Blue Miracle can be found at https://www.netflix.com/title/81298682.
The night’s event included a phenomenal evening of cocktails, Popcorn, and movie watching with two hundred members of the Bisbee’s and Elite’s family and friends. However, it quickly turned into an impromptu fundraiser for the Casa Hogar Orphanage upon which the Blue Miracle movie is based. By the time it was over, an incredible $128,638. had been raised!
“We had not planned this event to be a fundraiser,” host Wayne Bisbee noted, “but just before we began, one of Casa Hogar’s annual supporters offered to match any other donations up to $100,000. with an equal amount, and that was all that was needed to be said. The great crowd in the beautiful Granada Theater setting generously donated $64,319. which was then doubled b the matching donor. This is a HUGE amount of money for the orphans,” he continued. Released on the night of the Bisbee’s screening party, “Blue Miracle” is a Netflix movie featuring several famous stars including Dennis Quaid and Jimmy Gonzales. It is based on the incredibly true story of the cash strapped Casa Hogar Orphanage winning the 2014 Bisbee’s Black and Blue Marlin Tournament that was held in Cabo San Lucas after Hurricane Odile destroyed the entire Mexican State of Baja California Sur one month before the Bisbee’s tournament was scheduled. To get the town back on its feet and working again, and to keep the annual tradition of the world’s richest fishing tournament alive, tournament supporters produced a program that offered free base entry fees to teams that would hire local charter boats to fish in the tournament. One of these entries was offered to the local Casa Hogar Orphanage who ended up winning this, the world’s most prestigious fishing event, plus the $258,325. in prize money.
Without spoiling the movie, we’ll say that it was “based on this true story.” However, the producers did take a fair amount of Hollywood license when creating Quaid’s boat captain character by having him be a two-time winner of the Bisbee’s Black and Blue. In reality, to this day, there has never been a two-time winning team.
So, to Dennis Quaid, Jimmy Gonzales, and the other actors: In a fun effort that could turn this fictitious movie character element into reality, the Bisbee’s are offering a free base entry into this year’s October tournament. This is provided they fish with Omar (the real-life orphanage director portrayed by Gonzales in the movie) and some of the real orphanage kids on their team. If they take Bisbee up on this offer and were to win, Hollywood would become reality in this truly epic event as this new Team Casa Hogar would become the first team in history to win this famous tournament twice… AND they would make a ton of money for the orphanage at the same time!
“What do you say, Mr. Quaid and Mr. Gonzales? The orphans could sure use the prize money, and you’ll have a wonderful time in Cabo. We’ll even find a way to get your team’s boat charter sponsored.” Bisbee promised.
About:
The Bisbee organization (Bisbees.com) has been presenting the Bisbee’s Black and Blue Marlin Tournament in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for 40 years. It is the world’s richest fishing event awarding over $4 Million annually. Over the decades, they have awarded over $100 Million in prizes which is an amount no other fishing tournament has come near. Currently, the Bisbee’s operate three offshore tournaments in Los Cabos, and each of the three Bisbee tournaments offer over $1 Million in prizes annually, with anglers participating from all 50 U.S. States and dozens of other countries. Casa Hogar of Cabo San Lucas (CasaHogarCabo.com) is a privately funded social assistance center for boys and girls that need a safe place to live away from the family home. The Casa Hogar campus currently houses thirty-two children, plus young adults in transition who have aged out of the system.
“Blue Miracle” is a movie released by Netflix on May 27, 2021, that is based on a true story of a cash-strapped orphanage in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico winning the richest fishing tournament in the world after a devastating hurricane destroyed Cabo in 2014. The cast includes Dennis Quaid, Jimmy Gonzales, Bruce McGill, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Nathan Arenas, Anthony Gonzalez, Raymond Cruz and Fernanda Urrejola.
Elite Financial Management is a Dallas-based full-service wealth management firm. They serve high net worth clients across the United States including businesses, foundations, endowments, and non-profits. Their mission is to help their clients navigate the complexities of investments, financial planning, and tax and estate issues…Bisbee Tournaments.
Loreto
We have dorado in almost all local waters. According to my sources they are north at Ensenada (that’s a new location on my worn map). A shrug of the shoulder goes with that statement because they are farther than one might want to go chasing dorado unless there was gasoline being donated!
So back to the yellowtail scene and that continues to be from fair-to- good. Yellowtail are doable all year in Loreto but the summer sun beating down on the simmering brain cells for half the day doesn’t attract many followers. Even under a Bimini rock pile, babysitting can be deadly. Give me a bimini at 6- to 8-knots and it’s a different story!
The consistent bite for the week was down south at the Six Mile Reef and a little farther south to the sting of rock pillars. Yellowtail and some big cabrilla have been swallowing live mackerel and 6X iron jigs. Pargo are hitting the same offerings but few of the red beasts make it to the surface.
There have been a few dorado on both the east and the west sides of Catalana Island. Striped marlin and mantas are doing a lockjaw dance in the same areas.
