January 23, 2022
Light crowds now in Southern Baja, a great time to visit and enjoy the winter sunshine. This week we felt more normal weather conditions, unlike the heat wave of last week. Days were mostly cloud free, lots of sunshine, warming up into the upper 70s, though we did feel chilly lows of 55 degrees. Still very comfortable compared to most of North America. Winds were predominantly from the north, resided over the weekend, most days were a non factor, as they picked up later in the day.
Bait resources were mainly for caballito and ballyhoo, with some sardineta and mackerel also being found on local fishing grounds. Ocean was on a cooling trend, 73 degree greenish current pushing itself south from Los Frailes, as much of the region off of San Jose del Cabo is holding 74 to 76 degrees, still warmer than usual for this time of year. Most charters are now fishing the grounds from Punta Gorda to La Fortuna.
Most common catches have been for dorado, ranging up to 20 lb, with many boats landing their two fish per license limits. Wahoo were hanging around longer than normal this season, found fairly close to shore while trolling various baits and while casting jigs. Average size were under 20 lb., though we did see a couple of wahoo over 45 lb. Actually Sunday morning there is a wahoo tournament going on, 31 teams are competing for jackpot prizes that also include dorado and tuna.
Yellowfin tuna have not been regular catches for local fleets recently, though far offshore there have been yellowfin found traveling with schooling porpoise, too far for normal day charters to target. Marlin bite became more scattered, as large schools of baitfish have dispersed more and the striped marlin are moving around more, not just concentrated on certain spots. With more anglers now fishing closer to shore where action was good for dorado and wahoo.
Not a lot of bottom action going on,though we did see some various snapper, cabrilla, bonito, tile fish and triggerfish come in. Along the beach stretches there have been some sierra, no big numbers, but they are now moving in, these fish prefer the cooler water. Lack of sardinas continues to be a set back for the inshore and shallow bottom options.
Good Fishing, Eric