Latest Fish Report

PISCES FISH REPORT


MARCH 11th to 23rd, 2010

OVERALL CATCH SUCCESS RATE 91%

BILLFISH: Well there has been plenty of activity fishing wise, just not for the big game that Cabo is famous for. Marlin were again few and far between as we go through the March “doldrums”. Even when spotted it was frustrating for anglers as at times they could see marlin within six feet of the boat and would cast bait over and over again, dead, live, whatever they could, but still the marlin would just look and swim off. Nevertheless we did have a couple of boats that did very well managing to find fish that were actually hungry. On March 17th “Bill Collector” headed up to Punta Gorda with Mark Chiavetta on board from San Jose, California, where he was fortunate to release three striped marlin on live caballito (not marlin’s favorite bait); they also got four skipjacks. Next up were Josef & Rachel Poncik from Richmond, Texas, who were here on their honeymoon. They went out on “Tracy Ann” and ended up 30 miles out from Cerro Blanco, where they managed to release two striped marlin, the first for each one of them, also with live caballito. On March 20th, “Andrea” released three marlin just five miles off of Cerro Colorado for James Collazo from Queen Creek, Arizona, sharing the boat with Tifanie Tuchshere & Melissa Hernandez from McMinnville, Oregon. This was one of those times when things worked out perfectly where we were able to pair people up via our boat share program and each person got a fish. As seen from the catches mentioned above, fish were not in one location but in diverse areas. Just eighteen percent of charters caught marlin this week, giving us a total of 18 caught, with all but one 110 lb fish released.

OTHER SPECIES: The best big game catch this week was yellowfin tuna. Thirty percent of boats caught between one and eighteen fish in the 15 to 25 lb class. Top tuna boat was “Valerie” for 18 and 1 dorado at the 95 spot for Scott Zivic and David Pathworth from Iowa City. “Tracy Ann” came second with 17 for Judy Davis and friends from Victoria, Canada, thirty miles out from Land’s End. Total tuna count was 106 fish. Dorado catches were on the slow side with just five caught, all random catches whilst trolling for marlin or tuna. As expected in March, the inshore fishing can be very good and boats loaded up on sierra, taken on lighter tackle, thirty five percent of charters caught sierra up to 12 lbs with catches ranging from a solitary fish to a whopping fifty-six aboard “Andrea”….of course the majority were released –final count was 322 sierra. Catches on large squid were also high and on a couple of days you didn´t even have to board a boat, you could just drag them out of the surf on the main beach. For some strange reason, the annual squid run brought them the closest to shore that we have seen in decades resulting in them washing up on the Medano Beach. Those fishing aboard boats had fun pulling in these hefty and strong fighters, with catches of up to twenty in a day up to 40 lbs. We know of one angler and crewman who were unceremoniously squirted with squid ink, the crewman taking a direct hit in his open mouth, whilst getting ready to release one of these creatures. Other small game catches were pargo, cabrilla, triggerfish, skipjack, jack crevalle, roosterfish and yellowtail.

LOCATION: Diverse, Gordo Banks, Chileno, Cerro Blanco, 95 Spot, Morros Prietos, 11.50 spot, Palmilla, Las Margaritas, slightly more activity on the Cortez side this period.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Pretty nice, some beautiful days but with marked differences in weather, one day windy on the Pacific smooth on the Cortez and vice versa.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 69 F

BEST LURES: Live bait for marlin, cedar plugs and petrolero lures for tuna, hoochis and rapalas for squid and sierra.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

PHOTOS SHOWN ARE OF JOSEF & RACHEL PONCIK FROM RICHMOND, TEXAS...BOTH CAUGHT THEIR FIRST EVER MARLIN ON THEIR HONEYMOON ABOARD TRACY ANN.

Fishing Report for March 1st to 10th, 2010.

