ENSENADA, MEXICO: Ivan Villarino of Vonny's Fleet reported few vacation travelers in the Ensenada fishing area, some surf on the panga launching beach at Campo Villarino, and few boats going out. On Monday, Joshua Chambers fished with Capt. Beto on the charter panga Vonny I for a good count of lingcod, rockcods, some "chocolate" bottom fish, and a couple of bonita for the Vonny's Fleet client fish smoker. "The surf was a little high but we still managed to put 1 boat out," Villarino said. Ensenada fishing area weather was sunny and calm in the high-60s at midweek, with 2 to 3-foot ocean swells and local water temperatures at Punta Banda averaging 58 degrees.

ENSENADA, MEXICO: Andrew Harmer of San Luis Obispo, Calif., reported on a short Baja run to Popotla just south of Rosarito Beach where fishing in the surf at the evening low tide produced a couple of barred surf perch on mussel bait. "Braving the Baja roads despite all the warnings in the paper, I went down to visit my dad for Christmas," Harmer said. "I spent about a half-hour fishing the low tide on Christmas Eve on a sandy beach near Popotla. I had no luck with artificials or those Berkley sand crabs. I caught a couple of barred surf perch on mussel meat cast into the foam."

ENSENADA, MEXICO: Steve Ross of the boat Bad Dog at Marina Coral reported broadbill swordfish being caught by local Mexican commercial fishermen. "I am eating fresh swordfish received from a local gill net swordfisherman right off his boat," Ross said. "The swordfish season has begun." Ross also described the tackle used during a deep water fishing trip earlier aboard the Bad Dog when his wire leader was broken off at a depth of over 1,000 feet. "This fish was as strong as I have ever felt on rod and reel," Ross said. "The bait was a jumbo squid. The rod was bent as far as it could go, a 4-and-a-half-foot, long-range tuna stick in triple heavy weight blank. There were 2 hooks on 250-pound wire. When I got the hooks back the wire was wound up into circles like a backlash. We will wait for seas to calm down before we go back out at night again. There are some key elements to night fishing for swords. The best hook is a Mustad 7698B, the longliner's choice."

SAN QUINTIN, MEXICO: Jim Derr of Santa Ana, Calif., reported on a late December outing at San Quintin with Pedro's Pangas, fishing aboard the charter panga Coyote with Jeff Derr of Albuquerque, N.M., and Pedro's Pangas Capt. Gato for a few lingcod and a yellowtail hookup lost on a trolled Rapala at the 50 spot, slow action at the 240 spot, easy limits of whitefish and sheephead at Ben's Rock, and near limits of bass to 8 pounds at the Isla San Martin kelp beds. Two more outings produced slow action on most local high spots, but good counts of whitefish, sheephead, and bonita to 8 pounds at Ben's Rock. The winter migration of black brant to the San Quintin fishing area was in full force. "We saw thousands of brants and other ducks in the bay and were told that they had just flown in over the weekend," Derr said. "El Gato said the hunting season had just started and the birds could be hunted until the end of February but only on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The limit is 5. We also saw lots of humpback whales in the bay."

MAGDALENA BAY, MEXICO: Gary Graham of Baja On The Fly said most local activity was centered on preparations for the Magdalena Bay winter whale watching tourist season. "Whales have already been reported on their way down the west coast of Baja," Graham said. Fishing in the Magdalena Bay mangrove channels produced consistent corvina, grouper, small sierra, and some pargo to good sizes. Magdalena Bay offshore fishing waters were rough as most yachts left the area. Magdalena Bay area weather was cloudy in the low-70s, with water temperatures at 66 to 73 degrees.

