Z Fish Report (7/29/10)

The 83° blue water is still lingering between the 16 mile and 20 mile marks as the result of being pushed out by the large volume of fresh water coming out of the rivers from last week’s hard rains.

           The boats are averaging 1 to 2 fish a day each in the blue water, with the fishing probably affected mainly by this week’s full moon period.
           Not many boats were fishing this week either, with a lot of excellent captains staying at home for several days. Early in the week, and before the full moon, Santiago on the panga Gitana only fished 1 day in the blue water releasing 2 sailfish and a striped marlin. The second day he fished inshore, catching1 nice rooster.

The photo was taken by Mike Bulkly on the super panga Huntress. It is a striped marlin logging some serious airtime.
         Adolfo, on the panga Dos Hermanos, fished two days in the blue water this week, releasing 2 sailfish and a striped marlin. Adolfo has mostly been fishing the inshore this week, as the stained waters from last week’s rains are clearing up a bit. Due to the turbidity, and the decreased salt content along the shoreline, the bait and roosterfish have moved off the beach and into deeper water. They are hanging out in the 30 to 50 foot deep water, requiring a down rigger or diving plane to get a live bait down to them. He has taken 14 roosters in the last two days.
        To me, this is an interesting phenomenon. Adolfo may not understand the science of it, but he has enough experience he was able to find the fish. Last week’s heavy rains not only pushed a lot of silted and stained water out of the rivers, but it was fresh water, which also lowered the salinity content along the shoreline. The fresh water is lighter, so it sits on top the salt water. Plus, the fresh water near the surface is stained a murky brown, but below it is clear and clean water. The closer to the shoreline, the less saline the water, as the depth has decreased. So, as Adolfo found out, casting a surface popper towards the shoreline is only making for a long day and wearing the caster out, but moving 100 to 200 yards offshore, and going down deeper with a live bait, is producing big time.

Ed Kunze