Baja Bytes – November 16, 2021
Four hundred full-page pictures tell of my many visits to the 42-mile-long island in the Northern Sea of Cortez.
My Guardian, Angel Island eBook, will be a FREE Kindle download until midnight on Monday, November 16…Graham Mackintosh
https://www.amazon.com/…/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2
Enjoy. Appreciate any comments or reviews. …Graham McIntosh
Weekly Podcast
Below the Border
The sea was in epic glass conditions this morning. With great bait at EB in the Big Bay, we ran towards North Island. Water was from 63.5 to 65.0 degrees headed out. There were many birds and mammals; dolphins, whales, sea lions, and tons of bait. Mackerel were pushing small bait to the surface, and there was some red crab around, and there were big bait balls off of Pukey Point. We did the slow troll on the weather side after picking up macs on the bird piles. The Mexican Navy was out, but they didn’t have their RHIB in the water. Some good signs were at 40 to 80 feet. We dodged a lot of lobster pots along North Island. It was damn near sheet glass. It certainly beats sitting on the couch or living on the East Coast. … Russell on Nexterday
West of Ensenada
Yesterday had a little bit of bluefin NW of the Banda Bank. We have also seen a few skipjack and yellowfin in the overnight boat counts, likely coming from this area. A good bet would be the bluefin are in the warm 66 to 67-degree water from the Hidden Bank down to the 238 and below. They might have been hanging in the 64 to 65-degree water farther east of the big temp break at the Banda Bank. …Fish Dope
Ensenada
A fantastic day of fishing with Buenos Amigos. I LOVE ENSENADA! … It’s 4 Reels Sportfishing
Bahía de la Ascensión
OMG….finally, eh! What a monster, and a perfect day for wahoo!!! Shari Bondy
A beautiful day offshore today. It was by far the most fantastic fishing day since Troy Zed arrived. We even found some fish that wanted to play. One tuna short of our limits while trying to drive away from the pesky dorado. A major tuna fest is planned for this evening. …Ross Zoerhof
Baja Sur
Que Pasa
Loreto
Yellowtail at Lobo with a stray dorado hitting the same mackerel that had been on stage for deeper victims. The near shore action for sierra and roosterfish continues. Most of the sierra are 30 inch medium size versions. The roosters have all been shorts averaging 10 pounds. Coronado Island has been thick with bonito for any boat trolling bait or feathers.
The bait supply has been great for mackerel and sardina.
Topping things off has been some perfect Baja fall weather making fishing, diving and anything outdoors great…Rick Hill, Pinchy Sportfishing
Lopez Mateos (Magdalena Bay)
Wahoo and nice-sized tuna on the banks! We don’t have clients for tomorrow, and my new group arrives Monday night. … Diana Hoyt, MagBay Outfitters.
We spent the last three days on the Marlin. We raised an average of 25 to 30 fish a day. Of those fish we were able to cast a fly to about 15 or so a day. Of those fish we landed 6 on day one 6 on day 2 and 8 on day three. As the week starts here we are back up North looking forward the dorado and tuna once again. I hear there are some wahoo in the area as well. We may make another run down South to the Marlin grounds but it’s a good haul. I will let you know how we do this week….Jeff DeBrown, The Reel Baja
La Paz
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING REPORT from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Nov. 3-10, 2021
East Cape
Nice-sized dorado from 10 to 15-pounds are biting sardina and small lures, south from the Lighthouse to Los Frailes.
Striped marlin are mixed in with sails, and as the week progressed, the bite improved, with multiple releases for boats targeting billfish. However, the best fishing was on the drop-off directly in front of La Ribera with trolled lures and ballyhoo, the best bait.
Anglers got some excellent 30 to 50-pound yellowfin off Rincon along the Pulmo Park border with almost all on sardina.
Limitless catches of skipjack as big as 10 pounds were spread across the bay. They were a lot of fun for all, but especially on the fly.
Lots of pompano and pargo were caught off the Lighthouse, Punta Colorado, and La Ribera drop-offs. Live sardina and chunked skipjack worked best.
Puerto Los Cabos
It’s ideal weather now, clear and sunny, with highs in the upper 80s and lows to 65 degrees. Breezes from the north are picking up mostly later in the day. Ocean water averages 81 to 83 degrees throughout the region – a few degrees warmer than usual for this time frame. Swells are moderate, currents have slacked, greenish water which has swept in the past few weeks, particularity on grounds off San Jose del Cabo and north, are now just stagnant and not moving out. We need some new, clean water to move in. In recent days, the clear water from off Los Frailes was moving south, and the grounds of San Luis and Iman improved. Strange year. At this time, two late-season tropical depressions are developing far off to the southwest. We are not expecting anything from these systems, as they are forecast to stay far away before dissipating.
Overall, the fishing action has been challenging, and, in all directions, most of the tournament qualifying yellowfin tuna were found much farther offshore and associated with porpoise. We expect the action to return on San Luis and Gordo Banks as ocean conditions rebound and stabilize some. This is not an overnight happening, but at least we are encouraged to see how things seem to be on an improving trend.
Dorado had been the mainstay for the last couple of weeks, but they became scarcer this past week. Scattered fish averaged 10 to 15-pounds. Wahoo were harder to find than dorado. Early in the week, several wahoo, close to 40-pounds, were brought in, with others lost as well. Then through the rest of the week, these fish were not biting. We are optimistic that the wahoo will become more active as conditions come into shape, as this is their typical peak season.
Billfish were very scattered as well, but once again, we had a week where we saw sailfish, striped, blue (though in limited numbers), and even one black marlin. A few sierra and roosterfish were near the shore and could have been much better if sardina had not become so scarce. The primary bait source has been caballito, ballyhoo, and slabs of squid.
Bottom action produced a wide variety, from triggerfish, tilefish, sheepshead, bonito, barred pargo, yellow snapper, red snapper, amberjack, yellowtail, cabrilla, etc. However, most of these fish were small, five pounds or less.
While fishing was slower than we would expect, whale watching is now happening daily; many rays are also being seen. …Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas
Cabo San Lucas
CABO SAN LUCAS – CABO SAN LUCAS – A record-setting $1.35 million stood as the total payout of the 2021 WON Cabo Tuna Jackpot that came to a dramatic close on the Marina Cabo San Lucas waterfront on Friday night.
https://wonews.com/salty-k-takes-bulk-of-record-1-35-million-payout-at-2021-won-cabo-tuna-jackpot/
LOCATION: The best fishing locations have been Los Arcos/Margaritas, Cerro del Golden Gate, Migrino, Pozo Cota, Fuera Lighthouse, San Jaime, Cerro’s de Arena.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: The sea temps have been from 78 to 84 degrees, clear and calm with two to three-foot swells and calm winds. The air temps have been from 70 to 88-degrees.
BEST LURES: The best bait has been alive or dead caballito, mackerel, ballyhoo, sardina, and cedar plugs. Trolled lures of all colors, pushers, plastic squid, and Rapala-style lures. …Pisces Sportfishing Fleet
That Baja Guy-Gary Graham
That Baja Guy
Gary Graham
Photojournalist
https://bajabytes.com/about/
Cellular (760) 522 3710