March came in like a lion this year as we were hit with southwest winds in excess of 26 miles per hour that shut the port down for the first 3 days of the month. It gave us some much needed time to do a little preventative maintenance on the boats, scrape a few hulls, and put together a few new pieces of tackle that we can put to the test.
Fortunately, mid-day on the 3rd, the winds died down and began to swing to the north as a cold front from Florida swooped down. By Sunday the 4th, we were back fishing with a vengeance. Often along with a northern front comes a batch of bill fish. This was one of those times. Sunday morning, sailfish were seen by guests and crew free-jumping just north of Puerto Aventuras. While they were more than happy to check out what we were offering in the teasers, there were few serious takers. Not what we wanted, but they put on a nice show.
Sunday afternoon, however, they found their appetites as about half of the boats had at least one hook up. Adding to the excitement was the fact that the 38' Betram, Marlin Magic, not only picked up a sailfish, but also a white marlin. Of course, with only 1 ˝ hours of daylight remaining, the crew set out to find a blue and accomplish something that we have never done before in the Riviera Maya…a March Grand Slam! Unfortunately, darkness set in before we found any success with the blues, but the clients on the boat had a great time in the hunt and have already made plans to come back and try it again.
The next day, of course, we happened into 2 blues….such is fishing. While this is still early in the season, based on some early runs of sailfish and the bite being experienced up north, we have high hopes for another good billfish season. Can't wait to find out.
Visit us at: http://www.fishyucatan.com
