 |  |
By Tom Gatch
While summertime temperatures in 2025 soared into the triple digits across the U.S. in many areas that are not normally used to such heat, the coastal zones in southern California and Baja remained blissfully cool, thanks to the offshore flow of the moist marine air that is usually pulled in from the Pacific Ocean once the inland temperatures begin to rise in the months of early summer. This situation has made a day out on the water far more comfortable for anglers pursuing their favorite gamesters; although a liberal application of sunscreen is still recommended, even on overcast days.
Ensenada
Boats fishing the northern reaches of Bahia de Todos Santos have been consistently doing well on lingcod and rockfish, with an occasional showing of yellowtail in the 12 to 17-pound class that are attacking trolled Rapalas in either blue or green mackerel patterns.
Down at the southern end of the Bahia, Vonny’s Fleet continues to do well fishing inshore for lings, reds, and calicos. Offshore pangas at nearby El Delfin Sportfishing have been consistently successful in helping their clients to limit out on fat Pacific red snapper and salmon grouper in the 3 to 7-pound class from depths of over 500 feet at the Banda Bank.
Cedros Island
The 2025 season has just begun, and visiting anglers are already making good catches of trophy-sized white sea bass, sometimes referred to as ‘the ghost’ because they often appear unexpectedly and then can disappear almost as quickly without notice. This fish is not a true ‘seabass’, but actually a member of the croaker family that is prized for the quality table fare that it yields. Luckily, this year, they seem to be already on the menu.
Another species that has made an appearance this season is the pinto bass, which generally weighs in at between 4 to 10 pounds. Although these fish are more commonly caught in the upper Sea of Cortez, it is far less common to find them swimming in the waters surrounding Isla Cedros. Visiting anglers fishing the sandy, lee side of the Island are also doing well on large California halibut weighing up to 50 pounds or more.
Cabo San Lucas
Pisces sportfishing in Cabo San Lucas offered a few examples of some of the great fishing currently taking place near the southern tip of the Baja peninsula. “Captain Juan C. Lopez and Mate JC Martinez welcomed Adam Garcia, Armando Ayala, Coby Garcia, Colton Black, and Thomas Harley aboard the “BILL COLLECTOR II,” a 31-foot Bertram. They planned to fish for marlin and headed to Punta Gorda, where they heard reports that they were biting. When they arrived, the anglers caught and released two 100 to 120-pound striped marlin on ballyhoo and a Tigrillo lure. They also scored a 250-pound Blue Marlin on a Black & Blue lure at the Punta Gorda Spot, and one 43-pound dorado on the same Lucky Tigrillo lure; but this time at the 1150 Spot.”
They continued, ” The ‘KNOT WORKIN’, a 35-foot Cabo Flybridge, with Captain Abraham and Mate Lalo, who like the 95 Spot; it’s one of their favorites. So, they ran for it with their solo angler, Emiliano Maldona, and he had a great day! Not only did he catch a 12-pound Dorado on curry, but he also caught ten Yellowfin Tuna, weighing from 30 to one of them weighing 137 pounds on a kite and curry at the 95 Spot. He was a bit tired and ready to turn in that evening, but it was worth the fight that day!
Archer Beckham, Martinez Delaney, Lynn Balhut, and Gabriel Martinez chartered the “BBII,” a 37-foot Viking Billfish 2018, with Osiel Winkler at the Helm and Mates Gil W. and Lalo overseeing the Cockpit for their fishing platform on Sunday. They ran to Punta Gorda, where the ”BILL COLLECTOR II” had released two Striped Marlin and a Blue Marlin the day before. As luck would have it, their first fish was a billfish they hooked on a ballyhoo, a sailfish weighing 60 or 70 pounds that they released, but their second fish was the winner! They caught and released a 250 to 280-pound Blue Marlin on a curry at Punta Gorda! They left the Pisces fleet dock with fantastic stories about their catches, the beautiful acrobatic Sailfish, and the battle of the big Blue!”
To wind things up, Pisces added, “Coming all the way from England, Joseph and Kai Brown selected the “ADRIANA,” a 28-foot Uniflite, with Captain Frank and Mate Arturo, as their fishing platform. They were very lucky to have caught a 40-pound wahoo on a lure when they were 12 miles out to the 150 Spot. At the end of the day, after the boats returned to the dock, and the other anglers were laughing and teasing about the size and the battle involved in catching their fish, they became a bit green with envy when they heard about the Wahoo the Browns had caught.”
San Jose del Cabo
From Gordo Banks Pangas in San Jose del Cabo, Brien Bricston reports, “We had a great week full of action and crazy stories at the famous Gordo Banks (Inner and Outer). Captain Nico landed a 619-pound Black Marlin on Friday on his 26ft super panga. This fish was hooked on a live yellowfin at the Outer Gordo at around 7:30 am.
