Imperial Beach Pier
Imperial Beach Pier is an exciting place for fishing inshore.
Lately, there has been an excellent halibut bite off the pier, which should improve as April settles in. Species to expect range from barred surfperch, California corbina, yellowfin croaker, spotfin croaker, thornbacks, stingrays, guitarfish, and halibut.
The pier is an iconic classic that is worth a visit if you are in the neighborhood.
Coronado Islands / Rock Pile
The Coronado Islands are a year-round fishing destination with yellowtail, rockfish, halibut, bass, lingcod, and bonito fishing. Yellowtail action can generally begin as early as mid-March. However, because of this year’s stormy weather, the Coronado Islands Rock Pile has not been fishable for the past several weeks of March. Assuming the weather settles down, you can expect rockfish, sheepshead, and lingcod fishing at the Rockpile and around the Islands.
The yellows have been around for the last couple of weeks, but it has been hit or miss. Either they show themselves, or they are nowhere to be seen.
Ensenada
Anglers fishing Ensenada’s Todos Santos Bay visit several areas – Todos Santos Island, Punta Banda, San Miguel Reef, and Morro Point. These are a few that offer early spring fishing.
The season in Todos Santos Bay starts in April, and catches include yellowtail, bonito, barracuda, white sea bass, calico bass, and sand bass. Before the weather kicked up at the end of March, there had already been some breezing yellowtail on the surface, plus continued epic bottom fishing, which allowed visitors to load up their freezers with fillets.
San Quintín
Beginning in April throughout the summer, the species list will continue to fill in with a remarkable list of species – including yellowtail and lingcod found at the deep-water pinnacles off Bahía San Quintín, calico bass at Isla San Martin, barred surf perch and corbina along the beaches outside the bay to the north and south, and spotted bay bass, small broomtail grouper, and halibut in the bay taken with lures or bait on high tide.
In addition to being a bay that is kayak-friendly to explore, there are many other fish found in San Quintín, including Pacific halibut, kelp bass, and spotted sand bass. Lingcod, rock cod, sheepshead, yellowtail, white seabass, Pacific halibut, and kelp bass are also on the list of fish available.
Bahía de Los Ángeles
Looking for something off the beaten track that mirrors the old Baja you’ve read about offering an impressive list of species to target? Yellowtail, sierra, pompano, amberjack, bonito, jack crevalle, snapper, barred pargo, cabrilla, and dorado are all found there.
Guerrero Negro
Chema Medina lives in Guerrero Negro and runs a family fishing operation that has delivered some spectacular fishing opportunities for both white seabass and grouper. He can be found on Facebook. Watch for his reports.
Bahía Asunción
According to the locals, there are a sufficient number of yellowtail in the area. Although most of the local panga fleet commercial fishes the local yellowtail, you can still find a few pangueros who will take you sport fishing. Check with Shari Bondi, owner of La Bufadora Inn.
Magdalena Bay (López Mateos)
Prime time has arrived for Lopez Mateos Mangroves! From now through the summer, the variety of species will be extraordinary.
Cabo San Lucas
Summing up the recent weeks, the striped marlin slowed down from a month ago with cooler sea temps. Instead, the larger dorado in the 10 to 25-pound class has increased noticeably in the recent daily counts. During the past week, in addition to those popular species named above – jack crevalle, skipjack, bonito, grouper, red snapper, sierra, ladyfish, mako shark, cabrilla, and the always popular roosterfish – have been caught, and – yellowfin tuna, and wahoo – have been spotted.
As April settles in, the sea temperatures should begin to climb, which usually yields more baitfish, including sardina, mackerel, Ballyhoo, and cocinero. That attracts more species to the party.
Puerto Los Cabos
Photo San Jose Gordo Banks
They had a few big tuna at the beginning of the week. The largest that was brought in was close to 230 pounds. It was a tough fight on 50# test and high winds on a 22-foot boat. This same boat landed an excellent 35 to 40-pound wahoo on a jig. They took a few smaller wahoo while drifting sardina for tuna.
They caught grouper, snapper, and amberjack while fishing rock structures at Iman, La Fortuna, and Cardon. Surprisingly, most of this action came from sardina on the bottom, though there was not much action on jigs.
Most days, they are catching sierra (Spanish mackerel) limits on sardina. The best action seems to be coming from Cardon. There were some nice 10-pound sierra in the mix. A few boats were lucky to find big schools of dorado and they were able to catch their limits. Closer to the shore, they have seen smaller roosterfish and jack crevalle. The most productive area for roosterfish seems to be La Laguna.
East Cape
Traditionally, after Easter, the North wind pattern starts to diminish significantly, bringing warmer water and air temps to the East Cape. The yellowtail are the primary target, but dorado, striped marlin, tuna, and roosterfish are also on the list.
Roosterfish and jack begin showing during April inshore along the area of La Capilla. Look for schools of mullet and sardina schooling along the shore, and when you find them, don’t leave!!
La Paz
Like most of the area, from here to the tip of Baja, sea temps stabilize, and the species list grows. The mix includes dorado, yellowtail, sierra, pompano, amberjack, bonito, jack crevalle, snapper, barred pargo, and cabrilla.
Some of the better spots will be the North and the South ends of Cerralvo Island, or they will be inshore, rocky areas. The better spots can also be over submerged reefs and northern and eastern Espirito Santo Island.
Loreto
Photo Dorado
Yellowtail, dorado, and some nice-sized grouper are already being caught and should continue during April as the north winds subside.
Bahía Concepión
The yellowtail and grouper have been a topic of conversation throughout March and should continue to improve during April.
Gary Graham
That Baja Guy
thatbajaguy@gmail.com
With more than five decades of fishing experience – from light tackle and fly to offshore billfish – Gary Graham has experienced all aspects of fishing in the Southern California and Baja waters. His observations of species behavior, tackle and techniques are always from his unique perspective, earning him the respect of his peers as well as anglers who eagerly follow his Baja reports and features.
Gary maintained a home at East Cape in Baja Sur for more than 18 years and still spends nearly half of each year exploring the entire peninsula in his self-contained Roadtrek van. He observes everything Baja, from the mysteries of a tide pool on a deserted Baja beach filled with tiny sea creatures to the largest billfish in the sea.