Whoosh Closes March

Lance Peterson landed this rooster from the beach in spite of less than ideal conditions.


Endless Season Update March 28, 2010
REPORT #1208 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape


Mixed bag throughout the week; on the windy days, the marlin show and then on a flat calm day, they couldn't be found. Out in front of La Ribera there were plenty of small tuna and skipjack as well as some amberjack, grouper and yellowtail in deeper water. There were even a few sailfish in the count.

The dorado are scarce with only a few landed all week.

Surprisingly the roosterfish bite continued in spite of the windy conditions with a few decent-sized fish being caught from the beach.

Boats focusing on the inshore were able to score on sierra, jacks and pargo.

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

According to the locals the white sea bass action has been great outside of Cabo San Lazaro. The Humboldt squid are also still in the neighborhood.

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

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

With the change to cooler, dirty water and some very large waves hitting the beaches, the very good inshore action for jack crevalle and sierras has taken a nose dive this week. However, the slack has been taken up in spades with excellent blue water fishing.

Striped marlin, like last year, showed up again this year. Historically, we rarely catch striped marlin here, but when they have shown up this past two years, we have been getting more striped marlin than sailfish.

Most of the fish are being caught between 12 and 18 miles, with each boat in the fleet averaging two striped marlin and a sailfish per day. Naturally the better captains are doing better than that.

Some notable catches this last week were with Adolfo on the panga, Dos Hermanos, releasing four striped marlin and five sailfish in one day.

Santiago, on the panga Gitana, reported the following:
Debbie Goggins from Alaska released two striped marlin and one sailfish fishing with Adan on the Gitana II.

Dan Gaffney, with his wife and son from North Carolina, released three striped marlin, two sailfish and they caught many jacks and bonitos, during six days of fishing over the past week. They fished with Santiago on the Gitana.

Also, Cheva on the panga Dos Hermanos II released three striped marlin yesterday, and Arturo on the panga Janeth released three striped marlin and two sailfish..…Ed Kunze
Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582


Cabo San Lucas

Marlin fishing has remained slow. Victor, my panga guy, had to have the catch of the week on these guys. Pulled in close to the lighthouse to check for sierra and released two striped marlin in the 150-pound range. They were just cruising for a bite to eat! While some folks in PV brought in a 684-pound black this week, we haven't seen anything like that yet. So with these warmer waters moving in, there is a chance!

Yeah I had sashimi for dinner last night!!!!! Finally, Friday some yellowfin tuna showed up. Of course being the only game in town you had to get to the school early or they were scattered. Fish were in the 15 to 30 pound range. Hope this warmer water will keep them around, although yellowfin don't mind the cooler waters.

Dorado on the other hand like these warmer waters and a couple came up to play. Decent ones also in the 15-pound range, not those little slippers that we had last month. Dorado grow fast, but not that fast!

Sierra , roosterfish, grouper, snapper, a smorgasbord inshore. Sure glad the tuna have shown up to relieve the pressure on the inshore fisheries. We want to keep those reefs full all year round. …George and Mary Landrum

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

March Marlin

Mark Rayor launched his new Cabo and promptly landed their first fish of the year.
Endless Season Update March 21, 2010
REPORT #1207 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

For those willing to brave the windy conditions, there were striped marlin to be caught. Mark Rayor launched his new Cabo and promptly landed their first fish of the year even though the water was slightly off-color.

Didn't seem to bother the Humboldt squid action that has been going on for awhile. It's a good thing, since live bait has been hard to come by because of the wind.

Even the dorado have been squirrely…up one day and down the next, with no rhyme or reason. Meanwhile, back inside, the yellows and amberjack were found at the drop offs.

Roosterfish are still around but most that were caught seemed to be small and smaller. There were a few better size reported but no photosto put them into the unconfirmed category.

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

This was the only area reporting decent weather. Yellowtail to forty pounds were found under the debris floating outside Boca de Soledad. Outside of Magdalena Island there has been a good whack on white seas bass feeding on small squid. Speaking of squid, the commercial fishermen are loading up on Humboldt's every night.

Inside the Esteros, few bothered to fish this week so there is little to report.

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

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The 80° blue water has moved into the six mile area. The fishing has picked up some, with the best hard-working captains all getting a few fish.

Karen and Saxon Hutmacher of Alaska fished two days with Cali on the Vamonos II. On the first day they had a couple of strikes on sailfish, got a striped marlin, and then also got a blue marlin of about 300 pounds to the boat. The next day they got two sailfish.

Mike Buckley, owner of the twin engine super panga Huntress, emailed me with the following: "We had two charters, one inshore with lots of bonito and two dorado and one offshore with three sailfish at 22 miles. All three sails struck at the same time and we released them all. Water was beautiful, but that was the only action all day."

