Dorado...Dorado

REPORT #1133 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Action is spread out from La Ribera all the way below Las Frailes. Small dorado close to shore but only a few of the larger fish that had been so common a few weeks ago. Best quality tuna and dorado is down below Las Frailes south of the Distiladera half way to Punta Gorda with some football sized a few miles outside of Cabo Pulmo.
Billfish action seemed to be mostly sailfish with a few striped marlin mixed in but spread all over the bay
The big squid are still thick just a short distance off the beach. Most of the fleet is loading up on them before heading out.
Water temperature 76-87
Air temperature 74-93
Humidity 86%
Wind: WNW 11 to 15 knots
Conditions: Mostly clear
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 7:10 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:10 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Very few boats out this week, but reports indicate it was great for billfish, dorado and small tuna. Still the early morning wahoo bite at the Thetis but you needed to be on the spot at gray light.

Inside, leopard grouper, a snook or two and mangrove snapper dominated the catch. Still some halibut were found on the shallows off the sandy beaches.

Bob Hoyt

Water temperature 60 - 77
Air temperature 75 -96
Humidity 87 %
Wind: WNW 11 to 15 knots
Conditions: Mostly Clear
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:18 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:17 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

We have almost an exact repeat of this last week. Few anglers, a one sailfish average per boat per day, and ditto for the dorado. But, we did have some inclement weather in the first three days of the week, with light rain, cloudy skies, and enough wind to make the fishing conditions a bit on the miserable side.
The blue water is still very close and only about 3 to 4 miles off the beach. The inshore water is still stained, due to heavy rains in the mountains swelling the rivers with a large volume of silt laden water.

Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 73-92
Humidity 83%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 7:36 a.m. CDT
Sunset 7:38 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: I said in the last report that it was beginning to look good for the Striped Marlin fishing and this week proved it to me. We had a client fishing on Saturday who released 11 Striped Marlin and lost a Sailfish in the vicinity of the Golden Gate Banks. Not only that, but he also kept 7 nice Dorado while releasing many more. Most boats were getting at least one or two Marlin releases per day this week. Most of these fish were a result of throwing live bait at tailing fish, but a few were caught on lures being pulled for Dorado. There were also a couple of very decent days of Blue Marlin fishing. Wednesday captains on the fleet boats reported hooking up with at least three nice Blues while a private boat reported releasing one as well. Most of the Blue Marlin action occurred between the 95 spot and the south end of the San Jaime Banks.
YELLOWFIN TUNA While the Tuna action this week was not hot and heavy, there were some nice fish found. One of my friends, while fishing on his boat, “Private Reserve”, hooked a double header while working a Frigate bird. The first fish took the #50 class reel into the deep backing; the second fish didn’t do much at first. The first fish ended up being a nice 50-pound Yellowfin. After landing it he picked up the rod on the second fish and after a one-hour fight he managed to boat a very nice #175 Yellowfin (and he was nice enough to give me a chunk for sashimi, thanks Tiff!). There were boats that managed to get into schools during the week, but the runs were normally at least 30 miles as the concentrations that were found were outside of the banks on the Pacific side.
DORADO Absolutely no doubt about it! Dorado were the fish of the week. If you were not getting your limit this week, or at least catching all you wanted to catch, you were in the wrong place! The correct place to be was anywhere within 10 miles of the shore on both the Cortez side and the Pacific side, with the better concentrations on the Pacific side. Slow trolling live bait, working Frigate birds or trolling 6-8 inch brightly colored lures all worked well on fish that averaged 15 pounds. Almost everyone (with the exception of a few greedy crews) were releasing anything under 10 pounds, and still limiting out.
WAHOO There were a couple of nice Wahoo to 60 pounds caught this week, but I did not hear of any large numbers. The fish that I know about were caught on the Pacific side by boats fishing for Dorado.
INSHORE: There was some decent Roosterfish this week with fish that ranged to 30 pounds, but not any large numbers on fish that size. The Cortez side of the Cape had the best fishing for bottom fish such as snapper and grouper, but there were no large numbers of anything except triggerfish. With the nice water we had, most of the Pangas were working outside for Dorado and Marlin, and doing quite well with them.
George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 73 - 88
Air temperature 74 - 93
Humidity 63%
Wind: WNW 5 knots
Conditions: Mostly Sunny
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 7:11 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:10 p.m. MST

