Pisces Fish Report
November 11th to 18th, 2009
Overall Catch Success Rate 99%
(Photo shown is of Ron Smart from Granbury, Tx with a 50 lb wahoo he caught aboard Ruthless)
BILLFISH: Weather is still hotter than normal in Cabo right now and so far the striped marlin have not shown up "en masse" as they did last year. However, reports from friends fishing Mag Bay tell us that they are thick up there and should not take too long to make their way down to us. Nevertheless catch rates are climbing slowly but surely, with the billfish catch rate this week at fifty five percent. This was not a problem though as pretty much all boats loaded up on dorado, some tuna and wahoo as well as a little over half catching marlin and some getting more than their fair share. "Get Over It" release eight striped marlin at the Golden Gate on November 17th for James Deluccini from Grove, California fishing with Mark Campbell and Ross Kline from Reno, Nevada; all were caught on live bait…. the day before on this same boat these guys released three stripers and caught twelve dorado. It comes as no surprise that this boat did well, seeing as the crew were crowned IGFA World Offshore Champions last week. Angler of the week though has to go to Johnny Mack Powers from Rockwall, Texas. During his six days fishing aboard "Bill Collector" and "Spartacus" he released one black marlin, estimated at 250 lbs, ten striped marlin, twenty six dorado, four wahoo up to 45 lbs and fifteen tuna, the largest over 100 lbs. "Rebecca" released four striped marlin on November 11th and there were several boats that had triple marlin days, such as "Andrea" and "La Brisa". Other boats had fabulous mixed bag days, such as "Great Escape Jr" on the 12th with two striped marlin released, three dorado, three tuna and a wahoo, or "Rebecca" with three marlin released, five dorado and a wahoo on the 13th for Claire Land and Gerald Richmond from Islamorada, Florida. "Andale" was our only boat this week to have a blue marlin, though it was on the small side, released and estimated at 150 lbs. Pisces anglers caught a total of 92 billfish this week consisting of 88 striped marlin, 2 sailfish, 1 blue marlin and 1 black marlin.
OTHER SPECIES: Dorado continues to totally dominate the sportfishing scene at Land's End; our final tally this week was a whopping 590, with many released to stay within allowed quotas. Weights are average at 15 to 35 lbs with catches ranging from one to twenty fish per boat. Ninety three percent of charters caught dorado. Green colored and Petrolero lures worked best and dorado were found on both the Cortez and Pacific with larger concentrations on the Pacific side. Yellowfin tuna catches were on the slow side with twenty one percent of boats finding football size fish and with catches of no more than eight per boat. The only exception to size were those caught by Johnny Mack Powers aboard Bill Collector, when he headed the opposite way to most boats and went to Gordo Banks where he got fish to 100 lbs on feathers and cedar plugs. We had 14 wahoo this week but sizes are no more than 40 lbs. Roosterfish are picking up nicely close to shore near the Lighthouse. The only other catch to speak of was some skipjack.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Seas were choppy with whitecaps on the Pacific at the start of this report but are now dead calm. Clear, sunny skies.
LOCATION: San Jaime, Golden Gate, Gaspareño, Migriño, Punta Gorda.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 79 F
BEST LURES: Live bait for striped marlin, assorted lures dorado, cedar plugs and feathers for tuna.
Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg
