Winter Sets In

Endless Season Update 12/10/2008
REPORT #1144 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape

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December is here and another Baja winter has begun to set in. If you look at the moderate temperatures for the different areas, it seems odd to be declaring the end of fall and arrival of winter, but Baja winters are more about wind then cold. Of course the wind is welcome if your interest is wind-driven like wind surfing or kite boarding, but for the rest of us, whose interest is fishing, it is definitely unwelcome.
For the few anglers who are interested, there are plenty of sierra and small roosters inshore and along the beach. The big news this week was a wahoo snap at Punta Colorada which caused a flurry of IM’s and hastily written emails. Will it last? Probably not, but it was fun while it lasted for a few lucky ones.
Most locals are claiming this is the slowest December in recent memory in terms of the number of visitors. Two hotels are basically closed for the month and the some of the others are wishing they were.

Gary Graham

Water temperature 76-80
Air temperature 63-85
Humidity 73%
Wind: NNW 9 to 12 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 13 miles
Sunrise 6:51 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:33 p.m. MST

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

A windy week with slower fishing in all the ‘stock’ spots seems to indicate that the fall season is winding down here as well. The number of boats fishing the area has dwindled. Reports are that the bite below Punta Tosca has moved farther south toward Cabo.

In the Esteros the snook to 15 lbs., corvina and grouper finally decided to bite and it was limits for the few boats fishing

I attended a Tuna Club luncheon yesterday and spoke with Steve Bridges who had recently returned from one of the best Magdalena Bay fishing adventures he had experienced on his boat, the Honey. Steve regaled everyone with the remarkable volume of fish they had found. Upon their return, the crew discovered half a dozen ‘spikes’ broken off in the hull of the Honey from retaliating, angry marlin. The story reminded me of one of Southern California’s legendary anglers, John Tanner, who owned the Twin B. John had the same experience with angry marlin several times back in the old days off of the San Diego coast. He had proudly drawn ‘bulls eyes’ around the impaled bills to go along with the sharks teeth that he always had painted on the bow of his boat.

Gary Graham

Water temperature 72 - 76
Air temperature 50 -85
Humidity 87 %
Wind: WNW 8 to 11 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 7:02 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:38 p.m. MST

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

The blue water is just a couple of miles off the beach, the seas are very calm, all conditions favorable, and the fishing is poor. We are all scratching our heads trying to figure it out. Some of the guys are making 25 to 30 mile runs, while others are working the close-in areas, and nobody is getting much more than a strike or two all day…on any kind of a fish.
Martin, on the Nautilus, came over to my house and told me how he and Paul Phillips couldn't get anything in the blue water. Adolfo on the panga, Dos Hermanos, and Arturo on the panga, Janeth, told me there were no roosters to the north, which I already knew from a trip up there with fly fishing client Kacey Halligan of Seattle.
Cheva, on the panga, Dos Hermanos II, lives close to me so I gave him a ride back from the pier yesterday afternoon. He told me he found lots of big jack crevalle 8 to 10 miles south in the Barra Potosi area, but the client wanted roosters. They went 26 miles south to the antennas without a strike. On the way back, they got back into the big jacks and caught a few of the 18 to 20 pound hard fighting fish to wrap up the day.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 78 - 80
Air temperature 72-86
Humidity 77%
Wind: ENE at 2
Conditions: Sunny
Visibility 4 miles
Sunrise 7:07 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:12 p.m. CST

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: Striped Marlin continued to bite for everyone, but there were a couple of slower days when they kept their mouths closed. Boats were averaging 2-5 hook-ups per trip at the Golden Gate but a few were able to be at the right place at the right time and do better, often releasing 6 or more fish. Matching the hatch by catching your own Mackerel was key to a decent catch rate. Farther to the north at the Finger Bank boats were consistently in double digit numbers, one of my friends released 30 marlin in three hours while fishing with very experienced anglers. Elsewhere the bite was slow, a few Stripers here, a few there with no concentration to be found
YELLOWFIN TUNA: We got out on Monday for a food trip, targeting yellowfin. The focus was to the south of the San Jaime Bank (a friend had reported there being a nice school of fish there). We went to the numbers and could not find a thing. We finally found some white-bellied dolphin in the middle of the San Jaime and were able to pick a double on the first pass - decent fish at 25 pounds. After working them for awhile, and having to return soon, we did the ‘run and gun’, getting ahead of the moving pod of dolphin and dropping back two mackerel. That resulted in a double hook-up of 35-40 pound fish. That was it for the trip for us. Other boats reported the same slow pick results from small pods of dolphin both to the south of us and slightly to the north and west. Boats that ventured much farther north (private boats on multi-day trips) reported continued good action on fish in the 100-200 pound class using live bait on downriggers and on kites.
DORADO: Once again the dorado remained ‘on the bite’ off of the beach on the Pacific side between the lighthouse and El Arco. Slow trolled live bait and fast trolled plastic lures worked well there, and they also did the job on fish that were on the Cortez side up around Punta Gorda. Most boats were able to get several fish between 12 and 20 pounds and there were a few larger ones to 40 pounds as well. A few of the boats on the Pacific side were able to get schools of dorado behind an already hooked fish and were able to catch limits.
WAHOO: There were a few nice wahoo taken this week ranging in size from 20 to 40 pounds. Most of the action was around the rocky points on the Pacific side or up around Punta Gorda on the Cortez side of the Cape. A few boats working the Finger Bank reported multiple strikes as well while trolling lures. A few fish were reported caught while blind trolling offshore.
INSHORE: I saw a few pangas coming in with nice sierra to 9 pounds, and some coming in with a lot more fish but smaller in size. There were a few decent yellowtail to 25 pounds, and a few nice grouper to 20 pounds. There were quite a few dorado caught just off the beach as well.

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 73 - 82
Air temperature 63 - 82
Humidity 74%
Wind: WNW 6 to 8 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 13 miles
Sunrise 6:51 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:35 p.m. MST