September Surprise: Giant Humboldt Squid

Endless Season Update 09/17/2008
REPORT #1132 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape

The water south of Punta Arena is a little off color, but in Palmas Bay it is Caribbean blue and 85 degrees. With the better weather, sailfish and small dorado are on the bite from Pulmo to La Ribera.
And another September surprise is the giant Humboldt squid are making a good showing, Chunked into cubes, they make a great bait for the yellowfin tuna schools…mostly found from above Punta Pescadero all the way down to Cabo Pulmo.
Inshore and along the beach, the water has cleared up and there are plenty of schoolie-sized roosters with some larger ones mixed in.

Water temperature 76-87
Air temperature 71-92
Humidity 55%
Wind: ENE 5 to 6 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 7:06 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:20 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

With the better weather, the offshore action has picked up. Good striper action on the Thetis; if you get there early enough there may be a wahoo or two. Closer to Cabo Lazzaro there are plenty of dorado and small yellowtail.

In the Esteros the action consisted of corvina, grouper and a few mangrove snappers.

Bob Hoyt

Water temperature 60 - 77
Air temperature 70 -90
Humidity 58 %
Wind: WNW 11 to 15 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:14 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:28 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

Fishing has been relative slow here this last week. Part of the blame is the fishing has actually been slow, but the main reason is there are very few charters going out fishing to find the concentrations and areas of fish. We have only 4 to 5 boats a day on the water, including both the inshore and offshore.
Boats are averaging about 1 fish sailfish per boat per day, and even though the 20 pound plus dorado are averaging 1 fish per day per boat, if you hit the right floating log, at the right time, the action can be fantastic.
There were no reports on the inshore action, but last week's 3 inches of rain, while not intense, kept the rivers flowing and the inshore waters stained.

Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 77-92
Humidity 65%
Wind: SW at 9mph
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 1 miles
Sunrise 7:33 a.m. CDT
Sunset 7:52 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: Striped Marlin continued to bite even though the water remained in the 84-degree range. It did not take much of a search on Friday to find the fish, they were still holding in the same area as last week, mostly on the Pacific side closer to shore, most within 7 miles of the beach. There was a concentration of fish on the Golden Gate Bank; that bodes well for next week as well. There was a scattering of Sailfish in the catches as well, and they were from the same areas. The Blue Marlin did not appear at the end of the week, hopefully they will start to show in numbers soon.
YELLOWFIN TUNA On Thursday and Friday there were reports of Yellowfin to 60 pounds being caught to the west side of the San Jaime Banks, but few fish reported from other areas.
DORADO Still mostly being caught on the Pacific side, the Dorado have been striking well on medium sized lures in brighter colors. Live bait dropped back behind a troll hooked fish resulted in many doubles on fish that averages 15 pounds with a few in the 40-pound class. Spotting the Frigate birds swooping on flying fish was the key to steady action on Dorado after the storms.
INSHORE: The swells kicked up by the storms made inshore fishing very iffy, most of the Pangas preferred to go out 5 miles or so for Dorado. A few of the Pangas that worked inside on the Cortez side reported decent action on Roosterfish to 35 pounds, nothing hot and heavy but steady fishing with live Mullet and Cabillitos.
George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 73 - 88
Air temperature 71 - 93
Humidity 45%
Wind: WNW 11 to 14 knots
Conditions: Mostly Sunny
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 7:07 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:21 p.m. MST

Dorado Heats Up as Lowell Dampens Update Sept. 14…

Endless Season Update 09/10/2008
REPORT #1131 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Update Sept. 14… Friday skies were blue and it was business (fishing) as usual. Marlin action still was dismal. Dorado action picked right back up and while few boats have been going out the ones that did had good scores. Yellowfin tuna were there but mostly small fish. It is probably going to take a few days for the beaches to clear up and be worth checking out.
As predicted, the dorado action heated up in the wake of Karina. While most were schoolie-sized there were a few larger fish mixed in. By the weekend another tropical depression “Lowell’ entered the picture. After heading out to the west, Lowell made a hard right turn back toward Southern Baja. During the storm, few boats that have gone out today delayed until 9:30 when the rain quit. As soon as the storm passes we would expect the dorado action to resume.
The tuna action had slowed somewhat before the weekend as well.
Inshore the water is off color from the wind waves caused by TD Lowell.

