East Cape Billfish Show Up Early

East Cape
Cinco de Mayo and better weather always seem to go hand in hand. While the weather has improved, the fishing has been slow to catch up. Offshore the big news was a blue marlin being caught that was just shy of 500 lbs. Added to that factoid, there have been more than a few sails show up in the patterns already this year and striped marlin remained consistent again this week as well. This has some of the locals thinking early…early….early season for the pointy nosed guys. Not enough action for the fly rodders looking for a billfish on the fly but looks promising for the future. Still iffy as far as the dorado go, though the ones that are found are good sized. Mostly football sized tuna and they are pretty much spread out from La Ribera out to 40 miles. The beach produced a few small roosters with Cory Hawryluk, Houston, TX coming up from Cabo to land his first rooster on the fly. He found the beach experience to be a hoot and is planning a return trip soon.
Al Tigert, Anchorage AK emailed us this report about his trip in late April. "The quality of the experience was excellent, and everything we could wish for. It would be difficult to match the quantity of fish that we enjoy at home in Alaska, but the chance to pursue exotic species in a beautiful (warm) locale w/people who are knowledgeable, friendly and have a good sense of humor was perfect. Every fish was a brand new species for us to marvel at."
On the chum side, there were some mackerel to be found but still few, if any sardina available.

Baja on the Fly
Water temperature 71-78
Air temperature 60-89
Humidity 45%
Wind: NE 2 mph
Conditions: Scattered Clouds
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:41 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:49 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay , Baja Mexico
Still plenty of wind to deal with. Outside, weather permitting there as some quality sized tuna 210 degrees 15 – 20 miles out and that seems to be the best action for the entire area. Still the be squid around outside the Entrada as well. The reports for the Esteros have been very few fish, even the cabrilla have a severe case of lock jaw. One interesting report was a fifteen lb. snook that was caught near the base of the commercial pier. One more thing, closer to town, under the bridge at the entrance to town produced some decent early morning action for corvina, pargo and even a few leopard grouper. Sounds like the guys are overrunning the fish.
Water temperature 62-71
Air temperature 66-75
Humidity 96%
Wind: WNW 20 mph
Conditions: Scattered Clouds
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 6:51 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:00 p.m. MDT


Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The clean water is just off the beach, with the blue water only 6 to 8 miles out. The Terrifin Satellite Surface Temperatures show 80 to 85 degree water everywhere. In other words, the conditions are perfect, but still there are very few fish.

Earlier this week we had a great showing of large Yellowfin tuna, but they have also disappeared. However, a few nice fish were taken while they were here. Luis, on the panga “Gringo Loco” fished with Gary Tagahuci from Laguna Beach, CA and got a nice 270 pound fish. Santiago , on the panga “Gitana”, also got a 190 pound tuna. Another member of Gary's group got a nice black marlin while fishing with Luis.

The 22nd annual Sailfish Tournament is currently underway, making a statement about the lack of fish in the area this week. Yesterday (Friday), the first day of the tournament, only 28 sailfish, 2 blue marlin, and 1 dorado were caught from a field of 110 boats. That is less than 1 sailfish for every 4 boats average.

Cheva on the “Dos Hermanos II” found a few small roosterfish earlier in the week, but we are still a little early in the season to expect much action from the roosters. This will pick up over the next three weeks.
Baja on the Fly report by Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 78 - 91
Humidity 83%
Wind: WSW 11 mph
Conditions: Scattered Clouds
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 7:20 a.m. CDT
Sunset 8:06 p.m. CDT

San Jose, Guatemala
This past week, we hosted the Rick Swetish party of 4 from Texas. During their stay, they experienced great weather and consistent action which enabled them to experience double digit releases each day on sails. The fishing was still pretty far between 30-40 miles. The action in Guatemala continues on through August, with the potential for double digit days on sails with marlin mixed in.
We have open dates throughout this period of time. This is a great time for your spur of the moment trip with us. Just give our office a call for a trip of a lifetime.

We are also currently booking for the peak periods between November and April of next season, available slots are filling quickly.
Fishing guide and newspaper columnist Paul Bruun , Jackson Hole, Wyo., visited us in early March. Here is a link to his entertaining story of the trip and a good example of why hunters and anglers from all over the world subscribe to the little Jackson Hole paper:
http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/PaulBruun.html
San Jose, Guatemala report by Brian Barragy and Lissa McFarlin
Water temperature 78 - 82
Air temperature 82- 86
Humidity 94%
Wind: SSW 8 mph
Conditions: Scattered Clouds
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 5:38 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:20 p.m. CST