Fish Report Update

March 10^th to 16^th 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate 73%

BILLFISH: This week we had some really fantastic catches and then other days where many boat caught nothing. Top catch of the week was by Al Monte from Sutton, Massachusetts, for his 391 lb swordfish caught aboard “Tracy Ann”, whilst fishing with his two sons, they also released two striped marlin and boated six yellow fin tuna, just six miles off of the Old Lighthouse on the Pacific side. Full details were posted on our blog http://piscesfleet.blogspot.mx/2012/03/tracy-ann-does-it-againwow-what-day.html  this catch caused quite a stir. Fisherman can fish all their lives and never get a swordfish, so this one was much appreciated.  This was not Captain Julio’s only good day fishing; he was on a roll this week, with two striped marlin and a wahoo for Royce & Vaden Barrington from Fort Worth, Texas at Destiladeres and another two striped marlin on March 13^th for Mason and Danny Stewart from Houston, Texas. “Bill Collector” had a couple of really good days, starting out with four striped marlin released fifteen miles out from Cerro de Arena for Philip Kennedy & friends from Alpine, Texas.  They had three marlin and a dorado just two miles off of the Old Lighthouse for John Thompson, Dave Dazser & Barry Cercone from Seminola, Florida. “Yahoo” was not left out either, with their triple marlin day fishing in the opposite direction at Punta Gorda & Destiladeres for Robert & Grant Williamson fishing with Jacob Dillman from Houston, Texas. I guess you could say it was good week for Texans. Thirty five percent of charters caught marlin this week. It was feast or famine, some days you could get marlin the next hardly any where caught. A lot depended on the weather; we have had some very windy days, typical for March, with gusts up to thirty knots and whitecaps on the Pacific, which meant a lot of boats turned back with sea-sick anglers. The bait situation was not ideal, but it was interesting to see how the captains became more resourceful and managed to catch fish with jurelito (green-jacks) caballito and mackerel. Our anglers caught and released thirty striped marlin and one swordfish.

OTHER SPECIES: We saw a small increase on dorado catches this week with one boat, “El Gallo”, catching six for Kevin Brandes from Illinois, whilst others caught one or two, giving us a tally of seventeen fish, though none bigger than 20 lbs. Yellow fin tuna catches were of the football size and between three and six fish per boat when found, though less than ten percent of charters found them. Yellow tail catches continued but not as frequently as earlier in the month. We saw several kinds of shark caught, blue, hammerhead and mako with the majority juveniles not over 50 lbs.

LOCATION: Old Lighthouse,  Las Margaritas Migrino, Destiladeres, Punta Gorda.

WEATHER CONDTIONS: Super windy weather on the Pacific prevented boats from doing much on some days, which sent them the other direction, but fish were found on both sides. Partly cloudy skies.

BEST LURES: Live bait, jurelito, caballito, mackerel, ballyhoo.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 69 F

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Tracy Ann Does it Again....Wow What a Day -Swordfish, Marlin, Tuna

Tracy Ann backs in with her fat swordfish from left to right: David, Andrew & Al Monte, Martin Gonzalez, Julio Castro

All we can say is WOW, what a day the Tracy Ann had yesterday. We got a call from captain Julio Castro around 1.00 pm on Thursday to say that he had hooked up a swordfish.  Weird, because just that morning, I had commented to a deckhand about the water being a bit green on the Pacific and that there were "perfect conditions for swordfish" and lo and behold the call comes in to say they have one on. Everybody was really excited, first swordfish of the season, not many caught in a year here, maybe in a good year perhaps ten for the whole Cabo fleet. Unlike other destinations we do not fish for swordfish at night, but find them up on the surface during the day. Hate to say it, but we are spoiled, "Why go out at night when fishing is so good during the day?" Honestly, I thought the fish would be one of those smaller start of the season fish, in fact it is rare that swordfish go over 200 lbs here, but as the afternoon wore on and the boat still wasn't back, I began to wonder...."probably a first time angler, struggling to reel it in...or maybe it's bigger than we think". I finally got the call from the dock that they had it on board around 4.00 pm and that they would be back in thirty minutes as they were close by.  We asked the captain over the phone, "How big?" and were delighted when he said 300-400 lbs. Everybody in the fleet got excited and rushed off to the dock to meet the boat, including our other captains who had already gone home for the day.

Al usually flyfishes for striped bass but caught a sailfish once in Guatemala.

