Finishing Well

Endless Season Update December 26 2010
REPORT #1238 "Below the Border"
Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

Mostly smaller fish with maybe one out of five being a keeper.

East Cape

As a capper on an unusual season, good fishing seems to be likely.  Nearly perfect weather greeted the handful of boats that have been going out recently. The buoys on the drop-off outside of Punta Pescadero have been producing consistent dorado catches, mostly smaller fish with maybe one out of five being a keeper but they are providing action throughout the day.

Also a few sails and striped marlin are around…more than the number of anglers who are out looking for them.

Another crowd pleaser is the large bonito found throughout the bay. They are definitely large enough to provide a memorable tussle. Then there are the sierra that have been getting the locals up early to catch the sunup bite which is usually the best.

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

With more whales continuing to arrive, Magdalena Bay is settling into its wintertime routine. Nice-sized white sea bass are being caught outside the Boca. Thetis is still producing yellowtail and grouper for the few boats willing to make the trip.

The esteros remain productive for the few takers interested in spending a few hours fishing there..…Bob Hoyt

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

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The 80° blue water is just a short run of six miles out of Zihuatanejo Bay. There seems to be plenty of fish, but the full moon has made them picky and not very aggressive. Mike Bulkley of the super panga Huntress told me, “We fished every day and released five sailfish total.  Lots of fish sighted from 6 to 20 miles, but they were short-striking and not coming back on the bait.  Same story with the two marlin strikes we had.  Four out of five sails were caught before 7:30 a.m.,  before the sun even hit the water.”

Cheva, on the panga Dos Hermanos II, and Adolfo on the Dos Hermanos, have been hitting the inshore hard all week with their clients from France. Cheva is fishing 16 days straight with his client, and Adolfo 25 days. These European anglers are such fanatics they got off the plane, took a taxi to the pier, jumped on the boat and went fishing; luggage and all. They checked into the hotel when they got back from fishing.

Both boats have been doing basically the same thing and concentrating on points south from Valentine to the Antennas. They are getting lots of very large jack crevalle (20 in one day for Cheva’s clients), large sierras, and black skipjack tuna. They did get a couple of roosters on a long run down to Puerto Vicente Guerrero, but not any others within a reasonable day’s charter…Ed Kunze

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

Cabo San Lucas

Striped marlin were an on-one-day, off-the-next, then on-again event this week.  Just before the water turned, the bite was great with plenty of fish being seen in the Migraino on the Pacific sid;, then overnight the water turned over and became cool and green. Poof, they were gone.  Two days later they were back but would not bite.  Next day, gone again, but appeared five miles off the lighthouse and were biting well. Almost all the action took place on the Pacific side of the Cape.

Yellowfin tuna was a very on/off fishery this week as the schools moved constantly.  One day they were four miles off the beach to the south, then next day 25 miles out and the following day over on the Pacific side just inside the San Jaime Bank.  I did not hear of any large fish but there were decent fish to 35 pounds caught.  If you were in them at the right time all the lines would go off and you could limit out fairly quickly.  It also helped if you were one of the first boats there! 

The cool water has really shut down the dorado bite even though a few fish are still being caught.  They are being found in the warmer water but the number of fish is down quite a bit.  The size has averaged 12 pounds with a few fish larger and smaller.  The area around Punta Gorda and San Jose seems to be holding more fish than elsewhere, but the warm water to the southwest of the Cape has its share as well.

It seems as if sierra were almost the only fish to be found in numbers as the pangas concentrated on the beach areas on the Pacific side.  The boats fishing the Cortez side did well on a variety of fish, from dorado to small yellowfin and little roosters as well as lady fish, needle fish and skipjack.…George and Mary Landrum

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