A Hint of Things to Come

Brian Kelley, wearing the white cap, with three of his buddies celebrating his 50th birthday with a fat one …Mark Rayor.

Endless Season Update 10/10/2009REPORT #1186 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

The first serious north wind of the season arrived late this week along with grouchy seas that caused short days for some.

Still seem to be enough fish around to keep things interesting; it is just tougher to find them. There were a few porpoise schools found closer to shore that did produce some tuna for the first handful of boats that found them.

Dorado action was also a little sketchy with most boats finding only a few, if any, but there are still some skipjack and football sized tuna out in front of the lighthouse.

As usual the beach was trashed from the wind waves which created difficult conditions for the beach walkers.

The good news is the winds are predicted to subside soon and hopefully the bite will pick right back up.

Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Well so much for the quickie trip last Friday. By the time I arrived at the border a small tropical depression, Olaf, had turned and was headed on an erratic path for Baja’s midsection.

Since my trip only allowed for a few days of fishing with little or no wiggle room, I delayed the trip until this Monday.

Turned out to be a good call; Olaf dumped plenty of rain from Cuidad Constitution to Mulege. There were a few washouts and one group driving down reported 30 water crossings during their trip from the border to East Cape.

The storm left unsettled conditions but they seem to have dissipated by the end of the week.

So I will be driving down the peninsula Monday, the 12th, with a stop planned in Mulege to check out some rumors of large snook appearing in the Santa Rosalia River. Then on to Lopez Mateos to fish both beach and offshore for three days with Lance Peterson, our Mexico Guide.

I will return on Monday, the 19th, and should have an update on the aftermath of the recent storms.
Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The 80° blue water has cooled down a bit from last week, and has moved in very close to the beach. This should improve the fishing, but we have had a series of hard rains and wind and a full moon period, combined with few clients fishing. An accurate picture of the fishing action is hard to describe at best.
The average for sailfish is about one or two a day per boat, and few nice size dorado are also being taken.
Inshore, there are a lot of small jack crevalle, and even a few sierra, but the roosterfish bite also seems to have died off. However, we also had strong surf all this last week, so the roosters have moved offshore, and should move back in when the moon phase affects the surf to a lesser degree.…Ed Kunze

Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582


Cabo San Lucas

Striped marlin and sailfish are being seen close to shore on the Pacific side, but the water conditions on the outside have many of the boats focusing their efforts on the calmer Sea of Cortez side of the Cape. There are reports of blue and black marlin hook ups in the San Jose area, but just not in the numbers that were on the Pacific side. But, these fish, like those found out to the west, were not really in the eating mood.

There are respectable numbers of yellowfin tuna farther offshore on the Pacific side. However, running 30 to 40 miles in the grumpy seas was not in the books for most of the boats. A few of them did make it out to the fish, however, so there were few tuna flags flying. Heading out 30 miles put you in the area, but it was tough to spot the porpoise; when the chop began, they seemed to disappear!

Dorado seemed to like the conditions a bit choppy and most boats were coming in with at least four or five fish, averaging 12 to 15 pounds, and some had a few larger fish to 40 pounds. Most of the action was on the Pacific side of the Cape close to the beach.
There were some wahoo taken just off the beach, but most of the boats were fishing for dorado, so you know there were a lot of fish lost due to monofilament leaders!

The pangas working the bottom did find some decent catches of small grouper and snapper. And for pangas that were surface fishing, there were catches of dorado and the occasional striped marlin and sailfish. George and Mary Landrum

Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191

Hot Ticket…Tuna

Endless Season Update 10/01/2009REPORT #1185 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

All these bad boys were 80 to 100 pounds. Caught them on horilitos about 25 miles east of Buenavista along witha high school buddy, Gary Street of Laguna Hills…Mark Rayor.

Here it is October and just to remind everyone that the weather begins to become a little less a sure thing, it kicked up pretty good on Wednesday, but not to worry, it settled right back down the following day.

