Remarkable Thanksgiving

Captain Cary on the party boat, Success, returned from Mag Bay with a boatload of YFT's all over 200 pounds, with one over 371 pounds.

Endless Season Update 11/24/2009
REPORT #1190 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

Local Mark Rayor, Vista Sea Sport, commented that this was the nicest November since he moved to East Cape many years ago.

While I was talking him this morning, he reported that the fish were busting right in front of his house. Couldn't tell what they were, but they were creating a ruckus.

Tuna continue to dominate the action...nothing very large but hungry and close. Couple that with the best dorado bite this year and it's easy to understand why the locals are asking each other, "where are the tourists?"

Another November surprise is the consistent wahoo bite that has been happening recently. Throw in a few other species including striped marlin, sailfish, jack cravelle, skipjacks, cabrilla and pargo and you might call it a remarkable Thanksgiving .

For the inshore gang, it is sierra time and there isn't a happy hour worth its salt that doesn't have fresh cerviche.

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

While all the visiting yachts hightail it for home or somewhere in search of more fertile marlin waters, many anglers lucky enough to be in on the over the top action are nodding with big smug grins on their faces and saying "who needs those stinking marlin".

Captain Cary on the party boat, Success, returned from Mag Bay with a boatload of YFT's all over 200 pounds with one over 371 pounds.

Then there's the wahoo whack going on for anyone who targets them. So far the largest in that category exceeds 101 pounds.

Limits of small tuna are close to shore with enough dorado to keep it interesting.

And then...the esteros are exploding limits of pargo, a few grouper and the best snook snap in recent memory, if not ever, with a few fish hitting the 40 pound mark...Bob Hoyt

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

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The 84° blue water is still on the beach. We have had almost a month of these conditions, and the good fishing has remained very close. Very few boats are going out beyond the 10 mile mark to average about 2 or 3 sailfish a day and a couple of dorado.

Bob Barker of British Columbia has been fly fishing this last week with Santiago and Adan on the Gitana pangas. He is averaging two caught sailfish a day and a dorado. They are averaging 6 to 10 raised sailfish a day, with 4 to 5 hooked fish, and leadering two.

Russ Weaver of Corvallis, OR fished with me down at Puerto Vicente Guerrero, and had a great day with 2 large roosters, 2 large jack crevalle, and 2 nice dorado. At times we had pods of 40 pound plus roosters chasing the teaser.

The very next day I went back down to Puerto Vicente Guerrero with Bob Barker and his fly rod. We had an incredible day! Cheva, who is 47 years old and has fished here all of his life, said it was his best day ever for roosters.

Cheva, of the panga, Dos Hermanos II, had a day off on his panga, so he went with me to cast the hookless poppers.

With Cheva casting, Jose Pino at the motor, and Bob fly casting to the teased fish, we raised over 50 roosters and about 30 large jack crevalle.

We had so many roosters breaking the surface and slashing bait, they were on both sides of the boat, in front of us, and behind us. To watch a 70 or 80 pound rooster chasing a 2 foot long needle fish on the surface is something you will never forget. Plus, we saw and cast to a free swimming snook and a couple of dorado which had come in on the beach to join the melee.

Cheva was on the bow of the panga going nuts. We were getting a rooster raised with every cast, and often two or three. When a large jack crevalle beat a huge rooster to the fly, with Bob hooking up, the next thing I saw was Cheva swinging the hookless popper to about 2 inches in front of my nose. He said "Bob is going to be on that jurel for 45 minutes,...I am going to get a rooster...put a hook on it!"

I complied.... and Cheva was hooked up immediately after making the cast. Cheva fought the rooster on the 30 pound spin gear like only a world class fisherman can. The second Jose had the large jack in his hand, Cheva handed me the rod and I handed it to Bob. Bob then had another 15 minutes to get it to the boat for the release.…Ed Kunze

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

Cabo San Lucas

Mostly striped marlin and fairly close to shore on the Pacific side, the fish have been scattered up and down the coast. On Saturday a private boat fought and landed a 650-pound blue marlin in about 600 feet of water just north of the Golden Gate Bank

Tuna were scarce this week but toward the end of the week there were a few schools found to the southwest of the San Jaime Bank along the 1,000-fathom line and the temperature break. Most of the fish were footballs to 30 pounds but there were a few fish that pushed the 60 to 80 pound mark.

The dorado have moved a little farther to the north every day on the Pacific side. The bite was not wide open but it was a fairly steady pick on fish that ranged between 8 and 25 pounds in size.

There were a few wahoo caught this week but there were more lost than landed.

Pangas are having good luck on the Cortez side for large sierra and there have been a few large roosterfish found on the Pacific side.

The following was a report from Mark Sheehan who recently fished on the Baja Raider: "I had a wonderful time fishing with Antonio and Gabi. We landed nine dorado and one 60 pound wahoo. I was able to hook three dorado on a nine-weight fly and landed two of them (teasing with a live bait without a hook, then casting to the fish). The rest of the fish were landed on conventional gear. We saw many marlin, but they were not hungry. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and will do it again in one year". …George and Mary Landrum

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