Bajabytes Sport Fishing Update
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
Lately, the islands have been pretty dead. They were last looked at on Sunday, and the water temp was 63.5 degrees at North Island. The water was slightly warmer (64.5) at the South Island and was green but very clear. There were no signs of gamefish, and no bass were biting! …Fish Dope
Ensenada
One for the kids…Old Glory Sport Fishing
San Quintin
Come down and visit the newly renovated Don Eddie’s Landing, where the new owners – Eddie & Angelica – have brought this popular San Quintin landmark back to its historic charm with all redecorated rooms, including heating and A/C, along with new plumbing and electrical, providing you with a comfortable and enjoyable stay. There are two new hot tubs for guests to soak in at day’s end.
Bahía de Los Angeles
Today something #yellowtail #mahimahi . …Joel’s Sportfishing & Ecotours
South (Baja Sur)
Bisbee’s Tournaments Dodged Norma’s Curveball, Succeeding in Netting Two Teams MILLIONS in 2023!
In 2006, the largest single payout in sport fishing history was awarded to Anthony Hsieh’s Team Bad Company during the Bisbee Black & Blue Tournament in Cabo San Lucas for a record tournament paycheck of $3,902,997. The overall payout that year was $4,165,960.
Seventeen years later, in 2023, the Bisbee Black and Blue has a history-making payout of $9 Million combined with $2 Million for their LCO, and with the 211 Teams in contention, it has been quite a history-making tournament or tournaments. More to follow.
Jakob Gonterman, an angler on Team Stella June, hooked a Black Marlin and landed it on Thursday, Day One at 3:00 p.m. It was the first fish to come to the scale during the Tournament. On Saturday night, the Tournament Awards presented the Team a check in the amount of $4.4 Million, exceeding that of the $3.9 record of “Bad Company” in 2006. This check is the largest written in the history of the Bisbee tournaments.
Not to be outdone, Team Rocky Mountain Hooker’s Trevor Evans hooked a 501-pound Blue Marlin and boated it at 9:45 a.m. on Friday, Day Two, capturing the Team honors for the largest fish, as well as for the Tournament, earning thema check for $3.9 Million.
And this was all managed with an extremely short fuse. Hurricane Norma rolled into Cabo San Lucas just as the Bisbee Team and their partners implemented the final adjustments for their extraordinary innovations to the 21st Los Cabos Offshore Tournament and the 43rd Black & Blue. Norma was the worst Hurricane to hit the peninsula since Odile on September 13, 2014. The boats were already in the Harbor, and teams were ready to register for the event.
Storm warnings ricocheted across the internet, and despite their multi-million-dollar boats possibly being in harm’s way, Captains and owners opted to remain as participants. They hastily moved their boats north to La Paz or headed to Magdalena Bay, while a few stayed in Cabo San Lucas to ride out the Hurricane. The Bisbee staff was awed by the reception and loyalty of the fleet of anglers as they hung in, eager to be part of the shorter tournaments.
Ascensión Bay
No Report
La Bocana
No Report
Bahía Concepción
Great fishing this last week. We had some guests at Casa Concepcion who wanted to tug on some fish and 3 days of almost no wind. Great mixed bag everyday. Nice great Yellowtail right off the bottom with MILF Knife Jigs. The flat falls did work to make a nice mixed bag of Almaco Jack, Huachinango (Red Snapper) and Pinto. On First drop of Second day a hefty Dorado picked up a Flat Fall on the drop. Very happy group with a mixed bag of fish to bring home..Nathan Burbey
Loreto
Good catch of the day… Francisco Omar Mayoral Velis
López Mateos
Fishing outside the Soledad Boca is excellent – wahoo, yellowfin tuna, dorado, and striped marlin. We are getting tired of bitchin’ about the wind and seas! Fishing inside Mag Bay with the live bait shrimp is terrific. On the same spot – one day – all grouper and snook, and the next day – same spot – all pargo and snook. Norma consisted of only a little rain Saturday morning. This is the kind of storm watch we like! …Cheri King
La Paz
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING REPORT from Tailhunter Sportfishing for the Week of Oct. 14-22, 2023 MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING REPORT from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Oct. 24- 30, 2023
East Cape
No Report
Gordo Banks
Luckily for us and our busy season ahead, Hurricane Norma did not affect the fishing. The first couple days after the hurricane, the water was dirty and green as usual. After a couple of days, everything seemed to be back to normal, if not better than previous weeks. The main target is still yellowfin tuna at Iman and Vinorama Banks. There has been a lot of skipjacks in the same area, so it is a matter of what species gets the bait first. We are still using strips of squid due to sardinas supplies being very limited. Most of these tuna are averaging 20-40 pounds, with some occasional 70-100 pounder in the mix. Most of the boats this week were able to land 5+ tuna per day. Within the same area, we are starting to see more bottom fish action as expected. This week, we saw quite a few amberjack, yellowtail snapper, and grouper, most of them caught on the jig while drifting for tuna.
The big Bisbee’s tournament is now over and that does help alleviate some of the stress on the Gordo Banks. We still have the Western Outdoor News Cabo Tuna Jackpot coming up on November 2nd and 3rd. This will be an interesting one as there were quite a few tuna caught during the Bisbee’s. One of our local guys (Congratulations to Captain Romelio and team North Star) won the Top tuna overall on the Bisbee’s Offshore Tournament with two yellowfins, 236 and 93.8 pounders. The best chance at finding one of these bigger tuna is trolling live skipjacks or bulito on the Inner and Outer Gordo.
With the change in water temperature, we are starting to see some wahoo show up at the Gordo and Iman Banks. There have been a few hooked fast trolling rapalas and lures, and some others are hitting the jigs on the surface. Most of these fish have been lost near the gaff. For some reason, this tends to be the case with the first showing wahoo of the season; you have to be extra careful and smooth while reeling these fish in.
Overall, we have seen a lot of action and a nice variety over the last week. With similar weather and water conditions ahead, we expect for fishing to remain consistent and more species to show…Good Fishing, Brian
Los Cabos
Over $700k was won by our tournament teams on Day 1 of the 2023 Cabo Tuna Jackpot with a 284.65-pound tuna taking top billing – congratulations Team Sneak Attack (116) for the big fish of the event so far and to Land’s End Charters (35), Stormbird (29) and Overtime (11) for their wahoo and dorado category wins!
What will tomorrow bring? Tune in tomorrow for Day 2 updates, interviews, weigh-in action, and more big payouts…