Fly Fish Baja

Hi Folks,

The weather is just perfect as we move into our spring season.  It’s been sunny with daytime highs around 90 degree’s with a light cool breeze off the ocean to keep things nice.   The water is warming up on the Sea of Cortez side with mid to low 70’s and on the Pacific it’s kinda on the cool side in the high 60s.

The inshore fishing really cant get any better, just ask Greg Williamson from Redmond, Oregon.  Greg, his wife Kim, and their two daughters, Brianna and Hailey fished with me yesterday.  Went headed into the Sea of Cortez side for the calmer fishing water.  Right off the bat, Bri and Hailey started catching fun sized jacks, then they caught a ton of roosterfish, around noon we headed to a yellowtail hole and caught three nice yellowtail on spinning rods for lunch.  On the way back we stopped and caught really big sierra mackerel, some over 12 lbs. we kept a few for ceviche.  It’s a lot of fun when the fishing is this good and you see kids catching a ton of fish, their laughter is the medicine that cures anything that ails you. 

Correy Schieder and Frank Zoch from San Antonio, Texas wrote; Awesome time- Definitely worth going with Grant. 17 roosterfish, 12 sierras 1 bonita and 1 yellowtail. On all fly.

The roosterfish action is picking up!  We are catching a ton of smaller roosterfish, and we are starting to see some nice fish over 20 lbs.  More big fish will be coming into our area in the next month, they will stay in the here until late June/ mid July.   If you want to fish with us during our prime roosterfish season in May and June, you want to start booking now before we are booked solid.

The sierras action is really good right now.  Lots of nice big sierra’s around, we have been catching many fish over 12 lbs, which are world records on a fly. 

Everyone knows that Sierra’s are the favored fish for ceviche, but not many folks know that they are an absolutely delicious fish that can be cooked in many ways.  My favorite is breaded fish sticks, or try them blackened.  They also make fine Sushimi.

The Yellowtail are still around in numbers, and they have been great fun on the fly and on light spinning gear. I actually got spooled the other day when I hooked a really big yellowtail on a spinning rod, 300 yards of 50 spectra was off the reel in seconds, I didn’t even get a chance to follow the fish, the drag was smokin.  

Big jacks up to 30 lbs; hook into one of those and your arms will be sore for days.  These fish are tons of fun, and will really bend a rod.

Some snappers around, but we have yet to see the large schools.  They usually show up in May and June.  These fish are fun to catch.  We see the schools on the surface and spinning gear or flies at them.  Sometimes you get into a school of fish and they are just too big to land, which happened a few years ago.  We were hooking the 25 # to 60 # snappers on the fly and we couldn’t do much with them.  Even though we were 200 yards down the beach from the point, the big fish would run straight for the rocks and there was nothing we could do but follow with the boat, all but a few of the really big ones cut us off.

The striped marlin fishing is pretty good on most days.  It’s not unusual to see 5 to 20 fish tailing on the surface in a days outing and to catch 2 to 4 of them.  

But marlin being the fish that they are, when they get closed mouth, when that happens, it’s almost impossible to feed a fish that isn’t hungry.  You can cast a livie 5 feet in front of him and he will turn around and swim away form the bait.

The YF tuna are close to Cabo.  Plenty of fish 10# to 25# just south of the cape.  Day before yesterday, the fleet was catching them just 2 miles offshore. Canb anyone say “fresh Sushi”?

A few dorado around, but most are just a by-catch while marlin fishing, expect the dorado fishing to improve starting July with the peak in August, September and October. 

If you want good offshore fishing, plan on coming down to Cabo in the summer months.  There are many advantages to coming to Cabo in the summer months. 

 First off is that we will run our Summer Special again from July 15th-September 25th.  Fish for two days or more and we will cover your hotel at the Mar de Cortez. Note- This is for direct bookings only. 

