Mexico Fishing Report

Roosterfishing outstanding out of Ixtapa BY ROBIN WADE/WON Staff WriterPublished: Jun 22, 2012

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IXTAPA-ZIHUATANEJO — The 82-degree blue water is right on the beach, but the fishing for large game fish is still slow, thank goodness the roosterfishing in Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo has been outstanding during this transitional time. “Santiago, on the super panga Gitana, was out looking for marlin with his Danish client and had only one strike from a sailfish all day,” IGFA representative and fly fishing guide Ed Kunze said. “Cameron Hicks from California fished with Leonardo on the panga Fish On for a half day and had only a single strike on a sailfish and then gave up on the blue water but they at least ended up the day with a fairly decent bite inshore. No dorado were caught this week that I know of.” Kunze said the best action is still for roosterfish. “Adolfo, on the panga Dos Hermanos, told me he was getting slower action to the north on roosters with his French clients, but was doing well on sierra and jack crevalle. Well, that won’t cut it. We need roosters,” Kunze said. “So, I went south to Puerto Vicente Guerrero with fly clients Jean and Keri Jackson from Colorado,” Kunze went on to say. “We got there and fished the surf lines under the almost ideal conditions and the roosters were there. Some of them were very large (40 pounds or more) and aggressive. But again, for first timers the first day is usually a learning curve. However they each managed a rooster, even though they were smaller than the larger fish earlier in the morning. The bite lasted until about 1 p.m. With Adolfo Jr. on the teaser rod, we brought 25 roosters to the boat.” Adolfo Jr. and I went back down to Vicente with David Henry from British Columbia, Canada,” Kunze said. “We have fished several times before, with his wife Sarah even getting a line-class world record for roosters for her, fishing with us down at Vicente a few years back although it has since been broken by another angler.” “Because of the gin clear water on the beach, at first we were having a tough time even finding a rooster,” Kunze said. “But we made a move to find more stained water and were soon into fish. Even though the size of the roosters were smaller than a few days earlier, the numbers of different species kept things exciting. On the fly, Dave hooked roosters, jack crevalle, black skipjack tuna, and sierra. Again, we brought at least 25 roosters to the boat and the bite lasted until 1:00 p.m.” Capt. Temo Verboonen, representing the Independent Sportfishing Fleet, provided at least an upbeat fishing report for this past week that portrayed improved fishing action throughout the area. “I think summer is the best season to catch fish in our area,” he said.  “We have perfect, clean and blue water and a sustained sea temperature of 85 degrees, lots of bait, sea life and now, we are experiencing very good yellowfin tuna fishing within two miles of the entrance to Zihuatanejo Bay.”   “Just a few miles farther offshore, the black and blue marlin are beginning to bite, along with good numbers of sailfish, combined with a few quality sized dorado to round out the day,” Verboonen said.   “The inshore action is really producing good numbers in the meantime, though with roosterfish and there continues to be lots of jacks, both jack crevalle and big-eye jacks and a seemingly endless number of bonito," Verboonen said. “Our fishing days are full of fun and lots of action for the few anglers that are visiting the area. Soon, the rivers will be flowing to the ocean and there will be more bait available in the food chain and things will really pick up.” ROOSTERS ON THE FLY — While the waters offshore get their act together, anglers have been having a good time targeting inshore species such as jacks, bonito and an endless supply of roosters. PHOTO COURTESY OF ED KUNZE In other Mexico fishing action:    — CANCUN TO COZUMEL: The Puerto Morelos sportfishing action continued to provide exciting fishing reports for the Cancun to Cozumel area and this past week was no different.   “We received the weekly fishing report, which reflected another wide spectrum mixed bag catch and produced a 15 fish species and a 39 percent billfish catch rate for the boats,” Larry Edwards of Cortez Yacht Charters said.   “The weekly catch report included 4 blue marlin, 2 white marlin, 5 sailfish, 25 dorado, 3 wahoo, 9 Atlantic barracuda, 8 blackfin tuna, 2 Spanish mackerel, 3 king mackerel, 2 bonito, 1 rainbow runner, 1 amberjack, 10 triggerfish, 4 grouper and 5 snapper for the combined total of 28 charters,” Edwards said. — MAZATLAN: Usually, by mid-June, we are seeing pretty good catches of sailfish, a scattered number of black and blue marlin catches and limit fishing on the dorado, but this year, it appears to be a little different. “The dorado are showing up under the buoys but not in the same numbers as in past years and this year, the fish are, at least for now, smaller, and should be released,” Larry Edwards of Cortez Yacht Charters said.   “Still, the dorado bite offers some very good light line action and keeps anglers interests and the crews focused on their fishing efforts,” Edwards said. “Perhaps the bulk of the fish just haven’t arrived yet and are yet to come. The area's elements are terrific though. Temperatures are stable and warm and the clarity of the water is clean enough to hold the fish. So, all we can do now is wait it out for the summer season to kick-in to a sustained bite.”   The fishing report for the past week included 7 offshore fishing trips that produced 28 dorado and 1 yellowfin tuna, while the inshore fishing effort for the super pangs reflected 3 days fished for 8 dorado, 11 perch and 7 triggerfish. — PUERTO VALLARTA: Sometimes you don’t have to go way offshore just to get fish. The yellowfin tuna are miles out still, but the blue water is at El Banco and Corbetena here in PV and the rains are bringing the trash lines back into the bay and local waters  making for other good options closer in, and some great fishing, Master Baiter’s Sportfishing and Tackle said this year we hit the wall when it comes to humidity as always mad right on time. “For about two weeks before the seasonal rains began the humidity goes through the roof’,” he said. “We finally got the rain and this means all sorts of things to people; primarily the relief from heavy humidity or at least a few hours as it turns to rain but to those fish it means the trash line.” Gabruk said short and simple; the clean water and dirty water from the mountain runoff are divided by a line of sediment type organic materials, washing down the rivers, streams and streets. Dorado, skipjack tuna and roosterfish will take this free meal and chase the smaller fish that thrive on this free and fast food. The smaller fish, in the meantime will take refuge in the dirty water when larger species are looking for a meal within striking distance and this is a good time to hit this area, For some of the areas other areas, Gabruk said now the deep water locations such as Corbeteña and El Banco are still sporting 150-pound yellowfin tuna with the crystal clear sapphire blue water and abundant bait. “Sailfish are also getting thicker by the day as they love this area with the varied terrain and abundant bait coming through during the summer time,” he said. “Marlin are here, but they are still a low percentage catch for the moment.” “We’re still a little early in the season for marlin, but I hear Cabo is seeing a few blue marlin now,” Gabruk said. “Boats over there have yet to say but we know they’ll be here shortly with no announcement.”   “At Corbeteña you may need to look a little to the southwest, about 10 to 15 miles out from the rock to find yellowfin where the warm currents seem to be bringing in more bait from down south,” Gabruk said. — SAN CARLOS (SONORA): The fishing has been very good in San Carlos, with a lot of nice days with water temperatures from 80 to 85 degrees. The water is getting clearer and the sailfish and dorado have moved to within a mile of shore, yeah!  “Some larger marlin are showing up with one 300 pounder fish caught,” Bryan Replogle of Team Margarita Sport Fishing and SC Aquatic Adventures said. “We’ve had a nice cap to a great day a few days a few days ago; passing the largest fin I've ever seen.” Bryan Replogle of Team Margarita Sport Fishing and SC Aquatic Adventures said the fish kicked in and then they were gone. “Oh well after a few days of that, I told the clients that sometimes the fish will follow for a while, though I've never really experienced a bite after a few minutes. I asked to see the photo of the fin and figured it was a large blue marlin,” he said. Ten minutes after passing the fish the center line went off and we were hooked up,” Replogle said. “After a lot of jumps and a dog fight at the boat we released what I believe was a 200- plus pound striped marlin. That, added to our catch of 1 marlin, 2 sails, 6 large dorado and one 35-pound tuna was a good day.” “Some good weed patches are being passed loaded up with dorado,” Replogle said. “A lot of nice bulls are starting to show up and tuna to 100 pounds were spotted while we lost what I'm sure was a big one. I heard of one 80-pound wahoo that was also caught. The fishing is good all the way across and to the north.” For more Mexico fishing reports visit: www.bajafisherman.com Readers: To have your reports included in the Mexico report, send photos and e-mails to baja@wonews.com.