Baja Bytes – October18, 2022
Los Cabos Billfish Tournament Oct. 16-20, 2022
The 2022 LCBT began with the sound of the thunder and roar of 53 boat engines going from idle to full throttle as the flare signaling the start of the first day of the 3-day event streaked across the Baja Sky. A total of 307 anglers aboard the boats headed for their favorite hot spots in search of a winning black or blue marlin weighing over 300 pounds worth thousands of dollars.
When lines were out at 4:30 pm, the count for the fleet was: 55 billfish which included 1 Black Marlin, 11 Blue Marlin, 29 Striped Marlin, 14 Pacific Sailfish! The Black Marlin and 1 Wahoo were the only fish brought to the scale located next to Fisherman’s Landing Restaurant.
Captain Antonio Jorge, and Mate, Luis Scotia, aboard the 47′ Viking, “La Chingona,” and angler Sergio Aviles Cota with his Black Marlin weighing 349 pounds, which took one hour and fourteen minutes to land, earned the across-the-board Team over $90,000.
Angler Michelle Brodsky, aboard the Magnetic, was crushed when her Wahoo failed to meet the qualifying weight of twenty-five pounds by a mere one ounce.
Baja California Sport Fishing
Bull Ring
There are short barracuda, bonito, and mackerel along the kelp line out from the Bull Ring.
Shallow-water rockfish are biting decent on the flats between the shore and South Island, and if the surface stuff fails, hit the deeper spots for some mixed red rockfish, treefish, barber poles, chocolates, and assorted bottom fish. …Fishdope.com
Coronado Islands / Rockpile
Some yellowtail are being found near the Rockpile, holding near the bottom in 125 to 200 feet of water. These yellows have been biting the yoyo iron almost exclusively, with a few on dropper-loop sardine, but the jigs are working best. The bigger jigs, like the Salas-6X, are perfect. The scrambled-egg color is working, but the color really is not important when yoyo fishing.
This kind of fishing is tough for private boaters. The guys with scanning sonar are getting on them, but the average private boaters have a hard time. The yellows are moving around quickly and are not holding to any one spot. Sportboats with scanning sonar can find these schools and figure out which way they are going so you can drop a heavy yoyo iron like a Salas-6X on them. Without it, the fish are gone before you get a jig down to them.
Boats on the Rockpile are also seeing some bonito, lingcod, whitefish, and sheepshead biting…Fishdope.com
Coronado Canyon / 226-302 / 230 / 371 / 390 / 425 / Upper Hidden
Dorado continues to be the primary target. There have been some mixed spots of bluefin and yellowfin, and if you chum heavy, you might get them to stick to the boat. A good technique is to throw ones and twos, then throw your hooked bait amid the chum you throw. If on dorado, it’s a good idea to get on the leading edge of the pod and do the same.
Dorado are still on the kelp in the 226/302 area, but the best signs are below the 371 to the 390, and back to the Upper Hidden Bank.
The Upper Finger had schools of yellowfin and dorado today. Guys got limits, but it required LOTS of bait. Some foamers were reported on the Finger, just inside the Knuckle. Guys on the 302 also saw decent dorado fishing, but the story was the same; it required LOTS of bait to get them going.
1140 Finger / Lower 500 / West of Colonet
The 1.5-day and longer fleets that have been coming down since the bluefin bite at Clemente and the 499 find fishing is on the slow side.
Little 8 to 12-pound yellowfin are around but are quickly marching to the south. The bulk is now pushing over 100 miles south of Point Loma. Pretty soon, they will be too far away for the 1.5-day fleet.
The boats report that many yellowfin are coming on jig stops, sonar marks, or mixed with dorado on kelps. Mixed in with the yellowfin are small numbers of 4 to 5-pound skipjack.
Kelps have dorado on them, but the focus is on the yellowfin. …Fishdope.com
Ensenada
Another epic day of fishing for the It’s 4 Reels…Life is good! … It’s 4 Reels Sportfishing
San Quintin
Garcias Pangas
South (Baja Sur)
Cedros Island
As we slowly move toward the conclusion of the 2022 fishing season on Islas Cedros, it is becoming apparent that a seasonal change is on the way. Although daytime temperatures are still hovering between the low and high 70s, partly cloudy days are becoming more and more common as the weeks pass. Occasionally, windy conditions are prevalent, limiting the areas visiting anglers can comfortably fish. …Cedros Sportfishing
La Bocana, BCS …
Loreto
The weather has hit the “in-between season thing,” with the temperatures being much more survivable. In addition, the wind direction has been dipping back and forth from the summer to winter directions, all in one-half-hour stretches.
