Cabo Billfish Explode

Endless Season Update 12/5/2009
REPORT #1192 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996

East Cape

We had a great trip to Mag Bay......Bob Hoyt helped with a place to park our Chinook ..and advice ........as you know the Marlin didn't show while we were there.so plan B was in effect....fish the mangroves...........we did get outside in our (Baja only)18 ft alum boat for lots of tuna and Dorado!...but.....the most fun was fishing inside, with live mullet..we learned a lot ...............the grouper fishing was awesome........I'm cooking some right now..for dinner .............. we also got Halibut when we went to Campo Rene in Punta Abreojos...among other species. had a great trip overall and as usual, we can't wait to go back!

Best Regards,
Craig and Jilly Cove Boat ( First Light) So Cal

It has been mostly quiet this week with increasing clouds and wind. Weather reports are calling for light winds next week which should be good news for the few visitors and locals. The smorgasbord of choices remains!

Yellowfin tuna out in front of La Ribera...nothing huge but large enough to bend your stick. Dorado and billfish are becoming more elusive, or maybe it's just that fewer and fewer boats are willing to go prospecting.

Wind or not, the sierra bite continues producing limits for most. Beach action is completely dependent on the wind velocity. The wind waves caused by the wind can shut the action down quickly.

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

Offshore action may be good but rough conditions convincing all but the most hard-core anglers to look to the Esteros for most of their action. The one day the Temming's group did get out they found tuna, dorado and wahoo.

The nice thing about fishing Magdalena Bay is that even when the weather gets weird the Esteros are nice insurance. Fishing with flies, the Temming's party landed pargo, snook, golden jack and even a few 'skinn'y halibut. I went out with them one day and I might be hooked on fly myself! ...Bob Hoyt

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

Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The 85° blue water is still with us on the beach. I can't remember a time when it has stayed so close for so long. Normally it is within two miles for only a couple of weeks, then moves out to six to ten miles. But, it has been near the beach for almost two months now.

And, the game fish are here. The best action for sailfish and dorado is the area about four miles off the beach. The boats are each averaging two to three sailfish and a couple of nice sized dorado each day.

The outstanding roosterfish action is still holding up inshore, as well as the mid-sized jack crevalle and sierras. Adolfo, on the panga Dos Hermanos, released six nice roosters to 55 pounds for his clients while fishing along the beach in the Pantla area.

A couple of days earlier, John Thodos of Illinois and I fly fished with Adolfo up near the Ranch. John had an estimated 75-pound rooster completely inhale the fly, and swim about 15 feet back towards the boat, putting a large belly which in the fly line. John couldn't catch up to get a tight line, and the huge rooster spit the fly about ten feet off the stern...…Ed Kunze

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


Cabo San Lucas
SPECIAL BILLFISH UPDATE (Monday)

On Sunday the 6th as the boats started coming in there were blue marlin flags flying everywhere. Mid-morning the bite on Striped Marlin had busted wide open on the ledge at the lighthouse and boats were releasing between two (for the slow boats) and 17 (high flag boat) marlin, best of all, there were only 30 boats in the area at the time. Hopefully the bite will continue. The bait was stacked up and the fish were feeding hard on a mix if Mackerel and large Sardinas, but boats using Caballito as bait got bit as well.))

The high note of the fishing week the capture (and non-release) of a blue marlin that weighed over 850 pounds. The fish was caught on the Pacific side just on the inside of the Golden Gate Bank within a mile of the beach. This area has been providing some action on fish to 400 pounds or so. The amount of bait in the form of young dorado kept these large fish in the area much longer than normal. When weighed, this marlin had two dorado in the 12-pound class in its stomach. There are plenty of striped marlin; however getting them to eat has been a problem. Many boats were seeing groups of a dozen or more feeding on bait balls off of the area known as Los Arcos and were able to get an occasional fish to bite. .

Once again the yellowfin action remained slow as the few fish that found on a regular basis seemed to have been fished so hard that it was difficult to get anything going.

The water continues to cool and the dorado bite continues to drop off. Boats were averaging 4 to 8 fish per trip with an occasional limit load. Most of the fish remained in the warmer water on the Pacific side and around the structure of the 95 spot on the Cortez side.

We continue to catch wahoo. While never a common fish in our area, the past couple of months have really been good. The fish have not been large, with an average weight of 20 pounds once again, but there have been many more than normal come in on the boats.

Inshore has been a decent mix of sierra, small roosterfish and dorado. Most of the activity has been taking place on the Pacific side of the Cape and you have not had to go very far to get into the action..…George and Mary Landrum

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