Bajabytes Sport Fishing Update February 14, 2023
2023 Sportfishing Tournaments offered in the upper section of the Baja Peninsula has something for everyone – from fishing the shore to chasing bluefin tuna on the high seas.
The various events offer fishing opportunities in Ensenada, San Felipe, Punta Bunda, San Quintin, Bahai De Los Angeles, Cedros Island, and the many destinations, beaches, and lagoons.
Visiting anglers can compete in events with entry fees that range from very reasonable to very dear.
In addition, when visitors and locals meet, they share their passion for sports fishing, comparing the ultra-new equipment to the techniques handed down from generation to generation
Baja (Norte)
Upcoming Tournaments
Ensenada
San Felipe B.C.
Bahia de Los Angeles, BC
Cedros Island
San Quintin
JD’s Big Game Tackle – Fish Report
https://www.jdsbiggame.com/report.htm
Bull Ring
The Imperial Beach Pipe has been the “go-to” spot for a while now – it’s all about sand bass with a side order of sculpin. They are biting knocker rigs and whole fresh dead squids. A knocker rig is just a ½- to ¾-oz. slider ahead of a 1- to 3-oz. lead head. They “knock” together when working on the bottom.
Plastics tipped with squid are working well, also. If you want to focus on the sculpin, use a dropper loop rig with squid, mackerel, or sardine strips. Bait pinned on a 100-gram Colt Sniper works excellently too. …Fishdope.com
Coronado Islands / Rockpile / NE of the Coronados / Lower 9 Mile Bank / Upper Finger Bank…
Very slow for yellowtail and any other surface gamefish.
If you want rockfish, this is the only choice unless you want to jump on a one-and-one-half day to Colonet or drag your boat to Ensenada and run down to Santo Tomas.
Just across the border at the Lower 9 and the area NE of North Island, they are seeing good fishing for mixed red rockfish along with plenty of whitefish and the odd lingcod in 180 to 400 feet.
Some guys, though, are doing better fishing deeper on the Lower 9 on the Upper Finger Bank in 500 to 700 feet of water. Better quality reds, and better numbers of lingcod, are showing here. Be sure and bring a descending device and a lot of lead to sink it, as there are some 8 to 15-pound cowcods showing, and you have to release those. It might take as much as 10 pounds of lead to sink a 15-pound cow cod. …Fishdope.com
Rosarito Pier
Tony Di scores a yellowtail at the Iconic Rosarito Pier.
Ensenada
Big and little bonito continue to show in the Punta Banda area. There is a bunch of 1 to 2-pound bonito, but many of these are running from 7 or 8 pounds to over 12 pounds. They are being found trolling feathers and/or Rapalas, followed up with a chrome Jig like an 80-gram Colt Sniper.
No yellowtail as of late. Most local boats run down the beach to Santo Tomas or Soledad for nice quality reds, bocaccio, and lingcod. …Fishdope.com
Bahia de Los Angeles
No Report
Colonet
Bad weather. …Fishdope.com
San Quintin
Poor weather most of the week
San Felipe
No Report
South (Baja Sur)
La Paz, B.C.S. February 13, 2023
Bulletin 016
Predatory boats arrested in Magdalena Bay
In joint operation, FONMAR-CONAPESCA were retained 90 tons of marine product and two purse seiners
In response to complaints from the fishing sector and following the instructions of the Governor of the State, Víctor Manuel Castro Cosío to monitor the correct use of marine resources on the coasts of Sudcalifornia; personnel from the Fund for the Protection of Marine Resources (FONMAR) and the National Commission of Aquaculture and Fisheries (CONAPESCA), carried out an operation in Magdalena Bay, in which 90 tons and fishing gear from boats from another State that carried out the capture without the corresponding permits were secured.
The vessels “Excalibur” and “Negro Guerrero,” coming from Ensenada, Baja California, were caught at the dock of Puerto San Carlos carrying 50 and 40 tons of pompano fish, respectively without having a fishing permit, so the personnel in charge of the Federal Fisheries Officer, Jesús Solórzano Osorio carried out the drawing up of minutes and the precautionary retention of the scale product and two purse seines.
The Coordinator of Planning, Inspection and Surveillance of FONMAR in Comondu, Fernando Romero Romero, explained that in compliance with the indications given by the Director General of FONMAR, Martín Inzunza Tamayo, it is monitored in an adjuvant manner with the maritime authorities, both in the coastal zone and on the high seas to guarantee the correct use of fishing species and in which citizen denunciation of bad practices plays a fundamental role.
The product and fishing gear retained by CONAPESCA will remain in custody until the payment of the corresponding sanctions is made by those responsible, as established in the law on the matter.
Whale Magic Tours
South of Guerrero Negro
Love junkies in Laguna Ojo de Liebre! Always fun when friends from San Felipe come to visit the whales.…Shari Bond
The Black Bass Lodge. Fishing, Surfing, Eating, Adventure Lodge
Remote, private, and completely off-the-grid, The Black Bass Lodge is a destination. It is located just steps from the beach in Punta Abreojos, Baja California Sur, where the surrounding reefs are abundant with fish, and the waves bring surfers from all over the world.
This fishing, surfing, eating, and adventure lodge features four beachfront rooms, indoor and outdoor showers, Wi-Fi, a private chef, and a daily cleaning service. Now offering SUP boards, kayaks, and fishing gear for rent during your stay.
Bring a group and book the entire lodge (sleeps 14 people maximum). Meals are included with your stay. Find rates and availability at www.BlackBassLodge.com
Conception Bay
Yellowtail Fishing Seminar
This Wednesday, February 15, we will be doing a fishing seminar at Casa Concepción at 3 pm. We will go over fishing techniques with an emphasis on Slow Pitch Jigging and Vertical Jigging.
