REPORT #1174 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Father John "J.D." Davis and his son Scott, fishing on Mark Rayor’s Jen Wren, were examples that being in the right place at the right time was the key and had some nice dorado to prove it.
This season the East Cape reports seem to contain more hyperbole than usual. I suppose that it’s a sign of economic times. Reports of wide open action are more common than the 4 hour warnings for Viagra. Reports that begin with, “It’s a scratch bite,” have become much more credible.
The truth is business is slow so there are fewer boats out there looking for the hot spots. As an example, there was a video published on the web this week that promised great rooster action. In the video, the most prominent noise was the wind ripping while some guy fought his fish. Judging by the bend in the rod, it wasn’t exactly a whopper. So these days it is all in the eye of the beholder.
Few were skunked this week but only a few limited out on anything. Dorado were fewer but bigger; marlin were few and far between. The touted tuna bite is mostly football sized
The inshore and beach action still seem to be the best that East Cape has to offer currently with lots of smaller roosters and jacks and a few bigger ones for the lucky few who end up in the right place at the right time.
Over the course of the last week I saw beach fishing action ranging from excellent to slow depending on conditions and location. When I found the bait and had good light for sight casting there were some excellent opportunities for roosterfish, jacks, and even a few barred pargo.
Most of the roosterfish were ranging from 5 to 15lb's but there were a number in the grande class to be found. However, the larger fish are now frequently spotted in pairs or three's. These fish are exhibiting their spawning behavior so it can be very difficult to get them to chase the fly rather than chase each other. That said, there is enough good bait along the shore to attract other gamers that are ready to play. The pargo in the photo this week was spotted in the mullet schools along side both roosters and jacks. It was a pleasant surprise that he beat the other fish to the fly. It's been a while since I've caught a barred pargo on the fly from shore.
Lane Peterson
Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
The offshore summer pattern has begun with limits of small yellowtail and tuna beginning just four miles outside the Boca. The commercial shark fishermen continue to report marlin and dorado sightings out twenty miles or so.
The catch in the Esteros continues to be decent, but not wide open. Leopard grouper can be found up to the north from Lopez Mateos…all the way up to Boca de Soledad. Tides were ripping with the recent full moon, so fishing time was cut short. There were a few corvina to be had under the bird schools in the middle of the bay but tough to get on quick enough before they went down.
Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The 85ยบ blue water is just off the beach, with most of the action taking place between one and two miles off shore. The fleet is averaging one to two sailfish per day per boat, and between two to four dorado per boat.
Adan, on the panga Gitana, fished only one day this last week but released a sailfish and got two dorado. His only complaint is that there are not enough clients here fishing to keep the boats on the water daily to locate and follow the concentrations of fish. He said it is almost like going out blind every time they fish.
Martin, on the Nautilius, appears to have had the best day on the water for the fleet this week. Fishing with Page Bristol of San Antonio, TX they released three sailfish and took four dorado.
All up and down the coast, the roosterfish action is still excellent. They are being taken from as far as 25 miles south at La Barrita, to 25 miles north up at the river bar of Union.
Ed Kunze
Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582
Cabo San Lucas
Almost every day boats have been hooking up to blue marlin but since many of them are not prepared yet for these larger fish, most of them were getting away. Striped marlin were reported just two miles from the beach up around La Laguna, between San Jose and Punta Gorda, right in the dirty green water; several boats that fished there were able to get the fish to bite and managed to release several fish each. There have been sailfish around as well and they have been found on the Cortez side of the Cape where the water has been warmer.
There were scattered spots of small football sized fish found in the blind this week and boats that stayed and worked an area after hooking one usually were able to put a half dozen in the box. A dead whale was found early in the week, not too far from shore, and there were plenty of football sized fish found around it, but the whale disappeared for a day, showed again for a day and then was gone.
The dead whale also produced the best dorado action. The dorado averaged 15 pounds and there were a few that approached 30 pounds. In other areas there were dorado as well, mostly in the warm band of water 10-15 miles offshore, but also occasionally in close in the green water. Some of these fish were very nice sized, in the 40 pound class and larger. Even with the action around the dead whale, things were still slow overall, and when the whale was not around boats were lucky to get one or two dorado per trip.
Colder, greener water put a damper on the inshore action. A few pangas were able to scratch up a few roosters and some lucky ones found jack crevalle averaging 25 pounds about a mile off of the beach to the north on the Sea of Cortez.
George & Mary Landrum
Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191
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