After a mind blowing 2022 season, we are beyond excited to announce the dates and details for our 2023 Magdalena Bay Marlin program. This past season the fishing was beyond epic! Massive schools of Marlin feeding on the surface allowed anglers to sight cast with poppers and streamers without the need for teasers or bait. That's right, no teasing required, purely casting and stripping big flies to rising striped and blue marlin! Action was intense at times and on many days, double, triple, and quadruple hook-ups were common. Fishing Mag Bay is without question one of the most adrenaline-infused heart pounding trips for a saltwater fly angler and arguably the best destination in the world to catch a marlin on the fly!
Magdalena Bay is located on the Pacific side of Mexico's Baja and is known for its hundreds of square miles of uniquely rich marine ecosystem that sets the stage for ideal fly fishing opportunities spread across mangroves flats and volcanic islands inshore and steep seafloor shelves offshore. Difficult to access by all accounts, Magdalena Bay has remained a relatively untouched fishery that could easily be considered the Jurassic Park of fly fishing in Baja.
FFM is offering two trip options for our 2023 season, a six (6) nights / four (4) fishing days program and a seven (7) nights / five (5) fishing days program for up eight (8) anglers per week. The season runs late October through early December when large schools of baitfish migrate along the coast attracting an incredible abundance of sport fish to the area. On this trip anglers will have the opportunity to fly fish for a variety of inshore and offshore fish species. Inshore, beaches and mangroves support a variety of sport fish species including snook, roosterfish, grouper, halibut and snapper. Offshore, schools of mackerel and sardines attract a variety of pelagic species including marlin, dorado and tuna that attack the bait balls and provide anglers an opportunity of a lifetime to sight cast to feeding big game fish. At the mouth of the bay, huge school of baitfish congregate attracting schools of roosterfish, jacks and other species that will eagerly take a fly.
While fishing at May Bay guests stay in a simple, yet nice, hotel that is the closest accommodation available to the most productive offshore fishing areas allowing for short boat runs to start the day. All meals are prepared at the hotel
ITINERARY - 6 NIGHTS / 4 DAYS PROGRAM
Saturday: Arrive to San Jose del Cabo (SJD) airport. Take two (2) ground transfer to La Paz and overnight in the city's charing historic district. Dinner at one of La Paz's finer restaurants.
Sunday: Early breakfast at the hotel. Take two (2) hour ground transfer to Puerto Chale. Hotel check-in and prepare gear for a full day of guided fishing in Magdalena Bay. Overnight and meals at hotel.
Monday-Wednesday: Three (3) days of guided fishing in Magdalena Bay. Overnight and meals at hotel.
Thursday: After breakfast take two (2) ground transfer to La Paz and overnight in the city's charing historic district. Dinner at one of La Paz's finer restaurants.
Friday: After breakfast depart the hotel and take two (2) hour ground transfer to San Jose del Cabo (SJD) for your return flight home.
(UPDATED 8/18/2023)
2023 DATES
Week 1 - Oct 28-Nov 4 (6 spots)
Week 2 - Nov 4-11 (FULL)
Week 3 - Nov 11-18 (4 spots)
Week 4 - Nov 18-25 (8 spots)
Week 5 - Nov 25-Dec 2 (4 spots)
Week 6 - Dec 2-9 (4 spots)
Week 7 - Dec 9-16 (8 spots)
If you are interested in learning more about this amazing new fly fishing opportunity or would like to confirm dates please contact us.
Our friends and partners at Red's Fly Shop put together a great video walk through of tips, flies and gear for Baja's Roosterfish from their most recent trip with us at Fly Fish Mex. Roosterfish are a fabulous gamefish - big, strong and beautiful! To make the most out of your trip we highly recommend checking out this video to familiarize yourself with some of the basics of fly fishing for Roosterfish. Thanks Red's!!
Thank you to all of those adventurous anglers and guests who journeyed south to fish with the FFM team in Baja during our 2022 Summer Season. It was a great compliment to see so many familiar faces return to fish with us and an honor to host new ones. It was an incredible season and we were all thrilled to share our amazing part of the world with you. Check out our "best of 2022" compilation video on Youtube below.
