Endless Season Update February 13, 2011
REPORT #1245 'Below the Border'
Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS:
If you are in the neighborhood drop by
and see me. I will be conducting a Baja
seminar at the Fly Fishing Show in
Pasadena on February 19th @ 4:00 pm and
20th @10:30 am.
http://www.flyfishingshow.com/Programs__
_Seminars__Pas.html
Dennis Braid's Monsterfish Show
featuring Magdalena Snook will air on
the Outdoor Channel Friday night,
February 19th @ 7:30 pm, Saturday
February 20th @ 9:30 am and Sunday
February 21st @7:00 am.
http://www.outdoorchannel.com/Shows/Mons
terFish.aspx
East Cape
After enduring what many locals claimed
was the coldest winter week they had
ever experienced there was an abrupt
change. . .really more like a hot shot
as daytime temperatures soared back up
to the mid-eighties.
Is the sudden change signs of an early
spring? Everyone I spoke with expressed
optimism. Maybe with the change the
sierra, yellowtail and maybe a bonito or
even a dorado will shed their winter
doldrums and begin to bite
Any way you cut it, lots of eager locals
are shedding their winter coats, suiting
up in shorts and actually considering
getting back out on the waterstay
tuned.
Current East Cape Weather
http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
According to Lance Peterson, the corvina
action was as good as it gets in the
esteros, in spite of the really cold
(60) water in the bay. Lance and his
friend Brad Ellis had hoped for the
snook show similar to last February.
However the cool water temps seemed to
send the snook packing seeking warmer
water.
It didn't seem to hamper the whale
watching. Locals are reporting there are
considerably more of the giants and
their offspring cavorting in the bay in
front of both Puerto San Carlos and
Lopez Mateos.
Current Magdalena Bay Weather
http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The Terrafin satellite photos show
exactly why the fishing has been on the
slow side for sailfish and dorado.
Cooler water is pushing down from the
north, and the fish have gone south.
Several conventional gear fishermen are
still scratching out a fish or two per
day per boat, but a few boats are also
getting blanked. The dorado are also
scarce, with most of the dorado coming
from 30 miles or more out. A few blue
marlin are being caught, as well as a
couple of striped marlin.
Blue water fly fishing with Drew Chicone
of Florida, we spent a couple of tough
days on the water with Leonardo on the
Fish On and Cheva on the Dos Hermanos
II. We did get strikes, but the fish
were not aggressive and would not tease
to the boat.
We also saw at least a thousand porpoise
pushing up bait, and thousands of birds.
So the bait is herejust very inactive
sailfish. We even saw a blue marlin
surfing the swells. All that was
sticking up was the top of her tail,
but it was over three feet tall. That is
a huge marlin. I estimated it to be
about 700 to 800 pounds.
Early in the week Mike Bulkley and
Francisco took clients out after tuna on
the super panga Huntress, and did well.
When traveling long distances, the
security of the twin 80hp motors on a
larger super panga certainly makes it
nice. This is what Mike emailed me:
'Went last Sunday and found the
yellowfin tuna at 55 miles. Caught 28
school tuna and broke off two large
ones. Didn't get back until 8:30 pm.'
Plus, Adolfo on the panga Dos Hermanos,
looking for some blue water action for
his clients a couple of days ago, found
the yellowfin at 15 miles off the beach
down in the Papanoa region. Adolpho also
told me he is doing well on a few small
roosters, lots of jack crevalle and
sierras inshore. Keep in mind, Adolfo is
fishing every day of the week and is
always scouting for new locations, so he
will do well for a few days, and then
not so well. Most normal panga charters
do not range far and wide like he does,
so their production is fairly limited.
.....Ed Kunze
Current Zihuatanejo Weather
http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582
Cabo San Lucas
This past week showed that we can be a
little optimistic about upcoming weeks.
While still not wide open by any means,
there are more and more marlin showing
up every day. Many more are being seen
that are being hooked up, and most boats
are getting a shot at a few every day.
That is a big change from what we were
seeing just a few weeks ago! If we ever
get schools of mackerel to show up we
should see a very significant increase
in the number of striped marlin
associated with them. As it is now,
approximately 30 percent of the boats
are getting hooked up, and about half of
them are getting the fish to the boat.
Well, the water calmed down, but unlike
my prediction last report the fishing
for yellowfin did not improve, or at
least hasn't improved yet. There are
still scattered schools of fish to be
found along the temperature break
running below the San Jaime and west of
the San Jaime and the Golden Gate Banks,
and some of them are decent fish, up to
80 pounds this week. Unfortunately they
are really a hit or miss proposition as
they will be in one spot one day and
gone again the next. While there have
been fish to 80 pounds, most of them
have been footballs in the 10 to 12
pound range. A good catch this week
would have been 6 to 8 fish with a few
boats , mainly the first ones on the
school, getting limits of five per
angler.
Just coming up on the full moon and
guess what? Yep, we had a client on
Friday land a 70-pound wahoo while
fishing for marlin!
Inshore the swells settled down and the
pangas were once again able to get up
the Pacific coast. The cool water made
the inshore fishing better for both
Sierra and Yellowtail. We had anglers
and friends who did well fly fishing for
sierra using sardina as chum, limiting
out on fish averaging 4 pounds. Others
did well in the slightly deeper water
yo-yo'ing for yellowtail that averaged
14 pounds with a few fish going as large
as 30 pounds. Of course it was a matter
of the right place at the right time as
they could move as far as mile up or
down the coast overnight. You had to
work for them! There were also a few
roosterfish to be found (surprisingly as
they normally do not like water this
cold). They were not extremely
aggressive but we did have one angler
who was bit three times on the fly, but
they were short strikes and he could not
get a solid hook-up. Other fish that
were caught were some grouper in smaller
sizes and a few very nice pargo to 25
pounds.George and Mary Landrum
Current Cabo Weather
http://tiny.cc/cabo191
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