bajainfo

If you are one of the many who are coming, here´s a welcome heads up: Conditions here are perfect. We’re seeing warm water coming in, the Terrafin is showing better chlorophyll and temperature conditions. Recently, I asked one of our captains to move from the La Ribera area further out to a line of warm water; and as soon he passed the line, they released couple of marlin and landed three dorado. There have been plenty of billfish around for weeks, but they have not been very aggressive . . . full of squid everyone believes. Last weekend our fleet released 20 marlin, which is highly promising for the upcoming weeks. We’re seeing more sargasso than we have in several years and the dorado are already schooled up beneath the floating weed patches. Roosterfish and jacks have been feeding on the surface and one of our boats released seven in one day. Bottom fishing has been promising and consistent for amberjack, snapper and cabrilla on both bait and jigs. Concerning bait – sardine, jacks and even mackerel are available. The mackerel you have to catch yourself since no one is fishing for them to sell. One big question recently is where are the tuna? They are beginning to show sporadically. Every day is different. Last week our fleet caught a couple of handfuls in the 20-pound class, not with the porpoise, just trolling with cedars and hootchies around sand castles down south. I also heard that some other boats caught about five on a porpoise school about 50 miles out, where the warmer water is. As I write the report, our only boat out today has one striped marlin released and four dorado in the box already!

Seldom does one week define the season but after a seemly long cold winter our East Cape fishing season has begun to blossom. Conditions are great! No wind, water temperatures are rising every day, and there are plenty of sardina around, as well as larger bait. Wahoo (63 pounds and my dad Chuy landed it! They also released two sails that day.), big dorado (40 to 50 pounds), sailfish, striped marlin, red snapper, jack crevalle, some sierra, amberjacks and even a blue marlin was caught in the area this week. After my friend Jon Wemple, Montana blanked for two days in a row on a cruiser, I invited him to fish with me on one of our pangas, the Mosca, with Victor Jr. Victor Jr. tried several of his favorites spots before finding one that was very productive… yielding one good-sized yellowtail out of three hooked. Two cabrilla and one red snapper were also landed at the same spot. Since Jon was eager to catch a striped marlin we decided to troll farther offshore. We found at least twenty of them ten miles off of La Ribera but no biters. Finally around noon we decided to return to the hotel for a late lunch. Reeling in his line, Jon watched as a large bull dorado broke the surface and inhaled his lure and twenty minutes later he landed his fish. Fishing with Victor Sr. on Victoria, our flyfishing guests barely had their tackle rigged before the first school of ladyfish appeared several hundred yards after they boarded the boat. Throughout the day they had good luck catching snapper, jack crevalle, and skipjack. More striped marlin seem to be arriving each day but are feeding on squid and not biting well. It's still a right place/right time kind of bite. However, on Sunday one of our boats landed three stripers and another had a pair of stripers and a pair of sails for their efforts. The day my Father landed the wahoo and sails, another hotel boat next to them had a sail and striped marlin that they caught and released. The volume of fish continues to grow! It looks as though when they finally settle down, the action should heat up like the weather. Felipe Valdez

Early last week there were a handful of striped marlin caught and released. Locals Buzz and Mary Fedorka caught five nice-sized yellowtail with Capt. Vicente in front of La Ribera less than thirty minutes from the hotel. Then the wind kicked up for a few days keeping most anglers on the beach. Capt. Marcos's clients caught one nice dorado plus a fat wahoo; not to be outdone Captain Ramon found a wahoo for his group in the same area between the Lighthouse and La Ribera. Filling out this week's catch list were several pompano with even more lost. Not bad for the week before “Semana Santa” (Easter Week), a weeklong celebration leading up to Easter. Finally, since we have so few trees to hug, the wildlife hanging out in front of the hotels this week was awesome. Out where the boats are anchored, the porpoise and manta rays decided to frolic for several hours each afternoon. I couldn't resist the opportunity take our panga out and take some photographs. Being in the water as the porpoise and mantas raced by was far more exciting than being in a swimming pool with them. Hope you enjoy my photos. Felipe Valdez

