ZIHUAT BLUE--Scott Gross (left) of Boston with a nice blue marlin caught only 4 miles out of Zihuatanejo with Capt. Luis Maciel on the Gringo Loco. Photo courtesy Scott Gross.

BOATS FIND OUTSTANDING FISHING FOR BLUE MARLIN

June 4, 2005, Ed Kunze, Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, Mexico Fishing Report:

The 80-degree plus blue fishing water is still just a mile or so off the beach. The outstanding fishing for the blue marlin has made this run one of the absolute best in years.

We are boating between 18 and 20 blues or blacks a week at Ixtapa Zihuatanejo. These are very good odds for catching a marlin, because we are not considering the numerous missed opportunities, and all of this is from only a fleet of about 10 boats a day hitting the water. This last Tuesday, the Ixtapa Zihuatanejo sportfishing fleet boated 5 marlin. Remember, these are not those dinky striped marlin you read about in Baja. Stripers are not much larger than a sailfish. These blues and blacks are averaging about 250 pounds, with several hitting the 500 pound mark.

Besides releasing 5 sailfish on Thursday for Texas clients Jeff and Wayne Bair, Captain Santiago on the panga Gitana, also had a blue marlin on Wednesday. Clients Sonny and Magi Stolsig of Seattle got the blue marlin on sailfish gear while trolling a cut bait. They fought the 330 pound blue for a little over two hours on the 50 pound gear. After a spectacular series of greyhounding leaps, the marlin sounded and died. It took Santiago another 45 minutes of hand lining to get the fish to the boat.

I fly fished out of Ixtapa Zihuatanejo with Mike Poor and Ralph Logan of Lubbock, Texas. After raising a double on sails, but only teasing one to the boat, the sailfish was so aggressive, Mike had the opportunities and missed twice with the fly. Bad habits developed from trout fishing, by setting the hook with the rod tip, just do not work here on salt water big game. You must set the hook with a hard strip of the line. After the third attempt, the fish lost interest, so I pinned an 8-inch live goggle eye on a circle hook, made the cast and passed the rod to Ralph. A few minutes later, we tagged and released Ralph's first ever sailfish.

(See "Mexico Fishing News" online for current fishing reports, photos, weather, and water temperatures from Ixtapa Zihuatanejo and other major Mexican sportfishing areas. Vacation travel articles, fishing maps and seasonal calendars, and fishing related information for Ixtapa Zihuatanejo may be found at Mexfish.com's main Ixtapa Zihuatanejo page.