Baja Fish Report

Video Report:
https://vimeo.com/202709726?utm_source=email&utm_medium=...

Written Report:
Headed down to Baja for almost 3 weeks around New Years. Traveled from Los Osos, Ca. about 2 pm and made it to El Centro by about 10 p.m. Hit horrible traffic from Santa Barbara all the way out to somewhere East of L.A. Always the worst part of the trip for me! Man…I don’t see how anyone can live down there!!!
We had a very easy crossing at Mexicali and smooth sailing on a very nice highway all the way to San Filipe. It was my first time on that section of road and I was impressed how easy that part of the trip was! The scenery was very interesting too, although not much left of the Colorado River Delta.
We made San Filipe before noon and, after tracking down a bank (to take advantage of the 21:1 exchange rate!), gassed up and headed South. The section of road between San Filipe and Puertoricos is straight, but there are several massive mystery vados (sharp dips) that pop up out of no where! We hit one going a little too fast and nearly caught air!!! We found out later that we blew out an air bag. Slowed down to 40 after that and had no problems spotting them the rest of the way. It is a wonder why these vados even exist and WHY they haven't fixed!?! I guess to make Baja driving more interesting.
After Puertoricos the road gets really nice, easily the best road in Baja! Wide and straight with big shoulders Plus the scenery is gorgeous along the Cortez with multiple islands and gorgeous beaches. Definitely checking this area out in the future, it is only about 6-7 hours from the border!!!
After Gonzaga Bay the new paved road ends and you travel on a series of detours and sections of "old Baja dirt road" for about 22 miles. I had been told it was rough, but do-able if you go slow. I don't think you can go slow enough towing a boat! It was incredibly rough and I would not recommend towing a boat over this section. We did that section in about 3 hours with a nice stop at Coco's Corner for a very cold beer. It was a welcome break from the pounding and jarring!!! The good news is that they were actively working on the entire section and several areas looked ready to pave. Upon completion in the next 2-10? years (Baja time), it will be a very nice road and definitely the way to travel South of the border! However, unless the distance of nasty dirt road is reduced, I’ll be travelling Mex 1.
We hit Mex 1 and had an easy trip down to Dos Amigos in San Lucas Cove, just South of Santa Rosalia. We pulled in to camp about 8 p.m. and worked frantically to set up camp and get gear ready for the next day. The forecast was for flat calm seas…so we were pumped!!!
We got up early and drove to the launch at Camachos at San Lucas Cove. The launch at Dos Amigos has filled in from the Hurricanes and massive rain storms the past several years. While having to drive to the launch is a pain, Camachos is a great launch with deep water and the owner only wants a fish or two when you come in. Fortunately the bait was right in front of the cove and we easily made bait in 60’ of water in front of camp. We headed out to the 110 off Isa San Marcos and ended up landing 4 nice yellowtail from 20-25 pounds.
To make a long story short, over the next 16 days we fished 15! The only day we missed was the day we changed out crews. We fished yellowtail nearly every day, with only a few windy days keeping us off the yellowtail grounds. We fished the yellowtail grounds off Isla San Marcos 11 days and managed to land 25 yellowtail from 20-33 pounds. We broke off 3 others and missed another dozen pick ups. Most fish came on the flyline, but a couple were on the bottom, 1 on a flatfall jig and 2 on a surface iron. Our best day was 5 fish in the boat, a couple days we landed only 1, but we averaged a little more than 2 fish per day.
One surface iron fish was particularly memorable. There were random boils going on all day, but too brief to really chase down. We were on a drift with live baits out when a boil erupts 200+ yards away. Knowing it was too far to reach, I still cast out and just hope for a blind jig strike! I make a good cast and am working the salix 45 back to the boat…it is nearly to the boat when I see a large yellowtail following it! It finally hammers the jig about 15’ from the boat!!! It was glassy calm and we clearly saw the whole thing! Very cool!!! What topped it off was that a flyline bait got hit about 30 seconds later and we landed a double!
The inshore fishing was fun too. We had some good trolling along the island for mostly leopard grouper, with a few in the 5-8 pound class coming to the boat. One day we did a bunch of jigging along the island and caught all sorts of cool reef fish. Fishing along the Haystack and the Cliffs also produced good fishing for leopard grouper, small firecracker YT, and a few nice sierra. One day we got in to a wolf pack of leopard grouper and caught 30+ on ultra light rods and jigs for an hour or so. They were small fish, but super fun on the light gear. Everyday we fished was good fishing!
The only really windy day we had we headed down to Bahia Conception and hung out at Playa Coco. We launched early and fished around the islands and had good fishing on a variety of inshore species, including a huge sierra, porgy, pompano, bonita, and etc… We also snorkeled for some other tasty critters!
One of the highlights of the trip was a close encounter with a huge pod of sperm whales. We were finishing our day trolling along the island when I see a huge splash in the distance. I look over and see multiple spouts. We pick up the lines and head over to find a pod of 40-50 sperm whales logging at the surface. We got right in the pod a few times and had whales all around the boat…at one point a sperm whale breached (which they are not known for doing) only about 50 yards from the boat! Several whales went right under the boat. It was an amazing experience to be so close to such majestic creatures.
It was a great trip. Best weather I’ve had down there in 10+ years! It was great hanging out with my good friends Grant, Dar, Ken, Wendy, Paddy and Irene at Dos Amigos. Plus I got to introduce two new friends to Baja. Both were blown away and vow to return. We shall see…I’ve heard that before. This was my 20th year of Baja adventures. I’ve only missed one year (had ACL surgery), I won’t miss another!!!
Best fishes,
Steve

