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.
Need a Mexican Fishing License?
https://app.sportfishingbcs.gob.mx/
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Large, 20 to 30-pound home-guard yellowtails are running, which is the story at IB. They are showing on the surface where anglers are catching them on fly line sardine and mint-colored surface iron around the NW corner area.
Plus, there are schools down around 100 to 150 feet that can be hooked on yoyo iron or a dropper loop mackerel/sardine, IF you can get it in front of them before the school moves on.…Fish Dope
Halibut:
A few boats find excellent halibut fishing in Imperial Beach along the edges of the IB Pipe and drifting the hard bottom on the Flats. There are a fair number of shorts in legal sizes of up to 20 pounds. Live sardines drifted on 15 to 25-pound test with 8 to 10 oz. of lead is the ticket. Just make sure you have live bait! That could be sardine, mackerel, anchovy, smelt, tomcod, queenfish, or nasty old lizard fish. Use a dropper loop rig with a long leader – five to ten feet is ideal.
Use enough lead to hold to the bottom, probably around 6 to 12 oz. most days.
Sand Bass:
Your best bet is the IB Pipe with fresh dead squid. Use the knocker rig and pin a whole squid on the hook. Run the hook through the pointy end first and then swing it around and run it through it a 2nd time. It should look natural and glide through the water like a live one if done right. If it spins, fix it so it doesn’t.
Some guys are also scoring with the plastics.
Hookup Baits and KJ MA swimbaits work well when fished and dead-sticking in tandem. Just cast and let it sink without doing anything. Once on the bottom, wind up 20 to 30 feet and repeat. Bites are coming on the sink! Wait for that little “tick” on the line! THAT IS A BITE! Set the hook quickly, or they will spit it. …Fish Dope
——— Mexican Waters ————
Mexican Permits AVAILABLE here:
https://www.californiasportfishing.org
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
Recently, some have found good fishing for reds, bocaccio, Mexicans, and assorted red rockfish, along with a decent shot at lingcod. The depth is 450 to 700 feet.
Sardine and squid for the rockfish – sardine and live mackerel or jigs for the lingcod!…Fish Dope
hanging around the Rockpile, under birds and sonar schools between 120 and 180 feet. Although, recently, there have not been as many. They have been biting surface iron in mint (best), bird droppings, and scrambled egg colors.
Boats have been catching yellows using sonar down deep on the yoyo iron (like the 6xjr and 6x full-size-type jigs in any color). Of course, if the yellows fail to show, there is always good rockfish and lingcod fishing at the Rockpile.. …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.
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Weather permitting, local pangas catch yellowtail, bonito, and many rockfish. The yellows are in the 18 to 25-pound class at Salsipuedes, Todo Santos, Punta Banda, and down the coast at Santo Tomas/Isolete, plus under some surface fish under birds and yoyo iron at Rockpiles. Some big bonito weighing up to 10 pounds continue to show, and a few barracuda pop up from time-to-time, too. 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 so far, there is pretty good rockfish action at San Miguel Reef, plus, lots of red rockfish..…Fish Dope
Colonet
Yellowtail from 15 to 25 pounds are on the High Spot in fair numbers – not wide open by any means, but some have been caught over the last few days on yoyo iron, both early and late. There have also been many reds, other quality, and good numbers of lingcod…fish dope
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Good weather, epic fishing, yellows on the yoyo, and surface iron at K&M SPORT FISHING!!! There are lots of openings, so let’s go! …Cristian Catian
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Click on location name for area information
Sadly, we share the news of the recent demise of Rosa Maria (Cha Cha) Ruiz Gonzalez Vda. de Van Wormer, widow of Bob Van Wormer, who preceded her in death in 2010, and her sons the beloved mother to Bobby, Jr., Eddie, and Chucky, owners and operators of Van Wormer Resorts. Cha, as she was known to most, was not just a leader and visionary in the hospitality industry, she is a cherished wife, mother, grandmother, and friend to many.
Cha Cha’s passion for excellence and dedication to providing unparalleled experiences for guests was evident in every aspect of Van Wormer Resorts. Her warm smile, generous spirit, and unwavering commitment to hospitality touched the lives of countless individuals over the years.
