REPORT #1134 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Chunks of squid, once again did the trick
A few quality tuna to sixty pounds were down Las Frailes way and chunks of squid once again did
the trick. Not wide open, but enough to provide sashimi for everyone. School was in session
beneath all the debris for the small dorado. Billfish action has slowed with only a few sailfish bites
here and there. There are still a few blue bites to be found for the dedicated angler but there is a
lot of boat riding in between.
Inshore action seems to be spread all along the coast. Roosters, jacks and ladyfish are providing
the best action, Find the bait and it’s great; miss it and you will have to wait. Look for the sardina
or mullet schools.
Beach action included small roosters and an occasional shot at a ‘bubba’ class fish. Take heed! It
has been one hot mother on the beach, which means you need to drink lots of liquids and use
plenty of sun protection.
Tropical storm “Marie” seems to be tiptoeing out to the west.
Water temperature 76-87
Air temperature 73-94
Humidity 92%
Wind: WSW 3 to 5 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:11 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:05 p.m. MDT
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Billfish action seems to be spread all the way from Thetis to the Finger bank below Punta Tosca.
(see Cabo report). Wide open wahoo action can still be found from the Thetis and back toward
the flats of Cabo Lazzaro. Still plenty of small yellows, football sized tuna and skipjack from eight
miles outside of Boca de Soledad.
In the Esteros the grouper, mangrove snapper were the best bet with an occasional corvina on the
surface.
Bob Hoyt
Water temperature 78 - 84
Air temperature 76 -97
Humidity 98 %
Wind: WNW 10 to 14 knots
Conditions: Mostly Clear
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 7:20 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:13 p.m. MDT
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
Things have turned around a bit this week. There are still very few people fishing, with only about
six boats a day making up the total fleet, but all the boats are scoring on fish.
Talking to Adolfo on the panga Dos Hermanos, with the inshore waters clearing up, he is back to
doing well on the roosters again.
Martin, on the cruiser Nautilus, said every boat fishing the blue water is getting between 2 to 3
sailfish a day average, with two blue marlin also being taken today (Wednesday). At a bit less than
200 pounds, the blues were on the small side, but marlin are not a normal catch for this time of
the year.
Plus, there are more dorado showing up, and we hope to get more action from them in the
upcoming weeks. The majority of the dorado are only about 12 to 13 pound school sized fish, but
they can be a lot of fun on the fly rod or light line.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 74-90
Humidity 85%
Wind: SSW 5 knots
Conditions: Cloudy
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 7:37 a.m. CDT
Sunset 7:34 p.m. CDT
Cabo San Lucas
BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin bite has turned on, at least if you are willing to travel 50
miles to get to the fish. Realize that if you do this, the boat will likely charge a fuel premium for
the trip. The Finger Bank turned on this weekend with several boats reporting multiple numbers
of fish there. Captain Tony Nungary on “Tony’s Machine” had 17 releases in 2 hours while fishing
a private tournament and Captain Jay Bush reported 22 releases but spending a bit more time in
the area. Reportedly the fish were not feeding on bait balls but were being hooked on trolled lures
and on dropped back baits. If this action continues we may have a repeat of the awesome action
of last year. The Golden Gate Bank also had good action on Striped Marlin, but not quite the
numbers of the Finger Bank as most boats working the southern edge were getting bit on deep
dropped live baits, not covering much of the water but working around the deep bait balls,
dropping, drifting across for 15 minutes then pulling the baits up, running back up-current and
dropping again.
YELLOWFIN TUNA The Tuna action this week was considerably slower than last week.
According to Mike Tumbrillo, the owner of the 31’ Bertram “Renegade Mike”, his crew searched
several days but were not able to find the big fish that had made an appearance last week. There
were schools of fish in the 30-40 pound class to the west of the San Jaime Bank as well as 30
miles to the southwest, but the big boys were absent. Boats willing to go the distance did fairly
well, averaging 2 to 10 fish per trip. Cedar plugs and green or dark colored lures run close to the
boat worked well, with a few of the larger fish biting on live bait dropped back after a trolled lure
hook-up.
DORADO Once again, just like last week, Dorado was the fish of the week. While not
everyone caught their limit this week and there were a couple of slow days, the numbers were still
good and the average size of the fish was decent. Most of the fish were found on the Pacific side
of the cape but the reason was most of the boats headed that way looking for Tuna and Marlin,
the Dorado were not the target for most of the boats this week. Reports from the few boats that
went north on the Sea of Cortez were that the Dorado were there as well but you had to find the
concentrations. A few boats did this by fast trolling lures until getting a strike, then chumming in
the school with chopped up skipjack.
INSHORE: Captain Victor on the Panga “Santi” reported that there were still Roosterfish to
be found on the stretch of beach between the arch and the Pedregal. His clients released two fish
of about 25-pounds each along with several smaller one during the middle of the week. Most of
the Pangas were fishing just off the beach for some of the large numbers of Dorado, and they
were doing very well. Bottom fishing was reported as being a bit off with the majority of fish
caught being triggerfish
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 73 - 88
Air temperature 75 - 97
Humidity 96%
Wind: WNW 5 to 6 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 7:12 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:07 p.m. MST
