Polls Lean Toward Fish

Endless Season Update 10/29/2008
REPORT #1138 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape
Just to set the record straight, daylight savings time officially ended in Baja last Sunday morning, one week earlier than in the United States.
Today is picture perfect in East Cape, exactly how you would expect it to be in late October.
In the billfish sector, the sailfish led the way this week, spiking the action up to a handful of shots a day with a few stripers and even a very occasional blue showing.
Dorado action went off five miles from the beach, while tuna rounded out this week’s catch. Some of the luckier boats in the right place at the right time caught as many as five tuna up to 100 pounds.
The continuing swells from the north winds dirtied the water along the beaches. Still, there was enough bait to attract small roosters and jacks to keep things interesting.

Water temperature 76-84
Air temperature 71-88
Humidity 87%
Wind: NNW 10 to 13 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:23 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:42 p.m. MST

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Jan Forszpaniak, Naples, Florida, displays one of his many dorado released while fishing at Magdalena Bay
The tuna bite was outrageous on the fly! Kurt Ransohoff of Santa Barbara and Tom Lorish from Portland, Oregon, ended their trip with limits of thirty pound fish, though at a price. Several of their flylines went south and at least one 12wt was a couple of feet shorter. After each of them caught their first marlin on the fly, they left planning Magdalena Bay planning their next trip.

Along with the marlin, the dorado did show on bait balls out towards the Thetis bank.
Shrimp season is in full swing in the Esteros. Several areas including Santo Domingo and Devil’s Curve began to produce several small snook and some leopard grouper up to ten pounds.

Bob Hoyt

Water temperature 78 - 85
Air temperature 71 -87
Humidity 87 %
Wind: NW 11 to 14 knots
Conditions: Mostly Clear
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:33 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:48 p.m. MST

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The full moon, and last week's hard rain, slowed the fishing down this week. The blue water had moved out to the 20 mile mark, and the inshore water was discolored by the heavy runoff out of the rivers.
This next week looks very promising. The rain season is all but over, and we are getting out of the moon phase. There was not much action this week, with the boats averaging less than a sailfish a day each. A few dorado showed in the counts, and this could develop into a decent bite as the current lines become more defined.
A few small roosters were reported, but finding a decent stretch of clean water made for a lot of fishing, and very little catching.

Ed Kunze

Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 74-93
Humidity 84%
Wind: E 8 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 7:44 a.m. CST
Sunset 7:16 p.m. CST

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: Striped marlin were in abundance if you were fishing either on the Golden Gate Bank or just to the inside of there. We had groups this week that were doing double-digit fish every day, between 12 and 15 striped marlin releases per day, and a few that were in the two or three per day range. If you were in the right place at the right time with the right equipment the fishing was outstanding. Live bait was the key for the large numbers, and finding the bait balls was the most important thing of all.

As far as the blue marlin and black marlin were concerned, the catch numbers from the Bisbee tournament speak for themselves. One hundred forty one (141) boats fishing three days makes for 423 fishing days; catching two fish over 300 pounds means one decent fish per 212 days’ of effort. Of course if you were the boat that was across the board in the jackpots and caught a 313 pound marlin on the last day, you were not complaining about taking home a check for over two million dollars. Sigh.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: There were more yellowfin caught for bait for the Bisbee tournament than between all the charter boats combined. Having 60 boats all tossing out cut sardinas and live chum in a very small area tended to concentrate the bait and the tuna. Yellowfin to 15 pounds were caught in decent numbers every morning right in the middle of the bait along the drop-off. Farther offshore there were fish showing amongst the Dolphin, and they were ranging in size from 20 to 120 pounds. Smaller lures than most of the boats were pulling, I mean lures from 6 to 10 inches in length and in darker colors resulted in decent numbers, but live bait dropped in front of the moving schools resulted in the larger fish.

DORADO: There were plenty of dorado out there this week and most of them were pretty close to home. The area between the Cape and Los Arcos on the Pacific side put out the largest numbers of fish, but the average size was down a bit from last week, with 10 pounds being the average size. There were still many fish in the 25-35 pound class, but there were very large numbers of smaller fish as well. That bodes well for the next month as these fish can gain as much as 5 pounds per month in weight.

INSHORE: There were some small Rrosterfish to 15 pounds with the average around 8 pounds caught this week. Live mackerel were the main bait used and most of the fish came from fairly close to home, between the Hacienda Hotel and the Chileno Bay. Most of the Pangas were concentrated on the dorado bite instead of the traditional inshore species.

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 73 - 85
Air temperature 73 - 93
Humidity 87%
Wind: NW 6 to 8 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:23 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:44 p.m. MST

North Winds…Already

Endless Season Update 10/22/2008
REPORT #1137 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

Still unsettled, conditions have been frustrating. One day the dorado turn on, then the next day it’s the tuna. In both cases it is mostly small fish with an occasional larger one showing up, (dorado to 50 and rumors of tuna to 150). The most consistent bite has been the Humbolt squid.

Meanwhile the billfish action is scattered with some boats running as far as 40 miles to find them.

Along the shore, it’s jacks, roosterfish and some early sierra as the North winds begin to cool the water.

There was a report of a 650 pound black marlin caught 3 miles off the beach near Rancho Leonero.

Water temperature 76-82
Air temperature 74-92
Humidity 81%
Wind: NNW 8 to 11 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 7:20 a.m. MDT
Sunset 6:46 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

The wahoo, dorado and tuna action was WFO! Quality sized fish and only a few miles above Cabo San Lazaro. But the marlin seemed to have been scattered by Norbert’s wind. Finally, a few were found late this week.
With light pressure, the Esteros produced a few mangrove snapper, grouper and cabrilla. There were also a few sierra on the surface along with a few smaller corvina.

Bob Hoyt

Water temperature 78 - 85
Air temperature 73 -94
Humidity 95 %
Wind: WNW 10 to 14 knots
Conditions: Mostly Clear
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 7:26 a.m. MDT
Sunset 6:59 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The full moon, and last week's hard rain, slowed the fishing down this week. The blue water had moved out to the 20 mile mark, and the inshore water was discolored by the heavy runoff out of the rivers.
This next week looks very promising. The rain season is all but over, and we are getting out of the moon phase. There was not much action this week, with the boats averaging less than a sailfish a day each. A few dorado showed in the counts, and this could develop into a decent bite as the current lines become more defined.
A few small roosters were reported, but finding a decent stretch of clean water made for a lot of fishing, and very little catching.

Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 77-87
Humidity 83%
Wind: SSW 5 knots
Conditions: Cloudy
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:40 a.m. CDT
Sunset 7:24 p.m. CDT


Cabo San Lucas

The Bisbee Black and Blue began Wednesday morning with 141 boats to compete for just under $3 million.

BILLFISH: There were still plenty of striped marlin at the Golden Gate Bank but as the days went along the bite dropped off. Early in the week boats were releasing five or six fish on a good day, but by the end of the week, a two fish day was a good one. The fish were still there; you could see them on the depth sounder and on the surface, but they were not biting as well. Farther to the north at the Finger Bank, the same situation was occurring, but there the difference was in the baits available. At the Finger Bank, the marlin were feeding on sardina, but because they were so focused on the small fish, they would often just ignore a mackerel or caballito.

On the big fish front, there were quite a few medium-sized blue and black marlin released, with the majority of them being blue marlin in the 200-250 pound class. The Los Cabos Billfish Tournament, held over three days, had only one qualifying marlin caught, a 415pound black that ended up taking all the jackpots for the three days as well as the big fish prize, a nice total of over $500,000 U.S. Saturday was the first day of the two-day little Bisbee tournament, with only 20 something boats entered. With the 415 pound black being caught on the Outer Gorda Bank on live bait, every boat in this tournament was there fishing the same way. There were two fish weighed in on Saturday, the largest was a 385 pound Black. The other fish did not quite make the grade, weighing in at a short 295 pounds, five pounds shy. The winning fish on Sunday was a 514 pound black…same area, same method.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: This was almost a repeat of last week’s results with most of the fish caught being found to the south of the San Jaime Banks among porpoise pods. The first boats on the fish did well with catches ranging from 6 to 10 fish with an average weight of 20 pounds, the larger fish going 30 pounds. If you were the third or fourth boat on the scene you might get one or two fish; if you were later than that you were out of luck. There was one very nice fish caught this week during the Los Cabos Tournament, a yellowfin weighing in at 181 pounds, but I could not get the information on where or how it was caught.

DORADO: The number of dorado being caught this week fluctuated day to day, but overall the numbers are down a little bit unless you went far up the Pacific side. The passing of Hurricane Norbert left quite a bit of debris in the water, but the inshore current changed and at a movement of 2 knots, pushed the debris to the north and out to the west. Locally the best bite has been on the Pacific side from 2 to 4 miles off the beach. Finding feeding frigate birds in that area was a sure indicator of dorado and slow trolling live baits under the birds, or pulling lures in the area usually resulted in hooking up, with the fish averaging 12 pounds. I did hookup one nice dorado this week, in the 50-pound class, but it got away after charging the boat like a marlin. The largest dorado caught during the Los Cabos Tournament was 57 pounds.

