Magdalena Produces Swordy

Offshore action at Magdalena Bay included a swordfish on 30 lb. line one of two baited.


Endless Season Update August 01, 2010

REPORT #1225 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

The Bisbee Black and Blue produced more fish than had been predicted. The winning fish, a black marlin was caught the first day and weighed in at 581 pounds, the other two winning fishe were 441 and 377 pounds. There were over 40 blues released over the three days. Striped marlin and a few sailfish action remained consistent with most boats targeting them finding at least one.
Tuna action was close to shore in front of La Ribera for the smaller fish. Further offshore there were some larger fish to over 100 pounds beneath the porpoise.

Dorado action were mainly smaller fish with an occasional bull up to fifty pounds. Inshore once again this week the larger roosters continued to dazzle the clients with some 30 – 50 pounders to take a shot at.

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Offshore action included a swordfish on 30 lb. line one of two baited. Yellowtail and white seabass out at San Lazzaro and reportedly some dorado around the shark buoys. Inside the bay it was a mixed bag with nothing spectacular, but plenty of variety. The weather has warmed up but with calm winds in the morning and afternoon breezes…Bob Hoyt
Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The 83° blue water is still lingering between the 16 mile and 20 mile marks as the result of the large volume of fresh water coming out of the rivers from last week’s hard rains.

The boats are averaging 1 to 2 fish a day each in the blue water, with the fishing probably affected mainly by this week’s full moon period.
Not many boats were fishing this week either, with a lot of excellent captains staying at home for several days. Early in the week, and before the full moon, Santiago on the panga Gitana only fished 1 day in the blue water releasing 2 sailfish and a striped marlin. The second day he fished inshore, catching1 nice rooster.
Adolfo, on the panga Dos Hermanos, fished two days in the blue water this week, releasing 2 sailfish and a striped marlin. Adolfo has mostly been fishing the inshore this week, as the stained waters from last week’s rains are clearing up a bit. Due to the turbidity, and the decreased salt content along the shoreline, the bait and roosterfish have moved off the beach and into deeper water. They are hanging out in the 30 to 50 foot deep water, requiring a down rigger or diving plane to get a live bait down to them. He has taken 14 roosters in the last two days.
To me, this is an interesting phenomenon. Adolfo may not understand the science of it, but he has enough experience he was able to find the fish. Last week’s heavy rains not only pushed a lot of silted and stained water out of the rivers, but it was fresh water, which also lowered the salinity content along the shoreline. The fresh water is lighter, so it sits on top the salt water.
Plus, the fresh water near the surface is stained a murky brown, but below it is clear and clean water. The closer to the shoreline, the less saline the water, as the depth has decreased. So, as Adolfo found out, a surface popper is only making for a long day and wearing the caster out, but moving 100 to 200 yards offshore, and going down deeper with a live bait, is producing. …Ed Kunze
Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582

Cabo San Lucas

After a stupendous report last week, things dipped down a bit this week. Catches were not as good, mainly due to greener water moving into the area and the temperature dropping somewhat, sending the fish in search of better conditions. So we had a few slow days with things starting to now rebound somewhat, with bluer water. The bait being used is not ideal; mullet, which although a very hardy bait, living longer in the bait well, is not the first choice of marlin, who prefer mackerel, scarce at this time. Still striped marlin was the number one catch in Cabo with fifty three percent of charters catching between one and three marlin in a day, with a few sailfish mixed in. Those boats that did get “skunked” usually saw fish but couldn’t get them to bite, or hooked up but couldn’t register true a release, with the fish mouthing the baits only, or not staying on the line for very long.

Dorado catches were in second place after marlin this week with twenty nine percent of boats catching between one and five fish, with some as large as 50 lbs, like the one caught on “Tracy Ann” on a petrolero lure. Others ranged from 18 to 30 lbs and took a combination of live bait, green and petrolero lures- found from the 11.50 to Punta Gorda. Tuna catches were at twenty three percent with catches of between one and seven fish. “Attitude Adjustment” had the largest tuna of the week a 70 lb fish on July 26th, plus two others around 30 lbs at the 95 and 11.50 spots. What we did get excited about this week, were the roosterfish; we had several really large ones. The only other smaller game we had was a few jack cravelles and a couple of cabrilla.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record….the weather is still off….much cooler than normal on the Pacific, we also had a surprise thunderstorm and some rain on Sunday. Cortez side is warmer but not as it should be. Skies mostly clear and sunny, seas calm… Tracy Ehrenberg

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