Baja Bytes – June 28, 2022
Que Pasa
Tijuana Bull Ring
Water temps have significantly dropped, slowing the calico bass bite. The best bet for catching the bass continues to be with anchovy on a fly line or with a small split shot fished on light line and a small hook – a size 4 is perfect.
The odd sea bass continues to show, but there is no volume. It’s more luck than anything else. You might try fishing with a live mackerel. …Fishdope.com
Coronado Islands
Coronado Islands / Rockpile
Since last week, yellowtail fishing at the Islands has been pretty good. So good that the San Diego is back fishing there at least until the tuna start biting better or the yellowtail fishing slows.
They scored 36 yellowtail, 44 calico bass, and 82 big barracuda yesterday.
The San Diego called in at 2 pm today with over 30 yellowtail plus lots of bass and barracuda. They said, “It’s as good as it gets!”
The best fishing right now seems to be in the lee of South Island at the kelp beds like the Ribbon Kelp and below South Island at kelp beds like the Lighthouse Kelp, the Five Minute Kelp, South Kelp, and the SKR. There is not much happening at North Island, but of course, you should always check Pukey Point as it is very often THE BEST SPOT.
The Middle Grounds were said to be loaded with bass and barracuda, too.
The reports were that the Rockpile was very slow. …Fishdope.com
Ensenada
On June 17, I fished on Wes Price’s fishing yacht, the Reel Adventure. The weather was excellent, and there was no shortage of bluefin that we metered and saw boiling on the surface. We fished the 32.00/117.03 area and went two for three on the Nomad MadMacs, the largest weighing around 150 pounds. …Its 4 reels
West of Ensenada / Hidden Bank / Upper 500 / 295
The story here is that there is good fishing for kelp paddy yellowtail, big bonito, and a side order of bluefin.
“Decent signs of bluefin down here,” a quote from one of our contacts.
Not a bad choice if you want to avoid the crowds out west. Of course, you must contend with the afternoon wind and seas coming back up the line after you have finished.
Several sports boats on overnight and longer trips chose this option over the last couple of days.
Like up north, the tuna are not biting very well, if at all, but that is bluefin fishing.
Not just bluefin either. The kelp is also starting to hold better 6 to 20-pound yellowtail numbers. Many are under 10 pounds, but there are a few standouts up to 20 pounds on a few kelp.
Much of the panga fleet out of Ensenada is here too.
The best bet, like up north, appears to be spreader bars and MadMacs for the pangas and private boaters.
Not a lot of interest in the fly line or sinker rig sardine for the sports boats. A few nighttime knife jig fish, though. …Fishdope.com
San Quintin
Excellent weekend! The corvina are here already!! White sea bass have arrived in San Quintin!!! …Garcias Pangas
https://www.bdoutdoors.com/forums/threads/camalu-white-sea-bass.797644/
We decided to visit our friend Memo, a commercial fisherman living in Camalu, and owning several boats. Sunday, June 12, he caught 27 white sea bass. On Monday, two other boats went out. One caught 15, and the other caught only one.
Bay of Los ángeles
6/25-26/22 Bahia de Los Angeles out fishing with my friends Mr. Ryan Williams and Mr. Don Hatch (Ryan’s teammate from the Hatch group and my new friend). We had a great time fishing with these fine men. The days were short due to the wind coming up by 10 am. On the first day, we headed out early. Bait was hard to make so we headed out without bait and used only jigs; we used the Cudakilla Rankaru in 190 and 230 grams. We went north to the bajo, and on our first drop, a triple! We lost five fish due to operator error and put ten on deck. The next day, we headed out early and were on the water at 4:30 am. We forwent the bait and headed to the banco only to find all fish gone, except one that took my 230 Rankaru. Because it was still early, I called it and headed south to a spot called Mancha’s near town. Mr. Hatch hooked a huge fish on 65, and after lots of huffing and puffing, he managed to put it on deck. We all agree it went 40 plus, no doubt after the photos! Don hooked another big fish, this one gave Mr. Hatch love on the rocks, and he lost the fish. We caught a few more nice fish before the wind came up at 10 am, so we called it and went home happy!…fishonnn&onnn. …Juan Cook.
Baja Sur
Ascensión Bay
With the south swell still churning things up, we had another adventurous launching and landing at the ramp today. I had to wait a good while for a lull, keeping my boat pointed into the waves before I could push off to deeper water to drop the engine, get it started, and get out of harm’s way before the next set came crashing in. The landing was another “Laurel and Hardy” moment. I had to wait outside the ramp for set after set to crash through the area before a lull gave me enough time to power onto the beach. I tried to follow the last wave of a set, shut the engine down, raise the motor, and get out of the boat as it glided onto the shore. All went according to plan until I jumped out of the boat and got my feet tangled in the kelp stringers in the shore break area. I went down in 18 inches of water! My waders took on water, and with the elegance and stylishness reserved for a 75-year-old, I was able to get my boat secured on the beach.
