Center Stage: Billfish and Tuna

Endless Season Update 10/20/2007
REPORT #1085 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996







East Cape
The billfish and tuna action picked up this week which was fortunate as the dorado bite that had been the ‘crowd-pleaser’ for the past month backed way off this week.

Long time clients, Joe and Nick Turano, from Houston, Texas, had a great first day: they raised 11 billfish, hooked1 marlin and 3 sails. On the second day the north wind and conditions were against them, and they had only one shot at a sail and a few sierra inside. Undeterred they headed out again on the third day and had an excellent day, cashing in on a serious yellowfin tuna bite.

Beach action suffered from the windy conditions as the wind waves turned the water the color of Starbucks coffee. The good news is the sierra have returned and could be found feeding on sardina. Instead of using wire, try using flies tied on long shank hooks. You may lose a fly or two but you will definitely have more takes.


Water temperature 77-85
Air temperature 73-95
Humidity 73 %
Wind: N 2 to 3 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 7:24 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:03 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Windy and sloppy conditions this week kept most of the locals on the beach. More yachts arrive every day to find the billfish action out fifteen miles southwest of Pta. Tosca toward the pinnacles. Down farther toward the Finger Bank reports of 10-20 fish days are not uncommon.

Dorado action and football sized tuna can be found outside the bumps in front of Boca de Soledad.

Water temperature 72 - 82
Air temperature 70 -92
Humidity 82%
Wind: NW 11 to 15 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:28 a.m. MDT
Sunset 6:56 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The 82° blue water was only a 1.5 miles off the beach earlier in the week. The offshore action was a bit slow, with only a 1 or 2 sailfish per day / per boat average. There were also a few dorado scattered around in the catches.

The inshore action for roosters was just incredible until tropical storm Kiko settled in here late in the week and dumped 10 inches of rain on us for a 48 hour period. We even had a port closure on Friday.

On Wednesday, one day before Kiko hit, Cali and I went down to Puerto Vicente Guerrero with fly fishing client, Andre from British Columbia. Using a hookless popper, we raised 16 roosters and 4 jack crevalle. Andre was able to hook 4 roosters.

The inshore waters are now very dirty from the huge volume of water coming out of the numerous small rivers here. It will take at least a week to get settled down and the roosterfish action should be excellent again.

However, because of the debris floating out of the rivers, the dorado and tuna should be making another decent appearance this next week.
Ed Kunze

Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 72-91
Humidity 83%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:41 a.m. CDT
Sunset 7:21 p.m. CDT