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| Around 10% of the world's total fish species can be found just within the Great Barrier Reef. |
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| Starfish can re-grow their arms. In fact, a single arm can regenerate a whole body. |
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| Starfish do not have blood. Their blood is actually filtered sea water. |
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| Starfish don't have brains. Special cells on their skin gather information about their surroundings |
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| Not all animals with the word fish in their names count as fish. |
| Though their names may suggest otherwise, cuttlefish, starfish, and jellyfish aren’t actually fish. Generally-speaking, fishes must have skulls, gills, and fins. Surprisingly, though, not all fishes have proper spines. |
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| In three decades, the world's oceans will contain more discarded plastic than fish when measured by weight, researchers say. |
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| As of 2020, there were 34,000 known fish species around world. That’s more than the number of species in all other vertebrates: birds, reptiles, mammals, and amphibians combined. |
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| Just how man species of fish are there? |
| As of 2020, there were 34,000 known fish species around world. That’s more than the number of species in all other vertebrates: birds, reptiles, mammals, and amphibians combined. |
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| Even Catfish are finicky |
| Taste Buds ? Catfish have a more refined sense of flavor than humans. Our 10,000 taste buds may seem like a lot, but catfish can have as many as 175,000. This helps them find the exact location of their next meal. |
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| A bit of Humor |
| My brother has 2 German Shepherds named Rolex and Timex. You guessed it they are Watch Dogs. |
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From Jan 01, 1999 To May 04, 2024
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Mar 7, 2008; 09:21AM - Pizza and Anchovies
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Category: Saltwater Fly Fishing Reports
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Author Name: Gary Graham
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Endless Season Update 03/05/2008
REPORT #1104 'Below the Border' Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
March and wind go together like pizza and anchovies at East Cape! That said, get out before the sun comes up and chances are you will catch a few sierra. Who knows you might also find a few small roosters and jacks willing to take your fly.
The best bet boat-wise is to head up to the North to Muertos (“Sueno” to newcomers) where there is a mixed bag, including mossback-class yellows along with some pargo that will kick your tail if you don’t stay focused. Talk about getting rocked! Both of these critters will do so without hesitation.
Tip: Don’t forget to check your line and backing for nicks or signs of deterioration. If it is over a year old…change it!
Water temperature 62-68
Air temperature 47-78
Humidity 69 %
Wind: SE 3 to 4 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:37 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:24 p.m. MST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Few fishing clients this week. Locals found fair snook, grouper and corvina action at Devil’s curve. Out at the Entrada, the sierra and small yellows continued to hammer the surface bait…easy to spot under the bird schools.
Whale watching continues but at a slower pace as more and more leave for their northward journey.
Water temperature 66 - 73
Air temperature 48 -77
Humidity 55%
Wind: WNW 9 to 12 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 6:45 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:31 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The clean water has moved to back within the 10 mile mark, but with the favorable moon phase conditions arriving, this is expected.
The counts for sailfish are still low, with the boats only averaging about 1 sail per day / boat. However the dorado, averaging between 20 and 35 pounds, have been taking up the slack. The boats are getting two to four dorado each per day.
The high surf has really shut down the inshore bite. Most of the Mexicans are blaming the high surf, and the poor fishing, on the full eclipse of the full moon we had this last week. But, I believe the full moon 'phase' was more of the culprit, and things will really start picking up again this next week.
A few big blue marlin were also taken this week, with the top marlin hitting the scales at almost 400 pounds.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 63-93
Humidity 66%
Wind: SE at 7mph
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 7:06 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:52 p.m. CST
Cabo San Lucas
WEATHER: It warmed up a bit this past week with several days where our highs were in the mid to high 80’s. On the cooler days we were in the high 70’s, still just about right. In the evening it cooled off quite a bit and on the cold nights we were seeing temperatures in the mid 60’s with a bit of an evening breeze working that made it feel even cooler. There were partly cloudy skies for the first part of the week but it cleared later on. There was no rain, of course.
WATER: I fished both sides of the cape this week, on the Cortez side on Wednesday and the Pacific on Friday and they were surprisingly similar as far as surface conditions went. On the Cortez side the water was cool and green out as far as the 95 spot and the 1150, past that point and out to the Cabrilla Seamount things warmed up to 73.4 degrees and were nice and blue. The only problem we had was the fact that we could not find any fish! The surface was almost glassy with current rips easily seen and the swells slight at 1-2 feet but all we ended up with was seeing some common Pacific Dolphin, a few Humpback Whales and two Striped Marlin on the surface. Oh, we did release on 3-pound Dorado. On the Pacific side on Friday the water within three miles of the coast was a bit bumpy and there was a strong cloud line out 15 miles. We went 31 miles out looking for Tuna and other than the first three miles, the swells were slight at 2-4 feet and the water was glassy, almost summer time like. The water was a slight bit cooler at 71 degrees but we did find football-size Tuna to 25 pounds.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price. There were Sardina up around Chileno Bay at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: There was a bit of Striped Marlin action almost every morning for boats the fished the area off of Los Arcos on the Pacific side, but it revolved around the tide change and did not last long on any one day. The lucky boats were getting two releases a day while most others were lucky to get a strike. The nice part of the billfish situation is that the Swordfish are starting to be seen on the surface on a fairly regular basis, and by that I mean regular when compared to normal! Probably one in 15 boats have sighted a Swordfish this week and one boat I know saw three different fish on Tuesday and managed to find one of them hungry, proceeding to catch a Swordfish in the 150-pound class after a fight of 90 minutes.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There are finally Tuna showing up on a regular basis even if they are football size fish. From a distance of 30 to 45 miles at between 150 and 240 degrees from the Arch there have been fish found every day. A few small groups have been found closer but they have not been biting well. On my Friday trip we went 31 miles at 230 degrees to find two separate pods of Dolphin. Both of them held fish with the first pod having fish averaging 20 pounds and the second pod averaging 10 pounds. A triple strike, then the fish in the first pod went down. At the second pod we were covered up with all five lines going off, then a double, then singles for a total of 16 Tuna at the end of the trip with the larges at 25 pounds. A friend of mine found fish at 170 degrees and 45 miles on Wednesday that averaged 25 pounds and picked 16 of them in about an hour before having to return to port
DORADO: The warm water on the Cortez side produced a few Dorado this week but other than one day, Tuesday when a pair of boats found a dead seal and loaded up on 15-pound fish, they have been scarce with just a few fish showing up.
WAHOO: I did hear of one nice Wahoo being caught this week about 35 miles to the south by a boat looking for Tuna. The fish was reported to weigh around 90 pounds. I am sure there were a few others caught, and on Wednesday we had one make a pass at one of our lures, but I had no other confirmed reports of them.
INSHORE: The inshore fishing has remained good for Sierra and Yellowtail. Most of the Yellowtail have been caught by boats fishing swimming plugs for Sierra and these fish have been small, but boats willing to do the work and drift live baits deep off of the rocky points or use iron jigs to “yo-yo” have been getting a few nice fish of up to 30 pounds. The Grouper have started to bite a little better and there are still a few snapper being found in the rocks.
NOTES: Things are starting to look up on the fishing front here in Cabo as we are starting to see some Tuna showing up and the inshore fishing remains good. Our fingers are crossed that things continue to remain on a positive track. My golf game is improving as well; I am now consistently getting under 100 strokes! This week’s report has been written to the music of the Gypsy Kings on the 1995 Nonsuch Records release “The Best Of The Gypsy Kings”.
