[ketchumfast]

Finally, I'm getting around to reporting on a GREAT two week trip to the East Cape area. Due to circumstances (some within, and some outside, my control) I didn't post from down there. Here is my report in a "nutshell" I hope.

I arrived in Los Barriles Sat. May 3 and took a day of rest on the 4th. That day I checked 8 boats from the deck of my room and they collectively had 15 tuna, 17 dorado, and 11 marlin flags flying. Not bad since the water was pretty choppy, and even some whitecaps. The tuna bite was early, as they usually don't show up until late May or June, so the locals say.

May 5th. went out with two other fishermen and we got 18 tuna and 2 dorado. That evening from my room I counted 24 tuna, 15 dorado, and 2 marlin flags again for 8 boats.

May 6th. went out again. Our boat (3 fishermen) caught 20 tuna, and nothing else. We did fish on 2 marlin, but couldn't get a hook-up.

While the tuna and dorado bite held up, the marlin seemed to slow down a little, but towards the end of the week, the wind died down and the marlin activity started to increase. There were 3 marlin caught by our group on the 7th. Most of the tuna (yellow fin) were in the albacore size range, but I heard of a couple in the 30-50 lb. range being caught.

The last day of fishing the first week there was only two on the boat and we said no more tuna after 3 fish; and then we concentrated on marlin and dorado. We ended up the day with the 3 tuna, 2 dorado, and I got a 50+lb Wahoo.

The second week my fishing partners arrived and we fished 3 days. What a great 3 days. My friend's wife got her first marlin on Mother's Day. The next day her husband got his first marlin. Since I had caught marlin before, I played the "catch-up" roll. All in all, here is my catch record for 6 days of fishing, and our combined catch (3 fishermen) for 3 days of fishing during the second week; My catch: 13 tuna, 8 dorado, 2 marlin and 1 wahoo. Our combined catch: 5 tuna, 10 dorado, and 6 marlin.

All I can say is: uglygreen, Zihuatanejo has a challange to meet or exceed this trip! I can hardly wait until fall to start planning that trip with ya. I know some people on that thread have said they prefer Zuat. to the East Cape. Personally, after 3 super trips to the East Cape in the last 3 years, it will have to prove itself to me; but I am open minded (I think)!!

I promise to keep all future posts short.

Tight lines to all

 

[garyk]

Hey Ketchum,

Thanks for the details and glad you enjoyed Los Barriles! We scouted the locale while we were staying a bit further north in rustic El Cardonel.

How did you like your accomadations; sounds like you were in the big hotel immediately south of the boat ramp (Los Palmes??) How about the hired and skipper, do you think they did a good job for you? Judging by the modest catch of dorado, it sounds like the boat was not targeting them?

Thanks again for the report!

 

[redfish89]

Thanks for the report.. My favorite area around east cape is called cabo pulmo. It is about 45 mins north/east of cabo.

 

[ketchumfast]

garyk - You are right I was staying at the Hotel Palmas de Cortez. It is one of three hotels owned by the same family. Plya del Sol is the other one right north of Palmas. The accomodations were good. I was in a standard room which is a single room w/ 3 beds, bathroom, closet, & air conditioning. Nothing fancy, but certainly adequate. Room is cleaned every day by helpfull and nice help. Very safe place to stay. The hotel is on the american plan, so meals are included. Since the fishing fleet is also owned by the hotel, your lunch (sack) is provided on the boat on the days you fish.

As the fleet is owned by the hotel, the skipper and deck hand are hotel employees. Although some are better than others, I have not had any problems on any of the boats. I do have my favorits, but I found all the boat workers to be knowledgable and helpfull.

You are right about the dorado. What we said was "big dorado, and marlin"! That means we were fishing the areas where marlin were expected. That is also where the big "bull" dorado are, and they take the same type of gear when trolling. When either marlin or dorado were spotted or hit at the trolled bait, we would then cast live bait to the fish. Although the dorado probably averaged 20 -30 lbs, I did get two bulls that were estimated at 45+ and 50+ pounds.

Redfish - I see from the map that you are quite a bit south of where I was. If you are not familiar with the area, Los Barriles is just north (on the coast) of where the main highway >) from the Cabo airport connects with the road Cabo Pulmo is on. It isn't on too many maps, but just north of Buenavista.

Man, reliving the trip again makes me wonder why I left so soon !

Tight lines to all

 

[Wreckless]

Thanks for the report..I'll be there the 2nd week in July (Rancho Leonero)...Was there a hot lure / color? The last 2 times I was there the fishing seemed very different one year the tuna and marlin wanted natural colors the next year oranges and reds :shrug:

Makes me anxious to go down there and SWEAT!!

 

[garyk]

Wreckless, I hope you'll share your adventure with us!

We were planning on (Rancho Leonero) to be our next Baja destination. From all I've ever heard, at that time you should have some awesome fishing!

