Julio Tip-Toes By

Endless Season Update 08/27/2008
REPORT #1129 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Tropical depression Julio tip-toed by bringing with it a little wind and leaving 3 inches of rain, with even more wind coming from the collective sighs of relief from the locals than the storm.
In the wake of Julio’s departure, we’ve had storybook weather with water temps hitting the high eighties, but the fishing has been described as ‘double tough.’ Offshore it has been a scratch bite for sails and blues, though there were a few small tuna in front of La Ribera on the high spot.
Inshore the water was off color and there was a bit of leftover swell that has kept it stirred up. You had to earn the few small roosters and jacks that were still to be had.
I suspect that part of the problem was the fewer number of boats that went out this week; many cancelled their trip at the last minute because of Julio.
Tip: Following a storm is a good time to find the color breaks; cruise along the clean side and look for debris that may have washed out of the arroyos. In the hot weather, the dorado like to gather underneath in the shade of the debris.

Water temperature 76-87
Air temperature 77-100
Humidity 62%
Wind: WSW 5 to 7 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 6:59 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:41 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Farther up the peninsula, Julio dumped enough rain to flooding parts of Ciudad Insurgentes and parts of Constitución.

According to local newspapers, Julio caused heavy rains in the mountainous area of Comondú, bringing severe floods of water into several towns. The inhabitants of Ciudad Insurgentes found it necessary to place sand bags at some building entrances, several families still suffered heavy material losses.

According to information provided by the commanders of the delegations of Puerto Adolfo López Mateos and San Juanico, access to both communities is impossible by road becasuse of damage from Julio. While there has been flood damage no casualties or injuries have been reported....El Sudcaliforniano August 28th

The day of Julio local boater Bill Earhart caught 2 wahoo in 84 degree water in front
of Punta San Lazaro. Grouper fishing remained excellent up until the day of the storm.
Capt Sergio has been averaging 4 grouper per day in the 50 lb range. Because of the storm damage cleanup fishing was put on the back burner.

Bob Hoyt

Water temperature 60 - 76
Air temperature 74 -96
Humidity 77 %
Wind: WNW 8 to 10 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:06 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:50 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The fishing has been a bit slow this week. With the blue water only 6 miles off the beach, the conditions would seem to be very good, but we have had wind at least 4 days so far this week. The wind has kept the sailfish average down to only about 1 or 2 fish per day per boat, and nobody has been going out farther than about 15 miles to look for tuna.
There are a few dorado showing in the counts, but it is only about 1 boat out of 3 scoring on the 20 pound plus fish.
Santiago, on the panga Gitana, fished inshore one day and had an unusual catch of triple tails. They scored on an even dozen of the 6 to 8 pound tasty fish. He found them off the outlets of the river mouths and hiding under the debris that had washed out from the river.
Roosterfish and jack crevalle action is still holding up with very good action.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 74-92
Humidity 73%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Cloudy
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 7:31 a.m. CDT
Sunset 8:03 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: There were some Blue Marlin caught this week but the surprise of the week was the number of Striped Marlin that ended up biting. The warm water conditions normally keep the Stripers off their feed, but we had several charters that ended up releasing three or four Striped Marlin per trip. These fish were found in the same areas all the other species this week, a band of water no farther out than 30 miles and concentrated on the banks and points. Live bait worked very well this week for the Striped Marlin while almost all the Blue Marlin bites were on lures.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Well, last week I reported on the area where the Yellowfin were being found and they were still there through the first of the week and anglers were doing well on fish to 150 pounds, with quite a few nice ones in the 80 pound class. Nothing lasts forever and on Thursday a Purse Seiner showed up early in the morning and just like that the fish were gone. Fortunately there were other fish scattered around, and a few schools were actually closer to the Cape. Let’s just hope they are still around after the storm passes through and no more seiners move in on us.
DORADO: The Dorado catches remained slow at an average of two fish per boat, and the size ranged from 10 to 20 pounds. Hopefully the debris from the storm will help concentrate the fish and things will improve this coming week or two.
WAHOO: There were a few offshore fish early in the week but no concentrations of Wahoo. I did hear of several of these speedsters that went close to 70 pounds, and they struck on lures intended for Blue Marlin.
INSHORE: Inshore fishing was decent for small Roosterfish and Jacks to 10 pounds, otherwise it was a scratch-fest, most Pangas went further offshore for Tuna and Dorado rather than work the strong inshore current while bottom fishing.