Whether you are a seasoned fisherman or looking to get into a new hobby, join us with some drinks and snacks to learn about the latest craze in the fishing world. …Nathan Burbey
Loreto
We just turned out of a week with the usual winter winds. The first boats out found boiling fish, just as we saw in the last weeks of January.
Lockjaw continues to be the story for the surface commotion – no biters. San Bruno and Lobo are where the yellows are biting. La Cholla and Coronado Island kicked out only a handful of triggerfish, though not many!
The big surprise is that yellowtail are biting cast irons on the fall within one hundred feet of the surface. Unfortunately, according to my Loreto calendar, surface action “shouldn’t” be starting for another 4 to 6 weeks!
Yellowtail are mediums from 12 to 18 pounds.
The live bait supply has been fair to good, with the early boats filling their live wells. (Blue whales/ Coronado Beach trips are the hot combos, out-performing the fishing by 4 to 1 here in Loreto!)…Rick Hill
Lopez Mateos
Mark Rayor and Dave Hansen Your Saltwater Guide couldn’t resist one more trip with Captain Rueben at Lopez Mateos!
La Paz
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING REPORT from Tailhunter Sportfishing for the Week of Feb 1-7, 2023
East Cape
Los Barriles (East Cape)
East Cape Tackle is proud to bring back the Fly Tying Seminars. Our first one for 2023 will be a new twist on the Roosterfish Flies — Targeting the Roosterfish on the beach.
Friday, February 17, 2023, 10 am to 12 pm
Plaza del Pueblo Local #15
Please bring a chair
Look forward to seeing you all there! Cindy Kirkwood
Puerto Los Cabos
Typical February patterns continue, with lighter crowds of anglers, cycles of winds predominately from the north, cooling ocean temperatures, and scattered fishing action as we wait for more stable springtime conditions to arrive. Water temperature has ranged from 66 to 71 degrees, with warmer currents now found off Cabo San Lucas. And the coolest areas are in the direction of Los Frailes. As a result, bait supplies are currently limited to ballyhoo, slabs of squid, and on some days, live sardina found in limited supplies around the entrance to Puerto Los Cabos Marina
Most local charters are fishing in the direction of Cardon, La Fortuna, and Iman Bank, as scouting trips towards Palmilla south did not produce much. However, surface and bottom action are mixed on grounds towards the north. Scattered numbers of dorado with sizes ranging up to 20 pounds were striking on various lures and trolled ballyhoo or sardina, though the majority were smaller fish under ten pounds. There were no larger schools, mostly single fish, with charters accounting for an average of one or two fish. Most everyone is surprised that these warm water species are still hanging around in local waters. No wahoo to report, which is usual for this time frame.
Billfish continue to be more prevalent on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas, with a few striped marlin found on the grounds off of San Jose del Cabo, late to migrate in this direction this season. We did see one nice sailfish caught and released earlier in the week, unusual in the cooler waters.
Anglers still had chances at hooking into a quality yellowfin tuna on the Iman Bank. However, ocean conditions were a significant factor, as well as having persistent patience and sufficient supplies of squid. Drift fishing, while chumming and using strips of squid, was how these few tuna were being hooked into. Sizes ranged from 30 to 80 pounds.
Off these same grounds, anglers were working the rocky bottom reefs, and various species were found, though no species was abundant, and most were smaller in size. We saw a not-very-common California sheepshead of 15 pounds, leopard grouper, broom tail grouper, barred pargo, yellow snapper, red snapper, spotted rose snapper, white fish, bonito, triggerfish, porgy, and amberjack. All are excellent eating fish. We expect to see improved bottom action in the coming weeks and hope that the season’s first yellow tail appears soon.
With limited supplies of sardina, we only saw a few sierra. Most of these were either hooked on the troll or over shallow rocky reefs. Not much talk of roosterfish being found. Lack of bait and cooler water were the main reasons for this. …Good Fishing, Eric Brictson
Cabo San Lucas
Another successful week of fishing in Cabo with Pisces, as 105 out of 108 boats that went out caught fish. 59% of catches were billfish: striped marlin between 80 and 130 lb mostly. We released 355 marlin in total, which was lower than last week. Also, whereas last week most big marlin release numbers were produced at the Finger Bank, this week we saw better numbers at the Golden Gate.
Top boats at Golden, like Pisces 42’ “Yahoo,” released up to 14 marlin in a day, and many other boats also had nice dorado catches there. Still, Finger Bank action early on in the week was good, with top boats like Pisces 46’ “La Chingona” releasing 73 marlin in one day.
Dorado were the most productive target species this week, with 227 fish caught.
Tuna caught was mostly football-sized: 185 caught total for the fleet, making up 26% of our catches.
In our “other species” category we had a few boats opting for inshore fishing. They succeeded in releasing quite a few nice roosterfish: up to 6 released in a day, for example, by Pisces 37’ “BBII.”
This week again we had a few shark releases, including some nice makos and threshers. Other species caught were sierra mackerel, bonita, skipjack, grouper, and triggerfish.
Regarding billfish catches, Pisces 46’ “La Chingona” had 123 marlin, released total this week: she was our top billfish boat. The big release numbers were a result of heading mostly to the Finger Bank; for comparison, on a day close to home they had 8 marlin released at Golden Gate.
Pisces 46’ “La Chingona” had 42 striped marlin released on mackerel bait, with fish averaging 100 lb each for the Low family and friends. The next day out at the Finger Bank, they released 73 Marlin…Rebecca Ehrenberg, Pisces Sportfishing Fleet.
