August 9, 2022
Bisbee began the 2022 season with 97 ECO Teams competing in the 23rd annual East Cape Offshore for a record-shattering $1,614,425 in cash prizes.
On the second day of the three-day event, angler Hugo Pina brought a 375-pound black marlin to the scale. Team Stella June on the boat with the same name was awarded an enormous $1,286,385 payday at Saturday night’s Awards Banquet held on the sand in front of the Buena Vista Oceanfront and Hot Springs Resort, managed by the Valdez Family for the past 46 years.
“We were excited to get back to normal this year after two years of COVID restrictions, and judging by our turn-out, our Teams were equally as excited,” commented Wayne Bisbee, Tournament Director.
Targeted species were black marlin, blue marlin, striped marlin (caught/caught and released), spearfish, and sailfish. Other species included yellowfin tuna and dolphin (dorado). There were daily jackpots as well overall trophies and cash prizes.
https://bisbees.com/News/Article/133
Bull Ring
Overall, bass fishing is pretty slow. Temps dropped over the weekend, and the already mediocre bite seems to have slowed down even more. That said, if you can get ahold of some smaller bait, ideally anchovy, you can likely get a decent bite. Set up outside the kelp and get chum going, and you should be able to bring some bass to the boat…Fishdope.com
Coronado Islands / Rockpile
Good yellowtail fishing continues here. Same story with fish all around North Island again today and a good sign in the Middle Grounds for boats fishing on anchor. These fish are happy to jump on surface irons, flylined bait, and slow-trolled baits. Most are in the 10 to 15-pound range, with some pushing 20 pounds, with some smaller – around 6 to 8 pounds. Also, we have heard of yellows caught around South Island in the last few days. Seems you can find them pretty much all over the islands right now.
Calico are biting as well at the Middle Grounds. We haven’t heard anything on the barracuda that seemed to be all over just a few weeks ago. South Island kelp zones had the best action on these, but no word in a while, so maybe they have moved out. …Fishdope.com
EVENING UPDATE:
Chris on the Fortuna checked in from the Islands after fishing offshore.
We went to North Island, where we scored an excellent grade of yellowtail. They were biting mint surface irons and bait. We headed in with a bMatt with Hooked Up Boat Club and checked in.
Better late than never. Had family in town with two youngsters who wanted to go fishing. We piled the kids into the sled and hit the Islands. We wanted to search for kelp, but the young kiddos put a damper on that. Started at Pukey and worked around the weather side of North Island. We did a few drifts with some boats at Key Hole, saw seals eating two yellowtail, and watched an angler put one on but couldn’t get one to go ourselves. Side note: don’t be that guy that drives through the middle of people. Drive around and reset your drift. The fishing etiquette was lacking in that group!
I said, “screw them,” and bounced to Bird Poop Rock. Slow-trolled sardine – went 1 for 2 on 15-pound yellowtail and all you wanted, calico. Worked back a little deeper into the Middle Grounds and went 1 for 2 on yellowtail again. Left them biting, unfortunately, but with a boat full of fish and smiles all around!…Fishdope.com
Hidden Bank / Upper 500 / 238 / Banda Bank
Excellent kelp fishing continues here for the same mix of nice yellowtail and dorado. Most boats are not making this run because there is plenty of good kelp fishing with the same shot at some yellowfin and bluefin to the north. Not much reason to burn the fuel. It is primarily a sport boat deal down here, but they are hitting limits, or near limits to justify the long run. …Fishdope.com
Ensenada
Overcast, little wind, with a great yellowtail and dorado action. … Sammy Susarrey Amador
10 Day forecast
San Quintin
Fantastic Two Days fishing with @amateurhour88 and crew. Lots of fishcaught. Kids were stoked on the last stop @bajafishingfamily
Baja Sur
Bahia Ascensión
July of 2019 was the last fishing tourney here in Asuncion, and I managed a First Place Yellowtail and a Second Place Calico. With a Covid asterisk, I have been Reigning Champion for three years. Fortunately, another tournament will be held this year during the Asuncion Fiesta in the middle of August. Trash talking has already begun amongst my fishermen friends in the pueblo, along with the passing of bogus fish dope. It will be an interesting day! …Ross Zoerhof
Loreto
Dorado fishing has been from “good to great” in all corners around Loreto this past week. The weekend offered some relief from the solar death rays with a taste of tropical storm spin-off clouds and a taste of rain. The tourist fishermen primarily work the El Juncalito and Danzante areas for 8-to-12-pound dorado. The other close-to-home spot for dorado has been back at Punta Colorado, where the catching is slightly less favorable with fish a tad bigger.