The fishing, or at least the results I have seen at the filet table, is “in-between,” too.
Sierra, dorado, small roosters, and the shallow water rockfish are falling to live sardina. San Bruno rock has been a go-to spot, outshining Punta Colorado for the most productive area. (Punta Colorado has had too many bonito battles mixed in with the smaller dorado.)
Puerto Escondido is busy with the annual sierra arrival. Kayak and small boat trolling are both very productive mid-morning after the sun slips behind the mountains.
Anything small and shiny that can be cast or dragged will be deadly.
It’s a traditional pastime for many families from Lugui and Ensenada Blanca to hang out along the outer bay and fish until dark for the cooperative toothy creatures!
Work continues at the Marina. …Rick Hill,
Lopez Mateos
October 2022 fishing with Rodrigo García recervaciones al 6131091127 contáctame Garcias GT magbay puerto Adolfo López Mateos baja California sur…Rodrigo García
For reservations to fish with Rodrigo Garcia for October 2022, contact him at 011-52-613-109-1127. Puerto Adolfo López Mateos, MagBay, BCS.
La Paz
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING REPORT from Tailhunter Sportfishing for the Week of Oct. 7 -13, 2022
East Cape
109-pound yellowfin tuna landed by angler Mark Backhus fishing aboard the El Loco Grande out of Hotel Palmas De Cortez — with Carlos Verdugo at Hotel Palmas De Cortez.
The 2022 East Cape Classic tournament was an enormous success. For 33 years, Lynn Rose has put on this incredible tournament where 100% of the money raised through raffle tickets and silent and live auction items goes to help the East Cape community. Each year, tens of thousands of dollars are raised to help the area.
This year’s tournament winners were Team Mi Pistola with anglers Manny Nappa, Sean Gallagher, and Ivan Sandoval; Second place went to Team Rude Girls with anglers Jim Charrette and Paul Larson; Third Place was Team El Tio with anglers Ben Stone, Steve Bacon, and Saywer Zuber.
The biggest Dorado was won by Team Thresher with angler Tom Piarino, and the biggest tuna went to Team JenWren with angler Ethan Fleming. The shoreline derby was won by Chris Hall.
Congratulations to this year’s participants. We look forward to seeing everyone again next year. …Van Wormer Resorts – Anibal Miranda at Hotel Palmas De Cortez.
Puerto Los Cabos
Now amid the fall season and with each passing week, we are seeing more numbers of anglers arriving. The weather has been typical for this time of year – no storms are developing, slightly cooler mornings, primarily clear sunny skies, highs to 85 degrees, and seasonal north winds are beginning to blow from the north later in the day. Ocean temperatures are still averaging 84 plus degrees in the direction of San Jose del Cabo towards Los Frailes.
Most local sportfishing fleets work the fishing grounds from Palmilla Point north to Cardon, Iman, San Luis, and Vinorama Banks. Bait supplies were holding strong until later in the week when sardina schools became more scattered and limited. This seems to happen every year around this time due to heavier pressure by charters competing for bait resources. Slabs of squid, ballyhoo, and caballito have been other options.
The yellowfin tuna action produced a smaller grade of fish (8 to 12 pounds) off of Palmilla for anglers able to obtain the live sardina. Mixed in were small-to-medium-sized dorado. It was spotty action, though, and the first boats on the scene had the best chances. Iman, San Luis, and Vinorama are where some 50 to 60-pound tuna were schooling. These fish were also spooky of pressure. Lighter leader, lots of chum, and more patience were needed. Some charters are lucky to land one yellowfin, while others are more fortunate and landed as many as five or six. Striking on strips of squid and sardina while drift fishing, fly lining.
Overall we saw fewer numbers of dorado, mostly smaller ones as well. However, we did see larger bulls over 30 pounds. Wahoo are definitely in the area, though with water temperatures still in the 80s, they have not been that active. However, we see a handful of them daily, striking on ballyhoo, caballito, and trolled Rapalas. Sizes ranged from 15 to 40 pounds, and the areas north of Punta Gorda, Cardon to Vinorama, is where most of this action was reported.
