REPORT #1148 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Sierra...Don't forget the wire!
Winter conditions persist with sporadic north winds dictating the quality of fishing each day. There are still reasonable quantities of fish to be found on the good (no wind) days.
Though none of the hotels have more than a few guests and the number of boats going out is light, when they do go out, it is more often than not for half a day until the wind gets them.
In spite of the fact that most of the boats are fishing within 5 miles of shore, the catches have been remarkably good. Plenty of marlin are found tailing down-swell with an occasional bite yielding a fish per day for those targeting them.
Dorado in January? You bet…a few fish are being caught from 5 to 35 pounds, mostly free swimmers in open water.
Sierra continues to be the go to’ fish when nothing else wants to bite or the boats are forced to remain near the shore.
Water temperature 71-76
Air temperature 57-81
Humidity 76%
Wind: NNW 10 to 13 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:48 p.m. MST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
As usual, sportfishing has taken a backseat to Magdalena Bay’s other cash crop…whale watching.
With a few whales beginning to arrive and the promise of more to follow, everyone is focused on preparations for the visitors wanting to get up ‘close and personal’ with these friendly giants of the sea and their newborn.
Bob Hoyt
Water temperature 67 - 73
Air temperature 52 -79
Humidity 44 %
Wind: W 9 to 12 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:13 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:53 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
Our fantastic sailfish action has not let up, plus we are seeing more 20+ pound dorado each day. The 82ยบ blue water is just 8 miles off the beach, with almost all the fishing action taking place between the 10 and 15 mile areas.
Jaime Morales, the owner of the Vamonos fleet, told me the Vamonos I fished three days, accounting for nineteen sailfish, four dorado, and one small blue marlin. The Vamonos II had five sails and two dorado for one day, and the Vamonos III had seven sails and one dorado for one day.
Martin on the Nautilus, and Margarito on the Gaby, both told me they are getting an average of five to seven sailfish and two dorado a day.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 78 - 80
Air temperature 71-91
Humidity 77%
Wind: SW at 2 mph
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:19 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:26 p.m. CST
Cabo San Lucas
BILLFISH: Striped marlin continued to dominate fishing at the Golden Gate Bank. Catch rates varied from between seventeen fish to two fish per day, depending on the length of time spent there and the experience of the anglers. Running to the diving pelicans and frigates and throwing a couple of live baits in among the feeding seals and marlin resulted in many hook-ups, both on marlin and on pelicans. The other day we released three marlin and three pelicans in an hour. Slow trolling live bait also worked very well.
Another area where the striped marlin began to show was just off of the lighthouse on the Pacific side. Along the flats at the point the bait has begun to stack up and many boats have been saving time by fishing there instead of making the run to the Golden Gate Bank.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Yellowfin remained scarce this past week. A few football-sized fish are beginning to show up off of the Westin area on the Cortez side of the Cape just a few miles off shore, the same area where we had such a good time catching them on light tackle last year. Using live sardina as chum and bait resulted in catches of up to six fish per boat. There were also a few fish in the 15 to 20 pound range found among the porpoise off of Gray Rock late in the week, and the same type of action was occasionally found 8 to 10 miles off the beach on the way to the San Jaime Bank on the Pacific side.
DORADO: There were decent catches of dorado this week from the Pacific side of the Cape just a few miles off the beach. These were smaller fish averaging 12 pounds, while farther off shore at 10+ miles, the fish seemed to be larger. One boat came in with three dorado, all over 35 pounds.
INSHORE: Near the beach things have been very good. One roosterfish of 50+ pounds was caught and released just to the east of the lighthouse. Others are having a blast on small roosterfish from 5 pounds to 15 pounds.
The sierra bite is getting better with some very nice fish to 8 pounds being caught. A commercial panga had one about 12 pounds. A few nice sized pargo have been found among the rocks on the Pacific side and some good grouper to 30 pounds were brought in as well.
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 73 - 82
Air temperature 52 - 82
Humidity 74%
Wind: NNE 5 to 6 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 7:02 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:50 p.m. MST
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