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