Bajabytes Sport Fishing Update
October 18, 2023
Welcome to Baja Bytes, our weekly report highlighting the fishing hotspots from the Coronado Islands to Land’s End at Cabo San Lucas.
The areas not included are either because we did not receive reports or fishing was seasonally slow. If you have a location that isn’t listed, don’t hesitate to contact us. We welcome your input.
Gary Graham-That Baja Guy
Coronado Islands / Rockpile
We have not heard of anyone fishing since last Monday, and then there was nothing good to report.
The water was cold, from 62 to 63 throughout the Islands, and no signs of any yellowtail, bonito, or barracuda. If you come here, expect slow fishing! Your best bet would be bottom fishing for rockfish, whitefish, and sheepshead down at the Rockpile…Fish Dope
Ensenada
Little Horse Sport Fishing, Ensenada B.S. is at the Malecon, Del Puerto De Ensenada. Saturday, October 14, 2023. Yellowfin Tuna 35-pounds Panga (Rositas), Captain Giovanny Pérez, Dates are available all month. For more information, call or text (646)134-44-97.
San Quintin
A couple of nice broom tails for @heyyy_bryan and crews, Cristian Catian (@gonne_fishing_baja)
Bahía de Los Angeles
Dorado day!!! …Joel’s Sportfishing & Ecotours
South (Baja Sur)
Bisbee Los Cabos Offshore begins today!
Tournament Weather Statement
Hello Everyone,
As many of you already know, Tropical Storm Norma has formed in the Eastern Pacific and is currently located approximately 1000 miles to our south-southeast. Norma is currently moving north-northwest at 9 knots.
While we are watching this system very closely, as of now, all tournament systems are a “GO” and the Bisbee’s Los Cabos Offshore tournament is expected to run as scheduled.
That being said, we will be meeting with the marina and Port Captain tomorrow morning to discuss any overnight changes.
Your safety and the safety of our team is our primary concern. We will be sure to keep you posted with any updates.
Thank you,
Wayne, Tricia, and the Bisbee’s Crew
LosCabos Offshore Schedule
2023 Black & Blue Schedule of Events
Cedros Island
Beckham reported that the group consistently took limits of chunky yellowtail on blue mackerel Rapalas and iron and trolled outside for dorado limits weighing around 17 pounds. He also said that they caught several halibut between 5 to 15 pounds on live bait while fishing the sandy bottom on the lee side of the Island.
Beckam also indicated that although fishing for big calico bass around Isla Natividad was off the charts, they caught and released multitudes of the big checkerboards using Gulp bait and Big Hammer plastics. Jason Landrom, with the Bass Rash Rods Charter, reported that he hooked limits of yellowtail weighing up to 20 pounds and an 18-pound halibut on a live sardine.
Mike Hidahl, a first-time angler from Chico, came over with a party of 9 other anglers and said that they ended up with limits of yellowtail while trolling Rapalas. They caught several dorados between 18 and 20 pounds on feather jigs and halibut between 8 to 10 pounds on live bait. Hidahl indicated that they didn’t see any red crabs where they were fishing, but they did see lots of bonito!!!
Another first-timer, Gary Hutton, of Cardiff, came to Cedros with a group of 12 anglers led by Joe and Jerry Metee of VG Donuts, also located in Cardiff, California. He said they took a lot of yellowtail weighing between 12 and 30 pounds and several dorado off the floating kelp paddies.
Hutton indicated that most of those fish weighed between 10 and 25 pounds and were taken on pink and purple feathers. He concluded that a few group members fished the Island’s lee side, with numerous halibut to 25 pounds caught on live bait and plastics.
Although we are still hoping for a few wahoo to pass before the season ends, nobody is complaining about the excellent fishing we are experiencing now. The good news is that there is enough time to enjoy the fun before the colder weather arrives….Tom Gatch
Ascensión Bay
My smoker has seen better days, but she did her job on this tuna! The wide-open tuna bite is ON! Come & get it!..Shari Bondy
La Bocana
Congratulations to Capt. Uriel and Ernesto! They got our first marlin of the season!!!.
