Z Fish Report (1/4/18)

Shane Olsen on the spin rod for a nice sailfish

Offshore (average) surface water temperature - Includes from the 5-6 mile mark at the 100 fathom line, then to the 1,000 fathom line being at 32 miles: 83°.

Inshore (average) surface temperature. From the beach to about 5 miles: 80°

Blue water: (Chlorophyll amounts and surface temps from Terrafin SST) The blue water is from about the 100 fathom line, on out. The inshore is a bit off colored, which does us well for roosters and jack crevalle fishing.

Shane with his second sailfish.... Released

Offshore: A few dorado are being taken, bot off shore and just off the beaches. Sailfish action has held up well, despite the full moon. With the sailfish migration peaking out, January is the only month of the year we see that. Three, to up to six sailfish a day by each boat is not unusual.  

Shane Olsen, a trout fly fishing guide from Alberta, Canada, fished two days with Cheva on the panga Dos Hermanos II. For his offshore day, I had loaned him my 14 wt fly rod and a couple of flies my wife ties up. Being this was his 1^st saltwater fishing experience, they started out with two nice sailfish on spin rods. Then the 3^rd sailfish spit the fly.

A few blue marlin are still showing, as well as a few small yellowfin tuna. With both, it is more of a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

Shane Olsen with a fly caught dorado inshore. 

Inshore: With the water getting a bit off-color, the roosters and jack crevalle are now providing some decent action, but the larger fish are still a bit wary, and not many are taken.

On Shane Olsen’s day of inshore fly fishing with Cheva, he got a large spectrum of different species, and had a blast. They had action all day long with dorado, black skipjack tuna, and jack crevalle. Shane is incredibly pumped up about the fly fishing here and told me he "has memories for a lifetime".

I picked up Matt Gumbel of Houston, TX at a small hotel in Zihuatanejo and drove him to La Barrita, where he and Mark Dennison continued on down to Puerto Vicente Guerrero.  Mark has a very nice campground there on the beach, and a fishing lodge. Plus, Mark knows how to fish here, whether it be spin rods or fly rods.

Mark, left, with Matt Gumbel with one of the typical 8 roosters they caught.

They had a good day on the water for 8 smaller size roosters and a few jack crevalle. They even had a shot at a 40 pound bull dorado, in just 20 feet of water, and only 15 feet from the boat. But, he spit the hook before it was even set. When the large roosters came to the lure, as happens a lot in the winter months, the faster jacks beat the larger roosters to the surface popper, and stole it away.

Ed Kunze                                                               

 (Director of the Roosterfish Foundation, IGFA Representative)