My boat is a 17' Gregor Alaskan/Baja with a side console. 50 Hp Honda. Great boat, perfect for beach launching in Baja. My spare tire rotates down to make it a 3-wheel trailer. Haven't found a place I can't launch! The boat can handle any ocean that is safe enough to be out in

Quote: Originally posted by Hook

Thanks for the detailed report. I have been wondering how the YT fishing has been on the "other side". Sounds pretty much like ours; a fair amount of work for a few fish. Quite a few "skunked" days. But few use live bait around here, as consistent bait holes are non-existent. To average 2 fish/day using live bait is certainly not wide open. Even the pangueros who net live bait over here, have had a slow year. But it has picked up in the last week. That leopard grouper fishing sounds really good.

Quote: Originally posted by fishmaster

We had some good trolling along the island for mostly leopard grouper

Quote: Originally posted by sancho

Quote: Originally posted by fishmaster   We had some good trolling along the island for mostly leopard grouper Yes, we were trolling XRap 15's or 20's. We did not catch any cabrilla trolling, but did get a trigger fish (rare), many firecrackers, and a few sierra. I've have also caught hogfish trolling at times. Is that with a plastic, like a Rapala? You didn't mention Cabrilla which I assume would be caught on the same bait

Quote: Originally posted by nbentley1

looks like a great trip. How were you storing the fish once you got back to shore. Cooler / ice, DC fridge? Thanks

Quote: Originally posted by Hook

San Carlos, Sonora. Much more pressure on fish over here, than on the San Marcos seamounts. I might seen 2-3 dozen pangueros in a days fishing. Sometimes a like amount of gringo boats.

Never been to San Carlos. That sounds like a lot of pressure!
To be honest, I'm glad we didn't have wide open fishing. 3 years ago it was WFO and there were 20-40 pangas out some days, plus 5-15 gringos!
This year the max we saw at the 110 was 8 boats and there were several days we were the ONLY boat fishing

Great report and video. Love the last part were the clicker got off on a double. Nice boat as well. The video sure pulled at my fish lines. I will be there next week.

Quote: Originally posted by OCEANUS

Fishmaster I was planning on driving the Mex 5 route south with my boat next week until I read your report. 23 mies does not seem too bad until I read it took you three hours! I saw in your video that you were pulling the Gregor on a single axle trailer. Do you think it would make any difference pulling larger boat on a dual axle trailer, or would you recommend avoiding this route entirely if towing a boat? Thank you.