Endless Season Update 01/14/2009
REPORT #1149 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
The box below compares the cost of the 2009 Mexican Fishing licenses with the cost in 2008. The price of the licenses actually went up about 8%. However, the peso rate increased in favor of the dollar by about 31%. The lesson here is to purchase your Mexican License with pesos and it will be cheaper than it was last year.
Mexican Fishing license cost two year comparison
2008 1 USD =10.9076 MXN 2009 1 USD = 14.2829 MXN
2008 1 day license 130 pesos ($11.92) Weekly 260 pesos ($23.84) Annual 500 pesos ($45.84)
2009 1 day license 140 pesos ($9.80)Weekly 290 pesos ($20.30)
Annual 540 pesos ($37.81)
There are few guests at the hotels so most of the boats are not heading out. North winds blew most of the week creating a left over lump along the beach which prevented even the tin boat fleet from getting a couple of hours fishing in before the relentless wind pounded the beach in the afternoon.
Water temperature 67-73
Air temperature 57-77
Humidity 65%
Wind: NNW 9 to 12 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:53 p.m. MST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
The annual influx of tourists arrived in search of a close encounter with the rapidly growing number of whales that have begun arriving from the North. Every year the number of visitors seems to grow. Meanwhile the fishing almost comes to a standstill while the town puts on a short lived, eco-friendly image. An image that quickly disappears when the ‘big guys’ leave.
Bob Hoyt
Water temperature 67 - 73
Air temperature 56 -78
Humidity 68 %
Wind: WSW 5 to 6 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:13 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:58 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
It is still only a short ride to the 83º blue water, and the outstanding fishing for sailfish continues. And, we were in the middle of the full moon phase last week. It is hard to believe, but the great fishing we have now is going to get even better in this next few weeks.
Each boat in the fleet is averaging between four and six sailfish a day, and at least one 20+ pound dorado. Most of the blue water action is taking place between the 12 and 13 mile mark.
The individual counts are almost too numerous to list, but a few examples are like Martin on the Nautilius, averaging five sailfish and a dorado per day, with a high day of nine sailfish released. Martin also hooked a large blue marlin, but lost it after a few minutes. Annual returning fishermen, Billy and Barbara Gray of Hilton head, South Carolina fished 3 days with Santiago on the panga, Gitana, releasing 19 sails, and then one day with Adan on the panga Gitana II, releasing seven.
There is a large group of fishermen from Denmark here now, and they are having a blast. The days they fish the blue water, they gets lots of sails and dorado. The days they are inshore, they are getting lots of jack crevalle and sierras. The only thing missing inshore are the roosters, but they will be back in May.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 78 - 80
Air temperature 73-89
Humidity 65%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:20 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:31 p.m. CST
Cabo San Lucas
The striped marlin have continued to bite at the Golden Gate Bank. Catch rates varied from between two to ten fish per day. Running to the diving pelicans and frigates and throwing a couple of live baits in among the feeding seals and marlin resulted in many hook-ups on both marlin and pelicans. The striped marlin have also begun to show just off of the lighthouse on the Pacific side. Along the flats at the point, the bait has begun to stack up and many boats are fishing there instead of making the run to the Golden Gate Bank.
There were also a few yellowfin between 15-20 pounds found among porpoise off of Gray Rock, and the same type of action was occasionally found 8-10 miles off the beach on the way to the San Jaime Bank on the Pacific side.
There were decent catches of dorado averaging 12 pounds this week from the Pacific side of the Cape just a few miles off the beach. Farther off shore at 10+ miles, the fish seemed to be bigger... one boat came in with three dorado over 35 pounds
The sierra bite is picking up and the fish are good sized, between 8 and 10 pounds, and a few quality yellowtail are starting to pop up occasionally off of the Rocky points, as well as pargo to 25 pounds right in the rocks. Many of the pangas working just offshore for dorado and striped marlin are doing fairly well.
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 73 - 82
Air temperature 54 - 85
Humidity 67%
Wind: ENE 2 to 2 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:55 p.m. MST
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Good-to-Great Greets 2009
Endless Season Update 01/07/2009
REPORT #1148 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Sierra...Don't forget the wire!
Winter conditions persist with sporadic north winds dictating the quality of fishing each day. There are still reasonable quantities of fish to be found on the good (no wind) days.
Though none of the hotels have more than a few guests and the number of boats going out is light, when they do go out, it is more often than not for half a day until the wind gets them.
In spite of the fact that most of the boats are fishing within 5 miles of shore, the catches have been remarkably good. Plenty of marlin are found tailing down-swell with an occasional bite yielding a fish per day for those targeting them.
Dorado in January? You bet…a few fish are being caught from 5 to 35 pounds, mostly free swimmers in open water.
Sierra continues to be the go to’ fish when nothing else wants to bite or the boats are forced to remain near the shore.
Water temperature 71-76
Air temperature 57-81
Humidity 76%
Wind: NNW 10 to 13 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:48 p.m. MST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
As usual, sportfishing has taken a backseat to Magdalena Bay’s other cash crop…whale watching.
With a few whales beginning to arrive and the promise of more to follow, everyone is focused on preparations for the visitors wanting to get up ‘close and personal’ with these friendly giants of the sea and their newborn.
Bob Hoyt
Water temperature 67 - 73
Air temperature 52 -79
Humidity 44 %
Wind: W 9 to 12 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:13 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:53 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
Our fantastic sailfish action has not let up, plus we are seeing more 20+ pound dorado each day. The 82º blue water is just 8 miles off the beach, with almost all the fishing action taking place between the 10 and 15 mile areas.
Jaime Morales, the owner of the Vamonos fleet, told me the Vamonos I fished three days, accounting for nineteen sailfish, four dorado, and one small blue marlin. The Vamonos II had five sails and two dorado for one day, and the Vamonos III had seven sails and one dorado for one day.
