Bajabytes Sport Fishing Update January 17, 2023
Cabo San Lucas
Incredible fishing continues in Cabo with excellent catch success rates for the fleet and CRAZY numbers of marlin caught and released just this week. We had 899 marlin released in Total! In addition, we had 141 dorado caught, 192 yellowfin tuna, and 56 in the “other” category, including species like sierra mackerel, thresher and hammerhead shark, grouper, wahoo, bonito, and skipjack.
This week’s top marlin boat was Pisces 37´BBII, Captained by Osiel Winkler with Mate Joel Cota. They released an incredible 361 marlin over SEVEN days. Their best day was 110 released marlin for angler Lars Losee on January 4. Mr. Losee also fished aboard Pisces 46´La Chingona this week, releasing another 78 striped marlin, and landing 5 dorado! Marlin averaged anywhere from 70 to 120 pounds each, and all took live mackerel bait. Dorado averaged between 15 and 20 pounds each. The previous day with only two anglers aboard, our 30-year Pisces angler David Palmer and friend Mark Muncy had 106 marlin released between 100 to 120 pounds each plus 2 dorado. More from Pisces 37´ Viking BBII, January 2 – 65 striped marlin released, this day averaging up to 190 pounds each for anglers Dax, Scott, and Travis from Texas.
Our new 72´ Viking Reels N Dirt had 100 striped marlin and 18 dorado over two days of fishing the Finger Banks for angler Timothy Eck and friends. So Angler Fritz Stiles and friends decided to fish for two days, one at the Finger Bank aboard Pisces 46´ La Chingona, where they released 49 striped marlin. And another closer to home, aboard Pisces 60´ Happy Ending, where they landed 3 excellent dorado a little over 20 pounds and released a marlin of about 120 pounds on mackerel at the Golden Gate.
Standard boats have also been doing very well at the Finger Banks. With boats like Pisces 30´ Karina with Capt Orlando Murillo releasing 30 striped marlin in a few hours, plus seven 15 pound dorado caught for the McGregor Family aboard.
Pisces 31´Ruthless had 20 striped marlin between 110 and 130 pounds each on live mackerel, plus 5 dorado between 15 and 30 pounds each, for anglers from North Dakota.
Closer-to-home fishing was also good, with boats like 28´ Adriana releasing 2 striped marlin and landing 2 dorado and 12 yellowfin Tuna. All were caught at the San Jaime Bank, for anglers Mark de La Garza and Scott Smith.
Pisces 38´ C Rod had another good week closer to Cabo with 5 marlin released and 5 dorado, all on mackerel close to the La Brecha area. On another day, they headed out to the Finger Bank, releasing 30 marlin and taking home some nice-sized dorado.
Dorado accounted for 40% of catches this week, with many fish averaging between 20 and 30 pounds.
Tuna this week were tough to find, but those who did averaged anywhere between 10 and 15 tuna each. Although not very big, the bite was still fun for our anglers. Pisces 66´ on Friday Bank had 10 yellowfin and released 1 striped marlin weighing about 100 pounds outside of the Old Lighthouse and kept 1 dorado of about 35 pounds at San Jaime, where they also landed all tuna on cedar plugs. The next day, the 66´ Friday Bank hooked up on a nice blue marlin but lost it during the fight. Still pretty cool to see an outside-season blue on the line. And the crew still managed to land 6 yellowfin of about 15 pounds each. Pisces 31´ Tiburon also landed 10 yellowfin at San Jaime on cedar plugs, with fish averaging 20 pounds each. Equally, this same day, Pisces 31´ Tracy Ann landed 11 yellowfin at San Jaime and released a striped marlin on mackerel too.
In our ¨Other¨ Category we saw quite a few nice shark species, with some hammerhead and thresher sharks around. We caught 8 threshers in one day for the fleet, which is very unusual for us, especially this time of year. All sharks were safely released!
Pisces 42´ Sea Señora caught 3 threshers, all on live mackerel at the Golden Gate Bank, averaging about 150 pounds each. They also released 6 striped marlin averaging between 100 and 110 pounds in the same area. Pisces 31´ Rebecca released 1 hammerhead on mackerel at the Golden Gate about 120 pounds plus they released 1 striped marlin and had 3 dorado.
Plus, we had more sierra mackerel inshore and some decent wahoo. Although not many, they weighed up to 50 pounds each! Pisces 30´ Karina had 7 sierra mackerel on a half-day for their inshore fishing trip.
LOCATION: Golden Gate Bank, San Jaime Bank, Finger Bank, and inshore Old Lighthouse to Migrino.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Overall calm seas, winds on some days, tapering off by midday – between 5 and 10 mph.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 70-72 F
BEST LURES: Mackerel, Cedar Plugs.
Rebecca Ehrenberg, Pisces Sportfishing Fleet.
Bull Ring
Coronado Islands / Rockpile / NE of the Coronados / Lower 9 Mile Bank / Upper Finger Bank…
Wide open. Wind…limits of rain…rough seas. …Fishdope.com
Ensenada
Wintertime: San José Reef, Soledad Reef and Santo Tomas. The boat leaves @ 4 am and returns at 4 pm.
For inf. 011 52 (1) 646 131 1984
San Quintin
Stormy weather…
South (Baja Sur)
La Paz, BCS, January 15, 2023
Bulletin 006
The State Government resolves missing permits for whale watching.
