bajafly

Endless Season Update November 28, 2010 REPORT #1235 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996 Dennis caught his 'career-best' Baja halibut throwing artificials along the shore. East Cape More winter and fewer guests was the story this week as the north winds hampered fishing on several different days. However, on the non-windy days, the billfish action produced consistent striper and sailfish catches for the few who were interested in going out. Inshore has been a mixture of good days and bad, depending on the wind. On the good days there are roosters, jacks…and a sure sign of winter, the toothy sierra working the schools of sardina along the beach. Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303 Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico Cold water continues to plague the offshore fishing with about the only bright light being the limits of dorado hiding in a few warm pockets of water scattered around. While hopes have been high in the esteros that there would be a repeat of last year's snook snap, it has not materialized so far. There's been plenty of variety with an occasional quality-sized snook or corvina showing up often enough to keep it interesting. I filmed a "Monster Fish" segment with Dennis Braid of Braid Products recently. He caught his 'career-best' Baja halibut throwing artificials along the shore. It was an interesting trip, and as usual with Dennis, it was a lot of fun. I'll let you know when it will air…Gary Graham Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150 Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico By Tuesday of this week, the 80° blue water had moved back in close to the beach with it now being only a short run of about six miles. And the game fish are responding. Francisco, on the super panga Huntress, with his client from France, was making long runs of 25 miles or more early in the week and was able to follow the blue water back to the coast, making no more than 15 mile runs in the last couple of days. He is averaging a hooked striped marlin and four sailfish a day. All fish have been released. Adolfo, on the panga Dos Hermanos, is also averaging four to five sailfish a day, with Cheva, on the panga Dos Hermanos II, getting three to four sailfish a day, but also had a hooked blue marlin on three consecutive days. Fighting a big blue marlin really cuts into the amount of trolling time to find more sailfish. Adolfo and Cheva’s fish were found between the 6.5 and 15 mile marks. With Adolfo’s son as my deck hand, Argentine fly fishing client Enrique Amatore and I went down to Puerto Vicente Guerrero for two days of fly fishing. We fished an area new to me, and a long ways south of the Port. But, the boat ride was worth it. The new spot, about 3/4 of a mile off the beach, has a couple of sea mounts coming to within 25 and 50 feet from the surface. It was incredible. I have never seen bait fish dimpling the surface here on this coast like I saw on our 1st day down there. Huge schools of green jacks, sierras, and pompano were busting bait everywhere. The jack crevalle were averaging 10 to 20 pounds and schools would cruise in and out. Huge roosters, to an estimated 50 pounds, were mixed with the jacks. With Adolfo Jr. casting the hook-less popper, we brought about 20 jacks to the boat and 8 roosters. Plus, because we were dead in the water the whole time on a sea of glass, the dorado would come over to investigate. We had several legitimate shots at dorado. Unfortunately, when we went back the next day, the current changed and brought in dirty water. There was no bait, no nothing. We couldn't buy a fish. But, you can bet I will be going back.…Ed Kunze Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582 Cabo San Lucas The 80 degree water we have had this week has still provided a few blue and black marlin in the 250-pound range to give anglers a fight, but I did not hear of any that were larger. These fish were caught on the Cortez side around the 1150 and on the outer Gordo Banks. There have been plenty of striped marlin around, but they have not been in the mood to bite. Most of the fish have been on the Pacific side, within five miles of the beach. Yellowfin tuna are on again, off again, close to shore, and then 30 miles out. There's no way to predict where you would find the tuna this week with the exception of the Inman and Gordo Banks, and even there, they were iffy. Once again we did not see any large numbers of dorado with a couple of exceptions. A few boats did come in flying multiple flags and after asking the crew what they had done, I found that two of the boats had found a large piece of wood and had a great time loading up with limits of fish that averaged 15 pounds. These were the exceptions though, as most of the boats felt lucky to get one or two fish during a full day trip. As a result of being on the back side of the moon, the wahoo bite we had been experiencing dropped off quite a bit. There were still fish out there, but not in the numbers we had been seeing for the past two weeks. Small roosterfish, and occasional yellowtail, some decent sierra and an occasional amberjack rounded up the normal inshore catch this week. A few pangas got into some grouper and snapper, and a few focused on the dorado, but the mainstay was small roosters and sierra. Both sides of the Cape produced, but the sierra were more concentrated on the Pacific side…George and Mary Landrum Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191

Endless Season Update November 23, 2010 REPORT #1234 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996 Zihuatanejo Sampler East Cape Current weather reports point to some wind in the next few days; however, excellent weather continued this week providing good fishing both offshore for billfish, striped marlin and sailfish, that seem to be enticed to remain in the area enjoying the warmer sea temps. Anglers targeting the billfish continue to enjoy multiple shots almost every day. Tuna action is less reliable with most of the fish being found with porpoise schools but they are definitely not as aggressive as a few weeks ago. Inshore action includes smaller dorado, large wahoo usually in the early morning. Fishing along the shore, both by boat and by walking the beaches, is producing sierra, roosterfish, pargo and pompano. . Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303 Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico Earlier in the week, the sea temps cooled off slowing all of the offshore action dramatically. Farther down near Tosca and out toward the pinnacles seemed to produce the best billfish action for the yachts fishing the area. Inshore the esteros action produced multi-specie days consistently, with some quality-sized corvina, as well as a few better quality snook weighing in the 10 to 20 pound class with more lost than landed. .…Bob Hoyt Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150 Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico Early in the week the 80° blue water moved in to within about 8 miles of the beach, with most fish being taken between the 10 and 12 mile areas. It has moved out a bit again, to about 15 miles, but the fishing is still holding well for dorado, sailfish, blue marlin and striped marlin. Cheva, on the panga Dos Hermanos, is finally back at the helm. He was off for almost two months due to a ruptured Achilles tendon operation. As that is how the injury happened, it sure looks like his days of playing soccer are over. He got a couple of striped marlin for his clients, several dorado, sailfish, and lost two large blue marlin this week. Early in the week, Mecate on the cruiser Aqua Azul, lost two huge blues, with one estimated at over 450 pounds. He did release a couple of sails and got a nice dorado yesterday (Thursday) for his client Mike Garrett of Malvern, Arkansas. Mike Bulkley emailed me this report for Francisco on the super panga Huntress: Sunday-two sails released Monday-two marlin, two sails, four dorado Ken Hill from Utah Tuesday- one sail and one dorado Wednesday- one sail Thursday- two Sails Inshore action is still doing well for jack crevalle, sierras and dorado only a half a mile off the beach. .…Ed Kunze Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582 Cabo San Lucas The largest marlin I heard of this week was a black that was caught around the 1150 area and weighed in over 500 pounds. There were a few other blacks and blues caught, but I did not hear of any more large ones, mostly small fish in the 200 to 250-pound class. The good news was the numbers of striped marlin that were found on the Pacific side of the Cape. Most of them were found just on the edge of that warm water band I mentioned earlier, about two miles or so from shore. The lack of mackerel for bait has hindered the anglers abilities to hook up, but even so, a good day has meant releasing two to four fish, and a great day has been up to six striped marlin releases. The bite on yellowfin tuna has been an on/off event this past week. One day they are in one area, the next day the same area is as dead as can be. Pods of dolphin holding tuna have been found everywhere this week, and the most consistent area has been a slice of water from directly south of us to just to the south of the San Jaime Banks. This area also encompasses a strong temperature break/current line that keeps moving around. There have been some nice fish taken from these schools, up to 150 pounds, but most of them have been in the 20-pound class. There are still fish being found in the San Jose area as well, and boats working the humps there have been doing well using sardina as chum and live bait. Dorado numbers continue to be low and the fish small, with an average size of only 10 pounds. There have been decent concentrations of them on the Cortez side of the Cape close to the beach, and Gray rock up to Palmilla has been providing action on these smaller fish. Some boats have been coming in with limits of these, with an occasional fish to 20 pounds. On the Pacific side the fish have been a bit larger on average, but there have been fewer of them. For a lot of the fishermen this week, wahoo have been the highlight of the trip. If they managed to get out early they had a really good chance to get one of these speedsters. There have been more wahoo caught in the past two weeks than I have seen in years, and the fish are decent size. We had one client that went out in the morning and was back at 10:30 a.m. with one 50 pound and one 25 pound wahoo as well as a dorado. Some boats have been getting three or four fish a day, but almost all the action has been early morning. Most of the action has taken place along the coast in the Sea of Cortez. Inshore fishing has been a repeat of the past month's action as once again small roosterfish (with an occasional 35 pounder), ladyfish, decent sized sierra, small yellowfin, bonito, skipjack, occasional snapper and grouper along with a patchwork of dorado and striped marlin made up most of the inshore catch. Most of the effort took place on the Pacific side of the Cape and for sheer numbers, sierra dominated the inshore action. George and Mary Landrum Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191

Endless Season Update October 03, 2010 REPORT #1232 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996 East Cape Greg Gordon, Baltazar Sequires and Gerardo Ferrand sent this report The best fishing trip of our lives. There was a little stutter in the action and then after a tropical storm breezed over the top of East Cape. Then as October arrive the fishing roared right back to life. Football sized tuna to eighty pounders with some much larger being lost after long tedious battles that were won by the fish. Meanwhile the nice sized dorado good sized up to twenty. Inside of ten mile the sailfish and stripers were biting and there were enough blue surprise bites make it tough to decide which tackle to use. Inshore action remained good for a variety of species including roosters, small jacks, lady fish and pompano though there were more school sized fish and less Bubba class. There were a few larger fish seen from the beach but they were tough to get to. Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303 Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico Greg Gordon, Baltazar Sequires and Gerardo Ferrand sent this report The best fishing trip of our lives. I have lived full time in Loreto and spend a lot of time fishing here and have always done very good.....But nothing like this!! 2 days catch includes: 12 - Wahoo - 50 to 86 LBS, 14 - Dorado - 15 to 40 LBS, 25 - Yellowfin Tuna - 15 to 35 LBS, 9 - Yellowtail - 20 to 35 LBS and 3 - Whale Shark Rides at break time! Your experienced crew, accommodations and service is unmatched anywhere in Baja! Thanks again and we will see you soon! Greg Gordon....…Bob Hoyt Just like that the wahoo kick off the season on the Thetis and those in the know are there in a heartbeat. Lance Peterson raced up from East Cape and filled the cooler in one day ith 6 nice sized wahoo. I swung by the following day and he passed off a fillet. He also added that he was bit within a minute of dropping the Marauder in the wake. Later that night I delivered it to Jill and Jonathan at their terrific Tailhunter restaurant http://tailhunter-international.com/tailhunter-bar-and-fubar-cantina.htm in La Paz. In no time it was back at my table prepared two different ways. According to the few boats fishing the bank there were stripeys in zone as well. Inshore? I forgot to ask Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150 Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico There is not much to say about this week for the fishing. The 83° blue water is still out at the 1,000 fathom curve (30 miles), but there is clean water within 6 miles of the beach. There are very few people fishing and tourism is slow. Most of the captains are taking this time for the opportunity for their annual maintenance of the boats. They are pulling them out of the water for new paint, bottom paint, repairing last year’s dings in the fiber glass, etc. The one bright note is the heavy rains we experienced this year have let up and the rain season is just about over. This will bring the blue water back close to the beach, and most of all, clear up the inshore waters for our anticipated excellent action for roosters.... …Ed Kunze Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582 Cabo San Lucas The water warmed right back up and with it came the big marlin. Last Sunday a blue marlin was weighed in at #780, and just yesterday (Saturday) there was a reported #1,200 brought in, also a blue marlin. That last fish has not been confirmed by me as I just heard about it yesterday in the evening. There have been plenty of nice fish in the 200-300 pound class caught as well, and there have been striped marlin found on the Pacific side in the slightly cooler water. There has been little change in the yellowfin tuna action. The fish have been found in all the usual places, the Outer Gordo Bank, the Inman Bank, the 1,000 fathom line on the Cortez side, 40 miles to the south, south of the San Jaime Bank, and just the other day we had a brief showing of decent fish just five miles off of the lighthouse on the Pacific side. Most of the fish had been football-sized, but those off of the lighthouse had fish to 120 pounds, and those off of the banks have been producing occasional fish that were that size and even larger. Almost all of the larger fish on the banks have been caught on live bait, while around half the fish found offshore in the porpoise have been lure-caught fish. Good sized dorado remained decent with an average weight of around 18 pounds with lots of fish in the 30 to 35 pound class. We had one angler land a bull dorado that weighed over 50 pounds, possibly as large as 60 pounds, along with several others in the 30 pound class, and they released plenty more. Most boats were able to get limits of these fish without trying hard. A few wahoo were caught, but the bite has remained sporadic. They were caught either on the high spots or found offshore while looking for tuna. The pangas were fishing near-shore from 100 feet deep to around five miles from the beach due to flat water conditions and the numbers of dorado to be found so most of the inshore action consisted of dorado, roosterfish and jack crevalle, with an occasional snapper or grouper. Almost every boat there was able to limit out if they wanted. George and Mary Landrum Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191

