Baja Bytes – September 27, 2022
Baja California Sport Fishing
ENSENADA – The International Championship, “COPA BAJA CALIFORNIA SPORTFISHING,” is held in collaboration with the State Association of Fishing Clubs of Baja California.
“With an economic impact estimated at 370 million pesos, sportfishing generates an economic renaissance and well-being for thousands of families in the state,” observed the Secretary of Fisheries and Aquaculture (SEPESCA), Alma Rosa Garcia Juarez, during the award’s ceremony. On behalf of Governor Marina del Pilar Avila Olmeda, García Juárez thanked the competitors who followed the tournaments in San Luis Gonzaga, Bahía de Los Ángeles, San Quintín, and Ensenada.
“The tournaments are more than a diversion and more than going after a passion. What you are achieving promotes Baja California and its way of life. At the same time, it helps reactivate the state’s economy,” he stated. Recognizing the State Association of Fishing Clubs of Baja California, continued support of this Tournament Series each year is based on respect for the laws, regulations, and the best organization.
At the event, the Senior Officer of the State Government Rocío López Gorosabe, avowed that the well-being of families is a priority, and the state administration is focused and willing to solve social needs.
“You should know that you have the support of Governor Marina del Pilar Avila Olmeda, and with activities such as the promotion of sportfishing, progress is being made in the economic revival for the benefit of families,” he disclosed.
This weekend, the fourth and final tournament winners were awarded, as well as the teams that accumulated the most points during the series, which featured local, national, and foreign participants.
The championship’s five best teams obtained a pass to represent Baja California in the “Big Game Trolling Tournament,” organized by the National Federation of Sport Fishing, A.C., to be held in 2023, in a place to be defined.
Likewise, the winning team, in addition to the champion’s cup and cash prizes, won an entry to the “Bisbee’s Offshore Tournament,” to be held in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, in late October of 2022.
The winners
The great “Baja California Cup” was won by the team “Baja Catch 22,” which added 67 points, followed by the duo composed of “Rapiños II” and “Rapiños I,” adding 65 and 58 points, which made an exciting outcome.
In the Ensenada tournament, the winning team was Louie Prieto’s “It’s 4 Reels,” with a “yellowfin tuna” of 37.2 pounds and a lingcod of 7.2 pounds, also achieving the “jackpot” of surface, with a bag of 40 thousand pesos, accumulating prizes for 105 thousand pesos.
The second place was “Salados,” presenting only a “yellowfin tuna” of 40.1 kilograms, to take a prize of forty-five thousand pesos.
The “Siete Mares” team won the children’s category, while the women’s category went to the “Los Tocayos” team.
In third was “Rapiños II,” with “yellowfin” and “lingcod,” of 20.5 and 16.3 pounds, to take 35 thousand pesos, which added to the “jackpot” of 38 thousand pesos for the bottom species, accumulated 73 thousand pesos in prizes.
The awards ceremony was attended by: Yolanda Navarro Caballero, Delegate of Tourism of the State in Ensenada; Maricela Pulido, Head of the Fisheries Department of the Municipal Government; and Martín Ramírez Jaime, President of the Union of United Shipowners of Sport Fishing.
In addition, the frigate Captain Omar Rinza Cruz, representing the Second Naval Region; Pedro Murillo Garay, representative of the Captain of Ports; the Director of Fisheries of the State, Luis Manuel Robles Briseño; and the Head of Sport Fishing of the State, Victor Hugo Mendez.
If you can find clean water along the kelp line, you’ll likely find decent bass fishing along with some bonito, little barracuda, and mackerel. …Fishdope.com
Coronado Islands
Little info, but we know it was rough and breezy – not a good weather day.
Over the past few days, we have heard that some yellows are still in the Middle Grounds and along the weather side of North Island, but they were not interested in biting.
There is also some bonito and calico bass showing in the Middle Grounds.
Short bass are biting in the kelp at the Ribbon and the kelp spots below South Island.
There are also plenty of sea lions just waiting to ruin your day. If you happen to get lucky and hook yellowtail or bonito or barracuda. …Fishdope.com
Coronado Canyon / 226-302 / 230 / 371 / 425 / Upper Hidden
Breezy to outright windy down in the zone today.
Not nice for small boats.
The fishing in this zone is sketchy. Straight up “Hero or Zero” fishing. If you are lucky, there is a hint of yellowfin, but the most likely catch, if anything, is dorado.
The last couple of days have also seen a handful of skipjack caught.
Again the best zone is from the 371/425 south to the Upper Hidden and beyond. …Fishdope.com
Ensenada
“We are the Champions, My friends!”…Copa Baja California 2022… It’s 4 Reels
San Quintin
Pretty quiet this week. No info since early September!
