Float tubes and kayaks considered boats in Mexico

Dock Totals Jan 20 – Jan 26: 827 anglers aboard 47 half day to three day trips out of San Diego landings this past week caught 190 yellowtail, 72 bonito, 90 calico bass, 356 sand bass, 4 halibut, 1,812 rockfish, 81 whitefish, 3 lingcod, 3 sheephead, 749 sculpin, 6 blacksmith perch, 265 rubberlip seaperch, 16 blue perch, 12 triggerfish, 7 sargo, 49 halfmoon, 40 sanddab, and 69 spiny lobster (290 released)

Saltwater: Better weather along the coast this past week allowed for more anglers on the water and more fish in the counts. With the passing of the super moon phase, fishing seemed to return to a more normal flow for the local boats. Lobster hooping was good during the full moon, but everything else was slow. There are a few yellowtail biting outside of the Coronado Islands and an occasional homeguard being locally, but most of the bigger yellowtail fishing is from off Ensenada and to the south. San Quintin anglers are reporting great yellowtail fishing off the 15, 240 and Ben’s Rock area, and the fishing only gets better from there as you travel south. Most of the fish caught have been near high spots on the yoyo iron deep in 100-plus feet of water.

When targeted, rockfish turned on for the half day boats this past week. Limit fishing for reds off the Nine Mile Bank awaits those that find the sweet spots along the ridge, while good sand bass, sculpin, and calico bass fishing continues off the inshore flats and along the kelp edges for those staying closer to shore. Halibut have been hit and miss along the flats between the San Diego Bay mouth and Imperial Beach, though a few keepers continue to make the counts. The full-day boats have been fishing the Lower Nine and the Coronado Island area for mostly rockfish and a scattering of bonito and yellowtail, while the 1.5-day runs have been concentrating on rockfish and yellowtail off of Colonet.

For those fishing Baja Sur, you’ll only be able to get one day or one week fishing licenses from the Mexican government website. There are annual licenses available at some of the landings and tackle shops here in San Diego, so if planning more than a week or more than one trip to Baja Sur, it might be better to call around and find one of the pre-sold licenses available here in the U.S. while the new Baja Sur administration irons out the situation.

Here’s the official explanation from the Mexican government: “Notice from the state government of Baja California Sur: December 1st the Mexican federal government changed leadership based on the July national elections. At this time we are only issuing daily and weekly licenses while we work through the process with the transition team. We hope to return to business as usual shortly and apologize for the inconvenience.” This applies to boat-based anglers, there is no license required for fishing from shore in Mexico. Any floating platform including float tubes and kayaks are considered boats in Mexican waters.

Fish Plants: None scheduled