STRIPED MARLIN BITE SLOWER AS FEW ANGLERS
VISIT THE EAST CAPE VACATION AREA THIS WEEK

July 8, 2004, Chris Moyers, East Cape Smoke House, East Cape fleet fishing report, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

ENVIRONMENT Water Temperature 77-88 Air Temperature HIGH 101 LOW 72 Seas Fri-Thurs: calm in the a.m. with mild to slight chop developing in the p.m.

We just had another great week of fishing down here on the East Cape. The problem . . . there weren't enough of you amigos down here to enjoy it. It was sort of a lull in the action in terms of hooks in the water. Those that were here saw some real nice fish-per numbers.

We're seeing some real nice sized Yellowfin Tuna and Dorado being landed. Overall, that crazy Striped Marlin bite cooled off a bit. The Yellowfin bite remained consistent and the Dorado bite is just plain going OFF!

We saw air temps range from 72-101. We didn't see much wind over the past week, however, we're starting to see some welcome rains in the afternoons, mostly to the south of Los Barriles in the vicinity of Mira Flores (just north of the airport), as well as in San Jose. Some afternoons, the clouds have been rolling in which cools off the hot days in a good way. No rain as of yet in Los Barriles.

According to our good buddies at Terrafin, we saw water temps range between 77-88 over the past week. The water reached a high of about 87 on the outside at about 30-40 miles of most East Cape locales. Bait-wise we've got caballito and baliju.

As mentioned, the Striped Marlin bite fell off over the past week. The overall catch rate dropped to about 13%. Anyway, there's still plenty of them out there. Anglers reported success to the north off Punta Pescadero (30 miles, as well as at the shark buoy stops), and to the south off Cabo Pulmo (20-22 miles). Again, the Blue Marlin bite is starting to heat up. That's just in time for the East Cape Bisbee Tourney (Aug.3-7). We're really expecting an eventful tourney after a pretty slow one last year.

The Dorado bit is really HOT right now amigos! Anglers are really having alot of fun out there. As mentioned, there are some real nice sized fish coming in as well. Most Dodos have been in the 35-45 lb. range but many are coming in between 45-55 lbs. too. Man, Dorado tastes good! Anglers are reporting success mostly to the south off Punta Colorada (10-15 miles), Los Cerritos (3-5 miles), and really close in off Cabo Pulmo (1/2 mile). The overall catch rate was 99.999% so if you didn't catch one, I'd take up backgammon. Caballito, baliju and various lures did the trick re: Dorado.

The Yellowfin bite remained pretty consistent over the past week. Plenty of Tuna are being landed out there right now, and some are just plain BIG! Anglers reported some serious Tuna fun to the south between the waters of La Ribera (8-12 miles), Punta Arena (10-22 miles), and Cabo Pulmo (25-30 miles). The overall catch rate for Yellowfin was about 51%, so that's pretty decent. Caballito, cedar plugs and various lures did the trick there.

At Rancho Buena Vista, Tami Mouyeos reported on 35 boats with a catch including released fish of: 17 striped marlin, nine blue marlin including a 500-pound plus fish by Shawna Wagner of San Diego, six sailfish, 12 roosterfish, 118 dorado, 68 tuna, and two wahoo.