No Limit to Limits Endless Season Update September 19, 2010 REPORT #1231 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996 East Cape Late summer yellowfin tuna meet their match with Cassandra one of RBV's tenacious lady anglers. September continues to promise limits for many anglers looking for a late summer yellowfin tuna fix. Often the first tuna will be a short distance from your hotel. Admittedly they are small but a good warm up for the bruisers lurking under the porpoise schools farther offshore. Hook the right…wrong one??? And you will find yourself laying in a Jacuzzi nursing a margarita with barely enough energy left to lick the salt off the glass. You might find the plentiful dorado more to your liking as they put on a show leaping about. Once you have limited out there is always the billfish option which currently offers , stripers, sailfish or an occasional blue or black. Inshore the roosterfish action remains some of the best recorded in years and the pompano or pargo are waiting to rock your world. Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303 Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico Like most of Baja Sur there are very few anglers in the house. Offshore a steady parade of boats fleeing the slow California season are traveling down the coast. Local info about the many marlin and tuna twenty or so miles above San Lazaro have Captains working out their timing so they can arrive in the area at gray light. Meanwhile, closer to shore, small yellowfin tuna and firecracker yellowtail are thick ten miles outside the Boca. Esteros are expected to improve over the next few weeks as shrimp season goes into full swing. With few anglers it's hard to gauge how good the fishing is right now. There are reports of decent sized groupers, pargo and even a few snook..…Bob Hoyt Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150 Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico Due to the heavy rainfall we normally experience in September, the 82° to 84° blue water has been pushed out past the 1,000 fathom line and at about the 32 mile mark. No doubt the fishing was slow this week with few boats going out due to the lack of tourists. On a trip to the Centro Mercado today (Friday), I checked out the local catches by the commercial pangueros. There were a few yellowfin tuna, dorado, and striped marlin fillets, and not much else. When I pulled up the Terrafin Satellite photos for the blue water (chlorophyll), it was incredible how much brown stuff was coming out of the Rio Balsas about 45 miles to the North of us, and brown water is worse than green. It is actually reaching areas we fish for sailfish and tuna from Zihuatanejo... …Ed Kunze Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582 Cabo San Lucas Most boats releasing one billfish per day, others more. Most of the fish have been Striped Marlin, but there have been a lot of small Blue Marlin caught as well, fish between 180 to 280 pounds, and a few larger fish to 500 pounds. Many of the fish have been found on the Pacific side of the Cape with the effort being most intense for the Blue Marlin between 10 miles off the lighthouse to the ridge between the San Jaime and the Golden Gate Banks. The Golden Gate and the area off of Los Arcos have been producing most of the Striped Marlin, with more seen than caught! Tuna action continues inconsistent, one day there are plenty, the next they are gone. Of course, if you are the one in the right place at the right time it seems there is no end to them. The problem of course, is finding them in the first place. Most of the local banks produced some with an occasional toad of over 200 pounds. They have been the exception however, most of the fish found have been between football size to school fish, between 8 and 20 pounds for the most part. There are plenty of dorado, averaging size 10 pounds with a few in the #30 class, but they are easily found. Fly rod action on these guys was great it was catch and release until your arms dropped off, and the excitement of having one of the big ones show up in the chum line made for some great action. Wahoo went on the bite this past week. We had one group who hooked multiple fish each day three days in a row, landing at least one a day. The largest was right around 60 pounds and they lost a larger one that day as well, the others were around 35 pounds. Inshore action roosterfish were the exotic, plus some decent snapper, lots of small skip-jack and baby yellowfin as well as loads of small dorado that supplied most of the action for the Pangas this past week. As well as the usual inshore fish, there were a few nice black marlin hooked by Pangas fishing for larger dorado, so there was always the chance of being surprised!...…George and Mary Landrum Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191

REPORT #1229 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996 East Cape Humboldt squid, the nectar of the gods for yellowfin tuna As August comes to a close a storm called "Frank" tried to rain on the parade mid-week. There were few guests to care and the locals watched the weather channel and then went fishing as usual. The month which began with the billfish pop, is finishing with the best August fishing in a while. Because of the lack of anglers, fewer hotel boats have been going out and the light pressure seemed to make the tuna bite even better. There has even been lots of bait including sardina, mullet, caballito, and Humboldt squid. The tuna drew the most attention, spread out in both direction from a half mile off the coast. Smaller fish were close with the bigger boys underneath the many porpoise schools found in Palmas Bay. Cut up chunks of squid was the hot ticket for chum and out-performed live bait for the larger gorilla-class tuna. Dorado were mixed with the tuna and spread within two miles of the beach. The average fish caught was around ten pounds. There were limits for the anglers that found the schools…at least two or three per boat per day. One or two big bull in the 40-pound class are being taken daily. The billfish, blues, stripes and sails, were there for the taking for those anglers that targeted them off the inside and outside banks where there were plenty of tailers and jumpers. Both blue and striped marlin are biting. Anglers targeting billfish are scoring, very light pressure While the beach was pretty thrashed by the large swell and wind, mid-week the boats fishing along the shore found the huge bubba-class roosters along with some nice sized pargo and pompano. Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303 Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico Offshore the dorado and tuna are right on the color break at 12 miles in front of Lopez Mateos outside of Boca de Soledad. Pay attention…on the run out there are a few sleepers every day and in the afternoon feeders are on the acres of bait on the surface. There were few fishing the esteros this week but there were reports of smaller snook (under ten pounds) plus a few grouper and pargo.…Bob Hoyt Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150 Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico The 80° blue water has moved in a bit and holding steady at around 14 miles. The fishing, even with the full moon phase is not all that bad. The boats are each averaging between one or two fish a day, with the fish being either sailfish or striped marlin. Plus, they are getting and average of one to three dorado each a day. Between the three species, it is making for a decent day on the water. Even though Hurricane Frank transitioned from a tropical storm to hurricane status right out in front of this coast, it was nowhere near us. We didn’t even get any rain. However, we have been getting more rain in the last weeks from the thunderstorms. September is the month with the most measured rainfall of all the rainy months. As we head into September, it will take two weeks for the roosterfish action to come back around even without any more heavy rains, which is unlikely. The inshore water is almost completely silted out, with poor visibility and poor fishing along the beaches up and down the coast. This is very evident by looking at the chlorophyll section of the Terrefin Satellite photos. Wherever a river or stream outlets into the ocean, a mass of green water is also being pushed out in front of them. The larger the river, the larger the green mass. Fly fisher Steve Baldikoski from Los Angeles fished a day with Cheva and me on the panga Dos Hermanos II. We found some barely 'okay visibility' water up near Troncones and Buena Vista, but that even shut down around noon. Steve only managed to hook a 20-pound class jack crevalle, which broke the 17 pound test leader, and a couple of small black skipjack tuna. …Ed Kunze Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582 Cabo San Lucas Some sailfish have been showing up as the water has gotten warmer. Most of them have been found on the Cortez side around the 95 and 1150 areas by boats working those same areas for blue marlin. There have also been quite a few striped marlin in the same areas, strange since the water is so warm there. As far as the big fish are concerned, the blacks are still out there as several in the 400-pound class have been caught this week at both the Gorda Banks and the Inman Banks, mostly by boats hoping for a large tuna. The same areas have been producing quite a few small blue marlin in the 200-pound class as well. Yellowfin tuna remained consistent with some quality fish in over 100 pounds being found in the San Jose area between the Gorda Banks and the Inman Banks, but most of them have been smaller, ranging in size from 15 to 30 pounds. These same size fish have been found elsewhere as well, with fish showing from the south by the 1,000 fathom line to the San Jaime Banks area. While that action has not been wide open, everyone who has gone looking for them seems to have been able to catch a few. There were some decent fish over 100 pounds found in small pods of porpoise to the southwest of the 95 spot, and there were even more fish in the 60- to 80-pound class as well, so it is looking better for the larger tuna this year. I fished the Pacific side for dorado this week as a guest of a client and we released three under 10 pounds and kept four fish of about 12 pounds. All of these were found close to shore, within two miles of the beach. A scattering of wahoo were reported this week and strangely enough the best area seemed to be just along the drop-off in front of Cabo San Lucas Bay and just to the north of the arch, between there and the lighthouse. The fish averaged 40 pounds and while not every boat got bit, those that put in the time had some action as a reward. The large swells are still inshore! Roosterfish action was down once again due to the storm swells but quite a few pangas made the run to the Gorda Banks to fish for tuna or stayed out in front working the water for dorado..…George and Mary Landrum Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191

Endless Season Update August 22, 2010 REPORT #1228 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996 East Cape Locals are shaking their head in disbelief as the fishing has broken wide open and there are no visitors to take advantage of the action. The yellowfin tuna continued to bite in close in front of La Ribera. These were not the football-sized fish that are usually common close to the beach…some hit the 20 to 40 pound class providing more than an ample amount for sashimi at cocktail hour. The boats heading farther out found some gorilla-sized tuna that pulled like a souped-up VW Bug. The trick was to get in front of the right porpoise school with lures or bait and then hang-on! Throughout the week, the big tuna seemed to be winning most of the tug-of-wars with an occasional toad brought to the pier. Blue and striped marlin have kicked into high gear and are biting better than they have in the past several years. One report claimed it was some of the best billfish action in twenty-five years. The dorado action also ticked upward which probably accounts for the increased billfish action. Even though it's beginning to sound like a broken record, the bubba-class roosterfish bite (to 70 pounds) just doesn't want to quit, which is something to crow about. The big Humboldt squid remain one of the best sources of bait with some scary looking 5 to 6 foot specimens being chunked up for bait or chum. Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303 Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico Six kayaks, 22 boats and 42 anglers participated in the first annual Fly Fish, light tackle and kayak tournament in Comondu BCS, Mexico which took place on 13, 14 and August 15, 2010 at Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos. Considering that the event organizers only had approximately 4 months to plan the event the attendance was remarkable.. The event was held only in the Bay with fishing only from shore, kayaks or boats. Tackle included fly and conventional. With all catches released after weights and length was recorded. It was the first all release event ever held in the bay Three species targeted were snook, grouper and corvina. During the two day event the contestants caught 35 grouper, 80 snook and 64 corvina. Winners included http://www.bajafly.com/report/lopeztournament.htm…Bob Hoyt Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150 Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico The 80° blue water is between 16 and 18 miles off the beach and the fishing is a bit on the slow side. The few boats fishing (only 8 to 10 a day) are each averaging about 1 to 2 sailfish or striped marlin a day. Wind was a major contributor to the fishing this week as we had 3 days where it was darn uncomfortable to go out 16 to 20 miles and then get hammered coming back. Just before the winds hit us for three days, Cheva on the panga Dos Hermanos II, went to the 22 mile mark and got three sailfish for his clients on one day. So the potential is there. Adolfo, on the Dos Hermanos, made the 40 mile run to Puerto Vicente Guerrero and is staying down there a couple of days. He was very disappointed. The nightly rains, very intense at times, have the chocolate colored rivers running brim full. They have discolored the entire coastline South of Zihuatanejo to way past Vicente Guerrero. There is a major movement being undertaken by sportsmen right now. A Billfish conservation act has been introduced to congress. It is for the purpose of “taking bill fish off the menu.” Please click on the attached link and then contact your congressman through the link inside the article. http://www.sportfishingmag.com/news/news/billfish-conservation-act-of-2010-introduced-to-us-congress--1000084822.html …Ed Kunze Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582 Cabo San Lucas One of our friends released a black marlin estimated at 500+ pounds while working the temperature break to the south, so we know that the marlin are still out there. Striped marlin have made a re-appearance at the Golden Gate and surrounding areas; most boats are coming in with from two to more than a half-dozen releases per day. Black marlin averaging 150 to 200 pounds have been found near shore between Cabo and the Los Frailes area and blue marlin in the same size range (with a few in the 300-pound class) have been found just a few mile farther out with concentrations to the north of the temperature break. Yellowfin tuna ranging in size from 15 to 30 pounds are being found between the Gordo and the Inman Banks, with a few in the 100+ pound class. These same size fish have been showing from the south by the 1,000 fathom line to the San Jaime Banks area. Though not wide open, everyone who has gone looking for them seems to catch a few. On the Pacific side, the dorado action has started to open up with a lot of fish being found within five miles of the beach. One boat of clients this week released two striped marlin and landed three dorado…a 50 pound, a 35 pound and a 15 pound. Finding one usually means there are more close by! There were a few wahoo averaging 30 pounds caught, mostly by boats working close to the beach or at the Gordo and Inman Banks…not large, but a nice surprise for those fishing for tuna and dorado. Large swells made getting on the beach difficult, so the roosterfish action was down a bit, but the dorado, just a short way out, took their place.…George and Mary Landrum Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191

