First The Squid…Then Tuna

Endless Season Update 09/19/2009
REPORT #1183 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape


Check out this nice yellowfin tuna we caught in the East Cape. It weighed in at 201 pounds. http://tiny.cc/rayortuna091509

I don’t know if it is a coincidence, but the Humboldt squid show up and suddenly, it was tuna time. Tales of broken tackle and disappointed anglers were common this week. However, for the few who closed the deal, they were so exhausted that even the ‘high-fives’ were difficult. Not all the fish are VW size; for the wimps, (or is it the smart ones?), in your group there are plenty of smaller fish mixed in. Most of the action is out 20 to 40 miles providing time to find a sailfish.

The dorado are thick down toward Los Frailes and beyond all the way to Gordo Bank…most of them are weighing in the mid-teen range.
Near the Lighthouse, there is also a good concentration of smaller yellowfin tuna with skipjack mixed in.

The water along the beaches has cleaned up, but there is still plenty of bait attracting roosters, jacks, ladyfish and pompano. It is still warm enough that if you go out on the beach midday, it may feel more like an Ironman competition, than fishing. If you think that ‘heats not neat’, try early morning and late afternoon.

Current East Cape Weather http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Just outside Boca Santo Domingo 8 – 10 mile the tuna bite has returned with some fish to 35 pounds. Further out the wahoo have begun to show outside the double 23’s and small groups of marlin are also being spotted.

Shrimp season began the 18th which brings much more feeding activity in the Esteros for a long list of predators including grouper, corvina, snapper and snook.

The cannery in Lopez Mateos is still closed and in Puerto San Carlos the job of removing sunken boats is underway.

Finally, I returned home this week and Mex 1 is open all the way…Bob Hoyt

Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico

We've had some decent rains from storms pushing up from the South, with the effect of cooling the surface temperatures down quite a bit. Last week we were at a tepid 85°, and we are now averaging a perfect 80°. The cooling water trend actually heated the fishing up.

Stan Hootman of Houston, TX is fishing several days with Adolfo on the panga Dos Hermanos. They are doing excellent. I talked to Stan by cell phone as they were returning to the dock today (Thursday) after a very successful day of rooster fishing. Using a blue and white surface popper, they caught 6 roosters of 60#, 50#, 45#, 40#, and a couple of smaller ones.

Yesterday they had fished for sailfish and released four. Plus, they got into the football yellowfin tuna and caught 6 tuna averaging 10 pounds...…Ed Kunze

Current Zihuatanejo Weather http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582

Cabo San Lucas

BILLFISH: It was still a slow week for billfish as few Striped Marlin were caught locally. There were reports of some decent numbers beginning to show up at the Finger Bank but with things being in constant flux the boats that went there were just as likely to strike out as to find a decent concentration of fish. A scattering of fish were found locally, most of them being found close to shore on the Pacific side up around the Los Arcos area and northward. There were still some Sailfish to be found but they were scattered as well, only on the Cortez side, and again, close to shore. I did not hear any reports this week of big Blue or Black Marlin, but there may have been a few hooked up.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There have still been some nice fish caught this week but they have been scattered. 30 miles to the south has been producing a few nice fish to #150 if you are in the right pod of porpoise, and there have been fish to #80 being caught on Sardinas up the coast in the Inman bank area. That was scratch fishing with only a few fish a day with lots of chumming taking place, but at least the fish were there. Light floura-carbon leader, #30 and #40 was needed, but you could get some fish. Some boats did all right catching a few Humboldt Squid at Punta Gorda and using them for chunk baits. Closer to home there were scattered schools with fish to #35 but averaging #15-#20. Most of these were found on the Pacific side between the beach and the San Jaime Bank and on the Golden Gate Bank.
DORADO: It took a while but there was finally some debris in the water this week, perhaps washed into the ocean up north from last week’s hurricane. Boats that managed to find the pieces of wood were able to put a few nice #30 Dorado in the box along with some smaller fish. Inshore on the Pacific side was also producing Dorado once again with the average size being 15 pounds and a few larger fish in the mix. We hooked up one female on Tuesday at may have been 30 pounds and a much larger male was following her. Unfortunately she shook the hook while still a distance from the boat and even though we slow trolled a couple of live baits in the area for a while we could not get hooked up again. That’s fishing!
WAHOO: A friend of mine did get a nice Wahoo this last week, early in the week. It weighed around #85 and he caught it while checking out the Inman Bank area. A few other Wahoo flags were being flown but I have no idea what size the fish were or where they were caught.
INSHORE: Most of the Panga Captains are doing well on Dorado and football Tuna since they are close to shore. There are still some decent Roosterfish being found and a few snapper and grouper as well. The Pacific side has been the favorite side of the Cape this week…George and Mary Landrum

Current Cabo Weather http://tiny.cc/cabo191