Captain Chame landed a 621-pound Black Marlin on Saturday on his 26ft super panga as well. This fish was hooked on a live bulito at the Outer Gordo at around 8:00 am. Reports from other captains claim that when Chame hooked his fish, 3 other marlin (2 blues and 1 other black) were hooked at around the same time. Chame and his friends fought this marlin for 5 hours, landing it at around 1:00 pm.
This was a great week for big marlin at our local marina. 4 Black Marlin over 550 were landed, many more were lost. Reports also claim 8-9 blue marlin in the range of 150- 300 pounds. All Black Marlin were hooked while trolling big live baits (tuna, skipjack, bulito) at the Outer Gordo. A handful of blue marlin were also hooked on these live baits. The majority of blue marlin hookups came on lures surrounding the areas of both Gordos. We also saw a handful of big striped marlin in the same area (140- 190 pounds).
It is important to reiterate that we always encourage catch and release of all bill fish. Many times, these massive fish die during the fight or very long fights lead to extreme exhaustion, making a clean release challenging. These massive fish on such small boats with no fighting chairs can add a lot of time to these fights, making it more stressful for the fish. Nonetheless, we are happy to say that these 2 fish will feed many families (close to 100).
On Saturday, Captain Papayo landed a 276-pound yellowfin tuna at the Inner Gordo. This was the only big tuna reported all week. A couple of boats reported big boils on their baits, most likely big tuna as well.
Bricston concluded by saying, “If there is no interest in looking for a big marlin or tuna, there is also plenty of action at the inner Gordo on small yellowfin. Most of these tuna are very small, 3-5 pounds; you might see a few closer to 10 pounds. Many skipjack in the mix as well. We have also seen a handful of dorado in the same area on live sardines. Bait guys continue to net plenty of sardines every day.
La Paz
Jonathan Roldan at Tailhunter International in La Paz reported, “Not a bad week at all. In fact, I think we just had possibly the best week of the summer in terms of action. Not a lot of species, but just in terms of fun fishing with good action, this past week was pretty nice. I won’t say it was crazy wide open but everyone caught fish. Everyone got bent. Everyone took him fish that wanted to take home fish. Can’t ask for more than that.
The dorado bite finally turned into what we’ve been waiting for all summer. The majority of the catch were the mahi. Lots of school-sized fish in the 8-15 pound class with some larger ones also hitting the box and larger ones also breaking away! Tons of little punk- sized ones too and some of the boats were releasing them like crazy and couldn’t keep the little guys away from the hooked baits as dorado are voracious eaters! However, this bodes well, because that little do-do will be 2 or 3 times their current size in a month, since their growth rate is so accelerated by all the eating!
Both of our fleets got into fish each day with the fish either free-swimming individuals or you could run into a honey hole and hit a nice school with non-stop action and multiple rods going off. But, the bottom line is that it’s not terribly hard to eventually run into these fish. There are some fish five minutes in front of the hotels if that’s as far as you wanted to go right under the tankers anchored in the bay. With water temps in the low to mid-80’s these are ideal conditions for the dorado and it’s nice to finally have them wake up and join the party.
The big surprise was the nice jag of yellowfin tuna off Cerralvo Island! It’s a bit of a run in the pangas to the spot but the few clients that took the gamble smacked into a nice batch of feeders that were running with the dolphin. These were nice quality fish…bigger than the football-sizes…in the 10-15 pound category and tore up some tackle, especially for first timers who had some fun tangling with these hard-chargers.
Roldan finished his report by saying, “Fortunately, overall most of our guests fish several days so it all evens out and everyone goes home with some fish! Most of the fish are the school-sized 5-15 pounders. Occasionally, there are some 20 pound models and some larger ones are getting lost. Other fish have taken a backseat mostly. A few sailfish and marlin hooked incidentally. There’s still some pargo, cabrilla, and snapper in the boxes and of course, bonito and tough jack crevalle. The roosterfish bite has tapered after a spectacular historic season, but there are still some 5-15 pounders hanging around the beach and rock areas.”
The bottom line is, while the fishing around the Baja Peninsula my be good right now, it will likely only get better over the next 2 months. Fall is probably the best time of year to get a good shot at just about any gamefish species that you have a desire to target. Make your reservations now …while they last!
From Tailhunter Sportfishing in La Paz, Johnathan Roldan admits, “Fishing remains erratically perplexing. It’s now September and we should be knee deep in blue water pelagic species like dorado, billfish, tuna and such. But it’s not like that."
Was planning to go to Mexico, but unfortunately my bike broke down. Got very friendly and fast...
Easy to renew my policy after two years. Good database!
Very easy to buy a insurance plan
