Baja Mexico Fly Fishing Encounters

Baja fly fishing update and report for the dates of April 24th - May1st 2008

Written by - Jeff deBrown
Owner/Guide
The Reel Baja

Water Temperature - 70 / 76
Air Temperature - 65 - 88

The above photo’s are of Peter kelbe and his son Nate from Sugar grove Illinois. They are showing off their first ever Rooster fish and Nate has a very nice Dorado as well.

Here is Dave Gellatly showing off one of his many Rooster fish we caught.

This is Rob Boyle from Dalton Pa. Rob and I fished yesterday and this was Rob’s first Rooster fish. It was one of many.

Weather - This past week we have seen beautiful weather. The mornings are still slightly cool but as the sun comes over the horizon it warms up quickly. We have not seen any hint of North wind the past few days so if we are lucky we are done for the season. We have seen some gentle breezes from the South on occasion making the weather perfect. This is my favorite time of year here in Baja.

Beach - The beach continues to hold smaller Rooster fish as well as some Jack’s. We have seen bait starting to gather in the area of Punta Colorado providing some good early morning action. Most of the fish in this area have been Rooster Fish and a few Crevelle. A few Pompano have also been in the area. Heading a little further North the beach has had good action for small to medium sized rooster fish with a few shots at larger Rooster fish mixed in. We have seen some bigger Crevelle starting to cruise the shore lines as well as some of the spawning schools are starting to break up.

Inshore - The Bonita bite we have seen the past couple of weeks has dropped slightly but their are still plenty in the area to make things interesting. We continue to see some very large schools of Jack Crevelle just off shore as these fish are still in the spring spawn. We have been able to get them excited throwing bait into the pods but it dose not last very long as they quickly go back to their business at hand. We have also seen some bigger Rooster fish mixed in with these Crevelle as well.

Off Shore - we have a large number of Marlin and Sail fish in the area at the moment. These fish have been a little tricky. We have plenty of squid in the area and the moon phase did not help us this past week and these fish have been eating well. Some days we are seeing lot’s of fish but we can not get them to take as they are stuffed with squid. The fish are moving at a fast pace as well pushing the bait around. In a thirty six hour period these schools of fish went from four miles out in front of La Ribera to almost twelve miles off shore and twenty miles to the North. We still have a fair number of Dorado in the area but they are spread out over quite an area ranging from the 88 to Cabo Pulmo.

Baja fly fishing update and report for the week of April 9th - 16th 2008

Written by - Jeff deBrown
Owner/Guide
The Reel Baja

Water Temperature - 70 / 76
Air Temperature - 63 / 82


The above photo is of Katie Gellatly from Ashland Wisconsin. She and her husband Dave fished with me two days this week. This is Katie’s first ever Jack Crevelle. It was a fighter. Katie caught it on a light spinning rod and after a long fight we were able to get it landed.

Weather - This past week we have had a little of everything. Late last week we saw a couple of days of rough seas as we had wind out of the North. By Monday we were back to flat seas and beautiful weather. We have had clear skies and the day time temperatures are very comfortable. We did see a few cooler nights this past week giving us a slight chill early in the mornings but as soon as the sun got over the horizon it warmed up quickly.

Beach - The beach continues to be consistent with smaller Rooster fish and Jack Crevelle being the main targets. We are seeing a few more bigger Rooster fish but most of them have been very elusive so far. We have a very good number of bigger Jack’s(20-40 lbs.) in the area along the beaches but most of them are still in large schools and still daisy chaining making them very hard to catch.

Inshore - We still have some excellent action for large Bonita in front of the light house. Most of these fish have been between eight and fifteen pounds with some fish slightly larger. I did hear of a report of some very large Sierra that were caught in the area of Rancho Leonero. We also continue to see large schools of Jack’s and Rooster fish gathering in the deeper water just off the beach.

Off Shore - Off shore the hot spot remains between the light house and Cabo Pulmo out between fifteen and twenty miles. In this area we have had very good fishing this past week for Dorado and Marlin. The Dorado are of decent size with the average being about fifteen pounds with some bigger fish up to thirty five pounds mixed in. We have good numbers of Marlin in this area due to the large numbers of squid that are in this area as well. The boats are seeing good numbers of Marlin but only getting on average one or two each day hooked up. I do know of one boat that went out this week and had six marlin come up at the same time so the chance for some real excitement is their.

