Santa Rosalia Fishing And Travel Information

Santa Rosalia fishing articles, maps, fishing reports, peak seasons, hot spots, and vacation travel information for the top sportfishing locations of Santa Rosalia, Mexico.

The Santa Rosalia fishing area is, quite literally, the first look at Mexico's fabulous Sea of Cortez that vacationing anglers get as they drive down Baja California's Transpeninsular Highway after a dusty, 580-mile desert crossing from the U.S. border at Tijuana.

And as those drivers make the steep descent into town and glance at their tattered AAA Baja Road Maps, one thing that is not apparent about Santa Rosalia's rich fishing waters (because of the way the AAA map is split into two halves, and printed front and back) is that Santa Rosalia is actually located at the southern limit of the Sea of Cortez Midriff Area, and it is sort of a buffer zone between cool Midriff waters and the warmer Sea of Cortez farther south.

Santa Rosalia waters are therefore subject to some of the tidal currents and upwellings more common to the deep channels of the adjacent Cortez Midriff, and Santa Rosalia's fishing benefits from high nutrient levels mixed with warm currents, which brings not only frequent "green" water conditions caused by heavy plankton concentrations, but of course, the bait fish-game fish cycle that is sure to follow.

The end result of this situation is that Santa Rosalia fishing is very reliable for a very wide variety of fish species that come and go virtually all year long. Santa Rosalia is, hint, hint, a very good fishing spot.

But ironically, this historic French copper mining town has never been particularly oriented toward sportfishing or tourism, even though the year-round action in the entire area is some of the best and most reliable for middleweight species that Mexico has to offer.

Even today there are almost no sport fishing services available for the traveling angler at Santa Rosalia, although there is some limited commercial panga fishing and a huge panga armada that fishes at night for giant Humboldt squid. This situation is changing slowly as new vacation-oriented facilities are opened, travel services expanded, and the word gets out, but for the present, the excellent sportfishing opportunities in Santa Rosalia waters are still practically unknown to the outside world.

Historically and to the present day, most sportfishing boats working the Santa Rosalia area have been smaller trailer boats, inflatables, or cartop "tin" boats (lightweight aluminum skiffs mostly under 14 feet long) launching over the beach at shallow San Lucas Cove about 10 miles south of town.

The tiny little tourist camps and launching areas of San Lucas Cove amount to a combined total of only a couple of hundred yards of beach, but they very well may have accounted for more private boat sport caught fish per foot than any other beach in Mexico.

Going back to the earliest days following the opening of the Transpeninsular Highway, a steady stream of hardy, self-equipped vacationing anglers have come to San Lucas Cove, launched their small boats, struggled with the shallow water at extreme low tide, exited the narrow channel, and gotten into the amazingly reliable fishing just to the north off small "haystack" hill, south on the reefs surrounding the village of San Bruno, outwards to the reefs around nearby Isla San Marcos, or just north of the island to the "Isla San Marcos yellowtail bajos," which are so amazingly reliable and productive that they actually are "famous," albeit only to a small group of Baja yellowtail aficionados. Some seaworthy boats also get out to more distant Isla Tortuga for good seasonal offshore fishing, mixed with a sometimes higher grade of shallow water fishing made available by the island's relatively remote location.

Seasonal water temperatures at Santa Rosalia range from the low-60s in February and March to the low-80s in August and September, and the offshore migrators such as dorado, sailfish, marlin, and yellowfin tuna peak during the warmer months centered on May through September. Resident fish species such as spotted bay bass, triggerfish, cabrilla, corvina, and grouper also peak during the warmer months, but with the best action tending toward spring and fall. Yellowtail are resident and usually present in good volume, either on the bottom, on top, or somewhere in between.

As it vacation travel services develop, Santa Rosalia is sure to become a major attraction, due to its fishing, its historical interest, and its very unusual "feel" as the only town in Baja California that has an old downtown built mostly of wood. But for now, this long-standing "favorite fishin' hole" of a few knowledgeable insiders is still mostly "undiscovered" by outsiders.

"Mexico Fishing News":

Weekly reports and photos from Santa Rosalia and other Mexican vacation spots.

Other Mexican Vacation Fishing Spots:

Travel and fishing information for Santa Rosalia and other major Mexican sportfishing destinations.

Santa Rosalia Fishing Articles & Information:

Big Isla San Marcos Yellowtail Tournament at Santa Rosalia!
Caleta Santa Maria Fishing Map.
Craig Channel Fishing Map.
San Lucas Cove fishing description from The Baja Catch.
San Lucas Cove Fishing Map.
Santa Rosalia: Baja's Squid City.
Santa Rosalia Fishing Map.
Santa Rosalia Area Fishing Map (Including Surrrounding Areas).

Archived Santa Rosalia Sportfishing Reports: