Spring is emerging slowly as air temperatures creep up and windy days are equal in number. Mark Rayor, Vista Sea Sport reports, "on a good note I had to kick the covers off last night and open the door because the weather has become noticeably warmer."

There has been a decent up and down show of quality yellowtail for the few boats heading out. The even fewer boats fishing farther offshore are seeing a remarkable number of striped marlin. The bad news is they don't seem to be very hungry yet.

Farther up north on the non-windy days there is a serious pargo and yellowtail bite. The trick is to keep them out of the rocks or grins turn to grimaces quickly.

On the beach front there have been some large fish boiling on the sardina schools in front of the hotels, luring a few guests away from the bar long enough to fling flies or small spoons at the boils. So far the effort has yielded a lower bar bill along with a few sierra and even fewer yellowtail.