Mag Bay Marlin Stirring

Endless Season Update 11/29/2009
REPORT #1191 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

Russ Weaver, Corvallis, OR displays one of many roosters being caught along the beach near Zihuatanejo.

East Cape

Russ Weaver, Corvallis, OR displays one of many roosters being caught along the beach near Zihuatanejo.

Cooler weather and a tad more wind as November comes to a close. Looks like a shower or two may greet December according to the weather predications.

Very few boats are heading out but when they do, fishing remains wide open. Yellowfin tuna refuse to quit...still nothing huge but enough for sashimi to go with leftover turkey. Dorado are still hanging around out in front of La RIbera .

Farther offshore the billfish haven't left the building. Not much concentration, just one here and there.

Inshore the sierra are the primary target for the tin boat fleet and the beach walkers are finding a mixed bag on the good days.

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Offshore action remains a 'wahoo kind of deal'. Taylor Spurgen, San Diego, heard the reports and jumped on a plane, determined to catch his first wahoo. He must be an over achiever...he ended up with six wahoo up to fifty-five pounds, and then released another. This is the best wahoo year I can remember.

There have been encouraging reports of huge schools of marlin heading down the coast. Several boats stumbled onto the fish and racked up double-digit scores for a day's fishing. According to the reports the fish are traveling 5 to 10 miles a day. December could produce the WFO marlin action we normally get in November...HO HO HO!

Small tuna and dorado are still less than ten miles outside the Boca. A few anglers are fishing the tide in the esteros in the morning and then they are running out for a T & D afternoon.

Meanwhile back in the esteros, the action has not slowed. Live shrimp are producing the best action for everything from snook to corvina and everything in between.....Bob Hoyt

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

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The 85° blue water still remains on the beach and the excellent fishing has not let up.

Offshore, the fleet is averaging two to three sailfish a day each, plus a nice dorado or two.

And, even with the hot water, an unusual run of cooler water loving small striped marlin moved into the area and are adding up in the daily totals. I guess they are either lost, or they do not realize they are late for their annual run up at Los Cabos.

Eric and Ellis Skidmore, of Bend, Oregon, fished two days with Captain Martin on the Gaviota (formally the Nautilus) releasing six sails, a striped marlin, and keeping two dorado.

From San Diego, the Lee Fleming family also fished a day with Martin on the Gaviota. They got four sailfish; one for each member of the family.

Bob Barker, from British Columbia, wrapped up his stay of fly fishing several days with Adan on the Gitana II, by getting two sailfish and a striped marlin on the fly rod, getting back to the dock just a couple of hours before his flight.

The inshore fishing remains fantastic. There is tonnage of sierras, which provided a special treat for Troy Evan's 8 year old son while fishing with Cheva on the Dos Hermanos. Plus, Troy also got plenty of action with a couple of 40+ pound roosterfish and several jack crevalle.

Commodore Ellis Skidmore (USN - retired), only 89 years young, also enjoyed the sierras by taking full Mexican limits for the entire crew, while fishing with Adolfo, Jesus, and me on the panga, Dos Hermanos II. We all ate sierra that night.

John Thodos of Illinois released three roosters and several jack crevalle while fishing two days with Adolfo and me on the panga, Dos Hermanos II. The largest rooster, also taken on the fly, weighed 42 pounds. We were fishing the area near the river bar at La Union and the Ranch, about 30 miles north of Zihuatanejo. We were consistently raising 20 roosters a day to the hookless popper, and another 30 to 40 jack crevalle. We have worked the area for four days straight now..…Ed Kunze

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

Cabo San Lucas

Scattered striped marlin are showing on both sides of the Cape, mostly small ones and by small I mean less than 50 pounds in weight! There were groups of stripers on the surface in numbers as high as 25 fish per group, but they were not very hungry. A few boats were able to release two fish per trip, but they were the exception, not the norm. There was also a flurry of action on blue and black marlin to 400 pounds close to shore on the Pacific side in a warm water band. Feeding on small dorado and skipjack, they surprised and tormented a lot of the anglers who had changed over to smaller tackle for the dorado and striped marlin.

Tuna were at the Gordo Banks. Using sardina as bait and light flouro-carbon leader, many of the boats were able to get two or three fish to 100 pounds by drifting over the high spots on both the inner and outer banks. At the end of the week, school sized fish averaging 25 pounds were found off of Palmilla Point.

