One Month Closer to Spring…

Charlie McCrow of London, England, with his 20 pound rooster on the fly, Panga - Dos Hermanos II with Captain Cheva, Photo and Guide - Ed Kunze
Endless Season Update February 28, 2010
REPORT #1204 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

Typical up and down wind didn't prevent some lucky anglers to land some nice-sized yellowtail. Actually, the no-wind days outweighed the windy ones. For some it was just a mixed bag, producing some fun days on the water; to keep things interesting, several of the local reefs are holding grouper, cabrilla and pargo

There is enough bait around to attract both jacks and roosters. There are a few schools of 'grandes' exhibiting their ability to provide many more refusals than takes. There were a few nice sized fish caught, but not in the 'Bubba' class for sure.

As normal the trick was to stick with the inshore as long as it produced. Many days it remained consistent throughout the fishing day. On other days it slowed down and heading outside, while tempting, was not worth the effort. Thank goodness we are done with February and getting closer to Spring every day!

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

The most consistent activity throughout the bay is the whale watching which continues to attract many tourists eager to photograph the mom's and their calves.

Lance Peterson and his friend, Brad Ellis, spent several days fishing out of Lopez Mateos with excellent results. They caught a variety of species including the elusive snook..all on the fly.

Lance reported that though they were mostly smaller fish, they were still very cool. Even though he has caught more roosters on the fly than anyone else I could name, this was his first snook on the fly and he was stoked! The fishing was pretty impressive. He went on to say that his Panguero Roddy was a master at boat handling. Having the right Captain, the right gear and the skills to make it happen made the team a deadly combo!

Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The blue water fishing has been a bit erratic, but the quality has increased dramatically. The boats are averaging about a sailfish a day each, but the 15 boat blue water boat fleet caught three blue marlin on Tuesday, six on Wednesday, and another five today (Thursday). Plus, the action is taking place only 10 miles off the beach in front of Ixtapa. This does not reflect how many other boats, armed with lighter sailfish gear, lost a blue. For every blue marlin hooked, there had to be at least three lost.

As Paul Phillips was telling me..."there is a blue water dead sea area out there, and when it passes through, the fishing will be decent." The beautiful blue water…better than I had seen in a month…was at 14 miles but held no life. It passed through, and we are now getting fish.

Inshore has been incredibly unseasonable, with a great showing of roosterfish. Fly fishing client, Charlie McCrow of England got a nice 20-pound rooster while fishing with Cheva and me on the panga, Dos Hermanos II. We were up at the Pantla/Buena Vista Beach area, which Adolfo had tipped us off as to being a good bet.

And Adolfo, on the Dos Hermanos, has been doing his usual inshore magic. Fishing the areas from Playa Linda to Troncones, his conventional gear clients caught 15 jack crevalle and 6 roosters on one day, and the next day they caught "mucho" jacks and 4 roosters…Ed Kunze

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


Cabo San Lucas

Striped marlin are being caught, but not in numbers to get excited about. Fish were seen close to the shore in the greenish water on the Cortez side, and anglers bottom fishing for grouper and snapper who dropped a live mackerel halfway to the bottom in 150 feet of water hooked two marlin, releasing one and losing the other. Other boats were seeing one here and one there on the surface in the same type of conditions. There was no consistent bite nor was there any regularity to the areas they were being found.

Well, the yellowfin had some regularity to where they were being found, and that was way out there! Most of the fish found this week were from football size to 30 pounds and it was a long run for a consistent bite! While there were fish found as close as 18 miles due south and 24 miles at 210 degrees, most of the action has been due east 35 miles or due south at 40 miles, a long two-hour run for the charters. If you got into the right porpoise pod, the action was 'hot and heavy', but there were a lot of pods with no fish. If you did happen to be in the right ones, almost anything was working, from feathers to marlin lures to cedar plugs.

Dorado seemed to be missing in action this week. While boats were able to find the type of debris that would normally hold these fish (weed lines, dead seals, wood), there were few if any fish under any of them.