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 67 - 75
Air temperature 75 - 93
Humidity 68%
Wind: N 7 to 9 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 7:01 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:41 p.m. MST

Football and Wasabi?

Needlefish are a big nuisance

Endless Season Update 08/20/2008
REPORT #1128 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

The large number of small football sized tuna up and down the coastline from Las Arenas to Cabo Pulmo has caused a shortage of wasabi to go with the sashimi being served in the hotel bars at happy hour.
Dorado action is either big or little, depending on who’s talking. Basically for the ones catching plenty, the size is small. If you find the bigger ones, you are lucky to catch one or two.
Few bills collected this week with the exception of sails which have moved in with warmer (hot) water.
Unfortunately the hot water has caused a needlefish bloom, They are as thick as pelicans on a baitball, and they are a downright nuisance snatching anything that hits the water.
Still lots of smaller roosters and jacks up and down the beach but as hot as the weather is, early morning and late afternoon beach fishing makes the most sense. If you insist on going out in the midday sun, use plenty of sun block and take lots of water. Designate one your group as the ‘cooler carrier’ and wear a hat! There are a few sight casting opportunities to be had if you are patient. Don’t overlook the schools of pompano slowly swimming up and down the beach.
Tip: Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish the difference between a school of baitfish and the pompano…the ones you are looking for, look like submerged dinner plates flashing in the sun.
Water temperature 76-87
Air temperature 70-89
Humidity 91%
Wind: SE 7 to 10 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 6:57 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:47 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

The volume of dorado, yellowtail and striped marlin continues to increase. Not seeing many birds or bait but more fish every day. Ken Kramer landed striped marlin, dorado and yellowtail while fishing from Cabo Lazero up toward Thetis Bank.

Roman Shidel, and his son Roman, Jr. visiting from France, fished with Sergio on the Mar Gato. The bottom fishing was pretty good, producing assorted rockfish along with 4 grouper up to sixty lbs.

With offshore temps climbing up into the eighties and calm blue water offshore, the Esteros took a back seat.

Bob Hoyt

Water temperature 60 - 76
Air temperature 74 -98
Humidity 88 %
Wind: WNW 11 to 15 knots
Conditions: Mostly Clear
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:57 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

