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From Jan 01, 1999 To Mar 11, 2010
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Nov 28, 2008; 09:39AM - Orlando Bass Fishing
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Category: Florida
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Author Name: Capt Tim Fey
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Author E-mail: tim@bassfishingfl.com
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Report Description:
This report covers the last 30 days. Week ending November 15th. Things have been very crazy to say the least. We have had several trips to Johns Lake, Butler Chain, Conway Chain and a private lake.
Johns Lake has seen some good action, with early morning action coming from the Deer Island cut area working SteelShads and trick worms. Once the action slows in this area, we have been going into the marsh area working trick worms and brush hogs, all junebug colors, which have been producing some quality bass. Most of the action has been coming in open waters, with the baits being crawled slowly across bottom around grass beds and hydrilla. Main lake areas that have been producing for us have been the scattered isolated grass beds, once again, a single blade of grass produces a good catch. Jigs and whacky rigged senko type baits also have been producing around docks and submerged structure.
Butler Chain has also been pretty steady for us. Drop offs have been a major focus for us, tossing trick worms, craws and brush hogs into 16 plus foot of water, and slowly crawling the baits up into the shallower waters has been the ticket, most bass we have seen and caught have been suspended in 12 foot of water on the drop offs. Lake Butler and Little Lake Down have been the best producers for us, with Lake Tibet and Lake Louise also producing some good numbers.
Conway Chain faired pretty well, with once again deep waters being the big key to catching bass. Offshore weed beds were holding bass with rattle traps, steel shads and 7 inch worms catching the bulk of the bass. Several docks held some quality bass, with a whacky rig doing all the catching, as the bass would hit on the fall. Bite was light, so watching the line was big key to getting them out from under the docks.
The private lake we have been fishing on occasion has been producing very well. This body of water has seen some limited shallow water action, sitting in the middle of the lakes has been really producing some good numbers of not only bass but some 2 pound crappie. Steel shads have been the main bait for catching bass out there, and if worked like slow rolling a spinner bait, the crappie will slam this bait. Best crappie fishing action has been from 6:30am up to about 8am, then they just seem to shut down only getting a few here and there, very scattered, but you can usually get the limit by 8am. Best fishing waters have been in 12 to 18 foot of water, with bass mostly suspended in 8 to 10 foot of water, go deeper and you can catch some very big catch fish here also.
When we have gotten a good shallow water bite going, it has been mostly on brush hogs and trick worms crawled very slowly on the bottom. Water temperatures have been holding pretty steady in the low to mid 60’s with schooling action going on most of the day as the bass are really starting to feed up good for the spawn. We have been seeing some scattered beds on Johns Lake, Butler Chain and the private waters so get ready for yet another great spawning season.
Capt Tim Fey
Bassfishingfl.com
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Nov 27, 2008; 05:21PM - Mexico Bass
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Category: [other]
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Author Name: Stan Wright
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Author E-mail: stanwright@hawaii.rr.com
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Report Description:
The week of November 9-16, Chris and I spent 6 long days (10 hour fishing days) on Lake Baccarac on the west coast of Mexico. Lake Baccarac is noted for it's 10 pound plus largemouth bass. We didn't get a 10 pounder, but we came close.....
[url=http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aV1f6nqi][img]http://www.postimage.org/aV1f6nqi.jpg[/img][/url]
Not bad for your first Mexican bass, 7 1/2 pounder
[url=http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aV1f8m8r][img]http://www.postimage.org/aV1f8m8r.jpg[/img][/url]
Chris with one of his three 9 1/2 pound Mexico Bass.
[url=http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aV1f7GK0][img]http://www.postimage.org/aV1f7GK0.jpg[/img][/url]
My largest, a 7 1/2 pound bass
[url=http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aV1f7Je9][img]http://www.postimage.org/aV1f7Je9.jpg[/img][/url]
Our largest... 9 3/4 pound Mexican Bass
The 'small' 2 to 5 pound fish were no where to be found. Where the week before, everyone was catching 50 fish a day with bunches of those in the 9 to 12 pound range.... the week we were there only the big ones were around. And not that many of them. I caught a total of 6 bass and Chris landed 13.... all week.
You would make 1000 casts a day and be lucky to catch one or two fish.
But you have to admit, that the one fish you did catch was a good one.
I spoke to two guys at the airport who had fished Lake Huites that week and averaged 50 to 60 bass a day... (loosing 20 to 30 that came un buttoned) but their largest was only 7 pounds. Most of their fish ran 2 to 5 pounds. Lake Huites is noted for large numbers of fish, but smaller. Lake Baccarac is the place to go for that 10 pound bass
Even though the fishing was very, very slow, and we didn't catch nearly as many fish as we expected..... Chris is already planning his next trip to Lake Baccarac. Seems he's been bitten by that '10 pound bass bug'. LOL
Aloha,
Stan |
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Nov 24, 2008; 12:12PM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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Author E-mail: gmlandrum@hotmail.com
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Report Description:
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
November 17-23, 2008
WEATHER: It just doesn’t get any better than this! Our daytime highs were in the mid 80’s while the evening and early morning lows were as far down as 68 degrees but averaged 70 degrees. At the end of the week we had mostly cloudy skies, which kept things cool as well and gave us some wonderful sunsets!