Water temperature 76-87
Air temperature 74-91
Humidity 90%
Wind: S 14 to 20 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:04 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:27 p.m. MDT


Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Another week of rain kept most of the boats close to home this week. According to some of the commercial pangas the yellowtail, dorado and small tuna were still in the same area near Cabo Lazaro but no one was out to fish them.

In the Esteros, the combination of stormy weather and big tides prevented any fishing at all this week.

Bob Hoyt

Water temperature 60 - 77
Air temperature 73 -90
Humidity 100 %
Wind: NW 18 to 24 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 7:12 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:36 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

With the recent rains, the blue water has moved out to the 15 mile mark, with a distinctive weed line defining the separation of off colored water and the blue water. The demarcation line is also holding game fish.
Martin, on the 35 foot cruiser Nautilus, fished the weed line for this last 5 days straight, averaging at least one 20 pound plus dorado and 2 sails a day. His 5 day total was 11 sailfish and 6 dorado.
September is usually the wettest month of the year for us, but most of the rain comes at night, with the fleet being able to fish every day so far. The only problem we had with the weather this week was, due to the heavy outflow from the rivers, the inshore water was murky. Plus, the waves along the shoreline this week were very high. These two conditions combined for very tough roosterfish fishing.

Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 73-93
Humidity 83%
Wind: calm
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 7:33 a.m. CDT
Sunset 7:52 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin continued to bite this week, surprising everyone since the water is so warm. The Sailfish showed up as well, not in the numbers as on the mainland but everyone had shots at multiple fish this week. I did not hear of anyone getting hooked up to big Blue or Black Marlin this week. Most of the Marlin action took place in the band of cooler water along the shoreline on the Pacific side while the Sailfish were in the warmer water just outside. Live bait got the most attention form the striped Marlin this week, but you had to be quick or the Dorado would take the bait before the Stripers got a chance to chew.
YELLOWFIN TUNA We had good Tuna action this week on fish that ranged between 15 and 150 pounds. Most of the fish were between 30 and 50 pounds but the same schools were delivering #150 fish on drop-back baits or deep drifted live baits. The school fish were hitting almost everything, feathers to Blue Marlin lures worked but the best action was on the smaller lures in the 4-6 inch size. A few boats loaded their clients with Tuna in the smaller size range by chumming heavily with sardines while in the Porpoise, then drifting with sardines on small hooks with a small piece of lead several feet above the hook. The Majority of Tuna action took place along the warm-cold water boundary on the Pacific side, around 12-18 miles offshore. I don’t know how much longer it will last because a couple of Tuna Seiners showed up on Saturday.
DORADO Definitely the fish of the week, Dorado made a strong showing in our area. From the Punta Gorda area all the way around the Cape to the Todo Santos area on the Pacific the fish were chewing on anything put in the water. Like I said above about the Marlin, there were Dorado taking live bait away from the stripers. Covering the water while trolling at 9 knots located the fish, then dropping back live bait or casting flies to fish following the one hooked on the troll resulted in steady, exciting action. Most of the fish were in the 12-15 pound class but occasional fish ran to 50 pounds.
WAHOO Wahoo made a showing this week offshore around the San Jaime and Golden Gate banks as well as in the open water. They were not large fish on average, just around 30 pounds, but at least they were there!
INSHORE: Large swells made inshore fishing a bit uncomfortable during the middle of the week, but boats that targeted them did well on Roosterfish averaging 15-25 pounds. Slow trolled Mullet and Sardines worked for the Roosters. Most of the Pangas were doing well on Dorado and we had one friend get a $150 pound Tuna while fishing on a Panga, as well as others to #50 and plenty of Dorado.

