The most encouraging report came from Luis Ariza, long-time skipper at the now closed RBV, and his son Luis, Jr. Palmas de Cortez Captain. They were fishing off of Pescadero in a panga when they spotted some commotion on the water. Turned out to be a very small skipjack, maybe 5 or 6 inches. They hooked one on they caught and began slow trolling it behind the boat. All of a sudden the hapless bait disappeared with a loud whoosh and a swirl of white water. Both were sure they had hooked a huge blue marlin.

Even after a couple of hours of fighting the fish that never jumped, they weren't sure what they had hooked. More than four hours after they hooked the fish they finally managed to drag a monster yellowfin into their small panga that now seemed much smaller with the more than 200 pound tuna taking up most of the space headed back to shore.

Catches are still somewhat sporadic from day to day. With spring-like weather the hotels are putting more boats into the water. Calm seas and little wind provided perfect conditions for spotting billfish on the outside. As it turns out, there were plenty striped marlin to look at plus an unusual early showing of sailfish. The marlin seemed to have lockjaw while the sailfish seemed much more aggressive. There were also a few swordfish spotted finning but no biters.

The yellowtail bite continues with boats targeting them boating two or three 30-pounders most days. Plenty of roosters mixed with jacks were seen tearing up the bait schools inside. Sardina seem to be scarce with some boats traveling all the way to Las Arenas to find some for their clients.