WATER: Swells on both sides of the Cape were between 1 and 3 feet this week and spaced fairly far apart. We had only light winds for the most part and combined with the small swells, we had some great surface conditions. The water on the Pacific side seemed to cool off a bit between 2 to 3 miles offshore and out across the San Jaime Bank, running an average of 76 degrees. Inside that area, and outside to the west, it averaged 78 degrees. On the Cortez side we saw an average of 81 degrees.
BAIT: Most of what was available this week was Caballito, but the Marlin were fixated on Mackerel, so most of the Caballito were not used. You could catch your own Mackerel at the Golden Gate Bank or, if you had a good depth sounder, at the lighthouse.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Striped Marlin remain the fish of the week with most boats getting at least four of five fish per trip. Boats that really worked it hard and concentrated on them were getting into the double digits again. Most of the fish were still at the Golden Gate Bank, but there was a decent showing at the lighthouse on the Pacific side as well. The bait keeps moving and the fish follow them so as the currents changed the Striped Marlin appeared in different areas, following the bait. Live bait was the key to a decent catch, and using circle hooks with flouro-carbon leaders really made a difference!
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Close to our area there were scattered schools of football to school sized tuna found among the Porpoise. From outside the 95 spot along the 1,000-fathom curve to 8 miles to the west of the Golden Gate Bank there were scattered pods of Porpoise, and about half of them held fish. Occasionally a pod would come through closer to shore and the fist couple of boats would do well, but the later boats just got to see the mammals playing. There were confirmed reports of larger Yellowfin to #150 north of the Golden Gate Bank, but that was to far for most of the fleet boats to go, the reports were from private yachts.
DORADO: The bite picked up just a bit this week for the Dorado with most of the action shifting to 2-3 miles off of the beach on the Pacific side between the lighthouse and the El Arco area. Live bait and bright colored lures in smaller sizes worked very well. Many boats slow trolled live bait and caught a decent mix of both Striped Marlin and Dorado.
WAHOO: I saw a few fish this week in the 50-pound class but there were not a lot of Wahoo flags flying from the boats at the end of the day. Boats that had gone out looking for Tuna caught the Wahoo that I saw.
INSHORE: There were a few more nice Roosterfish caught on the Pacific side of the Cape along the beach between the arch and the lighthouse, just like last week. As well as Roosterfish, there has been a showing of Sierra and a few Yellowtails. A few Pangas reported big Grouper were biting on the rock piles if you fished big live bait, but most of the fish were rocking the anglers and breaking off.
NOTES: We have had a wonderful week as the weather has been just great and the fishing has been almost wide open. I had a chance to golf at Palmilla and while my score was not great, I had a fantastic time on the course. I have tiled the dining room where I pulled up the baseboards (termites) and the border looks great, and yesterday finished painting it. Now we are almost ready for Thanksgiving and all the folks we have invited over! Until next week, tight lines, and try giving a listen to some Allison Krause and Union Station if you can find the time!
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Nov 20, 2008; 06:13AM - Magdalena Slows a Tad
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Category: Saltwater Fly Fishing Reports
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Author Name: Gary Graham
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Author E-mail: bajafly@bajafly.com
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Report Description:
Endless Season Update 11/18/2008
REPORT #1141 'Below the Border' Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Consistent northerly winds equaled slower fishing this week. Some of the boats have relocated to San Jose or Cabo to escape these winds. Those that remain are finding tuna beneath the porpoise on the good days. Some of the reported fish seen are fifty pounds and over.
The billfish, including sailfish, seem to still be around but they are spread throughout Las Palmas Bay. With few boats and light pressure, finding them can be difficult. Dorado action is spotty; if you find floating debris, there are usually a few fish under it. Last week a floating dead whale produced a serious bite until it disappeared…either drifting over the horizon or sinking out of sight.
Wind waves and beach fishing was not a good combination this week. If you were on the beach early (gray light) you could expect to find a few small roosters, jacks and perhaps a sierra or two.
Water temperature 76-80
Air temperature 66-87
Humidity 60%
Wind: NNW 9 to 12 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 6:37 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:32 p.m. MST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Sam and Janet Farish, from Atlanta, GA, fly fishing with Baja on the Fly Guide Lance Peterson on Mag Bay Outfitters’ boat, Mar Gato, with Captain Sergio Garcia, completed five days of fishing from the casitas in Santa Maria this week. Final count: marlin 11, wahoo 2 (lost 9 to sea lions), dorado 32, and yellowfin 26. We still have open dates for fly fishing for November and December.
Bob Hoyt
Water temperature 78 - 79
Air temperature 67 -85
Humidity 73 %
Wind: NW 13 to 17 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 4 miles
Sunrise 6:47 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:38 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
We had a group of clients from England this week, led by Alan Bird. Many people in the U.S. do not have much contact with our European fishermen brethren, and do not understand they are excellent fishermen and sportsmen. They show up with gear that makes any professional fisherman's mouth water. And, they know how to use it!
When I met with them at the hotel, they were asking me about fishing for roosters and jack crevalle on conventional gear. I told them the best method is using a surface popper, but you need to you cast it a long ways.