Martin on the Nautilus, and Margarito on the Gaby, both told me they are getting an average of five to seven sailfish and two dorado a day.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 78 - 80
Air temperature 71-91
Humidity 77%
Wind: SW at 2 mph
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:19 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:26 p.m. CST
Cabo San Lucas
BILLFISH: Striped marlin continued to dominate fishing at the Golden Gate Bank. Catch rates varied from between seventeen fish to two fish per day, depending on the length of time spent there and the experience of the anglers. Running to the diving pelicans and frigates and throwing a couple of live baits in among the feeding seals and marlin resulted in many hook-ups, both on marlin and on pelicans. The other day we released three marlin and three pelicans in an hour. Slow trolling live bait also worked very well.
Another area where the striped marlin began to show was just off of the lighthouse on the Pacific side. Along the flats at the point the bait has begun to stack up and many boats have been saving time by fishing there instead of making the run to the Golden Gate Bank.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Yellowfin remained scarce this past week. A few football-sized fish are beginning to show up off of the Westin area on the Cortez side of the Cape just a few miles off shore, the same area where we had such a good time catching them on light tackle last year. Using live sardina as chum and bait resulted in catches of up to six fish per boat. There were also a few fish in the 15 to 20 pound range found among the porpoise off of Gray Rock late in the week, and the same type of action was occasionally found 8 to 10 miles off the beach on the way to the San Jaime Bank on the Pacific side.
DORADO: There were decent catches of dorado this week from the Pacific side of the Cape just a few miles off the beach. These were smaller fish averaging 12 pounds, while farther off shore at 10+ miles, the fish seemed to be larger. One boat came in with three dorado, all over 35 pounds.
INSHORE: Near the beach things have been very good. One roosterfish of 50+ pounds was caught and released just to the east of the lighthouse. Others are having a blast on small roosterfish from 5 pounds to 15 pounds.
The sierra bite is getting better with some very nice fish to 8 pounds being caught. A commercial panga had one about 12 pounds. A few nice sized pargo have been found among the rocks on the Pacific side and some good grouper to 30 pounds were brought in as well.
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 73 - 82
Air temperature 52 - 82
Humidity 74%
Wind: NNE 5 to 6 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 7:02 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:50 p.m. MST
REPORT #1148 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Sierra...Don't forget the wire!
Winter conditions persist with sporadic north winds dictating the quality of fishing each day. There are still reasonable quantities of fish to be found on the good (no wind) days.
Though none of the hotels have more than a few guests and the number of boats going out is light, when they do go out, it is more often than not for half a day until the wind gets them.
In spite of the fact that most of the boats are fishing within 5 miles of shore, the catches have been remarkably good. Plenty of marlin are found tailing down-swell with an occasional bite yielding a fish per day for those targeting them.
Dorado in January? You bet…a few fish are being caught from 5 to 35 pounds, mostly free swimmers in open water.
Sierra continues to be the go to’ fish when nothing else wants to bite or the boats are forced to remain near the shore.
Water temperature 71-76
Air temperature 57-81
Humidity 76%
Wind: NNW 10 to 13 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:48 p.m. MST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
As usual, sportfishing has taken a backseat to Magdalena Bay’s other cash crop…whale watching.
With a few whales beginning to arrive and the promise of more to follow, everyone is focused on preparations for the visitors wanting to get up ‘close and personal’ with these friendly giants of the sea and their newborn.
Bob Hoyt
Water temperature 67 - 73
Air temperature 52 -79
Humidity 44 %
Wind: W 9 to 12 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:13 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:53 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
Our fantastic sailfish action has not let up, plus we are seeing more 20+ pound dorado each day. The 82º blue water is just 8 miles off the beach, with almost all the fishing action taking place between the 10 and 15 mile areas.
Jaime Morales, the owner of the Vamonos fleet, told me the Vamonos I fished three days, accounting for nineteen sailfish, four dorado, and one small blue marlin. The Vamonos II had five sails and two dorado for one day, and the Vamonos III had seven sails and one dorado for one day.
Martin on the Nautilus, and Margarito on the Gaby, both told me they are getting an average of five to seven sailfish and two dorado a day.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 78 - 80
Air temperature 71-91
Humidity 77%
Wind: SW at 2 mph
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:19 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:26 p.m. CST
Cabo San Lucas
BILLFISH: Striped marlin continued to dominate fishing at the Golden Gate Bank. Catch rates varied from between seventeen fish to two fish per day, depending on the length of time spent there and the experience of the anglers. Running to the diving pelicans and frigates and throwing a couple of live baits in among the feeding seals and marlin resulted in many hook-ups, both on marlin and on pelicans. The other day we released three marlin and three pelicans in an hour. Slow trolling live bait also worked very well.
Another area where the striped marlin began to show was just off of the lighthouse on the Pacific side. Along the flats at the point the bait has begun to stack up and many boats have been saving time by fishing there instead of making the run to the Golden Gate Bank.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Yellowfin remained scarce this past week. A few football-sized fish are beginning to show up off of the Westin area on the Cortez side of the Cape just a few miles off shore, the same area where we had such a good time catching them on light tackle last year. Using live sardina as chum and bait resulted in catches of up to six fish per boat. There were also a few fish in the 15 to 20 pound range found among the porpoise off of Gray Rock late in the week, and the same type of action was occasionally found 8 to 10 miles off the beach on the way to the San Jaime Bank on the Pacific side.
DORADO: There were decent catches of dorado this week from the Pacific side of the Cape just a few miles off the beach. These were smaller fish averaging 12 pounds, while farther off shore at 10+ miles, the fish seemed to be larger. One boat came in with three dorado, all over 35 pounds.
INSHORE: Near the beach things have been very good. One roosterfish of 50+ pounds was caught and released just to the east of the lighthouse. Others are having a blast on small roosterfish from 5 pounds to 15 pounds.