Second; airfares usually are much lower in the summer months, and the fishing is so good!!!! We catch blue marlin, black marlin, striped marllin, sailfish, YF tuna, dorado, wahoo, black skipjack,  and bonitas on the fly and light tackle.  If you are interested in fishing with us on our summer trips, please email me.

Camping trips- I will be adding camping trips up the Pacific.  These are places I have fished over the last fifteen years, that get only a small amount of pressure from a few local fisherman.  We will be going “outback”, with little or no contact with the outside world.   Expect to catch snook, corbina’s, sea bass, snappers, and other fun inshore fish on the fly and spinning gear.  I will also have some Kayaks for fooling around in the estuary’s.  The trips will be 3 to 6 fishing days in length.  The trips will be from September through the end of October.  I will also be doing at least one Mag bay trip with guests.  If you have any interest, please email me.

Most of you know that Gisel and I got into the Real Estate business a few years ago. We have been doing well with the strong market down here, and it’s been a lot of fun.  If you have any interest in buying Real Estate in Los Cabos, the East Cape or Todos Santos area, please email me at info@baja-anglers.com

Pictured below is Bri and Hailey Williamson of Redmond OR.

They were fishing with me on Flying fish 3 out of Cabo San Lucas.  

They caught that fish on a G. Loomis Green water spinning rod and 

Tight Lines,
Grant 

Hi Folks,

Some fun news first;

We are now posting photos of our guests and their catch along with our daily fishing log on a regular basis. Our goal is two or three times a week. You can check it out on our web site. Go to baja-anglers.com

Also, you can check out the new video on our web site. It’s lots of fun with Mike, Teddy and Luke Granbois catching a variety of inshore species, and there is even some underwater footage of the giant Humbolt squid.

Inshore;

The fishing continues to be really good. We are catching lots of roosterfish on the fly and light tackle. It’s not uncommon to catch 12 or more roosterfish on the fly in a days outing.

There’s just a great variety of inshore fish to be caught right now. You never know what fish you are going to catch next, one moment it’s a rooster, and the next it’s a yellowtail or another of our great inshore fish. It’s just too much fun!

Ask Steve Baldikoski from Los Angeles, Ca. Steve was fishing with me the other day and caught over 12 roosterfish, some barracuda and sierra mackerel. All on the fly. Steve wrote: My first time fly fishing in Saltwater. Had the time of my life. Grant is incredible, professional, charming, and most importantly patient. I only wish I had more days in Cabo to go out again.

John and Rob Whitaker from Los Angeles wrote: Nazario was Great! 10 Sierras, 10 roosterfish, and 3 pompano. Fabulous time ever!

Chuck and Sara Berra from St. Louis wrote: We had a great time. The service and teaching were fabulous. You delivered what you promised. Thanks! Lots of roosterfish, 3 yellowtail and one sierra mackerel.

The fishing is only going to be getting better as we move into our spring fishery. Already our May and June dates are filling quickly. If you want to fish the peak roosterfish season with us, start making plans now.

Offshore;

The striped marlin fishing is really starting to pick up again. Lots of fish 10 to 20 miles offshore. They can still have a bit of closed mouth, but you should be able to pick up a couple of fish on a daily basis.

The yellowfin are out 18 miles offshore, blind strikes are the norm and if you find a few porpoise, watch out, the bite can be really hot.

A few Dorado are being caught here and there. They are mostly a by-catch while trolling for striped marlin and YF tuna.

The photo is Bill Schoger and a nice fly caught roosterfish. He was fishing with our Captain Arturo on Flying fish 3. Out of Cabo San Lucas.

Tight Lines,Grant

Water Temperature - 70 / 78
Air Temperature - 47 / 80

Weather - This past week we have had excellent weather with flat calm seas and virtually no wind. We did experience some fog a few mornings. On most days it would be burned off by about ten in the morning leaving us with bright and sunny skies. I do not think we are quite out of the woods yet as far as the wind. I believe we will see a few blows here in April but if we can get lucky and continue what we saw this past week April will be wonderful.