Twenty-five pound-plus dorado are hanging out and robbing bait closer to the bluewater lines running from Punta Lobo north to Almejas Bay.
Bonito are in the mix primarily to test our ability to avoid sunstroke. More billfish are being spotted than hooked up. There are few things peskier than a hungry mob of sailfish when the target is a big bull dorado.
The commercial handline fishermen are harvesting the usual reds, snappers, and a consistent number of medium-sized yellowtails. …Rick Hill, Click Here
La Paz
https://youtu.be/ghX9wrpOghc
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING REPORT from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Aug. 2-9, 2022
East Cape
Bisbee begins the 2022 season with a record-shattering $1,286,385 winner (Team Stella June, angler Hugo Pina) in Bisbee East Cape Offshore. The first Million Dollar Winner in the BISBEE EAST CAPE OFFSHORE!
The water has been clear and flat, with some wind on Friday and Saturday. The weather has been pleasant for August, with highs in the low 90s.
It has been another great week of fishing. The big bull dorado are still plentiful, with many in the 30 to 55-pound class. The billfish bite is still wide open, with striped marlin, sailfish, and blue and black marlin being released. The yellowfin have been pickier biters, although there are still lots under the porpoise. Big roosterfish are being released daily, and a few wahoo are coming to the cleaning table daily.
It has been excellent dorado fishing! The Bisbee tournament weighed 67 dorado weighing over 30 pounds, and they were mixed with the marlin on the inside drop-offs. The winning bull was 54.7 pounds. Most are taking marlin lures, feathers, and ballyhoo.
Many blue and black marlin were released, most in the 200 to 300-pound class. The winning Bisbee fish was a 375-pound black. In addition, loads of stripers were released, mixed with quite a few sailfish.
The inside drop-offs produced the most fish. Slow-trolled live skipjack, caballito, trolled large lures, and ballyhoo worked best.
Some smaller, fast-moving pods of porpoise hold tuna averaging 10 to 25-pounds, with some to 40 pounds. They are spread out on the inside and outside from 3 to 40 miles offshore, taking Hoochies, cedar plugs, tuna feathers, and caballito. Although they are around, they are much pickier biters this week.
Big roosterfish are still in the area, and 50-pounders are common! Some are even over 70 pounds. There is not much pressure as most anglers are fishing outside. All the beaches produce nice fish, but they are still best around the Lighthouse. Using live caballito and mullet for bait is best, but they also take flies!
A couple of wahoo in the 20 to 40-pound range are coming to the cleaning table most days. Almost all are taken from the South of the Lighthouse to Vinaramas. Rapalas and Marauders are working best. …John Ireland, Rancho Leonero
Puerto Los Cabos
Southern Baja has been feeling more like the tropics. Another Tropical Depression is passing off to the west of the Southern Peninsula. Although there is no forecast of impact on land, the swells will probably increase, and there are predictions of isolated thundershowers. Last Sunday afternoon, we felt thundershowers for an hour – on and off, with some areas recording up to two inches of rainfall.
Any moisture received now is welcomed, as the desert landscape has been extremely dry over the past six months, and ocean water temperatures have been averaging from 80 to 86 degrees.
Lighter numbers of anglers continue to arrive even though the highlight of fishing recently has been the large bull dorado found on the local fishing grounds. Although dorado action has been spotty, this has been the best bite for the larger-size dorado we have seen in many years. Mixed sizes of dorado are being encountered, with larger fish over 50 pounds. Most success has been using bait, but a percentage of these fish are striking lures. Live caballito and sardina have been available. Another option has been ballyhoo or jigging up bolito on offshore grounds and using them for trolling bait.
Only a few stray wahoo were reported, and tuna were scarce as well. One monster yellowfin was hooked on the San Luis Bank, only to be lost after a several-hour battle on heavy equipment; this tuna had hit a trolled bolito.
There is not much inshore or bottom fishing, as this is the season for targeting the offshore surface action…Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas
Cabo San Lucas
175-pound yellowfin tuna! Señor Jorge Diaz and family fishing today with Captain Oscar on the Dream Catcher…. Gricelda Smokehouse
That Baja Guy-Gary Graham
