Odd Weather for June

Endless Season Update 06/11/2008
REPORT #1118 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape

Chris Ginnings, El Paso TX, with an Inshore Jack
Taking the lead from the odd weather in the U.S., the East Cape area had south winds this past week strong enough to force many boats back in early, making it tough to fish. However, if you are coming this week, the fact that it quit blowing this morning should be encouraging.

Before the wind cranked up, the offshore had plenty of billfish (including several blues) but it was still tough to get a bite. There were a few dorado to be found under some Sargasso or shark buoys if you were one of the lucky ones.

The buzz this morning was some rumored tuna farther offshore.

Inshore action consisted of a few skipjack, roosterfish, pargo , pompano, cabrilla and even some larger sierra close to shore early morning before the wind began blowing.

Beach action was limited but there were a few quality roosters spotted and at least one in the 40+ range caught.
Tip: Blind casting is not the most productive way to fish the beach. Try to find an area where you are seeing schools of mullet and then sit on the berm ready to cast when Bubba chases mullet to the shore.
Water temperature 73-87
Air temperature 61-90
Humidity 81%
Wind: SSE 7 to 9 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:31 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:06 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Diana Hoyt reports calm seas offshore, but still cold sea temperatures. Cold water notwithstanding, there are some quality yellows around the shark buoys.

In the Esteros most of the action revolved around leopard grouper, cabrilla and some nice-sized corvina.

The government has temporally banned all nets in the bay as part of an ongoing experiment!

I’m not sure what that means so I will be going to Magdalena early next month to sort it out.

Water temperature 60 - 66
Air temperature 60 -88
Humidity 70 %
Wind: WNW 7 to 10 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 6:36 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:16 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

There has not been much change in the fishing patterns since last week. The blue water is still about 6 miles off the beach, and the fleet is averaging 1 to 3 sailfish a day/per boat. A few blue marlin are still around, as proven by Cindy Belmonte of Simi Valley, with her 300 pound blue. She was fishing with Captain Margarito on the Gaby.
A few large dorado are still being taken on a daily basis, with the yellowfin tuna mostly playing hide and seek.
On Monday, we had a drizzle of rain all day long, with hard rains and wind late Monday night. This was enough for the Port Captain to close the port for Tuesday, but by 10:00 AM we once again had clear skies and calm seas. However, we did record 4 inches of rain during the 30 hour period of inclement weather.
The roosterfish are definitely making a better showing up North in the Pantla and Saladita regions, and still holding strong down South at the antennas and Puerto Vicente Guerrero.

Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 76-97
Humidity 69%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 7:11 a.m. CDT
Sunset 8:21 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas


BILLFISH: Very little changed this week on the marlin front with most of the fish being found along the shore off of Palmilla and San Jose. They had moved toward us early in the week but the influx of cooler water from the Pacific side pushed them back toward the north. They are still not biting very well and it seems lures are working better than live bait for the most part. Pulling lures at slightly higher than normal speeds seems to get the fish active, though they may be striking out of aggression rather than hunger as the moon gets larger. A decent trip is one or two releases per boat, a good trip this week would have been three or more releases, but we saw very few boats with more than three.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: I sure saw a lot of tuna flags on some of the boats, but upon checking with the anglers found that the flags were being flown for bonita that averaged 12 pounds in size, with a few reaching 18 pounds…a decent fight to be sure, but not yellowfin by any stretch of the imagination.
DORADO: The dorado bite dropped off as the cool water moved back in, but there were reports heard of some kelp patties being found offshore up in the East Cape area that were holding dorado. In our area there were about 10 % of the boats coming in with dorado flags at the end of the week, and they were found along with the Striped Marlin.
INSHORE: Action inshore consisted of small roosterfish to 10 pounds with an occasional fish to 30 pounds, a few holdover sierra to 8 pounds, a decent spot of grouper and snapper averaging 8 pounds along the rocky points and those nice 12-18 pound Bonita just a few miles off the beach. All the action took place on the Cortez side of the Cape.

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 67 - 75
Air temperature 59 - 90
Humidity 82%
Wind: WSW 9 to 12 knots
Conditions: Mostly Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:34 a.m. MST
Sunset 8:05 p.m. MST

Marlin Feed…Roosters Bite

Endless Season Update 06/04/2008
REPORT #1117 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

Nice dorado snaked out beneath the Sargasso
East Cape

The offshore action seemed to centered from Pescadero north to the 88 this past week. Plenty of marlin are around but bites are tough to come by. Oddly enough, there were many patches of sargasso with some holding some good sized dorado. The trick was to be at the right patch at the right time. Another bonus this week was that a few tuna from 10 to 40 pounds were scratched out from under the white belly porpoise before the Mexican seiners came steaming over the horizon.

Inshore the white bonito remained in front of El Cardonal until the wind blew out of the south Wednesday shutting off that bite.

Yesterday Jamie and Barbara Pierre, Seattle, WA, fished with Mark Rayor and encountered the winds mentioned before. They started at Las Arenas and hop-scotched south. Finally, in the afternoon, they found some schooling roosters in the 15 to 20 pound class at El Cardonal.. Barbara landed her first, second and third rooster ever, qualifying her as a veteran.
.
The beach also got thrashed pretty good on Wednesday and it may take several days before the water clears up from the wind waves. Before the wind there were schools of roosters, mostly in the five pound class, pounding the bait schools along the beach from Rancho Leonero to Punta Colorada with some jacks and ladyfish mixed in.
Tip: It is important to remember to not use the rod tip when setting the hook, strip strike is the better method.Water temperature 70-82
Air temperature 69-99
Humidity 66%
Wind: ESE 5 to 7 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 6:31 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:003p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Bob Hoyt reported that the water temps were beginning to climb both in the Esteros as well as outside. Enrique Soto found good action for small yellows at the entrada along with some sierra feeding on the surface. Up the line toward the entrance to Santa Maria bay there were some larger yellow tail under the birds schools chasing the sardines driven to the surface.

Estero action was limited to corvina on the surface and a few grouper and pargo down deeper.

Water temperature 60 - 66
Air temperature 66 -93
Humidity 28 %
Wind: NW 13 to 17 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:36 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:14 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
Over all the fishing has been fairly good this last week. The blue water is about 6 miles off the beach, and the fleet is averaging about 1 to 3 sailfish a day per boat. Due to a warmer water current moving in, the blue marlin and tuna action has slowed down a bit, but this is triggering the sailfish and dorado to become more active.
The roosterfish action down at Puerto Vicente Guerrero is outstanding. Jose Pino, on the panga Angelica, reported 15 roosters in one day. Up north, around the Saladita and Ranch areas, Adolfo on the panga Dos Hermanos is getting very good jack crevalle action.

Ed Kunze

Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 77-97
Humidity 71%
Wind: W at 9mph
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:10 a.m. CDT
Sunset 8:19 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas

WEATHER: Things have warmed back up and now we are feeling once again as if we have summer on the way. Our nighttime lows have been in the low 70’s and our daytime highs have been in the mid 90’s, once reaching 99 degrees here at my house. We had scattered clouds in the mornings most days, but things cleared up rapidly.
WATER: We experienced a rapid improvement in water conditions this week as a major push of warm water from the north took place. This warm water displaced much of the cold green water that we had wrapping around the Cape from the Pacific side last week, and has come on strong enough that the entire area to the south of the Cape is now around 76-78 degrees and blue. This warm water has traveled up the Pacific coast past Todo Santos and extends from the beach to about two miles offshore. Farther out it is 72 degrees and still green, in places like pea soup. On the Cortez side of the Cape things have definitely improved with water temperatures within our reach being as high as 84 degrees, and up in the East Cape reaching 86 degrees. This warm water is also clear water and brings with it fish of all kinds. Surface conditions on the Pacific consisted of swells to 6 feet with afternoon winds from the northwest to 14 knots. On the Cortez side the swells were in the 1-3 foot range with slight afternoon winds from the west causing occasional choppy conditions.
BAIT: Mackerel and a few Caballito were available at the new price of $3 per bait, and there were nice sized Sardinas at the Palmilla area at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:

BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin have shown back up and the fishing has improved for them as well. The only problem is that the fish are still a considerable distance from us on the Cortez side of the Cape, up around the Punta Gorda area and farther north, in the Vinorama area. This is an easy 30-mile trek, and takes time, but when the tide change happens things have been going off like gangbusters, especially the last half of this week. There is plenty of bait in the area and the preferred method has been to slow troll live mackerel at 2 ½ knots in the area of heaviest concentration. The fish have been feeding on the surface, but the action is so quick that running and throwing bait has not been effective. The slow troll seems to do better. Those boats that have been using just lures have been getting fish as well, but not as many. With the push of warm water into our area it should not be long before the big girls start to show up! I am really looking forward to some Blue and Black Marlin action this summer!
YELLOWFIN TUNA: We are still not seeing any numbers of Yellowfin Tuna, the actions of the Purse Seiners from several week ago seem to have had a very strong effect on this fish’s availability. We can only hope that a new batch of Yellowfin appear soon. Quite a few boats have been looking specifically for them, but the results have been very poor.
DORADO: There has been very good Dorado action in the same area as the Striped Marlin, but closer in toward the beach. Within the 300-foot depths around the Vinorama area the bite has been good on fish to 45 pounds, with most of the fish in the 20-25 pound class. Fast moving lures in bright colors have done well when fished back in the pattern, and as happens most of the time, a live bait dropped back once the lure-caught fish is close to the boat has often resulted in multiple fish hooked up.
WAHOO: Wahoo were the big surprise this week as they have followed the warm water and are now to be found off the Vinorama area, just like the Dorado and Striped Marlin. The best results have been had by the Pangas out of La Playita in San Jose as they have been leaving the marina early and have been catching Chilwilie at the inner Gorda Bank at first light, then running to the Iman Bank area and slow trolling these mackerel scad. Many of the Pangas were catching multiple fish in the 30-40 pound class every morning. For the boats coming into the area from Cabo Sa Lucas, the best results were to be had by trolling Magnum Rapallas and Marauders close to the boat at higher than normal trolling speeds, around 9-10 knots, and having a small, heavy lure off of the outriggers. The best catch I heard of by a cruiser from our area was 6 fish in the 30-50 pound class in one trip. I did see a larger fish come in, one that was reasonably in the 80-pound class.
INSHORE: The inshore action continued to be good on the Cortez side of the Cape for white Bonita and Roosterfish, with some boats doing well on some leftover Sierra as well. These are surprising, as the water has warmed up well past the normal temperature for them. Fishing bait off the bottom has had good results for anglers targeting Grouper and Amberjack, with many of the Grouper being in the 30-pound class. The best areas for the bottom fishing has been off the rock piles at the points, one of the most fished has been right off of Palmilla. Roosterfish action has been going off very well on the sandy beaches at La Playita and to the north of there in the La Laguna area. Best results for them has been by using live mullet slow trolled behind the boat, or some of the large Sardinas that can be bought up there.
NOTES: We are experiencing a definite improvement in our fishing, and things are looking good. No music for me this week as I am writing this very early in the morning prior to a fishing trip and my wife is still sleeping in the next room! Until next week, tight lines!

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 67 - 75
Air temperature 68 - 98
Humidity 67%
Wind: WNW 8 to 11 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:33 a.m. MST
Sunset 8:02 p.m. MST

The Dorado Lottery

Endless Season Update 05/28/2008
REPORT #1116 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape

Scott Barker with a late afternoon rooster

Offshore the action has been sporadic. There seems to be plenty of billfish around, with many spotted on the surface feeding, but they are so quick that it is all most impossible to be there fast enough…by the time you arrive, all that is left are a few scales!

On the dorado front, everybody enters the “dorado lottery” but only a few have a winning ticket.

Mike Little, our client from Calgary, Canada, spent the day searching for a cooperative billfish. He finally raised one that tried to eat everything but his fly. In the end Mike went home with no hook-ups but he was stoked on seeing those marlin and left with the bug to return for more billfish! We’ll see him again in November.

Inshore the white bonito were still in front of El Cardonal and were an easy mark for a little mid-day sushi. Note to self: Remember to put some more soy and wasabi in the gear bag before the next trip.

There is an abundance of small roosters and ladyfish slicing and dicing the excess bait tossed by the returning boats at Palmas de Cortez in the afternoon
.
The beach is also producing some roosters. Most of the fish being landed are the ‘schoolies’--- to 5lb's or so. But there are ‘grandes’ on the prowl as well. As always it's a matter of fishing hard and being a bit lucky enough to be there when the big ones cruise within range.

Last week I stopped by Mike O’Dell’s La Trinidad R.V. Ranch in La Ribera. They are only open on Friday and Saturday nights but if you are in the neighborhood and looking for a good meal you might give them a try.

Bar open daily
Happy Hour at the bar @ 3:00 - 5:00 PM
CLOSED on Sunday
Reservations please, @ 130-02-06 with Reina Cota RVranchtrinidad@yahoo.com
Driving Directions:
Turn off from the Highway 1 at Las Cuevas Bridge to La Ribera and Cabo Pulmo.
Travel approximately 7 miles through the town of La Ribera, turn right and follow the beach road south to the Pemex station on the far side of town. Just before the Pemex station, turn left and follow the signs into La Trinidad R.V. Ranch

Tip: It is always a good idea to have at least one outfit rigged when you board the boat. It is not unusual to encounter some action close to the shore.

Water temperature 73-80
Air temperature 67-96
Humidity 48%
Wind: NNW 8 to 11 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:32 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:00 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Bob Hoyt reported that there was still quite a bit of wind but the larger yellowtail had moved in just off of Lazero.

The esteros are producing good catches of sierra and corvina on the surface. Down deeper the grouper and pargo have become more active as the water begins to warm up.
Water temperature 60 - 66
Air temperature 67 -96
Humidity 55 %
Wind: WNW 14 to 18 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:37 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:11 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The blue marlin action is still very strong. At least 5 to 7 blues a day are being hooked by the 20 boat fleet. When I had called Adolfo on the panga Dos Hermanos by cellular, he told me they were still fighting a huge blue, and had been on it for over 6 hours. He also told me he has been having good success this week on sailfish and roosters on the beach.
David Cooper, fishing with Margarito on the Gaby took 10 yellowfin tuna and a sailfish in one day. The tuna were averaging between 35 and 45 pounds. With huge schools scattered throughout the area, they are being taken from 12 miles to 20 miles off the beach.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 76-98
Humidity 45%
Wind: W at 9mph
Conditions: Mostly Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:11 a.m. CDT
Sunset 8:17 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas

WEATHER: This week brought us cooler weather than we have had for a while. Our nights were down in the low 60’s; I saw our thermometer read 61 degrees here at the house one morning. Our daytime highs were in the high 80’s. On Wednesday the wind started to blow, and blow hard, from the northwest, occasionally shifting more from the west. That lasted until Friday morning, and then it became nice again.
WATER: Ugly is the term I have to use for our water conditions this past week, I sure hope things improve quickly. On the Pacific side of the Cape we have had the warmest water at 72 degrees, and that has been in a big circulation just to the south of the San Jaime Bank. It got as cold as 58 degrees right next to the beach just above the lighthouse mid-week. With the cold water comes color, and for the most part the water was very green. The current from the Pacific side must have been extra strong this week; the full moon may have had a lot to do with that. Anyway, the cold water from the Pacific started to push up into the Sea of Cortez, causing green/blue banding out as far as 50 miles and up the coast until the Vinorama area off of Punta Gorda. The warm water up there was 72 to 74 degrees. The farther up the coastline you went, the better things became. The wind that kicked in on Wednesday made offshore conditions miserable as well. On Wednesday you could not fish on the Pacific side if you wanted to, and things were not much better on Thursday, to the point that the Port Captain closed the Port until 11 am Thursday.
BAIT: Mackerel and Caballito were available at the new price of $3 per bait, and there were Sardinas at the Palmilla area at $25 a scoop.

FISHING:

BILLFISH: Before the winds and currents moved the fish, the WCBRT, held on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, had the top team release 57 Striped Marlin over the three days. The second place team released 34 and the third place team released 27 fish. These were professional teams fishing on the same boat every day. In comparison, last year the top two boats tied at 33 releases each. During the tournament the fish seemed to be holding just to the east and north of the 1150 spot. When the wind and currents started, the fish moved way up to the north. There were almost no Marlin caught after Tuesday, and at the end of the week boats had to travel 2 ½ hours up the coast to find any fish. The bright spot is that it seems the warm water is moving back in our direction and the fish that are being found are starting to feed again. Hopefully next week things will be better.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Once again the bite on Yellowfin was slow; I saw very few white flags flying from the outriggers this week. The few Tuna flags I did see were for Bonita. I discovered this while looking at the fish carts coming off the docks with fish from the boats flying these flags. I heard of no Yellowfin being found in our area this week.
DORADO: The cold green water moved the Dorado out as well; this week was a bust for them. A couple of fish were caught, but they were found a long distance away, up in the warmer water off of Punta Gorda.
WAHOO: The cold water moved the Wahoo out as well, even up at Punta Gorda the bite was not happening, and normally the full moon and structure there provide decent action.
INSHORE: This was the only bright spot at the end of the week for us. On the Pacific side, if you went past the lighthouse you were out of luck, but off of the Pedregal and the arch there were schools (small) of Pargo and groups of Yellowtail For any other inshore action you needed to make the trip up the coast of the Sea of Cortez, and even then, during the middle of the week, it was a long trip home against the swell sand the wind. If you did get up there, the fishing for Roosterfish to 30 pounds, Sierra to 8 pounds, the occasional Amberjack, lots of Jack Crevalle and a few Pacific Barracuda made the trip worthwhile.
NOTES: This was one of the worst fishing weeks I can remember having had in quite a while. Maybe that is the reason for listening to Stevie Ray Vaughn while writing this report; a little blues goes a long way! The bright spot is that it appears that the warm water is moving back our way! Until next week, tight lines!
George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 67 - 75
Air temperature 66 - 93
Humidity 35%
Wind: SSE at 7mph
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:34 a.m. MST
Sunset 8:00 p.m. MST

Full Moon Redeemed…Again!!

