Happy January, I hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday.

Now that everybody has had their fill of family and food and cold weather it’s time to fish. The mornings start out a little chilly I definitely recommend long pants and a hoodie to start the day, but by mid afternoon I’m pulling the shorts out and tossing the jacket. We hit 80 degrees the few days the wind didn’t blow last week.

Now normally writing a report in January is challenging. The waters a mess the wind is blowing and the fish are somewhere else.

Well the water is cold and green with horrible visibility, the wind is blowing relentlessly but, we have fish. In fact this maybe the earliest start for yellowtail that I can remember. Bait is more then plentiful. Sardines are for sale right outside the marina and Mackerel and caballitos are easily made on most days throughout the bay. The only exception to that is when we are on a full moon. The big bait scatters and are hard to find.

Usually by the end of January we start sending boats out to all the normal YT spots looking for signs of fish settling in for the season. This year we didn’t have to, they are here and they are legit. 20-40 lbs. The biggest concentration of fish so far has been on the seamount El Bajo. Some days they are hugging the bottom around 150 feet and other days they are suspended mid column in 300 feet of water. Jigging seems to be the most effective way to fish. Scrambled egg or blue and chrome being the most popular colors.

For boats that are equipped with down riggers its like shooting fish in a barrel. There’s nothing more effective then controlled depth fishing. Pin a Mack on a 2/0 circle hook and send it down and follow your sounder. As soon as you locate the school it’s instant bendo. We’ve had some boats come back with a mixed bag of Yellowtail, AmberJacks, Cabrilla and Pargo. The last couple of days the wind has been cooperating, finally. To our surprise while fishing for yellowtail, schools of tuna have joined in. I’m talking 40-60 pounders. Super legit. This is not common but not rare either. Seems like every other year we get tuna that hang around Espíritu Santos Island. Some days you just see them breeze by and other days they’re on the chew. Definitely keep your eyes open.

To add to your experience there are a lot of whales around. You will have a better then not chance of a photo op if you so choose.

As we get get closer to spring the fishing and weather will both improve, as I said the fishing is good but getting out of the bay has been the challenge.

Anyway that’s the week.