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 42 - 76
Air temperature 54-80
Humidity 69%
Wind: WNW 10-14 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:37 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:25p.m. MST
Bahia Asunción
It's been a busy little village this week in Asuncion as the governor was here on Tuesday to inaugurate our new sports complex and the paving crews are busy getting ready to pave the next 10 km of highway into here. It was a big celebration with the usual speeches, folkloric dancing and we were happy to hear the news that the next 30 km of dirt road will be paved this year!! There was a big party for the closing of lobster season in San Roque with music and lobster of course, and now the abalone fishermen are readying their equipment to begin the abalone season. There is a flurry of building activity and we are all watching with amazement as work has begun on a 42 room hotel/shopping plaza at the entrance to town. Many have mixed emotions on this development but I for one will enjoy having a good meal in a new restaurant and finally having a bar in town. And the kids got a new park to play in, too! It was very windy for a few days...strong Santa Ana winds so we haven't been out on the water but plan to head out this weekend
Shari and Juan
Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 58-76
Humidity 34%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 12 miles
Sunrise 6:57 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:40 p.m. MST
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Feb 29, 2008; 09:31AM - First Act: Sardina
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Category: Saltwater Fly Fishing Reports
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Author Name: Gary Graham
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Endless Season Update 02/27/2008
REPORT #1103 'Below the Border' Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
As the seasonal transition from winter to spring slowly takes place, small sardina are beginning to show in small numbers along the beaches. It’s still way early to call, but the appearance of bait schools is a good sign of better things coming.
Sierra, small roosters, jacks and ladyfish action will definitely increase with the bait spreading up and down the beaches.
Most of the boat action is up north from Punta Pescadero to Muertos Bay, with some quality yellows still dominating the catch. Another promising sign was the few dorados found at the shark buoys a few miles off Punta Pescadero.
Tip: When you purchase your bait in the morning, ask where they are catching it. Then you have a good spot to start on the non-boat days if you fish the beach.
Water temperature 62-68
Air temperature 54-84
Humidity 46 %
Wind: SSE 7 to 10 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:37 p.m. MST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Entrada action included sierra and small yellows chasing bait on the surface. Down further in the water column, there were a few grouper up to ten pounds. Estero action produced a corvina, small snook and grouper. Whale watching continues to be the main attraction and will through March.
Water temperature 66 - 73
Air temperature 49 -81
Humidity 97%
Wind: WSW 4 to 6 knots
Conditions: Foggy in the morning
Visibility 2 miles
Sunrise 6:51 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:28 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
Even though the seas are calm and the sun is shining every day, the fishing remains on the slow side. I guess you just have to take the attitude that 86º weather and fishing beats shoveling snow.
Steven Ryan, fishing on the Gaby with Captain Margarito, produced a blue marlin of about 240 pounds, and 4 dorado to 20 pounds. Steven fished another day with Efrain on the panga, Tequila, and had some great light tackle action on large black skipjack tuna.
Fishing with Santiago on the panga, Gitana, John Torre of Phoenix, released an estimated 120 pound striped marlin, and caught dinner in the form of two nice dorado. The next day with Santiago, Will and Karen Fischer of Kelowana, BC, released a sail and caught a dorado.
Inshore action is still a ‘hit or miss situation’. Find the birds and the bait, and you get some very exciting jack crevalle action.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 63-93
Humidity 66%
Wind: SE at 7mph
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 7:06 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:52 p.m. CST
Cabo San Lucas
WEATHER: We had a few clouds in the sky this week, but not enough to call it cloudy, just enough to make things cool. Our daytime highs were in the low 80’s and the nighttime lows were in the high 50’s. Light winds on shore kept things nice and comfortable while at sea on the Pacific side things were a little bumpy as the winds were from the northwest and kicked up a light chop.
WATER: The wind died down this week so surface conditions were much better on both the Pacific and the Cortez sides of the Cape. On the Pacific swells were 3-5 feet with a light chop while the Cortez had swells at 1-3 feet with almost no chop in the morning and offshore chop in the afternoons. Water temperatures on the Pacific side were warmer, almost averaging 68 degrees up to 10 miles offshore and out a bit farther it dropped to 67 degrees. The water close to shore, in the warmer area, was very green, almost brown in some areas. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water was 64-65 degrees out to 4 miles from the shore and farther than that, across the Gorda Bank and the 1150 spot the water warmed up to 69 degrees. There is a plume of cool, off-colored water running south from the Cape, but the water out 5 miles to the south side of the 1,000-fathom line warmed to 71 degrees. While the warm water was on both sides of the Cape, the only really blue water was on the Pacific side out past the San Jaime Bank.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price. There were Sardinas up around Chileno Bay at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: About the only thing I have to say for the past weeks bill fishing is that it was almost non-existent. Not that there weren’t people out trying, it’s just that the few fish that were found were not interested in eating. The full moon may have had something to do with it perhaps, it’s been know to have an effect, but it’s not really an explanation of why the fish have mostly disappeared. Perhaps the much cooler than normal water has something to do with it as well? One bright spot is that the green, cool water has brought about more sightings of Swordfish, but I have not heard of anyone actually hooking one up in a legal sort of way, but a few guys did hook fish by snagging them, then proceeded to loose them after several hours of fighting time. These Swordfish have been seen in the cool water plume running directly south from the Cape.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: No change this week from last week on the Tuna situation. There are still only football fish being found out there, and most of them have been between 18 to 30 miles to the south. Boats working westward past the banks were not doing well with only an occasional pod of porpoise showing, and few of them holding fish. Once again red hootchies were the best bet for these fish as most of the stomach contents were found to be red crab.
DORADO: I did not hear of any Dorado being caught this week, and saw no new yellow flags flying. I am sure there were a few, but no reports were heard by me.
WAHOO: Once again I didn’t hear of any Wahoo this week. The flags you see flying are for “Mexican Wahoo”, or better known as sierra.
INSHORE: Just like last week, with the exception of more small Yellowtail being caught by guys pulling small swimming plugs for Sierra. Mexican Wahoo, also known as Sierra, have been the mainstay of the Panga fleet this week with most boats able to get at least a half-dozen or more. Yellowtail action dropped off again, it seems to be a “good one week, slow the next” type of fishery. Snapper fishing has again improved and there are a few more grouper being found by those targeting bottom fish. The usual smaller Roosterfish to 5 pounds, some small barracuda and Bonita have rounded out the catches inshore.
NOTES: Well, the nice weather continued for this past week as we had hoped, but the fishing has been very “off”, compared to the usual activity we get this time of year. The best bet has been fishing inshore; a lot of trips have been saved by targeting Sierra after six hours of looking for Marlin and Tuna. Fishing inshore also gets you up close to the whales, and that is always a lot of fun. This weeks report was written to the music of Boz Scaggs on his 1994 Virgin Records release, “Some Changes”. Until next week, Tight Lines!
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 65 - 74
Air temperature 54-80
Humidity 82%
Wind: SSW 3 to 4 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 6:43 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:22p.m. MST
Bahia Asunción
Juan went fishing the day before the eclipse. It was a lovely morning, so they decided to try their luck going south of Asunción as the fishing up by San Pablo has been very poor. They caught lots of bonito and a nice barletta and finally hooked into a big fish. Ira Martin from Oregon was tuckered out from catching so many bonito and so passed the rod over to Juan to finish bringing it in. Juan knew right away it was a sea lion having his lunch, and by the time they got the fish up to the boat, only the head was left! It WAS a nice big yellowtail though. That night we enjoyed the eclipse at the taco stand with clients. The next day they went north to San Pablo and only caught yellowtail and some calico and whitefish. We heard the yellowtail were further north up by Pto.Nuevo about 20 miles up. Lovely fishing weather though.
