REPORT #1211 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Women's Flyfishing's® Cecilia “Pudge” Kleinkauf, Anchorage AK landed this nice spring pez gallo recently
The recent disappearance of sardina has caused many anglers consternation. Finding the bait to purchase was the key to having a good day.
Offshore the marlin bite spiked and then fell off with the drop in water temperatures. The cooler water temps also shut off what little dorado bite there had been. While there were some yellowfin tuna found beneath the porpoise some were so small they wouldn't even be enough for a tuna sandwich.
The good news was that while it was an up and down deal, the roosterfish and jack bite was great for a few days but definitely not consistent. Many are predicting a phenomenal inshore year once the sardina reappear.
Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Both yellowtail and white sea bass in the 20 to 30 pound class remain hot at Cabo San Lazaro. In the Esteros there are plenty of sardines and the sierra along with the cabrilla, grouper and corvina are having a field day feeding on them. May 1st marks the beginning of clamming season.
Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The 82° blue water has actually moved in closer to about the 12-mile mark. But the offshore fishing was not very good this last week; with last Tuesday's 5.0 earthquake centered only 40 miles away, this is not surprising.
With my hand in a cast for five more weeks, it will probably be at least end of May before the Doc lets me pick up a fly rod and get back on the water.
Mike Bulkley, the owner of the super panga Huntress, emailed me this:
"Offshore fishing has been very slow with one or no strikes per trip. Inshore remains reliable with good catches of bonito, jacks and some chula's.
Cheva, on the panga Dos Hermanos II, told me he is getting some chulas, an excellent eating small tuna with white meat (about five pounds), with a mean set of teeth. Cheva has also been working the area down by the white rocks and getting some large jack crevalle, to over 20 pounds, on trolled Rapalas and live bait.
Mike Bulkley also emailed this event:
"A note, on an offshore trip to the curve on Wednesday, the Huntress saw four or five dead Olive Ridley turtles floating from 15 to 30 miles offshore. These turtles did not appear to be damaged by ships and there were several breeding pairs also spotted in the same area."
This is really disturbing for me to have to report this, but I know of no destination in Mexico not affected by long lines. As turtle egg laying season will soon start on the beaches, the most likely cause of their deaths are from a long line. Shrimp boat nets in Mexico, not fitted with Turtle Extraction Devises can also kill them, but the shrimp boats work the shallower inshore waters. At 15 miles, the depth is 3,000 feet, and the 1,000 fathom line (6,000 feet) at the curve is at 30 miles. This is where the pangas using long lines work…Ed Kunze
Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582
Cabo San Lucas
The striped marlin bite picked up a little bit as the couple we had fishing for three days demonstrated. There were no fish on the first day; the water was rough and it was an early return. The second day they caught two marlin and they saw a few fish on the third day. Other boats were doing about the same; the fish were showing around the 95 spot moving slowly to the east. One of the fleet boats landed a small blue marlin in the 250 pound class while fishing up around Palmilla.
Tuna were once again a ‘hit or miss’ fish. A few boats were able to get fish, but most of them were blind strikes with no porpoise in the area at the time. The fish were slightly larger than footballs at 20 to 25 pounds, but there were no large numbers of them reported. A few boats did find porpoise that held fish, but they were on the San Jaime Banks in very rough water and only a few boats braved the conditions to fish there; those that did had only scattered success.
The water in the Sea of Cortez has warmed up and there are a few more dorado being caught. No large numbers but the fish were decent sized at a 20-pound average.
There were a few wahoo caught in the area of the Gorda Banks, but no large numbers of them. They averaged 25 pounds with the best bite being very early in the morning. Fishing out of San Jose on a panga was the best bet, since there was only a 15 minute boat ride to get there. By the time most of the boats from Cabo San Lucas arrived, the bite was finished.
Inshore action has remained good for sierra, roosterfish, grouper and snapper. The sierra and roosterfish provided great action close to the beach and the grouper and snapper were a steady pick for those anglers bottom fishing.
With the water warming up and a blue reported the other day, we might have a few more showing up soon. ..…George and Mary Landrum
Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191
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