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BAJA UPDATE: BAJA UNTRACKED!
BY ROBIN WADE/WON Staff WriterPublished: Jun 07, 2010
ROBIN WADEBAJA WEEKLY REPORT
Epic stories emerge from the Cape; Cabo marlin catches improved and 2 more sails come from Loreto
EAST CAPE —As the season heats up on the East Cape, some epic reports from WON readers and resorts came in this week. Roosterfishing went off the scale, with several fish over 50 pounds, and two over 60, and tuna going to almost 100 pounds, and a 2 blues, one weighing 450 pounds were shared. Down in Cabo, the Pisces Fleet had 25 striped marlin as the bite picked up, and up in Loreto a pair of swordfish up to 500 pounds were caught.
In short, the Baja season is ON!
Having a lifelong desire to catch a roosterfish, WON subscribers Fred Brandt and girlfriend Erika Simo decided to try out Rancho Leonero for Simo’s birthday and sent in this report. “When we first arrived we were both immediately taken in by the beauty and peacefulness of the place and knew this was going to be a very special trip,” Brandt said.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!—Finding an epic roosterfish bite last week on her birthday trip with boyfriend Fred Brandt, WON subscriber Erika Simo caught her first, along with her personal best, a 65-pound rooster. Brandt also caught his first and personal best on this trip, a 60 pounders. In one day they caught 6 roosters over 50 pounds in about 3 hours. PHOTO COURTESY OF ERIKA SIMO.
Wasting no time, the first day they headed for the bait boat, grabbed some caballito and then it was off to Los Frailes Bay. “Within the first 10 minutes of slow trolling my girlfriend got hit and after the 20-minute mark we all knew it was a toad. A half hour later she brought the first fish of the trip to the boat. Her first ever rooster weighed about 55 pounds,” he said.
Back to slow trolling, Simo got bit again, and a few seconds later Brandt was also hooked up. “We had a double going. My first ever rooster weighed 45 pounds and her second one 40 pounds.” Brandt later brought in his second for the day, a 40 pounder and then it was back to the Ranch.
The next day, it was back for bait, adding some mullet for pargo and then they headed south again. “Again it only took 10 minutes but we knew it was a big fish right away. After taking turns with the rod, I finally had the 60-pound rooster to the side of the boat. Back in the water briefly and I got bit again, another toad weighing 50 pounds. Then the birthday girl got bit and again, this fish was big. I thought I had big fish for the day, but I thought wrong, hers was 65 pounds. We finished the day with two more cookie cutter 50 pounders, one each.” Score for day two was 6 roosters over 50 pounds in about three hours. What a birthday!”
Fishing this past week for yellowfin tuna was also very good, with most of the boats from Martin Verdugo's Beach Resort catching them by Los Frailes ranging between 15 and 40 pounds. “Here and there a big one weighing 80 to 90 pounds were also caught,” said Marisol Verdugo. Boats decked 2-10 per boat.
“Also marlin fishing has been good, particularly by the end of the week, almost every boat released1or 2 marlin, and actually 1 blue was caught and released,” Verdugo said.
Reporting for the Palmas De Cortez, Playa Del Sol, Punta Colorada hotels and Villas De Cortez, Eddie Dalmau said the fishing down here continued to improve as we head into the summer months. “Each week the fishing has improved from the week before. This past week was another great week for tuna. We saw some nice-sized tuna ranging from 97 pounds down to footballs,” Dalmau said. Most boats came back with plenty of tuna to fill their ice chest. “One boat came back with 22 tuna in one day. The Rude Boy with Capt. Chuy onboard had an outstanding day, landing 9 tuna, a 97 pounder, 84 pounds, 35 pounds, and so on, along with a 450-pound blue marlin. This was truly an epic day on the water.”
The dorado fishing continued to be a bit slow, with approximately 15 dorado coming back to the docks each day. “We expect that to change quickly as the dorado are our bread and butter down here in the East Cape. Plenty of striped marlin were being caught and released, but with the great tuna bite, most anglers were not too interested in landing marlin. “The inshore fishing is holding up pretty well, with some nice roosters and ladyfish being landed from the beach near Punta Colorada,” he said.
Water temperatures in the area continue to be in the upper 70s to low 80s.
In other Baja fishing action:
– CAMALU: WON subscriber Dennis Leith of Downey and Gary Tsunoda just returned from Camalu over the long holiday weekend. And although the area has had windy conditions for the last few weeks, theirs was perfect. “Unfortunately the water was very cold and dirty so the fishing was good but not outstanding like it usually is,” Leith said. “We had to go deeper to find cleaner water and in the process, we found some very nice reds and big whitefish,” he said. Going 10 miles straight out from Camalu in 140-200 feet of water, they also found some jumbo sandbass, small barracuda and a few lingcod. “It's a totally different fishing area from San Quintin. Located about 35 miles south of Camalu, their boats fish stay down there and fish at San Martin Island and Ben's Rock. That's why Camalu is so great, no pressure, just the few anglers, who launch on the beach in Camalu.”
“We had a big school of yellowtail come up but could not get them to take our jigs. Our trip down was trouble free with very little traffic on the road. We and one other group of 2 anglers were the only ones at the Pirata Hotel.” Capt. Memo Zepeda told Leith and Tsunoda about a good place to surf fish and they finished one evening by also adding some very nice perch to their coolers. “All in all a great trip and as the water warms it should continue to get better and better. The white seabass are just around the corner.” Capt. Memo can be reached at 011521 616-109 85 37.
