FISHING ACTION CONTINUES TO SLOW DOWN
IN COOL, WINDY EAST CAPE FISHING CONDITIONS

March 11-17, 2005, Chris Moyers, East Cape Smoke House, Combined East Cape charter fishing fleet reports, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

Charters 52. Anglers 133. Total Fish 81. Fish/Charter 1.56. Fish/Angler .61. Striped Marlin 36. Dorado 19. Yellowfin Tuna 2. Roosterfish 14. Sierra 10. Water Temperature 65-73. Air Temperature 79-57. Seas, Fri-Thurs, calm in the a.m. with mild to moderate chop developing in the p.m.

The downward fishing trend continued at East Cape this past week. The Striped Marlin fishing picked up a bit, while the Dorado continued to disappoint. East Cape saw air temperatures with a range of 57-79 degrees. East Cape sea surface temperatures saw a range of 65-73 degrees. We did see some afternoon wind this past week, which contributed to the fish count. Bait-wise, we've got mackerel.

East Cape striped marlin anglers reported some hookups to the north between the waters of Punta Pescadero, 12 miles, in the vicinity of the shark buoy stops, and out near the 88. Success was also reported to the south off Cabo Pulmo, 9-10 miles, Los Frailes, 7-8 miles, and all the way down off El Faro, 12-14 miles. The overall catch rate for Striped Marlin was about 27%. Mackerel and lures reportedly did the trick there.

As mentioned, the Dorado fishing was pretty dismal this past week at East Cape. Scattered landings were reported. The good news is that the Dodos that were landed were a bit bigger in size than we've been seeing. Some were in the 25 pound class. Mackerel and lures did the trick there.

We actually had a couple of Yellowfin Tuna landed this past week as well so that should hopefully be a sign of things to come. Those two landings were reported to the south off El Faro, 11 miles.

Rounding out the East Cape sportfishing report were 14 Roosterfish landed inshore at Rancho Leonero and off Punta Colorada. Also landed were 10 Sierra inshore at La Ribera and Punta Colorada.

Earlier, Moyers reported on 26 boats, with a catch including released fish of: eight striped marlin, 35 dorado, and eight sierra. Overall, 51 percent of boats caught dorado, and only 12 percent caught billfish. EAST CAPE FISHING REPORT.

March 4-10, 2005, Chris Moyers, East Cape Smoke House, Combined East Cape, Mexico Fishing Report:

Charters 26. Anglers 68. Total Fish 51. Fish/Charter 1.96. Fish/Angler .75. Striped Marlin 8. Dorado 35. Sierra 8. Water Temperature 67-72. Air Temperature 81-56. Seas, Wed.-Thurs., calm in the a.m. with mild chop developing in the p.m.

Last week, East Cape fishing started out promising but the fishin' kind of fizzled out as time went on. We saw several Striped marlin landed this past week as well as quite a few Dorado, not nearly enough admittedly. East Cape saw air temperatures with a range of 56-81 degrees. Water temps were a pretty uniform 67-72 degrees over the course of the week.

As far as the Dorado fishing, it was pretty spotty with an overall catch rate of about 51%. That doesn't seem so bad in and of itself, except when you consider that there wasn't much else biting.

Numbers alone only tell half the story. A 51% overall catch rate for Dorado is great when coupled with an 81% catch rate for Yellowfin Tuna, a 75% overall catch rate among billfish, and a 22% overall catch rate among Wahoo and Roosterfish combined. When matched with a stinking 12% overall catch rate among Striped Marlin, well it's downright embarrassing for us folks in the fishing industry down here on the East Cape.