Welcome to The Baja Fish Blog, your blog for Southern Baja fishing reports covering the East Cape, La Paz and Cabo San Lucas. We will also be posting on-the-water reports, photos, videos, gear reviews and tackle tips.
After standing for 33 years, the All-Tackle world record for yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares)
was first shattered by Mike Livingston on November 30, 2010 with a
183.7 kg (405 lb) catch, and then again by Guy Yocom on September 18,
2012 with a 193.68 kg (427 lb). Both fish were landed off the coast of Baja.
IGFA Trustee Mike Farrior and President Rob Kramer will present the
latest yellowfin tuna All-Tackle World Record certificate to Yocom and
his captain, Greg DiStefano, at the upcoming Fred Hall Show
in Long Beach, California. The presentation will take place on the
Ultimate Saltwater Experience Theater stage at 2 pm on Thursday, March
7, 2013.
If ever there was a holy grail, John Petruescu has found it and it lived at Hurricane Bank. 445 pounds of monster yellowfin tuna, it left everyone on the EXCEL
stunned! John used a BHPtackle.com 25-foot 200lb Momoi mono wind-on leader and a
lot of skill to land this outstanding trophy fish of a lifetime, the
largest yellowfin ever caught on rod and reel. Way to go John! Read the report or listen to the Captain's report here...
Just in from Eddie Dalmau of Van Wormer Resorts...
This giant 114lb. wahoo was landed today by the Borracho y Amigos (Captain
Oscar Verdugo) out of Hotel Palmas De Cortez. It the boat and Captain
sound familiar it’s because it is the same boat that won the 2012 Dorado Shoot
Out. It truly is the year of the Borracho!
The wahoo was caught just north of Palmas De Cortez near El Cardinal and
Punta Pescadero. It was hooked on a ballyhoo which they were trolling
looking for Dorado. They actually hooked 4 wahoo, but this was the only
one that did not bite himself off.
For those of you not familiar with Japanese Gyotaku fish prints,
Gyotaku (Japanese, from gyo "fish" + taku "rubbing") is a traditional form of Japanese fish printing or rubbing, dating from the mid-19th century, a form of nature printing used by fishermen to record their catches. In order to make a gyotaku print, one places the subject (e.g. fish, crab, scallop shell) on a wooden bench and paints one side with sumi ink. Next a piece of paper or other material is laid over the ink-covered fish. Finally, one rubs the material until there is the image of the fish on it.
Modern gyotaku artists often substitute acrylic or other painting material for the traditional sumi-e,
Here is a video on Okinawa Gyotaku fish prints:
Lyle Brunson takes Gyotaku prints to the next level with his expertise in large game fish prints like marlin, sailfish, tuna, dorado, wahoo and roosterfish. He designs each print to the customer's preferences. You can go with just black ink for that traditional look, a light wash of color for billfish or something more colorful for species like dorado (mahi mahi). I can attest to Lyles skill and attention to detail, as my clients have been overwhelmed by the quality, artistry and craftsmanship of his prints. One other benefit to a fish print is you can fold in up and put it in a suitcase for the trip home. When you get home you can mount your print by following Lyle's detailed mounting directions...done. No waiting for two months for that fiberglass mount. Lyle's work really speaks for itself and I highly recommend his work.
We had some crazy weather last week with tropical cyclone Norman pushing up into the Sea of Cortez on Wednesday. Rain storms were sporatic and considerable at times during the week. As the storm made landfall on the mainland on Friday, we had some of the largest waves I have ever seen hit the beaches of Buena Vista and Los Barriles. These were big shore break waves that looked more like Sandy's Beach or Makapu'u in Oahu, Hawaii than the East Cape. The system moved out on Saturday and it was back to sunshine and beautiful blue greasy calm water ranging from 85-88 degrees. Fortunately, the 6th Annual Casting for Soles shoe/t-shirt give-a-way saw sunshine and blue skies. This was my first year volunteering for this event and it went smooth as silk with Eddie Dalmau managing crowd control and Jack McCulloch's team sizing and distributing shoes from New Balance and Clark's to more than 2000 locals in the East Cape. The giveaway also included shirts, hats and sandals from AFTCO and eyeglasses for those in need.
Fishing was a mixed bag of dorado and stripers/sails from La Ribera down to Los Frailes. There have been big schools of skipjack off of La Ribera and slow trolling skipjack strip baits has been the ticket for the dorado. We've also had some blue marlin following the skipjack schools. Also, boats ran out 30+ miles North and found wide open tuna up to 50#. It's been hit and miss on the tuna with a few 100+ tuna being landed on the dolphin pods offshore from Los Frailes. Inshore we are still seeing rooster to 30#, and some nice pargo.
Christie Shedd with a dorado caught off of Punta Arena.
Bill and Christie Shedd with a nice pargo landed at the Cabo Riviera breakwater.
Kirk Vetor from Newtonville, Ontario with an estimated 200# blue marlin (expired in fight).
He was spooled by an estimated 400# blue marlin the next day.
Big bull dorado caught by Jim Packard, Las Vegas, Nevada.