 

[ProCastinator]

ketchumfast- Great report. It seems you did exceptionally well on tuna this early. I'm planning my trip for Oct. specifically because the tuna fishing is better. My brother and his wife boated 17 one day last fall, up to 70 lbs. He was whipped and didn't want to catch any more that trip. I've been there the last six years at this time of year, and have seen only a limited number of tuna caught.

Wreckless- In the 2nd week of July, ALL lures will be red-hot.... along with the boat deck, seat cushions, reel handles, the tops of your shoulders, etc. :wink: Have fun and good luck!

 

[Gun Rod Bow]

You can make your posts as long as you'd like. I love that area. I've stayed at Ranco Leonero in the past.

Cabo Pulmo is the marine reserve about 20 miles south.

My wife and kids went with me year before last and we were landing 20# class yellowfin on my 9'Lamiglass boat rods with Calcutta 400's spooled with 20#...what a hoot!!

Great rooster area.

Ahhh, memories.

 

[Uglygreen]

The only thing I dont like about Baja is the Prices, they are 2-3 times or more the Zihwatanejo prices. Ill go back there when I get rich.

Here are the latest 2 reports from Ed.


Posted Friday, May 23, 2003
The fishing can only be rated as outstanding. The roosterfish are in the surf, the big jack cravalle are everywhere on the inshore waters, school size tuna are providing great action on light tackle, and the sailfish are acting like tuna.

The 80º blue water is just off the beach and the best areas are only 6 to 10 miles offshore. The only unfortunate thing is there are very few people here to take advantage of the good fishing.

A couple of very satisfied anglers are David Padgit and Chuck Thompson from Oklahoma City, OK. They fished with Efrin on the Vamonos III for three days. The first day was inshore and they released 30 jack cravalle between 15 and 25 pounds. The second day produced double digits on sailfish as they released 10 and had 16 strikes. The last day saw 6 sails released and 12 strikes.

Baja On The Fly clients Greg Wenning and Barbara Eachus of Pittsburgh, PA fished one day with Ruben on the Vamonos I and released 7 sailfish with a total of 12 strikes. They also got 4 school sized yellowfin tuna. Greg told me this evening his goal was to get 1 sailfish each, and he is now spoiled.
Ed Kunze

Posted Monday, May 12, 2003

The main story and the action is tuna. The yellowfin tuna are here in incredible quantities and the boats are getting some fantastic counts. Most of the action is only 3 to 8 miles out of Zihuatanejo Bay.

A perfect example of the excellent fishing we have was experienced by Don Mawhorter of Seattle, WA and Steve Jarred of Berthoud, Co. The first day, fishing with Santiago on the panga Gitana, they caught 30 yellowfin tuna and 1 sailfish. On the second day they fished with Adolpho on the panga Dos Hermanos. This inshore trip yielded 20 jack cravalle in the 15 to 20 pound class and one roosterfish of 50 pounds.

Along with the tuna, the blue marlin have been very active. Several have been taken and all within 5 miles of the beach. The main reason the marlin are here is the abundance of black skipjack tuna.
Ed Kunze

Posted Saturday, April 26, 2003

With the 80º blue water only a mile off the beach, the fishing has been very good and a number of species are in the count.

Most notable is the number of yellowfin tuna. Jan Gladstone from New Jersey fished with Luis Marciel on the panga Gringo Loco and caught 13 tuna on the first day. On the second day he took another 12 tuna and told me when Luis came up on the breaking fish, he would get up on the bow and start casting. All day, he only made 10 casts that did not draw a strike using the S&G lure in the 3oz size.

Dave Owen from Ferndale, Washington fished with Arturo on the Whiskey III and lost a tuna estimated over 300 pounds. The major concentrations of tuna are all between 30 and 35 miles fom Zihuat. Bay.

There has also been decent sailfish action. Ed Day and John Lofton from Newport Beach, CA fished with Cali on the Vamonos II, releasing 3 sailfish and keeping 1 wahoo. The day before, Cali had also scored on a wahoo of about 50 pounds. The Yellowfin II got 3 sails and a nice dorado.

Ed Kunze

----------------------------------------------------------

 

[Wreckless]

Garyk-

I'll file a report as soon as I'm back. I've been to Rancho before and it is a great place to fish out of. My friend & I will be fishing Pangas for Dorado, Tuna, Roosters and whatever else wants to bite...I'm not picky. Their web site seems to make it sound like the fish are moving up there early which only means more fish in July.
Anyone with hot tips let me know...This is my 3rd trip, but I still have a lot to learn!

Gotta go brush up on my spanish :grin: ....actually I'm spooling up my Penn 114H for a "stress test" on big CR "marlin"!! :wink:

 

[ketchumfast]

After a computer glitch :depressed: I'm back !

ProC. - The tuna were early this year, and most were football size like I said. We did get a few in the 20 lb range towards the end of the second week. Last year I did get one 50 lbs the middle of May, but they wern't in like this year. Sure would like to get into the 70-100+ lbr"s. just once! Since you are going in Oct. are you going to be fishing in any of the tournaments? Don't they have the ones for the Blue and Black marlin about that time? No matter what, GOOD LUCK

:cheers:

GBR - So far I've been useing the gear provided by the boats; but will be taking some of my own before long. Since I have usually been fishing with people I don't know, I haven't wanted to take longer than necessary getting a fish to the boat so other people can have some fisning time too. By the way, the roosters were moving in close to shore about the time I left. Good concentrations just north of Punta Pescadero. I did get into them a couple of years ago when I took my boys down there in June.

