REPORT #1103 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Sardina begins to gather beneath hotel piers and beach
As the seasonal transition from winter to spring slowly takes place, small sardina are beginning to show in small numbers along the beaches. It’s still way early to call, but the appearance of bait schools is a good sign of better things coming.
Sierra, small roosters, jacks and ladyfish action will definitely increase with the bait spreading up and down the beaches.
Most of the boat action is up north from Punta Pescadero to Muertos Bay, with some quality yellows still dominating the catch. Another promising sign was the few dorados found at the shark buoys a few miles off Punta Pescadero.
Tip: When you purchase your bait in the morning, ask where they are catching it. Then you have a good spot to start on the non-boat days if you fish the beach.
Water temperature 62-68
Air temperature 54-84
Humidity 46 %
Wind: SSE 7 to 10 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:37 p.m. MST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Entrada action included sierra and small yellows chasing bait on the surface. Down further in the water column, there were a few grouper up to ten pounds. Estero action produced a corvina, small snook and grouper. Whale watching continues to be the main attraction and will through March.
Water temperature 66 - 73
Air temperature 49 -81
Humidity 97%
Wind: WSW 4 to 6 knots
Conditions: Foggy in the morning
Visibility 2 miles
Sunrise 6:51 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:28 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
Even though the seas are calm and the sun is shining every day, the fishing remains on the slow side. I guess you just have to take the attitude that 86º weather and fishing beats shoveling snow.
Steven Ryan, fishing on the Gaby with Captain Margarito, produced a blue marlin of about 240 pounds, and 4 dorado to 20 pounds. Steven fished another day with Efrain on the panga, Tequila, and had some great light tackle action on large black skipjack tuna.
Fishing with Santiago on the panga, Gitana, John Torre of Phoenix, released an estimated 120 pound striped marlin, and caught dinner in the form of two nice dorado. The next day with Santiago, Will and Karen Fischer of Kelowana, BC, released a sail and caught a dorado.
Inshore action is still a ‘hit or miss situation’. Find the birds and the bait, and you get some very exciting jack crevalle action.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 63-93
Humidity 66%
Wind: SE at 7mph
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 7:06 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:52 p.m. CST
Cabo San Lucas
WEATHER: We had a few clouds in the sky this week, but not enough to call it cloudy, just enough to make things cool. Our daytime highs were in the low 80’s and the nighttime lows were in the high 50’s. Light winds on shore kept things nice and comfortable while at sea on the Pacific side things were a little bumpy as the winds were from the northwest and kicked up a light chop.
WATER: The wind died down this week so surface conditions were much better on both the Pacific and the Cortez sides of the Cape. On the Pacific swells were 3-5 feet with a light chop while the Cortez had swells at 1-3 feet with almost no chop in the morning and offshore chop in the afternoons. Water temperatures on the Pacific side were warmer, almost averaging 68 degrees up to 10 miles offshore and out a bit farther it dropped to 67 degrees. The water close to shore, in the warmer area, was very green, almost brown in some areas. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water was 64-65 degrees out to 4 miles from the shore and farther than that, across the Gorda Bank and the 1150 spot the water warmed up to 69 degrees. There is a plume of cool, off-colored water running south from the Cape, but the water out 5 miles to the south side of the 1,000-fathom line warmed to 71 degrees. While the warm water was on both sides of the Cape, the only really blue water was on the Pacific side out past the San Jaime Bank.
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: About the only thing I have to say for the past weeks bill fishing is that it was almost non-existent. Not that there weren’t people out trying, it’s just that the few fish that were found were not interested in eating. The full moon may have had something to do with it perhaps, it’s been know to have an effect, but it’s not really an explanation of why the fish have mostly disappeared. Perhaps the much cooler than normal water has something to do with it as well? One bright spot is that the green, cool water has brought about more sightings of Swordfish, but I have not heard of anyone actually hooking one up in a legal sort of way, but a few guys did hook fish by snagging them, then proceeded to loose them after several hours of fighting time. These Swordfish have been seen in the cool water plume running directly south from the Cape.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: No change this week from last week on the Tuna situation. There are still only football fish being found out there, and most of them have been between 18 to 30 miles to the south. Boats working westward past the banks were not doing well with only an occasional pod of porpoise showing, and few of them holding fish. Once again red hootchies were the best bet for these fish as most of the stomach contents were found to be red crab.
DORADO: I did not hear of any Dorado being caught this week, and saw no new yellow flags flying. I am sure there were a few, but no reports were heard by me.
WAHOO: Once again I didn’t hear of any Wahoo this week. The flags you see flying are for “Mexican Wahoo”, or better known as sierra.
INSHORE: Just like last week, with the exception of more small Yellowtail being caught by guys pulling small swimming plugs for Sierra. Mexican Wahoo,also known as Sierra, have been the mainstay of the Panga fleet this week with most boats able to get at least a half-dozen or more. Yellowtail action dropped off again, it seems to be a “good one week, slow the next” type of fishery. Snapper fishing has again improved and there are a few more grouper being found by those targeting bottom fish. The usual smaller Roosterfish to 5 pounds, some small barracuda and Bonita have rounded out the catches inshore.
NOTES: Well, the nice weather continued for this past week as we had hoped, but the fishing has been very “off”, compared to the usual activity we get this time of year. The best bet has been fishing inshore; a lot of trips have been saved by targeting Sierra after six hours of looking for Marlin and Tuna. Fishing inshore also gets you up close to the whales, and that is always a lot of fun. This weeks report was written to the music of Boz Scaggs on his 1994 Virgin Records release, “Some Changes”. Until next week, Tight Lines!
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 65 - 74
Air temperature 54-80
Humidity 82%
Wind: SSW 3 to 4 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 6:43 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:22p.m. MST
Bahia Asunción
Juan went fishing the day before the eclipse. It was a lovely morning, so they decided to try their luck going south of Asunción as the fishing up by San Pablo has been very poor. They caught lots of bonito and a nice barletta and finally hooked into a big fish. Ira Martin from Oregon was tuckered out from catching so many bonito and so passed the rod over to Juan to finish bringing it in. Juan knew right away it was a sea lion having his lunch, and by the time they got the fish up to the boat, only the head was left! It WAS a nice big yellowtail though. That night we enjoyed the eclipse at the taco stand with clients. The next day they went north to San Pablo and only caught yellowtail and some calico and whitefish. We heard the yellowtail were further north up by Pto.Nuevo about 20 miles up. Lovely fishing weather though.
Shari and Juan
Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 54-84
Humidity 51%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:37 p.m. MST
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