The boat was only six miles off of the Old Lighthouse when they hooked the fish, so were back quickly and backed into the dock proudly with their fish and anglers.  As you can see from  the photos, it was a fat fish. I jumped aboard to talk to the angler, Al Monte from Sutton, Massachusetts who was rather dazed after fighting the fish alone for four hours straight.  This was Al's first trip to Cabo and he was celebrating his 60th birthday by going fishing with his two sons David 32 and Andrew 34. I was really blown away to learn this was not their only catch; they had released two striped marlin earlier in the day estimated at 140 and 160 lbs and then went on to catch six football-sized tuna too. It was later in the day when Captain Julio had spotted what he thought was another marlin on the surface. He saw its fin but then it raised his head and he knew it was a broadbill. Deckhand Martin quickly put a live green jack on the end of his line (80 lb test with 200 lb flurocarbon) and cast it confidently, accurately and strongly to the fish, landing about five feet from its bill. With no hesitation it snatched the bait and he hooked it, passing the rod to Al. The boys told me, "We finished the beer really quickly once we hooked that fish," but Al, a project manager for an electrical contracting company soldiered on. I asked him, "Did you ever feel like giving up or handing it off?" to which he replied "nope!" His sons added, "That fish was stubborn, but not as stubborn as our dad." which paid off as he was able to get the fish to the boat. When they gaffed it in the chest, the fish went nuts, almost taking the deckhand out and straightening the gaff in the process but they were able to get another on in it and quickly subdued the prize catch. Back at the dock it took some muscle to get it up on the scale where it registered 391 lbs, so we figure add another 10% for loss of body fluids, which puts it over 400 lbs.
Congratulations to the Monte boys and of course to our captain Julio Castro and his deckhand Martin Gonzalez....they make a great team! If you recall, they are the ones who had a 749 lb blue marlin one day before the Bisbee last year and were also the top release boat worldwide for striped marlin in 2011, according to the Billfish Foundation.
Posted by Tracy Ehrenberg

Proud anglers and crew at the weigh station

Fishing Update

March 3^rd to 9^th, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate 70%

Another Large Striper for the Rebecca

BILLFISH: This period we had a big moon all week, causing a bit of a downturn on marlin catches, nevertheless there were days when they were found close in to shore, at times less than a mile offshore near the old lighthouse. Thirty seven percent of boats managed to catch and release between one and three marlin in the 130 to 160 lb class. The big moon meant the fish had more hours to feed and not be as hungry during daylight hours and bait was not their absolute favorite with the majority being caballito rather than mackerel. “Rebecca” was the hot boat, releasing three stripers on March 7^th for Robert Ellis from Boston, Mass. Incredibly they caught all of their fish just one mile from shore on Jurelito, an even less favorable bait. This same day “Tracy Ann” released two in the same area for from Peter Hooshmand Australia, fishing with Sherminen Oftadeh from Vancouver, in the 140 to 150 lb class. “La Brisa” also had two marlin this day caught with mackerel in the same area for Alex Danis & Robert Tellier from Prevost, Canada. We had lots of other boats with a single marlin giving us a total of count of twenty two fish, all released. With the moon now waning we should see an increase on catches

OTHER SPECIES: We got really excited about a hot tuna bite, but it didn’t last.  We found them between 13 and 22 miles off of the Old Lighthouse, but they only stuck around for a couple of days.  “Tracy Ann” caught fifteen on feathers and cedar plugs for the Moors and Elerts from Frederic, WI in the 10 to 20 lb category, which kept them busy and gave them something to take home. “Adriana” had a perfect day on March 5^th with a striped marlin released, one 20 lb dorado and six tunas caught by Larry and Karen Fuller from Vashou, Washington. This same day “C Rod” had an interesting day for Ray & David Watts from Birmingham, Alabama, when they were fishing ten miles out from the Lighthouse, catching eight yellow fin tuna and three mako sharks up to 40 lbs that took live bait. Thirty five percent of boats caught tuna with catches ranging from one to fifteen fish per trip. Dorado catches were very slow with just four caught for our fleet. The yellowtail fishing was still happening but nowhere near as good as last month. The only other catches were of skipjacks the odd sierra and triggerfish.

LOCATION: Old Lighthouse, one to eighteen miles, Los Arcos, San Jaime.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny, flat seas, beautiful

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 69-72

BEST LURES: Live bait, cedar plugs, and feather.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Fish Report