As we mourn the loss of Cha Cha, we also celebrate her remarkable life and legacy. Her vision and leadership have left a memorable mark on Van Wormer Resorts and the Los Barriles community. So many of us in the Community are grateful for the opportunity to have known Cha Cha, and we mourn her loss. Yet, we also celebrate her remarkable life and legacy. Her vision and leadership have left a memorable mark on Van Wormer Resorts and Los Barriles. We who worked alongside her are grateful for the invaluable lessons she imparted.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the Van Wormer family and her loved ones during this difficult time. May her memory be a source of comfort and inspiration to all who knew her? RIPhttps://www.bdoutdoors.com/travel/van-wormers-next-generation/
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Excellent fishing in the BC Sword 350 gr Barrel from Pro Hunter marking an unforgettable fishing…Chema Medina
Another day, we were entertained by our whale friend, Vicky, in Laguna Ojo de Liebre. We saw dozens of whales around us and some exciting breaches! …Shari Bondy
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Click on location name for area information
Mulege Rotary Club
Here are some highlights of the award ceremonies and fabulous raffle…Many thanks to all who participated and a big thanks to Rotarian Bill Ochs who made this tournament possible!
Awards for the Mulege Rotary Fishing Tournament at La Jungla! They had an awesome fish fry with some of the 488 pounds of fish that were caught and donated! What wasn’t cooked for the dinner went to the Mulege Rotary Food Bank and Casa Hogar.
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Click on location name for area information
I’m still rockin’ inside Mag Bay from Pto. A. Lopez Mateos with the live bait shrimp. But this is the last week of that. Shrimp season ends on Mar. 15. It is windy, but being tucked in next to the mangroves is like a day in the park! …Cheri King – Lopez Mateos Sportfishing.
…Cheri King – Lopez Mateos Sportfishing.
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MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING REPORT from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Mar.2-12, 2024
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This past week in the East Cape, fishing for good-sized dorado continued to produce a few. While not schooled, boats might get single and sometimes double dorado hookups if trolling. There were not many marlin caught this week, though there were a few roosters around Palmas de Cortez Hotel, which provided some action early in the morning and mid-week. We also have a few yellowtail in the area, but they are down deep and mixed with skipjack. You have to fight through the skipjack…..Jeff DeBrown
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March 10th, 2024 We continue to see big crowds of “spring breakers” arriving in the Los Cabos area. The weather is slowly starting to take a turn as we are experiencing warmer
mornings and earlier sunrises. This week, we experienced high winds primarily
from the North/North-west. These winds started earlier in the mornings, making
it difficult for the fleet to run towards Iman and San Luis Banks.The yellowfin tuna bite took a drastic turn of events throughout mid-week. We had a good run throughout Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday through Friday were slow days as we did not see good numbers. In order not to get so beat up by the wind, most boats tried to
get to Iman and La Fortuna earlier in the morning and then focused closer to
shore and Punta Gorda for a chance at a few dorado, Sierra, and bottom species.
Most boats saved the day with a couple of nice dorado, grouper, and snapper for
dinner.We did have some tuna earlier in the week with live sardina. While cleaning up some of these tuna, the fillet crew noticed their stomachs were full of red crab. Many captains mentioned that the tuna would come up on the sardina but wouldn’t bite. This weekend, a few boats stuck it out and ran the distance to San Luis, where they found some excellent
schools of tuna again. The wind forecast for next week looks good, so we are
excited to explore San Luis Bank more to see if the tuna bite remains
consistent.Bottom action shows promising signs as we continue to see good numbers of grouper, snapper, triggerfish, and amberjack. This week, we also heard of the first 20 to
30-pound yellowtail caught in the area. Most bottom activity from sardina and jigs, though some big fish were lost with live bonito/skipjack and green jacks (cocinero). The fleet caught a nice 78-pound amberjack with a live bonito at Iman. The fleet continues to catch great numbers of white bonito while fishing for tuna. We also saw a few wahoo caught
this week at Iman; most of them caught on live sardina by accident. The
highlight was a respectable 40-pounder caught on a jig! We heard of a few nicer
wahoo lost while trolling rigged ballyhoo and Rapalas earlier in the morning.
Since many boats focused closer to shore this week, we saw many Sierra at the fillet station and released some roosterfish. The roosterfish bite with live sardina at La Laguna has been full of action. Some boats reported catching and releasing double-digit numbers. Most of these roosters are averaging 10 to 15 pounds. While fishing the shoreline, we have also caught Sierra and Jacks.….Good Fishing, Brian Brictson
Cabo San Lucas
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Pisces Fish Report March 1 – 7, 2024
Overall Catch Success Rate: All Species Combined 95.45%
Billfish Catch Success Rate, Billfish, 59.09%% Dorado 45.45% Tuna 33.33% Other Species 28.79%
As the week began, it had the characteristics of preceding weeks with cookie-cutter weather and similar sea temperatures. According to the Captain and crew reports, the banks had been holding good-sized schools of striped marlin. They seemed to have lost their allure (primarily baitfish), which had accounted for the stripers’ presence in the various areas in prior weeks.
The double-digit scores of billfish releases that some of the fleet boats had posted during the past two months were no longer the norm. The striped marlin, sailfish, and dorado were still around – no longer in the volume the crews had grown accustomed to; however, our crews were resourceful and patient.
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.
