Tough Tuna

Endless Season Update 09/25/2009
REPORT #1184 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

200 lb yellow fin tuna caught at the Jaime banks by Heather DeRamus weighing half its' size....took her three hours though and she still looks good! La Brisa 31ft. Bertram Capt. Nicolas Winkler pictured right and deckhand Salvador Flores left of www.piscessportfishing.com
Once again, September has been a winner. The Humboldt squid continues to be the first stop in the morning for many of the boats. Talk about matching the hatch! Fresh cut chunks of squid are the perfect chum or bait for the dorado and small tuna and when fishing near the rocky points that dot the East Cape.

Of course if you want to go farther offshore and chase the porpoise schools, there are still some gorilla-class tuna reaching 200 pounds. Pulling on one of those behemoths can easily replace the day’s workout on the Nautilus machine…and then some.

If you are trying to avoid the tuna workout, there are still plenty of sailfish, as well as blue and striped marlin to take care of the billfish urge.

Most of the dorado, tuna and skipjack caught close to shore are in the single digit to mid-teen range; offshore don’t be surprised if a larger one shows up in one of the porpoise schools.

The beach is the beach and it is still hot midday. That said, if you are looking for sight casting opportunities, midday is the best time. Later, as the sun sinks behind the hills, it seems like the fish come alive for a brief period before it gets too dark to fish.

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Local commercial fishermen are reporting lots of dorado around the shark buoys, and the clear blue water close to the shore is holding plenty of smallish tuna as well as a few larger ones up to 30 pounds.

With many of the Soouthern California yachts beginning their long trek down the coast to Cabo San Lucas, we expect to hear good reports of the numbers of fish found as they pass by Magdalena Bay.

Inside the esteros, there has been little current and both grouper and snapper have been on the bite. Still there’s only an occasional snook caught, most weighing no more than ten pounds.

The yellowtail action at the Entrada is mostly the smaller firecracker variety chasing small sardine to the surface, which in turn attracts the birds, making it easy to spot the schools. Farther outside the Entrada there are schools of skipjack and a few dorado to be found.

Though there are plenty of fish, there are few tourists visiting the area recently.

Reports are that Mex 1 is passable all the way from the border to the tip! However, road crews working on the road are causing some short delays…Bob Hoyt

Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The average water temperature is back up to 85° with the blue water only a couple of miles off the beach.

Santiago, on the panga Gitana, told me there is very decent fishing, but few people to take advantage of it. The boats going out have each been averaging two to three sailfish a day, plus a couple of nice dorado around 20 pounds.

We have had some hard rains, which has discolored the inshore water some, but when you find the open patches, the roosterfish action is still holding very strong. Three to four roosters a day is common with at least a couple of them approaching 50 pounds…Ed Kunze

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


Cabo San Lucas

Billfish action is recovering from the unsettled conditions caused by Hurricane Jimena earlier this month. Marlin have been showing just a few miles offshore on the Pacific side. While black marlin have been among the missing, more small blues are filtering into the area every day.

Yellowfin tuna have been thick; almost every boat targeting them has scored. Sure there are more fifteen pounders but there are some huge ones that exceed 200 pounds. Almost all the fish in our area were caught inside the 1,000-fathom line from due south, then up to the San Jaime Bank and then up to the Golden Gate. This made it easy to find the fish, and at least one caught just off the lighthouse weighed over 200 pounds.

Dorado have been sporadic...appearing one day, disappearing the next. More often they have been located close to shore on the Pacific side in the warmer water. Averaging 12 to 15 pounds, there were enough larger ones to make things interesting. Boats that did well on dorado were catching between five and ten per trip and releasing two or three of the smaller fish.

Because tuna and dorado are close to shore, most of the Panga Captains are doing well. There are still some decent roosterfish being found and a few snapper and grouper as well. The Pacific side was the preferred side of the Cape this week.

With fishing this good, almost all the anglers have been very happy with the results of their trips; some of them have been worn out afterwards from fighting marlin and some of the huge yellowfin that have been around. …George and Mary Landrum

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