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 Thursday, Nov. 20, 2003 Report covers the period Sat.-Thurs. (11/13 - 11/20 ) EAST CAPE, MAGDALENA BAY, ZIHUATANEJO, MEXICO; AND IZTAPA, GUATEMALA CONDITIONS EAST CAPE, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO IN GENERAL: North winds continued to make it tough for the fly fishers as well as anyone else attempting to fish either offshore or inshore. Once the wind arrived mid-morning, all but the hardest of core headed back to their hotels. AIR & SEA - Water temperature 74°-80° Air temperature 75° - 80° Humidity about 50% Wind NW at 6 mph Conditions clear Visibility 12 miles Sunrise 6:35 a.m. MST Sunset 5:22 p.m. MST Nov 23 New, Nov. 30 First Quarter, Dec.8 Full Dec. 16 Last Quarter o OFFSHORE: The ride out in the mornings was bearable but the few tuna and billfish caught were hardly worth the wet ride home.. o INSHORE: Some action under the mooring buoys and the good news was you didn’t have to go far to get out of the wind when it came. o BEACH: Gray light is the beast bet. Rooster alley has a few ladyfish and smaller jacks. La Ribera produced a few sierra before the wind cranked up. Out at Punta Colorada it was pretty much the same deal with a few ladyfish and sierra. BILLFISH – Fewer sails as the water cools down, and an occasional stripe. YELLOWFIN TUNA – Long haul and little to show for the effort. DORADO – A few smaller ones inside around the mooring buoys. ROOSTERFISH – Only heard of one caught all week. JACK CREVALLE – Wind has made it tough. BARRILETE OR MEXICAN SKIPJACK - Same as the tuna . . . stop the wind and they bite. PARGO AND CABRILLA - A few of the reefs producing good catches. SIERRA – A few diving birds and you may hit the jackpot. MAGDALENA BAY, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO IN GENERAL: Lots of long faces among the yacht crowd working the offshore. Few birds and little bait to attract and hold the exotics. Best single day’s catch I have heard of lately was not even double digits for billfish which is unusual for the area at this time of year. Many of the boats have already either headed home or on to Cabo and the Mainland. Back in the Mangroves action was much better. Plenty of corvina, pompano, grouper and a few smaller snook offered some diversion to the disgruntled offshore crowd. The Entrada as well as the entrance to Santa Maria Bay provided some small yellowtail action under the diving pelicans. Water Temperature 67°-78° Air Temperature 69°- 80° Humidity 97% Wind Calm Conditions Haze Visibility 6 miles Sunrise 6:46 a.m. MST Sunset 5:37 p.m. MST Nov 23 New, Nov. 30 First Quarter, Dec.8 Full Dec. 16 Last Quarter YELLOWTAIL - Either bay entrance producing good catches under the bird schools. CORVINA – One of the best years I can remember for orange mouth critters. SNOOK – More lost than caught HALIBUT – A slow retrieved chartreuse Clouser is almost a sure thing. SIERRA – If you lose your fly you probably found them. ZIHUATANEJO, MAINLAND MEXICO IN GENERAL: We are having excellent fishing for sailfish right now. The 82º blue water is only 9 miles out and each boat is raising from 8 to 15 fish a day. The list for boats and clients who are catching and releasing, on conventional gear, 4 to 6 sails a day are actually too numerous to list. Fly fishing clients, like Terry Carter of Cumberland, Ohio are hooking 2 to 3 sailfish a day average. We also had the roosterfish move back in. Captain Adolpho is averaging 5 to 6 a day for his clients, with the fish running about 25 to 40 pounds. Water Temperature 75º-86º Air Temperature 75° - 89º Humidity 70% Wind SSE at 5 mph Conditions Scattered Clouds (SCT) : 25000 ft Visibility 7 miles Sunrise 6:53 a.m. CST Sunset 6:09 p.m. CST Nov 23 New, Nov. 30 First Quarter, Dec.8 Full Dec. 16 Last Quarter 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: In the past week, we have a lot of offshore action to report. The 2003 Presidential Challenge wrapped up in Guatemala this past week, so we had more boats on the water fishing than we have had in a while. Action for the 30 participants was HOT with a wide open bite on the last day! In the 3 days of fishing they released 553 Sailfish and a couple of Blue Marlin. In addition to this action several of the local boats were out prior to and during the tournament and released an additional 153 sails with a couple of Marlin thrown in. The total on sails released for the week was 706, which is not bad. Dorado were also present but we don’t have counts on them. Inshore there was no one out, once again. The action is really great right now, so its time to get on down to Guatemala! Water Temperature 80º-85º Air Temperature 78°-86º Humidity 79% Wind West at 9 mph Conditions Partly Cloudy Visibility Sunrise 6:02 a.m. CST Sunset 5:32 p.m. CST Nov 23 New, Nov. 30 First Quarter, Dec.8 Full Dec. 16 Last Quarter 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