The water has cooled a bit and the numbers of dorado have dropped off. Most of the boats are averaging 4 to 10 fish with a lot of small ones in the catch. A few of the boats have lucked out and found dorado under floating debris. Those few have recorded great catches of fish averaging 25 pounds, but these were few and far between.

This has been the best wahoo season in years; boats are still getting multiple fish each day if they focus their efforts on these speedy, razor toothed fish. They are mostly smaller than average with the majority of them ranging in size from 6 to 20 pounds.

A few of the pangas found large sierra and a few large roosterfish on the Pacific side. Most of the inshore action has been with snapper and small roosters as well as dorado.…George and Mary Landrum

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

Remarkable Thanksgiving

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

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

East Cape

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

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

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

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

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

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

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

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

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

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

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

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

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cabo San Lucas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some Large Tuna Remain

After several years of waiting for the opportunity, I finally hooked a dorado on the fly from shore. It wasn't a big fish. But I'll take it. I saw it chasing bait. At first I thought it was a roosterfish. But as soon as it ate the fly I could see it was all lit up in classic dorado fashion! Unfortunately, Colleen wasn't with me and I didn't have a camera. So I had to race down the beach some distance to get a photo. Hence, the dull colors on the fish. This one will be dinner tonight. Courtesy of the ‘mono lisa’ fly on 20lb. fluorocarbon…Lance Peterson.

Endless Season Update 11/08/2009REPORT #1188 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

The yellowfin, dorado and sailfish are all very close to shore. Lots of sailfish spread from the north to the south within three miles of the beach. Larger tuna to 100 pounds outside under the porpoise, but most anglers are opting for the smaller fish closer to shore, from the light house south. Fifteen to thirty five pound yellowfin are all within one mile of the beach. Dorado from five to twenty five pounds are mixed in with the yellowfin. Inshore fishing is very good, with very light fishing pressure. Big roosters, pompano, sierra (early), pargo and huge schools of jack crevalle are all biting aggressively.

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Strong winds plagued offshore this week and continue to produce rough seas. The dorado, tuna and wahoo catches have been decent, with our clients, Jeff Dean and friends, catching limits of wahoo, tuna and dorado. In the bay, they limited out every day on pargo, grouper and corvina.

So far, the billfish action has been sparse with only an occasional blind strike. There’s still very little bait around.

The Success, on a multi-day trip, had sixty wahoo and limits of tuna and dorado for eight anglers…Bob Hoyt.

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

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The clean water is only one or two miles off the beach, with the 84 degree deep blue water six to seven miles out. For the eight to ten boats fishing every day, it does not matter if they choose the blue water or inshore, they are experiencing some great fishing!

The boats are releasing between two and three sailfish a day each, and like last week, the counts would be higher if the dorado wouldn't beat the sails to the baits: Each boat is also getting four to five of the twenty pound class dorado a day.

Inshore is just as exciting, especially using light line or a fly rod, with a lot of sierra, roosters, and jack crevalle. Adolfo, on the panga, Dos Hermanos, said each day the boats are each getting between 12 to 15 of the smaller jacks (from two to five pounds), five to six large roosters (averaging about 35 to 40 pounds), and as many of the smaller sierra as they want for ceviche or evening dinner

The following is a quote sent to me on Wednesday by John Carroll of New York. He and his wife,

Erika, fished with Luis Maciel on the Gringo Loco.
“We had two great days---Monday and Tuesday. Monday we went out for billfish and caught four sails and two dorado. Two sails were 90 to 100 pounds and two were juvenile. The dorado were small in the 10 to 15 pound range.

Because of the very calm weather, Luis suggested we go rooster fishing yesterday. Ran a good ways south, 30 miles by my ‘guesstimate’, but the roosters were not there. Had one runoff on a live bait but lost it. Picked up one dorado at the mouth of the bay on the way out and caught another five or six on the way back; same size fish with one larger one in the 25 pound class. Going offshore again tomorrow for billfish…will let you know that report before we leave on Monday.