Endless Season Update 05/21/2008
REPORT #1115 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

Jim Rowland with a Muertos Bay jack
This was a week of more refusals than a California homeowner selling a house!

We threw sardina and/or large baits at free swimming billfish and big dorado all week and never even saw so much as a swirl for our efforts. By Monday night the chatter at all the bars at East Cape buzzed blaming the damn full moon as being the cause of the lethargic behavior of the fish offshore! My client told me that he and his buddies agreed that the full moon must be the cause, and he asked what I thought. I answered that fishermen want something to blame conditions on and the full moon is as good as any.

However, on Wednesday morning the full moon went down, the fish came up and the bite was on. Mark Rayor emailed the following: “The fish came up and started feeding in the afternoon at Pulmo. They were not plugged with squid and were eating sardines. The bite was good for everybody in the area.”

Inshore was a different story: Big jack crevalle, small roosters, and white bonito were ‘on the chew’ most of the week from Muertos Bay to El Cardonal…close to shore.

Tip: It is important to keep your rod pointed at the line when stripping. If you don’t, the hook set will be cushioned by the rod tip preventing a solid hookup.

Water temperature 66-78
Air temperature 60-91
Humidity 70%
Wind: S 7 to 10 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 6:34 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:57 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

According to Diana Hoyt of Mag Bay Outfitters, the sierra and firecracker yellowtail bite has been good in spite of windy conditions. She also reports that the grouper has began to bite along with the corvina.
Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 55 -85
Humidity 76 %
Wind: W 10 to 14 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 6:39 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:07 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

It is the month of May, and the annual return of the fantastic blue marlin bite has arrived. With the blue water only 6 miles off the beach and lots of bait fish in the area, we are averaging at least 1 shot at a blue for each boat. The hookup ratio is quite a bit less, but there are at least 4 or 5 blues being caught each day..which is not bad considering there are only about 15 boats on the water.
Besides the occasional large dorado being taken, the yellowfin tuna have finally arrived. They are only in the 30 to 40 pound class right now, but this should be a prelude to the larger fish moving into the area.
Sailfish action is a bit spotty, but the boats are averaging 1 or 2 a day each.
Inshore has the roosters are showing up again, and in fairly decent numbers. Good action is still going on up at Saladita, with a few reported at Buena Vista.

Ed Kunze

Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 75-95
Humidity 91%
Wind: SE 2 mph
Conditions: Mostly Sunny
Visibility 4 miles
Sunrise 7:12 a.m. CDT
Sunset 8:14 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas

WEATHER: Our daytime highs have been in the mid to low 90’s while the nighttime lows have been around 72 degrees. We also had mostly sunny clouds this week, a nice change from the past month. Light winds have been from the northwest, just enough to cause an afternoon chop on the water, but nothing big.

WATER: There was an enormous difference in the water temperature between the Pacific side and the Cortez side of the Cape this week, and it was strongest just off the beach. In the area just off the beach at the Golden Gate Bank we saw water as cold as 55 degrees while the water on the Cortez side was pretty evenly at 77 degrees. Offshore there was a difference as well, but not as large. On the Pacific side, north of a line between the Cape and just to the south of the San Jaime Banks we had water temperatures in the low 60’s and just to the south it warmed up to the low 70’s. On the Cortez side from the arch to the 95 spot and then south and west, we had pretty much 80-82 degrees everywhere you went. The area between these two extremes was a mixed bag of 68-72 degree water. As is normal, the cooler water had much more of a green tinge while the warmer water remained blue.
BAIT: Mackerel and Caballito were available at the new price of $3 per bait, and there were Sardinas at the Palmilla area at $25 a scoop.

FISHING:

BILLFISH: We just finished the 2008 ROLEX/IGFA Offshore Championship Fishing Tournament this week. There were 63 teams fishing for 4 days, a total of 232 fishing days, and the result was approximately 350 Striped Marlin released. At an average of 1 ¼ fish per day this was just about the same as in the 2003 tournament when they averaged 1 ½ fish per day per boat. The top team in this year’s tournament released a total of 13 Marlin and 1 sailfish over the four days. We had the World Billfish Catch and Release Championship Tournament start this weekend and we will see how they do as well, I’ll report the results next week. Meanwhile, the fish this week were found from just off of Gray Rock to outside between Gorda Bank and the 1150 Spot. They were not feeding well, as a matter of fact we had clients on Friday who said they saw over 100 fish but could not get one of them to eat. Maybe it was a sign, but the last day of the tournament was on Friday as well, and that was reported as being the slowest for them.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: Once again the bite on Yellowfin was slow; I saw very few white flags flying from the outriggers this week.

DORADO: As the water continues to warm the Dorado continue to show up in larger numbers. Almost every boat that went out this week was flying at least one Dorado flag on its return, and most of the fish were decent size. We had clients catch one of about 60 pounds on Wednesday, and another group on Thursday caught two fish averaging 40 pounds each. The warm water on the Cortez side was the location and both slow trolled live bait and fast moving bright colored lures in smaller sizes worked well.

WAHOO: There were some decent Wahoo caught this week and most of them came from either the Gorda Banks of the Punta Gorda area. Darker colored lures and slow trolled live bait worked on fish ranging from 25 to 50 pounds. There were not a lot of them, but enough to make a little more effort worth it. Maybe 25% of the boats fishing for them lucked into fish.

INSHORE: Yellowtail in the 8-10 pound class were to be found from the arch in front and up to the lighthouse on the Pacific side. There may be more fish farther north, but there was no reason to travel that far. Live bait, small Caballito and Mackerel, were the best baits if you did not have large Sardinas, but small Rapallas worked as well. Just off the arch there was a decent concentration of small Roosterfish in the 10 pound class and they were biting on the live baits as well as a few that were caught on fly gear. Up on the Cortez side, in the warmer water, there were a few larger Roosterfish caught and released, fish that ran from 30 to 50 pounds. The best bite on these larger fish was in the afternoon. Anglers working for Snapper and Grouper just off the bottom had decent luck using chunks of bait and yo-yoing jigs in 110 to 200 feet of water along any of the points in that direction. These fish were between 5 and 15 pounds in size. A few surprise Amberjack moved in as well, generating some scorching runs and burned thumbs!

NOTES: Good news this week was no Seiners in the area; the bad news is that the reason they were not here is that there are no Tuna! Maybe they got all of them last week? Sometime soon we should have new schools move into the area, it can’t be too soon for me! Sorry to the few of you who will get this late, but we had the computer crash yesterday and my wife spent all day getting it back in shape. Thanks dear! Until next week, tight lines!

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 67 - 75
Air temperature 62 - 88
Humidity 67%
Wind: SSE at 17 mph
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 6:36 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:56 p.m. MST

A Burp and a Flick of the Tail…

Endless Season Update 05/14/2008
REPORT #1114 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape

Many believe that this is a sea snake but it is a Tiger Snake Eel and not poisonous!
A few cloudy days brought a tad more humidity. First we had five flat calm days allowing us to travel in any direction without spilling our drinks, and then the past two were windy and grumpy.

Noah Rowles, along with two buddies from Southern California, chose to spend his bachelor party getting ‘hooked up’ before getting hitched in June. Since there was no bait available at East Cape, we had them out as early as possible so we could run up to Punta Perico for sardina. Then for the first two days, we fished tight to the beach near El Cardonal, They had plenty of action, doubles and triples on roosterfish, skipjack, bonito, white bonito and some huge schools of large jacks that kicked their collective butts.

Every afternoon, the group hopped on ATV’s and sped down the dirt road behind the beach to drink Pacificos and catch more fish. The most unusual catch of the trip was a snakelike eel which managed to get a hook in it and then proceeded to wrap itself up in the line.

Offshore sailfish, striped marlin and quality dorado were strung out from Punta Pescadero to the 88. Tales of lots of fish and double digit spottings exchanged during Happy Hour got the guys all fired up and convinced them to break the cardinal rule, “Don’t Leave Fish to Find Fish.” Sooo… their last day out we followed the fleet. It all started off well with an early thirty-five pound dorado. Then it was one jumper and tailer after another! But they were so plugged with squid that that their reaction to our offerings was a burp and a flick of the tail.

Scott Mattei, Lodi, CA, fished the beach on Tuesday and in spite of a pesky south wind, he managed to fine-tune his hook-set techniques on a variety of fish at “Bartle Beach”. He is heading out for more practice this morning hoping for some larger quarry to grab his fluff and bend his stick.