I have been looking around offshore for the past couple of days. Warmer water is moving into the area, and I’m still trying for my June tuna, which I’ve been able to catch the last couple of years. Yesterday I found the warmer water, but it was still green and off-color. Finally, today, I found some nice blue water that felt close to 70 degrees. (My sonar/GPS bit the dust, so I must rely on my highly-calibrated fingertips for water temperatures).
Flying fish have moved into the area in droves. Schools of them are scattering like coveys of quail. A couple of bonito were all I could manage today, but things look like they are right on the edge of turning on.
Sightings included a gannet, an albatross, one whale, a couple of small dolphin pods, storm petrels, and about a million shearwaters. …Ross Zoerhof
Loreto
It’s that time of year to dust off those dusty summer dinner plates and invite some dorado (mahi-mahi) over for a long-awaited fish fiesta. Loreto sport fishing panga enthusiasts are catching the golden dorado in good numbers. Light line has been the key once sardina decided to give us a break and come in close to “our natural hunting grounds.” There seem to be several patches of dorado off Punta Lobo north of Coronado Island. Most of the dorado I have seen at the fillet tables are perfect plate-sized fish from 8 to 12 pounds.
Chopped garlic, olive oil, and a touch of butter will replace the recent worn-out yellowtail recipe. Almost every possible recipe had been thrown at the 2022 version of the Loreto winter guests. Move on over and let light gear kick in! Number 5/0 live bait hooks, swivels, and a pinch of fluorocarbon leader will be all you need. …Rick Hill, Click Here
Ready Team Number # 1? The groupers Mordelonas Champions of the Pink Promise Tournament from Loreto, and Team Number # 2, Las Atrevidas from Cabo San Lucas? FISHING FOR HOPE lists August 13 and 14 Cabo San Lucas, BCS, Mexico. …Gonzalo Alamea Camacho
La Paz
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING REPORT from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of June 18-24, 2022 La Ventana/Las Arenas
East Cape
Well, as I said in the previous thread – things went almost back to normal here in East Cape. Even though we are having issues with the live bait situation, that hasn’t been an issue for catching fish. We are making our bait, also using ballyhoo and frozen squid. But no matter what, big bulls are coming out every day, big roosters, good Almaco jack, and some snapper; marlin bite remains consistent, and the tuna offshore were very consistent! There was a day they found them within the five-mile range and most of the time inside the 20 to 30-mile range. …Felipe Valdez
https://www.bdoutdoors.com/forums/threads/big-roosters-big-dorados-and-many-tuna.798494/
Things are consistent, and fishing is good, as it should be!…Felipe Valdez
The water temp is 79.5 degrees inside and 82 to 84 degrees outside. It has been clear and flat most of the week.
The air has been warmer, with highs in the low 90s. Today we had our first good rain of the year.
By far, this has been our best fishing week of the season! Limits of yellowfin for all anglers targeting tuna with lots of BIG bull dorado to 57 pounds taken daily! As usual, there was a strong, consistent striped marlin bite. This week has also been our best roosterfish week, with roosters in the 40 to 60-pound range.
There has not been much fishing pressure inside. The few anglers who fished took big pargo, grouper, and amberjack! The water is cooler inside, but it warms rapidly farther offshore.
All the dorado are from 25 to 60-pounders. Four or five a day are coming to the cleaning table. (We’re sending out 10 to 11 boats a day). The dorado are mixed with the stripers, and yellowfin are being caught both inshore and outside. They are taking ballyhoo and Cedar Plugs!
Pods of porpoise are holding football to medium-sized tuna. The schools are moving around as the porpoise are spread out – the closest are from five miles to 35 miles off. All boats are limiting!
Small bright Hoochies, tuna feathers, and cedar plugs are all working.
There are many striped marlin around, with most hanging on the inshore banks and quite a few outside in the warmer water. Most boats targeting them release at least a couple; the marlin are enjoying the slow-trolled ballyhoo.
There are big roosterfish around, the best rooster fishing of the season!! Forty-pounders are common, and quite a few are bumping up to 60 pounds. All of the beaches are producing roosters. The Lighthouse and Rincon have been the hottest spots. They are taking caballito and quite a few on the fly.
After a slow start this year, the fishing has picked up! I expect this exceptional fishing will continue.
