Baja Mexico: Magdalena Bay, Baja Sur & East Cape.
Capt. Gary Graham
July 23, 2004
Baja Sur - Saltwater Fishing Report
Blues to Needles, Something For Everyone
Ben Mintz, Ed Kunze and I are driving to Loreto Friday and arrive Saturday. Because I am not sure if I will be able to find an Internet Café Saturday morning I am sending the report out 24 hours early. Sorry for the inconvenience…..Gary
REPORT FROM GARY GRAHAM'S BAJA ON THE FLY:
PROVIDING QUALITY SALTWATER FLY-FISHING 365 DAYS A YEAR SOUTH OF THE BORDER.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: [email protected]; USA toll-free (800) 919-2252; Mexico 011-52-624-14-10373
Sat., July 24, 2004. Report covers the period Sat.-Fri. (7/17-7/24)
EAST CAPE, MAGDALENA BAY, ZIHUATANEJO, MEXICO; AND SAN JOSE, GUATEMALA CONDITIONS
EAST CAPE, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
IN GENERAL: Inshore, the good news was there were plenty of fish. Unfortunately, most of them were needlefish and, adding insult to injury, the pelicans wouldn’t leave Ken Cutroneo, of Medford, NY alone for most of the day. By the late afternoon the count was something like 63 needlefish, too many pelicans, one dorado, a few ladyfish. Tom Philley, El Paso Tex., hit the beach early on Sun. and wasn’t disappointed; fishing Rooster Alley he had steady action for the entire day using an olive Clouser. Small rooster, ladyfish, pargo, Cortez Grunt and a 20-pound jack convinced him that a Baja Beach was his newest favorite fishing hole. Erik Schoen, Oakland Calif., also spent most of his day at Rooster Alley with similar results to Tom.
On my last day before returning to Escondido with Joe Koziol, West Linn, Ore., we had our hearts in our mouths for several hours as rooster after rooster came surfing in on the windwaves at the cut near the arroyo. They seemed to have lockjaw, but it was an exciting day for Joe. Last but not least, my good friend Togo Hazard on his newest boat the “Dusty B III” fishing out of Buenavista Beach Resort racked up his personal best – a 561-pound blue marlin. It was the largest ever caught on his boat in his 39 year big game fishing career.
The weather got a tad squirrelly on Wed. as a local front came blowing through, but seems to be returning to normal now.
AIR & SEA -
Water temperature 75-88
Air temperature 80-88
Humidity about 52%
Wind: 23 mph from the SE
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy 22000 ft
Visibility 12 miles
Sunrise 6:45 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:05 p.m. MDT
July 27 First Quarter, July 31, Full, Aug 9 Last Quarter, August 15 New,
+ OFFSHORE: Blues getting bigger, sails beginning to show, large dorado and tuna big enough to hurt you.
+ INSHORE: Plenty of smaller dorado to chase your fly, a few roosters and I even saw a wahoo caught close enough I could watch from my porch.
+ BEACH: Early part of the week saw plenty of action without moving around much. Rooster Alley provided enough variety and action to fill several days.
BILLFISH – Blues taking the spotlight as the water continues to warm up. More sails to play with in between blue bites.
YELLOWFIN TUNA – They got bigger and meaner, saw some fat rascals up to 75 lbs this week.
DORADO – Bigger fish, smaller group out in the blue water, back inside, bigger groups, smaller fish, take your pick.
ROOSTERFISH\JACK CREVALLE – We got two in the double digit weight category this week blind casting with an olive Clouser.
BARRILETE OR MEXICAN SKIPJACK – Interest kind of waned with all the dorado around now.
PARGO AND CABRILLA – Found a few to sight cast to this week.
SIERRA – Who knows, who cares?
MAGDALENA BAY, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
IN GENERAL: Uh Oh, we turned the corner. Summer is here and the snook are snapping. We are headed down to guide a group of 6 for four days of exploring the mangroves and based on the reports our timing is pretty good. Snook, corvina, leopard grouper seemed to finally have awakened. We shall see.
Water Temperature 60-65
Air Temperature 73-98
Humidity 22%
Wind WSW 6 mph
Conditions Mostly Cloudy 11811 ft
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 6:49 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:16 p.m. MDT
July 27 First Quarter, July 31, Full, Aug 9 Last Quarter, August 15 New,
YELLOWTAIL – Entrada cleaned up and the yellows turned back on.
CORVINA – Heating up again.
SNOOK – I know where the have been hiding and can’t wait to get there on Tues.
HALIBUT – Don’t think they will get bothered much this week.
SIERRA – Not targeted this week.
ZIHUATANEJO, MAINLAND MEXICO
IN GENERAL: Here is a report from Mark Tamim and his father, Marwan, from Dallas, that sums up the fishing this week pretty well:
Just wanted to tell you that I had a lovely time fishing in Ixtapa. My dad and I were there July 10th - 17th. We went inshore fishing 3 times – twice with Alex Vargas aboard the “Esturion” and once with Arturo Landa aboard the “Janeth.”
Our catches are as follows:
Day 1: “Esturion” – 3 jacks in 20-pound class (2 casting and 1 trolling). 15 (5-pound class) jacks caught by casting Yo-Zuri Mag Minnows near a cliff around 3 miles north of Playa Linda. 15 bonitos caught by casting and trolling. 2 needlefish.
Day 2: “Esturion” – I got my first rooster which was around 35 pounds. I caught it using a Red/Clear Yo-Zuri Hydro Tiger. Got a 7pound jack and a very large needlefish. We fished Patitlan.
Day 3: “Janeth” – This time we fished Patitlan again with Arturo. About an hour into casting, a huge 60-pound rooster nailed my red/white Cordell pencil popper. The fight lasted 50 minutes around 2 miles out to sea. See the attached picture. Around 20 minutes later I hit another one – a 40-pounder and we released it.
As you already know, Arturo and Alex are top notch. I have been fishing in Ixtapa for 12 years and never heard of these guys . . . Always went out for sails and marlin. After reading articles about roosters in Ixtapa in Saltwater Sportsman and Field & Stream which featured you and Stan, I couldn't wait to try it out! Now that I discovered roosters, I plan to fish with these guys for years to come!
Water Temperature 80-89
Air Temperature 78-88
Humidity 70%
Wind 12 mph from the WSW
Conditions Thunder Storms
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 7:21 a.m. CDT
Sunset 8:22 p.m. CDT
July 27 First Quarter, July 31, Full, Aug 9 Last Quarter, August 15 New,
Baja on the Fly's Zihuatanejo report by Ed Kunze
SAN JOSE, GUATEMALA
One boat out today, about 40 miles from the pier. They caught lots of yellowfin, 2 dorado and 1 sail. It was the only boat out for the week. Weather is hot, hot, hot with some rain at night.
Water Temperature 79-85
Air Temperature 78-86
Humidity 74 %
Wind 7 mph from the WSW
Conditions Scattered Clouds 20,000 ft
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 5:45 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:34 p.m. CST
July 27 First Quarter, July 31, Full, Aug 9 Last Quarter, August 17 New,
Baja on the Fly's Guatemala report by Brian Barragy and Lissa M. McFarlin.
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