Bajabytes Sport Fishing Weekly Update 03.20.24
Need a Mexican Fishing License?
https://app.sportfishingbcs.gob.m
Imperial Beach
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Halibut:
The bite has slowed up a great deal along the coast as it has everywhere else. Boats might still score one or two along the edge of the IB Pipe or on the IB Flats if they are fishing on the hard bottom. Live sardines drifted on a 15 to 25-pound test with 8 to 10oz of lead, but live bait is the ticket! That can be sardine, mackerel, anchovy, smelt, tomcod, queenfish, or nasty old lizard fish. Use a dropper loop rig with a long leader – 5 to 10 feet is ideal.
Be sure to use enough lead to hold to the bottom fast. Probably around 6 to 12oz most days…Fish Dope
Sand Bass:
The IB Pipe and the IB Flats have produced good sand bass fishing. On Saturday, we also had a report that many sand bass by-catch have been found in 50 feet of water, about a half-mile north of the IB Pipe. They are stealing all the halibut bait,
“The “Knocker Rig,” which is a 1/2 to 3/4 slider on the line above a green banana leadhead with a whole fresh dead squid, has been the top fish getter. The plastic tube bait is also working well, fished in tandem, and dead sticking them. Just cast it out and let it sink without doing anything. Once on the bottom, wind it up 20 to 30 feet and repeat. Most bites are coming on the sink while fishing with these bait!” The “catchphrase,” ‘Don’t blink on the sink,’ is for Hook Up Baits, and it is entirely true! Watch for that little “tick” on the line – then set the hook…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
There has been decent fishing for reds, bocaccio, Mexicans, and other assorted red rockfish, with a decent shot at a lingcod at depths of 450 to 700 feet.
Sardine and squid are best for the rockfish, sardine, live mackerel, or jigs for the lingcod.
Watch for breezing yellowtail and have a surface iron rigged up and ready, just in case…Fish Dope
The Islands and the Rockpile got a good look yesterday. The yellowtail are MIA, but there has been very good rockfish, sheepshead, and lingcod fishing at the Rockpile.
The yellows will likely show again soon.
The surface yellows will likely be suckers for a mint-colored Tady 45 or a Salas 7x, or any other full-size surface iron.
Determine which way the school moves and try to get ahead of it. Then, cast your jig to the leading edge of the school.
There is nothing better than to watch a group of yellowtail follow your jig and grab it in plain sight!
Wind that jig so it has a nice side-to-side kick without rolling over. Every jig is different, so you must watch it and adjust the speed accordingly.
For those possible sonar fish, keep a second outfit loaded with 40 to 60 pounds rigged up with a yoyo iron like the 6xjr and 6x full-size type jig. Don’t worry about the color of the yoyo iron.
Drop the jig down through the fish, which are often on the bottom. Jig it up and down a few times, then wind it up as fast as possible. If you get bit, the rod will load up. DO NOT SET THE HOOK! Especially important. Just keep winding until the line is slipping off your reel. Now fight the yellow as you would normally. …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 / Santo Tomas / Isolete
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Local pangas are focused mainly on rockfish, but there is a pretty good volume of yellowtail and big bonito around and a slight chance of scoring some barracuda.
The yellows have appeared up north at Salsipuedes, at Todo Santos Island, Punta Banda, and down the coast to Isolete.
Some are breezing under the birds, and some are running around at 100 to 150 feet deep. That means having both a surface iron rod and a Yoyo iron rig ready to go right away.
Anglers are also scoring some big 8 to 12-pound bonito. Most of these are coming on the troll. DTX minnows are scoring both yellowtail and big bonito. Big bones are also jumping on feathers and cedar plugs.
And, of course, there is excellent fishing for all kinds of grouper, red rockfish, and lingcod at Punta Santo Tomas.
If you don’t want to travel so far, there is good rockfish action and lots of red rockfish caught at San Miguel Reef. …fish dope.
Colonet
A few half-day and longer trips are stopping here and finding a sample of 15 to 30-pound yellows on the High Spot with big yoyo iron like the 6x full size and the 7x heavy.
There is also excellent fishing for big red and lingcod along the edges of the High Spot down around 180 to 300 feet of water. …fish dope
San Quintin
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Early yellowtail action has locals energized! … Eduardo Garcia Gonzalez
Bahia de los Angeles
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No Report
BAJA SUR
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The Second “Bulnes” 2024 International Sport Fishing Tournament to benefit the Cabo San Lucas Fire and Rescue Corps will be held April 13 and 14, 2024.
