Suppose you are planning a fishing trip to Baja in October. In that case, you won’t be disappointed with the number of species available to target, including Billfish (Striped, Black, Blue, Marlin, and Sailfish), Yellowfin and Bluefin Tuna, Dorado, Jacks, Cabrilla, Snapper, Pargo, Pompano, Grouper, Halibut, and Jack Crevalle.
Coronado Islands / Rockpile
The Bluefin are running from 20 to 35 pounds, and the Yellows are mixed, as small as 6 to 10-pound units with some 12 to 25-pounders.
The Bluefin had been appearing under birds, as well as in foamers, without any bird activity. Those fish were caught using live bait, small stick bait, poppers, and surface iron. When using live bait, it’s important to note that the fish seem line-shy, with a 20-pound to a 30-pound test line producing the best results and a 40-pound test line getting fewer bites.
Most yellows are being hooked on fly-lined and slow-trolled sardine, though some are also caught using mint-colored surface iron. More Info
Ensenada
The Bluefin tuna remain at the top of the list for local and visiting anglers. Inshore yellowtail, barracuda, and red rock cod dominate the action.
San Quintín
Yellowtail, white seabass, calico bass, bonito, lingcod, and Pacific red snapper are all in the mix now and should continue through October.
San Felipe
Here is the latest news and information about the Tony Reyes Fishing Tours:
Aug 4 – Aug 9 Fish Report … Hola Anglers, Tony returned from another successful trip chartered by the Vagabundos Del Mar Fishing Club. He reports they fished as far south as San Francisquito and then fished north, ending the last day at the Enchanted Islands. They landed some Grouper and lost plenty of Grouper at Refugio. They caught a wide variety of fish, and the cabrilla were nice-sized. They had excellent weather throughout the trip! …Tony Reyes Fishing Report
Bahía de Los Ángeles
Some bigger yellows picked up the fishing recently. The cabrilla bite has been great on lures, along with some yellowtail on jigs, but mainly on bait
Cedros Island
In addition to yellowtail, other species have included calico, sheepshead, halibut, white seabass, and white fish. The descriptions of the effectiveness of what they bite (on the surface) have been in this order: yoyo, trolling Rapalas, and live bait.
Guerrero Negro
Chema Medina reports excellent white sea bass, grouper, and yellowtail fishing. He can be reached on Facebook.
Asunción Bay
The tuna bite is still very strong in Bahia Asuncion, north and south of town, and not too far out. Some very nice quality fish are being caught, and everybody in town is chowing down on tuna dishes, as well as lots of halibut being caught on the beaches, too. The weather is great, with air in the high 70s! Come on over and get you some nice fresh tuna! …Shari Bondi, Owner-Operator at La Bufadora Inn
Loreto
Yellowtail, at Lagimas and Punta Lobo seems to be the most.
A few dorado are still in the neighborhood farther out in the bluewater. Few local boats like to go far and burn lots of gas.
However, the bait continues to be challenging to secure, and the bait sellers only have enough mackerel for the first two or three boats. Cast netting around and outside the marina only results in some Lisa and other odd types!
Lopez Mateos
It is the beginning of the Banks fishing season for the 23, the 38 and Thetis. Only one report of a Wahoo out at Thetis. Still, big Yellowfin Tuna and smaller Dorado out that far. Closer in, the Grouper, Pargo, Trigger, and Sheepshead are found at the Grouper Rocks.
Also, shrimp season started on the 18th of September, so the live bait inside Mag Bay fishing is good. No reports of Snook yet, but there are reports of nice Corvina, Grouper, Pargo, Trigger, and Palometa being caught. We look forward to a good Marlin, Wahoo, and Yellowfin Tuna season here. …Cheri King
La Paz and Muertos Bay
The end game! The Okazaki Brothers from Orange County fish every year with us, but they had no idea how rare and elusive it is to catch a wahoo. They are the Holy Grail of fish down here. They caught FOUR in two days with Captain Pancho and couldn’t understand the big fuss until we explained that guys fish for decades just to hook one wahoo! Recent catches include the big cubera (dogtooth) snapper, dorado, and some baby snapper, too!
Weather has been been sunny but cool and breezy. Water has been 83-86 degrees on the surface and primarily good patches of blue. Recent catches have included dorado, bonito, jack crevalle, snapper, cabrilla, sailfish, striped marlin, blue marlin, amberjack, rainbow runner, snapper, sierra, and WAHOO!!!
East Cape
We experienced a great tournament with 37 teams, 109 anglers, and a total of $53,280 USD in jackpots. They made it to the scales with Six Wahoo and Nine Tuna. Congratulations to all participants and especially to our winners:
The “MI SENORITA” with anglers Todd Ostrom and Aldhair Cota, who took home the car and $39,680 USD (pre-tax) in jackpots.
Gordo Banks
We started focusing on Iman Bank this week as the water cleared after the storm pushed in green water. This area holds a lot of bait, specifically small skipjack and a few schools of bulito. That said, these waters can also be infested with shark on some days. We are catching small yellowfin tuna, though the skipjack always wins most of the battles over the bait. Many of these tuna are small, averaging around five pounds, though some nicer, 30 to 50-pounders were spotted chasing the live sardina. The biggest tuna caught at Iman this week was close to 70 pounds. This was over an hour’s fight on 30-pound test.
There is also a good chance of landing a few dorado in this area, though nothing big currently. We are using live sardina. The bait guys have been netting sardina towards Palmilla’s shoreline. A few nice wahoo were also hooked earlier in the mornings while trolling rigged ballyhoo and X-Raps at Iman and La Fortuna. Within the same area, a handful of sailfish were also landed, some pushing the 100-pound mark, which is a good fight on light tackle.
Cabo San Lucas
Baja’s first storm of the year, Tropical Storm Ileana, arrived in Cabo with winds to 40 kts along with heavy rain, causing the Port Captain to close the Port on Friday and Saturday. Ileana then traveled up to Loreto before moving over to the Mexican coast.
The Pisces Fleet resumed fishing on Sunday, and the few boats that ventured out found conditions unchanged from the preceding week. The catches throughout the remainder of the week improved, offering a diverse range of species. More Yellowfin Tuna in the 100-pound class for the few boats targeting them, more Billfish, Dorado, and a few more Wahoo made it an interesting and varied week for fishing enthusiasts. Plus, a few Tuna weighing over 140 pounds kept the week exciting.
September 13 to 19. Catch success rate 87.23 %
All species combined comprise 87.23% Billfish, 36.17% Dorado 57.45%, Tuna 53.19%, and Other 17.02%
Gary Graham
That Baja Guy
thatbajaguy@gmail.com
With more than five decades of fishing experience – from light tackle and fly to offshore billfish – Gary Graham has experienced all aspects of fishing in the Southern California and Baja waters. His observations of species behavior, tackle and techniques are always from his unique perspective, earning him the respect of his peers as well as anglers who eagerly follow his Baja reports and features.
Gary maintained a home at East Cape in Baja Sur for more than 18 years and still spends nearly half of each year exploring the entire peninsula in his self-contained Roadtrek van. He observes everything Baja, from the mysteries of a tide pool on a deserted Baja beach filled with tiny sea creatures to the largest billfish in the sea.