'What is a long ways,” they asked.
My answer, 'At least 50 yards' brought a round of laughs.
As it turns out, a couple of them cast for distance in competition. They are hitting 250 yards with 12 pound gear! It is a science to them.
But a pendulum swing, in a rocking panga, cannot happen. However, there was no doubt in my mind they would hit a 100 yard cast with no problem....incredible.
Using light tackle, they fished the blue water offshore on Monday, releasing 6 sailfish, 4 nice dorado, a couple of very large jack crevalle, and a small (115 pound) blue marlin.
On Tuesday, they fished the inshore on pangas, with really light gear, down to 12 pound test. Six roosters were leadered, and an estimated 60 pound rooster came unbuttoned right at the boat, just before the leader was touched. I will call it a release anyway. They also took several jack crevalle in the 15 to 20 pound range, along with several black skip jack tuna.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 71-88
Humidity 65%
Wind: SW at 12
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 12 miles
Sunrise 6:59 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:04 p.m. CST
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Nov 17, 2008; 12:18PM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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Author E-mail: gmlandrum@hotmail.com
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Report Description:
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
November 10-16, 2008
WEATHER: Yep, we have settled into our comfort zone! Last week saw the temps drop as low as 70 degrees at night and not rise higher than 90 degrees during the day, and the humidity was down as well! Sunny skies and light winds were the norm.
WATER: The Pacific side of the Cape lived up to its name this week, as the swells were only 3-5 feet with an occasional day of light chop. At the end of the week it was almost glassy at times. The water temperatures ranged from 81 degrees at the tip of the Cape and to the west in a band that ran across the San Jaime Bank, to 80 degrees just to the north on the Golden Gate Bank and closer to shore. South of the 1,000-fathom line the temperature dropped to 79 degrees. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water was glassy all week with swells at 1-3 feet and water temperatures that were consistently in the 81-82 degree range, with the slightly higher area alongside the cooler 79-degree water at the 1,000-fathom line just to the south of the 95 spot.
BAIT: Getting bait in the morning at the end of the week was chancy as the full moon made it difficult for the bait boats to catch Caballito, but they had some as well as a few small jacks to choose from. Most boats were able to get a few baits and then made more on their own once they were at the Golden Gate Bank, there were plenty of Mackerel there.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Still fish of the week, the Golden Gate Bank was the site of multiple Striped Marlin releases for every boat that fished there. A bad day was a release of only 5 fish, and most boats were doing double-digit numbers. We had clients who are charter boat owner/captains themselves on the east coast who released 10 fish on Saturday and they said all of the fish were nice sized with the smallest at around 150-pounds, most of them were in the 180-pound class. The bait was balled up all across the area, and while most of the boats stayed on the high spot, some of the more successful ones looked for balls of bait away from the crowds.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There was scattered Yellowfin action this week, but I did not hear of any big fish caught. Most of the fish I heard about and I saw were in the 30-40 pound class and the schools were reported from all over the area, no concentration in any one spot. In addition, the schools were moving fairly rapidly, there one day and gone the next. 20 to 30 miles to the south in the cooler water and outside the San Jaime and Golden Gate were reported to be good areas this week, and a few boats reported fast moving schools just 5 miles out during the middle of the week. Lures were the way to go on all these fish since they were moving along at a fairly rapid rate, and spreader bars, cedar plugs and daisy chains got the action going.
DORADO: The bite remained light again, but there were still plenty of fish out there if you were in the right area. The San Jaime Bank and just to the south of it delivered up to 9 fish in a day for clients of ours who were looking for Tuna, and other boats were finding 4 or 5 fish per trip as well.
WAHOO: Full moon and calm waters helped boats that wanted Wahoo. A few very nice fish were reported from open ocean waters while looking for other species, and I had a few anglers tell me that the action for these speed demons was fair at the Inman Banks area up around Punta Gorda, but the fish were in the 30-pound class.
INSHORE: I saw a very nice #30 Rooster caught and released by a boat fishing just off the beach in front of the Pedregal on Friday, and a few of the Panga Captains I talked to said that the action in that area had been pretty consistent on fish averaging 15 pounds. With our calm waters, many of the Pangas were venturing off shore after Dorado and Marlin.
NOTES: Since I have been hearing the sound of four or five off-road buggies racing along the streets all morning as they prepare for the Baja 1000 next week, I had a slightly different style of music playing, some good country music! The Best Of Waylon Jennings got me in the mood to type this report, now I am ready for some football and cold ones. Oh, that’s after taking the dog to the beach for some swim time and having a good Sunday morning breakfast. I also have some yard work that I need to do, but that might wait until tomorrow! Until next week, tight lines!
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Nov 15, 2008; 05:14PM - Magdalena Rocks
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Category: Saltwater Fly Fishing Reports
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Author Name: Gary Graham
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Author E-mail: bajafly@bajafly.com
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Report Description:
Endless Season Update 11/12/2008
REPORT #1140 'Below the Border' Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Consistent northerly winds equaled slower fishing this week. Some of the boats have relocated to San Jose or Cabo to escape the winds. Those that remain, are finding tuna beneath the porpoise on the good days. Some of the reported fish seen are fifty pounds and up.