Thanks again for hooking me up with Luis and Jorge. We're having a blast with them.”
Clients fishing with Mike Buckley and Francisco on the Huntress had a great day on Wednesday. They got fifteen yellowfin tuna and two sailfish and they were back at the dock by noon.
Jose Pino, down at Puerto Vicente Guerrero, told me there are a lot of roosters on the beaches down there, and a lot of dorado just a couple of hundred yards off the beach. We will be going for them tomorrow with the fly rods…Ed Kunze

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


Cabo San Lucas

A black marlin was reported to have been caught on the Gordo Bank during the Western Outdoor News Tuna Tournament that ended up weighing over 650 pounds. That was the only large billfish this week. Most of the action was on striped marlin and a few sailfish. There were fish found scattered about all along the Pacific side with no strong concentrations anywhere.
The big news on the tuna front was the capture of a yellowfin during the first day of the W.O.N. Tournament that weighed 383 pounds! That fish was a real toad and was reported to have been caught while fishing with a live bollito on the surface at the Gordo Banks.

Dorado have slowed down a little overall, but a few boats are continuing to do extremely well when finding debris on the surface. One boat found a dead turtle and loaded up on decent size dorado averaging 20 pounds. For the most part the numbers are down - a good trip is five to ten fish and the average size is now down to 10 pounds. During the Tuna Tournament there were only two dorado weighed in over 30 pounds.

The wahoo bite was good for the boats that targeted them and for everyone else it was an incidental catch. I have one friend that managed to get 15 wahoo in three days, losing a lot more than that, with the largest one being 85 pounds. During the Tuna Tournament the largest to come to the scales was 61 pounds.

It appears that the size of the roosterfish shrinks week by week. The week before last they were averaging 5 to 10 pounds and this past week anglers were lucky to get one that weighed 5 pounds. Other inshore fish have yet to really arrive. There are a few sierras being caught and an occasional small yellowtail, but neither in any numbers. …George and Mary Landrum

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

Wind for Some

Then there was the Magdalena Island beach which produced a memorable day of mixed catches.

Endless Season Update 11/1/2009REPORT #1187 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape


October is over and hopefully we have seen the last of the Chubascos for 2009. The seasonal north winds have begun and the trick now is to pick the right days to fish or take up wind surfing.

On the good days, billfish and tuna (both football and some verging on gorilla class) can be located under the porpoise. Though according to Mark Rayor the porpoise have been tough to find and usually only the first few boats that find them are successful.

Rick Maxa, “Let’s Talk Hookup” co-host, passed along a good tip: try the ranger lures that we sometimes use as hookless teasers for jacks and roosters. If you get in front of a school of porpoise and don’t get a bite, try one; it seems that tuna cannot resist the Roberts Rangers . This is the perfect solution for the fly guys when attempting to keep the tuna on the surface long enough to get the fly in front of them.

There are still some quality dorado for the taking…mostly schoolies with a few toads up to fifty pounds mixed in.

The persistent wind waves have chewed up the beaches and left dirty water. However, the water clears up quickly when the wind subsides. Gary Barnes Webb, manager at Rancho Leonero, caught some quality roosters recently along the beach on the non-windy days.

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

While the marlin show began early this yea,r the September and October parade of storms seem to have pushed them out again. Consensus is the lack of bait is the reason; earlier there were baitballs everywhere, but unfortunately they have disappeared.

Boats traveling down the ridge reported excellent tuna and dorado fishing all the way down to the 23’s, then nothing on down to Santa Maria.

Some of the Loreto trailer boats are reporting fair to great wahoo action on the Thetis. Closer to shore, ten miles outside Boca Soledad, limits of tuna and dorado were a slam dunk.

Our recent Estero trip produced a steady bite of pargo, snapper, grouper, a few large snook lost and some “what the hell was that”?

Then there was the Magdalena Island beach which produced a memorable day of mixed catches.

Effective immediately Mexican fishing licenses may be purchased in Lopez Mateos without any hassle. They are available near the launch ramp from a Fonmar representative.

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

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The clean water is only one or two miles off the beach, with the 84 degree deep blue water six to seven miles out. For the eight to ten boats fishing every day, it does not matter if they choose the blue water or inshore; they are experiencing some great fishing.

The boats are releasing between two and three sailfish a day each, and like last week, the counts would be higher if the dorado wouldn't beat the sails to the baits: Each boat is also getting four to five of the twenty pound class dorado a day.

