Baja Bytes – July 27, 2021
Tijuana Bull Ring
Steady summertime fishing continues for excellent calico bass outside the Bull Ring, flashing through the kelp line at times. You might see them, or you might not.
Also, watch for birds, terns especially. They have been showing where the breezing yellows are. So keep a jig stick ready, and if you see one of the birds dip down to the water, fire a cast off towards it. You might get rewarded with a 12- to 20-pound yellow.
The sand bass have been biting well on the Flats from the Bull Ring to South Island. There is a good chance that the stuff is still there. …Fish Dope
Coronado Islands/Rockpile
There are lots of barracuda on the spots below South Island. There are also yellowtail and small bluefin in the same zone.
From the lighthouse to the 5 Minute Kelp appears to be the best area. We hear the SKR rolled over and turned green.
There are also more yellows and barracuda scattered all over the Islands, and there have been some on the weather side of North Island, Middle Grounds, Ribbon Kelp, and the lee and weather side of South Island. Slow trolling sardines is proving to be very effective. …Fish Dope
9 Mile Bank / 439 / Coronado Canyon / 371 / 425 / 475 Knuckle / Upper Hidden Bank / Above 32 00
Kelp paddy yellowtail with a side order of dorado is the big story here in this area. Boats are finding enough kelp to put a day together. The best signs are still on the lower part of the area, but there are also productive kelps up on the 302.
Bluefin and yellowfin are scattered around here too. In addition, boats are finding scattered schools from the border south to the 32 00 line.
Some of the yellowfin are jumping trolled jigs while the bluefin, along with some yellowfin, are coming off foamers, breezers, puddlers, and sonar marks.
We advise you to drag those Halco plugs, Rapalas, Nomads, and cedar plugs around while paddy hunting. The odds are decent that you’ll score a tuna, and the odds seem to be on the increase.
Lastly, there are some giant 10- to 15-pound bonito in the Coronado Canyon. Big foamers like these are often mistaken for bluefin. …Fish Dope
Ensenada
Excellent fishing for a variety of different species reported by Mara’s Sportfishing Ensenada
San Quintin
I will be fishing San Quintin in August and September, targeting white seabass, yellowtail, halibut, calico bass, reds, and lingcod on the inside. If the offshore fishing gets going this season, yellowfin tuna, bluefin tuna, paddy yellowtail, and dorado should be on the catch list. …Captain Juan Cook
Cedros Island
So damn it, we were going this year! Bruce’s group of five are just generally nice guys to hang out with; they are all dory men from Pacific City, Oregon, and most are also long-range fishermen. I’m from OC, and Bruce and I have been friends since we went to HS together in OC. So we had a great group of six. Rosie booked our group in the upper three rooms with fishing in two pangas. Good call, Rosie.
We did participate in a Cedros Sportfishing webinar, loaded with great info about CBX, special packing instructions, information about the lodge, and most importantly, fishing tackle and techniques hosted by Luke Burson. …Cheech
https://www.bdoutdoors.com/forums/threads/isla-cedros-report-july-19-23-2021.777054/
Bahía Asunción
Nice-sized halibut from the beach are great distractions to have until the sea temps climb a little bit higher and water gets a bit bluer.
Bahia de Los Angeles
I just fished BOLA on Saturday and Sunday, July 24 and 25. Yellowtail fishing was very good at deepwater spots near Las Animas from a panga. The weather was hot with crazy humidity. The largest ‘tail weighed 25-pounds, and all of them were caught on Salas 6X Junior blue and white. Lots of anchovies throughout the bay.
Great pizza in town at Mammas. Diesel was plentiful down the one and up the 5 through Tecate. We had a 1.5-hour wait at the Tecate border after arriving at noon. Saw four whale shark inside the harbor. … Fifty Fifty
https://www.bdoutdoors.com/forums/threads/bola-fish-report-july-24-25th.777116/
Baja Sur-Que Pasa
– Earth Ocean Farms promotes, for the sixth year, the restocking of the Totoaba species in the Gulf of California.
LA PAZ, Mexico, July 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Earth Ocean Farms (EOF), with the support of the federal and local governments, released 20,000 juvenile Totoaba, raised through sustainable aquaculture practices, as part of the yearly effort to restock the Gulf of California. This release adds up to other efforts carried out by EOF, resulting in the restocking of over 140,000 totoabas since the aquaculture company was created in 2014.
The Totoaba is an endemic fish of the Gulf of California that is in danger of extinction, due to illegal fishing for its swim bladder. This conservation effort took place at Playa Santispac, Municipality of Mulege, in Baja California Sur, chosen for having the adequate characteristics for the juveniles to thrive, such as several small islands that offer protected surroundings.
Punta Chivato
Warm water lured some sailfish into the area! …Craig Cove
Loreto
The sportfishing scene looks very positive, with most boats getting limits or at least plenty of bites.
Most of the visiting anglers were in a line of pangas that run north and southwest of Coronado Island. Current lines and mini-patches of sargasso run parallel to the coast and have been the go-to spot for dorado for the past three weeks. The dorado moved close to town, and everyone is thankful for the fresh fish and a chance to repair the financial damage caused by the pandemic.
The Punta Colorado area of the “great July bite” looks more like the checkout line at your local supermarket. Boats are working bait north and south, and if it was less random, it could be considered “follow the leader!”
I hope we can keep this going at least until schools open again (preferably Halloween).