GOOD YELLOWTAIL ACTION AT CEDROS ISLAND--Ray Wolf, left, Wayne Wilms and Bill Kirk, right with last Sunday’s catch at Cedros Island. Their 5-day stay produced yellowtail up to 30 pounds, fishing the wind protected east and south side if the island. JOSE ANGEL OF CEDROS OUTDOOR ADVENTURES.
– CEDROS ISLAND: This time of year yellowtail are targets here and Jose Angel of Cedros Outdoor Adventures’ report, is a good example of the good fishing to be found here now. “The last week in May Bill Kirk, Greg Bloomstadt, Ray and Wayne found some good yellowtail action at Cedros Island during the 5 days they stayed there,” Angel said.
“The first few days the wind didn't allow much action but still they had plenty of bites, although few catches. East and south side of the island is always protected, allowing guaranteed outings every day and fishing during windy days. During the weekend the wind slowed down bringing the best catches, with yellowtail in the 30-pound average. Boat drivers Lalo and Javier visited several places, but Bajo el Raton and the Arroyo San Carlos area gave the best results,” he said.
“More than fishing, our friends had a great time visiting the town, relaxing at our comfortable hotel's patios, and enjoying the friendly locals, not to mention the food prepared by Josefina, owner of the hotel. Getting there was easy and comfortable with transportation from San Diego and then a plane ride from Ensenada arranged by Cedros Outdoor Adventures.com. We have available 4 seats for our June 25-28 trip, and 3 for our June 21-25.”
– CABO SAN LUCAS: Marlin catches improved substantially for the Pisces Fleet and by the close of the week most of the fleet was catching at least 1 marlin per day each, with catches of 2 marlin not uncommon, plus some smaller game fish as well. “We had a couple of boats with 3 day marlin trips,” said Tracy Ehrenberg for the fleet. “First was the Rebecca with 3 striped marlin and a golden. Then the next day, the Brisa fishing the same area, also released 3 marlin and boated to 38-pound wahoo,” she said. Other notable catches were again for the Rebecca with 2 striped marlin, 2 gold and 1 yellowfin tuna for. The Andrea and Fearless also had double billfish days. “Live bait was the most effective method for catching marlin. Forty-four percent of our fleet caught marlin, with catches of 1-3 fish per boat charters,” she said. Twenty-five striped marlin were caught overall for the fleet this past week with all but two released; those brought in weighed 170 pounds and 100 pounds.
“At the start of the week yellowfin tuna were the top catch, but this species started to decline as the week progressed. Fifty-six percent of our boats caught between 1 and 10 tuna from 15 to 30 pounds,’ she said. The Tracy Ann was one of her top tuna boats, catching fish up to 20 pounds and releasing 9 striped marlin. Bill Collector” also did well with 8 sails, plus 4 roosterfish and a marlin which was released, fishing 12 miles from Cerro Blanco. “The total tuna was 86. Gold catches averaged 28 percent, with anglers usually catching a single fish and occasionally two.”
Wahoo action slowed down with just 2 30-pound ones hitting the decks. "The Ruthless released 2 hammerhead sharks 13 miles out from Cerro Blanco and also boated a tuna,” Ehrenberg said.
Inshore, there were quite a few roosterfish caught as well as a few jack crevalle.
“While fair numbers of billfish were being seen and baited, the fish were not being enticed by anglers offerings, often requiring more than one cast to the fish,” said Larry Edwards from the Gaviota Sportfishing and Fish Cabo fleets. “However, there does appear to be sufficient billfish in the area to rebound from the full moon phase and this coming week should prove to be better,” he said.
Overall combined fish counts for 17 charters for the Gaviota Sportfishing and Fish Cabo fleets included 5 released stripers, 2 dorado, 4 sharks, 2 toro, 1 roosterfish and 44 yellowfin tuna.
“The Pacific side has cooled to 64-66 degrees, with a strong temperature break at Cabo Falso, rising to 74 degrees and from there, steadily rising to 79 and 80 degrees by the Palmilla Ridge,” Edwards said. There was also about a 20-mile wide swath of green water extending out to the south from San Cristobal to Chileno Point, with much cleaner water on both sides of the northwest to southeast push.
Cabo Falso to Migrino, on the pacific side continued to be the most productive for billfish and the tuna. “All of the billfish were taken on live bait, while the tuna were taken on a variety of feathers and cedar plugs,” he said.
– ENSENADA: The winds are starting to lie down, at least in the mornings and the yellowtail bite is on. Limits of them, as well as barracuda and a mixed bottomfish were all reported by Ivan Villarino from Vonny’s Fleet.
“The weather conditions were better, calm in the morning with only wind in the afternoons,” Villarino said. “Limits of yellowtail are being caught with aluminum jigs near of Todos Santos Island to almost 40 pounds. Even with the sea lions stealing a share of the yellowtail, the numbers were still good,” he said. Yellowtail were seen on the surface but so far jigs have been the way to go.
ENSENADA’S VONNY FLEET-TAILS UP!—Yellowtail action is picking up now that the winds are laying down, like this 38 pounder caught by Gather Cohen from Henderson, NV who fished on the Vonny-I with Beto. Yellowtail and a nice mix of bottomfish filled his cooler. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE VONNY FLEET.
