Whales, Lunar Eclipse and Sierra…
Endless Season Update 02/20/2008
REPORT #1102 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Sierra provided the most consistent action this week. For the persistent angler willing to be out early, the ladyfish and small roosters put on a show
on a few of the protected beaches.
The yellowtail whack up to the north produced some ‘trophy sized’ yellows (30+ pounds) but seemed to slow down somewhat this week.
Tip: It is a good idea to have everything rigged when you board the boat. Can’t tell you how many times I have watched the ‘cluster’ that goes on when
you find fish five minutes from the shore. Trying to rig while you watch fish crashing all around you can be frustrating.
Water temperature 62-68
Air temperature 56-77
Humidity 67 %
Wind: NNW 7 to 10 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 9 miles
Sunrise 6:48 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:17 p.m. MST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Whale watching continued to dominate the activity for both Lopez Mateos and San Carlos. Windy conditions kept anyone from getting outside the Boca’s.
Enrique Soto reported fair action for small yellowtail with sierra mixed in at the Entrada.
Water temperature 66 - 73
Air temperature 50 -74
Humidity 91%
Wind: NNW 14 to 19 knots
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 2 miles
Sunrise 6:57 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:24 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
A cold water current has moved in, pushing the blue water out past the 26 mile mark. Fishing for all blue water species is slow.
About the only notable catch was made by Jeff Taylor of Houston, fishing with Martin on the panga, Isamar. On Monday they caught a nice 250 pound blue
marlin at 36 miles. But, the next day Martin went out 40 miles, and got skunked.
There are reports the jack crevalle are on the beaches, and in good numbers. Find he birds crashing the bait, and you will find the jacks.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 71-98
Humidity 66%
Wind: SE at 2mph
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 7:10 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:49 p.m. CST
Cabo San Lucas
WEATHER: It felt like winter this week even though it never got below 56 degrees. Maybe it’s just that I am used to the warm
weather now. Our lows, alt least the lowest I saw, was 58 degrees, but with a bit of wind on it, it felt colder. Our daytime highs were in the high
70’s and most of the week we had partly cloudy skies most of the week. On the 9th the skies actually cleared enough for the sea-surface temp charts
to come through on the Terrafin web site.
WATER: I did not see anything warmer than 70 degrees this week, and most of that was a plume coming up from the south and running
from 20 miles due south to the southern end of the San Jaime Bank. Inside that band it dropped to 67 and 67 degrees. On the Cortez side of the Cape
it was a consistent 68 degrees until you got past the Punta Gorda area, and then it dropped to a very cool 63 and 64 degrees. The surface conditions
were great with small swells from the Northwest on the Pacific side and almost pool-table smoothness on the Cortez at the end of the week.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price. There were Sardinas
up around Chileno Bay at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Boats looking for Marlin were really having to scratch for them this week, and I mean that they were difficult to get to
bite, not that they were hard to find. Some boats working deep bait on the Golden Gate Bank had luck, but it was not steady by any means. There were
also some hungry fish found close to shore, within two miles, along the points on the Pacific side. Boats venturing farther offshore were seeing
quite a few fish in small groups of two or three at a time, but they had lockjaw and most refused to bite. As an example, a large private yacht that
has placed in quite a few tournaments spent 12 hours late in the week fishing for marlin, from 6 am until 6 pm and were only able to find two hungry
fish, and that was a double hook-up.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: The porpoise are starting to show up in fair numbers but not all the pods have Yellowfin with them. Fishing south
of the San Jaime and west of there boats are finding pods of between 20 and several thousand porpoise. There have been Tuna of between 15 and 30
pounds caught among the mammals, but I did not hear of any large ones yet, and a good day so far has been getting eight or ten of these fish to bite.
Most boats are having a hard time getting hooked up to them though as they have been feeding fairly heavily on red crab, according to the guys who
have opened up the ones they catch. As a result, the small hootchies in red colors have worked best on these smaller Tuna.
DORADO: A few fish now and then, no steady action but the fish that have been taken have been from the warmer water areas.
WAHOO: I didn’t hear of any Wahoo this week. The flags you see flying are for “Mexican wahoo”, or better known as sierra.
INSHORE: Mexican Wahoo, also known as Sierra, have been the mainstay of the Panga fleet this week with most boats able to get at least a half-dozen
or more. Yellowtail action is picking up once again with several fish to 40 pounds being boats as well as a few nice grouper to 50 pounds. The usual
smaller Roosterfish to 5 pounds, some small barracuda and Bonita have rounded out the catches inshore.
NOTES: Whales, whales, whales and porpoise, there have been plenty of these out there for anglers that get bored of not catching
fish this week. Well, for some of them at least! I am taking off for L.A. to re-new my Captains License and will be coming back in the middle of the
week, maybe fishing will have gotten better by then! Until next week, tight lines!
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 65 - 74
Air temperature 53-75
Humidity 58%
Wind: NNW 3 to 5 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:48 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:19p.m. MST
Bahia Asunción
The weather is fabulous here! The swell has gone down; lovely sunny, warm days calm mornings for fishing and with about 15-29 in the afternoons.
Yesterday they caught lots of bonita and abarileta which is a kind of amber jack?? It was delicious in sashimi.
Ira Martin from Oregon hooked into a big yellowtail but fought so long he had to hand the rod over to Juan to finish bringing it is and immediately
Juan said...”hmmm feels like a sea lion is also fighting this fish.” They ended up only bringing aboard the massive head! They fished about five miles
south of Asunción but there were too many sea lions.
They were heading up to San Pablo today to try their luck.
We really enjoyed the beautiful eclipse last evening, very clear skies.
Surf has been excellent the last few days and more whales are passing by northbound every day. We were treated to a huge breach right in front of our
window yesterday afternoon.
Lobster season is winding down and we are looking forward to the
end of season lobster feast. It's possible that the co-ops get a 2 week extension on the season which usually ends the end of February...
Construction is underway on a 42 room resort on the waterfront at the entrance to Asunción and there is a flurry of building projects all over the
village.
Shari and Juan
Water temperature 62 - 70
Air temperature 53-68
Humidity 51%
Wind: W 7 knots
Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 7:10 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:31 p.m. MST
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