One ‘Woopsie’ for me…I was attempting to confirm the fishability of an Estero. Endless Season Update August 08, 2010 REPORT #1226 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996 East Cape The recent good fishing for both billfish and tuna was briefly put on hold when the southeast winds arrived mid-week. Fortunately, the winds subsided after a couple of days and the fishing should be back on track in a day or two. The bite seemed to cover all the bases. Billfish action included stripers, sailfish, blues and a few blacks to round out the catch. Excited billfish anglers were eager to take a show at an East Cape slam of three or maybe even four billfish species in one visit or maybe it was that the stars were aligned just right in one day. On the tuna front, there were more footballs than gorilla-class but again, there were enough big ones to convince savvy anglers to break out the heavy tackle and not take any chances on being under gunned when the VW-sized tuna appeared behind the boat. While there are ample school-sized dorado, there are just enough bull dorado to keep the anglers guessing. Inshore the roosterfish remain off the charts as the longest bite of big fish has gone on for several months…non-stop. Finally, the two p’s, pargo and pompano, are both making a good showing. Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303 Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico Action inside the Esteros was slow for the four clients who fished this week. During the three fishing days, they caught only a few grouper, a few cabrilla along with a handful of mystery bites One ‘oopsie’ for me was when I was attempting to confirm the fishability of a spot. I really would have preferred the client to catch the snook that bit. Later in the week the action began to improve slightly with better catches in the morning as we did some exploring in the Bass Tracker…Gary Graham Offshore dorado and small YFT’s are inside of twenty miles and there was at least one marlin seen only three miles offshore by one of the Captains…Bob Hoyt Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150 Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico The 84° blue water is still holding at 16 miles. There is also a huge area of very warm 88° water holding just south of Zihuatanejo, on down towards Acapulco. Normally, water this warm would not be productive for blue marlin, but the consensus among the captains is there are as many blues out there as there are sailfish. This is probably due to the huge amount of black skipjack tuna we have here right now. The blue marlin are just simply following the food supply. Plus, a three pound tuna is too large for a sailfish. Early in the week, the skies were clear and the fishing decent for all species. But, the last couple of nights has seen some very intense rains. This morning’s (Thursday) rain, from about 1:30 until 2:00 dumped 3” of rain and wind on us in a half hour. Plus it lasted intermittently until about 10:00, but much less intense. Inshore has been slow, with the roosters moving off the beach and into deeper and cleaner water. One bright note is the ojtones, a member of the hard fighting jack family, is giving the inshore fisherman a lot of action. The 20 to 25 pound, good eating fish are being taken off the rock pinnacles, the White Rocks and the rocky points, on live bait and trolled Rapalas.…Ed Kunze Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582 Cabo San Lucas The much anticipated arrival of blue marlin began in earnest with several large fish lost, a few boated and many others released. The striped marlin along with a few sailfish remained consistent but In fewer numbers than experienced in early July. Several larger yellowfin tuna were reported lost: most of the tuna that were caught were of the smaller variety. There were none reported over 100 pounds throughout the fleet. In the dorado category, it was mostly smaller fish with an occasional larger fish in the forty-pound class caught farther offshore. Inshore action consisted of a few roosters, amberjacks and pargo. Aside of those, there were a few skipjack and bonito to round out the action. Many of the pangas took advantage of the dorado and small tuna just a few miles offshore. Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191

REPORT #1223 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996 East Cape Could have been a contender dorado; unfortunately it was not caught in the Dorado Shootout this weekend. As expected the cooler off-color water is receding, but this week brought another oddity. For several days there were YFT's being caught among the mooring balls of the hotels. Nothing huge but if you went out 30 to 40 miles where the porpoise play, there were some up to 75 pounds. There were plenty of the smaller fish caught in the Dorado Shootout this weekend but getting a big one was tough . The billfish action has remained steady but has had little pressure with most anglers choosing the other species as their preferred target. The epoch roosterfish bite continued another week producing some 50+ pound fish almost daily. There has also been an appearance of schools of sierra , usually more of a winter event. Lastly, the pargo bite yielded a few fish to 25 pounds. Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303 Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico Preparations for the big First Flyfishing Tournament which will be held August 13, 14, 15th are underway; as usual when there is a big event planned everyone gets tight-lipped about the fishing. .... Bob Hoyt Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150 Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico The 80° blue water is practically on the beach. The fishing is really decent, as each boat fishing the blue water is averaging two sailfish a day, and at least 1 dorado of 20-25 pounds. However, not many boats fished this week, with only four or five boats going out a day. We had been getting rain at night, but today and yesterday we had rain in the morning and early afternoon. However, the fishing has not been affected. Adolfo, on the panga Dos Hermanos, fished the beach all week and did excellent on roosters. He told me the water has cleaned up after the heavy rains of a couple of weeks ago and in the last two days he released 11 roosters, with five “long releases”. He also told me there are more roosters than jack crevalle. Cheva, on the panga Dos Hermanos II, fished for roosters today, releasing three in the rain. They could have had more, but the clients had had a good time and wanted to go back to the hotel. The last three days, Cheva had been fishing the blue water with a total of four sailfish, two striped marlin, three dorado, and a blue marlin. A great three days anywhere…Ed Kunze Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582 Cabo San Lucas The warm water has finally brought in some blue marlin. Several were released this week and a few were brought in for weighing. Most of them were in the 200-pound class, but there were a couple reported to be over 300 pounds, and one was about 500 pounds. The striped marlin bite improved as well with the fish finally starting to bite on a regular basis. There were no big numbers posted by anyone, but almost everyone was releasing one a day and having shots at a few others during their trips. A few decent sized sailfish were caught, with most of them in the 90 to 100 pound range; there were a few smaller ones around 60 pounds, still these were nice fish. A couple of blacks were reported from boats that were working near to shore for dorado. Even though we were seeing big tuna last week, and boats were going to the Gordo Banks to target them, boats from Cabo did not have great results. With these large fish you really needed to be on the spot at first gray light, but the boats fishing from San Jose got a few as they only had a 20 minute run instead of two hours. In our area there were plenty of fish in the 10 to 20 pound class with a few going to 30 pounds. These fish were found with the porpoise and while it did take some time to find them, once you did, at least for the first few boats, the action was good,. A good catch was eight fish with most boats catching three or four. A few never found them or had other targets in mind. Dorado were a little larger on average as we expected to happen with the warmer water. The fish were not concentrated in one area;, they were scattered out, one or two here and there. The key for dorado was finding a frigate bird that was staying in one area and occasionally swooping down to the water. The larger fish were in the 25 to 30 pound range while the average was 15 to 20 pounds. Inshore fishermen found red snapper averaging seven pounds as they worked the rocks on the Pacific side of the Cape. There were also quite a few nice roosterfish and larger jack crevalle found cruising just outside the breakers ..… George and Mary Landrum Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191

Endless Season Update July 11th, 2010 REPORT #1222 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996 East Cape Congratulations to Lance Erik Peterson of Port Angeles, Washington, USA, for his new IGFA World Record Grouper, broomtail, Tippet M-10 kg (20 lb), 5 lb 0 oz, Puerto Lopez Mateos, Baja, 20-Feb-10 What had been rated as one of the best bites of the year was temporally stalled by a cold, green current, which along with the two Mexican super-seiners equipped with helicopters prowling the water, put the fish down. There were a few lucky boats that found bigger tuna but most had to settle for the smaller grade. Some smaller dorado were found closer to shore but there were none of the large bulls that had been seen recently. The striped marlin, with an occasional blue and a few sailfish, continued to be the hot ticket for those who targeted them. Inshore, the roosters, jacks and pargo didn't seem to be bothered by the unusual cooler water. Lance Peterson reported tough fishing from the beach with overcast skies, coupled with the wind and larger swells making sight fishing difficult. When the roosters were found, they were in their spawning behavior and had little interest in what was offered. Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303 Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico Few folks were fishing this week but the reports from the locals continue. Marlin, dorado and tuna (including a few bluefin) added to the what is being called the 'oddest season'. In the esteros, the grouper are quality-sized and biting well.... Bob Hoyt Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150 Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico The 80° blue water is still just a couple of miles off the coast, and the sailfish bite is holding up. After last week’s 15 inches of rain in a 4-day period, I am really surprised the blue water wasn’t pushed out farther with the massive intrusion of fresh water from the coastal rivers and streams that are abundant on our coast. The rain did affect the roosterfish and jack crevalle action and it will probably take another week to get back to decent fishing again. Adolfo, on the panga Dos Hermanos, told me the inshore is still too murky from the runoff and has been fishing offshore. He is releasing an average of three sailfish and getting either a shot or catching a blue marlin or striped marlin each day for his clients. Plus, due to the heavy outflow of trees, grass, etc. out of the rivers, a few dorado are showing. I heard an unconfirmed report of a 55-pound dorado being taken today (Thursday). Neither Santiago or Adan on the Gitana pangas fished much this week, but did well fly fishing with the Steve Powers fly fishing group this last week. Martin on his 35' cruiser had five strikes on sailfish, but managed to only catch and release two for the one day he fished.......…Ed Kunze Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582 Cabo San Lucas Although nowhere near as hot as it should be (at least not on the Pacific side), the weather has really started to heat up here in Cabo. The Sea of Cortez though, is another question; it has been in the 90’s and that is where most of the fish are being caught. It seems like the marlin bite has finally stabilized with striped marlin being the number one catch in Cabo. A a few blues are also beginning to be found. After marlin, yellow fin tuna were the most likely catch. While a few large fish were found up in the Punta Gordo area, nearer to home, there were scattered football-sized tuna between 12 and 25 pounds. A few small dorado were caught recently with a couple of larger fish reported as well. Most of them were in the 8 to 10 pound class with an occasional fish in the 20 to 25 pound range. The odd wahoo were still being taken here and there up to 45 pounds. Boats fishing inshore encountered sierra in good numbers, along with some roosterfish, jack crevalle and skipjacks. Inshore fishing was mostly conducted on the Cortez side of the Cape due to the wind. Pangas were doing all right, but not great, on snapper and small grouper. A few nice amberjack to 60 pounds were caught. Small bonito and football yellowfin tuna were caught as well as a few striped marlin were found very close to the beach which got the panga fishermen excited. The wind and swells made the water close to the beach a bit off color.… Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191