The sierra bite is getting better with some very nice fish to 8 pounds being caught. A commercial panga had one about 12 pounds. A few nice sized pargo have been found among the rocks on the Pacific side and some good grouper to 30 pounds were brought in as well.
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 73 - 82
Air temperature 52 - 82
Humidity 74%
Wind: NNE 5 to 6 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 7:02 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:50 p.m. MST
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Recollections, Anticipations and Updates
Endless Season Update 12/31/2008
REPORT #1147 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
2008 Looking back, our fishing season was largely spent on the beach in pursuit of roosterfish on the fly. So, as to be expected, it was wind and waves that determined when the ingredients for successful fishing would come together.
As the winter months faded into spring, the opportunities on the beach increased as the North wind subsided. Early season found the usual ‘fast movers’ (jack crevalle and roosterfish) within range of a fly from shore. But it was a few big yellowtail in March that made for the most noteworthy targets from shore.
While the roosterfish are not often big early in the year, the potential for a grande pez gallo is always there, and by spring the reality of roosters pushing the 50 pound mark (and beyond) made every day on the beach interesting to say the least.
Good numbers of big roosterfish made an appearance at the East Cape in 2008 but finding yourself on the right beach, at the right time, with fish ready to eat a fly was critical. When it all came together, countless hours on the hunt paid off in memorable action and a few amazing fish. Beyond playing the rooster game there were ample opportunities for several other species including sierra, pompano and pargo. Lance Peterson, BOF Guide
2009 The last days of 2008 have provided some great weather and calm seas. The early morning bite has been consistent, providing action on a mixed bag of fish. Most of the roosterfish are under 5 pounds as is usually the case in the winter, but there are some bigger fish around also. I have spotted two roosters in the 30 pound class recently, giving hope to the idea of hooking big fish from shore in the winter months.
Of course, I can't help but look ahead to spring, the last of the North winds, and the best months for hunting roosterfish with a fly. The sardina have been concentrating quite well along the shoreline. If that trend continues, I'm optimistic that we will see great fishing at East Cape in the coming year...it's all a matter of being there when the bite is on! Lance Peterson, BOF Guide
Water temperature 71-76
Air temperature 60-80
Humidity 55%
Wind: NNW 10 to 13 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 7:01 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:43 p.m. MST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Dropping sea temps have slowed the offshore fishing. However, one boat fishing the Thetis reported good catches of yellowtail. There are also some smaller yellowtail, as well as sierra, at the Entrada.
Estero action provided some grouper under ten pounds along with some good surface action for corvina.
Bob Hoyt
Water temperature 67 - 73
Air temperature 58 -79
Humidity 44 %
Wind: WNW 8 to 11 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 13 miles
Sunrise 7:12 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:48 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
Fly angler: Chris Sovak, New YorkLocation: Mahuja, North of Zihuatanejo about 30 miles
Guide and photo by Ed Kunze
2008 This last year was really kind of a disappointment for fishing here on the West Coast of Mexico. During the peak of the high season, we had unusual cold water currents move in, which caused our warm water game fish to leave for parts unknown. We look at this as not being a long term affect, rather a short term 10-year cycle about to repeat itself.
2009 This coming year should prove this out as our blue 80º water is currently just off the beach, and the fishing is outstanding. Sailfish action will peak during the dark of the moon periods for January and February, with another mini-migration occurring in July. Roosterfish action will heat up in May, and peak at the end of July, but we will still be getting decent fishing into late December. Blue marlin and yellowfin tuna will be best in May and June.
Our fishing is continuing its excellent action on sailfish. The 82º blue water is just off the beach, with most of the fish being taken between 7 and 10 miles.
The yellowfin tuna are still a ‘no show’, but a few blue marlin and dorado are being taken.
Mecate, on the boat Aqua Azul, is averaging 7 sailfish a day released. He has a total of 34 releases in 5 days, but many other boats are doing almost as well.
Plus, the fly fishermen are finally getting a number of shots at sailfish and a decent chance for a hookup. Fishing with Andre Padovanti, of British Columbia, we teased four fish to the boat and he got the hook into two. We were up at Mahuaja fishing with Ramon on his open panga, and launched off the beach.
A couple of days later I went back to Mahauja with Chris Sovak of New York. The fish had apparently moved out of the area, because we raised only one fish all day. At 11:00 a.m., we got the strike, teased it to the boat, and Chris got a good hook set, with the fly firmly in the corner of its mouth. It was Chris's first ever billfish, either on the fly or conventional gear, so it turned out to be a decent day after all.
The next day (yesterday), I went down to Puerto Vicente Guerrero with Joe and Denette Romano. Joe is a hunting/fishing guide out of Anchorage and an avid fly fisher. We raised six sails, and had four come to the boat. He hooked two, and she hooked one.
Inshore action is still holding steady with lots of sierra and smaller sized jack crevalle.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 78 - 80
Air temperature 71-88
Humidity 65%
Wind: SW at 12mph
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 7:18 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:23 p.m. CST
Cabo San Lucas
2008 This has been a very interesting and productive year for us, the fish have been biting well and while the economy has had an effect on bookings the fish don’t seem to care! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and that you celebrate the New Year in style.
BILLFISH: The marlin bite remained the same but the fish have moved off the Golden Gate Bank a bit. There are still plenty of fish there, but with the number of boats working the area causing traffic problems at times, some of the guys have been working to the south toward the San Jaime Bank and have been finding the striped marlin there as well. Not the same numbers as at the Golden Gate, but the pressure is less.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Tuna were scarce once again, but a few fish were showing up mixed in with the porpoise around the San Jaime Bank. These fish ranged in size from 10 to 40 pounds with an occasional larger fish to 80 pounds hooked up.
