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Around 10% of the world's total fish species can be found just within the Great Barrier Reef. |
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Starfish can re-grow their arms. In fact, a single arm can regenerate a whole body. |
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Starfish do not have blood. Their blood is actually filtered sea water. |
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Starfish don't have brains. Special cells on their skin gather information about their surroundings |
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Not all animals with the word fish in their names count as fish. |
Though their names may suggest otherwise, cuttlefish, starfish, and jellyfish aren’t actually fish. Generally-speaking, fishes must have skulls, gills, and fins. Surprisingly, though, not all fishes have proper spines. |
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In three decades, the world's oceans will contain more discarded plastic than fish when measured by weight, researchers say. |
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As of 2020, there were 34,000 known fish species around world. That’s more than the number of species in all other vertebrates: birds, reptiles, mammals, and amphibians combined. |
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Just how man species of fish are there? |
As of 2020, there were 34,000 known fish species around world. That’s more than the number of species in all other vertebrates: birds, reptiles, mammals, and amphibians combined. |
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Even Catfish are finicky |
Taste Buds ? Catfish have a more refined sense of flavor than humans. Our 10,000 taste buds may seem like a lot, but catfish can have as many as 175,000. This helps them find the exact location of their next meal. |
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A bit of Humor |
My brother has 2 German Shepherds named Rolex and Timex. You guessed it they are Watch Dogs. |
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From Jan 01, 1999 To Dec 05, 2024
Nov 1, 2011; 05:20PM - North Wind already, blow out October?
|
Category: Saltwater Fly Fishing Reports
|
Author Name: Gary Graham
|
Endless Season Update Wednesday, October
31, 2011
REPORT #1265 'Below the Border'
Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
After a month of hot water and by all
accounts, slow fishing, the much awaited
cooling of the sea temperatures has
finally begun. Remembering the old
saying about being careful what you ask
for, the cooler water that was hoped
for, was brought about by or closely
followed by, an early dose of north
wind. While that may be good news for
arriving kite boarders, it's a bummer
for fishing.
But not so fast! The wind seems to be
what the doctor ordered. While the tuna
seem to have disappeared, the dorado are
suddenly hanging out around the shark
buoys…I think this is the first time
this season I could say that with
conviction. Plus…drum roll here… the
striped marlin and sailfish are back in
the game. How long will it last? I
wouldn't dare guess, but it is fun-fun-
fun fishing for the moment.
Current East Cape Weather
http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
We received two 'on the spot' reports:
'We fished the ridge last Saturday,
Sunday and Monday. It was very slow.
We heard a few reports of boats getting
a wahoo or two, but we had no 'hoo
hookups. Got three dorado, and a YT on
the dropper, along with some small
grouper. Had a marlin strike that
missed. Saw about eight marlin and may
have had shots at them but we weren't
really interested in that. We talked to
many groups of fishermen, and many
locals. No one spoke of seeing tuna in
quite a while, and the quantities
mentioned did not gel with what I had
been hearing.'
The second report was from George
Landrum who helped bring a boat down
from Ensenada:
'Mid-morning we were at the mid-point on
the Ridge north of Mag Bay and the wind
finally died down, the water calmed and
also started to warm up a bit. We had
left Ensenada with green, 64 degree
water and by the time we reached the
upper Thetis Bank it had turned much
more blue and had warmed up to 72
degrees. With the water warm, clean and
much calmer we proceeded to put four
lures out and made a pass on the Thetis.
This resulted in catching the owner his
largest wahoo to date, estimated at 65
pounds! Several more passes resulted in
no more strikes so we continued on to
the lower Thetis Bank. This area had
plenty of striped marlin and we had a
fish in the pattern constantly. The
owner was fighting one when another one
swam right up to the transom and Carlos
quickly dropped another lure in the
water. With the swivel at the rod tip
and 10 feet of leader, he swung the lure
back and forth a few times and the
second fish bit and hooked up!
Thankfully it only stayed on a few
minutes then jumped off and we were able
to leader and release the fish the owner
had been fighting.
Wanting to arrive in Magdalena Bay
before dark we continued on and spotted
some shark buoys. Making a few passes
with the lures we were able to bring
several dorado on board to join the
wahoo already in the freezer. We then
powered up and ran into the bay,
anchoring up for the night at the Man of
War anchorage. With the underwater
lights on we caught a few live mackerel
for bait the next day and caught some
shut-eye.
Up again early, our plan was to head
straight out to the deep-water ledge and
see if we could find some tuna for
sashimi. As we were exiting Mag Bay we
spotted several areas where the mackerel
were feeding and caught another dozen to
put in the live bait tank.
We spotted a frigate bird and caught a
dorado about 20 minutes out, then under
another frigate 45 minutes later we had
a sailfish come in on a lure and hook
up. A short fight resulted in a release
at the boat. The rest of the day was
uneventful until we spotted more buoys
on the way in and caught three more
dorado, then had a wahoo strike just off
the beach on the way into anchor for the
night.'
Current Magdalena Bay Weather
http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
See report on Baja Bytes report
Current Zihuatanejo Weather
http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582
Cabo San Lucas
The billfish have picked up, more
striped marlin are being caught, and the
sailfish numbers are remaining up there
also. They usually feed with the dorado,
but have heard reports of the sailfish
being caught alongside the yellowfin. No
reports of any large blue or black
marlin, but there were some in the 100
to 200 pound range.
Tuna! Tuna! Tuna! I want Sushi! Lots of
tuna around which is a good thing with
the Western Outdoor News Tuna Jackpot
coming up this Thursday and Friday. Most
of the tuna I have seen coming in
however have been in the 30 to 40 pound
range with a few in the 60 to 100 pound
range. There are reports of 200 pound
fish jumping, but couldn't get them to
bite. Tossing ballyhoo, mackerel, cedar
plugs, they just wouldn't bite. Whoever
figures out what they want will make
some money this week if they are in the
tournament!
Lots, and lots of dorado again. If you
are trolling inshore, they are hard to
miss. A lot of small ones; I even saw
someone with a 2 pound fish the other
day. Normally, those are thrown back,
but this one didn't make it. Most of the
fish are in the 8 to 15 pound range with
some hitting the 30 pound mark.
There have been a few wahoo flags
recently…fish in the 30 pound range. Not
usually many this time of year.
The water temperatures are staying warm,
so still some nice roosterfish around,
snapper, groupers; almost November, but
I haven't seen any sierra yet. The
dorado fishing is also good close to
shore…George and Mary Landrum
Current Cabo Weather
http://tiny.cc/cabo191
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Sep 18, 2011; 08:58AM - Tuna Roll
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Category: Saltwater Fly Fishing Reports
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Author Name: Gary Graham
|
Endless Season Update Wednesday,
September 17, 2011
REPORT #1263 'Below the Border'
Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Tuna, atún, tuńczyk. . .in any language
these fish are practically chewing the
paint off the bottom of the boats. Every
report from East Cape is filled with
sweaty ,casually-clothed anglers wearing
big smiles commensurate with the size of
the tuna.
Traditionally, September is a slow
month because of the propensity of
Chubasos to show up unexpectedly. This
year, throughout the summer every month
has looked like September at all the
hotels as far as the number of guests
and anglers is concerned.
Clearly the tuna are impervious to the
bad economy and in terms of quantity and
quality, tuna fishing is as good as it
gets right now. Meanwhile dorado are
showing up more in the catches each day
with the largest in the forty-pound
class. And though not drawing as much
attention, the billfish action for
blues, sails and stripers has been
picking up as well.
Last but not least, the roosterfish bite
has gone on almost all summer.
Regardless of your tackle choice,
conventional, spinning or fly, there are
enough challenges and personal bests to
satisfy both newcomers and seasoned
veterans.
Current East Cape Weather
http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Fishing continues to improve after a bit
of unsettled conditions. Large dorado
and the early appearance of marlin have
the few anglers who are fishing
excited. Fish are in 85° water just a
few miles outside Boca Soledad. My son
released two and had more follows in the
area.
Out at the Thetis, wahoo have been
sporadically good recently. . .just not
in the concentrations that were here
last year. …Bob Hoyt
Current Magdalena Bay Weather
http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
See report on Baja Bytes report
Current Zihuatanejo Weather
http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582
Cabo San Lucas
There are plenty of striped marlin being
seen but not all of them are hungry.
Just getting one released has been a
reason for celebration for most anglers.
Some blacks are beginning to show up off
the Gordo Banks and the Punta Gordo area
and there have been blue marlin
attacking lures both south of Cabo and
around the warm water plume on the
Pacific side. Most of these larger fish
have been in the 200- to 300-pound
class. Lures have been best to use on
the blue marlin and the black marlin
really like slow-trolled live skipjack.
Strangely enough, yellowfin tuna have
remained our top reported fish. I mean
that because we have been seeing purse
seiners setting on schools out here, and
we are still catching nice tuna, in
spite of them! There have been some very
nice-sized fish reported from the area
of the Finger Banks, but that is a long
haul for the fleet guys on a fingers-
crossed trip when there is good fishing
closer to home. Boats fishing the
Pacific side have been catching fish
ranging from 10 to 100 pounds with most
of them in the 20- to 30-pound class
while trolling cedar plugs and feathers
around porpoise and dolphin. The larger
fish have been hooked on slow-trolled
live bait dropped-back after hooking up
to a trolled fish, but the very largest
fish have been taken while fishing under
a kite. We had clients this week who
caught five yellowfin between 30 and 60
pounds and several smaller ones, the
larger fish all coming from using the
kite. Other boats working a bit farther
out to the south reported larger fish
over 100 pounds coming from under a
kite.
Plenty of dorado to be caught, you just
had to be fishing the right areas to get
them. Almost all the big numbers were
found within two miles of the beach on
the Pacific side up past the Arcos area.
Big numbers do not mean big fish though
as most of these fish were in the 10-
pound class along with a few much
smaller ones. The larger fish were
found scattered farther offshore. Boats
that did well on the larger fish were
looking for feeding frigate birds and
running to them, tossing out live bait
and slow trolling the area. Also,
almost anything you found floating this
week was likely to have fish under it.
A few boats were able to get into small
groups averaging 25 pounds and catching
three or four for the fish box.
Some roosterfish as well as a scattering
of snapper and grouper have kept most
inshore anglers a little busy, but with
the water conditions the way they are
most of the pangas are going offshore
looking for the larger dorado and some
of those great yellowfin tuna…George and
Mary Landrum
Current Cabo Weather
http://tiny.cc/cabo191
|
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Aug 18, 2011; 01:00PM - Blame Game
|
Category: Saltwater Fly Fishing Reports
|
Author Name: Gary Graham
|
Endless Season Update August 18, 2011
REPORT #1262 'Below the Border'
Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
[img]http://www.bajafly.com/report/2011.
image/pier.gif[/img]
Mid August and the fish seemed to have
taken a powder. Still some fish around
but they aren't exactly jumping in the
boats. Three out of four reports this
week drug the 'full moon' explanation
off the shelf to explain the poor
fishing. The moon is like Baja if
anything goes wrong it gets the blame.
Have you ever read that fishing was wide
open…must have been the full moon?
How slow was it, Mark Rayor of Jen Wren
Sportfishing, spent more time reporting
on bird than fish? There were a few
highlight fo the lucky ones.
Buenavista Beach Resort boats Liliana
and Dottie B11 managed to capture the
top prizes in dorado and tuna
categories. Last weekend in the La
Ribera tournament that coincided the La
Ribera Days festival that takes place
every August.
John Ireland, Rancho Leonero reported
the inshore produced more quality sized
roosters again this week along with some
large amberjack. Lots of pompano are
still around. A couple of nice pargo in
the 20 to 30 # range taken this week.
