REPORT #1216 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
One of the more unique catches this week was a 28-pound snook in one of the East Cape lagoons, according to East Cape resident, Jim Moyer.
Wow…snook as the lead for the second week in a row! This should dispel any doubts that this is a weird year so far.
This week brought an upward spike in the overall fishing picture for some. Reports of tuna down by Las Frailes were encouraging; however most of the fish were footballs with only an occasional larger fish landed. There has also been a decent volume of striped marlin seen but few biters and a few good sized dorado have been found but no bonanza by any definition.
Inside, the small roosters and ladyfish have been thick but not many in the Bubba-sized scene along the beach.
Now if the sardina would appear, maybe fishing will begin to regain some normalcy.
Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
A new tournament will be held August 13, 14 and 15 in the mangroves out of Lopez Mateos. It will be Baja's first tournament of its kind to be held in the esteros/mangroves. So far, the plans are to include flyfishing, kayaking and conventional categories. I should have the complete details next week.
Few fished this week and the reports were sketchy but it sounded like fishing was slow.
Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The 80° blue water is back on the beach, with the clear and clean water having moved in to about the 6-mile mark. Historically, this is typical of the first or second week of May. Our bread and butter sailfish will be around, but this is also the time when the marlin and tuna move in. Plus, the warm water on the beach brings back our roosters…the most exciting game fish of them all on a fly rod.
Fishing has been steadily improving this last week, with several notable catches. The boats are each averaging about one sailfish and a striped or blue marlin a day. But, there are only 8 to 12 boats a day fishing. Tourism is really slow right now, with many of the better captains sitting at home.
Santiago, on the panga Gitana, emailed me that Bob Majewski from Texas caught and released a 200-pound blue marlin, and Jim McKenna from New York released four striped marlin and two sailfish for two days of fishing.
Mike Bulkley, owner of the super panga Huntress, and Captain Francisco, told me this last Thursday through Saturday they had a great three days on the water with one blue marlin, two striped marlin and two sailfish. The marlin were taken on separate days, but all were within a few tenths of a mile at the 29 mile mark on a 180° heading.
Adolfo, on the panga Dos Hermanos was real happy when he called me. “The roosters are coming back. We got two today up near Pantla!” He predicts with the warm water on the beaches again, we will be in full swing with the roosters in two more weeks.…Ed Kunze
Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582
Cabo San Lucas
The striped marlin bite has improved a little, but not much as almost every boat is getting a shot or two per day on tailing fish, with a few being hungry and eating the bait. There have been a few more black and blue marlin being hooked up, with varying degrees of success in getting them to the side of the boat for releases. Most of the striped marlin have been found on the Pacific side or right out front, while their larger cousins have been found in the warmer water in the Sea of Cortez.
Yellowfin tuna ranging from 10 to 50 pounds have been getting into the fish boxes somehow, or at least they were at the start of the week. When the water turned over, the bite dropped off a bit. Most of the fish have been found mixed in with the porpoise, but there have been quite a few found while blind trolling. .
I really thought that the warmer water was going to bring in great numbers of dorado, but they just haven't shown up strongly yet. A few fish were in the 30-pound class with the average in at 15 pounds, and they were close in to the beach for the most part, on the Cortez side of the Cape and due south early in the week.
The week started out with a bang as wahoo went on a decent bite for a change. Strangely enough, it was during the new moon phase, not a full moon, so perhaps in another two weeks the bite will take off again. Anyway, it lasted for about four days and everyone who tried for them seemed able to get at least one or two fish, some boats managed a half dozen in the 30 to 40-pound class.
Schools of roosterfish up to 60 pounds in size were found this week. Slow trolling live bait, preferably mullet, worked best for the roosters. A few sierra were still found, and there was a halfway decent bite on amberjack, but most of the pangas tried to target the wahoo!...George and Mary Landrum
Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191
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