Endless Season Update July 4th, 2010 REPORT #1221 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996 East Cape All in all, this will be remembered as one of those weeks when you should have been here! photo Mark Rayor, Vista Sea Sports and Ruth Moran. East Cape fishing exploded in the week leading up to the 4th of July. Lots of fish…big fish, and finally the sardina have returned. Yellowfin action continues to be extraordinary! There have been many schools of porpoise with tuna to 150 pounds beneath them. The good news is that the porpoise schools are spread out allowing the fleet to do the same. Action begins as close as the lighthouse and can be found in any direction. The dorado action is on the upswing as well, though most of the schoolie fish are on the smallish side. However, just when you least expect it, in comes a 30 to 40 pounder. Then there is the giant of a wahoo (104 pounds) caught off La RIbera by a father and son from Colorado who were fishing with skipper Ramon from La Ribera on Los Amigos. Billfish, sails, stripers and blues, are there for the taking for those interested. Inshore the Humboldt squid are there to get everyone started in the morning before heading out for a big one. Then the rooster fish action has produced more Bubba's than a Catfish Noodling tournament in the south. All in all, this will be remembered as one of those weeks when you should have been here. When the action gets this good, anglers often end up getting hooked, literally. Here is a refresher on what to do when it happens…the removal part not the other! Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303 Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico In keeping with the oddest Baja fishing season in memory, there have been reports of marlin mixed in with the yellowfin tuna, but, as we know reports are as common as Pacifico's at a Mexican fiesta. The photos made the difference this time. In 71 degree water on the 23's , they caught two and broke off several marlin on the light gear they were using for the small tuna with plenty more marlin mixed in. More weird stuff: WFO for halibut in Santa Maria Bay…go figure... Bob Hoyt Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150 Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico We had been experiencing some fantastic action in the early part of this last week. The 84° blue water was just off the beach and the sailfish were going strong. Plus, we were recording some incredible catches of roosterfish and jack crevalle inshore. And then the rains came… Adolfo, on the panga Dos Hermanos, told me his clients caught 18 roosterfish on Sunday. They were taken on surface poppers and slow-trolled live bait. He was working the areas south of Valentine and down to the antennas. He went back on Monday, and the roosters were gone, but he got about 15 jack crevalle, which are not so sensitive to the huge volume of fresh water lowering the salinity of the coast line. Due to the wind and intensity of the rain, he didn’t even try to fish on Wednesday. From Sunday evening through Thursday afternoon, we have gotten 15 inches of rain, which really screws up the inshore fishing by bringing in tonnage of silt and fresh water from the numerous local rivers and streams. The silt makes the water look like weak hot chocolate and the fresh water lowers the salinity. It will take a couple of weeks to get things settled down again. Our normal heavy rain comes at night, in the form of thunder showers, but we have had intermittent heavy rain at any hour of the 24 hour day. Other than the month of September, this is very unusual. There is a group of fishermen who have been fighting the elements, and considering the conditions they are fishing in, they are doing well. There are ten fly fishermen here from the California's central valley, chartered through Mike Powers of American Fishing Company in Sacramento. Without the five pangas they are going out in daily, there would have been only three or four boats on the water each day this week. So far, Adan on the panga Gitana is the high boat in the fleet, raising 15 sailfish, teasing 10 to the boat, with the fly clients hooking six. Please understand, a hooked fish on the fly is not exactly a fish brought to leader. The line gets wrapped around the reel, hooks are not set firmly enough to withstand the incredible aerobatics of a sailfish, the angler is standing on the fly line, etc. Second captain honors go to Fernando, with two sailfish actually getting to the boat for photos. When the sailfish action died off on Thursday, all of the group’s boats found the schools of small yellowfin tuna, which were willing to eat the fly. Plus, there were schools of the small pelagic sharks, which rarely get larger than four feet, but have a large shark’s appetite......…Ed Kunze Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582 Cabo San Lucas There was a decent preview of summer fishing this week with striped marlin being a bit more active than last week, blue marlin showing up and a few swordfish showing as well. The striped marlin were found pretty close, as was everything else, mainly due to the fact that the farther out you went, the rougher the water became! Striped marlin were seen tailing on the surface but for the most part were ignoring the normal caballito and mackerel live baits. The boats that did the best were hooking small bonito close to shore,,,then slow trolling them. There were a few fish found that would eat the other baits, so it was not a waste of time or money to buy them, but the bonito seemed to work better. There was a nice blue marlin of 600 to 700 pounds caught and released (I saw the video) two miles off of Gray Rock. There was also a 150-pound swordfish caught around the 95 spot on Wednesday. Yellowfin were being caught every day and there were a few large fish found up in the Punta Gorda area. Not as many of the larger fish as there were last week, but if you were one of the lucky boats, the fish were going up to 100 pounds. Nearer to home, there were scattered football fish to 25 pounds. A few small dorado were caught this week, a few more than were showing up last week, and there were a couple of larger fish reported as well. Most of them were in the 8 to 10 pound class but the larger fish were around 20 to 25 pounds. Inshore fishing was mostly conducted on the Cortez side of the Cape due to the wind. Pangas were doing all right, but not great, on snapper and small grouper. A few nice amberjack to 60 pounds were caught. Small bonito and football yellowfin tuna as well as a few striped marlin were found very close to the beach and got the panga fishermen excited. The wind and swells made the water a bit off color very close to the beach. Our fingers are still crossed that the storms stay away, and it appears as if the winds have died down, at least for now. If the water warms back up (it has been in flux all week) the fishing should definitely keep improving. … George and Mary Landrum Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191

Endless Season Update June 27, 2010 REPORT #1220 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996 East Cape Captain Chuy on the Jen Wren is picking up where he left off with the grande yellowfin tuna. Yes, that was a full moon that shined over East Cape all week! photo Mark Rayor, Vista Sea Sports. I gotta' say it…under the bright light of a full moon, the East Cape went bananas. Throughout the week IM messages of great catches kept flashing on my computer screen. Not only were there huge tuna to 146 pounds, there were also a few blues and definitely a stronger striped marlin bite all week. Most of the tuna were under the breezing porpoise schools and if the right one was found, there were some serious bites to be had. Inshore and beach remained great serving up shots at big…oh what the heck…huge roosters and jacks with more broken off more than were caught. Hot days and hot fishing had everyone standing in lines at the bar to get something cold and wet. Can't wait to see if it holds up over the 4th. Mark Rayor Keep It Reel Fish and Chips Tuna Tournament reported: Twenty boats. I skippered the Cabo, and Chuy the Innovator. 7AM: Shot gun start and all the boats made their way to the squid hole to make bait. I stayed there longer than most of the boats to load up on bait. Off we headed to the outside of Pescadero. We had limits the day before off of the light house but there were no big fish. Earlier in the week several larger fish were landed to the north. Out about nine miles, I picked up my gyros to start looking around. The first thing I see is the Innovator off to my starboard. We ran a few more minutes and were lucky enough to run right into a huge school of spotted porpoise. Now we are about 12 miles out. I throttled back and we started chumming chunks of calamari. The tuna came for it instantly. I grabbed the radio and called Chuy. It only took him a few minutes to arrive on the spot. We already had three 30 pounders in the boat when the anglers on Chuy's boat had a triple hook up on calamari. They gaffed the 1st fish (about 20 pounds) when one of the other guys said, "I'm getting spooled". Chuy was alarmed when he looked down at an almost empty Accurate Boss B2-30. He immediately swung the boat around and went after the fish. In a few moments they had it under control and in 25 minutes brought it to gaff. Knowing it was probably a contender they headed to the scale. At 9:30 AM they were at the dock where the tuna officially weighed in at 143 pounds. That was enough to hold up and take first place. Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303 Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico Last week's sketchy rumor of a couple of blues being caught turned out to be two confirmed swordfish that were caught by a yacht above Magdalena Bay on the ridge on their trip down to Cabo. Meanwhile the local shark fishermen swear they are seeing dorado and billfish every day they venture outside. If the weather would settle down a tad it might be worth doing a little scouting. Until that happens the yellowtail and white seabass are going off. Inside it is pretty steady for the corvina and of course the cabrilla.. Bob Hoyt Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150 Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico With the blue water at only about 6 miles and a short ride off the beach, we are really getting some very warm surface temperatures. Morning readings are 84 to 85° with afternoon readings as high as 86 to 88°. The blue water action has also slowed down some, but not a lot. Part of this is because I only counted five boats yesterday morning leaving the municipal pier in Zihuatanejo Bay with clients, and three of the boats were fishing inshore. There are just not many people here. Inshore roosterfish and jack crevalle fishing is still excellent. Early in the week, Baja On The Fly Guide, Lance Peterson, guided fly fishing clients Tom Lorish and Kurt Ransohoff of California for four days. They were with Cheva on the panga Dos Hermanos II. Lance told me they raised more roosters than they could count while fishing down south between Valentine and the antennas. Tom did get a nice one weighing almost 30 pounds, with Kurt leadering three large jacks to 20 pounds. The next couple of days saw a few more jacks and a couple of roosters caught, with many more missed opportunities. One of the problems they encountered, which hurt their chances for the spectacular results of the first day, was a couple of pods of bufeos (pronounced boo-fay-ohs) moved in on the same beaches they were fishing. A bufeo looks like a porpoise, but is twice as long. They are actually false killer whales, and a predator to roosterfish and jacks. Fishing with Adolfo on the Dos Hermanos, I guided Rosario and Cecile Tortoice of Houston. We went north to the Buena Vista Beach area and ended up with 5 nice roosters to about 40 pounds.....…Ed Kunze Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582 Cabo San Lucas Striped marlin are being found out at the 1,000 fathom line but seemed lethargic and not very hungry. Up toward Punta Gordo where the water is much warmer there were a few blue marlin. Most boats were having about 20% success on the fish using bait, hooking one out of five. The blue marlin were feeding on tuna. The good news of the week was that we finally had yellowfin show up. It was a long run up into the Sea of Cortez for the 50 to 100 pound class fish just to the north of the Gordo Banks. Only some of the boats gave it a shot, but for many of those that did, it was worth the run. Scattered pods of porpoise were holding fish and it was a matter of finding the right pod. There were smaller fish being found closer to home; it seemed that the farther you went the larger the fish became. No concentrations of dorado have been reported recently but there were some nice fish found up in the same area as the tuna. The warm water was the key, as was finding anything floating, usually there was at least one fish in the area. Slow trolling a live bait in front of the porpoise pods looking for tuna resulted in several dorado instead, with the largest I heard of going just over 30 pounds. Inshore fishing has been a bit off with the larger swells that made it uncomfortable. Those that managed to fish did well on the Pacific side with snapper to 20 pounds, some sierra, some amberjack and a lot of action from jack crevalle. The Cortez side of the Cape had fish inshore as well with roosterfish making a good showing in the area just to the west of the Westin Resort… George and Mary Landrum Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191

REPORT #1219 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996 East Cape Yellowfin tuna limits were the norm this week and most of the catch was a better grade. photo Mark Rayor Vista Sea Sports. Maybe it was the seasons dismally slow start, but it seems like someone threw a switch. Yellowfin tuna limits were the norm this week and most of the catch was a better grade. Boats targeting marlin were landing multiple stripers with a few bonus blues for the ones with heavy trolling rigs. There were enough red (release) and blue (billfish) flags flying from the outriggers to fool some into believing that the 4th of July was just around the corner. Even the dorado showed up, admittedly they were mostly dinks but what the heck, they grow fast. Just keep letting them go and they will get to be 'fatties' in no time at all. Inshore the whole mixed bag thing is still going off. Big roosters to try to fool, huge jacks ready for a tussle along with pompano, pargo, ladyfish, etc. Those short and terse reports saying that fishing is great are evidence of just how good fishing is…no time to talk! Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303 Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico Recent rumors are that several yachts traveling by found a couple of decent size blue marlin. This has everyone guessing who, what and when. Meanwhile the local shark fishermen swear they are seeing dorado and billfish every day they venture outside. The white seabass and yellowtail reported last week still are off the charts this week in both number and size caught. So much so that hardly anyone is bothering with the esteros these days. Update Outside remains strong for yellowfin and yellow tail. the grouper bite is just starting. Water remains cold with lots of bait. Inside the corvina bite is wide open feeding on small sardines. Bob Hoyt Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150 Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico Update Saturday: We're off to a fine start over here. Got into a great bite this morning that lasted almost three hours. Fish all over the teaser. Tom Lorish landed his first big rooster...about 28lb's I think, plus a big jack. Kurt Ransohoff boated three big jacks and missed numerous hook sets on big roosters. It was a ton of fun and a huge difference from how we started last year. Lance Peterson Adolfo, of the Dos Hermanos fame, was elated when I talked with him on the pier a couple of days ago. He was telling me the currents have now changed and the roosters are back. He said we will have excellent fishing from now through December. The 80° blue water is still holding just four to six miles off the beach, and the fishing is holding up also. Few boats are on the water, with only a maximum of ten boats fishing a day, and often fewer. Blue marlin, sailfish, yellowfin tuna, and a few striped marlin make up the majority of the catches offshore. Santiago on the supper panga Gitana, and his brother Adan, on the panga Gitana II, only fished one day each this last week. However, Dave Sicard and his son from Mississippi, fishing with Santiago, released two sailfish and got 4 yellowfin from 10 to 30 pounds. And, Walter Glen of Las Vegas, fishing with Adan, caught and released an estimated 90-pound striped marlin on the fly. Plus, Russ Hampton of Los Angeles, fly fished on the Dos Hermanos II, with Cheva at the helm, hooking six roosters and catching four on the fly in two days of fishing. Adolfo’s clients have taken 12 roosters and “Mucho” jack crevalle on conventional gear over a five-day span....…Ed Kunze Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582 Cabo San Lucas We wish we could say that fishing was better than it is, but we can’t; even though we have had some great catches, the consistency just hasn't been there. It has tended to be feast or famine. Nevertheless, marlin was the top catch this week with forty-two percent of the charters catching stripers. Two of our boats fought the most prized of all billfish, the broadbill swordfish, on June 13th, (both at the 11.50 spot), but unfortunately neither could get them on board. Another angler fought a swordfish for over an hour before losing it…pretty disappointing for everybody. It’s been a tough week with clients. Cabo has such a great reputation that people expect to catch fish all the time and the crews feel the pressure, as they want to catch fish, too; it’s a matter of professional pride plus they want their anglers to be happy. However, with the effects of the El Niño current on the way out, we are confident that it won’t be long until things are back on track and of course the only way to catch fish is to go out and get some lines in the water Slim pickings on smaller game this week, with just sixteen percent of the boats catching tuna and only nine percent catching dorado. Tuna catches were usually of a single fish as were dorado, with weights just average on both species at 15 to 25 pounds. We had a couple of wahoo, one at 45 pounds that was caught six miles from Cerro Colorado and another wahoo weighing 38 pounds. In addition, a few skipjacks, jack crevalle and even a manta ray was caught and released. Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191