The billfish, including sailfish, seem to still be around but they are spread throughout Las Palmas Bay. With few boats and light pressure, finding them can be difficult. Dorado action is spotty; if you find floating debris there are usually a few fish under it. Last week a floating dead whale produced a serious bite until it disappeared…either drifting over the horizon or sinking out of sight.
Wind waves and beach fishing was not a good combination this week. If you were on the beach early (gray light) you could expect to find a few small roosters, jacks and perhaps a sierra or two.
Water temperature 76-80
Air temperature 61-85
Humidity 73%
Wind: N 8 to 11 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 33:28 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:34 p.m. MST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Grumpy seas prevented most boats from getting outside earlier in the week. When the seas subsided on Tuesday, the marlin party cranked right back up. Outside the Entrada ten miles the bird schools appeared on the horizon and the wake was soon alive with marlin slicing and dicing at the hookless teasers. Though the billfish usually won the race to the teasers, once in awhile the dorado were winners. There were times when a @#$%%^ wahoo would snatch one of the teasers and wouldn't you know it, they would take off with one our favorites!
On the grumpy days, the only fishing going on was in the Esteros, but the action was only fair. There were several roosterfish reportedly caught on the fly at Boca Santo Domingo.
Bob Hoyt
Water temperature 78 - 79
Air temperature 60 -86
Humidity 100 %
Wind: Winds: W 7 to 9 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 6:43 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:40 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The blue water is about 8 miles out, and the fishing hit an abrupt slow down with the bright clear moon yesterday. Previously this week, all boats were averaging about two sailfish each, with an occasional dorado. Yesterday (Wednesday), ten boats fished the blue water and only caught two sailfish.
The rainy season is definitely over. When looking at the Weather Channel satellite photos, there is hardly a cloud in the sky over the entire Republic of Mexico. This will help the inshore fishery as the water clears up from the rivers dumping their silt laden outflow into the ocean, but it also makes the affects of the clear full moon more pronounced.
Santiago, on the panga Gitana, told me he had fished inshore all week, getting a lot of medium sized jack crevalle (averaging between 4 and 10 pounds), black skipjack tuna, and an occasional rooster. Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 70-88
Humidity 81%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 6:51 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:10 p.m. CST
Cabo San Lucas
BILLFISH: Striped marlin remained the fish of the week and they were stacked up like cordwood on the Golden Gate Bank. Many boats that worked hard for them were releasing 15-25 fish before noon, stopping only because the anglers were worn out! These were the top boats, but the average boats were still managing to release double-digit numbers of fish. Dropping live mackerel down to just above the bait balls, mostly at 180 feet, and waiting for the strike caught most of the fish. The better boats used circle hooks as the hook-up ratios were better and the fish were not getting hooked in the gut. There were also many sailfish caught, something of a surprise for me. A few decent-sized blue marlin were reported but nothing that would have won the Bisbee Black and Blue.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Yellowfin were the big attraction in Cabo this week as Thursday and Friday were the fishing days for the Western Outdoors Tuna Tournament. There were 98 teams entered this year, and while there were not as many 40-pound and larger fish caught this year, the second largest fish recorded in this tournament was weighed in at a whopping 244 pounds by the crew on the Reel Rum.
The boat “Bottom Line” caught a yellowfin that weighed 143.4 pounds the first day and one of 101.6 pounds on the second day to take a record $272,540. Not to be outdone, the team on the panga, Dr. Pescado, ended the tournament a winner with their 145.4 pound tuna.
Most of the fishing took place on the Pacific side of the Cape, and most of the fish were caught under porpoise. Of course with this number of boats fishing, it became crowded very quickly once porpoise were found. A few boats came screaming into the pods that others were already carefully working the edges of, and this activity put the fish down for everyone, sigh. All in all, the yellowfin bite was decent and the bigger fish were reportedly all caught on live bait.
DORADO: The dorado bite remained light this week, but if you wanted one you could get it. Between one and three fish per day were the average and the fish were around 12-15 pounds in weight. Small lures and slow trolled live bait close to shore, within two or three miles on the Pacific side produced the best results.
INSHORE: The small roosterfish were still around on the Cortez side up around San Jose, but there were no large numbers. Most of the inshore fishing was just offshore a bit with the pangas concentrating on dorado and small yellowfin tuna.
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 73 - 85
Air temperature 62 - 88
Humidity 69%
Wind: WNW 8 to 11 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 6:32 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:36 p.m. MST
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Nov 14, 2008; 03:10AM - The 2008 Season on Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishery on Ireland's Cork Blackwater.
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Category: Europe
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Author Name: Ian Powell
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Author E-mail: info@ireland-salmon-fishing.net
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Report Description:
It’s Summertime – and the Fishing ain’t Easy!
The 2008 Season on Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishery
on Ireland's Cork Blackwater.
Adapting a line from George Gershwin’s famous song, Lodge proprietor Ian Powell looks at the catch statistics and explains how changing tactics helped to ensure great catches.
Fishery Records Tumble in 2008!
2008 will be etched in our memories as three long-standing all-time records were beaten this year.
August Catch
The first was the total catch for August which was 422 of which 209 were released.
