Bajabytes SportFishing Weekly Update 2.28.24
The following report focuses on many fishing updates, photos, and news from various locations up and down the East and West Coasts of the entire Baja Peninsula. It provides valuable information for fishing enthusiasts, contributed by local and visiting fishermen.
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https://app.sportfishingbcs.gob.mx/
Imperial Beach
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The sand bass bite at the Imperial Beach Pipe is back on after slowing down for about a week.
Guys are fishing the “knocker rig” which is just simply a 3/4 oz slider on the line ahead of a 1.5 to 2-oz. lead head along with a whole fresh dead squid. The slider and the lead head “knock” against each other, making a sound which appears to attract the bass and sculpin.
Guys are also using Hook Up Baits in green sardine or mint blue and just casting them out as far as they can, and dead-sticking them until they get a bite.
Halibut are also showing on the hard, sandy bottom along the edges of the Pipe. …Fish Dope
——— Mexican Waters ————
Mexican Permits AVAILABLE here:
FMM link here: https://www.gob.mx/inm/acciones-y-programas/sport-fishing-and-nautical-tourism
If you have trouble with FMM, here is an email for assistance: bc_pescadeportiva@inami.gob.mx When bringing fish back to the US from Mexico, make sure to have your Declaration Forms filled out for everyone on the boat. Forms Here
Lower 9 Mile Bank
There have been no changes at theLower 9 Mile Bank. The fishing has held steady, and the rockfish bite remains good in 400 to 700 feet. If you use 30 to 40-pound braid and 2 to 3 pounds of lead, the light line allows you to fish deep without much effect from the current. Guys are catching a mix of red rockfish including bocaccio, reds, and Mexicans, with lots of whitefish, too. Drop down a live mackerel for the bigger reds, bocaccio, and lingcod. …Fish Dope
Coronado Islands/Rockpile
The yellowtail have moved back into this area! They are currently down around the Rockpile but could flood up into the Islands proper at any moment. These yellows are in the 15 to 30-poun class and are showing best between 120-180ft. Today it was sonar fishing, waiting to mark a school and dropping yoyos or dropper loop sardines on them, although they were not biting. Over the last couple days, some guys have seen them up on the surface rolling on bait and some guys got them to eat the surface iron and flylined sardines. …Fish Dope
**** ATTENTION ****
You must stay at least 250 meters (820 feet) away from tuna pens. If you don’t, you risk losing your boat and landing in a Mexican jail.
Click here for more details on this subject.
Ensenada
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The yellowtail fishing continues to improve. Local pangas are finding yellows in the 18 to 25 pound class at Todo Santos, Punta Banda and down the coast to Santo Tomas. Some surface fish are found under birds and deep fish are caught on yoyo iron at the rockpiles.
Some big bonito up to 10 pounds continue to show, also.
And of course there is excellent fishing for all kinds of red rockfish and lingcod at Punta Santo Tomas.
If you don’t want to travel that far, there is decent rockfish action at San Miguel Reef with lots of red rockfish being caught there.
Colonet
There have been some yellows caught here over the last few days, and there have also been some big bonito around. The yellows have been caught on yoyo iron down around 180 to 225 feet. There have also been some big bonito around. Off the edge of the High Spot in 450 – 600 feet of water, fishing for big reds, chilies, Mexicans, bocaccio, and lingcod has been excellent, as it usually is! …fish dope
San Quintin
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We have been killing it on the surface iron in San Quintin at K&M SPORT FISHING!
Bahia de los Angeles
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Excellent Fishing! Local, under solitude. With Capt. Ignacio Duarte in the Blackfin II.
Guerrero Negro
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Amazing animals in the line today…white sea bass, cavicuchos with our friends at Tag. Cabo Sportfishing very good fishing in Guerrero Negro, BCS! …Chema Medina
Bahía Asunción
The yellowtail bite is still going strong!!!
Photo …Ernesto Fernández
Bahía Concepción
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…Nathan Burbey.
Loreto
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German Martinez Davis getting his clients on some yellows down in Loreto fishing on MILF…Nathan Burbey
López Mateos
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Still awesome in Lopez Mateos – inside Mag Bay with live bait shrimp. And lots of whale activity entertaining the visitors!!! …Cheri King – Lopez Mateos Sportfishing.
