By James Hall
ESPNOutdoors.com
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As the gaff sank into the side of the 120-pound striped marlin, I was a bit conflicted. This isn't the sort of fish we put in the icebox in Florida, my home state. A tag and a kiss goodbye is generally the most damage done to just about every brand of billfish hooked in the United States. However, I wasn't in the U.S., and this fish represented a hell of a lot more than an "atta-boy" from a holier-than-thou American sportfisherman. This fish represented seven days of breakfast, lunch and dinner for Victor's family, Jose's family and Marta's family, all working laborers in Mazatlan, Mexico, at the docks of Nautica Costa Bonita marina.

"Wasn't that cool seeing that marlin almost jump in the boat?" asked Chappy Chapman of Inside Outside Charters (www.insideoutsidecharters.com), my host for the trip, as his first mate laid a wet towel atop the billed beast at my feet.

Understatement of the decade.

We had already been bit twice, saw four other marlin tailing or free-jumping in the distance, and one fish was accounted for. It was only a little after 9 a.m.

"Cool indeed!" I returned.

The first wave of marlin had arrived off the coast of Mazatlan just three days prior to my mid-May charter.

"They are a little late," explained Chapman. "But it's just going to get better as the water warms up. If you want to catch a marlin, there's no better place to be right now than Mazatlan," he continued.

And it seemed he was right. By the end of the day, we saw no fewer than 23 marlin. We had nine bites, hooked six and landed three & an exceptional day of billfishing by anyone's standards.

Chapman found the fish holding in 240 feet of water (16 miles offshore). His trolling spread consisted of a giant jet teaser in Mahi color, naked skip jacks that we had caught earlier (one weighted, one not), and one skirted mullet. Chapman trolled until an enormous blue sickle tail was spotted jutting from the very calm Pacific Ocean. Once a fish was sighted, Chapman would kick the boat into high gear to get the spread in front of the fish.

Once the marlin committed, chaos would ensue. And it seemed most of the day was chaotic.

Well before we started trolling, Chapman had asked if I minded harvesting a marlin.

"The only reason I ask is because each angler is allowed to keep one per day, and these guys out here depend on fish to survive. The meat they take home is a huge part of their annual salary," he explained.

I certainly wasn't in any position to question the harvest limits or motives of Mexican anglers. So, I left it in Chapman's hands.

"Plus, as you will notice, there are thousands of marlin out here right now. Mexican sport fishermen have been harvesting these fish forever. They only keep enough to eat, so you shouldn't feel guilty. We release a heck of a lot more than we keep."

So, harvest a striped marlin we did. And, in turn, Chapman left the fish in the hands of four families that sometimes wonder where their next meal will come from. Justifiable homicide? I think so.

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As the waters of the eastern Pacific warm and winter's El Norte winds die down in the Sea or Cortez this month, the colder-water species (yellowtail, pargo, snapper, amberjack, etc.) begin to transition out of the inshore fishery, and warmer-water species like dorado and billfish will arrive in the offshore fisheries out of Baja Sur locations like East Cape, La Paz, Loreto and Cabo, and out of mainland Mexico ports like Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta.

El Nino currents have already kick-started some oddly out-of-season action out of many Mexican ports — black and blue marlin out of Cabo, for example — so an early beginning to the normal June/July dorado bite should be right around the corner.

"Some of the warmer-water species (have) stuck around to some degree and, incredibly, we're already getting species and conditions we normally wouldn't experience until June or July," said Johnathon Roldan at Tailhunter International (www.tailhunter-international.com) in La Paz. "For example, we were already seeing significant numbers of dorado, albeit on the smaller side, with some larger bulls mixed in (in late April). (Last week) if you looked anywhere in La Paz Bay and north towards Espiritu Santo Island, you'd see low flying and dipping birds ... a sure indication that there were dorado working the spots."

Similar story over on the mainland, where surface-water temperatures rising from the low 70s to the high 70s and low 80s will bring dorado into the offshore fishery by the thousand in early May.

"This is the best time for the offshore species, when the water is starting to get the warmest, and the next three to four weeks, the dorado fishing is going to be phenomenal," said Chappy Chapman of Inside Outside Charters in Mazatlan. "Just run out to the trash line and you'll find them. That location changes every day, but if you run up to a buoy or something else floating, you can tell right away if dorado are under it. And if they're there, they'll bite."

Dorado are notoriously drawn to surface structure (or, rather, the baitfish that collect underneath it), so anything floating offshore is an automatic mahi-magnet.

Chapman's Mazatlan routine includes running between several dozen palm-covered buoys placed a mile apart, between 6 to 18 miles offshore. This buoy line serves as a bait collector for shade-seeking dorado and triple tail, and the best approach is to quietly motor up onto a buoy and cast Rapala X-Raps, Sub-Walkers and Skitter Walks, 5-inch Zara Spooks or Pencil Poppers.

"If they're under that buoy, they'll come out and hammer it," Chapman says.

Trolled dead ballyhoo, skipjack strips and live mullet or mackerel is also effective, and can also bring in sailfish and marlin. When he's trolling, Chapman will run bait on the outside lines and Williamson 13-inch Diamond Coyotes on the inside lines for both dorado and billfish.

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Editor's note: Based in North Puget Sound and operating from Alaska to Baja, Joel Shangle has been a news junkie on the West Coast saltwater scene since the 1990s, first as editor of California Fishing & Hunting News' and now as editor of California Sportsman, which hits newsstands in October. He's the host of Northwest Wild Country, a popular fishing and hunting radio show airing throughout western Washington, and has the deepest source list this side of the Library of Congress. In other words: if you're catching fish on the West Coast, just try to get away from him.