Shari and Juan
Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 54-84
Humidity 51%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:37 p.m. MST
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Feb 22, 2008; 08:27AM - Whales, Lunar Eclipse and Sierra…
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Category: Saltwater Fly Fishing Reports
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Author Name: Gary Graham
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Endless Season Update 02/20/2008
REPORT #1102 'Below the Border' Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Sierra provided the most consistent action this week. For the persistent angler willing to be out early, the ladyfish and small roosters put on a show on a few of the protected beaches.
The yellowtail whack up to the north produced some ‘trophy sized’ yellows (30 pounds) but seemed to slow down somewhat this week.
Tip: It is a good idea to have everything rigged when you board the boat. Can’t tell you how many times I have watched the ‘cluster’ that goes on when you find fish five minutes from the shore. Trying to rig while you watch fish crashing all around you can be frustrating.
Water temperature 62-68
Air temperature 56-77
Humidity 67 %
Wind: NNW 7 to 10 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 6:48 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:17 p.m. MST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Whale watching continued to dominate the activity for both Lopez Mateos and San Carlos. Windy conditions kept anyone from getting outside the Boca’s. Enrique Soto reported fair action for small yellowtail with sierra mixed in at the Entrada.
Water temperature 66 - 73
Air temperature 50 -74
Humidity 91%
Wind: NNW 14 to 19 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 2 miles
Sunrise 6:57 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:24 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
A cold water current has moved in, pushing the blue water out past the 26 mile mark. Fishing for all blue water species is slow.
About the only notable catch was made by Jeff Taylor of Houston, fishing with Martin on the panga, Isamar. On Monday they caught a nice 250 pound blue marlin at 36 miles. But, the next day Martin went out 40 miles, and got skunked.
There are reports the jack crevalle are on the beaches, and in good numbers. Find he birds crashing the bait, and you will find the jacks.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 71-98
Humidity 66%
Wind: SE at 2mph
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 7:10 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:49 p.m. CST
Cabo San Lucas
WEATHER: It felt like winter this week even though it never got below 56 degrees. Maybe it’s just that I am used to the warm weather now. Our lows, alt least the lowest I saw, was 58 degrees, but with a bit of wind on it, it felt colder. Our daytime highs were in the high 70’s and most of the week we had partly cloudy skies most of the week. On the 9th the skies actually cleared enough for the sea-surface temp charts to come through on the Terrafin web site.
WATER: I did not see anything warmer than 70 degrees this week, and most of that was a plume coming up from the south and running from 20 miles due south to the southern end of the San Jaime Bank. Inside that band it dropped to 67 and 67 degrees. On the Cortez side of the Cape it was a consistent 68 degrees until you got past the Punta Gorda area, and then it dropped to a very cool 63 and 64 degrees. The surface conditions were great with small swells from the Northwest on the Pacific side and almost pool-table smoothness on the Cortez at the end of the week.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price. There were Sardinas up around Chileno Bay at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Boats looking for Marlin were really having to scratch for them this week, and I mean that they were difficult to get to bite, not that they were hard to find. Some boats working deep bait on the Golden Gate Bank had luck, but it was not steady by any means. There were also some hungry fish found close to shore, within two miles, along the points on the Pacific side. Boats venturing farther offshore were seeing quite a few fish in small groups of two or three at a time, but they had lockjaw and most refused to bite. As an example, a large private yacht that has placed in quite a few tournaments spent 12 hours late in the week fishing for marlin, from 6 am until 6 pm and were only able to find two hungry fish, and that was a double hook-up.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: The porpoise are starting to show up in fair numbers but not all the pods have Yellowfin with them. Fishing south of the San Jaime and west of there boats are finding pods of between 20 and several thousand porpoise. There have been Tuna of between 15 and 30 pounds caught among the mammals, but I did not hear of any large ones yet, and a good day so far has been getting eight or ten of these fish to bite. Most boats are having a hard time getting hooked up to them though as they have been feeding fairly heavily on red crab, according to the guys who have opened up the ones they catch. As a result, the small hootchies in red colors have worked best on these smaller Tuna.
DORADO: A few fish now and then, no steady action but the fish that have been taken have been from the warmer water areas.
WAHOO: I didn’t hear of any Wahoo this week. The flags you see flying are for “Mexican wahoo”, or better known as sierra.
INSHORE: Mexican Wahoo, also known as Sierra, have been the mainstay of the Panga fleet this week with most boats able to get at least a half-dozen or more. Yellowtail action is picking up once again with several fish to 40 pounds being boats as well as a few nice grouper to 50 pounds. The usual smaller Roosterfish to 5 pounds, some small barracuda and Bonita have rounded out the catches inshore.
NOTES: Whales, whales, whales and porpoise, there have been plenty of these out there for anglers that get bored of not catching fish this week. Well, for some of them at least! I am taking off for L.A. to re-new my Captains License and will be coming back in the middle of the week, maybe fishing will have gotten better by then! Until next week, tight lines!
AS OF JAN 23RD, 2007 EVERYONE MUST HAVE A PASSPORT TO TRAVEL TO AND FROM MEXICO!!!!!
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 65 - 74
Air temperature 53-75
Humidity 58%
Wind: NNW 3 to 5 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:48 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:19p.m. MST
Bahia Asunción
The weather is fabulous here! The swell has gone down; lovely sunny, warm days calm mornings for fishing and with about 15-29 in the afternoons. Yesterday they caught lots of bonita and abarileta which is a kind of amber jack?? It was delicious in sashimi.
Ira Martin from Oregon hooked into a big yellowtail but fought so long he had to hand the rod over to Juan to finish bringing it is and immediately Juan said...”hmmm feels like a sea lion is also fighting this fish.” They ended up only bringing aboard the massive head! They fished about five miles south of Asunción but there were too many sea lions.
They were heading up to San Pablo today to try their luck.
We really enjoyed the beautiful eclipse last evening, very clear skies.
Surf has been excellent the last few days and more whales are passing by northbound every day. We were treated to a huge breach right in front of our window yesterday afternoon.
Lobster season is winding down and we are looking forward to the
end of season lobster feast. It's possible that the co-ops get a 2 week extension on the season which usually ends the end of February...
Construction is underway on a 42 room resort on the waterfront at the entrance to Asunción and there is a flurry of building projects all over the village.
Shari and Juan
Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 53-68
Humidity 51%
Wind: W 7 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:10 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:31 p.m. MST
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Feb 15, 2008; 09:27AM - Whale of a Week…
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Category: Saltwater Fly Fishing Reports
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Author Name: Gary Graham
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Endless Season Update 02/13/2008
REPORT #1101 'Below the Border' Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Sierra, ladyfish and small roosters still continue to lurk along the beaches providing some killer action in the early morning and extending on until the winds pick up. The tin boat fleet is enjoying a good sierra winter as they troll tight to the beach. A bit further out the bonito can be found feeding bait near the surface.
Up to the north just outside the mooring balls at Muertos Bay, a few moss back yellows have been tearing up tackle quicker than you can say “fish on”.
Tip: When the fish are crashing bait on the surface and every cast is a refusal, try slowing down the retrieve to a crawl. A very slow moving fly will often trigger a strike when nothing else will.
Water temperature 62-68
Air temperature 45-82
Humidity 75 %
Wind: NNW 7 to 10 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 6:53 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:13 p.m. MST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Whale Ho! Plenty of whales are now inside the bay frolicking in front of the pier.
