EAST CAPE SPORTFISHING STILL SLOW THIS WEEK

April 29-May 5, 2005, Chris Moyers, East Cape Smoke House, East Cape, Baja, Mexico Sportfishing:

Charters 169. Anglers 473. Total Fish 308. Fish/Charter 1.82. Fish/Angler .65. Blue Marlin 1. Striped Marlin 77. Sailfish 35. Dorado 37. Yellowfin Tuna 135. Pargo 21. Wahoo 2. Water Temperature 71-78. Air Temperature 89-60. Seas calm all day.

East Cape sportfishing is still pretty slow but things are looking up. The water is warming up a bit. Overall, the Striped Marlin bite has fallen off, while the Sailfish bite has gone from nil to decent in just over a week. We saw our 1st Blue Marlin of the season as well, which was somewhat of a surprise in terms of the timing as well as the size. The Yellowfin bite remained consistent although somewhat down from the previous week. Still, anglers are landing them. The Dorado bite continued on a slow streak.

The East Cape sportfishing area had very little wind to speak of except for some nice afternoon breezes on Tuesday. We've still got an abundance of mackerel and a severe shortage of sardines.

We had a surprise this past week with a 494 lb. Blue Marlin being landed out of the Palmas de Cortez! Unfortunately, the fish expired during the ordeal. The fish was reportedly landed to the south off Las Tachuelas, 13 miles, on a lure.

In terms of Striped Marlin, there are still plenty being landed and the bite remained pretty consistent. Anglers are reporting some fun to the north off Punta Pescadero, 13-15 miles, shark buoy stops, and out in the vicinity of the 88.

The Dorado bite remained consistent in terms of its inconsistency. It's still pretty hit and miss although the ones that are being landed are some real nice fish.

The Yellowfin Tuna bite fell off only slightly this past week. Anglers are still reporting action straight off Los Barriles (36-40 miles), as well as off Rancho Leonero to the immediate south (29-32 miles). There remains very little in terms of poundage coming in. You can still make sashimi out of a 15 lb. Yellowfin Tuna.