Endless Season Update June 13, 2010 REPORT #1218 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996 East Cape Billfish Cowboys of Santa Rosa, CA landed limits of YFT on the Jen Wren this week With the official beginning of summer just a few day away it feels like our fishing is finally heating up. The big news is that the tuna have finally arrived. They are traveling with porpoise schools from north of Punta Pescadero to south of Las Frailes. A good grade of fish, they range from football size all the way up to gorilla class reaching 100 pounds. For the billfish set it looks like a few blues along with stripers and sails are finally ready to get in the game. All of this is after a frustratingly slow beginning to the season. Note to the dorado: you are welcome to the party anytime…come back, we miss you! Meanwhile, one of the brighter bites all spring was the fantastic wahoo bite and it still continues. Speaking of bright bites, the ROOSTERFISH bite is insane! More grandes. The bubba-class roosters are chewing like there is no tomorrow. Still missing are the sardine; they seem to be taking the summer off. Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303 Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico Big white seabass and bigger yellowtail have been the week’s crowd-pleasers. Well, forget the crowd part, there are only a few anglers to take advantage of what many of the locals are calling the best bite in recent memory. Tee good news, the bite is tight to the rocks just below the lighthouse at Cabo Lazaro. Farther offshore the local pangueros checking their shark buoys are reporting seeing striped marlin, swordfish and yellowfin tuna. This would seem to indicate an interesting summer is about to begin… Bob Hoyt Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150 Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico With the blue water holding just off the beach, the 80° surface temps are ranging from the beach to at least 60 miles out. And, the fishing is good. What is not so good is there are very few people here to enjoy it. We are only putting 5 to 10 boats on the water a day. That is the whole fleet, and with about half the boats fishing inshore, it is hard to find the concentrations of fish in the blue water. We are getting blue marlin, a few striped marlin, lots of yellowfin tuna and sailfish. The marlin and tuna are being taken between the 18 and 25 mile marks, with the sailfish being mostly found in decent quantities between the 6 to10 mile areas. Adan, on the panga Gitana II had a couple of back-to-back bad luck days; however there were some very exciting moments. His client, Walter Glenn of Las Vegas was casting at yellowfin tuna with the 12wt fly rod, and had been very successful for several fish. But, he made one cast too many, as a 300+ pound blue marlin ate the fly. Walter ended up with a broken rod, a lost fly, and a lost fly line. The following day, Walter borrowed my fly reel (while I replaced the fly line on the other), and armed with one of Rebeca’s special billfish flies, Adan teased in another huge blue. At least Walter was using the 14wt this time. The fish took off for about 10 minutes, and did not jump until a long ways out from the boat. Then it put on a display, and unfortunately cut the 40 pound butt section with its beak. At least the next day he got more yellowfin tuna (to 30 pounds), raised three sailfish, and released an estimated 200 pound blue marlin on conventional gear. Jeff and Louise Stackhouse of South Carolina fished with Santiago on the super panga Gitana. Fishing with conventional gear, they had an outstanding day, releasing an estimated 300 pound blue marlin, a sailfish, and getting four football-size yellowfin tuna. Adolfo, on the panga Dos Hermanos fished the blue water only one day, releasing five sailfish for his client. Inshore, Adolfo reported there are jack crevalle on the beaches in tonnage quantities. And, the fish are big, ranging from 18 to 25 pounds. He also took three roosters between 18 and 25 pounds, with the main concentrations of bigger fish not yet here...…Ed Kunze Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582 Cabo San Lucas Billfish action still looks a lot like that of Apri;l there were striped marlin to be found on the Pacific side close to the beach. As a matter of fact, one was hooked on iron while jigging for amberjack right off the arch. Most boats were getting shots at three or four fish per trip with one or two releases per trip. I did not hear of any blues or blacks showing up in the patterns this week. A decent pick on yellowfin tuna to 25 pounds close to home with the fish being just two to three miles off the beach between the Gray Rock and the Red Hill areas. There were some porpoise with them. Working the area steadily resulted in catches of between two and ten fish per boat. Being there early was a definite help. There were a few dorado this week but with the change in temperature they went on vacation. Roosterfish were found close to the beach on the Pacific side past the lighthouse, as well as off the beach on the north side of Chileno on the Cortez side provided action, and when the water turned over the sierra started to show again. Quite a few of the pangas went for the yellowfin tuna on the Cortez side and did well. With the water turning over the fishing offshore dropped off, but it should switch around any day now, just as fast as it went. As of now, the wind is gone and while there are still swells, they are spaced far apart. I feel there will be a decent bite on tuna soon. Anyway, keep your fingers crossed for a turn in water temps and until next week, tight lines…George and Mary Landrum Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191

Endless Season Update May 30, 2010 REPORT #1217 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996 East Cape Mike Hergert provided this photo of a pompano he caught this week during his stay at Rancho Leonero. His panguero, Santos, said it was the largest one he has ever seen and guessed that it weighed between 18 and 20 pounds. Mike also reported that he caught two marlin, six tuna to 50 pounds (enough to fill his ice chest), six dorado from a kayak, two large roosters---one weighing 65 pounds and one weighing 55 pounds---and numerous ladyfish, sierra, etc. on a fly rod from the beach. While Mike had an excellent week others were not so successful. There were several days of wind to contend with, but it seemed to help the marlin bite. Tuna action is being found mixed in with the porpoise quite a ways offshore. If you are not one of the first boats to find them, however, it's too late. Apparently the best dorado action is for smaller fish around the moored boats in front of the hotels. Perfect for the kayakers looking for action in the evening. Inshore action is still where it's happening. Hoards of small roosters with enough 'bubba' class to keep it interesting. The pompano action is near the lighthouse along with some jacks. Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303 Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico It has been windy lately so few are venturing outside. Bay fishing remains good and in fact has been picking up with corvina and halibut starting to show in numbers. Local fishermen on Isla Magdalena have been spotting marlin and swordfish. Bob Hoyt Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150 Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico The 80° blue water is just a couple of miles off the beach, and the action has been fairly steady for striped marlin, blue marlin, and a few sailfish. However, this is the time of year to expect these kind of results. It is hard to imagine, but for the 30 calendar days starting about May 12, there can be no better blue marlin fishing anywhere in the world than what we have here on this coast. A few years back I made a study about our marlin fishing in May. The blue marlin outnumbered the striped marlin by about ten to one, plus there were also a few blacks caught. The sport fishing fleet averaged 7.5 strikes a day, with almost four fish a day brought to leader. Historically during this time period, we average a blue marlin per boat for every three days on the water. Plus, this was done by boats that were basically geared for sailfish, and found themselves sadly under-equipped when the marlin hit. Some boats, like the See-Ya from Cabo San Lucas, spent the fuel money to get here just to sample this action. They specifically targeted marlin and had a great month. Plus, there was an insignificant difference in fish caught between the pangas and the cruisers, proving the fish don’t care how fancy the boat is. For this last week, the super panga, Huntress, with Captain Francisco, only caught one sail at the 16-mile mark, in what owner, Mike Bulkley, described as “beautiful blue water”, but they had several marlin strikes also. The Huntress was handicapped by a couple of earthquakes the day before, which really hurts the fishing. Mike also told me there was a lot of the bait-stealing bufeos (boo-fay-ohs) in the area. Almost identical to, but much larger than a porpoise, they are false killer whales, near the top of the food chain, and they can shut off a bite also. Santiago, on the super panga Gitana, says “fishing is good right now”. He fished three days with John Fuller of Chicago, and friends Ben and Sam, releasing seven sailfish, and catching a 180-pound blue marlin. They also had five more sailfish and two striped marlin strikes, but missed them. Inshore action was tough this last week, as we had huge waves hit the coast from a storm several thousand miles away. The waves were actually washing up into the beachside restaurants, whose tables are on the sand. But, from tracking the waves on the internet, it sure brought in the surfers from all over the world..…Ed Kunze Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582 Cabo San Lucas There are many more striped marlin being seen, but they were not swimming around with their mouths open. It took time, patience and working the right fish to get hooked up as it appeared most of the fish were still full on squid. Most boats were able to get one to bite and a few boats had better luck and were able to hook three or four fish, but the average was more like one for every two boats hooking up and fighting to each release. The fish are fairly close to the beach, just outside the arch and up the coast on the Cortez side. There were reports of some decent-size black marlin in the area as well. We had a 'good to decent' bite on football-to-school-size yellowfin tuna close to home. The fish were just outside of the Gray Rock area within five miles of the beach. This placed them in calm water close to home, so they got hammered hard by almost every boat out there. They are gone now but while they were here, guys had great fun on fish ranging in size from 10 to 45 pounds. These fish were associated with a pod of porpoise so they were fairly easy to find most days. Best luck was had by boats able to get sardina up in San Jose, but that meant an early go, as it is a 45 minute run up there and the same back. In order to have the best luck, you needed to be on the fish early! There was scattered action in other areas, but the best alternative was the area to the south and west of the San Jaime banks where the water blued up nicely. The only problem there was that it was easy to get fish close to home and the water was rough out at the Jaime. Dorado are not here in full force yet, but there are still some decent fish turning up on the catch as boats fishing the near-shore waters on the Sea of Cortez side of the Cape are having decent luck with fish to 20 pounds while trolling live bait. Several pangas reported catching dorado to 30 pounds while slow trolling live mullet for roosterfish just off the beach where you can see the bottom. Other fish were caught on the Cortez side, but the focus was on the Gordo Banks and the Red Hill area. Not a lot of fish were there, but some of the boats were able to get action. There were still some decent wahoo to be caught; but not in the numbers or the sizes we were seeing recently. The fish that were caught were found in the usual haunts, on top of structure and off of the steeper drops. Roosterfish remained the best bet inshore with decent action on sierra as well if you worked the beach on the Pacific side of the Cape. All the mullet that have arrived have really improved the inshore action for all species. Amberjack continued to be one of the favorites and limits were easy to come by for most anglers. George and Mary Landrum Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191