The arrival of springtime fishing coincided with the return of Pudge Kleinkauf's annual event here at the hotel. Pudge is the owner of Women's Flyfishing®, based out of Anchorage, AK and for the past 15 years she has brought a group of first-timers and seasoned fly-fishing veterans who have welcomed East Cape's warm springtime weather. In addition, this year's lady anglers enjoyed the week of good-to-great inshore fishing. According to guides Jeff DeBrown and Lance Peterson, the species list included bonito, skipjack, sierra, jack cravelle, roosterfish and cabrilla … so numerous that it wasn't unusual for all the women on the boats to be hooked up at the same time. By week's end, all were pleased with their catches and their digital cameras were filled with photos to share with friends and family when they returned home. Another hotel client, Tom Kolasinski, aka Beerman, and his friend Rolf from California fished on Alegria with Captain Juan last Saturday. Beerman and Rolf were waiting at 7 a.m. sharp as Alegria slid along the portable pier. Within the hour, the lures, rigged with ballyhoo, were popping in and out of wake behind the boat. As the second hour of the day began, the white and green 3.5 Zuker lure was hit hard; Beerman grabbed the rod and five turns of the handle later the mystery fish was gone. Still moving at trolling speed, Beerman jigged the lure back and forth hoping to attract the mystery fish back for a re-match. The mate grabbed a live-bait rod and dropped the rigged mackerel back. Before the bait even reached the first lure, a telltale sickle tail appeared behind the live bait. As the marlin turned and headed for the horizon, the Owner circle hook impaled the fleeing fish in the corner of the mouth … FISH ON! Rolf is old school and was quite comfortable battling the fish to the side of the boat in 20 minutes with a Penn 4/0 loaded with 40 pound line. Then the trip became all about rest and relaxation as the anglers sipped beer or napped while trolling. Suddenly, well, three hours later, the mate jumped down from the bridge, grabbed a bait rod and flung the hapless live mackerel as far as he could off the side of the boat. The striped marlin swimming on the surface immediately turned and inhaled the bait and it was FISH ON again. Beerman plopped down in what he refers to as the office chair and began battling the good-sized striper. This one was not a wimp and behaved more like a blue, skimming across the surface. At one point, it outraced the boat, forcing the angler out of the chair and to the gunnel, so Captain Juan could follow the disappearing fish. Then it tail-walked some distance behind the boat. Next, it was a few feet off the transom waving that fearsome bill in the angler's face. It was another half hour before the hook was removed and the fish released. Two stripers for two bites is a pretty good way to spring into an early Baja season!

Several boats fished this week with varying results. Paul Cannon, Salt Lake City, along with Hideo Takayama, Los Angeles, fished with Captain Juan aboard the Alegria. The first day, they fished near Punta Perico and caught five snapper plus cabrilla. On the way back to the hotel, Captain Juan heard there were breezing schools of small roosterfish chasing sardina off El Cardonal to finish up their great light tackle outing. Meanwhile, Yanet's skipper, Felipe Ruiz, along with Theodore Wierzbanowski and his wife began at the south end of Isla Cerralvo, but found the action slow and headed inshore to Punta Perico where they landed a large cabrilla. Next, Captain Felipe went to the Island, but had no luck so they returned to Punta Perico where they got another big cabrilla as well as some pargo in the rocks. The following day, both boats hightailed it to Boca del Alamo to load up on live bait before checking out some of the offshore banks. It proved to be a good move for both boats. Finding a mixed bag of action, Takayama and Cannon, in only a half-day of fishing on the Alegria, landed one quality yellowtail, five pompano, six cabrilla and lost count of all the barrilete they caught. The highlight of the day for them was a hammerhead shark that put up quite a fight before being brought alongside for a few photo ops. Meanwhile, the Wierzbanowskis on their partner boat the Yanet did nearly as well, landing more yellowtail (three), plus four pargo and seven cabrilla convincing them that the day after April Fool's day at East Cape was pretty special.