Bay of Los Angeles
Just returned from BOLA! There are a few places where the road was washed out, so drive slow when you see big orange cones! …Shantel Seoane
Lower South
Van Wormer Resorts Tuna Shootout 2022 Results
1st place Tuna and winner of the $300 & $500 Jackpots
Weight; 101.6 -pounds
Team # 14
Angler Name Eat Me Lures John Boyer
Boat Name Vaquera
Total Grand Prize cash amount of $15,750.00 (pre tax)
Total Jackpot Payout of $17,765.00 (pre tax)
Cash Grand Total of $33, 515
Total of 7 tuna weighed
Total of 4 dorado weighed
Total of 1 wahoo weighed
45 Teams and 145 Anglers
Total Jackpot payouts $45, 815.oo
Ascension Bay
On the first day of fishing with my son, we were able to put four nice yellowfin on the boat! The water was beautiful, clean, and temperatures were as high as 81.6 degrees. One mystery fish was hooked and lost. I called it a wahoo as soon as I hooked up, but it came unbuttoned after a minute, so we’ll never know…Ross Zoerhof
Loreto
Fishing remains the same. However, getting out to the fishing grounds has suffered a little due to upgrading work at the boat ramp. “Slow Season” is a good time to do deferred maintenance, so only the bigger boats are stuck onshore. Some boat launching is happening at the beach just north of the Desert Inn hotel. If you have an excellent four-wheel drive launch vehicle and want to fish (or scuba), Negrita Beach is the best game in town. Dorado and roosters are still hitting live bait, and even tuna feathers have been getting bit. Dorado are still mostly 15-pound models, and the roosters range from 5 to 30-pounds. Sierra should be showing up in the fish count soon. Fall is the time to shift to some newer options, even though the dorado won’t be leaving until December. …Rick Hill,
La Paz
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING REPORT from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Sept. 10-17, 2022
East Cape
Water- 86-88 clear, flat all week.
The weather is very pleasant – much cooler than normal. Highs are in the 80s in the afternoon with rain over the sierras and clear skies in the mornings.
Another terrific week of fishing! It has been all about the dorado recently. Lots and lots of dorado – inside and outside – spread throughout Palmas Bay! Striped marlin and sailfish are plentiful, with anglers targeting and releasing multiples! Some nice tuna were taken this week. The Tuna Shootout’s biggest yellowfin was 101 pounds. The inshore and bottom fishing is good, with big pargo, grouper, and Almaco jack being taken. Lots of roosterfish. Good sardina available definitely helping the dorado fishing.
Dorado are thick, with lots and lots around. Very spread out, both inside and outside. Big bulls mixed with schooling fish, and there are limits for all anglers! They are taking live sardina, Hoochies, feathers, you name it. By far our best dorado bite of the season.
Not much pressure on the yellowfin – as anglers are staying with the dorado. Tuna are under the porpoise 40 miles outside and south. The tuna outside are ranging from 5 to 30 pounds. Larger yellowfin to 100-plus pounds are being taken closer inshore off the white cliffs by Vinaramas. The Tuna Shootout produced a 101- pound winning fish. Taking live sardina, Hoochies, cedar plugs, and feathers.
Both stripers and sails are abundant! Mixed with a few blues, we’ve enjoyed a strong billfish bite all season. The best fishing is off the La Ribera Banks south. The best bait by far is ballyhoo. Anglers targeting them are enjoying multiple daily releases.
Very light fishing pressure inside. Lots of roosters, not as big as earlier in the season, but 20-pounders are common. The best fishing is around the lighthouse. The bottom is producing pargo, Almaco jack, and grouper…John Ireland, Rancho Leonero
Puerto Los Cabos
With the fall season officially here, we are feeling cooler mornings, though days are still quite warm and humid with the rain passing the past few weeks. Last weekend we had TS Newton pass within a couple of hundred miles off to the southwest. As a result, all Port activity was closed for Sunday and Monday, though we never felt much from this system besides higher ocean swells, scattered rainfall on Monday, and some south wind with some gusts close to 30 mph. Presently, the forecast looks good for next week. It feels like the storm season is past us, but with ocean temperatures still in the 82 to 85-degree range, you can never be sure. We will hope for no late-season disasters.
After this latest storm passed, the ocean quickly rebounded. The water cleared up within a couple of days. Even the sardina which had scattered returned, and other bait options were caballito, ballyhoo, and slabs of squid.
Most local fleets are fishing on the grounds from Cardon, La Fortuna, Iman, and San Luis Bank. We saw more numbers of anglers arriving, anticipating some early fall action.
Most common catches were for smaller-sized dorado, though a few nicer-sized bulls up to 40 pounds were mixed in. Many of the smaller dorado were being released, which is a good thing since these are one of the fastest growing fish found, and females are always filled with eggs, giving them a chance to reproduce. These fish were striking on various lures and bait and not too finicky.
A handful of wahoo, fish in the 15 to 30-pound range, were striking on Rapalas and ballyhoo, though still not very active in the warmer water. They should become more active as the water cools off a few degrees. Billfish were found scattered throughout the region, though not that numerous. We saw sailfish, striped and blue marlin landed from local charters.
There was encouraging news that the yellowfin tuna were biting better the last few days – drift-fishing with strips of squid on the Iman Bank was the most successful. We also saw tuna ranging from 10 to 90-pounds, with an average of 20 to 50-pounds. A couple of charters caught up to 5 fish each, though overall numbers were not high; you had to be patient and be at the right spot when the bite was on. Again, the best action was found early in the morning.
Off the bottom, we saw a few nice amberjack, red snapper, and bonito, though this action was not consistent. On Friday, everyone was excited to see a large pod of killer whales appear as boats were on their way to the grounds early in the day. They were agile and fast, chasing the boats at high speed, right up into the prop wash, and some great videos were taken. …Good Fishing…Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas
Cabo San Lucas
The flags tell the story this week…Pisces Sportfishing Fleet
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