No Limit to Limits

Endless Season Update September 19, 2010

REPORT #1231 "Below the Border"
Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

Late summer yellowfin tuna meet their match with Cassandra one of RBV's tenacious lady anglers.

September continues to promise limits for many anglers looking for a late summer yellowfin tuna fix. Often the first tuna will be a short distance from your hotel. Admittedly they are small but a good warm up for the bruisers lurking under the porpoise schools farther offshore. Hook the right…wrong one??? And you will find yourself laying in a Jacuzzi nursing a margarita with barely enough energy left to lick the salt off the glass.

You might find the plentiful dorado more to your liking as they put on a show leaping about.

Once you have limited out there is always the billfish option which currently offers , stripers, sailfish or an occasional blue or black.

Inshore the roosterfish action remains some of the best recorded in years and the pompano or pargo are waiting to rock your world.
Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Like most of Baja Sur there are very few anglers in the house. Offshore a steady parade of boats fleeing the slow California season are traveling down the coast. Local info about the many marlin and tuna twenty or so miles above San Lazaro have Captains working out their timing so they can arrive in the area at gray light.

Meanwhile, closer to shore, small yellowfin tuna and firecracker yellowtail are thick ten miles outside the Boca.

Esteros are expected to improve over the next few weeks as shrimp season goes into full swing. With few anglers it's hard to gauge how good the fishing is right now. There are reports of decent sized groupers, pargo and even a few snook...…Bob Hoyt

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

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

Due to the heavy rainfall we normally experience in September, the 82° to 84° blue water has been pushed out past the 1,000 fathom line and at about the 32 mile mark.

No doubt the fishing was slow this week with few boats going out due to the lack of tourists. On a trip to the Centro Mercado today (Friday), I checked out the local catches by the commercial pangueros. There were a few yellowfin tuna, dorado, and striped marlin fillets, and not much else.

When I pulled up the Terrafin Satellite photos for the blue water (chlorophyll), it was incredible how much brown stuff was coming out of the Rio Balsas about 45 miles to the North of us, and brown water is worse than green. It is actually reaching areas we fish for sailfish and tuna from Zihuatanejo…Ed Kunze

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

Cabo San Lucas

Most boats releasing one billfish per day, others more. Most of the fish have been Striped Marlin, but there have been a lot of small Blue Marlin caught as well, fish between 180 to 280 pounds, and a few larger fish to 500 pounds. Many of the fish have been found on the Pacific side of the Cape with the effort being most intense for the Blue Marlin between 10 miles off the lighthouse to the ridge between the San Jaime and the Golden Gate Banks. The Golden Gate and the area off of Los Arcos have been producing most of the Striped Marlin, with more seen than caught!

Tuna action continues inconsistent, one day there are plenty, the next they are gone. Of course, if you are the one in the right place at the right time it seems there is no end to them. The problem of course, is finding them in the first place. Most of the local banks produced some with an occasional toad of over 200 pounds. They have been the exception however, most of the fish found have been between football size to school fish, between 8 and 20 pounds for the most part.

There are plenty of dorado, averaging size 10 pounds with a few in the #30 class, but they are easily found. Fly rod action on these guys was great it was catch and release until your arms dropped off, and the excitement of having one of the big ones show up in the chum line made for some great action.

Wahoo went on the bite this past week. We had one group who hooked multiple fish each day three days in a row, landing at least one a day. The largest was right around 60 pounds and they lost a larger one that day as well, the others were around 35 pounds.

