BAJA UPDATE

BAJA UPDATE: Never say ‘die’ BAHIA ASUNCION (Just south of Guerrero Negro): BY ROBIN WADE/WON Staff WriterPublished: May 10, 2010

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ROBIN WADE BAJA WEEKLY REPORT San Q’s Don Eddie’s returns with a vengeance! SAN  QUINTIN—As if bad media coverage in the states as well a “slowed economy” weren’t handicaps enough, in case you hadn’t heard, a fire here in San Quintin destroyed the entire restaurant/bar, kitchen, offices and tackle shop at Don Eddie’s. That was the bad news, although he is building a new palapa right in from of the bay and hopes to start serving food in the next few weeks. What is truly brilliant though, is a new shuttle system idea he is putting together to bring American down by bus.  “The idea is for you to leave you personal vehicle in a secure parking complex on the U.S. side and be shuttled from the parking complex to the border. Once you have crossed the border you will be met by our shuttle staff that will be in charge of bringing you to Don Eddie’s in a relaxed and comfortable environment and then take you back,” Eddie said. By not having to drive, Eddie hopes to alleviate any language problems, wear and tear on angler’s vehicles, start their fishing trip once they get on the shuttle with a cold cerveza and arrive ready to go fish. The Mexican Department of Tourism has also shown an interest in becoming part of this service and will be with the shuttle to and from Don Eddie’s Landing. “They are also offering free fishing licenses to all who participate in this new service,” Eddie said. “We are working on putting together fishing packages that will include the shuttle service, rooms, boat charter, all meals, and a case of beer on the boat. If you are ready to catch some fish, gives us a call at 011-52-616-165-6062 or e-mail us at doneddies@hotmail.com. We now also accept credit cards.” Pedro’s Pangas only had two boats out this past week but Pete Hillis said halibut were coming into the shallow waters at San Martin and at mouth of the bay. “We also had our usual limits of reds, lings and whitefish. Weather been good to us, and we are all gearing up for the season,” Hillis said.     Cabo seiners get enough of competition for tuna and bail out Confrontation at sea involves charterboats and private boats with helicopter-aided seiner fleet CABO SAN LUCAS  -- Cabo San Lucas is in a tough marlin cycle these days, but wahoo and  a scattering of tuna on the Pacific side have kept the charter crews busy as the region.  Stalling the chance for a real bite to emerge on the mid-sized yellowfin  tuna was the fact the schools moving in are targeted by both recreational and commercial boats, and one at last week the confrontation wasn’t a pretty sight. Representing the Gaviota Sportfishing and Fish Cabo fleets, Larry Edwards told WON  optimism still persists for anglers fishing here, and while every day is a bit different.  It has been a tough, slow two months overall. Of course, it didn’t help that tuna seiners with helicopters and speedboats were at the Golden Gate either. Attempting to set nets around about 10 sportfishers following the dolphins, they intentionally tried to tear off sport angler’s gear and foul props before giving up, pulled up gear and leaving the area. “Right now, there is a scattering of yellowfin for a few lucky boats but overall, it's not much,” said Larry Edwards. Nevertheless, it typically tends to gradually change for the better by mid-May, so we may still have another week or two to go. “I believe this is a cyclic period with the fishing for this area and I can remember when I was running sportfishers from Cabo in the late 70s, I had a stretch of more than 50 days fished from March through early May that did not produce a single billfish. Those were long and hard fishing days that seemed like there was no end to the lack of fish and back then, as now, we were looking at where to place the blame for the lack of fish. I think it was just the cycle of the time. We all knew that March and April were the slow months for billfish and dorado, but we usually found some good spots of yellowfin tuna, albeit, mostly football-sized but still, some action for the effort of the day,” he said. The overall fish counts for the Gaviota Sportfishing and Fish Cabo fleets, included11 trips with fish counts of 1 striper released, 1 mako shark, 4 dorado, 2 wahoo, 2 roosterfish and 21 yellowfin tuna. “One of our friends pre-fished an angler for the IGFA tournament for two days and only saw one striped marlin in the distance that sunk out as they approached. Another friend, on a private boat, fished five days for 3 marlin, 2 of the marlin were a double header,” said George Landrum of Fly Hooker Sportfishing.  The fish that were found seemed to be fairly close to land and in the cooler water on the pacific side. “All we can hope for is an improvement on the billfish scene.  I had unconfirmed reports of several blue marlin coming into the lure patterns this week, let's keep our fingers crossed,” Landrum said.   