The record had stood since 1992 and was 377.
One Day Catch
The second was the total catch for one day, which we broke on September 13 when no less than 55 salmon were caught for the day – 26 of which were released alive. The previous best day was 52 in August, 1992.
First Ever Salmon Caught!
The third was the number of anglers who caught their first salmon.
This was 61 which beat the previous best of 52 in 1998.
The number of first salmon caught expressed as a %age of the total rod days for the season
was also the highest ever recorded at 3.25, beating the previous record of 2.9 in 1992.
Season Summary
2008 was actually a very good season. The total number of salmon caught was 1,024.
Of these, 527 were released alive.
This was the second highest total recorded in the last 10 years, and the eighth highest since 1986 (23 years).
There were so many stories of great experiences on the river this year that we could never recount them all.
The highlight was probably the Van de Laar party from Holland who had just one day fishing guided by Glenda Powell. None had ever salmon fished before and four of them had never even fished. Starting fishing at almost mid-day, every single one of them had caught their first salmon by 3pm., two of them had caught two each & even the driver who was chauffeuring them for the day had caught one as well!
Then there was Fay Voysey-Moore & her son James from Devon who were here for a week in September. Neither had ever caught a salmon before, though were quite experienced anglers. It was Fay’s dream to come to Ireland to catch a salmon. And she did – 11 fish to 12 pounds for Fay and 10 for James. Her dream came true in style!
For the full report on the season with interesting tables of statistics please go to: http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/FishingReport/Old/2008/2008season.htm
Catch Statistics
Within the lottery that is spring fishing, catches appear to be holding their own.
Our gut feeling would be that the spring run is improving slowly, but other factors such as
number of rods fishing and river conditions belie this fact.
There is a continuing downward trend in number of fish caught in May & June.
Here again, number of anglers plays a very significant part. Decimation of the grilse run by the nets discouraged a large percentage of visiting anglers. Obviously, we are expecting a resurgence of grilse now the nets are gone - but with these fish being predominantly 1/1 (one river & one sea year), we will have to wait until 2010 for the progeny of the 2007 run to return.
Grilse and autumn fish
It was blatantly obvious in 2008 that grilse run was even later, and in fact peaked at the end of August.
This helps to explain not only the good catch figures for August and September, but also the very poor ones for June, which was when one would normally have expected these fish to run.
- Over time, there is a definite improvement in catches, especially in the latter part of the season.
The 5YA & 10YA figures for August & September are growing steadily. However, this year, the majority of the fish caught in September were not autumn fish. Not withstanding the high water levels throughout the summer, we only started to see our fresh autumn run fish making an appearance in the lower beats on the last two days of the season.
One angler on Beat 3 caught six sea-liced fish all on fly on the last day.
Obviously, catch statistics are affected by not only the number of salmon returning to run the river, but also the rainfall & river height, plus of course the number of anglers actually fishing.
The Trends in Recent Years
Size of Fish
The average size of the fish in June & July increased even further in 2008 relative to 2007 and the averages for the previous years. In August & September, it was still above the 5YA & 10YA up to 2006 when the nets still operated, but fell below the 2007 figures. This was due the late grilse and autumn runs.
Weather and River Conditions
We thought that 2007 was a wet summer, but there was actually 54% more rain fell in 2008 compared with 2007. This obviously reflected even more in the river height.
Average River Height during the Season
During early summer & the backend, we can observe the following trends:
- Lower levels in April, May & June for the last 2 years.
- Very much higher levels in July, August & September this year.
- In 2007, the levels were higher than normal in July & August, but not to the same degree.
This explains why last year, we had such excellent results on the fly in August & September, as the river came down to a lovely fly height during this period. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case in 2008, as the water level was just too high at this time for good fly-fishing.
Percentage of Fly-caught Fish
Whilst we had a high percentage of fly-caught fish in July 2008, this was definitely not the case in August and September, when fly-fishing was virtually impossible due to high water.
The river level throughout the summer in 2008 was way above normal.
The figures for 2007 were not nearly so high, which explains the difference in the number of fly-caught fish.
The extremely prolonged wet period required a change in our thinking – we had to re-write the fishing handbook,
so to speak. Normally, we would say that fly-fishing was best below 0.65m on the gauge, and spinning best below about 0.80m on the gauge. At heights greater than 1.10-1.20m, we would have not considered it worthwhile going out, as the water was just too damn high.
Fishing is a wonderful sport, and woe betide anyone who thinks he knows it all!
Fortunately, we were not so dogmatic, and persisted fishing in what we would have thought previously were impossible conditions. We were helped by having a new style spinner in stock in our shop – the French-made Silver Bullet – which fished superbly well in these high water conditions.
It was with a black & silver 22g one of these with a very large blade that I hooked a huge fish on August 13th. last. I had refilled my spinning reel with 19lb. nylon just before leaving, and fished our Beat No. 5 - Inchinleama – on the lower river. In the early afternoon, I hooked a very large fish which I played for 25 minutes before the spinner came out! Four other anglers witnessed the event. The fish was reckoned to be in the 20-30lb class - that's fishing!
