La Paz Fishing Report / October 20 2019
Weather & Bait
Fishing in baja can truly be world class, as I write this report the Cabo Bisbee’s tournament is winding down. Tt looks like a #328 Blue marlin is the front runner. In the tuna category a #157 pound YFT is the leader. Sounds like another great tournament for our friends down south.
Here in La Paz it’s really starting to feel like Fall. Some wind in the mornings mainly from the West. This is not our prevailing wind and tends to bring the temperature down, making for a little chill early on. The afternoons though are still warm. The wind is settling down most days by 10:00am making for pleasant fishing.
Sardines are still available on the way to the fishing grounds as well as making bait on the seamounts. Although this year hasn’t been a great year fishing with Calamar we do have it available and I strongly recommend having some with you. When the tuna switch over to calamar, which they normally do. It’s a must to have 10-20 kilos ready to go.
Fish Talk
October is normally our best month for the Pelagic’s. Tuna,wahoo, Dorado and all species of marlin are widely available. The tuna are still playing the cat and mouse game. One day they’re in the traditional areas feeding on sardines, boiling all around the boats and the next day it’s as though they were never there at all. The water is in pretty good shape 84 degrees and decent visibility. After the torrential rains we had earlier in the week I’m pleasantly surprised it’s as clear as it is. The wahoo bite has definitely picked up. The guys are catching them on the seamount drop offs trolling red and purple Halcos and Rapalas.
Our spearfishermen are focusing mainly on the seamounts shooting 2-4 per day spotting schools of 20-30 fish breezing around. This season is turning out to be fantastic for Dorado. These fish are averaging 20lbs with an occasional 40+. There is really no specific place to fish for them, they are literally everywhere. We had a couple of groups come down for inshore species on poppers on light gear, with Pargo Mulato, cabrilla and bonito primarily their targets. They got a nice surprise when a client boated a large Yellowtail “say what” a Yellowtail. It’s been a crazy year.
We had one boat slow trolling chihuili around the island Thursday, when they got a double hook up on what they thought were a nice grad of tuna, turned out to be a couple of 40lb Jack Crevalle. Fun to catch not much fun to eat.
What's Next
Our Mag bay fishing camp kicks off next week. We have both traditional fishing and Spearo’s booked for the next couple of months. The Stripe Marlin are thick as thieves. Both normal and light tackle fishing is just Mayhem right now. We expect this year to be wide open for Tuna, Wahoo and Stripe Marlin.
We’re not seeing much bad weather in the forecast. Hopefully that’s it for the big storms as we should see better days regarding weather and fishing for the near future. We have about another month or so before we start seeing the Northerlies rearing it’s ugly head. Fingers crossed.
Until next week,
Keep the faith
Scotto
