September Surprise: Giant Humboldt Squid

[bajafly]

Endless Season Update 09/17/2008
REPORT #1132 "Below the Border" Saltwater Fly-Fishing reports since 1996
East Cape

The water south of Punta Arena is a little off color, but in Palmas Bay it is Caribbean blue and 85
degrees. With the better weather, sailfish and small dorado are on the bite from Pulmo to La
Ribera.
And another September surprise is the giant Humboldt squid are making a good showing,
Chunked into cubes, they make a great bait for the yellowfin tuna schools…mostly found from
above Punta Pescadero all the way down to Cabo Pulmo.
Inshore and along the beach, the water has cleared up and there are plenty of schoolie-sized
roosters with some larger ones mixed in.
Water temperature 76-87
Air temperature 71-92
Humidity 55%
Wind: ENE 5 to 6 knots
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 7:06 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:20 p.m. MDT
Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
With the better weather, the offshore action has picked up. Good striper action on the Thetis; if
you get there early enough there may be a wahoo or two. Closer to Cabo Lazzaro there are plenty
of dorado and small yellowtail.
In the Esteros the action consisted of corvina, grouper and a few mangrove snappers.
Bob Hoyt

Water temperature 60 - 77
Air temperature 70 -90
Humidity 58 %
Wind: WNW 11 to 15 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 7 miles
Sunrise 7:14 a.m. MDT
Sunset 7:28 p.m. MDT
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
Fishing has been relative slow here this last week. Part of the blame is the fishing has actually been
slow, but the main reason is there are very few charters going out fishing to find the
concentrations and areas of fish. We have only 4 to 5 boats a day on the water, including both the
inshore and offshore.
Boats are averaging about 1 fish sailfish per boat per day, and even though the 20 pound plus
dorado are averaging 1 fish per day per boat, if you hit the right floating log, at the right time, the
action can be fantastic.
There were no reports on the inshore action, but last week's 3 inches of rain, while not intense,
kept the rivers flowing and the inshore waters stained.
Ed Kunze
Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 77-92
Humidity 65%
Wind: SW at 9mph
Conditions: Partly Sunny
Visibility 1 miles
Sunrise 7:33 a.m. CDT
Sunset 7:52 p.m. CDT
Cabo San Lucas
BILLFISH: Striped Marlin continued to bite even though the water remained in the 84-
degree range. It did not take much of a search on Friday to find the fish, they were still holding in
the same area as last week, mostly on the Pacific side closer to shore, most within 7 miles of the
beach. There was a concentration of fish on the Golden Gate Bank; that bodes well for next week
as well. There was a scattering of Sailfish in the catches as well, and they were from the same
areas. The Blue Marlin did not appear at the end of the week, hopefully they will start to show in
numbers soon.
YELLOWFIN TUNA On Thursday and Friday there were reports of Yellowfin to 60 pounds
being caught to the west side of the San Jaime Banks, but few fish reported from other areas.
DORADO Still mostly being caught on the Pacific side, the Dorado have been striking well
on medium sized lures in brighter colors. Live bait dropped back behind a troll hooked fish
resulted in many doubles on fish that averages 15 pounds with a few in the 40-pound class.
Spotting the Frigate birds swooping on flying fish was the key to steady action on Dorado after the
storms.
INSHORE: The swells kicked up by the storms made inshore fishing very iffy, most of the
Pangas preferred to go out 5 miles or so for Dorado. A few of the Pangas that worked inside on
the Cortez side reported decent action on Roosterfish to 35 pounds, nothing hot and heavy but
steady fishing with live Mullet and Cabillitos.
George & Mary Landrum
Water temperature 73 - 88
Air temperature 71 - 93
Humidity 45%
Wind: WNW 11 to 14 knots
Conditions: Mostly Sunny
Visibility 11 miles
Sunrise 7:07 a.m. MST
Sunset 7:21 p.m. MST
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