bajafly - 7-16-2009 at 01:21 PM
Endless Season Update 07/16/2009
REPORT #1175 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Dorado and tuna are the same story; the boats that find them call it wide open and the ones that don’t, claim it sucks.
With fewer boats racing around Palmas Bay this season, it is far tougher to find the fish. As an example, our clients, Kevin Cuevas from Lakewood, CO
and his father, wanted to catch sailfish in the worst way. So Mark Rayor, owner of the Jen Wren, headed up to the area outside of Punta Pescadero
among the buoys that usually are proven producers. After spending half a day there for nothing, the boat ran all the way down to an area in front of
Punta Colorada and barely had the teasers in the water before two sails appeared in the pattern for a double hookup.
Inshore and the beach are still producing the best consistent action for both roosterfish and jacks.
Lance Peterson, guiding Kevin on the beach the following day, managed to put him on several roosters where Kevin caught his first roosterfish
ever...actually, he caught two of them. Good karma?
Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
There was no wind to speak of this week and outside the yellowtail are only a few miles from the Boca; they are also at the Entrada. Farther out, at
about ten miles, the small yellowfin and skipjack are mixed in with the dorado. The rumor is that marlin remain outside. It’s just that as no one
went out far enough to verify the reports.
This week inside the bay it was a steady pick for corvina on the surface. The shallow sandy beaches provided some small halibut. The Esteros channels
provided some leopard grouper to ten pounds along with a few mangrove snapper.
Current Mag Bay Weatherhttp://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The 84º blue water is right up to the sand, and the best action is still holding up within two miles off the beach. The great dorado action we had has
tapered off a bit, but the sailfish have picked up. Early in the week, the boats were averaging between three and four sailfish a day each. Ruben, on
the Vamonos III got four sailfish for his clients, with Margarito on the Gaby matching that number the next day.
This was all under a full moon period, so it should improve a bit more this next week. All of this is due to the annual July mini-migration we get
from sailfish returning from Central America, and heading up towards the Sea of Cortez.
The roosterfish action is still holding strong also, but the jack crevalle are moving around a lot. Ward Twyford, from Missouri and sales rep for Bass
Pro Shops, fished a day with Cheva on the Dos Hermanos II, catching a very nice rooster weighing about 35 pounds plus several sierra. Ward told me
they missed several roosters on the surface popper, and when they used live bait, the needle fish were all over it.
Ed Kunze
Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582
Cabo San Lucas
The numbers of striped marlin that have been seen this week are down, but that is considered normal for this time of year as the water warms past
their comfort zone. A few are still being seen out there and a few are caught every day, but as the water continues to stay warm, the numbers will
continue to drop off. There have been a lot more sailfish showing up in the catch reports, once again due to the warmer water. There are also reports
every day of blue marlin, and occasionally a black marlin will appear in the pattern and engulf a lure.
Mostly small football sized yellowfin were found in and around some of the porpoise pods. Not all pods had tuna with them, often a large pod would be
found with plenty of feeding activity and bird action, yet not one fish would be caught or would even show up on the fish finders.
While not everyone got into one of the nice 50-pound fish, there were enough of them in the 15-pound class to get a nice dinner for everyone. Most of
the action shifted to the Pacific side of the Cape as the warm water pushed its way up the coast.
Steady action inshore for small roosterfish averaging 10 pounds with an occasional fish to 40 pounds, a couple of sierra and small yellowtail were
found on the Pacific side and a scattering of pargo in the mix.
While the fishing has not been red hot by any means, it has not been dead either… just enough action to keep anglers from getting bored. As the water
remains warm the action for blue and black marlin, sailfish and dorado should heat up.
George & Mary Landrum
Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191