First Act: Sardina

Endless Season Update 02/27/2008
REPORT #1103 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

Sardina begins to gather beneath hotel piers and beach

As the seasonal transition from winter to spring slowly takes place, small sardina are beginning to show in small numbers along the beaches. It’s still way early to call, but the appearance of bait schools is a good sign of better things coming.

Sierra, small roosters, jacks and ladyfish action will definitely increase with the bait spreading up and down the beaches.

Most of the boat action is up north from Punta Pescadero to Muertos Bay, with some quality yellows still dominating the catch. Another promising sign was the few dorados found at the shark buoys a few miles off Punta Pescadero.
Tip: When you purchase your bait in the morning, ask where they are catching it. Then you have a good spot to start on the non-boat days if you fish the beach.
Water temperature 62-68
Air temperature 54-84
Humidity 46 %
Wind: SSE 7 to 10 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:37 p.m. MST

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Entrada action included sierra and small yellows chasing bait on the surface. Down further in the water column, there were a few grouper up to ten pounds. Estero action produced a corvina, small snook and grouper. Whale watching continues to be the main attraction and will through March.

Water temperature 66 - 73
Air temperature 49 -81
Humidity 97%
Wind: WSW 4 to 6 knots
Conditions: Foggy in the morning
Visibility 2 miles
Sunrise 6:51 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:28 p.m. MST

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
Even though the seas are calm and the sun is shining every day, the fishing remains on the slow side. I guess you just have to take the attitude that 86º weather and fishing beats shoveling snow.
Steven Ryan, fishing on the Gaby with Captain Margarito, produced a blue marlin of about 240 pounds, and 4 dorado to 20 pounds. Steven fished another day with Efrain on the panga, Tequila, and had some great light tackle action on large black skipjack tuna.
Fishing with Santiago on the panga, Gitana, John Torre of Phoenix, released an estimated 120 pound striped marlin, and caught dinner in the form of two nice dorado. The next day with Santiago, Will and Karen Fischer of Kelowana, BC, released a sail and caught a dorado.
Inshore action is still a ‘hit or miss situation’. Find the birds and the bait, and you get some very exciting jack crevalle action.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 63-93
Humidity 66%
Wind: SE at 7mph
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 7:06 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:52 p.m. CST


Cabo San Lucas

WEATHER: We had a few clouds in the sky this week, but not enough to call it cloudy, just enough to make things cool. Our daytime highs were in the low 80’s and the nighttime lows were in the high 50’s. Light winds on shore kept things nice and comfortable while at sea on the Pacific side things were a little bumpy as the winds were from the northwest and kicked up a light chop.
WATER: The wind died down this week so surface conditions were much better on both the Pacific and the Cortez sides of the Cape. On the Pacific swells were 3-5 feet with a light chop while the Cortez had swells at 1-3 feet with almost no chop in the morning and offshore chop in the afternoons. Water temperatures on the Pacific side were warmer, almost averaging 68 degrees up to 10 miles offshore and out a bit farther it dropped to 67 degrees. The water close to shore, in the warmer area, was very green, almost brown in some areas. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water was 64-65 degrees out to 4 miles from the shore and farther than that, across the Gorda Bank and the 1150 spot the water warmed up to 69 degrees. There is a plume of cool, off-colored water running south from the Cape, but the water out 5 miles to the south side of the 1,000-fathom line warmed to 71 degrees. While the warm water was on both sides of the Cape, the only really blue water was on the Pacific side out past the San Jaime Bank.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price. There were Sardinas up around Chileno Bay at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:

BILLFISH: About the only thing I have to say for the past weeks bill fishing is that it was almost non-existent. Not that there weren’t people out trying, it’s just that the few fish that were found were not interested in eating. The full moon may have had something to do with it perhaps, it’s been know to have an effect, but it’s not really an explanation of why the fish have mostly disappeared. Perhaps the much cooler than normal water has something to do with it as well? One bright spot is that the green, cool water has brought about more sightings of Swordfish, but I have not heard of anyone actually hooking one up in a legal sort of way, but a few guys did hook fish by snagging them, then proceeded to loose them after several hours of fighting time. These Swordfish have been seen in the cool water plume running directly south from the Cape.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: No change this week from last week on the Tuna situation. There are still only football fish being found out there, and most of them have been between 18 to 30 miles to the south. Boats working westward past the banks were not doing well with only an occasional pod of porpoise showing, and few of them holding fish. Once again red hootchies were the best bet for these fish as most of the stomach contents were found to be red crab.
DORADO: I did not hear of any Dorado being caught this week, and saw no new yellow flags flying. I am sure there were a few, but no reports were heard by me.
WAHOO: Once again I didn’t hear of any Wahoo this week. The flags you see flying are for “Mexican Wahoo”, or better known as sierra.
INSHORE: Just like last week, with the exception of more small Yellowtail being caught by guys pulling small swimming plugs for Sierra. Mexican Wahoo,also known as Sierra, have been the mainstay of the Panga fleet this week with most boats able to get at least a half-dozen or more. Yellowtail action dropped off again, it seems to be a “good one week, slow the next” type of fishery. Snapper fishing has again improved and there are a few more grouper being found by those targeting bottom fish. The usual smaller Roosterfish to 5 pounds, some small barracuda and Bonita have rounded out the catches inshore.
NOTES: Well, the nice weather continued for this past week as we had hoped, but the fishing has been very “off”, compared to the usual activity we get this time of year. The best bet has been fishing inshore; a lot of trips have been saved by targeting Sierra after six hours of looking for Marlin and Tuna. Fishing inshore also gets you up close to the whales, and that is always a lot of fun. This weeks report was written to the music of Boz Scaggs on his 1994 Virgin Records release, “Some Changes”. Until next week, Tight Lines!

George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 65 - 74
Air temperature 54-80
Humidity 82%
Wind: SSW 3 to 4 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 6:43 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:22p.m. MST

Bahia Asunción

Juan went fishing the day before the eclipse. It was a lovely morning, so they decided to try their luck going south of Asunción as the fishing up by San Pablo has been very poor. They caught lots of bonito and a nice barletta and finally hooked into a big fish. Ira Martin from Oregon was tuckered out from catching so many bonito and so passed the rod over to Juan to finish bringing it in. Juan knew right away it was a sea lion having his lunch, and by the time they got the fish up to the boat, only the head was left! It WAS a nice big yellowtail though. That night we enjoyed the eclipse at the taco stand with clients. The next day they went north to San Pablo and only caught yellowtail and some calico and whitefish. We heard the yellowtail were further north up by Pto.Nuevo about 20 miles up. Lovely fishing weather though.

Shari and Juan

Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 54-84
Humidity 51%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:37 p.m. MST

Whales, Lunar Eclipse and Sierra…

Endless Season Update 02/20/2008
REPORT #1102 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape


Sierra provided the most consistent action this week. For the persistent angler willing to be out early, the ladyfish and small roosters put on a show on a few of the protected beaches.

The yellowtail whack up to the north produced some ‘trophy sized’ yellows (30+ pounds) but seemed to slow down somewhat this week.
Tip: It is a good idea to have everything rigged when you board the boat. Can’t tell you how many times I have watched the ‘cluster’ that goes on when you find fish five minutes from the shore. Trying to rig while you watch fish crashing all around you can be frustrating.
Water temperature 62-68
Air temperature 56-77
Humidity 67 %
Wind: NNW 7 to 10 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 6:48 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:17 p.m. MST

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico


Whale watching continued to dominate the activity for both Lopez Mateos and San Carlos. Windy conditions kept anyone from getting outside the Boca’s. Enrique Soto reported fair action for small yellowtail with sierra mixed in at the Entrada.

Water temperature 66 - 73
Air temperature 50 -74
Humidity 91%
Wind: NNW 14 to 19 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 2 miles
Sunrise 6:57 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:24 p.m. MST

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
A cold water current has moved in, pushing the blue water out past the 26 mile mark. Fishing for all blue water species is slow.

