According to Captain Temo Verboonen, our reporter from Zihuatanejo, the full moon had a huge impact on the fishing/catching this past week with clear skies at night through the week. While lots of billfish remain in the area, they were disinterested in the baits being presented to them, typical of full moon phases and the late March-early April periods for the area. "We can see plenty of billfish but very few will be biters. It's getting better by the day as we pass through this first quarter of the moon phase and should be back to normal with a few more days time. The inshore fishing improved considerably but the fish are very spooky and as soon as they feel the vibration of the engine/boat, they go down and disappear. Sierra, bonitos and jack crevalle are around the rocks in front of Ixtapa and one of the boats reported a 40 lb. amberjack in their catch, taken with live bait. Spinning gear is a good option for the inshore waters using live bait or poppers".

IZ Climate: Partly cloudy days with passing clouds and lots of sunshine, too. Excellent, warm days, evenings and mornings with temps that ranged from 71 nights to 92 daytime highs.

Sea Conditions: Inshore water temps holding at about 84 degrees and green water, rising to 85 degrees at the 100 fathom curve and continuing to rise to 87-88 offshore from about 13-14 miles or so. Surface winds mostly from the westerly directions at 10-15 mph and very good water clarity.

Best Fishing Area: The offshore fishing had no real concentration of cooperative billfish or dorado this past week and the trips were mostly a search and find mission that ranged from 15 miles and working outbound from there. The better inshore fishing was around the rocks in front of Ixtapa.

Best Lure/Bait: Live bait was best for the inshore anglers but some fish were being taken on the Rapala type lures. Rigged trolling baits were the primary bait in use offshore, along with a variety of artificials, but the fish remained disinterested in both.

Bait Supply: Continued to be very good for both, live bait and fresh caught baits for rigging. During the full moon periods I would always recommend taking at least a dozen live bait as an additional ammo supply in the arsenal.