Weekly Fish Report

MAY 11TH TO 17TH, 2013
Overall Catch Success Rate 88%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 67%, Dorado 36%, Small Game 28%

STRIPED MARLIN WERE THE NUMBER ONE CATCH IN CABO THIS WEEK

BILLFISH: The striped marlin bit is still not full throttle but we were really happy that they moved in closer to Cabo so that anglers don’t have to run thirty plus miles. Catches were excellent for some boats, with one of the top performers this week being Pisces Listo; they released three fish up to 150 lbs. 14 miles off of Palmilla on May 11th for Mark & Jim Fairchild from Houston, followed by four marlin on May 13th, this time at the 11.50 spot for Nathan Miller, Chase Anderson & Jordan Siu from British Columbia. Ernesto Rivera from San Diego completed this boats catching streak, with four marlin released on ballyhoo also at the 11.50 spot. Pisces Valerie had the highest one day marlin count with five stripers to the boat for Joby & Jose Yoby from Los Angeles, California. They used a combination of live caballito & frozen ballyhoo for bait. Davis Heeter from Las Vegas got lucky with three marlin aboard Pisces Tracy Ann , with Melissa Anderson along to help reel them in. Many of the marlin continue to gorge on the large squid in the area and we had several fish making it very clear where the expression “stuffed to the gills” came from. These fish took the bait offered them and when brought to the boat to be released, we could clearly see big squid poking out of their mouths. Sixty seven percent of our boats caught marlin this week, which is a decent figure. As mentioned above the good thing is that they have moved closer and although there were some days with picky eaters, or boats that drew a blank we ended up catching 73 marlin this week.

BETH AND BRENT ELLIOTT FROM N. CAROLINA, THREE MARLIN RELEASED ABOARD TRACY ANN

OTHER SPECIES: After marlin the next likeliest catch was dorado with thirty six percent of vessels landing between one and three fish when they found them. So average catches for this species. One of the better catches was for Craig Willett from Fallbrook, CA who fished with Gayle Willett from Bend, Oregon – they had a fantastic day aboard Pisces 28 ft. Adriana releasing two marlin and boating three dorado up to 18 lbs. A handful of mako sharks up to 50 lbs., were released – not that they were being intentionally fished for – in fact a ban on all sharks goes into effect this month; we will follow up with the details of the dates later. We had some nice spring time catches, such as those caught by Pisces Ruthless for Greg Weisz and friends from Wyoming. They caught eight roosterfish up to 25 lbs., five sierra up to 8 lbs. and four jack crevalle up to 20 lbs., all but a couple of fish were thrown back – what a nice day of inshore fishing! SURF FISHING: Michael McCourt fished a couple of days with Wesley and caught a jack crevalle as well as a 25 lbs. yellowtail which he kept – now that must have been fun on spinning tackle from the beach.
LOCATION: It’s pretty clear from the sea surface temperature charts why the fishing has moved closer as the temperature break can be seen clearly, which is why the 11.50 spot was one of the most popular along with cabeza de ballena, the 95 and Palmilla
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Nice, clear skies, warming up considerably, seas choppy on some days.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP:  We have 71 F water close to Cabo sitting next to 74 F; from the latest charts looks like fishing may move offshore again.
BEST LURES/BAIT: Live caballito, frozen ballyhoo, green colors.
Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

So What is That in the Marlin's Mouth?

Not too hard to guess and it explains why fishing is like it is....

Here's The Fish Report

MAY 3rd to 10th, 2013
Overall Catch Success Rate 71%
Numbers at a glance: Marlin 38%, Dorado 38%, Small Game 24%, Tuna 4%

Jessica Deal with Nicole Castaneda showing off one of five marlin they released - note the squid in the marlins mouth

BILLFISH: It was kind of feast or famine this week, with some days producing outstanding catches, only to be followed by a day or so with little to no catches. There is really no explanation just the time of year, as the season changes. Some scientists believe this to be a breeding time of year, whilst others claim that the fish are filling up on large squid and are less hungry. So if you were on a boat that found hungry fish the day you were out, it was fantastic, if you weren’t it was disappointing; but that’s fishing and a risk you have to take. One of the better dates turned out to be May 7th, when Pisces Valerie had a superb day for Gayle & William Schutze from Texas, who fished with friends Jean Maxwell, Dirk Richel, Maribel Cario & David Wenheimer – it was a good job they had so many friends aboard as they released eight striped marlin at the 180 spot on a combination of live caballito and frozen ballyhoo. Pisces C Rod was not too far behind the Valerie this day as they loaded up on six striped marlin plus two dorado, 32 miles out for Alfredo Cabrero from Mexico City. Robert Deal from Vienna, Virginia took his daughter Jessica and her friend Nicole out aboard Pisces Andrea, to celebrate the end of the school year and they had a blast releasing five striped marlin up to 150 lbs., 33 miles out. Pisces Tracy Ann had a brisk day for striped marlin but they had to go a long way, 36 miles in fact, so that Stephen Connolly, Catsun Richards, Thomas Rochow, Alyn Jones & Chad Olsen – all from Calgary, could release a marlin each, giving them a total of five fish for the day on May 6th. Listo and Valerie had quadruple marlin days later in the week. This week was more a question of going a long way and hoping you found hungry marlin when you got there. Nevertheless some superb catches were had as noted here, giving us a total of fifty striped marlin which were released.

