In April the ocean temperature is warmer, the fish are more abundant and for all of the local fishermen, April is one month closer to July, the beginning of our Trophy season.  The Jacks and Yellow fin tuna started showing up in schools and both shore fishermen and boaters began amassing their collections of Diamond jigs, Buzz Bombs, Deadly Dicks, Castmasters and any other pricey and almost disposable artificial lures that attract these fish. 

Phil has a widespread reputation as a lure loser so this April he set out to manufacture his own.  He was loaned a set of fabulous molds that in the past in Canada had produced the most spectacular jigs.  So the next step was to acquire the appropriate metal to create these masterpieces.  He was advised that Babbitt was an ideal choice but no one in Puerto Vallarta had any idea what this was or how to alloy it.  The second best option was lead. 

Any foreigner who lives in PV knows that EVERYTHING is available, it is just a matter of finding it.  Phil decided to start his search at home and while left alone one morning, he disassembled a Tiffany lamp, melted the lead and poured his first set of lures.  Phil was quite surprised when questioned about whether or not he had used good judgment in this project.  He pointed out that the lamp was old, maybe over 100 years but the lead was still perfectly good.  Serious fishermen have their own set of priorities. 

The lure manufacture grew in proportion and by mid April it was necessary to scrape the lead off our once beloved 6-burner stove before we could even fry an egg.  Lead poisoning seemed to be an issue but without symptoms and having absolutely no idea what these may be, Phil pressed on.  Ventilation fans were installed, just to be safe and our house soon resembled a factory, molten lead, lures hanging from every available spot on our terrace and an electric grinding wheel wired to the railing of our balcony.  We hoped that our exclusive neighbors in Conchas Chinas (with the million dollar homes) just assumed that the sloppy family with the dirtiest cars in Vallarta had finally installed a jacuzzi and  had not got the pump motor

We apologize for not including many of the charters.  Once again, we are waiting for photos and will have to update April later this month.  We really like to have the fishing report available at the beginning  of the new month.  Please send photos (or send Phil a camera).