Fishing

The Marlin of May
By Ed Kunze

The Costa Grande is defined as the 150-mile stretch of coastline from Acapulco to the South, and on up to the Rio Balsas at Lazaro Cardenas to the North.

The fishing fleet of Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo is almost centered in the best section of this year round game fish producing water. In my opinion, the 40 days from after the 1st week of May, until the middle of June, the Costa Grande is the best fishery on the planet to have a chance at a marlin.

And, I am not talking about those dinky striped marlin you always read about up in the Baja region. The average striped marlin is only a few pounds larger than our 100-pound sailfish we get here with regularity. We are talking about top of the food chain game fish. We are talking about huge blue and black marlin; a world class fighting fish averaging 250 pounds, and very easily attaining weights of a ton or more. The size of these fish are so impressive, it is actually hard to believe they can be caught by using only a rod and reel.

But, caught they are. In fact, world-wide, many a devout marlin angler spends thousands of dollars a year in pursuit of this elusive prize. Entire magazines are devoted to nothing but fishing for big marlin. The principal inventory of many a large supply house is centered around the tackle used to catch a marlin. And, in some locations in the world, the multi-million dollar yachts are there for months at a time for the specific purpose of targeting the royalty of the bill fish species.

Fortunately, here on the Costa Grande, you do not need to have a high six digit income to pursue this majestic quarry. The Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo fishing fleet is by far the best deal for the money than any other world class fishing destination. For about 40 days a year, the odds are very good you will catch marlin from a panga, which charters for about 200 U.S.D. a day. Or, move up to a large cruiser for less than 450 U.S.D. a day. In many parts of the world, a half day charter is 750 U.S.D.. And, for the month of May, we have a better fishery than they have.

The fleet averaged over five blue or black marlin a day!

You may wonder how an angler can catch a huge marlin from a 25-foot-panga. In an extensive survey I did this last May (2005), I came up with some startling results. For our mixed sport fishing fleet of pangas and cruisers, we were putting about 12 to 15 boats a day on the water. The fleet averaged over five blue or black marlins a day! The number comparisons were almost identical - one half of the marlin were taken by the cruisers, and one half were taken by pangas.

One of the reasons our daily count was not considerably higher, is because the principal bread and butter fish of the sport fishing fleet here is the sailfish. When the boats are fishing with 30 to 50 pound gear, and a huge blue marlin grabs the sailfish bait, the odds are definitely in the favor of the marlin. Every captain I interviewed for the survey told me his specific story of how many marlins he had shots at but couldn’t get a hookset. Or, how all the line was spooled off the reel. Or, how the fish was lost after a lengthy fight. Each “specific” story blended into being the same for all. They were just out-gunned. However, with heavy gear, if you were to actually target the marlin, a caught marlin a day would not be unreasonable.

Captain Leo Navarette, skippering the See-Ya, fished for the big marlin for nine days this last May. The See-Ya is a private yacht from Cabo San Lucas, which came here for the specific purpose of targeting big marlin and tuna. If the fishing here in May was not considerably better than Los Cabos, they certainly would not have made the 1,000-nautical mile journey. For the nine days of targeting marlin, they leadered thirteen blue marlins and one huge 600 pound black. Where else on this planet, during the month of May, can you do that?

Ed Kunze is Zihuatanejo’s IGFA Representative and a charter fishing boat captain. He lives in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo year-round and can be reached at (755) 554-4876 or edkunze@prodigy.net.mx. For more information on Capt. Ed and his boats go to www.sportfishing-ixtap.com or www.zihuatanejo.net/seaandsand

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