50 lb wahoo on the Tracy ann for the birthday girl Kelly Ottmar,  she had a cake on board and the crew sang happy birthday in English and Spanish  - throw in a few marlin and you have the makings of a perfect day.

OTHER SPECIES: Not fantastic for smaller game though we did see an increase on dorado with thirty seven percent of the boats catching an average of one or two fish up to 15 lbs.  Butch Bustamente from Huntington Beach along with wife Kriste are long time Pisces clients and friends, who did better than average catching four dorado aboard Andrea 30 miles offshore.  Our total dorado catch was ten fish. Tuna catches were slow though C Rod did find a small school and land five. Pisces Tracy Ann had our only wahoo of the week a nice 50 lb. specimen caught by Mike McGurk from Newbury Park, California. Seeing as the majority of boats headed offshore for big game not many stayed in shore, however those that did caught skipjacks and some roosterfish.  Twenty four percent of our charters caught small game fish. Surfishing; Wesley had four days out this week resulting in catches of eleven red snapper and five jack crevalles.

LOCATION: Destiladeras, Herradura, 180 spot, 20 to 36 miles out. On the day the boats fished the Pacific they caught skipjack.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear skies, seas mostly calm.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 74F
BEST LURES: Live caballito, frozen ballyhoo, blue/white, green.
Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

This is What Makes It Worthwhile

 

We need to thank you for another fabulous fishing trip! I took my daughter Jessica and her college friend Nicole out for a day of fishing yesterday, to celebrate the end of their school year at Christopher Newport University in Virginia. Although Jessica has fished with me before on my trips with you over past years, this was a first time for Nicole, and Orlando and Abram showed them a superb time on the Andrea. We started the day with a double hook-up with both girls in the chairs, and although Nicole's fish was able to throw the hook, it was just a taste of what was to come.

 

Nicole had a second chance later, I had a good turn, and just before lines-out, the girls were back on deck with a double hook-up again, with both fish brought to the boat and released. In all, we saw nine marlin, hooking up on seven, and catching and releasing five. We could not have asked for better support and effort from both Orlando and Abram, especially as the last two fish took us late into the afternoon---we did not make it back to the marina until 5:00.
Pisces is, as always, the best! I am attaching a couple of photos of all the fun.

Many thanks!

 

Robert D. Jr.

Vienna, VA

 

 

 

 

Ruthless Does it Again....Wahoo

Ruthless does it again on the wahoo.....this crew know how to catch wahoo, as long as they are around, they can find them. David Eoff, David Scalf & Robert Peters from Louisiana and Texas, caught this nice 45 lb wahoo and also released two marlin. Not too shabby guys.

