REPORT #987. “Below the Border” Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
Endless Season Update 12/3/05
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
Yesterday (12/2) was the pre-fish day for our “Sails and Tales” tournament and Joe Dowdell, Marathon, Fla., was the first one back to the dock with bragging rights with his sail caught on the fly. The rest of contestants seemed to fall in the into the “Tales” category and could be heard over their margaritas last night saying today (Sat.) would be different on the first tournament day. Weather has been great all week and the number of shots has been increasing daily.
Angler - Joe Dowdell (Marathon, Florida)
Captain - Felipe on the panga Yellowfin
Location - Zihuatanejo, Mex
Fight time - 5 minutes (fish was tagged and released in excellent shape)
Guide and photo by Ed Kunze
Ed Kunze, Zihuatanejo
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 77 - 86
Humidity 66%
Wind WSW 6 mph
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:01 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:09 p.m. CST
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
Mangrove action topped the list this week with several boats choosing to sneak into Lopez Mateos through Boca de Soledad. John Lyddon’s “Don Juan” reported a wide-open snook bite with fish from 10 pounds and up along with some fat palmetto amarillo (golden jacks).
Outside, the water temperatures are down to 72 degrees and the striper bite has fallen off significantly with only a handful of bites for the boats fishing at the Thetis and up the bank. Did hear some rumors of larger dorado up toward the Uncle Sam Bank earlier in the week.
Check out my column in December issue of Pacific Coast Sportfishing for more information about fishing the beach on Magdalena Island.
Water temperature 68-75
Air temperature 71-79
Humidity 23%
Wind: WNW 8 mph
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 6:55 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:36 p.m. MST
East Cape
North winds have begun their winter routine of on-again, off-again. There’s still a decent offshore bite on the good (read windless days) and tough on the others. Still a few dorado to be found if your are lucky and the sierra bite has been good for the tin boat fleet.
Baja on the Fly
Water temperature 79-84
Air temperature 70-8o
Humidity 72%
Wind: W 10 mph
Conditions: Clear
Visibility 15 miles
Sunrise 6:44 a.m. MST
Sunset 5:32 p.m. MST
San Jose, Guatemala
The blue water is out between 15 and 30 miles and fishing this week has slowed noticeably compared to last week. Boats averaged high single digit releases along with a fair dorado bite throughout the week.
Les Kagel
Water temperature 78 - 82
Air temperature 78- 84
Humidity 46%
Wind: SSE 7 mph
Conditions: Scattered Clouds
Visibility 6 miles
Sunrise 6:12 a.m. CST
Sunset 5:33 p.m. CST
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