Wind is King

Endless Season Update January 16, 2011

REPORT #1241 "Below the Border"
Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

East Cape

Obviously the organizers of the this week's "Lord of the Wind" event held at East Cape have some pretty good weather intel. It has been basically blowing most of the week which took care of any fishing. However, when it ceases the fishing will come back to the forefront until the next blow…it goes with the territory at East Cape this time of year. Want to know more about the event?  Here is a link. http://www.lordofthewindbaja.com/

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Baja's brand of winter is currently in full force at Magdalena Bay. Water temps are in the mid to low sixties, so forget about exotics unless yellowtail and grouper qualify as exotics on your list. Good fishing for them on most of the banks beginning a few miles outside of the bocas'.

Inside the corvina are the leaders of the pack, eating practically anything put in front of them…also grouper, pargo and of course more than enough bay bass.

Even the whales are not arriving in the numbers that are hoped for by the locals.

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

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The fishing for sailfish can only be described as being way down when compared to other years in the past. This is supposed to be our best couple of weeks of the year, but with two to three sailfish per boat per day, the numbers of fish just aren’t here. Is it that the illegal long lines are finally taking their toll in Mexico? Or, as most captains are saying, is it due to a cold current coming in way early this year? I am thinking the lack of conservation is taking its toll, with the captains closing their eyes, crossing their fingers, and “hoping” it's the current. There has just been too steady of a decline since I moved here 14 years ago, and the captains have seen it, too.

Along the lines of conservation, I got an interesting email from Roger Reese. His observation on future conservation in the U.S. does have some merit. “In the U.S. conservation is being taken care of by the lack of participation. With the event of the hi-tech X-Boxes, i-Pods , 3g, 4g, cell texting, (and the list doesn't stop there), the next generation has very little interest in the outdoors or nature. Fishing and hunting is down by 5 to 7% annually.”… Roger Reese.

But, lack of participation also means lack of income for fishing and hunting, and it is always the sportsman’s dollars that lead the way for future conservation.

While on the Municipal Pier this morning (Thursday) at 5:30, I was talking to the captains to get a feel for this fish report.  They were trying to “promote” me by saying five and six sailfish a day by, etc. But further questioning, and also by spending the day on the water with fly fishing client Brent Schwarz of Lake Geneva, WI, I came to realize it is a whole different story. More realistic it is two sailfish a day, with most of the fish caught two to four miles offshore, and using conventional gear. It is darn tough with the fly rod right now.

For sure a couple of boats posted fou and five fish days this week, but historically we should have a few boats posting double digit days, with the rest averaging four to five releases.

Also this morning, Adolfo and Cheva on the Dos Hermanos boats told me they have been fishing the inshore all week. They both told me there are lots of sierras and green jacks, but the jack crevalle and roosters are scarce...Ed Kunze

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

Cabo San Lucas

Let's see, a private ten-boat tournament for striped marlin and on the first day only one was caught.  And that one was caught close to home.  Tell's the story of our marlin bite for the week.  There are a few being seen but not many of them will bite.  This has to be the slowest marlin action I have seen in years.

There were scattered YFT's.  Sometimes we could find them out past the 1,000 fathom line to the south, other times just four miles off of the lighthouse on the Pacific side.  The key was to be the first boat to find the fish, then you had a chance.  If you were not the first boat then your chances were really lowered.  None of the fish this week were large fish, the biggest I heard of was 35 pounds.  Most of them were in the 12 to 20 pound class with an occasional school found that averaged 20 pounds.  Many of the boats were flying tuna flags for bonito.  There were plenty of them around due to the cooler water.  Average size for them was 4 to 5 pounds with an occasional school of 15 to 20 pound fish. 

Once in a while a dorado in the 10 to 12 pound class was caught, but these appeared to be stray fish, and were found close to the beach.  There were no concentrations found this week, not even under floating debris.  Cold water normally equals slow dorado fishing and that is what we are seeing now. 

Just like last week, as usual this time of year, lots of wahoo flags are flying everywhere and people are getting excited.  Then they are educated about “Mexican Wahoo.”  Lots of sierra, but nothing really big, mostly 2 to 5 lbs. 

On one day, off the next, or maybe it was just a matter of the right place at the right time, but the sierra bite was either wide open or non-existent.  Personally, I think the schools were moving around really fast and if you could not find them in one spot, you had to cruise the beach fast in order to find out where they were.  Once you got into them, limits were easy to get, but the fish were small at 2 to 5 pounds.  The yellowtail bite was fair, with fish that are small by northern standards but decent by ours at an average of 12 pounds.  A few grouper and amberjack rounded up the inshore catch reports except for an abundance of bonito.…George and Mary Landrum

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