– LA PAZ: Given the fact that it's already June, conditions were less than stellar here last week. Anglers caught fish, but it was more like fishing in late April or early May, as erratic winds persisted on-and-off throughout the week changing the water temperatures; moving the bait around and changing the bite. There were also a ton of boats out all week fishing both the Las Arenas and La Paz areas due to several local tournaments and just a lot of anglers in town. But, there were also some very good catches.
“The winds put a damper on the dorado fishing for our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet,” said Jonathan Roldan. “All our boats had between 4-6 dorado each and most were in the smaller 5-10-pound category, really small for the time of year. However, captains told me that the recent onslaught of winds made it not only choppy out there, but the bait got harder to find and some of the waters turned a cooler green color. Still, picking around here and there, by the end of the day, most had at least a few fillets for the bucket.
“We'll have to see what happens to this wind. For us down here, it seems to be a reflection of what's going on up the western coast of the U.S. which is still getting some really wacky cool and cold weather. It seems that whenever that happens we get the winds. In town, it's as awesome as can be. We had perfect 85-degree beach weather, just right for kicking back on the sand or in some little cafe with chips and salsa and a cold one. But for fishing, it's just not as good as we should be seeing,” he said.
“Our Las Arenas fleet did much better. There weren't many bluewater species to speak of, but we did hit a little spot of good-grade tuna off Cerralvo Island of 25- to 50-pound fish. It was brief but exciting, a teaser really. I have no idea if this will be a consistent bite or not.”
Inshore however the roosterfish continued to be stars. “While they are not good for eating, nothing is quite as fun as these jacks and the fun as they rip into the baits. Fish from 10 to 60 pounds gave anglers quite a range of possibilities while they were working the beaches and the exotic species are quite a prize for any angler. Our fly fishers and light tackle anglers especially were having fun,” Roldan said.
Also, the big pargo continued to bite, tease and frustrate. “With the waters staying cooler than normal, the big red fish were hanging close to shore and guys will tell you of multiple bites that they just couldn’t stop. We did get a few in the 25- to 40-pound class that anyone will tell you are trophies, but the larger fish just can't seem to be stopped.”
– LORETO: Two more swordfish were caught in Loreto, one of them nearly 500 pounds. Caught the same day on the same boat as the sails a few weeks ago, the private boat Bad Company, is owned by Loreto angler Robert Ross, not the one owned by Anthony Hsieh, there are at least three Bad Company’s around.
“Loreto again surprised us all, with 2 swordfish being caught again by Robert Ross aboard the Bad Company on May 31,” said Tracy Ehrenberg from the Pisces Fleet out of Cabo. “Ross and his crew were fishing 6 miles east of island Catherine when they hooked the first fish, estimated at 160 pounds. They then went on to boat a 400 to 500 pounder. Our thanks to the deckhand Jorge Luis Hernandez for keeping us updated, texting us the information as it happened and then sending photos for the skeptics. This was quite an achievement for any angler, to catch 3 swordfish in one month anywhere,” she said.
After slow yellowtail fishing for the past week or so, they finally started showing up again, in seven different fishing areas. In a small tournament held out of La Mission Hotel, 11 boats caught 43 yellowtail weighing from 20 pounds to the winning fish weight, of 39.8 pounds. “Mr. Andy Contabel from California caught it on one of our boats,” said Arturo Susarrey from Arturo’s Sportfishing.
“The fishing areas these boats covered ranged from north of Loreto Coronado Island, San Bruno Reef, Punta Colorada, the Puerto Almeja Reef, east of Loreto at the Alfonso Reef and Punta Perico at Carmen Island,” he said.
“The water temperatures are still in the mid 70s everywhere we go,” said Rick Hill for Loreto and Loreto Sea and Land Eco Tours. Thursday we were fishing 2 miles off the southern tip of Coronado Island when we saw half dozen large dorado (36 to 48 inches) swimming in an area loaded with 10-pound bonito. Ten minutes later a very large striped marlin took a few jumps and a bow into them all. This one looked to be smaller than biggie, the one that broke the 100 kilo scale at the Oasis Hotel, so I know there are some big stripers here,” Hill said.
“South of town just off the airport runway it was easy pickings for roosterfish. Most of them were 10 to12 pounders. Then it was back to the south side of Carmen Island for some fishing along the rocks with dead macks and sardines that consistently produced cabrilla and pargo,” he said. “The biggest ones I saw ranged up to around 50 pounds. The larger ones have been breaking lines. Bring a heavy duty rod belt, 100-pound-test and gloves.”
THREE SWORDFISH AND COUNTING-- Loreto angler Robert Ross has caught 3 sailfish this past month out of the Loreto area on his private the Bad Company. That’s a feat for anyone but, Ross also seems to be the only one catching any. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PISCES FLEET IN CABO.
– MULEGE: Diana Jonshon from Hotel Serenidad reported fishing getting better in Mulege for dorado. “We been catching between 5 to 8 dorado to 35 pounds now every day,” she said. Water temperatures in the area averaged 76 degrees.
– SAN FELIPE & NORTHERN SEA OF CORTEZ: The Tony Reyes boats had great weather this last week with lots of big yellowtail taken in the San Francisquito Bay area in very shallow water. “Big cabrilla are starting to bite and nice-sized pargo were caught on cut bait,” said Tom Ward from The Longfin in Orange County. Bait was available at San Francisquito and the Enchanted Islands.
“It was another wonderful week of fishing with Tony Reyes,” said Chartermaster Doug Hogan. “This was my seventh tour in the last 4 years and it was again memorable. Cool temperatures slowed the yellowtail bite, but an abundance of spotted bass and pargo filled in. The majority of the spotted bass were 5 and 6 pounds,” Hogan said.
