Baja Bytes – March 29, 2022
An approximately 260-pound (surface) swordfish becomes the first of the 2022 Season in Cabo!
The fish was caught aboard Gaviota IX (not a Pisces Vessel) with Captain Cesar Ruiz at the helm and Mate Plutarco Cesena. Captain Cesar is no stranger to the landing surface swordfish as he has caught EIGHT of them so far in the Cabo area but had not caught one in many years.
He spotted this fish a few miles out of the Santa Maria area, and his mate pitched a live mackerel to it. The sword took it on the first cast and the angler, Scott, who had never caught a Swordfish before, landed it in 1.4 hours. He fought it on 40# line and 150# leader.
Last year was one of the best seasons we’ve ever had for swordfish in Cabo, with Pisces vessels landing FIVE surface swords in just TWO months. And even though fishing has slowed the last few days with changing weather and water temps, we’re hoping this fish will mark the beginning of many more to come! …Rebecca Ehrenberg – Pisces Sportfishing Fleet
BAJA (Norte)
Tijuana Bull Ring
Some sandbass are biting down around the kelp along the beach, but the bites are few and far between. Lead-heads and knocker rigs, with squid, continue to be the best bet fished on the bottom with as low presentation as possible …Fishdope.com
Coronado Islands / Rockpile
The bite was slow on Sunday, likely due to the south winds blowing at the islands, which ison generally not ideal for yellowtail fishing. However, the sports boats caught a few yellowtail on the weather side of North Island.
On Saturday, the bite was solid, not wide open, but enough action to stay interesting on the weather side of North Island. Most fish were caught on the yoyos dropped on sonar schools, but a few boats got bit up on fly-lined sardine and surface irons…Fishdope.com
Ensenada
Yellowtail and bonita Punta Banda. …Sammy’s Sportfishing
Gonzaga Bay
What a difference a day makes!
Yesterday was a fantastic day with lots of fish to be caught; the next day, no currents and not many fish, but the day was beautiful– flat and blue, warm, and pleasant, but the fish were off the bite!
Seven boats fished the golden reef, a couple of boats caught a few tails, others caught gold-spotted bass, and that was about it. We waited around to see if the current would change; it did not, so we headed inside – a few gold spots and sierra. We cast for one cabrilla.
Late in the afternoon, we tried our luck for some gulfys. We had three takedowns but no fish! It was near 3 p.m., and when I called “last drop,” – “bam!” “Fish On!” It was a 65-pound gulfy! We called it and went home happy!!! …fishonnn&onnn!
Baja Sur
La Mision Yellowtail Tournament
Based out of the La Mision Hotel sponsoring the event on April 8-10, two fishing days, cumulative weigh-in for both days. Featuring both shore and boat fishing categories…Clicerio Mercado and Gonzalo Alamea Camacho
Ojo de Liebre (Scammon’s Lagoon) near Guerrero Negro in Baja.
March 28, 2022, Last Whale Magic Tour TEAM SPY HOP
Ascensión Bay
I tricked one late-season yellowtail into biting this morning. I’d say it was a nice fish, weighing between 23 and 25 pounds. I had one other hookup on a giant fish, but I don’t think it was a yellow. The first run was a real drag burner – 3/4 of my line melted off the reel. Although I got a good bit of line back, ultimately, I got rocked. It might have been a grouper or a black sea bass, but they don’t tend to hit a trolled Xrap or make big runs. I thought it was a huge White Sea Bass. …Ross Zoerhof
Bahía Concepción
Nathan caught a big Almaco Jack today. It pulled the panga enough that another boat thought Nathan had left the motor on. …Mark and Olivia’s Playa Buenaventura
Loreto
Yellowtail fishing continues to be extraordinarily good for most boats. The number one spot for the 20-pound YT’s is Punta Lobo. The previous hotspot was La Cholla, which is about halfway on the direct route to Lobo. The commercial handline guys score the standard full tubs with reds, pintos, and whitefish.
The whale season can last another week and run straight into the spring break/Easter holidays.
The most inspiring thing about the past week was the arrival of daytime winds from the south. We will be shifting over from the winter north winds to the summer southern winds, which hints at the appearance of dorado. But, before they show, the striped marlin will be sneaking around between the islands.
