Fall is in the Air

Fishing for the big blues or blacks reduces tuna fishing to simply catching bait

Endless Season Update October 19, 2010
REPORT #1233 "Below the Border"
Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

Fall is in the air…very pleasant weather, with highs in the high 80's.

The best fishing has been north of Pescadero with most boats targeting billfish, and releasing at least a couple per day. There are a few more sails than stripers although there are still a few blues around. One of the 'Lets Talk Hookup' tournament boats released seven sails and three stripers in one day!

The dorado bite has been off and on, with some good action off Punta Colorado as well as off the buoys between Cerralvo Island and Pta. Pescadero. Large schools south of Vinorama, 35 miles from the hotels produced ten to fifteen-pound tuna with limits for all anglers. Recently tuna fishing has been mixed with lots of skipjack in the same areas as the yellowfin. Outside large schools of porpoise are holding big tuna, very line-shy this week.

A few wahoo were taken and lots were broken off around the buoys and all the way south of Vinaramas, close to shore.

Overall a very good dorado bite. Most were being taken closer to shore, from the light house south to Pulmo Park boundary. Larger dorado mixed, with some big bulls are being taken off the buoys between Pescadero and Cerralvo Island with smaller ones from five to twenty five pounds inside.

Inshore has been good with very light pressure…especially good fishing around the jetties at the new Riviera Marina entrance. The dorado are being taken very close inside. Lots of smaller roosters in the 5 to 15-pound range are being released. Sierra (earlier than usual), pargo and big pompano are coming in daily.

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

 

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

 

Still enjoying excellent wahoo fishing with limits every trip. Plus there are plenty of 20 to 30-pound tuna to round out the trips. Even though the marlin are still being seen every day, none of our clients have wanted to target them.

Closer to San Lazaro, there has been steady action for both grouper and quality yellowtail.

Inside the bay there are sierra, corvina, grouper and a few smaller snook for the few fishing there.…Bob Hoyt
Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The 85 degree blue water is around the 25-mile mark. Not many boats are making the run, and are staying within the 12-mile areas, picking up an average of a sailfish and three 15 to 30-pound dorado a day.

Adolfo, on the panga Dos Hermanos, has been doing well for his clients fishing inshore. He has been getting a lot of action on sierras and mid-sized jack crevalle. The jacks are averaging 5 to 10 pounds. Both the sierras and jacks provide great light line and fly rod action.

Martin, on the cruiser Gaviota, fished the areas from two miles off the beach to about 12 miles. His clients picked up seven dorado, thee chulas (a 3 to 6-pound tuna with teeth and white meat), and several barriletes (black skipjack tuna) for two days of fishing.…Ed Kunze

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

Cabo San Lucas

There were still plenty of striped marlin being found with most of the action happening on the Pacific side around the Golden Gate. While not red hot, there has been a fairly steady bite.

The yellowfin tuna action remained steady for boats fishing for football-size up to 20 pounds in size, particularly around the Gray Rock area and the Santa Maria area during the tournament days. The largest tuna of the Los Cabos Tournament was 209 pounds and was caught by a friend of ours, who will not give any details about where or how, except to say the fight took two hours, and was caught on a panga!

The charter fleet did very well on dorado this week but I was surprised that the largest dorado caught during the Los Cabos Tournament by a tournament boat was only 31 pounds. Perhaps it was the areas that were being fished because most of the big dorado (and the large numbers) came from near-shore area on the Pacific side.

There were plenty of wahoo reported this week and some boats were able to get multiple fish in the box, but you had to leave early for the first bite. Working the bottom contour at first light with lures around the 300 foot line seemed to work well for several boats. The fish ranged between 30 and 50 pounds.

Inshore fishing produced roosters to 40 pounds; some nice-sized sierra and a scattering of snapper were reported from the Pacific shoreline this week. The snapper have been tight into the rocks, but our small swells have made it easier than normal to get in there and toss a live bait. Most of the pangas fishing for the dorado have been focusing slightly offshore.

If you are getting your own fishing licenses, you must have pesos!!! The people who sell the licenses around the marina can no longer take dollars from anyone. Get pesos!George and Mary Landrum

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

Mag Bay Wahoo Wake Up

Endless Season Update October 03, 2010
REPORT #1232 "Below the Border"
Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

I have lived full-time in Loreto and spend a lot of time fishing here and have always done very good.....But nothing like this!!