Up in the Esteros the mixed-bag action, snook, corvina and some fat pargo, kept everyone smiling this week.
Water temperature 66 - 73
Air temperature 45 -83
Humidity 75%
Wind: WSW 7 to 9 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 4 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:19 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The fishing is continuing last week's trend. It has been slow. The fleet is only averaging 1 or 2 sailfish a day per boat. A few dorado are still being taken, but only about 1 for every 4 boats.
The blue water is still at 18 miles. Reports are the tuna are out beyond the 25 mile mark, and in decent numbers. We are waiting to see if anything will develop with them.
Cory Cole fished with Marcos on the panga, Oceana, and had a typical two days of fishing. They got 1 dorado the first day, and two sailfish the second day.
Inshore, there are reports of the jack crevalle action heating up, with a few sierras being taken also.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 75-97
Humidity 77%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 7:14 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:43 p.m. CST
Cabo San Lucas
WEATHER: It felt like winter this week even though it never got below 56 degrees. Maybe it’s just that I am used to the warm weather now. Our lows, alt least the lowest I saw, was 58 degrees, but with a bit of wind on it, it felt colder. Our daytime highs were in the high 70’s and most of the week we had partly cloudy skies most of the week. On the 9th the skies actually cleared enough for the sea-surface temp charts to come through on the Terrafin web site.
WATER: I did not see anything warmer than 70 degrees this week, and most of that was a plume coming up from the south and running from 20 miles due south to the southern end of the San Jaime Bank. Inside that band it dropped to 67 and 67 degrees. On the Cortez side of the Cape it was a consistent 68 degrees until you got past the Punta Gorda area, and then it dropped to a very cool 63 and 64 degrees. The surface conditions were great with small swells from the Northwest on the Pacific side and almost pool-table smoothness on the Cortez at the end of the week.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price. There were Sardinas up around Chileno Bay at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Boats looking for Marlin were really having to scratch for them this week, and I mean that they were difficult to get to bite, not that they were hard to find. Some boats working deep bait on the Golden Gate Bank had luck, but it was not steady by any means. There were also some hungry fish found close to shore, within two miles, along the points on the Pacific side. Boats venturing farther offshore were seeing quite a few fish in small groups of two or three at a time, but they had lockjaw and most refused to bite. As an example, a large private yacht that has placed in quite a few tournaments spent 12 hours late in the week fishing for marlin, from 6 am until 6 pm and were only able to find two hungry fish, and that was a double hook-up.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: The porpoise are starting to show up in fair numbers but not all the pods have Yellowfin with them. Fishing south of the San Jaime and west of there boats are finding pods of between 20 and several thousand porpoise. There have been Tuna of between 15 and 30 pounds caught among the mammals, but I did not hear of any large ones yet, and a good day so far has been getting eight or ten of these fish to bite. Most boats are having a hard time getting hooked up to them though as they have been feeding fairly heavily on red crab, according to the guys who have opened up the ones they catch. As a result, the small hootchies in red colors have worked best on these smaller Tuna.
DORADO: A few fish now and then, no steady action but the fish that have been taken have been from the warmer water areas.
WAHOO: I didn’t hear of any Wahoo this week. The flags you see flying are for “Mexican wahoo”, or better known as sierra.
INSHORE: Mexican Wahoo, also known as Sierra, have been the mainstay of the Panga fleet this week with most boats able to get at least a half-dozen or more. Yellowtail action is picking up once again with several fish to 40 pounds being boats as well as a few nice grouper to 50 pounds. The usual smaller Roosterfish to 5 pounds, some small barracuda and Bonita have rounded out the catches inshore.
NOTES: Whales, whales, whales and porpoise, there have been plenty of these out there for anglers that get bored of not catching fish this week. Well, for some of them at least! I am taking off for L.A. to re-new my Captains License and will be coming back in the middle of the week, maybe fishing will have gotten better by then! Until next week, tight lines!
AS OF JAN 23RD, 2007 EVERYONE MUST HAVE A PASSPORT TO TRAVEL TO AND FROM MEXICO!!!!!
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 65 - 74
Air temperature 45-78
Humidity 75%
Wind: SW 6 to 8 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 6:53 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:14 p.m. MST
Bahia Asunción
NO REPORT RECEIVED THIS WEEK Finally the weather has cleared up after plenty of clouds and wind. This week’s catch consisted of whitefish, cabrilla and sheepshead. We did catch our lunch at Playa Tordillo on Sunday surf fishing. The surf has been great this week, giving our Team Jurjos a chance to practice up for the summer tournament here in mid-August.
Shari and Juan
Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 52-73
Humidity 66%
Wind: NW 5 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:21 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:21 p.m. MST
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Feb 9, 2008; 09:26AM - Puffy Says!!!
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Category: Saltwater Fly Fishing Reports
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Author Name: Gary Graham
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Endless Season Update 02/06/2008
REPORT #1100 'Below the Border' Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
[i][b]Don’t miss Gary’s new “Road Trekker” column published in Western Outdoor News[/b][/i]
[url]http://roadtrekker.blogspot.com/[/url]
[b]East Cape[/b]
[i][b]Puffy’s shadow [/b][/i]
Three nice days early in the week; February 2 came and Puffy’s shadow could be clearly seen. Locals claim that when the puffer fish’s shadow is visible, it is another excuse to have tequila shooters first thing in the morning before trying to beat the wind to the beach.
As if on cue, the wind came back resulting in a few lack luster days. Unfortunately the sierra and white bonito found the shadow disconcerting and had a serious case of lock jaw.
On the non-windy days some quality yellows were found up at Bahia de Los Muertos
[b]Tip:[/b] When fishing from the beach barefooted, be careful to watch where you step…better yet, wear beach shoes or sandals. Stepping on a half buried Puffy can ruin a good day.
Water temperature 67-73
Air temperature 46-77
Humidity 71 %
Wind: NNW 12 to 16 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 6:57 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:11 p.m. MST
[b]Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico[/b]
Whale watching season is in full swing! Both San Carlos and Lopez Mateos are filling up with tourists who have traveled long distances to “ooh and aah” over the huge visitors and their offspring.
Water temperature 66 - 73
Air temperature 43 -80
Humidity 92%
Wind: NE 4 to 5 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 4 miles
Sunrise 7:06 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:15 p.m. MST
[b]Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico[/b]
[img]http://www.bajafly.com/report/02.06.08zsail.jpg[/img]
[b]Fly angler....Roger Harrington, British Columbia Canada. Boat....Isamar with Captain Martin[/b]
With a cold water current pushing the blue water out to the 18 mile mark, compared to the last couple of weeks, the fishing has slowed down quite a bit. However, most of this is due to the boats staying in the more traditional areas, from about 9 to 14 miles. They are averaging only about 1 or 2 sailfish a day.
Captain Margarito on the Gaby has been fishing an area between 22 and 25 miles out. He told me there are a lot of fish out there, with a 5 sailfish per day average proving his point. Plus, he is getting at least one shot at a blue marlin on the trolled lures each day.
With the cooler water the dorado numbers have dropped substantially, but the yellowfin tuna have moved in. The tuna, and the expected soon to follow blue marlin, should still give us some excellent action over the next couple of weeks.
There have been no reports of any action on the inshore small game.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 67-95
Humidity 77%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 7:17 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:43 p.m. CST
[b]Cabo San Lucas[/b]
[b]WEATHER:[/b] We finally had a couple of days where the sun actually shined all day long. The middle of the week was special, no clouds and it warmed up a bit. Our morning lows have been around the low 60’s to high 50’s, colder when there were no clouds. The highs for the days have been between the low and high 70’s with one day where it reached 82 degrees here at the house. Cloudy early in the week and at the end of the week.
