Z Fish Report (5/10/18)

Offshore (average) surface water temperature - Includes from the 5 - 6 mile mark at the 100 fathom line, then to the 1,000 fathom line being about 32 miles: 82°

Inshore (average) surface temperature. From the beach to about 5 miles: 81°  

Blue water: (Chlorophyll amounts and surface temps from Terrafin SST) The blue water is about 16 miles. Clean water starts from the back side of the waves, on out to the blue water.

Offshore: This last weekend was the annual kill tournament for sailfish here in Zihuautanejo. There was an amazing 250 boats entered. The reason for the record breaking number of contestants was the prizes offered, and the pool money to each large fish caught for each day of the tournament. In theory, there are three prizes for the first three largest sailfish, and if they also caught them on the day of when the they were the biggest fish for that day, they got a heck of a lot of money from the pool money.

The largest dorado and marlin also got a prize.

So with less than five or six winners, why do many captains spend three month’s wages to gamble on being a winner? They gamble away the food for their families.  

The winner this year was Jamie Cortez on the sport fisher Orion. He has won the tournament a few times before.  The winning weight was only 38 plus kilos. The second place was at 38 kilos, and the third place was only 35 kilos. The best marlin was 140 kilos, and the dorado was 20 kilos.

So once again, a few people win, and the rest have lost money to feed their families.

Inshore: Nothing to report for the inshore.

Ed Kunze

(Director of the Roosterfish Foundation, IGFA Representative)