· In a meeting organized by FONMAR with tourism service providers, SEMARNAT delivered the pending permits.
· Documentation was also received to process permits to capture Pismo clams
In response to the request of tourism service providers who pointed out the insufficiency of permits received this year for whale watching, the State Government managed a meeting with the General Director of Wildlife of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), Biologist Roberto Aviña Carlín to solve the problem.
In response, the General Director of the Fund for the Protection of Marine Resources (FONMAR), Martín Inzunza Tamayo, and the Coordinator of FONMAR in Comondu, Fernando Romero Romero, organized meetings on January 14 and 15, including representatives of the tourism sector of Puerto Adolfo López Mateos, Puerto San Carlos, San Ignacio Lagoon, Ojo de Liebre Lagoon and Guerrero Negro where the cut in permits was generating economic and social impacts and the inability to operate with the amount received was presented to the Biologist Roberto Aviña.
It was agreed the limit of permits would be reset to the amount received the previous year. And after that, schedule a meeting three months before the start of the whale watching season with tourism service providers to resolve any concerns and work in a coordinated manner to ensure the best use of this natural spectacle without negatively impacting the life and cycles of these large mammals.
With the presence of the Delegate of Welfare Programs in Baja California Sur, Diphna Yanssen Weichselbaum, the representative of SEMARNAT delivered the missing permits and received documentation to process the permits to capture Pismo clams with the commitment to respond as soon as possible.
With these actions, the administration, headed by Prof. Víctor Manuel Castro Cosío, demonstrated its commitment to the development of tourism and productive activities that generate well-being for BCS families, promoting rational and sustainable use of marine resources.
The meeting was attended by the Legal Director in the Entity of SEMARNAT, Manuel Murillo; Port Captain Adolfo López Mateos, Martín Vidal Murillo; and the Regional Director of the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP), Rodolfo Palacios Romo.
Ascension Bay
Moody Monday! It’s raining now, and the upside is I don’t have to water the gardens! Have a great week, amigos! — at La Bufadora Inn.
Conception Bay
Hey Gary. We have had some sunny, calm days here. Our standard Fishing Area has had dirty water and tougher fishing. We caught 3 yellowtail and 15 pinto bass. The yellowtail were a little lazier, like a slow retrieve or bouncing flat fall lures. Another boat went north to Isla San Marcos Island. A few big yellowtail and a 50-pound gulf grouper slow-trolling Mirror Lures in 70 to 100 feet of water. .…Nathan Burbey
Loreto
The yellowtail bite that started last week has hung on and turned into a serious first event of the New Year. Suddenly, fishermen have crawled out of the woodwork and jumped into near-limit catching for most boats! Live mackerel are available at the bait receiver for the earliest boats. Jig fishing has been the quickest way to land yellows. I’ve seen fish from 8 to 24 pounds, with most fish averaging 15 pounds. Trolled surface baits have been totally ignored. Surface action typically starts when the waters warm up in April.
Some other great news is that the whale season is off to an early start in Baja. In Loreto, humpback whales have been spotted in the waters just south of Carmen Island. In addition, one blue whale has popped up in the nearby waters near Danzante.
Now is the time to head to Baja! (the wind has not been a problem in four out of five days!)…Rick Hill
Puerto Los Cabos
Holiday crowds continued this past week, but in the coming days, most of these tourists will be heading back to school and work as vacation time expires. Weather patterns remained ideal, with lows of about 60 degrees, highs of 80 degrees, and clear sunny skies. Variable winds pick up most days later in the morning.
Ocean water temperatures continue to be on a cooling trend, now in the 72 to 74-degree range. As a result, we see more greenish off-colored areas with cooler currents, mainly closer to shore.
The bait situation has remained difficult with few caballito, although ballyhoo and slabs of squid are available. However, mackerel and sardineta schools are congregating off the San Jose del Cabo Hotel Zone, about three miles offshore, so this will be a new option for anglers using the sabiki rigs.
For local fleets, the main grounds being targeted have been straight off the Puerto Los Cabos Marina region and north to the Gordo Banks, Iman, San Luis, La Fortuna, and Cardon, where mackerel schools are now congregated. Again, dorado have been the most common game fish being found. Many charters can fill their limits on fish up to 20 pounds with an average of 5 to 15 pounds. The fish are striking best on trolled ballyhoo.
Wahoo action has faded out, with only a few seen all week. These pelagics are migrating south to more moderate temperatures because of the cooler water.
Early in the week, some quality yellowfin tuna action was encountered near the Iman Bank. Fish to 60 pounds were taken while drift fishing with squid. Also, off San Luis Bank, some nice tuna were hooked into on yoyo jigs, where anglers were also catching some nice white bonito up to 12 pounds. However, later in the week, the tuna were harder to entice, and winds were up some days, making these grounds less accessible.
Still, not much going off the bottom rock piles beside the bonito, triggerfish, and a few pargo and leopard grouper. With a lack of sardina, not much sierra action or shallow water inshore action is being targeted. Hopefully, these cooling waters will bring in some new schools of sardina because they are always a valued bait resource for the coming winter season. …Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas
Puerto San Carlos – Magdalena Bay
No report
La Paz
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING REPORT from Tailhunter Sportfishing for the Week of Jan. 8-14, 2023
East Cape
No report…Jeff DeBrown
Lopez Mateos
No Report
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