Sardina

[rossman]

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The sardina have arrived in great numbers here in Asuncion. The pangeros are out in force wrapping them for lobster bait. I watched them unload at the ramp for a couple hours yesterday. Quite a sight. The pangas come in filled to the gunnels with sardines with 3 pangeros perched on top. No more than 3 or 4 inches of free board available. The big tractor pulls them on the beach and the crane unloads the big brailer nets into the blue boxes on the flatbed trucks. I watched them fill 10 of those boxes yesterday. The sardines are taken to the co-op and frozen into 40 or 50 lb blocks wrapped in plastic and delivered to the lobstermen in the morning.

Not surprisingly the fishing the fishing has improved significantly with the arrival of the bait. By Asuncion standards my fishing has been actually quite poor since December. Mostly rat Yellowtail and when you catch a larger model, they have a 40 lb head on a 20 lb body. I he'd two skunk days in a row last week. This week is a different story. I was out on Wednesday and landed 11 yellows, 4 of which were the nicer variety.