REPORT #1173 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Kurt Ransohoff, Tom Lorish, and I had a really fun time over in Vicente Guerrero, south of Zihuatanejo. Even with the poor conditions, courtesy of Tropical Storm Andres, we managed to see some good fishing and certainly saw the potential for some really amazing action. Yesterday we fished out of Zihuatanejo and found some good sized roosters willing to chase the teaser. Kurt landed the attached fish. Tom had two great shots at fish to 40 pounds but didn't connect. There was only one other boat fishing near us and the fly angler in that boat landed two, the largest weighing about 35 pounds. The bite was on! There were even dorado showing up on the teaser right along the surf line. Pretty cool fishery. Lance Peterson
Blue marlin and yellowfin tuna have finally made it to the area with most boats reaching their daily limits. Blue marlin from 350 pounds to 600+ pounds have been reported. Tuna schools are scattered and those caught have been from football size to ‘oh my God’ range. Resort boats are still not going out as much as in past summer fishing seasons, but tourists/fishermen are gradually showing up again to enjoy the great weather and fishing.
Dorado continue to be strong with many boats reaching their limits early; roosterfish are being targeted by most boats early in the morning along the beaches south of La Ribera to north of Los Barriles. Red snapper are being caught off rocks by Punta Colorada and the bank a few miles off La Ribera.
Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Good News…they’re back! It seems longer but it has only been since last December that marlin have been seen at Magdalena. According to Captain Sergio there are a few out in front of Lopez at about 24 miles. Since the yellowfin tuna have been in that area for a while along with a wad of dorado in the 10-20 pound range, it makes for some good fishing!.
Small yellowtail dominated the action at the Entrada under the bird schools, along with grouper and mangrove snapper…along with the cabrilla which are a nuisance. However, don’t make the mistake of moving to get away from them. You just have to pick through them until you get that quality bite, you know a snook or something.
Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
Uffe Moerk – Denmark, Puerto Vicente Guerrero, Panga - Angela II with Captain Jose Pino, Guide and photo -Ed Kunze Fly - pink and white. We were trolling a red and white hookless Ranger lure. When the school-sized dorado started crashing on the lure, we threw the boat into neutral and made the cast...instant hook up! We took seven dorado on the fly that day, plus a rooster.
After tropical storm Andres left here last week, things calmed down enough for us to get some fishing in. The sailfish action is still on the slow side, with only a one-fish average per boat per day. However, this is being made up by a lot of smaller dorado being taken by each boat. The roosterfish and jack crevalle action has been excellent.
With good clean water only six miles from the beach, and an average surface temperature of 87ยบ, it may be a bit too warm for the sailfish. However, the roosters and dorado sure like it, with most of the dorado action being only less than a mile off the beach.
Arturo, on the panga Janeth, fished with Richard Anbers of Danville, Illinois. Using conventional gear he caught two nice roosters to 32 pounds, 12 jack crevalle and a dorado. Arturo told me they saw many more roosters but were not able to get a hook set. They were fishing the Valentin area south of Zihuatanejo Bay.
The biggest news of the week was by George Brown of Lodi. He was fishing with Cheva, on the panga Dos Hermanos II in the Valentin area and caught a 54 pound rooster on the fly. It was probably a world record, as the cast was made with an approved leader, but the fish was not weighed until 10 hours later. George always releases his roosters, but his double hook rig got in the gills, and killed this fish. By the time Cheva and Adolfo decided they had a possible record and called me, it was too late. The fish had dehydrated too much.
Henning and Uffe Moerk from Denmark fished with me at Puerto Vicente Guerrero using gear. Henning caught and released an estimated 55 pound rooster. Then Uffe took a nice rooster and seven dorado on the fly.
Santiago on the panga Gitana is vacationing in Minnesota right now and his brother, Adan, is taking care of the charters. This is what Santiago emailed me: Joe Luciano with his boys, Peter and Mark From Oklahoma, caught two rooster fish (15 Pounds) also many dorados and bonitos (little ones). The two others days we fished offshore with no luck.
Ed Kunze
Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582
Cabo San Lucas
The first tropical storm/hurricane of the season, Andreas, has come and gone. While it briefly touched shore in the Acapulco and Zihuatanejo areas, once the storm approached cooler water, it began to lose force and finally petered out.
After a couple of windy days the seas calmed and the fishing picked right back up for the fleet.
The Sea of Cortez produced some blue marlin; a couple of black marlin were caught with a few more lost. Striped marlin action see-sawed between great to why won’t they bite? Most boats caught a couple on the bite days.
Yellowfin tuna action continued to be slow with a few football sized fish being found among dolphin. Then when you least expected it, a tuna between 100 and 150 pounds would show up mixed in with the big black porpoise up inside the Sea of Cortez.
Dorado on the Cortez side of the Cape were the real ‘biters’ and most boats landed a handful of fish in the 15 to 20 pound range, along with a few smaller ones, as well as some in the 30 to 40 pound category. There were a few that were in the 50 pound range.
For those choosing to fish inshore there were some quality roosterfish to be found if you worked at it but you had to pick through the smaller fish to find them.
George & Mary Landrum
Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191
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