Weather: We had partly cloudy skies this week as we waited to see what Hurricane Frank was going to deliver for us. Fortunately it downgraded to a tropical depression well to the west and south of us and while we had clouds and swells from it, there was not much affect other than the clouds. Our daytime highs were in the high 90's and did reach just over 100 degrees several days. Our nights were warm as well with lows in the mid 80's. We received some spotty rain early in the week, once again just enough to mess up the windshields on the cars.
Water: The warm water remained with us as we had an average surface temperature of 84 degrees on both sides of the Cape anywhere you went. The water did drop down to 80 degrees well to the south of the 1,000 fathom line. The news this week was the size of the swells kicked up by Hurricane Frank. They were large enough that the Port Captain kept the Port closed until it was light enough to see well on Friday, but these were storm swells and spaced well apart. They were still large enough to get the beach bars wet inside when a big set came in.
Bait: Bait was still tough to get, at least good bait was. There were some Caballito but the bait guys were really proud of them, enough so that on a trip I went on this week we were only able to get 7 baits, and it still cost $30.
FISHING
Billfish: Some Sailfish have been showing up for the past several weeks as the water has gotten warmer. Most of them have been found on the Cortez side around the 95 and 1150 areas by boats working those same areas for Blue Marlin. There have also been quite a few Striped Marlin in the same areas, strange since the water is so warm there. As far as the big fish are concerned, the Blacks are still out there as several in the 400 pound class have been caught this week at both the Gorda Banks and the Inman Banks, mostly by boats hoping for a large Tuna. The same areas have been producing quite a few small Blue Marlin in the #200 class as well. These fish are probably feeding on the small football size Yellowfin that have been in the area. Offshore has been producing some nice Blue Marlin for boats willing to put in the time and effort, but most of the action has been on the Cortes side between the 95 and 1150.
Yellowfin Tuna: Yellowfin Tuna remained consistent with last weeks report as there were still some Quality fish in the #100+ class being found in the San Jose area between the Gorda Banks and the Inman Banks, but most of them have been smaller, ranging in size from 15 to 30 pounds. These same size fish have been found elsewhere as well, with fish showing from the south by the 1,000 fathom line to the San Jaime Banks area. While that action has not been wide open, everyone who has gone looking for them seems to have been able to catch a few. There were some decent fish over #100 found in small pods of porpoise to the southwest of the 95 spot several days this week, and there were even more fish in the 60-80 pound class as well so it is looking better for the larger Tuna this year.
Dorado: I fished the Pacific side for Dorado this week as a guest of a client and we released three Dorado under 10 pounds and kept four fish of about 12 pounds. All these were found close to shore, within 2 miles of the beach and were caught up around the Migraino area. I had reports of larger scattered fish being found offshore, but there was nothing solid or consistent reported.
Wahoo: A scattering of Wahoo were reported this week and strangely enough the best area seemed to be just along the drop off in front of Cabo San Lucas Bay and just to the north of the arch, between there and the lighthouse. Dark lures trolled while cruising out or back home seemed to do the trick, you just had to go about 10-13 knots instead of normal trolling speed of 8 knots or cruising speed of 18 knots. The fish averaged 40 pounds and while not every boat got bit, those that put in the time had some action as a reward.
Inshore: Still the large swells! Roosterfish action was down once again due to the storm swells but quite a few Pangas made the run to the Gorda Banks to fish for Tuna or stayed out in front working the water for Dorado.
Notes: We got lucky and avoided anything from Hurricane Frank, now keep those fingers crossed! If our weather holds we should see some great fishing coming up as the moon wanes. Once again, this weeks report was written to the music of Jack Johnson on his album “Sleep Through The Static”. Until next week, tight lines!
Just came to our attention you can now buy fishing licenses online. Some Spanish required...won't let me buy quantities, as it looks like you can only buy one at a time. I only played on the website for a mew minutes this morning, look great for those yearly licenses!!! Thanks David for the website
Zihuatanejo - April 19th, 2009
supplied by: The Patient Angler RECORDED:84 °FISHING: Good
Just got back from a trip to sunny LaManzanilla Mexico, where the weather was great with daily temperatures in the eighties.
