Z Rooster

Endless Season Update February 21, 2010
REPORT #1203 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape

Henning Morek - Denmark, Huge rooster Panga Dos Hermanos with Captain Adolfo

This has probably been the wettest February in a while. The good news is that it was the gentle soaking type rain that doesn't run off quickly. I guess it is a clue how slow the fishing has been recently, one hotel sent five boats out one day which is the single day's record for 2010. The lack of sierra continues to dismay fishermen who depend on them as a fallback. I saw a report this morning from down toward Cabo that suggested that there were reports that the lack of sierra was caused by gill net activity happening along the remote and unpatrolled East Cape region.

Inshore there are a few small dorado buzzing around that don't seem to stay in one place long. Offshore once in awhile a boat finds a cooperative striper and one unusual catch that was reported a few days ago was a sailfish which stayed late or arrived really early.

The most excitement is all the whales close to shore, huffing and puffing and leaping with reckless abandon.

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

Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico

What little action there was this week was at the Entrada where the firecracker yellowtail could be found feeding on the surface under the bird schools. Unfortunately, the sierra were mixed in with the yellowtail and there were a lot of fish lost because of the lack of wire leaders. Up above Lopez Mateos, the action was mostly grouper and cabrilla.

Current Magdalena Bay Weather http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The fishing has been a bit erratic, but it is improving. On Monday, as brothers Henning and Ole Mork of Denmark did on the panga, Janeth with Captain Arturo, you go out and get three sailfish. Then go out the next day, but in a bit different area and a different boat, and not even get a strike all day.

However, Henning is on a roll. He is fishing with conventional gear but fished with Adolfo and his fly fishing son, Ufe, on the panga Dos Hermanos on Wednesday. They went up north to the Pantla area for jack crevalle and the possible shot for a rooster.

For three hours, Ufe had been up on the bow casting the fly…every time the hookless teaser came back to the boat. He took less than a 2-minute break to gulp down a sandwich and chug some water. Of course, this is when the huge rooster came slashing to the boat. The potential fly fishing world record was incredibly aggressive and going after anything near it. With Ufe unable to do anything but just watch, Henning was able to flip a bait at the fish with a spin rod and was hooked up solid.

The rooster was released, but Adolfo estimated it at 68 pounds. This is the second time this has happened with Ufe. Last year he and his Dad fished with me down at Puerto Vicente Guerrero. Ufe did get several dorado and a couple of decent roosters on the fly, but his Dad is the one who got the 50 pound rooster on conventional gear.

I had seen some small yellowfin tuna in the local Mercardo fish market, so I knew the commercial pangeros had found at least one school of tuna. Then, Santiago on the panga Gitana, came across diving birds at 10 miles fromr the port while fishing for sailfish. A live bait cast at them produced an 80-pound yellowfin for Ken Erdman of Pennsylvania.

Also, talking to Cali on the Vamonos II, he said he has been averaging about three sailfish a day for his clients…Ed Kunze

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


Cabo San Lucas

Marlin and sailfish continue to be scarce and while a few are being spotted as well as caught, there are no large numbers of them anywhere. It appears that we are not going to see a repeat of the fantastic striped marlin fishery we have been having this time of the year for the past three years, but if we do, it means that everything else is going to be all contrary for the rest of the year. The few fish that were caught were found up in the Punta Gordo and Gordo Banks area, as well as very close to the beach on the Pacific side up around the Golden Gate Bank.
News is bad for the yellowfin tuna fishermen.

The catch on tuna is still spotty, with a few fish found here and a few found there. The fish that were found were smaller school fish to 35 pounds, but most of them were footballs at 5 to 15 pounds. All the fish found were associated with porpoise.

The good news was the reappearance of the warm water and a few more dorado showing up… most of them were actually worth catching. This warm water brought in some larger fish and though the numbers have not been high, the fish have been quality fish in the 25- to 40-pound class. A few of these fish were found on the Pacific side around the seamounts in the warm water, but the better ones came in on the warm water flow from the east.

Surprisingly there are still wahoo to be caught out there. Most of those were incidental catches, but at least they were there. The fish were not large, averaging just under 25 pounds.

Inshore is providing the best action but that isn't working for everyone. The fish are concentrating in one area for several days and then they are gone. They seem to be constantly on the move. The sierra, yellowtail and amberjack will be in one place in the morning and two miles away in the afternoon. This may be due to the changing water temperature moving the bait around, but for whatever reason, one day can be red-hot and the next ice-cold.

The whales are still providing thrills and if you are fishing offshore that is sometimes the only action you might see. The whales are inshore as well, so if you combine the inshore action with the whale action, inshore is definitely the place to be. ...George and Mary Landrum

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