East Cape Guides 2015 Season Fishing Report

Well, another season has come to a close and it was an interesting one for the East Cape. The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon was in full effect in Southern Baja moving warm water currents into our fishery throughout the 2015 Season. This resulted in a northerly migration shift for many of our mainstay game species including striped marlin, dorado and yellowfin tuna. This movement north resulted in another banner year for the long range fleet in Southern California.

Luckily, the Sea of Cortez rarely disappoints. The marine biodiversity is legendary for providing a variety of sportfishing action, even in an El Niño year. This year was no exception. With probably the best blue marlin fishing we have seen since 2008 and for sheer quantity of blues, it was the best I have ever witnessed on the East Cape. Our clients landed 21 blues this summer, including 13 taken in July over 26 days on the water. The Van Wormer hotel fleet landed an estimated 200+ blue marlin. The next species on the list was wahoo and the bite seemed to never end. Wahoo are considered an incidental catch on the East Cape and are prized by all who troll the waters of Southern Baja. We started seeing wahoo very early this year in February. There continued to be a steady pick on the skinnies throughout the spring and summer months with the bite picking up in the early Fall. Many of our clients that had waited for years to land a wahoo landed several per day. Big sailfish were also thick this year with all the warm water and multiple releases were common throughout the season. These bites were followed by schoolie yellowfin tuna. Although we never saw the big tuna come in this year in large numbers, we did see a consistent plunker bite on light tackle down south from Los Frailes to Punta Gorda and further south to the Iman and Gordo Banks. As I write this report, the dorado are finally starting to pick up. So, you never know what the Sea of Cortez will serve up!

Thanks to all my clients and everyone at Van Wormer Resorts. Please remember to practice catch/release and always throw back the small ones to let them grow.

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I hope to see you on the water next year.

Here are a few shots from this season.

Buena pesca,

Mark

Grand Slam Day - Stripe, Sail and Blue

East Cape Guides On-The-Water Report - August 3, 2015

SUMMER BLUES...ok, I'm going to just say it now, "This is the best summer for blue marlin I've ever seen on the East Cape." The Van Wormer Resorts fleet has landed easily over 120 blues in the last 3 months. We have seen 10 landed in one day, one panga landed 3 in a single day on the water and we have landed 9 blues ranging from 250-375 in the last month. Just on a conservation side note, please remember the importance of releasing all billfish but especially blue marlin. I am all for taking a fish if it expires during the fight, but there have been way too many blues brought to the dock with gaff shots in them over the last month. The release of a healthy billfish is an integral part of the landing of one of these amazing fish. The sailfish bite is also continuing to produce. Wahoo also continue to be caught and the tuna just showed up at Los Frailes today.

NEWS FLASH, we caught and released another blue marlin today in the 275lb. range. Steve Jensen from Fountain Valley, CA, a long time client, landed the fish in short order. The Makaira Pulling Lures 19 once again was the lure of choice for this blue.

We are seeing beautiful 86 degree blue water in front of the hotel and the weather has been hot but great for fishing.

Buena pesca,

Mark

Worn out wiring gloves from too many blue marlin...

East Cape Guides On-the-Water-Report - July 20, 2015

The weather conditions continue to be very windy for summertime. Water temps are ranging form 81-90 degrees with dynamic current changes happening daily. The sailfish bite continues to be the focus with blue marlin concentrating north of the hotel. 3-5 shots per day on sails and blues to 350# are being landed daily. Our two boats landed 5 blues over the last few days and the panga Siboney landed 3 blues in one day. Juan Carlos, the pangero, is an animal. Unfortunately, we had another blue expire on us. We tried to revive but we could not get her to go. The tuna bite has dried up because of the high winds and swell from tropical storm Dolores. The bait guys cannot get sardines with the high surf, too peligroso. The wahoo bite continues to surprise as 3-5 wahoo per day have consistently been landed by the fleet over the last few weeks. This year's Dorado Shootout tournament illustrated the lack of dorado right now. The winning fish weighed in at a measly 12.9 pounds and only 4 fish were brought to the scales. Our boat got the largest tuna for the tournament. Photos are from Dean Lawver's group and John Martyny's group.

Buena pesca,

Mark

Early Showing of Blue Marlin

The early season predictions are coming true, wide open tuna bite in May and now  this past week we saw a good showing of blue marlin. 10+ blues were landed over the week. The photo is of a fish that expired during the fight. All others were released. Largest fish was around 350#.

Buena pesca,

Mark

Dr. Z Fly Fishing Tournament 2015

We had a great time with Ramon Zabriskie, Dave Blair and the gang for the 4th Annual Dr. Z Fly Fishing Tournament at Hotel Playa Del Sol. Thanks to Mike Reiser and Merry Waugh of Baja Fly FIshing Company and Toby Uppinghouse from TFO. We ended the tournament with 22 dorado on the fly and many happy clients. Dave Blair showcased his new fly heads called, "The Weapon" and it's the hot ticket on the East Cape for dorado. We will be giving it a workout this summer on all the pelagics. This fly thing is kinda fun...