The three/four routine

Endless Season Update December 12 2010
REPORT #1237 "Below the Border"
Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

Time to grope a grouper at Magdalena Bay

East Cape

December is when East Cape falls into the three/four routine. Some weeks its three days of north wind and four days of nice weather, other weeks the reverse. If you arrive and the kite boarders are smiling, it has probably been a four day wind week…which has been the case recently.

The good news is often the wind doesn't crank up until mid-morning and if you play the ‘early bird gets the worm’ game, chances are you’ll get the sierra along and a few small jacks and maybe an occasional small rooster. If you are lucky and hit the no-wind stretch, the inshore fishing should provide a few small dorado and tuna with a few skipjack mixed in.

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Flat calm weather on the outside allowed a few boats to reach the Thetis bank resulting in good catches of grouper and yellowtail. Also reported football sized YFT's as well as a few marlin leaping about. Sounds like a end of the season report not a "its about to happen one".

Also received a report from Dennis Braid returning from Hurricane bank, upper zone and inner banks. Good fishing for tuna and wahoo for his "Monster Fish" show nothing approaching the Mike Livingston catch weighed in earlier in the month. Apparently the entire ridge has rolled over and is cold and off-color (green) and in some places as cool as 54°

Esteros continue cough up some grouper and corvina but the wily snook seemed to have taken a powder.

Already beginning to see a few whales in the neighborhood.…Bob Hoyt

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

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The 80° deep blue water has moved to about 15 miles off the beach, but the action has been very good, with most fish being taken in the clean water between the 14 and 18 mile marks.

Early in the week Gord Roberts fished with Noe Martinez on the panga Porpy for two days. Gord has been coming here for several years and always fishes with Noe, who is one of the less known captains here, but right up among the best. On the first day they fished about 8 miles in front of the White Rocks and got 4 sailfish. The second day they went north up near Troncones fishing the inshore. They got numerous small sierras, green jacks, a couple of jack crevalle, and a nice red snapper. Most of the fish were taken on a Rapala trolled on a diving plane. On the way back to port, they got two nice dorado.

Chuck Stratton of Las Vegas and fishing partner Scott Wargo of Dallas fished two days with Cheva on the panga Dos Hermanos II. Chuck described it as “We had a great time with Cheva! Caught 5 sailfish and 2 dorado in 2 days! One sail approached 120lbs...largest sailfish I have ever caught!”…Ed Kunze

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

Cabo San Lucas

Striped marlin are being seen but catching them is the tough part. A very lucky boat may get one or two releases, but that is a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Of course this means spending a lot of unproductive, boring time focusing in one area, an area where you know there are fish, and hoping that they suddenly go ‘on the feed’ for a few minutes, or where you travel constantly hoping to come across a new batch of fish that are hungry.

Yellowfin tuna averaging 15 pounds continue to be the best bet as schools of football and a bit larger fish up to 35 pounds move in and out of the area…sometimes as close as four miles out and sometimes as far as 25 miles out. Consistent action is one thing, but consistent location is another. These fish have been moving, and moving quickly so the area that produced in the morning may not be in the same area in the afternoon. This has made for some frustrating days, but when you do get into the fish, it has been great. Along with the football-sized a few have been as large as 100 pounds.
Dorado remain scarce with only a few boats coming in flying multiple flags, and those have been for fish that have averaged 12 pounds. A few larger fish have been found in the offshore waters, but the majority have been found close to the beach and they have been the smaller fish.
Among ten boats fishing a small local tournament for tuna and wahoo, only one small fish of 12 pounds was brought to the scale. Several days before a 80-pounder was reported and the day of the tournament one boat lost seven fish in a row because the leader was bitten through. This shows me there are still fish out there, but tackle rigging is the key to success on these fish.
Sierra have taken over the show for the inshore fishing, but some yellowtail are beginning to show up as well. While not large, the sierra have been there in numbers and it was not a problem for most boats to limit out on them quickly. Yellowtail were a bit larger, but still on the small side at an average of six to eight pounds. A few amberjack along with good catches of bonito and skipjack rounded up the inshore action.…George and Mary Landrum
Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191