Full Moon and Loads of Fish EAST CAPE, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO Wed., May 09, 2001 TEMPERATURES: High of 90 with a low of 60. Flat calm, little or no wind. STRIPED MARLIN - Wow, what a turnaround with plenty of stripers and sails. YELLOWFIN TUNA - Good catches under the porpoise and also at Cabo Pulmo. DORADO - Still not a gathering, but good-sized fish out in open water. ROOSTERFISH - Some quality fish in front of both hotels. JACK CREVALLE - Larger fish from the boats fishing inshore and some nice ones from the beach. BARRILLETE OR MEXICAN SKIPJACK - A few scattered here and there. PARGO AND CABRILLA -Punta Colorada and Las Barracas producing good catches. .. OFFSHORE: Excellent billfishing for the last two days. .. INSHORE: It is good, good, good for almost every species. .. BEACH: Right now the opportunity to get multiple shots at quality roosters is as good as it gets. .. QUICK COMMENT - This week has been the best we have had so far in 2001. Offshore, in spite of the full moon, the billfish finally went off. The last two days the boats have been coming in with multiple billfish release flags and a few dorado as well. The yellowfin tuna finally showed outside Cabo Pulmo yesterday (5/8) and maybe the fish will settle down and be there for more than a day at a time. The last two days weather-wise have been fantastic: no wind, not even enough to blow a single saddle hackle feather on my tying table on the front porch at the house. Yesterday afternoon was one of those special nights that Baja provides occasionally. I think it is the equivalent of a mayfly hatch on your favorite trout stream at dusk. As the sun started to fall, it was so still the only sound was the manta rays doing their plop-plop as they leaped in unison for whatever reason. There had been reports of lots of roosters and jacks in front of Rancho Buena Vista in the morning, so I thought I would check it out at sunset. A quick stop at the hotel to make sure all the arrangements were taken care of for the next day and then back to the beach on the ATV. As I chugged down the beach to look for fish, I realized that there was not one other person fishing there. I had it all to myself. Amazing. The beach has been phenomenal this spring with my personal average being at least one rooster a day since I returned in mid-April. Anyway, back to last night. With plenty of sardinia, it was a sure thing the fish were going to feed somewhere along the beach. It was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. As the sun drops behind the mountain the action always seems to increase and last night was no exception. Five hundred yards down the beach the Sea of Cortez erupted with hungry fish slashing through a big school of sardinia. Coci - the famous white dog - and I went racing down the beach. Coci was off the bike first and I, with flyrod in hand, was right behind him. One cast and my "See Through Deceiver" was being chased by a fish large enough to make a bow wake. A take, a strip strike and the fish was hooked solidly. Down the beach he went, pushing water in front of him. What a sight, me running down the beach after the fish, Coci running after me. My 8-weight got a workout, but everything held together and after a short time I landed what appeared to be a 15-pound jack. I carefully removed the fly and sent the jack on his way and Coci and I went back to our porch to admire what remained of the evening. See our new feature Catch of the Week http://www.bajafly.com/weeklycatch.htm MAGDALENA BAY, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO Wed., May 09, 2001 Temperatures: 78-degree high; low in the mid 60's. Fair skies with some wind in the afternoon TUNA - Still pretty slow. YELLOWTAIL - South side of the entrada inside the entrance yielding fair catches. CORVINA - Santa Margarita Island is producing good catches. SNOOK - Pretty slow with only a few fish reported throughout the bay. HALIBUT - Near the sand dunes on Magdalena Island. .. QUICK COMMENT - Weather continues to improve and the fishing is beginning to show promising signs.