With the full moon late this last week, we are experiencing the normal slow down in the action. The blue water is still close to the beach, with all conditions leading to excellent fishing, if the moon phase would just cooperate.
However, the 1 to 2 sailfish per boat per day average is still not all that bad. The dorado and tuna are still a no show.
Inshore, the rains have been holding off and the water is clear. It is an ideal situation for roosters, and they are responding. There is excellent action on the roosterfish, and very good action on large jack crevalle to about 20 pounds.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 75-94
Humidity 87%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:30 a.m. CDT
Sunset 8:09 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: The full moon this week slowed the Marlin bite on the bigger fish like the Blues and the Blacks, but there was still fair action on the Striped Marlin. For boats fishing outside the 1,000-fathom curve, a few Blue Marlin were found…most of them at the southern edge around the knuckle and the doughnut. Striped Marlin were found closer to shore on the Cortez side off of Punta Colorado to Gray Rock from 1 to 5 miles out, as well as off the rocky points on the Pacific side of the Cape. Lures were the ‘name of the game’ as few of the larger fish fell for slow trolled Bonita or Skipjack, and the Striped Marlin did not seem to have much desire for Caballito. Lures trolled just a bit on the speedy side of normal worked better; Striped Marlin bit at 8-9 knots while the Blues bit at 10 to 12 knots. I did not hear of any Black Marlin this week but that does not mean none were caught.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: This week, boats we had booked brought in Yellowfin Tuna to 130 pounds and I heard of larger fish caught as well. Multiple hookups were not uncommon for boats that were on the fish first thing in the morning and the larger fish, in almost every instance were caught on live bait. The first fish were caught on lures but once the first hookup occurred, a live bait pitched back into the pattern and free-spooled for about 30 seconds got hit fairly quickly. For boats coming up on a school that had already been worked by a couple of other boats, finding the direction the fish were traveling and dropping down a live bait to 100 feet and waiting for the fish worked fairly well. Based on reports for both Captains and anglers this technique worked about 50% of the time. The fish were pretty evenly scattered between due south at the 1,000-fathom line to west of the Golden Gate Banks. The key was to find the right pod of Porpoise. There were decent fish caught and the average was around 30 pounds.
DORADO: The Dorado catch still has not really gotten into high gear, and it may end up being on of our off years based on past history. Normally this time of year we have boats coming in flying full outriggers of yellow flags, but for some reason it seem slower this year than last. My fingers are crossed that the reason is that it’s just a late season for these great fish and they will show in numbers sometime in the next two weeks.
WAHOO: We just had the full moon and that normally means a good Wahoo bite. Well, it has not happened offshore yet but the boats working the rocky points up on the Sea of Cortez have been getting some daily shots at fish to 40 pounds and there have been a few incidental fish offshore to 60 pounds, but with no concentration in numbers or in one particular area.
INSHORE: While there have been Grouper and Snapper available to the inshore Panga fishermen, with the calm seas most of the Pangas have been heading offshore for Tuna and Dorado.
George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 67 - 75
Air temperature 71 - 91
Humidity 91%
Wind: WNW 7 to 9 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 6:59 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:47 p.m. MST

Weather is Hot, Hot, Hot!

Endless Season Update 08/13/2008REPORT #1127 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

However, the margaritas were frothy

Some things are predicable about August at East Cape: blazing Baja sun and flat, calm seas which provide perfect conditions for spotting fish on the surface. You might see a tail jutting toward the sky…a tell-tale “V”…as a big fish swims just below the surface or you might see the froth and scales left by a frightened school of baitfish being chased by predators.

This week offered these perfect conditions for finding fish. Unfortunately, the action was scarce. A few billfish were sighted here and there but there was little, if any, concentration. Easy to spot but tough to find, the porpoise were not much help either. The tuna that were caught were barely bite sized.

This seems to be a case of “you should be careful what you wish for!” All spring and summer the BIG dorado have been caught one or two at a time, and many anglers whined about there not being any school fish. Well, the dorado caught lately qualify as ‘schoolies’, but some of them would barely qualify as bite sized for the few smaller blues being caught.

Even the larger roosters seemed to take the week off; inshore most of the roosters caught were under ten pounds with an occasional ‘Bubba class’ sighted but seldom hooked.
However, the margaritas were frothy, the cerveza icy enough to take the edge off of the hot…hot...hot weather.

Tip: When the dorado charge the boat shorten your cast and aim directly at the feeding fish, strip a couple of times and if you don’t get a take, pick up the fly and recast back to the same area.

Water temperature
76-86
Air temperature
76-95
Humidity
83%
Wind:
SSE 10 to 13 knots
Conditions:
Mostly Cloudy
Visibility
5 miles
Sunrise
6:54 a.m. MDT
Sunset
7:53 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

While it’s too early to declare that the offshore fall season has begun, the action has been great for dorado, tuna, yellowtail and wahoo. The commercial fishermen continue to report marlin sightings, but few have taken the time to focus on them.

