April 29th to May 6th, 2004 BILLFISH: We’re very happy right now…….with an overall catch success rate of over ninety-five percent for all species combined and a seventy-seven percent success rate for billfish. Weather is hot right now, with plenty of striped marlin around. At the close of this report, boats reported baiting 10-12 marlin in a day and releasing up to four. The bait available right now is not the very best, which is why more fish weren’t caught, but who’s complaining. On May 1st “Valerie” released four stripers for Michael and Josh Burnam from California and “Ruthless” also had four, for Bunny & Howard from Arizona , just three miles off of Red Hill. Mark Eltrich, fishing with Todd Kriovshein & Josh Hartman, all from Washington , had pretty much a perfect day aboard “Rebecca” on April 30th; they released a striped marlin and then boated five tuna and two dorado. “Valerie” & “Ruthless” had another tandem day on May 5th, this time with each boat scoring three striped marlin releases and a wahoo a piece too. Most of the fishing was close in this week with ideal conditions, calm seas, sunny skies – boats averaged 1-3 marlin each and some early season sailfish were also released. Neil Stafford from Rhode Island , out on “Ni Modo”, released a huge sail, calculated at 185 lbs, as well as releasing two striped marlin and losing another four stripers. Both bait and lures worked this week and hopefully all these fish will stay around for the Rolex/IGFA tournament starting on May 17th. Pisces anglers caught a total of seventy-eight striped marlin this week, with all but two fish released – weights were good with fish getting up to 180 lbs. We also released two sailfish. OTHER SPECIES: We had quite a slow down on yellowfin tuna this week with just twenty-two percent of boats catching fish in the 20 to 40 lb class. Most catches were on the odd fish amongst the marlin, but there were a few boats that went for this species exclusively in which case, they headed up into the Pacific and usually met with success with catches of around a dozen fish. Dorado catches were on the slow side with just twelve percent of vessels landing fish in the 20 to 40 lb class. Wahoo catches were fair with fish up to 60 lbs being caught. – “Andrea” had two for Steve Hautala on the 4th. Inshore there were quite a few yellowtail, up to 30 lbs as well as snappers and the odd rooster here and there. LOCATION: Cabo Real, Palmilla, Redhill three to thirteen miles out, 8-16 miles out from San Jose , then moving to 3 miles off of Cabeza de Ballena. Tuna were off of the Old Lighthouse. WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, hot, seas calm. AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 72-73 F BEST LURES: Live bait, pink, greens, petroleros, cedar plugs.