Latest Fishing Update

APRIL 27TH to May 2nd, 2013

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 87%
Numbers at a glance: Marlin 75%, Dorado 15%, Small Game 19%
BILLFISH: After such stupendous fishing as reported last week, we were hoping for more of the same and we did to a degree have this, but not in the same numbers. That said striped marlin was the number one catch this week in Cabo. This report is covering one day less than normal as it is going out a bit early, which may affect the numbers a little.  April 28th was one of the better days, which is when Pisces Tracy Ann released four striped marlin at Destiladeras for Jordan Malugan and Lucy Hutchinson from San Diego, California. This same day the 35 ft. Cabo Listo, managed to release three marlin up to 130 lbs. and boat two medium size dorado for Mark Cuny and Alex Albaum from Grass Valley, California. Destiladeras seemed to be producing the action, but not all fleets fish there, as it is a long way from Cabo and diesel costs are high – it goes without saying that Pisces boats have no restrictions on diesel and we go wherever the fish are, however this spot is about the limit for travel on a day trip. It was at this spot that Pisces Adriana had an action packed day for David and Brenda Wanous from Praine, Minnesota when they reeled in four striped marlin, caught on ballyhoo, before letting them go. Pisces Fearless a 50 ft. Viking had an enviable day on April 27th for anglers Mark Snyder and Mark Hagen from College Station, fishing with Brian and William Jaynes from Dallas, when they released two marlin and then boated two Dorado and a 45 lb. wahoo. Three quarters of our boats caught marlin this week, with catches around one to three marlin per boat, the majority caught up in the Sea of Cortez between Cerro Colorado and Destiladeras. Our anglers caught a total of 52 striped marlin, which were all released.  On the last day of this report, fishing went flat and boats that had done well all week drew a blank, as colder water moved into what had been productive fishing grounds.
OTHER SPECIES: Seeing as the boats were concentrating offshore for big game not a great deal of small game fish were caught this week, however, Dorado catches made for a surprise when trolling for marlin and a few boats picked up as many as four in a day up to 20 lbs., though it was more likely one or two fish.  Just fifteen percent of our boats found this tasty species giving us a total count of ten fish. It was nice to see some wahoo again this week – of course wahoo expert Captain Leon from the Ruthless had a 45 lb’er as well as two striped marlin for some anglers from Louisiana. We had two other wahoo around the same size aboard Tracy Ann and Fearless, respectively. Inshore the boats caught a few skipjack, some nice jack crevalle and a couple of yellowtail up to 30 lbs. We did hear that the rooster fish action was pretty good for boats fishing around the Old Lighthouse.
SURF FISHING: Wesley did not have a lot of trips this week but caught five sierra and ten jack crevalle for three trips.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Windy the first couple of days of the week with some fog on the Pacific, seas moderate to calm on the Cortez side – clear, sunny skies.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 70-72 F
BEST LURES: Live caballito, frozen ballyhoo, red/black for wahoo, green/yellow.
Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Amazing Marlin Bite in Cabo

April 20th to 26th, 2013

Overall Catch Success Rate 91%
Numbers at a glance: Marlin 76%, Dorado 18%, Tuna 3.5%, Small Game 11%

According to Bob Sallis the "best marlin day ever"

BILLFISH: All we can say is “wow”, what a turnaround, this past week we had a growing moon, with full moon on Thursday the 25th, which is when we had the best catches of the week. It just goes to show that there are no set rules when it comes to fishing.  It is generally thought, big moon at night, fish feed at night, less hungry during the day. Try telling that to Captain Abel of the Pisces “C Rod” – he had a group of Canadians on board from Queen Charlotte, who must have thought they were dreaming as they hooked marlin after marlin, outside of Punta Gorda until they had reeled in fifteen fish in the 100 to 150 lb. class. One of the anglers got so excited, that he stripped off his shirt and dove into the water to hug his marlin before safely releasing it. Pisces Rebecca had an outstanding day too, releasing nine marlin at Destiladeras for Dave Burton and friends from Mount Vernon, Washington. The Tracy Ann always seems to do well and as is his custom, Julio worked hard to catch and release six striped marlin for Emilio Lopez and the Barrios brothers from Miami, Florida.  Other boats this day released between two and five marlin.  The following day, boats headed in the same direction on the Cortez side up to Destiladeras where they again encountered great fishing; top boat this day was Pisces La Brisa with seven marlin released for Steve & Cheryl Mazzuca fishing with Jamie & Carrie Jose, all from Washington State. The boat that had alerted the fleet to the bumper marlin catches though was Pisces Yahoo, who found them at Destiladeras on April 22nd and managed to release seven for Marshall Tate and friends from Salt Lake City. Of course we did have a couple of boats that got “skunked” which is horrible if you happen to be one of the few boats that did not catch, but even these crews did see fish and cast bait to them but were just unable to get any takers. Overall though the marlin bite was very good with seventy six percent of our charters catching and releasing marlin. If the weather stays good, we believe we will see even better numbers of marlin as we get into May. Remember there was a reason that the IGFA World Offshore Championship, picked May as a prime month in Cabo. In other words buy your plane tickets and give us a call. Pisces anglers caught a total of 90 striped marlin this week with all but one released.