Current East Cape Weather
http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Warm water currents resulted in the best
early showing of marlin in two years
from Tasco to the upper end of the
ridge. Most of the shark buoys holding
dorado and there is a good showing of
yellowfin tuna feeding on baitballs.
Watch for the bird schools.
In the esteros there have been a
smattering of nice sized corvina and
grouper scattered above Lopez Mateos…Bob
Hoyt
Current Magdalena Bay Weather
http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
No report….Ed Kunze
Current Zihuatanejo Weather
http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582
Cabo San Lucas
The marlin fishing was similar to
fishing for every else this week, not a
lot of fish but the ones that were
caught were quality fish. With the warm
water has come the blue marlin, and
while not every boat managed to hook
into one, there were a few boats that
managed a release on two per day. Most
of the fish were under 300 pounds. From
just off the beach to beyond the 1,000
fathom line, they were scattered
everywhere. We also saw quite a few
sailfish this week, most of them over
100 pounds. Not appearing in large
packs, still they were getting into the
lure in small groups of two or three
fish at a time and causing quite a
commotion on the deck as the attacked
everything in the water. The striped
marlin bite has died off quite a bit.
There are still a few fish caught every
day, most of them from just off the
beach to the north on the Pacific side.
Tuna slowed still more, the bite has
fallen off quite a bit. Where we were
getting at least a couple of fish every
trip, now it is a fish or two every few
trips. On a good note, these fish have
been real nice ones! As I said earlier,
quality fish, not quantity of fish.
Finding porpoise was still the key, and
being the first to them was something
that you had to have happen. Second
boat or later may as well have just not
moved. With fish to #200, a few boats
were lucky enough to be the first ones
on the porpoise and sometimes ended up
with multiple hook-ups, but were
thankful to get one of them into the
boat. Boats that were able to fly a
kite increased their chances of hooking
up by at least 50%, and if you did not
have a kite, having flouro-carbon leader
sure was better than normal mono-
filament leader for these big tuna.
While there are still plenty of dorado
out there, the number caught is down.
Again, most of the fish were close to
the beach and averaged just 8-10 pounds.
A few larger fish were caught and again
slow trolling live bait seemed to
produce better quality fish than just
trolling lures. Almost all the action
occurred on the Pacific side of the
Cape.
Once again there was a scattering of
wahoo in the smaller size range caught
this week, mostly by boats working off
the beach for the small dorado. I did
not hear of any large ones being caught
and the smaller fish were in the 20-25
pound class. With the full moon just
happening, the bite might turn on for a
couple of days.
Inshore fishing was slow, as was
everything else this week. We had a few
clients on Pangas who did fair on the
dorado, were able to catch plenty of
skip-jack and bonito and had some action
on hammerhead sharks as well.
Roosterfish were not real active and
while a few decent snapper and grouper
were caught, they were not there in the
numbers to make it worth targeting
them..…George and Mary Landrum
Current Cabo Weather
http://tiny.cc/cabo191
|
|
Jul 22, 2011; 08:23AM - Dora looms
|
Category: Saltwater Fly Fishing Reports
|
Author Name: Gary Graham
|
Endless Season Update July 21, 2011
REPORT #1261 'Below the Border'
Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
[img]http://www.bajafly.com/report/2011.
image/FLYVICTOR.gif[/img]
While Dora pounds its way north, most
locals are cautiously looking over their
shoulders.
[url]http://www.allaboutbaja.com/webcams
.html[/url] East Cape webcam for current
live view
Summer action continues, however, with
billfish dominating the catches as more
and more anglers attention turns to the
upcoming East Cape Offshore that begins
next week. Hopefully it will not be a
repeat of last week's Dorado Shootout
when the target fish became scarce.
Speaking of scarce, the cow-sized tuna
are scattered in Las Palmas Bay with
little or no concentration. Mark Rayor
did manage to corral a couple, but he
was the exception to the rule. Most of
the
fleet had to be content with the smaller
football variety.
Inshore, the roosters and jacks are in
the house…smaller versions only; the
larger versions are not.
Current East Cape Weather
http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303
[B]Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico[/B]
Rumblings out of Magdalena indicate that
there is a decent yellowtail bite on the
ridge while locals are reporting dorado
and striped marlin outside of Cabo
Lazaro. This seems backwards to the way
it should be in a normal year.
In the Esteros the action remains
consistent for the usual suspects but
since many locals are currently
clamming, it is difficult to figure out
how bad or how
good it is.
Current Magdalena Bay Weather
http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150
[B]Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico[/B]
We are enjoying a great month!
Francisco, on the super panga Huntress,
fished three days in the nearby blue
water and caught seven sailfish, dorado,
lots of
ocianicos (skipjack), and even yellowfin
tuna. Plus, his clients from Denmark,
Niels Theirs and his daughter, also
fished the inshore for several days,
catching
numerous roosters and jack crevalle.
The roosterfish action is still blazing
hot for us here in Ixtapa /Zihuatanejo.
Early in the week, I had already been
booked in advance by David Yoder of
Seattle to fly fish for roosters when
Henry Huskins of Houston, Texas called
me the night before wanting to
conventional gear fish for roosters. I
called Adolfo and we put Henry with
Cheva on the panga Dos Hermanos
(Adolfo’s boat), and because Cheva’s
boat, the Dos Hermanos II is more fly-
fishing-friendly, David and I went
with Adolfo on Cheva’s boat.
The action was incredible. We fished the
clean water south of Valentin and on
down past the antennas. With Adolfo, we
brought at least 12 roosters to the
boat, and David caught and released one
along with a medium-sized jack crevalle.
This was David’s first experience for
roosters on the fly and he soon learned
12 roosters teased to the boat with a
hookless teaser e 12 caught fish when
you have hooks in the surface popper and
a live bait to back it up. But that one
fish on the fly is so much more
rewarding when you do hook up,
especially when using a fly you had tied
yourself. Meanwhile, Henry was with
Cheva and had not handicapped himself
with the fly rod. He released eight nice
roosters.