Inshore fishing provided the most consistent action. Though not large, there was an abundance of fish. The most common catch was sierra and most boats did not have any problem limiting out on them. Small swimming plugs, hootchies and live sardina, all rigged with a small trace of wire leader resulted in plenty of fish in the box. Anglers working yo-yo style jigs on the rocky bottom did well on amberjack to 25 pounds, grouper to 20 pounds and snapper to 20 pounds with an occasional larger specimen of each in the mix. There were also plenty of roosterfish to be had; unfortunately most of them were in the small five pound or less class, but there was an occasional school of 20 to 25 pound fish that gave good action. Yellowtail provided some steady action with fish to 30 pounds for boats that worked the points on the Pacific side, but several shrimp boats put a crimp on the action as they anchored on the schools and had 10 guys hand-lining with shrimp heads as bait. Watching the fish come over the rail one after the other really let you know how many there were in the school.

Whales are still providing a show for everyone, both humpbacks and a few grays are always in view. I don't know if there is any correlation between these things, but along with the warm, green water has come the Humboldt squid. A lot of the boats are stopping to jig up a few of these after a long offshore trip just to get something for their anglers to pull on. Spot the bird piles working just off the surface and you can see the squid. Pull up so that your lures sink and pretty soon you are hooked up. Don't get inked though, it's pretty nasty to get off. ...George and Mary Landrum
Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191

Z Rooster

Henning Morek - Denmark, Huge rooster Panga Dos Hermanos with Captain Adolfo

Endless Season Update February 21, 2010
REPORT #1203 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape


This has probably been the wettest February in a while. The good news is that it was the gentle soaking type rain that doesn't run off quickly. I guess it is a clue how slow the fishing has been recently, one hotel sent five boats out one day which is the single day's record for 2010. The lack of sierra continues to dismay fishermen who depend on them as a fallback. I saw a report this morning from down toward Cabo that suggested that there were reports that the lack of sierra was caused by gill net activity happening along the remote and unpatrolled East Cape region.

Inshore there are a few small dorado buzzing around that don't seem to stay in one place long. Offshore once in awhile a boat finds a cooperative striper and one unusual catch that was reported a few days ago was a sailfish which stayed late or arrived really early.

The most excitement is all the whales close to shore, huffing and puffing and leaping with reckless abandon.

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

What little action there was this week was at the Entrada where the firecracker yellowtail could be found feeding on the surface under the bird schools. Unfortunately, the sierra were mixed in with the yellowtail and there were a lot of fish lost because of the lack of wire leaders. Up above Lopez Mateos, the action was mostly grouper and cabrilla.

Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The fishing has been a bit erratic, but it is improving. On Monday, as brothers Henning and Ole Mork of Denmark did on the panga, Janeth with Captain Arturo, you go out and get three sailfish. Then go out the next day, but in a bit different area and a different boat, and not even get a strike all day.

However, Henning is on a roll. He is fishing with conventional gear but fished with Adolfo and his fly fishing son, Ufe, on the panga Dos Hermanos on Wednesday. They went up north to the Pantla area for jack crevalle and the possible shot for a rooster.

For three hours, Ufe had been up on the bow casting the fly…every time the hookless teaser came back to the boat. He took less than a 2-minute break to gulp down a sandwich and chug some water. Of course, this is when the huge rooster came slashing to the boat. The potential fly fishing world record was incredibly aggressive and going after anything near it. With Ufe unable to do anything but just watch, Henning was able to flip a bait at the fish with a spin rod and was hooked up solid.

The rooster was released, but Adolfo estimated it at 68 pounds. This is the second time this has happened with Ufe. Last year he and his Dad fished with me down at Puerto Vicente Guerrero. Ufe did get several dorado and a couple of decent roosters on the fly, but his Dad is the one who got the 50 pound rooster on conventional gear.

I had seen some small yellowfin tuna in the local Mercardo fish market, so I knew the commercial pangeros had found at least one school of tuna. Then, Santiago on the panga Gitana, came across diving birds at 10 miles fromr the port while fishing for sailfish. A live bait cast at them produced an 80-pound yellowfin for Ken Erdman of Pennsylvania.

Also, talking to Cali on the Vamonos II, he said he has been averaging about three sailfish a day for his clients…Ed Kunze

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


Cabo San Lucas

Marlin and sailfish continue to be scarce and while a few are being spotted as well as caught, there are no large numbers of them anywhere. It appears that we are not going to see a repeat of the fantastic striped marlin fishery we have been having this time of the year for the past three years, but if we do, it means that everything else is going to be all contrary for the rest of the year. The few fish that were caught were found up in the Punta Gordo and Gordo Banks area, as well as very close to the beach on the Pacific side up around the Golden Gate Bank.
News is bad for the yellowfin tuna fishermen.

