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