Los Cabos, Baja California Sur – At a press conference accompanied by organizers and guests, the agenda and details of the Second “Bulnes” 2024 International Sport Fishing Tournament to benefit the Cabo San Lucas Fire and Rescue Corps, held April 13 and 14 of this year. Mr. Clicerio Mercado Hernández and Mr. Gonzalo Alamea Camacho are in charge of organizing the tournament.
In addition the “Bulnes” International Sport Fishing Tournament will offer a FREE Children’s IGFA Passport Fishing Clinic, where children are instructed on how to assemble rods, reels, shore fish, tie knots, fishing and swimming safety and, most importantly, the reason for preserving the species dedicated to sport fishing and the care of our seas. The FREE Children’s Fishing Clinic will be held on Friday, April 12, at the Cabo San Lucas Fire Department facilities.
Registration fees for the Second “Bulnes” 2024 International Sport Fishing Tournament are 6 thousand pesos per team of up to four fishermen. Registration of participating fishermen will be on Saturday, April 13, starting at noon; the Captain’s meeting will be held at 7:00 pm, in front of the statue of Don Luis Bulnes. The only day of fishing is Sunday, April 14, with the starting shot at 7:00 am. The weigh-in scale opens at 1:00 pm and goes on until 5:00 pm in the afternoon.
The angler with the heaviest yellowtail will be awarded First Place: 250 thousand pesos, and 150 thousand and 100 thousand pesos for Second and Third Place, respectively.
The jackpots range from one thousand, two thousand, five thousand, and ten thousand pesos for Jurel and Sierra. The tournament awards will be at 6:00 pm
The Second “Bulnes” 2024 International Sport Fishing Tournament to benefit the Cabo San Lucas Fire and Rescue Corps will be held April 13 and 14, 2024.
Los Cabos, Baja California Sur – At a press conference accompanied by organizers and guests, the agenda and details of the Second “Bulnes” 2024 International Sport Fishing Tournament to benefit the Cabo San Lucas Fire and Rescue Corps, held April 13 and 14 of this year. Mr. Clicerio Mercado Hernández and Mr. Gonzalo Alamea Camacho are in charge of organizing the tournament.
In addition the “Bulnes” International Sport Fishing Tournament will offer a FREE Children’s IGFA Passport Fishing Clinic, where children are instructed on how to assemble rods, reels, shore fish, tie knots, fishing and swimming safety and, most importantly, the reason for preserving the species dedicated to sport fishing and the care of our seas. The FREE Children’s Fishing Clinic will be held on Friday, April 12, at the Cabo San Lucas Fire Department facilities.
Registration fees for the Second “Bulnes” 2024 International Sport Fishing Tournament are 6 thousand pesos per team of up to four fishermen. Registration of participating fishermen will be on Saturday, April 13, starting at noon; the Captain’s meeting will be held at 7:00 pm, in front of the statue of Don Luis Bulnes. The only day of fishing is Sunday, April 14, with the starting shot at 7:00 am. The weigh-in scale opens at 1:00 pm and goes on until 5:00 pm in the afternoon.
The angler with the heaviest yellowtail will be awarded First Place: 250 thousand pesos, and 150 thousand and 100 thousand pesos for Second and Third Place, respectively.
The jackpots range from one thousand, two thousand, five thousand, and ten thousand pesos for Jurel and Sierra. The tournament awards will be at 6:00 pm in the afternoon in front of the IGY Marinas offices.
The starting shot will be aboard the “Cabo Escape” boat from Wild Cabo Tours. The invitation to participate in the tournament is open to the entire sport fishing community in Baja California Sur.
The event benefits the operation of the Cabo San Lucas Fire Department in front of the IGY Marinas offices.
The starting shot will be aboard the “Cabo Escape” boat from Wild Cabo Tours. The invitation to participate in the tournament is open to the entire sport fishing community in Baja California Sur.The event benefits the operation of the Cabo San Lucas Fire Department
Guerrero Negro
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What a fantastic trip!
Tomorrow, we will go home and prepare for the next trip here! I will be setting up more trips to Guerrero Negro, however; if you like to travel on your own and want to work directly with our new family members, Chema Medina, Erik Medina, and Julian Medina Espinoza, please hit them up. They are so welcoming! The hugs and smiles were genuine. Their knowledge is exceptional. I congratulate their parents for raising these exceptional model human beings! Orchid Martinez
As I suspected, the Gray Whales are heading north earlier than they have in the past to start feeding. We noticed them leaving a few weeks ago, and each day, there have been fewer and fewer, with primarily mothers and calves left to watch. Buen Viaje, my friends. Safe travels and happy eating!…Shari Bondy
Bahía Asunción
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Calm this week which hopefully will allow the yellowtail bite to resume. Shari Bondy
Fishing within the estuary – enjoy this incredible activity with us! …Reservations 615-109-9513.
