Winter Species Dominate

Endless Season Update January 23, 2011
REPORT #1242 "Below the Border"
Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

There were mostly windy days at East Cape with a few less windy day interspersed in between. The inshore winter mainstay, the sierra action, has even slowed way down as the water temperatures continue to fall. There was a good pargo snap in front of Rancho Leonero for a day or two and then it disappeared.

There have been some sketchy reports of a few dorado outside of Punta Pescadero. Beyond that there is not much to talk about offshore mainly because there are few visiting fishermen interested in taking a boat ride offshore.

You know its winter when the most successful event held inshore is something called  Lord of the Wind. I don't think that you will find many anglers who are inclined to put their fishing rods away and take up kite boarding.

However, when the wind 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.

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Continuing with the winter theme again this week. Yellowtail action is off the charts at all the local banks and the Entrada. With the local pangueros focusing primarily on whale watching there is not much information about current fishing conditions indside the bay.

A group locals from East Cape including Mark and Jennifer Rayor found cool but nice weather on their annual break at Cancun down at the southern end of the bay.

According to Mark the area is growing quickly. He also reported the last few miles a road into the fish camp situated bay side was in poor shape with lots of soft sand.

Fishing was good for the usual list of bay bass, grouper and even some small flat rascals (halibut) for the grill.

Lastly Success and Vagabond, two San Diego boats that based out of Lopez Mateos for the past several months headed home after a productive season.

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

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

With this full moon phase, the fishing has kind of put on the brakes. The 80ｺ clean water is still holding at about 6 miles, but the fleet is averaging only 1 to 2 sailfish a day, per boat. There are still a few dorado out there, and a few blue marlin are being raised.

The fish are here, but just off their feed for the majority of the boats. A couple of the good captains are finding the active fish however, with Santiago on the super panga Gitana releasing 7 for two days of fishing for his clients. And, just a couple of days before that, Adolfo on the panga Dos Hermanos, released 11 in two days.

When I asked Adolfo about the inshore action, his reply was very slow.  ...Ed Kunze

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

Cabo San Lucas

Striped marlin action has still been extremely slow. On the positive side, there are a few fish out there, and at least some of them are willing to bite if you get a bait in front of them. The fish that have been seen have been scattered around, from the inshore water on the Pacific side to the offshore water on the Cortez, and everywhere between, indicating that the bait has been scattered as well.  Normally we find concentrations of marlin where there is bait. No such luck on either count for us the past couple of months though, except for a few scattered days. On another positive note, there was a small blue marlin reported, one that was estimated to be 180 pounds. 

The yellowfin tuna bite has been off again and on again, one day here, the next day there, and occasionally nowhere! Recently there were fish found at approximately 15 miles to the southwest, outside the 1,000 fathom curve below the San Jaime Bank. Not a lot of fish, but at least the boats that found them early got into some decent action. The fish have not been large, mostly footballs, but some in the 30 pound class have been mixed in there as well.

With the cool water, the dorado have packed their bags and moved south. A few of them could not find their luggage and got hungry, so we have been seeing a couple of flags here and there.

Most of the wahoo got free tickets to travel to warmer climes, getting discounts on seats by buying in bulk. That's my story and I am sticking to it. Only three of these speedsters were caught that I heard of, and all of them were when the full moon was up. All the other “wahoo” flags I saw were for sierra.

There have been roosterfish close to the beach on the Pacific side past the lighthouse early, as well as off the beach on the north side of Chileno on the Cortez side providing action. Also there has been a good amberjack bite off of almost all the points. The most common inshore catch has been sierra, and the bite was good on them for the boats that targeted these fish. A scattering of yellowtail to ten pounds rounded up the inshore action..…George and Mary Landrum

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