DORADO: The dorado bite was decent this week with fish coming from close to the beach on the Pacific side, most of them within a mile or so, but a few were in the deeper water as well. The warmer water on the Cortez side of the Cape started to produce as we expected and there were good catches of fish to 35 pounds around the Red Hill area and off of Grey Rock.
INSHORE: Panga fishing this week has produced good numbers of small roosterfish, some nice sierra and yellowtail along with a few good-sized pargo. Fly fishermen have been having a blast with the occasional dorado and good numbers of bonita, chumming them up with live sardina.
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 73 - 82
Air temperature 61 - 86
Humidity 34%
Wind: SW at 12mph
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 13 miles
Sunrise 7:01 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:46 p.m. MST
REPORT #1147 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
2008 Looking back, our fishing season was largely spent on the beach in pursuit of roosterfish on the fly. So, as to be expected, it was wind and waves that determined when the ingredients for successful fishing would come together.
As the winter months faded into spring, the opportunities on the beach increased as the North wind subsided. Early season found the usual ‘fast movers’ (jack crevalle and roosterfish) within range of a fly from shore. But it was a few big yellowtail in March that made for the most noteworthy targets from shore.
While the roosterfish are not often big early in the year, the potential for a grande pez gallo is always there, and by spring the reality of roosters pushing the 50 pound mark (and beyond) made every day on the beach interesting to say the least.
Good numbers of big roosterfish made an appearance at the East Cape in 2008 but finding yourself on the right beach, at the right time, with fish ready to eat a fly was critical. When it all came together, countless hours on the hunt paid off in memorable action and a few amazing fish. Beyond playing the rooster game there were ample opportunities for several other species including sierra, pompano and pargo. Lance Peterson, BOF Guide
2009 The last days of 2008 have provided some great weather and calm seas. The early morning bite has been consistent, providing action on a mixed bag of fish. Most of the roosterfish are under 5 pounds as is usually the case in the winter, but there are some bigger fish around also. I have spotted two roosters in the 30 pound class recently, giving hope to the idea of hooking big fish from shore in the winter months.
Of course, I can't help but look ahead to spring, the last of the North winds, and the best months for hunting roosterfish with a fly. The sardina have been concentrating quite well along the shoreline. If that trend continues, I'm optimistic that we will see great fishing at East Cape in the coming year...it's all a matter of being there when the bite is on! Lance Peterson, BOF Guide
Water temperature 71-76
Air temperature 60-80
Humidity 55%
Wind: NNW 10 to 13 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 7:01 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:43 p.m. MST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Dropping sea temps have slowed the offshore fishing. However, one boat fishing the Thetis reported good catches of yellowtail. There are also some smaller yellowtail, as well as sierra, at the Entrada.
Estero action provided some grouper under ten pounds along with some good surface action for corvina.
Bob Hoyt
Water temperature 67 - 73
Air temperature 58 -79
Humidity 44 %
Wind: WNW 8 to 11 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 13 miles
Sunrise 7:12 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:48 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
Fly angler: Chris Sovak, New YorkLocation: Mahuja, North of Zihuatanejo about 30 miles
Guide and photo by Ed Kunze
2008 This last year was really kind of a disappointment for fishing here on the West Coast of Mexico. During the peak of the high season, we had unusual cold water currents move in, which caused our warm water game fish to leave for parts unknown. We look at this as not being a long term affect, rather a short term 10-year cycle about to repeat itself.
2009 This coming year should prove this out as our blue 80º water is currently just off the beach, and the fishing is outstanding. Sailfish action will peak during the dark of the moon periods for January and February, with another mini-migration occurring in July. Roosterfish action will heat up in May, and peak at the end of July, but we will still be getting decent fishing into late December. Blue marlin and yellowfin tuna will be best in May and June.
Our fishing is continuing its excellent action on sailfish. The 82º blue water is just off the beach, with most of the fish being taken between 7 and 10 miles.
The yellowfin tuna are still a ‘no show’, but a few blue marlin and dorado are being taken.
Mecate, on the boat Aqua Azul, is averaging 7 sailfish a day released. He has a total of 34 releases in 5 days, but many other boats are doing almost as well.
Plus, the fly fishermen are finally getting a number of shots at sailfish and a decent chance for a hookup. Fishing with Andre Padovanti, of British Columbia, we teased four fish to the boat and he got the hook into two. We were up at Mahuaja fishing with Ramon on his open panga, and launched off the beach.
A couple of days later I went back to Mahauja with Chris Sovak of New York. The fish had apparently moved out of the area, because we raised only one fish all day. At 11:00 a.m., we got the strike, teased it to the boat, and Chris got a good hook set, with the fly firmly in the corner of its mouth. It was Chris's first ever billfish, either on the fly or conventional gear, so it turned out to be a decent day after all.
The next day (yesterday), I went down to Puerto Vicente Guerrero with Joe and Denette Romano. Joe is a hunting/fishing guide out of Anchorage and an avid fly fisher. We raised six sails, and had four come to the boat. He hooked two, and she hooked one.
Inshore action is still holding steady with lots of sierra and smaller sized jack crevalle.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 78 - 80
Air temperature 71-88
Humidity 65%
Wind: SW at 12mph
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 7:18 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:23 p.m. CST
Cabo San Lucas
2008 This has been a very interesting and productive year for us, the fish have been biting well and while the economy has had an effect on bookings the fish don’t seem to care! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and that you celebrate the New Year in style.
BILLFISH: The marlin bite remained the same but the fish have moved off the Golden Gate Bank a bit. There are still plenty of fish there, but with the number of boats working the area causing traffic problems at times, some of the guys have been working to the south toward the San Jaime Bank and have been finding the striped marlin there as well. Not the same numbers as at the Golden Gate, but the pressure is less.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Tuna were scarce once again, but a few fish were showing up mixed in with the porpoise around the San Jaime Bank. These fish ranged in size from 10 to 40 pounds with an occasional larger fish to 80 pounds hooked up.