[b]WATER:[/b] Surface conditions on both sides of the Cape were good this week with slight swells and only light winds. On the Pacific side the water temperatures were in the 70-71 degree range with a light tinge of green to them while on the Cortez side the water was about a degree or two warmer and clearer. Due south at a distance of 20 miles the water warmed up to 74 degrees as it became blue.
[b]BAIT:[/b] Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price. There were Sardina up around Chileno Bay at $25 a scoop.
[b]FISHING:[/b]
[b]BILLFISH: [/b] The Striped Marlin bite remained slow, the concentrations of fish have moved and no one has been able to find them yet. Well, except for one day early in the week when only 10 boats were at the Golden Gate Bank and the Marlin re-appeared for the day. The action was pretty good on Monday and the top boats released double-digit numbers. That shut right back down though, as on Tuesday almost 40 boats worked the bank and there were only about ten fish released. Most boats have been happy to release one or two Marlin per trip and a few lucky (or good) ones have been in the 3 or 4 release range. The bite has been on a mix of live bait and lures with many of the live bait fish coming on deep dropped baits or slow trolled live baits on the Golden Gate Bank.
[b]YELLOWFIN TUNA[/b] Well, for most of the boats out there a few football Tuna are all that they have been able to get onto, but every once in a while a larger fish in the 30 –pound range is hooked up. These fish are almost all with Porpoise and there are not many of them found right now. I sure hope things change soon as Tuna are one of our staples this time of year. The area due south to 35 miles has been the best producing, but the action has started to swing into the Sea of Cortez direction, perhaps following the warmer water movement.
[b]DORADO: [/b] A few fish now and then, no steady action but the fish that have been taken have been from the warmer water areas.
[b]WAHOO: [/b] I have heard of a few boats getting Wahoo in the warm water to the south, but there has been no numbers, just a fish now and then in the 40-pound class.
[b]INSHORE:[/b] Sierra, small Roosterfish, Ladyfish, Snapper and some Bonita have been the inshore production this week. The Sierra bite has been on and off on the Pacific side but the best results have been while using Sardinas as bait. Snapper are being found in the rocks, I mean right up in there, and a lot of them are being lost due to that fact.
[b]NOTES: [/b] There are more whales showing up, I had a good time watching them while sitting in the Cost-Co parking lot waiting for my wife yesterday! The Humboldt Squid are still around feeding on the red crabs and Swordfish are still being sighted, but I didn’t hear of anyone catching on this week. Until next week, Tight Lines!
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 65 - 74
Air temperature 46-77
Humidity 71%
Wind: NNE 6 to 8 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 6:57 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:11 p.m. MST
[b]Bahia Asunción[/b]
[img]http://www.bajafly.com/report/02.08.juancroaker.jpg[/img]
Finally the weather has cleared up after plenty of clouds and wind. This week’s catch consisted of whitefish, cabrilla and sheepshead. We did catch our lunch at Playa Tordillo on Sunday surf fishing. The surf has been great this week, giving our team Jurjos a chance to practice up for the summer tournament here in mid-August.
Shari and Juan
Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 52-73
Humidity 66%
Wind: NW 5 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:21 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:21 p.m. MST
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Feb 1, 2008; 08:25AM - Wind Again!!!
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Category: Saltwater Fly Fishing Reports
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Author Name: Gary Graham
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Endless Season Update 01/31/2008
REPORT #1099 'Below the Border' Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Plenty of action from the beach and inshore, sierra, small roosters and jacks …, actually more fish than visitors. Which was probably a good thing since the north wind seemed relentless this week. Supposedly there are some tuna and billfish outside but high seas caused by the wind prevented anyone from getting out to find them.
Water temperature 67-73
Air temperature 49-76
Humidity 81 %
Wind: NNW 16 to 22 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:00 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:04 p.m. MST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Bob Hoyt, of Mag Bay Outfitters, reported that the whales are slowly filtering into the bay through Boca de Soledad but so far only 15- 20 that have made it inside.
Estero action this week included some good corvina bites as well as a few better quality grouper, along with a few pargo.
Water temperature 66 - 73
Air temperature 54 -75
Humidity 76%
Wind: WNW 7 to 10 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 13 miles
Sunrise 7:10 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:10 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
For this last week the sailfish and dorado bite has still been holding up with fantastic action for all boats. The boats were averaging 3 to 4 sailfish a day, plus a couple of the 20 to 40 pound dorado.
Margarito on the Gaby has really had an excellent week, with the slowest day catching 6 sailfish and 1 dorado, and the best day with 10 sailfish and 2 dorado.
Unfortunately, I do not see this bite holding up for much longer. Yesterday the boats came in with fewer flags flying. Whether this is a trend developing, or the fleet just needs to locate new areas for the concentrations of fish will become evident over the next couple of days.
With the blue water only six miles off the beach, hopefully it may just be a lull until a new batch of fish move into the area.
The jack crevalle and black skipjack tuna are providing a lot of inshore action also.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 48-96
Humidity 78%
Wind: S 5 knt
Conditions: Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:19 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:40 p.m. CST
Cabo San Lucas
WEATHER: It has been cloudy most of the week so sun seekers were not very happy; I saw a lot of folks that were very burned, thinking that the clouds were stopping the tanning rays. Oh well, at least the clouds helped hold the warmth in and we didn’t see temperatures lower than the mid 60’s at night. At the end of the week early I the morning it was 69 at our house. Daytime highs were around the low to mid 80’s, warm enough that I had no need of a sweater most of the time. With all the clouds I thought that we were going to get some rain but all that happened was a bit of spit, you know, the kind that just dots the dusty windshield on the car? That was early in the week on Tuesday, and it was probably my fault as I had just washed the Jeep when it started.
WATER: There did not appear to be any real change in the water conditions from the week before. The cloud cover made it almost impossible to get an updated sea surface shot from space so reliance on the boats that were fishing was very strong. It appears that the water within 5 miles of the beach on the Pacific side up to just past the Golden Gate Bank remained warmer than that farther offshore and was a nice blue color as well. On the Golden Gate and the San Jaime Bank the water was off color green and quite a bit cooler at 70 degrees and lower. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water was green and off-colored everywhere and the area off of Punta Gorda was reported as almost a brown color by some boats. To the immediate south on an east-west line across the arch the water warmed up and blued up. As you reached 8 miles to the south the temperature rose to 74 degrees. Surface conditions across the area were good since this cloud cover arrived without any wind. Some swells on the Pacific side with a light ripple on top most of the time, but on the Cortez side up past Punta Gorda the wind started howling.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price. There were Sardinas up around Chileno Bay at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin bite remained off for another week for most of the boats. The fish were found on the Pacific side and to the south but while there were a lot of fish seen on the surface, not many of them were hungry. A few, very few, boats managed to come in with between three and five Marlin flags flying, but most boats were feeling lucky if they were able to get a couple of fish to eat and get one to the boat for a release. The big new for the week is the appearance of some Swordfish. This week several of these fish were spotted on the surface and at least two that I know of were hooked. One was hooked on a live Mackerel while fishing 23 miles to the south and was fought for six hours before the 100-pound leader parted. The Captain estimated to fish at over #300! It’s tough to get a fish like that on Striped Marlin gear!
