Baja Spring Emerging…

Bajabytes Sport Fishing Update March 14, 2023

Baja (Norte)

Despite the difficult weather conditions, a surprisingly decent sand bass bite is happening in front of the Bull Ring

The best rig for the bass continues to be the so-called “Knocker Rig,” which is only a sliding egg sinker on the line with a 1/2-oz. Lead head tied on the bottom. The slider and the lead head knock against each other, hence the name. For bait, nothing is working better than a whole fresh dead squid. Some guys are also bringing shrimp out, which is working well for the sheepshead. …Fishdope.com

Coronado Islands / Rockpile/N.E. of the Coronados / Lower 9 Mile Bank / Upper Finger Bank

The fishing is unchanged. Still, there has been excellent rockfish action. The area to the N.E. of North Island and the shallower spots on the Lower 9 in 180 to 300 feet of water continues to pump out easy limits of mixed red rockfish, whitefish, and the occasional lingcod.

 In deeper water from 350 to over 700 feet, guys are getting better quality reds, bocaccio, Mexican rockfish, and some lingcod. The anglers are catching a few cow cod, too. Make sure you bring that descending device and a bunch of lead so you can release those cows. They are a legal catch in Mexico, but you can not legally bring one back into the U.S…Fishdope.com

Ensenada 

 Those jumbo-size bonito in the 10 to 17-pound class are showing again locally. The boats found the jumbo bonito at the Banda Bank Saturday, and yesterday they were found in the area between the Banda Bank and Punta Banda.

 No yellowtail has been reported lately.

 In addition to those mega-grade bonito, they also whacked easy limits of red rockfish down the line at Santo Tomas. …Fishdope.com

Finger Bank

In deeper water from 350 to 700+ feet guys are getting better quality reds, bocaccio, Mexican rockfish, and some lingcod. Guys are catching a few cow cod, too, so be sure and bring that descending device and a bunch of lead so you can release those cows if you catch one. They are a legal catch in Mexico, but you can not legally bring one back into the US. …Fishdope.com

San Quintin 

it was a very interesting day out on the golden reef today, saw a few things I had never seen before #1 the arapaima looking like fish#2 mike a motorized kayak blogger, and 3 angler fish caught by Mike on his first drop at the Golden reef, my friend Dago who was fishing with me and his 2 friends are friends with blogger, So Mike showed us the angler fish, at first i- we didn’t know what type of fish it was, so Mike was very couscous handling the fish, at first it look to be a stone fish, but I looked at the big mouth, it was huge and feet like fins, unfortunately, I took a very poor photo. after the photos, Mike promptly caught a tail on the yoyo,ok.fishonnn.… Captain Juan Cook 

South (Baja Sur)

Whale Magic Tours
South of Guerrero Negro

What a smile!!! This Gray Whale calf is thoroughly enjoying being caressed today in Laguna Ojo de Liebre!…Shari Bondy

Concepción Bay

Come stay with us at Casa Concepción and enjoy our exclusive amenities to Residents

of Posada and Hotel Guests. The Hot Springs are a guest favorite with inflowing ocean water hovering over the same temperature as a jacuzzi (103F). Our fitness center is growing with dumbbells ranging from 1 pound to 100 pounds along with treadmill, bikes, and yoga mats. Palapa roof with an ocean view. The other half of the palapa is an extensive library. Grab a book and beverage while you relax on the beach.

Loreto 

The 4^th Annual Fishing Tournament is only a few months away!

Enjoy some of the best sportfishing in the world at @mpefishingtournament this May. Recruit a team, and sign up for Baja’s newest, most unique, and most exciting fishing tournament in Baja Sur!

Visit MPEFISHINGTOURNAMENT.COM to register today!!!

Lopez Mateos 

 Photos 2

The one photo is Whales, whales, whales!  It is still excellent whale watching here in Lopez. 

The other photo is a Mag Bay smorgasbord of fish. 

We have been having lots of fun with the shrimp and a light-spinning reel.  And there is no end in sight to the wind, so getting outside is still a ways off.!

