Wind is King
Endless Season Update January 16, 2011
REPORT #1241 'Below the Border'
Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape
Obviously the organizers of the this
week's 'Lord of the Wind' event held at
East Cape have some pretty good weather
intel. It has been basically blowing
most of the week which took care of any
fishing. However, when it ceases the
fishing will come back to the forefront
until the next blow…it goes with the
territory at East Cape this time of
year. Want to know more about the event?
Here is a link.
http://www.lordofthewindbaja.com/
Current East Cape Weather
http://tiny.cc/EastCapeWeather303
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Baja's brand of winter is currently in
full force at Magdalena Bay. Water temps
are in the mid to low sixties, so forget
about exotics unless yellowtail and
grouper qualify as exotics on your list.
Good fishing for them on most of the
banks beginning a few miles outside of
the bocas'.
Inside the corvina are the leaders of
the pack, eating practically anything
put in front of them…also grouper, pargo
and of course more than enough bay bass.
Even the whales are not arriving in the
numbers that are hoped for by the
locals.
Current Magdalena Bay Weather
http://tiny.cc/MagBayWeather150
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The fishing for sailfish can only be
described as being way down when
compared to other years in the past.
This is supposed to be our best couple
of weeks of the year, but with two to
three sailfish per boat per day, the
numbers of fish just aren’t here. Is it
that the illegal long lines are finally
taking their toll in Mexico? Or, as most
captains are saying, is it due to a cold
current coming in way early this year? I
am thinking the lack of conservation is
taking its toll, with the captains
closing their eyes, crossing their
fingers, and “hoping” it's the current.
There has just been too steady of a
decline since I moved here 14 years ago,
and the captains have seen it, too.
Along the lines of conservation, I got
an interesting email from Roger Reese.
His observation on future conservation
in the U.S. does have some merit. “In
the U.S. conservation is being taken
care of by the lack of participation.
With the event of the hi-tech X-Boxes,
i-Pods , 3g, 4g, cell texting, (and the
list doesn't stop there), the next
generation has very little interest in
the outdoors or nature. Fishing and
hunting is down by 5 to 7% annually.”…
Roger Reese.
But, lack of participation also means
lack of income for fishing and hunting,
and it is always the sportsman’s dollars
that lead the way for future
conservation.
While on the Municipal Pier this morning
(Thursday) at 5:30, I was talking to the
captains to get a feel for this fish
report. They were trying to “promote”
me by saying five and six sailfish a day
by, etc. But further questioning, and
also by spending the day on the water
with fly fishing client Brent Schwarz of
Lake Geneva, WI, I came to realize it is
a whole different story. More realistic
it is two sailfish a day, with most of
the fish caught two to four miles
offshore, and using conventional gear.
It is darn tough with the fly rod right
now.
For sure a couple of boats posted fou
and five fish days this week, but
historically we should have a few boats
posting double digit days, with the rest
averaging four to five releases.
Also this morning, Adolfo and Cheva on
the Dos Hermanos boats told me they have
been fishing the inshore all week. They
both told me there are lots of sierras
and green jacks, but the jack crevalle
and roosters are scarce...Ed Kunze
Current Zihuatanejo Weather
http://tiny.cc/zihuatanejo582
Cabo San Lucas
Let's see, a private ten-boat tournament
for striped marlin and on the first day
only one was caught. And that one was
caught close to home. Tell's the story
of our marlin bite for the week. There
are a few being seen but not many of
them will bite. This has to be the
slowest marlin action I have seen in
years.
There were scattered YFT's. Sometimes
we could find them out past the 1,000
fathom line to the south, other times
just four miles off of the lighthouse on
the Pacific side. The key was to be the
first boat to find the fish, then you
had a chance. If you were not the first
boat then your chances were really
lowered. None of the fish this week
were large fish, the biggest I heard of
was 35 pounds. Most of them were in the
12 to 20 pound class with an occasional
school found that averaged 20 pounds.
Many of the boats were flying tuna flags
for bonito. There were plenty of them
around due to the cooler water. Average
size for them was 4 to 5 pounds with an
occasional school of 15 to 20 pound
fish.
Once in a while a dorado in the 10 to 12
pound class was caught, but these
appeared to be stray fish, and were
found close to the beach. There were no
concentrations found this week, not even
under floating debris. Cold water
normally equals slow dorado fishing and
that is what we are seeing now.
Just like last week, as usual this time
of year, lots of wahoo flags are flying
everywhere and people are getting
excited. Then they are educated about
“Mexican Wahoo.” Lots of sierra, but
nothing really big, mostly 2 to 5 lbs.
On one day, off the next, or maybe it
was just a matter of the right place at
the right time, but the sierra bite was
either wide open or non-existent.
Personally, I think the schools were
moving around really fast and if you
could not find them in one spot, you had
to cruise the beach fast in order to
find out where they were. Once you got
into them, limits were easy to get, but
the fish were small at 2 to 5 pounds.
The yellowtail bite was fair, with fish
that are small by northern standards but
decent by ours at an average of 12
pounds. A few grouper and amberjack
rounded up the inshore catch reports
except for an abundance of bonito.…
George and Mary Landrum
Current Cabo Weather
http://tiny.cc/cabo191
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