REPORT #1124 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Yellowfin tuna action dominated the offshore scene this week with the best action being outside of the Cabo Pulmo Marine Park. Unfortunately the temptation was too great and some of the boats strayed into the park, much to the concern of the Park Inspector.
The number of blues increased again from last week along with a few sailfish and stripers.
The Dorado Shootout attracted nearly 400 anglers, but they had a tough time coming up with qualifying fish. The winning fish weighed in at an impressive 64 lbs. netting a brand new panga AND $43,000 for the father and son team. The names of the winners will be announced soon.
Inshore the roosters continue to be the crowd pleaser. While many were on the small side there were enough weighing in the double digit range to make things interesting.
Heavy rain early in the week left the beach all stirred up, making it tough to find the fish in the dirty water. As the week progressed, the water cleared up and small roosters, along with an occasional ‘bubba class’ fish, showed up. Ladyfish and pompano were also among the players.
Tip: Always use fluorocarbon leader material (16 lb. test) for more takes, unless you are in large fish, then go to 20 lb.
Water temperature 73-87
Air temperature 73-97
Humidity 81%
Wind: SSW 5 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 6:47 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:05 p.m. MDT
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Unsettled conditions offshore kept most of the boats inside the bay this week. Estero action included leopard grouper, pargo, cabrilla and a few halibut.
On the surface it was sierra and corvina slashing on the sardina.
Water temperature 60 - 76
Air temperature 75 -98
Humidity 78 %
Wind: N 6 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 6:51 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:16 p.m. MDT
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
There has been a decent change in the action this last few days. Coming out of the full moon phase has seen the average per boat for sailfish jump up to 2 or 3 fish per day, with a few dorado still hitting the decks.
The blue water is at 2 miles off the beach, and most of the boats are working the 6 to 7 mile areas. There are few people here sport fishing, and we are only putting an average of about 15 total boats a day on the water.
Action for roosterfish has been slow down South, but tomorrow (Friday), I am making the run to the North. There are reports of decent roosterfish action and excellent jack crevalle action.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 75-97
Humidity 87%
Wind: WSW 1 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:23 a.m. CDT
Sunset 8:23 p.m. CDT
Cabo San Lucas
BILLFISH: The water warms up and the big girls start to show up! There were lots of reports of Blue Marlin showing up in the lure patterns this week and a few nice ones were caught and released. Unfortunately a few were brought in as well, mostly by the smaller boats whose crews wanted the fish. The largest Blue I heard of here in Cabo this week was a fish of approximately #400, released after a 90-minute fight. This fish was caught outside of the Gorda Banks early in the week. Most of the fish were in the #150-#200 range and the catch was scattered, mostly off on the 1,000 fathom curve, but a few were caught inside. I did not hear of any Black Marlin yet, but I am sure that with the water as it is, there must have been at least a few. The Striped Marlin bite is still fairly steady with about 50% of the boats getting bit by the little guys, and a few of them are catching two or more per day. Most of the action on these fish has been in front of the Cape in the cooler water.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There were days when the fish bit and days they could not be found this week. When they were found most of them were footballs in the 10-20 pound class and the bite was good. If you were in the fish you were getting 12-20 fish per trip. Keeping the suspense up were fish occasionally reaching #50 in the same schools. The larger fish were caught on live bait dropped down in front of the moving schools with the boat pulling away at least 100 feet from where the bait was dropped. Just sitting there after dropping the bait did not work; you had to pull away. The fish were scattered across our area with some schools on the Pacific side and some on the Cortez side, but almost all of them were between 12 and 26 miles out.
DORADO If there was any floating debris found this week the boat that was on the find first did well on Dorado to #30. There were only two instances of this that I heard of, but both times the first boat limited out. Later boats were able to pick up a fish or two, but most of the Dorado found were scattered fish. With the warmer water on the Cortez side of the Cape that is where the majority of the Dorado were found as well.
WAHOO: There were some decent Wahoo caught this week up off of Punta Gorda as well as offshore in the current lines. The full moon we had mid-week seems to have gotten them hungry! Dark colored lures run close to the transom did well as did rigged dead bait run as far as 300 feet behind the boat. Naturally, if you were targeting these fish you had a small wire bite leader in front of the bait or lure, but most of these fish were caught as incidental fish, there fore many more were lost than ended up in fish boxes.
INSHORE: Roosterfish, Amberjack, the occasional pile of Grouper as well as some very nice Pargo made up the majority of the inshore catch this week. With the water being as nice as it was, many of the Pangas were fishing offshore, looking for Tuna, Dorado and Marlin. Quite a few of them got into these fish as well. Having the water like it was made for a decent mix of fish for the Pangas, and these fishermen were probably the most successful this week.
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 67 - 75
Air temperature 73 - 97
Humidity 73%
Wind: SSE 13 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 4 miles
Sunrise 6:47 a.m. MST
Sunset 8:05 p.m. MST
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