Summer Has Arrived!

REPORT #1072 “Below the Border” Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
Endless Season Update July 21, 2007

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico


You know that season has arrived when you get a late night phone call reporting that some bruiser tuna in the 100 lb. class have been found just outside Boca de Soledad. The conversation went something like this:

“Amigo, the commercial panga guys found some really big tuna outside--- so big they couldn’t catch them on their handlines. We are going out tomorrow (Thursday) and we will let you know what happens.”

That’s it! Nothing more. Either they are still hooked up, are still cleaning their catch or it was bum dope. Stay tuned…I will let you know! Just before I posted this report I received the following “yellowfin tuna WFO thirty miles outside Boca de Soledad”.
Meanwhile more and more dorado are being seen each week near the shark buoys west of the Entrada. Yellowtail fishing continues to provide the best surface action at the entrada. On the bottom there are enough grouper to keep it interesting.

At Lopez Mateos, Mag Bay Outfitters finally received the kayaks they had ordered a while back. The Captains and crew couldn’t wait for clients to show up to try them out, so they loaded them on Mar Gato and headed up to the Esteros for their trial run. Judging by the photos the kayaks are a welcome addition!

Water temperature 64 - 76
Air temperature 69 -88
Humidity 94 %
Wind: WNW 9 – 13 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 2 miles
Sunrise 6:49 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:17 p.m. MDT

East Cape


Spring is gone and summer action is beginning to seriously kick in. Offshore, striped marlin and a few sails provided the best action this week with only a few blues reported so far. There are plenty of stripey’s around; they just don’t seem ready to get serious just yet.

Football sized yellowfin tuna dominated the offshore action this week. Distances ranged from a few miles offshore to more than thirty. As usual the boats arriving early to the spots got limits while the late ones watched.

Dorado action continues to be disappointing for most. There have been a few quality fish caught (up to fifty pounds) but they are few and far between.

Early in the week, a floating carcass produced the best concentrated action of the season, including limits of smaller dorado and YFT’s

Inshore the cooler water stubbornly remains close to shore and seems to have caused the sardina to evaporate, leaving us with only with a few larger live baits and dead ballyhoo. It has also slowed the rooster bite to a trickle compared to a few weeks ago. Still the tenacious angler prowling the beach has been rewarded with a few fish here and there.


Water temperature 75-87
Air temperature 67-93
Humidity 92%
Wind: ENE 5 - 6 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 6:43 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:07 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

We had a lot of rain for a couple of days this last week. On Wednesday, I recorded 12 inches of rain between 5:00 in the afternoon to 7:00 the next morning. This pushed a lot of weeds, trees, and debris out of the rivers, and it also pushed the blue water out to at least the 20 mile mark.

Most of the captains are reporting averaging between 1 and 2 sailfish a day per boat. And all of them are complaining that the weed lines are in such abundance, it is making trolling difficult. A trolled bait, with three feet of weeds trailing behind it, will not catch any fish.

However, a lot of the captains are also reporting several schools of peanut sized dorado among the weeds. Hopefully these fast growing fish will stick around for a while.

The inshore fishing was great early in the week. Santiago, on the panga, Gitana, did get 7 roosters, up to 40 pounds, in one day for his clients. And Adolpho, on the panga, Dos Hermanos, spent several days with an ESPN2 TV crew in Puerto Vicente Gro. They got a bunch of roosters and plenty of footage for their show.

Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 71-93
Humidity 92%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Mostly Clear
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 7:21 a.m. CDT
Sunset 8:24 p.m. CDT