Inshore Shines for “Feathers and Fur”

REPORT #1064 “Below the Border” Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
Endless Season Update May 26, 2007

East Cape

Plenty of fish were seen this week ranging from striped marlin to YFT’s hiding under the porpoise schools beyond thirty miles. Seems like there is bait everywhere - from squid to sardina - and that has made it tough to entice them with feather and fur! Dorado action continued to be a tease with the lucky boats finding something floating to provide cover for these critters.

Inshore the fly fishers shined this week! Ed Randall, Houston, TX, headed out with BOF Guide, Lance Peterson, looking for his first rooster on the fly. Fishing with Captain Victor, Jr.
on "Mosca I”, they scoured the coastline for roosters on the bite. When they found a bait receiver full of sardina (flat iron herring) near La Ribera, their luck improved. Roosters had gathered around it and using a hookless live bait, Lance teased several into casting range. Ed had some great shots and when the scales settled, he had landed two nice roosters and a good number of really big ladyfish that made his 10wt creak in protest. Most of the roosterfish were in the 5 to 10lb class with a few much larger fish mixed in.

Watching Ed have all the rooster action fired up Lance and he headed down to the beach to find one of his own at the end of the day.

Water temperature 70-81
Air temperature 73-90
Humidity 24%
Wind: SSW 9-12 knots
Conditions: Mostly Clear
Visibility 10miles
Sunrise 6:33 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:58 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Estero action continued to be the best bet this week as the Pacific continued to be whipped into a froth by strong winds from the WNW keeping everyone close to shore. Inside, nice sized grouper and a corvina bite on the surface kept fly flickers happy. Those that braved the strong breezes in the open water were rewarded with only a few firecracker sized yellows for their effort. The local shark fishermen have reported seeing an occasional dorado under their buoys, but definitely not a bonanza.

Water temperature 65 - 72
Air temperature 67 -85
Humidity 45 %
Wind: WNW 14 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 6:38 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:09 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

Fishing has been below par for this time of the year. A lot of it can be attributed to the red tide that hit the coast this last week. It has decimated the inshore fishing. The red tide has affected the coastline for at least 40 miles in each direction from Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo. But, there are signs of it breaking up now, and should clear out by next week.

The 82º blue water is now at the 25 mark, with dirty, almost red tide conditions, water out at least 12 miles. The only bright spot is that the blue marlin are here and the yellowfin tuna are here also. But, the anglers looking for sailfish are averaging only about 1 fish per day per boat.

John Wilkinson of Michigan has fished with Santiago on the Gitana a couple of times this week. On the first day, because the 30 to 40 pound yellowfin tuna were traveling fast and were line shy, they dropped down to 30 pound test. Of course that is when the 100 pound beast came up from the depths and ate the bait. They fought the tuna for almost 2 hours, got a good look at it, and the line parted.

On the next trip they lost an estimated 400 pound blue after only a 15 minute fight. A 100 pound plus yellowfin tuna and a 400 pound marlin would make a decent week, however John ended up with only one sailfish released for the two days on the water.

Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 76-98
Humidity 26%
Wind: ENE 9 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 7:11 a.m. CDT
Sunset 8:15 p.m. CDT