chavycha
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Jan/Feb/Mar fishing report
Toronja and I made the trek down the peninsula in late January with the boat in tow. We drove via Mexicali/Hwy 5 and stopped on the Pacific side
about halfway down in a quaint little village. And there we stayed for the next two months, with a few side trips to look at whales / find fossils /
get money and groceries.
We brought a 16' boat with 30hp motor this year which was just divine for this area - big enough that we could fish two comfortably, and up to four in
a pinch. Also big enough that on the day when we got caught outside in a strong wind, we just throttled down and sloshed back - no feeling of
insecurity the same way we'd experienced in our previous 13.5'er. Boat was still small enough that we could still launch/retrieve without undue
calamity.
The fishing was different than it's been in our past few trips, primarily because the water was colder. We had just happened to hit it on a few
consecutive warm years (2014, 2015) when water temps averaged 68-70F well into February. In 2014, we had spectacular shore fishing all through
January. In 2015, we caught dorado in early February. This year, that wasn't the case.
The water was a chilly 59.5F the first day we fished (Jan 23?) and varied between that and a high of 67F, with most days in the low 60s. The shore
fishing was nearly nonexistent. I spent several evenings walking the beach and got a grand total of a few shortfin corvina, a single tiny halibut,
and a single corbina for my efforts.
Good news is that the lower temperatures are caused by a current from the west and upwelling full of nutrients - according to the locals, much better
for the abalone, lobster, etc. Goodness knows there were enough of the pelagic red crabs to go around... Also good news is that it's a better temp
for yellowtail, calico, etc. especially for catch and release. Bad news is it meant no dorado/tuna/etc. near shore, and tons and tons of bonito.
Over the course of the two months, we fished about four times a week. The wind was surprisingly calm most days, with a bit of offshore breeze early,
swinging around at about noon, and not really starting the NW blow until 1-2pm. Thus we didn't do a lot of dawn patrol - much more civilized getting
up at 7:30 to be on the water at the crack of 8 or 8:30. We work remotely when we're in Mexico so the afternoons were usually spent at the house,
typing away and thinking of the next day's fishing.
The fishing was never off-the-hook spectacular, more like slow and steady, but we managed to catch fish just about every day we went out. The
highlights included several large yellowtail, with the biggest topping out just shy of 50#, and a day where we hooked into several of the 30-40# size
class. We'd only brought outfits spooled with 30# line, and wished for heavier on several of these fish. Live and learn.
We also had a ton of fun running and gunning for good-sized bonito on the surface with light spinning tackle and poppers/surface iron. I did not
bring my fly rod this year which I was absolutely kicking myself for - would have been perfect for this as we were often able to motor right into the
midst of acres of boiling bonito - well within casting range.
We didn't catch the variety of fish that we have in years past, though we got our first grouper and what the locals call an azulita/azulina (?), as
well as a few real nice viejas.
The biggest surprise is how we caught several of the larger yellowtail - trolling on blue/green water and temperature breaks and trash lines with
large rapalas. Didn't seem to matter what the absolute depth was - 50' or 250'. Smaller lures would've probably worked too, had you been able to get
them through the hordes of bonito. Many of the 'spots' which usually hold fish in this area were empty, or only sporadically held fish. Had we only
fished the 'known', we would've had several fishless days.
Nearly everyone else we talked to was using yo-yo iron exclusively, which we also did with success when we found concentrations of fish. We didn't
see or hear about anyone else trying to troll.
Our best yo-yo jig was a 4oz glow-in-the-dark diamond jig with tail which outproduced the various colors of Salas by a fairly significant margin. The
MegaBaits also worked but picked up a lot of non-yellowtail bottomfish.
Calicos were present as usual. Mostly scampis and swimbaits for these, but in the last couple days I pulled up a few in the 8lb range using live
flylined jacksmelt (10-12"). Also managed to tie into a grouper with this technique. 
We released most of our fish; though we did take a few of the deeply-hooked yellowtail. We ate a bunch, and froze what we didn't consume immediately.
We also smoked/dried a fair number of bonito into jerky - yum! On the way north, we packed the fish into a cooler with block ice, and grabbed dry
ice in San Diego to refreeze anything that had softened up on the way north. Worked great and kept the frozen stuff frozen for the whole drive back
to Oregon.
