Baja Bytes – November 1, 2022
At the Awards Banquet, held on the API Cruise Ship Pier in Cabo San Lucas Saturday Night. Wayne Bisbee announced that for the second time in Black and Blue’s Forty-Two-Year History, there would be three checks handed out exceeding ONE MILLION DOLLARS totaling $7,387,925, the largest amount ever awarded in a Sportfishing Tournament.
Baja California Sport Fishing
Bull Ring … Fishdope.com
It is status quo here, with the best biters being small bonito and calico along the kelp lines. For the bonito, trolling small Rapala, feathers, and daisy chains are good ways to locate these fish; if you can keep ’em going on bait or small metal jigs, you should get some fish going.
For the bass, fly-lined bait around the kelp with steady chum and light gear should work.
Rockfish are biting alright, nothing special. Generally, in this zone, the farther south you go, the more junk species and small stuff you are likely to run into, but there are excellent, mixed red species to be caught throughout the area
Coronado Islands / Rockpile
We continue to hear of loads of 4 to 8-pound bonito throughout the island. The best way to find them is by trolling jigs like feathers, Rapalas, and daisy chains, as well as slow-trolled sardines. Recently, they have been caught at Pukey, Middle Grounds, SKR, and along the weather side of North Island.
The Malihini caught 16 yellowtail yesterday at the islands but no specifics as to where. Over the last few weeks, some signs of deep sonar schools have shown along the weather side of North Island, SKR, and the Rockpile. Mostly all yoyo/dropper loop fish are only coming from sport boats with the side scan to get on top of these schools. …Fishdope.com
Coronado Canyon / 226-302 / 230 / 371 / 390 / 425 / Upper Hidden
No word today; bluefin foamers were seen at the 302 yesterday. Bonito are the most consistent biter. Generally, they hang to the inside portion of this zone, inside the 425, around the Islands, and around the Rockpile.
We also hear some excellent schools of yellowfin on dolphin in the area. So if you see any dolphin, it is worth a check. Try dragging jigs such as cedar plugs, smaller marlin lures (like a mean joe green), or get ahead of the dolphin and soak some bait and chum in front of them.
Some boats occasionally see a spot of bluefin, but volume is way down on these. Might get lucky but don’t count on it.
1140 Finger / Lower 500 / West of Colonet
We got word of good yellowfin fishing on dolphin and decent paddy fishing for yellowtail. Most of the yellowfin is in that 10 to 20-pound grade, but there are some bigger ones in the mix, pushing 30 pounds, but those are the exceptions! For the most part, it’s pretty much sports boats fishing this stuff for now since it is an 80-mile run from San Diego. Still, good action is happening inside the 1140 finger, but one boat had a good stop to the north on the 238 yesterday, which is a little more realistic for private boaters looking to get out (65 miles from Pt Loma).
Boats are getting jig stops trolling feathers, halcos, and cedar plugs, and when they get the right stop, they know wide-open bait stops are on their way. Some of these schools have skipjack mixed in, but most are yellowfin. Kelp have dorado. A few here and there, but not many. No big scores are happening! …Fishdope.com
Ensenada
There are plenty of skippies to play with and ample bottom fish for the cooler!! … Mara’s Sportfishing Ensenada
San Quintin
Late season tuna bite!!! …Garcias Pangas
South (Baja Sur)
Bahia Asunción
Welcome to a new contributor from this area of Asunción.
I’ve been soaking lines daily – boat and surf. I haven’t been offshore recently due to wind, swell and water temp drop.
Local report:
Easy limits of yellowtail (25 to 35 pounds with a few pushing 40 pounds) and big, big calico. Occasional grouper and black seabass are starting to pick up. Mostly fishing San Pablo Bay to San Roque, but yellows are on every rock in 100′ to 250′ with occasional breezers.
Everything is coming in on iron or chunk bait!
2) Surf fishing – steady action on corbina, spot fin croaker, and halibut.
Plastics, Rapalas, and sand crabs have been effective.
I’ve been surf fishing the areas of Bahía Asunción and San Roque….Kevin Schroder
I took a ride out to San Hipolito today. Great little pueblo with great people. Took a few photos with my camera and drone and then took a leisurely drive right along the beach most of the way back to Asunción … Ross Zoerhof
La Bocana
Fished my last three days in La Bocana with my new friends, Mr. Jim Howard, Dave and D’ Washington, and Mr. Ross.
IT was by far my toughest trip! It was a good thing, as I was fishing with seasoned veterans. It made things a bit easier for my ZERO to HERO days. We fished everywhere, north to Los Locos where there were reefs, bones & bass barriers; farther north to El Bajito, where we found a couple of goats (sheepshead) and b, b, and b. On the next day, offshore, there were lots of fish, but what we were looking for, our last day, near shore, were lots of calico dropped on a few grouper spots — but no takedowns. The wind came up, and we went home happy and making plans for our next fishing trip. Thank you, Jim, Dave, and Ross. fishonnn&onnn, my friends! …Captain John Cook
Loreto
The bait receiver has been placed in the “yellowtail loves mackerel” position outside the Marina entrance. It’s the traditional bidding of “farewell” to dorado for this year. Unfortunately, dorado haven’t responded to the call yet and will ignore the shift change until Christmas.
