Thurs., October 16, 2003 Report covers the period Sat.-Thurs. (10/10 - 10/16) EAST CAPE, MAGDALENA BAY, ZIHUATANEJO AND IZTAPA, GUATEMALA CONDITIONS EAST CAPE, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO IN GENERAL: After all the recent Chubasco smack downs, let the sun shine in! That was the tune heard most often this week. Jess Telles, Visalia, Calif. (in the San Joaquin Valley) had a big smile on his face as he slid into a tuna stop in front of Cabo Pulmo that wouldn’t quit. By the time the scales settled he had racked up an impressive even dozen mixed yellowfin and bonito on the cast. Our See Thru Deceivers did the trick for him. The next day, he opted for a shot at billfish and wasn’t disappointed. Well, maybe a little. He connected twice, but both time the fly came out before he could bring them to the boat. I’ll bet he will be back soon to even that score. The arroyos continue to flow, but are passable. AIR & SEA - Water temperature 81°-86° Air temperature 72° - 91° Humidity about 78% Wind WNW at 3 mph Conditions Cloudy (FEW) : 20000 ft Visibility 15 miles Sunrise 6:16 a.m. MST Sunset 5:52 p.m. MST Oct. 18 Last Quarter Oct 25 New Oct. 31 First Quarter Nov.8 Full o OFFSHORE: A few blues, stripers and sails providing the best action. Few tuna to be found. o INSHORE: Still pretty dirty water with a few jacks and roosters beginning to show again. o BEACH: After all the storms it is very hard to even get around. Lots of flowing arroyos to deal with. Best bet is to fish the edges. BILLFISH – A few blues and stripers to go along with a good sailfish bite. YELLOWFIN TUNA – Best action was at Cabo Pulmo. DORADO – Better than it’s been, but not what we had hoped it would be by now. ROOSTERFISH – Bubba among the missing, small ones are at the edges of the arroyos. JACK CREVALLE – A few smaller ones in front of Punta Colorada. BARRILETE OR MEXICAN SKIPJACK – Cabo Pulmo holding a few. PARGO AND CABRILLA - Slow. SIERRA – A few here and there. MAGDALENA BAY, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO IN GENERAL: IN GENERAL: One for the money, two for the show, the Thetis Bank pileup begins. One local boat reported multiple marlin strikes and releases as well as wahoo and dorado. Back closer to the entrada on a 240° heading 17-20 miles, among the shark buoys, one boat reported triples on the wahoo and dorado. At the entrada, yellowtail were on the chew and even biting the fly. Back at Belcher’s there was a pretty good halibut bite (I know halibut, marlin, wahoo and dorado in the same report is pretty weird.) The esteros seemed to have awakened as well with corvina, pompano and mucho bay bass. Water Temperature 67°-79° Air Temperature 65°- 82° Humidity 98% Wind Calm Conditions Clear Visibility 3 miles Sunrise 6:25 a.m. MST Sunset 5:58 p.m. MST Oct. 18 Last Quarter Oct 25 New Oct. 31 First Quarter Nov.8 Full YELLOWTAIL – Baja Deep Diver, slow retrieve, down deep. CORVINA – Still the most common catch in the esteros. SNOOK – A few smaller ones. HALIBUT - Chartreuse Clousers and sandy beach, slow retrieve along the bottom equals action. SIERRA – Slow this week or not noticed because of everything else going on. ZIHUATANEJO, MAINLAND MEXICO IN GENERAL: The 84º blue water has moved out to the 20 mile mark. Because of the abundance of bait, there are a lot of game fish out there. The boats are getting a between 1 and 2 sailfish a day, plus a couple of nice 25-pound class dorado under the floating logs. Santiago, on the panga “Gitana,” picked up two sails, working a clean/dirty water current line only three miles off the beach. He told me the water is fairly clear for the first three miles, then stays dirty until the blue water at 20 miles. In the surf line, the roosterfish action is still holding very steady for the 30- to 35-pound average-sized fish. Water Temperature 75º-86º Air Temperature 77°-91º Humidity 66% Wind Calm Conditions Clear Visibility 10 miles Sunrise 6:39 a.m. CST Sunset 6:23 p.m. CST Oct. 18 Last Quarter Oct 25 New Oct. 31 First Quarter Nov.8 Full 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 IZTAPA, GUATEMALA IN GENERAL: Flat calm weather early morning makes the 25-35 mile ride out to the temperature break a breeze. The few boats fishing this week reported fair (by Guatemala standards) catches – a handful of fish per trip. Also, a few dorado have been showing up in the pattern along with an occasional blue marlin. The wind usually begins to pick up by early afternoon about 2 p.m. as the boats begin the ride back to the marina while the clients relive the day’s action. Water Temperature 80º-85º Air Temperature 75°-90º Humidity 94% Wind South at 3 mph Conditions Clear Visibility Sunrise 5:54 a.m. CST Sunset 5:43 p.m. CST Oct. 18 Last Quarter Oct 25 New Oct. 31 First Quarter Nov.8 Full For more Information on Baja on the Fly's Guatemala trips, go to: http://www.guatemalafly.com Baja on the Fly's Guatemala report by Brian Barragy