February 25th to March 2nd, 2012
Overall Catch Success Rate 65%

February 28th, aboard Rebecca, one of four marlin released

BILLFISH: Although the overall catch success rate was lower this week due to less small game being caught, fishing did actually improve for billfish. We had the best marlin fishing of the year so far with many boats with double and triple marlin catches in a day. Top boat though was “Rebecca” on February 28th with four striped marlin released, as well as a blue shark for Ross Eremko, Cory Bogath, Candace Stadnicki & Ben Hellervik all from Calgary. The caught all their fish on live caballito at the 11.50 spot. This same day “Adriana” fished the same areas and managed to release three striped marlin, on live mackerel for Daniel Lavalle from Appleton, Wisconsin. Felix Gomez, from Santa Monica, Ca managed to release three marlin aboard “Yahoo” and be back in the harbor before 2.00 pm. Two anglers from Missouri caught three marlin aboard “Valerie” also at the 11.50 spot; well done to Ken Hagan & Brad Gordon. These were the better catches of the week, though there were plenty of boats that got one or two fish too. There were also quite a few that got skunked, despite being in the right place, namely the 11.50 spot, with the right bait, some fish simply could not be enticed to bite. Forty eight percent of Pisces boats caught marlin this week giving us a total of 28 striped marlin, with sizes ranging from 130 to 160 lbs. All but one were released.
OTHER SPECIES: Much slimmer pickings this week for smaller game, with just two dorado reported and one tuna though we did see some action on smaller bottom fish, as well as a few yellowtail, roosterfish, jack crevalle and bonita. We had two sharks released this week, both around the same size one a blue shark and the other a mako shark.

Of course we are going to release you, don't look so scared, shown here deckhand Luis Cota on the right and Calagary Angler Ross Eremko aboard Rebecca.

Nice shot, marlin is hooked and close to boat, deckhand Luis smiles up at the captain, pleased, fourth marlin of the day -nice sweatshirt too!

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Partly cloudy, seas moderate, calm at certain times of day, then wind picking up.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 69-72 F

BEST LURES: Live caballito, live mackerel.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

LOCATION: Top spot for marlin was the 11.50 spot on the Cortez side, smaller game were on the Pacific from the lighthouse to Las Margaritas.

Fishing Update

FEBRUARY 18th to 24th, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 86%

BILLFISH: We were pleased with the upturn in fishing this week, with decent catches of marlin, despite a drop in water temperature. This period started off with a few boats with single striped marlin in the 11.50 area of the Sea of Cortez. On February 18th, we saw a couple of boats step it up with “Yahoo” catching and releasing three striped marlin up to 160 lbs on live mackerel at Punta Gorda for David Attebery, Tim Smith and John Allan. This same day “Rebecca” had two on the same bait, in the same area for Kevin Sullivan from Champaign, Illinois fishing with buddy Will Klein. The marlin bite was fair to good one day, then down a day then back on again; “La Brisa” had two also at Punta Gorda for Brian & Glenn O´Neil from Kerwsburg N.J & Hudson N.Y on the 20th. This same day “Valerie” dii well to release three on live caballito for Mark Beckham, Scott Quaintana & Eddie Julian; all from North Carolina. “C Rod” had a nice variety bag for Matt Percy from Canton, Mi, with a striped marlin released, a dorado and four roosterfish. Thirty two percent of charters caught marlin this week, adding up to a total of twenty two fish, all released except one.

Not the biggest yellow fin tuna, but tasty and one of only four caught this week for the fleet; aboard La Brisa.

OTHER SPECIES: There was plenty of action on smaller game this week, so boats had to choose whether to head up to Punta Gorda to try for the not so certain marlin, or head up the Pacific where lots of fish were available. Top two smaller game this week were yellow tail, a delicious firm fleshed fish and roosterfish, a dream catch for lots of anglers but not considered good eating. The yellow tail were found at Los Arcos, with bait, rapalas and iron jigs working well and weights up to 35 lbs. Catches were not quite as plentiful as last week with the average catch being from one to four, nevertheless thirty percent of boats landed this species. Rooster fish began to bite mid-week and “Adriana” had an amazing day on smaller game with thirteen rooster fish up to 25 lbs, a yellow tail and three skipjacks for Daniel Sorenson from Hamilton, Montana. There were good amounts of sierra, skipjacks, some snappers and small groupers as well as jack crevalle. The only wahoo of the week was caught aboard “Rebecca” by Mike Ryan from Merrill,Wi, at the 11.50 spot on a petrolero lure, not big at 25 lbs, but tasty. We had just a few dorado, picked up in different locations and only three yellow fin tuna for the fleet, small at 15 lbs, aboard “La Brisa”
LOCATION: Punta Gorda and 11.50 for marlin, Pacific, Los Arcos for smaller game.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Windy on the Pacific most of the week, making for uncomfortable seas, nevertheless boats could hug the shore and avoid most of the chop. Calmer on the Cortez side.

BEST LURES. Live bait, huchis, light green, rapalas, petrolero.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 66-69 F

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

One Of Our Buddies

You know one of the most fantastic things about living in Cabo are the wonders of nature all around us.

How many people get to pet sea-lions as part of their every day job? In this clip we see Martin Gonzalez deckhand of the Tracy Ann, giving dead bait to our local friendly sea-lion Pancho.  He is a lovable beggar that has learned that tourists on sportfishing boats don’t mind parting with old bait at the end of the day. So how do you tell the difference between a seal and a sea- ion? Well this is a really easy way to remember; seals have no ears just holes for ears and sea lions have tiny ears – easy way to remember, sea lions, longer word have ears, seals shorter word, no ears.

