Guatemala Sizzles; Z-What Hot; Others Lukewarm

[bajafly]

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East Cape
Thursday’s (2/24) beach trip went fairly well with two small roosters, one small jack and a couple of ladyfish. Yesterday (2/25) we were out in a panga with little success. The North wind came up and we couldn't find the dead whale. On the bright side, we did get one 55-pound dorado trolling conventional gear. No sardines yet.
The North wind is back. Fishing has dropped off. I'm still able to catch some ladyfish and small jacks from shore early and I mean early – the bite is over by 7:30. The whale is gone and so are the dorado. There are a few dorado around but no concentrations. Red, and black is what worked a few days ago. As has been the case all winter, there are more marlin than usual for this time of year. Some yellowfin were caught a few days ago, but that was before the wind came back. The roosters have disappeared, but I'm sure they will be back on the beach when the wind quits. I landed two one day on a gray and white deceiver. The fish are scattered, but most boats are going south. Sierra have been hard to find. Local people say it’s because of the fleet of shrimp boats that have been fishing every night for the last week. I don't know how much truth there is to that. It is cloudy and cool. I hope the water doesn't cool off too much.

Report by Baja on the Fly guide Tim Selzer.
Water temperature 67-74
Air temperature 60-68
Humidity 58%
Wind: NNE 4 mph
Conditions: Scattered Clouds
Visibility 10 miles
Sunrise 6:42 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:20 p.m. MST


Magdalena Bay, Baja Mexico
It’s been a little cooler this week, but all-in-all nice weather. The few that ventured out to the entrada (entrance) were not disappointed. A few small yellows and leopard groupers couldn’t resist a slow retrieved Baja Deep Diver. Up at Devil’s Curve, the snook did their snipe impression and were among the missing this week. As usual for this time of year, more time was spent whale watching than fishing.
Water temperature 69-75
Air temperature 60-68
Humidity 93%
Wind: WNW 13 mph
Conditions: Scattered Clouds
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 6:51 a.m. MST
Sunset 6:27 p.m. MST
Zihuatanejo, Mainland Mexico
The 80 degree blue water has moved out a bit to the 6 mile mark, and I thought the full moon was going to affect our fishing. The pattern was holding true for most of the boats fishing the normal 8 to 14 mile areas. But, early yesterday morning (Friday) I logged onto the Terrafin Surface Temperature Satellite Service and noted decent water from 19- to 30-miles out. Martin, on the panga Isamar, fly-fishing client Kirk Strawn of Chicago, and I then fished the areas from 19 to 28 miles on a 180 degree heading.

It was Kirk's first fly-fishing experience for sailfish, but he managed 3 tagged and released sails by 10 o'clock. As we got back to pier, Santiago, on the panga Gitana, was right behind us and flying 6 tag and release flags for conventional gear fisherman Russ Kirtchner of Indiana. They had gone 20 miles on a 200 degree heading. This bite is not off, it has only moved out a few miles.

A couple of days ago, I saw a lot of bait and birds working the shoreline at Barra Pototsi. Kirk and I are taking the 9-weight there this morning, for some jack crevalle and black skipjack tuna action from the beach.

Roosterfish action was very slow this week however, and there are still no signs of the tuna.


Baja on the Fly report by Ed Kunze

Water temperature 80 - 84
Air temperature 75 - 86
Humidity 94%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Scattered Clouds
Visibility 8 miles
Sunrise 7:06 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:51 p.m. CST

San Jose, Guatemala

The conditions this past week were really nice with calm seas and fishing action from 5- to 15-miles out. There have been some days with tougher conditions, and others where the sails were just jumping in the boats. There are a lot of anglers down, and most of the boats are venturing out. During the week on the conventional side there were 2,314 hooked sails and 1,542 released sails for an average of 24 releases per boat day. On the fly side there were 691 hooked sails and 340 released sails for an average of 10 releases per boat day. The high boat on the conventional side for the week had 72 releases in a day and on the fly side had 27 releases. Truly spectacular results for a week! In the mix of all the sails were also some monsters with quite a few sails being reported in the 100-140 pound class. One of our clients on our feedback form said, "The thrill of these huge sails is going to be hard to describe.” There were dorado in the mix as well, and inshore there were several roosterfish released in one afternoon of fishing.

We also ventured over to Huatulco, Mexico last week, and will begin offering trips in March. This location looks really fabulous from a fishing standpoint with excellent billfish action from March through August. It also offers great activities for non-anglers in the group including stunning beaches and scenery. During our stay there was great action reported on yellowfin tuna, sailfish, and marlin. Look for our upcoming reports in the next couple of weeks.
San Jose, Guatemala report by Brian Barragy and Lissa McFarlin
Water temperature 72 - 82
Air temperature 78 - 82
Humidity 94%
Wind: Calm
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility 3 miles
Sunrise 6:21 a.m. CST
Sunset 6:11 p.m. CST

For additional information: [e-mail]
USA toll-free [phone] or 760/746-7260; Mexico 011-52-624-14-10373