SAN JOSE DEL CABO, MEXICO: Eric Brictson of Gordo Banks Pangas reported on 49 combined La Playita fleet pangas fishing off San Jose del Cabo, with a catch including released fish of: 26 yellowfin tuna, 124 dorado, 3 striped marlin, 114 sierra, 28 roosterfish, 22 jack crevalle, 19 pargo, 15 amberjack, and 17 cabrilla. San Jose del Cabo fishing area weather was mostly sunny in the mid-70s, with persistent north wind averaging 15 m.p.h., as most boats fished in calmer waters close to shore south of Punta Palmilla. Water temperatures were sharply cooler at 68 to 72 degrees with greenish color. Sardina bait fish remained plentiful from Santa Maria to Punta Palmilla. Yellowfin tuna counts dropped in cooler water temperatures as just a few were caught from San Luis to Vinorama. The best offshore action was for dorado of mostly under 15 pounds found southwards toward Cabo San Lucas. Striped marlin moving down the Pacific side of Baja were found in greater numbers close to Cabo and some stripers were also moving off Chileno.

SAN JOSE DEL CABO, MEXICO: San Jose del Cabo species fishing specialist John Snow reported recent inshore collections including an unknown fish species tentatively identified as an estuarine frillfin, Bathygobius andrei. "If so, it's far out of range," Snow said. "I have him packed for transit north." A panga outing with Capt. Pata on the Salome found fish species including a 2-inch blunthead triggerfish caught offshore in a bait net. San Jose del Cabo fishing area weather was windy with panga fishing possibly limited. "Eight new species for the week. I might be limited to surf fishing tomorrow morning," Snow said.

EAST CAPE, MEXICO: John Ireland of Rancho Leonero reported very limited angling activity at East Cape between the winter holidays and very few boats fishing. "We have had northerly winds and no boat departures all week," Ireland said. "I guess this is payback for almost no wind at all in November."

EAST CAPE, MEXICO: Russell Fritz of La Ribera reported winds blowing daily and during the night as well. Local fishing by Fritz' son Dan Fritz and his wife Sonya produced plenty of bait, some sierra, and 2 kawa kawa tuna caught on Tuesday morning just before winds moved into the East Cape fishing area. "The sea temperature is still in the mid-70s, so the fish should still be there if this wind will ever quit," Fritz said.

EAST CAPE, MEXICO: Gary Graham of Baja On The Fly reported some good early morning beach fishing found before daily strong winds arrived. "The north winds are howling," Graham said. "Gray light action before the wind got wound up provided sierra, jacks, and ladyfish to satisfy the few guests in the hotels." A few boats picking through wind offshore found a few small yellowfin tuna and dorado, Graham said, "as well as some marlin that have refused to leave and will probably remain until spring." East Cape fishing area weather was in the high-70s, with northwest winds of 15 to 20 knots and the water temperature at 67 to 73 degrees.

EAST CAPE, MEXICO: Jeff deBrown of The Reel Baja East Cape fly fishing guide service said, "Santa brought a strong north wind that has been blowing for the last few days." Some good fishing along the beaches was found during early morning hours before the wind began with catches including sierra, good numbers of ladyfish, and a few jack crevalle. Hotel fleets sent few boats out. "Not many boats have gone out, with the hotels not having many guests due to the holiday," deBrown said. "Guests that are here decided not to brave the wind and instead enjoyed the festivities on land. A few days ago before the wind we still had a fair number of smaller tuna and a few dorado in the East Cape fishing area as well as a few marlin."

SANTA ROSALIA, MEXICO: Jim Anderson of San Bruno reported "occasionally calm" conditions in the Santa Rosalia fishing area, with air temperatures at 73 degrees and local water temperatures averaging 60 to 63 degrees. A run to the Isla San Marcos yellowtail bajos found slow action, but did produce 3 yellowtail to 35 pounds on 5 hookups. "I am sure that the 2 that took us in the rocks were at least 45 pounders and they may be up to 50 pounds by next week!" Anderson said. "That is my story and I am sticking to it. We expect yellowtail fishing to pick up with changes in the tides, but the bad news is that Bouyweather.com is predicting heavy north winds." Late season bonita were still biting locally. "The bonito are normally gone this time of the year, but they have really stayed around and provided some fine eating for those pulling Rapala-type lures," Anderson said.

