SALT REPORT

MAINLAND MEXICO: Ixtapa sails, marlin, and yellowfin in close BY ROBIN WADE/WON Staff WriterPublished: Mar 02, 2010

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SOUTH CALWEEKLY MEXICO REPORT IXTAPA-ZIHUATANEJO — Although the blue water fishing has been erratic, the quality has increased dramatically and the fish are in close. Boats in the Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo area are averaging a sailfish a day each now, as well as more blue marlin, one of which weighed in at 300 pounds, and yellowfin tuna. Inshore, the action was unseasonably good, with a great showing of roosterfish and a variety of other fish. “The 15 boat fleet caught 3 blue marlin on Tuesday, 6 on Wednesday, and another 5 today (Thursday). Plus, the action is taking place only 10 miles off the beach in front of Ixtapa,” said fly fishing guide Ed Kunze, reporting for Baja on the Fly. “And this does not reflect how many other boats, armed with lighter sailfish gear, lost a blue marlin. For every blue marlin hooked, there had to be at least 3 marlin lost,” he said. “As Paul Phillips was telling me, there is a blue water dead sea area out there, and when it passes through, the fishing will be decent. The beautiful blue water, better than I had seen in a month, was 14 miles out but held no life. It passed through, and we are now getting fish,” Kunze said. He added that inshore action has been incredibly unseasonable, with a great showing of roosterfish. Fly fishing client, Charlie McCrow from England got a nice 20-pound rooster while fishing with Cheva and Kunze on the panga, Dos Hermanos II. “We were up at the Pantla/Buena Vista Beach area, which Adolfo had tipped us off to as being a good bet,” he said. Meanwhile, Adolfo, on the Dos Hermanos, was working his usual inshore magic. Fishing the areas from Playa Linda to Troncones, his conventional gear clients caught 15 jack crevalle and 6 roosters one day, and the next day they caught tons of jacks and 4 roosters. Capt. Temo Verboonen, owner and skipper of the Secuestro De Amor, reported to Larry Edwards of the Independent Sportfishing Fleet that at least 3 blue marlin were caught this past week that he was aware of, with one taken by a group aboard the Gringo Loco, skippered by Capt. Luis that weighed approximately 300 pounds. “The sailfish bite remained very strong throughout the week and there was also some good yellowfin action for some 60 pounders for those boats that fished about 35 miles offshore,” Edwards said. A few dorado were also still being taken as incidentals to the billfish catches. In other Mexico fishing action: MAZATLAN: There was a big improvement in Mazatlan this past week offshore, as nearly half of the returning anglers reported either landing and/or releasing a billfish for their day’s fishing efforts. Reporting for the Aries Sportfishing Fleet, Larry Edwards said the overall catches for the 27 charters included 8 stripers, 3 sailfish, 2 mako shark, 7 yellowfin tuna and 18 dorado. “This is by far, the best fishing week we’ve had over the past 30 to 40 days or so and a very welcome change. With any luck at all, this will be the beginning of a change for the better that will continue for anglers,” Edwards said. While there was still no concentration of fish, the boats were generally fishing in the area south of the Marina El Cid at about 20 to 28 miles out. Most of the offshore fish are being taken on rigged trolling baits, with the exception being tuna, which were taken on feathers. Sea conditions included light surface winds, mostly from the north, and stable sea temperatures at 75 to 77 degrees throughout the area. The inshore action for 5 super panga outings included 58 pargo, 10 sierra, 2 dorado, 9 cochitos, 29 mojarres, 10 burros and 35 roncachos. Most of the inshore fish were being taken on shrimp and squid. PUERTO VALLARTA: The yellowfin tuna exploded all over the Tres Maria Islands, and back towards El Banco some 15 miles. The large area, almost guaranteed action, but it was a long fishing safari and anglers wanting to make the trek may want to consider this as an overnight trip. “You leave early in the morning, anchor at the fishing grounds, and then catch the morning and late evening bites,” said Master Baiter's Sportfishing owner Stan Gabruk. For those looking to make it a day trip, you’ll be leaving at 4 a.m. and heading underway for a 4 hour ride in one direction. You’ll arrive at about 8 a.m. if you go the distance, but more than likely you’ll find birds sooner, anywhere from 10 miles out from El Banco due north, to about 10 miles from the point at the first island. “Capt. Manny on the El Matador, a beautiful 32-foot Cabo is well known in Marina Vallarta for his ability and specialty, yellowfin tuna. Priced reasonably, you´ll pay the same for a 16 to 18 hour day as you would for an eight-hour day in Cabo,” Gabruk said. COWBOY UP!— Capt. Armando, First Mate Jose Luis, and Dan Mertean from Austin TX, headed out to the islands off the point of Punta Mita, 25 miles to the from Marina Vallarta, where Mertean was lucky enough to boat some dorado in the 25- to 40-pound range trolling google eyes as close as reasonable to the rocks. Mertean also released 3 nice-sized roosterfish as well. A successful day by anyone’s yard stick! PHOTO COURTESY OF MASTER BAITER’S SPORTFISHING. Another fall-back position would be on El Morro or the reefs between the other islands, the Marietta Islands. Here there is always a shot at a striped marlin, amberjack, wahoo off the finger, smaller to larger yellowfin tuna, or cubera snapper at any given day or hour. Shorter, eight-hour trips are producing good action for roosterfish to 50 pounds, bonito to 30 pounds you can use for bait for the roosters, snapper, jack crevalle, and more. If time is an issue than fishing close in or shore fishing from a boat in and around the rocks, structure and sandy bottoms will be the way to go. “Right now, if you’re at the river’s mouth at Boca Tomatlan, there are tons of sardines where the clean and fresh water comes down from the mountains. Here, snook to 35 pounds are slashing through the sardines. All you have to do is put something shinny and silver in front of them and you’ll be glad you chose to stay in the bay,” he said. Roosters, snapper, sierra and many other inshore fish are also here. Those venturing out to the point of Punta Mita have also been finding roosters as well as the occasional dorado in the 25- to 40-pound range. “If the long liners are out there, forget about it, fouling up props is no way to go fishing. Turn around, bite the bullet and complain to the authorities, and but don’t stress out, nothing happens at a moment’s notice here.” SAN CARLOS (SONORA): The 4th annual Yellowtail Tournament was held last week with Team Margarita Sportfishing and Catch 22 Sportfishing, along with Ruby’s Wine Bar putting on the tournament for 9 teams of up to 5 anglers. “Conditions were rough but most teams fished the Isla San Pedro, and most of the fish caught weighed only 6 to 8 pounds. On the first day though, team Costa Lotta found 3 large yellowtail, with the largest at 24.2 pounds,” said Bryan Replogle of Team Margarita Sportfishing. Over the three-day event, larger yellowtail were weighed in with team Anna Lin totaling the most weight with 143 pounds. Charity money raised from the event went to the local Rescate and Vince Radice and his quest to outlaw long lining and the illegal importation of dorado to the States. Readers: To have your reports included in the Mexico report, send photos and e-mails to baja@wonews.com.