The pargo topped out at 15 pounds and anglers caught 8 white seabass averaging about 11 pounds. The whopper of the week was a 46-pound grouper. “Surface jigs produced 45 cabrilla as large as 18 pounds. Only 275 yellowtail? Who cared, 27anglers came home with ice chest filled with the highest quality table fish and memories of a great trip with old and news compadres.”
The Tony Reyes fish counts included 275 yellowtail up to 29 pounds, 45 cabrilla to 18 pounds, 4o pargo, limits of spotted bass, 8 white seabass, 2 grouper, 90 Humboldt squid to 35 pounds, 4 sheepshead, 145 whitefish and 160 miscellanies released fish.
The Jose Andres was out with 18 anglers but just 8 fished, as the rest were a sightseeing ecologic group from San Diego. The big black seabass was caught on cut bait in 300 feet of water on La Guardia Island.
On the Jose Andres the count included 83 yellowtail to 31pounds, 34 cabrilla, 99 spotted bass, 1 14-pound halibut, 2 snapper, a 140-pound black seabass, 1 white seabass and 1 sheepshead.
Fishing Animas, Vibora Island, Bahia Los Angeles’s coastline and the Golden Reef, the Erik also had a productive trip with great weather and outstanding fishing that included 419 yellowtail from 15 to 22 pounds, 2 grouper weighing 80 and 82 pounds, 1 53-pound black seabass, 2 white seabass, 64 cabrilla, 221 spotted bass and 34 pargo.
– SAN JOSE DEL CABO (LOS CABOS): Water temperatures are now a balmy 74 to 80 degrees throughout the zone from Cabo San Lucas towards Los Frailes, though on the pacific side temperatures were in the 60s. Shifting currents have been strong, stirring water conditions but throughout much of the area clean blue water could be found within a few miles of shore.
“Sportfishing fleets fished areas from Chileno to San Luis with live bait options including mullet and caballito,” said Eric Brictson for his Gordo Banks Pangas. Finding giant squid was not as easy since the passing of the recent full moon. But they were being sold in local super markets and some locals did well chunk fishing with them in spots where pods of porpoise had yellowfin tuna traveling with them.
“The overall yellowfin tuna was good this past week, good numbers of the tuna were found close to shore off of Red Hill to straight off of San Jose del Cabo, at times within one mile of shore,” Brictson said. The majority of these tuna weighed in the 10- to 25-pound class although an occasional larger fish was encountered. Trolling with Rapalas, hoochies, cedar plugs or feathers all worked, but at times, especially when boats pressure increased, it was those anglers using live caballito that had best results. Catches per charter ranged from 2 or 3 tuna, up to a dozen fish during a morning of trolling, with maybe one dorado caught for every other boat.
“During this time period in 2009 there were some quality-sized tuna and dorado being caught on the local fishing grounds, but this season the conditions have fluctuated more and the bait availability has also been a factor. This past week has shown encouraging signs, with more tuna and dorado appearing. Dorado were scattered in ones or twos still, though some larger-sized fish were accounted for in recent days and there were reports of 50-pound bulls being hooked into and eventually lost during extended battles,” he said.
“Though more anglers were targeting the tuna action recently, there was the option of trolling live baits close to shore for the chance at hooking into a monster dogtooth snapper, roosterfish or other jack species, all are very powerful fighters. Schools of mullet along the inshore beach stretches are now in peak migration and should really attract more gamefish in the coming weeks.”
Striped marlin action improved, with fish being spotted tailing on the surface 2 to 6 miles off of the areas from San Jose del Cabo to Cabo San Lucas. “More marlin were hooked on live baits, with some of the charters specifically targeting the billfish accounting for several stripers per day, other charters hooked into marlin incidentally while they were basically targeting tuna.”
Surf fishing action is picking up with roosterfish the main targeted species now, but big jack crevalle and even a few snook have been in the mix recently. “One snook was landed by a local angler off of the San Jose Estuary reportedly weighing 40 pounds, this same person caught another snook weighing 25 pounds the next morning,” Brictson said.
The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita and Puerto Los Cabos sent out 75 charters for the week with anglers reporting a fish count of 9 striped marlin, 1 blue marlin, 3 sailfish, 12 hammerhead sharks, 4 wahoo, 19 dorado, 212 yellowfin tuna, 5 amberjack, 8 dogtooth snapper, 28 various pargo species, 15 bonito, 76 roosterfish, 12 jack crevalle, 9 cabrilla and 11 sierra.
– SAN QUINTIN: The windy season finally appears to be over with and it went out with a big bang. “That was one nastiest wind storms we’ve ever had last week, I finally got out to San Martin Island, bouncing balls for halibut,” said Capt. Cook. “We picked up 2 fish, one was 18 pounds and the other was 23 pounds. After that we caught some big reds,” he said.
“The water temperature at the island is 55.8 degrees which is a little cold, for the yellowtail to move in, but 4 miles south of San Martin the water was 61.5 degrees and there’s a strong south current pushing the warm water to the north. I expect fish to start moving into this area within the next few days,” he said.
– BAHIA ASUNCION (Just south of Guerrero Negro): It's been a very windy month in Bahia Asuncion with big surf as well. Abalone fishermen struggled to fill their quota due to poor conditions but should finish up mid June.
“The yellowtail schools are still here and seem to be increasing in numbers,” said Shari Bondy from Campo Sirena. Inshore the halibut are moving into the beaches for shore fishing.