YELLOWFIN TUNA I overheard a conversation about a private boat being hooked up on a very big Yellowfin just off the Golden Gate Bank on Saturday, and then nothing else. I know a few boats have been having a little luck on fish in the 30-pound class out past the San Jaime Bank, but it has been very inconsistent. The same has been the case on the football sized fish, they have been out there but the bite has been slow, a few fish have been the average with a few boats able to get into double digits.
DORADO: Once again there have been a few fish caught, one or two here and there, but no large numbers have been reported. The best area has been the warm water to the south.
WAHOO: Inconsistent, but there have been some quality fish out there. One boat caught two of them between 80-100 pounds in the warm water 20 miles south and a few other smaller ones were reported from the same area.
INSHORE: The Sierra action picked back up on the Pacific side as schools of fish to 10 pounds have moved in off of the beaches and rocky points to the north of the lighthouse. Double-digit catches were not a problem. Either whole Mackerel rigged with a stinger hook I the tail or large Sardines were needed for the larger fish, hootchies and plugs did not work on fish over six pounds. Off of the Rocky points Snapper have begun to show, it is time for the normal spring spawning groups to begin gathering. A few Yellowtail continue to be caught but the numbers have really dropped off over the past several weeks.
NOTES: There were acres of Humboldt Squid reported on the surface feeding on red crab this week, and this may have been a contributing factor in the Swordfish being seen. There are still whales out there and the numbers seem to be increasing. This weeks report was written to the guitar of Marshall Crenshaw on the 1989 Warner release “Good Evening”, great stuff! Until next week, Tight Lines!
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 65 - 74
Air temperature 54-74
Humidity 85%
Wind: NNE 6 to 8 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 2 miles
Sunrise 7:00 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:06 p.m. MST
Bahia Asunción
Winter Calico photo provided by Bahia Asunción local guide Manuel Arce Aguilar
Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 49-68
Humidity 66%
Wind: NNW 5 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:25 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:16 p.m. MST
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Jan 24, 2008; 05:38PM - Baby it’s Cold….Still
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Category: Saltwater Fly Fishing Reports
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Author Name: Gary Graham
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Endless Season Update 01/24/2008
REPORT #1098 'Below the Border' Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
North winds along with cool temperatures are back and according to the predictions will be here until the weekend. But last week there was a brief respite for the nasty stuff.
Between the windy days, the beaches and inshore produced sierra, jacks, and ladyfish along with a few small roosters. Those were found on the beaches between Rancho Leonero and La Ribera with the best action being in the early morning before the wind cranked up..
A few tuna showed up toward Cerralvo Island. That sounded promising but north wind and Cerralvo should not be used in the same sentence!
Travel Tip: Benadryl in both gel and capsule form is a must for your tackle box! Handy in case of stings, bites of any kind of critter you might encounter, including jelly fish, scorpion or bees.
Boat owners take note: Effective January 2008, boat permits are no longer required for vessels practicing sportfishing in Mexican waters. More info
AS OF JAN 23RD, 2007 EVERYONE MUST HAVE A PASSPORT TO TRAVEL TO AND FROM MEXICO!!!!!
Water temperature 67-73
Air temperature 47-72
Humidity 88 %
Wind: NNW 13 to 17 knots
Conditions: Cloudy
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:02 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:01 p.m. MST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Water temperature 66 - 73
Air temperature 47 -67
Humidity 79%
Wind: NNW 10 to 14 knots
Conditions: Cloudy
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 7:12 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:05 p.m. MST
Diana Hoyt reported good fishing in the Esteros for corvina as well as a few grouper and plenty of spotted bay bass.
More and more whales are arriving every day---just in time for the 15th annual Festival del Ballena to celebrate their arrival this Saturday the 26th.
Protected by the barrier island of Isla Magdalena, Lopez Mateos is one of Baja's best whale-watching sites. The bay is narrow here, so you don't have to travel far by boat to see the whales. In fact they can usually be seen from the pier. Boca de Soledad, only a short distance north of town, boasts the highest density of whales anywhere along the peninsula.
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
Historically, January is considered to be the best month of the year for sailfish. This is the time when large migrations of the fish pass by us on their way to Guatemala. It is also a fact the full moon period usually affects the fishing here, except for those occasional really outstanding years. This January is one of the really outstanding years.
Plus, we are having the largest showing of dorado I have seen in years. The dorado are all mature fish, averaging between 12 and 18 pounds for the hens, and 25 to 40 pounds for the bulls.
Before the full moon, Mark Davis, of Malibu, CA, fished 4 days on the Gaby with Captain Margarito. They released 7 sailfish, and kept 12 large dorado. Also last week, clients from Denmark, fishing with Francisco on the panga, Huntress, released 15 sails and released 1 striped marlin. And they caught 11 dorado.
After the full moon, on Monday, Cali released 7 sailfish and kept 3 dorado.
While standing at the pier and watching the boats come in on Tuesday, Adolpho came first in his panga, Dos Hermanos, with 8 sailfish release flags flying and another 3 dorado flags. Then came the panga, Gitana, with Santiago with 9 sailfish and 2 dorado tags, followed by his brother Adan with 5 sailfish and 2 dorado flags.
Every afternoon at the pier, around 2:00, is like a colorful parade as the boats come in with their flags a flying. The fishing is just outstanding!
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 73-96
Humidity 68%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:20 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:36 p.m. CST
Cabo San Lucas
WEATHER: For the past two weeks our cool wintertime conditions have continued. Our nighttime lows have been down in the mid 50’s while the daytime highs have reached the high 70’s but have mostly been in the mid to low 70’s. As of the end of this week the skies have been only partly cloudy and we have had no rain. It has become windy in the afternoons but the mornings have been calm for the most part.
WATER: The water close to the beach on the Pacific side has remained warmer than most of the area with an average temperature of 71 degrees out to a distance of three-four miles from the beach at the inside of the Golden Gate Bank area. This warm water extends to the southwest across the San Jaime Bank and then in a thumb-shaped are with the tip 15 miles south of Cabo it warms to 73-74 degrees. The 71-degree water extends into the Sea of Cortez across the 95 Spot but stops short of the 1150. Water outside of this range on both sides of the Cape drops in temperature to the mid and high 60’s. At the end of this week, there was cold and dirty water across the Golden Gate Bank, the Finger Bank and the 1150 and Gorda Banks. The area inshore between Cabo and Punta Gorda was reported as being very dirty and green.
BAIT: Today is the full moon and as usual, as the full moon approaches the number of Caballito available for bait has fallen off. There are still plenty of Mackerel however and all these larger baits are at the normal $2 per bait. I have been told that there were no Sardinas available due to dirty water conditions up in the San Jose area.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin bite has dropped off quite a bit over the past week and instead of boats coming in with double digit numbers of flags, the high catch boats were getting four or five fish. Most boats were happy to get one or two releases and many were happy just to get a shot at a fish. One of the reasons may have to do with the temperature and clarity of the water in most areas, but the moon phase may have had an effect as well. Most of the Striped Marlin action was taking place between the San Jaime Bank and the 95 Spot and areas to the south of there, down in that warmer water area I mentioned earlier. I also heard form a Captain on a fleet boat that they hooked up a Blue Marlin earlier this week for a short while down in that warmer water, but the fish came off after the first run.
YELLOWFIN TUNA The Yellowfin Tuna that I have heard about have all been from the San Jaime area and for the most part have been football sized fish in the 10 pound range, found mixed in with porpoise. There have been a few fish to 40 pounds mixed in with them as well, but the numbers have been low. I have also hear unconfirmed reports of some nice sized fish being found occasionally 40-50 miles to the south of us. These fish have also been mixed in with porpoise and are reported to be in the 50-60 pound class. As far as I am aware no one has yet gotten into any concentrations of #100 fish in the past two weeks, but we are hoping that it happens soon.