About the only notable catch was made by Jeff Taylor of Houston, fishing with Martin on the panga, Isamar. On Monday they caught a nice 250 pound blue marlin at 36 miles. But, the next day Martin went out 40 miles, and got skunked.
There are reports the jack crevalle are on the beaches, and in good numbers. Find he birds crashing the bait, and you will find the jacks.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 71-98
Humidity 66%
Wind: SE at 2mph
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 7:10 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:49 p.m. CST

Cabo San Lucas

WEATHER: It felt like winter this week even though it never got below 56 degrees. Maybe it’s just that I am used to the warm weather now. Our lows, alt least the lowest I saw, was 58 degrees, but with a bit of wind on it, it felt colder. Our daytime highs were in the high 70’s and most of the week we had partly cloudy skies most of the week. On the 9th the skies actually cleared enough for the sea-surface temp charts to come through on the Terrafin web site.
WATER: I did not see anything warmer than 70 degrees this week, and most of that was a plume coming up from the south and running from 20 miles due south to the southern end of the San Jaime Bank. Inside that band it dropped to 67 and 67 degrees. On the Cortez side of the Cape it was a consistent 68 degrees until you got past the Punta Gorda area, and then it dropped to a very cool 63 and 64 degrees. The surface conditions were great with small swells from the Northwest on the Pacific side and almost pool-table smoothness on the Cortez at the end of the week.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price. There were Sardinas up around Chileno Bay at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:

BILLFISH: Boats looking for Marlin were really having to scratch for them this week, and I mean that they were difficult to get to bite, not that they were hard to find. Some boats working deep bait on the Golden Gate Bank had luck, but it was not steady by any means. There were also some hungry fish found close to shore, within two miles, along the points on the Pacific side. Boats venturing farther offshore were seeing quite a few fish in small groups of two or three at a time, but they had lockjaw and most refused to bite. As an example, a large private yacht that has placed in quite a few tournaments spent 12 hours late in the week fishing for marlin, from 6 am until 6 pm and were only able to find two hungry fish, and that was a double hook-up.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: The porpoise are starting to show up in fair numbers but not all the pods have Yellowfin with them. Fishing south of the San Jaime and west of there boats are finding pods of between 20 and several thousand porpoise. There have been Tuna of between 15 and 30 pounds caught among the mammals, but I did not hear of any large ones yet, and a good day so far has been getting eight or ten of these fish to bite. Most boats are having a hard time getting hooked up to them though as they have been feeding fairly heavily on red crab, according to the guys who have opened up the ones they catch. As a result, the small hootchies in red colors have worked best on these smaller Tuna.
DORADO: A few fish now and then, no steady action but the fish that have been taken have been from the warmer water areas.
WAHOO: I didn’t hear of any Wahoo this week. The flags you see flying are for “Mexican wahoo”, or better known as sierra.
INSHORE: Mexican Wahoo, also known as Sierra, have been the mainstay of the Panga fleet this week with most boats able to get at least a half-dozen or more. Yellowtail action is picking up once again with several fish to 40 pounds being boats as well as a few nice grouper to 50 pounds. The usual smaller Roosterfish to 5 pounds, some small barracuda and Bonita have rounded out the catches inshore.
NOTES: Whales, whales, whales and porpoise, there have been plenty of these out there for anglers that get bored of not catching fish this week. Well, for some of them at least! I am taking off for L.A. to re-new my Captains License and will be coming back in the middle of the week, maybe fishing will have gotten better by then! Until next week, tight lines!

George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 65 - 74
Air temperature 53-75
Humidity 58%
Wind: NNW 3 to 5 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:48 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:19p.m. MST

Bahia Asunción

The weather is fabulous here! The swell has gone down; lovely sunny, warm days calm mornings for fishing and with about 15-29 in the afternoons. Yesterday they caught lots of bonita and abarileta which is a kind of amber jack?? It was delicious in sashimi.

Ira Martin from Oregon hooked into a big yellowtail but fought so long he had to hand the rod over to Juan to finish bringing it is and immediately Juan said...”hmmm feels like a sea lion is also fighting this fish.” They ended up only bringing aboard the massive head! They fished about five miles south of Asunción but there were too many sea lions.

They were heading up to San Pablo today to try their luck.

We really enjoyed the beautiful eclipse last evening, very clear skies.

Surf has been excellent the last few days and more whales are passing by northbound every day. We were treated to a huge breach right in front of our window yesterday afternoon.

Lobster season is winding down and we are looking forward to the
end of season lobster feast. It's possible that the co-ops get a 2 week extension on the season which usually ends the end of February...
Construction is underway on a 42 room resort on the waterfront at the entrance to Asunción and there is a flurry of building projects all over the village.
Shari and Juan

Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 53-68
Humidity 51%
Wind: W 7 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:10 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:31 p.m. MST

Whale of a Week…

Endless Season Update 02/13/2008
REPORT #1101 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape



Sierra, ladyfish and small roosters still continue to lurk along the beaches providing some killer action in the early morning and extending on until the winds pick up. The tin boat fleet is enjoying a good sierra winter as they troll tight to the beach. A bit further out the bonito can be found feeding bait near the surface.

Up to the north just outside the mooring balls at Muertos Bay, a few moss back yellows have been tearing up tackle quicker than you can say “fish on”.
Tip: When the fish are crashing bait on the surface and every cast is a refusal, try slowing down the retrieve to a crawl. A very slow moving fly will often trigger a strike when nothing else will.
Water temperature 62-68
Air temperature 45-82
Humidity 75 %
Wind: NNW 7 to 10 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 6:53 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:13 p.m. MST

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Whale Ho! Plenty of whales are now inside the bay frolicking in front of the pier.

Up in the Esteros the mixed-bag action, snook, corvina and some fat pargo, kept everyone smiling this week.

Water temperature 66 - 73
Air temperature 45 -83
Humidity 75%
Wind: WSW 7 to 9 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 4 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:19 p.m. MST

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The fishing is continuing last week's trend. It has been slow. The fleet is only averaging 1 or 2 sailfish a day per boat. A few dorado are still being taken, but only about 1 for every 4 boats.

The blue water is still at 18 miles. Reports are the tuna are out beyond the 25 mile mark, and in decent numbers. We are waiting to see if anything will develop with them.

Cory Cole fished with Marcos on the panga, Oceana, and had a typical two days of fishing. They got 1 dorado the first day, and two sailfish the second day.

Inshore, there are reports of the jack crevalle action heating up, with a few sierras being taken also.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 75-97
Humidity 77%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 7:14 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:43 p.m. CST

Cabo San Lucas

WEATHER: It felt like winter this week even though it never got below 56 degrees. Maybe it’s just that I am used to the warm weather now. Our lows, alt least the lowest I saw, was 58 degrees, but with a bit of wind on it, it felt colder. Our daytime highs were in the high 70’s and most of the week we had partly cloudy skies most of the week. On the 9th the skies actually cleared enough for the sea-surface temp charts to come through on the Terrafin web site.
WATER: I did not see anything warmer than 70 degrees this week, and most of that was a plume coming up from the south and running from 20 miles due south to the southern end of the San Jaime Bank. Inside that band it dropped to 67 and 67 degrees. On the Cortez side of the Cape it was a consistent 68 degrees until you got past the Punta Gorda area, and then it dropped to a very cool 63 and 64 degrees. The surface conditions were great with small swells from the Northwest on the Pacific side and almost pool-table smoothness on the Cortez at the end of the week.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price. There were Sardinas up around Chileno Bay at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:

BILLFISH: Boats looking for Marlin were really having to scratch for them this week, and I mean that they were difficult to get to bite, not that they were hard to find. Some boats working deep bait on the Golden Gate Bank had luck, but it was not steady by any means. There were also some hungry fish found close to shore, within two miles, along the points on the Pacific side. Boats venturing farther offshore were seeing quite a few fish in small groups of two or three at a time, but they had lockjaw and most refused to bite. As an example, a large private yacht that has placed in quite a few tournaments spent 12 hours late in the week fishing for marlin, from 6 am until 6 pm and were only able to find two hungry fish, and that was a double hook-up.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: The porpoise are starting to show up in fair numbers but not all the pods have Yellowfin with them. Fishing south of the San Jaime and west of there boats are finding pods of between 20 and several thousand porpoise. There have been Tuna of between 15 and 30 pounds caught among the mammals, but I did not hear of any large ones yet, and a good day so far has been getting eight or ten of these fish to bite. Most boats are having a hard time getting hooked up to them though as they have been feeding fairly heavily on red crab, according to the guys who have opened up the ones they catch. As a result, the small hootchies in red colors have worked best on these smaller Tuna.
DORADO: A few fish now and then, no steady action but the fish that have been taken have been from the warmer water areas.
WAHOO: I didn’t hear of any Wahoo this week. The flags you see flying are for “Mexican wahoo”, or better known as sierra.
INSHORE: Mexican Wahoo, also known as Sierra, have been the mainstay of the Panga fleet this week with most boats able to get at least a half-dozen or more. Yellowtail action is picking up once again with several fish to 40 pounds being boats as well as a few nice grouper to 50 pounds. The usual smaller Roosterfish to 5 pounds, some small barracuda and Bonita have rounded out the catches inshore.
NOTES: Whales, whales, whales and porpoise, there have been plenty of these out there for anglers that get bored of not catching fish this week. Well, for some of them at least! I am taking off for L.A. to re-new my Captains License and will be coming back in the middle of the week, maybe fishing will have gotten better by then! Until next week, tight lines!