Pisces Fish Report

March 1st to 10th, 2010

Overall Catch Success Rate 89.4%
BILLFISH: This week we saw a marked improvement on billfish catches with forty percent of charters catching marlin, up considerably from last week’s fourteen percent. Our little 28 ft “Andrea” was on a roll this week, being our best marlin producer with a total of seven; they even caught two the same day, plus a mako shark, for Jeff Crawford and Ryan Hunt from Burlington, Vermont. They fished very close in at just two and a half miles from Pedregal on March 7^th.  However, as mentioned in our last few fish reports, the fish are not sticking to one location. “Andrea” did well close in as mentioned above, but then went a couple of hours up the coast the next day to get another marlin at Golden Gate for Jay Harvey and friends from Senela, Illinois. We had a couple of other boats that also caught two marlin in a day; “Attitude Adjustment” on March 7^th, was fishing four miles off of Los Arcos with the Walker family aboard from Beaumont, Texas when they were able to release two striped marlin, just over 100 lbs, that took live bait. They then came closer to shore to catch seven sierra.  “Yahoo” out on March 8^th, fished a completely different location, this time in the Sea of Cortez at the 95 spot  with Dan Sheard and John McGraner on board, both from New Jersey, who were fortunate to release a striped marlin each that had taken live mackerel.  Despite the improvement on the marlin front we did have some slow days, such as March 9^th when several boats drew a blank.  Pisces anglers caught a total of 25 striped marlin this week of which all but one was released. A couple of boats spotted swordfish but had no luck in getting them to bite.
OTHER SPECIES: After marlin, yellowfin tuna were the next most likely catch on the big game scene. Even though less boats caught tuna, when they did the quantities of fish were higher, with catches of up to eighteen fish in the 18 to 30 lb class.  With better catches tending to be offshore; “C Rod” caught the eighteen mentioned above but had to go 38 miles offshore to do so, for Tom Johnson and friends from Phoenix, Arizona.  A combination of rapalas, feathers, and regular lures all worked. Of course the tuna did not stay put, but were also found in the Sea of Cortez and other diverse locations. Dorado catches slowed down quite a lot this week with just seventeen percent of charters catching an odd fish here and there.  Inshore fishing remains good and in fact there were some days that were so windy and rough, it was practically the only option.  The most abundant inshore catch was sierra, as well as some triggerfish, roosterfish, skipjacks and jack crevalles.  Not to mention large squid up to 40 lbs and a few small mako sharks.
LOCATION: No one set location though Pacific tended to be more productive.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Partly overcast, windy, seas on the rough side, now calming, rain on March 6^th.
AVERGE WATER TEMP: 69-70 F
BEST LURES:  Live bait for marlin, hoochis, rapalas inshore, assorted feathers.
 Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Dutch Angler, Wout Van Etten gives this Striped Marlin a smooch, although where not to sure the Marlin is to happy about it!

Jay Harvey Testimonial

Tracy
Buenos Días

Attached is one of the fish that we got on the Adriana Tuesday with Captain Orlando and Abraham. Orlando and Abraham are great guys who are true sportsman in every meaning of the word. They helped our USA/Canadian Team not only bring in this Marlin after 2.5 hours but we also caught a nice Dorado and the crew made several attempts on the way back when we came across yet another school of not so hungry Marlin! The trip was beyond my expectations and it was great to meet you as well.

Happy Fishing,

Jay Harvey
Seneca Illinois

 

*Please note the Boat was actually Andrea not the Adriana, and the Marlin died after a lenghty fight.

Tsunami Videos

Here are some videos on youtube of the Tsunami effects here in the Cabo San Lucas marina, it was generated from the massive earthquake in Chile on Saturday.

