The Baja Peninsula has pleasant winter weather that seems to improve the farther south you go. Baja in December is warm and comfortable with low humidity; you’ll find many opportunities for fishing from shore and pangas and cruisers. It is also an excellent opportunity to test-drive some fishing tackle gifts you received. Plus, there is the chance to observe some early migratory whales making their annual journey from Alaska south in December, with more arriving by early January.
Because of less fishing pressure, the first 200-mile stretch below the border, beginning with the Coronado Islands and Ensenada to San Quintín, will reflect similar but better bottom fishing than can be expected above the border.
On the East Coast of the peninsula below Mexicali, San Felipe, Gonzaga Bay, and Bahía de Los Ángeles all offer extraordinary sportfishing opportunities such as mackerel, calico bass, rock cod, red snapper, whitefish, bonito, barracuda, and salmon grouper. It’s a perfect time to go for it!
On the Sea of Cortez side, San Felipe, Gonzaga Bay, and Bahía de Los Ángeles offer do-it-yourself or guided fishing trips from shore or boat. (Tip, check Facebook).
Bahía de Los Ángeles
The cabrilla bite has been great on lures, and a few yellowtail have also been active, mainly on bait. The good news is that the larger yellowtail have been putting a bend in anglers’ rods, with limits of catches often being the case. Many nice-sized calico have been caught and released, with most of the bigger fish being caught around the island’s north end when the weather has cooperated.
Bahía Asunción
“It’s the never-ending tuna bite in beautiful, fishy Bahía Asunción! Today was no exception, as my guests caught manageable limits of yellowfin tuna from 50 to 80 pounds in a short time and four miles out!
The villagers are so happy with all the tuna the anglers give away, and the town is booming with fishermen contributing to our local economy…the panga Captains, gas stations, stores, the masseuse, restaurants and food providers are all smiling!
I expect to be cranking out sashimi platters like crazy and listening to fish stories till Christmas!” …Shari Bondi – Owner-Operator at La Bufadora Inn
Loreto
With some cooperation from the weather, locals are expecting a good winter season of fishing in Loreto. All signs point to success! The most encouraging data came directly from the commercial guys at the marina.
Cabrilla, grouper, and yellowtail are all biting. The yellowtail are medium schoolies, and the cabrilla are 8 to 12 pounds. The grouper are hitting Candeleros at the “50” spot by Lobo. Windy days seem to be the only restriction, with the Port Captain closing the marina on the worst days.
Lopez Mateos
Well, it seems the wahoo are gone. The water at the Banks is 69 degrees. There are still a few lunker yellowfin tuna around. Harry G brought in a couple of 74-pounders recently. Fishing outside the Boca with live shrimp around the Grouper Rocks has been fantastic. Grouper, Huachinango, Vieja (California Sheepshead), Yellowtail, and Trigger were all biting. A great variety of live bait was active in the Mangroves. Pargo, Grouper, Trigger, Corvina (big), Pulpo, and Snook were also there. December – March is excellent for fishing around Lopez Mateos.
La Paz and Muertos Bay
Winter catch for one of the commercial pangueros of some tasty cabrilla and Sierra and bonito.
WATERS: There have still been some warm patches with surface temps in the 80-degree area, but overall, waters are starting to cool off. Less blue. Cloudier green.
WEATHER: The weather has been really pleasant. It is a nice time to be in town – low 80s in the day, high 60s to low 70s at night. The biggest issue is the wind. Some days, it blows up to 15 knots or more.
FISHING BEING HOOKED: Inshore species like snapper, kingfish, snook, Sierra, jack crevalle, pompano, and trevally, with a few dorado in the warmer spots. Commercial fishermen find a few scattered tuna and the occasional holdover billfish.
East Cape
Recent catches include skipjack and a few striped marlin, with some boats releasing several per day. There are still a few dorado around. Then, inshore, there are plentiful small roosters. Some boats further out offshore are reporting seeing and catching some yellowfin tuna.
Gordo Banks
Most boats have been fishing towards Cabo recently as wind conditions were not ideal towards Vinorama, San Luis, and Iman. They continued to catch yellowfin tuna limits at Cabeza de Ballena. Most of these fish are football size, averaging 5-6 pounds, with an occasional 20-pounder in the mix. They were using live/dead sardina and strips of squid. This weekend, only a handful of boats could buy sardina as the bait guys could not net enough. The tuna bite is early in the morning on most days. After it died down, chiefly skipjack and a few small dorado have been in the mix. After reaching tuna limits, most boats started trolling lures, Rapalas, and ballyhoo in Cerro Colorado and Palmilla. There was little action, with a few striped marlin landed.
Towards Vinorama and Iman, they were catching small yellowfin, though the bite was not as hot as Cabeza de Ballena. There was a chance of a bigger tuna in this area. A handful of 70 to 80-pounders were landed and many reports claimed seeing bigger tuna boiling up on the sardina.
The wahoo bite has been spotty. They only saw a handful of wahoo at the fillet station this week. Most of these fish landed towards Vinorama, though it was tough to reach this area due to high winds and swells.
Cabo San Lucas
Catch success rate 87.18 %
All species combined comprise 87.18% Billfish, 56.41% Dorado 12.82%, Tuna 23.08%, and Other 13.68%
Throughout November, the air temperature has hovered between 75 and 80, and the water temperature has refused to drop more than a few degrees. It has stayed between the 75 to 79-degree range, and the warm-water fish have enjoyed every moment of frolicking in it. Some of the cooler-water fish that came through and haven’t stuck around have been snapper, pargo, cabrilla, Sierra, amberjack, and even some yellowtail. However, boats are still getting Striped and Blue Marlin, Dorado, plus large wahoo, and yellowfin tuna.
Regardless of your destination, Baja seldom disappoints! Merry Christmas and Good Luck!
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.