AS OF JAN 23RD, 2007 EVERYONE MUST HAVE A PASSPORT TO TRAVEL TO AND FROM MEXICO!!!!!

George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 65 - 74
Air temperature 45-78
Humidity 75%
Wind: SW 6 to 8 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 6:53 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:14 p.m. MST

Bahia Asunción

NO REPORT THIS WEEK Finally the weather has cleared up after plenty of clouds and wind. This week’s catch consisted of whitefish, cabrilla and sheepshead. We did catch our lunch at Playa Tordillo on Sunday surf fishing. The surf has been great this week, giving our Team Jurjos a chance to practice up for the summer tournament here in mid-August.
Shari and Juan

Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 52-73
Humidity 66%
Wind: NW 5 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:21 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:21 p.m. MST

Puffy Says!!!

Endless Season Update 02/06/2008
Don’t miss Gary’s new “Road Trekker” column published in Western Outdoor News


REPORT #1100 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape

Three nice days early in the week; February 2 came and Puffy’s shadow could be clearly seen. Locals claim that when the puffer fish’s shadow is visible, it is another excuse to have tequila shooters first thing in the morning before trying to beat the wind to the beach.

As if on cue, the wind came back resulting in a few lack luster days. Unfortunately the sierra and white bonito found the shadow disconcerting and had a serious case of lock jaw.

On the non-windy days some quality yellows were found up at Bahia de Los Muertos
Tip: When fishing from the beach barefooted, be careful to watch where you step…better yet, wear beach shoes or sandals. Stepping on a half buried Puffy can ruin a good day.
Water temperature 67-73
Air temperature 46-77
Humidity 71 %
Wind: NNW 12 to 16 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 6:57 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:11 p.m. MST


Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Whale watching season is in full swing! Both San Carlos and Lopez Mateos are filling up with tourists who have traveled long distances to “ooh and aah” over the huge visitors and their offspring.

Water temperature 66 - 73
Air temperature 43 -80
Humidity 92%
Wind: NE 4 to 5 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 4 miles
Sunrise 7:06 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:15 p.m. MST

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

Fly angler....Roger Harrington, British Columbia Canada. Boat....Isamar with Captain Martin
With a cold water current pushing the blue water out to the 18 mile mark, compared to the last couple of weeks, the fishing has slowed down quite a bit. However, most of this is due to the boats staying in the more traditional areas, from about 9 to 14 miles. They are averaging only about 1 or 2 sailfish a day.

Captain Margarito on the Gaby has been fishing an area between 22 and 25 miles out. He told me there are a lot of fish out there, with a 5 sailfish per day average proving his point. Plus, he is getting at least one shot at a blue marlin on the trolled lures each day.

With the cooler water the dorado numbers have dropped substantially, but the yellowfin tuna have moved in. The tuna, and the expected soon to follow blue marlin, should still give us some excellent action over the next couple of weeks.

There have been no reports of any action on the inshore small game.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 67-95
Humidity 77%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 7:17 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:43 p.m. CST

Cabo San Lucas

WEATHER: We finally had a couple of days where the sun actually shined all day long. The middle of the week was special, no clouds and it warmed up a bit. Our morning lows have been around the low 60’s to high 50’s, colder when there were no clouds. The highs for the days have been between the low and high 70’s with one day where it reached 82 degrees here at the house. Cloudy early in the week and at the end of the week.
WATER: Surface conditions on both sides of the Cape were good this week with slight swells and only light winds. On the Pacific side the water temperatures were in the 70-71 degree range with a light tinge of green to them while on the Cortez side the water was about a degree or two warmer and clearer. Due south at a distance of 20 miles the water warmed up to 74 degrees as it became blue.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price. There were Sardina up around Chileno Bay at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:

BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin bite remained slow, the concentrations of fish have moved and no one has been able to find them yet. Well, except for one day early in the week when only 10 boats were at the Golden Gate Bank and the Marlin re-appeared for the day. The action was pretty good on Monday and the top boats released double-digit numbers. That shut right back down though, as on Tuesday almost 40 boats worked the bank and there were only about ten fish released. Most boats have been happy to release one or two Marlin per trip and a few lucky (or good) ones have been in the 3 or 4 release range. The bite has been on a mix of live bait and lures with many of the live bait fish coming on deep dropped baits or slow trolled live baits on the Golden Gate Bank.
YELLOWFIN TUNA Well, for most of the boats out there a few football Tuna are all that they have been able to get onto, but every once in a while a larger fish in the 30 –pound range is hooked up. These fish are almost all with Porpoise and there are not many of them found right now. I sure hope things change soon as Tuna are one of our staples this time of year. The area due south to 35 miles has been the best producing, but the action has started to swing into the Sea of Cortez direction, perhaps following the warmer water movement.
DORADO: A few fish now and then, no steady action but the fish that have been taken have been from the warmer water areas.
WAHOO: I have heard of a few boats getting Wahoo in the warm water to the south, but there has been no numbers, just a fish now and then in the 40-pound class.
INSHORE: Sierra, small Roosterfish, Ladyfish, Snapper and some Bonita have been the inshore production this week. The Sierra bite has been on and off on the Pacific side but the best results have been while using Sardinas as bait. Snapper are being found in the rocks, I mean right up in there, and a lot of them are being lost due to that fact.
NOTES: There are more whales showing up, I had a good time watching them while sitting in the Cost-Co parking lot waiting for my wife yesterday! The Humboldt Squid are still around feeding on the red crabs and Swordfish are still being sighted, but I didn’t hear of anyone catching on this week. Until next week, Tight Lines!

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 65 - 74
Air temperature 46-77
Humidity 71%
Wind: NNE 6 to 8 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 6:57 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:11 p.m. MST


Bahia Asunción

Finally the weather has cleared up after plenty of clouds and wind. This week’s catch consisted of whitefish, cabrilla and sheepshead. We did catch our lunch at Playa Tordillo on Sunday surf fishing. The surf has been great this week, giving our team Jurjos a chance to practice up for the summer tournament here in mid-August.
Shari and Juan

Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 52-73
Humidity 66%
Wind: NW 5 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:21 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:21 p.m. MST

Wind Again!!!

Endless Season Update 01/31/2008
REPORT #1099 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Plenty of action from the beach and inshore, sierra, small roosters and jacks …, actually more fish than visitors. Which was probably a good thing since the north wind seemed relentless this week. Supposedly there are some tuna and billfish outside but high seas caused by the wind prevented anyone from getting out to find them.

Water temperature 67-73
Air temperature 49-76
Humidity 81 %
Wind: NNW 16 to 22 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:00 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:04 p.m. MST

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Bob Hoyt, of Mag Bay Outfitters, reported that the whales are slowly filtering into the bay through Boca de Soledad but so far only 15- 20 that have made it inside.

Estero action this week included some good corvina bites as well as a few better quality grouper, along with a few pargo.

Water temperature 66 - 73
Air temperature 54 -75
Humidity 76%
Wind: WNW 7 to 10 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 13 miles
Sunrise 7:10 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:10 p.m. MST

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

For this last week the sailfish and dorado bite has still been holding up with fantastic action for all boats. The boats were averaging 3 to 4 sailfish a day, plus a couple of the 20 to 40 pound dorado.

Margarito on the Gaby has really had an excellent week, with the slowest day catching 6 sailfish and 1 dorado, and the best day with 10 sailfish and 2 dorado.

Unfortunately, I do not see this bite holding up for much longer. Yesterday the boats came in with fewer flags flying. Whether this is a trend developing, or the fleet just needs to locate new areas for the concentrations of fish will become evident over the next couple of days.

With the blue water only six miles off the beach, hopefully it may just be a lull until a new batch of fish move into the area.