DORADO: The dorado bite was decent this week with fish coming from close to the beach on the Pacific side, most of them within a mile or so, but a few were in the deeper water as well. The warmer water on the Cortez side of the Cape started to produce as we expected and there were good catches of fish to 35 pounds around the Red Hill area and off of Grey Rock.
INSHORE: Panga fishing this week has produced good numbers of small roosterfish, some nice sierra and yellowtail along with a few good-sized pargo. Fly fishermen have been having a blast with the occasional dorado and good numbers of bonita, chumming them up with live sardina.
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 73 - 82
Air temperature 61 - 86
Humidity 34%
Wind: SW at 12mph
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 13 miles
Sunrise 7:01 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:46 p.m. MST
Thursday, December 25, 2008
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
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
Friday, December 19, 2008
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
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Winter Sets In
purchase online. Complete details may be found on this page:
http://www.mexfish.com/apgs/ufsc/ufsc.htm
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
Thursday, December 04, 2008
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
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Some Hot…Some Not
Endless Season Update 11/25/2008
REPORT #1142 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
With the north winds blowing on some days and lack of clients on others, fewer and fewer boats are getting out these days.
Still there are some dorado to be had along with a few tuna. Billfish has been action spotty throughout Las Palmas bay.
Inshore a few sierra are beginning to show, and there are still some small roosters and jacks feeding on sardina along the beach.
Water temperature 76-80
Air temperature 65-78
Humidity 71%
Wind: WNW 6 to 8 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 12 miles
Sunrise 6:42 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:31 p.m. MST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Janet Farish subdues her largest striped marlin ever on the fly
Unusual shirtsleeve November weather greeted Jamie Pierre, from Seattle, who fished offshore with his friends and family. Limits of dorado along with good grades of yellowfin tuna kept their rods bent the three days they fished. A few marlin were seen but the herds seem to be down south of Punta Tosca.
Bob Hoyt
Water temperature 78 - 78
Air temperature 55 -78
Humidity 88 %
Wind: NW 9 to 12 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 6:52 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:36 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The 80º blue water is just off the beach, but the fishing has been very poor this last week. One explanation is that a 60 boat/4 day tournament is flaying the water fairly hard. Yesterday, Wednesday, the second day of the tournament, saw only ten sailfish one blue marlin, and no dorado caught. On Monday, Captain Margarito worked hard and never got a fish with his client Chris Varando.
Martin, on the Nautilus, also struck out this last couple of days. Santiago, on the Gitana, did get a couple of sailfish, with the high boat in the fleet this week being Adan on the Gitana II, and released four sails on each of two days.
The Huntress, with Captain Francisco, and the Gitana with Santiago both fished the inshore a couple of days, but only recorded a couple of roosters, a few jack crevalle, and lots of needlefish and black skipjacks.
The new moon is today, Thursday, and as we go into the dark of the moon period, I really expect things to improve.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 78 - 80
Air temperature 72-87
Humidity 80%
Wind: SW at 12
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:59 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:09 p.m. CST
Cabo San Lucas
BILLFISH: Striped marlin remain the fish of the week with most boats getting at least four of five fish per trip. Boats that really worked it hard and concentrated on them were getting into the double digits again. Most of the fish were still at the Golden Gate Bank, but there was a decent showing at the lighthouse on the Pacific side as well. The bait keeps moving and the fish follow them so as the currents changed, the striped marlin appeared in different areas, following the bait. Live bait was the key to a decent catch, and using circle hooks with flouro-carbon leaders really made a difference!
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Close to our area there were scattered schools of football to school sized tuna found among the porpoise. From outside the 95 spot along the 1,000-fathom curve to 8 miles to the west of the Golden Gate Bank, there were scattered pods of porpoise, and about half of them held fish. Occasionally a pod would come through closer to shore and the first couple of boats would do well, but the later boats just got to see the mammals playing. There were confirmed reports of larger yellowfin to 150 pounds north of the Golden Gate Bank, but that was too far for most of the fleet boats to go; the reports were from private yachts.
DORADO: The dorado bite picked up just a bit this week with most of the action shifting to 2-3 miles off of the beach on the Pacific side between the lighthouse and the El Arco area. Live bait and bright colored lures in smaller sizes worked very well. Many boats slow trolling live bait caught a decent mix of both striped marlin and dorado.
WAHOO: I saw a few fish this week in the 50 pound class but there were not a lot of wahoo flags flying from the boats at the end of the day. Boats that had gone out looking for tuna caught the wahoo that I saw.
INSHORE: There were a few more nice roosterfish caught on the Pacific side of the Cape along the beach between the arch and the lighthouse, just like last week. There has been a showing of sierra and a few yellowtails as well as the roosterfish in that same location. A few Pangas reported big grouper were biting on the rock piles if you fished big live bait, but most of the fish were rocking the anglers and breaking off.
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 73 - 85
Air temperature 66 - 79
Humidity 70%
Wind: NNE 7 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:42 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:33 p.m. MST
REPORT #1142 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
With the north winds blowing on some days and lack of clients on others, fewer and fewer boats are getting out these days.
Still there are some dorado to be had along with a few tuna. Billfish has been action spotty throughout Las Palmas bay.
Inshore a few sierra are beginning to show, and there are still some small roosters and jacks feeding on sardina along the beach.
Water temperature 76-80
Air temperature 65-78
Humidity 71%
Wind: WNW 6 to 8 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 12 miles
Sunrise 6:42 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:31 p.m. MST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Janet Farish subdues her largest striped marlin ever on the fly
Unusual shirtsleeve November weather greeted Jamie Pierre, from Seattle, who fished offshore with his friends and family. Limits of dorado along with good grades of yellowfin tuna kept their rods bent the three days they fished. A few marlin were seen but the herds seem to be down south of Punta Tosca.