FISHING UPDATE

FEBRUARY 11th to 17th, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate 86% for all Species Combined

Beautiful Yellowtail, our Number One Catch this week.

BILLFISH: It’s kind of embarrassing to write this section as it was super slow for marlin this last week, in fact we only caught one estimated at 120 lbs, aboard “ C Rod” by Brian Burnett from Burlington, Ontario on the 15th, at the Jaime Bank on the Pacific. We did also hear of a very nice fish with estimated between 580 and 682 lbs, (obviously fisherman because it got bigger as the day went on) aboard a vessel called Ziggy with Captain Manuel Dominguez. The angler was Bill Mason who took just one hour and thirty minutes to boat this large fish after it took a petrolero lure at the Cabrillo sea mount on the Cortez side. We did see some window shopping marlin, but they were not hungry at the close of this report boats were starting to see and hook marlin, with some triple hook ups.

These kids were thrilled with these huge yellowtail....they didn't need a marlin.

OTHER SPECIES: Yellow tail a hard fighting firm fleshed fish accounted for fifty one percent of our catches this week, giving us a total of eighty six fish caught. They were found close to Cabo and weighed anywhere from 18 to 40 lbs. Live bait and rapalas worked on getting this species to bite. Michael Hilbert from Emporia, Kansas reeled in eleven aboard “Ruthless” plus four sierras. “Bill Collector” was close behind with ten for Bill Hendricks from the unlikely sounding Chocowinity, N.C. (but it’s real we looked it up and it means little otters). Other catches were lots of sierra or Spanish mackerel, mojarras, a couple of rooster fish, skipjacks and even a hammerhead shark at Destiladeras for Ken Pekar aboard “Adriana”. The “Cabolero” was the only boat to catch yellow fin tuna, for Dean Smith from McDonough, Georgia, but they were not that big at 15 lbs.

Sierra were a lot of fun on light tackle and make excellent ceviche

LOCATION: Los Arcos, Migriño, Gaspareño., Jaime Bank, Punta Gorda, Pozo Cota, Margaritas.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: March like, partly cloudy and windy, seas rough on the Pacific.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 68 F

BEST LURES: Live caballito, rapalas, huchis, petrolero, green.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Nice Wahoo & Dorado Aboard Falcon

The Falcon did very well a couple of days ago, getting some serious fish, after all the small game it was nice to see some heavier hitters. Both fish were caught 15 miles off of Palmilla on  lures. The waho was 45 lbs and the dorado 40 lbs.. They also had three marlin strikes, but nothing that stuck. Show in the photos are Mike Connolly from Cabo/Montana and Captain Manuel Romero.

Nice Fish!

What do we do when there aren't many clients in town? Well we go fishing of course! Shown here is Abrahan Castro, with a lovely 42 lb yellow tail caught yesterday. Abrahan is the deckhand aboard 28 ft Andrea and also the son of long time captain Julio Castro, from Tracy Ann. Guess you could say fishing is in his blood.

Fish Report

February 4th to 10th, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate 83.33%
BILLFISH: Marlin was on the slow side this week as the water temperature dropped down to less than ideal for billfish. The full moon worked against us too, with hungry fish feasting at night then not being as hungry during daylight hours. The moon reached its zenith and is now waning, which means the fish should be getting hungry again. Just four striped marlin were caught this week, with “Bill Collector” releasing one on February 4th for John Mixon from Walton Beach, FL. On the February 6th, “Great Escape Jr” released one for Mark Corrigan from Boston, MA. The last two were released by Karl Pool, Ryan Hohimer & Curtis King from Kenewick, WA aboard the “Tracy Ann” who also landed a very nice 30 lb wahoo. A total of 4 billfish were caught this week, all released. Billfish success rate 16.66%
OTHER SPECIES: After a great week for tuna, they decided to go even further, last catches being at 40 to 50 miles out. Only the “Bill Collector” found 3 yellowfin tunas by the end of the week at San Jaime banks on the Pacific side and they were about 10 lbs each. The rest of the fleet did really good on small game, plenty of sierras or Spanish Mackerel, skipjack and yummy yellowtail are around for you to catch and cook.

LOCATION: Old lighthouse, Los Arcos, San Jaime, Balmaceda, ½ mile from Solmar Beach.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: 72 - 82F, Sunny days all week except in the early hours of Wednesday morning when we experienced cold weather and very unusual thunder and lightning, followed by light rain. The lowest temperature recorded was 55F on Sunday.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 68 - 72F

BEST LURES: Live bait, caballito, mackerel, huchis. Lures: Petrolero.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Jorge Narro & Tracy Ehrenberg