Inshore is just as exciting, especially using light line or a fly rod, with a lot of sierra, roosters, and jack crevalle. Adolfo, on the panga, Dos Hermanos, said the boats are each getting between 12 to 15 of the smaller jacks (from two to five pounds),five to six large roosters each day (averaging about 35 to 40 pounds), and as many of the smaller sierra as they want for ceviche or evening dinner..…Ed Kunze

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


Cabo San Lucas

The striped marlin bite, as well as blue and black marlin bite, slowed this week. It may have something to do with the full moon. As the water cooled, we expected the big girls to slow down but the striped marlin should be picking up. Maybe soon the big groups will start to show. The fish that were caught were found on the Pacific side fairly close to the beach by boats looking for dorado. A few boats did all right, releasing two or three fish per trip, but we have not yet seen the numbers of fish as we have over the past three years.

Yellowfin were scattered, some fish were found as close as two miles from the lighthouse and others were out 30+ miles to the west. Almost all the fish were found with porpoise; there were a few unassociated schools found but it was hard to keep on the fish without the mammals to show you where they were headed. Most of the fish caught were football to school size fish, from 8 to 40 pounds with an occasional 60 to 80 pound fish in the mix. The few boats that got to the schools first did all right with an occasional larger fish to 130 pounds. At the end of the week the bite slowed down and the fish were harder to find.

The dorado bite was wide open early on. Boats were catching all they could handle and were releasing anything under 10 pounds. Later in the week the water started to cool and the bite slowed down. With the moon getting larger the bite moved to the afternoon as well so it often seemed that there were no more dorado around. Even with the slow bite late in the week, most of the boats were able to catch near-limits of fish averaging 12 pounds.

The full moon brought the wahoo bite back and there were more fish found late in the week than earlier in the week. Most of the fish averaged 30 pounds and were found near the points by boats working for dorado.

With the great water conditions most of the pangas were trying their best to put clients on the dorado and tuna early in the week. At the end of the week the morning boats returned to the near shore ground and targeted roosterfish, sierra and snapper. Most of the roosterfish were on the small size with an average of 10 pounds but there were some 30 to 40 pound-class fish found in the Cabo bay near the RIU resort beach. The sierra were small at an average of four pounds and were found farther up the Cortez side of the Cape. The main species of snapper found this week were the smaller yellowtail snapper along with a few cubera and barred pargo…George and Mary Landrum

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

A Hint of Things to Come

Brian Kelley, wearing the white cap, with three of his buddies celebrating his 50th birthday with a fat one …Mark Rayor.

Endless Season Update 10/10/2009REPORT #1186 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

The first serious north wind of the season arrived late this week along with grouchy seas that caused short days for some.

Still seem to be enough fish around to keep things interesting; it is just tougher to find them. There were a few porpoise schools found closer to shore that did produce some tuna for the first handful of boats that found them.

Dorado action was also a little sketchy with most boats finding only a few, if any, but there are still some skipjack and football sized tuna out in front of the lighthouse.

As usual the beach was trashed from the wind waves which created difficult conditions for the beach walkers.

The good news is the winds are predicted to subside soon and hopefully the bite will pick right back up.

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Well so much for the quickie trip last Friday. By the time I arrived at the border a small tropical depression, Olaf, had turned and was headed on an erratic path for Baja’s midsection.

Since my trip only allowed for a few days of fishing with little or no wiggle room, I delayed the trip until this Monday.

Turned out to be a good call; Olaf dumped plenty of rain from Cuidad Constitution to Mulege. There were a few washouts and one group driving down reported 30 water crossings during their trip from the border to East Cape.

The storm left unsettled conditions but they seem to have dissipated by the end of the week.

So I will be driving down the peninsula Monday, the 12th, with a stop planned in Mulege to check out some rumors of large snook appearing in the Santa Rosalia River. Then on to Lopez Mateos to fish both beach and offshore for three days with Lance Peterson, our Mexico Guide.

I will return on Monday, the 19th, and should have an update on the aftermath of the recent storms.
Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The 80° blue water has cooled down a bit from last week, and has moved in very close to the beach. This should improve the fishing, but we have had a series of hard rains and wind and a full moon period, combined with few clients fishing. An accurate picture of the fishing action is hard to describe at best.
The average for sailfish is about one or two a day per boat, and few nice size dorado are also being taken.
Inshore, there are a lot of small jack crevalle, and even a few sierra, but the roosterfish bite also seems to have died off. However, we also had strong surf all this last week, so the roosters have moved offshore, and should move back in when the moon phase affects the surf to a lesser degree.…Ed Kunze

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


Cabo San Lucas

Striped marlin and sailfish are being seen close to shore on the Pacific side, but the water conditions on the outside have many of the boats focusing their efforts on the calmer Sea of Cortez side of the Cape. There are reports of blue and black marlin hook ups in the San Jose area, but just not in the numbers that were on the Pacific side. But, these fish, like those found out to the west, were not really in the eating mood.

