A good action week in the Puerto Morelos region for a wise variety of critters.  This is unquestionably one of the best areas in all of  Mexico for producing the wide-spectrum catches that range from bottom fish to surface action on the same fishing day.  This past week 
reflected a total of 19 days fished that produced 1 sailfish, 12 Atlantic barracuda, 36 bonito, 6 Spanish mackerel, 10 yellowfin tuna, 1 wahoo, 1 dorado, 3 sharks, 1 jack cravelle, 2 grouper, 9 red snapper and 3 triggerfish.

PM Climate:  Partly cloudy days with temps that ranged from 78 nights to 91 daytime highs and a little on the humid side.

Sea Conditions:  Near excellent with light easterly surface breezes at 5-10 knots, temps at 84 and stable and near perfect blue water clarity.

Best Lure/Bait:  Consistently the ballyhoo, both rigged and un-rigged were the bait of choice for this area.

Bait Supply:  Excellent.

Captain Temo Verboonen, skipper of the "Secuestro De Amor", reports fishing was slow this past week in the Zihuatanejo area and probably due to the full moon phase in conjunction with the dirty waters from the river outflows. The area is getting plenty of PM and night rains and the rivers are all running murky waters into the ocean. There's lots of debris in the waters now and it makes trolling of the lures and rigged baits difficult throughout much of the area. Very few strikes reported this past week and all of the offshore fishing was past the 16-17 mile mark. The inshore fishing has come to a stand- still due to the chocolate water color from the river outfalls. The roosterfish just don'[t like that dirty water and have been difficult to find. When you do find them, they don't want to bite the artificials and only follow the lures without biting.

IZ Climate:  Partly cloudy days with temps from 71 nights to 91 daytime highs and considerable afternoon and night rains.

Sea Conditions:  Mostly calm with very light surface breezes but dirty water out to about 16-17 miles or so, with temps 86-87 degrees.

Best Fishing Area:  No concentration of fish reported this past week.

Best Bait/Lure:  Live bait was best for the roosterfish when it was available.

Bait Supply:  Good for the rigged baits but difficult for live bait this past week.

A little surge of yellowfin tuna sparked the interest of the anglers this past week with the fish running with the porpoise and chewing on the tuna feathers and cedar plugs. The Aries IX, skippered by Captain Gilberto Quintero, had the only blue marlin this week that was under 300 lbs. The overall catch report for a total of 15 days fished offshore reflected 1 blue marlin, 2 stripers, 7 sailfish, 14 dorado and 25 yellowfin tuna. The inshore super pangas, reporting for a total of 6 days fished reflected 1 sailfish, 1 yellowfin tuna and 65 dorado, (good all-day action for t he super pangas).

Mazatlan Climate:  Mostly cloudy and raining today, with temps from 79 nights to 89 daytime highs.

Sea Conditions:  Temps were warmer inshore at 86-87 and falling to 85 in the offshore waters.  Inshore water is green and cleaning to blue at about 16-17 miles, flat seas and light tropical surface breezes.

Best Lure/Bait:  Rigged baits best for the sailfish and stripers, larger plastics for the blue marlin, feathers for the tuna, small plastics and feathers for the dorado.

Best Fishing Area:  Begins at about 18 miles out to the southwest and continues outward bound from there.

Bait supply:  Complete supply of rigged baits available daily

The billfish bite was much improved this past week from Cabo San Lucas and was above the one billfish per boat average. High boat for the week was the "Gaviota VIII", skippered by Captain Juan Dominguez, with a 4 striper release day. "Tuna Time", skippered by Captain Christian Lopez, had a single marlin caught, (died at the boat) and a sailfish release, along with a dozen yellowfin tuna and a single dorado for his Newport Beach charter by the Brent Nielsen group of four. The overall combined fish report for a total of 15 days fished reflected 16 stripers, (15 released) 2 sailfish released, 12 dorado, 1 wahoo, 1 roosterfish and 22 yellowfin tuna, (mostly school sized fish in the 12-25 lb. range).

Cabo Climate:  Partly cloudy days with temps from 73 nights to 97 daytime highs.