But what about the fly in high water – I hear you sayNot quite such an easy proposition as much of the river is best fly-fished by wading – which becomes next to impossible at gauge heights of 0.65m or more. We are however, looking to the future on this, and hope to be doing far more fishing with Shooting Head Lines, which lend themselves much better to sunk line high water bank fishing.
Courses
Glenda ran a course on Shooting heads last February with her fellow Loop No. 1 Pro Team colleague Thomas Bergren from Sweden with great success, and they are planning a further two in the first week of February 2009. Contact the Lodge if you’d like to book a place.
Looking forward to 2009 and beyond……………
The 2008 season started badly when we were given the news day before the 2008 season opened that a spring quota and brown tag system would be in operation up to May 12 on the Blackwater. This put off a lot of (Irish) anglers from taking out their licences in the spring. The administration of the system blatantly didn’t work, and we are assured by the CEO of the Southern Board that it will not be in existence for 2009.
It’s about time that those in charge came to their senses, and made a change to our season.
If we genuinely wish to preserve spring salmon, the best way to do it is to delay the start of the season until March.
The bag limit per day also needs to be revised. The grilse running in June & July need to be conserved, so a bag limit of one fish per day would make much more sense. With the bulk of the salmon now running in August and September, this would be the better time to allow a 3 fish per day limit.
Serious consideration should also be given to changing the season to allow us to fish on into October.
Many rivers in the UK close much later. The number of anglers who fish in October and November would help to provide a great economic boost to an industry that has suffered greatly in the last eight years. The Blackwater has superb late runs of fresh fish which could well be exploited – even if it was on a fly only and perhaps catch and release basis for a trial period.
But for now, the rods are stored away, and we can but sit and wait to see what the powers that be will have in store for us for the coming season.
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Nov 12, 2008; 12:26PM - Costa Rica Fishing Report
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Category: Saltwater
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Author Name: Jerry Hallstrom
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Author E-mail: help@costaricafishingreport.com
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Report Description:
Jerry “Bubba” Hallstrom
Fishful
The weather the past few weeks has returned to our normal pattern for “green season”. Most of Costa Rica has had nice days with calm water, light breezes and the occasional evening shower.
The boats up and down the pacific coast are still catching good numbers of mahi mahi with some sailfish, marlin and tuna in the mix. The fishing on the Caribbean side continues to be good for tarpon and the guapote bite at Lake Arenal has been about average for this time of year.
Northern Pacific
Petra Schoep from Tamarindo Sportfishing reports some good action with dorado, grouper, tuna and the occasional blue marlin. The Talking Fish with Capt. Randy Wilson took out Richard Krug for a half day and caught numerous grouper and dorado and a nice blue marlin estimated at 300 pounds. Captain Jose Lopez on the OutCast took Rick and Vivienne Werner for a half day and caught good numbers of dorado.
Captain Ralph Solano from Costa Rica Wild Fishing took a client from New Jersey out for some inshore kayak fishing near Flamingo Beach. They hooked up a 50 pound roosterfish on 30 pound line and it took him 35 minutes to land and safely release that fine fish.
Captain Skeet Warren on the Bushwacker fished offshore with Eddie Alexander and friends from Mississippi and caught 3 sailfish and 7 mahi mahi. A few days later they went inshore and caught 1 sailfish, 2 roosterfish, 2 wahoo, 3 jack crevalle, 2 sierra mackerel, and a lot of bonito. The seas have been calm and the weather great.
(Pic 2)
Central Pacific
I was lucky enough to go out with Captain Jeremy Trujillo on the Desperado last weekend. The Desperado is a really nice 60 ft Bertram with Direct TV. I am not sure if it gets any better than being 25 miles offshore fishing and watching college football on ESPN. The air conditioning was so cold you needed a blanket and the leather couch made for a nice spot for a nap. We ended the day with 6 nice mahi mahi and we raised 2 sailfish. My friends and I had a great time on a beautiful boat and we caught a bunch of good eating fish. Watching football and fishing offshore at the same time is like a dream come true.
Captain Dana Thomas took a Ukrainian gentleman out for a day of fishing in the Hoo’s Up. The client had caught fish all over the world…he fished Jamaica, Bahamas, Mexico, Florida and more but he never caught a sailfish or marlin. He kept saying he wanted a big fish in his very broken English. Captain Dana took him out 26 miles and fished the corner hoping to get a sailfish. They caught a dozen mahi mahi but the guy wanted “big feesh”…the client told Dana if he caught him a marlin he would pay him $500. Dana laughed and said he would catch him a marlin for free if he could…the bite lately has been for mahi mahi and not many marlin have been caught. Dana heard on his radio about a boat that missed a couple marlin so he headed in that direction. About an hour later the Ukrainian guy got his wish and they hooked up a nice blue marlin. The guy battled his fish and it was safely released. The client was very happy and had no problem following through on his $500 promise.
Captain RJ Lillie went for a half day recently and caught 15 nice mahi mahi. The clients kept of few of the bigger ones and had the local restaurant near their hotel cook up their catch with all the Costa Rica side dishes.
Captain James Smith and the guys on the Dragin Fly went out last week about 25 miles and had a great day offshore. They caught 5 mahi mahi, 9 yellowfin yuna, 4 sailfish and a marlin.