While other fish are still around and biting, the tuna are still the hot ticket…period. For the fly guys the skipjack and football sized YFT’s are thick enough to wear out the hardiest of anglers in the blazing sun.

Farther offshore, though billfish are still to be found, they are more of an incidental catch. Most boats are racing around looking for tuna under the porpoise.

With the squid still hanging around everyone is loaded for bear (read: tuna), enough chum to turn the head of even the most finicky tuna. When found the chunked squid works for the smaller fish. Those looking for the larger Gorilla class are running to the leading edge of the school and casting live bait then slow trolling. Judging by the photos, it looks like a street fight.

The dorado schools are still close to shore all the way to Cabo Pulmo. Also inshore, as well as from the beach, the rooster bite turned back on but may have slowed a click or two with the recent wind waves that stirred up the water.

Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

On the outer banks, the wahoo action has been outrageous with limits all around for the few boats heading out. There are reports of more marlin arriving every day! Can’t imagine what that means exactly, since I am not aware of the check in point of them. Anyway, though more are being seen, they have not been biting.

Back closer to the beach, the skipjack, dorado and tuna are thick but everyone is more excited about the wahoo.

I haven’t heard much about the Esteros other than the shrimpers are out in full force throughout the bay.

I will be driving down the peninsula Friday the 2nd with stops planned in Mulege to check out some rumors of large snook appearing in the Santa Rosalia River. Then on to Lopez Mateos to fish both beach and offshore for three days with Lance Peterson, our East Cape Guide.

I will return on Friday, the 9th and should have an update on the aftermath of Hurricane Jimena.
Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

With the blue water about seven miles off the beach, the offshore fishing slowed considerably this week. A large area of hot water has moved in, showing a surface temperature of 87°.
Yesterday, with a total of eight boats fishing in the fleet, those that fished the blue water got zero sailfish and a few dorado. This is the first time I have ever seen the fleet get zero sailfish.
Adolfo, on the panga Dos Hermanos, fished the inshore mostly and told me he is getting about four roosterfish a day.
The roosters are averaging about 35 pounds. …Ed Kunze
Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582


Cabo San Lucas

With the warmer waters coming back, the striped marlin bite has dropped off again. They are all over the place but are being finicky eaters. Bouncing bait off their noses, just gets you “the look” before they swim away. Head of one 550 pounds was brought in on Friday. Just a reminder to everyone, those fish over 300 pounds are the female breeding stock! Take your picture at the side of the boat and let her swim away. Fish like thatare the future of marlin fishing.

Tuna dominated the action again this week with almost every boat being able to get into them. Sizes ranged from 15 pounds to 230 pounds with most of the larger fish being caught on live bait dropped in front of the moving pods of spinner dolphin or spotted dolphin. Report from San Jose of a 357 pound yellowfin brought in up there. And this was the story until Thursday night when three purse seiners moved in on the Pacific side with their helicopters. Not a tuna flag was flying Friday or Saturday. Ok, last minute update. I did get a report Sunday afternoon that a couple of boats had finally found tuna late Saturday, so hopefully they will make a quick comeback this time.

Dorado were sporadic this week; one day there would be plenty and then the next day they could not be found. When you could find them they seemed to be close to the shore on the Pacific side in the warmer water. Averaging 12 to 15 pounds, there were enough larger ones out there to make things interesting.

I saw some nice wahoo come in this week. We had one client bring in a nice 50 pound fish, and I saw a few more in the 20 to 30 pound range.

Most of the Panga Captains are doing well on dorado and tuna since they are close to shore. There are still some decent roosterfish being found and a few snapper and some nice 8 to 10 pound grouper as well. The Pacific side has been the favorite side of the Cape this week.

The week started off great with lots of fish being caught…all different kinds. It’s amazing how a couple of purse seiners setting their nets scares most of the fish off for a couple days. Hopefully they did not completely deplete the stocks as they have done in the past. Five cruise ships are coming to Cabo today, bringing a much needed boost to the local economy!…George and Mary Landrum

Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191