Readers: To have your reports included in the Baja report, send photos and e-mails to baja@wonews.com.
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ROBIN WADEBAJA WEEKLY REPORT Epic stories emerge from the Cape; Cabo marlin catches improved and 2 more sails come from Loreto EAST CAPE —As the season heats up on the East Cape, some epic reports from WON readers and resorts came in this week. Roosterfishing went off the scale, with several fish over 50 pounds, and two over 60, and tuna going to almost 100 pounds, and a 2 blues, one weighing 450 pounds were shared. Down in Cabo, the Pisces Fleet had 25 striped marlin as the bite picked up, and up in Loreto a pair of swordfish up to 500 pounds were caught.In short, the Baja season is ON! Having a lifelong desire to catch a roosterfish, WON subscribers Fred Brandt and girlfriend Erika Simo decided to try out Rancho Leonero for Simo’s birthday and sent in this report. “When we first arrived we were both immediately taken in by the beauty and peacefulness of the place and knew this was going to be a very special trip,” Brandt said. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!—Finding an epic roosterfish bite last week on her birthday trip with boyfriend Fred Brandt, WON subscriber Erika Simo caught her first, along with her personal best, a 65-pound rooster. Brandt also caught his first and personal best on this trip, a 60 pounders. In one day they caught 6 roosters over 50 pounds in about 3 hours. PHOTO COURTESY OF ERIKA SIMO. Wasting no time, the first day they headed for the bait boat, grabbed some caballito and then it was off to Los Frailes Bay. “Within the first 10 minutes of slow trolling my girlfriend got hit and after the 20-minute mark we all knew it was a toad. A half hour later she brought the first fish of the trip to the boat. Her first ever rooster weighed about 55 pounds,” he said. Back to slow trolling, Simo got bit again, and a few seconds later Brandt was also hooked up. “We had a double going. My first ever rooster weighed 45 pounds and her second one 40 pounds.” Brandt later brought in his second for the day, a 40 pounder and then it was back to the Ranch. The next day, it was back for bait, adding some mullet for pargo and then they headed south again. “Again it only took 10 minutes but we knew it was a big fish right away. After taking turns with the rod, I finally had the 60-pound rooster to the side of the boat. Back in the water briefly and I got bit again, another toad weighing 50 pounds. Then the birthday girl got bit and again, this fish was big. I thought I had big fish for the day, but I thought wrong, hers was 65 pounds. We finished the day with two more cookie cutter 50 pounders, one each.” Score for day two was 6 roosters over 50 pounds in about three hours. What a birthday!” Fishing this past week for yellowfin tuna was also very good, with most of the boats from Martin Verdugo's Beach Resort catching them by Los Frailes ranging between 15 and 40 pounds. “Here and there a big one weighing 80 to 90 pounds were also caught,” said Marisol Verdugo. Boats decked 2-10 per boat. “Also marlin fishing has been good, particularly by the end of the week, almost every boat released1or 2 marlin, and actually 1 blue was caught and released,” Verdugo said. Reporting for the Palmas De Cortez, Playa Del Sol, Punta Colorada hotels and Villas De Cortez, Eddie Dalmau said the fishing down here continued to improve as we head into the summer months. “Each week the fishing has improved from the week before. This past week was another great week for tuna. We saw some nice-sized tuna ranging from 97 pounds down to footballs,” Dalmau said. Most boats came back with plenty of tuna to fill their ice chest. “One boat came back with 22 tuna in one day. The Rude Boy with Capt. Chuy onboard had an outstanding day, landing 9 tuna, a 97 pounder, 84 pounds, 35 pounds, and so on, along with a 450-pound blue marlin. This was truly an epic day on the water.” The dorado fishing continued to be a bit slow, with approximately 15 dorado coming back to the docks each day. “We expect that to change quickly as the dorado are our bread and butter down here in the East Cape. Plenty of striped marlin were being caught and released, but with the great tuna bite, most anglers were not too interested in landing marlin. “The inshore fishing is holding up pretty well, with some nice roosters and ladyfish being landed from the beach near Punta Colorada,” he said. Water temperatures in the area continue to be in the upper 70s to low 80s. In other Baja fishing action: – CAMALU: WON subscriber Dennis Leith of Downey and Gary Tsunoda just returned from Camalu over the long holiday weekend. And although the area has had windy conditions for the last few weeks, theirs was perfect. “Unfortunately the water was very cold and dirty so the fishing was good but not outstanding like it usually is,” Leith said. “We had to go deeper to find cleaner water and in the process, we found some very nice reds and big whitefish,” he said. Going 10 miles straight out from Camalu in 140-200 feet of water, they also found some jumbo sandbass, small barracuda and a few lingcod. “It's a totally different fishing area from San Quintin. Located about 35 miles south of Camalu, their boats fish stay down there and fish at San Martin Island and Ben's Rock. That's why Camalu is so great, no pressure, just the few anglers, who launch on the beach in Camalu.”