February 18th to 28th,2010

Overall Catch Success Rate 86%

BILLFISH: Last week we talked about how the fishing was "March like", now we are practically in March and it hasn't changed. We often refer to this as the March doldrums, but in reality there is lots of activity on the fishing front, just not for marlin. There has been no one location where boats were sure to spot marlin and we are not seeing them congregate in any one area. As an example let's look at some of the locations of where marlin were caught; the envy of everybody this week was "Andrea" for catching and releasing two striped marlin for Brian, Jason & Pat Garret from Breton, Canada – one of their fish was hooked up outside the Golden Gate and the other three miles out from Las Margaritas. Later in the week this same boat released a striper twelve miles out from Golden Gate where they were also very fortunate to get eight yellowfin tuna for Lee Pearson from Paynesville, Florida. "Falcon" on the other hand, went the opposite direction, into the Sea of Cortez and released a striped marlin at the Herradura. This same day "Rebecca" released a marlin eighteen miles from where Falcon got their fish and at the same time "Tracy Ann" released a marlin thirty five miles from the Old Lighthouse. So you couldn't really get a wider range if you tried as each of the locations mentioned above is at the limit of day charter range and all in completely different areas. This is probably why our billfish catch rate was a low fourteen percent, consisting of a total of eight fish, all released.

OTHER SPECIES: Catches for other traditional catches, considered staples of the Cabo fishery were also only average with twenty percent of boats catching dorado, though seldom more than a single fish in the 15 to 25 lb class. Yellowfin tuna catches were on par with that of marlin with fourteen percent of boats hooking fish up to 30 lbs, but the difference here was that when found they could catch up to thirteen in a day. "No Big Deal" was the top tuna boat with thirteen caught, plus two dorado four miles out from the Old Lighthouse for Gary Wade from Pickering, Ohio, fishing with friends. We had several sharks this week "Andrea" taking top honors again, this time for two mako sharks for Naomi Kretzwieser & Paul Handley from Canada, one was very big at 130 lbs and the other was estimated at 60 lbs, they also caught six sierras, all between Gaspareño and Golden Gate. "C-Rod" released the only hammerhead shark, estimated at 60 lbs and also caught a dorado, 20 miles from Moro Prieto for Steve Henager from Kennewick, Washington. Now, a big story……do you remember the odd ratfish from last year? Well another one appeared this week, at almost the exact same location. This time Fish Cabo was out between eight and nine miles from Cerro Blanco, looking for marlin, when they saw birds in a feeding frenzy on the surface of the water, they zipped over there and immediately recognized as that what the birds were pecking at was a ratfish. It was already dead and starting to decompose, so the deckhand carefully scooped it up in his bait net to bring back to shore, where we have it safely stored for scientists to pick up. This one was larger than the previous one and did not have the feather/lure type thing on its forehead like the previous one. Going back to regular news, the small game catches were excellent with well over eighty percent of boats catching a mixture of sierra, roosterfish, large squid, sea bass, snappers, bonitas and even a solitary wahoo. "Rebecca" fished at Punta Lobos near Todos Santos and caught and released twenty roosterfish, two sierras and a tuna for Matt & Stacey Osiecki, from Tallahassee, Florida – what a fun and active day they had. "La Brisa" fished half a mile from Chileno and landed five large squids, the biggest topping out at 40 lbs (that's a lot of calamari!) and also got three sierra and a roosterfish for Robert Mabry & Dennis Jones from South Whitley, Indiana.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Beautiful, clear sunny skies, windy some days, seas calm to moderate. Very weird…..we were affected by the Tsunami caused by the earthquake in Chile. On February 27^th, starting at noon and lasting until 2.00 pm, the water level in the marina would rise and fall, sucking back and making the pelicans float by in reverse. Nobody here had ever seen anything like it. We saw the sand in some places of the marina. The water got so low in the area where our boats leave from that you could walk from the seawall across the sand to our floating dock, which was no longer floating…then the tide would come back in. There was no damage at all, but it was an eerie experience.

LOCATION: No one set area, though smaller game was better on the Pacific.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 74 F; higher than it should be for this time of year.

BEST LURES: Live bait for marlin, assorted green colored lures for dorado, cedar plugs and marlin lures for tuna, hoochis and rapalas inshore.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg