BIG NUMBERS OF YELLOWFIN TUNA FOR MAZATLAN OFFSHORE BOATS

June 10, 2005, Larry Edwards, Cortez Yacht Charters, Mazatlan, Mexico Fishing Report:

The yellowfin tuna have arrived in force at Mazatlan, with most of the fish in the 20-30 pound class.

The billfish counts remain at a billfish per Mazatlan sportfishing boat day and the only unusual item for this year is the lack of dorado which are normally in full-swing at this time of year. Maybe yet to come?

Lad Ziegler's yacht, "Sha Rae", fishing at 40 miles out of Mazatlan, captured a 370 pound blue marlin, for the first of the season.

Eleven year-old, Derek Geist, Firth, NE, caught his first sailfish aboard the Mazatlan charter fishing boat "Aries IV", weighing in at 95 lbs.

Nhut Le, Yuta, CA, landed a 140 lb. striper aboard the "Aries V", and his fishing partners, Genie Le and Damon Chaput, released a pair of sailfish.

Overall counts for Aries fleet, reporting for 38 Mazatlan offshore fishing days reflected 27 sailfish, (23 released) 9 stripers, (4 released) 2 dorado and 208 yellowfin tuna. There were no inshore super pangas reporting this week.

Mazatlan fishing weather was partly cloudy, from 63 degree nights to 87 daytime highs. Sea conditions at Mazatlan were calm for the most part, with water temperatures from 77 degrees inshore to 78 offshore.

Most of the billfish were taken in the area from 22-25 miles southwest of Mazatlan and the tuna were on the outside perimeters, running with the porpoise schools.

The blue marlin was taken on a small tuna. Most of the sails and stripers were taken on rigged trolling baits and the tuna were pretty anxious to bite at most anything that was being trolled through the schools.

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