La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Jan. 28-Feb. 5, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WEATHER – Mostly sunny.  Daytimes low to mid-70’s.  Nights low 60’s.  Winds from the north 15-20 mph most days.  Stronger gusting as the day goes on.

WATER – Some strange patches of unseasonably warm water in the 70’s holding some surprising species of fish (el Nino?).  Colder water is darker and cloudier.  Warmer water is blue.

SPECIES HOOKED – tuna/ dorado/ wahoo/ yellowtail/ amberjack/ yellowtail/ sierra/ snapper/ pargo/ bonito/ jack crevalle

BAIT AVAILABILITY – Depends on the winds and waves.  The rougher it is the harder to get live bait this time of year

It’s been a strange winter.

They say it’s El Nino.  I dunno.  But, I can tell you that the weather is about right.  Still lots of windy gusty days and bouncy seas.  That’s pretty typical.  Not much of anyone on the waters most of the time except windsurfers who revel in the world-class winds.

However, the rub is the fishing.

Normally, we’re catching inshore species if we’re even out.  That means inshore cold-water species like pargo, snapper, cabrilla, sierra, amberjack mixed with bonito and jack crevalle.  So, yes, those are still around to be caught.

But, the real craziness is the warm water species that are around.

These include dorado, sailfish, marlin, tuna, wahoo…WHAAAT???  We normally don’t see these species until at least the springtime when the waters warm.  And that could be the key.  There are patches of warm water as much as 68-73 degrees.  That’s quite a bit higher than normal.

As mentioned, not many folks are even out on the water, let alone fishing because of the winds, but most of the reports are coming from friends in La Paz who can pick the least windy days to go out or go out before the winds kick in or else they are the commercial captains who have to work for a living no matter the weather.

We’ll just have to keep an eye out.  I have my fingers crossed that these species will still be around when the season kicks into full gear around April when the winds are usually diminished.