Tip: At the end of your retrieve, sweep your rod to the right or left to accelerate the fly. If a fish is following the fly, the additional speed will often trigger a take or at the very least the fish will follow the fly to the surface alerting you to its presence.
Water temperature 66-78
Air temperature 63-97
Humidity 77 %
Wind: SSE 9 to 12 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 4 miles
Sunrise 6:36 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:54 p.m. MDT


Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

No Report

Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 61 -90
Humidity 89 %
Wind: W 9 to 12 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 6:42 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:04 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The 80º blue water has finally moved in to where the game fish are reachable. It is just a short 6 mile boat ride to the blue water. The 15 boat fleet had been averaging about 1 or 2 sails a day each, but with the blue water coming in this close, the action should improve considerably.
Tomorrow, Clint Hugh, of Dallas, TX, has charted Santiago on the panga, Gitana, for two long days to find the yellowfin tuna. Santiago is an excellent tuna fisherman, so I will keep you posted.
Fishing with fly fishing client, "Doc" Coulthurst of Portland, OR, we found small jack crevalle and small roosters up above Saladita. We were fishing on the panga, Pepino.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 79-99
Humidity 57%
Wind: SW 3 mph
Conditions: Mostly Sunny
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:13 a.m. CDT
Sunset 8:11 p.m. CDT


Cabo San Lucas
WEATHER: It looks like things are changing a bit down here. This week we had mostly cloudy skies, a bit of wind at the middle of the week and no rain, but it felt like it should have rained. Our nighttime lows varied between 68 and 75 degrees while the daytime highs were in the high 80’s to low 90’s. With the cloud cover the humidity kicked up a notch.
WATER: The Pacific side of the Cape was cooler than the Cortez side at 68-70 degrees and was off color as well. The greenish water wrapped around the Cape through the middle of the week and crossed into the area of the 95 spot. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water was much warmer, and the farther up to the north you went, the warmer it got. In the area of Punta Gorda and the Gorda Banks we were marking water as warm as 81 degrees, and it was blue water. Elsewhere on the Cortez side (offshore) the water was in the high 70’s and pretty clear.
BAIT: Mackerel and Caballito were available at the new price of $3 per bait, and there were Sardina at the Palmilla are at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:BILLFISH: There were a lot of Marlin to be seen on the surface up in the Palmilla area close to shore but they were stuffed with squid and did not want to eat. Lucky boats were catching one or two per trip. There were a few decent Sailfish coming from the same area as well. There was not a lot of action on the billfish front but I am awaiting reports from a few friends that went up to fish the warm water on the Cortez side, they should be back early this coming week. My fingers are crossed.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: A few boats caught a few small football sized fish after the seiners left the area. Overheard on the radio were reports of them talking to each other and bragging about stuffed holds, guess they took all the fish.
DORADO: A few small fish were caught close to home, but the concentrations we had earlier were with the Tuna, guess the seiners got most of them too. I am hoping the warmer water to the north on the Cortez side holds more and they will work their way down to us.
WAHOO: What Hoo? New moon phase.
INSHORE: Green water on the Pacific side had most of the Pangas fishing the Cortez up around Palmilla point. These boats were getting some decent Sierra and Amberjack as well as some Snapper and Grouper. Bait of choice was Sardinas.
NOTES: Bad news was the seiners showed up again and wrapped all of the fish, the government allows it and now we don’t have anything to fish for. The good news is that the water is warming up and we should have a new mass of fish moving into our area soon. I really don’t know how else to put it other than the fishing this past week was extremely poor. My fingers are crossed that the government does something to regulate the encroachment of Seiners into the sport fishing areas. Tuna from the seiners goes for $480 a ton to the packing plants; wonder how much that same fish is worth in income from sport fishing? Enough said, I don’t want to get into trouble.

Until next week, keep your fingers crossed for tight lines!

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 67 - 75
Air temperature 61 - 91
Humidity 78%
Wind: WNW 9 to 12 knots
Conditions: Mostly Sunny
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 6:38 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:53 p.m. MST

Right Place + Right Time = Great Day

Endless Season Update 05/07/2008
REPORT #1113 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape


Mexican Seiner in Vista Sea Sports front yard this week...photo Mark Rayor
Weather is still a little ‘squirrely’, with wind one day, then, none the next.

There are plenty of billfish and dorado being seen on the outside throughout Palmas Bay. The fish are lethargic most of the time and seem to be full of the preponderance of squid that is here right now. One boat slid up on a shark buoy, threw out a handful of sardina to see if there were any dorado hanging out only to have the Sea erupt as a school of sailfish ran down every last one as they hit the water! The dorado that were caught this week seemed to be good quality, 35 – 40 lbs. None-the-less it was another “more shots than snaps for most anglers.” Another indication of the spring turnaround is the number of blue marlin which were spotted this week; one hotel reported two landed.
Closer to shore, the skipjack and white bonito were feeding on the surface making them easy targets for anyone who was interested.
I guess the large schools of small yellowfin have left the building, compliments of the Mexican seiner fleet. Hopefully, at least some of the fish split before the nets hit the water and will return after the seiners leave.

Beach action included ladyfish, pompano and a few small roosters and jacks. The trick was to find the bait (sardina and mullet) and stay with it until the bigger fish showed up.

The week could be summed up…right place + right time equals some good action!



Tip: When fishing the beach, keep moving until you find the bait. When you are casting, “fan cast” left-center-right, and then move on if nothing happens. Don’t keep casting over the same water unless you see some kind of indicative signs that there are fish there.Water temperature 66-78
Air temperature 60-89
Humidity 47 %
Wind: ENE 7 to 9 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 6:41 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:50 p.m. MDT


Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Still cooler water temps outside, so most of the action has been confined to small yellowtail and an occasional skipjack or bonito. Just inside the Entrada, there is a good showing of sierra. The tricky part is getting to them before they sink out. Still, good halibut action in the shallows near the sandy beaches like Belchers.

Not many takers, neither anglers nor fish this week. Even the rumors of pargo, corvina and a few snook biting up above Lopez Mateos wasn’t enough to lure anyone out. Maybe it was too much partying on Cinco de Mayo?


Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 62 -88
Humidity 39 %
Wind: NW 6 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 6:46 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:00 p.m. MDT


Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
Very little change for the inshore fly rod situation. I fished with "Doc" Coalthurst, from Portland OR, down South at Puerto Vicente Guerrero and did not do well on roosters or jack crevalle.
Adolpho. on the panga Dos Hermanos, told me he is getting good jack crevalle action up around Saliditas, which is about a one hour boat ride to the North.
Cali, fishing with Martin, took 2nd place in last week end's 120 boat tournament. The sailfish for the 1st place was only 38 kilos (about 86 pounds). This is a record low for weights in the 32 year annual tournament. Cali told me there were a lot of fish, but almost all of them were below the 30 kilo mark.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 77-99
Humidity 60%
Wind: SW 3 mph
Conditions: Mostly Sunny
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 7:17 a.m. CDT
Sunset 8:09 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas
WEATHER: We had just another week in paradise with our daytime highs varying between 90-95 early in the week and 85-90 later in the week. Our nighttime lows varied as well with 75 early in the week and 65 later in the week. That nighttime low of 75 on Monday and Tuesday night forced us to turn on the air conditioner! We had partly cloudy skies all week long with winds at 10-15 knots from the northwest with occasional higher gusts.
WATER: There was little change in the surface conditions from last week. The Pacific side of the Cape had swells at 3-5 feet and the Cortez side had 1-3 foot swells. The water temperature on the Cortez side was a pretty even 74-76 degrees from the shore out to around 12 miles, then it became 67-69 degrees for another 12-20miles, then there was a pretty strong break where it warmed right back up. On the Pacific side the temperature remained around 66-69 degrees. On the Pacific side from the Golden Gate and across the San Jaime Bank and toward the beach the water was a fairly dirty green, the closer to shore you got the dirtier it got. This plume of cool, green water extended to the south of the Cape keeping the water outside the 1,000-fathom line that dirty green.
BAIT: There was plenty of bait this week as the larger boat brought in plenty of Mackerel to sell to the Panga bait boats. With the small moon the bait boats were able to catch plenty of Caballito as well. This week the bait was the usual $2 per bait. When we purchased bait on Saturday, our supplier informed us that as of this coming Wednesday all the boats were raising their prices to $3 per bait. Keep in mind there has not been a raise in the bait price for almost 8 years, so this is not unexpected.
FISHING:

BILLFISH: Once again the billfish were very easy to find this week, all you had to do was get out on the water. From just off of the lighthouse on the Pacific side around the Cape to the Punta Gorda area they were everywhere. Early in the week they were on the surface sleeping and tailing. Unfortunately, they were also full! They may have been stuffing themselves on squid once again, but for whatever the reason, you could throw baits to 25-30 fish and be lucky to find one or two that were hungry. A few boats resorted to drifting live baits deep, and this technique did work a little better than trolling lures while casting bait to fish on the surface. As the week went on the fish seemed to move up the Cortez coast just a bit and then back to in front of the arch. At the end of the week the ratio of fish baited and fish hooked improved a bit and most boats that tried to work Marlin were able to catch between two and four per trip, definitely an improvement over earlier in the week. Mackerel was the bait of choice; Caballito just didn’t seem to get the fish interested. The Striped Marlin averaged around 120 pounds.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: At the beginning of this week all the purse seiners we had out front last week had gone north, leaving us with just “scales drifting down” where before we had great fishing. Of course the fish were not around, they had all moved out or had been scooped up in the nets! Well, on the positive side, on Saturday this week the fish re-appeared just two miles out off the arch and lighthouse. These fish were also a bit larger with most of them between 20-30 pounds with a few pushing 40 pounds. One hour in the fish resulted in 16 Yellowfin for one of our groups of anglers. Almost anything worked, as these fish were very hungry. I went up on the Cortez side on Saturday and we got into a very larges group of dolphin with birds everywhere and large schools of bait showing up on the depth sounder. No Yellowfin though, and I could see two super seiners just on the horizon to the north, off of Los Frailles. I wonder if they had already gotten all the fish?
DORADO: The warmer water out front brought more dorado into our area and most boats were able to get at least one or two fish per trip. One of my friends was fishing up off the Punta Gorda area earlier in the week and found a dead whale that had been around long enough to attract quite a collection of life under it and was able to limit out on fish averaging 15 pounds. There were a few fish in the 30- pound range there as well. Everywhere else the bite was just all right with bright colored lures and live bait fished for Marlin getting the most fish.
WAHOO: The moon phase might be wrong for Wahoo this last week as I did not hear of any of them being caught.
INSHORE: Our anglers tat fished off of Pangas this week continued to do well with a varied catch including Roosterfish to 15 pounds, Sierra to 8 pounds, Yellowtail to 15 pounds and an assortment of bottom fish such as snapper and grouper to 10 pounds. The majority of the fish were found just off the beach on the Pacific side but when the late afternoon winds kicked in the afternoon trips worked off of Gray Rock and Cabo del Sol for the same type of fish. On Saturday, when the Yellowfin showed up so close to the arch, almost every Panga out there was in the mix, and they all did well. Quite a few of the Pangas were working just off the beach for Marlin as well throughout the week, and were averaging just about the same as the cruisers.
NOTES: The Seiners left, that’s good news, there are Tuna out front again, that’s good news! Live bait is going up in price on Wednesday, that’s bad news! I’m done with this week’s report, that’s good news! Until next week, tight lines! Give a listen to the music of an old Fender Stratocaster player, Dick Dale on his album “Spatial Disorientation”, that’s weird news!
George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 67 - 75
Air temperature 57 - 85
Humidity 53%
Wind: SSE at 18 mph
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:42 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:50 p.m. MST

Sea of Cortez…“Road Kill”

Endless Season Update 04/30/2008
REPORT #1112 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape

Billfish took center stage this week with the best April showing of sailfish in recent memory! While it wasn’t WFO as far as bites, there were enough shots to cause some to complain about a malady…something akin to tennis elbow.

Dorado action seems to have slowed with mostly singles showing up in the teasers and then disappearing quickly.

As in Cabo, the tuna seiners seem to have scooped up the current crop of football sized tuna leaving only a few scales here and there!

Inshore and beach action consisted of more jacks than roosters though there were a few small roosters to ten pounds caught on rooster alley and between La Ribera and the lighthouse.

The following falls into the “I don’t make this stuff up” department:

“Highlight of my beach fishing this week was finding a freshly beached amberjack of about 10lb's. Must have beached itself chasing bait. We took him home and filleted him--still twitching as I cut it. Very tasty stuff!”

Tip: When trolling teasers for billfish, the best way to control your line is by keeping it in a bucket or container of some kind so that it doesn’t get blown about the deck, being stepped on or tangled. When a fish comes up behind the teaser, immediately drop your fly into the water a short distance so that you can use the water to load the rod. As the person teasing calls for the cast and the boat comes out of gear, with a single false cast, cast your fly across the wake. Don't use the rod tip to set the hook. Instead, strip strike and let the fish run.
Water temperature 66-78
Air temperature 65-95
Humidity 29 %
Wind: SSE 7 to 9 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 6:45 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:47 p.m. MDT


Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Still the small yellowtail action at the Entrada along with a few sierra on the surface. Still a pretty good lump outside, preventing much fishing activity for the local fleet.

Water temps in the esteros remain low and there was little activity this week. Halibut in the shallows off of the sand beaches continued to bite pretty well. A few grouper and pargo up above Lopez Mateos on an incoming tide and some corvina feeding on the surface near Boca Santo Domingo.


Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 62 -91
Humidity 35 %
Wind: WNW 12 to 16 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 6:51 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:56 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
There has been little change this week, with basically the same results of last week. The boats are averaging 1 to 2 sailfish a day each, the tuna are still too far out, and out of reach, and few dorado are showing in the counts.
This weekend starts our annual three-day sailfish tournament, with an expected 140 boats pounding the water from Friday until Sunday.
With the new moon on Monday, and after a few days to let the water calm down from the tournament, I really expect the fishing to take off. It is now May, and May is one of our best months of the year for the large tuna and blue marlin.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 71-99
Humidity 65%
Wind: W 21mph
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 7:19 a.m. CDT
Sunset 8:07 p.m. CDT


Cabo San Lucas
WEATHER: I guess that I probably don’t say this enough, but I have to let you know that this is just about my favorite time of the year for the weather. We have had morning lows in the mid to high 60’s and our daytime highs have just reached the low 90’s. The week began with mostly cloudy skies on Monday and on Tuesday afternoon they started to break up. The wind was kicking in a bit early in the week as well. The clouds brought no rain and after they were gone the winds were very light, just enough to put a light chop on the water in the afternoon. The week ended on a very nice note with clear and sunny skies and light winds.
WATER: The Pacific side of the Cape had swells at 3-5 feet but spaced well apart. On the Cortez side south of the Punta Gorda area things were nice with swells at 1-3 feet. On the Pacific early in the week and up past Punta Gorda the winds kicked it up a notch and the water was choppy. On the Pacific side the water temperatures were lower than on the Cortez side with 69-71 degree water almost everywhere. The temperature break was a straight line north to south off of the lighthouse on the Pacific side. East of the break the water warmed to 75 degrees and out at the Cabrillo Seamount late in the week we had some water as warm as 82 degrees for a day or so.
BAIT: This was a tough week to get bait; the bait boats were working hard at snagging Cabillitos right at the mouth of the marina and were not having a lot of luck. I heard of quite a few instances of bait boats charging as much as $5 per bait. That is high, but not bad if it is the right bait, but the fish definitely preferred Mackerel, and the Caballito are not in very good shape after being snagged. In other words, bait was scarce this week, and expensive.
FISHING:

BILLFISH: Once again there were plenty of Marlin out there but the bite was still off. There were plenty of squid in the area and the Marlin were stuffed. A few boats were doing all right on Mackerel (a scarce bait this week) and a few fish were caught on Caballito, but the majority of fish were hooked on artificial lures. The Striped Marlin were all over the place from a mile off the arch to 5 miles off of Gray Rock, you had no problem finding fish, but they were not very hungry. On the Billfish side of things, I heard that several weeks ago there were three or four large Blue Marlin, one in the #800 and a couple on the 500-600 pound class caught right out front when these small football Yellowfin first showed up. I didn’t hear of them at the time, but was told of them yesterday by a very reputable Captain.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Yellowfin Tuna were the fish of the week, at least at the beginning of the week, and are also the “rant” fish of the week. At the start of the week, under the cloudy skies, hordes of football size fish, from 8 to 20 pounds showed up jut off the beach from 2-5 miles from the arch. All the tuna you wanted were available and everyone limited out on fish. On Wednesday the Purse Seiners started to show up. On Wednesday there were 6 boats out there, on Thursday there were 9 boats, on Friday and Saturday there were 13 boats, at least 8 of which were super Seiners over 200 feet long and with spotting helicopters n the decks. They were fishing these tuna just 2 miles off the beach. The marines went out and stopped two of the boats and chased them away, but said that the others all had permits to fish there. These fish have hold that can carry 1,500 TONS of fish. Needless to say, at the end of the week a good day on the water resulted in a dozen or fewer tuna for the sport fleet. There were the occasional nice fish; the largest I heard of was a double on fish in the #70 class.
DORADO: The warm water has resulted in an increase in the numbers of Dorado being caught. Most boats are getting a fish or two a day; on Saturday we caught four Dorado between 12-18 pounds. They are in the same area as the tuna and marlin, right in among the Seiners. A live Caballito dropped back after a hook-up resulted in at least one of our fish, the others bit on bright colored lures.
WAHOO: There were a few Wahoo caught, again in the warm water out front, but not many of them. Average size was reported at 25 pounds.
INSHORE: The warmer water resulted in fewer Yellowtail being caught this week, but an increase in the numbers of Roosterfish. The Roosterfish are still on the small side with an average weight of around 5 pounds. Live bait was tough to come by so while the Caballito were large, there were not many of them and the ones anglers used were getting pounded hard by the Roosters. Most of the hook-ups were a result of luck, as the baits were much too large for the fish. The Sierra bite has dropped off as a result of the warmer water but the Pargo and grouper bite has become better. With the Tuna so close to shore, many of the Pangas were targeting them, and they had good luck.
NOTES: The Tuna Seiners had everyone up in arms, especially late in the afternoons when they started to set nets around the few sports fishermen that stayed out. I had thought that they were not allowed by law to fish any closer than 20 miles form the beach, and not at all within the Sea of Cortez, but I must have misunderstood the rules. Anyway, I overheard more than one local crew complain and talk about doing something, but since the Marines are letting them fish, it must be legal (right?). If we saw these numbers between one and 6 miles off of the beach, imagine how many more are just beyond the horizon. If these boats continue to fish right in front of Cabo, look for the numbers of all species caught by the local sport fishing fleet to drop off quickly. I remember what just 2 of these boats did to the fishery on top of the Gorda Banks six years ago; it took four years for the fishery there to recover. The Pangas and fishermen out of San Jose ended up ganging together and throwing rebar anchors into the middle of the Seiners nets while they were fishing and powering out, ripping their nets up. Until next week, keep your fingers crossed!