Baja fly fishing up date for the week of March 27th - April 2nd 2008

Written by - Jeff deBrown
Owner/Guide
The Reel Baja

Water Temperature - 70 / 78
Air Temperature - 47 / 80

Weather - This past week we have had excellent weather with flat calm seas and virtually no wind. We did experience some fog a few mornings. On most days it would be burned off by about ten in the morning leaving us with bright and sunny skies. I do not think we are quite out of the woods yet as far as the wind. I believe we will see a few blows here in April but if we can get lucky and continue what we saw this past week April will be wonderful.

Beach - We continue to see some very good fly fishing action from the beach. This past week we continued to see good schools of smaller Rooster fish(3-5 lbs.) crashing bait along the shores as you can see from the photos below. We are starting to see some very big roosters and although we had some good fish chase the fly this past week we could not get any to commit and eat the fly. We are starting to see some of these bigger Rooster fish along with the bigger Jack Crevelle in the area doing the spring spawn dance. These fish will be in fairly large schools and at times you will see them daisy chaining. When you encounter these fish present a good cast to them and you will most likely get one or two to chase the fly but in their state of mind it is hard to get them to eat.

The above photo is of Dick Knackendoffel and his son Patrick casting into a school of Rooster fish that were boiling on the beach.

Here is a photo of more Rooster fish boiling next to the beach this past week.

Here is Dick waiting for the Rooster fish to push the bait in just a little closer so he can make a cast to them.

A little too close to shore for the boats to get to them.

Inshore - This past week we continued to see fair action for some medium sized Rooster fish. We also have some good schools of Jack Crevelle that have been in the area and if you can find the right school they will attack the fly. We have some very good action for Bonita inshore near Cabo Pulmo. These fish have been giving us plenty of pulls and are very nice size between five and ten pounds. This past week we had an excellent bite for Pargo on some of the reef’s. We had very good success with a chartreuse and white clouser fished on an intermediate line.

Patrick shows off the results of a little team work while we were fishing inshore from the panga this past week. We found a school of Rooster fish and I teased a few fish in and he made the perfect cast.

Off Shore - Off shore is getting better. We have a good number of smaller Dorado that are located between Cabo Pulmo and the light house off shore about twenty miles. The boats that are fishing this area are picking up between two and eight Dorado a day. Most of the Dorado are in the five to ten pound range. In the same area we have some Marlin as well. My current guests Robert Althar and his son Tyler from Florida had a great day with me off shore today. Tyler caught his first ever stripe marlin as well as his first ever sail fish. Tyler caught these fish on conventional gear and was wiped out by the end of the day after pulling on his first two bill fish. We also caught six or seven small Dorado. The strong yellow tail bite we have seen over the past couple of weeks has slowed down. With the slowing of this bite most of the boats have been going further off shore in search of the Dorado. If the weather holds and the water continues to warm up the fishing we are starting to see out side should continue to build.

Here is Tyler with his first ever bill fish a nice Sea of Cortez Sail fish.

Here is Tyler with his second bill fish ever. A nice stripe marlin.

Here is Tyler after wrestling with his fish.

Baja fly fishing up date for the week of March 19th - 26th 2008

Written by - Jeff deBrown
Owner/Guide
The Reel Baja

Water Temperature - 70 / 78
Air Temperature - 47 / 80

The above photo’s are of Dick Knackendoffel and his son Patrick from Colorado showing off just some of their fish that they have caught with me this week.

Weather - Over all this past week we have seen some very nice weather. We had some wind on the 22nd and 23rd but then it flattened out and has been absolutely still for the past three days and is forecast to be good for the next few days. We have had a few cool nights and one or two foggy mornings but the day time highs are very comfortable making Baja a great place to be this time of year.

Bait - The pangeros are catching sardines up to the North but is a long way to go to get them. The good news is if you go that far their is some good fishing in that area so the long ride may be worth it. Closer to home the mackerel are available. We also have some good populations of very small bait along the beaches making beach fishing very interesting.

