REPORT #1207 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Mark Rayor launched his new Cabo and promptly landed their first fish of the year.
For those willing to brave the windy conditions, there were striped marlin to be caught. Mark Rayor launched his new Cabo and promptly landed their first fish of the year even though the water was slightly off-color.
Didn't seem to bother the Humboldt squid action that has been going on for awhile. It's a good thing, since live bait has been hard to come by because of the wind.
Even the dorado have been squirrely…up one day and down the next, with no rhyme or reason. Meanwhile, back inside, the yellows and amberjack were found at the drop offs.
Roosterfish are still around but most that were caught seemed to be small and smaller. There were a few better size reported but no photos kept them into the unconfirmed category.
Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
This was the only area reporting decent weather. Yellowtail to forty pounds were found under the debris floating outside Boca de Soledad. Outside of Magdalena Island there has been a good whack on white seas bass feeding on small squid. Speaking of squid, the commercial fishermen are loading up on Humboldt's every night.
Inside the Esteros, few bothered to fish this week so there is little to report.
Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The 80° blue water has moved into the six mile area. The fishing has picked up some, with the best hard-working captains all getting a few fish.
Karen and Saxon Hutmacher of Alaska fished two days with Cali on the Vamonos II. On the first day they had a couple of strikes on sailfish, got a striped marlin, and then also got a blue marlin of about 300 pounds to the boat. The next day they got two sailfish.
Mike Buckley, owner of the twin engine super panga Huntress, emailed me with the following: "We had two charters, one inshore with lots of bonito and two dorado and one offshore with three sailfish at 22 miles. All three sails struck at the same time and we released them all. Water was beautiful, but that was the only action all day."
Todd Sandell and his friend Ron of Seattle treated themselves to their 40th birthdays by fishing with Cheva on the panga Dos Hermanos II with their 8wt fly rods. They had excellent action on the small game, with most of the fish being the hard-fighting black skipjack tuna, but they also got a very nice sierra, which was their dinner that night.…Ed Kunze
Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582
Cabo San Lucas
Marlin fishing has remained slow again this week. Still a few bites close to shore, but not hearing of anything offshore. Even the bottom fishing for marlin up the Pacific side isn't working yet. Where are they? Just not here in the numbers we have seen in the past. March should be great for striped marlin.
Still pretty thin in the tuna department and it's not pretty water getting to them. Reports of porpoise schools in close but the boats working the schools are reporting only small bonita. There were a couple of fish coming into the docks but all reported that there were some pretty rough seas getting there and back. Rumors of a good bite past San Jaime the other day, but I never saw any fish to match the rumors.
A few dorado saved the day for some this past week. Not in numbers, but the ones caught were all in the 15 to 20 pound range instead of the four to six pound range that have been passing by.
Wahoo: Okay, let's change this just for spring to Mexican Wahoo…still pretty much the catch of the week…although they are taking a big hit. If you are into the bigger 6 to 10 pound fish, there aren't as many of them being caught. Still lots of the smaller ones. Hey guys throw those two to four pound fish back; let them grow up! Got to leave some as breeders for next year!!!
Inshore continued to prove to be the best action. Snapper bite is alright…haven't seen the numbers of red snapper hitting the docks like in years past, but they are there. People are just spending more time targeting the sierra I think. Don't laugh, but I did see some decent triggerfish come into the dock. (they really are good eating!) Also a few small mako shark were being released. Maybe with this cooler, high sixty degree water moving in the yellowtail bite will pick up again. …George and Mary Landrum
Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191