Two groups held tournaments at the ranch this week. Team Wilson (they race the Baja 1000 every year) and the Galli group had their 23rd annual tourney. Both tournaments loaded up with yellowfin, dorado, and stripers. …John Ireland, Rancho Leonero
Puerto Los Cabos
Great Action Before TS Celia Closes Port! ~ June 26, 2022
The first official week of the summer season brought Tropical Storm Celia. This latest storm system passed off to the southwest of the Southern Baja Peninsula, closing down all Port facilities for Saturday and Sunday, June 25 and 26. Unfortunately, tropical Storm Celia also brought high ocean swells, wind gusts to 30 mph, and some much-needed scattered light rainfall. We are hoping to be back in operation on Monday.
The week started great. The anglers found good action for various gamefish – quality-sized amberjack weighing over 50 pounds and yellowfin tuna mainly in the range of 8 to 15-pound range, with the largest weighing 35 pounds. In addition, a few wahoo and dorado were in the mix; however, boats found the best action near shore, a few miles from Vinorama.
A variety of quality leopard and gulf grouper were also caught. And off the shallow structure were yellow snapper, barred pargo, African pompano, blackfin jacks, and triggerfish.
The bait were scattered at the beginning due to the passing of Hurricane Blas. However, the bait schools quickly rebounded as swells resided, and it will probably be the same condition again following Hurricane Blas. At least the caballito were found inside the marina channel, not affected by swells, as the anchoveta and sardina outside the marina scattered in the high surf. Some anglers did well with the squid strips for the yellowfin tuna, so this is another option.
Closer to shore, the roosterfish action was much better, with many trophy-sized fish from over 40 pounds to 60 plus pounds that were caught and released. There was a mix of jack crevalle, a few late-season sierra, pargo Colorado, and mullet snapper. We should begin seeing more dogtooth snapper near the rock outcroppings as this is that time of year.
Marlin action was farther offshore near the 950 and 1150 Spots, though boats hooked and released some striped marlin and sailfish from the grounds from Iman to San Luis Banks. They also found hog-sized black skipjack throughout the region. …Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas
Cabo San Lucas
The Stars and Stripes Charity Tournament, one of the most unique and successful charity events honoring “It’s all about the Kids,” celebrated its 25th anniversary with nearly a thousand attendees from around the world. Participants traveled to Cabo to help raise funds for those less fortunate and enjoy the many things the area offers.
Over 50 teams participated in the two-day Sportfishing Tournament. It began with a spectacular parachute jump by U.S. Veteran and paraplegic Dana Bowman as he floated toward the beach with the flags of the United States and Mexico fluttering beneath his chute.
A record number of boats had a fantastic day fishing on Friday, even though Tropical Storm Celia’s outer bands of wind and rain forced Almirante Valerio, El Capitan de Puerto SCT, to close the Port at Cabo San Lucas on Saturday.
More than 300 golfers utilized 500+ golf rounds at Chileno, Rancho San Lucas, Club Campestre, Puerto Los Cabos, and Cabo Real. The total number of Rounds? Five Hundred and Twelve!!
The fabulous bands entertained guests throughout the events: Common Sense, Collective Soul, with Ezra Ray Hart, the Generation Radio Band, and the famous Goo-Goo Dolls.
Guests were welcomed by Host Shawn Parr, aka “The Ambassador of Country Music,” to attend the first of three extraordinary buffet dinners served poolside, overlooking the fabled Sea of Cortez.
A record amount of money was raised to help the many charities… https://www.starsandstripestournament.com/
If you look on the website, you will see some of the charities in the U.S. that are helped, though new ones are added yearly. That doesn’t list our Mexican charities where ALL of the money raised by The Baja Good Guys goes. A few of the projects last year were:
More than 100 open-heart surgeries in La Paz while educating local surgeons operating on heart patients in Baja with assistance, when necessary, from physicians outside the country.
“Mission Plasticos” will be returning to perform reconstructive surgeries for burn victims, cleft palates, and breast reconstructions for post-cancer mastectomy patients.
Has assisted Building Baja’s Future by helping a remarkable 225 students with scholarships ranging from $800 to $4,000 per student, depending on their Curriculum of choice.
Baja Good Guys contributed $50,000 toward purchasing and operating a bus to transport children for ongoing medical and physical therapy from the Los Cabos area to La Paz. The response to this program has been overwhelming, and BGG will add a second bus this spring.
The Baja Good Guys purchased one hundred bikes for the children of the Barrios surrounding Los Cabos.
When Stars & Stripes learned that a small rural farming community member lost a leg due to illness, Baja Good Guys provided him with a prosthesis, allowing him to be active on his farm and in his village.
The kindness of the participants as old and new friends met and exchanged warm wishes is not likely to be encountered just anywhere, especially with the warmth and love of the people who came together to benefit others –”It’s all about the Kids.”
That Baja Guy-Gary Graham
2 thoughts on “It’s All About the KIDS!”