Enrique Soto, Puerto San Carlos, reported that yellowtail action at the Entrada has been productive chasing the bird schools. In the esteros, there were a few small snook caught near Devil’s Curve.

Up above Lopez Mateos, the grouper and pargo provided the best action near Boca Santo Domingo.


Water temperature
60 - 76
Air temperature
74 -97
Humidity
93 %
Wind:
WNW 9 to 12 knots
Conditions:
Mostly Clear
Visibility
6 miles
Sunrise
7:00 a.m. MDT
Sunset
8:02 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The 82º blue water is just a couple of miles off the beach. Fishing has been very good for sailfish, but poor for marlin, tuna, and dorado. Most boats are averaging 2 to 3 sailfish a day each. Early in the week, Martin, on the Nautilus released 4 sails.
The roosterfish action is holding up well, as there have been no hard rains this week, and none in the forecast. Heavy rain creates a lot of runoff out of the silt laden rivers, discoloring the inshore waters. Jack crevalle action has also been good.

Ed Kunze

Water temperature
80 - 84
Air temperature
76-90
Humidity
89%
Wind:
Calm
Conditions:
Partly Cloudy
Visibility
7 miles
Sunrise
7:29 a.m. CDT
Sunset
8:13 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: There was very little change in the billfish action this week with the action being pretty evenly spread between the Blue Marlin, Striped Marlin and Sailfish. The Striped Marlin are a bit of a surprise since the water is this warm, but they are nice to see. Most of the Blue Marlin have been smaller fish in the 120 to 200 pound class, but they will still kick the butt of any Striped Marlin. A few nicer fish in the 300+ pound class were caught this week as well. The bite on all the billfish was pretty evenly mixed between lures and live bait. There were plenty of small Bonita just off the beach to fill the tuna tubes with if you were targeting the Blue Marlin and the Caballito worked on the Striped Marlin. Most of the Sailfish were taken with small lures, but the occasional fish fell for strip bait dropped back or smaller live bait.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: We finally had some Tuna show up but they have been quite a distance away. The calm water allowed boats to go out roaming and searching and a few of them did manage to find some decent fish between 32 and 40 miles off the Cape. The area outside the San Jaime had fish ranging in the 150-200 pound class early in the week for boats that had the time to find the Porpoise, but the fish were moving fast. Smaller fish were found a bit closer to home but still at least 30 miles out, and they ranged in size from 35 to 80 pounds. It seemed that the fish were slowly working their way south as the bite continued over several days. By the end of the week the fish had worked themselves out of our range. The larger fish in every instance were taken on live bait, and deep dropped bait caught the larger of those.

DORADO: I have been surprised that the Dorado catch has been as slow as it has been. I guess that we need at least a month of the warm water to really bring them into our area, and it would help if we had floating debris for them to hide under. The fish that have been caught have averaged 12 pounds with an occasional fish to 35 pounds. Most boats have been lucky to get one or two fish; a few have caught three or more. Most of the action on Dorado has been on the Pacific side of the cape.

INSHORE: There was almost no change in the inshore action this week compared to last week. With the calm water this week most of the Pangas were working just off the beach for Sailfish and Striped Marlin as well as Dorado. Those boats working the beach did fair on Roosterfish on the Cortez side.

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature
67 - 75
Air temperature
78 - 98
Humidity
84%
Wind:
WNW at 8mph
Conditions:
Partly Sunny
Visibility
5 miles
Sunrise
6:56 a.m. MST
Sunset
7:53 p.m. MST

Blues Hide…Roosters Frolic

Lance scores on his day off!
Endless Season Update 08/06/2008REPORT #1126 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