The jack crevalle and black skipjack tuna are providing a lot of inshore action also.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 48-96
Humidity 78%
Wind: S 5 knt
Conditions: Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:19 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:40 p.m. CST


Cabo San Lucas
WEATHER: It has been cloudy most of the week so sun seekers were not very happy; I saw a lot of folks that were very burned, thinking that the clouds were stopping the tanning rays. Oh well, at least the clouds helped hold the warmth in and we didn’t see temperatures lower than the mid 60’s at night. At the end of the week early I the morning it was 69 at our house. Daytime highs were around the low to mid 80’s, warm enough that I had no need of a sweater most of the time. With all the clouds I thought that we were going to get some rain but all that happened was a bit of spit, you know, the kind that just dots the dusty windshield on the car? That was early in the week on Tuesday, and it was probably my fault as I had just washed the Jeep when it started.
WATER: There did not appear to be any real change in the water conditions from the week before. The cloud cover made it almost impossible to get an updated sea surface shot from space so reliance on the boats that were fishing was very strong. It appears that the water within 5 miles of the beach on the Pacific side up to just past the Golden Gate Bank remained warmer than that farther offshore and was a nice blue color as well. On the Golden Gate and the San Jaime Bank the water was off color green and quite a bit cooler at 70 degrees and lower. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water was green and off-colored everywhere and the area off of Punta Gorda was reported as almost a brown color by some boats. To the immediate south on an east-west line across the arch the water warmed up and blued up. As you reached 8 miles to the south the temperature rose to 74 degrees. Surface conditions across the area were good since this cloud cover arrived without any wind. Some swells on the Pacific side with a light ripple on top most of the time, but on the Cortez side up past Punta Gorda the wind started howling.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price. There were Sardinas up around Chileno Bay at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:

BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin bite remained off for another week for most of the boats. The fish were found on the Pacific side and to the south but while there were a lot of fish seen on the surface, not many of them were hungry. A few, very few, boats managed to come in with between three and five Marlin flags flying, but most boats were feeling lucky if they were able to get a couple of fish to eat and get one to the boat for a release. The big new for the week is the appearance of some Swordfish. This week several of these fish were spotted on the surface and at least two that I know of were hooked. One was hooked on a live Mackerel while fishing 23 miles to the south and was fought for six hours before the 100-pound leader parted. The Captain estimated to fish at over #300! It’s tough to get a fish like that on Striped Marlin gear!
YELLOWFIN TUNA I overheard a conversation about a private boat being hooked up on a very big Yellowfin just off the Golden Gate Bank on Saturday, and then nothing else. I know a few boats have been having a little luck on fish in the 30-pound class out past the San Jaime Bank, but it has been very inconsistent. The same has been the case on the football sized fish, they have been out there but the bite has been slow, a few fish have been the average with a few boats able to get into double digits.
DORADO: Once again there have been a few fish caught, one or two here and there, but no large numbers have been reported. The best area has been the warm water to the south.
WAHOO: Inconsistent, but there have been some quality fish out there. One boat caught two of them between 80-100 pounds in the warm water 20 miles south and a few other smaller ones were reported from the same area.
INSHORE: The Sierra action picked back up on the Pacific side as schools of fish to 10 pounds have moved in off of the beaches and rocky points to the north of the lighthouse. Double-digit catches were not a problem. Either whole Mackerel rigged with a stinger hook I the tail or large Sardines were needed for the larger fish, hootchies and plugs did not work on fish over six pounds. Off of the Rocky points Snapper have begun to show, it is time for the normal spring spawning groups to begin gathering. A few Yellowtail continue to be caught but the numbers have really dropped off over the past several weeks.
NOTES: There were acres of Humboldt Squid reported on the surface feeding on red crab this week, and this may have been a contributing factor in the Swordfish being seen. There are still whales out there and the numbers seem to be increasing. This weeks report was written to the guitar of Marshall Crenshaw on the 1989 Warner release “Good Evening”, great stuff! Until next week, Tight Lines!

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 65 - 74
Air temperature 54-74
Humidity 85%
Wind: NNE 6 to 8 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 2 miles
Sunrise 7:00 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:06 p.m. MST
Bahia Asunción

Winter Calico photo provided by Bahia Asunción local guide Manuel Arce Aguilar

Baby it’s Cold….Still

Endless Season Update 01/24/2008
REPORT #1098 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
North winds along with cool temperatures are back and according to the predictions will be here until the weekend. But last week there was a brief respite for the nasty stuff.

Between the windy days, the beaches and inshore produced sierra, jacks, and ladyfish along with a few small roosters. Those were found on the beaches between Rancho Leonero and La Ribera with the best action being in the early morning before the wind cranked up..

A few tuna showed up toward Cerralvo Island. That sounded promising but north wind and Cerralvo should not be used in the same sentence!

Travel Tip: Benadryl in both gel and capsule form is a must for your tackle box! Handy in case of stings, bites of any kind of critter you might encounter, including jelly fish, scorpion or bees.

Boat owners take note: Effective January 2008, boat permits are no longer required for vessels practicing sportfishing in Mexican waters. More info

AS OF JAN 23RD, 2007 EVERYONE MUST HAVE A PASSPORT TO TRAVEL TO AND FROM MEXICO!!!!!
Water temperature 67-73
Air temperature 47-72
Humidity 88 %
Wind: NNW 13 to 17 knots
Conditions: Cloudy
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:02 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:01 p.m. MST


Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Diana Hoyt reported good fishing in the Esteros for corvina as well as a few grouper and plenty of spotted bay bass.

More and more whales are arriving every day---just in time for the 15th annual Festival del Ballena to celebrate their arrival this Saturday the 26th.

Protected by the barrier island of Isla Magdalena, Lopez Mateos is one of Baja's best whale-watching sites. The bay is narrow here, so you don't have to travel far by boat to see the whales. In fact they can usually be seen from the pier. Boca de Soledad, only a short distance north of town, boasts the highest density of whales anywhere along the peninsula.

Water temperature 66 - 73
Air temperature 47 -67
Humidity 79%
Wind: NNW 10 to 14 knots
Conditions: Cloudy
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 7:12 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:05 p.m. MST


Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

Historically, January is considered to be the best month of the year for sailfish. This is the time when large migrations of the fish pass by us on their way to Guatemala. It is also a fact the full moon period usually affects the fishing here, except for those occasional really outstanding years. This January is one of the really outstanding years.

Plus, we are having the largest showing of dorado I have seen in years. The dorado are all mature fish, averaging between 12 and 18 pounds for the hens, and 25 to 40 pounds for the bulls.

Before the full moon, Mark Davis, of Malibu, CA, fished 4 days on the Gaby with Captain Margarito. They released 7 sailfish, and kept 12 large dorado. Also last week, clients from Denmark, fishing with Francisco on the panga, Huntress, released 15 sails and released 1 striped marlin. And they caught 11 dorado.

After the full moon, on Monday, Cali released 7 sailfish and kept 3 dorado.

While standing at the pier and watching the boats come in on Tuesday, Adolpho came first in his panga, Dos Hermanos, with 8 sailfish release flags flying and another 3 dorado flags. Then came the panga, Gitana, with Santiago with 9 sailfish and 2 dorado tags, followed by his brother Adan with 5 sailfish and 2 dorado flags.

Every afternoon at the pier, around 2:00, is like a colorful parade as the boats come in with their flags a flying. The fishing is just outstanding!
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 73-96
Humidity 68%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:20 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:36 p.m. CST

Cabo San Lucas

WEATHER: For the past two weeks our cool wintertime conditions have continued. Our nighttime lows have been down in the mid 50’s while the daytime highs have reached the high 70’s but have mostly been in the mid to low 70’s. As of the end of this week the skies have been only partly cloudy and we have had no rain. It has become windy in the afternoons but the mornings have been calm for the most part.

WATER: The water close to the beach on the Pacific side has remained warmer than most of the area with an average temperature of 71 degrees out to a distance of three-four miles from the beach at the inside of the Golden Gate Bank area. This warm water extends to the southwest across the San Jaime Bank and then in a thumb-shaped are with the tip 15 miles south of Cabo it warms to 73-74 degrees. The 71-degree water extends into the Sea of Cortez across the 95 Spot but stops short of the 1150. Water outside of this range on both sides of the Cape drops in temperature to the mid and high 60’s. At the end of this week, there was cold and dirty water across the Golden Gate Bank, the Finger Bank and the 1150 and Gorda Banks. The area inshore between Cabo and Punta Gorda was reported as being very dirty and green.
BAIT: Today is the full moon and as usual, as the full moon approaches the number of Caballito available for bait has fallen off. There are still plenty of Mackerel however and all these larger baits are at the normal $2 per bait. I have been told that there were no Sardinas available due to dirty water conditions up in the San Jose area.

FISHING:

BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin bite has dropped off quite a bit over the past week and instead of boats coming in with double digit numbers of flags, the high catch boats were getting four or five fish. Most boats were happy to get one or two releases and many were happy just to get a shot at a fish. One of the reasons may have to do with the temperature and clarity of the water in most areas, but the moon phase may have had an effect as well. Most of the Striped Marlin action was taking place between the San Jaime Bank and the 95 Spot and areas to the south of there, down in that warmer water area I mentioned earlier. I also heard form a Captain on a fleet boat that they hooked up a Blue Marlin earlier this week for a short while down in that warmer water, but the fish came off after the first run.