Bob Hoyt
Water temperature 78 - 78
Air temperature 55 -78
Humidity 88 %
Wind: NW 9 to 12 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 6:52 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:36 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The 80º blue water is just off the beach, but the fishing has been very poor this last week. One explanation is that a 60 boat/4 day tournament is flaying the water fairly hard. Yesterday, Wednesday, the second day of the tournament, saw only ten sailfish one blue marlin, and no dorado caught. On Monday, Captain Margarito worked hard and never got a fish with his client Chris Varando.
Martin, on the Nautilus, also struck out this last couple of days. Santiago, on the Gitana, did get a couple of sailfish, with the high boat in the fleet this week being Adan on the Gitana II, and released four sails on each of two days.
The Huntress, with Captain Francisco, and the Gitana with Santiago both fished the inshore a couple of days, but only recorded a couple of roosters, a few jack crevalle, and lots of needlefish and black skipjacks.
The new moon is today, Thursday, and as we go into the dark of the moon period, I really expect things to improve.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 78 - 80
Air temperature 72-87
Humidity 80%
Wind: SW at 12
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:59 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:09 p.m. CST
Cabo San Lucas
BILLFISH: Striped marlin remain the fish of the week with most boats getting at least four of five fish per trip. Boats that really worked it hard and concentrated on them were getting into the double digits again. Most of the fish were still at the Golden Gate Bank, but there was a decent showing at the lighthouse on the Pacific side as well. The bait keeps moving and the fish follow them so as the currents changed, the striped marlin appeared in different areas, following the bait. Live bait was the key to a decent catch, and using circle hooks with flouro-carbon leaders really made a difference!
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Close to our area there were scattered schools of football to school sized tuna found among the porpoise. From outside the 95 spot along the 1,000-fathom curve to 8 miles to the west of the Golden Gate Bank, there were scattered pods of porpoise, and about half of them held fish. Occasionally a pod would come through closer to shore and the first couple of boats would do well, but the later boats just got to see the mammals playing. There were confirmed reports of larger yellowfin to 150 pounds north of the Golden Gate Bank, but that was too far for most of the fleet boats to go; the reports were from private yachts.
DORADO: The dorado bite picked up just a bit this week with most of the action shifting to 2-3 miles off of the beach on the Pacific side between the lighthouse and the El Arco area. Live bait and bright colored lures in smaller sizes worked very well. Many boats slow trolling live bait caught a decent mix of both striped marlin and dorado.
WAHOO: I saw a few fish this week in the 50 pound class but there were not a lot of wahoo flags flying from the boats at the end of the day. Boats that had gone out looking for tuna caught the wahoo that I saw.
INSHORE: There were a few more nice roosterfish caught on the Pacific side of the Cape along the beach between the arch and the lighthouse, just like last week. There has been a showing of sierra and a few yellowtails as well as the roosterfish in that same location. A few Pangas reported big grouper were biting on the rock piles if you fished big live bait, but most of the fish were rocking the anglers and breaking off.
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 73 - 85
Air temperature 66 - 79
Humidity 70%
Wind: NNE 7 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:42 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:33 p.m. MST
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Magdalena Slows a Tad
Endless Season Update 11/18/2008
REPORT #1141 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Consistent northerly winds equaled slower fishing this week. Some of the boats have relocated to San Jose or Cabo to escape these winds. Those that remain are finding tuna beneath the porpoise on the good days. Some of the reported fish seen are fifty pounds and over.
The billfish, including sailfish, seem to still be around but they are spread throughout Las Palmas Bay. With few boats and light pressure, finding them can be difficult. Dorado action is spotty; if you find floating debris, there are usually a few fish under it. Last week a floating dead whale produced a serious bite until it disappeared…either drifting over the horizon or sinking out of sight.
Wind waves and beach fishing was not a good combination this week. If you were on the beach early (gray light) you could expect to find a few small roosters, jacks and perhaps a sierra or two.
Water temperature 76-80
Air temperature 66-87
Humidity 60%
Wind: NNW 9 to 12 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 6:37 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:32 p.m. MST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Sam and Janet Farish, from Atlanta, GA, fly fishing with Baja on the Fly Guide Lance Peterson on Mag Bay Outfitters’ boat, Mar Gato, with Captain Sergio Garcia, completed five days of fishing from the casitas in Santa Maria this week. Final count: marlin 11, wahoo 2 (lost 9 to sea lions), dorado 32, and yellowfin 26. We still have open dates for fly fishing for November and December.
Bob Hoyt
Water temperature 78 - 79
Air temperature 67 -85
Humidity 73 %
Wind: NW 13 to 17 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 4 miles
Sunrise 6:47 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:38 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
We had a group of clients from England this week, led by Alan Bird. Many people in the U.S. do not have much contact with our European fishermen brethren, and do not understand they are excellent fishermen and sportsmen. They show up with gear that makes any professional fisherman's mouth water. And, they know how to use it!
When I met with them at the hotel, they were asking me about fishing for roosters and jack crevalle on conventional gear. I told them the best method is using a surface popper, but you need to you cast it a long ways.
"What is a long ways,” they asked.
My answer, "At least 50 yards" brought a round of laughs.
As it turns out, a couple of them cast for distance in competition. They are hitting 250 yards with 12 pound gear! It is a science to them.
But a pendulum swing, in a rocking panga, cannot happen. However, there was no doubt in my mind they would hit a 100 yard cast with no problem....incredible.
Using light tackle, they fished the blue water offshore on Monday, releasing 6 sailfish, 4 nice dorado, a couple of very large jack crevalle, and a small (115 pound) blue marlin.
