REPORT FROM GARY GRAHAM'S BAJA ON THE FLY: PROVIDING QUALITY SALTWATER FLY-FISHING 365 DAYS A YEAR IN BAJA FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: [email protected]; USA toll-free (800) 919-2252; Mexico 011-52-624-14-10373 Sat., Jan. 25, 2003 EAST CAPE, MAGDALENA BAY AND ZIHUATANEJO CONDITIONS EAST CAPE, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO IN GENERAL: Nice weather prevailed from Wed. through today with little wind in the mornings. With the good weather, everyone pounded the tuna from 35- to 70-pounds. Dorado to 25 pounds rounded out the catches made by the few boats venturing outside. The tuna and dorado were only 17-miles from the hotels. Back inshore, the sierra were still chewing anything hitting the water. Gary will be doing his Power Point extravaganza at the International Sportsman Exposition (ISE Show) in San Mateo on Wed., Jan. 29 at 2 p.m. and then again on Fri. at 7 p.m. in the Fly Fishing Theater. This is a brand new program using the latest technology to combine slides and video on saltwater techniques. If you're anywhere in the San Francisco Bay Area and want to improve your saltwater skills, don't miss this program. In addition, there will be special prizes provided by a variety of manufacturers for a quiz held at the end of the program. This is cutting edge A/V technology and a far, far cry from those old clunky 35mm slide presentations so common at fishing clubs and outdoor shows. AIR & SEA - Water temperature 69-73 Air temperature 64°-86° Humidity about 83% Wind NNW at 5 mph Conditions Mostly Cloudy (BKN) : 20000 ft Visibility 12 miles Sunrise 6:59 a.m. MST Sunset 6:02 p.m. MST Feb 1 New First Quarter Feb. 9 Full Feb. 16 Feb 23 Last Quarter · OFFSHORE: Great tuna and dorado make the trip worthwhile. · INSHORE: Sierra are everywhere and even if the wind blows you can tuck in close to the slide and find them. · BEACH: Still poor conditions. BILLFISH - Some tailers reported being seen, but no bites. YELLOWFIN TUNA - Close and hungry. DORADO - Same deal as the tuna. It’s you and your flyrod, a See Thru Deceiver and there will probably be a 15-20 pound dorado in your future. ROOSTERFISH - Still a few home guard lurking about. JACK CREVALLE - La Ribera if the bait shows up. BARRILETE OR MEXICAN SKIPJACK – Forget ‘em. Go look for tuna and dorado! PARGO AND CABRILLA - Always a few to be had around the rocky points. SIERRA - They are biting in the gray light. MAGDALENA BAY, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO Sat., Jan. 25, 2003 IN GENERAL: Corvina continue to dominate the catches . . . which is not all bad. There are some quality fish around a few reaching 10 pounds. Snapper and grouper are still lurking about up at Devil’s Curve waiting for a Baja Deep Diver or a Clouser come close by. Water Temperature 67-73 Air Temperature 55°-78° Humidity 94% Wind Calm Conditions Clear Visibility 3 miles Sunrise 7:10 a.m. MST Sunset 6:07 p.m. MST Feb 1 New First Quarter Feb. 9 Full Feb. 16 Feb 23 Last Quarter YELLOWTAIL - Don't think anyone targeted them this week. CORVINA - Continued to be almost a sure thing. Chartreuse and flash is the right combination either in a Clouser, Baja Deep Diver or Deceiver-style pattern. SNOOK - Seemed to have lockjaw this week. HALIBUT - Sandy beaches and out toward the entrada. SIERRA - Slowed down this week. ZIHUATANEJO, MAINLAND MEXICO Sat., Jan. 25, 2003 IN GENERAL: The fishing this week has just been incredible. Sailfish, tuna, dorado, roosterfish and even a couple of huge marlin were all being caught. There were many days where the boats were flying every flag they had, and there were still fish unaccounted for. Several boats have been averaging between 5 and 7 sailfish a day and another 3 or 4 dorado in the 20- to 25-pound class. We had a lot of boats with double digit sailfish counts this week. In the five years I have lived here, I have only seen the fishing like this a couple of times before. The fly-fishermen have also been taking advantage of the numbers of fish and are doing fabulous as well. P. J. Cunningham, from Idaho, fished with me for two days and had 12 sailfish come to the boat. He hooked 6. Greg Sharp from Little Rock, Ark., fished one day with our other guide Paul Phillips. They had 7 fish come to the boat and he hooked 4. Also, both P.J. and Greg each got a 20-pound class dorado that was teased to the boat. As of this writing, the International Billfish Tournament just completed its first day, with a total of 129 boats signed up. Before 10 a.m. a 121-pound sailfish and a 735-pound black marlin had already been weighed at the dock. The big black was hooked by Pulgo on the private yacht “Gorda,” using 50-pound test line, and took only 1-hour to bring it in. Captain Amando on the panga “3 Hermanos” took the big sailfish. Paul Phillips, fishing the tournament with Santiago on the panga “Gitana,” was fighting a nice dorado and they had left one outrigger bait out in case it would entice the mate. As they gaffed the dorado, the boat was dead in the water. That is when a 160-pound yellowfin took the cut bait. It bit only 7 miles off the beach in front of Ixtapa. Water Temperature 82º Air Temperature 75°-88º Humidity 74% Wind calm Conditions Scattered Clouds (SCT) : 15000 ft Sunrise 7:17 a.m. CST Sunset 6:38 p.m. CST Feb 1 New First Quarter Feb. 9 Full Feb. 16 Feb 23 Last Quarter For more Information on Baja on the Fly's Zihuatanejo trips, go to: http://www.bajafly.com/Zihuatanejo.htm -- Zihuatanejo Report by Baja on the Fly's Ed Kunze