East Cape…Damaged but Rebounding!

REPORT #1027 “Below the Border” Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
Endless Season Update 09/10/06
East Cape
Hurricane John came and went, leaving plenty of damage in its wake as the photos will attest to.
Here’s the link to photos of the damage caused: http://www.parkmodelexpress.com/baja/Hurricane%20John

While everyone has a story of varying degrees of damage, there have been limited reports of injury. Many of the locals however, were wiped out and are basically starting again from scratch. There are several individuals working to deliver relief to the families who were affected. If you are interested in additional relief information, there are links on the photo page.

Hotel boats are beginning to get back on the water, and are reporting plenty of debris which was washed out of the arroyos. Like someone said “fish have got to eat” and the tuna schools wasted no time resuming the bite below Las Frailes. Out in front of La Ribera the billfish came right back on point as well. Mark Rayor’s “Jen Wren” reported good tuna catches, several marlin and a dorado from under the debris in spite of a revisit of rain on Thursday.

Water temperature 74-89
Air temperature 78-90
Humidity 52%
Wind: W 6mph
Conditions: Scattered Clouds
Visibility 15 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:27 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico


Neither Puerto San Carlos nor Lopez Mateos took much of a hit from “John”. They did have some wind and rain, but not of epic proportions like the tip and the west side of the Sea of Cortez, according to Enrique Soto in Puerto San Carlos. Several boats that ran up to Turtle Bay to hide from the storm reported lots of marlin spotted above the Thetis all the way to within fifteen miles of the Entrada. Also plenty of dorado to 35 lbs. were spotted under the floating debris.
Back at the Entrada the grouper bite was the best thing going and in the esteros it was primarily cabrilla with an occasional corvina.

Water temperature 64 - 78
Air temperature 72-84
Humidity 54%
Wind: WNW 13 mph
Conditions: Scattered Clouds
Visibility 15 miles
Sunrise 7:10 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:35 p.m. MDT


Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
Things have calmed down considerably since hurricane John blew by last week, but the blue water has been moved out to the 20 mile mark. And the full moon phase is hurting the catch a bit. Most boats in the fleet are only averaging about 1 or 2 sailfish per day.

The dorado, like the blue water, took off with John, and the tuna do not yet want to come in close to play. The yellowfin averaging about 50 pounds, are 40 miles out.

However, the roosterfish and jack crevalle fishing is still excellent. Adan, on the panga Gitana II got 3 nice roosters to 45 pounds for his clients, plus they lost a couple others. They also got two large jacks averaging about 20 pounds, and a trevally
Ed Kunze

Water temperature 78 - 87
Air temperature 78 - 90
Humidity 62%
Wind WSW 7 mph
Conditions: Scattered Clouds
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:33 a.m. CDT
Sunset 7:52 p.m. CDT