DORADO: The cool water of the past month has really slowed down the Dorado bite as they move south into warmer water. A few fish have been caught every day and for the most part they have been either just off the beach on the Pacific side or in the warmer water due south. The average size has been around 12 pounds with a few fish in the 25-pound class, but most of them are average size. The number of fish per boat is much lower as well, with an average catch of .3 fish per day, or 1 fish per three days of effort. I expect the Dorado to almost disappear as the water continues to cool.
WAHOO: As the full moon approached there were a few Wahoo caught, and there will probably be a few more on the waning side of the moon as well, but they have been incidental fish caught in the open water due south. Wahoo like warm water and just like the Dorado; there are fewer of them around right now than there were earlier in the season. The fish that were caught averaged 40 pounds and were caught on dark colored Marlin lures.
INSHORE: The Yellowtail bite dropped off as the water on the Cortez side of the Cape became dirty. A few have been caught on the Pacific side off of the rocky points on live bait dropped to about 250 feet, but there has been no consistent bite on them. The Sierra bite has slowed down as well with most boats getting only a half-dozen or so per trip. The Pargo are starting to show among the rocks on the Pacific side, and hopefully action on them will improve this coming week as the moon starts to wane.
NOTES: The fishing really slowed down the past two weeks as the water cooled off. Hopefully the Yellowfin will show in force and give us some alternative action, they are overdue based on the past six years catch records. On the positive side, the water conditions have been pretty good! This weeks report was written to the music of Mark Knopfler on his new solo release “Kill To Get Crimson”, a melancholy set of songs, sort of like the fishing the past two weeks! I just returned from visiting my father in Oklahoma City, his birthday was Saturday and it was nice seeing him for his 71st! Happy birthday dad! So, for those of you who were wondering why there was no report last week, now you know! Until next week, tight lines!
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 65 - 74
Air temperature 50-72
Humidity 95%
Wind: N 7 to 10 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 7:02 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:01 p.m. MST
Bahia Asunción
Juan christened his new panga with Mexican champagne...Tecate! Four pilots who flew in had a fun day fishing on the maiden voyage. The water temp warmed up considerably and even though fishing on the full moon is usually poor, they found some yellowtail 2 miles off of San Pablo, a place called ‘yellowtail rock’, jigging with irons...the guys lost more than they landed but had a blast anyway. Visibility was excellent as well and they caught several nice calicos and bonita and enjoyed watching gray whales pass by as they fished.
Shari and Juan
Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 52-68
Humidity 66%
Wind: WNW 3 to 4 knots
Conditions: rainy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:28 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:10 p.m. MST
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Jan 10, 2008; 05:26PM - Get’r Done Early!
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Category: Saltwater Fly Fishing Reports
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Author Name: Gary Graham
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Endless Season Update 01/09/2008
REPORT #1096 'Below the Border' Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
This has been another ‘cookie cutter’ week with that pesky north wind never too far away. Best bet continued to be the inshore or the beach early mornings until the wind shows up and then it is time to hot foot it back to the casa or hotel. Good sierra action with a few small jacks, roosters and ladyfish on south facing beaches. Also a few skipjack schools to bend the stick for giggles. Mark Rayor reported “I went out in a tin boat yesterday and murdered the sierra and white bonita.
Water temperature 67-73
Air temperature 55-76
Humidity 81 %
Wind: NNW 11 to 15 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 4 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:48 p.m. MST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
The much anticipated whale migration has begun and a few are beginning to filter into the bay. A few more weeks and the bay should be filling up with the welcomed visitors. They always provide a fun time for the family.
Out at the Entrada, there has been plenty of action for sierra and a few firecracker yellowtail beneath the bird schools feeding on sardine and red crab. Inside the esteros, the corvina and grouper have been the best bet.
According to the few yachts traveling up and down the coast, the offshore water has cooled and continues to be slightly offcolor.
Water temperature 66 - 73
Air temperature 45 -75
Humidity 54%
Wind: NW 8 to 11 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:13 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:53 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The week started out looking promising. It is January, and historically one of the best months of the year for sailfish. Plus, the new moon was yesterday, the 8th. We are (theoretically) going into the best two weeks of the year.
But a cold water current has moved in, moved the blue water to way offshore, and the game fish have either left the area, or are too sluggish to feed.
Yesterday, Adan, on the panga Gitana II, managed the best numbers for the fleet. His clients from Denmark released three sailfish and got two nice dorado. But the average per boat was way down. It is less than one fish per boat.
The inshore is the same story; with cold water and an absence of game fish.
Fortunately, the cold water current is a current, and conditions can change in 24 hours. We are keeping our fingers crossed.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 75-95
Humidity 83%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 7:19 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:27 p.m. CST
Cabo San Lucas
Our guide, Lance Peterson, along with Baja on the Fly client, Kurt Jones, Houston, TX, and his 14 yr. old son, Conner, had an interesting day out of Cabo on the Baja Raider. The Golden Gate Bank was holding good numbers of marlin and it didn't take long for us to tease up some hot fish. On the first hookup, we had one of those 'Murphy's Law' events when a loop of line got caught up on the rod leading to the abrupt loss of both the fly line, and the rod tip! The next available fly rod was my Cam Sigler 10wt. The bite was on so I rigged the 10wt. for marlin and we got back in the game. Before too long, Kurt was tight to his first ever fly rod marlin...on a 10wt! He landed it in 35 minutes. Not to be outdone, Conner stepped up to the rod. I wasn't done coaching him on what to do when we had a marlin teased up. He presented the fly and the fish ate. Fish on! With some help from Kurt, this stubborn fish also came to the boat. We finished the day with 10 fish raised, four hooked and two landed. Not bad for first time marlin fishermen with a 10wt!
WEATHER: Here at the end of the week, we are in a wintertime heat wave as our morning temperatures have been in the high 60’s for the past four days and the daytime highs have been in the mid 80’s. The skies have been clear and there has been no rain.
WATER: On the Sea of Cortez, from a line due east of Cabo and north of that line, the water was green and cold with the water at 71 degrees and dropping down to 69 degrees off of Punta Gorda. All the banks on the Pacific side, the Finger, Golden Gate and the San Jaime, had water at 73-75 degrees and the water was considerably cleaner. The 95 Spot, 1150 and the Cabrillo Seamount were on that line and for the most part saw the warmer, cleaner water. Surface conditions were good all week long close to home. There was an occasional day of breezy conditions on the Pacific but nothing too uncomfortable. Up on the Sea of Cortez, once you went north of the Punta Gorda area, the northerly winds made fishing very uncomfortable.
BAIT: Just like last week, the bait was mostly mackerel, but there were a few caballito in the mix. These larger baits were the normal $2 per bait. Up in San Jose there were sardinas available at $25 a scoop, but they were tiny ones with the biggest only 2 inches…better for chum than as bait.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Striped Marlin were the fish of the week, no doubt about that. Almost every boat that went out caught at least one, and if they wanted to work at it a little bit there was no problem getting into double digit numbers. The great thing about it was you did not have to go far for them. If you wanted to burn the fuel, the water allowed a trip to the Finger Bank, and there were still great concentrations of fish there, but closer to home you did almost as well and did not spend so much time in transit. Most boats did just fine drifting live bait but I always like it better when the fish appear in the lure pattern and you get to drop back a rigged bait and see them eat it. We had several clients this week that did just that, only they dropped back a streamer on a fly rod and hooked up!