60 lb wahoo on the Ruthless

OTHER SPECIES: Pretty much all the boats that we sent this week concentrated on marlin and there was not a great deal of smaller offshore fish to be had anyway. Two very nice fish though were a couple of wahoo, at 60 and 65 lbs., the first was aboard Pisces Ruthless who seems to have a knack for this species and the second was aboard Pisces C Rod. Dorado catches were on the slow side with eighteen percent catching the odd fish here and there whilst trolling for marlin. One exception was Pisces Tracy Ann, who caught four up to 20 lbs. at Destiladeras as well as releasing five striped marlin for Dave Burton and friends - what an ideal day. Tuna catches were very slow with just a few 10’lb’ers picked up. Inshore pangas could catch up to fifteen skipjack in a day and the odd yellow tail. Surf Fishing: Wesley had a total of four trips this week which led to a total of 11 sierras, 13 jack crevalle and 1 red snapper – resulting in happy anglers. With the wind dying down the casts have been easier to make and the hook up ratio much higher.

Wesley shows off a nice size jack crevalle, known locally as a "Toro".

WEATHER: Clear skies, still a couple of chilly mornings, whitecaps on Pacific earlier in the week now calm. Cortez side we did have some big swells, now calmer.
LOCATION: Destiladeras, Punta Gorda, 11.50 spot, 22- 25 miles out, Herradura.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: The satellite imagery makes it pretty clear why they are catching fish on the Cortez side at that particular point. The Pacific shows 67-68 F and the Cortez Destiladeras areas shows 73 F.
BEST LURES: Live caballito or frozen ballyhoo.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Better Late Than Never Fish Report

April 13-19th, 2013
Overall Catch Success Rate 71%
Numbers at a glance: Marlin 49%, Dorado 7%, Small Game 38%, Tuna 0%
BILLFISH: Seems like March fishing in April right now, with inconsistency being the watchword, nevertheless we can’t complain as a little over seventy percent of our boats caught fish of some type and almost half of our charters did manage to catch striped marlin. One of the better days was April 19th when the boats headed towards the Herradura, about one hour and fifteen minutes from port, where a combination of ballyhoo and caballito did the job in getting three marlin for Pisces Adriana with David & Matt Yocum, from San Francisco on board.  This same day Pisces Cabolero also released three and our top boat this day was Pisces Ruthless for Ben Onanian, Peter Din and Brian Yee from Sacramento, who did extremely well to release five marlin. We found out why the fish have been so picky; they captains have reported spotting marlin and throwing bait to them, but many showed no interest, it seems that they have been gorging themselves on large squid – one of the marlins that Ruthless released spat up a large squid that it had already swallowed before it took the bait. Simple choice for a fish, 1 lb. baitfish or 10 lb. squid? The Enquist’s, John Senior and Junior had to run a long way aboard Pisces La Brisa on April 15th, forty one miles to be exact, but it paid off as they were able to release four striped marlin that weighed between 100 and 150 lbs. Some days the boats would get one or two marlin each, then the next day only half of them would catch a single marlin, next day it would rebound and so it went throughout this period. Pisces anglers caught a total of 40 striped marlin this week; all were released.

Deck hand Beto shows off a 12 lb squid that one of five marlin released aboard Ruthless spat out
 

OTHER SPECIES: Not a great deal happening for smaller game offshore this week, with just three dorado caught for the fleet and no tuna taken. Inshore, however between pangas and surf fishing trips the success rate was thirty eight percent. Boats caught jack crevalles up to 40 lbs., quite a few skipjacks, sierra and a few yellow tail.  Surf fishing guide Wesley struggled on some of the windy days but still achieved some good catches, like on April 16th when he caught a sierra and five jack crevalles off of Sunset Beach. He outdid himself on April 18th when he released nine jack crevalle up to 15 lbs. plus a sierra.

Beautiful Jack Crevalle almost 40 lbs with our Surf Fishing Guide Wesley

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Windy most of the week, seas rough on the Pacific, moderate to calm on the Cortez side.
LOCATION: Predominantly the Cortez side, Medano Blanco, Destiladeres, Punta Gorda, Los Frailes, Herradura.
BEST LURES: Live bait.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Fishing News

