WHEN I GROW UP

All week our East Cape weather has been about as nice as it gets. Seas have been calm with daytime temps between 85 and 90 degrees. Water temperature has risen to above 80 degrees. Inshore it is still a bit off color but off shore we are starting to see that beautiful purple blue color.

In shore the outstanding roosterfish bite continues. Rincon, Punta Arena and La Ribera have been hot spots. Drifting green jacks has been most effective for the larger fish and slow trolling live baits has provided constant action.

Just a few miles off shore striped marlin have been very cooperative. Most boats targeting billfish are releasing multiple fish. It is a bit surprising not many blue marlin have shown up yet. Small skipjack, yellowfin and dorado are here in big numbers which is the main food source for the blues. With that it is my hope the big marlin won't be far behind.

Off shore 15 to 30 miles most boats looking for yellowfin are scoring limits of football sized fish. These fish are not on porpoise but are being sighted breezing on the surface feeding on red crabs and squid. Our secret weapon for these fish has been Halco lures. Cedar plugs are also working well but the Halcos are attracting a little better grade of fish. We stopped trolling hoochies because they are attracting more skipjack than tuna.

Quality sized yellowfin to 100 pounds have been found with porpoise schools. Getting them to bite has not been easy. Positioning the boat in front of the porpoise school and pitching in a live bait has been the most effective method. We have been metering a lot of fish at 40 to 60 feet but they just haven't decided to come up and bite yet.

This week it was a pleasure for us to have 80 year old Stan Rosenblatt fish with us. When I grow up I want to be like Stan. He has the enthusiasm of a kid and stands at the rail and puts bend in the rod with pressure on the fish like a younger man. In contrast we also had 18 year old Tanner Thuet with 4 of his buddies celebrating their high school graduation. How lucky can a kid be? His grandmother has a home on the East Cape in Buena Vista.