Cabo and Zwhat Rocks…East Cape and Mag Rests

Elivis is the only one that likes the wind

Endless Season Update 01/21/2009
REPORT #1150 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996


East Cape

Very few visitors in the hotels again this week with only a boat or two heading out on the non-windy days. One Palmas boat returned yesterday sporting two blue flags with small red flags beneath. I guess that means they caught something with a bill that they let go??? They also flew five yellow flags indicating dorado, I suppose. Most of the locals have had to be content with sierra, small roosters and jacks before the north wind cranks up.

Water temperature 67-73
Air temperature 62-73
Humidity 71%
Wind: NE 2 to 2 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:57 p.m. MST

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Good news for the whale watchers….more whales! And for the surfers, the bigger surf has attracted surfers on Jet Ski’s. Both of which have over shadowed the fishing this week. There were a few sierra and corvina along with a few grouper and pargo deeper in the water column. Out at the Entrada there were more firecracker yellows under the bird schools. However, the show went pretty much unnoticed because of a lack of anglers in the area.

Bob Hoyt

Water temperature 67 - 73
Air temperature 62 -77
Humidity 56 %
Wind: NW 4 to 6 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 7:13 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:03 p.m. MST

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

Our sailfish fest is still holding up. The 83º blue water is still just off the beach and the boats are all scoring well. Early in the week the counts were down a bit because of a lot of fishing pressure with most boats working an area 8 to 12 miles in a southerly direction, but now the concentrations of fish been relocated and they have moved more to the North-West.

The Tournament Anglers Association is holding their annual 4-day tournament this week, with 17 pangas and 34 anglers. After day two days of the tournament, the points leader was John Jackson, with 7 sailfish and 1050 points. The TAA is an outstanding group of fishermen dedicated to the conservation of the billfish species. Their point system is set up so the angler gets 150 points per fish when the leader is touched within 5 minutes. Points are deducted for every 5 minutes after that. No points are given for a fight of 1/2 hour or more. And, all of this is using circle hooks and a maximum of 20 pound test line.

I am getting reports of a few roosters being caught up North above Saladita, so tomorrow I will try that. Today (Thursday), I am fishing with Toronto, Canada angler, Gary Megan, with the fly rods for sails. He hooked two a couple of days ago, and wants to do that again.

Ed Kunze

Water temperature 78 - 83
Air temperature 74-89
Humidity 58%
Wind: SW at 12mph
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:20 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:35 p.m. CST

Cabo San Lucas

Once again striped marlin were the top fish, giving anglers all the action they could wish for on most of the boats that worked the Golden Gate Bank. Not every day was a red-letter day though; we saw a definite slowing of the bite right around the full moon, several days either side of it seemed to be better. The same held true for the action we had been having on the Lighthouse ledge as the bite went from red-hot to hot to cool over three days. At the Golden Gate the better catches were had just before the full moon and boats that had experienced anglers were releasing double-digit numbers per day. That bite died to two or three fish per day during the full moon, and as of Saturday things had picked up very well

Yellowfin remained scarce this past week. A few boats managed to get into some fish ranging from 20 to 50 pounds working due south of Cabo on Tuesday. On Wednesday the fish had moved north about 15 miles and on Thursday they disappeared.

The best action for dorado appeared to be close to the beach on the Pacific side of the Cape. With an average size of 15 pounds, most boats were able to get two to five fish trolling live bait under areas where the frigate birds were hanging out, or trolling bright colored artificial lures within a mile of the beach. An occasional 35-pound fish added spice to the catch as well.

The sierra bite is picking up and the fish are very nice size, between 8 and 10 pounds when you find the right areas. There are a few nice yellowtails starting to pop up occasionally off of the Rocky points as well as some pargo to 25 pounds right in the rocks. Many of the pangas have been working just offshore for dorado and striped marlin and doing fairly well.

We are still seeing plenty of humpback whales outside of the beach area but have not seen any gray whales yet…at least I haven’t. The whale harassment fleet (whale watching charters, the small panga guys) can be spotted right on top of the pods, often 10 boats at a time.

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 73 - 82
Air temperature 63 - 84
Humidity 32%
Wind: NW 2 to 3 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:02 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:00 p.m. MST