This is not the best time of year for fishing the inshore waters because of the cooler ocean temperature, but every day we still gave it the old college try. We fished the inshore waters from the beach and boats, but with limited success. The fishing from the beach was as predicted, pretty slow with occasional action from small Jacks and a few Sierra. One day from the boat we covered miles of coastline trying to tease up some fish, and the only beach we found fish on was the beach in front of Boca De Iguanas where we were staying. We did have some exciting action on some small Jacks, landing a half dozen of them before we had to call it a day and head back to the marina. I was glad to finally get into some fish because our captain, who understood our concept of baiting fish in with a hookless lure and switching them on to a fly, was not convinced that the bait & switch technique would work. But after the third or fourth fish we teased in, hooked and landed on a fly, our captain shook his head with a smile and said “ It Works”.
The fishing highlight of our trip was the exploration of a large mangrove lagoon that a local told us about. He told us about how he would go into the mangroves at night with a headlamp on and spear big Snook and Pargo while they were sleeping. The next day we had our local friend meet us at the lagoon to show us where to go and rent us his little boat to get around the lagoon and fish from. He was really happy when we gave him 200 pesos (about $16.00 US) for his efforts and the use of his boat. This of course happened before we actually saw the boat. The boat was about ten feet long and looked like a wide canoe that was cut in half. The oars for the boat looked like 2 X 6’s with the sides cut out to make them look like paddles. The important thing is that the boat floated and I was glad I had brought along a couple kayak paddles to use. We made our way out into the lagoon and started working the mangrove edges, coves and open water to see what we could catch. We worked top water baits with spinning rods, deceivers and clousers on sink-tip lines and poppers with floating lines, but no takers to anything we had to offer. As soon as the sun got low in the sky and shadows started to fall across the water, things started to pick up. Pargo and all snapper species prefer to feed in low light conditions, so we concentrated on fishing shaded water. I got my first explosive take on a top water bait and landed a nice Pargo. I quickly switched to my fly rod and a popper and started working the edges of the mangroves. It was like someone flipped a switch once the sun was off the water and every couple of casts a fish or school of fish would attack my popper. The fish that I caught were between one and four pounds, but where you find little fish, you usually will find big fish. Every once in a while you would hear a big splashy explosion from a bigger fish somewhere in the lagoon.
The unfortunate part is that we found this lagoon on our last day. So I’ll have to wait until the next trip to check it out again. I wish I had checked it out earlier; I would have been out there every night!
East Cape - November 3rd, 2007
supplied by: Baja on the Fly RECORDED:85 °FISHING: Greatmaps
Thanks to all of you who emailed me last week to remind me that the time changes this week in the U.S. However, this is a “Below the Border” report and the time changed in Baja last Sunday morning. Sam and Janet Farish, Atlanta, GA, enjoyed a week of great weather and fishing this week with double-digit roosters, sierra and ladyfish inshore. Offshore it was dorado and yellowfin tuna rounding off a great week of East Cape fishing. Then they headed up to Lopez Mateos in Magdalena Bay to sample the even hotter offshore action. Water temperature
Magdalena Bay - November 3rd, 2007
supplied by: Baja on the Fly RECORDED:88 °FISHING: Excellent Early November and the fishing is easy…offshore. Sam and Janet Farish on their first day headed out on the “Mar Gato” with Captain Sergio and our guide Lance Peterson.