On Tuesday, they fished the inshore on pangas, with really light gear, down to 12 pound test. Six roosters were leadered, and an estimated 60 pound rooster came unbuttoned right at the boat, just before the leader was touched. I will call it a release anyway. They also took several jack crevalle in the 15 to 20 pound range, along with several black skip jack tuna.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 71-88
Humidity 65%
Wind: SW at 12
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 12 miles
Sunrise 6:59 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:04 p.m. CST
Cabo San Lucas
BILLFISH: Golden Gate Bank was the site of multiple striped marlin releases for every boat that fished there. A bad day was a release of only five fish, and most boats were doing double-digit numbers. We had clients who are charter boat owner/captains themselves on the east coast who released 10 fish on Saturday and they said all of the fish were nice sized with the smallest at around 150-pounds…most of them were in the 180-pound class. The bait was balled up all across the area, and while most of the boats stayed on the high spot, some of the more successful ones looked for balls of bait away from the crowds.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There was scattered yellowfin action this week, but I did not hear of any big fish caught. Most of the fish I heard about and I saw were in the 30 to 40 pound class and the schools were reported from all over the area, no concentration in any one spot. In addition, the schools were moving fairly rapidly, there one day and gone the next. In the cooler water 20 to 30 miles to the south and outside the San Jaime and Golden Gate were reported to be good areas this week, and a few boats reported fast moving schools just five miles out during the middle of the week. Lures were the way to go on all these fish since they were moving along at a fairly rapid rate, and spreader bars, cedar plugs and daisy chains got the action going.
DORADO: The bite remained light again, but there were still plenty of fish out there if you were in the right area. The San Jaime Bank and just to the south of it delivered up to nine fish in a day for clients of ours who were looking for tuna, and other boats were finding four or five fish per trip as well.
INSHORE: I saw a very nice 30 pound rooster caught and released by a boat fishing just off the beach in front of the Pedregal on Friday, and a few of the Panga Captains I talked to said that the action in that area had been pretty consistent on fish averaging 15 pounds. With our calm waters, many of the Pangas were venturing off shore after dorado and marlin.
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 73 - 85
Air temperature 68 - 90
Humidity 30%
Wind: NW 7 to 9 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:36 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:34 p.m. MST
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Magdalena Rocks
Endless Season Update 11/12/2008
REPORT #1140 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Grumpy seas prevented most boats from getting outside earlier in the week. When the seas subsided on Tuesday, the marlin party cranked right back up. Outside the Entrada ten miles the bird schools appeared on the horizon and the wake was soon alive with marlin slicing and dicing at the hookless teasers. Though the billfish usually won the race to the teasers, once in awhile the dorado were winners. There were times when a @#$%%^ wahoo would snatch one of the teasers and wouldn't you know it, they would take off with one our favorites!
On the grumpy days, the only fishing going on was in the Esteros, but the action was only fair. There were several roosterfish reportedly caught on the fly at Boca Santo Domingo.
Bob Hoyt
Water temperature 78 - 79
Air temperature 60 -86
Humidity 100 %
Wind: Winds: W 7 to 9 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 6:43 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:40 p.m. MST
East Cape
Consistent northerly winds equaled slower fishing this week. Some of the boats have relocated to San Jose or Cabo to escape the winds. Those that remain, are finding tuna beneath the porpoise on the good days. Some of the reported fish seen are fifty pounds and up.
The billfish, including sailfish, seem to still be around but they are spread throughout Las Palmas Bay. With few boats and light pressure, finding them can be difficult. Dorado action is spotty; if you find floating debris there are usually a few fish under it. Last week a floating dead whale produced a serious bite until it disappeared…either drifting over the horizon or sinking out of sight.
Wind waves and beach fishing was not a good combination this week. If you were on the beach early (gray light) you could expect to find a few small roosters, jacks and perhaps a sierra or two.
Water temperature 76-80
Air temperature 61-85
Humidity 73%
Wind: N 8 to 11 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 33:28 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:34 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The blue water is about 8 miles out, and the fishing hit an abrupt slow down with the bright clear moon yesterday. Previously this week, all boats were averaging about two sailfish each, with an occasional dorado. Yesterday (Wednesday), ten boats fished the blue water and only caught two sailfish.
The rainy season is definitely over. When looking at the Weather Channel satellite photos, there is hardly a cloud in the sky over the entire Republic of Mexico. This will help the inshore fishery as the water clears up from the rivers dumping their silt laden outflow into the ocean, but it also makes the affects of the clear full moon more pronounced.
Santiago, on the panga Gitana, told me he had fished inshore all week, getting a lot of medium sized jack crevalle (averaging between 4 and 10 pounds), black skipjack tuna, and an occasional rooster.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 70-88
Humidity 81%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 6:51 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:10 p.m. CST
Cabo San Lucas
BILLFISH: Striped marlin remained the fish of the week and they were stacked up like cordwood on the Golden Gate Bank. Many boats that worked hard for them were releasing 15-25 fish before noon, stopping only because the anglers were worn out! These were the top boats, but the average boats were still managing to release double-digit numbers of fish. Dropping live mackerel down to just above the bait balls, mostly at 180 feet, and waiting for the strike caught most of the fish. The better boats used circle hooks as the hook-up ratios were better and the fish were not getting hooked in the gut. There were also many sailfish caught, something of a surprise for me. A few decent-sized blue marlin were reported but nothing that would have won the Bisbee Black and Blue.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Yellowfin were the big attraction in Cabo this week as Thursday and Friday were the fishing days for the Western Outdoors Tuna Tournament. There were 98 teams entered this year, and while there were not as many 40-pound and larger fish caught this year, the second largest fish recorded in this tournament was weighed in at a whopping 244 pounds by the crew on the Reel Rum.
The boat “Bottom Line” caught a yellowfin that weighed 143.4 pounds the first day and one of 101.6 pounds on the second day to take a record $272,540. Not to be outdone, the team on the panga, Dr. Pescado, ended the tournament a winner with their 145.4 pound tuna.
