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By Tom Gatch
Despite the fact that, late last summer, a number of knowledgeable weather prognosticators steadfastly predicted that we would experience a resurgence of El Niño conditions in the Eastern Pacific beginning in late May of 2025, Mother Nature ultimately had the last word.
As it turns out, both the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) are now forecasting neutral conditions for the rest of the year, with a higher likelihood of a La Niña developing in the late summer or fall.
So, go figure. Nobody ever said that accurately predicting every future weather event was easy; even with all of the technical advances that we enjoy today. Nonetheless, the current situation does change the outlook for this year’s fishing conditions around the Baja peninsula, which had earlier offered us dreams of late summer red crabs, yellowfin tuna, dorado, and other exotic species making it up into the waters of northern Baja and southern California in 2025. Some of the indications of this situation are already beginning to manifest themselves.
Ensenada
During the past few years, the local offshore fleet has been blessed with some of the best late spring and early summer action on big, bluefin tuna weighing up to 180 pounds or more. What’s more is that these schools of quality tuna were taking baits and trolled lures only 12 to 17 miles out, which made for only a short boat ride in order to reach the fish.
This year, there have been no bluefin so far, but the offshore panga fleet is still doing well with limits of tasty bottom fish and feisty bonito and a few yellowtail closer to the surface.
Inshore, Vonny’s Fleet Sportfishing in Punta Banda reports that their pangas have been catching a good number of local reds, lings, calico bass, halibut, and even an occasional big home guard yellowtail weighing over 20 pounds.
San Quintin
As usual, anglers visiting San Quintin have been successful in taking a number of halibut around the oyster racks near the Boca on sabiki rig caught live bait. Further out in much deeper water, there has been typically good action on quality-grade lingcod and reds, with more yellowtail beginning to show in the waters around Isla San Martin, which will continue as the weeks progress.
Bahia Magdalena
The offshore bite for tuna and wahoo off of San Carlos has been developing a bit earlier this year and can only improve during the next several months. For those looking for action a little closer to the Lodge, the Magdalena Bay Estero offers some incredible onshore and inshore fishing opportunities for a wide assortment of popular gamefish including halibut, cabrilla, grouper, palometa, and snook.
Cabo San Lucas
Pisces Sportfishing in Cabo San Lucas reports, “What a week! Not only was a 256- pound blue marlin caught, but there were also numerous wahoo, including five that weighed up to 50 pounds and three or four that weighed up to 80 pounds; an almost unheard-of occurrence in the past. The striped marlin were almost too plentiful to count. Most boats were catching at least two, and many were catching up to seven, eight, or nine each day.And of course, there were many other species, roosterfish and bottom fish. You name it, and the captains can probably find it for you. It’s time to come to Cabo and experience these unique fishing opportunities.
A couple of examples are Clay Forbes, and Erin Singleton, from Georgia, who chose the “Adriana,” a 28-foot Uniflite run by Captain Frank and Mate Arturo, to fish for roosters. They headed straight to the Pueblo Bonito,where they caught five Roosterfish weighing up to 11.5 pounds and were thrilled to have them. The waters were calm, the sun was shining, and the roosterfish put up a good fight, making for an exciting and memorable fishing experience.
Another client, Bryce Rowland, chose the “Tracy Ann”, a 31-foot Bertram, skippered by Capt. Julio Castro, and Mate Mario Juarez to fish for marlin. Rowland endedup walking off the boat with a smile on his face after a successful day of catching and releasing five striped marlin weighing up to 130 pounds on bait at the Herradura and the 95 Spots. The experienced captain and mate, long-time crew members of the Pisces fleet, were just as pleased with their successful day out on the water.
San Jose del Cabo
From Gordo Banks Pangas in San Jose del Cabo, Brian Bricston offers, “We had been doing quite well on the early bite on big wahoo until our port was closed last Friday due to the latest tropical storm, which later reopened on Sunday. We were back on the water the next day after sitting out the storm. Nonetheless, we had a return to decent action throughout the rest of the week. The main highlight was a good striped marlin bite on most of our high spots, including areas not too far offshore.