Saint Rosalia
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Bahía Concepción
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Nice Yellowtail on MILF Slider Jigs.,,Nathan Burbey
Loreto
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The guys working in Nautical Experience Sportfishing & Tours – caught eight yellowtail and four grouper. … Ali Missael Arce Romano.
López Mateos
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Well, live bait shrimp season for inside fishing is over, so we are back to sardina and plastics. Grouper, snook, pargo, corvina, trigger, halibut, and croaker (They are huge this year!). Still good fishing inside Mag Bay, and amazingly, the yellowfin tuna are still outside – wind and seas permitting!…Cheri King – Lopez Mateos Sportfishing.
La Paz
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MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING REPORT from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Mar.2-12, 2024
East Cape
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Here on East Cape, we had a repeat of last week. We had calm seas, allowing boats to get out. The boats are still catching some dorado as well as some marlin. The bite for the yellowtail picked up a bit, but it was an early bite. So many boats first tried for yellowtail, then headed off the bank looking for dorado and marlin. Most boats averaged two to four dorado and a marlin…..Jeff DeBrown
San Jose del Cabo
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GORDO BANKS PANGAS
March 17th, 2024
This week was very similar to the previous one. It started full of action and slowed down significantly throughout the end of the week. Yellowfin tuna continued to be the target species, though the numbers have not been great. Tuna action is slowing down, yet we still see them boil and chase the live sardina. Many of our captains reported seeing some big tuna at Iman and San Luis, a few over 150 pounds. One of the local pangeros caught one closer to 170 pounds one afternoon. This Sunday, we had a local tuna tournament where 27 boats participated. Congratulations to Chame and Team Castro for stealing the show with a 106-pounder.
The dorado bite also slowed. We mostly saw smaller dorado this week. Many of them were released as they were small females. We are finding most of these dorado closer to shore, where we also catch reasonable amounts of sierra. Though nothing big yet, we continue to see roosterfish throughout the shoreline, averaging 8 to 10 pounds. Bonito and bottom fishing remain consistent throughout different rock structures at Iman, La Fortuna, and Cardon. We are catching a few red snappers, groupers, yellowtail, amberjack, and triggerfish. Most of this bottom action comes from jigs and live sardina. This week’s main highlight was a 64-pound wahoo caught on live sardina with no wire. This was quite the story as the Captain reported the wahoo jumping a couple of times when hooked, having to chase it down in reverse. We also saw a few smaller wahoo (10 to 15 pounds) caught on sardina while fishing for tuna.….Good Fishing, Brian Brictson
Cabo San Lucas
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Pisces Fish Report March 8-14, 2024
Overall Catch Success Rate: All Species Combined 93.75%
Billfish Catch Success Rate, Billfish, 39.58%% Dorado 36.46% Tuna 30.21% Other Species 45.83%
Our week began like the last one ended, with remarkable weather featuring clear skies and calm seas. Wave heights were in the 3-foot range, sea temps were from 71 to 73 degrees, and the days’ highs approached 77 degrees.
Throughout this period, our clients had the luxury of choosing various species to target – striped marlin, sailfish, dorado, yellowfin, roosterfish, grouper, sheepshead, Sierra, skipjack, triggerfish, mako shark, silky shark, hammerhead shark, ladyfish, and red snapper.
For example, Mark Chiavetta from San Jose, California, has fished with the Pisces Fleet for 15 years. When Mark boarded the boat, the “BILL COLLECTOR II,” Captain Juan C. Lopez and his mate briefed him on what was happening at each of the major fishing spots. As they headed out of the marina, they agreed to focus on fun fishing until other boats in the fleet reported on billfish information.
Mark Chiavetta has been mentioned in reports and periodicals numerous times over the years for some of his many remarkable catches, including an astonishing 805 black marlin and a stand-up swordfish more recently, both of which he hooked aboard his favorite sportfisher “BILL COLLECTOR II,” a 35-foot Cabo Flybridge with Captain Lopez.
During the day, the family moved from spot to spot, catching anything that happened to be biting. The results were extraordinary! Fishing on several different banks, Mark caught dorado, sierra, bonito, grouper, ladyfish, and sheepshead.
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. email me at thatbajaguy@gmail.com
