A Burp and a Flick of the Tail…

Endless Season Update 05/14/2008
REPORT #1114 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape

Many believe that this is a sea snake but it is a Tiger Snake Eel and not poisonous!
A few cloudy days brought a tad more humidity. First we had five flat calm days allowing us to travel in any direction without spilling our drinks, and then the past two were windy and grumpy.

Noah Rowles, along with two buddies from Southern California, chose to spend his bachelor party getting ‘hooked up’ before getting hitched in June. Since there was no bait available at East Cape, we had them out as early as possible so we could run up to Punta Perico for sardina. Then for the first two days, we fished tight to the beach near El Cardonal, They had plenty of action, doubles and triples on roosterfish, skipjack, bonito, white bonito and some huge schools of large jacks that kicked their collective butts.

Every afternoon, the group hopped on ATV’s and sped down the dirt road behind the beach to drink Pacificos and catch more fish. The most unusual catch of the trip was a snakelike eel which managed to get a hook in it and then proceeded to wrap itself up in the line.

Offshore sailfish, striped marlin and quality dorado were strung out from Punta Pescadero to the 88. Tales of lots of fish and double digit spottings exchanged during Happy Hour got the guys all fired up and convinced them to break the cardinal rule, “Don’t Leave Fish to Find Fish.” Sooo… their last day out we followed the fleet. It all started off well with an early thirty-five pound dorado. Then it was one jumper and tailer after another! But they were so plugged with squid that that their reaction to our offerings was a burp and a flick of the tail.

Scott Mattei, Lodi, CA, fished the beach on Tuesday and in spite of a pesky south wind, he managed to fine-tune his hook-set techniques on a variety of fish at “Bartle Beach”. He is heading out for more practice this morning hoping for some larger quarry to grab his fluff and bend his stick.

Tip: At the end of your retrieve, sweep your rod to the right or left to accelerate the fly. If a fish is following the fly, the additional speed will often trigger a take or at the very least the fish will follow the fly to the surface alerting you to its presence.
Water temperature 66-78
Air temperature 63-97
Humidity 77 %
Wind: SSE 9 to 12 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 4 miles
Sunrise 6:36 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:54 p.m. MDT

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

No Report

Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 61 -90
Humidity 89 %
Wind: W 9 to 12 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 6:42 a.m. MDT
Sunset 8:04 p.m. MDT


Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The 80º blue water has finally moved in to where the game fish are reachable. It is just a short 6 mile boat ride to the blue water. The 15 boat fleet had been averaging about 1 or 2 sails a day each, but with the blue water coming in this close, the action should improve considerably.
Tomorrow, Clint Hugh, of Dallas, TX, has charted Santiago on the panga, Gitana, for two long days to find the yellowfin tuna. Santiago is an excellent tuna fisherman, so I will keep you posted.
Fishing with fly fishing client, "Doc" Coulthurst of Portland, OR, we found small jack crevalle and small roosters up above Saladita. We were fishing on the panga, Pepino.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 79-99
Humidity 57%
Wind: SW 3 mph
Conditions: Mostly Sunny
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:13 a.m. CDT
Sunset 8:11 p.m. CDT

Cabo San LucasWEATHER: It looks like things are changing a bit down here. This week we had mostly cloudy skies, a bit of wind at the middle of the week and no rain, but it felt like it should have rained. Our nighttime lows varied between 68 and 75 degrees while the daytime highs were in the high 80’s to low 90’s. With the cloud cover the humidity kicked up a notch.
WATER: The Pacific side of the Cape was cooler than the Cortez side at 68-70 degrees and was off color as well. The greenish water wrapped around the Cape through the middle of the week and crossed into the area of the 95 spot. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water was much warmer, and the farther up to the north you went, the warmer it got. In the area of Punta Gorda and the Gorda Banks we were marking water as warm as 81 degrees, and it was blue water. Elsewhere on the Cortez side (offshore) the water was in the high 70’s and pretty clear.
BAIT: Mackerel and Caballito were available at the new price of $3 per bait, and there were Sardina at the Palmilla are at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:BILLFISH: There were a lot of Marlin to be seen on the surface up in the Palmilla area close to shore but they were stuffed with squid and did not want to eat. Lucky boats were catching one or two per trip. There were a few decent Sailfish coming from the same area as well. There was not a lot of action on the billfish front but I am awaiting reports from a few friends that went up to fish the warm water on the Cortez side, they should be back early this coming week. My fingers are crossed.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: A few boats caught a few small football sized fish after the seiners left the area. Overheard on the radio were reports of them talking to each other and bragging about stuffed holds, guess they took all the fish.
DORADO: A few small fish were caught close to home, but the concentrations we had earlier were with the Tuna, guess the seiners got most of them too. I am hoping the warmer water to the north on the Cortez side holds more and they will work their way down to us.
WAHOO: What Hoo? New moon phase.
INSHORE: Green water on the Pacific side had most of the Pangas fishing the Cortez up around Palmilla point. These boats were getting some decent Sierra and Amberjack as well as some Snapper and Grouper. Bait of choice was Sardinas.
NOTES: Bad news was the seiners showed up again and wrapped all of the fish, the government allows it and now we don’t have anything to fish for. The good news is that the water is warming up and we should have a new mass of fish moving into our area soon. I really don’t know how else to put it other than the fishing this past week was extremely poor. My fingers are crossed that the government does something to regulate the encroachment of Seiners into the sport fishing areas. Tuna from the seiners goes for $480 a ton to the packing plants; wonder how much that same fish is worth in income from sport fishing? Enough said, I don’t want to get into trouble.

Until next week, keep your fingers crossed for tight lines!

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 67 - 75
Air temperature 61 - 91
Humidity 78%
Wind: WNW 9 to 12 knots
Conditions: Mostly Sunny
Visibility 5 miles
Sunrise 6:38 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:53 p.m. MST