Fifty-six boats and 255 anglers competed in the Bisbee’s 9th Annual East Cape Offshore Tournament last week. All that effort for the three days resulted in 114 billfish…one black, 20 striped, 67 blue marlin and 18 sailfish. There were two qualifying blues in the Billfish Category, one weighing 306 pounds and one weighing 360 pounds. No qualifying tuna were caught, and in the Dorado Category three dorado over forty-five pounds were weighed in.
While the big boys searched for the big blues, the big roosters were putting on a show inshore! Closer to the beach, the smaller roosters whipped the water to a froth, reminding one of a poorly poured Pacifico. Over the rocks the pargo snapped and the ladyfish took flight to throw the hook.
Small football tuna were scattered. Just the right size for light tackle or a fly rod.
Tip: When sight casting for roosters and a fish follows don’t accelerate the fly. Try to let the fish have look by maintaining or slightly slowing the retrieve.
Water temperature 76-86
Air temperature 79-91
Humidity 82%
Wind: SE 6 to 8 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 6:51 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:59 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Wind caused unsettled weather making things ‘grumpy’ on the outside but the few anglers that made the trip were not disappointed. There were plenty of tuna and dorado and for the fortunate, a few wahoo and marlin.

The firecracker yellows are at the Entrada and also are found within six miles of the Boca de Soledad.

There’s still a fair pargo bite up above Lopez Mateos, mixed in with a few groupers to twenty pounds. There are some smaller sierra at the Bocas.


Water temperature 60 - 76
Air temperature 77 -90
Humidity 85 %
Wind: WNW 13 to 17 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 6:57 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:08 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

With the 80º blue water just a mile off the beach, the fleet is not going much more than 6 or 8 miles for a 2 to 3 sailfish per day average, per boat. The occasional floating log is still producing large dorado, but to find the log is mostly a matter of being in the right place at the right time.
Martin, on the Nautilius, did very well early in the week with 6 large roosters (35 to 45 pounds), 8 jack crevalle, and 4 very large sierra (about 4 feet long each). He took them off trolled live bait and casting surface poppers up at Buena Vista Beach.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 75-88
Humidity 65%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Mostly Sunny
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 7:27 a.m. CDT
Sunset 8:18 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: Blue Marlin, Striped Marlin and Sailfish have all been giving our anglers a good time this week, and the boats did not have to go very far to get into some action. The bite as been within a 100 degree arc from the arch, from off of Gray Rock to the lighthouse on the Pacific side at a distance of between 3 and 15 miles. Most of the Blue Marlin have been picked up farther out while the Striped Marlin have been closer to shore. The Sailfish have been closer in on average as well. There have been a lot more fish seen than have been hooked up however, as most of the Striped Marlin showed a definite “not interested attitude. While slow trolling live bait was a great way to get hooked up to the Sailfish and Striped Marlin, most of the Blues seemed to be more interested in lures, perhaps the higher speed got them excited. For the Striped Marlin and Sailfish, Caballito worked fairly well, but it seemed that better results were had by slow trolling small 15” Bonita. There were plenty of these baits to be had close to the beach and you could fill your tubes pretty quickly using small feathers and hootchies.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: This was another week where I did not hear of or see any boats bring in any decent sized Tuna. A few small football fish were caught and I did hear of a couple of fish in the 30-40 pound class but there was no consistent action on Tuna this week.
DORADO The warm water has started to set off the Dorado bite and almost every boat was able to get at least one of these great fish, and a few boats were able to get four of five. Most of the fish averaged 15 pounds with a few in the 10-pound range and a few in the 30-pound range. Slow trolled live bait worked well on the larger fish and the smaller ones fell for fast moving lures. Most of the action took place within 5 miles of the beach on the Pacific side of the Cape.
INSHORE: There was almost no change in the inshore action this week compared to last week. With the calm water this week most of the Pangas were working just off the beach for Sailfish and Striped Marlin as well as Dorado. Those boats working the beach did fair on Roosterfish on the Cortez side.

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 67 - 75
Air temperature 76 - 99
Humidity 66%
Wind: WNW at 8mph
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 6:53 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:58 p.m. MST