April 6th to 12th, 2013
Overall Catch Success Rate 82%
Number at a glance: Billfish 50%, Dorado 46%, Tuna 3.5%, Small Game 21%
BILLFISH:  Striped marlin were the most likely catch for Pisces anglers this week, though it was rather up and down. Some days we had good catches when boats caught up to four in a day, followed by a drop down to one per day. As the week progressed, it was marlin catches one day, none the next, or half the boats caught and the others caught dorado or nothing. The water looks good, the temperature is a little lower than last week, but the fish on many days simply weren’t hungry. That said half of the boats we sent out did catch marlin. A contributing factor to the lower catch rate this week was the windy weather – our skittish new Port Captain, closed the port on two occasions; never heard of for this time of year. It was windy in Cabo, but up at San Jose where the boats were fishing, it was a different story. The beginning of this report is when we saw the better catches, such a Pisces Andrea with four striped marlin released for Dave Deeg & Randy Dodge from Alberta. Pisces Rebecca always seems to make the fish report and this week was no exception – they released four striped marlin and boated a dorado for the Roeder boys from Durham, New Hampshire on April 7th.  Shambala was another of our boats with a four marlin day, six miles out from San Jose for Phillipe Roux from New York. Alan Greg and Daniel Atlas from Los Angeles had a great day aboard Tracy Ann, releasing three marlin and boating two dorado up to 30 lbs. La Brisa and Yahoo also had a triple marlin day.  In the last few days captains report the fish as being “picky eaters and not hungry”, which means they are sighting them and throwing bait, but only hooked up half the time towards the end of this report.  Sounds like how March should have been. Ballyhoo and caballito were the bait of choice; mackerel would probably be even better. Pisces anglers caught a total of 51 striped marlin this week, all but one released.

The Roeder boys from New Hampshire, had one of the better days aboard Rebecca, releasing four marlin and boating a dorado.

 OTHER SPECIES: The second most likely catch after marlin this week was dorado, with forty six percent of charters landing between one and three.  The dorado were taken on lures whilst trolling and looking for marlin and weighed up to 35 lbs. Tuna catches were super slow though we did have five aboard Pisces Valerie for Greg Nichols, who also caught a dorado and released a striped marlin. Pretty small though at no more than 20 lbs. The boats really only caught skipjacks in shore, but where we saw some fantastic catches was from the shore, where our surf fishing expert Wesley got clients multiple hook ups on sierra as well as some nice jack crevalle and even a red snapper. Wesley’s best day produced 24 sierra and 5 jack crevalle, at his top secret spot – the majority of these fish were released.
LOCATION: Punta Gorda, Cerro Colorado, Chileno, 95 spot, Cabeza de Ballena.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Most days windy but boats managed to fish within the wind line on the Cortez; Pacific rough.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 69 F
BEST LURES: Live bait, ballyhoo.
Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Latest Fish Report

March 30th to April 5th, 2013
Overall Catch Success Rate 92%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 83% Dorado 39% Tuna 3% Small Game 16%

Hey, I would smile for the camera, but you've got my nose!

 

BILLFISH: We were shocked at how good the marlin fishing was at the start of the report, in fact we can’t remember a March when marlin fishing was so good. The catches on March 30th were quite astounding, starting with Pisces Shambala who had Antonio Buchanan from Napa aboard with friends. They fished off of Medano Blanco and released eight striped marlin and a sailfish, as well as catching a wahoo, two dorado and four jack crevalle. This same day Pisces Tracy Ann also released eight striped marlin between 100 and 140 lbs. for Mark Constancio from Neenah Wisconsin. Pisces Rebecca didn’t have as many marlin, with just six, but they did release a sailfish and then boated two wahoo. Other boats caught between five and marlin this day giving us some of the best results of the month.  Catches did not remain at this speed though; they slowed in the following day to one to four billfish per boat and then declined a little throughout the week when boats caught dorado and skipjacks, with some marlin in the mix. Marlin were caught every day, with one to three fish more the norm and of course there were a few boats that got “skunked”; eight percent to be precise. So very high catch rates anywhere in the world, just a downer if you were in the percentage that didn’t catch. To hook up boats used a combination of live bait, frozen ballyhoo and lures with all the catches taking place on the Cortez side. Marlin were the number one catch in Cabo this week with eighty three percent of our charters successful for this species. We caught a total of 93 striped marlin and 4 sailfish, all but one billfish released.

Two of the larger dorados this week

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches edged up slightly this week to thirty nine percent, but the number of fish caught was not huge at one to four fish per boat, when found, with weights from 20 to 35 lbs. Our total dorado count this week was thirty nine fish. Yellow fin tuna catches really dwindled with just two boats catching school size fish, no more than eight fish landed when found. It was nice to see some wahoo, one of the top eating fish you can catch, however, they  were far from plentiful and sizes no more than 35 lbs. A few skipjacks were caught as well as yellowtail.  We had some jack crevalle from the beach and boats.  A solitary mako shark, around 40 lbs. was released aboard Cabolero by Leticia Echeverria from Tabasco, who also let a striped marlin go and boated a jack crevalle.
LOCATION: Cortez – Destiladeres, Punta Gorda, Medano Blanco, 11.50 spot, 95 spot.
WEATHER: Great – clear sunny skies, calm seas.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 69F-72F
BEST LURES: Ballyhoo, caballito, blue/white, red/black.
Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg