Best Fishing: Cabo Marlin-East Cape Beach

Endless Season Update 01/28/2009
REPORT #1151 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape

The north wind can tough to work around

While there were a few nice days, this is not the time to plan a trip around fishing at East Cape. Sure the fish are

still here…a few dorado, maybe a marlin or two and all the sierra you might want, but the wind can tough to work

around.

On the other hand, the beach produced well on some days according to our guide, Lance Peterson.

“There were lots of fish off the beach at times but they were feeding on really small bait and were pretty tough to

feed a fly. Nonetheless, we caught small roosters, jacks, pompano, and even black skipjack.”

So while the weather isn’t ideal, you might get lucky!

Water temperature 67-73
Air temperature 53-77
Humidity 67%
Wind: NNW 11 to 15 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:00 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:03 p.m. MST

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Welcome to one of the greatest shows on earth…if you are looking for gray whales, that is. The season is in full

force and every day more busses arrive, disgorging eager tourists with digital cameras clutched in their fists

hurrying to the pier to have an ‘up close and personal’ experience with one of these giants a few hundred yards in

front of the pier.

Adding to the excitement this weekend is the first in a series of localized Copa Gobernador Tournaments. These

tournaments attract many local families seeking cash prizes, tackle, and
Tee shirts while introducing many to sportfishing for the first time.

Bob Hoyt

Water temperature 67 - 73
Air temperature 53 -79
Humidity 83 %
Wind: WNW 8 to 10 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:10 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:09 p.m. MST

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

Our sail fest slowed down a bit this week. This can be accounted for by several reasons. The blue water is still

close to the beach, but it cooled down a couple of degrees. And, we had a small earthquake last Tuesday, which

really shuts off the bite. Plus, on Monday, we had a barometer pressure drop come over us, dumping a little rain in

the mountains behind us. A barometer drop is tough on fish. They go deeper in the water column to balance out

the pressure, and hate to come to the surface for a trolled bait.

The fish are still here, and if we can get the favorable conditions back, the fishing will definitely improve.
Most boats are raising five to seven sailfish a day, but only hooking one or two. Again, they are just off their feed

from the weird unseasonal conditions.

Jacob Schougaard of Denmark hooked a sailfish on the fly when fishing with me down at Puerto Vicente Guerrero.

We raised 5 sailfish and a huge dorado, which did not take the fly.
Marcos, on the panga Oceana, got two sails and a 250 pound blue marlin for his best day. And Adolfo, on the

panga Dos Hermanos, told me he got two roosters while fishing up North beyond Saladita. He also said there were

a lot of big jack crevalle. The jacks are running 15 to 20 pounds.

Ed Kunze

Water temperature 78 - 83
Air temperature 72-87
Humidity 61%
Wind: SE at 2mph
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:19 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:39 p.m. CST

Cabo San Lucas

Striped marlin continued to dominate; every boat that tried for them was able to get hooked up. The best bite for

the boats that stayed local was at the Golden Gate Bank. The fish were coming up on small bait balls. As soon as

the pelicans and frigates started to dive on the bait, the seals started feeding as well, and then suddenly there

would be a half-dozen or more marlin swirling on the bait. Sometimes they remained up for 15 or 20 minutes,

other times they would disappear almost as fast as they showed up. Live bait tossed into the ‘feeders’ almost

guaranteed a hook-up. There were also plenty of fish found at the Finger Bank, but with hot action at the Golden,

there was little reason for boats to travel that far. Some fish were showing up on the ledge at the lighthouse and

on Friday evening quite a few scattered singles were feeding just outside of Cabo San Lucas Bay.

The Dorado bite definitely dropped off for almost all the boats this week as the water temperature continued its

slow but steady drop. A good catch of dorado this week seemed to be two fish, but most boats did not catch any.

The sierra action for fish between 8 and 10 pounds continued throughout the week. There are also some quality-

sized yellows starting to show occasionally off of the Rocky points as well as some pargo to twenty-five pounds

near the rocks.

Still no gray whales to report, but plenty of humpbacks.

George & Mary Landrum

Water temperature 73 - 82
Air temperature 55 - 81
Humidity 72%
Wind: WNW 3 to 4 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 7:00 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:05 p.m. MST