Beach - We continue to see some very good action from the beach. This past week we continued to see good schools of smaller Rooster fish(3-5 lbs.) crashing bait along the shores as you can see from the photos below. We are starting to see some very big roosters and although we had some good fish chase the fly this past week we could not get any to commit and eat the fly. We are starting to see some of these bigger Rooster fish along with the bigger Jack Crevelle in the area doing the spring spawn dance. These fish will be in fairly large schools and at times you will see them daisy chaining. When you encounter these fish present a good cast to them and you will most likely get one or two to chase the fly but in their state of mind it is hard to get them to eat.

The top photo is of Dick Knackendoffel and his son Patrick casting into a school of Rooster fish that were boiling on the beach.

Other photos of more Rooster fish boiling next to the beach this past week.

Dick waiting for the Rooster fish to push the bait in just a little closer so he can make a cast to them.

A little too close to shore for the boats to get to them.

Patrick shows off the results of a little team work while we were fishing inshore from the panga this past week. We found a school of Rooster fish and I teased a few fish in and he made the perfect cast.

Tyler with his first ever bill fish a nice Sea of Cortez Sail fish , a nice striped marlin and after wrestling with his fish.

Inshore - This past week we continued to see fair action for some medium sized Rooster fish. We also have some good schools of Jack Crevelle that have been in the area and if you can find the right school they will attack the fly. We have some very good action for Bonita inshore near Cabo Pulmo. These fish have been giving us plenty of pulls and are very nice size between five and ten pounds. This past week we had an excellent bite for Pargo on some of the reef’s. We had very good success with a chartreuse and white clouser fished on an intermediate line.

Off Shore - Off shore is getting better. We have a good number of smaller Dorado that are located between Cabo Pulmo and the light house off shore about twenty miles. The boats that are fishing this area are picking up between two and eight Dorado a day. Most of the Dorado are in the five to ten pound range. In the same area we have some Marlin as well. My current guests Robert Althar and his son Tyler from Florida had a great day with me off shore today. Tyler caught his first ever stripe marlin as well as his first ever sail fish. Tyler caught these fish on conventional gear and was wiped out by the end of the day after pulling on his first two bill fish. We also caught six or seven small Dorado. The strong yellow tail bite we have seen over the past couple of weeks has slowed down. With the slowing of this bite most of the boats have been going further off shore in search of the Dorado. If the weather holds and the water continues to warm up the fishing we are starting to see out side should continue to build.

This reports photo’s are of Dick Knackendoffel and his son Patrick from Colorado showing off just some of their fish that they have caught with me this week.

Weather - Over all this past week we have seen some very nice weather. We had some wind on the 22nd and 23rd but then it flattened out and has been absolutely still for the past three days and is forecast to be good for the next few days. We have had a few cool nights and one or two foggy mornings but the day time highs are very comfortable making Baja a great place to be this time of year.

Bait - The pangeros are catching sardines up to the North but is a long way to go to get them. The good news is if you go that far their is some good fishing in that area so the long ride may be worth it. Closer to home the mackerel are available. We also have some good populations of very small bait along the beaches making beach fishing very interesting.

Beach fishing - The beaches are starting to heat up with the lack of wind and the good populations of bait starting to show up. This week we have seen some excellent rooster fish and jack crevel action taking place right on the shoreline giving the fly fishing angler plenty of opportunity. Most of the fish have been in the four to six pound range with a few very large fish beginning to show. we have also seen a very good lady fish bite early in the morning. With the water starting to warm up the Sierra we have seen over the past few weeks did not make a huge showing this past week. Do not get me wrong we still have some around but the great bite we have been experiencing slowed this past week.

Inshore - This past week the inshore fishing has been very good for yellow tail. Most of the boats are going out just a mile or so off the beach and catching some very nice yellow tail. The boats have been catching them on mackerel or jigs but if the fly fisher was to use a fast sinking line and let it sink and then strip back up through the school one would have a good chance to catch one on the fly. These fish have been averaging between twenty five and forty pounds.

