Baja Bytes –January 4, 2022
Baja Bytes Podcasts
Que Pasa
Stars & Stripes Tournament is in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Happy New Year!!
Don’t forget to register for the 25th Annual Stars & Stripes Tournament. Be sure to register early, as you will not want to miss this event!!
The 24th Stars & Stripes Charity Tournament donated the 300 pounds of fish caught to feed the local Los Cabos community! In addition, they give back in many other ways. They provided hospital equipment and training for doctors in LaPaz for heart patients, plastic surgery for children, and mastectomy patients. They also award college scholarships to teens through Building Baja’s Future. They work through TLC, Tilly’s Life Center, transforming youth’s lives, and they improve the lives of critically ill kids and their families through Miracles for Kids, plus many, many more programs.
https://www.starsandstripestournament.com/index.asp
BAJA (Norte)
Tijuana Bull Ring
Sand bass are biting on the outside kelp line fishing plastics tipped with squid and the regular lead head and squid combo. They are catching fair numbers of sculpin too.
Be on the lookout for halibut. January has often seen good scores on the flats in water anywhere from 60 to 120 feet or deeper. Drifting with live bait for halibut such as sardine, mackerel, smelt, herring, tomcod, or lizardfish are best. Live squid is also a bomb bait for halibut, but not so much a freshly dead or frozen one. They like to see their food wiggle and dart around before jumping on it. Some guys do well bounce-balling using a white skirt over a live bait. …Fishdope.com
NE of the Coronados/Lower 9 Mile Bank/Upper Finger Bank
The area just to the N and NE of the Coronados from 280 to 500 feetisworking well for nice-quality mixed red rockfish in the 2 to 5-pound class range, with squid being the bait of choice.
On the Lower 9, the red rockfish are biting well too. Good quality reds, lingcod, and other mixed rockfish are biting well in 450 to 800 feet of water. Cow cod are a problem. Some spots on the Lower 9 are holding a bunch but, you can’t keep these, so we advise you to move to a different area. Also, be sure to bring a descending device and some HEAVY weights to send any cows you might happen to catch back down. …Fishdope.com
Ensenada
When the sun shines, the fishing is fine. … SAMMY Susarrey Sportfishing
Que Pasa Baja Sur
2021 Recap: Pisces Fishing Report edition!
We had 6,407 billfish caught in 2021, with an impressive 99% released! It was an unprecedented year for Swordfish and the 1st Place winner in the Bisbee’s Black and Blue Tournament! We were awarded Top Tagging Fleet in the World by GrayFishTag! There were 6,019 Mahi caught (many of these were released!) Tuna accounted for 5,297 fish caught, always respecting limits!
We had 4,012 other species, including roosterfish released; wahoo, snapper, grouper, and many more species! But most importantly! We got to do this all because of YOU: our incredible anglers, crews, and staff! Thank you for your sustainability and fishing with US – especially in times like these. Thank you for releasing billfish back into the water and donating many of your catches, supporting our community.
We have been able to feed thousands of kids with your donated fish in some of our most underprivileged communities in Cabo.Let’s keep fishing for the future in 2022. …Rebecca Ehrenberg, Pisces Sportfishing Fleet
Bahía de la Ascensión
Rainy week from border to here
Loreto
The Baja weather got a bit cranky as the days shifted from December to January. The fishing action has even overlapped a bit too!
Dorado are hanging around our southern fishing holes and are falling victim to live bait. In addition, the warm waters in the Puerto Escondido area hold tons of sardina and other assorted baitfish, which attract dorado and sierra.
Most of the dorado are smaller, not much bigger than the average sierra.
San Bruno Reef has been great for yellowtail to 18 pounds. The excellent catch numbers put most of the yellowtail focus here and at Candeleros.
The “word” has it that Pulpito and Almeja have been boiling with great yellowtail action, but with good catches close to town and the holiday activities, why go all that far up the coast?
Fishing close to Coronado Island with sardina was good for the firecracker-sized yellowtail on the surface. Shallow-water bottom fishing action was hot, with triggerfish and pinto bass making up 95% of the catch.
Rick Hill, Click Here
East Cape
Ending the year with a quadruple hook-up!! EL TÍO rocks…Anibal Miranda- Hotel Playa del Sol.
La Paz
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING REPORT from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Dec .19, 2021- Jan 2, 2022 …Johnathan Roldan, Tailhunter International
Puerto Los Cabos
As large crowds of vacationers continued to arrive in Los Cabos, we all welcomed in the New Year and were greeted with a cold front; on Friday, we felt sporadic rain showers and stronger south winds. It looks as though by the start of this coming week, conditions will settle down and once again be warm and sunny. This coming week will be the final busy holiday rush, as people will be returning from vacation to work and school semesters.
This past week, the highlight for fishing action was the bite going on straight out from San Jose del Cabo, concentrating on the grounds from four to six miles offshore. This area has been holding concentrations of baitfish, mainly mackerel and sardineta, which in turn, has attracted schools of striped marlin and dorado. Although they add to the heavy boat pressure, local fleets and scores of boats from Cabo San Lucas are all getting in on this action. Mainly it is striped marlin that are hooked. At times they are seen feeding on the surface with fast action, and then all at once, the fish would go down, and the bite would shut off. Sizes ranged up to 120 pounds for the marlin, with a few sailfish to 80 pounds mixed in. Dorado were found on these same grounds, though closer to shore. They were striking best on various baitfish, with the average size in the 10 to 15-pound range, with a few exceptions of larger bulls up to 25 pounds.
The only tuna were some caught by private boaters with the potential for going longer distances; they found yellowfin action associated with porpoise, some 40 miles from shore. With windier offshore conditions, this was a hit-or-miss proposition. Although wahoo action was limited, these fish are still in the area, as water temperatures remained warmer than usual – in the 77 to 80-degree range. It seems that the wahoo are spooked from being chased relentlessly by spearfishermen, who have continued to capture quite a few of them, mainly close to shore off Punta Gorda. However, these wary fish will not strike readily on any offering of angler’s lures or baitfish.
Bottom action is limited to a mix of mostly smaller species and inshore, and there have been some sierra and smaller-sized roosterfish. The lack of smaller sardina has made the shallow water structure and inshore action more difficult. We have not heard of any sardina locally. Although we have found plenty of caballito available, ballyhoo are commonly rigged for bait.
Added attractions include sea lions, manta rays, turtles, and many whale sightings. …Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas
Cabo San Lucas
December is a prime month and a great time to fish in Cabo with Baja Anglers. We had lots of fun fishing for inshore fish like roosterfish and jack crevalle and fishing offshore for striped marlin and dorado. The weather was perfect! We had mostly sunny days in the low 80s. January is usually another great month to be in Cabo. Fishing is great! And we hope you make it down!
The Baja Anglers family wishes you a Happy New Year. Grant Hartman
Marlin Released: 53 for 72! Dorado? Six yesterday aboard Pisces 46′ Viking La Chingona. Fishing is “más o menos” right now!!! (This is sarcasm). Get down here. …Pisces Sportfishing Fleet.
That Baja Guy-Gary Graham