YELLOWFIN TUNA The Yellowfin Tuna that I have heard about have all been from the San Jaime area and for the most part have been football sized fish in the 10 pound range, found mixed in with porpoise. There have been a few fish to 40 pounds mixed in with them as well, but the numbers have been low. I have also hear unconfirmed reports of some nice sized fish being found occasionally 40-50 miles to the south of us. These fish have also been mixed in with porpoise and are reported to be in the 50-60 pound class. As far as I am aware no one has yet gotten into any concentrations of #100 + fish in the past two weeks, but we are hoping that it happens soon.

DORADO: The cool water of the past month has really slowed down the Dorado bite as they move south into warmer water. A few fish have been caught every day and for the most part they have been either just off the beach on the Pacific side or in the warmer water due south. The average size has been around 12 pounds with a few fish in the 25-pound class, but most of them are average size. The number of fish per boat is much lower as well, with an average catch of .3 fish per day, or 1 fish per three days of effort. I expect the Dorado to almost disappear as the water continues to cool.

WAHOO: As the full moon approached there were a few Wahoo caught, and there will probably be a few more on the waning side of the moon as well, but they have been incidental fish caught in the open water due south. Wahoo like warm water and just like the Dorado; there are fewer of them around right now than there were earlier in the season. The fish that were caught averaged 40 pounds and were caught on dark colored Marlin lures.
INSHORE: The Yellowtail bite dropped off as the water on the Cortez side of the Cape became dirty. A few have been caught on the Pacific side off of the rocky points on live bait dropped to about 250 feet, but there has been no consistent bite on them. The Sierra bite has slowed down as well with most boats getting only a half-dozen or so per trip. The Pargo are starting to show among the rocks on the Pacific side, and hopefully action on them will improve this coming week as the moon starts to wane.

NOTES: The fishing really slowed down the past two weeks as the water cooled off. Hopefully the Yellowfin will show in force and give us some alternative action, they are overdue based on the past six years catch records. On the positive side, the water conditions have been pretty good! This weeks report was written to the music of Mark Knopfler on his new solo release “Kill To Get Crimson”, a melancholy set of songs, sort of like the fishing the past two weeks! I just returned from visiting my father in Oklahoma City, his birthday was Saturday and it was nice seeing him for his 71st! Happy birthday dad! So, for those of you who were wondering why there was no report last week, now you know! Until next week, tight lines!

George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 65 - 74
Air temperature 50-72
Humidity 95%
Wind: N 7 to 10 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 7:02 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:01 p.m. MST

Bahia Asunción

Juan christened his new panga with Mexican champagne...Tecate! Four pilots who flew in had a fun day fishing on the maiden voyage. The water temp warmed up considerably and even though fishing on the full moon is usually poor, they found some yellowtail 2 miles off of San Pablo, a place called ‘yellowtail rock’, jigging with irons...the guys lost more than they landed but had a blast anyway. Visibility was excellent as well and they caught several nice calicos and bonita and enjoyed watching gray whales pass by as they fished.
Shari and Juan

Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 52-68
Humidity 66%
Wind: WNW 3 to 4 knots
Conditions: rainy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:28 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:10 p.m. MST

A Nice Assortment

Endless Season Update 01/17/2008
REPORT #1097 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

Still more wind than people at East Cape this week. With just an occasional boat venturing out, it is difficult to find the offshore action. It’s a big ocean! On the calm days, the best bet is inshore or the beach. Odds are pretty good that you will catch something. There should be enough sierra, mixed in with other species, to distract you while you worry about the wind showing up. The other species can include small cabrilla, black skipjack, white bonito, ladyfish and possibly a pargo or two near the rocky points.
Travel Tip: If you are planning a fly fishing trip be sure to pack a set of different colored sharpies and some flies tied in all white. Then when you stumble on the “perfect” colored fly you can color the white ones with your sharpie.
Last week Yvonne and I attended the ISE show in San Mateo and I had the honor of being inducted into the California Outdoor Hall of Fame. More

Water temperature 67-73
Air temperature 47-70
Humidity 88 %
Wind: SE 2 to 3 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 2 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:54 p.m. MST


Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

The whale watching season is slowly kicking into gear and should be in full force by early February. Estero action for the week was spotty…sierra, and corvina along with a few small grouper and plenty of the spotted bay bass.

Enrique Soto reported the action at the Entrada had also slowed down this week with only a few small yellows to be found.

Water temperature 66 - 73
Air temperature 47 -74
Humidity 100%
Wind: NNW 6 to 8 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 7:13 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:59 p.m. MST

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The sailfish are here in huge numbers. Plus, there are lots of dorado being taken each day, with almost every boat getting at least 1 or 2 of these tasty fish. The dorado are averaging between 20 and 35 pounds.

But, the sailfish are gorging on a large bio-mass of a very small anchovy-like bait, and are hard to entice with the larger trolled baits. Paul Phillips told me there must have seen 200 sailfish on the surface today (Wednesday), but only had a couple of the fish interested in the teaser baits for our fly fishing client Greg Bronstein of Seattle.

A few boats are finding hungry fish however, and Adan on the Gitana II released 5 sails and got 2 nice dorado for his Danish clients today. They were fishing light conventional gear and spin rods, with 50 pound braided line.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 47-89
Humidity 80%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Cloudy
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 7:20 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:32 p.m. CST

Bahia Asunción

The yellowtail action near San Pablo area has slowed and the fleet (three boats) has spread out looking for the next hot spot. Water temps barely cracking 62….brrrrr. Calico action seems to be taking up some of the slack until yellows are located.
Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 47-61
Humidity 76%
Wind: WNW 5 to 10 kts
Conditions: Mostly sunny
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:29 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:04 p.m. MST

Get’r Done Early!

Endless Season Update 01/09/2008
REPORT #1096 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape

This has been another ‘cookie cutter’ week with that pesky north wind never too far away. Best bet continued to be the inshore or the beach early mornings until the wind shows up and then it is time to hot foot it back to the casa or hotel. Good sierra action with a few small jacks, roosters and ladyfish on south facing beaches. Also a few skipjack schools to bend the stick for giggles. Mark Rayor reported “I went out in a tin boat yesterday and murdered the sierra and white bonita.

Water temperature 67-73
Air temperature 55-76
Humidity 81 %
Wind: NNW 11 to 15 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 4 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:48 p.m. MST


Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

The much anticipated whale migration has begun and a few are beginning to filter into the bay. A few more weeks and the bay should be filling up with the welcomed visitors. They always provide a fun time for the family.

Out at the Entrada, there has been plenty of action for sierra and a few firecracker yellowtail beneath the bird schools feeding on sardine and red crab. Inside the esteros, the corvina and grouper have been the best bet.
According to the few yachts traveling up and down the coast, the offshore water has cooled and continues to be slightly offcolor.

Water temperature 66 - 73
Air temperature 45 -75
Humidity 54%
Wind: NW 8 to 11 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:13 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:53 p.m. MST

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The week started out looking promising. It is January, and historically one of the best months of the year for sailfish. Plus, the new moon was yesterday, the 8th. We are (theoretically) going into the best two weeks of the year.

But a cold water current has moved in, moved the blue water to way offshore, and the game fish have either left the area, or are too sluggish to feed.

Yesterday, Adan, on the panga Gitana II, managed the best numbers for the fleet. His clients from Denmark released three sailfish and got two nice dorado. But the average per boat was way down. It is less than one fish per boat.

The inshore is the same story; with cold water and an absence of game fish.

Fortunately, the cold water current is a current, and conditions can change in 24 hours. We are keeping our fingers crossed.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 75-95
Humidity 83%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 7:19 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:27 p.m. CST

Cabo San Lucas

Our guide, Lance Peterson, along with Baja on the Fly client, Kurt Jones, Houston, TX, and his 14 yr. old son, Conner, had an interesting day out of Cabo on the Baja Raider. The Golden Gate Bank was holding good numbers of marlin and it didn't take long for us to tease up some hot fish. On the first hookup, we had one of those "Murphy's Law" events when a loop of line got caught up on the rod leading to the abrupt loss of both the fly line, and the rod tip! The next available fly rod was my Cam Sigler 10wt. The bite was on so I rigged the 10wt. for marlin and we got back in the game. Before too long, Kurt was tight to his first ever fly rod marlin...on a 10wt! He landed it in 35 minutes. Not to be outdone, Conner stepped up to the rod. I wasn't done coaching him on what to do when we had a marlin teased up. He presented the fly and the fish ate. Fish on! With some help from Kurt, this stubborn fish also came to the boat. We finished the day with 10 fish raised, four hooked and two landed. Not bad for first time marlin fishermen with a 10wt!