Sea Conditions:  The cooler Pacific current wrapped the tip of the peninsula crom Cristobal to Cabo & out 8-10 miles, dropping to 71 degrees, rising to 75 by Chileno.  A NE/SW temp break at about 10 miles offhsore with 76 on the inside and 89-82 on the outside. Mostly deep blue water.

Best Fishing Area:  It's been about a 50-50 on location with good fishing outside of Chileno and at the 1150 Fathom spot.

Best Lure/Bait:  Most of the billfish are coming from live caballitos on fish that are pre-spotted and an occasional fish on the drop back.  Tuna mostly on the feathers this week for fish running with 
the porpoise.

Live Bait Supply:  Remains very good, even through the full moon phase

Fishing on the World Famous EL BUDSTER. Paul Ray from Chesterfield, MO catche a 30 lb. DORADO. Fishing on the EL BUDSTER II. The John Smith party from Kansas City, MO catches and releases two small STRIPED MARLIN ( 60 & 75 lbs.). One was caught on a Black Bart Lure ( Blue & White ). The other was caught on a live Caballito. The fighting times were 15 & 25 minutes. All the fish were caught at the 95 Reef. The water temp. was 80 - 81 degrees.

Another Blue Marlin

Hope you are all having a fantastic mid week! Time is going by so fast lately, or is it just my imagination?

Yesterday's catch was a total of 1 Blue Marlin (170Lbs), 2 Striped Marlin (180 - 190 Lbs), 2 Tuna (60 Lbs) and 1 Hammerhead Shark.

We had customers from Atlanta, Houston, Canada, New York, California, and Cabo! Weather was great, 96F, sea temperature 80F, winds blowing at 9 mph and waves 5 ft high. It was a good day out there. We had a full moon last night, I don't believe in the whole "Moon Theory" but some people do, will see how fishing goes today.

On the 28' ReelRum, we had Bob Eger who came in on the Cruise Ship along with his family Mark, Justin and Linda. These nice folks from California reserved a spot on RedRum's boat a while back. They went out with Captain Jesus and Mate Edgar for a half day of fishing...had to be on the boat by 6 PM Cruise time, and before heading back, they wanted to do some shopping. By the end of their trip they had caught and released (C/R) 1 Striped Marlin. Glad to meet you guys at the main dock!

Another group that I met yesterday at the main dock was David Sproule and his crew Harrison, Christopher and Edwin. These guys from Canada and New York went out for half a day on the 32' RedBeam along with Captain Cesar and Mate Ramon. By the end of their trip Harrison had C/R and Hammerhead shark, some of the guys got a bit drowsey, but managed to enjoy the trip! Glad to hear ya'll had fun!

James Alexci and Chris Marrus from Atlanta and Houston fished for a full day on El Nuevo along with Captain Omar and Mate Juan and Manuel. These guys C/R 1 Striped Marlin through out their day of fishing. Had a great time, and Captain and Mates came back to the office to say these guys were great! I really didn't get a chance to talk to them after they had finish ed their fishing trip, but I am sure they had an awesome time out in the Southern Baja Waters! Thanks Guys!

And Last but not Least we had Alvaro from Cabo San Lucas taking a full day trip on RumRUnnin with his buddies from Sinaloa, Mexico. They were out with Captain Javier and Mate Americo and ended up with 1 Blue Marlin which weighed 170 Lbs and 2 Yellowfin Tuna. This is the third Blue Marlin of the year guys, which means they are getting closer!

Fishing on the World Famous EL BUDSTER. The Brad Bray party from Colton, CA has an EXCELLENT DAY. They catch and release a 200 lb. BLUE MARLIN. It is caught once again on a BLACK BART LURE. Yes, you guessed correctly again...Mr. Petrolero. The fighting time was 1hr. & 10 min. They catch two 20 lb. YELLOWFIN TUNA and catch and release two HAMMERHEAD SHARKS. Both sharks were 70 plus lbs. All the fish were caught 12 - 15 miles out from Cabo. The water temp. was 80 - 81 degrees.

As if Monday's weren't bad enough right? My customers from yesterday that re-scheduled due to the rain, re-scheduled for today and once again did not show up. This time without so much as a phone call to let us know. One bad apple isn't going to spoil this bunch though, the folks that did show up had a great day on the water.