Marlin and sailfish have made a few appearances in the local bite.
No one has reported on the area out past Punta Lobo. However, there is an undeniable urge to do a search-and-destroy mission in blue water when the full moon finishes its latest visit.
The above shows a good average catch in the current dorado wars going on north of Coronado. Fish from peanuts to 12 pounds every day and a few 25- to 30-pound fish for the talented sardina enthusiasts. …Rick Hill, Pinchy Sportfishing
La Paz
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING REPORT from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of July 18-24, 2021
East Cape
Congratulations to team Retriever for winning the second annual Ladies Only Tournament!!! The ladies landed 19 billfish over two days of fishing! Second place went to the team fishing on Mi Pistola and third place to team Finatic! 
The $200 tuna Jackpot went to team Cazadores and the $300 tuna jackpot went to team Jukate!Congratulations to all 28 all ladies teams that participate in this year’s tournament 
. We hope to see more all women teams next year!…Van Wormer Resorts
The water has been clear, blue, and 88-degrees, flat in the mornings with afternoon ESE breezes.
Clear skies, warming up, though cooling in the afternoons with light winds.
An excellent week of fishing. Lots and lots of billfish are close inshore as well as some big dorado around. The yellowfin are under the porpoise 5 to 50 miles offshore. Big pargo are coming off the bottom. Jill & Dean Cadmus from Reno caught and released six marlin in one day on the fly, fishing with guide Jeff DeBrown and Captain Raul on the boat, Jackpot. This must be a fly fishing record!
Incredible numbers of billfish are very close to the beach in front of Rancho Leonero and La Ribera. They are primarily stripers, with sails and quite a few blues mixed in, mainly taken on ballyhoo and flies.
There are also lots of smaller dorado mixed with some big bulls with 30 to 40-pounders coming in daily.
Football yellowfin are under the porpoise and are primarily taken on live sardina. Anglers were taking 80-pound fish at the park border also on sardina.
The lighthouse and directly off Punta Colorado produced big pargo to 35-pounds mixed with nice-sized Almaco jack. Big roosters are biting larger bait, Lisas, and caballito. The best fishing area is in front of the Ranch and North beaches...John Ireland, Rancho Leonero
Puerto Los Cabos
As we rapidly progress through this month, we continue to see small numbers of anglers arriving, although it appears that there were quite a few tourists in town. No new tropical storms are threatening currently, and overall, the weather has been more stable.
Bait supplies are plentiful for sardina, mullet, caballito, and moonfish. Action offshore has been limited, with scattered catches for primarily small, striped marlin, a few sailfish, and an occasional dorado, a few of which are over 20 pounds. Closer to the shore and off the bottom rocky reefs, there have been better chances at a wider variety and a more significant number of fish. Roosterfish season hasn’t gotten started, though recently, there have been good chances of hooking into roosters of 40-pounds or larger, with trolling mullet or caballito proving to be most effective.
Anglers found more triggerfish and yellow snapper off the rock structures than anything else. However, there were also Almaco jack, cabrilla, dogtooth snapper, yellowtail, bluefin, trevally, pompano, barred pargo, and other species.
Near Vinorama, chances for tuna dropped way off this week; perhaps the full moon, rapid currents, abundance of skipjack, or the needlefish contributed to this.
On the Gordo Banks, the larger-sized black skipjack dominate, wearing anglers out and not giving them much of a chance to find other species. …Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas
Cabo San Lucas
Anglers are finding smaller dorado mixed in with a few that weigh more than 50 pounds. It is the same story with yellowfin tuna that range from football-size to 200-pounds.
With the warmer sea temps, the billfish scene is also offering an expanded variety. Boats find striped marlin joined by blue and black marlin just in time for the upcoming tournament season.
Inshore, the roosterfish action for larger fish has light tackle and fly-rodding anglers finding plenty of hungry roosterfish, jack crevalle, and dorado to make the days pass too quickly.
Other options are the Almaco jack, grouper, pargo, snapper, and cabrilla lurking around some of the pinnacles. For those anglers wanting to fish the beaches, local guides can find them using the same action as the boats fishing close to shore.
July rooster madness! There are still nice-sized grouper and amberjack around. …Pisces Sportfishing
LOCATION: The best fishing locations have been from 20 miles out from the Old Lighthouse, up to 42 miles out on a heading of 250º to 200º, 40 miles South, and Sand Hill, 35 miles south.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: The sea temps have been from 78˚ to 82˚, clear and calm with 2- to 3-foot swells and winds SE 11-mph in the afternoon. The afternoon air temps have been from 74˚ to 103˚.
BEST LURES: The best bait or lures were live or dead caballito, mackerel, ballyhoo, sardina, and a variety of large pushers; lemon/green or with red along with cedar plugs, plastic squid, and Rapala style lures.
The best fishing locations in the Los Cabos area have been: The 95 Spot, anywhere from 15 to 25-miles south; the 11:50; the Herradura, 34 miles 210 degrees.
The sea temps have been from 77- to 81-degrees, clear and calm, with 2- to 3-foot swells and light winds in the afternoon. The afternoon air temps have been 100-degrees.
The best bait or lures were alive or dead caballito, mackerel, ballyhoo, sardina, a large variety of brightly colored pushers, Rapala-style lures, as well as Hoochies. …Rebecca Ehrenberg, Pisces Sportfishing
