Holiday Bite Continues

Endless Season Update 12/03/2008
REPORT #1143 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

December has brought slower offshore fishing…a few blue marlin and stripers are being taken (along with some dorado) but the tuna have all but disappeared of late.
The good news…the inshore fishing is great! Large numbers of dorado are showing on the blue water line and inside. We have a mixed bag of roosters and sierras working in close to the beach. Still a few jacks and roosters can be found feeding on the surface near the shore and from the beach along, with some good-sized pompano. Cabrilla and pargo are still being taken along the beaches near some of the rocky points

Water temperature 76-80
Air temperature 64-80
Humidity 57%
Wind: E 5 to 7 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 12 miles
Sunrise 6:37 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:41 p.m. MST

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

The better marlin action remains below Punta Tosca. Between Cabo San Lazzaro and the Thetis, the dorado and tuna action have continued to be the show stopper.

How thick were they? I had loaded my Hobie Mirage i9S Inflatable on the Mar Gato and wanted to give it a try if the bite was good. Weighing only 53 pounds, the Hobie quickly inflates and deflates and is designed to be easily transported. But more importantly, the Hobie MirageDrive allows you to use your leg muscles to pedal, freeing your hands for casting.

With every rod on the boat bent, Captain Sergio Garcia couldn’t wait to give the Hobie a shot. Before I knew it, he had it in the water and in minutes he was being towed around by an obliging tuna. It only took a few minutes for him to get the hang of maneuvering the kayak with its pedals and he quickly brought the fish to the side of the Hobie for a photo.


Bob Hoyt

Water temperature 72 - 78
Air temperature 62 -81
Humidity 68 %
Wind: WSW 5 to 6 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 6:57 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:37 p.m. MST

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The surface water temperatures are showing between 80º and 83º, which is confusing because the sailfish are acting like the water is very cold and have had a bad case of lock jaw all week. They are here, but just have not been biting. It is possible they are gorging on squid, and are not interested in a trolled surface bait.
A few dorado are biting, but nothing like year's past when late November and December are the hot month for big dorado.
Almost every captain tells me they are getting blue marlin and sailfish in the trolling pattern, but after making a couple of swipes at the baits, they leave. There have been a few blue marlin taken however.
Inshore has shown very few roosters, but lots of sierra and small jack crevalle. Plus, there are a lot of black skipjack tuna, which is marlin candy bait.

Ed Kunze

Water temperature 78 - 80
Air temperature 71-92
Humidity 40%
Wind: SW at 6
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:10 p.m. CST

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: The fishing for striped marlin is really something this year as once again the concentration of fish on the Golden Gate Bank amazes us. Boats that are really concentrating on the marlin and are spending the time are releasing over 20 fish per day. Most of the fleet boats are trolling there and back and are getting two to five fish per trip. The fish are all in the 110-pound class and over. Working the bait balls between 150 and 200 feet deep with live bait caught on the spot has done the trick for most boats; the baits bought at the marina work for dorado and an occasional Marlin, but matching the hatch with really fresh bait seems to do the trick. Elsewhere, there are a few scattered marlin along the coast one to two miles off the beach on the Pacific side and a few showing up on the Cortez side close in as well.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: One boat this week got into a good bite on yellowfin tuna averaging 40 pounds while fishing the 77 spot, a high spot between the Golden Gate and San Jaime Banks. The fish had pushed up bait balls of sardinas and would not hit artificials, so they drifted into one of the balls and scooped up several loads of sardinas. That did the trick and they were almost limited out when a helicopter showed up; then as they were leaving the school, a tuna seiner showed up. Needless to say, there were no more fish to be found in that area the next day. There were larger fish north of the Golden Gate again, but it was a very slow pick on big fish, worth the work if you wanted quality, but with no guarantees at all of getting bit.

DORADO: The dorado remained on the bite off of the beach on the Pacific side between the lighthouse and El Arco. Slow trolled live bait and fast trolled plastic lures worked well there, and they also did the job on fish that were on the Cortez side up around Punta Gorda. Most boats were able to get several fish between 12 and 20 pounds and there were a few larger ones to 40 pounds as well.

INSHORE: The roosterfish bite seems to be dropping off and the cool water fish are showing up. Sierra and yellowtail are beginning to be caught and the bottom fishing is picking up as well. With the calm waters though, most of the Cabo pangas are working off of the beach searching for dorado and marlin.

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 73 - 85
Air temperature 65 - 88
Humidity 44%
Wind: SSE 5 to 7 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 6:46 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:34 p.m. MST