We also have good Rooster fishing just off the beach for the schools of fish that are chasing bait but are just a little to far to cast to from shore. Most of these fish are once again between four and six or seven pounds.

This past week we also experienced some excellent fishing in the rocks for species such as Pargo, African Pompano, and Cabrilla. As you can see from the photos above Dick and Patrick had a great day in and around the rocks.

Off shore - Offshore remains a little slow although I did hear of a very big school of stripe Marlin out about thirty miles. I also know that a few smaller Dorado were caught off shore as well this past week. I think it will be another week or so before we see any real action off shore but if we can get the water temperatures up just slightly that will help.

Over all - Over all the inshore fishing is as good as I have seen it in quite a while. I have been fishing with Dick and Patrick for the last four days and we have had a ball. In one day we caught six different species of fish without moving more that ten feet. I will be fishing with them for another couple of days and I will be sure to let you all know what we find. Until then I hope you all have good fishing.

Jeff deBrown

Owner/Guide
The Reel Baja

Hi Folks,

You can’t beat the weather in Cabo right now, it’s perfect!

Sunny, and around 80 degrees, with little wind at all.  The seas are calm and water temperatures are in the high 60s in the Pacific and low 70s on the Sea of Cortez side.

Offshore;
It’s nice to see a return of the marlin.  Plenty of fish all along the corridor, 5 to 15 miles out.  They are hitting lures as well as live baits.
Ask Joe Barrta from Santa Rosa, Ca. He was fishing with our Capt. Arturo yesterday and landed and released a nice striped marlin on the fly.

The yellowfin tuna are 20 to 30 miles offshore, most of the fish are footballs under 20#, but there are a few really nice fish over 100# out there.  Find the porpoise and you will find the tuna.  Louie Bevlaqua from Long Island, New York landed a nice 120# yellowfin tuna on light tackle.  They were fishing with Arturo and catching footballs, when Arturo decided to drop bait down deep.  The rest is history. Go going Arturo!

A few Dorado out with the tuna, but not much to write home about.

We have had an invasion of giant Humboldt squid.  The squid are located close to shore (no more than ½ mile out).  Dropping Yo-Yo’s is the trick!  This is right out of National Geographic.  These squid are 5 to 6 feet long!  Hook one and the school follows it to the top.  The beaks look like big parrot beaks and could easily take your finger right off.  Some of you must have seen the program a few years ago, where the giant Humboldt’s were taking divers at night in the Sea of Cortez.  We’ll in the show, this one fellow puts on ceramic football gear and helmet and jumps over the side.  The squid came up from the deep and were attacking him.  Proved without a doubt, that we are part of their diet, and its dangerous to swim at night in the Sea of Cortez.  You never know what lurking underneath you.  Very cool!

Well we won this time.  We had Solomon’s landing deep fry the squid and pan fry the yellowtail and boy were they delicious.

The inshore action has been a lot of fun this last week.  We are catching yellow tail, roosterfish, sierra mackerel, and jacks on both fly and light spinning gear

One high note was Mark Ormiston’s day.  Mark was fishing with his buddy David Cole They had a grat day on the water and caught 9 roosterfish on the fly.  What a day!

A few days ago, I fished Mike Granbois with his two sons Ted and Luke. Mike is from York, Pennsylvania and has fished with me for the last 4 years.

We had a lot of fun fishing with his boys and they landed over 10 yellowtail on light spinning rods.  Then they caught a few giant squid.  After some tough battles we headed inshore to catch roosterfish and sierra mackerel.  A great day on the water! Those boys will remember that day for the rest of their lives.

Pictured below are Mike, Ted and Luke with Capt. Nazario on flying fish 2.  That’s a big Humboldt squid.  We were fishing right out in front of the lighthouse.

Tight Lines,

Grant