Yesterday was officially the FIRST day of SPRING weather-wise!. . . “nice and warm.”. …Cheri King

Peace

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING REPORT from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Feb. 26-Mar 9, 2023

East Cape  

Local and hotel boats were out on the water, taking advantage of the pleasant weather. They’re being rewarded with remarkably good fishing for this time of year. Quality yellowtail has been in the 20 to 40-pound range. Some nice dorado are also being taken very close to shore, and as usual, striped marlin are around and biting.

Live bait has been hard to get or to make, so almost all the fish were taken on ballyhoo, iron, or trolled lures.

The yellowtail recently spotted have been extremely large.  I haven’t seen one under 20 pounds. A couple of them were whoppers that weighed in the 40-pound class. Anglers started taking fish on the close dropoff directly in front of the hotel as the week progressed, and the bite moved south off La Ribera. Bounced iron seemed to work, with ballyhoo working as well.

The hotel sent out one boat this week to fish for dorado. Fishing a half-day, it caught three nice dorado around 15 to 20 pounds trolling hoochies off La Ribera.

The same boat released one striper and saw numerous jumpers and tailers. They were taken on trolled ballyhoo. .…John Ireland

Los Cabos Port 

There has been a noticeable increase in crowds this past week. It was probably the first wave of break activity. Just like clockwork, the weather is changing. It definitely feels like spring season already, with sunny days and high temperatures up to 86 degrees, and lows are now in the 62-degree range. Relentless north winds have also diminished and are not such a plague as they were through the past month. Very pleasant climate now.  It is a great time to visit the Los Cabos area!

Ocean swells are very minimal and water temperatures are slightly warmer. They are averaging in the 69 to 72-degree range. Live bait situations remain scarce and scattered; slabs of squid and ballyhoo are available every day; but obtaining live bait such as sardina, Caballito, or mackerel has been very sporadic.

Sportfishing fleets are scattered about searching different areas, this week the more consistent action was encountered from the Gordo Banks to Cardon, La Fortuna, Iman, and San Luis Banks. With a mix of surface and bottom action being found.

The number of dorado found has dropped way off in recent days, with just a handful now being found, most of these fish were in the 10 to 15-pound class. We did see a few bulls as large as 25 pounds and a couple of wahoo were landed earlier in the week, a bit unusual for this time of year. 

Yellowfin tuna were still hanging around the Iman Bank, but were not easy to entice. Only occasional tuna were being landed, and some days none at all. Others days, just a few for the combined fleet. The fish we saw, ranged from 30 to 90 pounds. Some hit on strips of squid, others on caballito, or sardina, (if you were fortunate enough to obtain the live bait).

The highlight off the bottom was mid-week when some nice yellowtail were found off of the various high spots. Most of these were taken on various bait and a few were taken on yo-yo jigs. These fish were weighing around 20 to 35 pounds. It is encouraging to see these yellowtail, and we hope the bait situation improves some as recent full moon darkens some more. In recent seasons, the month of March has been more productive for these popular gamefish.

Most numerous bottom species was the bonito, striking over the high spots, mainly on yo-yo jigs, we did also see limited numbers of grouper, snapper, whitefish, sheepshead, amberjack and triggerfish, a couple of amberjack over 50 lb. were weighed in.

Billfish action slowed way down, we are only seeing an occasional striped marlin accounted for, no large bait concentrations now attracting these fish into any feeding frenzies….Good Fishing, Eric

Cabo San Lucas 

The 30-ft. Bertram “Karina” had 13 roosters released by 10 a.m. on Friday. Captain Chato Padilla and Jorge Velez had found a school of roosterfish and a few ladyfish for Graeme Vass, Megan Walters, and Tim Murray from Los Arcos, California. By the time they were finished, they had released 20 roosterfish, one bonito, one grouper, and four ladyfish.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Mostly calm, with 2 to 3-foot waves and 6 to 14 kts. of wind in the afternoon.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 69-70 F.

BEST LURES: Live and dead mackerel, ballyhoo, larger trolling lures, and cedar plugs.