Plus, when David went back with Adolfo
the next day, with memories of those 50
pound and Fly Fishing World Record 70
pound class fish that had followed his
fly, but did not eat it, he quickly got
over his learning curve. On the first
day the cast was sometimes a bit early,
but usually a bit too late. By the
second day he was able to get the timing
down of having the fly hit the water
just in front of the hookless surface
teaser popper, and about 50 feet out.
Did he do well? He
got SIX roosters on the fly! I would say
he is a veteran now….Ed Kunze
Current Zihuatanejo Weather
http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582
[B]Cabo San Lucas[/B]
Though there are still some to be found,
the striped marlin bite has fallen off
as we expect when the water gets over 80
degrees. I have not seen very many
boats flying multiple flags, two at the
most, and my guess is there is a success
rate of about 35%. In addition, the
fish have been scattered. Best results
have been from the area of cool water on
the Pacific side close to the beach.
There have been more frequent attacks on
lures from the larger marlin! Reports of
blues up to 500 pounds taking yellowfin
tuna as they are being reeled in gives
you a reason to get out there, but they
haven't arrived in any numbers…just an
occasional fish or so. Smaller blue
marlin and possibly a few black marlin
have been reported attacking lures
pulled around the tuna schools. Maybe
it’s time to down-rig a few tuna on the
banks?
A bright star this week was the
yellowfin tuna action. As is normal with
these fish, first boats to the action
had the best luck, and finding the fish
for the most part consisted of finding
porpoise. The yellowfin averaged 15
pounds and once in a while jumped over
the 40 pound mark. I did hear reports of
a few larger fish
coming from the area outside of Punta
Gorda, fish that went over the 100 pound
mark. Almost anyone that wanted tuna
this week were able to get a few, with
some anglers limiting out. On a worry
note: the purse seiners nave started to
show up, but that means that there are
more fish on the way, just hope they
don’t get them all before we have a
chance at some!
Another bright spot this week was the
number of dorado we have been seeing…an
average of 12 pounds. There have been a
few really small ones that bode
well for the next few months as they get
larger, and of course the 40 pound fish
that get everyone all excited. The
majority of the larger dorado are being
found on the Cortez side in the warmer
water and the smaller fish are being
found close to the beach.
Inshore fishing was a repeat of last
week with the inclusion of a few more
dorado showing up… roosterfish to 60
pounds, amberjack, jack crevalle,
bonito,
grouper, snapper; all the inshore fish
are showing in the reports this week.
Slow trolling live bait is the key to
getting most of the fish except the
bottom species, and those were biting on
butterfly jigs.…George and Mary Landrum
Current Cabo Weather
http://tiny.cc/cabo191
|
|
Jul 4, 2011; 05:25PM - Baja sizzles while So. Cal. chills
|
Category: Saltwater Fly Fishing Reports
|
Author Name: Gary Graham
|
Endless Season Update July 4, 2011
REPORT #1260 'Below the Border'
Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
While the hotel owners worried about the
lack of guests and more importantly, the
lack of anglers to cash in on the
action, tuna ate and ate on the 88 again
this week! and the size was anywhere
from 'teeners' to 'cows' exceeding
200 pounds.
Not every boat and not every angler,
but enough that cocktail hour was
dominated with fish stories and sashimi.
Shark buoys strung out across the Sea
held bait beneath them that attracted
dorado, tuna and billfish, from blue to
sail variety.
While back inshore the roosters are on
the prowl with enough jacks to entertain
both conventional and fly anglers from
boat and beach.
Current East Cape Weather
http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Slow…slow…slow offshore and inshore
according to locals and Lance Peterson
who recently returned from a scouting
trip to the area.
Current Magdalena Bay Weather
http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The 84° blue water is still holding
close to the beach, but this may change
as the rains are still coming. It
started this morning (Friday) about 2:30
and did not let up until about noon. We
expect more tonight.
The fishing has been excellent. The
average per boat sailfish action is two
to three fish per day. Martin, on the
cruiser Gaviota, released six earlier in
the week. It should also be noted Martin
was the No. 1 Tag and Release Captain
for the entire West Coast of Mexico for
last year’s NOAA tags. No results are
available yet for the Billfish
Foundation tags.
Offshore also has skipjack tuna,
yellowfin tuna, and a few blue marlin.
Here is a report emailed to me by Kevin
Seelick: On Sun 6/26, I called Adolfo
Sr. and he was booked for the week.
'Give me 5 minutos, I'll find you a
captain.' He put me on an offshore boat
with captain Martin (Chico on the panga
Llamarda is the owner) and deckhand
Tyson aka 'Mike Tyson', on the Rosa
Nautica. My daughter and I caught 37
oceanicos (skipjack tuna) and one good
size yellowfin tuna. I was the lucky one
with catching a highly acrobatic
fighting sailfish.
Day 2: Adolfo Sr. put me onto Cheva's
boat 'Dos Hermanos II' with Adolfo Jr.
Trolling live bait and casting 3.oz
blue/white Roberts Lure's top water
poppers. We hooked 14 smaller roosters
and numerous jacks and one awesome
roosterfish. We named him 'Sancho' and
released him to be caught another day.
Muchos Gracias to Adolfo Sr, Jr., Cheva,
Martin, and Chico aka 'Mike Tyson'…Ed
Kunze
Current Zihuatanejo Weather
http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582
Cabo San Lucas
The marlin were found right outside the
bay, most of them between ½ and 5 miles
out, and they were hungry! Not a wide
open bite by any stretch, but much
better than we had seen earlier in the
week.
We had two boats out Sunday, and both
came back with between 13 and 15
yellowfin each, ranging between 12 and
40 pounds. We were not the only ones;
almost all the fleet that went the
correct direction got into fish. The
correct direction appeared to be between
150 and 200 degrees, and the distance to
travel between 3 and 20 miles. That area
between shore and the 1,000 fathom line
had fish both associated and non-
associated with porpoise.
As the water warmed up so did the dorado
bite. Not really a hot bite right now,
there were boats coming in with between
one and three dorado between 15 and 25
pounds each.
