Baja Weather

[Darian]

According to the NHC website, an early tropical storm has formed off the Guatemalan coast. No predicted route of travel but these early storms usually track out towards Hawaii. Wonder if this means another season of early hurricanes down there???

[mems]

Hey Darian, looks bad this year. Earliest recorded tropical storm in history. Water temps are 90 and rising. This storm is going to stay in baja area and not track across pacific to Hawaii. Hope Jay and the guys are going to be ok. Don.

[jbird]

Was just down there and there was a very strong south ground swell. Now I know why.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Darina, Mems, Carl, and others who fish the around La Paz / East Cape.......question ?

What are your favorite times to fish that area? Months? weeks? moon phase?


When would you not go down there?

________________________________________

Next I will work on Loreto area.......


I have been asking this of everyone I know who fishes down there....to keep up my info.

.

[Carl Blackledge]

Darina, Mems, Carl, and others who fish the around La Paz / East Cape.......question ?

What are your favorite times to fish that area? Months? weeks? moon phase?


When would you not go down there?

________________________________________

Next I will work on Loreto area.......


I have been asking this of everyone I know who fishes down there....to keep up my info.

.

Hey Bill,

I fish a few hundred miles north of La Paz, and have always done better than the La Paz guys. at least according to the reports I read here and on Blanton's

As far as the moon, it doesn't matter what the moon phase is. I fished in Loreto for 30 days straight at time, When the fish are there , they eat.

When I first started fishing the Loreto area I went at different times, Now for the last 15 years I only fish the last 10 days of June and the first 10 days of July.

One of the biggest aspects in Loreto is to troll and find fish, soon as you have a hook-up, you hand the rod to the Captain then pick up your other fly rod and start sight casting to Dorado with your Crease flies, after a while the bite will slow down, this is when you stop casting the Crease fly and pick up your Sardine rod and you now have another new ball game, when you have a hot bite, you will give in before they do.

Again I don't know much about the La Paz area. However I do know you can fly directly to the Loreto airport from Santa Rosa where I live for less then $500.00 RT and in the morning I walk 200 feet and get into the boat with a full tank of sardines for less then $200.00 bucks a day including everything. The cheap price is what attracted me there in the first place. At night we walk around and try out all the cool places to eat, then off to the ice cream store......When we don't have Sardines and everything is looking very poor, we can still catch Sailfish and Marlin and Roosters all day long with bait.

Carl Blackledge

[Darian]

The last two times I've been down there, we lost a day or two to passing hurricanes. Altogether, I'd say we've lost a total of 5 days over a 10-12 year period to windy/stormy weather. Fortunately, never a direct hit from a hurricane. But, there has been a number of direct hits over the last few years with some major damage to the Cabo, La Paz areas. I believe Jay has been down there when one of those big storms hit and made it through OK. The locals all seem to take it in stride. Clean-up is always quick and done well. The type of construction in commercial buildings is strong, apparently. What I've never understood about living down there is the number of homes that're built in the bottom of arroyos....

Bill,.... I've always chosen to fish in early June at La Ventana/Muertos. Apparently, it's a transition area with many of the species passing through to spawn up at Loreto/Mulege. Roosters, Yellowtail, Pargo and Jacks are early season fish. Later, Dorado, Roosters, Jacks, Pargo, Yellowfin Tuna (maybe), wahoo enter the catch. Late season, it's Yellowfin Tuna, Dorado, Pargo and Wahoo. Of course, there's always a few Marlin/Sailfish around. All of this changes without bait for chumming. Whether bait is available or not seems to be dependent on water temps. I really like the variety of fish available around Isla Cerralvo not to mention the scenery and bird life. I've fished at Mulege before during one of the periods of cooler currents. In two weeks of trolling, we caught one large Dorado. So, it seems that water temps do impact fishing throughout the Sea of Cortez.

Like Carl, I don't think the moon phase is important down there but winds will stop fly fishing whether there's bait or not.

[Tony Buzolich]

Darian,
If you remember, Kim (my wife) and I were there with you and Renee' on our first trip with Jay to La Paz. Fishing was good and there were plenty of sardinas for chum.
Gradually I started going later and later from mid June, to the end of June, and finally to the first weeks of July. I never minded the heat ever out on the water, and fishing just seemed to get better and better later in the season. There were more dorado, plenty of roosters, and now there were even yellowfin added to the mix.

It seemed like early in the season there were more Toro ( Jack Crevalle) and roosterfish around.

Wanting to see more of the area and try some new water my last trip there I booked with Leonard Phillips at Baja Pirates. This too was a class act fishing trip but quite different from fishing with Jay. Baja Pirates had new center consul boats with T-tops and cushioned seats. We fished the northern part of Cerralvo and the surrounding island and did quite well there too. One day we got word that there was a large school of tuna busting bait about two hours outside Cerralvo and the captain asked if we wanted to give it a try with the long ride. You bet we do and off we went. Two hours in a cushioned seat isn't like two hour on a bench seat in a panga.

We got there and could see fishing busting the surface a half mile away. Surprisingly, the first fish to come into the boat was a big dorado that Kim hooked into before I could even get out of my seat. We did land 17 nice yellowfin there before quitting and having to come in.

Anywhere or anytime you go, it's always a new adventure. I just liked the little later season of early July.
Tony

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I have just set up a trip that I will host with Leonard Phillips of Baja Pirates in La Paz for next June 10 through 16, 2018.

http://bajapiratesoflapaz.com/

$1,650.00 for 5 days guided modern skiff fishing with breakfast and lunch and 6 night lodging in La Paz.

Pick up and return to airport is included.

Deposit is $200.00 to hold your spot.

Airfare, dinners, and gratuities are not included.

I will have space for up to 11 anglers.

We will be a in a top hotel in La Paz close to dozens of our favorite restaurants.

La Paz is a small clean beautiful town which is a big part of the experience.


I will help anyone going with free larger fly rod casting instruction.

Casting is not difficult but you want to be up to it by doing some work on your casting.

I can also help you with tackle and fly selection.


At Kiene's American Fly Fishing in Sacramento Jim Christensen, Andy Guibord, Gary Eblen and myself have hosted group trips to Baja for over 30 years so we can help you get ready for a great salt water trip.

We can also get world class advice right here on our forum from Baja experts.



I decided to host this trip because my old friend Tony Buzolich told me he had a good trip with Baja Pirates.


The fishing around La Paz and Loreto is some of the best value in all of the tropical salt water angling, especially for those who live on the west side of the US.


I mostly use a 10 weight rod down there out of a skiff but rods from #9 to 16 weights can be used.

.