Some tuna action took place on the Pacific side up around the Golden Gate Bank as well as closer to home off of the lighthouse, and of course to the south of the San Jaime Bank.  The fish were associated with porpoise for the most part and were halfway decent fish, averaging 25 pounds with an occasional fish to 40 pounds. “You had to be the first (or only) boat there for the action to take place, but most of the boats that got in on it were able to boat a half dozen fish before the action quit. There were several spots where blind strikes took place as well, but in those instances it was just for one or two fish.”   “There were a few more dorado caught this past week, and it may have a lot to do with the warmer water, or maybe not, as there were some fish caught on the pacific side as well.  Of course on the pacific side the fish were caught close to the arch, where on the Cortez side most of the fish came from farther north, up in the Punta Gordo area or farther offshore in the area of the Cabrillo Seamount.”  Dorado averaged 15 pounds with the larger ones in the 25-pound range and the best luck was with brighter colored striped marlin lures. “Not very many fish had followers behind them when brought to the boat, so most of the flags were flying by themselves on the boats return,” he said.   There were still a few wahoo caught this week, but not in the numbers we were seeing during the full moon phase. Most of the fish reported were found close to the Punta Gordo area or offshore in the wide open sea with nothing else around.   “The inshore action dropped off just a little, but there were still some nice fish to be had. One couple who tried offshore got nada; then they decided to drop some bait down and landed one grouper of 48 pounds and lost another. The bite on amberjack has been an on/off bite, but the fish have been slightly larger than last week with a few in the 40-pound range. Sierra were still out there but not in large numbers, and there were still roosterfish to be found in the smaller sizes.” The first major tournament starts this coming week, with warming weather and waters; let’s hope the IGFA Offshore Tournament can start the season off in style. In other Baja action: • CEDROS ISLAND: Located on the pacific side of Baja, about three quarters of the way down the Baja peninsula, Cedros Island is the largest island on the west coast of Baja and only 15 miles off the Mexican coast. This time of year, yellowtail and tuna are the primary targets here and Jose A Sanchez of Cedros Outdoor Adventures’ report is a good example of the good fishing to be found here now. UP AND RUNNING--Cedros OUTDOOR Adventures had their first trip of the season and, as usual, Cedros Island don't disappoint with quality of fishing options including this nice 40 pounder caught by Cedros OUTDOOR Adventures’ owner Jose A Sanchez. PHOTO COURTESY OF CEDROS OUTDOOR ADVENTURES. “The big yellowtail are showing up at Cedros Island,” said Jose A Sanchez. In their first fishing trip of the season with Cedros OUTDOOR Adventures pro-staffer Esvin Hernandez got things off to a good start with a catch of several yellowtail ranging above 30 pounds, with the largest weighing in at 40 pounds. “The winds were blasting us the first day from the northwest, but thanks to the altitude of the island, there are always a protected areas to fish, guaranteeing outings every day,” Sanchez said. Panguero Lalo Mata and Javier Bush on their 28-foot panga trolled Rapalas, bringing in the best catches. “They fished on the east and southeast side of the island next to El Raton bank and Arroyo San Carlos, the later being the best, within just at a few yards from the shore,” he said. • EAST CAPE: The weather has been gorgeous here but fishing very inconsistent. Porpoise schools have been easy to find in East Cape waters but some days the tuna just didn’t want to bite. “The largest concentration of striped marlin has been off the Punta Arena light house but they have also been very finicky.  Inshore rooster fishing has been the most sure bet,” said Mark Rayor of Vista Seasport in Buena Vista.   “Water temps went all the way to 78 degrees, with no wind except for Monday, so that’s great,” said Felipe Valdez from Buena Vista Beach Resort. “Some tuna were caught during the week, they are here that’s a good sign, some cows have been seen to 80 and 90 pounds, although not many were caught. Striped marlin were also around but still not very interested in plastics or bait, we only caught 4 striped marlin this past week,” Valdez said. The resort’s boats have been fishing around the 30-mile range, mostly south from La Ribera all the way down to Gordo Banks. Inshore fishing was wide open for Buena Vista Beach Resort guests, with lots of roosterfish, jack crevalle and rockfish. Baits used this past week were still caballito and ballyhoo. “Our count for the week included 4 striped marlin with we were able to release, 1 dorado, 22 tuna, 6 cabrilla, 4 released roosters, 20 pargo, 1 amberjack, 12 bonito, 2 sierra and 5 triggerfish for 26 boats and 50 anglers.” Much warmer, cleaner, and consistent temperatures were found for Rancho Leonero’s guests and the striped marlin and smaller-sized yellowfin bite picked up daily. “The fishing is best north, where there is more bait. The warming water and more bait should make for even better fishing next week. “The billfishing was best north of Punta Pescadero where there was more bait and a little warmer water. About half our boats targeting billfish released at least one,” said owner John Ireland. Both trolled lures and live caballito were working for these fish.   “Smaller yellowfin from 5 to 10 pounds have been under small pods of porpoise, north off Pescadero taking cedar plugs, live sardine and hoochies. The first boats on the porpoise are limiting. Bigger solitary yellowfin to 50 pounds were being taken within three miles off the beach south of the hotel,” Ireland said. Inshore action saw a slow start for roosters earlier in the week with the bite steadily improving. Huge schools of jack crevalle kept inside anglers busy all week. “Big pompano have been biting consistently. The last few days have been very good with gallos in the 30- to 40-pound range released.” • ENSENADA:  Taniela Tukia from Huntington Beach, CA and Joe Vicic from Rancho La Bufadora caught 5 yellowtail weighing between 15 and 22 pounds Saturday, with aluminum jigs and limits of barracuda while fishing on the Vonny-IV with Hector as the yellows come and go. “The weather has been good but one day there would be good limits of yellowtail, and the next day we’d get only one,” said Ivan Villarino from Vonny’s Fleet. “The yellowtail are here around the island but some days they just don't bite,” Villarino said. Louie Prieto from Its 4 Reels Sportfishing fished the south end of Todos Santos Island looking for some yellowtail and found birds diving 4 miles short of the island. “We proceeded to run and gun the massive schools of yellowtail that were feeding on bait and landed u 6 of 12 fish that weighed between 12 and 22 pounds for the day,” Prieto said. The six lost were due to jigs pulling and seals. “The seals have been very aggressive and lazy, chasing us for miles as we were 1 of only 2 boats fishing the area the entire day,” he said. Fish are spread from outside the south end of the island and all the way to the north end. “Just find the white terns and you will find the yellows.” Early morning was the best with scrambled egg surface irons and a blue and white medium-sized UFO’s getting bit. “The afternoon bite was a zero until I got them to go on a mint green Tady 45 only to have a seal stole 2 yellows, although I did manage to get one in the boat and the 2 heads of the stolen fish. We left the island with fish still feeding but the seals were just too much for us.” • LA PAZ: Earlier in the week there were still terrible winds carrying over from the week before and it was just impossible to go out without getting wet and beat up. But as the week went on, the conditions went 180 and it was like a Baja postcard.  “Air temperatures were a sunny 88 degrees, with blue water, and just a breeze,” said Jonathan Roldan from Tailhunter International.  The only problem was that the fish hadn't fully recovered and although the waters were clear, the fish just weren't very cooperative. “Anglers really had to work for their fish with a picky bite at best. That being said, there was still a lot of variety in the water with the fish that were caught,” Roldan said. Inshore some big roosters helped temper things with anglers fishing with his Las Arenas fleet.  “There were some big schools of 5- to 10-pound fish that were just a blast, but some larger fish in the 30- to 50-pound class were also caught and released.” The bigger fish were eating both sardines and the larger sabalo as baits. As well, some nice pargo, cabrilla and a good number of sierra at least kept rods bent during the iffy bite period and bonito, while not great eating fish, were huge and could be counted on for some great sport. Other varieties for the past week included pompano, jack crevalle, amberjack and several marlin (outside) that were hooked and lost. WHOPPER STOPPER--Dee Dee Pope from Livermore, CA hooked this big 50-pound class yellowfin tuna about 30 yards offshore and it quickly tore about 300 yards of line from her reel and Whopper Stopper rod. She finally turned the fish when the line was down to the nub almost spooling her. She fought the fish over an hour. PHOTO COURTESY OF TAILHUNTER INTERNATIONAL. “The best news took place late in the week. With winds and conditions improving steadily, schools of 5- to 25-pound dorado moved in and provided an excellent trip for anglers with limits or near limits for both our Las Arenas and our La Paz Tailhunter fleets. The fish would readily eat slow trolled baits, feathers and jigs,” he said. “No wahoo or yellowtail to speak of at all this past week so maybe we're past yellowtail season now as waters appear to have warmed. However, just at the end of the week some larger-sized tuna cruised in. We have been seeing these fish for awhile, but they were always outside and moving way too fast