The live bait receiver and dreaded north winds combined nicely with the shorter days and cooler temperatures and landed in Loreto. It’s autumn in Baja!
Fishing has been steady for a mix of small dorado, sierra, and roosterfish. Bottom fishing starts with good catches of reds and 8-pound firecrackers.
The number one by numbers would be what the locals are focused on; sierra and triggerfish. Easy and plentiful to fill up the ice chest. Ceviche and albondigas are on the menu this week. …Rick Hill,
Lopez Mateos
10/31/22 Magbay anglers fished wahoo offshore. The weather settled down nicely, with the beautiful blue day offshore. They had six take-downs for four wahoo, all on the troll and all on Rapalas Xrap 40′. They had two big fish (“juans-estimation” – 70 pulls). The fish were about 7-feet long! They were very friendly, one took so much line out we thought they were marlin. WOW!!! fishonnn&onnn…Captain Juan Cook
Mark Rayor also reported that inshore in the Mangrove fishing was on fire and he and a buddy were having a fun time with Rueben. Rueben’s sone had also found the wahoo outside and limits or near back-to-back days!
La Paz
https://youtu.be/xWNd5stkSZs
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING REPORT from Tailhunter Sportfishing
East Cape
John Keizer is at the Hotel Palmas De Cortez.
Salt Patrol 2022 Tournament Results
Total Fish Caught
2 Blue Marlin
38 Striped Marlin
45 Sailfish
102 Dorado (over 10lbs)
All boats caught marlin
Puerto Los Cabos
Good Fishing! …Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas
Busy times now in Southern Baja, especially in Cabo San Lucas. The largest tournament of the year just finished this week. There were 218 teams battling for a record payout of $11.6 Million. Only three qualifying marlin of over three hundred pounds were brought to the scales, enough to keep the event going, each year becoming more popular. Next, the big tournament will be the WON Tuna Jackpot, with the two fishing days being Nov. 3 and 4 are slated to have record payouts up for grabs.
Weather patterns have been typical for the fall season. The winds out of the north, blowing in cycles, increasing later in the morning, although they are a bit unpredictable. This coming week is forecast to be much calmer. Days have been clear and sunny, 80 degrees, though early mornings have dipped to 65 degrees. However, it is starting to be chilly, so you need a windbreaker to ride out. Ocean swells are minimal; there was a high wind chop farther offshore, and the water temperature is now in the 80 to 83-degree range.
While tournament boats targeted the larger billfish offshore, the local sportfishing charters were closer to shore, working areas from La Fortuna, Iman, San Luis, and Vinorama for yellowfin tuna, dorado, and wahoo. Although the first part of the wind was a negative factor on the grounds farther to the north, conditions settled over the weekend.
Bait sources always become scarcer during these periods of heavy boat pressure. No sardina now, but there have been some caballito, ballyhoo, and slabs of squid. Wahoo activity increased this week. Every day, we see more of these prized gamefish. Some charters landed two or three per morning; of course, many others were lost. Sizes ranged up to 40 pounds. These speedsters were striking on high-speed trolled Rapalas, ballyhoo, and trap-hooked live bait. Most productive grounds were to the north of Punta Gorda.
Dorado were found scattered about in small numbers on these same grounds. The majority of the dorado were found to weigh under ten pounds. Far less dorado now than in previous weeks. We anticipate a new wave of fish to show before long. All of the fish that had migrated into So Cal waters should be heading back south by now.
After a flurry of quality tuna action, the previous week, this week was much tougher, with a few scattered fish found, some on grounds from Iman to Vinorama and others associated with porpoise. The tuna are definitely in the area, and conditions are favorable, though fish also become increasingly weary of boat traffic with each passing season. The fish we did see ranged from 10 to 70 pounds. We are optimistic the yellowfin action will improve before long.
Still not much bottom or inshore action to report, mainly triggerfish, a few small snapper, and bonito. … Eric
Cabo San Lucas
$1.18 Million…and GROWING!!!
Here is a look at the currently registered teams for the 2022 Cabo Tuna Jackpot in each category as of October 28. These numbers are growing by the day and are subject to change on registration day at @tesorocabo
Payouts shown are cumulative across both days, but each optional is paid daily across TWO days except for the primary entry, which is paid place one to three overall. These totals are unofficial and subject to change.
Get your teams on CatchStat and GET IN!
#cabotunajackpot #yellowfin #dorado #wahoo
At the Awards Banquet, held on the API Cruise Ship Pier in Cabo San Lucas Saturday Night. Wayne Bisbee announced that for the second time in Black and Blue’s Forty-Two-Year History, there would be three checks handed out exceeding ONE MILLION DOLLARS totaling $7,387,925, the largest amount ever awarded in a Sportfishing Tournament.
Meanwhile, at the Pisces dock today… a COW TUNA landed by badass Angler Ann Anderson, who fought this fish for 3 hours and 20 minutes before getting it to the Pisces 62-foot Viking “Chasin’ Tail,” PLUS, the team, “Chasin’ Tail” also landed another EIGHT Tuna and Dorado!!
