REPORT #1210 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Right place…right time can yield some extraordinary sierra action.
The spring thaw seems to be for real. Both sea and weather temperatures continued to climb in spite of the wind early in the week. More spring-like sounds can be heard; birds chirping as they flit about building their nests, as well as the familiar drone of carpenter bees buzzing looking for some wood to make their home.
Inshore in spite of the scarcity of sardina, the sierra and roosters have been better than good. Some of the bait boats are running as far as Punta Perico to find the precious sardina that can make the difference between a so-so and good day.
Reports of a huge volume of stripers and sails offshore. Finding them was the easy part, getting them to bite was another story. So far April has been devoid of any significant dorado or YFT action. But everyone expects them to show up any day.
Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Yellowtail and white sea bass in the 20 to 30 pound class continue to provide the best action again this week. It is a pretty good ride from the Boca all the way out to Cabo San Lazaro. Inside the Esteros the pressure was very light this week. The few who were fishing reported a decent cabrilla and grouper bite with an occasional mangrove snapper to spice things up.
Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The water has actually warmed up a bit, with a band of 84° (surface temp) water between the 15 to 35 mile mark, and extending all up and down the coast for at least 50 miles in each direction.
My right hand had a serious encounter with a machete, and I have been out of commission. So, for the 'on the water report and observations' Mike Bulkley, the owner of the panga Huntress, came to my rescue. He emailed me the following:
"Fishing has been great inshore again this week with lots of jacks, bonita and big jurel (jack cravelle) off Ixtapa Island. Offshore is still spotty with good catches of sails, stripes and blues if you can find the fish. We have been running 20 to 30 miles south before wetting the lines. We had a triple sailfish hookup on Monday."
Also, while talking on the phone with Mike, he offered the following additional information: "Santiago, on the panga Gitana, had released three sails and a striped marlin at the 32 mile mark. The Huntress was working the area at 20 miles, and near where Margarito on the cruiser Gaby was hooked up to a blue marlin when they had the triple hookup on sailfish. Plus, the water is clear at 12 miles, but deep blue at 20 miles."…Ed Kunze
Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582
Cabo San Lucas
There was no change in the marlin bite this past week; it is still very slow. We had a couple of fish Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. While looking for striped marlin, they released a shark the first day, a shark and a baby striped marlin of around 20 to 25 pounds the second day, and on Saturday they hooked another small one that came off right away and then hooked a decent fish that they fought for about 2 minutes before it threw the hook. Most of the fish that have been found have been on the Pacific side fairly close to the beach.
Yellowfin tuna are here one day and gone the next. The schools have been moving rapidly and not all of the porpoise have had tuna with them. When the fish have been found they have been footballs or slightly larger. The schools are being found from the San Jaime Banks to 40 miles due south of the Arch
The water is still cold for dorado but there are a few caught every day…most of them in the 12-pound class with an occasional larger fish. Most of them have been found around the 95 spot and also close to the beach on the Cortez side.
There was a short flurry of wahoo action early in the week out at the San Jaime Bank as a school passed through the area. Several boats working the same area received multiple hookups as they passed over the school, but few of the fish were landed as these sharp toothed fish cut the mono-filament leaders easily. The fish that were brought in were in the 30 to 40 pound class.
Inshore action remained good as anglers got their fill on sierra, roosterfish, grouper and snapper this week close to the beach while the grouper and snapper were a steady pick for those anglers choosing to try bottom fishing from pangas..…George and Mary Landrum
Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191