Inshore action roosterfish were the exotic, plus some decent snapper, lots of small skip-jack and baby yellowfin as well as loads of small dorado that supplied most of the action for the Pangas this past week. As well as the usual inshore fish, there were a few nice black marlin hooked by Pangas fishing for larger dorado, so there was always the chance of being surprised!...…George and Mary Landrum

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

September Secret

Endless Season Update September 5, 2010
REPORT #1230 "Below the Border"
Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
Shrimp season is just around the corner and if last year was any indication, the Esteros should light up soon

East Cape

Once again, September keeps its secret! All of the area hotels are nearly empty because September is rumored to be a poor Baja month. It’s too bad, because the yellowfin tuna fishin’ continues to dominate the action throughout Palmas Bay and beyond, producing limits for most. The fish closer to the beach are ranging from football size to thirty pounds. Farther offshore, where the porpoise play, there have been some bruisers that some claimed were approaching two hundred pounds.
The Humboldt squid continues to be a predictable bite in the morning, providing the morning workout for those heading out for the bigger tuna that can't get enough of the chunked squid.
Percentage-wise, the dorado counts climbed a click or two…nothing huge, mostly under twenty pounds. However, about the time the light tackle came out for sport, a big dorado would cruise through the chum and play havoc with the light line.
Wahoo have been putting on a pretty good show early morning tight to the beach from Punta Arena and down beyond Cabo Pulmo Marine Park below Las Frailes.
It seemed to be a bye-bye blue kind of week in the billfish department with mostly stripers and some sailfish offshore up above Punta Pescadero.
There was a little bit of buzz about some huge roosterfish lurking close to shore below Punta Arena at Rincon.
Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Shrimp season is just around the corner and if last year was any indication, the Esteros should light up soon.

Offshore the dorado and tuna remain outside the twelve mile mark. Yellowtail are still hanging out off the rocks beneath the lighthouse at San Lazaro as well as at the Entrada.

So far, the Southern California season has been slow, and we expect more of those boats to be showing up at Magdalena Bay soon as they make their way to Cabo for the October tournament season..…Bob Hoyt

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

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The 80° blue water is at least 30 miles out past the 1,000 fathom curve; the 80° greenish (off-colored) water is clear out to about the 9 mile mark. From 10 miles to at least 30 miles out, the water is clear and clean, but not the desired deep blue we always look for.

The commercial pangeros have found the yellowfin tuna, but they are traveling at least 35 miles each way to get them.

Mecate, on the 35 foot cruiser Aqua Azul, got four sailfish for his clients, but the numbers for the fleet are less than that, averaging one or two sailfish a day per boat.

Besides the sailfish, the main attraction right now is the three to five dorado per boat average. The dorado are running between 15 and 20 pounds, with a few larger fish in the mix. Most sailfish and dorado are being taken around the 12 to the14 mile marks.. …Ed Kunze
Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582

Cabo San Lucas

 

The billfish bite picked up this week. Most of the black and blue marlin were in the 200- to 300-pound range but a few larger fish to 450 pounds were found as well. Striped marlin and some sailfish in the 100- to 120-pound class were also found. With warm water in both directions, both sides of the Cape were producing.
Yellowfin action has finally picked up as larger schools of fish move through the area. Mostly in the 40- to 50-pound range, the fish are associated with porpoise for the most part and getting in front of the moving schools and dropping back bait has worked well. There are still larger fish being found at the Gordo Banks, the Inman Banks, the Cabrillo Seamount, off the Lighthouse on the Pacific side and south of the San Jaime Banks. There isn’t a steady bite, but there are quality fish ranging in size from 80 to 200 pounds.

Dorado finally showed up, close to home. Boats have done very well on fish to 30 pounds with numbers ranging from three to eight per boat. Getting the first one hooked and attracting more to the boat with it was the key.

There were wahoo found in the same area as the tuna; that is, on the banks and sea mounts. Most of the fish were single hook-up with the average size being 35 pounds
The swells were smaller recently so there were more fishermen going after roosterfish, and finding them on both sides of the Cape. Almost any sandy beach area with scattered rocks or that abutted a rocky point, produced fish averaging 25 pounds with an occasional 60 pound or larger fish in the mix. There were also snapper and bonito and dorado to be found. With the good water conditions, many of the pangas were going a bit offshore and focusing on tuna and marlin...…George and Mary Landrum

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