Snook Again! Endless Season Update May 23, 2010 REPORT #1216 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996 East Cape One of the more unique catches this week was a 28-pound snook in one of the East Cape lagoons, according to East Cape resident, Jim Moyer. Wow…snook as the lead for the second week in a row! This should dispel any doubts that this is a weird year so far. This week brought an upward spike in the overall fishing picture for some. Reports of tuna down by Las Frailes were encouraging; however most of the fish were footballs with only an occasional larger fish landed. There has also been a decent volume of striped marlin seen but few biters and a few good sized dorado have been found but no bonanza by any definition. Inside, the small roosters and ladyfish have been thick but not many in the Bubba-sized scene along the beach. Now if the sardina would appear, maybe fishing will begin to regain some normalcy. Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303 Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico A new tournament will be held August 13, 14 and 15 in the mangroves out of Lopez Mateos. It will be Baja's first tournament of its kind to be held in the esteros/mangroves. So far, the plans are to include flyfishing, kayaking and conventional categories. I should have the complete details next week. Few fished this week and the reports were sketchy but it sounded like fishing was slow. Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150 Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico The 80° blue water is back on the beach, with the clear and clean water having moved in to about the 6-mile mark. Historically, this is typical of the first or second week of May. Our bread and butter sailfish will be around, but this is also the time when the marlin and tuna move in. Plus, the warm water on the beach brings back our roosters…the most exciting game fish of them all on a fly rod. Fishing has been steadily improving this last week, with several notable catches. The boats are each averaging about one sailfish and a striped or blue marlin a day. But, there are only 8 to 12 boats a day fishing. Tourism is really slow right now, with many of the better captains sitting at home. Santiago, on the panga Gitana, emailed me that Bob Majewski from Texas caught and released a 200-pound blue marlin, and Jim McKenna from New York released four striped marlin and two sailfish for two days of fishing. Mike Bulkley, owner of the super panga Huntress, and Captain Francisco, told me this last Thursday through Saturday they had a great three days on the water with one blue marlin, two striped marlin and two sailfish. The marlin were taken on separate days, but all were within a few tenths of a mile at the 29 mile mark on a 180° heading. Adolfo, on the panga Dos Hermanos was real happy when he called me. “The roosters are coming back. We got two today up near Pantla!” He predicts with the warm water on the beaches again, we will be in full swing with the roosters in two more weeks.…Ed Kunze Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582 Cabo San Lucas The striped marlin bite has improved a little, but not much as almost every boat is getting a shot or two per day on tailing fish, with a few being hungry and eating the bait. There have been a few more black and blue marlin being hooked up, with varying degrees of success in getting them to the side of the boat for releases. Most of the striped marlin have been found on the Pacific side or right out front, while their larger cousins have been found in the warmer water in the Sea of Cortez. Yellowfin tuna ranging from 10 to 50 pounds have been getting into the fish boxes somehow, or at least they were at the start of the week. When the water turned over, the bite dropped off a bit. Most of the fish have been found mixed in with the porpoise, but there have been quite a few found while blind trolling. . I really thought that the warmer water was going to bring in great numbers of dorado, but they just haven't shown up strongly yet. A few fish were in the 30-pound class with the average in at 15 pounds, and they were close in to the beach for the most part, on the Cortez side of the Cape and due south early in the week. The week started out with a bang as wahoo went on a decent bite for a change. Strangely enough, it was during the new moon phase, not a full moon, so perhaps in another two weeks the bite will take off again. Anyway, it lasted for about four days and everyone who tried for them seemed able to get at least one or two fish, some boats managed a half dozen in the 30 to 40-pound class. Schools of roosterfish up to 60 pounds in size were found this week. Slow trolling live bait, preferably mullet, worked best for the roosters. A few sierra were still found, and there was a halfway decent bite on amberjack, but most of the pangas tried to target the wahoo!...George and Mary Landrum Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191

Endless Season Update May 9, 2010 REPORT #1214 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996 East Cape The roosterfish and jacks held the most promise for many anglers, both from boats fishing close to shore or from the beach itself. Another week of mixed reviews for the fishing. Some tuna have begun to show up north of Punta Pescadero, but most of the fish found with the porpoise are barely football size. There were a few better grade tuna caught close to shore up toward Bahia de los Muertos. The boats seeking billfish are complaining that they are getting little return for lots of effort.It seems that one billfish for the day is a good score. Also reports indicate that there is just an occasional dorado showing up behind the boats with little rhyme or reason. The roosterfish and jacks held the most promise for many anglers, both from boats fishing close to shore or from the beach itself. There was one report of nearly thirty anglers fishing one popular stretch of beach…definitely not like the old days when you could fish the beach all day and not see another angler. Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303 Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico There were some decent-sized yellowtail under the birds at the Entrada. Offshore the water is pretty cool but there are already reports of both billfish and dorado being spotted near the shark buoys scattered out to the west of the Entrada. Inside the esteros, the bite remains slow for the few boats that even bothered fishing this week. Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150 Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico Historically, we have always had a poor March/April for the blue water species, with this year being no different. And, after the 1st week of May, things usually turn around completely. This is what is happening again this year. The 30+ year annual sailfish tournament was held this last Friday though Sunday. It was a record breaking year, but fortunately not for the number of sailfish killed; but rather for the 220 boats signed up for the tournament. With wind and rough seas, the tournament averaged fewer than a sailfish a day per boat. The overall winner took home a nice first prize of a Hummer truck, with a small (by other year comparisons) 86 pound sailfish. Since last weekend's tournament, the current prospects show the blue 80° water moving in a full 10 miles, and 20 miles off the beach today (Thursday). Give the water a few days to calm down, after being beaten by more than 200 boats, and we can expect a very decent turn around. Adolfo and Cheva, on the pangas Dos Hermanos I and II, fished the area at 20 miles on a straight out 200° heading today, releasing two striped marlin for Adolfo, and two sailfish for Cheva. The inshore water is still very cold at 72°, with not much action other than the hard fighting jack cravelle. The jacks are being taken on light line outfits with a slow trolled Rapala or live bait.…Ed Kunze Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582 Cabo San Lucas One of our friends pre-fished an angler for the IGFA tournament for two days and only saw one striped marlin in the distance that sunk out as they approached. Another friend, on a private boat, fished five days for three marlin, two of them as a double header. The fish that were found seemed to be fairly close to land and in the cooler water on the Pacific side. All we can hope for is an improvement on the billfish scene. I had reports, unconfirmed, of several blue marlin coming into the lure patterns this week; let's keep our fingers crossed! Some tuna action took place on the Pacific side up around the Golden Gate Bank as well as closer to home off of the lighthouse, and of course to the south of the San Jaime Bank. The fish were associated with porpoise for the most part and were halfway decent fish averaging 25 pounds with an occasional fish to 40 pounds. You had to be the first (or only) boat there for the action to take place, but most of the boats that got in on it were able to boat a half-dozen fish before the action quit. There were several spots where blind strikes took place as well, but in those instances it was just for one or two fish. There were a few more dorado caught this week than were brought in last week, and it may have a lot to do with the warmer water, but maybe not, as there were some fish caught on the Pacific side as well. Of course, on the Pacific side the fish were caught close to the arch, where on the Cortez side most of the fish came from farther north, up in the Punta Gordo area or far offshore in the area of the Cabrillo Seamount. The fish averaged 15 pounds with the larger ones in the 25 pound range and the best luck was with brighter colored striped marlin lures. Not very many fish had followers behind them when brought to the boat, so most of the flags were flying by themselves on the boats return. There were still a few wahoo caught this week, but not in the numbers we were seeing during the full moon phase. Most of the fish reported were found close to the Punta Gordo area or offshore in the wide open sea with nothing else around. Go figure. The inshore action dropped off just a little, but there were still some nice fish to be had. One couple who tried offshore got nada; then they decided to drop some bait down and landed one grouper of 48 pounds and lost another. The bite on amberjack has been an on/off bite, but the fish have been slightly larger than last week with a few in the 40 pound range. Sierra are still out there but not in large numbers, and there are still roosterfish to be found in the smaller sizes.....…George and Mary Landrum Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191

Endless Season Update May 2, 2010 REPORT #1213 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996 East Cape Jason Abrams of Park City, Utah landed this quality rooster on the fly from the Jen Wren. Some reports are bubbling with optimism expressing their certainty that fishing is going to get better. The 'boots on the ground' reports offer a little different take. The lack of sardina combined with some of the strongest winds in recent memory produced conditions that many say cannot go anyway but up. There were a few instances of good catches but not many. There was a least one quality roosterfish when Mark Rayor's Jen Wren came upon a huge school of roosters feeding on the surface near Punta Pescadero. But, alas that was the exception. The good news is the winds seem to be abating and water temperatures are rising. If the conditions continue along that path, fishing could be on track in no time at all. Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303 Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico Few were willing to make the long run to Cabo San Lazaro this week. Most of the focus remained closer in the Esteros. The sierra along with the cabrilla, grouper and corvina have been the primary targets for the few anglers fishing the area. Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150 Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico The 79 degree clean water is holding around 12 miles, with the deep blue water about 30 miles, and along the 1,000 fathom line. Inside 30 miles, fishing for the offshore species has been slow, and as reported by Mike Bulkly, the owner of the super panga Huntress, many boats are not even getting a strike. However, he did tell me that the inshore fishing for jack cravelle, chulas (a small, but excellent eating tuna with teeth), and black skipjack tuna is still good. Plus, this weekend, starting Friday, is the annual offshore tournament, with a new car or pickup given as the prize for the largest three sailfish, largest marlin, and largest dorado. Fortunately, with the tournament starting on the full moon cycle, and slow conditions anyway, the normal 120 to 150 boat tournament should have poor results. I say fortunately because Zihuatanejo has yet to get out of the stone age with this 30+ year running 'kill' tournament. In years past, with just slightly more favorable conditions, I have seen as many 750 sailfish hitting the dock over the course of the three day tournament. …Ed Kunze Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582 Cabo San Lucas There were a few striped marlin found this week; most were caught on the Cortez side of the cape, in the slightly warmer water, and in the calmer conditions. The area off Red Hill was once again the best area for these fish as well as the few wahoo that were caught by the early birds. One blue marlin of approximately 500 pounds was also caught in this area. The rough water conditions prevented boats from fishing the San Jaime bank, the area that normally produces yellowfin tuna, but there were a few fish reported offshore around on the Cortez side. Just a few scattered dorado were found near the Red Hill and the Punta Gordo areas on the Cortez side, but no concentrations were found. The best results were within a mile or so of the beach, using brightly colored lures. The dorado averaged 12 pounds, but a few were in the 25-pound range. There were some nice wahoo averaging 30 pounds caught to the north on the Sea of Cortez, but if you were not one of the first boats to the area, you didn't have much luck. The best areas were off the ledge at Red Hill, Gordo Banks and the In-man Banks area. For some time, inshore fishing has been the most productive. Good catches of small to medium roosterfish are found just off the beach as well as some decent concentrations of sierra. There were some good snapper taken from the rock piles, but due to the rough conditions on the Pacific side, almost all of this action took place on the Sea of Cortez....…George and Mary Landrum Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191