WEATHER: Here at the end of the week, we are in a wintertime heat wave as our morning temperatures have been in the high 60’s for the past four days and the daytime highs have been in the mid 80’s. The skies have been clear and there has been no rain.
WATER: On the Sea of Cortez, from a line due east of Cabo and north of that line, the water was green and cold with the water at 71 degrees and dropping down to 69 degrees off of Punta Gorda. All the banks on the Pacific side, the Finger, Golden Gate and the San Jaime, had water at 73-75 degrees and the water was considerably cleaner. The 95 Spot, 1150 and the Cabrillo Seamount were on that line and for the most part saw the warmer, cleaner water. Surface conditions were good all week long close to home. There was an occasional day of breezy conditions on the Pacific but nothing too uncomfortable. Up on the Sea of Cortez, once you went north of the Punta Gorda area, the northerly winds made fishing very uncomfortable.
BAIT: Just like last week, the bait was mostly mackerel, but there were a few caballito in the mix. These larger baits were the normal $2 per bait. Up in San Jose there were sardinas available at $25 a scoop, but they were tiny ones with the biggest only 2 inches…better for chum than as bait.

FISHING:

BILLFISH: Striped Marlin were the fish of the week, no doubt about that. Almost every boat that went out caught at least one, and if they wanted to work at it a little bit there was no problem getting into double digit numbers. The great thing about it was you did not have to go far for them. If you wanted to burn the fuel, the water allowed a trip to the Finger Bank, and there were still great concentrations of fish there, but closer to home you did almost as well and did not spend so much time in transit. Most boats did just fine drifting live bait but I always like it better when the fish appear in the lure pattern and you get to drop back a rigged bait and see them eat it. We had several clients this week that did just that, only they dropped back a streamer on a fly rod and hooked up!
YELLOWFIN TUNA We still have not seen any solid concentrations of Yellowfin this season. Once in a while a boat will find a school with porpoise but they have been few and far between, and the size of fish has been lacking, most of them have been football fish. They have mostly been found on the Pacific side outside the banks, but a few schools were reported within a mile or two of the coast on that side as well.
DORADO: I saw a few more Dorado flags this week than last week and we are hoping that the water stays clean and above 70 degrees for a while longer, maybe we will continue to find them. I had a friend get two fish in the 30-pound class early in the week up past the Golden Gate Bank, and there are still scattered fish in the 10-15 pound class being caught close to the beach on the Pacific.
WAHOO: I did not hear of any concentrations of Wahoo this reporting period but I did see one of about 70 pounds being wheeled along the Marina in a cooler, a really nice fish!
INSHORE: There was no change in the inshore report for this report period. Sierra were the fish of the week for the inshore fishermen and they were consistently on the feed off of the Solmar-Finesterra beach early in the morning. They seemed to move up to the north later in the day. Yellowtail continued to produce scattered action off of the rocky points on the Cortez side with some decent fish being taken off of Gray Rock and the drop at Chileno.
NOTES: We are seeing more whales every week. The weather has been great, my golf game is sadly lacking consistency and my ears had a treat as I wrote this report while listening to some cuts from the CD collection “Watching the Dark, the history of Richard Thompson”, a 1993 release by RYKODISC. Until next week, tight lines!

George & Mary Landrum


Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 55-74
Humidity 83%
Wind: WNW 7 to 9 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 4 miles
Sunrise 7:02 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:50 p.m. MST

Bahia Asunción

Local guide Manuel Arce Aguilar a nice yellow caught recently. kalicosloco@yahoo.com

Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 52-70
Humidity 76%
Wind: NNW 12 to 17 kts
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:30 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:58 p.m. MST

Sierra-Fish of the Week!

Endless Season Update 01/02/2008
REPORT #1095 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape

Your best option this week was early morning beach fishing unless you were willing to gamble on the North wind. Sierra continued to put on a good show along East Cape beaches; mixed in with the sierra were a few jacks and, yes, even a small rooster or two.

Offshore action was tough to gauge this week. Between the wind, few guests and way too many New Years parties, there were few boats venturing out…which reminds me: HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Another Sierra Tip: Pacific Sierra mackerel (scomberomorus sierra), while considered a winter and spring fish, are a great diversion before the wind begins to rip. Known for their savage strikes and lightening fast runs, this is the perfect fish to allow you to join in the ongoing debate as to which fish fights the hardest – fresh or saltwater. That 8-weight rod you purchased for a steelhead trip will fill the bill for a rod. Match that with a good quality saltwater reel equipped with a large drag and capable of holding a minimum of 200 yards of 20-pound test Dacron backing and you are almost ready. Use either an intermediate or seamless shooting head system line, and attach a 6-foot, 16-pound fluorocarbon leader with a 12-inch wire bite tippet.

Now is an excellent time to go looking for the feisty sierra. Look for the local baitfish, sardina, schooling along the shore; the sierra can often be found chasing the sardina, close enough for you to take advantage of the opportunity and get shots at them while you’re walking along the beach. Remember: no waders needed here.

Your choice in flies should “match the hatch.” Since we don’t have bugs, the
“hatch” is 2 ½ to 4 inch-long sardina. Olive, gray or blue-backed See-Through Deceivers or Sea Habits should do the trick, but bring a few Clousers in chartreuse or olive to round out your flybox.
Take one of the boats from the hotel and look for the sierra to be crashing wildly
into the schools of sardina. Cast the fly or surface lure into the fray. Fast, two hand retrieves are the hot ticket for the fly, and reel as fast as you can with conventional tackle. Don’t worry about feeling the nibble. If you’re not paying attention, these critters will rip the flyline – and maybe the rod and reel – right out of your hands. More Tips
Water temperature 67-73
Air temperature 59-80
Humidity 82 %
Wind: NNW 9 to 12 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:01 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:43 p.m. MST

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

OK, the weather did lay down. Now if we could convince someone to venture out, we might have something to talk about. Billfish action continues from the Finger Bank below Punta Tosca all the Cabo (See Cabo Report below).

In the Esteros the corvina, grouper and cabrilla were biting enough to keep things interesting.

Water temperature 66 - 73
Air temperature 59 -83
Humidity 82%
Wind: WNW 3 to 4 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:12 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:48 p.m. MST

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The blue water is staying close, and the boats are having to travel only 5 to 8 miles to get into the action. Most boats are averaging about 2 to 3 sailfish a day, and a few dorado are also showing up.

As we go into the favorable moon phase, I am looking for the fishing to really turn on.

The small cruiser Gaby, with Captain Margarito, Cali on the panga, Tarpon, and Martin on the panga, Isamar all reported good numbers of fished raised and the fishing is getting better on a daily basis.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 71-95
Humidity 82%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 7:17 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:22 p.m. CST

Cabo San Lucas

WEATHER: Wintertime in Los Cabos still beats wintertime anywhere to the north of us! Sorry about the one-week no-report zone, I have only missed three reports in 6 years but I am in a transition time, job hunting, Christmas, mom visiting and football play-offs, just too much going on for the last couple of weeks. Anyway, no snow for us in Cabo, things did remain cool however and I felt like it was going to snow on a few mornings when the lows hit the mid 50’s. At least we warmed up to the high 70’s on those days. We did get a bit of cloud cover just at the beginning of this report but now at the end of the year the skies are clear and there is nothing appearing on the horizon.
WATER: On the Pacific side the water has been much warmer with 71-74 degree and fairly blue water. The warmer water at the end of this reporting time was closer to shore and between the San Jaime Bank and us and in a long plume running directly south of the bank. On the Cortez side the water was warm as far as east to the 1150 spot, but became much cooler, down to 67 degrees at the Cabrillo Seamount, cooler and much greener, almost a pea-soup green in places just to the east of the 1150 and along that small temperature break.
BAIT: Bait was mostly Mackerel these past couple of weeks but there were a few Caballito in the mix. These larger baits were the normal $2 per bait. Up in San Jose there were Sardina available at $25 a scoop, but they were tiny ones with the biggest only 2 inches, better for chum that as bait.
FISHING:

