Ixtapa Zihuatanejo Mexico

Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, Mexico Fishing Conditions

Fishing has been relative slow here this last week. Part of the blame is the fishing has actually been slow, but the main reason is there are very few charters going out fishing to find the concentrations and areas of fish. We have only 4 to 5 boats a day on the water, including both the inshore and offshore.

Sailfish are averaging about 1 fish per boat per day, and even though the 20 pound plus dorado are averaging 1 fish per day per boat, if you hit the right floating log, at the right time, the action can be fantastic.

There were no reports on the inshore action, but last week's 3 inches of rain, while not intense, kept the rivers flowing and the inshore waters stained.

Report provided by Ed Kunze - Sportfishing Charters in Ixtapa Zihuatanejo - www.sportfishing-ixtapa.com

Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, Mexico Fishing Conditions

With the recent rains, the blue water has moved out to the 15 mile mark, with a distinctive weed line defining the separation of off colored water and the blue water. The demarcation line is also holding game fish.

Martin, on the 35 foot cruiser Nautilus, fished the weed line for this last 5 days straight, averaging at least one 20 pound plus dorado and 2 sails a day. His 5 day total was 11 sailfish and 6 dorado.

September is usually the wettest month of the year for us, but most of the rain comes at night, with the fleet being able to fish every day so far. The only problem we had with the weather this week was, due to the heavy outflow from the rivers, the inshore water was murky. Plus, the waves along the shoreline this week were very high. These two conditions combined for very tough roosterfish fishing.

Report provided by Ed Kunze - Sportfishing Charters in Ixtapa Zihuatanejo - www.sportfishing-ixtapa.com

Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, Mexico Fishing Conditions

After a very below normal rainfall for August, we had a bit of rain this last week, which caused a lot of debris to come out of the rivers. Late Monday night we got a huge thunderstorm with 2 1/4" of rain in one hour.

This wiped out the inshore waters with stained water.

However, the blue water was only moved out to the 10 mile mark. The sailfish action is decent. Martin on the Nautilus had days of 2, 4, 1, and 3 sailfish starting on Sunday. He also reported lots of black skipjack tuna just off the dirty inshore water.

No dorado or tuna have been reported, but with the debris in the water, the dorado cannot be too far
behind.

Report provided by Ed Kunze - Sportfishing Charters in Ixtapa Zihuatanejo - www.sportfishing-ixtapa.com

By Michelle Higgins, New York Times News Service | August 27, 2008

Last year, Nikki Frahm, operations manager at Carlson Wagonlit Travel in Forest Lake, Minn., arranged a February vacation for a family of four to Ixtapa, Mexico. They enjoyed the trip so much that last month, they called Frahm and asked her to sign them up for the same vacation this year.

There's just one catch: The vacation may be the same, but the price will not.

Last year, the family paid less than $250 per person to fly nonstop from Minneapolis to Ixtapa. This year, those same tickets are $504 a person, said Frahm, raising the cost of the family's vacation by more than $1,000.

As airlines cut flights and add fuel surcharges, "this is the kind of thing we're seeing over and over again," said Frahm. "Inventory is shrinking and the prices are escalating - supply and demand."

Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, Mexico Fishing Conditions

The fishing has been a bit slow this week. With the blue water only 6 miles off the beach, the conditions would seem to be very good, but we have had wind at least 4 days so far this week. The wind has kept the sailfish average down to only about 1 or 2 fish per day per boat, and nobody has been going out further than about 15 miles to look for tuna.

There are a few dorado showing in the counts, but it is only about 1 boat out of 3 scoring on the 20 pound plus fish.

Santiago, on the panga Gitana, fished inshore one day and had an unusual catch of triple tails. They scored on an even dozen of the 6 to 8 pound tasty fish. He found them off the outlets of the river mouths and hiding under the debris that had washed out from the river.

Roosterfish and jack crevalle action is still holding up with very good action.

Report provided by Ed Kunze - Sportfishing Charters in Ixtapa Zihuatanejo - www.sportfishing-ixtapa.com

Air Canada has announced it's preliminary winter schedule for flights from Canada to Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, Mexico.

The details are as follows and are subject to change.

• Vancouver – Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, 1 Airbus 319, Effective ?? (presumably December 20th).

• Toronto – Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, 1 Airbus 319, Effective December 20th.

• Calgary – Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, 1 Airbus 319, Effective December 20th.

No word yet on whether they plan to use their newly authorized routes from Edmonton and Montreal, under the Canada - Mexico bilateral agreement.

Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, Mexico Fishing Conditions

With the full moon late this last week, we are experiencing the normal slow down in the action. The blue water is still close to the beach, with all conditions leading to excellent fishing, if the moon phase would just cooperate.

However, the 1 to 2 sailfish per boat per day average is still not all that bad. The dorado and tuna are still a no show.

Inshore, the rains have been holding off and the water is clear. It is an ideal situation for roosters, and they are responding. There is excellent action on the roosterfish, and very good action on large jack crevalle to about 20 pounds.

Report provided by Ed Kunze - Sportfishing Charters in Ixtapa Zihuatanejo - www.sportfishing-ixtapa.com

Ixtapa Zihuatanejo may be better served by Canadian airlines in the future in accordance with the recently-expanded bilateral air transport agreement between Canada and Mexico.

In addition to existing flights to Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, the following new routes are available:

• Air Canada
  
  • Edmonton - Ixtapa / Zihuatanejo
  • Montreal - Ixtapa / Zihuatanejo
  
  

• Air Transat
  
  • Calgary - Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo
  • Edmonton - Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo
  
  

• Westjet, SkyService, SunWing
  They don't seem to have figured out that this is a destination for them!

Under the provisions of Canada’s international air transportation policy, all Canadian air carriers may apply to the Transport Minister for designation to operate scheduled international services.

The 1961 Canada - Mexico bilateral Air Transport Agreement, as amended in 1999 and 2007, governs scheduled air services between the two countries.

Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, Mexico Fishing Conditions

The 82º blue water is just a couple of miles off the beach. Fishing has been very good for sailfish, but poor for marlin, tuna, and dorado. Most boats are averaging 2 to 3 sailfish a day each. Early in the week, Martin, on the Nautilus released 4 sails.

The roosterfish action is holding up well, as there have been no hard rains this week, and none in the forecast. Heavy rain creates a lot of runoff out of the silt laden rivers, discoloring the inshore waters. Jack crevalle action has also be good.

Report provided by Ed Kunze - Sportfishing Charters in Ixtapa Zihuatanejo - www.sportfishing-ixtapa.com

Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, Mexico Fishing Conditions

With the 80º blue water just a mile off the beach, the fleet is not going much more than 6 or 8 miles for a 2 to 3 sailfish per day average, per boat. The occasional floating log is still producing large dorado, but to find the log is mostly a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

Martin, on the Nautilius, did very well early in the week with 6 large roosters (35 to 45 pounds), 8 jack crevalle, and 4 very large sierra (about 4 feet long each). He took them off trolled live bait and casting surface poppers up at Buena Vista Beach.

Report provided by Ed Kunze - Sportfishing Charters in Ixtapa Zihuatanejo - www.sportfishing-ixtapa.com