More Fish Than People

REPORT #976. “Below the Border” Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
With all of the recent news about hurricanes, it is understandable that the locals at East Cape keep a close eye on the Mexican Satellite map. So far...so good. While the weather has been hot and there have been some showers in the foothills in the afternoon, it was still a pretty nice week. Billfish continued to provide some good offshore action and if you found the right pod of porpoise the action could have you reaching for a cerveza in no time at all. While mid day is the best time for the beach action, the hot sun kept most anglers closer to the pool than the beach. There were a few “Bubba” sightings near Bartle Beach and a pretty good ladyfish bite in front of the hotel. Best bet was early morning or late afternoon as the sun dropped behind the mountains.


Baja on the Fly

Water temperature 80-88
Air temperature 78-93
Humidity 69%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:06 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:19 p.m. MDT



Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Full moon and strong currents didn’t slow the action down at the Entrada. Enrique Soto reported leopard grouper to 18 lbs and a handful of firecracker yellows kept the clients busy on Friday. Offshore, there are still plenty of marlin sightings by the locals who usually don’t target them. Most of the dorado reported this week were on the small side and few tuna were found. Shrimp season has begun and most of the locals have been targeting them. Few fished the Esteros this week and the fishing was slow. There were a few corvina and pargo found near the bridge at the entrance to Puerto San Carlos.


Water temperature 70-80
Air temperature 75-86
Humidity 78%
Wind: W 15
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 7:10 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:33 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The fishing remains unchanged for the last several weeks. It is poor fishing for the offshore species, and fairly decent inshore for the roosterfish and big jack crevalle. The 84º to 86º blue water is about twelve miles out, but the gamefish are not around.

Adolpho, on the panga Dos Hermanos, went 34 miles and had only one hooked sailfish and one other strike. Very few boats are getting more than one sailfish a day.


The roosterfish action is averaging about three fish per boat. We did have a couple of days this week where the surf was very high from offshore storms. This makes it difficult to get in close to the shore break to properly present a bait to the roosters. As our rain season winds down over the next couple of weeks, there should be an improvement on our inshore fishing conditions.

Ed Kunze

Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 77 - 90
Humidity 79%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: T-Storms
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:34 a.m. CDT
Sunset 7:45 p.m. CDT

San Jose, Guatemala
Still a month to go before the sailfish action begins to heat up. While the sailfish seem to be here year round, the clients don’t begin to arrive in numbers until mid October at the earliest. Most of the crews are just finishing up their maintenance and clean up and hopping from one foot to the other waiting for the season to get underway.



Water temperature 78 - 82
Air temperature 73- 86
Humidity 100%
Wind: WNE 7 mph
Conditions: Scattered Clouds
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 5:52 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:02 p.m. CST
For additional information: bajafly@bajafly.com
USA toll-free (800) 919-2252 or 760/746-7260;
Mexico 011-52-624-14-10373 or (760) 670 4916