Few Anglers…More Fish

Humboldt squid, the nectar of the gods for tuna

Endless Season Update August 29, 2010
REPORT #1229 "Below the Border"
Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

As August comes to a close a storm called "Frank" tried to rain on the parade mid-week. There were few guests to care and the locals watched the weather channel and then went fishing as usual. The month which began with the billfish pop, is finishing with the best August fishing in a while.
Because of the lack of anglers, fewer hotel boats have been going out and the light pressure seemed to make the tuna bite even better. There has even been lots of bait including sardina, mullet, caballito, and Humboldt squid.
The tuna drew the most attention, spread out in both direction from a half mile off the coast. Smaller fish were close with the bigger boys underneath the many porpoise schools found in Palmas Bay. Cut up chunks of squid was the hot ticket for chum and out-performed live bait for the larger gorilla-class tuna.
Dorado were mixed with the tuna and spread within two miles of the beach. The average fish caught was around ten pounds. There were limits for the anglers that found the schools…at least two or three per boat per day. One or two big bull in the 40-pound class are being taken daily.
The billfish, blues, stripes and sails, were there for the taking for those anglers that targeted them off the inside and outside banks where there were plenty of tailers and jumpers.

Both blue and striped marlin are biting. Anglers targeting billfish are scoring, very light pressure
While the beach was pretty thrashed by the large swell and wind, mid-week the boats fishing along the shore found the huge bubba-class roosters along with some nice sized pargo and pompano.

Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Offshore the dorado and tuna are right on the color break at 12 miles in front of Lopez Mateos outside of Boca de Soledad. Pay attention…on the run out there are a few sleepers every day and in the afternoon feeders are on the acres of bait on the surface.
There were few fishing the esteros this week but there were reports of smaller snook (under ten pounds) plus a few grouper and pargo.…Bob Hoyt
Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The 80° blue water has moved in a bit and holding steady at around 14 miles. The fishing, even with the full moon phase is not all that bad. The boats are each averaging between one or two fish a day, with the fish being either sailfish or striped marlin. Plus, they are getting and average of one to three dorado each a day. Between the three species, it is making for a decent day on the water.
Even though Hurricane Frank transitioned from a tropical storm to hurricane status right out in front of this coast, it was nowhere near us. We didn’t even get any rain. However, we have been getting more rain in the last weeks from the thunderstorms. September is the month with the most measured rainfall of all the rainy months. As we head into September, it will take two weeks for the roosterfish action to come back around even without any more heavy rains, which is unlikely.
The inshore water is almost completely silted out, with poor visibility and poor fishing along the beaches up and down the coast. This is very evident by looking at the chlorophyll section of the Terrefin Satellite photos. Wherever a river or stream outlets into the ocean, a mass of green water is also being pushed out in front of them. The larger the river, the larger the green mass.

Fly fisher Steve Baldikoski from Los Angeles fished a day with Cheva and me on the panga Dos Hermanos II. We found some barely 'okay visibility' water up near Troncones and Buena Vista, but that even shut down around noon. Steve only managed to hook a 20-pound class jack crevalle, which broke the 17 pound test leader, and a couple of small black skipjack tuna. …Ed Kunze
Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582
Cabo San Lucas


Some sailfish have been showing up as the water has gotten warmer. Most of them have been found on the Cortez side around the 95 and 1150 areas by boats working those same areas for blue marlin. There have also been quite a few striped marlin in the same areas, strange since the water is so warm there. As far as the big fish are concerned, the blacks are still out there as several in the 400-pound class have been caught this week at both the Gorda Banks and the Inman Banks, mostly by boats hoping for a large tuna. The same areas have been producing quite a few small blue marlin in the 200-pound class as well.

Yellowfin tuna remained consistent with some quality fish in over 100 pounds being found in the San Jose area between the Gorda Banks and the Inman Banks, but most of them have been smaller, ranging in size from 15 to 30 pounds. These same size fish have been found elsewhere as well, with fish showing from the south by the 1,000 fathom line to the San Jaime Banks area.
While that action has not been wide open, everyone who has gone looking for them seems to have been able to catch a few. There were some decent fish over 100 pounds found in small pods of porpoise to the southwest of the 95 spot, and there were even more fish in the 60- to 80-pound class as well, so it is looking better for the larger tuna this year.
I fished the Pacific side for dorado this week as a guest of a client and we released three under 10 pounds and kept four fish of about 12 pounds. All of these were found close to shore, within two miles of the beach.
A scattering of wahoo were reported this week and strangely enough the best area seemed to be just along the drop-off in front of Cabo San Lucas Bay and just to the north of the arch, between there and the lighthouse. The fish averaged 40 pounds and while not every boat got bit, those that put in the time had some action as a reward.
The large swells are still inshore! Roosterfish action was down once again due to the storm swells but quite a few pangas made the run to the Gorda Banks to fish for tuna or stayed out in front working the water for dorado..…George and Mary Landrum

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