Mazatlan is still providing incredibly good fishing and this just may go down as one of the banner ending fishing years for The Aries Sportfishing Fleet. Here we are at Christmas time and still reporting blue marlin being caught. This past week reflected two blue marlin, (smaller fish in the 200-250 lb. range with 1 released) 10 sailfish, (7 released) 8 dorado, (15-30 lbs.) and 24 yellowfin tuna were reported for a total of 18 days of off-shore fishing for the fleet. The "Aries III", skippered by Captain Martin Raygoza, caught both of the blue marlin on the same day and the "Aries IV", skippered by Captain David Cabanillas, released 3 sailfish on that day. Seems like the fish were up and eager to bite and it worked out to be a very nice Christmas present for the anglers. The inshore fishing has taken a little slump and for no apparent reason. The inshore fishing report for 3 days fished reflected 9 jack crevalle, 16 triggerfish and 1 Spanish mackerel.

Mazatlan Climate: Partly cloudy but warm and comfortable days and cold evenings/mornings. Temps ranged from 51 nights to 82 daytime highs.

Sea Conditions: A very calm week with light & variable surface breezes and sea temps that are still holding at 75 inshore to 77 offshore.

Best Fishing Area: The skippers are still reporting best fishing out to the southwest of the Marina El Cid and starting at about 21-22 miles and fishing a north/south line from there.

Best Lure/Bait: The rigged mullet, (called Lisa in Mexico) have been the bait of choice for the skippers and the billfish and dorado have been pretty aggressive for the pre-rigged baits. The yellowfin tuna were all taken on tuna feathers of various colors, cedar plugs and deep running lures.