SAN CARLOS, MEXICO: John Hilderbrand of Jon Jen Charters at San Carlos reported a billfish release rate of about 95 percent during the 2007 season. "We estimated 180 or more marlin and sailfish caught, with a less than 5 percent loss rate," Hilderbrand said. "That would average more than 1 per trip. And many, many peanut dorado were released. I am proud of our captains and anglers for a job well done.

MAZATLAN, MEXICO: Larry Edwards of Cortez Yacht Charters reported on 35 Aries Fleet offshore charter boats out of Mazatlan's Marina El Cid, with a catch including released fish of: 7 striped marlin, 7 sailfish, 21 dorado to 50 pounds, and 53 yellowfin tuna to 80 pounds. "The full moon has taken its toll on Mazatlan fishing and slowed the Christmas bite considerably," Edwards said. "With the full moon came cooler waters." Mazatlan fishing area weather was sunny in the low-80s, with unusually cool inshore water at 62 degrees and offshore water up to 71 degrees. Offshore boats worked a temperature break about 30 miles out of Mazatlan.

MAZATLAN, MEXICO: For the previous week, Edwards reported on 22 Aries Fleet offshore boats, with a catch including released fish of: 8 striped marlin, 3 sailfish, 25 dorado to 50 pounds, and 57 yellowfin tuna to 70 pounds. Four inshore super pangas had a catch of: 33 sierra, 3 dorado, and 3 jack crevalle. "Passenger counts slowed this week and the fish count reflects that, especially with the billfish," Edwards said. "The dorado were all bigger fish. The tuna are offshore about 30 miles and running with porpoise. Most are school sizes, 15 to 30 pounds." Mazatlan fishing area weather was partly cloudy in the low-80s, with mostly calm seas and water temperatures at a cool 64 degrees inshore and 72 to 73 degrees offshore. All billfish were hooked on rigged mullet trolling baits and tuna were taken on feathers.

PUERTO VALLARTA, MEXICO: Stan Gabruk of Master Baiters Sportfishing & Tackle said the Puerto Vallarta fishing area was clearing after a period of dirty water, red tide, and rough seas in cooling water temperatures. The best action was found at 15 miles and outwards from Punta de Mita on headings of about 300 degrees for dorado, sailfish, snappers, and some striped marlin. "The hot bottom line this week continues to be the areas north of Punta de Mita," Gabruk said. El Banco produced some yellowfin tuna to about 75 pounds and Roca Corbeteña boats found some sailfish, dog snapper, dorado, and jack crevalle in clear blue water.

IXTAPA ZIHUATANEJO, MEXICO: Ed Kunze, reporting for Baja On The Fly, said fish counts dropped at midweek during the full moon phase. "Once we are out of this moon phase, all conditions point to getting back to good fishing," Kunze said. Ixtapa fishing area weather was calm and sunny in the mid-90s, with water temperatures at 80 to 84 degrees.

IXTAPA ZIHUATANEJO, MEXICO: Earlier, Larry Edwards of Cortez Yacht Charters reported a nice uptick in dorado counts as sportfishing Capt. Temo averaged 5 to 6 dodos per day to the 40-pound mark and most boats also averaged about 2 sailfish per day. Inshore fishing improved as Capt. Adolofo reported an 8-roosterfish day including fish at close to 50 pounds, and another day with 4 good roosterfish plus a mixed bag of jack crevalle and sierra. "Top water pencil poppers continue to be the hot ticket for big roosterfish," Edwards said. Ixtapa Zihuatanejo fishing area weather was clear in the high-80s, with calm seas and water temperatures at 81 to 82 degrees. Bait supplies were excellent.

IXTAPA ZIHUATANEJO, MEXICO: Paul Phillips of the Fintastic Total Tag & Release Tournament said last week's fishing by Capt. Santiago on the charter boat Gitana included 2 outings with a total of 4 sailfish released on 33 sailfish raised to the teasers.

HUATULCO, MEXICO: Sportfishing articles, maps, and fishing report archives for Huatulco.