with the dolphin schools to get into them. Still, several 40 to 60 pounders were taken including one in the 50-pound class by Dee Dee Pope from San Francisco after fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet, just 30 yards from shore on live bait. She fought it for over an hour on light tackle.” • LORETO: With summer weather just around the corner, the whales have disappeared and have been replaced by the manta rays. “You can see them from miles away, jumping in their "flip-style" way. We have seen many as large as 8 feet from wing tip to wing tip, jumping in all directions and they make for a great fishing backdrop,” said Rick Hill of Loreto & Loreto Sea and Land Eco Tours. “The average water temperature in the open waters, 3 to 5 miles out is 75 degrees but while snorkeling by the El Bajo lighthouse I metered and swam in water that reached 81.2 degrees. The dorado must be right around the corner.” Yellowtail fishing seemed to depend on your bait as they were biting sardines and mackerel, but Hill’s personal choice was caballito hooked from behind. “Most of the yellowtail were in the 12- to 20-pound range, a little bigger than firecracker size.” “The big surprise were the boils of sardines with birds working them from above and everything from roosters, toro and yellowtail shredding them from below. We seemed to average a few fish from every other boil we stopped at. Sometimes it was barracuda, needlefish or bonito, just a variety of fish. Both bait and plugs were effective for cabrilla and pargo along the rocky island coasts. “Make sure that you bring plenty of terminal goodies. Hooks, snap swivels, flouro-leaders and plenty of jointed plugs will be needed and lost.” • MAGDALENA BAY: There were some decent-sized yellowtail under the birds at the Entrada this past week. Offshore the water was still pretty cool but there were already reports of both billfish and dorado being spotted near the shark buoys scattered out to the west of the Entrada.   “Inside the Esteros, the bite remained slow for the few boats that even bothered fishing this past week,” said Gary Graham of Baja on the Fly. • MULEGE: Some larger dorado started showing up on Saturday and Betty House of Medford, OR caught one just off Mulege. “She was on a "girls only" boat with Lynn Bryant of Carson City and Marilyn Muscarilas of Eagle Rock, CA,” said Bob Frambes of Playa Frambes Resort. The fish was caught trolling just off Point Conception about 10 miles out in 75-degree waters with a light wind blowing. GIRLS ONLY IN MULEGE--Some larger dorado started showing up on Saturday and Betty House of Medford, OR, left, caught one just off Mulege. She was on a "girls only" boat with Lynn Bryant of Carson City, left, and Marilyn Muscarilas of Eagle Rock CA. PHOTO COURTESY OF SUSAN FRAMBES OF PLAYA FRAMBES RESORT. “Inshore, Mike Heiner of Mulege caught 7 roosters just across the bay at Jingle Beach, he was using a Krocodile and all were released. “Heiner reported there were about 50 roosters near the beach chasing small barracuda. The barracuda were jumping onto shore to avoid death and the birds were filling up on them for about 3 hours,” Frambes said. Steve Bill of Mulege and Jim Bryant of Carson City, NV also landed 2 nice yellowtail a few miles south just outside the bay. • SAN FELIPE & NORTHERN SEA OF CORTEZ: : Both the Tony Reyes and the Jose Andres returned from 6 day fishing trips working Snake Island, Partida Island, San Lorenzo Island and the coastal areas including the Enchanted Islands. Water temperatures were still in the 60s. “There were lots of yellowtail around but they were still eating the small baits that seemed to be everywhere,” said Tom Ward from The Long Fin in Orange County. “Mackerel started to show up as well as the giant Humboldt squid which they used for cut bait,” Ward said. Wednesday the winds blew at the Enchanted Islands making it tough to fish there and there were slack tides during the week so not a lot of movement. “Mirrorlures worked great along with cut bait and some live mackerel.”   The boat Tony Reyes with 20 anglers aboard caught 141 yellowtail to 31 pounds, 43 cabrilla to 14 pounds, 282 bass, 1 47-pound grouper, 12 sheepshead, 97 whitefish, 24 corvina, 152 released fish and 32 giant squid.   The boat Jose Andres with 10 anglers aboard caught limits of bass, 48 cabrilla to 20 pounds, 8 sheepshead, 29 yellowtail to 22 pounds, 6 sharks, 10 red snapper, 2 sierra, 1 24-pound white seabass, 2 black seabass weighing 50 and 77 pounds, 103 and released fish and 30 squid. • SAN JOSE DEL CABO (LOS CABOS): Crowds of visiting anglers are increasing as the weather patterns seemed to finally be stabilizing. With sunny days and high temperatures averaging in the mid 80s, the climate is ideal now, in another month or so the true summer heat will be arriving and we will all be wishing for the winds and cooler temperatures again. Ocean swells are now increasing from the south, making it that much harder for the commercial panga fleet to net the already limited supplies of sardina. “Schools of mullet should be migrating