There are respectable numbers of yellowfin tuna farther offshore on the Pacific side. However, running 30 to 40 miles in the grumpy seas was not in the books for most of the boats. A few of them did make it out to the fish, however, so there were few tuna flags flying. Heading out 30 miles put you in the area, but it was tough to spot the porpoise; when the chop began, they seemed to disappear!

Dorado seemed to like the conditions a bit choppy and most boats were coming in with at least four or five fish, averaging 12 to 15 pounds, and some had a few larger fish to 40 pounds. Most of the action was on the Pacific side of the Cape close to the beach.
There were some wahoo taken just off the beach, but most of the boats were fishing for dorado, so you know there were a lot of fish lost due to monofilament leaders!

The pangas working the bottom did find some decent catches of small grouper and snapper. And for pangas that were surface fishing, there were catches of dorado and the occasional striped marlin and sailfish. George and Mary Landrum

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

Hot Ticket…Tuna

Endless Season Update 10/01/2009REPORT #1185 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

All these bad boys were 80 to 100 pounds. Caught them on horilitos about 25 miles east of Buenavista along witha high school buddy, Gary Street of Laguna Hills…Mark Rayor.

Here it is October and just to remind everyone that the weather begins to become a little less a sure thing, it kicked up pretty good on Wednesday, but not to worry, it settled right back down the following day.

While other fish are still around and biting, the tuna are still the hot ticket…period. For the fly guys the skipjack and football sized YFT’s are thick enough to wear out the hardiest of anglers in the blazing sun.

Farther offshore, though billfish are still to be found, they are more of an incidental catch. Most boats are racing around looking for tuna under the porpoise.

With the squid still hanging around everyone is loaded for bear (read: tuna), enough chum to turn the head of even the most finicky tuna. When found the chunked squid works for the smaller fish. Those looking for the larger Gorilla class are running to the leading edge of the school and casting live bait then slow trolling. Judging by the photos, it looks like a street fight.

The dorado schools are still close to shore all the way to Cabo Pulmo. Also inshore, as well as from the beach, the rooster bite turned back on but may have slowed a click or two with the recent wind waves that stirred up the water.

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

On the outer banks, the wahoo action has been outrageous with limits all around for the few boats heading out. There are reports of more marlin arriving every day! Can’t imagine what that means exactly, since I am not aware of the check in point of them. Anyway, though more are being seen, they have not been biting.

Back closer to the beach, the skipjack, dorado and tuna are thick but everyone is more excited about the wahoo.

I haven’t heard much about the Esteros other than the shrimpers are out in full force throughout the bay.

I will be driving down the peninsula Friday the 2nd with stops planned in Mulege to check out some rumors of large snook appearing in the Santa Rosalia River. Then on to Lopez Mateos to fish both beach and offshore for three days with Lance Peterson, our East Cape Guide.

I will return on Friday, the 9th and should have an update on the aftermath of Hurricane Jimena.
Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

With the blue water about seven miles off the beach, the offshore fishing slowed considerably this week. A large area of hot water has moved in, showing a surface temperature of 87°.
Yesterday, with a total of eight boats fishing in the fleet, those that fished the blue water got zero sailfish and a few dorado. This is the first time I have ever seen the fleet get zero sailfish.
Adolfo, on the panga Dos Hermanos, fished the inshore mostly and told me he is getting about four roosterfish a day.
The roosters are averaging about 35 pounds. …Ed Kunze
Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582


Cabo San Lucas

With the warmer waters coming back, the striped marlin bite has dropped off again. They are all over the place but are being finicky eaters. Bouncing bait off their noses, just gets you “the look” before they swim away. Head of one 550 pounds was brought in on Friday. Just a reminder to everyone, those fish over 300 pounds are the female breeding stock! Take your picture at the side of the boat and let her swim away. Fish like thatare the future of marlin fishing.

Tuna dominated the action again this week with almost every boat being able to get into them. Sizes ranged from 15 pounds to 230 pounds with most of the larger fish being caught on live bait dropped in front of the moving pods of spinner dolphin or spotted dolphin. Report from San Jose of a 357 pound yellowfin brought in up there. And this was the story until Thursday night when three purse seiners moved in on the Pacific side with their helicopters. Not a tuna flag was flying Friday or Saturday. Ok, last minute update. I did get a report Sunday afternoon that a couple of boats had finally found tuna late Saturday, so hopefully they will make a quick comeback this time.

