Fish till You Drop

REPORT #982. “Below the Border” Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996 Endless Season Update 10/28/2005East Cape Long time clients Joe and Nick Turano, from Houston, arrived earlier this week on another “take no prisoners” trip; and for openers, both landed striped marlin on the fly. It was Nick’s first one, at that! The Cabo Pulmo tuna action went deep and made it tough for the fly, but a few football-sized were suckered into doing the fur and feather routine.
Again this week the sardina were in short supply and the Humboldt squid came to the rescue. Cut into small chunks it makes pretty good chum. Anybody got a squid chunk pattern? While I am on the sardina thing, our guide Lance Peterson reported that juvenile sardina are beginning to show along the shore and he could see the ladyfish sending little showers of bait out of the water as they were feeding. That is new and different for this year.
East Cape delivered on its claim of being a “Fish Till you Drop” destination. Joe and Nick, after a full day on the boat, decided to tackle the beach after a quick dip in the pool and, of course, an ice cold Pacifico. Here is Lance’s comment about the afternoon: “Well, I rocked the Turano’s world on the beach this afternoon. Put them on a constant boil of ladyfish, jacks, and small roosters. Fished from 4:30 to 7 p.m., they were stoked! What a day. Man, I'm dead. The next morning was an instant replay before they had to leave for their flight mid-morning.”
As the week progressed the weather held, but the action slowed somewhat with the inshore action producing the best “bang for your buck.”

Baja on the Fly

Water temperature 80-86 Air temperature 77-86Humidity 31%Wind: NW 5 mphConditions: ClearVisibility 10 milesSunrise 7:22 a.m. MDTSunset 6:42 p.m. MDT
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Early in the week Diana Hoyt of Mag Bay Outfitters reported rough seas, but good action for wahoo, marlin and yellowfin tuna just inside the Thetis Bank. Enrique Soto, our San Carlos pangero, fished offshore down to the south for the past two days and found good signs including lots of birds and bait. While there were good numbers of marlin spotted, they all seemed to have lockjaw. They caught a few as well as a dorado, but not the numbers that are normally associated with Magdalena Bay offshore action. The entrada continues to produce a few yellowtail and grouper. Up in the esteros, the mainstay has been corvina. One boat near Devil’s Curve managed to locate a school of snook that yielded a few up to 10 pounds. They also landed two red snapper in the 20 pound range.Water temperature 70-77Air temperature 68-79 Humidity 60% Wind: W 8Conditions: ClearVisibility 5 milesSunrise 7:32 a.m. MDTSunset 6:47 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico Clean 82º water is only 6 miles off the beach, but the bluewater species have yet to turn on. Boats are still only averaging about one sailfish a day each. However, a few nice 20- to 25-pound class dorado are being caught each day. Hans Clausen of Denmark fished with Santiago on the panga “Gitana” for three days this week. Hans is the president of the European Federation of Sea Anglers and is here with a small group to sample our fishing. On the first day, Hans got 8 large jack crevalle, a sailfish on the second day, and a couple of nice roosters with several more jacks on the third day.
Ed Kunze Water temperature 80 - 84Air temperature 78 - 86Humidity 94%Wind: CalmConditions: Scattered CloudsVisibility 10 milesSunrise 7:43 a.m. CDTSunset 7:15 p.m. CDT
San Jose, Guatemala No Report received this week
Water temperature 78 - 82Air temperature 79- 89Humidity 100%Wind: CalmConditions: Scattered CloudsVisibility 6 milesSunrise 5:57 a.m. CSTSunset 5:36 p.m. CST[/b]