Saturday, September 26, 2009

Tough Tuna

200 lb yellow fin tuna caught at the Jaime banks by Heather DeRamus weighing half its' size....took her three hours though and she still looks good! La Brisa 31ft. Bertram Capt. Nicolas Winkler pictured right and deckhand Salvador Flores left of www.piscessportfishing.com

Endless Season Update 09/25/2009

REPORT #1184 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996


East Cape


Once again, September has been a winner. The Humboldt squid continues to be the first stop in the morning for many of the boats. Talk about matching the hatch! Fresh cut chunks of squid are the perfect chum or bait for the dorado and small tuna and when fishing near the rocky points that dot the East Cape.

Of course if you want to go farther offshore and chase the porpoise schools, there are still some gorilla-class tuna reaching 200 pounds. Pulling on one of those behemoths can easily replace the day’s workout on the Nautilus machine…and then some.

If you are trying to avoid the tuna workout, there are still plenty of sailfish, as well as blue and striped marlin to take care of the billfish urge.

Most of the dorado, tuna and skipjack caught close to shore are in the single digit to mid-teen range; offshore don’t be surprised if a larger one shows up in one of the porpoise schools.

The beach is the beach and it is still hot midday. That said, if you are looking for sight casting opportunities, midday is the best time. Later, as the sun sinks behind the hills, it seems like the fish come alive for a brief period before it gets too dark to fish.

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Local commercial fishermen are reporting lots of dorado around the shark buoys, and the clear blue water close to the shore is holding plenty of smallish tuna as well as a few larger ones up to 30 pounds.

With many of the Soouthern California yachts beginning their long trek down the coast to Cabo San Lucas, we expect to hear good reports of the numbers of fish found as they pass by Magdalena Bay.

Inside the esteros, there has been little current and both grouper and snapper have been on the bite. Still there’s only an occasional snook caught, most weighing no more than ten pounds.

The yellowtail action at the Entrada is mostly the smaller firecracker variety chasing small sardine to the surface, which in turn attracts the birds, making it easy to spot the schools. Farther outside the Entrada there are schools of skipjack and a few dorado to be found.

Though there are plenty of fish, there are few tourists visiting the area recently.

Reports are that Mex 1 is passable all the way from the border to the tip! However, road crews working on the road are causing some short delays…Bob Hoyt

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

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The average water temperature is back up to 85° with the blue water only a couple of miles off the beach.
Santiago, on the panga Gitana, told me there is very decent fishing, but few people to take advantage of it. The boats going out have each been averaging two to three sailfish a day, plus a couple of nice dorado around 20 pounds.
We have had some hard rains, which has discolored the inshore water some, but when you find the open patches, the roosterfish action is still holding very strong. Three to four roosters a day is common with at least a couple of them approaching 50 pounds…Ed Kunze

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


Cabo San Lucas

Billfish action is recovering from the unsettled conditions caused by Hurricane Jimena earlier this month. Marlin have been showing just a few miles offshore on the Pacific side. While black marlin have been among the missing, more small blues are filtering into the area every day.

Yellowfin tuna have been thick; almost every boat targeting them has scored. Sure there are more fifteen pounders but there are some huge ones that exceed 200 pounds. Almost all the fish in our area were caught inside the 1,000-fathom line from due south, then up to the San Jaime Bank and then up to the Golden Gate. This made it easy to find the fish, and at least one caught just off the lighthouse weighed over 200 pounds.

Dorado have been sporadic...appearing one day, disappearing the next. More often they have been located close to shore on the Pacific side in the warmer water. Averaging 12 to 15 pounds, there were enough larger ones to make things interesting. Boats that did well on dorado were catching between five and ten per trip and releasing two or three of the smaller fish.

Because tuna and dorado are close to shore, most of the Panga Captains are doing well. There are still some decent roosterfish being found and a few snapper and grouper as well. The Pacific side was the preferred side of the Cape this week.

With fishing this good, almost all the anglers have been very happy with the results of their trips; some of them have been worn out afterwards from fighting marlin and some of the huge yellowfin that have been around. …George and Mary Landrum

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

Saturday, September 19, 2009

First The Squid…Then Tuna

Check out this nice yellowfin tuna we caught in the East Cape. It weighed in at 201 pounds. http://tiny.cc/rayortuna091509





Endless Season Update 09/19/2009REPORT #1183 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

I don’t know if it is a coincidence, but the Humboldt squid show up and suddenly, it was tuna time. Tales of broken tackle and disappointed anglers were common this week. However, for the few who closed the deal, they were so exhausted that even the ‘high-fives’ were difficult. Not all the fish are VW size; for the wimps, (or is it the smart ones?), in your group there are plenty of smaller fish mixed in. Most of the action is out 20 to 40 miles providing time to find a sailfish.
The dorado are thick down toward Los Frailes and beyond all the way to Gordo Bank…most of them are weighing in the mid-teen range.
Near the Lighthouse, there is also a good concentration of smaller yellowfin tuna with skipjack mixed in.
The water along the beaches has cleaned up, but there is still plenty of bait attracting roosters, jacks, ladyfish and pompano. It is still warm enough that if you go out on the beach midday, it may feel more like an Ironman competition, than fishing. If you think that ‘heats not neat’, try early morning and late afternoon.

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Just outside Boca Santo Domingo 8 – 10 mile the tuna bite has returned with some fish to 35 pounds. Further out the wahoo have begun to show outside the double 23’s and small groups of marlin are also being spotted.

Shrimp season began the 18th which brings much more feeding activity in the Esteros for a long list of predators including grouper, corvina, snapper and snook.

The cannery in Lopez Mateos is still closed and in Puerto San Carlos the job of removing sunken boats is underway.