Captain Dave Motherhead on the Missbehavin took a couple out from Texas. They went for a half day and caught 8 nice mahi mahi and a sailfish.
Captain Dominic Santana on the Caballo Del Mar in Herradura Bay went out recently with a couple guys from the USA and they caught 12 mahi mahi, 2 mackerel and a nice roosterfish.
Captain Chris Bernstel reports The Kinembe II has been working the tuna pretty hard out of Quepos as well as the typical piles of dorado going into the cooler. There have also been a few sailfish and marlin in the mix. Bernstel also reports a good inshore bite for snapper
Captain Dave Dobbins of Fish La Manta in Quepos reports all the dorado you can catch just a little ways offshore.
Southern Pacific
Captain Bob Baker from Golfito Sportfishing reports summer like weather conditions in the Golfito area. The
tuna and dorado are outside in good numbers. Wahoo are making a good showing off Mata Palo and down off the reefs of Punta Burica, chasing Yo-Zuri bonito , sub-surface tremblers, rapala's, and jet head plastics. There are still black marlin around the tuna and bonito schools. The sailfish bite has been spotty with boats averaging a couple sails per day.
Northern Region
Capt. Ron Saunders from Arenal Fishing reports partley sunny days and cool mornings at Lake Arenal. The lake is at near capacity. The up-side of high water – there is lots of tall, grassy shoreline to cast in. The down-side is – the shelves keep changing depths, which keep the fish moving around. Saunders has been fishing the last couple of weeks rain or shine, and is catching a few medium sized fish on half-day tours. Fish appear to be in a post-spawn funk; you’ll get lots of strikes and smacks on the top-water, but it takes work to get them to actually take the hook.
Caribbean Region
Captain Eddie Brown on the Bullshark took Todd Staley out for some fishing last week in Tortuguero. They jumped 20 tarpon and released 2, they caught a couple snook in the 15 pound range and a nice snapper. The next morning the caught 3 snook one over 20 pounds.
Philippe Tisseaux from San Carlos Sportfishing reports the San Juan River is still up with all the rain in October but they are still catching tarpon over 100 pounds. There has also been a good snook bite further up the river and one lucky angler is reported to have caught a 52 pound snook near El Castillo.
Diann Sanchez from the Rio Colorado Lodge reports sunny days and a good tarpon bite in the northern Caribbean. They had several groups the past few weeks and everyone is having some luck. The groups going for tarpon have been jumping an average of 8-10 tarpon per day and releasing 2 or 3 of them. Several groups have been fishing the lagoons and have had good luck with guapote, machacha, mojarra and snook. One group went offshore and caught wahoo, kingfish and barracuda.
Please send us your fishing reports, fish photos, fish forecast and any comments or suggestions you have for the Tico Times Fishing Column to Bubba at fishreportCR@yahoo.com or give us a call locally at 2778-7217 or 1-800-9SAILFISH from the USA.
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Nov 10, 2008; 12:45PM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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Author E-mail: gmlandrum@hotmail.com
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Report Description:
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
November 3-9, 2008
WEATHER: I think that we may have settled into cool weather finally. This week our nights were a perfect low to mid 70’s while the daytime highs were the mid 80’s. Our skies were partly cloudy this week but there was still plenty of sun to have fun in.
WATER: We had winds early in the week from the northwest that caused the swells on the Pacific side to pick up a bit, the surf was nice for the surfers up at Cerritos, but it looked uncomfortable for anything smaller than a 31’ boat. The wind lasted two days and during those days it did not start to blow until around 9-10 am so boats were able to get up to the Pacific side banks and then ride downhill on the way home. If you fished on the Cortez side of the Cape and went offshore you had a long, rough ride back on these afternoons. The rest of the week was quite nice with the average Pacific swell at 3-5 feet with just a little chop. On the Cortez side it was 1-3 feet until you went past the Punta Gorda area and the wind kicked in. Water temperatures dropped a bit this week with the warm water just in front of the arch at 82 degrees. Outside of the 10-mile range the temperature dropped to 81 degrees.
BAIT: The normal Caballito and Mackerel were available at the usual $3 per bait. There were Sardinas as well and since the Tuna Tournament was going on the price remained a bit on the high side at $30-$50 a scoop. It paid to go north toward Palmilla to get Sardinas, at the high price locally you did not get very many baits, maybe 50-60, and they were not in good shape. Toward Palmilla you could plug your tanks with freshly caught bait for $100.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Striped Marlin remained the fish of the week and they were stacked up like cordwood on the Golden Gate Bank. Many boats that worked hard for them were releasing 15-25 fish before noon, stopping only because the anglers were worn out! These were the top boats, but the average boats were still managing to release double -digit numbers of fish. Dropping live mackerel down to just above the bait balls, mostly at 180 feet, and waiting for the strike caught most of the fish. The better boats used circle hooks as the hook-up ratios were better and the fish were not getting hooked in the gut. There were also many Sailfish caught, something of a surprise for me. A few decent sized Blue Marlin were reported but nothing that would have won the Bisbee Black and Blue.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Yellowfin were the big attraction in Cabo this week as Thursday and Friday were the fishing days for the Western Outdoors Tuna Tournament. There were 97 teams entered this year, and while there were not as many 40-pound and larger fish caught this year, the largest fish recorded in this tournament was weighed in at a whopping 244 pounds. The boat “Bottom Line” caught a Yellowfin that weighed 143.4 pounds the first day and one of 101.6 pounds on the second day to take a record $271,346. Most of the fishing took place on the Pacific side of the Cape, and most of the fish were caught under Porpoise. Of course with this number of boats fishing it became crowded very quickly once Porpoise were found. A few boats came screaming into the pods that others were already carefully working the edges of, and this activity put the fish down for everyone, sigh. All in all, the Yellowfin bite was decent and the bigger fish were reportedly all caught on live bait.