Most of the inshore fishing this week
was done on the Cortez side early in the
week and a little was done close to the
beach as far up the Pacific side and Los
Arcos. At the end of the week the water
had calmed down on the Pacific side and
boats were able to venture farther
north. Inshore action consisted of
sierra, yellowtail, amberjack,
roosterfish, bonito, lady-fish and
needle-fish. There were some decent
snapper and grouper caught off the
bottom as well…George and Mary Landrum
Current Cabo Weather
http://tiny.cc/cabo191
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Jun 23, 2011; 08:42AM - Sporadic to steady to sporadic
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Category: Saltwater Fly Fishing Reports
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Author Name: Gary Graham
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Endless Season Update June 20, 2011
REPORT #1259 'Below the Border'
Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
From sporadic to steady back to
sporadic, a second hurricane has come
and gone and has certainly messed with
the fishing. For the moment, however, it
seems to be in the steady mode. Too bad,
there are not many folks except locals
to enjoy it.
There are still some midday easterly
winds, and an unusual current cooled sea
temps down to as low as 70 degrees from
the Light House south. However, just
five miles offshore the water warms up
to 84 degrees.
Most of the billfishing has been striped
marlin with a few sails and even fewer
blues released.
Last week's grande tuna action was
basically driven down by boat traffic
and now it is back to playing football
with the small-grade tuna, the most
common, down below Las Frailes. There is
an occasional 100-plus caught but they
mostly fall in the 'more lucky than
good' category.
Most of the dorado are caught while
trolling for marlin and while there are
some quality bulls they are few and far
between.
Inshore the cooler water messed up the
fishing but seems to be warming back up.
Small roosters and jacks are the norm
from both boat and shore. Also there
were some nice-sized pompano landed in
front of a couple of the hotels. If you
aren't fond of crowds…come on down.
Current East Cape Weather
http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Firecracker yellowtail mixed with sierra
and bonito at the Entrada. Farther
offshore, nearly twenty miles west, the
shark buoys are beginning to show some
promise with a some small dorado
gathering beneath a few them
Current Magdalena Bay Weather
http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The 85 degree water is still just a mile
off the beach. The sailfish average per
boat is only about one fish a day, but
this is mostly because the boats are all
chasing yellowfin tuna. The 20 to 40
pound tuna are being taken from four
miles to 20 miles off the beach. This is
happening all up and down the coast,
including 40 miles south at Puerto
Vicente Guerrero.
There are also a lot of large hard-
fighting skipjack tuna, called oceanicos
in Spanish. The few boats which are
traveling a bit farther out, fishing the
20 to 30 mile areas, are also getting
several 30 to 45 pound dorado.
And, the inshore action is still blazing
hot for the roosterfish. Sitting at your
desk, in your wildest day dreams, can
you imagine seven roosters a day with
fish averaging 30 pounds? That is what
our averages are right now. It all
depends on the stamina of the client. If
they can pull on more fish, they will
get at least 10, but most clients pull
the plug after five or six. The fish are
there, we just need the people to catch
‘em, and then release them again.
Ed Kunze
Current Zihuatanejo Weather
http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582
Cabo San Lucas
Windy and cooler most days with
whitecaps several days. Water temps as
cold as the upper 60's close to Cabo and
up to 81 degrees at the Cabrillo Sea
Mount.
Marlin catches were surprisingly quite
good this week even with a full moon and
a drop in water temperature. After some
heat last week, it’s like the season
slipped backwards and those on the
Pacific side are again sleeping under
quilts. There were a few more anglers in
town this week and catches were good to
fair for marlin and a few sailfish.
Yellowfin tuna in the 15 to 35 pound
class and dorado -- very seldom more
than a single fish -- continued to be
sporadic with about as many good days as
slow. A few wahoo were also caught
throughout the fleet.
Inshore there were a few roosterfish,
amberjack, skipjack and even a few stray
yellowtail.
Current Cabo Weather
http://tiny.cc/cabo191
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May 30, 2011; 12:36PM - Full Throttle
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Category: Saltwater Fly Fishing Reports
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Author Name: Gary Graham
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Endless Season Update May 30, 2011
REPORT #1257 'Below the Border'
Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
Memorial day and the week preceding it
delivered the kind of fishing that
locals have been hoping for since April
Fool's day. The conditions right now are
a fisherman's dream. It is also a
skipper's dream. And the fly fishing is
excellent as well.
Chris 'Smokedoggydogg' Moyers of Reel
Scoop wrote, 'This week was all about
quality over quantity amigos!' Mark
Rayor, Jen Wren Sportfishing, 'The Sea
of Cortez has just erupted and anglers
are finding they have their hands full.'
John Ireland, Rancho Leonero Hotel,
'These are the kind of weekly reports I
enjoy writing!' and Jeff De Brown, Reel
Baja, 'It’s On!!'
So what's up? Offshore: Yellowfin tuna…
big and plenty. Dorado and sargasso
seaweed are the winning recipe for the
best dorado bite of the year, or maybe
the past three. All the billfish seen
this last month have finally decided to
bite.
Inshore: Roosterfish, jacks, pompano,
ladyfish and sierra have been on the
rampage.
The past few days no matter where you
wanted to fish, whether it be the beach,
inshore or offshore, your odds of
catching fish has been remarkably good.
Current East Cape Weather
http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Large swells kept the surfers happy but
prevented many fishermen from going
outside. Inside the Esteros was the
standard fare of grouper, mangrove
snapper with a few corvina and pompano
biting on the surface…Bob Hoyt
Current Magdalena Bay Weather
http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The water is a lot warmer this year than
in the past. We are having 82 degree
surface temperatures inshore and 86
degrees offshore. This is great for the
rooster action, but May has
traditionally been our best month for
big tuna and blue marlin. They prefer 78
to 80 degree water. However, since
sailfish like the warm water, it may be
a tradeoff.