Scorching hot in the daytime with cooler temperatures in the evening. The water temperatures close to town are still cool with the late spring green tint…Rick Hill, Pinchy Sportfishing
La Paz
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING REPORT from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of June 1-7, 2021
East Cape
This past week has been a little up and down. At the beginning of the week, we were banking on the hot tuna bite that was happening, but toward the middle of the week, the bite that was red hot started slowing down. We found good schools of porpoise and would get just one or two, and then the bite would shut off. By the end of the week, the tuna were back to biting very aggressively and all anglers were happy.
There continues to be large dorado and decent marlin numbers out in the same area as the tuna. Closer to home, the marina continues to hold small 1 to 3-pound roosterfish and some small jack crevalle. A little farther down there was a good school of from 3- to 10-pound roosterfish in front of Rancho Buenavista. We found that school and kept it to ourselves for a few days but by the end of the week the word was out and many boats a day were in there trying to be successful.
The beach continues to be very crowded with anglers. To be honest, I have been on the boat the entire week. I have heard rumors of a few fish caught but can’t confirm them. We ended the week by running to the North to see if we could find the big roosters that had been there. It was hit and miss. Our first day was great with some large jacks and skipjack.
We saw some exceptionally large roosters and we had two big fish on but unfortunately, we got neither of them to the boat for a variety of reasons. We went back today, and it was a different day. We saw very few fish, if any, right where they were just one day before. As I watched all the other boats looking for the same action as the day before, I saw nothing. Everyone eventually left to find other fish and we did as well. So overall the bite that had been consistent to the north is now day by day. I did hear on the radio about good dorado action closer to the North of La Ventana.
It looks like we might have a little wind a couple of days this week, so I will be sure to let you know how we do. …Jeff DeBrown, Reel Baja
Puerto Los Cabos
Anglers were able to obtain bait, good supplies of sardina, caballito, and mullet. Other options included the slabs of squid and ballyhoo. We still are in the transition period, from winds diminishing, cleaner blue, and warming currents pushing in. This brings in schools of various baitfish and which in turn attract the pelagic gamefish. This whole season, through the winter and spring, it seems that weather cycles, as well as ocean currents, winds, etc. … were all following unusual patterns. We are finally seeing more stabilization, though normally it is not until later in July when things start to heat up.
The billfish bite for striped marlin has still been concentrated offshore between the 95 and 1150 Spots, though this week there were days when the marlin proved very finicky, seen in scores just lazily tailing on the surface, commonly in groups of four, five, or six, though you had to work at getting them to bite. Fish were taken on trolled lures, but more often on a cast or dropped back bait. We saw clean blue water shifting again closer to shore, more of the striped marlin were also seen and hooked into on the grounds from Iman and San Luis, as well as near the Gordo Banks. We saw marlin ranging from 80- to 120-pounds.
We also saw a few more dorado moving into local grounds, no large numbers at all, but of those we did see, there were several very nice-sized bulls close to 40-pounds caught. The dorado were being found offshore on the marlin grounds, but in recent days more are being seen in inshore areas north of Gordo. Still, no wahoo to speak of; there have been a few strikes and free-swimming fish spotted, but no bite at this time.
Yellowfin tuna are also playing hard to get, spotty action found 20 to 40 miles offshore associated with moving porpoise. They were also hanging around the Iman Banks, though only a few were hooked into. We weighed yellowfin up to 86 pounds this week, and others around 20- to 70-pounds were landed, but again very few fish overall. Through the weekend, the tuna were seen coming up breezing the surface. However, they were finicky and disappeared.
The more consistent action has been coming off the various rocky high spots, from 60 to 200 feet of water, using yo-yo jigs and both live and dead bait. There was a wide variety of species being encountered, most common were the yellow snapper, red snapper, bonito, leopard grouper, Almaco jack, and triggerfish. Some of the more exotics were African pompano, snook, bluefin trevally, and yellowtail. Along the shoreline, there were some exceptionally large sierra, over 10 pounds. Also, there were big numbers of hog-sized jack crevalle roaming close to shore, as well as a bit farther than normal offshore, feeding on concentrations of baitfish. Some roosterfish were spotted towards the south; we expect a big run of the larger-sized roosters in the coming weeks. …Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas
Cabo San Lucas
Happening NOW ! A 42-pound bull dorado, multiple marlin, lots of yellowfin tuna, and grouper for dinner. Cabo is on fire! …Pisces Sportfishing
LOCATION: The best locations have been at the 95, Fuera del 95, Enfrente de San Jose, Afuera cerro Colorado, Herradura, the 45 Spot, 1150, 3- to 5 millas, Chileno y Cabo Real, Enfrente Cabo Real y Cerro Colorado, 5 Millas Cabo Real.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: The sea temps have been from 79- to 81-degrees, clear and calm with 2- to 3-foot swells with light winds in the afternoons. The afternoon air temps have been up to 99 degrees with breezes ENE 10 mph.
BEST LURES: The best bait or lures were alive or dead caballito, mackerel, ballyhoo, sardina, a variety of large, brightly colored lures, and Hoochies.
That Baja Guy-Gary Graham
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