DORADO: The Dorado bite remained light this week, but if you wanted one you could get it. Between one and three fish per day was average, and the fish were around 12-15 pounds in weight. Small lures and slow trolled live bait, close to shore, within two or three miles on the Pacific side produced the best results.
WAHOO: What Hoo?
INSHORE: The small Roosterfish were still around on the Cortez side up around San Jose, but there were no large numbers. Most of the inshore fishing was just offshore a bit with the Pangas concentrating on Dorado and small Yellowfin Tuna.
NOTES: No tournaments coming up, no friends and relatives visiting, it’s time for a break! I am looking forward to getting a book finished and spending some time around the house. Music to work by today was the album “Borrasca” by Ottmar Liebert and Luna Negra. Great Flamenco style guitar work! Until next week, tight lines!
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Nov 3, 2008; 10:53AM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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Author E-mail: gmlandrum@hotmail.com
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Report Description:
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
October 27-November 2, 2008
WEATHER: Just when we thought the cool days were here, it warmed up again! I am not sure what happened, but our daytime highs have been in the high 90’s while the lows in the evenings have only been in the low 80’s. We expected the temps to be at least 10 degrees cooler by now, but nope, no luck, just sweat and sunburn. We had two days with cloud cover but no rain during the middle of the week.
WATER: Swells were slight to moderate on both side of the Cape this week, and the water temperatures on the surface did not vary very much at all, everywhere you went it was between 83 and 86 degrees. The cooler 83-degree water was outside the 1,000-fathom line to the south and southwest. The water on the Pacific side was nice and blue, on the Cortez side it was a bit on the dirty, green side, but not so much that it was un-fishable, just off-colored.
BAIT: The normal Caballito and Mackerel were available at the usual $3 per bait. There were Sardinas as well and since there was a tournament going on the price remained a bit on the high side at $30 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: There were plenty of Striped Marlin to be found on the Pacific side of the Cape between the Golden Gate Banks and the shoreline, along with a good number of decent sized Sailfish. The Stripers were averaging 120 pounds and were biting well on artificial lures later in the week, early in the week the bite was a pretty even mix of lure fish and live bait fish. The Sailfish averaged 70 pounds and the catch ratio between the two was around three Striped Marlin for one Sailfish. There were still Black and Blue Marlin out there, I talked to quite a few anglers who hooked up to fish around 250-300 pounds, but I am not sure if there were any bigger fish in the catch. I did not get to the weigh station for the tournament and the web site had not been updated as of my writing this report.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There were scattered Yellowfin caught this week, but no real big ones that I heard of. Football fish to 20 pounds in front of town to school sized fish to 50 pounds 30 miles offshore were caught by a few boats, but the schools moved around quickly and often could not be found the next day. I heard of two boats getting into fish averaging 80+ pounds 40 miles to the west, but the numbers could not be confirmed, nor could the location. Most of the school and football fish were caught on live Sardinas after chumming in front of the moving pods of Dolphin. The bait went quickly doing this, but the hookup ratio was good.
DORADO: The Dorado bite continued this week, but not in quite the numbers we were seeing last week. Anyone that wanted could limit out on these great eating fish (limit is two per angler per day) but instead of catching 8 or 10 each (releasing the small ones) most boats were putting their fishermen on three or four fish each. The fish were still concentrated on the Pacific side in the cleaner water, and most of them were caught within three miles of the beach. Trolled plastic lures in bright colors, and between 6 and 8 inches in length resulted in steady hook-ups on fish averaging 10 pounds. Slow trolled live bait resulted in fewer fish due to covering a smaller area of water, but the fish averaged 15-18 pounds.
WAHOO: I did not hear of any Wahoo being caught this week, but I am sure there were a few.
INSHORE: Once again there were small Roosterfish to 15 pounds to be found, and most of them were on the Pacific side of the Cape between the arch and the lighthouse. Most of the Pangas were fishing just a bit farther offshore looking for Dorado, and doing quite well on them.
NOTES: I wish I had information to give you on the Governors Tournament held this week, but like I said above, I was not at the weigh station in the afternoons and the website has not been updated. The next tournament on the list is the W.O.N. Tuna Tournament this week with fishing being on Thursday and Friday. This is one of the favorite tournaments of the year with plenty of give-aways and parties, plus it does not cost an arm and a leg to enter. I will let you know the results on this one for sure, check in next week for an update! Until then, bend you ear to the music of Mark Knopfler and keep those lines tight!
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