Finally, I returned home this week and Mex 1 is open all the way… Bob Hoyt

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

We've had some decent rains from storms pushing up from the South, with the effect of cooling the surface temperatures down quite a bit. Last week we were at a tepid 85°, and we are now averaging a perfect 80°. The cooling water trend actually heated the fishing up.
Stan Hootman of Houston, TX is fishing several days with Adolfo on the panga Dos Hermanos. They are doing excellent. I talked to Stan by cell phone as they were returning to the dock today (Thursday) after a very successful day of rooster fishing. Using a blue and white surface popper, they caught 6 roosters of 60#, 50#, 45#, 40#, and a couple of smaller ones.
Yesterday they had fished for sailfish and released four. Plus, they got into the football yellowfin tuna and caught 6 tuna averaging 10 pounds...…Ed Kunze

BILLFISH: It was still a slow week for billfish as few Striped Marlin were caught locally. There were reports of some decent numbers beginning to show up at the Finger Bank but with things being in constant flux the boats that went there were just as likely to strike out as to find a decent concentration of fish. A scattering of fish were found locally, most of them being found close to shore on the Pacific side up around the Los Arcos area and northward. There were still some Sailfish to be found but they were scattered as well, only on the Cortez side, and again, close to shore. I did not hear any reports this week of big Blue or Black Marlin, but there may have been a few hooked up.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: There have still been some nice fish caught this week but they have been scattered. 30 miles to the south has been producing a few nice fish to #150 if you are in the right pod of porpoise, and there have been fish to #80 being caught on Sardinas up the coast in the Inman bank area. That was scratch fishing with only a few fish a day with lots of chumming taking place, but at least the fish were there. Light floura-carbon leader, #30 and #40 was needed, but you could get some fish. Some boats did all right catching a few Humboldt Squid at
Punta Gorda and using them for chunk baits. Closer to home there were scattered schools with fish to #35 but averaging #15-#20. Most of these were found on the Pacific side between the beach and the San Jaime Bank and on the Golden Gate Bank.
DORADO: It took a while but there was finally some debris in the water this week, perhaps washed into the ocean up north from last week’s hurricane. Boats that managed to find the pieces of wood were able to put a few nice #30 Dorado in the box along with some smaller fish. Inshore on the Pacific side was also producing Dorado once again with the average size being 15 pounds and a few larger fish in the mix. We hooked up one female on Tuesday at may have been 30 pounds and a much larger male was following her. Unfortunately she shook the hook while still a distance from the boat and even though we slow trolled a couple of live baits in the area for a while we could not get hooked up again. That’s fishing!
WAHOO: A friend of mine did get a nice Wahoo this last week, early in the week. It weighed around #85 and he caught it while checking out the Inman Bank area. A few other Wahoo flags were being flown but I have no idea what size the fish were or where they were caught.
INSHORE: Most of the Panga Captains are doing well on Dorado and football Tuna since they are close to shore. There are still some decent Roosterfish being found and a few snapper and grouper as well. The Pacific side has been the favorite side of the Cape this week…George and Mary Landrum

Saturday, September 05, 2009

More Images of Jimena and update





Tough fishing for us Friday. Our guests arrived late and we didn't get out until 8:30. Most boats did well first thing with scoolie dorado and tuna. Also a few striped marlin were caught.Most of the action was off Punta Arena light house. Lynne Low of Acton, CA did manage to land this nice wahoo. It fell for a trolled ballyoo. The water is blue and in the mid low 80's...Mark Rayor Vista Seasport



Loreto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgFF5isOSGA







Mulege River

While reports of damage from Jimena continue to be moderate we received a report Thursday morning 9/3 from Shari Bondi in Bahia Ascension;

I am sure you’ve heard…we were unscathed, not a drop of rain…Juan was catching calicos last night in front of our house. Will send Hurricane fishing report soon.

Mulege was nailed, water 2 meters ABOVE the bridge, way worse that hurricane John. Highway 1 closed in many spots.
Lopez Mateos also hammered. 60% of the houses lost, Coop inoperable, a real mess, no power, desal plant, water, food or medicine and roads to town cut off. Air drop needed Pharmacy destroyed.

I asked her source and she answered the following;

There was a full report from the mayor on the radio this morning. Very devastated there…radio now out. Lots of power towers down and Loreto will not have power for 6 days supposedly. Very serious. The Mayor was very distraught, no jobs, no houses, the shelters can’t support the number of people in them and they are cut off from aid.

Central Baja got creamed…Punta Chivato houses ruined, roofs blown off, people sleeping in cars last night…also cut off.

Magdalena Bay


Puerto San Carlos



The hurricane hit directly, Magdalena City, San Carlos and Lopez Mateos. 2 reported deaths in San Carlos. 750 houses destroyed in Lopez Mateos. We have no power or water. Two of the canneries boats broke loose from the pier and went aground. I heard the Puerto San Carlos got it worse that we did here in Lopez but if they did they must be Fu…

On Magdalena Island One casita was destroyed and the roofs blown off the others. The fish cap is in shambles. I have to congratulate the Mexicans locals were out the following morning cleaning up and helping others.

The Military arrived and set up shelters and passed out food and water. They are still in good humor after losing everything they own. I hope I never have to go thru another one of these again. No one can ever remember a storm of this magnitude.
Bob Mag Bay Outfitters




Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Jimena Update 3:00 AM local time



AT 3AM MDT...THE GOVERNMENT OF MEXICO HAS EXTENDED THE HURRICANE WARNING NORTHWARD ALONG THE WEST COAST OF THE BAJA PENINSULA TO PUERTO SAN ANDRESITO...AND ON THE EAST COAST TO LORETO.