“We had a big school of yellowtail come up but could not get them to take our jigs. Our trip down was trouble free with very little traffic on the road. We and one other group of 2 anglers were the only ones at the Pirata Hotel.” Capt. Memo Zepeda told Leith and Tsunoda about a good place to surf fish and they finished one evening by also adding some very nice perch to their coolers. “All in all a great trip and as the water warms it should continue to get better and better. The white seabass are just around the corner.” Capt. Memo can be reached at 011521 616-109 85 37. GOOD YELLOWTAIL ACTION AT CEDROS ISLAND--Ray Wolf, left, Wayne Wilms and Bill Kirk, right with last Sunday’s catch at Cedros Island. Their 5-day stay produced yellowtail up to 30 pounds, fishing the wind protected east and south side if the island. JOSE ANGEL OF CEDROS OUTDOOR ADVENTURES. – CEDROS ISLAND: This time of year yellowtail are targets here and Jose Angel of Cedros Outdoor Adventures’ report, is a good example of the good fishing to be found here now. “The last week in May Bill Kirk, Greg Bloomstadt, Ray and Wayne found some good yellowtail action at Cedros Island during the 5 days they stayed there,” Angel said. “The first few days the wind didn't allow much action but still they had plenty of bites, although few catches. East and south side of the island is always protected, allowing guaranteed outings every day and fishing during windy days. During the weekend the wind slowed down bringing the best catches, with yellowtail in the 30-pound average. Boat drivers Lalo and Javier visited several places, but Bajo el Raton and the Arroyo San Carlos area gave the best results,” he said. “More than fishing, our friends had a great time visiting the town, relaxing at our comfortable hotel's patios, and enjoying the friendly locals, not to mention the food prepared by Josefina, owner of the hotel. Getting there was easy and comfortable with transportation from San Diego and then a plane ride from Ensenada arranged by Cedros Outdoor Adventures.com. We have available 4 seats for our June 25-28 trip, and 3 for our June 21-25.” – CABO SAN LUCAS: Marlin catches improved substantially for the Pisces Fleet and by the close of the week most of the fleet was catching at least 1 marlin per day each, with catches of 2 marlin not uncommon, plus some smaller game fish as well. “We had a couple of boats with 3 day marlin trips,” said Tracy Ehrenberg for the fleet. “First was the Rebecca with 3 striped marlin and a golden. Then the next day, the Brisa fishing the same area, also released 3 marlin and boated to 38-pound wahoo,” she said. Other notable catches were again for the Rebecca with 2 striped marlin, 2 gold and 1 yellowfin tuna for. The Andrea and Fearless also had double billfish days. “Live bait was the most effective method for catching marlin. Forty-four percent of our fleet caught marlin, with catches of 1-3 fish per boat charters,” she said. Twenty-five striped marlin were caught overall for the fleet this past week with all but two released; those brought in weighed 170 pounds and 100 pounds. “At the start of the week yellowfin tuna were the top catch, but this species started to decline as the week progressed. Fifty-six percent of our boats caught between 1 and 10 tuna from 15 to 30 pounds,’ she said. The Tracy Ann was one of her top tuna boats, catching fish up to 20 pounds and releasing 9 striped marlin. Bill Collector” also did well with 8 sails, plus 4 roosterfish and a marlin which was released, fishing 12 miles from Cerro Blanco. “The total tuna was 86. Gold catches averaged 28 percent, with anglers usually catching a single fish and occasionally two.” Wahoo action slowed down with just 2 30-pound ones hitting the decks. "The Ruthless released 2 hammerhead sharks 13 miles out from Cerro Blanco and also boated a tuna,” Ehrenberg said. Inshore, there were quite a few roosterfish caught as well as a few jack crevalle. “While fair numbers of billfish were being seen and baited, the fish were not being enticed by anglers offerings, often requiring more than one cast to the fish,” said Larry Edwards from the Gaviota Sportfishing and Fish Cabo fleets. “However, there does appear to be sufficient billfish in the area to rebound from the full moon phase and this coming week should prove to be better,” he said. Overall combined fish counts for 17 charters for the Gaviota Sportfishing and Fish Cabo fleets included 5 released stripers, 2 dorado, 4 sharks, 2 toro, 1 roosterfish and 44 yellowfin tuna. “The Pacific side has cooled to 64-66 degrees, with a strong temperature break at Cabo Falso, rising to 74 degrees and from there, steadily rising to 79 and 80 degrees by the Palmilla Ridge,” Edwards said. There was also about a 20-mile wide swath of green water extending out to the south from San Cristobal to Chileno Point, with much cleaner water on both sides of the northwest to southeast push. Cabo Falso to Migrino, on the pacific side continued to be the most productive for billfish and the tuna. “All of the billfish were taken on live bait, while the tuna were taken on a variety of feathers and cedar plugs,” he said. – ENSENADA: The winds are starting to lie down, at least in the mornings and the yellowtail bite is on. Limits of them, as well as barracuda and a mixed bottomfish were all reported by Ivan Villarino from Vonny’s Fleet. “The weather conditions were better, calm in the morning with only wind in the afternoons,” Villarino said. “Limits of yellowtail are being caught with aluminum jigs near of Todos Santos Island to almost 40 pounds. Even with the sea lions stealing a share of the yellowtail, the numbers were still good,” he said. Yellowtail were seen on the surface but so far jigs have been the way to go. ENSENADA’S VONNY FLEET-TAILS UP!—Yellowtail action is picking up now that the winds are laying down, like this 38 pounder caught by Gather Cohen from Henderson, NV who fished on the Vonny-I with Beto. Yellowtail and a nice mix of bottomfish filled his cooler. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE VONNY FLEET. – LA PAZ: Given the fact that it's already June, conditions were less than stellar here last week. Anglers caught fish, but it was more like fishing in late April or early May, as erratic winds persisted on-and-off throughout the week changing the water temperatures; moving the bait around and changing the bite. There were also a ton of boats out all week fishing both the Las Arenas and La Paz areas due to several local tournaments and just a lot of anglers in town. But, there were also some very good catches. “The winds put a damper on the dorado fishing for our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet,” said Jonathan Roldan. “All our boats had between 4-6 dorado each and most were in the smaller 5-10-pound category, really small for the time of year. However, captains told me that the recent onslaught of winds made it not only choppy out there, but the bait got harder to find and some of the waters turned a cooler green color. Still, picking around here and there, by the end of the day, most had at least a few fillets for the bucket. “We'll have to see what happens to this wind. For us down here, it seems to be a reflection of what's going on up the western coast of the U.S. which is still getting some really wacky cool and cold weather. It seems that whenever that happens we get the winds. In town, it's as awesome as can be. We had perfect 85-degree beach weather, just right for kicking back on the sand or in some little cafe with chips and salsa and a cold one. But for fishing, it's just not as good as we should be seeing,” he said. “Our Las Arenas fleet did much better. There weren't many bluewater species to speak of, but we did hit a little spot of good-grade tuna off Cerralvo Island of 25- to 50-pound fish. It was brief but exciting, a teaser really. I have no idea if this will be a consistent bite or not.” Inshore however the roosterfish continued to be stars. “While they are not good for eating, nothing is quite as fun as these jacks and the fun as they rip into the baits. Fish from 10 to 60 pounds gave anglers quite a range of possibilities while they were working the beaches and the exotic species are quite a prize for any angler. Our fly fishers and light tackle anglers especially were having fun,” Roldan said. Also, the big pargo continued to bite, tease and frustrate. “With the waters staying cooler than normal, the big red fish were hanging close to shore and guys will tell you of multiple bites that they just couldn’t stop. We did get a few in the 25- to 40-pound class that anyone will tell you are trophies, but the larger fish just can't seem to be stopped.” – LORETO: Two more swordfish were caught in Loreto, one of them nearly 500 pounds. Caught the same day on the same boat as the sails a few weeks ago, the private boat Bad Company, is owned by Loreto angler Robert Ross, not the one owned by Anthony Hsieh, there are at least three Bad Company’s around. “Loreto again surprised us all, with 2 swordfish being caught again by Robert Ross aboard the Bad Company on May 31,” said Tracy Ehrenberg from the Pisces Fleet out of Cabo. “Ross and his crew were fishing 6 miles east of island Catherine when they hooked the first fish, estimated at 160 pounds. They then went on to boat a 400 to 500 pounder. Our thanks to the deckhand Jorge Luis Hernandez for keeping us updated, texting us the information as it happened and then sending photos for the skeptics. This was quite an achievement for any angler, to catch 3 swordfish in one month anywhere,” she said. After slow yellowtail fishing for the past week or so, they finally started showing up again, in seven different fishing areas. In a small tournament held out of La Mission Hotel, 11 boats caught 43 yellowtail weighing from 20 pounds to the winning fish weight, of 39.8 pounds. “Mr. Andy Contabel from California caught it on one of our boats,” said Arturo Susarrey from Arturo’s Sportfishing. “The fishing areas these boats covered ranged from north of Loreto Coronado Island, San Bruno Reef, Punta Colorada, the Puerto Almeja Reef, east of Loreto at the Alfonso Reef and Punta Perico at Carmen Island,” he said. “The water temperatures are still in the mid 70s everywhere we go,” said Rick Hill for Loreto and Loreto Sea and Land Eco Tours. Thursday we were fishing 2 miles off the southern tip of Coronado Island when we saw half dozen large dorado (36 to 48 inches) swimming in an area loaded with 10-pound bonito. Ten minutes later a very large striped marlin took a few jumps and a bow into them all. This one looked to be smaller than biggie, the one that broke the 100 kilo scale at the Oasis Hotel, so I know there are some big stripers here,” Hill said. “South of town just off the airport runway it was easy pickings for roosterfish. Most of them were 10 to12 pounders. Then it was back to the south side of Carmen Island for some fishing along the rocks with dead macks and sardines that consistently produced cabrilla and pargo,” he said. “The biggest ones I saw ranged up to around 50 pounds. The larger ones have been breaking lines. Bring a heavy duty rod belt, 100-pound-test and gloves.” THREE SWORDFISH AND COUNTING-- Loreto angler Robert Ross has caught 3 sailfish this past month out of the Loreto area on his private the Bad Company. That’s a feat for anyone but, Ross also seems to be the only one catching any. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PISCES FLEET IN CABO. – MULEGE: Diana Jonshon from Hotel Serenidad reported fishing getting better in Mulege for dorado. “We been catching between 5 to 8 dorado to 35 pounds now every day,” she said. Water temperatures in the area averaged 76 degrees. – SAN FELIPE & NORTHERN SEA OF CORTEZ: The Tony Reyes boats had great weather this last week with lots of big yellowtail taken in the San Francisquito Bay area in very shallow water. “Big cabrilla are starting to bite and nice-sized pargo were caught on cut bait,” said Tom Ward from The Longfin in Orange County. Bait was available at San Francisquito and the Enchanted Islands. “It was another wonderful week of fishing with Tony Reyes,” said Chartermaster Doug Hogan. “This was my seventh tour in the last 4 years and it was again memorable. Cool temperatures slowed the yellowtail bite, but an abundance of spotted bass and pargo filled in. The majority of the spotted bass were 5 and 6 pounds,” Hogan said. The pargo topped out at 15 pounds and anglers