The rooster and jack crevalle action is
still holding up well. Joe Pombrio of
Seattle fly fished a day with Cheva and
me on the panga Dos Hermanos. We had bad
luck from the beginning. Going north, up
to the Saladita and Ranch areas, the
surf was so high we watched the long
boarders get some great rides on the
12' waves. It was really unsafe a
couple of times for us, and we couldn’t
get in close to the beach to where the
roosters were.
As the swells died down we worked our
way back to Buena Vista with high hopes
for this excellent rooster spot. We were
no more than getting set up when a pod
of false killer whales came up the
coastline on the backside of the waves.
They were there for the roosters and
jacks too, but they don’t release their
catch!
Joe fished two more days, one with Cheva
and one with Adolfo. He ended up hooking
one rooster and breaking it off, but
getting lots of nice jack crevalle..…Ed
Kunze
Current Zihuatanejo Weather
http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582
Cabo San Lucas
Although the striped marlin dominated
the billfish scene, there were just
enough smaller blue marlin in the 200 to
250 pound range and an occasional
swordfish found finning on the surface,
to bait. Generally, only one solid
hookup but it was worth casting a bait
to.
Most of the action was on and around the
1150 or the San Jose Canyon. A little
farther up in the Sea of Cortez in the
area off of Punta Gordo where the water
temperature had climbed a degree or so,
a few sailfish were also caught. In the
'careful what you wish for department'
there have been a few nice-sized
yellowfin tuna up to 60 pounds under the
black porpoise, with a few larger fish
as well, almost all biting on lures
pulled for marlin.
Closer to shore along the Cortez
shoreline, football-sized yellowfin
action has been consistent about two to
five miles from the beach, mostly blind
strikes, but when found the schools
remain around the boat as long as the
chummed sardina holds out.
Dorado action also has been on the
Cortez side of the Cape in the warmer
water. Areas close to the beach produced
smaller fish to 12 pounds while the
larger fish to 30 pounds have been found
farther offshore. Not to say you can't
get nice ones inshore; there have been
some decent catches made by the boats
fishing with sardina for tuna.
Other inshore action included some
yellowtail on the Pacific side that
hardly seemed worth it on most days
because of the wind. Up into the other
direction there are still a few sierra
and some smaller variety roosterfish to
catch..…George and Mary Landrum
Current Cabo Weather
http://tiny.cc/cabo191
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Apr 12, 2011; 05:41PM - East Cape Flying High
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Category: Saltwater Fly Fishing Reports
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Author Name: Gary Graham
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Endless Season Update APRIL 11, 2011
REPORT #1252 'Below the Border'
Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Pudge Kleinkauf owner of Women's
Flyfishing® returned to Buena Vista
Beach Resort for the fifteenth
consecutive year. The group including
first timers and seasoned veterans were
greeted by signature East Cape warm
springtime weather. To everyone's
delight the fly fishing yielded a nice
variety including, bonito, skipjack,
sierra, jack cravelle roosterfish and
cabrilla. According to guides Jeff De
Brown and Lance Peterson the skipjack
were thick and it wasn't unusual for all
the ladies on the boats to be hooked up
at the same time.
Hotel Rancho Buena Vista that closed
suddenly several months ago reopened
their bar this week. Tony Marron, a 36-
year-employee of the Ranch and his son,
Tomas greeted the crowd of locals that
eagerly returned to the watering hole
that has been a favorite dating back to
the Ray Cannon era.
Offshore action took a back seat for
most visitors this week. Most were
content to bask in the warm sun and
catch whatever wanted to bit close to
shore including jacks, small roosters,
skipjack and sierra.
Up to the north outside of Pescadero as
well as south in front of La Ribera
there were some deepwater (150 to 250
feet) yellows to be had with some
weighing in at forty pounds.
The few hotel boats that ventured
further offshore were rewarded with
multiple striped marlin, a few dorado
and some early season wahoo including
one sixty pound toad. Also intriguing
were the swordfish spotted by several
offshore boats. However excitement soon
turned to frustration as the clearly
visible two finners ignored the baits
presented to them. A couple did bite but
either spit the hook or broke off before
the battle barely had begun.
Current East Cape Weather
http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
With the exception of a few courageous
pangueros willing to brave the elements
there few going offshore now. There are
the usual rumors of yellowtail at the
Entrada as well as outside the rocks
below the lighthouse at Lazaro.
The Esteros provided good catches of
corvina according to Captain Roddy
Garcia up above Lopez Mateos. He added
that there were also a few grouper and
pargo found in some of the deeper
channels near the old Gypsum pier.
Current Magdalena Bay Weather
http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The warmer 82ş water is definitely
moving back in earlier than expected,
and the good fishing we usually get in
May and June should soon follow.
Currently the clean water is just 4
miles off the beach with the boats
averaging a sailfish or striped marlin a
day each. However, the inshore action is
still holding strong, with the
roosterfish making an early appearance.
Normally we start targeting roosters
from about mid-May, but Adolfo, on the
panga Dos Hermanos, went south to the
antennas and releasing 5 from 35 to 45
pounds for his French clients. The fish
were taken on slow trolled live bait and
surface poppers.
Cheva, on the Dos Hermanos II fished
inshore with Troy Sturm of Minnesota for
one day. Troy and his wife caught about
20 fish, including lots of sierras, a
few chulas, and a couple of other
species…Ed Kunze
Current Zihuatanejo Weather
http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582
Cabo San Lucas
Striped marlin did finally show up, but
they are a long way offshore and they
still are not very hungry. The question
we have is how long they are going to
stay in the area, and will they get
hungry? A trip of 30 miles has been
needed to get to them, and that is a
trip out to the Cabrillo Seamount area,
making for a choppy ride home afterward,
but boats that have been doing the trip
have been seeing between 12 and 20 fish
per trip and getting 5-6 bites,
averaging 3 releases per trip.
There were scattered yellowfin tuna
found, but still nothing in any size or
numbers. It is quite possible that they
are out there on the Pacific side but
the water has been rough and few boats
have been willing to go out there and
get beat up on slim chance of finding
fish. The area of the Gorda Banks has
been producing an occasional Yellowfin
Tuna, but better luck has been had for
large Bonita, some of them going 12
pounds.
Inshore conditions really changed where
most of the Pangas went. On the Pacific
side you could hug the beach and get as
far north as Punta San Cristobal for
some sierra and a decent yellowtail
bite. There were also a few snapper to
be found in the rocks between there and
the arch, but the swells kept many boats
from getting close enough to fish for
them. You had to be a hardy, determined
soul to fish the Pacific side! On the
Cortez side there were fish as well, but
there seemed to be a few less sierra.
Most of the boats were working hard to
get a few fish and sardina were
definitely the key to success…George and
Mary Landrum
Current Cabo Weather
http://tiny.cc/cabo191
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Mar 9, 2011; 08:44AM - Grins to Grimaces
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Category: Saltwater Fly Fishing Reports
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Author Name: Gary Graham
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Endless Season Update March 7, 2011
REPORT #1248 'Below the Border'
Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Spring is emerging slowly as air
temperatures creep up and windy days are
equal in number. Mark Rayor, Vista Sea
Sport reports, 'on a good note I had to
kick the covers off last night and open
the door because the weather has become
noticeably warmer.'
There has been a decent up and down show
of quality yellowtail for the few boats
heading out. The even fewer boats
fishing farther offshore are seeing a
remarkable number of striped marlin. The
bad news is they don't seem to be very
hungry yet.
Farther up north on the non-windy days
there is a serious pargo and yellowtail
bite. The trick is to keep them out of
the rocks or grins turn to grimaces
quickly.
On the beach front there have been some
large fish boiling on the sardina
schools in front of the hotels, luring a
few guests away from the bar long enough
to fling flies or small spoons at the
boils. So far the effort has yielded a
lower bar bill along with a few sierra
and even fewer yellowtail.
Current East Cape Weather
http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Little to report again this week as
locals continue to focus on their
current cash cow 'whale watching'.
Which I suppose is a good thing since
when that ends. Attention will return to
fishing commercially for anything that
moves.
Meanwhile reading between the lines of
the sketchy reports consisting of a few
terse sentences. Issued by local
operators seem to be little more than a
rehash of yesterdays news or fantasies
of tomorrows.
Which is understandable since most are
back in the U. S. because of a lack of
clients.
There is little to report as winter
continues its grip of Magdalena Bay.
Current Magdalena Bay Weather
http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
With the blue water out past the 50 mile
mark, offshore fishing is tough at best.
We are catching about an equal amount of
striped marlin and sailfish, but we are
only averaging about 1 fish per boat per
day, with a few boats getting nada. The
yellowfin tuna are here, but out in the
blue water, as well as the majority of
the game fish.
About the only bright spot is the
abundance of jack crevalle, black
skipjack tuna, and sierras inshore. A
lot of the captains are talking about
huge jacks averaging 20 to 25 pounds
near the White Rocks. On light gear or a
fly rod, that is a guaranteed 45 minute
fight. Most of the fish are being taken
on a slow trolled live bait or Rapala.
Adolfo, on the panga Dos Hermanos told
me the jacks are all up and down the
coast, and his clients, throwing a
surface popper are getting 20 to 30 fish
a day.. Ed Kunze
Current Zihuatanejo Weather
http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582
Cabo San Lucas
Fishing was decent for striped marlin,
but it dropped as the fish moved farther
offshore following that 72 degree water.
Some fish were found at a distance of 35
miles to the east; a lucky boat might
have had two hook-ups out of four or
five fish seen, most boats were happy to
have seen a couple of marlin to throw
bait to. A couple of marlin were caught
on the Pacific side. A swordfish in the
range of 300-400 pounds was caught not
far out from the lighthouse…a very nice,
rare fish for our area.
Yellowfin tuna were found in the Gorda
Banks, Inman Banks, Punta Gorda area…
still small fish at 10 to 20 pounds but
there were several fish to 50 pounds
caught. Kite fishing worked on the
larger fish and a few boats also caught
some of the nice ones using down-riggers
with large sardina. Surface drifting
fly-lined sardina was the best method
for catching football-sized fish.
Farther offshore there were scattered
school, but you had to be the first or
second boat, either that or stay until
everyone else had given up! With the
water moving the fish, schools were
found scattered along the temperature
break at the 1,000 fathom line on both
sides of the Cape, outside the 1150 and
south of the San Jaime.
Few flags were flying for smaller fish
caught by boats fishing right along the
beach for sierra.
Things were good with plenty of sierra
and good numbers of yellowtail showing
up in the fish boxes. Then, it started
to shut down. Recently, we had clients
who were lucky to come back with trigger
fish and a few sierra. It may be that
the change in water temperature, while
not large, was too abrupt and they moved
overnight. Whatever, the inshore bite
really dropped off. There were a few
roosterfish still biting, a few of them
were nice fish to 25 pounds, but most
were in the 10 to 12-pound class, and
there were bonito as well. Many of the
pangas ran all the way to San Jose for
the yellowfin action, but it was a long
run up and back for a few fish.
Hopefully the water will settle down and
the bite will come back on!
There are still plenty of whales to be
seen, but not for long so if you want to
smell one up close and personal, get out
there now!…George and Mary Landrum
Current Cabo Weather
http://tiny.cc/cabo191
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Mar 2, 2011; 07:37AM - What is 'weather sucks' in Spanish?
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Category: Saltwater Fly Fishing Reports
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Author Name: Gary Graham
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Endless Season Update March 1, 2011
REPORT #1247 'Below the Border'
Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
I can't believe how grumpy everyone gets
when the weather drops below 60 degrees.
How many ways can a person say suck?
Seems to be a contest these days.
The few reports I did get after the
disgusted weather comments indicated
that yellowtail did bite and while
marlin moved in, they offered more
refusals than a midnight '10' at a Cabo
bar! A spicy rumor was a few tuna were
caught up at the north end of Cerralvo,
but you know it’s a stretch when I have
to go that far to find something to
write about.
