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., August 02, 2003 Report covers the period Wed.-Fri. (7/30-8/1) EAST CAPE, MAGDALENA BAY AND ZIHUATANEJO CONDITIONS EAST CAPE, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO IN GENERAL: Offshore and inshore are both tough choices right now. Try this strategy: check out the inshore first thing in the morning, fishing along the color line all the way to Punta Arena. With a little luck, roosters and jacks will keep you busy until mid-morning and by then the rest of the fleet will have found the best area for offshore action. AIR & SEA - Water temperature 79°-86° Air temperature 79°-94° Humidity about 62% Wind North at 6 mph Conditions Clear Visibility 15 miles Sunrise 6:49 a.m. MST Sunset 8:00 p.m. MST Aug. 5 First Quarter Aug 11 Full Aug. 19 Last Quarter August 27 New · OFFSHORE: Boats headed in every direction is a clue that action is tough to find. Plenty of pre-fishing for a tournament later in the week should locate the best billfish action. · INSHORE: Fish the clean water side of the color break. Most of roosters and jacks are being found there. · BEACH: Look for the clean water pockets from Rancho Leonero to the lighthouse. When you find one, pound it. BILLFISH - Blue marlin were the only bright spot with the overall count tripling this week. Striped marlin and sails didn't fair as well and the overall bite is best described as spotty. YELLOWFIN TUNA - Lowest count in the past month and only a few sluggos in the bunch. DORADO - Best bite up above Las Arenas and the trip takes a big chunk out of your fishing day. ROOSTERFISH - Look for the diving pelicans to start. El Coro to the north and Punta Colorada to the south, decisions, decisions. JACK CREVALLE - Some with shoulders hanging out under the mooring lines in front of the hotels. Lots of smaller ones at Punta Colorada under the bait receiver. BARRILETE OR MEXICAN SKIPJACK – An 8-weight and olive Clouser should do the trick under the birds. PARGO AND CABRILLA - Try a popper or crease fly over rock structure, the takes are spectacular. SIERRA - Check out the receivers in front of La Ribera. Use wire or chum flies! MAGDALENA BAY, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO Sat., August 02, 2003 Report covers the period Wed.-Fri. (7/30-8/1) IN GENERAL: Firecracker yellowtail at the Entrada putting on a pretty good show early morning. Look for the bird schools. With the sea temps beginning to warm up it won't be long before a few dorado begin to show up as well. Up in the esteros it is business as usual with some smaller snook landed and larger ones winning the tug of war. Highest counts still the corvina with fair catches of grouper and pargo. Water Temperature 67°-73° Air Temperature 70°-89° Humidity 87% Wind Calm Conditions Clear Visibility 3 miles Sunrise 6:54 a.m. MDST Sunset 8:10 p.m. MDST Aug. 5 First Quarter Aug 11 Full Aug. 19 Last Quarter August 27 New YELLOWTAIL - See the bird school, run like hell, hang on, slide, cast and hope. CORVINA - Top water, down deep, what's your pleasure? SNOOK - Let em run and you will be stumped! HALIBUT - Chartreuse Clouser, short strips along the bottom, tap, tap, thunk. SIERRA - If you lost your fly you either had a bad knot or found ‘em. ZIHUATANEJO, MAINLAND MEXICO Please note the date. We are only providing weekly (not twice a week) reports for this area. Sat., August 02, 2003 Report covers the period Sun.-Fri. (7/27-8/01) IN GENERAL: We have been experiencing some great fishing. The 80º blue water is just a mile off the beach and the big story is the blue marlin are here in large numbers. This is very unusual for us at this time of the year because the blues usually do not like the warmer water temperatures. What has happened is a very large area of oceanic bonito moved in late last week and has stayed to feed on our abundant smaller bait. The oceanic bonito is usually an offshore fish (way offshore), but the fishermen here actually prefer the meat to the yellowfin tuna. They are mostly in the 5- to 10-pound range, which is a light line or fly-fisherman's delight, and they are like candy to the blue marlin. Almost all of the action is taking place between 8- and 10-miles out of Zihuatanejo Bay. Another unusual thing for here is our blue marlin normally average about 250 pounds. These fish are between 120 and 200 pounds. (This is an incredible time for a fly-fisher to hook at least one blue marlin a day). There are very few boats going out. On a daily average we have about 10 charters a day. One or two of those charters are going after the outstanding roosterfish action we have right now, and maybe a couple of more charters are fishing small game inshore. That leaves 6 or 8 boats a day fishing the blue water. None of them are actually targeting the marlin, yet between them, they are leadering at least 2 to 4 blues a day. That does not count the missed fish, the blown strikes, etc. Almost every boat in the fleet that is in the blue water is getting a shot at a blue marlin. As far as the other species, Adolpho on the panga “Dos Hermanos” is doing his regular thing. Today he released 4 roosterfish that were all cookie cutter size. However, it was a 50-pound cookie cutter! He told me there probably was not an inch difference in all four. The sailfish action is still holding at 2 to 3 fish per day average. Water Temperature 75º-90º Air Temperature 80°-91º Humidity 100% Wind Calm Conditions Mostly Cloudy (BKN) : 25,000 ft Visibility 10 miles Sunrise 7:25 a.m. CDST Sunset 8:18 p.m. CDST July 6 First Quarter July 13 Full July 21 Last Quarter July 29 New For more Information on Baja on the Fly's Zihuatanejo trips, go to: http://www.bajafly.com/Zihuatanejo.htm Baja on the Fly's Zihuatanejo report by Ed Kunze . . .