The catch on tuna is still spotty, with a few fish found here and a few found there. The fish that were found were smaller school fish to 35 pounds, but most of them were footballs at 5 to 15 pounds. All the fish found were associated with porpoise.

The good news was the reappearance of the warm water and a few more dorado showing up… most of them were actually worth catching. This warm water brought in some larger fish and though the numbers have not been high, the fish have been quality fish in the 25- to 40-pound class. A few of these fish were found on the Pacific side around the seamounts in the warm water, but the better ones came in on the warm water flow from the east.

Surprisingly there are still wahoo to be caught out there. Most of those were incidental catches, but at least they were there. The fish were not large, averaging just under 25 pounds.

Inshore is providing the best action but that isn't working for everyone. The fish are concentrating in one area for several days and then they are gone. They seem to be constantly on the move. The sierra, yellowtail and amberjack will be in one place in the morning and two miles away in the afternoon. This may be due to the changing water temperature moving the bait around, but for whatever reason, one day can be red-hot and the next ice-cold.

The whales are still providing thrills and if you are fishing offshore that is sometimes the only action you might see. The whales are inshore as well, so if you combine the inshore action with the whale action, inshore is definitely the place to be. ...George and Mary Landrum

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

Early Easter Egg Hunt??

Endless Season Update February 14, 2010
REPORT #1202 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape


So you thought that Mexico was protecting the turtles…click here http://tiny.cc/turtleeggs

After a week of up and down weather, including some gentle rain, today finally seemed like the beginning a few good days. Throughout the week on the good days the sierra were thick enough to attract the attention of the local gillnetters…sigh. The bad news is the roosters have begun to show and of course the nets are not very selective. A few of the boats that did venture offshore, however, found a few tailers below the lighthouse, but unfortunately they didn't seem to be too interested.

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Still slow action or is it lack of fishermen? Either/or the squirrely weather has kept everyone off the water.

Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The 80° water is still here, but the blue water is still off the charts somewhere. At about six miles, we at least have a decent "clean" water, so a few fish are still in the area.

The fleet is averaging only about onw sailfish a day per boat, with a few small dorado showing up for a few boats. The biggest problem has been the tremendous amount of debris in the water. From just off the beach, to out beyond 20 miles, the floating grass and river bank vegetation that washed out of the Rio Balsas River has made it real difficult to keep a trolling spread from getting fouled. Last week's 12" of rain in 30 hours really opened the flood gates on the rivers and washed a lot of debris in.

It has been a deckhand's nightmare. Even with the captain dodging the worst of it, a line is always getting fouled.

Adolfo, on the panga Dos Hermanos II, has been working the areas to the North and has been doing well on some large jack cravelle......…Ed Kunze

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


Cabo San Lucas

For most of the week the marlin and sailfish would not bite; you could
find them but they were not hungry. Finally at the end of the week the bite picked
up a little and boats began to get them to take both bait and lures. Most of
the fish caught were found on the Cortez side of the Cape and the majority of
them were striped marlin. There were some sailfish caught as well, a real surprise
considering the water temperature.

Yellowfin tuna still spotty…a few fish found here and there. Mostly it seems to be a matter of luck by boats that are actually in the historically producing areas. The fish that were found were smaller school fish to 35 pounds, but most of them were footballs from 5 to 15 pounds. All the fish found were associated with porpoise.

Early in the week dorado were tough to find, but just after the first heavy winds came through there was a big school of small fish (and some of them were really small…smaller than sierra) just off of the beach between Gray Rock and the Westin on the Cortez side. These fish were within a mile of the beach and unfortunately they were hammered hard by the fleet. The school was blasted quickly and by the end of the week the fish were almost gone. There were a few larger fish found offshore on the Cortez side with some of the fish going as large as 35 pounds. Most of these were caught on lures by boats looking for marlin.

There were a few wahoo being caught this week, and they were found close
to the beach by boats working for the dorado in the area. None of the fish were
large, averaging around 15 pounds.

