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., Feb. 08, 2003 EAST CAPE, MAGDALENA BAY AND ZIHUATANEJO CONDITIONS EAST CAPE, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO IN GENERAL: Winds are still on-again, off-again with the last few days being pleasant. The unseasonable bite continues to be the big news with good-sized tuna and dorado caught close to shore and on almost every trip the boats make. AIR & SEA - Water temperature 69-73 Air temperature 61°-79° Humidity about 88% Wind Calm Conditions Clear Visibility 15 miles Sunrise 6:53 a.m. MST Sunset 6:11 p.m. MST Feb. 9 First Quarter Feb. 16 Full Feb. 23 Last Quarter Mar. 2 New · OFFSHORE: Wow! The dorado and tuna just keep coming. · INSHORE: Plenty of sierra to keep everyone flinging flies. · BEACH: Tough, with the early morning being the best. Find the sardina and that will undoubtedly equal sierra and jacks BILLFISH - Lots of tailers reported, but few biters. YELLOWFIN TUNA - Look out. These are not the football variety. DORADO - Most of the fish are above average in size. ROOSTERFISH - Look for birds diving on bait balls. JACK CREVALLE - A lot of five pounders that think they are 20-pounders. BARRILETE OR MEXICAN SKIPJACK - Forget 'em. Go look for tuna and dorado! PARGO AND CABRILLA - This is the time of year you may find a few around the rocky points SIERRA - Just before sunup or late afternoon on the calm days is the best time. MAGDALENA BAY, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO Sat., Feb. 08, 2003 IN GENERAL: More and more whales arriving at the entrada every day and they should begin to move into the bay. There has been a fair yellowtail bite a mile or so outside the entrada with a few fish reaching the mid-teens. All the rock structure on Magdalena Island from the entrada to Belchers is holding tonnage of spotted bay bass with an occasional leopard grouper to keep it interesting. At Belcher, there has been a consistent halibut bite in shallow water and on the North side of the point the sierra have been showing early morning. Water Temperature 67-71 Air Temperature 59°-80° Humidity 92% Wind Calm Conditions Mostly Cloudy Visibility 3 miles Sunrise 7:03 a.m. MST Sunset 6:16 p.m. MST Feb. 9 First Quarter Feb. 16 Full Feb. 23 Last Quarter Mar. 2 New YELLOWTAIL - Best bet is out a mile outside the entrada in deep water. CORVINA – Well, it was great for the last two months, but is beginning to slow down. SNOOK - Only an occasional one. Next month should be better with the lessening tides. IGFA has created a new category for Pacific snook, so there could be a few world records in Magdalena Bay's future and maybe yours. HALIBUT - Usually the sandy beaches are best, but we have been getting a few up in the esteros. SIERRA - Punta Belcher is pretty good right now. ZIHUATANEJO, MAINLAND MEXICO Please note the date. We are only providing weekly reports for this area. Sat., Feb. 08, 2003 IN GENERAL: The 80º blue water is still on the beach. With the 86º daytime temperatures, we want a little breeze when we are out on the water, but the seas are almost dead calm. Even though the fishing for sailfish is not considered wide open, we are getting all of the game fish species, (with the exception of wahoo; none were caught this last week). The 100-pound plus tuna are within the 15 mile mark, with lots of schools of the smaller tuna. Most boats are averaging 2 to 3 sailfish a day and several large blue marlin were hooked this week. A couple of 20-pound class dorado are still being caught by almost every boat going out. The roosterfish are providing some great near shore action because they are averaging about 35-pounds. While fly-fishing for sailfish with David Gilbertson of Phoenix, Ariz.,a huge blue marlin came up and (literally) ate my green and black hookless teaser. We got a good look at the fish and we estimated her a little over 400-pounds. The teaser rod I was using only had a Shimano TLD 25 with 40-pound line and a 100-pound leader, but the marlin cut the pound leader like it was thread. Dave did manage to hook a nice sail on the fly after I switched to a dorado belly strip for the teaser bait. We are averaging one sailfish a day on the fly. Gene Chiders from Houston, fishing with Captain Poli on the “Don Gordo,” got a nice blue marlin weighing out at 375 pounds. Gene and his fishing partner Jerry Colapret also released 11 sails and 4 roosterfish in their 5 days of fishing. Rich Lowther, also of Houston, fished with Rueben on the “Vamonos I” and released 19 sails in 5 days of fishing. Don Alley, fishing with Captain Arturo on the panga “Whisky III” got a couple of very nice roosterfish and a bluefin trevally estimated at about 15-pounds. Trevally are more common in the Western Pacific with a few caught in Baja, but are very rare to our part of the coastline. Don fished with Arturo for three days and also took several sailfish and several dorado to 50-pounds. Bill Berg of North Dakota, escaping the ice and snow of the upper Midwest, fishing with Santiago on the panga “Gitana” had a great day with two small yellowfin tuna, another of about 120 pounds, and 4 sailfish (tagged and released). Water Temperature 82º Air Temperature 64°-86º Humidity 61% Wind calm Conditions Clear Sunrise 7:13 a.m. CST Sunset 6:45 p.m. CST First Quarter Feb. 9 Full Feb. 16 Feb. 23 Last Quarter Mar. 2 New 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