REPORT #1121 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Kirk lands his Roosterfish
Bryan Bero, Palisades, CA and Kirk Kuzmanic, Poway, CA, fell into a successful routine on the second half of their trip. Their roosterfish encounters included many more hook ups and fewer refusals. They managed to sight cast and strip strike themselves right into the double digit column on both of their final days.
Other inshore action during the week included, pompano, jacks, pargo,and plenty of ladyfish in front of the hotels.
Offshore the tuna bite was by far the best bet if you managed to be there early. If not, it was trolling, trolling, trolling until the next school was found. While you were trolling, there were enough dandy dorado to make it interesting…some of them exceeded fifty pounds. Another bonus in trolling was a few striped marlin and an occasional blue dog that set the reels to howling.
Beaching it was another long, hot, dusty trail with only a handful of shots to show for it. The few roosters caught from the beach this week were hard earned.
Tip: Slow trolling a hookless sardina is a productive way to attract roosterfish within casting range. When they appear, cast directly at them and begin to retrieve the fly the second it hits the water.
Water temperature 73-87
Air temperature 66-96
Humidity 38%
Wind: ESE 10 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 14 miles
Sunrise 6:38 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:09 p.m. MDT
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
The esteros provided good catches of corvina on the surface, as well as leopard grouper and snapper plus the usual cabrilla bite. Outside six miles offshore the small yellows were thick in the 69 degree water.
Water temperature 60 - 66
Air temperature 70 -99
Humidity 45 %
Wind: NNW 2 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 6:41 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:20 p.m. MDT
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
There has been very few changes in the conditions or fishing for the last few weeks. The blue water is still very close to the beach, and we are averaging 1 or 2 sailfish a day per boat. The tuna and blue marlin have gone back to areas beyond the 1,000 fathom curve (32+ miles), but a few nice sized dorado are showing up.
The roosterfish action is still excellent, however when I guided fly fisherman Jay Brady of San Antonio Texas, we only managed one small rooster on the fly. We fished down at Puerto Vicente Guerrero, but the previous night's rainstorm had dumped a lot of dirty water from the rivers. It had us looking for clean water, plus we had a low pressure ridge over us bringing the wind in from the South, and not the normal West wind.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 76-93
Humidity 62%
Wind: SW 12 mi
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 17 miles
Sunrise 7:15 a.m. CDT
Sunset 8:25 p.m. CDT
Cabo San Lucas
BILLFISH: Once again the week started slow for billfish, as well as everything else. At the beginning of the week boats were lucky to see a few marlin, let alone catch one or two. That all changed on Friday as a concentration of fish showed up, and showed up hungry, at the temperature break on the 95 spot. The fish were in small groups of twos and threes on the surface, and live bait was the best producer. Most boats were able to get at least one release and a few scored as many as five or six fish released. Farther to the north in the Cortez the striped marlin were spotty as the water was a bit warmer than they normally like, but there were a few blue marlin bites reported. It is still a bit cool for them, but look for more action from the girls in the blue suits as the water warms to a steady 82 degrees and the skipjack tuna start to show up in numbers.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Once again Friday seemed to be the day the fish showed up as there were confirmed reports of fish in the 30-40 pound class found under porpoise between the 1150 and the Cabrilla Seamount. On Friday there were just a few boats in the fish but on Saturday the numbers increased. The fish were in the smaller black porpoise pods, which confused a lot of people, as that is not a normal occurrence. There were several fish reported in the #200 class as well. On Saturday this scene was repeated with one boat reported catching the largest yellowfin of its history, and several other boats leaving the fish because they had enough. Who knows if these fish will stay in the area for any amount of time, but it is nice to see that there are still some out there. Live bait dropped down in among the porpoise worked best.
DORADO Once again there were just a few scattered dorado reported, but look for the numbers and size of fish to increase as the water continues to warm.
WAHOO: There were a few wahoo in the 40-50 pound class reported being caught, but I had no luck with them myself. The warm water offshore on the Cortez side of the Cape delivered a few scattered incidental fish for lucky anglers.
INSHORE: There were still plenty of sierra available for anglers looking for consistent action on Pangas, as well as a fair number of small roosterfish. Most of the action took place between Chileno and San Jose. On the Pacific side of the Cape the beach area was rough and green with only scattered schools of sierra and small Yellowtails being found between the Arch and the lighthouse.
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 67 - 75
Air temperature 66 - 96
Humidity 34%
Wind: ESE 10 knots
Conditions: Mostly Sunny
Visibility 14 miles
Sunrise 6:38 a.m. MST
Sunset 8:09 p.m. MST
Cabo San Lucas
BILLFISH: Once again the week started slow for billfish, as well as everything else. At the beginning of the week boats were lucky to see a few marlin, let alone catch one or two. That all changed on Friday as a concentration of fish showed up, and showed up hungry, at the temperature break on the 95 spot. The fish were in small groups of twos and threes on the surface, and live bait was the best producer. Most boats were able to get at least one release and a few scored as many as five or six fish released. Farther to the north in the Cortez the striped marlin were spotty as the water was a bit warmer than they normally like, but there were a few blue marlin bites reported. It is still a bit cool for them, but look for more action from the girls in the blue suits as the water warms to a steady 82 degrees and the skipjack tuna start to show up in numbers.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Once again Friday seemed to be the day the fish showed up as there were confirmed reports of fish in the 30-40 pound class found under porpoise between the 1150 and the Cabrilla Seamount. On Friday there were just a few boats in the fish but on Saturday the numbers increased. The fish were in the smaller black porpoise pods, which confused a lot of people, as that is not a normal occurrence. There were several fish reported in the #200 class as well. On Saturday this scene was repeated with one boat reported catching the largest yellowfin of its history, and several other boats leaving the fish because they had enough. Who knows if these fish will stay in the area for any amount of time, but it is nice to see that there are still some out there. Live bait dropped down in among the porpoise worked best.
DORADO Once again there were just a few scattered dorado reported, but look for the numbers and size of fish to increase as the water continues to warm.
WAHOO: There were a few wahoo in the 40-50 pound class reported being caught, but I had no luck with them myself. The warm water offshore on the Cortez side of the Cape delivered a few scattered incidental fish for lucky anglers.
INSHORE: There were still plenty of sierra available for anglers looking for consistent action on Pangas, as well as a fair number of small roosterfish. Most of the action took place between Chileno and San Jose. On the Pacific side of the Cape the beach area was rough and green with only scattered schools of sierra and small Yellowtails being found between the Arch and the lighthouse.
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 67 - 75
Air temperature 66 - 96
Humidity 34%
Wind: ESE 10 knots
Conditions: Mostly Sunny
Visibility 14 miles
Sunrise 6:38 a.m. MST
Sunset 8:09 p.m. MST
