REPORT #1105 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Not all sierra are caught early
This week the locals stood on the beach in shirt sleeves and smugly proclaimed that spring has arrived! The weather has definitely turned a corner, but past experience suggests that there may be a few more windy days left in winter’s bag of tricks.
Still, there were not many boats out fishing, but the few that were out found the sierra and white bonito continues to be the best bet along the shore. From the beach, the sierra were around early in the day, and later, a smattering of jacks, small roosters and even a few ladyfish.
Offshore, a few dorado and tuna here and there but certainly not a bonanza.
Yellowtail action is still going on up north, as well as a good showing of pargo at Punta Perico. They seem to have a serious case of lockjaw, but maybe all the warm weather will entice them into a biting mood.
While daylight savings time changed in the U.S. this past weekend, time remains the same in Mexico until April.
Tip: Don’t ignore your peripheral vision. Often that movement or commotion seen out of corner of your eye can be a piece of the puzzle in locating fish.
Water temperature 66-70
Air temperature 63-86
Humidity 80 %
Wind: NNW 6 to 8 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 4 miles
Sunrise 7:30 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:27 p.m. MST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Whales continue to be the ‘crowd pleaser’ much to the delight of both the visitors and locals.
A few miles off of San Lazzaro, large spots of breezing yellows and small tuna could be found beneath the bird schools.
Fishing in the Esteros yielded good catches of pargo, grouper and cabrilla.
Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 57 -83
Humidity 77%
Wind: W 11 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:39 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:34 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The blue water is somewhere way off, with no real definition of how far, but clean water is encountered at 12 miles, and is producing a few fish.
The boats are averaging less than a sailfish per day each, and making up for the inactivity by getting some action on large dorado. Almost every boat is getting at least one dorado averaging between 25 and 40 pounds.
Plus, three separate schools of yellowfin tuna have moved into the area. Fishing the 18 to 22 mile mark, Santiago on the panga, Gitana, managed 5 tuna between 20 and 25 pounds. The panga, La Mirada, got one tuna at 90 pounds. And, a nice blue marlin was weighed in at a little over 400 pounds.
No action was reported this week for the inshore areas.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 71-96
Humidity 60%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 15 miles
Sunrise 7:06 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:52 p.m. CST
Cabo San Lucas
WEATHER: It was just another great week here in Cabo! I love living here when the weather is like this, the daytime highs in the mid 80’s and the nighttime lows in the high 50’s, it makes me feel good to get up in the morning to a slight chill, and cooking on the grill in the evening is so nice! We had mostly sunny skies this week with no rain seen or felt.
WATER: The water on the Pacific side of the Cape has cooled considerably with the near-shore water 64-65 degrees while farther offshore it warms to a toasty 69 degrees. The near shore cooler water is slightly green while offshore there is a nice blue color. On the Cortez side the water across the 95 spot, the 1150 and Gorda Bank has remained at 66 degrees and green. Off shore at a distance of 30-50 miles the water warms up to 72 degrees and is just slightly tinged with green. Our good deep blue water is to the southwest. Everything appears to be moving slowly to the east with a clockwise rotation. The water has remained nice on the surface on both sides of the Cape with swells of 2-3 feet and light winds.
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 catch remained slow this week for most of the boats but there were fish found. Most of these were tailing or sleeping fish, and only a few were hungry and bit. These fish were in the cooler water close to shore, most of them found off of the points and drops along the Pacific side of the Cape, but there were also a few fish found just outside the Gorda Bank area. There were a few more Swordfish sighted this week but I did not hear of any boated.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: This past week was almost a repeat of last week as there were plenty of the football size fish to be found offshore. On the Cortez side, out toward and on the edge of the warm water at 30-50 miles the fish were slightly larger at 15-30 pounds with a few fish pushing 40 pounds. To the south of the Cape and to the south of the San Jaime Bank the fish were footballs for the most part with an occasional fish pushing the 25-pound mark. The best action was had with smaller feathers with squid colors as these fish are just stuffed with 4-5 inch squid. Having all the rods go off at the same time was not unusual, but it did take time to get out there and back.
DORADO: There have been a few fish found this week, but no large numbers like a few boats had the week prior. Most of these fish have been found in the warm water to the south and west and have averaged 15 pounds.
WAHOO: I did not hear of any Wahoo this week but I did see several flags flying along with Tuna and Dorado flags so I assume there were some of them caught offshore.
INSHORE: The inshore fishing remained hot this week with large numbers of Sierra and smaller Yellowtail providing plenty of action on both sides of the Cape. Smaller swimming plugs pulled just outside the breaking waves provided lots of action on Sierra to 8 pounds and Yellowtail to 10 pounds. Fishing slow trolled live Mackerel down close to the bottom in 50 feet of water caught fewer, but much larger fish, up to 10 pounds on the Sierra and 35 pounds on the Yellowtail. A few very nice Grouper and Snapper fell to these same methods. Just off the rocky points there was great action on the Bonita to 20 pounds and they bit well on blue-silver irons fished yo-yo style. An occasional big Yellowtail was an added bonus for many anglers.
NOTES: Things continue to improve and I am optimistic it will continue. Now, if only my golf game would hit the next level! This week’s report was written to the music of Alison Krauss + Union Station on the 2002 Rounder records release “Live”.
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 42 - 76
Air temperature 55-80
Humidity 79%
Wind: NNE at 4mph
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 2 miles
Sunrise 7:31 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:28 p.m. MST
Bahia Asunción
It was an experience of a lifetime for these kids and he even let them fly the plane!
It's been a busy week here in Bahia Asunción (with parties anyway). Both Juan & Shari celebrated birthdays and our brand new sports complex cultural centre had its grand opening.
The governor and his wife cut the ribbon and pleased the crowd by announcing that another 30 km of road will be paved. It was a festive event with the usual government speeches and folkloric dancing.
We finally got out on the big pond this week with Phil & Gretchen Olsen from Oregon who flew in on their sweet super cub Piper to attend Juan's birthday bash. Phil caught a big bonita, about 15 pounds which tired him out --- so while he took a little siesta on the bow, Juan took them over to "bajo seiz" about 6 miles from the island to teach Gretchen how to jig. Well, she was a natural and lady luck was with them and she hauled in fish after fish...rock cod, whitefish and sheepshead. She LOVED it and is definitely hooked on fishing now. We celebrated again in the afternoon with a big fish fry with family and friends.
The next day, Phil took niece and several of our nephews flying for their first time. It was an experience of a lifetime for these kids and he even let them fly the plane! Afterwards he gave them an inspiring pep talk about fulfilling their dreams and reaching for the skies with their aspirations…who would have thought that today they would fly a plane!
This is a great example of how villages can benefit by opening their hearts to visitors and I am proud to have shared our paradise with them.
Lobster season ended with a big beach party lobster feast in San Roque and now the abalone fishermen are readying their equipment to start the season after Easter week.
The water has been cold, around 62, with good visibility and today there is a nice swell to make the surfers happy...hopefully it will be big for when the kids are off school next week.
Shari and Juan
Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 64-85
Humidity 27%
Wind: WNW at 7mph
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 13 miles
Sunrise 7:49 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:44 p.m. MST
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