REPORT #1212 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996 East Cape It was tough fly fishing last week, but there were a few jacks to be found Sardina disappeared, wind kicked up and offshore action slowed and fish behaved lethargically this past week. Mark Rayor reported that his brother did manage to land a few billfish even though most of them seemed to be disinterested in even the liveliest of baits. Mark said, "We have only been getting one opportunity a day and have been lucky enough to make the most of it. Seems like the last several days the fish have popped up for a short time during slack tide. When it happens you better be ready or your day is done. My brother found one that took a green jack…go figure!" Women's Flyfishing's® Cecilia “Pudge” Kleinkauf, Anchorage, AK, had tough fishing for their week but did catch a few nice-sized fish. which included a few roosters and jack. Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303 Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico Yellowtail and white sea bass in the 20 to 30 pound class were still going off at Cabo San Lazaro. Bait was plentiful in the Esteros and the sierra along with the cabrilla, grouper and corvina are having a field day feeding on them. Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150 Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico The 80° blue water is still holding at 12 miles, which is historically very unusual for April. But since the migratory fish don't know the "historical" difference, the fishing within the normal 'day-charter' distance of about 20 miles is very poor for the average charter. Incredible action can be had, but at the magic numbers of 40 to 50 miles. There are lots of blue marlin, sailfish, and yellowfin tuna right over the near vertical drop from 6,000 feet to 14,000 feet. (Just check out Google Earth if you don't believe me about the depths.) This trench, called the Middle America Trench, extends from a bit north of us, down to Costa Rica, a distance of 1,700 miles, with depths at times of over 21,000 feet. It is a virtual highway for pelagic species like marlin, yellowfin tuna, and sailfish. This is where our local commercial pangueros, in a single engine open panga, go every day to make their living. Mike Bulkley, owner of the super panga Huntress, with Francisco as the captain, told me the clients do not want to pay the extra gas money and time it takes to get to the 45 mile mark. They read the daily charter rate on the internet, and expect the captain to take them to Hawaii, if that is where the fish are, and be back in Zihuatanejo at the end of the day. Rather than try and explain to a client to pay extra fuel for a trip of a lifetime, the Huntress has had very satisfied clients by going inshore and catching a lot of small game fish on light line. After which, Francisco, has been taking the clients to Ixtapa Island for lunch with their fresh caught fish, a little snorkeling, and water sports before returning to the pier, without having to stop for gas in Hawaii. Adolfo, on the panga Dos Hermanos, is very optimistic (read promoter), but then what can you expect from the very best captain in this port. He is getting a few roosters off the beach, with several sailfish and striped marlin in the blue water, when nobody else is getting them. Of course, he did not tell me where he got them, but his clients are very satisfied…Ed Kunze Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582 Cabo San Lucas There were a few more striped marlin found this week and most of them were on the Sea of Cortez side in the calmer water. There was a small concentration of them mid-week up off of Red Hill about two miles from the beach. Not many, but enough were caught to make it worth the effort. There were a few blue and black marlin released this week as well from the same area, although the fish were not large ones, averaging 250 pounds. I heard that there was a swordfish caught in the area of the 95 spot early in the week as well, but saw no pictures of the fish. A few yellowfin were found in the vicinity of the Golden Gate Banks by boats brave enough to confront the seas early in the mornings before the winds started to whip things up. The bite lasted for two days, but the guys kept things kind of quiet and not many boats heard the exact area. The fish were just a little larger than footballs but the boats lucky enough to find them came in with a dozen or so. Only a few dorado this week, but those that were caught were nice fish averaging 20 pounds. Almost every one that I heard of was caught in the Sea of Cortez, and the farther to the north you went the better your chances were. The warmer water gave you a better shot at them. There were a few wahoo caught but they were incidental catches while boats were fishing for marlin. The wahoo were all nice ones in the 40 pound class, and were caught off the Westin, the Gordo Banks and Punta Gordo. Inshore fishing was red hot for a couple of days with a good concentration of amberjack just off the beach. There were quite a few people fly fishing this week and if they were able to get sardina for chum they were doing well on sierra with a few small roosterfish, as well as the amberjack. Conventional fishermen were doing very well on sierra using small swimming plugs from three to five inches in length with a small wire bite tippet. There were some decent red snapper as well, on the Pacific side up in the rocks, but it was a case of being in the right place at the right time, mainly early in the morning before the winds started to whip it up...…George and Mary Landrum Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191

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

Endless Season Update April 4, 2010 East Cape Here is the evidence that billfish are venturing close to shore to feed on the squid. That's a squid tentacle hanging from the gill plate. As the wind slammed the door on March, April began with warmer temperatures and positive hints of the quickly coming Spring season. Inshore the roosters, jacks, African pompano and pargo are all biting well along with the still thick sierra, even on the windy days, providing spring-like action for those choosing to remain in sight of land. Even the billfish including sails and stripers are all only a few miles farther outside. What's missing are the yellowfin tuna, skipjack and dorado that should be part of any self respecting Spring thaw. Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303 Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico Either the fishing is wide open and everybody is too busy to talk about it, or all the Semana Santa (Easter) activity was too much of a distraction. One report was that the recent big tides made it tough for fishing inside the Esteros. Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150 Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico The 82° blue water is holding at about 10 miles, with most of the action taking place between 12 and 15 miles. The very good striped marlin bite is still holding up, with each boat in the fleet averaging about two striped marlin and a sailfish a day. Adolfo, on the panga Dos Hermanos told me the jack crevalle action is still slow, but there are a lot of other small game fish around to keep a light line rig very busy. He reports acres of black skipjack tuna, which are not table fare, but very hard-fighting machines. And, there are lots of small "chicken" dorado who are growing up fast. Mike Buckley of the super panga Huntress, with captain Francisco emailed me the following: "Fishing was very good inshore. Lots of bonita and small dorado inshore off Ixtapa Island. We had only one or two strikes out between the 15 and 25 mile lines"...…Ed Kunze Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582 Cabo San Lucas Marlin fishing has remained slow, again this week. A few were taken inshore close to Cabo, but the bite is just not happening. There have been reports of tailers seen up around the lighthouse area on the Pacific side, but not much interest when baits are thrown at them. It's fine water temperatures; they just aren't biting. Yellowfin tuna are there, then gone. Last week there was a good bite out at the Gate, next they were found again out by San Jaime, but not the number of schools we are used to seeing this time of year. Lots of porpoise out there, but the tuna are not with them. Still a few dorado popping up here and there, with only one or two blind strikes, no school concentrations. It seems like the rougher it gets, the better they bite. Sierra and more sierra, roosterfish, grouper, snapper, triggerfish, a smorgasbord inshore! We have had quite a few fly fishermen recently on the pangas doing very well chumming the fish up with sardina to cast their flies into schools…mostly roosterfish and sierra on the fly. Lots of families for the holiday, and it's been all about keeping the younger kids happy so they will keep an interest in fishing. So a lot of boats have stayed inshore where they are catching lots of fish, instead of offshore for one or two fish, if any. It was a pretty busy week here with the younger kids traveling with Mom and Dad for their spring break.…George and Mary Landrum Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191

Endless Season Update March 28, 2010 REPORT #1208 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996 East Cape Lance Peterson landed this rooster from the beach in spite of less than ideal conditions. Mixed bag throughout the week; on the windy days, the marlin show and then on a flat calm day, they couldn't be found. Out in front of La Ribera there were plenty of small tuna and skipjack as well as some amberjack, grouper and yellowtail in deeper water. There were even a few sailfish in the count. The dorado are scarce with only a few landed all week. Surprisingly the roosterfish bite continued in spite of the windy conditions with a few decent-sized fish being caught from the beach. Boats focusing on the inshore were able to score on sierra, jacks and pargo. Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303 Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico According to the locals the white sea bass action has been great outside of Cabo San Lazaro. The Humboldt squid are also still in the neighborhood. Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150 Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico With the change to cooler, dirty water and some very large waves hitting the beaches, the very good inshore action for jack crevalle and sierras has taken a nose dive this week. However, the slack has been taken up in spades with excellent blue water fishing. Striped marlin, like last year, showed up again this year. Historically, we rarely catch striped marlin here, but when they have shown up this past two years, we have been getting more striped marlin than sailfish. Most of the fish are being caught between 12 and 18 miles, with each boat in the fleet averaging two striped marlin and a sailfish per day. Naturally the better captains are doing better than that. Some notable catches this last week were with Adolfo on the panga, Dos Hermanos, releasing four striped marlin and five sailfish in one day. Santiago, on the panga Gitana, reported the following: Debbie Goggins from Alaska released two striped marlin and one sailfish fishing with Adan on the Gitana II. Dan Gaffney, with his wife and son from North Carolina, released three striped marlin, two sailfish and they caught many jacks and bonitos, during six days of fishing over the past week. They fished with Santiago on the Gitana. Also, Cheva on the panga Dos Hermanos II released three striped marlin yesterday, and Arturo on the panga Janeth released three striped marlin and two sailfish..…Ed Kunze Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582 Cabo San Lucas Marlin fishing has remained slow. Victor, my panga guy, had to have the catch of the week on these guys. Pulled in close to the lighthouse to check for sierra and released two striped marlin in the 150-pound range. They were just cruising for a bite to eat! While some folks in PV brought in a 684-pound black this week, we haven't seen anything like that yet. So with these warmer waters moving in, there is a chance! Yeah I had sashimi for dinner last night!!!!! Finally, Friday some yellowfin tuna showed up. Of course being the only game in town you had to get to the school early or they were scattered. Fish were in the 15 to 30 pound range. Hope this warmer water will keep them around, although yellowfin don't mind the cooler waters. Dorado on the other hand like these warmer waters and a couple came up to play. Decent ones also in the 15-pound range, not those little slippers that we had last month. Dorado grow fast, but not that fast! Sierra , roosterfish, grouper, snapper, a smorgasbord inshore. Sure glad the tuna have shown up to relieve the pressure on the inshore fisheries. We want to keep those reefs full all year round. …George and Mary Landrum Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191

Endless Season Update March 21, 2010 REPORT #1207 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996 East Cape Mark Rayor launched his new Cabo and promptly landed their first fish of the year. For those willing to brave the windy conditions, there were striped marlin to be caught. Mark Rayor launched his new Cabo and promptly landed their first fish of the year even though the water was slightly off-color. Didn't seem to bother the Humboldt squid action that has been going on for awhile. It's a good thing, since live bait has been hard to come by because of the wind. Even the dorado have been squirrely…up one day and down the next, with no rhyme or reason. Meanwhile, back inside, the yellows and amberjack were found at the drop offs. Roosterfish are still around but most that were caught seemed to be small and smaller. There were a few better size reported but no photos kept them into the unconfirmed category. Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303 Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico This was the only area reporting decent weather. Yellowtail to forty pounds were found under the debris floating outside Boca de Soledad. Outside of Magdalena Island there has been a good whack on white seas bass feeding on small squid. Speaking of squid, the commercial fishermen are loading up on Humboldt's every night. Inside the Esteros, few bothered to fish this week so there is little to report. Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150 Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico The 80° blue water has moved into the six mile area. The fishing has picked up some, with the best hard-working captains all getting a few fish. Karen and Saxon Hutmacher of Alaska fished two days with Cali on the Vamonos II. On the first day they had a couple of strikes on sailfish, got a striped marlin, and then also got a blue marlin of about 300 pounds to the boat. The next day they got two sailfish. Mike Buckley, owner of the twin engine super panga Huntress, emailed me with the following: "We had two charters, one inshore with lots of bonito and two dorado and one offshore with three sailfish at 22 miles. All three sails struck at the same time and we released them all. Water was beautiful, but that was the only action all day." Todd Sandell and his friend Ron of Seattle treated themselves to their 40th birthdays by fishing with Cheva on the panga Dos Hermanos II with their 8wt fly rods. They had excellent action on the small game, with most of the fish being the hard-fighting black skipjack tuna, but they also got a very nice sierra, which was their dinner that night.…Ed Kunze Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582 Cabo San Lucas Marlin fishing has remained slow again this week. Still a few bites close to shore, but not hearing of anything offshore. Even the bottom fishing for marlin up the Pacific side isn't working yet. Where are they? Just not here in the numbers we have seen in the past. March should be great for striped marlin. Still pretty thin in the tuna department and it's not pretty water getting to them. Reports of porpoise schools in close but the boats working the schools are reporting only small bonita. There were a couple of fish coming into the docks but all reported that there were some pretty rough seas getting there and back. Rumors of a good bite past San Jaime the other day, but I never saw any fish to match the rumors. A few dorado saved the day for some this past week. Not in numbers, but the ones caught were all in the 15 to 20 pound range instead of the four to six pound range that have been passing by. Wahoo: Okay, let's change this just for spring to Mexican Wahoo…still pretty much the catch of the week…although they are taking a big hit. If you are into the bigger 6 to 10 pound fish, there aren't as many of them being caught. Still lots of the smaller ones. Hey guys throw those two to four pound fish back; let them grow up! Got to leave some as breeders for next year!!! Inshore continued to prove to be the best action. Snapper bite is alright…haven't seen the numbers of red snapper hitting the docks like in years past, but they are there. People are just spending more time targeting the sierra I think. Don't laugh, but I did see some decent triggerfish come into the dock. (they really are good eating!) Also a few small mako shark were being released. Maybe with this cooler, high sixty degree water moving in the yellowtail bite will pick up again. …George and Mary Landrum Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191