Beach fishing - The beaches are starting to heat up with the lack of wind and the good populations of bait starting to show up. This week we have seen some excellent rooster fish and jack crevel action taking place right on the shoreline giving the fly fishing angler plenty of opportunity. Most of the fish have been in the four to six pound range with a few very large fish beginning to show. we have also seen a very good lady fish bite early in the morning. With the water starting to warm up the Sierra we have seen over the past few weeks did not make a huge showing this past week. Do not get me wrong we still have some around but the great bite we have been experiencing slowed this past week.

Inshore - This past week the inshore fishing has been very good for yellow tail. Most of the boats are going out just a mile or so off the beach and catching some very nice yellow tail. The boats have been catching them on mackerel or jigs but if the fly fisher was to use a fast sinking line and let it sink and then strip back up through the school one would have a good chance to catch one on the fly. These fish have been averaging between twenty five and forty pounds.

We also have good Rooster fishing just off the beach for the schools of fish that are chasing bait but are just a little to far to cast to from shore. Most of these fish are once again between four and six or seven pounds.

This past week we also experienced some excellent fishing in the rocks for species such as Pargo, African Pompano, and Cabrilla. As you can see from the photos above Dick and Patrick had a great day in and around the rocks.

Off shore - Offshore remains a little slow although I did hear of a very big school of stripe Marlin out about thirty miles. I also know that a few smaller Dorado were caught off shore as well this past week. I think it will be another week or so before we see any real action off shore but if we can get the water temperatures up just slightly that will help.

Over all - Over all the inshore fishing is as good as I have seen it in quite a while. I have been fishing with Dick and Patrick for the last four days and we have had a ball. In one day we caught six different species of fish without moving more that ten feet. I will be fishing with them for another couple of days and I will be sure to let you all know what we find. Until then I hope you all have good fishing.

Baja fly fishing update for March 5th 2008

Written by - Jeff deBrown
Owner/Guide
The Reel Baja

Water Temperature - 62/68
Air temperatures - 45/78

Today I had a nice day on the water with my client Michael Smith from Somerset, PA. Michael is here in Baja with his wife attending a conference and as she was in meetings all day today Michael drove down from La Paz and we went out together to see what we could find on the beach.

We got fairly lucky with the wind today as this morning started out nice and flat. Great conditions to toss a fly. We started out in front of Buena Vista and we encountered a little bait. We have had a good number of Sierra along the beaches in the area between Buena Visa and Rancho Leonero but the bite has been very early and has been ending between eight and nine in the morning. Unfortunately Michael’s drive from La Paz was slightly longer than he expected and we missed the bite for the sierra. We did have a few small Rooster fish chase the teaser but we could not get any of them to eat the fly. As we were fishing in front of Leonero the wind that had been so calm and nice started to blow. No this wind was not from the North as one would expect this time of year but it was from the South. The wind was not nearly as strong as what we see from the North but it was strong enough to give us some nice white caps.

With Michael fighting the wind we decided to make a move to the North to a spot I knew was slightly more protected and their we had a few more fish chase the fly and teaser but we still could not get a hook up. After playing with the fish (or the fish playing with us) Michael and I worked on his cast for a while and then decided to go get a bite at the local taco bar as it was after 1:30 P.M.. Michael had his first ever fish taco and said it was outstanding. I offered to take Michael back out to the beach but he decided he had better get back to La Paz.

I have new guests arriving tomorrow and we will be fishing the beach hard over the next few days if the wind allows and I will keep you all posted. Although today was tough We do have some decent fishing in the area. We have had a good sierra bite early in the morning. This bite has also had a few smaller Rooster fish and Jack Crevelle mixed in. At this moment we also have a very good number of yellow tail to the North. The fish have been on the surface chasing the Sardina that have been found to our North. This is a good time to try and get one on the fly. I also heard of some nice Bonita and even a couple of Marlin being caught this week.

I will be fishing hard here in the East Cape over the next few days and then I will be fishing with some guests down in Cabo San Lucas for a couple of days. I will be sure to keep you all posted. Until then, tight lines.