WAHOO: I heard good things this week about wahoo up around the Punta Gorda and Inman Banks, with quite a few of the local Pangas getting one or two fish in the 40 pound class each day. They were getting good results on swimming plugs like Rapallas and Marauders, and there were a few large fish hooked up as well. The largest wahoo brought in during the Los Cabos Tournament weighed in at 44 pounds.

INSHORE: Almost every Panga captain I talked to this week was working off the beach for dorado and striped marlin. Only one fished the beach and he told me that the roosterfish bite was off, releasing only three small fish outside of the Westin Hotel on the Cortez side.

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 73 - 91
Air temperature 73 - 95
Humidity 98%
Wind: NW 4 to 6 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 1 miles
Sunrise 7:30 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:53 p.m. MST

The Curse of the Camera

Endless Season Update 10/15/2008REPORT #1136 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

Whew….according to this morning’s weather the coast is clear for the first time in several months.

Several folks arriving in the past few days provided the following road report:
“The road just north of Loreto is fine. There were crews cleaning much of the mud that was on the road. We left Loreto at 5:40AM Tuesday and made it to Los Barriles around 11:30AM. The road was passable all the way down. There was some water on the roadway in a couple of spots but no problems. According to the government the road from La Paz to Ciudad Constitución has 11 damaged areas, from Ciudad Insurgentes to Loreto.”

Before Norbert, Jim Sammons owner of La Jolla Kayaks, arrived with his kayak armada and a camera crew to record their exploits on the kayaks. Jim, reported Jeff Schweitzer hooked an estimated 250lb. blue marlin and fought it for over five hours before he released it.
And then the wind blew keeping them off the water for four days. They finally did get back out and managed to score with a few nice catches including a dog toothed snapper, amberjack and a 25+lb. roosterfish.
Hmmm…maybe anothercase of “The Curse of the Camera!”

Water temperature
76-87
Air temperature
72-91
Humidity
93%
Wind:
NNW 11 to 15 knots
Conditions:
Sunny
Visibility
9 miles
Sunrise
7:17 a.m. MDT
Sunset
6:52 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

We had some roof damage on the cabins at Whales Tale that have already been repaired and we are good to go.
Offshore fishing has picked up where it left off with wahoo pouncing of the jigs up above Cabo Lazzaro toward the Thetis Bank. The commercial shark fishermen are reporting plenty of marlin sightings in the same area. Tuna in the thirty-five pound class are being found under numerous bird schools.

Our anglers ignored the Esteros this week opting to take advantage of the offshore action.

Be sure to read Pat McDonell's Blog on his recent trip to Magdalena Bay

Bob Hoyt

Water temperature
78 - 84
Air temperature
73 -94
Humidity
95 %
Wind:
WNW 11 to 15 knots
Conditions:
Mostly Clear
Visibility
3 miles
Sunrise
7:26 a.m. MDT
Sunset
6:59 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

On Saturday of this last week we had 6 inches of rain in a 24 hour period. The wake of a storm generally helps the blue water fishing, but we are also up against a full moon this week. This last couple of weeks had been very good in the blue water.
Today's results were a bit of a mixed bag. Some boats got fish, and others did not. The pattern seems to be those boats that went looking for the blue water found game fish, and those boats that stayed with last week's pattern did not. The storm, and the huge influx of fresh water coming out of the rivers, pushed the blue water out to the 24 mile mark.
And there is a definite line of demarcation between the clear water and the deep cobalt blue water. Mike Buckley on the panga, Huntress ,was telling me today they got 3 sails and a nice 20 pound dorado. Their sails came at 17, 20 and 22 miles. The dorado hit right after they crossed into the blue water.
The inshore is now starting to clear up again, but I expect it to be another few days before the roosters turn on.

Ed Kunze

Water temperature
80 - 84
Air temperature
77-87
Humidity
83%
Wind:
SSW 5 knots
Conditions:
Cloudy
Visibility
10 miles
Sunrise
7:40 a.m. CDT
Sunset
7:24 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: The beginning of the week saw a continuation of the hot Striped Marlin bite we had been having at the Golden Gate and the Finger Banks. As I write this we are waiting to see if the storm conditions caused the fish to move off as we have several boats out fishing today. Our fingers are crossed that with the port being closed for several days, and the lack of rain in our immediate area, we will have given the fish a break and they will be ready to eat when our clients get to the grounds. There were a few more Blue Marlin caught early in the week before the weather moved in, but none of them were large according to what I heard; most of them were in the 200-250lb. class. Almost all the action on billfish this week occurred on the Pacific side with the exception of a few Blue Marlin up around the Punta Gorda area.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: Early in the week reports were coming in about a few nice schools of Yellowfin Tuna to 50 pounds outside of the San Jaime Banks, and to the south of the Banks. There were a few fish caught by the first boats on the scene at the Golden Gate Bank as well.

DORADO: Once again there were still some decent Dorado to be found with the average size a bit smaller than expected at 12 pounds, but the number of fish was down as well. Most boats were happy to get three to five fish per trip; the exceptional catch may have been 10 fish if the anglers were lucky enough to get into a school of fish. There is a decent chance that the rains from Hurricane Norbert, as it passed across land to the north, may have washed out a lot of debris from the arroyos and we may have some decent concentrations of Dorado under this floating debris in the coming week. The California current should bring this debris into our area in three or four days.

INSHORE: Early in the week the inshore action was decent with small Roosterfish to 15lbs. and an occasional 40-50lb. fish being caught on the Cortez side of the Cape. Bottom fishing was poor so most of the Pangas were working several miles off of the beach for Dorado and Marlin.

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature
73 - 91
Air temperature
73 - 93
Humidity
82%
Wind:
ESE 9 to 12 knots
Conditions:
Sunny
Visibility
11 miles
Sunrise
7:17 a.m. MST
Sunset
6:54 p.m. MST

Here Comes Norbert

Endless Season Update 10/08/2008

REPORT #1135 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996



East Cape
The 14th storm of the season, Norbert, is weakening a little but is still considered a major hurricane. It is predicted to make landfall somewhere in the vicinity of Magdalena Bay midday on Saturday. The storm is expected to pass by out to the west of East Cape, but most of the boats at the hotels have been pulled. Apparently, Odile, another tropical storm is making its way up the Mexican coast as well.

Billfishing was an “iffy” proposition again this week with only a few sails and even fewer stripers. There were a couple of blues reported. Last weekend’s La Paz Gold Cup attracted 71 boats for the two day event with only two fish being caught; only one fish qualified at 214 pounds winning all the marbles.

The dorado and tuna action from the preceding week evaporated this week. A few lucky anglers landed a few here and there.

The best action for the week was inshore from La Ribera to Punta Colorada for rooster fish, pompano, bonito and lady fish.

The roosters were still small, but ladyfish and a few small jacks could also be found with the sardina and mullet. We found our best action near the rocks on both sides of Punta Colorada Hotel.

Water temperature 76-87
Air temperature 75-91
Humidity 73%
Wind: S 7 to 9 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 15 miles
Sunrise 7:14 a.m. MDT
Sunset 6:59 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Everyone is preparing for the storm, Norbert, which is expected to come ashore somewhere near here. Offshore fishing remained good preceding the storm with wahoo, yellowfin tuna and still a few small yellowtail. More yachts are arriving each day and they reported marlin from the ridge on down to the Entrada.

With little pressure on the Estero action, the catch has included corvine and small sierra in the open water. Near the mangroves there were leopard grouper and a few small snook along with some mangrove snapper.

Bob Hoyt

Water temperature 78 - 84
Air temperature 75 -95
Humidity 73 %
Wind: WNW 6 to 8 knots
Conditions: Mostly Clear
Visibility 14 miles
Sunrise 7:23 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:06 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

With the blue water only 8 miles off the beach, the fishing is continuing its trend from last week, and actually improving on it. Martin on the Nautilus told me "mucha pesca" Which translates to good fishing.

The yellowfin tuna are still too far out for the sport fishing fleet, but the commercial pangeros are getting them around the 45 mile mark. Plus, a few blue marlin are showing again in the counts this week. Dorado are being taken, but not as many as we thought would develop after the rains from a couple of weeks ago.

Yesterday (Wednesday) Jason Baig, of Wichita KS, fished with Captain Margarito on the Gaby. They were back at the dock by noon with 8 sailfish raised and 4 released. Margarito fished the area between 10 to 12 miles out.

There is also excellent action on the roosterfish all up and down the coast

Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 74-90
Humidity 93%
Wind: SSW 5 knots
Conditions: Cloudy
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 7:36 a.m. CDT
Sunset 7:29 p.m. CDT


Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: One of our clients this week ended up fighting a Blue Marlin for 4 ½ hours before getting the tail-wrapped fish to the boat. It came in on a short rigger lure and the guys dropped a live bait back to it, thinking it was a Striped Marlin. The battle took place on a fairly light bait rod and since the fish died, they took it to the weigh station. It was a nice Blue of 376 pounds! There were a few others caught this week as well, but the big noise around the docks has been the influx of Striped Marlin. Last week it was looking real good but you had to go 50 miles for double digits, this week the Golden Gate Bank started to turn on and the run was much shorter. Boats working the Pacific side between the lighthouse and the inside of the Golden Gate were hooking two or three fish per trip while trolling and casting to tailing fish or fish raised on the lures. Boats working the Golden Gate were dropping bait deep and drifting across the high spot or running to birds dropping down on fish. The problem with running to the birds was the large numbers of whales and dolphin. The Gate was producing double digit catches with one boat getting a three-day total of 33 Striped Marlin as well as several sailfish. The Finger Bank really started popping this week as well, but the fish were not right at the finger, instead the concentration seemed to be five or six miles to the north, just around the flats at the wrist. Talk about double digit fishing, one of the fleet boats reported releasing 45 Striped Marlin in one day! I hope it keeps up for a while.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: There were some Tuna out there but they were scattered. Most of the action on larger fish switched directions with the area around the Cabrillo Seamount on the Cortez side producing fish in the 50-60 pound class for a few boats that checked the area out. The Pacific side outside of the San Jaime Bank still produced fish in the 15-40 pound class under pods of dolphin. In both areas live bait produced the larger fish with small dark colored lures working on the smaller fish. When the fish became shy and the bite slowed, switching out to small pink hootchies tied directly to the line, let out 150-200 feet and jigged with sharp pulses while slow trolling worked.

DORADO: There are still decent numbers of Dorado out there but it was not the fish of the week this week, instead the title went to Striped Marlin. The bite slowed on Dorado and the size seems to have dropped a bit as well with the average fish coming in at 12 pounds. There are still fish of 30 and 40 pounds being caught, but not in the numbers of the last few weeks. Another possible reason for the lower catches might be the Marlin action, with most boats concentrating on these fish. There was decent action on the Cortez side for Dorado as well with good reports coming from boats working the Punta Gorda area, fish averaging 15 pounds with four or five fish per trip.

INSHORE: Roosterfish action was still to be had if you were in the right place, at the right time, with the right bait; this week that meant the beach off of La Laguna on the Cortez side, right at the start of the drop off of high tide, and using live mullet. A few boats reported fish to 60 pounds with a lot of medium 20-35 pound fish as well. The best report I heard from one boat was 11 releases in a trip. Other inshore action was sparse as most of the Pangas worked off the beach for Dorado and Striped Marlin.

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 73 - 91
Air temperature 75 - 97
Humidity 77%
Wind: ESE 9 to 12 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 7:14 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:00 p.m. MST

Tuna and Hot, Hot, Hot Weather!

Endless Season Update 10/02/2008
REPORT #1134 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
A few quality tuna to sixty pounds were down Las Frailes way and chunks of squid once again did the trick. Not wide open, but enough to provide sashimi for everyone. School was in session beneath all the debris for the small dorado. Billfish action has slowed with only a few bites here and there. There are still a few blue bites to be found for the dedicated angler but there is a lot of boat riding in between.
Inshore action seems to be spread all along the coast. Roosters, jacks and ladyfish are providing the best action, Find the bait and it’s great; miss it and you will have to wait. Look for the sardina or mullet schools.
Beach action included small roosters and an occasional shot at a ‘bubba’ class fish. Take heed! It has been one hot mother on the beach, which means you need to drink lots of liquids and use plenty of sun protection.
Tropical storm “Marie” seems to be tiptoeing out to the west.

Water temperature 76-87
Air temperature 73-94
Humidity 92%
Wind: WSW 3 to 5 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:11 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:05 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Billfish action seems to be spread all the way from Thetis to the Finger bank below Punta Tosca. (see Cabo report). Wide open wahoo action can still be found from the Thetis and back toward the flats of Cabo Lazzaro. Still plenty of small yellows, football sized tuna and skipjack from eight miles outside of Boca de Soledad.

In the Esteros the grouper, mangrove snapper were the best bet with an occasional corvina on the surface.

Bob Hoyt

Water temperature 78 - 84
Air temperature 76 -97
Humidity 98 %
Wind: WNW 10 to 14 knots
Conditions: Mostly Clear
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 7:20 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:13 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

Things have turned around a bit this week. There are still very few people fishing, with only about six boats a day making up the total fleet, but all the boats are scoring on fish.
Talking to Adolfo on the panga Dos Hermanos, with the inshore waters clearing up, he is back to doing well on the roosters again.
Martin, on the cruiser Nautilus, said every boat fishing the blue water is getting between 2 to 3 sailfish a day average, with two blue marlin also being taken today (Wednesday). At a bit less than 200 pounds, the blues were on the small side, but marlin are not a normal catch for this time of the year.
Plus, there are more dorado showing up, and we hope to get more action from them in the upcoming weeks. The majority of the dorado are only about 12 to 13 pound school sized fish, but they can be a lot of fun on the fly rod or light line.

Ed Kunze

Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 74-90
Humidity 85%
Wind: SSW 5 knots
Conditions: Cloudy
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 7:37 a.m. CDT
Sunset 7:34 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin bite has turned on, at least if you are willing to travel 50 miles to get to the fish. Realize that if you do this, the boat will likely charge a fuel premium for the trip. The Finger Bank turned on this weekend with several boats reporting multiple numbers of fish there. Captain Tony Nungary on “Tony’s Machine” had 17 releases in 2 hours while fishing a private tournament and Captain Jay Bush reported 22 releases but spending a bit more time in the area. Reportedly the fish were not feeding on bait balls but were being hooked on trolled lures and on dropped back baits. If this action continues we may have a repeat of the awesome action of last year. The Golden Gate Bank also had good action on Striped Marlin, but not quite the numbers of the Finger Bank as most boats working the southern edge were getting bit on deep dropped live baits, not covering much of the water but working around the deep bait balls, dropping, drifting across for 15 minutes then pulling the baits up, running back up-current and dropping again.
YELLOWFIN TUNA The Tuna action this week was considerably slower than last week. According to Mike Tumbrillo, the owner of the 31’ Bertram “Renegade Mike”, his crew searched several days but were not able to find the big fish that had made an appearance last week. There were schools of fish in the 30-40 pound class to the west of the San Jaime Bank as well as 30 miles to the southwest, but the big boys were absent. Boats willing to go the distance did fairly well, averaging 2 to 10 fish per trip. Cedar plugs and green or dark colored lures run close to the boat worked well, with a few of the larger fish biting on live bait dropped back after a trolled lure hook-up.
DORADO Once again, just like last week, Dorado was the fish of the week. While not everyone caught their limit this week and there were a couple of slow days, the numbers were still good and the average size of the fish was decent. Most of the fish were found on the Pacific side of the cape but the reason was most of the boats headed that way looking for Tuna and Marlin, the Dorado were not the target for most of the boats this week. Reports from the few boats that went north on the Sea of Cortez were that the Dorado were there as well but you had to find the concentrations. A few boats did this by fast trolling lures until getting a strike, then chumming in the school with chopped up skipjack.
INSHORE: Captain Victor on the Panga “Santi” reported that there were still Roosterfish to be found on the stretch of beach between the arch and the Pedregal. His clients released two fish of about 25-pounds each along with several smaller one during the middle of the week. Most of the Pangas were fishing just off the beach for some of the large numbers of Dorado, and they were doing very well. Bottom fishing was reported as being a bit off with the majority of fish caught being triggerfish

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 73 - 88
Air temperature 75 - 97
Humidity 96%
Wind: WNW 5 to 6 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 7:12 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:07 p.m. MST

Dorado...Dorado

REPORT #1133 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Action is spread out from La Ribera all the way below Las Frailes. Small dorado close to shore but only a few of the larger fish that had been so common a few weeks ago. Best quality tuna and dorado is down below Las Frailes south of the Distiladera half way to Punta Gorda with some football sized a few miles outside of Cabo Pulmo.
Billfish action seemed to be mostly sailfish with a few striped marlin mixed in but spread all over the bay
The big squid are still thick just a short distance off the beach. Most of the fleet is loading up on them before heading out.
Water temperature 76-87
Air temperature 74-93
Humidity 86%
Wind: WNW 11 to 15 knots
Conditions: Mostly clear
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 7:10 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:10 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Very few boats out this week, but reports indicate it was great for billfish, dorado and small tuna. Still the early morning wahoo bite at the Thetis but you needed to be on the spot at gray light.

Inside, leopard grouper, a snook or two and mangrove snapper dominated the catch. Still some halibut were found on the shallows off the sandy beaches.

Bob Hoyt

Water temperature 60 - 77
Air temperature 75 -96
Humidity 87 %
Wind: WNW 11 to 15 knots
Conditions: Mostly Clear
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:18 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:17 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

We have almost an exact repeat of this last week. Few anglers, a one sailfish average per boat per day, and ditto for the dorado. But, we did have some inclement weather in the first three days of the week, with light rain, cloudy skies, and enough wind to make the fishing conditions a bit on the miserable side.
The blue water is still very close and only about 3 to 4 miles off the beach. The inshore water is still stained, due to heavy rains in the mountains swelling the rivers with a large volume of silt laden water.

Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 73-92
Humidity 83%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 7:36 a.m. CDT
Sunset 7:38 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: I said in the last report that it was beginning to look good for the Striped Marlin fishing and this week proved it to me. We had a client fishing on Saturday who released 11 Striped Marlin and lost a Sailfish in the vicinity of the Golden Gate Banks. Not only that, but he also kept 7 nice Dorado while releasing many more. Most boats were getting at least one or two Marlin releases per day this week. Most of these fish were a result of throwing live bait at tailing fish, but a few were caught on lures being pulled for Dorado. There were also a couple of very decent days of Blue Marlin fishing. Wednesday captains on the fleet boats reported hooking up with at least three nice Blues while a private boat reported releasing one as well. Most of the Blue Marlin action occurred between the 95 spot and the south end of the San Jaime Banks.
YELLOWFIN TUNA While the Tuna action this week was not hot and heavy, there were some nice fish found. One of my friends, while fishing on his boat, “Private Reserve”, hooked a double header while working a Frigate bird. The first fish took the #50 class reel into the deep backing; the second fish didn’t do much at first. The first fish ended up being a nice 50-pound Yellowfin. After landing it he picked up the rod on the second fish and after a one-hour fight he managed to boat a very nice #175 Yellowfin (and he was nice enough to give me a chunk for sashimi, thanks Tiff!). There were boats that managed to get into schools during the week, but the runs were normally at least 30 miles as the concentrations that were found were outside of the banks on the Pacific side.
DORADO Absolutely no doubt about it! Dorado were the fish of the week. If you were not getting your limit this week, or at least catching all you wanted to catch, you were in the wrong place! The correct place to be was anywhere within 10 miles of the shore on both the Cortez side and the Pacific side, with the better concentrations on the Pacific side. Slow trolling live bait, working Frigate birds or trolling 6-8 inch brightly colored lures all worked well on fish that averaged 15 pounds. Almost everyone (with the exception of a few greedy crews) were releasing anything under 10 pounds, and still limiting out.
WAHOO There were a couple of nice Wahoo to 60 pounds caught this week, but I did not hear of any large numbers. The fish that I know about were caught on the Pacific side by boats fishing for Dorado.
INSHORE: There was some decent Roosterfish this week with fish that ranged to 30 pounds, but not any large numbers on fish that size. The Cortez side of the Cape had the best fishing for bottom fish such as snapper and grouper, but there were no large numbers of anything except triggerfish. With the nice water we had, most of the Pangas were working outside for Dorado and Marlin, and doing quite well with them.
George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 73 - 88
Air temperature 74 - 93
Humidity 63%
Wind: WNW 5 knots
Conditions: Mostly Sunny
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 7:11 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:10 p.m. MST

September Surprise: Giant Humboldt Squid

Endless Season Update 09/17/2008
REPORT #1132 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape

The water south of Punta Arena is a little off color, but in Palmas Bay it is Caribbean blue and 85 degrees. With the better weather, sailfish and small dorado are on the bite from Pulmo to La Ribera.
And another September surprise is the giant Humboldt squid are making a good showing, Chunked into cubes, they make a great bait for the yellowfin tuna schools…mostly found from above Punta Pescadero all the way down to Cabo Pulmo.
Inshore and along the beach, the water has cleared up and there are plenty of schoolie-sized roosters with some larger ones mixed in.

Water temperature 76-87
Air temperature 71-92
Humidity 55%
Wind: ENE 5 to 6 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 7:06 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:20 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

With the better weather, the offshore action has picked up. Good striper action on the Thetis; if you get there early enough there may be a wahoo or two. Closer to Cabo Lazzaro there are plenty of dorado and small yellowtail.

In the Esteros the action consisted of corvina, grouper and a few mangrove snappers.

Bob Hoyt

Water temperature 60 - 77
Air temperature 70 -90
Humidity 58 %
Wind: WNW 11 to 15 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:14 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:28 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

Fishing has been relative slow here this last week. Part of the blame is the fishing has actually been slow, but the main reason is there are very few charters going out fishing to find the concentrations and areas of fish. We have only 4 to 5 boats a day on the water, including both the inshore and offshore.
Boats are averaging about 1 fish sailfish per boat per day, and even though the 20 pound plus dorado are averaging 1 fish per day per boat, if you hit the right floating log, at the right time, the action can be fantastic.
There were no reports on the inshore action, but last week's 3 inches of rain, while not intense, kept the rivers flowing and the inshore waters stained.

Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 77-92
Humidity 65%
Wind: SW at 9mph
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 1 miles
Sunrise 7:33 a.m. CDT
Sunset 7:52 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: Striped Marlin continued to bite even though the water remained in the 84-degree range. It did not take much of a search on Friday to find the fish, they were still holding in the same area as last week, mostly on the Pacific side closer to shore, most within 7 miles of the beach. There was a concentration of fish on the Golden Gate Bank; that bodes well for next week as well. There was a scattering of Sailfish in the catches as well, and they were from the same areas. The Blue Marlin did not appear at the end of the week, hopefully they will start to show in numbers soon.
YELLOWFIN TUNA On Thursday and Friday there were reports of Yellowfin to 60 pounds being caught to the west side of the San Jaime Banks, but few fish reported from other areas.
DORADO Still mostly being caught on the Pacific side, the Dorado have been striking well on medium sized lures in brighter colors. Live bait dropped back behind a troll hooked fish resulted in many doubles on fish that averages 15 pounds with a few in the 40-pound class. Spotting the Frigate birds swooping on flying fish was the key to steady action on Dorado after the storms.
INSHORE: The swells kicked up by the storms made inshore fishing very iffy, most of the Pangas preferred to go out 5 miles or so for Dorado. A few of the Pangas that worked inside on the Cortez side reported decent action on Roosterfish to 35 pounds, nothing hot and heavy but steady fishing with live Mullet and Cabillitos.
George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 73 - 88
Air temperature 71 - 93
Humidity 45%
Wind: WNW 11 to 14 knots
Conditions: Mostly Sunny
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 7:07 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:21 p.m. MST

Dorado Heats Up as Lowell Dampens Update Sept. 14…

Endless Season Update 09/10/2008
REPORT #1131 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Update Sept. 14… Friday skies were blue and it was business (fishing) as usual. Marlin action still was dismal. Dorado action picked right back up and while few boats have been going out the ones that did had good scores. Yellowfin tuna were there but mostly small fish. It is probably going to take a few days for the beaches to clear up and be worth checking out.
As predicted, the dorado action heated up in the wake of Karina. While most were schoolie-sized there were a few larger fish mixed in. By the weekend another tropical depression “Lowell’ entered the picture. After heading out to the west, Lowell made a hard right turn back toward Southern Baja. During the storm, few boats that have gone out today delayed until 9:30 when the rain quit. As soon as the storm passes we would expect the dorado action to resume.
The tuna action had slowed somewhat before the weekend as well.
Inshore the water is off color from the wind waves caused by TD Lowell.

Water temperature 76-87
Air temperature 74-91
Humidity 90%
Wind: S 14 to 20 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:04 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:27 p.m. MDT


Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Another week of rain kept most of the boats close to home this week. According to some of the commercial pangas the yellowtail, dorado and small tuna were still in the same area near Cabo Lazaro but no one was out to fish them.

In the Esteros, the combination of stormy weather and big tides prevented any fishing at all this week.

Bob Hoyt

Water temperature 60 - 77
Air temperature 73 -90
Humidity 100 %
Wind: NW 18 to 24 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 7:12 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:36 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

With the recent rains, the blue water has moved out to the 15 mile mark, with a distinctive weed line defining the separation of off colored water and the blue water. The demarcation line is also holding game fish.
Martin, on the 35 foot cruiser Nautilus, fished the weed line for this last 5 days straight, averaging at least one 20 pound plus dorado and 2 sails a day. His 5 day total was 11 sailfish and 6 dorado.
September is usually the wettest month of the year for us, but most of the rain comes at night, with the fleet being able to fish every day so far. The only problem we had with the weather this week was, due to the heavy outflow from the rivers, the inshore water was murky. Plus, the waves along the shoreline this week were very high. These two conditions combined for very tough roosterfish fishing.

Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 73-93
Humidity 83%
Wind: calm
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 7:33 a.m. CDT
Sunset 7:52 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin continued to bite this week, surprising everyone since the water is so warm. The Sailfish showed up as well, not in the numbers as on the mainland but everyone had shots at multiple fish this week. I did not hear of anyone getting hooked up to big Blue or Black Marlin this week. Most of the Marlin action took place in the band of cooler water along the shoreline on the Pacific side while the Sailfish were in the warmer water just outside. Live bait got the most attention form the striped Marlin this week, but you had to be quick or the Dorado would take the bait before the Stripers got a chance to chew.
YELLOWFIN TUNA We had good Tuna action this week on fish that ranged between 15 and 150 pounds. Most of the fish were between 30 and 50 pounds but the same schools were delivering #150 fish on drop-back baits or deep drifted live baits. The school fish were hitting almost everything, feathers to Blue Marlin lures worked but the best action was on the smaller lures in the 4-6 inch size. A few boats loaded their clients with Tuna in the smaller size range by chumming heavily with sardines while in the Porpoise, then drifting with sardines on small hooks with a small piece of lead several feet above the hook. The Majority of Tuna action took place along the warm-cold water boundary on the Pacific side, around 12-18 miles offshore. I don’t know how much longer it will last because a couple of Tuna Seiners showed up on Saturday.
DORADO Definitely the fish of the week, Dorado made a strong showing in our area. From the Punta Gorda area all the way around the Cape to the Todo Santos area on the Pacific the fish were chewing on anything put in the water. Like I said above about the Marlin, there were Dorado taking live bait away from the stripers. Covering the water while trolling at 9 knots located the fish, then dropping back live bait or casting flies to fish following the one hooked on the troll resulted in steady, exciting action. Most of the fish were in the 12-15 pound class but occasional fish ran to 50 pounds.
WAHOO Wahoo made a showing this week offshore around the San Jaime and Golden Gate banks as well as in the open water. They were not large fish on average, just around 30 pounds, but at least they were there!
INSHORE: Large swells made inshore fishing a bit uncomfortable during the middle of the week, but boats that targeted them did well on Roosterfish averaging 15-25 pounds. Slow trolled Mullet and Sardines worked for the Roosters. Most of the Pangas were doing well on Dorado and we had one friend get a $150 pound Tuna while fishing on a Panga, as well as others to #50 and plenty of Dorado.

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 73 - 88
Air temperature 75 - 90
Humidity 92%
Wind: WNW 17 to 23 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:05 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:28 p.m. MST

More Fish than Visitors

Slow retrieve tricked this Lookdown

Endless Season Update 09/03/2008
REPORT #1130 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
You don’t have to go far to find the small tuna…just a few miles off of La Ribera. There have also been some larger ones found deeper in the water column and ‘schoolie’ dorado are scattered all the way from there to the lighthouse.
Farther out off of Punta Pescadero there have been some schools of larger tuna under the porpoise schools.
Billfish action has been limited to a few blues and stripers, but with plenty of sailfish throughout Palmas Bay. Don’t be surprised if a bull dorado to show up in the teasers.
There are schools of sardina on many of the beaches attracting small jacks and roosters along with the pesky needles.
Beach action was hampered by hordes of needlefish along with off-color water caused by leftover swells from Tropical Storm, Karina.
Tip: When the conditions include off-color water, try slowing down the retrieve speed.
Water temperature 76-87
Air temperature 74-94
Humidity 87%
Wind: NE 5 to 7 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:02 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:34 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

More fish than visitors this week. Outside the dorado, small YFT and wahoo were there for the taking according to the few locals who ventured out. The sprinkling of billfish continues to increase week by week as the season begins to build. Still a good grouper bite, but unfortunately most that are caught go in the back of the fish truck.

Estero action was pretty much the same story…good fishing for corvina, grouper and a few snapper with little or no pressure.

Bob Hoyt

Water temperature 60 - 76
Air temperature 79 -98
Humidity 87 %
Wind: WNW 13 to 17 knots
Conditions: Mostly Clear
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:09 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:43 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

After a very below normal rainfall for August, we had a bit of rain this last week, which caused a lot of debris to come out of the rivers. Late Monday night we got a huge thunderstorm with 2 1/4" of rain in one hour.
This wiped out the inshore waters with stained water.
However, the blue water was only moved out to the 10 mile mark. The sailfish action is decent. Martin on the Nautilus had days of 2, 4, 1, and 3 sailfish starting on Sunday. He also reported lots of black skipjack tuna just off the dirty inshore water.
No dorado or tuna have been reported, but with the debris in the water, the dorado cannot be too far behind.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 77-93
Humidity 88%
Wind: E @9 knots
Conditions: Cloudy Rain
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:32 a.m. CDT
Sunset 7:58 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin bite continued this week with most of the action taking place within 5 miles of the beach on the Pacific side between the lighthouse and the inside of the Golden Gate Bank. Live bait tossed at tailing fish worked on about 40% of the fish seen and a few others were caught on trolled lures. There were plenty of Sailfish to be found as well, we had one client who was covered up with all five lines going off at once on Tuesday, resulting in the release of three fish and the loss of two. The Sailfish were also just off the beach, there seemed to be a good concentration of bait in the area. There were reports of a few nice Blue Marlin this week but they were not biting hot and heavy. I heard of several fish in the 250 pound class being released from the area of the 95 Spot and the 1150 and I am sure there were a few from the Gorda Banks as well.
YELLOWFIN TUNA The Tuna stayed around after the passing of the storm and most boats were able to do well if they stayed on the fish. On a few days it was scratch as scratch can to get bites, but on Saturday when the rain came on hard the fish came to the surface and bit hard for two hours. Most of the fish were in the 25-40 pound class with a few fish reaching 60 pounds. Earlier in the week the bite occurred closer to shore among the porpoise and those fish were both smaller, with quite a few footballs, and larger, with a few fish in the 80-pound class. Lures, especially small feather in dark colors worked on the football fish, and live bait worked on the larger fish.
DORADO Last week I was hoping that the storm would was debris into the water and improve the Dorado catch, but the debris did not happen. The Dorado catch, howev3er, turned on by itself and this week Dorado were fish of the week. Almost any boat that wanted to was able to get limits for their clients (federal limit of two per angler per day) and most of the fish were in the 10-20 pound class. There were some nicer fish caught as well as we had client who caught several nice bull Dorado in the 50-pound class. As with the billfish, most of the Dorado action took place on the Pacific side within 5 miles of the beach, but there were several days during the week when the action was hot and heavy just off the beach on the Cortez side up around the Palmilla area and other rocky points.
INSHORE: The inshore fishing on the Cortez side was very poor this week due to the discolored water, but slowly improved toward the end of the week. On the Pacific side most of the Pangas were fishing for Dorado and Tuna since it was a fishery very close to shore.
George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 67 - 75
Air temperature 77 - 93
Humidity 96%
Wind: W 11 to 15 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:35 p.m. MST

Julio Tip-Toes By

Endless Season Update 08/27/2008
REPORT #1129 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Tropical depression Julio tip-toed by bringing with it a little wind and leaving 3 inches of rain, with even more wind coming from the collective sighs of relief from the locals than the storm.
In the wake of Julio’s departure, we’ve had storybook weather with water temps hitting the high eighties, but the fishing has been described as ‘double tough.’ Offshore it has been a scratch bite for sails and blues, though there were a few small tuna in front of La Ribera on the high spot.
Inshore the water was off color and there was a bit of leftover swell that has kept it stirred up. You had to earn the few small roosters and jacks that were still to be had.
I suspect that part of the problem was the fewer number of boats that went out this week; many cancelled their trip at the last minute because of Julio.
Tip: Following a storm is a good time to find the color breaks; cruise along the clean side and look for debris that may have washed out of the arroyos. In the hot weather, the dorado like to gather underneath in the shade of the debris.

Water temperature 76-87
Air temperature 77-100
Humidity 62%
Wind: WSW 5 to 7 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 6:59 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:41 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Farther up the peninsula, Julio dumped enough rain to flooding parts of Ciudad Insurgentes and parts of Constitución.

According to local newspapers, Julio caused heavy rains in the mountainous area of Comondú, bringing severe floods of water into several towns. The inhabitants of Ciudad Insurgentes found it necessary to place sand bags at some building entrances, several families still suffered heavy material losses.

According to information provided by the commanders of the delegations of Puerto Adolfo López Mateos and San Juanico, access to both communities is impossible by road becasuse of damage from Julio. While there has been flood damage no casualties or injuries have been reported....El Sudcaliforniano August 28th

The day of Julio local boater Bill Earhart caught 2 wahoo in 84 degree water in front
of Punta San Lazaro. Grouper fishing remained excellent up until the day of the storm.
Capt Sergio has been averaging 4 grouper per day in the 50 lb range. Because of the storm damage cleanup fishing was put on the back burner.

Bob Hoyt

Water temperature 60 - 76
Air temperature 74 -96
Humidity 77 %
Wind: WNW 8 to 10 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:06 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:50 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The fishing has been a bit slow this week. With the blue water only 6 miles off the beach, the conditions would seem to be very good, but we have had wind at least 4 days so far this week. The wind has kept the sailfish average down to only about 1 or 2 fish per day per boat, and nobody has been going out farther than about 15 miles to look for tuna.
There are a few dorado showing in the counts, but it is only about 1 boat out of 3 scoring on the 20 pound plus fish.
Santiago, on the panga Gitana, fished inshore one day and had an unusual catch of triple tails. They scored on an even dozen of the 6 to 8 pound tasty fish. He found them off the outlets of the river mouths and hiding under the debris that had washed out from the river.
Roosterfish and jack crevalle action is still holding up with very good action.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 74-92
Humidity 73%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Cloudy
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 7:31 a.m. CDT
Sunset 8:03 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: There were some Blue Marlin caught this week but the surprise of the week was the number of Striped Marlin that ended up biting. The warm water conditions normally keep the Stripers off their feed, but we had several charters that ended up releasing three or four Striped Marlin per trip. These fish were found in the same areas all the other species this week, a band of water no farther out than 30 miles and concentrated on the banks and points. Live bait worked very well this week for the Striped Marlin while almost all the Blue Marlin bites were on lures.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Well, last week I reported on the area where the Yellowfin were being found and they were still there through the first of the week and anglers were doing well on fish to 150 pounds, with quite a few nice ones in the 80 pound class. Nothing lasts forever and on Thursday a Purse Seiner showed up early in the morning and just like that the fish were gone. Fortunately there were other fish scattered around, and a few schools were actually closer to the Cape. Let’s just hope they are still around after the storm passes through and no more seiners move in on us.
DORADO: The Dorado catches remained slow at an average of two fish per boat, and the size ranged from 10 to 20 pounds. Hopefully the debris from the storm will help concentrate the fish and things will improve this coming week or two.
WAHOO: There were a few offshore fish early in the week but no concentrations of Wahoo. I did hear of several of these speedsters that went close to 70 pounds, and they struck on lures intended for Blue Marlin.
INSHORE: Inshore fishing was decent for small Roosterfish and Jacks to 10 pounds, otherwise it was a scratch-fest, most Pangas went further offshore for Tuna and Dorado rather than work the strong inshore current while bottom fishing.

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 67 - 75
Air temperature 75 - 93
Humidity 68%
Wind: N 7 to 9 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 7:01 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:41 p.m. MST

Football and Wasabi?

Needlefish are a big nuisance

Endless Season Update 08/20/2008
REPORT #1128 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

The large number of small football sized tuna up and down the coastline from Las Arenas to Cabo Pulmo has caused a shortage of wasabi to go with the sashimi being served in the hotel bars at happy hour.
Dorado action is either big or little, depending on who’s talking. Basically for the ones catching plenty, the size is small. If you find the bigger ones, you are lucky to catch one or two.
Few bills collected this week with the exception of sails which have moved in with warmer (hot) water.
Unfortunately the hot water has caused a needlefish bloom, They are as thick as pelicans on a baitball, and they are a downright nuisance snatching anything that hits the water.
Still lots of smaller roosters and jacks up and down the beach but as hot as the weather is, early morning and late afternoon beach fishing makes the most sense. If you insist on going out in the midday sun, use plenty of sun block and take lots of water. Designate one your group as the ‘cooler carrier’ and wear a hat! There are a few sight casting opportunities to be had if you are patient. Don’t overlook the schools of pompano slowly swimming up and down the beach.
Tip: Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish the difference between a school of baitfish and the pompano…the ones you are looking for, look like submerged dinner plates flashing in the sun.
Water temperature 76-87
Air temperature 70-89
Humidity 91%
Wind: SE 7 to 10 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 6:57 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:47 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

The volume of dorado, yellowtail and striped marlin continues to increase. Not seeing many birds or bait but more fish every day. Ken Kramer landed striped marlin, dorado and yellowtail while fishing from Cabo Lazero up toward Thetis Bank.

Roman Shidel, and his son Roman, Jr. visiting from France, fished with Sergio on the Mar Gato. The bottom fishing was pretty good, producing assorted rockfish along with 4 grouper up to sixty lbs.

With offshore temps climbing up into the eighties and calm blue water offshore, the Esteros took a back seat.

Bob Hoyt

Water temperature 60 - 76
Air temperature 74 -98
Humidity 88 %
Wind: WNW 11 to 15 knots
Conditions: Mostly Clear
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:57 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

With the full moon late this last week, we are experiencing the normal slow down in the action. The blue water is still close to the beach, with all conditions leading to excellent fishing, if the moon phase would just cooperate.
However, the 1 to 2 sailfish per boat per day average is still not all that bad. The dorado and tuna are still a no show.
Inshore, the rains have been holding off and the water is clear. It is an ideal situation for roosters, and they are responding. There is excellent action on the roosterfish, and very good action on large jack crevalle to about 20 pounds.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 75-94
Humidity 87%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:30 a.m. CDT
Sunset 8:09 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: The full moon this week slowed the Marlin bite on the bigger fish like the Blues and the Blacks, but there was still fair action on the Striped Marlin. For boats fishing outside the 1,000-fathom curve, a few Blue Marlin were found…most of them at the southern edge around the knuckle and the doughnut. Striped Marlin were found closer to shore on the Cortez side off of Punta Colorado to Gray Rock from 1 to 5 miles out, as well as off the rocky points on the Pacific side of the Cape. Lures were the ‘name of the game’ as few of the larger fish fell for slow trolled Bonita or Skipjack, and the Striped Marlin did not seem to have much desire for Caballito. Lures trolled just a bit on the speedy side of normal worked better; Striped Marlin bit at 8-9 knots while the Blues bit at 10 to 12 knots. I did not hear of any Black Marlin this week but that does not mean none were caught.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: This week, boats we had booked brought in Yellowfin Tuna to 130 pounds and I heard of larger fish caught as well. Multiple hookups were not uncommon for boats that were on the fish first thing in the morning and the larger fish, in almost every instance were caught on live bait. The first fish were caught on lures but once the first hookup occurred, a live bait pitched back into the pattern and free-spooled for about 30 seconds got hit fairly quickly. For boats coming up on a school that had already been worked by a couple of other boats, finding the direction the fish were traveling and dropping down a live bait to 100 feet and waiting for the fish worked fairly well. Based on reports for both Captains and anglers this technique worked about 50% of the time. The fish were pretty evenly scattered between due south at the 1,000-fathom line to west of the Golden Gate Banks. The key was to find the right pod of Porpoise. There were decent fish caught and the average was around 30 pounds.
DORADO: The Dorado catch still has not really gotten into high gear, and it may end up being on of our off years based on past history. Normally this time of year we have boats coming in flying full outriggers of yellow flags, but for some reason it seem slower this year than last. My fingers are crossed that the reason is that it’s just a late season for these great fish and they will show in numbers sometime in the next two weeks.
WAHOO: We just had the full moon and that normally means a good Wahoo bite. Well, it has not happened offshore yet but the boats working the rocky points up on the Sea of Cortez have been getting some daily shots at fish to 40 pounds and there have been a few incidental fish offshore to 60 pounds, but with no concentration in numbers or in one particular area.
INSHORE: While there have been Grouper and Snapper available to the inshore Panga fishermen, with the calm seas most of the Pangas have been heading offshore for Tuna and Dorado.
George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 67 - 75
Air temperature 71 - 91
Humidity 91%
Wind: WNW 7 to 9 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 6:59 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:47 p.m. MST

Weather is Hot, Hot, Hot!

Endless Season Update 08/13/2008REPORT #1127 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

However, the margaritas were frothy

Some things are predicable about August at East Cape: blazing Baja sun and flat, calm seas which provide perfect conditions for spotting fish on the surface. You might see a tail jutting toward the sky…a tell-tale “V”…as a big fish swims just below the surface or you might see the froth and scales left by a frightened school of baitfish being chased by predators.

This week offered these perfect conditions for finding fish. Unfortunately, the action was scarce. A few billfish were sighted here and there but there was little, if any, concentration. Easy to spot but tough to find, the porpoise were not much help either. The tuna that were caught were barely bite sized.

This seems to be a case of “you should be careful what you wish for!” All spring and summer the BIG dorado have been caught one or two at a time, and many anglers whined about there not being any school fish. Well, the dorado caught lately qualify as ‘schoolies’, but some of them would barely qualify as bite sized for the few smaller blues being caught.

Even the larger roosters seemed to take the week off; inshore most of the roosters caught were under ten pounds with an occasional ‘Bubba class’ sighted but seldom hooked.
However, the margaritas were frothy, the cerveza icy enough to take the edge off of the hot…hot...hot weather.

Tip: When the dorado charge the boat shorten your cast and aim directly at the feeding fish, strip a couple of times and if you don’t get a take, pick up the fly and recast back to the same area.

