REPORT #1099 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Plenty of action from the beach and inshore, sierra, small roosters and jacks …, actually more fish than visitors. Which was probably a good thing since the north wind seemed relentless this week. Supposedly there are some tuna and billfish outside but high seas caused by the wind prevented anyone from getting out to find them.
Water temperature 67-73
Air temperature 49-76
Humidity 81 %
Wind: NNW 16 to 22 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:00 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:04 p.m. MST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Bob Hoyt, of Mag Bay Outfitters, reported that the whales are slowly filtering into the bay through Boca de Soledad but so far only 15- 20 that have made it inside.
Estero action this week included some good corvina bites as well as a few better quality grouper, along with a few pargo.
Water temperature 66 - 73
Air temperature 54 -75
Humidity 76%
Wind: WNW 7 to 10 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 13 miles
Sunrise 7:10 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:10 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
For this last week the sailfish and dorado bite has still been holding up with fantastic action for all boats. The boats were averaging 3 to 4 sailfish a day, plus a couple of the 20 to 40 pound dorado.
Margarito on the Gaby has really had an excellent week, with the slowest day catching 6 sailfish and 1 dorado, and the best day with 10 sailfish and 2 dorado.
Unfortunately, I do not see this bite holding up for much longer. Yesterday the boats came in with fewer flags flying. Whether this is a trend developing, or the fleet just needs to locate new areas for the concentrations of fish will become evident over the next couple of days.
With the blue water only six miles off the beach, hopefully it may just be a lull until a new batch of fish move into the area.
The jack crevalle and black skipjack tuna are providing a lot of inshore action also.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 48-96
Humidity 78%
Wind: S 5 knt
Conditions: Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:19 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:40 p.m. CST
Cabo San Lucas
WEATHER: It has been cloudy most of the week so sun seekers were not very happy; I saw a lot of folks that were very burned, thinking that the clouds were stopping the tanning rays. Oh well, at least the clouds helped hold the warmth in and we didn’t see temperatures lower than the mid 60’s at night. At the end of the week early I the morning it was 69 at our house. Daytime highs were around the low to mid 80’s, warm enough that I had no need of a sweater most of the time. With all the clouds I thought that we were going to get some rain but all that happened was a bit of spit, you know, the kind that just dots the dusty windshield on the car? That was early in the week on Tuesday, and it was probably my fault as I had just washed the Jeep when it started.
WATER: There did not appear to be any real change in the water conditions from the week before. The cloud cover made it almost impossible to get an updated sea surface shot from space so reliance on the boats that were fishing was very strong. It appears that the water within 5 miles of the beach on the Pacific side up to just past the Golden Gate Bank remained warmer than that farther offshore and was a nice blue color as well. On the Golden Gate and the San Jaime Bank the water was off color green and quite a bit cooler at 70 degrees and lower. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water was green and off-colored everywhere and the area off of Punta Gorda was reported as almost a brown color by some boats. To the immediate south on an east-west line across the arch the water warmed up and blued up. As you reached 8 miles to the south the temperature rose to 74 degrees. Surface conditions across the area were good since this cloud cover arrived without any wind. Some swells on the Pacific side with a light ripple on top most of the time, but on the Cortez side up past Punta Gorda the wind started howling.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price. There were Sardinas up around Chileno Bay at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin bite remained off for another week for most of the boats. The fish were found on the Pacific side and to the south but while there were a lot of fish seen on the surface, not many of them were hungry. A few, very few, boats managed to come in with between three and five Marlin flags flying, but most boats were feeling lucky if they were able to get a couple of fish to eat and get one to the boat for a release. The big new for the week is the appearance of some Swordfish. This week several of these fish were spotted on the surface and at least two that I know of were hooked. One was hooked on a live Mackerel while fishing 23 miles to the south and was fought for six hours before the 100-pound leader parted. The Captain estimated to fish at over #300! It’s tough to get a fish like that on Striped Marlin gear!
YELLOWFIN TUNA I overheard a conversation about a private boat being hooked up on a very big Yellowfin just off the Golden Gate Bank on Saturday, and then nothing else. I know a few boats have been having a little luck on fish in the 30-pound class out past the San Jaime Bank, but it has been very inconsistent. The same has been the case on the football sized fish, they have been out there but the bite has been slow, a few fish have been the average with a few boats able to get into double digits.
DORADO: Once again there have been a few fish caught, one or two here and there, but no large numbers have been reported. The best area has been the warm water to the south.
WAHOO: Inconsistent, but there have been some quality fish out there. One boat caught two of them between 80-100 pounds in the warm water 20 miles south and a few other smaller ones were reported from the same area.
INSHORE: The Sierra action picked back up on the Pacific side as schools of fish to 10 pounds have moved in off of the beaches and rocky points to the north of the lighthouse. Double-digit catches were not a problem. Either whole Mackerel rigged with a stinger hook I the tail or large Sardines were needed for the larger fish, hootchies and plugs did not work on fish over six pounds. Off of the Rocky points Snapper have begun to show, it is time for the normal spring spawning groups to begin gathering. A few Yellowtail continue to be caught but the numbers have really dropped off over the past several weeks.
NOTES: There were acres of Humboldt Squid reported on the surface feeding on red crab this week, and this may have been a contributing factor in the Swordfish being seen. There are still whales out there and the numbers seem to be increasing. This weeks report was written to the guitar of Marshall Crenshaw on the 1989 Warner release “Good Evening”, great stuff! Until next week, Tight Lines!
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 65 - 74
Air temperature 54-74
Humidity 85%
Wind: NNE 6 to 8 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 2 miles
Sunrise 7:00 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:06 p.m. MST
Bahia Asunción
Winter Calico photo provided by Bahia Asunción local guide Manuel Arce Aguilar
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