Bahía Concepción
“Snapper hole” was the destination outside of Mulege. A few smaller yellowtail were caught through the infestation of small sharks at the high spot that stoke a few jigs. Dorado are still thick with 3 being caught while jigging halfway up the column. ..Come fish and stay with us at Casa Concepción south of Mulege. Message Nathan Burbey direct for more information.
Loreto
Wonderful day on overkill with William de Peralta, Renee Johnson, and Sean Derry at pulpito .
Sean and Renee showed us how to use slow pitch jigs…..so as will and I were killing bait these 2 filled the bag with fish. They worked there butts off and it paid off …Tim Yarbrough
López Mateos
Fishing is excellent inside Mag Bay and outside in the deeper water. Inside live bait shrimp and outside Nomad Divers and Cedar Plugs are working. Limits of yellowfin tuna by 10:30 a.m. Getting to the Banks is still a trial with the winds and rough seas. …Cheri King
La Paz
East Cape
Another great East Cape Classic Tournament at Hotel Palmas De Cortez this weekend. Lots of dorado and tuna with wahoo, pargo, triggerfish, and even a couple of rainbow runners making it to the dock. Reel Acquisition took top honors, with El Loco taking second and Team Rude Boy taking third. The largest Dorado on Day One went to Tres Amigos. The largest Tuna on Day Two went to Reel Aquasition, and Largest Dorado on Day Three went to Team Bite Me. The Super Jackpot for the Largest Tuna in Day Three went to Team Rude Boy. Congratulations to all the winners and all the participants. The East Cape Classic raised over $20,000. That will go to help the East Cape community through its foundation. Thank you to everyone who participated in the raffles, silent auctions, and live auctions. …Van Warmer Resorts
Gordo Banks
October 15th, 2023
Now it’s mid-October, and we continue to monitor another storm off the southern Pacific Coast; this is quite unusual for this late in the year. We are having slightly cooler mornings, with some in the low 70s and days in the low 90s and high 80s. The current conditions are still perfect for the formation of new cyclones. We expect rain and winds of up to 20-40 kts next Monday and Sunday. We hate to have to worry about these storms this late in the year, as we have busy weeks ahead of us. We will have to keep our generators close in case of power outages, which we are quite confident will happen according to the current weather forecast.
Yellowfin tuna at Vinorama and Iman banks have been the main focus recently. Sardina made a huge difference, though they remain in low supply and high demand. Sardina schools continue to be scattered and hard to find some days, which seems to happen yearly due to heavier pressure by the more significant numbers of charters, all competing for bait resources. The boats that were able to get sardina were coming back early with their limit of 5 per license. Some days, these tuna stayed low, and we had to strategize accordingly with small weights or drifting dead sardina. While drifting bait, there is a good chance of picking a nice variety off the jig, such as white bonito, red and yellowtail snapper, and grouper.
We continue to see big yellowfin tuna at the Gordo, but it has been more difficult due to the heavy pressure of the bigger boats scouting the areas and getting ready for the big tournaments. We have seen a good bite later in the day when most boats leave, with a few fish over 200 pounds. This is definitely a great sign and will make these tournaments very interesting and competitive.
With the showing of sardina, we also saw a significant increase in the number of dorado showing up. Most boats could find small schools of dorado while trolling or drifting with live sardina. There were a few days when most boats could catch their limit of dorado and still release a half-dozen. Most of these dorado are under 10 pounds, with an occasional nice bull in the mix.
We saw a few sailfish and striped marlin hooked and released on these same grounds. Bottom action is showing better signs week by week. Although the numbers are not large, we see a variety of white bonito, red and yellowtail snapper, grouper, and occasional amberjack in the mix.
The big three tournaments will start this week – the Offshore Bisbee, the Black and Blue Bisbee, and the WON Tuna Jackpot. Most of these events will typically have 200 or more teams. …Good Fishing, Brian Brictson
Los Cabos
Overall Catch Success Rate: 85%
Billfish:27%, Tuna:34%, Dorado:61% , Other:6%…Rebecca Ehrenberg
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