Submitted by bajafly (ip 68.111.130.236)

Date Fished: 5/15/2004
Water Clarity: 0

Jacks and Roosters Have Come to Play 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: bajafly@bajafly.com; USA toll-free (800) 919-2252; Mexico 011-52-624-14-10373

Fri., May 14, 2004. Report covers the period Sat.-Fri. (5/8-5/14)

EAST CAPE, MAGDALENA BAY, ZIHUATANEJO, MEXICO; AND SAN JOSE, GUATEMALA CONDITIONS

EAST CAPE, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO

IN GENERAL: Wed. (5/12) was an eventful day on the beach. Down by the lighthouse, we got into the fish again. Jacks . . . and huge ones at that. I ran down a school and made a cast. Whamo! . . . the biggest jack I’ve ever hooked was off and running. The first run was relentless and before I knew it well over 350 yards of spider wire backing were gone. I was in serious jeopardy of being spooled! The fish was still pulling hard when a horrible sight came upon me. A panga was trolling tight to the beach and headed straight for me. He moved out slightly but kept right on coming. We waved franticly, but to no avail. He trolled right over my visibly outstretched backing and broke me off. Possible world record class jack crevalle and a new fly line gone. There I sat on the beach, fish everywhere and no fly line, frustrating to say the least.

Not long after that we encountered two guys fly-fishing on ATVs. We had seen them earlier and they stopped to talk to us. I related my sad tale and low and behold, the guy gave me a brand new 12-weight line, a clear SA tarpon line still in the box. Turns out he owns a fly shop in the Sierra town of Mammoth, Calif., his name is Ken . . . sorry, I missed his full name. Very cool gesture on his part. So, thanks to Ken I was able to fish Thurs. (5/13) and catch the giant rooster (35-pounds) I was blessed with this afternoon, and a smaller one earlier. The clear line seemed to work well, and I fished a long leader of 16-pounds, a full rod length or 9 feet. Yesterday (5/14) morning, little wind last night yet a persistent swell rolled in and really stirred up the beach. Visibility was very poor and a slight overcast made conditions tough, indeed. No cruising fish spotted and no fish hooked. It was my first beach skunking in some time.

Inshore, panga hit a few smaller roosterfish and a couple of skipjack on fly, with a few pargo as well. The fleet came in flying a few marlin flags, and even a few dorado banderas (flags.) One Palmas boat was loaded with tuna flags, but apparently they were the only ones who found them.

- East Cape report by Baja on the Fly guide Lance Peterson

AIR & SEA -

Water temperature 72-77 Air temperature 71-80 Humidity about 40% Wind: West 4 mph Conditions: Scattered Clouds 23,900 ft Visibility 15 miles Sunrise 6:37 a.m. MST Sunset 7:53 p.m. MST

May 18 New, May 27 First Quarter, June 2, Full, June 9 Last Quarter,

• OFFSHORE: Pretty tough, few marlin, dorado, one boat did hit the jackpot for tuna which had the rest of the fleet trying to figure out where. • INSHORE: Still the best bang for the buck. • BEACH: Good early in the week and then the swell and cloud cover slowed it down.

BILLFISH – Slowed down after last week’s bonanza.

YELLOWFIN TUNA – Where, oh where, have they gone?

DORADO – Wait, wait, don’t tell me they are late for the party.

ROOSTERFISH\ JACK CREVALLE – Slow yesterday, better mid week.

BARRILETE OR MEXICAN SKIPJACK – Not the prime target this week.

PARGO AND CABRILLA – Try the rocky points or the arroyos

SIERRA – Still some mixed in with the roosters and jacks.

MAGDALENA BAY, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO

Puerto San Carlos:

IN GENERAL: No reports from the entrada, but up in the mangroves it was business as usual for corvina and pompano. Also, a few leopard grouper were found at Devil’s Curve. The snook continued their elusive ways and were among the missing.

Water Temperature 64-70 Air Temperature 66-77 Humidity 40% Wind Calm Conditions Scattered Clouds Visibility 5 miles Sunrise 6:42 a.m. MST Sunset 8:04 p.m. MST

May 18 New, May 27 First Quarter, June 2, Full, June 9 Last Quarter,

YELLOWTAIL – Not much action to talk about this week

CORVINA – just keep on biting.

SNOOK – Finding them and catching them are two different things

HALIBUT – A few throughout the bay on the sandy beaches.

SIERRA – Belchers is the place.

ZIHUATANEJO, MAINLAND MEXICO

IN GENERAL: Our Jacks or Better Rooster Tournament and Guide Challenge are certainly drawing the attention. Slots for both events are filling up fast. Don’t miss out on the first ever Rooster on the Fly event in Zihuatanejo.

http://www.bajafly.com/jacksorbetter.htm

The 78º blue water has moved in substantially in the last week, to about 10 miles. But, the fishing has not followed accordingly. There are several blue marlin being hooked every day, and fishing for them is about as good as it gets. The 2-3 pound black skipjack tuna, a favorite marlin meal, are here in abundance and the marlin are mostly being taken by slow trolling a live skipjack. The “Vamanos I,” with Captain Ruben, has taken 8 marlin in the last two weeks. He is getting at least one shot at one each day he fishes. The sailfish action is still at a 1 to 2 fish per boat average, and the tuna still have not shown within 45 miles.

Water Temperature 72-78 Air Temperature 80-95 Humidity 78% Wind Calm Conditions Scattered Clouds 15,000 ft Visibility 6 miles Sunrise 7:16 a.m. CST Sunset 8:08 p.m. CST

May 18 New, May 27 First Quarter, June 2, Full, June 9 Last Quarter,

Baja on the Fly's Zihuatanejo report by Ed Kunze

SAN JOSE, GUATEMALA

IN GENERAL: The conditions have been really nice with light winds, and brief occasional showers. The production this past week is a mirror of the prior week, with again the big news being lots of dorado. For sails, the few boats out were able to average 19 of 25 releases on conventional tackle.

Be sure to check out the current story on ESPN Outdoors about Guatemala on the Fly:

http://espn.go.com/outdoors/fishing/s/f_fea_AA_Guatemala_sailfish_fly_Mintz.html

Water Temperature 79-85 Air Temperature 82-86 Humidity 74 % Wind 5 mph. Conditions Scattered Clouds Visibility 6 miles Sunrise 5:36 a.m. CST Sunset 6:23 p.m. CST

May 18 New, May 27 First Quarter, June 2, Full, June 9 Last Quarter,

Baja on the Fly's Guatemala report by Brian Barragy and Lissa M. McFarlin.

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