Most of the fishing took place on the Pacific side of the Cape, and most of the fish were caught under porpoise. Of course with this number of boats fishing, it became crowded very quickly once porpoise were found. A few boats came screaming into the pods that others were already carefully working the edges of, and this activity put the fish down for everyone, sigh. All in all, the yellowfin bite was decent and the bigger fish were reportedly all caught on live bait.
DORADO: The dorado bite remained light this week, but if you wanted one you could get it. Between one and three fish per day were the average and the fish were around 12-15 pounds in weight. Small lures and slow trolled live bait close to shore, within two or three miles on the Pacific side produced the best results.
INSHORE: The small roosterfish were still around on the Cortez side up around San Jose, but there were no large numbers. Most of the inshore fishing was just offshore a bit with the pangas concentrating on dorado and small yellowfin tuna.
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 73 - 85
Air temperature 62 - 88
Humidity 69%
Wind: WNW 8 to 11 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 6:32 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:36 p.m. MST
REPORT #1140 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Grumpy seas prevented most boats from getting outside earlier in the week. When the seas subsided on Tuesday, the marlin party cranked right back up. Outside the Entrada ten miles the bird schools appeared on the horizon and the wake was soon alive with marlin slicing and dicing at the hookless teasers. Though the billfish usually won the race to the teasers, once in awhile the dorado were winners. There were times when a @#$%%^ wahoo would snatch one of the teasers and wouldn't you know it, they would take off with one our favorites!
On the grumpy days, the only fishing going on was in the Esteros, but the action was only fair. There were several roosterfish reportedly caught on the fly at Boca Santo Domingo.
Bob Hoyt
Water temperature 78 - 79
Air temperature 60 -86
Humidity 100 %
Wind: Winds: W 7 to 9 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 6:43 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:40 p.m. MST
East Cape
Consistent northerly winds equaled slower fishing this week. Some of the boats have relocated to San Jose or Cabo to escape the winds. Those that remain, are finding tuna beneath the porpoise on the good days. Some of the reported fish seen are fifty pounds and up.
The billfish, including sailfish, seem to still be around but they are spread throughout Las Palmas Bay. With few boats and light pressure, finding them can be difficult. Dorado action is spotty; if you find floating debris there are usually a few fish under it. Last week a floating dead whale produced a serious bite until it disappeared…either drifting over the horizon or sinking out of sight.
Wind waves and beach fishing was not a good combination this week. If you were on the beach early (gray light) you could expect to find a few small roosters, jacks and perhaps a sierra or two.
Water temperature 76-80
Air temperature 61-85
Humidity 73%
Wind: N 8 to 11 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 33:28 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:34 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The blue water is about 8 miles out, and the fishing hit an abrupt slow down with the bright clear moon yesterday. Previously this week, all boats were averaging about two sailfish each, with an occasional dorado. Yesterday (Wednesday), ten boats fished the blue water and only caught two sailfish.
The rainy season is definitely over. When looking at the Weather Channel satellite photos, there is hardly a cloud in the sky over the entire Republic of Mexico. This will help the inshore fishery as the water clears up from the rivers dumping their silt laden outflow into the ocean, but it also makes the affects of the clear full moon more pronounced.
Santiago, on the panga Gitana, told me he had fished inshore all week, getting a lot of medium sized jack crevalle (averaging between 4 and 10 pounds), black skipjack tuna, and an occasional rooster.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 70-88
Humidity 81%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 6:51 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:10 p.m. CST
Cabo San Lucas
BILLFISH: Striped marlin remained the fish of the week and they were stacked up like cordwood on the Golden Gate Bank. Many boats that worked hard for them were releasing 15-25 fish before noon, stopping only because the anglers were worn out! These were the top boats, but the average boats were still managing to release double-digit numbers of fish. Dropping live mackerel down to just above the bait balls, mostly at 180 feet, and waiting for the strike caught most of the fish. The better boats used circle hooks as the hook-up ratios were better and the fish were not getting hooked in the gut. There were also many sailfish caught, something of a surprise for me. A few decent-sized blue marlin were reported but nothing that would have won the Bisbee Black and Blue.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Yellowfin were the big attraction in Cabo this week as Thursday and Friday were the fishing days for the Western Outdoors Tuna Tournament. There were 98 teams entered this year, and while there were not as many 40-pound and larger fish caught this year, the second largest fish recorded in this tournament was weighed in at a whopping 244 pounds by the crew on the Reel Rum.
The boat “Bottom Line” caught a yellowfin that weighed 143.4 pounds the first day and one of 101.6 pounds on the second day to take a record $272,540. Not to be outdone, the team on the panga, Dr. Pescado, ended the tournament a winner with their 145.4 pound tuna.
Most of the fishing took place on the Pacific side of the Cape, and most of the fish were caught under porpoise. Of course with this number of boats fishing, it became crowded very quickly once porpoise were found. A few boats came screaming into the pods that others were already carefully working the edges of, and this activity put the fish down for everyone, sigh. All in all, the yellowfin bite was decent and the bigger fish were reportedly all caught on live bait.
DORADO: The dorado bite remained light this week, but if you wanted one you could get it. Between one and three fish per day were the average and the fish were around 12-15 pounds in weight. Small lures and slow trolled live bait close to shore, within two or three miles on the Pacific side produced the best results.
INSHORE: The small roosterfish were still around on the Cortez side up around San Jose, but there were no large numbers. Most of the inshore fishing was just offshore a bit with the pangas concentrating on dorado and small yellowfin tuna.
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 73 - 85
Air temperature 62 - 88
Humidity 69%
Wind: WNW 8 to 11 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 6:32 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:36 p.m. MST
Thursday, October 30, 2008
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
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
Thursday, October 23, 2008
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
Saturday, October 18, 2008
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
Thursday, October 09, 2008
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
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
Thursday, October 02, 2008
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
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