Jason Sanford and his buddies from Idaho had a nice day on the water aboard ReelRum today. They didn't bring in any monsters, but they did finish the day with 3 nice Dorado and a Jack Crevalle.

The Roach clan, from Louisiana fished with us today aboard Pescado III. Captain Fidencio found a big school of Porpoise and Tuna but couldn't get any fish to strike. With a chef waiting back at their house, they needed something for the grill and luckily came back closer to shore and got into some Dorado. They also trolled the shoreline late in the day and got a real nice Rooster fish that was in the 40lb class.

Ken and Dawn Foster from Oshkosh, Wisconsin were down with their two kids, Ashley and Matt and they had a nice day on the water aboard El Nuevo RedRum. While they only caught and released 1 Marlin, they had a lot of action throughout the day and had a blast. They pitched bait to at least 4 other fish, and had a whole school of Dorado striking lures and bait, unfortunately no hook-ups though.

Fishing on the World Famous EL BUDSTER. James Archer from Parker, TX catches two ROOSTERFISH ( 30 & 40 lbs. ). He also catches a 20 lb. DORADO. Fishing on the EL BUDSTER II. Scott Crawford from Houston, TX catches and releases a 60 lb. STRIPED MARLIN. It is caught on a live Caballito. The fighting time was 25 minutes. His party also catches five YELLOWFIN TUNA. They were all about 25 to 30 lbs. All the fish were caught 12 - 14 miles out from Cabo. The water temp. was 80 - 81 degrees.

Dorado: I think I can say that Dorado were our fish of the week this past week. Almost every boat that went out caught at least one Dorado and some of them were good sized fish! We had one client who fly fished for three day, releasing a Striped Marlin and keeping a Dorado of about 12 pounds on the fist day, catching two Dorado of about 15 and 18 pounds the second day and on the third day he hooked up a Dorado estimated at 40+ pounds only to lose the fish close to the boat after a long fight. Now that was with fly fishing gear, so you can imagine the results for those using conventional gear! Not a wide open bite on Dorado but everyone went home with fish for dinner and smiles on their faces. Most of the fish were found close to shore, within 4 miles , just to the south and 15 degrees either direction.

Billfish: There was little change from last week on the billfish as we were still seeing quite a few Striped Marlin and the boats were having decent success with about 65% releasing one or two fish. Many of the boats that did not get Marlin were targeting Dorado or Tuna so there was no effort to get a billfish hooked up. Along with the warm water come the Blue and Black Marlin and just like last week they were there to be caught if you were lucky enough. I saw several Blue Marlin to 400 pounds and had one 15 year old girl release here first, estimated at #250. As is usually the case, find the bait, then you find the fish. The small Tuna were holding near shore around the Chileno bay area and offshore along the 1,000 fathom line. Near shore resulted in Striped Marlin and a few Black Marlin, working the bait offshore resulted in a few Striped Marlin and all the Blue Marlin.

Fishing on the World Famous EL BUDSTER. Al Dadswell & Don Walker from Alberta, Canada catch three DORADOS ( 20 to 25 lbs. ). They also catch and release a 40 lb. ROOSTERFISH and catch & release a 35 lb. AMBERJACK. All the fish were caught inshore near the Cabo Lighthouse. The water temp. was 79 - 80 degrees.

Light crowds of tourists are now visiting the Los Cabos area and are being greeted by typical July weather patterns, warm sunny days in the mid 90's with high humidity. No tropical storms on the horizon at this time in the Eastern Pacific, though some rainfall would be much welcomed. Forecasts were predicting 20 to 30 % chances of scattered thunder showers and finally early this morning (Sunday) we had a couple of hours of steady rainfall. Ocean conditions have been calm with some medium sized swells in the direction of San Jose del Cabo, while out of Cabo San Lucas they have had southern winds ranging up to 15 mph, overall anglers have enjoyed very pleasant seas with water temperatures now warming rapidly, as high as 85 degrees in certain areas.

