Offshore Cool, Inshore Just Right

Endless Season Update 04/16/2009
REPORT #1162 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996







East Cape

Our clients found the offshore a little cool but the inshore was just right, yielding multiple species on the fly.
Cecilia “Pudge” Kleinkauf, Anchorage, Alaska, visited this week with a group of mostly seasoned Baja anglers with one angler on her first trip to Baja. They caught a variety of fish which included roosterfish, red snapper, pargo, cabrilla, sierra mackerel, pompano and white bonito all round. By the end of the trip almost everyone had achieved a personal best or a new species!

Heggie Wilson, from Park City, Utah, caught a fish on his second cast in the morning and it never slowed down. They fished the reef in front of Leonero until almost 10 a.m. for 5 different species. He ended up the day with 8 different species. it was full speed most of the day!

Water temperature 67-73
Air temperature 56-86
Humidity 48%
Wind: NNW 13 to 18 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:58 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:41 p.m. MST

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Enrique Soto reported that the shark fishermen were finding dorado around the shark buoys twenty miles west of the Entrada. Up at Lopez Mateos outside the Boca ten miles, there are some small yellowfin tuna with skipjack mixed in.

Water temperature 49 - 82
Air temperature 52 -81
Humidity 45 %
Wind: WNW 12 to 16 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:50 p.m. MST

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The fishing and conditions picked up a bit this week. Even though the fleet is only averaging about one or two sailfish a day per boat, this should improve soon.
The warm, 80° blue water is about 12 miles off the beach and several blue marlin are being hooked. The boats are averaging about one marlin hookup for every five boats each day.
Santiago, on the panga Gitana, had one decent day with his clients and released three sailfish. Not to be outdone, his brother Adan on the panga Gitana II, released four sails in one day.
The jack crevalle action bounced back to life, with lots of the larger 15- to 20-pound hard fighting fish being reported around the White Rocks, and on down to Petatlan (about 7.5 and 16 miles south of Zihuatanejo).

Ed Kunze

Water temperature 78 - 83
Air temperature 68-86
Humidity 62%
Wind: WSW at 13knt
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:29 a.m. CST
Sunset 8:03 p.m. CST

Cabo San Lucas

The concentration of striped marlin that we saw last week up in the Destilladera area was a short-lived showing that only lasted about three days as far as having a good bite. Later in the week the bite dropped off and a really good day might have resulted in three fish released. As we moved toward the end of the week, the fish were to be found almost everywhere up in the Sea of Cortez.

Yellowfin tuna have still failed to show up in any numbers but a school was found well to the south of the San Jaime during the middle of the week. A few boats were able to post good numbers on fish averaging 25 pounds, with an occasional fish pushing 40 pounds.
Almost every boat was able to get a dorado this week, and a few boats managed to get three or four. The warm water on the Cortez side produced the fish and the best area was three to five miles off the beach, the same area that held most of the striped marlin.

Strong winds this week made the inshore fishing a bit tough on the Pacific side but the area off of Los Arcos produced decent yellowtail early in the week for boats using iron in 150 feet of water. Later in the week the anglers all moved to the south side of the lighthouse and up on the Cortez side of the Cape to get away from the wind. The sierra bite continued to be very good and anyone who really tried was able to limit out on fish to 9 pounds. An on/off bite on red snapper kept every day a surprise and there were a few species such as roosterfish, amberjack, ladyfish, needlefish and skipjack that kept the action fairly constant.

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 75 – 78
Air temperature 56 – 86
Humidity 48%
Wind: W 9 to 12 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:58 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:41 p.m. MST