East Cape

There was a little stutter in the action when a tropical storm breezed over the top of East Cape, but by the time October arrived, the fishing roared right back to life. Football-sized tuna to eighty pounds were caught by anglers with much larger ones lost after long tedious battles that were won by the fish.
Meanwhile nice-sized dorado to twenty pounds were being taken.

Inside of ten miles, the sailfish and stripers were biting and there were enough surprise blue bites to make it tough to decide which tackle to use.

Inshore action remained good for a variety of species including roosters, small jacks, lady fish and pompano though there were more school-sized and fewer Bubba-class fish.
There were a few larger fish seen from the beach but they were tough to get to.
Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Greg Gordon, Baltazar Sequires and Gerardo Ferrand sent this report: "The best fishing trip of our lives. I have lived full-time in Loreto and spend a lot of time fishing here and have always done very good.....But nothing like this!! Two days catch includes: 12 - Wahoo - 50 to 86 LBS, 14 - Dorado - 15 to 40 LBS, 25 - Yellowfin Tuna - 15 to 35 LBS, 9 - Yellowtail - 20 to 35 LBS and 3 - Whale Shark Rides at break time! Your experienced crew, accommodations and service is unmatched anywhere in Baja! Thanks again and we will see you soon! Greg Gordon....…Bob Hoyt


Just like that the wahoo kicked off the season on the Thetis and those in the know are there in a heartbeat. According to the few boats fishing the bank there were stripeys in zone as well. Lance Peterson raced up from East Cape and filled the cooler in one day with six nice-sized wahoo. He also added that he was bit within a minute of dropping the Marauder in the wake.

Inshore? I forgot to ask…

I swung by the following day and he passed off a fillet.
Later that night I delivered it to Jill and Jonathan Roldan to be prepared at their terrific Tailhunter Restaurant in La Paz. In no time, it was back at my table prepared two different ways. I had one of the most delicious seafood meals I've ever had! It's no wonder their restaurant is so popular!
Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

There is not much to say about this week's fishing. The 83° blue water is still out at the 1,000 fathom curve (30 miles), but there is clean water within 6 miles of the beach.
There are very few people fishing and tourism is slow. Most of the captains are taking the opportunity for their annual maintenance of the boats. They are pulling them out of the water for new paint, bottom paint, repairing last year’s dings in the fiber glass, etc.
The one bright note is the heavy rains we experienced this year have let up and the rain season is just about over. This will bring the blue water back close to the beach, and most of all, clear up the inshore waters for our anticipated excellent action for roosters..…Ed Kunze
Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582

Cabo San Lucas

The water warmed right back up and with it came the big marlin. Last Sunday a blue marlin was weighed in at 780 pounds, and there was also a reported 1,200 pound blue marlin brought in. That last fish has not been confirmed by me as I just heard about it yesterday in the evening. There have been plenty of nice fish in the 200 to 300 pound class as well, and there have been striped marlin found on the Pacific side in the slightly cooler water.
There has been little change in the yellowfin tuna action. The fish have been found in all the usual places, the Outer Gordo Bank, the Inman Bank, the 1,000 fathom line on the Cortez side, 40 miles to the south, south of the San Jaime Bank, and just the other day we had a brief showing of decent fish just five miles off of the lighthouse on the Pacific side. Most of the fish had been football-sized, but those off of the lighthouse had fish to 120 pounds, and those off of the banks have been producing occasional fish that were that size and even larger. Almost all of the larger fish on the banks have been caught on live bait, while around half the fish found offshore in the porpoise have been lure-caught fish.

Good-sized dorado remained decent with an average weight of around 18 pounds with lots of fish in the 30 to 35 pound class. We had one angler land a bull dorado that weighed over 50 pounds, possibly as large as 60 pounds, along with several others in the 30 pound class, and they released plenty more. Most boats were able to get limits of these fish without trying hard.

A few wahoo were caught, but the bite has remained sporadic. They were caught either on the high spots or found offshore while looking for tuna.

The pangas were fishing near-shore from 100 feet deep to around five miles from the beach due to flat water conditions and the numbers of dorado to be found so most of the inshore action consisted of dorado, roosterfish and jack crevalle, with an occasional snapper or grouper. Almost every boat there was able to limit out if they wanted. George and Mary Landrum

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