YELLOWFIN TUNA LEAD EAST CAPE FISH COUNTS

Aug. 24, 2006, Chris Moyers, East Cape Smoke House, Los Barriles, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

The East Cape sportfishing area just had a fine week of fishing. The yellowfin tuna bite continued on a torrid pace, the Dorado bite was up slightly for the second week, and the Striped Marlin bite was pretty decent. East Cape's southern fishing locales are still where most action is occurring with La Ribera and El Iman being the hot spots and honorable mention going to both the Cabo Pulmo and Destiladeras areas.

East Cape had a pretty uneventful weather week. We had our eye on Hurricane Ileana, but thankfully, she veered off toward the west. The wind and seas were quite mild this past week and we saw air temperatures with a range of about 74-97 degrees and a water temperature range of about 80-91 degrees.

The Billfish bite remained pretty consistent, with anglers generating an overall catch rate of about 16 percent. Striped Marlin led the way with anglers reporting decent action straight off Los Barriles, to the south off La Ribera, Punta Colorada, El Rincon, Cabo Pulmo, Los Frailes, and Destiladeras.

The Dorado bite was productive with an overall catch rate of about 44 percent and some nice Dodo action to the south off Rancho Leonero, and inshore off La Ribera, Las Tachuelas, Cabo Pulmo, and El Iman.

The Yellowfin Tuna bite catch rate is well above 100 percent so if you can't catch a tuna now, you might ought to think about taking up another hobby. Most of the all action is occurring to the south.

(See "Mexico Fishing News" online for current fishing reports, photos, weather, and water temperatures from East Cape and other major Mexican sportfishing areas. Vacation travel articles, fishing maps and seasonal calendars, and fishing related information for East Cape may be found at Mexfish.com's main East Cape page.