Let’s not jump the gun just yet, it’s still time for scoring big on the YTs, and the cabrilla boils are just around the corner…Rick Hill,
La Paz
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING REPORT from Tailhunter Sportfishing for the week of March 17-25, 2022
East Cape
The water has been windy early in the week, with boats going out starting Wednesday. The water temps have been from 70 to 71 degrees.
Air temps have been in the low 80s, with cool mornings and clear blue skies.
It’s been all about the yellowtail this week! There have been primarily big fish, with many in the 40-pound range; the smallest this week have been around 15-pounds. There have been many very close to the hotel. The high spots off Los Barriles and directly in front of the hotel have produced nice fish; the first drop-off in front of La Ribera has been the most productive. Live mackerel and both live and dead ballyhoo are taking all the fish. Some decent Almaco Jack, pargo, and grouper are caught as well.
There are quite a few smaller dorado around, most of them released. It’s early for dorado, a good sign for later this season.
Striped marlin are being taken off La Ribera and south of Los Frailes. Not much pressure as most anglers are targeting the yellowtail. …Rancho Leonero
Puerto Los Cabos
This is the first official week of the spring season, and you can feel the climate change, progressively feeling a warming trend with every passing day. The mornings don’t seem to be as chilly. The perfect time of year, as far as all-around weather. It has been a hectic week locally, with the final weekend of the traditional fiestas and carnival highlighted with off-road races Sunday. Despite all of the crowds, not a high percentage of serious anglers now visiting should pick up this coming month, as typically, this is a more popular time frame.
Bait concentrations have scattered offshore in the marina area; caballito had vanished the previous week and are just starting to be found in limited numbers. Still, there was no word on sardina; other options were slabs of squid ballyhoo and mackerel being imported from Cabo San Luis.
Ocean conditions were greenish up to about ten miles offshore, and water temperature ranged from 70 to 74 degrees through most of the zone. The warmest areas were found farther offshore. Winds are becoming much less of a factor, and swells remain light.
Anglers concentrated efforts over the various rocky high spots from Red Hill, Gordo Banks, Iman, and San Luis Banks. The most consistent area was near San Luis, with more Pacific bonito than anything else while mainly jigging off the bottom. Though there was a mix of other species, most notable were some amberjack to 40 pounds, red snapper, yellow snapper, barred pargo, whitefish, triggerfish, a couple of yellowtail, and others. A couple of impressive broomtail grouper to 60 pounds as well. We saw wahoo and a scattering of dorado, a few over 30 pounds.
So overall, despite there not being large numbers of fish, there was quite a variety seen. On Friday, at least one yellowfin tuna in the 50-pound class was caught. Other tuna were seen breezing the surface near San Luis Bank, but quickly vanished. This was an encouraging sign, it has been a long time since we have seen any action for these yellowfin; we hope something develops on this.
Marlin action has been more spread out now, also further offshore where blue water was found. The huge bait concentrations on the Gordo Banks have spread out now.
Not much reported close to shore, very few sierra this season, some smaller-sized roosterfish, but more jack crevalle than anything else. …Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas
Cabo San Lucas
Approximately 260-pound (surface) swordfish becomes the first of the 2022 Season in Cabo!
The fish was caught aboard Gaviota IX (not a Pisces Vessel) with Captain Cesar Ruiz at the helm and Mate Plutarco Cesena. Captain Cesar is no stranger to the landing surface swordfish as he has caught EIGHT of them so far in the Cabo area but had not caught one in many years.
He spotted this fish a few miles out of the Santa Maria area, and his mate pitched a live mackerel to it. The sword took it on the first cast and the angler, Scott, who had never caught a Swordfish before, landed it in 1.4 hours. He fought it on 40# line and 150# leader.
Last year was one of the best seasons we’ve ever had for swordfish in Cabo, with Pisces vessels landing FIVE surface swords in just TWO months. And even though fishing has slowed the last few days with changing weather and water temps, we’re hoping this fish will mark the beginning of many more to come! …Rebecca Ehrenberg – Pisces Sportfishing Fleet
That Baja Guy-Gary Graham