We saw quite a few sailfish on these same grounds and also some striped marlin that were being hooked into. Although not much bottom action is being reported, we did see a couple of 40-pound dogtooth snapper that were reported.
The big three tournaments will start this week – the Offshore Bisbee, the Black and Blue Bisbee, and the WON Tuna Jackpot. Typically these events have 200 or more teams, which puts even greater pressure on local bait supplies, etc. Good Fishing!!! …Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas
Cabo San Lucas
We just returned from CSL yesterday. ALL I HAVE TO SAY is that the trip was EPIC. There were five of us fishing. We fished for three days and got back early each day because we were limited out each day. We ate a ton of our fish down there and still came back home with a full ice chest. We caught DORADO, WAHOO, YELLOWFIN TUNA, and MARLIN (all released)! …Sammy Velvet
https://www.bdoutdoors.com/forums/threads/just-got-back-from-cabo-san-lucas-10-10-22.806418/
https://youtu.be/mQxszFuXlFU …Pisces Sportfishing Fleet
2022 Los Cabos Billfish Schedule
October 18
From 6:45 am to 7:30 am Visual Checkout from Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Los Cabos Marinas.
7:30 am Shotgun Start and Lines In fishing
4:30 pm Lines Out and stop fishing. Weigh in and release video check-in at Marina Fundadores next to Fisherman’s Landing Restaurant and Breathless Resort.
October 19
From 6:45 am to 7:30 am Visual Checkout from Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Los Cabos marinas.
7:30 am Shotgun Start and Lines In fishing
4:30 pm Lines Out and stop fishing. Weigh in and release video check-in at Marina Fundadores next to Fisherman’s Landing Restaurant and Breathless Resort.
October 20
From 7:30 – 9:30 pm Awards Banquet at the Playa Grande Resort Beachside Terrace.
8:00 pm. Plate-to-table dinner begins.
LCO Logo
2022 Los Cabos Offshore Schedule of Events
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19 – PRE-REGISTRATION
3:00-7:00 pm Pre-Registration on the Marina side of Puerto Paraiso Mall. No bag distribution on this day.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20 – REGISTRATION
3:00-7:00 pm Registration and distribution of team bags on the Marina side of Puerto Paraiso Mall.
7:00 pm Captains Meeting, Puerto Paraiso Mall. One team member must attend.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21 – SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22 – FISHING DAY 1 & 2.
8:00 am Shotgun Start. Must be behind the line at 7:45 am.
8:00 am-5:00 pm Tournament Fishing. Lines must be out of the water by 5:00pm.
2:00 pm-9:00 pm Weigh Station is open in front of the Puerto Paraiso Mall. Boats inside the harbor entrance by 9:00 pm can weigh.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23 – AWARDS CELEBRATION
7:00 pm Awards Celebration at Maria Corona Restaurant.
2022 Black & Blue Schedule of Events
MONDAY, OCTOBER 24 – PRE-REGISTRATION
- 3:00pm-7:00pm Pre-Registration on marina side of Puerto Paraiso Mall. No bag distribution on this day.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25 – REGISTRATION
- 3:00pm-7:00pm Registration and distribution of team bags on marina side of Puerto Paraiso Mall.
- 7:00pm Captains Meeting, Puerto Paraiso Mall. One team member must attend.
- 7:30pm Opening Ceremonies begin: Flag Honors with Mexican Naval Escort, Mexican National Anthem, Pre-Colombian New Fire Dance, Lighting of the TournamentTorch, Japanese Taiko Drums, Music by Cabomax.
WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY-FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26-28 – 3 FISHING DAYS
- 8:00am Shotgun Start. Must be behind line at 7:45a.m.
- 8:00am-5:00pm tournament Fishing; lines must be out of the water by 5:00pm.
- 2:00pm-9:00pm Weigh Station is open in front of the Puerto Paraiso Mall, boats inside the harbor entrance by 9:00pm can weigh.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29 – AWARDS CELEBRATION
- 6:00pm at A.P.I. Cruise Ship Pier Awards Celebration begins with cocktails followed by dinner, a big screen tournament video, and an awards presentation.