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 67 - 75
Air temperature 61 - 91
Humidity 32%
Wind: SSE at 22mph
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 6:47 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:47 p.m. MST

Grumpy Stingray…Hungry Jacks

Endless Season Update 04/23/2008
REPORT #1111 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape

Glen Tremble, from San Diego, releases his first small jack on the fly.
Beach action near Bartle Beach was as good as it gets earlier in the week. I was scouting for a weekend trip, so I hit the beach at gray light. In the first hour I had four roosters and a pompano. Nothing large-but still a fun hour! The next hour the wind waves started up and the wind line from the north soon brought white caps with enough wind to convince me the day was done. Before it went to ‘hell in a hand basket’, Glen Tremble, from San Diego, landed his first small jack on the fly, as well as a small rooster. Obviously he is a quick study--- it takes some several trips before they connect.

It took until Sunday for the wind to subside and the water to clean up enough to be worthwhile Gaylord Kellogg and friends from Seattle, WA. There was a fair concentration of mullet and sardina, attracting both jacks and roosters…mostly smaller fish with an occasional ‘Bubba’ breezing by… but most of the larger ones were just out of casting range. The Seattle group only had a few shots, but it was enough for one member of the group to land a fifteen pound jack before they packed up and headed for the airport.

They had checked out the beach on Saturday on their own and had a painful encounter with a grumpy stingray!

Tip: This time of year it is a good idea to pay attention to where you step in the water. Drag or shuffle your feet when you walk! The sting can be very painful! Soak the puncture in the hottest water you can tolerate for at least an hour and if you have a pain pill take one! Apply a topical antibiotic to reduce the chance of infection and seek medical attention as soon as possible.
Water temperature 66-76
Air temperature 65-94
Humidity 93 %
Wind: NNW 6 to 7 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 6:50 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:44 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Enrique Soto, Puerto San Carlos, reported plenty of small yellowtail out at the Entrada. There were also a few grouper close to the rocky points. Punta Belcher is still holding plenty of small halibut as well, as is most shallow water near sandy beaches.

Under the Bridge at the entrance to Puerto San Carlos was pretty good for small corvina, bay bass and a few leopard grouper on an incoming tide.

Estero action failed to ring any bells this week. There were a few pompano, corvina and pargo at Devil’s Curve …hardly enough to merit the thirty minute ride to get there.

Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 53 -91
Humidity 100%
Wind: WNW 17 to 22 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 6:56 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:53 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The blue water is about 15 miles out, with most of the sailfish action between 18 and 22 miles.
Talking with Santiago on the panga, Gitana: He picked up 4 sailfish early in the week, and then 2 yesterday. He said the boats are averaging between 2 and 3 fish a day each.
The tuna are still beyond the 45 mile mark, and very few dorado have been showing in the counts.
Inshore action is excellent on large sierras (Spanish Mackerel). Any trolled feather or small Rapala style lure, with a wire leader, is providing a lot of good ceviche.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 75-101
Humidity 78%
Wind: NNW 3mph
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 7:23 a.m. CDT
Sunset 8:05 p.m. CDT

Cabo San Lucas
WEATHER: Once again we have had a week of sun and fun here in Cabo. This time of year the spring break crowd is gone, the number of cruise ships calling at our port is down and the temperature has started to climb. Not too high, just into the low 90’s during the day and the low 70’s at night, but that’s just perfect for me! With this kind of weather a lot of our friends have returned from the cold north while many of the winter residents have gone home to prepare for spring back there. Just a very nice time of the year!
WATER: We have had light afternoon breezes for the first part of the week changing into light morning breezes later in the week, but nothing heavy enough to cause problems out on the water. A prevailing northwesterly direction has meant that the water on the Sea of Cortez has been very nice with only slight swells and wind chop while the Pacific side of the Cape has had slight swells and mostly slightly choppy conditions. Water temperature on the Pacific side has remained cooler than on the Cortez side with that wrap around the Cape from the east I mentioned last week still happening. Offshore on the Pacific side it has been 67-69 degrees while closer to the beach, say 4-5 miles off the beach and 10 miles to the north the warmer 74-degree water has prevailed. Of course the cooler water has meant green conditions and on the Golden Gate Bank reports were of very green conditions. On the Sea of Cortez we have had consistent 74-75 degree water across all the areas with just a slight tinge to it.
BAIT: There were many more Caballito available this past week than there were Mackerel, and they were both the normal $2 per bait. I did not hear anything about Sardinas.
FISHING:

BILLFISH: You didn’t have to go far this week to find Striped Marlin, but you had to have the right bait and a good amount of luck to catch one! Early in the week the bite was good up at the Punta Gorda area later in the afternoon and there were not many fish in our area, but on Wednesday the suddenly showed up in large numbers. It was not uncommon to spot pods of three to fifteen fish less than four miles form the arch, and often within a mile or less. The problem was that the fish were not very interested in Caballito, and that was the bait most common from the bait boats. Mackerel was preferred by the Marlin that were hungry. Being off the feed was probably due to them feeding all night during the full moon phase (tonight is the full moon). What they have been feeding on also had an effect! There were balls of 12-inch squid everywhere, and almost every species of fish caught this week was stuffed with them. Captains and anglers who were on top of their game and lucky enough to get a fish to the boat were ready with a bait net to catch any fresh squid spilled from the Marlins mouth, and some of them were lucky enough to be on top of one of the squid balls when the marlin forced them to the surface, managing to net a few live ones to toss out. Guaranteed catch if that happened! But, alas, for the most part boats were lucky to catch one marlin after throwing bait to dozens of lazing fish.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: The tuna bite in our area dropped off again although a few boats were able to get into small pods of porpoise that were holding then. The tuna that were caught were not large ones; most of them were in the 10-15 pound range. A good catch this past week would have been four or five tuna. Most of them were found to the south at a distance of 10 miles and more, a few more were found around the 1150 area. Red and orange colored lures in the smaller sizes sort of imitated the squid they were feeding on.
DORADO: Once again the numbers of Dorado slowly increased over the numbers caught last week. It seemed that about 20% of the boats were flying a yellow flag or two when they returned this week. Most of the fish were found in the same areas as the Striped Marlin and they were also stuffed on squid. One nice thing is that the average size has been fair, not a lot of the little slipper size (5-8 pounds) were caught, most of the fish were around 12-15 pounds.
WAHOO: What Hoo once again, and I was surprised since we are in a full moon phase. Maybe the water just has to warm up a bit more?
INSHORE: There were reports from the anglers and Captains of large numbers of small Roosterfish once again just off the beach on the Pacific side between the arch and the lighthouse. These fish have been pounding small Cabillitos and the boats often had to return for more bait. The size was small with an average of 5 pounds, but a few larger ones, to about 15 pounds, were caught in the same area every day. I had an angler tie into a very large Sierra on Tuesday in this area. He fought the fish on line around 15 pounds in strength and said the Sierra would have weighed about 20 pounds (this is an experienced angler and Captain saying this). Of course when I told them that it might have been a possible line class world record they were mad they had filleted the fish! There have been some nice Pargo in the 20-30 pound class start to show off of the rocky points and live bait slow trolled deep has been the key for the larger ones. Adding to the excitement of fishing this way is the possibility of hooking up to some of the 30-40 pound Yellowtail that are still around. There are still many of the smaller ones, but as I said last week, not in the numbers we had been seeing. Even with the inshore action being good, many of the Pangas are targeting Marlin since they are so close right now.
NOTES: My golf game continues to improve; I am now consistently breaking 100. Don’t laugh, that is quite an improvement for me! I am looking forward to fishing this coming week; I just hope things keep popping out there! This weeks report was written to the sound of my dog snoring in the background, she had a hard day at the beach this morning!

Until next week, tight lines!
George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 67 - 75
Air temperature 62 - 90
Humidity 82%
Wind: WNW 9 to 13 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 6:51 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:44 p.m. MST

Squid Float…Stops the Boat

Endless Season Update 04/16/2008
REPORT #1110 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape

Allison connects with Skipjack...Sandy lands another Dorado


The week began with 12” squid floating about eighteen miles offshore. That was enough to get some fatty skipjack all worked up. There were multiple spots making it tough to choose which one to run for. Pick the right one and some ‘sluggo’ dorado were the prize. Another one might be mixed dorado and toad skipjack and farther outside, there were a few marlin to spice things up.

Meanwhile back at the beach: The small roosters and jacks put on a show snapping at “this and that” fly.

Just when we thought we were on a roll, a humbling bout of north wind rolled everything over- slowing the action down to a much slower pace.