Their day started quick! In the first ten minutes they were both tight to fifty pound wahoo. Today they headed out for hopefully more of the same action on the Thetis before sliding down to the anchorage at Santa Maria Bay to spend the night. Billfish action from the Entrada to below Pta. Tosca could only be classified as “wide-open”. Bird school after bird school in every direction you looked but even as you slid on the spot you could never be sure what might be there. Marlin, tuna, dorado or wahoo? As one angler put it, “They were biting everything; probably would have bitten an old tennis shoe!” If you are heading this way, bring plenty of tackle. Double digit fishing goes through the tackle fast!!! Water temperature72 - 82Air temperature 67 -88Humidity 76% Wind:W 8 to 11 knotsConditions:SunnyVisibility7 milesSunrise7:36 a.m. MSTSunset6:45 p.m. MST
Banderas Bay - March 22nd, 2007
supplied by: Fish in PV Sportfishing RECORDED:85 °FISHING: Excellent
Puerto Vallarta fishing report, well its the season for mah mahi , roosterfish, sailfish, and small tuna, and we have been catching one or the other everyday. Puerto vallarta is mostly known for its huge game fish 300 lb yellow fin tuna and the 1000 lb marlin. but you can also catch small game fish as well and that is the season we are in riht now. the mahi mahi and the dorado have been running between corbetena and the point off of punta de mita. Sailfish is a great bill fish but mahi mahi and Wahoo are some of the best tasting fish out there!! The mahi mahi have been ranging from 15-60 lbs and have been feeding where the mercy water hits the deeper ocean water. and have been biting everything we through at them. Sailfish have been traveling in schools of 3 all week we have been spotting them and casting 2-3 lines of live bait and catching and releasing like crazy!! We caught 5 last Tuesday on a 6hr trip I mean they were literally jumping in the boat. The Wahoo have been a little trickier to catch now when your fishing for wahoo you have to troll at a faster speed then when your targeting billfish, wahoo is one of the fastest fish out there and has razor sharp teeth so if you not trolling at a fast enough speed say good buy to your $100 lure corbetena was the hot spot for wahoo last week ranging from 25-55 lbs we have not seen anything bigger than that so far this month.
Mazatlan - September 8th, 2006
supplied by: ifishmexico.com RECORDED:89 °FISHING: Good
Aug. 15 - 31, 2006.
Mazatlan Inshore & Offshore Fishing Report.
Hurricane "John" brought heavy rain, wind and rough seas during the last days of the month, fortunately "john" is gone now and we are back on fishing.
Before "John" these were the numbers:
Offshore: Dorado (Mahi-Mahi) remain plentiful and the Mazatlan fishing boats are averaging 15 dorado per boat day fished mostly from the buoys with 6-15 lb. ranges. The ifish! fleet reported for 13 fishing days that reflected 17 sailfish, (8 released) and 97 dorado for the period. Ifish! super pangas also have been continuously action on dorado for several weeks now.
Inshore: The super pangas reported 14 roosterfish, 90 red snapper & 140 cochis for a genuine inshore fishing action.
Mazatlan Climate: Ranged from 80 at night to daytime high's of 89, cloudy and rainy ... due to hurricane "John"...
Sea Conditions: calm most of the month, until the last few days of the period when we had hurricane "John" nearby.
<>Best Mazatlan Fishing Area: 12-35 miles to the southwest of the Marina Mazatlan for the unlimited quantities of 6-15 lb. dorado.
Best Lure/Bait: Rigged baits (mullet and ballyhoo), also the lures known as "petrolero" & "guacamaya" best for the sailfish.
Dorado pretty eager on ballyhoo, live bait, squid & shrimp.
Mazatlan fishing reports by Job Othoniel / http://www.ifishmexico.com
Lake El Salto - September 8th, 2006
supplied by: ifishmexico.com RECORDED:94 °FISHING: Good
Lake El Salto Bass Fishing Report
For August 15st – 31st , 2006 Air Temp: 83°-94°F (Early Morning and late evenings) 93°-99°F (Siesta time) Water Temp: 79°-83°F Average number of bass per boat per day: 60-90 Largest bass caught: 11.2 pounds
Popular lures used this week: 1. Storm WildEye 4” Swim Shads in mullet, golden mullet, white & white with chartreuse back. 2. Yamamoto Senkos, Yum Dingers or Bass Pro Shops 5, 6 & 7-inch Stinkos in watermelon, watermelon red flake, black with blue flake, red shad and white & chartreuse. 3. Rat-L-Traps in ½ & ¾-ounce in silver with blue back and silver with black back. 4. Eight inch Zoom or Yum Lizards and 10-inch Berkley Powerworms in black with blue tail, watermelon, watermelon red flake and junebug. 5. Buzzbaits in ½ & 5/8-ounce in black, black with blue and white. 6. Bomber Fat Free Shad & Rapala DT10, DT14 &DT16 Crankbaits in citrus shad, fire tiger, white. (Important key is an orange belly) 7. Spinnerbaits in ½ to 1-ounce in white, white & chartreuse, chartreuse and shad. Both silver and gold willow blades have been successful. 8. Zara Spook in chrome with black top.
http://www.ifishmexico.com
Ascension Bay - November 23rd, 2005
supplied by: Pesca Maya RECORDED:0 °FISHING: Excellent
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