THE ARIES SPORTFISHING FLEET

Unexplainably, it was another week off just mediocre fishing from Mazatlan as the boats panned out and searched far & wide for fish. All of the efforts resulted in about a third of the boats producing a billfish catch and about the same ratio for dorado. Why? It's really been an unknown as the overall conditions for the water, the temperatures, the clarity, the feed biomass, are all good. Yet, the fish just aren't on location. While we keep hearing "El Nino", we are not seeing anything that would suggest it is taking place in any of the lower Sea of Cortez regions. The overall catches for 22 offshore days fished produced 1 blue marlin, 4 stripers, 3 sailfish, 6 dorado and 1 yellowfin tuna. On the other-hand, the inshore fishing was offering much more action for the anglers and offered a bit of variety, reportting in for 6 days fished and reflecting 6 palometas, 11 pargo, 49 mojarres, 26 cochitos, 15 barracuda and 21 Sierra.

Mazatlan Climate: A sun cloud mix with temps from a cool 53 nights to a warm 82 daytime highs.

Sea Conditions: Ranging from 78 inshore to 80 offshore out to the southwest.

Best Fishing Area: There was no special area reported this week.

Best Lure/Bait: The blue marlin was taken on an artificial and the marlin and sailfish were taken on rigged mullet.