into local waters in the coming weeks, and on the offshore fishing grounds there have been more signs of baitfish moving in,” said Eric Brictson of Gordo Banks Pangas. “Water conditions are really shaping up, with clear blue water now within a mile or two of shore and water temperatures averaging 74 to 77 degrees through much of the region,” Brictson said. Fishing fleets have been spread out in all directions and this last week produced more consistent action for surface species such as yellowfin tuna, dorado and wahoo. Still no great numbers of any particular species, but there were some quality fish being found on a daily basis. “Most of the yellowfin tuna that were being encountered have been associated with rapidly traveling porpoise. This action has been found anywhere from 2 to 30 miles from shore, with tuna up to 100 pounds, although most of the fish have been in the 15- to 30-pound class,” he said. Dorado were starting to appear in the warming waters and anglers found small schools of these fish scattered throughout the area striking trolled lures and bait, ranging from 10 to 30 pounds. “This is the time when the larger-sized bull dorado will start to make their presence.” Perhaps the highlight of the week were the wahoo being found to the north of Punta Gorda and near San Luis Bank. Practically all of the charters that targeted these normally elusive speedsters had opportunities. Trolling with rigged ballyhoo, Rapalas, skirted lead heads and even casting chrome yo-yos all produced strikes. “Many boats were accounting for 1 or 2 wahoo and some of the more prepared and fortunate charters had up to half of dozen wahoo in the box. Very impressive sized fish as well, averaging 20 to 40 pounds, with quite a few fish in the 40- to 60-pound class accounted for. This month of May is shaping up to be on track to produce some of the best late spring wahoo action in many seasons. As long as conditions stay how they are now it appears that this bite will only get better.” The increased southern swell the limited live bait action along the shoreline, though there were still sierra lurking and a few roosterfish showing up. The coming weeks should bring in the mullet and then the dogtooth snapper and larger roosterfish will follow. “Triggerfish dominated the bottom action, and there were some bonito, cabrilla, pargo and amberjack mixed in, but this has not been a consistent option. Most charters were concentrating on what surface action they could find, but that has been more productive than finding fish off the bottom at this time,” he said. The annual migration of whales is all but over, as they are now headed north to feed for the summer. We should start to see more schools of porpoise, manta rays, flying fish and perhaps even whale sharks, as this is the time they normally show up in the vicinity of the Gordo Banks. The combined panga fleet launching from La Playita and Puerto Los Cabos sent out 74 charters and anglers reported a fish count of 3 mako sharks, 5 hammerhead shark, 1 striped marlin, 17 yellowfin tuna, 19 dorado, 11 pompano, 12 cabrilla, 7 amberjack, 28 Mexican bonito, 42 sierra, 5 roosterfish, 45 wahoo, 86 triggerfish and 17 pargo. BEST LATE SPRING WAHOO ACTION IN MANY SEASONS--Robert Deeter from Fort Brag, with a nice catch of 5 wahoo taken near San Luis Banks while trolling rigged ballyhoo and various lures. The largest wahoo in the center weighed in at an even 60 pounds. PHOTO COURTESY OF GORDO BANKS PANGAS. • BAHIA ASUNCION (Just south of Guerrero Negro): This past week’s weather was a pleasant change from the last few weeks of windy and cool temperatures as the seas laid down to a manageable 6 feet, the winds calmed and temperatures were up in the 80s.   “We had a great visit from a couple of avid WON readers who brought us some back issues. After seeing our reports in WON, they decided to come and see what all the fuss was about and they weren’t disappointed,” said Shari Bondy of Campo Sirena. “Russ Voge and Jim Laret from San Diego hired Capt. Juan Arce Marron of Campo Sirena to do some bass fishing. Juan took them to some secret bass holes and they boated their limit of big bass in the 6- to 8-pound range. It was a perfect fishing day for their first time in Asuncion. All the fish were donated to local families, so lots of folks were barbequing bass that evening,” Bondy said. WHAT’S ALL THE FUSS ABOUT—After reading WON reports for Bahia Asuncion WON subscribers is Russ Voge, left, and Jim Laret, right, from San Diego hired Capt. Juan Arce Marron of Campo Sirena to do some bass fishing. Pleased with their success, they boated their limit of bass in the 6- to 8-pound range and fed a lot of locals that night. PHOTO COURTESY OF CAMPO SIRENA.   There have been schools of small yellowtail reported 4 miles off San Roque Island as well. On his day off from abalone fishing, Marron and his wife Shari shore fished for boca dulce (yellowfin croaker) which were abundant and provided fish on every cast. Readers: To have your reports included in the Baja report, send photos and e-mails to baja@wonews.com.