Fishing Report 2013 #1

Steve Petit East Cape Update May 2013

Meetings:

We hold our meetings every other month starting in January and ending in September and hold our annual luncheon normally the last Saturday in October. Meetings are held at 7:00 PM


Citibank Community
Meeting Room
2350 Honolulu Avenue
Montrose, CA

 

The Meeting Room is at the rear of the building in basement area.

 

Map

Driving Directions

CALENDAR:

CLUB EVENTS

Saltwater Fly Rodders

Activities for 2011

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East Cape Update 5-20 to 5-24-13


The adventure usually begins after pulling off the main Highway in Los Barriles and loading up with Gatorade a the local super mercado. From there it’s a six kilometer journey over a bumpy dirt road to Hotel Punta Pescadero. The road hugs one of the more spectacular stretches of coastline in Baja and allows for an occasional glimpse of a big rooster fish cruising the beach. I’ve actually only seen three in all the trips up this road since the mid nineties, but I always look. The Hotel is perched on a cliff adjacent to the beach overlooking the rocks of Punta Pescadero. After greeting Felipe and Sandra ( hotel proprietors) and unloading in one of the 24 rooms ( usually room #1 which has a hot pot /Jacuzzi that also overlooks the rocks) my wife and I generally enjoy scratch made margaritas at the most spectacular bar in the East Cape. In addition to a view of the rocks one can see most of Bahia del Las Palmas down past La Ribera. Rooms are well equipped and include satellite TV and with minor changes at the desk we were able to see most of the NBA playoff games. PictureThe hotel has 2 pangeros ( Enrique and Marcos). Both speak some English and are well acquainted with fly-fishing. Over the next four days we generally made the northward trek past the little pueblos of El Cardonal and Boca del Alamo to where bait was plentiful around Bahia de Los Muertos and Punta Arena lighthouse. The first day we couldn't find a commercial bait panga until we reached the reef just south of the southern end of Isla Cerralvo. We had fun with the black skipjack for a while then went to Bahia de los Muertos to look for Roosterfish. We found a lot of willing smallish Pargo, Triggerfish and Cabrilla but not much in the way of Roosters. We went north to Punta Arena and found 3-4 pangas with fly fishermen down as a group organized by Jay Murakoshi, who had been in the area for 6 weeks. The roosters were making a show there chasing the sardinas thrown by the pangeros. After some semi well placed casts I was hooked up to a 15-17 lb fish. We ended up hooking a total of 6 fish with four landed up to an estimated weight of 30+ pounds over the four days that we visited the Punta Arena area. All the fish were a beautiful grade making it a memorable experience. It was the first time that fly-fishing seemed to outdo the bait guys as needlefish were thick in the same area where the roosters were. The needles would generally pick off the bait before the Roosters got to them. Waiting for the Roosters to bust the surface chasing Sardinas and casting to the fish seemed most productive. The ideal scenario was when 3 or 4 roosters would corral a small pod of sardinas. A fly placed inside the circle of frenzied Roosters generally resulted in a hook-up. That only happened a few times within casting range, however. I used Bull Candies ( Lee Bauermann’s creation) and had most success with the one he ties and sells at Fisherman’s Spot . I used a 10 wt rod with 12 weight clear intermediate shooting head with Rio clear intermediate running line. We fished many other areas and caught needles, smallish toros, rockfish,etc. We looked for Dodos but found none when we went buoy hopping all te way out to within 2 miles of the 88 spot 30 miles offshore. We saw a few jumpers but got no marlin to the teaser on the one day we fished for them. So , it was a Roosterfish trip and I’ll take that anytime. I think that might be the future for Baja as the Commercially valuable fish like Pargo, Grouper, Sierra, tuna and even the fast growing Dorado seem to have diminished in numbers over the past 25 years of fishing the area. Pargo Lisa frequently would turn the water red when bunched up in a school. I haven’t seen that since the 80’s. But, the Rooster’s numbers seem unchanged and the techniques for catching them on the fly have evolved enough so that it is a reasonable expectation to get hooked up with one while on a trip to the East Cape area. I think going in May to September with a group of like fly fishers ( such as Gary Bula’s or Jay Murakoshi’s groups) is the best way to maximize your opportunity to find one of these great fish on the end or your line. Be sure to bring ½ dozen Bull Candies as they are great sardina imitations.


 
Steve Petit