"Jacks, Roosters, Sailfish: An Easter Week Treat" REPORT FROM GARY GRAHAM'S BAJA ON THE FLY: PROVIDING QUALITY SALTWATER FLY-FISHING 365 DAYS A YEAR SOUTH OF THE BORDER. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: [email protected]; USA toll-free (800) 919-2252; Mexico 011-52-624-14-10373 Fri., April 09, 2004. Report covers the period Sat.-Thurs. (4/02-4/09) EAST CAPE, MAGDALENA BAY, ZIHUATANEJO, MEXICO; AND SAN JOSE, GUATEMALA CONDITIONS EAST CAPE, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO IN GENERAL: It was a busy week. John Thompson, from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, visiting Cabo San Lucas, came a long way to go rod to tail with a double digit jack that took 45 minutes to subdue on a 9-weight. Two days later he traveled another 25 miles to find a couple of nice-sized tuna (32 and 44 pounds) and then found a 10-pound dorado to finish up the trip. Steve Rothman, Palos Verdes Estates, Calif., a returning client, had plenty of action sight-casting to roosters and jacks and even found a few pompano to add to the list. AIR & SEA - Water temperature 66-57 Air temperature 69-75 Humidity about 61% Wind: NW 2 mph Conditions: Clear Visibility 15 miles Sunrise 7:10 a.m. MST Sunset 7:34 p.m. MST April 11 Last Quarter, April 19 New, April 27 First Quarter, May 4, Full + OFFSHORE: Fishing began to pick up a bit with a few tuna starting to move into range. + INSHORE: Jacks, roosters, sierra and skipjack kept everyone flinging and pulling. + BEACH: Already beginning to shape up to be a banner year. BILLFISH – Incidental catches. At best not enough to get the 14-weight out yet. YELLOWFIN TUNA – Coming closer and closer. DORADO – Mostly pairs, no gatherings to speak of. ROOSTERFISH – Enough to get our guides out pounding the beach on their days off. Semana Santa (Easter Week) brings out the locals camping on the beach, making it difficult to find a place to fish. JACK CREVALLE – If this keeps up, there will be a few records broken this year. BARRILETE OR MEXICAN SKIPJACK – Still providing all the practice you want to improve your fish-fighting techniques. PARGO AND CABRILLA – Whether from the beach or boat the rocky points are producing good catches. SIERRA – Sunup or sundown is when they go off best. MAGDALENA BAY, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO Puerto San Carlos: IN GENERAL: Little activity to report, a few fish found at the entrada down deep including small yellows, grouper and larger cabrilla. Rumors of tuna outside of Punta Tasca persist; however, I can’t seem to get a first hand report. Water Temperature 64-70 Air Temperature 62-72 Humidity 75% Wind NW at 2 mph Conditions Haze Visibility 5 miles Sunrise 7:09 a.m. MST Sunset 7:46 p.m. MST April 11 Last Quarter, April 19 New, April 27 First Quarter, May 4, Full YELLOWTAIL – None on the surface and only a few smaller ones on the bottom CORVINA – A few at the pier and up at Devil’s Curve. SNOOK – Little action this week. HALIBUT – A few throughout the bay on the sandy beaches. SIERRA – Santa Margarita Island had a few under the bird schools. ZIHUATANEJO, MAINLAND MEXICO IN GENERAL: The dates have been set for our first “Jacks or Better” Roosterfish Tournament in Zihuatanejo. The details can be found at http://www.bajafly.com/jacksorbetter.htm The 80º blue water has come within 5 miles. The last two weeks had it fluctuating between 6 and 8 miles, and we were wondering where the fish were. They have arrived. The sailfish action is almost fantastic. Every boat is getting at least three sails a day, but many others are doing much better. Adolpho, on the panga “Dos Hermanos” released 8, and Jamie on the “Vamonos II had 10 biters,” but was only able to hook and release 6. Beach fishing with flyrods is a little slow, but Jed Ritchy, from Palo Alto, Calif., and I covered several beaches. We had a lot of fun looking for diving birds and Ritchey saw a lot of sites the normal tourist will never experience. We went south to Playa Larga and drove the beach for a few miles to Playa Blanca. From there we went by dirt road Barra Pototsi, with its 3 miles of mangrove lined lagoon, and finally ended up on the main highway 1.5 hours from Zihuatanejo, in Puerto Vicente Guerrero. Puerto Vicente Gro. is like stepping back in time at least 75 years ago here in Mexico. It is just a very small fishing village, with a small clear water port. There are often roosterfish inside the harbor. A snack lunch there, under a palapa palm beach-front restaurant, with fresh caught fish and fresh oysters as big as your hand, is hard to beat. Water Temperature 72-78 Air Temperature 77-91 Humidity 74% Wind SSW at 9 mph Conditions Mostly Cloudy (BKN) : 25,000 feet Visibility 10 miles Sunrise 6:40 a.m. CST Sunset 6:59 p.m. CST April 11 Last Quarter, April 19 New, April 27 First Quarter, May 4,Full Baja on the Fly's Zihuatanejo report by Ed Kunze SAN JOSE, GUATEMALA IN GENERAL: The fish are starting to make a strong showing again and the release numbers are moving up. Last week, the local fleet was able to average 12 releases of17 shots on conventional gear, and 5 of 11 on fly tackle for sailfish. The more experienced boats of the fleet were experiencing 20 or better releases per day. In addition to the improving sailfish action, quite a few marlin were released and many boats had action on medium-sized yellowfin tuna and larger dorado in the 40-pound class. We had one boat inshore and they hooked 7 roosters, but were only able to land 1 in the 40-pound class. http://www.guatemalaflyfishing.com/sailfish101.htm Water Temperature 79-84 Air Temperature 82-86 Humidity 53 % Wind SSW at 16 mph Conditions Clear Visibility 8 miles Sunrise 5:53 a.m. CST Sunset 6:16 p.m. CST April 11 Last Quarter, April 19 New, April 27 First Quarter, May 4,Full Baja on the Fly's Guatemala report by Brian Barragy and Lissa M. McFarlin.