Tijuana Bull Ring
There’s nothing too exciting to the south — the Point Loma kelp beds are kicking out a few bass, a few mixed-grade bonito and some small rockfish.
Coronado Islands
The poor water conditions continues to put the skids on the yellowtail and bluefin bite! The best bet right now is the area from the Ribbon Kelp to SKR.
There are also some signs of yellows at the north end of North Island.
The fish are still around and when the water clears up, the bite will likely turn back on. Right now, however, scoring one per rod is doing good. Most years scoring an average of one per rod is outstanding.
This year it just gets a yawn!
Offshore
Coronado Canyon / 226-302 / 425
A few kelps in this area are holding dorado, and we hear that there is one or two near the 425. The area is loaded with skipjack and some skipjack schools also have some small 5- to 20-pound yellowfin mixed in.
371 / 390
There is a clean/dirty water’s edge that runs near the 371. Boats are reporting a lot of skipjack in that area.
Some have a few yellowfin with them and some schools are just straight skipjack. There are some kelps in the general area, too, that are holding dorado. Not all, but enough you need to check each one out when you find it.
The skipjack in this area are very eager to jump on the troll jigs.
Bright colored small jet heads are ideal. The yellowfin are more into the cedar plugs and the Halcos. The dorado don’t care what it is you are trolling; they just want it!
Upper Hidden Bank / Hidden Bank / Upper 500
This zone slowed down overall, but some boats still made big scores.
There are still lots of skipjack, yellowfin and dorado around.
Much of the better action is now coming off kelps. Most jig stops are coming from skipjack and there are fewer numbers of yellowfin mixed in.
There are a few kelps however, that are working well. These have yellowfin and dorado along with a few yellowtail. They often turn into skipjack though after a few minutes.
There is a ton of skipjack in it with some yellowfin mixed in, but the water is green, and the better concentration of fish is in the clean water below the 31.50 line.
Updated general info:
Skipjack are jumping all over trolled jigs. Cedar plugs, pink/white feathers, daisy chains, and Rapalas/Halcos are all getting bit just fine. Occasionally you might luck into a yellowfin jig stop, but most of the good yellowfin scores have come on bait either after a skipjack stop or on sonar schools or kelp paddies. Focus your efforts on general areas with good bird life. You may not see a ton of terns or bird piles, but if there are gulls and shearwaters flying around it’s a good zone to slow down and drop the jigs in for a while.
Fly-lined sardines are working great for all three species. Skipjack will key in on the hot bait, but you might be able to weed through them with a chunk or dead sardine. You’ll get fewer bites but a higher percentage of yellowfin this way. Using 20- to 25-pound test works just fine, with #2 to 1/0 hooks. You can also throw Colt Snipers, Flat Falls, surface iron, poppers, and skip jigs for the yellowfin.
Skipjack have also been eating these surprisingly often at times but in general this has also been a good way to get a higher percentage of yellowfin bites.
Ensenada
Late summer action continues to provide limits of yellowtail and calico bass. A welcome addition to the fish counts this week was not only the yellowfin tuna and dorado under kelp paddies offshore just outside the islands, but the big news was that a few 20-pound white sea bass were caught.
San Quintin
Great fishing for home-guard yellowtail and calico bass along with yellowfin and dorado a bit farther offshore produced easy limits for locals and visitors either sportfishing or diving. Why, even the surfers are smiling these days.
Cedros Island
Most anglers were looking for yellowtail, which are very abundant, allowing easy limits for some boats. Although not as big (averaging 15- to 20-pounds), they are still lots of fun. For some, afternoons were relaxing targeting calicos, or searching for other species. Some dorado were caught when the school went by the boat, but they are still scarce, and anglers are hoping they will arrive in good numbers soon. Best results for the yellowtail bite have varied from live bait to Rapalas and jigs. We can only recommend that you try anything in your arsenal. Make sure your lines are fresh and knots are tight.
Weather has been fantastic, breezy around the corner on the fishing grounds (in the 70s).
Bahia de Los Angeles
Hot and humid seems to lead off every fishing report recently.
However, the dorado,
yellowtail and bottom fish aren’t complaining — just biting.