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MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING REPORT from Tailhunter Sportfishing for the Week of Feb. 8-15, 2024
East Cape
The East Cape continues to fish well. This past week, we had nice weather, which allowed boats to go out. The action was once again steady for some nice dorado and a few marlin. Both species continue to provide some action. Yellowtail also provided some action, but was slower than last week. A good early morning bite for sierra at the light house–the fish were active from sunrise until about 7:30 or 8:00, and then the action slowed. I did hear about a few roosters in the same area as the sierra, but I can’t confirm that for sure.. …Jeff DeBrown
San Jose del Cabo
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GORDO BANKS PANGAS
February 25th, 2024
It was a busier week than usual for this time of year as our fleet saw a few days with up to ten charters. We had many families arriving in Los Cabos for President’s week. The weather was ideal as we were experiencing warmer temperatures with mornings in the low to mid-60s and sunny days in the mid-80s. The conditions were ideal for families wanting to experience great fishing and sunny warm days. Surprising to say, the fishing was as good, if not better than last week.
The main target species this week was yellowfin tuna. We continue to see nice schools of tuna at Iman and La Fortuna, the best action coming from Iman. The bait guys continue to net nice-sized sardina in the mornings. The tuna bite has been consistent throughout most of the day. We have seen some days with better action earlier in the mornings and other days with more action in the afternoon/evening; hard to predict how the bite will be each day, though we have seen great numbers throughout most of the week. The average tuna is around 20 to 30 pounds, though we were surprised to see bigger fish show by the end of this week. The fleet caught many tuna in the 50 to 90-pound range; they were definitely a tough fight on light tackle. Many of these bigger fish broke off after long fights due to light tackle. The biggest tuna brought in this week was close to 110 pounds, which was a 3-hour fight on 40# test.
Within the same Iman/La Fortuna area, we landed some big dorado. Even though we did see lower numbers of dorado this week, we saw better quality fish as most of the dorado were averaging 15 to 25 pounders. The biggest dorado caught this week was a 49-pounder while drifting live sardina for tuna.
Bottom fishing was a bit slower this week, but we did see some nice-sized grouper, amberjack, and yellow snapper. Most of these bottom fish are being caught on live green jacks also known as “cocinero” or live sardina. We are also landing a few on jigs, though live bait seems to be more productive. While jigging, we caught a significant amount of white bonito; a few boats that focused on jigging were able to catch upwards of ten in a few hours. Though these bonito were not the targeted species, they are great to eat.
We also had great marlin action while fishing for tuna. Although most of the marlin bites came on live sardina and cocinero, the fishing grounds of Iman and La Fortuna have been consistently productive, and we continue to be surprised every day as we see no signs of it stopping.
The most surprising this week was a wahoo bite at Punta Gorda on Thursday. It seems that this only lasted through the mornings as many boats tried that same afternoon and Friday and came in empty-handed. One of the boats that fished the area on Thursday morning was able to land 12 wahoo! Many of these fish were averaging 15 to 20 pounds, with a couple of 30 pounders in the mix. Live sardina and Rapalas were the go-to. We are excited to see what the last week of February can produce!!! Good Fishing, Brian Brictson
GORDO BANKS PANGAS…Good Fishing, Brian
Cabo San Lucas
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Overall Catch Success Rate, All Species Combined 91.59%.
Billfish Catch Success Rate 91.59%, Billfish, 64.49% Dorado 48.60% Tuna 15.89% Other Species 16.82%.
We began this week with 5 to 6-foot waves, just as we did last week, and once again, we had 11 to 12-knot winds. However, that didn’t deter Captain Osiel and his mate Joel from heading out to one of their favorite sites, the Los Arcos Bank, aboard the “BB ll,” in a tricked-out 37′ Viking. Long before they arrived, they could see the “bird schools” in the Binos hovering above bait balls driven to the surface by the feeding striped marlin.
Guests Antonio Moreno, Gonzalo Castro, Jesús De Luna, and Rodrigo Gutiérrez from San Antonio, Texas, watched in awe as the boat slid onto the spot. Mate Joel put out the lures before adding a couple of cocinero bait fish on the bait rods to drop back if the stripers should appear behind the colorful lures as they bubbled in the wake.
FRIDAY, February 28, 2024 complete report. Link If you and your friends have fished somewhere in Baja and would like to share the results of your trips, our staff and followers would appreciate your info and tips, and we would be happy to include your observations, the locations, and the fishing conditions your groups encountered.
