MORE THAN A THOUSAND MEXICAN YELLOWFIN TUNA
CAUGHT BY SPORTFISHING BOATS AT EAST CAPE

Aug. 13-19, 2004, Chris Moyers, East Cape Smoke House, East Cape fishing, Baja, Mexico:

GENERAL Charters 334. Anglers 969. Total Fish 1,911. Fish/Charter 5.72. Fish/Angler 1.97.

SPECIES* Blue Marlin 14. Striped Marlin 46. Black Marlin 4. Sailfish 211. Dorado 565. Yellowfin Tuna 1,063. Wahoo 12.

ENVIRONMENT Water Temperature 83-89. Air Temperature HIGH 103. LOW 74. Seas: calm in the a.m. with slight chop developing in the p.m.

We just had a pretty darn great week of fishing at East Cape!

Let's start with the yellowfin tuna bite...it's back on! In fact, we topped a grand in Yellowfin tuna alone this past week. Most of the Yellowfin were in the 25-30 lb. range along with some football tuna and a few bigger ones mixed in.

Almost as impressive was East Cape's Dorado bite, which has remained pretty consistent over the last couple of weeks. There's some size to some of them Dodo's coming in as well, with most averaging 25-30 lbs.

On the bittersweet side of things, except for the Sailfish bite, the overall billfish bite is pretty dismal. Both the Blue and the Striped Marlin East Cape fishing were slow. The Salifish bite more than made up for it though...if you like catching Sails that is.

Environment-wise, East Cape saw air temps range between 74-103. It feels hotter though with the humidity. The good news is that we continue to get afternoon clouds cooling things off most afternoons. No rain to speak of locally, but the mountains to the west are getting plenty.

Our amigos at Terrafin let us in on the fact that the water temp ranged between a very warm 83-89 this past week.

Bait-wise, East Cape still has mackerel and sardines for the fish to feed on.

More specifically, as far as billfish are concerned, there was limited Blue Marlin action this past week. Those several that were landed were reported to the north off Punta Pescadero (35 miles), as well as to the south between the waters of Cabo Pulmo (10-13 miles), and El Faro (11-13 miles).

The East Cape fishing for Striped Marlin was just a bit better with anglers reporting limited success to the north for the most part. Some fun was reported off Punta Pescadero (13-15 and 35 miles, as well as in the vicinity of the shark buoys), Los Relices (10-13 miles), the 88, as well as out towards the southern tip of Isla Cerralvo.

The Sailfish were certainly abundant this past week. With the overall East Cape fishing catch rate up to about 21%, anglers were reporting some serious Sailfish fun to the north off Punta Pescadero (4-20 miles) and Los Relices (10-14 miles), as well as to the south off La Ribera (10-14 miles).

Mackerel and various lures did the trick for billfish this past week.

The Dorado bite went off pretty good this past week. The overall catch rate was about 58% and although that was down just a bit over the previous week, it's still pretty darn good! As mentioned, they're not just coming in at the 10-20 lb. class either. There are some pretty decent Dodo's being landed out there. Many were in the 25-20 lb. class in addition to quite a few between 40-50 lbs. Anglers reported success to the north off Punta Pescadero (3-13 miles), as well as to the south between Rancho Leonero (1/2 and 3-5 miles), La Ribera 1-2 miles), Las Barracas (3-5 miles), and Destiladeras (1/2 mile). Mackerel, sardines and hoochies seemed to do the trick this past week.

The Yellowfin tune bite is just plain HOT again! As mentioned we reported over 1,000 tuna this past week. It doesn't take a mathematician to figure out that the tuna catch rate was about 100% this past week. I'm sure a couple guys got left out but others made up for that in catching their limits of yellowfin. Like their counterparts, the Dodos, they're not just footballs either. Many Yellowfin tuna are coming in between 25-30 lbs. There are some smaller and bigger tuna mixed in of course, but for the most part, they're a pretty fun size to catch. Not too big, not too small. Anglers reported some serious fun to the north off Punta Pescadero (13-16 miles), as well as to the south between Rancho Leonero (13-20 miles), La Ribera (12-15 miles), Las Barracas (18-21 miles), Los Cerritos (3-4 miles), Los Meganos Blancos, and Destiladeras (22-25 miles). Mackerel, sardines, hoochies, and cedar plugs seemed to be the drugs of choice among the pelagic species known as Yellowfinus Tunacomidas.

Rounding out the East Cape fishing report were another 12 Wahoo. Man they taste good! Anyway, anglers are reporting their landing to the south mostly, between the waters of La Ribera (5-7 miles) and Destiladeras (2-3 miles).