Gold Rush in Mag Bay!

Endless Season Update 08/25/2007
REPORT #1077 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico


Jamie Pierre with Mag Bay Gold
The action for small, golden dorado, yellowtail, a variety of skipjack, bonito and white bonito kept Jamie Pierre, Seattle, WA, and his friend Jack, busy this past week. Fishing outside Boca de Soledad, anywhere from six miles to twenty-four miles, we found about as steady a bite as we could hope for using our olive colored Marabou Deceiver and Wasabi flies. We also found a few marlin in the area, but the guys decided not to target them.

Inside the Estero the sierra action was surprisingly good, as was the corvina bite. Up at Boca Santo Domingo there were plenty of grouper and pargo lurking deeper in the water column.
Today the Gobiernos Baja Fishing Tournament begins in Lopez Mateos and will wrap up tomorrow.

Water temperature 64 - 76
Air temperature 70 -88
Humidity 91%
Wind: WNW 11 to 15 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 4 miles
Sunrise 7:05a.m.MDT
Sunset 7:54p.m.MDT



East Cape

In spite of unsettled conditions early in the week the fishing remained consistent. Offshore the boats are averaging one or two marlin a day with the number of blue marlin bites increasing.

If you are one of the first few boats to the high spot off La Ribera each morning, you might get lucky and land one of the few tuna on the fly. The search for dorado continues to be unpredictable with an occasional bite spread throughout the bay.

Near the beach, the action for smaller roosters, pompano and a few ladyfish provided enough action to keep things interesting for the fly folks.

Once again, the week is beginning with unsettled conditions caused by the leftovers from Hurricane Dean. See the link for more info: http://velasdebaja.com/2seaswatch.html

Water temperature 78-87
Air temperature 74-91
Humidity 93%
Wind: WNW 4 to 5 knots
Conditions: Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 6:58 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:44 p.m. MDT

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

Early in the week, the blue marlin continued their very unusual showing this summer. We are averaging about 3 to 4 hooked blues a day for the 10 boat fleet. Sailfish are doing well also, with a two to three fish per boat average.

Tuesday was my son's 13th birthday and went out with Captain Cali to try for the 50 to 80 pound yellowfin tuna, which have been active at the 1,000 fathom line (30 miles). We started trolling at 16 miles and were hooked up within 5 minutes. I had set out a 40 pound outfit for tuna and dorado, and an 80 pound outfit for marlin. Wouldn't you know it, the blue hit the 40 pound outfit? Happens every time.

Fortunately the blue was small and a little over an hour later my son, Ken, had the estimate 200 pound marlin released.

From 5:00 in the evening Wednesday until 5:00 in the evening on Thursday, we got rain. Seven and a half inches of rain! It was the remnants of hurricane Dean, which had crossed over from the Caribbean side, shutting down all fishing for two days.

The large volume of rain has dirtied up the inshore from the outpouring of the rivers, and the roosterfish bite will probably not get going again for a few more days.

Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 73-93
Humidity 90%
Wind: ESE at 3mph
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 2 miles
Sunrise 7:31 a.m. CDT
Sunset 8:06 p.m. CDT