BILLFISH: As we expected to happen, the Striped Marlin have started to move our way. The bait moved south and the Marlin followed. The bite is still very good at the Finger Bank but there was no need to go that far. At the end of this reporting period there was an excellent bite going on at the San Jaime Bank on fish in the 100-120 pound class with a lot of boats releasing up to 20 Marlin a day. There was great activity on the Golden Gate as well, but there were a few days right around Christmas when the fish moved off of the Bank and the boats really had to search hard to find them. As well as the Golden and the Jaime Banks, there are good concentrations of Striped Marlin appearing off of the points and ledges just off of the beach. With just a hint of wind there are good numbers of tailing fish to be found close to shore in the afternoon. Almost all these fish are feeding on small Mackerel and slow trolling or drifting with these live baits has resulted in the best catches. It is more exciting to run in to bait balls popping up to the surface, but it was not needed in order to catch fish. A few boats were not able or not interested in catching Marlin however and directed their attentions elsewhere, and reported a distinct lack of Marlin anywhere else. Boats going up toward the Vinorama and Punta Gorda area on the Cortez side reported very green water and only a couple of Marlin sighted.
YELLOWFIN TUNA Once again at the end of this reporting period the football size Yellowfin were reported appearing up outside of San Jose, but the bite was sporadic, the size of available Sardines apparently had a strong effect on the bite. There were fish in the 15-20 pound class reported from the south side of the San Jaime Banks mixed in with pods of Porpoise but the moved around fast. A few boats going north on the Pacific side toward the Finger Bank reported fish in the 80 pound class but they were scattered out and the boats had a difficult time getting bit on these fish.
DORADO: Once again there were a few Dorado found but for the most part these were small fish, less than 15 pounds. A few boats caught one or two fish, most boats had none. The fish that were caught were found in the warmer water on the Pacific side and were caught on live Mackerel with a couple coming on bright colored lures.
WAHOO: I saw no Wahoo flags this week that were for Wahoo, I did see quite a few that were flown for Sierra.
INSHORE: There was no change in the inshore report for this report period. Sierra were the fish of the week for the inshore fishermen and they were consistently on the feed off of the Solmar-Finesterra beach early in the morning. They seemed to move up to the north later in the day. Yellowtail continued to produce scattered action off of the rocky points on the Cortez side with some decent fish being taken off of Gray Rock and the drop at Chileno.
NOTES: There are whales out there so be careful early in the mornings. Quite a few Makos (small ones) have been seen and caught at the Golden Gate Bank, averaging 30 pounds. Santa was nice to me this year; I must have been a good boy. No complaints but I am looking for a new boat to captain.

Captain George Landrum
Cabo Fish Report

Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 57-77
Humidity 82%
Wind: NE 9 to 13 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:01 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:46 p.m. MST

Bahia Asunción

Our client from Saskatchewan, Todd Burke, speared a 22 pound halibut at San Roque the day before yesterday. He says the bottom is covered with them...excellent visibility, and today they are diving with the sea lions at Asuncion Island.

Yesterday another client caught a medium yellowtail in San Pablo and they also caught lots of white fish, calico, bonito and a sheepshead. Excellent calm weather...lovely temps around 75-80 in the day with water temp around 68.
Shari Bondi

Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 57-79
Humidity 76%
Wind: 11 mph NW
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:28 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:53 p.m. MST

Ladies on the Prowl!

Endless Season Update 12/27/2007
REPORT #1094 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

With the North winds howling, it’s time to look for an alternative. The gray-light action before the wind got “wound up” at Gray Beach provided sierra, jacks and ladyfish and was enough to satisfy the locals and the few guests in the hotels. To quote my good friend Martin James, from across the pond, it was enough to “bend your stick and pull your fluff”.

If you are willing to gamble with the ‘wind gods’, there are still a few small yellowfin and dorado offshore, as well as some marlin that have refused to leave and will probably remain until spring.

Ladyfish Tip: Often called ‘sabalo’ by the locals and “poor man’s tarpon” by some Baja visitors, this is a species usually found along almost any sandy beach in southern Baja. They can provide countless hours of entertainment for the saltwater flyrodder.

Begin with a small chartreuse Clouser and a 300-grain shooting head system. Work your way down the beach, looking for signs of surface feeding activity. A stripping basket is helpful to keep your line from becoming tangled as you walk along. Another method that works well if you don’t care for a stripping baskets is to walk just above the water line with your fly line dragging along the sand behind you. Let the shooting head portion extend outside the rod tip and drag along in the water. Then, when you see something that you want to cast to, you can “water load” and cast a good distance with one or two false casts.

After you have made your cast, keep the fly line tight and let the fly sink for a few seconds. Try a five count. If that doesn’t work, try a little longer. If you don’t get a take, make a few long strips and then let the Clouser sink again. If there are any’ ladies’ around, they can seldom resist this presentation.

The ladyfish is a fish that is usually airborne the instant it feels the hook, so be prepared. When you feel the take, strip strike, then let the line slip through your fingers and lower the rod toward the surface of the water and off to your side. The purpose of this is to have as much wetted surface on your line as possible so that when the lady goes ballistic, the friction of the water on the line will hold the fly firmly in the its mouth.

Water temperature 67-73
Air temperature 51-77
Humidity 81 %
Wind: NNW 15 to 20 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 4 miles
Sunrise 6:59 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:40 p.m. MST

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Christmas and preparation for the impending arrival of the annual whale watching season took priority for the locals this week. Whales have already been reported, making their way down the West coast.
The Estero action remained consistent including corvina, grouper, small sierra and a few good sized pargo.

Offshore the seas were grumpy and most, if not all, of the yachts have returned to their home ports until next year.

Water temperature 66 - 73
Air temperature 50 -73
Humidity 82%
Wind: NNW 13 to 18 knots
Conditions: Cloudy
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 7:10 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:45 p.m. MST

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The full moon has hit us hard and really slowed down the great fishing we have had for the last three weeks. Once we are out of this moon phase, all conditions point to continuing to getting back to good fishing.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 68-96
Humidity 82%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 4 miles
Sunrise 7:15 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:19 p.m. CST

Cabo San Lucas

We received an abbreviated report on one of our client’s trip this week. Jon Lay, from Washington, D.C., and his family had a great time. They didn't stay long at Finger Bank; it was very windy with 20 ft. seas. However they caught twenty marlin before heading back downhill. When the Captain asked if everyone had enough, one of the ladies, said, “NO, I want two more”. She caught three more!!!!!

Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 51-74
Humidity 76%
Wind: SW at 10mph
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 6:59 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:42 p.m. MST

Bahia Asunción

Conditions have been excellent, calm wind and seas. Earlier this week, Juan Marron took a Canadian couple fishing. They got 3 medium sized yellowtail, plus calicos and bonito. Water temps are still up between 68-70.

Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 45-65
Humidity 76%
Wind: NW 5 - 10mph
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:27 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:49 p.m. MST

Blowing in the Wind!

Endless Season Update 12/19/2007
REPORT #1093 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
NOTE: Beginning this week, we will be sending out our reports each Wednesday instead of Saturday. In addition, we are adding two areas to our reports: George and Mary Landrum will be providing Baja on the Fly with Cabo San Lucas updates and Shari Bondy and Juan Marron will be providing updates from Bahia Asuncion. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! ...GARY AND YVONNE GRAHAM.
East Cape
East Cape weather has definitely shifted to our typical winter pattern with many windy days. However, early in the morning and sometimes all the way to mid-morning, you may find good fishing. You can usually see the wind line coming and hightail it home before it reaches you.

There are still ‘schoolie’ sized yellowfin tuna offshore along with some dorado; along the shore the sierra are still around, dashing and slashing.

We’ve had some reports of a pargo snap in the rocks at Punta Perico.

Yellowfin Tuna Tip: Often as the fleet of boats grows, the fish will go deeper in the water column. Use a shooting head cast the fly out as far as possible and let the fly sink. Then try 3 or 4 hard pulls, shake the line out again letting the fly sink again. We’ve had great success with this method using this fly: http://www.bajafly.com/bajawasabi.htm

Water temperature 74-74
Air temperature 62-81
Humidity 73 %
Wind: NNW 13 to 18 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 13 miles
Sunrise 6:56 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:36 p.m. MST


Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

It’s kind of like throwing a party and nobody showing up with no one fishing this week at Mag Bay.

The Finger Bank below Punta Tosca is going off again and the few boats taking advantage of the bite are coming up from Cabo. One boat out of Cabo boasted 30+ fish two days ago.

In the Esteros, the locals reported good action for grouper, snook and corvina.

Water temperature 67 - 70
Air temperature 61 -79
Humidity 73%
Wind: NW 14 to 19 knots
Conditions: Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:01 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:41 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The excellent sailfish and dorado action is still holding up this week, with the daily counts actually being higher than the last two week's averages. We are definitely going to have a great Christmas.

Cali and I fish with fly fishing client David McCarty of Philadelphia, PA down at Puerto Vicente Guerrero (about an hour and a half below Zihuatanejo). By noon, we had raised 12 sailfish, teased 8 to the boat, and hooked 4.

We also raised an estimated 16 dorado. We had 8 come to the boat, and hooked 4. The dorado were averaging about 15 pounds for the females, and between 25 and 45 pounds for the bulls.

