Merry Christmas to All

Endless Season Update 12/2t/2008
REPORT #1146 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

You gotta’ love Christmas in Baja photo provided by Mark Rayor
You gotta’ love Christmas in Baja…perfect weather with the sierra snapping at anything thrown at them. Then just a few miles farther offshore, the dorado are still mingling about. Offshore who knows? Everyone was scurrying about doing last minute Christmas shopping or toasting the holidays with a margarita or two. Which reminds us, MERRY CHRISTMAS and we hope to see you here in Baja in 2009!

Water temperature 76-80
Air temperature 61-80
Humidity 77%
Wind: NNE 5 to 6 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:58 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:38 p.m. MST

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

There are still some dorado and tuna about ten miles out but there are few takers on the angling side. There are only a few visitors and even less who are interested in going offshore.

Even the inshore took a back seat to the Christmas festivities.

Bob Hoyt

Water temperature 72 - 76
Air temperature 58 -77
Humidity 88 %
Wind: E 14 to 19 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:09 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:43 p.m. MST

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

Fishing certainly has picked up. The blue water is close, and the boats are getting most of their fish around the 11 mile mark. Each boat in the fleet is getting an average of three to four sailfish a day. three days, with each successive day getting better and better. They totaled 18 sailfish released and they also took three nice dorado. They started on Saturday, with yesterday (Tuesday) being their best day, with 9 sailfish and 1 dorado.
Inshore, there have been a lot of jack crevalle and sierra around, giving the light line angler a great day on the water.

Ed Kunze

Water temperature 78 - 80
Air temperature 68-86
Humidity 72%
Wind: NE at 3
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:14 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:18 p.m. CST

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin bite dropped off just a bit at the Golden Gate Bank but boats were still piling up the numbers with several methods. Drifting with live Mackerel both on the surface and dropped down to 100 feet or so worked well, as did slow trolling live Mackerel through the area. Probably the most exciting and frustrating method was to wait until the fish could be seen feeding on the surface, indicated by birds diving, running to the fish and then throwing live bait into the area. Combat fishing at it’s finest; many fish were cut off by other boats trying to do the same thing. Elsewhere there were a few Striped Marlin caught along the beach on the Pacific side and up around the San Jose area.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: An occasional school showed up around the San Jaime Bank this week and fish to 60-80 pounds were caught, but they did not stay in the area for long. Boats fishing live bait deep for Marlin at the Golden Gate Bank also caught a few nice fish to 150 pounds. I heard reports that boats fishing from the Puerto Los Cabos Marinas in San Jose were getting fish to 80 pounds on a fairly regular basis but have no other information on that.
DORADO: The dorado bite was a repeat of last weeks and I don’t know if it will last much longer as the water continues to cool down. The only place that I heard of having a decent dorado bite was just off the beach between the lighthouse on the Pacific side and the beach to the inside of the Golden Gate Bank. Within a mile of the shore boats were picking up between one and five dorado, some of them very nice fish around 25 pounds, but most of them around 15 pounds. There were some fish up around the Punta Gorda area from what I overheard, but I could not get any information on numbers or sizes.

INSHORE: The cooler water has brought the beginning of the yellowtail and sierra fishing with it. Pangas working off of the rocky points on both the Pacific and the Cortez side were able to get into some decent fishing for both these species as well as some nice pargo right in amongst the rocks.

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 73 - 82
Air temperature 59 - 84
Humidity 76%
Wind: NW 2 to 2 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 4 miles
Sunrise 6:58 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:41 p.m. MST

Only 18 Species…

Two of David Lee's best catches, what a difference a day makes look at the surf
Endless Season Update 12/17/2008
REPORT #1145 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

Water temperatures still in the high 70’s continue to produce a few stripers and dorado for the few boats heading out. All the hotels opened have few visitors. The action seemed to be split about fifty- fifty between off of Punta Pescadero and La Ribera. Probably depends on the wind, when the Captains think the north wind will blow they tend to point the boat up toward Punta Pescadero so the ride downhill back to the hotel when the wind kicks up.

The other benefit of the warm water is the sardina are still abundant along the beaches from Rancho Buena Vista to Punta Colrada according to our friend David Lee. He and Candida experienced slow to good fishing for almost two weeks. Fishing from the beach from Lighthouse Estates to Punta Colorada.

They landed 18 different species; roosterfish, sierra, toro , ladyfish , leopard Grouper , flag cabrilla , barred pargo , yellow snapper , yellowfin croaker , halibut , pacific porgy , lookdown , needlefish , cornet fish , bullseye puffer , and three miscellaneous. . One of th3 sierra weighed in at fourteen pounds a possible new IGFA record and also a fifteen pound rooster both on the fly.
During their trip they were blown out for 3 days and had some wind in the afternoon on the other days.

Speaking of sierra the Tin boat fleet is catching them early morning tight to the beach. If they would stay in an area where they get bit instead of straight lining up and down the beach they could really whack them.

Lance also sent in the following update: I've been hitting the beach early the last few days and finding some good action on a mixed bag of small roosterfish, jack crevalle, green jacks, ladyfish, pompano and a few sierra. Most of the roosters are small but there are a few bigger fish here and there.

I landed one of about 8 lb's yesterday. Schools of milling jack crevalle are making an appearance near the beach with most of them being about 10lb's. Yesterday there were what appeared to be skipjacks feeding and leaping just offshore. Every now and then they would crash the beach but it was a super quick bust and very tough to get a fly on them. All in all, there's some fun morning fishing when the wind is down.
Seeing whales frequently now.

The last 2 days there were a number of them spouting and breaching off shore.

Water temperature 76-80
Air temperature 61-78
Humidity 80%
Wind: N 10 to 13 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:55 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:36 p.m. MST

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Windy conditions and big swells made it impossible to go out through Boca de Soledad. Which was frustrating because the dorado and tuna were inside of ten miles off the beach.

Of course, the estero action was not affected by all that nonsense. The leopard groupers have been going off for several weeks must be all the shrimp in the bay right now. Throw in a few snook weighing in and who cares if they can’t get outside in the open water.

Bob Hoyt

Water temperature 72 - 76
Air temperature 56 -72
Humidity 85 %
Wind: NNW 11 to 14 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 7:06 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:41 p.m. MST

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

Fishing did pick up this week, and we anticipate it to get better each day as we get out of the full moon phase. By this time next week, we should be back into some very good action.
Early in the week, Santiago on the panga Gitana, fished with Harry Schuler of Los Angeles and released 3 sailfish. They also picked up a nice 20 pound dorado.
Terry Carter from Iowa fly fished two days with Adan on the panga Gitana II. On the first day they got a very nice 40 pound dorado, and then on the second day released two sailfish.
Joe Carroll of Atlanta caught two sailfish with Captain Mecate on the Aqua Azul.
Bob Beck of British Columbia is here trying to get his first blue marlin on the fly. He is fishing with guide Paul Phillips on the panga Huntress. In three days of fishing, they have raised 3 blue marlin and a few sailfish. Two of the marlin did not want the fly and the third inhaled it. But, a poor hook set sent him off to parts unknown. He still has a couple of days left, and will probably get it done.
Inshore is not seeing much action. Adolfo, on the panga Dos Hermanos, reports lots of sierra, but not much else.

Ed Kunze

Water temperature 78 - 80
Air temperature 72-87
Humidity 61%
Wind: NE at 3
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 7:11 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:15 p.m. CST

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: The fantastic Striped Marlin bite at the Golden Gate Bank continued for another week, but at the end of the week the bite had turned into an afternoon experience as we worked our way through a full moon phase and the fish fed all night. It was common for boats to return after having released half-dozen Stripers and a few boats did double-digit numbers. Along with the Striped Marlin were hordes of seals and sea lions; it was often very difficult to keep your bait away from them as they followed the pods of Marlin around waiting for the bait to be chased up. I overheard a few boats up at the Finger Banks and the activity there pretty much mirrored that at Golden Gate, but there were fewer boats to compete against and there was also the chance of hooking up a big Yellowfin.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: I know of one boat that did well on Yellowfin this week outside the San Jaime Bank. They got into a pod of Porpoise and were the only boat there, landing 30 Yellowfin to 80 pounds and keeping seven of them. They also said they lost one fish around 180 pounds just before being able to grab the leader. Other than that, there were only occasional fish caught, but there were big fish seen. Early in the morning at the Golden Gate boats were seeing large Tuna estimated at #200+ clearing the water, but that activity was short lived, as soon as several boats had shown up the fish went down.

DORADO: The only place that I heard of having a decent Dorado bite was just off the beach between the lighthouse on the Pacific side and the beach to the inside of the Golden Gate Bank. Within a mile of the shore boats were picking up between one and five Dorado, some of them very nice fish around 25 pounds, but most of them around 15 pounds.

WAHOO: This week was a repeat of last week on the Wahoo. There were a few nice Wahoo taken this week ranging in size from 20 to 40 pounds. Most of the action was around the rocky points on the Pacific side or up around Punta Gorda on the Cortez side of the Cape. A few boats working the Finger Bank reported multiple strikes as well while trolling lures. A few fish were reported caught while blind trolling offshore.

INSHORE: A repeat of last week, I saw a few Pangas coming in with nice Sierra to 9 pounds, a few with a lot more fish but smaller in size, a few decent Yellowtail to 25 pounds, a few nice Grouper to 20 pounds. There were quite a few Dorado caught just off the beach as well.

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 73 - 82
Air temperature 63 - 83
Humidity 83%
Wind: WNW 6 to 8 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:55 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:38 p.m. MST

Winter Sets In

purchase online. Complete details may be found on this page:

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Endless Season Update 12/10/2008
REPORT #1144 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
December is here and another Baja winter has begun to set in. If you look at the moderate temperatures for the different areas, it seems odd to be declaring the end of fall and arrival of winter, but Baja winters are more about wind then cold. Of course the wind is welcome if your interest is wind-driven like wind surfing or kite boarding, but for the rest of us, whose interest is fishing, it is definitely unwelcome.
For the few anglers who are interested, there are plenty of sierra and small roosters inshore and along the beach. The big news this week was a wahoo snap at Punta Colorada which caused a flurry of IM’s and hastily written emails. Will it last? Probably not, but it was fun while it lasted for a few lucky ones.
Most locals are claiming this is the slowest December in recent memory in terms of the number of visitors. Two hotels are basically closed for the month and the some of the others are wishing they were.

Gary Graham

Water temperature 76-80
Air temperature 63-85
Humidity 73%
Wind: NNW 9 to 12 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 13 miles
Sunrise 6:51 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:33 p.m. MST

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

A windy week with slower fishing in all the ‘stock’ spots seems to indicate that the fall season is winding down here as well. The number of boats fishing the area has dwindled. Reports are that the bite below Punta Tosca has moved farther south toward Cabo.

I attended a Tuna Club luncheon yesterday and spoke with Steve Bridges who had recently returned from one of the best Magdalena Bay fishing adventures he had experienced on his boat, the Honey. Steve regaled everyone with the remarkable volume of fish they had found. Upon their return, the crew discovered half a dozen ‘spikes’ broken off in the hull of the Honey from retaliating, angry marlin. The story reminded me of one of Southern California’s legendary anglers, John Tanner, who owned the Twin B. John had the same experience with angry marlin several times back in the old days off of the San Diego coast. He had proudly drawn ‘bulls eyes’ around the impaled bills to go along with the sharks teeth that he always had painted on the bow of his boat.

Gary Graham

Water temperature 72 - 76
Air temperature 50 -85
Humidity 87 %
Wind: WNW 8 to 11 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 7:02 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:38 p.m. MST

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The blue water is just a couple of miles off the beach, the seas are very calm, all conditions favorable, and the fishing is poor. We are all scratching our heads trying to figure it out. Some of the guys are making 25 to 30 mile runs, while others are working the close-in areas, and nobody is getting much more than a strike or two all day…on any kind of a fish.
Martin, on the Nautilus, came over to my house and told me how he and Paul Phillips couldn't get anything in the blue water. Adolfo on the panga, Dos Hermanos, and Arturo on the panga, Janeth, told me there were no roosters to the north, which I already knew from a trip up there with fly fishing client Kacey Halligan of Seattle.
Cheva, on the panga, Dos Hermanos II, lives close to me so I gave him a ride back from the pier yesterday afternoon. He told me he found lots of big jack crevalle 8 to 10 miles south in the Barra Potosi area, but the client wanted roosters. They went 26 miles south to the antennas without a strike. On the way back, they got back into the big jacks and caught a few of the 18 to 20 pound hard fighting fish to wrap up the day.

Ed Kunze

Water temperature 78 - 80
Air temperature 72-86
Humidity 77%
Wind: ENE at 2
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 4 miles
Sunrise 7:07 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:12 p.m. CST

Cabo San Lucas

YELLOWFIN TUNA: We got out on Monday for a food trip, targeting yellowfin. The focus was to the south of the San Jaime Bank (a friend had reported there being a nice school of fish there). We went to the numbers and could not find a thing. We finally found some white-bellied dolphin in the middle of the San Jaime and were able to pick a double on the first pass - decent fish at 25 pounds. After working them for awhile, and having to return soon, we did the ‘run and gun’, getting ahead of the moving pod of dolphin and dropping back two mackerel. That resulted in a double hook-up of 35-40 pound fish. That was it for the trip for us. Other boats reported the same slow pick results from small pods of dolphin both to the south of us and slightly to the north and west. Boats that ventured much farther north (private boats on multi-day trips) reported continued good action on fish in the 100-200 pound class using live bait on downriggers and on kites.

DORADO: Once again the dorado remained ‘on the bite’ off of the beach on the Pacific side between the lighthouse and El Arco. Slow trolled live bait and fast trolled plastic lures worked well there, and they also did the job on fish that were on the Cortez side up around Punta Gorda. Most boats were able to get several fish between 12 and 20 pounds and there were a few larger ones to 40 pounds as well. A few of the boats on the Pacific side were able to get schools of dorado behind an already hooked fish and were able to catch limits.

WAHOO: There were a few nice wahoo taken this week ranging in size from 20 to 40 pounds. Most of the action was around the rocky points on the Pacific side or up around Punta Gorda on the Cortez side of the Cape. A few boats working the Finger Bank reported multiple strikes as well while trolling lures. A few fish were reported caught while blind trolling offshore.

INSHORE: I saw a few pangas coming in with nice sierra to 9 pounds, and some coming in with a lot more fish but smaller in size. There were a few decent yellowtail to 25 pounds, and a few nice grouper to 20 pounds. There were quite a few dorado caught just off the beach as well.

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 73 - 82
Air temperature 63 - 82
Humidity 74%
Wind: WNW 6 to 8 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 13 miles
Sunrise 6:51 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:35 p.m. MST

Holiday Bite Continues

Endless Season Update 12/03/2008
REPORT #1143 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

December has brought slower offshore fishing…a few blue marlin and stripers are being taken (along with some dorado) but the tuna have all but disappeared of late.
The good news…the inshore fishing is great! Large numbers of dorado are showing on the blue water line and inside. We have a mixed bag of roosters and sierras working in close to the beach. Still a few jacks and roosters can be found feeding on the surface near the shore and from the beach along, with some good-sized pompano. Cabrilla and pargo are still being taken along the beaches near some of the rocky points

Water temperature 76-80
Air temperature 64-80
Humidity 57%
Wind: E 5 to 7 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 12 miles
Sunrise 6:37 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:41 p.m. MST

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

The better marlin action remains below Punta Tosca. Between Cabo San Lazzaro and the Thetis, the dorado and tuna action have continued to be the show stopper.

How thick were they? I had loaded my Hobie Mirage i9S Inflatable on the Mar Gato and wanted to give it a try if the bite was good. Weighing only 53 pounds, the Hobie quickly inflates and deflates and is designed to be easily transported. But more importantly, the Hobie MirageDrive allows you to use your leg muscles to pedal, freeing your hands for casting.

With every rod on the boat bent, Captain Sergio Garcia couldn’t wait to give the Hobie a shot. Before I knew it, he had it in the water and in minutes he was being towed around by an obliging tuna. It only took a few minutes for him to get the hang of maneuvering the kayak with its pedals and he quickly brought the fish to the side of the Hobie for a photo.


Bob Hoyt

Water temperature 72 - 78
Air temperature 62 -81
Humidity 68 %
Wind: WSW 5 to 6 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 6:57 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:37 p.m. MST

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The surface water temperatures are showing between 80º and 83º, which is confusing because the sailfish are acting like the water is very cold and have had a bad case of lock jaw all week. They are here, but just have not been biting. It is possible they are gorging on squid, and are not interested in a trolled surface bait.
A few dorado are biting, but nothing like year's past when late November and December are the hot month for big dorado.
Almost every captain tells me they are getting blue marlin and sailfish in the trolling pattern, but after making a couple of swipes at the baits, they leave. There have been a few blue marlin taken however.
Inshore has shown very few roosters, but lots of sierra and small jack crevalle. Plus, there are a lot of black skipjack tuna, which is marlin candy bait.

Ed Kunze

Water temperature 78 - 80
Air temperature 71-92
Humidity 40%
Wind: SW at 6
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:10 p.m. CST

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: The fishing for striped marlin is really something this year as once again the concentration of fish on the Golden Gate Bank amazes us. Boats that are really concentrating on the marlin and are spending the time are releasing over 20 fish per day. Most of the fleet boats are trolling there and back and are getting two to five fish per trip. The fish are all in the 110-pound class and over. Working the bait balls between 150 and 200 feet deep with live bait caught on the spot has done the trick for most boats; the baits bought at the marina work for dorado and an occasional Marlin, but matching the hatch with really fresh bait seems to do the trick. Elsewhere, there are a few scattered marlin along the coast one to two miles off the beach on the Pacific side and a few showing up on the Cortez side close in as well.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: One boat this week got into a good bite on yellowfin tuna averaging 40 pounds while fishing the 77 spot, a high spot between the Golden Gate and San Jaime Banks. The fish had pushed up bait balls of sardinas and would not hit artificials, so they drifted into one of the balls and scooped up several loads of sardinas. That did the trick and they were almost limited out when a helicopter showed up; then as they were leaving the school, a tuna seiner showed up. Needless to say, there were no more fish to be found in that area the next day. There were larger fish north of the Golden Gate again, but it was a very slow pick on big fish, worth the work if you wanted quality, but with no guarantees at all of getting bit.

DORADO: The dorado remained on the bite off of the beach on the Pacific side between the lighthouse and El Arco. Slow trolled live bait and fast trolled plastic lures worked well there, and they also did the job on fish that were on the Cortez side up around Punta Gorda. Most boats were able to get several fish between 12 and 20 pounds and there were a few larger ones to 40 pounds as well.

INSHORE: The roosterfish bite seems to be dropping off and the cool water fish are showing up. Sierra and yellowtail are beginning to be caught and the bottom fishing is picking up as well. With the calm waters though, most of the Cabo pangas are working off of the beach searching for dorado and marlin.

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 73 - 85
Air temperature 65 - 88
Humidity 44%
Wind: SSE 5 to 7 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 6:46 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:34 p.m. MST