Dorado were sporadic this week; one day there would be plenty and then the next day they could not be found. When you could find them they seemed to be close to the shore on the Pacific side in the warmer water. Averaging 12 to 15 pounds, there were enough larger ones out there to make things interesting.

I saw some nice wahoo come in this week. We had one client bring in a nice 50 pound fish, and I saw a few more in the 20 to 30 pound range.

Most of the Panga Captains are doing well on dorado and tuna since they are close to shore. There are still some decent roosterfish being found and a few snapper and some nice 8 to 10 pound grouper as well. The Pacific side has been the favorite side of the Cape this week.

The week started off great with lots of fish being caught…all different kinds. It’s amazing how a couple of purse seiners setting their nets scares most of the fish off for a couple days. Hopefully they did not completely deplete the stocks as they have done in the past. Five cruise ships are coming to Cabo today, bringing a much needed boost to the local economy!…George and Mary Landrum

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

Tough Tuna

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

Endless Season Update 09/25/2009

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


East Cape


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

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

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

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

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

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

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

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


Cabo San Lucas

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

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

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

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

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

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

First The Squid…Then Tuna

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

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

East Cape

I don’t know if it is a coincidence, but the Humboldt squid show up and suddenly, it was tuna time. Tales of broken tackle and disappointed anglers were common this week. However, for the few who closed the deal, they were so exhausted that even the ‘high-fives’ were difficult. Not all the fish are VW size; for the wimps, (or is it the smart ones?), in your group there are plenty of smaller fish mixed in. Most of the action is out 20 to 40 miles providing time to find a sailfish.

The dorado are thick down toward Los Frailes and beyond all the way to Gordo Bank…most of them are weighing in the mid-teen range.

Near the Lighthouse, there is also a good concentration of smaller yellowfin tuna with skipjack mixed in.

The water along the beaches has cleaned up, but there is still plenty of bait attracting roosters, jacks, ladyfish and pompano. It is still warm enough that if you go out on the beach midday, it may feel more like an Ironman competition, than fishing. If you think that ‘heats not neat’, try early morning and late afternoon.

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

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

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

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

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

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

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

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

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


Cabo San Lucas

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

YELLOWFIN TUNA: There have still been some nice fish caught this week but they have been scattered. 30 miles to the south has been producing a few nice fish to #150 if you are in the right pod of porpoise, and there have been fish to #80 being caught on Sardinas up the coast in the Inman bank area. That was scratch fishing with only a few fish a day with lots of chumming taking place, but at least the fish were there. Light floura-carbon leader, #30 and #40 was needed, but you could get some fish. Some boats did all right catching a few Humboldt Squid at

Punta Gorda and using them for chunk baits. Closer to home there were scattered schools with fish to #35 but averaging #15-#20. Most of these were found on the Pacific side between the beach and the San Jaime Bank and on the Golden Gate Bank.

DORADO: It took a while but there was finally some debris in the water this week, perhaps washed into the ocean up north from last week’s hurricane. Boats that managed to find the pieces of wood were able to put a few nice #30 Dorado in the box along with some smaller fish. Inshore on the Pacific side was also producing Dorado once again with the average size being 15 pounds and a few larger fish in the mix. We hooked up one female on Tuesday at may have been 30 pounds and a much larger male was following her. Unfortunately she shook the hook while still a distance from the boat and even though we slow trolled a couple of live baits in the area for a while we could not get hooked up again. That’s fishing!

WAHOO: A friend of mine did get a nice Wahoo this last week, early in the week. It weighed around #85 and he caught it while checking out the Inman Bank area. A few other Wahoo flags were being flown but I have no idea what size the fish were or where they were caught.

INSHORE: Most of the Panga Captains are doing well on Dorado and football Tuna since they are close to shore. There are still some decent Roosterfish being found and a few snapper and grouper as well. The Pacific side has been the favorite side of the Cape this week…George and Mary Landrum

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

More Images of Jimena and update

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

Loreto

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

Mulege River

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

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

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

I asked her source and she answered the following;

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

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

Magdalena Bay

Puerto San Carlos

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

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

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

Jimena Update 3:00 AM local time

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