Weather has me a little grumpy as well.
Snow closed the grapevine as we were
headed home from the Fly Fishing Show in
Pleasanton, and Yvonne and I, along with
Suerte and Maggie, ended up in a Motel 6
in Bakersfield. I think there may be a
song title in there somewhere, though
none of us were singing one that night.
Current East Cape Weather
http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
The best reports are coming from the
fish camp guys out on Magdalena island.
Lots of yellowtail to twenty pounds (may
be slightly less than that), grouper to
fifty and even a few white seabass below
the lighthouse.
Whales should begin to thin out soon and
maybe we will begin to receive more
informative reports.
Current Magdalena Bay Weather
http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
While on the municipal pier this
morning, talking to the captains for
more information for this report, I
spent some time with Santiago, the owner
of the super panga Gitana, and his
client Len Grupp of Minnesota. Their
experiences reflected the overall
scenario for the fishing this last
couple of weeks. They had been getting
one or two sailfish and maybe a striped
marlin a day. Most boats are averaging
about one billfish a day, with the
striped marlin being caught about
equally with the sailfish.
What really got my attention though, Len
is staying out at Barra Potosi and was
telling me of the huge numbers of
sardines in the surf there. This is an
annual thing, and when the sardines come
in like that, the jack crevalle follow.
And the jacks are big enough that the
Mexican hand line fishermen are having a
tough time carrying their four or five
fish back home.
The reason I was really interested in
the Barra is because this is an
excellent way to spend a day, and one of
the few areas on this coast where the
surf is not too high for a spin or fly
rod fisherman for shore fishing. You can
kick back under the palapa of one of the
restaurants there, have a cold one, a
few traditional Mexican appetizers, and
wait for the jacks to breeze in again.
When the jacks start crashing the bait,
you go out and catch a couple of the
hard fighting fish, and then back to the
cold one. Any fly in a three or four
inch sardine pattern will work, and the
spin fishermen are having better luck
with shiny one to two-ounce spoons and
Mega Bait jigs of the same length as the
flies.
Otherwise, Santiago told me he made a
long run down south to La Barrita and
only got a few jacks and a couple of
small roosters. Other inshore fishermen
are picking up a lot of very nice sized
sierras.
With the cold current pushing down from
the north, the clean water is about six
miles off the beach, but the good blue
water is way out at the 50-mile mark.
Some of the boats are getting into the
10 to 15 pound yellowfin tuna between 16
and 20 miles on a 240º heading, but
Ruben Lara found the bigger tuna on the
same heading, at 54 miles, and has been
hitting them every day. Ruben used to be
the captain of the Vamonos III and is
now a commercial fisherman. After a long
hard day, he has been getting back to
port averaging about 700 pounds of 40 to
80 pound tuna a day. Not bad for a
single guy hand lining on an open panga.
He told me there are schools out there
with some really big tuna. But, he would
rather catch 15 tuna at 40 pounds in the
same time it would take him to get one
200 pound tuna to the boat.
For an idea how a few of the other
captains are doing for a single day of
offshore fishing: Mecate, on the cruiser
Agua Azul, got two sails and one nice
dorado. Martin, on the Gaviota, got
three sailfish, and Cheva, on the panga
Dos Hermanos II, got three striped
marlin and one sailfish.
Leonardo, on the panga Fish On, fishing
with Don Granges of Texas, had a large
black marlin on for a while before it
got off. Twenty minutes later they
hooked a huge bull dorado over five feet
long and approaching 60 pounds. It
stuck. It will be dinner for several
nights to come. Ed Kunze
Current Zihuatanejo Weather
http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582
Cabo San Lucas
The 1150 was the place to be for striped
marlin this week as a concentration was
found in the area. Boats were able to
throw bait on six to eight fish per trip
and some of them were hungry. A good day
was two releases but most boats were
able to get at least one if they stayed
and worked the area. The bite was
associated with the tide as most of the
action was occurring in the afternoon
along with the high tide. The bite was
later every day. There were also fish
found in the Vinorama area past Punta
Gorda and around the Gorda Banks.
Right place at the right time was once
again the word of the week for
yellowfin. Fish were found outside the
1,000 fathom line to the southeast and
east as well as on the Gorda Banks and
the Inman Banks. Those outside were
associated with porpoise and if you
found the right school, and were one of
the first three or so boats there, you
had no problem getting limits of five
fish per person. If you were one of the
late boats you scratched a bit, but were
still able to get fish in the box. Most
of these fish were in the 10 to 18 pound
class. Closer to home at the Gorda
Banks, sardina were the key to getting
bit. Using a kite and flying a sardine
at least 75 yards away from the boat
resulted in quite a few fish to 70
pounds.
There were a few dorado caught this week
and I saw one boat that was flying two
flags, but for the most part these were
small fish found close to shore by boats
fishing for sierra. There was one nice
fish I saw that might have pushed 50
pounds, and it was caught in the warm
water on top of the Gorda Banks.
One fish I saw myself went 90 pounds;
sure would have liked to have had a
chunk of that meat! Once again caught in
the warm water at the Gorda Banks, there
were reports of some boats getting as
many as four wahoo in a trip this week.
But you had to be early for the numbers,
getting there before the rest of the
boats. Fish were also found around Punta
Gorda and the Inman Banks.
Sierra were once again for pangas
fishing out of Cabo, while the boats out
of San Jose were doing better on the
football yellowfin. Sierra are schooling
fish so if you started out with nice
size fish you stuck with the school. If
all you were getting were peanuts, you
moved and looked for the larger ones. It
was not a problem for most of the boats
to get as many sierra as they wanted.
But getting the larger fish took some
work. There were also roosterfish to 15
pounds as well as some decent snapper to
25 pounds. Sardina were the key to the
larger sierra and using the large ones
as well as caballito made for good
catches. The smaller sierra were no
problem to catch on swimming plugs and
hootchies…George and Mary Landrum
Current Cabo Weather
http://tiny.cc/cabo191
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