Bait supplies have been fairly consistent for caballito and mullet, with giant squid and sardinas available only for the East Cape fleets. The most popular and productive fishing grounds this past week was outside of the San Luis Bank, around four miles from shore, with water depths ranging 190 to 240 feet. With thirty or more combined panga, cruiser and yacht charters congregating here to target the schooling yellowfin tuna, which have ranged in sizes from football models up to 233 pounds, with the average tuna weighing in the 30 to 80 pound class. Most charters have accounted for 2 to 6 fish per morning. These yellowfin have been a bit shy due to the clarity of the water and the heavy boat pressure. Action has come on cut squid and sardina, with the East Cape fleet having the advantage of the fresher bait, while San Jose del Cabo fleets have mostly relied on frozen giant squid that are imported from the East Cape by the few commercial pangeros whiling to work overtime night shifts.

Off the bottom, on these same tuna fishing grounds, anglers were finding increased counts of huachinango and Mexican bonito that were striking on yo-yo jigs. These fish ranged up 10 pounds and provided fun sport on lighter tackle. Dorado action was spread out, more fish being found closer to shore than further offshore, no concentrations and mainly small schools of fish averaging 10 to 20 pounds, with an occasional exception of fish to 30 pounds or more.

Surprisingly there were quite a few wahoo being encountered off of the Gordo Banks and north over the Cardon, La Fortuna and Iman Banks. These fish were encountered throughout the morning, not necessarily very early, in fact most charters were fishing the tuna first, because that action proved to be best early and then they might try a little high speed trolling for wahoo afterwards, where they had a chance at picking up a fish or two that were averaging in the 30 to 50 lb. range.

Inshore action still produced fair numbers of quality sized roosterfish and dogtooth snapper to 50 lb. while trolling larger live baits. In recent days we have started to notice that the dogtooth snapper are now making their seasonal swift from inshore to the offshore rock piles, as a handful of dogtooth were accounted for while drift fishing baits over the high spots, same method being used for tuna.

Billfish are being found throughout the area, no specific spot that was wide open, just scattered action being reported, but there is now a chance to encounter all local species of striped, blue and black marlin, as well as sailfish, which with the warmer current now prevalent should be showing up in greater numbers. A 500 pound class black marlin was seen free jumping by many of the boats that were targeting the yellowfin tuna near San Luis, it is time to start slow trolling the football sized yellowfin on heavy tackle, in fact one boat did just that, only problem being that they mistakeingly left the reel in gear when a large marlin struck the bait and the fish did not have the chance to swallow the bait.

The combined panga fleet launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 55 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of:
1 blue marlin, 2 sailfish, 5 striped marlin, 19 wahoo, 32 dorado, 122 yellowfin tuna, 65 bonito, 86 red snapper (huachinango), 15 dogtooth snapper, 2 yellowtail, 16 amberjack and 12 cabrilla.

Good Fishing, Eric

Great Catch with RedRum!
 
Wow guys, today was such a great day! All our boats came back with fish, no one got skunked, no one got seasick, and the best part one of our group had alrady caught and released 4 Marlins before 8 AM! EXCELLENT!!!

We also C/R a Blue Marlin and a Sailfish aside from the other 6 Striped Marlin caught on our boats.

We had 5 boats out today:

John Myres from the CCA group in Texas came fishing for the second and last day. They brought back 12 Dorados and 4 Tuna. Yesterday they C/R a Sailfish. Today John and Hunter decided to go out instead of the whole group. They did an awesome job and had a great time.

TUNA DORADO AND GIANT SQUID LIGHT UP ANGLERS!  La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 18-25, 2010 It was quite a week here.  For some there were plenty of fish.  For others, not so many, but the quality of the fish far exceeded the numbers as many anglers got the largest fish of their lives!  It was a case of getting 5 20 pound dorado or one giant 100 pound tuna that took 3 hours to land!  Got some great photos this week.  You have to see some of these!   Check out all the details:  [link]

Fishing on the World Famous EL BUDSTER on a 1/2 day Cruise Ship Charter. The Daniel Holloway party from Covina, CA catches two DORADOS ( 15 & 25 lbs. ). They were caught at the 95 Reef. The water temp. was 80 - 81 degrees.