YELLOWFIN TUNA We still have not seen any solid concentrations of Yellowfin this season. Once in a while a boat will find a school with porpoise but they have been few and far between, and the size of fish has been lacking, most of them have been football fish. They have mostly been found on the Pacific side outside the banks, but a few schools were reported within a mile or two of the coast on that side as well.
DORADO: I saw a few more Dorado flags this week than last week and we are hoping that the water stays clean and above 70 degrees for a while longer, maybe we will continue to find them. I had a friend get two fish in the 30-pound class early in the week up past the Golden Gate Bank, and there are still scattered fish in the 10-15 pound class being caught close to the beach on the Pacific.
WAHOO: I did not hear of any concentrations of Wahoo this reporting period but I did see one of about 70 pounds being wheeled along the Marina in a cooler, a really nice fish!
INSHORE: There was no change in the inshore report for this report period. Sierra were the fish of the week for the inshore fishermen and they were consistently on the feed off of the Solmar-Finesterra beach early in the morning. They seemed to move up to the north later in the day. Yellowtail continued to produce scattered action off of the rocky points on the Cortez side with some decent fish being taken off of Gray Rock and the drop at Chileno.
NOTES: We are seeing more whales every week. The weather has been great, my golf game is sadly lacking consistency and my ears had a treat as I wrote this report while listening to some cuts from the CD collection “Watching the Dark, the history of Richard Thompson”, a 1993 release by RYKODISC. Until next week, tight lines!
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 55-74
Humidity 83%
Wind: WNW 7 to 9 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 4 miles
Sunrise 7:02 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:50 p.m. MST
Bahia Asunción
Local guide Manuel Arce Aguilar a nice yellow caught recently. kalicosloco@yahoo.com
Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 52-70
Humidity 76%
Wind: NNW 12 to 17 kts
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:30 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:58 p.m. MST
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Nov 3, 2007; 03:41PM - Double Digits! WOW!
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Category: Saltwater Fly Fishing Reports
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Author Name: Gary Graham
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Endless Season Update 11/3/2007
REPORT #1087 'Below the Border' Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Thanks to all of you who emailed me last week to remind me that the time changes this week in the U.S. However, this is a “Below the Border” report and the time changed in Baja last Sunday morning.
Sam and Janet Farish, Atlanta, GA, enjoyed a week of great weather and fishing this week with double-digit roosters, sierra and ladyfish inshore. Offshore it was dorado and yellowfin tuna rounding off a great week of East Cape fishing.
Then they headed up to Lopez Mateos in Magdalena Bay to sample the even hotter offshore action.
Water temperature 77-85
Air temperature 66-90
Humidity 83 %
Wind: NNW 7 to 9 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 2 miles
Sunrise 7:26 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:39 p.m. MST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Early November and the fishing is easy…offshore. Sam and Janet Farish on their first day headed out on the “Mar Gato” with Captain Sergio and our guide Lance Peterson.
Their day started quick! In the first ten minutes they were both tight to fifty pound wahoo. Today they headed out for hopefully more of the same action on the Thetis before sliding down to the anchorage at Santa Maria Bay to spend the night.
Billfish action from the Entrada to below Pta. Tosca could only be classified as “wide-open”. Bird school after bird school in every direction you looked but even as you slid on the spot you could never be sure what might be there. Marlin, tuna, dorado or wahoo? As one angler put it, “They were biting everything; probably would have bitten an old tennis shoe!”
If you are heading this way, bring plenty of tackle. Double digit fishing goes through the tackle fast!!!
Water temperature 72 - 82
Air temperature 67 -88
Humidity 76%
Wind: W 8 to 11 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:36 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:45 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The 82° blue water is only a very short ride out of Zihuatanejo Bay, and with the effects of the full moon period winding down, the fishing action has been steadily improving.
The boats are averaging between 1 and 2 sailfish a day, per boat. Plus, at 12 miles, there is still a long weed line which is holding large dorado.
Paul Zobeck, of Grand Slam Fishing Charters on the Kenai River, has fished with Adan on the panga Gitana II for 2 days. They have taken 7 dorado, averaging about 25 pounds.
Yesterday (Friday), Mike Griffin of Anchorage, fished with Captain Poli on the Don Gordo II, taking 4 dorado from 25 to 45 pounds.
This seems to be a week for Alaskan people fishing here, because Cali and I went down to Puerto Vicente Guerrero with Jim Albert to fly fish for roosters. Jim manages one of the Brooks River lodges of the grizzly bear watching fame. We arrived to find the inshore waters had dropped from an ideal 82° down to 76°. The roosters and large jack crevalle had left for other parts unknown. It was a very tough day of fishing, with only three roosters raised.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 77-97
Humidity 65%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Cloudy
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 7:46 a.m. CST
Sunset 7:14 p.m. CST
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Oct 28, 2007; 11:24AM - Time Falls Back…Fish Turn On!
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Category: Saltwater Fly Fishing Reports
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Author Name: Gary Graham
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Endless Season Update 10/27/2007
REPORT #1086 'Below the Border' Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
The time change tonight should indicate that it’s time for the East Cape season to wind down. Guess someone forgot to tell fish!
Yellowfin tuna are on the chew like it’s their last meal. Joe and Nick Turano, from Houston, Texas, must have left a few for the clients this week. YFT’s mixed with Baja Wasabi flies had everyone out of breath and sore by mid-morning and eager to head out and troll teasers for billfish.
No rest for the wicked! Billfish action was more like June than the last week of October, preventing anyone from any kind of a breather before the first sail appeared in the pattern.
North wind and beach fishing should never be in the same sentence so until yesterday when the wind died, the boat action was a much better choice.
Water temperature 77-85
Air temperature 69-92
Humidity 78 %
Wind: NNW 7 to 10 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 7:22 a.m. MDT
Sunset 6:44 p.m. MDT
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
As the Sea of Cortez begins to taper off, the action offshore kicks into full gear. Reports of WFO action are spread out from Thetis to the north all the way to below Pta. Tosca to the south.
Wahoo, dorado, yellowfin tuna (great for that midday sashimi) and double digit billfish combined with super weather has everyone predicting an action packed November.
As far as the Esteros go, no one seems to be paying much attention with all the action outside.
Water temperature 72 - 82
Air temperature 61 -90
Humidity 79%
Wind: WNW 10 to 13 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 7:31 a.m. MDT
Sunset 6:50 p.m. MDT
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The 84 degree blue water is still only a couple of miles off the beach; however the full moon period slowed us down this week. We are only averaging about 1 sailfish per boat, per day.
The bright note is the late season rains have brought the dorado in numbers. Near shore, the smaller school dorado, averaging 8 to 12 pounds are biting very well. Off shore, the larger adults are readily taking the trolled sailfish baits.
About the best recorded catch of the week was when Keith Bell, of Pensacola FL, fished one day with Ruben on the Vamonos III, catching 1 sailfish and 5 dorado. The dorado averaged between 25 and 30 pounds.
The inshore waters have cleaned up since the rains, but the action on the roosters was also affected by the moon phase and has slowed down. Keith Bell wanted to try for the roosters on the fly rod, so he and I went down to Puerto Vicente Guerrero. We only raised 4 roosters, and they did not take the fly. However there were hundreds of jack crevalle, busting small sardines in the shallows. The jacks were averaging about 5 pounds, plus there were a few sierra.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 76-95
Humidity 78%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Cloudy
Visibility 4 miles
Sunrise 7:43 a.m. CDT
Sunset 7:17 p.m. CDT
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