Water temperature
76-86
Air temperature
76-95
Humidity
83%
Wind:
SSE 10 to 13 knots
Conditions:
Mostly Cloudy
Visibility
5 miles
Sunrise
6:54 a.m. MDT
Sunset
7:53 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

While it’s too early to declare that the offshore fall season has begun, the action has been great for dorado, tuna, yellowtail and wahoo. The commercial fishermen continue to report marlin sightings, but few have taken the time to focus on them.

Enrique Soto, Puerto San Carlos, reported that yellowtail action at the Entrada has been productive chasing the bird schools. In the esteros, there were a few small snook caught near Devil’s Curve.

Up above Lopez Mateos, the grouper and pargo provided the best action near Boca Santo Domingo.


Water temperature
60 - 76
Air temperature
74 -97
Humidity
93 %
Wind:
WNW 9 to 12 knots
Conditions:
Mostly Clear
Visibility
6 miles
Sunrise
7:00 a.m. MDT
Sunset
8:02 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The 82º blue water is just a couple of miles off the beach. Fishing has been very good for sailfish, but poor for marlin, tuna, and dorado. Most boats are averaging 2 to 3 sailfish a day each. Early in the week, Martin, on the Nautilus released 4 sails.
The roosterfish action is holding up well, as there have been no hard rains this week, and none in the forecast. Heavy rain creates a lot of runoff out of the silt laden rivers, discoloring the inshore waters. Jack crevalle action has also been good.

Ed Kunze

Water temperature
80 - 84
Air temperature
76-90
Humidity
89%
Wind:
Calm
Conditions:
Partly Cloudy
Visibility
7 miles
Sunrise
7:29 a.m. CDT
Sunset
8:13 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: There was very little change in the billfish action this week with the action being pretty evenly spread between the Blue Marlin, Striped Marlin and Sailfish. The Striped Marlin are a bit of a surprise since the water is this warm, but they are nice to see. Most of the Blue Marlin have been smaller fish in the 120 to 200 pound class, but they will still kick the butt of any Striped Marlin. A few nicer fish in the 300+ pound class were caught this week as well. The bite on all the billfish was pretty evenly mixed between lures and live bait. There were plenty of small Bonita just off the beach to fill the tuna tubes with if you were targeting the Blue Marlin and the Caballito worked on the Striped Marlin. Most of the Sailfish were taken with small lures, but the occasional fish fell for strip bait dropped back or smaller live bait.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: We finally had some Tuna show up but they have been quite a distance away. The calm water allowed boats to go out roaming and searching and a few of them did manage to find some decent fish between 32 and 40 miles off the Cape. The area outside the San Jaime had fish ranging in the 150-200 pound class early in the week for boats that had the time to find the Porpoise, but the fish were moving fast. Smaller fish were found a bit closer to home but still at least 30 miles out, and they ranged in size from 35 to 80 pounds. It seemed that the fish were slowly working their way south as the bite continued over several days. By the end of the week the fish had worked themselves out of our range. The larger fish in every instance were taken on live bait, and deep dropped bait caught the larger of those.

DORADO: I have been surprised that the Dorado catch has been as slow as it has been. I guess that we need at least a month of the warm water to really bring them into our area, and it would help if we had floating debris for them to hide under. The fish that have been caught have averaged 12 pounds with an occasional fish to 35 pounds. Most boats have been lucky to get one or two fish; a few have caught three or more. Most of the action on Dorado has been on the Pacific side of the cape.

INSHORE: There was almost no change in the inshore action this week compared to last week. With the calm water this week most of the Pangas were working just off the beach for Sailfish and Striped Marlin as well as Dorado. Those boats working the beach did fair on Roosterfish on the Cortez side.

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature
67 - 75
Air temperature
78 - 98
Humidity
84%
Wind:
WNW at 8mph
Conditions:
Partly Sunny
Visibility
5 miles
Sunrise
6:56 a.m. MST
Sunset
7:53 p.m. MST

Blues Hide…Roosters Frolic

Lance scores on his day off!
Endless Season Update 08/06/2008REPORT #1126 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

Fifty-six boats and 255 anglers competed in the Bisbee’s 9th Annual East Cape Offshore Tournament last week. All that effort for the three days resulted in 114 billfish…one black, 20 striped, 67 blue marlin and 18 sailfish. There were two qualifying blues in the Billfish Category, one weighing 306 pounds and one weighing 360 pounds. No qualifying tuna were caught, and in the Dorado Category three dorado over forty-five pounds were weighed in.
While the big boys searched for the big blues, the big roosters were putting on a show inshore! Closer to the beach, the smaller roosters whipped the water to a froth, reminding one of a poorly poured Pacifico. Over the rocks the pargo snapped and the ladyfish took flight to throw the hook.
Small football tuna were scattered. Just the right size for light tackle or a fly rod.
Tip: When sight casting for roosters and a fish follows don’t accelerate the fly. Try to let the fish have look by maintaining or slightly slowing the retrieve.
Water temperature 76-86
Air temperature 79-91
Humidity 82%
Wind: SE 6 to 8 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 6:51 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:59 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Wind caused unsettled weather making things ‘grumpy’ on the outside but the few anglers that made the trip were not disappointed. There were plenty of tuna and dorado and for the fortunate, a few wahoo and marlin.

The firecracker yellows are at the Entrada and also are found within six miles of the Boca de Soledad.

There’s still a fair pargo bite up above Lopez Mateos, mixed in with a few groupers to twenty pounds. There are some smaller sierra at the Bocas.


Water temperature 60 - 76
Air temperature 77 -90
Humidity 85 %
Wind: WNW 13 to 17 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 6:57 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:08 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

With the 80º blue water just a mile off the beach, the fleet is not going much more than 6 or 8 miles for a 2 to 3 sailfish per day average, per boat. The occasional floating log is still producing large dorado, but to find the log is mostly a matter of being in the right place at the right time.
Martin, on the Nautilius, did very well early in the week with 6 large roosters (35 to 45 pounds), 8 jack crevalle, and 4 very large sierra (about 4 feet long each). He took them off trolled live bait and casting surface poppers up at Buena Vista Beach.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 75-88
Humidity 65%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Mostly Sunny
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 7:27 a.m. CDT
Sunset 8:18 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: Blue Marlin, Striped Marlin and Sailfish have all been giving our anglers a good time this week, and the boats did not have to go very far to get into some action. The bite as been within a 100 degree arc from the arch, from off of Gray Rock to the lighthouse on the Pacific side at a distance of between 3 and 15 miles. Most of the Blue Marlin have been picked up farther out while the Striped Marlin have been closer to shore. The Sailfish have been closer in on average as well. There have been a lot more fish seen than have been hooked up however, as most of the Striped Marlin showed a definite “not interested attitude. While slow trolling live bait was a great way to get hooked up to the Sailfish and Striped Marlin, most of the Blues seemed to be more interested in lures, perhaps the higher speed got them excited. For the Striped Marlin and Sailfish, Caballito worked fairly well, but it seemed that better results were had by slow trolling small 15” Bonita. There were plenty of these baits to be had close to the beach and you could fill your tubes pretty quickly using small feathers and hootchies.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: This was another week where I did not hear of or see any boats bring in any decent sized Tuna. A few small football fish were caught and I did hear of a couple of fish in the 30-40 pound class but there was no consistent action on Tuna this week.
DORADO The warm water has started to set off the Dorado bite and almost every boat was able to get at least one of these great fish, and a few boats were able to get four of five. Most of the fish averaged 15 pounds with a few in the 10-pound range and a few in the 30-pound range. Slow trolled live bait worked well on the larger fish and the smaller ones fell for fast moving lures. Most of the action took place within 5 miles of the beach on the Pacific side of the Cape.
INSHORE: There was almost no change in the inshore action this week compared to last week. With the calm water this week most of the Pangas were working just off the beach for Sailfish and Striped Marlin as well as Dorado. Those boats working the beach did fair on Roosterfish on the Cortez side.

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 67 - 75
Air temperature 76 - 99
Humidity 66%
Wind: WNW at 8mph
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 6:53 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:58 p.m. MST

Wanted: Blues!

Endless Season Update 07/31/2008
REPORT #1125 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

Bisbee's East Cape Offshore Tournament kicked off yesterday with 56 boats seeking the $310,000 prize. John Martin, fishing aboard the Wildcatte,r qualified with a 360.0 lb. blue marlin. Jeff Marek fishing aboard the New Venture, weighed in a 47.2 lb.dorado, the heaviest dorado so far.

This reflects the way the week has been; a few larger dorado and a few billfish…all relatively tight to the beach. Football sized tuna can be found up north at Cerralvo or down south at Cabo Pulmo, but better quality tuna are being found farther offshore under the porpoise.

Roosterfish continue to provide the best action inshore with a few jack crevalle mixed in. Also a few pompano can be found at the lighthouse at the color line.

Beach action included smaller roosters with ladyfish and small schools of pompano seen swimming tight to the beach. If you are lucky enough to see the schools, break out the smallest beige, “Crazy Charlie” you have. Try to cast in front and beyond the school, let the fly sink before retrieving slowly.

Tip: When teasing roosters, use the smallest hook you can find to troll the live sardina. ‘Gamakatsu live bait light with ring #1’ works well to prevent hooking the rooster.

Water temperature 76-86
Air temperature 77-98
Humidity 81%
Wind: NNE 7 to 10 knots
Conditions: Mostly Sunny
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 6:48 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:02 p.m. MDT


Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Last week’s “Governors Tournament” was held in Puerto San Carlos and the winners were;
1st Robert Hoyt 30.2 lb Dorado

2nd Marcos Simental 28.2 lb. Dorado

3rd Jose Mendivil 27.8 lb. Dorado

4th Sergio Garcia 26.0 lb. Dorado

5th Ruben Ruiz Ortiz 25.8 lb. Yellowtail

Obviously the offshore action continued to be great with large dorado and at least one quality yellowtail. There were some reports of marlin but no biters. Inside the Esteros, action was a bit slower with only a few grouper, pargo and corvina being reported.

Water temperature 60 - 76
Air temperature 70 -95
Humidity 50 %
Wind: WNW 16 to 22 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 6:54 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:12 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The sailfish action has really been on the upswing. Talking to Martin on the Nautilus (Martin no longer owns the Isamar, and has bought a 35 foot twin diesel cruiser), he told me "mucho pesca"…which translates to "a lot of fish". I feel this is just a part of our annual July mini-migration, coming a couple of weeks later than usual.

The 82º blue water is a short boat ride to the 5 mile mark, with each boat raising between 7 to 12 sailfish a day, and catching between 3 and 4 fish a day (average).
On the down side, the 5 inches of rain we got in the last 24 hour period has blown out the inshore fishery for the roosters. The 24 hour period is also a bit misleading, because almost all of the rain came in three different 1 hour bursts. Intense rain like this really gets the rivers flowing, distributing discolored water all up and down the coast. Our monthly total now stands at 15.5 inches, so it has been tough finding decent rooster action all month.

Just before the rains hit, we were getting some action on small roosters in the Saladita area, and lots of large jack crevalle in the Troncones area.

Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 85-110
Humidity 85%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 7:25 a.m. CDT
Sunset 8:21 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: Well, for those of you who are interested in Blue Marlin, the water has reached the perfect temperature and the girls have shown up to party! Almost every day one of the boats has gotten into some decent blues and the favorite area has been between 150 and 210 degrees off of the arch out along the 1,000-fathom line. The best results so far have been on darker colored larger lures, greens and blacks along with a lot of purple have been working well. Just think of Bonita and Skipjack, that gives you the idea! There have been a few large fish reported but most of the blues so far have been between 150 and 300 pounds, only a few fish over that mark have been reported so far.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There were a few scattered schools found this past week, but they were the exception. Unfortunately there have been few tuna underneath the porpoise that have been through our area, and the porpoise that have been through here have been very boats shy. Hmm, wonder if that has anything to do with Purse Seiners? Seems to me that since the U.S. decided to eliminate the “Dolphin Safe” label and requirements the porpoise have been worked hard and all the fish have been scooped up. Sigh. Of course, there is probably no correlation between the two facts.
DORADO The Dorado I heard of and saw this week were not large ones, but there were more of them showing up than last week. Not to say that you can go out and fill a cooler with fillets, but at least you can take some out for dinner! Most of these fish have been hooked on smaller lures and a few have been fooled by dropped back baits. An average per boat this week was probably in the one fish per boat rate, a few boats caught more than one, but many of them caught none.
WAHOO: The full moon is past and the Wahoo count is down to where I can count the ones reported to me on one hand. Most of those fish were incidental fish caught while fishing for Blue Marlin and they hit large dork colored lures pulled close to the boat.
INSHORE: With the calm water this week most of the Pangas were working just off the beach for Sailfish and Striped Marlin as well as Dorado. Those boats working the beach did fair on Roosterfish on the Cortez side, the swells were still a bit large for close to the beach fishing on the Pacific past the lighthouse.
George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 67 - 75
Air temperature 77 - 99
Humidity 83%
Wind: WNW at 8mph
Conditions: Mostly Clear
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 6:50 a.m. MST
Sunset 8:02 p.m. MST

Yellowfin Dominate…

Endless Season Update 07/23/2008
REPORT #1124 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape


Yellowfin tuna action dominated the offshore scene this week with the best action being outside of the Cabo Pulmo Marine Park. Unfortunately the temptation was too great and some of the boats strayed into the park, much to the concern of the Park Inspector.

The number of blues increased again from last week along with a few sailfish and stripers.

The Dorado Shootout attracted nearly 400 anglers, but they had a tough time coming up with qualifying fish. The winning fish weighed in at an impressive 64 lbs. netting a brand new panga AND $43,000 for the father and son team. The names of the winners will be announced soon.

Inshore the roosters continue to be the crowd pleaser. While many were on the small side there were enough weighing in the double digit range to make things interesting.

Heavy rain early in the week left the beach all stirred up, making it tough to find the fish in the dirty water. As the week progressed, the water cleared up and small roosters, along with an occasional ‘bubba class’ fish, showed up. Ladyfish and pompano were also among the players.
Tip: Always use fluorocarbon leader material (16 lb. test) for more takes, unless you are in large fish, then go to 20 lb.
Water temperature 73-87
Air temperature 73-97
Humidity 81%
Wind: SSW 5 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 6:47 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:05 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Unsettled conditions offshore kept most of the boats inside the bay this week. Estero action included leopard grouper, pargo, cabrilla and a few halibut.

On the surface it was sierra and corvina slashing on the sardina.

Water temperature 60 - 76
Air temperature 75 -98
Humidity 78 %
Wind: N 6 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 6:51 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:16 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
There has been a decent change in the action this last few days. Coming out of the full moon phase has seen the average per boat for sailfish jump up to 2 or 3 fish per day, with a few dorado still hitting the decks.
The blue water is at 2 miles off the beach, and most of the boats are working the 6 to 7 mile areas. There are few people here sport fishing, and we are only putting an average of about 15 total boats a day on the water.
Action for roosterfish has been slow down South, but tomorrow (Friday), I am making the run to the North. There are reports of decent roosterfish action and excellent jack crevalle action.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 75-97
Humidity 87%
Wind: WSW 1 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:23 a.m. CDT
Sunset 8:23 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: The water warms up and the big girls start to show up! There were lots of reports of Blue Marlin showing up in the lure patterns this week and a few nice ones were caught and released. Unfortunately a few were brought in as well, mostly by the smaller boats whose crews wanted the fish. The largest Blue I heard of here in Cabo this week was a fish of approximately #400, released after a 90-minute fight. This fish was caught outside of the Gorda Banks early in the week. Most of the fish were in the #150-#200 range and the catch was scattered, mostly off on the 1,000 fathom curve, but a few were caught inside. I did not hear of any Black Marlin yet, but I am sure that with the water as it is, there must have been at least a few. The Striped Marlin bite is still fairly steady with about 50% of the boats getting bit by the little guys, and a few of them are catching two or more per day. Most of the action on these fish has been in front of the Cape in the cooler water.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There were days when the fish bit and days they could not be found this week. When they were found most of them were footballs in the 10-20 pound class and the bite was good. If you were in the fish you were getting 12-20 fish per trip. Keeping the suspense up were fish occasionally reaching #50 in the same schools. The larger fish were caught on live bait dropped down in front of the moving schools with the boat pulling away at least 100 feet from where the bait was dropped. Just sitting there after dropping the bait did not work; you had to pull away. The fish were scattered across our area with some schools on the Pacific side and some on the Cortez side, but almost all of them were between 12 and 26 miles out.
DORADO If there was any floating debris found this week the boat that was on the find first did well on Dorado to #30. There were only two instances of this that I heard of, but both times the first boat limited out. Later boats were able to pick up a fish or two, but most of the Dorado found were scattered fish. With the warmer water on the Cortez side of the Cape that is where the majority of the Dorado were found as well.
WAHOO: There were some decent Wahoo caught this week up off of Punta Gorda as well as offshore in the current lines. The full moon we had mid-week seems to have gotten them hungry! Dark colored lures run close to the transom did well as did rigged dead bait run as far as 300 feet behind the boat. Naturally, if you were targeting these fish you had a small wire bite leader in front of the bait or lure, but most of these fish were caught as incidental fish, there fore many more were lost than ended up in fish boxes.
INSHORE: Roosterfish, Amberjack, the occasional pile of Grouper as well as some very nice Pargo made up the majority of the inshore catch this week. With the water being as nice as it was, many of the Pangas were fishing offshore, looking for Tuna, Dorado and Marlin. Quite a few of them got into these fish as well. Having the water like it was made for a decent mix of fish for the Pangas, and these fishermen were probably the most successful this week.
George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 67 - 75
Air temperature 73 - 97
Humidity 73%
Wind: SSE 13 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 4 miles
Sunrise 6:47 a.m. MST
Sunset 8:05 p.m. MST