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 73 - 88
Air temperature 75 - 90
Humidity 92%
Wind: WNW 17 to 23 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:05 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:28 p.m. MST

More Fish than Visitors

Slow retrieve tricked this Lookdown

Endless Season Update 09/03/2008
REPORT #1130 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
You don’t have to go far to find the small tuna…just a few miles off of La Ribera. There have also been some larger ones found deeper in the water column and ‘schoolie’ dorado are scattered all the way from there to the lighthouse.
Farther out off of Punta Pescadero there have been some schools of larger tuna under the porpoise schools.
Billfish action has been limited to a few blues and stripers, but with plenty of sailfish throughout Palmas Bay. Don’t be surprised if a bull dorado to show up in the teasers.
There are schools of sardina on many of the beaches attracting small jacks and roosters along with the pesky needles.
Beach action was hampered by hordes of needlefish along with off-color water caused by leftover swells from Tropical Storm, Karina.
Tip: When the conditions include off-color water, try slowing down the retrieve speed.
Water temperature 76-87
Air temperature 74-94
Humidity 87%
Wind: NE 5 to 7 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:02 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:34 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

More fish than visitors this week. Outside the dorado, small YFT and wahoo were there for the taking according to the few locals who ventured out. The sprinkling of billfish continues to increase week by week as the season begins to build. Still a good grouper bite, but unfortunately most that are caught go in the back of the fish truck.

Estero action was pretty much the same story…good fishing for corvina, grouper and a few snapper with little or no pressure.

Bob Hoyt

Water temperature 60 - 76
Air temperature 79 -98
Humidity 87 %
Wind: WNW 13 to 17 knots
Conditions: Mostly Clear
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:09 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:43 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

After a very below normal rainfall for August, we had a bit of rain this last week, which caused a lot of debris to come out of the rivers. Late Monday night we got a huge thunderstorm with 2 1/4" of rain in one hour.
This wiped out the inshore waters with stained water.
However, the blue water was only moved out to the 10 mile mark. The sailfish action is decent. Martin on the Nautilus had days of 2, 4, 1, and 3 sailfish starting on Sunday. He also reported lots of black skipjack tuna just off the dirty inshore water.
No dorado or tuna have been reported, but with the debris in the water, the dorado cannot be too far behind.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 77-93
Humidity 88%
Wind: E @9 knots
Conditions: Cloudy Rain
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:32 a.m. CDT
Sunset 7:58 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin bite continued this week with most of the action taking place within 5 miles of the beach on the Pacific side between the lighthouse and the inside of the Golden Gate Bank. Live bait tossed at tailing fish worked on about 40% of the fish seen and a few others were caught on trolled lures. There were plenty of Sailfish to be found as well, we had one client who was covered up with all five lines going off at once on Tuesday, resulting in the release of three fish and the loss of two. The Sailfish were also just off the beach, there seemed to be a good concentration of bait in the area. There were reports of a few nice Blue Marlin this week but they were not biting hot and heavy. I heard of several fish in the 250 pound class being released from the area of the 95 Spot and the 1150 and I am sure there were a few from the Gorda Banks as well.
YELLOWFIN TUNA The Tuna stayed around after the passing of the storm and most boats were able to do well if they stayed on the fish. On a few days it was scratch as scratch can to get bites, but on Saturday when the rain came on hard the fish came to the surface and bit hard for two hours. Most of the fish were in the 25-40 pound class with a few fish reaching 60 pounds. Earlier in the week the bite occurred closer to shore among the porpoise and those fish were both smaller, with quite a few footballs, and larger, with a few fish in the 80-pound class. Lures, especially small feather in dark colors worked on the football fish, and live bait worked on the larger fish.
DORADO Last week I was hoping that the storm would was debris into the water and improve the Dorado catch, but the debris did not happen. The Dorado catch, howev3er, turned on by itself and this week Dorado were fish of the week. Almost any boat that wanted to was able to get limits for their clients (federal limit of two per angler per day) and most of the fish were in the 10-20 pound class. There were some nicer fish caught as well as we had client who caught several nice bull Dorado in the 50-pound class. As with the billfish, most of the Dorado action took place on the Pacific side within 5 miles of the beach, but there were several days during the week when the action was hot and heavy just off the beach on the Cortez side up around the Palmilla area and other rocky points.
INSHORE: The inshore fishing on the Cortez side was very poor this week due to the discolored water, but slowly improved toward the end of the week. On the Pacific side most of the Pangas were fishing for Dorado and Tuna since it was a fishery very close to shore.
George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 67 - 75
Air temperature 77 - 93
Humidity 96%
Wind: W 11 to 15 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:35 p.m. MST