Someone was asking about lures. Most of our tuna were caught on ceder plugs. I did notice that most of our hits on trolled jigs came on light colored - pinks and white, green and white. Darker colors didn't seem to produce much. Most of the dorado and marlin were caught on live bait after they either missed the jig, or we saw them on the surface.

Uglygreen: I"m still on for that Zihwat. trip you are planning. I just can't get the East Cape out of my mind. Sometime this fall, as the trip starts getting planned I'll be interested in actually comparing the costs. I can't believe that the East Cape is 2-3 times the cost if you include airfare, but I sure hope it is. Anyway, keep the reports coming, and I'm ready to plan whenever you say the word :grin:

garyk - What was El Cardonal like? I started up the road a few years ago with a friend, but she decided she had had enough somewhere north of Punta Pescadero. Needless to say she hasn't been invited back :wink:

I did it again - -wish I was there instead of writing.

Tight lines to all

 

[garyk]

Ketchumfast - regarding "What was El Cardonal like?"

I refer to it as - "Five rooms on a dune". I don't think it's any more than 20kliks past Puenta Pescadero. The roads a little wash-boardy but after living in Central Oregon, I felt right at home.

I don't have it book marked on this computer but a Google search should bring up their website. The family run place is owned by a French Canadian 'Crazy Eddy' who is well known but apparantly not so well loved by all between LaPaz and Cabo. Eddy treats his quests well, but doesn't have a good word to say about anyone else in Mexico - which gets a bit tiresome.

Situated a short stone's toss from the ocean on a sandy beach, the kitchenettes were clean, the water drinkable, the electricity 24/7, so by my low standards I gave it two-thumbs-up. Meals are made to order; you tell them what you would like, go back to your room and within an hour or so, one of the children rings the dinner bell to call you. (the cervaza was cold)

The fishing pangas or super pangas pull up to your doorstep to pick you up. Here and in LaPaz, in my opinion the tackle is barely adequate, in the future we'll bring our own.

We enjoyed wandering the beach, north and south, going for walks and sometimes fishing, although off the beach all we could get were needlefish.

Our only mistake was not renting a car, and so by the third day we were experiencing a vague 'Hotel California' feeling. We negociated a ride to Los Barilles with a neighbor, in an old Ford pickup that - I swear to god - really was held together by baling string (orange poly string to be exact). I, always mindful that Ford never made an exhaust manifold in the 1970's that didn't leak, tried to convince my wife to join me in the back of the truck. However, she insisted for the false sense of security that riding inside provided. I was able to take some nice pics from the bed of the truck as we barreled south, one hand gripping the baling string which held the doors shut while the other operated the camera.

For an East Cape spike camp, I think El Cardonel is a decent choice (oh yes, I the rates were about $45US, plus meals - so well less than $100 per day, per couple.

 

[ketchumfast]

garyk - Thanks for the info. on El Cardonal. Sounds like an interesting place. I was able to find their web site via google. Don't know what we would do without google! I agree that a person should have some form of transportation if they were going to stay long out there.

By the way for you and anyone else who may not have it here is an addresss for The East Cape Smoke House. They have a good fishng report (the information is collected right at the boat dock at the Palmas de Cortez hotel). I have checked it out twice after comming back from there, and they report what they see. They say it is updated every Friday, but sometimes they are on Mexico time. Anyway, here it is http://bajasmokedfish.com.mx/
Don't know if this will be a hot link or not, but it should work if you have to type it in.

Adois Amigos, and tight lines to all

 

[Brine]

Just got back from Loreto. 6 days of fishing. Yellowtail was awesome. Quite a few dorado, but the sailfish were scarce. A little early for that far north in the Baja. Great town/ great food.

 

[garyk]

Hi Brine, Loreto is at the top of our to-do list. Air service to that locatoin keeps changing, (Alaska dropped it last I heard) what airline did you use?

[ 06-02-2003, 02:28 PM: Message edited by: garyk ]

 

[Brine]

Garyk The airline thing was the worst part of th eadventure. We had Alaska to san diego, but our flight was canceled after a 2-3 hr delay. SO we took a chance on Alaksa to LA and switched from Aeromexico to aerocal. BArely nade it there. Folks with united and american to la got through easier. Was almost a pilots strike in Mexico on the night before we left. Loreto is worth it though. Arturo has the best panga fleet. The best guides in town; howver, might belong to the Davis clan. Arturo has some really good guides too. check himout at [www.arturosport.com].
The La Pinta is a good place to stay as its within walking distance from town, and on the beach. Good rooms, kind of hard beds noisy AC. And have Rosa drive you to and from the airport. July is hot and busy. June is best for us northerners.