REPORT #1206 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996 East Cape John Barley and his son landed five of the squirters in short order near the surface. To clarify the daylight savings time change, it turns out that here in Baja Sur the change actually takes place April 4th. Weather permitting, offshore fishing Is enjoying an uptick…enough striped marlin to keep things interesting. Sunday one of the Palmas boats landed a 180 pound swordfish. There are also reports some yellowfin tuna with skipjack mixed in along with rumors of some larger tuna on the outside down below Las Frailes. Inshore there has been a decent show of roosters, jacks, sierra, pargo and an occasional yellowtail. One El Nino surprise for March is the Humboldt squid being caught within a mile of shore. Part-time resident John Barley and his son landed five of the squirters in short order near the surface. Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303 Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico Windy conditions prevented any fishing this week. Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150 Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico With the clean 80° water only six miles off the beach, and the deep blue water out about 18 miles, the fishing is still fairly slow. Our bread and butter fish for the area, the sailfish, has been averaging less than a fish per day per boat. However, not is all bleak as Kjell of Sweden fished with Luis on the panga, Gringo Loco, for two days, taking a huge 50 (plus) pound dorado off a partially sunken tree limb. He released an estimated 250-pound blue marlin the next day. Cali, Captain of the Vamonos II, did get two sailfish on Friday for his clients, and an estimated 110-pound striped marlin. He told me, as well as the other captains, that the seas were very rough on Thursday. However, the inshore action has been very good. Adolfo on the Dos Hermanos, Cheva on the Dos Hermanos II, and Arturo ????? all have been getting into large jack crevalle. The 15 to 20 pound jacks are coming off trolled rapalas, live bait, and surface poppers, with most of the action down near the white rocks. …Ed Kunze Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582 Cabo San Lucas Marlin fishing has remained slow again this week. Still a few more boats were able to find the fish this week, but it was nothing to write home about…at least for those of us who go out all the time. The fish seemed to be concentrated closer to shore than normal; most of the fish were found within three miles of the beach and on both sides of the Cape. Just like last week, most of the tuna were found quite a long way from home, necessitating a two-hour or longer cruise to get to where you might find some. Out by the Seamounts reports were that bigger schools had small fish, smaller schools had bigger fish. Not pretty water getting there though. My friend who made it out there said he was the only boat there. There are always exceptions though, and on Saturday there was a pod of dolphin found three miles off of Chileno Beach that had loads of football tuna, 5- to 20-pound fish, and the first dozen boats to get there had a blast! Just a few yellow flags were flying this week on Wednesday with the heavy winds and rough seas the dorado came out to play. The fish were found offshore on the Cortez side by boats searching for tuna and there were a few very small ones found in close to the beach, as well as on the Cortez side of the Cape. Inshore fishing: sierra bite busted wide open on the Pacific side late in the week. Same again this week with some boats coming in with 30 or 40 fish. There are also reports of the snapper bite picking up…George and Mary Landrum Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191

REPORT #1205 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996 East Cape This is what an angler with a March rooster looks like…it's not often you see a guy in a fleece vest with a roosterfish! photo Colleen Hubbard. Further signs of spring will happen next Sunday when Baja switches to daylight savings time. Meanwhile, most of the action remains close to shore or from the beach. Lance Peterson submitted this week's photo confirming both the presence of some nice size roosters along the beach and that it is chilly enough for a fleece vest. Along with the roosters there are schools of sierra chasing sardina close to shore. Even with the spotty weather, a bit of rain and the ever present wind, either way fishing can still be a blast! Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303 Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico Another quiet week with few anglers even in the neighborhood this week. The entrada produced some nice sized sierra along with a few small yellows and the sandy beaches at Belchers were holding some of the smaller variety of halibut in very shallow water. Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150 Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico The blue water fishing has been slow this week, with the inshore action being the best bet. The full moon caused the normal slow down in the blue water, but with the earthquake down in Chile, it really shut down. It was way too far for us to feel the quake here, but the small tsunami which came through acted like several major shock waves to the sailfish. The recorded tsunami was only about three feet high, and did not go much higher than our normal high tide line. When it came through, I was guiding with Cheva on the panga, Dos Hermanos II, and fly fisherman Steve Mara of Seattle. We were in touch with the Port Captain's office, which was in touch with the entire coast of Mexico. We didn't feel or see a thing, but we didn't get any fish either. The sensitive lateral lines on a sailfish can pick up a school of bait fish a half-mile away. The tsunami comes in with a series of shock waves, and it must really put a scare into the fish! A couple of days after the quake, Adolfo, on the panga Dos Hermanos, called me on his cell phone. He was into a very large school of jack crevalle, and they were huge! He was down at the Valentine river mouth, with the hard fighting jacks being an astonishing 25 to 30 pound average. Yesterday (Wed.), Ken Unger of Calgary, Canada, fished with Santiago on the panga, Gitana. They didn't get a strike on a sailfish, but found a floating grass patch and managed to pull a couple of smaller dorado and one nice dorado of about 30 pounds off it. Ken's 13 year old daughter, Shelby, had the honors of bringing in the dinner. They had it cooked up at Lety's Restaurant, which is probably the best seafood restaurant here, and very economical. Today, Ken and Shelby fished with Cheva and meI on the panga, Dos Hermanos II, up on the Buena Vista Beach area. Ken was fly fishing, and Cheva was throwing a surface popper or lure out 75 to 100 yards, and then handing off the caught fish to Ken's daughter, Shelby. She darned near got worn out. We did manage to raise a few roosters, and caught a jack crevalle. Plus, we found our own dorado hotel in the form of a huge patch of floating grass. We pulled eight dorado off it. Nothing was big, but it was a fun…and, I got to take dorado home tonight for my wife Rebecca to cook up. …Ed Kunze Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582 Cabo San Lucas Marlin fishing has remained slow, though quite a few more boats were able to find the fish and they were biting a bit better…still it was nothing to write home about. The fish seemed to be concentrated closer to shore than normal, with most of the fish being found within three miles of the beach, and on both sides of the Cape. Just like last week, most of the tuna were found quite a long way from home, necessitating a two hour or more cruise to get to where you might find some. There are always exceptions; recently there was a pod of dolphin found three miles off of Chileno Beach that had loads of football tuna, 5- to 20-pound fish, and the first dozen boats to get there had a blast. There were a few other clos- in fish found this week as well but for the most part, tuna were a long run from home with your fingers crossed! Just a few yellow flags were flying recently; most of the boats did not have any luck with dorado and those that did only caught one or two at the most. The fish were found offshore on the Cortez side by boats searching for tuna and there were a few very small ones in close to the beach, also on the Cortez side of the Cape. The sierra bite busted wide open on the Pacific side and it was disappointing to see so many of these so called “conservationist” captains load up with two, three or more times their limits. Come on guys! You have two clients on the panga, come in with 40+ sierra and then complain the next day that the fish have disappeared? Get a clue, please. Anyway, the bite was good and there were a few decent yellowtail caught as well as a few grouper and snapper. The surprise for many was the marlin that were found so close to the beach. While dropping bait to the bottom for grouper and snapper, many boats keep a live bait half-way down for amberjack, but there were quite a few marlin caught doing that. The whales are beginning to thin out. There were still plenty of Humboldt squid out there if things seem really slow fishing...George and Mary Landrum Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191

Endless Season Update February 28, 2010 REPORT #1204 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996 Charlie McCrow of London, England, with his 20 pound rooster on the fly, Panga - Dos Hermanos II with Captain Cheva, Photo and Guide - Ed Kunze East Cape Typical up and down wind didn't prevent some lucky anglers to land some nice-sized yellowtail. Actually, the no-wind days outweighed the windy ones. For some it was just a mixed bag, producing some fun days on the water; to keep things interesting, several of the local reefs are holding grouper, cabrilla and pargo There is enough bait around to attract both jacks and roosters. There are a few schools of 'grandes' exhibiting their ability to provide many more refusals than takes. There were a few nice sized fish caught, but not in the 'Bubba' class for sure. As normal the trick was to stick with the inshore as long as it produced. Many days it remained consistent throughout the fishing day. On other days it slowed down and heading outside, while tempting, was not worth the effort. Thank goodness we are done with February and getting closer to Spring every day! Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303 Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico The most consistent activity throughout the bay is the whale watching which continues to attract many tourists eager to photograph the mom's and their calves. Lance Peterson and his friend, Brad Ellis, spent several days fishing out of Lopez Mateos with excellent results. They caught a variety of species including the elusive snook..all on the fly. Lance reported that though they were mostly smaller fish, they were still very cool. Even though he has caught more roosters on the fly than anyone else I could name, this was his first snook on the fly and he was stoked! The fishing was pretty impressive. He went on to say that his Panguero Roddy was a master at boat handling. Having the right Captain, the right gear and the skills to make it happen made the team a deadly combo! Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150 Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico The blue water fishing has been a bit erratic, but the quality has increased dramatically. The boats are averaging about a sailfish a day each, but the 15 boat blue water boat fleet caught three blue marlin on Tuesday, six on Wednesday, and another five today (Thursday). Plus, the action is taking place only 10 miles off the beach in front of Ixtapa. This does not reflect how many other boats, armed with lighter sailfish gear, lost a blue. For every blue marlin hooked, there had to be at least three lost. As Paul Phillips was telling me..."there is a blue water dead sea area out there, and when it passes through, the fishing will be decent." The beautiful bluewater…better than I had seen in a month…was at 14 miles but held no life. It passed through, and we are now getting fish. Inshore has been incredibly unseasonable, with a great showing of roosterfish. Fly fishing client, Charlie McCrow of England got a nice 20-pound rooster while fishing with Cheva and me on the panga, Dos Hermanos II. We were up at the Pantla/Buena Vista Beach area, which Adolfo had tipped us off as to being a good bet. And Adolfo, on the Dos Hermanos, has been doing his usual inshore magic. Fishing the areas from Playa Linda to Troncones, his conventional gear clients caught 15 jack crevalle and 6 roosters on one day, and the next day they caught "mucho" jacks and 4 roosters…Ed Kunze Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582 Cabo San Lucas Striped marlin are being caught, but not in numbers to get excited about. Fish were seen close to the shore in the greenish water on the Cortez side, and anglers bottom fishing for grouper and snapper who dropped a live mackerel halfway to the bottom in 150 feet of water hooked two marlin, releasing one and losing the other. Other boats were seeing one here and one there on the surface in the same type of conditions. There was no consistent bite nor was there any regularity to the areas they were being found. Well, the yellowfin had some regularity to where they were being found, and that was way out there! Most of the fish found this week were from football size to 30 pounds and it was a long run for a consistent bite! While there were fish found as close as 18 miles due south and 24 miles at 210 degrees, most of the action has been due east 35 miles or due south at 40 miles, a long two-hour run for the charters. If you got into the right porpoise pod, the action was 'hot and heavy', but there were a lot of pods with no fish. If you did happen to be in the right ones, almost anything was working, from feathers to marlin lures to cedar plugs. Dorado seemed to be missing in action this week. While boats were able to find the type of debris that would normally hold these fish (weed lines, dead seals, wood), there were few if any fish under any of them. Inshore fishing provided the most consistent action. Though not large, there was an abundance of fish. The most common catch was sierra and most boats did not have any problem limiting out on them. Small swimming plugs, hootchies and live sardina, all rigged with a small trace of wire leader resulted in plenty of fish in the box. Anglers working yo-yo style jigs on the rocky bottom did well on amberjack to 25 pounds, grouper to 20 pounds and snapper to 20 pounds with an occasional larger specimen of each in the mix. There were also plenty of roosterfish to be had; unfortunately most of them were in the small five pound or less class, but there was an occasional school of 20 to 25 pound fish that gave good action. Yellowtail provided some steady action with fish to 30 pounds for boats that worked the points on the Pacific side, but several shrimp boats put a crimp on the action as they anchored on the schools and had 10 guys hand-lining with shrimp heads as bait. Watching the fish come over the rail one after the other really let you know how many there were in the school. Whales are still providing a show for everyone, both humpbacks and a few grays are always in view. I don't know if there is any correlation between these things, but along with the warm, green water has come the Humboldt squid. A lot of the boats are stopping to jig up a few of these after a long offshore trip just to get something for their anglers to pull on. Spot the bird piles working just off the surface and you can see the squid. Pull up so that your lures sink and pretty soon you are hooked up. Don't get inked though, it's pretty nasty to get off. ...George and Mary Landrum Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191