While the action offshore was slow, the inshore fishing was the way to go if you wanted action. There were plenty of sierra on both sides of the Cape to keep rods bent and fishermen happy. Along with the sierra were the occasional showing of yellowtail, snapper and grouper...George and Mary Landrum

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

Sierras Snap

Endless Season Update February 7, 2010
REPORT #1201 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape

Sierra…it's all about teeth.

Very little offshore action this week. Even the tin boat fleet remained on the beach except for the few with raincoats.
There were some rumors of a good yellowtail bite at the drop off at La Ribera and the reef in front of Rancho Leonero.

Believe it or not the roosters and jacks are still around and biting both lures and flies. I heard of at least one rooster landed that hit the fifteen-pound mark. But the fish of the week seemed to be the sierra. They provided the best beach action mostly early in the morning.

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

The scheduled annual Governor's tournament was cancelled this week due to the poor weather conditions. It will be rescheduled in March. Aside from some snapper action in the Esteros, it has been a quiet week.

Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

Earlier in the week the action had really picked up with Margarito on the Gaby getting five sailfish and Cheva on the panga, Dos Hermanos II, releasing eight sails. They got their fish about four to seven miles in front of the White Rocks. Plus, Adan on the panga, Gitana II, went up north near the river bar at Union, getting three roosters and a sailfish on the way back.

Then things went bad on us. On Tuesday morning we woke up to a very freak storm of lightning, thunder and rain. We got about 4" between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m., with a total for the day of 8"... then another 2" last night plus an inch today. Incredible.

The weather is predicted to be fine tomorrow so we are all going out. We all have clients wanting to get out of their hotel rooms. We'll soon find out how the rains affected the fishing.....…Ed Kunze

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

Cabo San Lucas

Billfish have not been the best choice to target as the success rate for those looking for a trophy fish have been low. Fish have been spotted but very few have been brought to the boat.
Yellowfin tuna were scarce this week; the ones found were mostly football-sized fish up to 20 pounds and it was a long run south to get to the fish, sometimes as much as 40 miles. There were plenty of schools of porpoise but few of them were holding fish. A few boats were able to score fish closer to home, as well as to the south but we are talking about one or two fish per boat. I have heard that there had been some fish show up in the area of the Gordo Banks.
The cool water has really shut down the bite for dorado, if you were able to find any. They have been scarce, and the word was that the few boats that found the fish could not get them to eat. No lures, no live bait, no fresh cut strips, nothing seemed to interest them. There were a few dorado brought in, but the consensus was the season is over unless we get a warm water eddy coming through.

Inshore sierra showed up in good numbers with most anglers able to catch easy limits. While most of the fish are in the five to six-pound class, there have been a few good sized ones to 10 pounds. Don't turn away from these fish in disgust at their size. Match your tackle to the fish and they can provide lots of fun and are great smoked or for cerviche. Both side of the Cape have been producing well.

Yellowtail are beginning to show up, mostly firecrackers this early in the year but there have been some fish to 20 pounds. Fishing around the points and rock bottom areas using live bait or iron jigs produced the majority of the fish. The pangas have also been getting into some grouper and a scattering of smaller sized roosterfish........George and Mary Landrum

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

It's Called a 'Fakey'

A week in Cancun

Endless Season Update January 31, 2010
REPORT #1200 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape


This was one of those 'nice weather' weeks that are often bookended by north winds on both sides. The forecast indicates that it will hold through late next week, so the fishermen are smiling! They found a few dorado offshore and wonder of wonders a few billfish as well. Inshore they have been whacking the sierra.

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Mark and Jennifer Rayor, along with their good friend John Torres, spent most of the week at Cancun, a fishing village down at the southern end of the bay. They reported nice weather and all the spotted bay bass they wanted to catch along with several handfuls of small halibut.

Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The deep blue water is still off the map, but the 82° clean water is here. The fishing for sailfish has been improving steadily, with two to three sailfish a day being posted by each boat in the fleet. Plus, a few boats, like the Gaby and the Gaviota, are getting between three and four per day.

Dave Walmsley, of Calgary, Canada, fishing aboard Mike Buckley's panga, the Huntress with Captain Francisco, celebrated his birthday by releasing four sailfish. The first three were taken before 9:30 a.m....…Ed Kunze

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


Cabo San Lucas

No Report

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