09/27/2003 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., Sept. 27, 2003 Report covers the period Sat.-Tues. (9/24 - 9/26) EAST CAPE, MAGDALENA BAY, ZIHUATANEJO AND IZTAPA, GUATEMALA CONDITIONS EAST CAPE, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO IN GENERAL: What a mess! No power, power polls broken in half, windows broken, beaches littered and arroyos impassable . . . one would expect it to take weeks to get back to normal. Before the rain had stopped, employees began what was considered the impossible cleanup task. On Wed. (9/24) incoming guests were being boated in from La Ribera to their respective hotels. By Thurs. afternoon most of the hotels were reporting they were operational and that the roads would be passable soon. On Thurs., fishing was resumed by at least one hotel and if anything, Hurricane Marty improved the bite. With all the debris in the water everyone is hoping the dorado bite will take off. In the meantime, the tuna acted like they had missed a few meals because of Marty. The last couple days at cocktail hour, smiling hotel clients were scarfing up sashimi and ceviche and washing it down with margaritas or a Pacifico while congratulating each other on their day’s catch. Are things normal at East Cape? Hardly. But things are literally improving hourly and while some patience is needed, most clients are enjoying what they consider as another Baja Adventure. Baja’s resilience is always a source of amazement to me. Hurricane Marty was one of the more severe storms in the past few years and Baja and its residents have risen to the challenge. Another item of note: After sending reports out twice a week for the past seven years, beginning next week our reports will be sent out once a week on Fridays. AIR & SEA - Water temperature 77°-86° Air temperature 72° - 90° Humidity about 83% Wind NW at 5 mph Conditions Clear Visibility 8 miles Sunrise 7:09 a.m. MST Sunset 7:10 p.m. MST Oct. 2 First Quarter Oct.10 Full Oct. 18 Last Quarter Oct 25 New • OFFSHORE: Tuna didn't go far. • INSHORE: Dirty water caused by the runoff will make it tough this week. • BEACH: Just the opposite, mixed bag around the flowing arroyos including roosters, jacks, lookdowns and even a couple of small bonefish. BILLFISH - Little heard in this department. YELLOWFIN TUNA – Football-sized providing plenty of action in spite of Marty. DORADO - Marty delivered plenty of flotsam, which translates to more cover, more dorado. ROOSTERFISH - Early morning at the arroyos. JACK CREVALLE - Same places as the roosters. BARRILETE OR MEXICAN SKIPJACK - Mixed in with the porpoise. PARGO AND CABRILLA - Not now. SIERRA - A few showing up enough to be aggravating along the beach. MAGDALENA BAY, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO Sat., Sept. 27, 2003 Report covers the period Sat.-Tues. (9/24 - 9/26) IN GENERAL: Sounds like most of the activity involved either fishing for shrimp or cleaning up in the aftermath of Hurricane Marty. Shrimp trawlers have shown up from the mainland and are scooping up the tasty crustaceans on the outside of Santa Maria Island. Yellowtail with a few white seabass are under the bird schools in the same area. The pinnacles in the middle of the entrance to Santa Maria Bay are holding a few grouper and if you are lucky, an occasional yellowtail. Again this week little action to report up in the esteros because of a lack of anglers, not fish. Water Temperature 69°-76° Air Temperature 71°-82° Humidity 90% Wind NW at 2 mph Conditions Clear Visibility 3 miles Sunrise 7:17 a.m. MDST Sunset 7:17 p.m. MDST Oct. 2 First Quarter Oct.10 Full Oct. 18 Last Quarter Oct. 25 New YELLOWTAIL - Bird schools or pinnacles. CORVINA - Pretty good early morning bite at the pier and bridge. SNOOK - Got to target to find them. HALIBUT - Most sandy beaches holding a few. SIERRA - Mixed in with the corvina. ZIHUATANEJO, MAINLAND MEXICO Sat., Sept. 27, 2003 Report covers the period Sat.-Fri. (9/19 - 9/26) IN GENERAL: The 84º blue water is about 10 miles off the beach. Each boat is averaging about 1 to 2 sailfish a day. There has been an abundance of bait this year and, even though the blue marlin prefer the cooler 78º winter temperatures, they have been sticking around. Ernesto Perez, from Mexico City, fished with Luis Marcial on the panga “Gringo Loco” for two days this week. On the first day, they checked out the roosterfish action in the surf line to see if the outstanding bite was still holding up. The rains last week had limited the visibility, but they found the water had cleaned up a little. They caught 10 roosters averaging about 30- to 35-pounds. The second day they fished the blue water, catching an approximate 225-pound blue marlin off one of the current lines holding debris washed out of the rivers. A few dorado are starting to show, and we are hoping we will get a few more rains and a little more substance to the current lines. Water Temperature 75º-90º Air Temperature 77°-88º Humidity 94% Wind SE at 23 mph Conditions Mostly Cloudy (BKN) : 25,000 ft Visibility 10 miles Sunrise 7:3 a.m. CDST Sunset 7:38 p.m. CDST Oct. 2 First Quarter Oct. 10 Full Oct. 18 Last Quarter Oct 25 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