REPORT #1265 "Below the Border"
Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
After a month of hot water and by all accounts,
slow fishing, the much awaited cooling of the sea temperatures has finally
begun. Remembering the old saying about being careful what you ask for, the
cooler water that was hoped for, was brought about by or closely followed by,
an early dose of north wind. While that may be good news for arriving kite
boarders, it's a bummer for fishing.
But not so fast! The
wind seems to be what the doctor ordered.
While the tuna seem to have disappeared, the dorado are suddenly hanging
out around the shark buoys…I think this is the first time this season I could
say that with conviction. Plus…drum roll
here… the striped marlin and sailfish are back in the game. How long will it
last? I wouldn't dare guess, but it is
fun-fun-fun fishing for the moment.
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
We received two 'on the spot' reports:
"We fished the ridge last Saturday, Sunday and Monday. It was very slow. We heard a few reports of boats getting a wahoo or two, but we had no 'hoo hookups. Got three dorado, and a YT on the dropper, along with some small grouper. Had a marlin strike that missed. Saw about eight marlin and may have had shots at them but we weren't really interested in that. We talked to many groups of fishermen, and many locals. No one spoke of seeing tuna in quite a while, and the quantities mentioned did not gel with what I had been hearing."
The second report was from George Landrum who helped bring a boat
down from Ensenada:
"Mid-morning we were at the mid-point on the Ridge north of
Mag Bay and the wind finally died down, the water calmed and also started to
warm up a bit. We had left Ensenada with green, 64 degree water and by the time
we reached the upper Thetis Bank it had turned much more blue and had warmed up
to 72 degrees. With the water warm, clean and much calmer we proceeded to put
four lures out and made a pass on the Thetis. This resulted in catching the
owner his largest wahoo to date, estimated at 65 pounds! Several more passes
resulted in no more strikes so we continued on to the lower Thetis Bank. This
area had plenty of striped marlin and we had a fish in the pattern constantly.
The owner was fighting one when another one swam right up to the transom and
Carlos quickly dropped another lure in the water. With the swivel at the rod
tip and 10 feet of leader, he swung the lure back and forth a few times and the
second fish bit and hooked up! Thankfully it only stayed on a few minutes then
jumped off and we were able to leader and release the fish the owner had been
fighting.
Wanting to arrive in Magdalena Bay before dark we continued on and
spotted some shark buoys. Making a few passes with the lures we were
able to bring several dorado on board to join the wahoo already in the freezer.
We then powered up and ran into the bay, anchoring up for the night at the Man
of War anchorage. With the underwater lights on we caught a few live mackerel
for bait the next day and caught some shut-eye.
Up again early, our plan was to head straight out to the
deep-water ledge and see if we could find some tuna for sashimi. As we were
exiting Mag Bay we spotted several areas where the mackerel were feeding and
caught another dozen to put in the live bait tank.
We spotted a frigate bird and caught a dorado about 20 minutes
out, then under another frigate 45 minutes later we had a sailfish come in on a
lure and hook up. A short fight resulted in a release at the boat. The rest of
the day was uneventful until we spotted more buoys on the way in and caught
three more dorado, then had a wahoo strike just off the beach on the way into
anchor for the night."
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
Cabo San Lucas
The billfish have picked up, more striped marlin are being
caught, and the sailfish numbers are remaining up there also. They usually feed
with the dorado, but have heard reports of the sailfish being caught alongside
the yellowfin. No reports of any large blue or black marlin, but there were
some in the 100 to 200 pound range.
Tuna! Tuna! Tuna! I want Sushi! Lots of tuna around which is
a good thing with the Western Outdoor News Tuna Jackpot coming up this Thursday
and Friday. Most of the tuna I have seen coming in however have been in the 30
to 40 pound range with a few in the 60
to 100 pound range. There are reports of 200+ pound fish jumping, but
couldn't get them to bite. Tossing ballyhoo, mackerel, cedar plugs, they just
wouldn't bite. Whoever figures out what they want will make some money this
week if they are in the tournament!
Lots, and lots of dorado again. If you are trolling inshore,
they are hard to miss. A lot of small ones; I even saw someone with a 2 pound
fish the other day. Normally, those are thrown back, but this one didn't make
it. Most of the fish are in the 8 to 15 pound range with some hitting the 30
pound mark.
There have been a few wahoo flags recently…fish in the 30
pound range. Not usually many this time of year.
The water temperatures are staying warm, so still some nice
roosterfish around, snapper, groupers; almost November, but I haven't seen any
sierra yet. The dorado fishing is also good close to shore…George and Mary
Landrum
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