caught 8 white seabass averaging about 11 pounds. The whopper of the week was a 46-pound grouper. “Surface jigs produced 45 cabrilla as large as 18 pounds. Only 275 yellowtail? Who cared, 27anglers came home with ice chest filled with the highest quality table fish and memories of a great trip with old and news compadres.” The Tony Reyes fish counts included 275 yellowtail up to 29 pounds, 45 cabrilla to 18 pounds, 4o pargo, limits of spotted bass, 8 white seabass, 2 grouper, 90 Humboldt squid to 35 pounds, 4 sheepshead, 145 whitefish and 160 miscellanies released fish. The Jose Andres was out with 18 anglers but just 8 fished, as the rest were a sightseeing ecologic group from San Diego. The big black seabass was caught on cut bait in 300 feet of water on La Guardia Island. On the Jose Andres the count included 83 yellowtail to 31pounds, 34 cabrilla, 99 spotted bass, 1 14-pound halibut, 2 snapper, a 140-pound black seabass, 1 white seabass and 1 sheepshead. Fishing Animas, Vibora Island, Bahia Los Angeles’s coastline and the Golden Reef, the Erik also had a productive trip with great weather and outstanding fishing that included 419 yellowtail from 15 to 22 pounds, 2 grouper weighing 80 and 82 pounds, 1 53-pound black seabass, 2 white seabass, 64 cabrilla, 221 spotted bass and 34 pargo. – SAN JOSE DEL CABO (LOS CABOS): Water temperatures are now a balmy 74 to 80 degrees throughout the zone from Cabo San Lucas towards Los Frailes, though on the pacific side temperatures were in the 60s. Shifting currents have been strong, stirring water conditions but throughout much of the area clean blue water could be found within a few miles of shore. “Sportfishing fleets fished areas from Chileno to San Luis with live bait options including mullet and caballito,” said Eric Brictson for his Gordo Banks Pangas. Finding giant squid was not as easy since the passing of the recent full moon. But they were being sold in local super markets and some locals did well chunk fishing with them in spots where pods of porpoise had yellowfin tuna traveling with them. “The overall yellowfin tuna was good this past week, good numbers of the tuna were found close to shore off of Red Hill to straight off of San Jose del Cabo, at times within one mile of shore,” Brictson said. The majority of these tuna weighed in the 10- to 25-pound class although an occasional larger fish was encountered. Trolling with Rapalas, hoochies, cedar plugs or feathers all worked, but at times, especially when boats pressure increased, it was those anglers using live caballito that had best results. Catches per charter ranged from 2 or 3 tuna, up to a dozen fish during a morning of trolling, with maybe one dorado caught for every other boat. “During this time period in 2009 there were some quality-sized tuna and dorado being caught on the local fishing grounds, but this season the conditions have fluctuated more and the bait availability has also been a factor. This past week has shown encouraging signs, with more tuna and dorado appearing. Dorado were scattered in ones or twos still, though some larger-sized fish were accounted for in recent days and there were reports of 50-pound bulls being hooked into and eventually lost during extended battles,” he said. “Though more anglers were targeting the tuna action recently, there was the option of trolling live baits close to shore for the chance at hooking into a monster dogtooth snapper, roosterfish or other jack species, all are very powerful fighters. Schools of mullet along the inshore beach stretches are now in peak migration and should really attract more gamefish in the coming weeks.” Striped marlin action improved, with fish being spotted tailing on the surface 2 to 6 miles off of the areas from San Jose del Cabo to Cabo San Lucas. “More marlin were hooked on live baits, with some of the charters specifically targeting the billfish accounting for several stripers per day, other charters hooked into marlin incidentally while they were basically targeting tuna.” Surf fishing action is picking up with roosterfish the main targeted species now, but big jack crevalle and even a few snook have been in the mix recently. “One snook was landed by a local angler off of the San Jose Estuary reportedly weighing 40 pounds, this same person caught another snook weighing 25 pounds the next morning,” Brictson said. The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita and Puerto Los Cabos sent out 75 charters for the week with anglers reporting a fish count of 9 striped marlin, 1 blue marlin, 3 sailfish, 12 hammerhead sharks, 4 wahoo, 19 dorado, 212 yellowfin tuna, 5 amberjack, 8 dogtooth snapper, 28 various pargo species, 15 bonito, 76 roosterfish, 12 jack crevalle, 9 cabrilla and 11 sierra. – SAN QUINTIN: The windy season finally appears to be over with and it went out with a big bang. “That was one nastiest wind storms we’ve ever had last week, I finally got out to San Martin Island, bouncing balls for halibut,” said Capt. Cook. “We picked up 2 fish, one was 18 pounds and the other was 23 pounds. After that we caught some big reds,” he said. “The water temperature at the island is 55.8 degrees which is a little cold, for the yellowtail to move in, but 4 miles south of San Martin the water was 61.5 degrees and there’s a strong south current pushing the warm water to the north. I expect fish to start moving into this area within the next few days,” he said. – BAHIA ASUNCION (Just south of Guerrero Negro): It's been a very windy month in Bahia Asuncion with big surf as well. Abalone fishermen struggled to fill their quota due to poor conditions but should finish up mid June. “The yellowtail schools are still here and seem to be increasing in numbers,” said Shari Bondy from Campo Sirena. Inshore the halibut are moving into the beaches for shore fishing. Readers: To have your reports included in the Baja report, send photos and e-mails to baja@wonews.com. |
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