Winds Drop…Fish Pop!
Capt. Gary Graham
February 14, 2009
Baja Sur - Saltwater Fishing Report
Endless Season Update 02/12/2009
REPORT #1153 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
According to Mark Rayor, owner of Vista Sea Sport, the fishing early in the week picked up when the wind died. Punta Pescadero was the scene of an outrageous sierra bite that went on as long as the chum held out. Even the yellow tail began to bite. One mossback, weighing nearly fifty pounds, was caught off of one of the rocky points. Everyone is being ‘mum' on the exact spot; no one wants a repeat of last year when the local gillnetters swooped in and in one morning wiped out the whole school.
Reports of 74 to 75 degree blue water a few miles offshore sucked a few boat out and they were rewarded for their efforts with limits of dorado.
Then Wednesday morning, the north wind returned effectively preventing anyone from getting out to fish.
IMPORTANT AND ATTENTION ALL EAST CAPE FISHERMEN:
The government division that oversees fishing and fishing licenses - SAGARPA - has installed a new Port Captain in Los Barriles. In addition to the Port Captain, there are two full time employees - Jorge Castro - whose job it is to sell licenses and a Super Panga Captain who will be in charge of enforcement.
The boat dispatchers at the various hotels will have the required fishing licenses available.
Licenses are: $136p/day, $284p/week, $408p/month $531p/year.
SAGARPA intends to begin enforcement immediately.
Hmm…could last week's Road Trekker have made a difference? http://roadtrekker.blogspot.com/
Lance Peterson, our East Cape Guide reported, "Just returned from some kayak fishing out front this morning. I was motivated by seeing a twenty pound dorado almost beach itself chasing a ballyhoo. I wasn't out there long before I spotted another dorado swimming on the surface. I took a cast but no interest. On the way back in I was surrounded by a school of quality roosters...10 to 15 pounds, I'd say. I hooked two but could not get the hook to stick! Fun to see them though! I was surprised to see how close they would come to the kayak."
Water temperature 67-75
Air temperature 55-77
Humidity 73%
Wind: N 8 to 10 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:54 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:12 p.m. MST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Whale watching continued to dominate the water activities again this week, as the strong winds and high seas kicked up most of the week.
Bob Hoyt
Water temperature 67 - 73
Air temperature 51 -76
Humidity 91 %
Wind: NW 12 to 17 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:19 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
With the full moon, the fishing has slowed down considerably. The 82º blue water is still only about 5 miles off the beach, but the fish are not biting.
Adolfo, on the panga Dos Hermanos, said it is "muy mal"...In other words, "real bad". And, when one of the best captains here can't get a sailfish in the blue water, or even a jack crevalle off the back side of the surf line, it IS really bad! Adolfo does think the game fish are here, and said in one more week we will have good action again.
Earlier in the week, and before the full moon, I had fished with John Spriggs down at Puerto Vicente Guerrero. We raised 4 sailfish, had two teased to the boat, and he hooked one on the fly rod.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 78 - 83
Air temperature 72-86
Humidity 65%
Wind: NE at 1 mph
Conditions: Mostly Clear
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:15 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:46 p.m. CST
Cabo San Lucas
The Finger Bank was still reported to be a wide-open bite on striped marlin by the boats that went there early in the week. Many of these boats reported releasing up to 20 fish per trip. The fishing at the Golden Gate Bank dropped off quite a bit as the fish have appeared to have moved off in search of baitfish, but there were still quite a few being caught, definitely better fishing there than anywhere else in easy reach. A good day at the Gate resulted in four to six fish per boat while the average was two to three fish.
There were striped marlin reported off of the ledge at the Westin and a few boats were doing all right drifting live bait at depths of 50 to 100 feet.
A couple of boats reported catching several small tuna to 20 pounds in the blind while trolling around the 1150 area looking for dorado, but there were no schools to be found.
Water conditions on the Pacific side at the end of the week forced many of the boats to fish on the Cortez side of the Cape, and as a result there were many more dorado caught last week from the same area. Most boats were coming in with at least two, and often as many as five dorado. Average size was 18 pounds but there were a few that went as large as 40 pounds.
I talked to one angler this week who told me he had caught a dozen small wahoo. After asking a few questions, I had to tell him they were large sierra. There were a few fish taken however, and the bite was scattered between the Gray Rock and Punta Gorda. Only a few fish were reported on the Pacific side early in the week.
As listed above, the sierra bite has really begun to take off; at least it had started to until the wind kicked in. The same goes for the pargo in the rocks…most of the activity had been on the Pacific side. The Cortez side still delivered a decent amount of these fish, but not to the number count from the Pacific side. Amazingly enough, there have still been quite a few roosterfish caught. While not the large fish we get later in the year, these fish have been in the six to twelve pound class.
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 75 - 78
Air temperature 55 - 78
Humidity 66%
Wind: WNW 8 to 11 knots
Conditions: Partly sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:54 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:14 p.m. MST
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