They say variety is the spice of life. If that's true, our summer season in Baja was a spicy one. Each week felt like a new wave of species blew into town and the selection of fish species to target kept on coming. In the early season we saw a good amount of golden trevalle and rainbow blue runners along with the to be expected roosterfish and jacks. As the season progressed, a brief flurry of tuna, sierra and bonita appeared and provided us with lot of fun action. Several of these fish are cooler water species which signaled that the normal summer water temperatures could be cooler than expected.
Roosterfish were around all season but they were extra picky and catching them was sporadic. There were a handful of standout fish in the 60-70 pound range and plenty of fish in the 15-30 pound range.
By late June the water temps finally warmed up and we had some really good offshore action with grande dorado and marlin. It has been quite a few years since we have seen dorado in the 40-50 pound class with the consistency and numbers we had this year.
The sardine stocks were good all season which kept the big game trolling the shorelines and deep inshore ledges looking for easy meals. With so many sardines around we used less bait and used more teasers to draw fish within fly casting range.
Again, a huge thank you to all the guests who journeyed down to fish with us so this season! If you are interested in booking for 2023 dates, contact us or view 2023 season availability here. Stay tuned for more on our new Mag Bag Marlin program!
Fall can be the most beautiful time of year, regardless where you are. In Southern Baja, what is usually a brown arid desert transforms into a lush green oasis full of life when the late summer rain permeates the dry soil. Butterflies and desert dwellers suddenly appear to take advantage of the colorful blossoming landscape as the desert comes alive.
It's also a more relaxed time of year since the school year has already started and the main summer tourist season winds down. Fishing pressure is next to nothing and the threat of storms has already passed. This year, the fishing in September and October was best described as consistent. Roosterfish in the 20-60 pound class were in most of the usual spots and anchored the action for the Fall.
We had a surprise school of sierra and yellowtail that provided some good action, and tasty eats, for a couple weeks, then disappeared as quickly as the tuna started to appear.
The incredible marlin bite that we had all summer finally tapered off as well, with only a 2-3 being landed by guests in Sep-Oct.
Dorado made a good showing, with several 30 pound+ fish landed. Tuna fishing was sporadic at best and never really schooled up as they usually do in October.
The sardine schools were plentiful throughout the fall season and continued to spread and reproduce along the Island. The thick schools of sardines we had this season bodes well for another productive and fun 2022 season.
Again, a huge thank you to all the guests who journeyed down to fish with us so this season! If you are interested in booking for 2022 dates, contact us or view 2022 season availability here.
Twenty-twenty certainly had its challenges, fortunately finding good fishing was not one of them. Travel, risks, restrictions and protocols for Covid-19 made it difficult to get clients to Baja. However, those who braved the trip to Mexico experienced some amazing fishing without another soul in sight.
After initial beach and fishing closures due to the Covid pandemic set in place back in March, Mexico opened sport fishing on June 15 and we resumed operations carefully. Despite all of the travel challenges brought on by Covid, we found that the sea was well rested and the roosterfish were plentiful, large, and aggressive. On our first day fishing, it wasn’t a question of whether we would catch fish, it was much more a matter of, how many fish and how big? At one point, we had six roosterfish, all over 40 pounds, raging around the panga chasing our flies.
The fishing started off strong and never slowed down for the rest fo the season and many guests managed to set personal bests on roosterfish in terms of numbers hooked, as well as largest ever landed. We also saw some great action fishing for dorado, yellowfin tuna, and marlin for a good part of the season which continued deep into our fall season in October.
Fortunately, our Covid safety measures held strong and there were no infection incidents among guests or lodge employees. The remote and open nature of the lodge and the increased safety protocols to keep people healthy were greatly appreciated.
Thank you to all those who supported us through such a challenging season! We look forward to getting beyond the times of Covid and safely accept guests again for our 2021 season. If you have interest in securing dates please feel free to contact us, we'd love to hear from you.
