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., March 01, 2003 EAST CAPE, MAGDALENA BAY AND ZIHUATANEJO CONDITIONS EAST CAPE, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO IN GENERAL: Ken Beer, Galt, Calif., along with his14-year old son Trevor, fished from a super panga this week. On their first day they hooked and lost three marlin, but redeemed themselves by catching and releasing five dorado. The following day the dorado continued to cooperate and they added another four fish to their trip total. All of their fish cam from the area between Punta Colorada and the Lighthouse, only about 5-miles off shore. Paul Evers, Bend, Ore. and three fishing buddies fishing from a cruiser were one for five on the striped marlin as well as some dorado action. Billfish sightings and hook-ups continue with plenty of marlin feeding on the surface with a bonus of plenty of whales to look at between bites. Yvonne and I will be on the move next week beginning with the Fred Hall Show in Long Beach on Wed. (3/5). We will be with our good friends the Valdez family in their Buenavista Beach Resort Hotel booth. On Thurs. (3/6) we drive up to Santa Barbara to do a presentation for the Santa Barbara Fly Fishers and the Santa Barbara Parks and Recreation Dept. The show and Q&A session is at 7 p.m. at the Cabrillo Pavilion, 1118 Cabrillo Blvd. Then, on Fri. (3/7), we will be with John Ireland and the gang from Rancho Leonero in their booth. Are you still with us? Our last stop will be the Fly-Fishing Show at Ontario on Sat. (3/8). Drop by either of the booths in Long Beach, come to the show in Santa Barbara, stop us in the aisle and say hello, or wave to us on the Freeway. AIR & SEA - Water temperature 70-75 Air temperature 54°-77° Humidity about 63% Wind NW at 5 mph Conditions Mostly Cloudy (BKN) : 12,000 ft Visibility 15 miles Sunrise 6:37 a.m. MST Sunset 6:21 p.m. MST Mar. 2 New Mar. 11 First Quarter Mar. 18 Full Mar. 24 Last Quarter · OFFSHORE: Wow. Hope this keeps up for a while. · INSHORE: Still the sierra cruising about, but even the tin boats are chasing the marlin and dorado. · BEACH: Look for the birds with sierra feeding on bait schools. BILLFISH - Feb. bonanza, who would have thunk it? YELLOWFIN TUNA - Everyone was so excited about the other stuff that they didn't even mention them. DORADO - It is popper time at East Cape. ROOSTERFISH - Beginning to pick up with the warmer water. JACK CREVALLE - Same as the roosters and sierra. BARRILETE OR MEXICAN SKIPJACK - A few around. PARGO AND CABRILLA - Always a few around the rocky structure. SIERRA - Early! Early! Early! Is best. MAGDALENA BAY, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO Sat., March 01, 2003 IN GENERAL: Most of the action continued to be out near the entrada. Sierra, barracuda and of course plenty of spotted bay bass. There are a few grouper to be had up to 10 pounds. Back up in the esteros, the corvina came back with a vengeance with good counts for everyone. Not too many snook, but there were a few found in the five to seven pound range. Whale watching has continued to improve as well. Water Temperature 65-70 Air Temperature 60-°68° Humidity 78% Wind Calm Conditions Hazy, Scattered Clouds Visibility 6 miles Sunrise 6:46 a.m. MST Sunset 6:28 p.m. MST Mar. 2 New Mar. 11 First Quarter Mar. 18 Full Mar. 24 Last Quarter YELLOWTAIL - Look out in front of the entradas (entrances) at both Santa Maria Bay and Magdalena Bay. CORVINA - When they take the fly on the surface it is a real wake up call. SNOOK - A few, but not a bonanza. HALIBUT - A six kilo (13.2-pound) halibut caught this week. That is a toad in Magdalena Bay land SIERRA - Look for some bird schools near Punta Belcher. ZIHUATANEJO, MAINLAND MEXICO Please note the date. We are only providing weekly (not twice-a-week) reports for this area. Sat., March 01, 2003 IN GENERAL: The fishing for all species really took a nosedive earlier this week. A colder green water current moved in, and combined with the effects of coming out of the full moon period, the fishing just shut down. The bright spot is the 78º warm water has returned and the blue water is now only about 6 miles off the beach. The fishing is improving, and will get better as the new week develops. The boats are currently averaging only about one sailfish a day, but that is still an improvement over earlier in the week. The tuna have also come back. There are a lot of 20- to 40-pound yellowfin tuna and they are taking live bait. One thing we did have all week was plenty of black skipjack tuna for the inshore fly-fishers. John Barrs and “Trapper” from Denver fly-fished several days with Martin on the panga “Isamar.” They were getting as many as 50 of the hard fighting skippies a day before they called it quits. Water Temperature 78º Air Temperature 66°-82º Humidity 83% Wind Calm Conditions Mostly Cloudy (BKN) : 25,000 ft Sunrise 7:01 a.m. CST Sunset 6:52 p.m. CST Mar. 2 New Mar. 11 First Quarter Mar. 18 Full Mar. 24 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