Todd Sandell and his friend Ron of Seattle treated themselves to their 40th birthdays by fishing with Cheva on the panga Dos Hermanos II with their 8wt fly rods. They had excellent action on the small game, with most of the fish being the hard-fighting black skipjack tuna, but they also got a very nice sierra, which was their dinner that night.…Ed Kunze

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

Cabo San Lucas

Marlin fishing has remained slow again this week. Still a few bites close to shore, but not hearing of anything offshore. Even the bottom fishing for marlin up the Pacific side isn't working yet. Where are they? Just not here in the numbers we have seen in the past. March should be great for striped marlin.

Still pretty thin in the tuna department and it's not pretty water getting to them. Reports of porpoise schools in close but the boats working the schools are reporting only small bonita. There were a couple of fish coming into the docks but all reported that there were some pretty rough seas getting there and back. Rumors of a good bite past San Jaime the other day, but I never saw any fish to match the rumors.

A few dorado saved the day for some this past week. Not in numbers, but the ones caught were all in the 15 to 20 pound range instead of the four to six pound range that have been passing by.

Wahoo: Okay, let's change this just for spring to Mexican Wahoo…still pretty much the catch of the week…although they are taking a big hit. If you are into the bigger 6 to 10 pound fish, there aren't as many of them being caught. Still lots of the smaller ones. Hey guys throw those two to four pound fish back; let them grow up! Got to leave some as breeders for next year!!!

Inshore continued to prove to be the best action. Snapper bite is alright…haven't seen the numbers of red snapper hitting the docks like in years past, but they are there. People are just spending more time targeting the sierra I think. Don't laugh, but I did see some decent triggerfish come into the dock. (they really are good eating!) Also a few small mako shark were being released. Maybe with this cooler, high sixty degree water moving in the yellowtail bite will pick up again. …George and Mary Landrum

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

El Nino Surprise…

John Barley and his son landed five of the squirters in short order near the surface.

Endless Season Update March 15, 2010
REPORT #1206 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape


To clarify the daylight savings time change, it turns out that here in Baja Sur the change actually takes place April 4th.

Weather permitting, offshore fishing Is enjoying an uptick…enough striped marlin to keep things interesting. Sunday one of the Palmas boats landed a 180 pound swordfish.

There are also reports some yellowfin tuna with skipjack mixed in along with rumors of some larger tuna on the outside down below Las Frailes.

Inshore there has been a decent show of roosters, jacks, sierra, pargo and an occasional yellowtail.

One El Nino surprise for March is the Humboldt squid being caught within a mile of shore. Part-time resident John Barley and his son landed five of the squirters in short order near the surface.

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Windy conditions prevented any fishing this week.

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

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

With the clean 80° water only six miles off the beach, and the deep blue water out about 18 miles, the fishing is still fairly slow. Our bread and butter fish for the area, the sailfish, has been averaging less than a fish per day per boat.

However, not is all bleak as Kjell of Sweden fished with Luis on the panga, Gringo Loco, for two days, taking a huge 50 (plus) pound dorado off a partially sunken tree limb. He released an estimated 250-pound blue marlin the next day.

Cali, Captain of the Vamonos II, did get two sailfish on Friday for his clients, and an estimated 110-pound striped marlin. He told me, as well as the other captains, that the seas were very rough on Thursday.

However, the inshore action has been very good. Adolfo on the Dos Hermanos, Cheva on the Dos Hermanos II, and Arturo ????? all have been getting into large jack crevalle. The 15 to 20 pound jacks are coming off trolled rapalas, live bait, and surface poppers, with most of the action down near the white rocks. …Ed Kunze

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


Cabo San Lucas

Marlin fishing has remained slow again this week. Still a few more boats were able to find the fish this week, but it was nothing to write home about…at least for those of us who go out all the time. The fish seemed to be concentrated closer to shore than normal; most of the fish were found within three miles of the beach and on both sides of the Cape.

Just like last week, most of the tuna were found quite a long way from home, necessitating a two-hour or longer cruise to get to where you might find some. Out by the Seamounts reports were that bigger schools had small fish, smaller schools had bigger fish. Not pretty water getting there though. My friend who made it out there said he was the only boat there. There are always exceptions though, and on Saturday there was a pod of dolphin found three miles off of Chileno Beach that had loads of football tuna, 5- to 20-pound fish, and the first dozen boats to get there had a blast!

Just a few yellow flags were flying this week on Wednesday with the heavy winds and rough seas the dorado came out to play. The fish were found offshore on the Cortez side by boats searching for tuna and there were a few very small ones found in close to the beach, as well as on the Cortez side of the Cape.

Inshore fishing: sierra bite busted wide open on the Pacific side late in the week. Same again this week with some boats coming in with 30 or 40 fish. There are also reports of the snapper bite picking up…George and Mary Landrum

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

March Blast…

This is what an angler with a March rooster looks like…it's not often you see a guy in a fleece vest with a roosterfish! photo Colleen Hubbard.

Endless Season Update March 7, 2010
REPORT #1205 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

Further signs of spring will happen next Sunday when Baja switches to daylight savings time.

Meanwhile, most of the action remains close to shore or from the beach. Lance Peterson submitted this week's photo confirming both the presence of some nice size roosters along the beach and that it is chilly enough for a fleece vest. Along with the roosters there are schools of sierra chasing sardina close to shore.

Even with the spotty weather, a bit of rain and the ever present wind, either way fishing can still be a blast!

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Another quiet week with few anglers even in the neighborhood this week. The entrada produced some nice sized sierra along with a few small yellows and the sandy beaches at Belchers were holding some of the smaller variety of halibut in very shallow water.

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

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The blue water fishing has been slow this week, with the inshore action being the best bet. The full moon caused the normal slow down in the blue water, but with the earthquake down in Chile, it really shut down. It was way too far for us to feel the quake here, but the small tsunami which came through acted like several major shock waves to the sailfish.

The recorded tsunami was only about three feet high, and did not go much higher than our normal high tide line. When it came through, I was guiding with Cheva on the panga, Dos Hermanos II, and fly fisherman Steve Mara of Seattle. We were in touch with the Port Captain's office, which was in touch with the entire coast of Mexico. We didn't feel or see a thing, but we didn't get any fish either.

The sensitive lateral lines on a sailfish can pick up a school of bait fish a half-mile away. The tsunami comes in with a series of shock waves, and it must really put a scare into the fish!

A couple of days after the quake, Adolfo, on the panga Dos Hermanos, called me on his cell phone. He was into a very large school of jack crevalle, and they were huge! He was down at the Valentine river mouth, with the hard fighting jacks being an astonishing 25 to 30 pound average.

Yesterday (Wed.), Ken Unger of Calgary, Canada, fished with Santiago on the panga, Gitana. They didn't get a strike on a sailfish, but found a floating grass patch and managed to pull a couple of smaller dorado and one nice dorado of about 30 pounds off it. Ken's 13 year old daughter, Shelby, had the honors of bringing in the dinner. They had it cooked up at Lety's Restaurant, which is probably the best seafood restaurant here, and very economical.

Today, Ken and Shelby fished with Cheva and meI on the panga, Dos Hermanos II, up on the Buena Vista Beach area. Ken was fly fishing, and Cheva was throwing a surface popper or lure out 75 to 100 yards, and then handing off the caught fish to Ken's daughter, Shelby. She darned near got worn out. We did manage to raise a few roosters, and caught a jack crevalle. Plus, we found our own dorado hotel in the form of a huge patch of floating grass. We pulled eight dorado off it. Nothing was big, but it was a fun…and, I got to take dorado home tonight for my wife Rebecca to cook up. …Ed Kunze

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


Cabo San Lucas

Marlin fishing has remained slow, though quite a few more boats were able to find the fish and they were biting a bit better…still it was nothing to write home about. The fish seemed to be concentrated closer to shore than normal, with most of the fish being found within three miles of the beach, and on both sides of the Cape.

Just like last week, most of the tuna were found quite a long way from home, necessitating a two hour or more cruise to get to where you might find some. There are always exceptions; recently there was a pod of dolphin found three miles off of Chileno Beach that had loads of football tuna, 5- to 20-pound fish, and the first dozen boats to get there had a blast. There were a few other clos- in fish found this week as well but for the most part, tuna were a long run from home with your fingers crossed!

Just a few yellow flags were flying recently; most of the boats did not have any luck with dorado and those that did only caught one or two at the most. The fish were found offshore on the Cortez side by boats searching for tuna and there were a few very small ones in close to the beach, also on the Cortez side of the Cape.

The sierra bite busted wide open on the Pacific side and it was disappointing to see so many of these so called “conservationist” captains load up with two, three or more times their limits. Come on guys! You have two clients on the panga, come in with 40+ pound sierra and then complain the next day that the fish have disappeared? Get a clue, please. Anyway, the bite was good and there were a few decent yellowtail caught as well as a few grouper and snapper. The surprise for many was the marlin that were found so close to the beach. While dropping bait to the bottom for grouper and snapper, many boats keep a live bait half-way down for amberjack, but there were quite a few marlin caught doing that.

The whales are beginning to thin out. There were still plenty of Humboldt Squid out there if things seem really slow fishing...George and Mary Landrum

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