We took special care this year to get our fish bled and cooled quickly when they came in the boat. This made for some really good eating - both
sashimi and cooked up into tacos and other various creations.
Anyhow, can't wait to get back... figure a trip in September/October to bring the boat down and fish for a week or so, and then a return in late
December/January for a longer stay. 
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fishbuck
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Nice report thanks!
"A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for." J. A. Shedd.
A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it. – Albert Einstein
"Life's a Beach... and then you Fly!" Fishbuck
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Martyman
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Great Report! Love trying the different methods and you can only yo yo so long!
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chavycha
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We've still got a ton to learn. I'm a freshwater guy - put me on a trout or steelhead stream and I can catch fish just about anytime, anywhere. On
lakes I'm less confident, but can usually figure it out some effort.
Salt is a whole new thing. On the big pond, it's a new day every day. You never know what you might find. Or what might find you...
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BornFisher
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Sounds like a great trip. Love the schedule, no need to get out before the sun!! Thanks for the write up!
"When you catch a fish, you open the door of happiness."
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Bubba
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2 months fishing Baja, awesome!
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woody with a view
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Yes! This thread doesn't suck! Good times....
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BajaBlanca
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What a neat photo!
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Bubba
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PS. A true 50# YT is a very nice catch, great job!
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Don Jorge
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Quote: Originally posted by chavycha  |
The biggest surprise is how we caught several of the larger yellowtail - trolling on blue/green water and temperature breaks and trash lines with
large rapalas |
Nice surprise. Thanks for the report. If you only learned one thing this trip and it was temp breaks hold life, you learned plenty.
Nice too how you respected the catch and treated it as fine food: caught fresh, kept fresh. Guessing you perfected the technique on cold river
steelheads. What a treat they are to share at a meal.
Again, great fishing report and thanks for sharing.
�And it never failed that during the dry years the people forgot about the rich years, and during the wet years they lost all memory of the dry
years. It was always that way.�― John Steinbeck
"All models are wrong, but some are useful." George E.P. Box
"Nature bats last." Doug "Hayduke" Peac-ck
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Paco Facullo
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Mood: Abiding ..........
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Hey, fantastic report well written !!
Thanks much.
Yes ocean fishing is amazing in that the amount of different species and size fish you can hookup with just one sardine.
Although ALL fishing is good, just sum is better than others.
Kinda like beer and women.
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chavycha
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Thanks for the kind words.
Headed out in the morning (or back in the evening, not sure which).
One-finned salute.
Sea-puppies.
Land puppies.
This guy in the mid-weight class went back to fight another day
Beach fishing was poor, but beach-walking was spectacular, as always.
[Edited on 3-14-2017 by chavycha]
[Edited on 3-23-2017 by chavycha]
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chavycha
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We did not have a scale so we may never know for sure. It taped at 121cm fork length, which puts it somewhere between 22-24kg (48.4-52.8lbs),
depending on which calculator your believe.
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Rossman
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| Quote: Originally posted by chavycha |
We did not have a scale so we may never know for sure. It taped at 121cm fork length, which puts it somewhere between 22-24kg (48.4-52.8lbs),
depending on which calculator your believe.
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There is formula that is used by long range sport fishers that I have checked and rechecked against multiple scales and while it always comes in under
my on the water estimates, I have come to trust it explicitly on every species I have used it on, with the flatties like halibut being the only
exception.
Girth squared (inches) X Length (inches) / 800 = Weight (pounds)
Girth at the thickest part of the fish.
Length to the fork.
Guarantee you will be disappointed with the results but it will be within 5% of the actual weight.
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shari
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Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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geeze what is Asuncion coming to these day..bunch a puppie huggin, whale whispering, shrimp taco slurpin, fish porn sillies.....our village is sure
gonna miss ya!!!
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Skipjack Joe
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It's great seeing you release uneaten fish. Very few visitors or locals release fish in that area.
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chavycha
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We'll be back soon enough, shari! Miss y'all already. Just gotta make some money over the summer. And wait for the water to be turned back on in
town.
SJ, we certainly did not release all of our fish, but we try not to waste anything. There were several days where we could've sunk our boat had we
fished for and kept bonito for a few hours. I don't think we kept a single groundfish this year. I feel a lot more comfortable eating the mid-sized
yellowtail and bonito versus the slower-growing calico, sand bass, and the like.
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