REPORT #1126 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Lance scores on his day off!
Fifty-six boats and 255 anglers competed in the Bisbee’s 9th Annual East Cape Offshore Tournament last week. All that effort
for the three days resulted in 114 billfish…one black, 20 striped, 67 blue marlin and 18 sailfish. There were two qualifying
blues in the Billfish Category, one weighing 306 pounds and one weighing 360 pounds. No qualifying tuna were caught, and in
the Dorado Category three dorado over forty-five pounds were weighed in.
While the big boys searched for the big blues, the big roosters were putting on a show inshore! Closer to the beach, the smaller
roosters whipped the water to a froth, reminding one of a poorly poured Pacifico. Over the rocks the pargo snapped and the
ladyfish took flight to throw the hook.
Small football tuna were scattered. Just the right size for light tackle or a fly rod.
Tip: When sight casting for roosters and a fish follows don’t accelerate the fly. Try to let the fish have look by
maintaining or slightly slowing the retrieve.
Water temperature 76-86
Air temperature 79-91
Humidity 82%
Wind: SE 6 to 8 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 6:51 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:59 p.m. MDT
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Wind caused unsettled weather making things ‘grumpy’ on the outside but the few anglers that made the trip were not
disappointed. There were plenty of tuna and dorado and for the fortunate, a few wahoo and marlin.
The firecracker yellows are at the Entrada and also are found within six miles of the Boca de Soledad.
There’s still a fair pargo bite up above Lopez Mateos, mixed in with a few groupers to twenty pounds. There are some smaller
sierra at the Bocas.
Water temperature 60 - 76
Air temperature 77 -90
Humidity 85 %
Wind: WNW 13 to 17 knots
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 6:57 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:08 p.m. MDT
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
With the 80º blue water just a mile off the beach, the fleet is not going much more than 6 or 8 miles for a 2 to 3 sailfish per
day average, per boat. The occasional floating log is still producing large dorado, but to find the log is mostly a matter of being
in the right place at the right time.
Martin, on the Nautilius, did very well early in the week with 6 large roosters (35 to 45 pounds), 8 jack crevalle, and 4 very
large sierra (about 4 feet long each). He took them off trolled live bait and casting surface poppers up at Buena Vista Beach.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 75-88
Humidity 65%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Mostly Sunny
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 7:27 a.m. CDT
Sunset 8:18 p.m. CDT
Cabo San Lucas
BILLFISH: Blue Marlin, Striped Marlin and Sailfish have all been giving our anglers a good time this week, and the boats
did not have to go very far to get into some action. The bite as been within a 100 degree arc from the arch, from off of Gray
Rock to the lighthouse on the Pacific side at a distance of between 3 and 15 miles. Most of the Blue Marlin have been picked up
farther out while the Striped Marlin have been closer to shore. The Sailfish have been closer in on average as well. There have
been a lot more fish seen than have been hooked up however, as most of the Striped Marlin showed a definite “not interested
attitude. While slow trolling live bait was a great way to get hooked up to the Sailfish and Striped Marlin, most of the Blues
seemed to be more interested in lures, perhaps the higher speed got them excited. For the Striped Marlin and Sailfish,
Caballito worked fairly well, but it seemed that better results were had by slow trolling small 15” Bonita. There were plenty of
these baits to be had close to the beach and you could fill your tubes pretty quickly using small feathers and hootchies.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: This was another week where I did not hear of or see any boats bring in any decent sized Tuna. A
few small football fish were caught and I did hear of a couple of fish in the 30-40 pound class but there was no consistent
action on Tuna this week.
DORADO The warm water has started to set off the Dorado bite and almost every boat was able to get at least one of
these great fish, and a few boats were able to get four of five. Most of the fish averaged 15 pounds with a few in the 10-pound
range and a few in the 30-pound range. Slow trolled live bait worked well on the larger fish and the smaller ones fell for fast
moving lures. Most of the action took place within 5 miles of the beach on the Pacific side of the Cape.
INSHORE: There was almost no change in the inshore action this week compared to last week. With the calm water
this week most of the Pangas were working just off the beach for Sailfish and Striped Marlin as well as Dorado. Those boats
working the beach did fair on Roosterfish on the Cortez side.
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 67 - 75
Air temperature 76 - 99
Humidity 66%
Wind: WNW at 8mph
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 6:53 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:58 p.m. MST