Plus, something I had never seen before; the dorado were actually coming in on the same teasers as the sailfish, and beating the sails to the fly. Several times Cali had a dorado on one teaser, while I was bringing in a sail on the other. At one point David asked me if he should take the sailfish or the dorado. I had no more than yelled out "the one which gets there first", and a large bull sliced across the stern and slammed into the fly. The voracious hit, from only about 10 feet away, plus a hard left hand strip hook set, and the fly line parted. But, it sure was exciting!
Ed Kunze

Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 72-96
Humidity 61%
Wind: SW at 10mph
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 15 miles
Sunrise 7:11 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:15 p.m. CST


Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin bite has remained wide open on the Finger Bank on the Pacific side, but it is such a long run for the fleet boats that very few have been going. The average there has been in the double-digit area in numbers of releases. The bite that had been happening on the Golden Gate dropped off to practically a standstill as the bait moved off the bank and in toward shore. The fish moved with them and now the close to home bite is within three miles of the beach on the Pacific side and extending down to just outside the lighthouse. Slow trolled or drifted live baits have been the best producer but a lot of luck is being had by boats pulling lures as well, dropping back live bait to fish that appear in the spread. One of the problems we see occasionally is lots of fish on the surface that don’t want to eat, and one way to get them excited is to troll lures at a faster speed. A few boats had luck doing that during the middle of the week, finding that lures pulled at ten and eleven knots got those fish to bite.

YELLOWFIN TUNA A scattering of football fish showed up again just to the north of the Gorda Banks on the Cortez side of the cape but there were also scattered fish on the Pacific, just no big numbers or consistently large sizes yet. The football Yellowfin were 10-15 pounds with an occasional 20-pound fish and Sardinas were the way to go. Chumming heavily with both live and dead Sardinas would bring the fish up, then a live one pinned on a small #2 silver hook on 20-pound floura-carbon leader would get bit quickly, heavier leader did not produce as well.

DORADO: There were a few scattered fish, but the numbers were smaller than last week. As the water cools these will become an exception in the catch rather than a targeted fish. Most of the ones that were found were on the Sea of Cortez up around the Punta Gorda area, but a few fish shoed up in the warm water on the Pacific as well. The best lures were smaller ones in bright colors, bright feathers worked for many boats. Small Dorado were found mixed with the football Tuna as well and readily ate Sardinas presented for Tuna.

WAHOO: I saw no Wahoo flags this week that were for Wahoo, I did see quite a few that were flown for Sierra.

INSHORE: Sierra were the fish of the week for the inshore fishermen and they were consistently on the feed off of the Solmar-Finesterra beach early in the morning. They seemed to move up to the north later in the day. Yellowtail continued to produce scattered action off of the rocky points on the Cortez side with some decent fish being taken off of Gray Rock and the drop at Chileno.

Bahia Asuncion

After a lousy couple weeks of nasty weather, (torrential downpours that washed out roads, gale force SE winds, enormous swells and cool cloudy days), FINALLY we got a nice sunny day.
It coincided with the big holiday, Dia de la Virgen de Guadalupe, which was a treat for the villagers as they paraded the Virgin about town and even for a spin in a panga.

Juan woke up and looked out our window and saw lots of indicator birds so he flew out to the panga and set off with his workmate to Pta.Loma, between Asuncion & San Roque. There were hundreds of dolphins feeding heavily on sardines and within an hour they had 3 nice big yellowtail and a bunch of bonito and they were home for breakfast soon after.

Nice to know the storm didn't chase the fish away! The water is still about 70 degrees and visibility is good. The yellows hit on Juan’s favorite lure...the 7" EXRAP, a white one with a red head and a plastic nose. The fish were down about 15-20'. Local fishermen report an abundance of yellowtail, bonito and lots of feed.

The folks of Bahia Asuncion wish you all a very Feliz Navidad!

Sierra Rule!

Endless Season Update 12/10/2007
REPORT #1092 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

East Cape weather turned cold this week effectively shutting down most of the action. For the hard core there still was a decent tuna bite in spite of the north winds which are a factor this time of year.

Inshore the sierra offered the best action with a few small jacks and roosters mixed in.

Sierra Tip #2: When the sierra are crashing bait on the surface, use a surface lure or popper (Rebel “Jumpin' minnow) with the hooks removed. Attach the lure with a light piece of 4lb. to 6lb. leader. Cast into the melee and when the fish strike the line, it will eventually break. Now you have a free floating teaser that will drive the Sierra crazy! Just cast your fly or lure in the proximity of the free floating lure and you should have no problem getting hooked up. When the bite is over, recover your floating teaser to use the next time.Tip Archives

Water temperature 74-74
Air temperature 60-69
Humidity 95 %
Wind: WNW 8 to 11 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 6:50 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:32 p.m. MST


Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Cold and windy! Even Baja had to contend with its own version of the Polar Express this week. Still a few fish traveling down the coast, but miserable conditions prevented all but the most dedicated from trying to find them.

Estero action remained hot regardless of the cool temperatures. Plenty of pargo, corvina and better than average snook snap this week.

The following reports demonstrate the importance of the old adage (“being in the right place at the right time”)

Rich Johnson on his “Marie B”: We left on November 15, fueled at Turtle, stopped at Santa Maria to make bait, and then went down to Tosca. From there we went to the Potato Bank, saw black porpoise but tuna were not at home. We then plowed our way back to Belcher’s and spent the night. So far only a few marlin and surprisingly few, if any, dorado. No other boats---so we thought we were a day late and dollar short. Heading out the Entrada, my grandson saw a ‘tailer’ about 3 miles outside. Then it was as many as we could catch, nonstop in the green colder water! We stayed until the day after Thanksgiving and then went to Cabo to drop off my son and grandson.

Maurice Smith came down to help Mark Henwood on the “Marie B” for the uphill return to San Diego. Made some bait and caught a few on the Golden Gate. Ran all night back in flat calm weather at sunrise the next morning. The water was grease, and the most lazy 'tailers’ we had ever seen--away from the birds and bait---were still in close in that cold, green water. It was a nonstop bite for 5 hours! We finally arrived in the San Diego early in the morning December 4 before the nasty weather came storming down the west coast.

Our Guide Lance Peterson headed up to Magdalena Bay in early December along with some friends for a “Busman’s Holiday”. He says: “Our 2007 Mag trip began with high hopes but we just never hit the mother lode. We logged over 600 hard miles in not so great conditions. I felt we were really fishing well but the mighty Pacific was a tough egg to crack. We were always a day late, a day early, or just not able to reach the action in a panga. We did catch a few marlin and had some cool fly shots. But damn...we really took our medicine this time! Such is life on a big ocean in a small boat.
On the way back to Lopez we found 70 degree water at the San Carlos Entrada. The sea was finally calm and the sun was out. We just knew it was going to go off out there...but our time had run out and we reluctantly headed back into the bay and up to Lopez. Of course...the marlin went nuts that day where we had fished hard for 9 days. We missed it!!! We did have a blast on the Magdalena Island although it was Alaska-like conditions. It rained buckets at times with strong wind and huge swell. I fished in full north west style rain gear.”

Water temperature 67 - 71
Air temperature 60 -67
Humidity 87%
Wind: W 13 to 17 knots
Conditions: Overcast
Visibility 4 miles
Sunrise 7:01 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:38 p.m. MST

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The blue water is fluctuating between 5 and 10 miles, but with the moon phase kicking into high gear, the fishing is improving daily.

The cooler 78 to 80 degree water is still here, but the sailfish have been getting more active. Since Wednesday the count is averaging about three sailfish per boat per day. Plus the large dorado are showing again.

Santiago, on the panga, Gitana, had a 4 sailfish released day, and then a day with one sail and three nice dorado. He told me the dorado are averaging between 20 and 40 pounds.

Chuck Stratton fished two days with Cheva on the panga, Dos Hermanos II. Chuck had tried to get his dad C.D. to come down and experience the good fishing here, but it did not happen. On the first day Chuck fished inshore, taking numerous black skipjack tuna to an incredible 15 pounds. These hard fighting fish normally average about 3 to 4 pounds here, and really gave him a work out. Plus, they got 4 very large sierra, up to 10 pounds, for ceviche and dinner fillets.

Fishing offshore on the second day, Thursday, they hooked 7 sailfish and kept 2 large dorado between 30 and 40 pounds. More ceviche and dinner fillets. And dorado is one of the best tasting fish in the ocean. Too bad C.D., you missed out on a lot of good action, the experience of fishing with a world class captain....and some great fresh fish dinners.

Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 74-95
Humidity 91%
Wind: S at 2mph
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:01 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:10 p.m. CST