The skipjack are here

The fishing is so good in the local waters that a lot of operators in Baja are not seeing as many anglers as they usually do. Places like San Quintin, not so far from the border, are getting the worst of it. The fishing in San Quintin is as good as usual, but it's hard to entice anglers to deal with the border and drive four or five hours when the fishing is so good right at home.

The more exotic areas, like La Paz and the East Cape, Loreto, and even Bahia de Los Angeles are doing ok due to other attractions such as warmer water, semi-tropical climes, diverse topography, different endemic species and such, but the northern Pacific side with its San Diego-like climate relies on having a more productive fishery than north of the border to attract visitors. Hard to be more productive than 100-pound bluefin just offshore, big schools of yellowfin, marauding yellowtail everywhere, packs of dorado chewing it up...and now the skipjacks are here. Will albacore make a return?

Well, northwest Baja still has a great lingcod, white seabass and halibut fishery near shore, and plenty of tuna a bit further out. There is still the good food, low prices, and warm people Baja is known for and, this year, lots of specials...so don't overlook the area when planning a trip.

July 16 dock totals:

Fisherman's Landing hosted 55 anglers aboard 2 boats and reported 81 calico bass, 5 sand bass, 1 lingcod, 15 bonito, 50 mackerel, 171 rockfish and 1 sheephead caught. 70 of the calico bass were short and released.

312 anglers aboard 12 boats out of H&M Landing caught 332 sand bass, 4 calico bass, 1 white seabass, 9 barracuda, 2 halibut, 764 yellowfin tuna, 331 yellowtail, 31 bluefin tuna, 42 dorado and 38 skipjack tuna.

Point Loma Sportfishing sent 89 anglers out aboard 4 boats and reported a total catch of 6 yellowtail, 240 sand bass, 1 dorado, 71 yellowfin tuna, 35 bluefin tuna, 26 bonito, 116 rockfish, 132 calico bass, 100 mackerel and 2 barracuda. 116 of the calico bass were released.

329 anglers aboard 12 boats out of Seaforth Sportfishing put 380 yellowfin tuna, 1 skipjack tuna, 198 yellowtail, 23 dorado, 40 bluefin tuna and 56 calico bass on the deck. Another 100 calico bass were caught and released.