Many of the boats that specifically targeted marlin, were able to land a couple, lost a few, and spotted many of them free jumping or on the surface. Most of our boats focused on the areas of the inner and outer Gordo. On Friday, one boat reported spotting 15 to 20 marlin on the surface within the first hour of fishing at the Outer Gordo. They caught 3 marlin in a couple hours and then decided to come back inshore and cover the grounds of Iman and 25. They landed one nice wahoo and one dorado on rigged ballyhoo.
This has mostly been the game plan for most of our pangas; target marlin and then look for a wahoo or dorado, or vice versa. Most of the wahoo caught throughout the areas of Vinorama, San Luis, Iman, and 25 have been on the smaller side, averaging 15 to 25 pounds.
The bigger ones seem to prefer the surrounding areas of both Gordos and the 1150 Bank. Many of the boats have also been catching small yellowfin at the Inner and Outer Gordo’s while trolling small Rapalas and lures. We also saw more dorado this week in the mix, nothing big to account for at this time; mostly 8 to 15 pounders; however, this is a great sign. On Friday, one panga had 4 yellowfin and 3 dorado, while losing a few other nice fish. One other boat reported 4 small yellowfin on small Rapalas at Vinorama and San Luis.”
Bricston concluded his report by saying, “The bottom action was very slow this week. We did see a couple of amberjack and grouper, though most boats did not target the bottom. Roosterfish action throughout our shorelines continues to be productive as long as there are live caballitos and mullet. Live bait continues to be limited most mornings.”
La Paz
From La Paz, Jonathon Roldan reports, “We did dodge Tropical Storm, Alvin, that had us a bit nervous as it marched up the Pacific towards Baja that promised high winds and rain. But fortunately, it petered out and just gave us a few days of clouds, humidity and just enough of a sprinkle to mess up the dust on my car windshield. However, I must say that even though my last report after the full moon was a doozy, I have never had such a large catch report in the 30 years that we have been down here until this last week.
Roldan continued, “The first several weeks of the season we got some big fish. Just weeks into the season, it seems the fish are consistently larger than normal. And then there are the numbers! The roosterfish bite has been the best in all my years down here! I mean, a good day in the past meant maybe 2-4 roosters per boat per day. But these past 2-3 weeks, singular anglers (not per boat)…singular anglers are telling me they are getting 2-12 roosters in the 10-40 pound class. Some boats getting up to 20 fish per day and anglers telling me “We could have sat on the school all day and caught dozens more…it was stupid fun!”
One angler told me, “I just had the finest 5 hours of fishing in my life!” Not only are folks catching a lot of roosterfish, but also landing personal best with fish ranging from 50-to possibly over 100 pounds! They are telling me that once you get into the schools, the roosterfish are literally boiling. You can see the roosterfish under the boat and they are foaming on baits as soon as the baits hit the water! It’s even getting to the point where some of our guests are getting ‘spoiled’. “We got tired of roosterfish! We wanna catch something else.” or “Oh man, we caught roosterfish again (bored voice).” Enjoy it while you can. This is the kind of bite we may never see again! The pargo liso are spawning in the shallow and these are ferocious frustrating tenacious sluggers. Again, never seen so many or so big so I tell folks if you get one to the boat after 5 hits, you’re doing pretty good.” He concluded by saying, “That’s our story! Come on down and get in on the great fishing while it is still on fire!”
Bahia Gonzaga
From Bahia Gonzaga in the Upper Cortez, Capt. Juan Cook reports, “In addition to taking care of my clients, I recently had a ‘Cook family reunion’ down here with my brother, Eri, and son, Junior, from Queretaro, Mexico, my son, John from NH, our sister Sonia from Ensenada, Mexico, and brother, Franck, from San Bernardino. We had a blast fishing the inside and around the islands. We caught rosie snapper, barred pargo, as well as a few trigger fish and sierra. It was a good time on the water! Cook also added that his clients have been doing quite well catching everything from big yellowtail to chunky grouper and cabrilla.
There’s no doubt about it; the weather is getting warmer and, this summer, it appears that the fish swimming around the Baja California peninsula are already getting ready to give you the fight of your life.
