REPORT #1166 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
There have been very few guests at any of the hotels to enjoy the continued good fishing. Even without any reported cases of swine flu in Baja, it’s taken its toll.
If you can handle the heat, the beach has been producing plenty of jacks with some roosters mixed in including some larger class Bubbas above twenty-five pounds…also ladyfish, pompano and a few pargo.
Boats fishing along the shore found plenty of action near the rock reefs near Punta Colorada which included few good sized grouper and pargo as well as jacks and roosters. A bit farther out, there are some huge skipjack breezing on small sardina.
Out in the bluewater, boats lucky enough to find something floating usually found dorado under it and some are large up to thirty five pounds.
As the water warms up, the sails have begun to be seen mixed in with the marlin. Also an occasional swordfish pops up and few even bite.
Water temperature 72-78
Air temperature 64-94
Humidity 62%
Wind: ESE 6 to 8 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:37 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:53 p.m. MST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Plenty of wind and whitecaps made this a good week to fish the esteros and what do you know… the leopard grouper cooperated; none of them were huge but a few were up in the 10 pound range. Of course there were five spotted bay bass for every grouper. On the surface the orange mouthed corvina were eating small poppers.
Out at Cabo San Lazzaro there were yellows up to a Baja 12 lb. which by most standards are still firecracker class. Last and maybe least there were some small halibut hanging out in the shallows off the sand beaches.
Water temperature 69 - 77
Air temperature 61 -98
Humidity 67 %
Wind: WNW 13 to 18 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:42 a.m. MST
Sunset 8:03 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The fishing is picking up this week. There are very few clients, but the action on the yellowfin tuna has been excellent. Basically it is just the commercial pangueros who are doing most of the fishing for the tuna. With the blue water moving in to the 18 mile mark, the tuna were between 18 and 20 miles. But, reports are circulating that the bite is shutting off and they have moved out to about 40 miles. This is typical, and they should move back in close again within a few days. A few blue marlin are also being taken and the fleet is averaging one or two sailfish a day per boat.
There is still excellent action on the jack crevalle, and the roosterfish are making their long awaited arrival. There has been some very good roosterfish action reported down about 18 miles in the Petalan region.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 78 - 83
Air temperature 78-105
Humidity 68%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:14 a.m. DST
Sunset 8:11 p.m. DST
Cabo San Lucas
Some ‘stripeys’ showed up at the Punta Gorda and north of there in the warmer water. There were plenty of small skipjack on the bank as well as common pacific dolphin. A couple of boats reported seeing swordfish on the surface around the 95 spot on Thursday but no one was able to get a bite.
Dorado were scattered this week on the Cortez side of the Cape and perhaps 50% of the boats out there were able to get a hook into one of them.
The full moon brought about a few hungry wahoo up around the Punta Gorda area and the Inman Banks area.
Inshore fishing was almost non-existent on the Pacific side as wind and swells kept getting stronger and larger, the water became colder and got greener. The action on the Cortez side made up for it a bit though with some decent yellowtail to 25 pounds being found off of the rocky points as well as some nice sierra around 9 to 10 pounds. A scattering of other fish in the mix such as amberjack, small roosterfish, pargo and grouper made for some interesting trips on the Pangas.
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 75 – 78
Air temperature 67 – 107
Humidity 56%
Wind: WNW 11 to 15 knts
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:39 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:53 p.m. MST