Monday, eighty-six year old R.E. (Togo) Hazard, well known San Diego businessman, hopped on Dottie B with some friends from La Jolla to give them a lesson in marlin fishing. When the bell rang, Lamar Major, Kevin Kelly, Don McReynolds and Togo had racked up the highest single day’s count in this early season. ..an impressive eleven fish!

In the meantime part of the fleet found some tuna schools up toward Cerralvo that has yielded good catches for the past two days.

Warmer weather, hotter bite! Maybe spring is coming early.
Tip: Change flies often until you find the right combination of color and size for the day. Water temperature 66-73
Air temperature 66-93
Humidity 45 %
Wind: ENE 5 knts
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 14 miles
Sunrise 7:12 a.m. MST
Sunset 8:02 p.m. MST

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

With a break from the wind, the yellowtail action for small to medium fish returned both at the Entrada and a few miles above Cabo San Lazzero.

In the Esteros, sierra and corvina provided the best surface action and down deeper there were a few grouper (to ten pounds) with an occasional snapper.

Along the sandy beaches the small halibut snapped up any chartreuse Clouser that came near them.

Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 63 -93
Humidity 37%
Wind: NNW 17 to 23 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 4 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:50 p.m. MST

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

4/12/08, Fly angler.....Maureen Bates, Toronto Canada, Calvario Beach, Puerto Vicente Guerrero. Panga...........Angela with Captain Julio, Guide and photo....Ed Kunze
The action has been holding at about 1 or 2 sailfish per boat per day average, however there are lots of fish seen every day. They just do not seem to be hungry. The tuna are still off the charts and out of range. A few blue marlin are also still showing up in the weekly counts.
This last Sunday, while talking with Captain Mecate of the cruiser Aqua Azul, we felt the slow fishing must be attributed to squid having moved in. The game fish are gorging on them down deep, which will definitely hurt the surface action.
The very next day I fished down at Puerto Vicente Guerrero with fly fishing clients Warren and Maureen Bates of Toronto Canada, and confirmed it. Warren caught a black skipjack tuna, which disgorged squid when I held the fish to remove the fly. What was incredible is the fish was caught only a couple of hundred yards off the beach and in water less than 200 feet deep. There must be tonnage of squid out there if they are that close to the beach.
Warren and Maureen had a great day on the water. They got a total of 6 species, and hooked three roosters. The roosters sure were a pleasant surprise. They must be making their annual migration back, and the fishing will only improve in the following weeks.
Maureen's rooster would have been the women's world record for the line class (16 pound) for a fly caught rooster, but the engine was in gear and the rooster hit before the cast was made. This is essentially trolling, so we just took photos and made the release.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 69-101
Humidity 79%
Wind: NNE 3mph
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 7:39 a.m. CST
Sunset 8:00 p.m. CST

Cabo San Lucas
WEATHER: The weather continues to slowly warm up as our nighttime lows have been in the high 60’s and our daytime highs have been in the high 80’s. There have been very few clouds in the skies this past week, just scattered around here and there for the most part. No rain has been seen to fall anywhere near us. Sun block of at least SPF-35 has been a necessity.
WATER: It appears that the California current has become weaker as the warm water on the Cortez side of the Cape has started to come across into the Pacific side over the week. The cooler water in the current has been forced offshore, outside the San Jaime Bank it is a cool 68-69 degrees while on the bank and up to the shoreline it is a warmer 73-74 degrees. On the Cortez side of the Cape we have mostly warm water in the 74-75 degree range. Surface conditions have been great this past week with small swells and very little wind.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price.
FISHING:

BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin are re-appearing in large numbers now as the water has warmed up to their preferred 74 degree range, but they are not biting all that well. That is not to say there are no fish being caught; it just means that as far as the percentage of fish caught to fish seen, well, that is a low number. The positive side of this is that there are large numbers of fish being seen on the surface, small groups of three or four and larger groups that number up to fifteen fish. Most boats have been releasing two or three Marlin per trip, but throwing bait to forty or so fish in order to get those numbers. The area around the 95 spot has been holding large numbers of Striped Marlin, as has the area around the 1150.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: We had a wide-open bite on the football size fish this week as a large school moved to within 4 miles of the bay early in the week. Boats were getting 20-30 fish each before tiring and going on to fish for Marlin. These fish were averaging 8-10 pounds each with a few in the 20-pound class. They were biting anything you put in the water, but the larger fish were eating live bait dropped in front of the moving schools. Any boats that went out at 150 degrees ran into these fish on Monday and Tuesday, as the week went on the fish moved to the west. There were other scattered schools found, but with the bite so good close to home not many boats went much farther to look for larger ones.
DORADO: There continued to be a few fish caught this week and as the water warms up more we should expect to be seeing more Dorado. I had a report of a boat up at Los Barillas catching 27 Dorado after finding a dead seal and that is the type of thing that may begin to happen here. Not that we kill seals, but this time of year we begin to find kelp fronds and trash in the water that hold large numbers of Dorado.
WAHOO: What Hoo once again.
INSHORE: The numbers of small Yellowtail being caught has lowered this week, weather because they have moved on to water more in keeping with their preferred temperature or because they became fished out, I don’t know. But instead of filling coolers with these small 5-8 pound fish, boats are getting just three or four per trip. What has a lot of anglers excited is the number of Roosterfish that have been showing up just outside of the arch. There have been mornings when 20 fish have been caught and released by one boat, but the fish have been small with an average size of 5 pounds. Little guys, but when you use light tackle they are a blast to catch! The Sierra bite has fallen off a bit as well and with the smooth water conditions and the Yellowfin Tuna being close, a lot of the Panga fishermen have been going out for the Tuna.
NOTES: Maybe I’ll try this thing I’ve been trying to get to use next year, it does not look like I will get to use this technique anytime soon, sigh. Anyway, we had great fishing this week and I hope it continues, with the numbers of Striped Marlin we are seeing if they start biting it will be awesome. This weeks report was written to the music of John Lee Hooker on the 2006 Virgin Records release “Best Of Friends”. Until next week, tight lines!

George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 64 - 71
Air temperature 61-88
Humidity 13%
Wind: S at 2mph
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 14 miles
Sunrise 6:58 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:41 p.m. MST

Time Changes…Bite Begins

Endless Season Update 04/09/2008
REPORT #1109 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape

M.J. boats another one!!
After a two day ‘blow’ late last week, the weather and the time changed and the fish bit like gang busters! On the outside, skipjack, marlin, and dorado were feeding on bite sized squid or anything else that came their way---even flies. Plenty of marlin, dorado and skipjack multiples.

Inshore, ‘same story-different chapter’ as one of our boats had a nice mix of jacks, roosters, bonito and sierra. Two anglers racked up an impressive total of 31 fish for the day.

Tip: Don’t forget the wire! There are still a good number of sierra close to shore.
Water temperature 66-73
Air temperature 62-91
Humidity 55 %
Wind: NNW 13 to 17 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:09 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:36 p.m. MST


Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Windy conditions kept most of the boats close to home this week so there was nothing to report

Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 53 -88
Humidity 89%
Wind: NNW 17 to 23 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 7:16 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:44 p.m. MST

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico


No report
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 69-101
Humidity 79%
Wind: NNE 3mph
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 7:39 a.m. CST
Sunset 8:00 p.m. CST


Cabo San Lucas

WEATHER: The weather has continued to make a believer of me in Cabo being the perfect place to live this time of year. Our daytime highs have been in the low 90’s and our nighttime lows in the mid to low 60’s. We had mostly sunny skies this week and for the most part, light winds. There were a couple of days in the middle of the week where the wind blew strongly from the west, but it was for only a day or two.
WATER: Water temperatures on the Cortez side of the Cape have continued to rise slowly; we had as warm as 75 degrees at the end of the week across the 95 spot. There is still a plume of cool 67-degree water coming across the tip of the Cape from the Pacific side. Both sides of the Cape experienced bouncy conditions on Friday and Saturday when the wind shifted and came from the west, but it settled right down. Water clarity had been an issue on the Pacific side close to shore but that has cleared up a bit, however the farther to the north you went the greener the water became. The blue water has remained south of us at a distance of at least 25 miles. Even the warm water across the 95 spot has been slightly green in color.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price.
FISHING:

BILLFISH: The good news is that the Striped Marlin bite has continued to improve; it was better this week than last week. That may be due to the warmer water we are experiencing, but for whatever the reason, we are happy. Along with the improved bite is the fact that the fish have moved closer to us, in the warmer water across the 95 spot, which translates into shorter runs to the Marlin. They seem to be a bit larger on average than we have seen lately as well. I did not hear of any other species of billfish this week, but I am sure there were some strikes on larger ones.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: The football size Yellowfin continue to provide action but they have been a little harder to find for many of the boats. 25 to 30 miles to the south has continued to be the most prolific area for these fish and the first boats to the schools are doing well with an average catch rate of 10-12 fish per boat. Anglers arriving a little late have not been shut out, but it has been a slow pick for them with an average of four or five fish per boat. There were rumors floating around in the middle of the week of a private boat finding a school of fish averaging 80 pounds, but I was not able to confirm any information on that.
DORADO: The warm water continued to produce fish that averaged 12 pounds with a few in the 20-30 pound class, but there were no large numbers from that area. Almost everyone got a fish or two though. There was one day when a couple of boats found a patch of kelp to the inside of the San Jaime bank and loaded up on Dorado that averaged 15 pounds, they worked it hard with cut bait and kept radio silence until they were done. They looked for it again the next day but it had drifted off and could not be found again.
WAHOO: What Hoo?
INSHORE: Firecracker Yellowtail continued to provide plenty of action for inshore anglers this week with the fish averaging 5 pounds. Sierra were in the same areas and while the fishing was not red-hot for them, the bite was still decent with anglers catching as many as they wanted. Roosterfish were also mixed in with the Yellowtail and Sierra. They were small ones at an average of 5 pounds, but provided good action on light tackle, and a variety in the catch. White Bonita rounded out the inshore action with fish from 5 to 12 pounds. All of these fish were found in water less than 100 feet deep, close to the shoreline on the Pacific side.
NOTES: I did not manage to get out and try the thing I mentioned last week, perhaps I will get a chance this week. If I do, I’ll fill you in on the results. The bite continues to improve in our area and our hope is that the trend continues. Whale sightings are down as the migration is almost over. On Saturday we saw only two, a mother and baby Humpback headed north on the Pacific side. Let me take a second here for some blatant advertising. The Shrimp House is back!! Shrimp and bulldogs! On Hidalgo Street. Right now the sign says El Patio, but Maro is getting that changed This weeks report was written to the sounds of U2 on their 1987 Island Records release “The Joshua Tree”. Until next week,
Tight Lines!

George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 64 - 71
Air temperature 53-88
Humidity 79%
Wind: NNE at 4mph
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 7:10 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:36 p.m. MST

Right Place…Right Time

Endless Season Update 04/02/2008
REPORT #1108 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape



As the transition continues, the action, while sporadic, can be outrageous if you are in the right place at the right time.

This week a handful of boats located a dead floating seal that had a wad of dorado beneath it. It was WFO before it got crowded.

There have been several reports of yellowfin--- nothing huge but enough to provide sashimi at cocktail hour. There’s still a decent bite for the white bonito that is being hammered by the tin boat guys.

Beach action included small rooster and jack chasing sardina so close to the shore it was tough to keep from stepping on them.

While the yellowtail action close to the hotels has slowed to a trickle, it seems that some of the fish have been seen meandering very close to the shore, close enough to get the ‘fly flinger‘ hot and bothered as they chase them down the beach trying to get them to take their fly.

Tip: When fishing the beach and the fish are crashing close to shore, cast diagonally to the shore - not straight out- keeping your fly in the shallow zone where the fish are the most active.
Water temperature 66-73
Air temperature 62-91
Humidity 55 %
Wind: NNW 13 to 17 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:09 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:36 p.m. MST

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Halibut action could be found on almost any of the sandy beaches with Punta Belcher the best of all. Breezing yellowtail and sierra at the Entrada as well as near Punta Hughes.

Estero action was limited to corvina, small grouper, pargo and cabrilla at both Devil’s Curve and above Lopez Mateos.

Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 53 -88
Humidity 89%
Wind: NNW 17 to 23 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 7:16 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:44 p.m. MST

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The warm water has finally pushed up from the South, moving the cooler water out to beyond the 50 mile mark. The game fish came with the water, and the fishing has been outstanding.
What is amazing is this annual current is a full month early, with April usually being our slowest month of the year. However, 4 to 5 sailfish a boat per day average is not considered to be slow fishing, and that is how we have started this month off.
Ludo Coen, from Belgium, fishes here for several days each year with Martin on the panga Isamar. He usually comes in November or December. When Ludo contacted me he was coming in April of this year, I had reported the bad news about our annual cool water current to him; honestly. Martin and Ludo responded by releasing 18 sailfish in 3 days.
Plus, the fish are only between 12 and 15 miles out.
What would really make this a fantastic situation is hopefully the rooster fish will soon follow.

Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 69-101
Humidity 79%
Wind: NNE 3mph
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 7:39 a.m. CST
Sunset 8:00 p.m. CST

Cabo San Lucas

WEATHER: Wow, did we ever have great weather this week! I was telling my wife yesterday as we were driving out of town that I wish it was like this every day, then she reminded me that if it was, there would be too many people living here! Guess that’s right, I mean it was 11 am and it was a beautiful 77 degrees out there, and only 67 when we got up in the morning. We had lightly scattered clouds all week and this wonderful weather. Sure am glad I was here this week!
WATER: The winds from the northwest were on again, off again this week as they kicked up for three days during the middle of the week. This resulted in rough conditions on the Pacific side of the Cape and in the Sea of Cortez offshore. Along with the wind came a strong push from the California current, bringing water along the Pacific coast as cold as 61 degrees. On the charts it looks like a finger cupped around the Cape, pointing toward the east. The warmer water, in the 71-degree range at the end of the week, was outside the 1,000-fathom line again. Earlier in the week it warmed up to 75 degrees in a warm eddy that spun across from the west to the east, then went beyond our immediate area. The water between Cabo and the 1150 and north of that line has been a consistent 71-72 degrees while the water on the Pacific side offshore has been a much cooler 67 degrees.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price.
FISHING:

BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin bite picked up this week, not red hot by any means but much better than it has been. Most of the fish were found outside the 1,000-fathom line and in the warmer water on the Cortez side. Most of these fish were on the surface and caught on live bait, but a few were attracted by lures and bit on drop-back live bait or were hungry enough to eat the lures. My guess is that the average was a fish for every other boat, with a few boats managing to hook up and release two or three per day. One nice thing I heard early in the week was of a Black Marlin reported to be in the 400 –pound range being caught by one of the fleet boats while they were fishing for football Tuna outside the 1,000-fathom line. That was reported as happening on Tuesday. A few more Swordfish were sighted as well, but there were none reported hooked up that I heard about.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Football Yellowfin in the 6-15 pound class continued to be the fish of the week as almost everyone willing to get out 30 miles was able to get limits, some more than limits. It usually did not take long as the fish were very hungry and multiple hook-ups were the norm, as three or four lines would get hit at the same time. Boats with just one client aboard went to pulling only one or two lines. The fish slowly moved to the east over the course of the week and the best bite was between 180 and 210 degrees during the start of the week and between 170 and 140 degrees at the end of the week. A few boats were able to get into slightly larger fish averaging 30 pounds at the end of the week, but rough offshore conditions made keeping sight of the Dolphin pods hard to do.
DORADO: There were a few more Dorado caught this week than last week, probably due to the eddy of warm water that passed our way. Most of the Dorado were caught in the warm water as boats fished for Tuna. Average size was around 15 pounds but a few boats caught doubles on fish in the 30-pound class.
WAHOO: What Hoo?
INSHORE: The rough water on the Pacific side combined with cold green conditions that started early in the week meant the inshore fishing was not very good this past week. That is not to say there were not fish caught, but the numbers were down from what we had been experiencing. The Sierra bite was spotty; a good trip resulted in a half-dozen or so to 10 pounds with the average size around 6 pounds. There were Pargo found in the rocks at the points and still a few decent Yellowtail were found.
NOTES: I don’t know if the warming of the water is a trend that is going to continue, but I sure hope it does. It seems that the water getting warmer means better fishing for us. I am going to get out this week and give a few things I have been working on a try; I’ll let you know next week if they work out. Until then, try and keep a smile on your face, things could always be worse. This weeks report was written to the music of my dog snoring in the background after a long morning at the beach!

Tight Lines!

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 64 - 71
Air temperature 53-88
Humidity 79%
Wind: NNE at 4mph
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 7:10 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:36 p.m. MST

Bahia Asunción

Mexican workers get very few holidays so each Semana Santa (Easter week), everyone tries to go somewhere, usually to the gulf side to enjoy warmer weather as Easter week is notorious for high winds and cold water on the Pacific side. So Juan & I went to Agua Verde for a camping trip which we enjoyed very much even though it was very windy and even rained one afternoon! This past week was variable, the first few days was gorgeous, calm, hot weather but the end of the week has been extremely windy on the west coast with a large swell which has delighted our local surf club…the kids have been able to surf every day this week getting ready for the summer tournaments.

Juan was able to get out one day to Area 6, a reef six miles off Asuncion Island with a family from California. They were happy to catch dinner for all of us…a lovely sheepshead which we made a great chowder out of, some cabrilla and a pretty big blanco..white fish for tacos. Eight year old Jacob was excited about seeing the sea lions and some gray whales and of course catching fish. The last few days have been very poor as strong currents, big swell and high winds with poor visibility have resulted in everybody getting skunked.

The local fishermen were very busy getting their equipment ready for abalone season which opened on Tuesday April 1st. We can hardly wait to sample this year's harvest. The fishermen get 4 abalone a week to eat.

We will move out to San Roque fish camp while they fish from there for a couple weeks. Caracol (giant sea snail/conch) season also begins next week so we will all enjoy the delicious bounty of the sea over the next month.

Shari and Juan

Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 58-83
Humidity 56%
Wind: NE at 10 mph
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 7:25 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:55 p.m. MST