PANGA FLY FISHING AT EAST CAPE SLOW IN WINDS FROM THE NORTH

Feb. 26, 2005, Tim Selzer, Baja On The Fly, East Cape, Baja California Sur, Mexico Fly Fishing:

Thursday's beach fy fishing trip went fairly well with two small roosterfish, one small jack, and a couple of ladyfish.

Yesterday we were out in a panga with little success. The north wind came up and we couldn't find the dead whale. On the bright side, we did get one 55-pound dorado (mahi-mahi) trolling conventional gear. No sardines yet.

The north wind is back and fishing at East Cape has dropped off. I'm still able to catch some ladyfish and small jacks from shore early, and I mean early. The bite is over by 7:30.

The dead whale is gone and so are the dorado. There are a few dorado around at East Cape but no concentrations. Red-and-black is what worked a few days ago.

As has been the case all winter, there are more marlin than usual for fishing at this time of year at East Cape.

Some yellowfin tuna were caught a few days ago, but that was before the wind came back.

The roosterfish have disappeared from the East Cape fishing area, but I'm sure they will be back on the beach when the wind quits. I landed two one day on a gray-and-white deceiver.

The fish are scattered, but most boats are going south. Sierra have been hard to find. Local people say it's because of the fleet of shrimp boats that have been fishing every night for the last week. I don't know how much truth there is to that. East Cape weather is cloudy and cool. I hope the water doesn't cool off too much.

East Cape sea surface water temperature was 67-74 degrees, and the air temperature was 60-68 degrees, with scattered clouds.