Latest Fish Report

December 18th to December 23rd, 2010

Overall Catch Success Rate 88.58%

BILLFISH: Billfish catches showed a slight improvement this week but are still on the slow side, nevertheless our boats are still seeing marlin – getting them to take bait has been the more difficult task. Although yellow fin tuna remained the main target of anglers, twenty three percent of our boats did manage to catch billfish this week. The 22nd was the best day for billfish when we had such catches as those aboard “Tracy Ann” for a group from Ontario, Canada with one striped marlin released at Los Arcos. “Rebecca” also released one striped marlin for the Fransen family from Oklahoma at the same spot. The Morgan´s from Mesquite, TX had a fun day aboard “Bill Collector” releasing one striped marlin as well as boating three dorado and five yellow fin tuna between 20 to 30 lbs. This same day “La Brisa” released one striped marlin and caught thirteen yellow fin tuna between 15 to 45 lbs for Martin Sisk and family from McArthur, Ca… god job guys! On the 20th, the Stephenson family from Camargo, OR caught one striped marlin and one yellow fin tuna at sixteen miles out from the Jaime bank.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches continue steady with twenty percent of our boats catching between one to eight fish. On the 21st, “Attitude Adjustment” did very well for Dennis Elliot and friends from Oklahoma boating eight dorado in the 30 to 40 lbs range, twenty seven miles out from Cerro Blanco; the fish took a combination of lures and live bait. Actually we should mention that this day the captain rescued a couple of tourists on a panga – they were bobbing around in the ocean and have no idea how lucky they were that Captain Edgar spotted them and came to their assistance. He could not leave them there, so they towed the panga closer to the shore and let them use his mobile to call someone to pick them up. Special thanks to Dennis Elliot for his kindness and understanding, as his fishing day was cut short. This same day “La Brisa” boated six dorado between 20 to 30 lbs for Hagan family from Kansas City, KS; they also caught five yellow fin tuna. Tuna catches were still number one this report with fifty two percent of our boats catching between one and twenty seven fish. Top tuna boat was “Valerie” on the 20th for Cameron Blair and friends from Edmonton, Canada landing twenty seven yellow fin tuna, pretty much all football size, which took cedar plugs and hoochis. Another group from Canada out on “Tracy Ann” was not far behind with twenty tuna for James Giffin and friends from Ontario; they went twenty nine miles out from the 210 spot. The next day “Tracy Ann” did well again for Todd Kershbaum w family and friends from Houston, TX boating sixteen tuna between 15 to 40 lbs; they tried the same spot as the previous day, which worked out for them. On the 22nd Larry Hollington and friends from Georgia had a good day aboard “Valerie” boating twelve football size tuna; they will have plenty fillets to take home. On the 21st, Chuck Weatherly and friends from Kansas City, KS caught five yellow fin tuna aboard “Adriana”, one of them weighed 70 lbs – the largest of the week; they were fortunate to release a striped marlin as well. Our total tuna count was one hundred and forty three fish.

As to other species we had some rooster fish, Spanish mackerel, amberjack and jack crevalle.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, seas mostly calm, cooler mornings.

LOCATION: Pacific Side - Golden Gate, Los Arcos, Migriño, Gaspareño, La Ballena, Old light house, San Jaime, 180 spot, 210 spot, Cerro Blanco,

AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 74 F

BEST LURES; Cedar plugs, tigrillo, green, red/black, green/yellow, red/orange, petrolero, rapalas, hoochis, guacamayo, white/blue

Live ballyhoo and caballito

Based on the catches of Pisces by Ale Almada & Tracy Ehrenberg.

Year Production Results 2010 - Fish Success

Last week we had our annual Christmas get together for the Pisces crew. This is to share some time from our busy schedules and to remember and recognize what the key to our success is  -namely the captains and mates. It is a great time of camraderie, tacos, tamales, singing and fun. We also award the crews based on their production throughout the year, with awards given for most tuna caught, most dorado caught, most marlin caught and the top prize being, the best overall catch rate, meaning which boat came back most often with fish of any type.  It was extremely close in all categories, with just a decimal point difference between four boats for the top prize.  Results were as follows:

Top marlin boat went to Tracy Ann.

Top tuna boat was Andrea

Top dorado boat was Ruthless

Overall best boat was La Brisa with an 89.53 catch success rate.

The average for the fleet combined was 88.62% which is high - this number was the average chance you had of catching fish with Pisces.

Here are a few photos of the event.

Ady & Ale get into the swing of things with the band

Ale, Tracy & Ady Pose for the camera

Enrique - this guy normally fillets the fish, but is handy with a violin as well as a knife.

Top Tuna Boat was Andrea, shown here are Orlando and Abram recieving their prize.

Next up were Beto & Leon from Ruthless for top dorado boat.

 Top marlin boat for the second year in a row was for Julio & Martin from Tracy Ann

 And the winners were...Salvador & Rey from La Brisa

Fish Report

December 10th to December 17th, 2010

Overall Catch Success Rate 83.79%

BILLFISH: The billfish catches have not been as good as we would like them to be and we are still waiting for the winter weather to start, which hopefully will tempt marlin closer as water temperatures drop nearer to the ideal that they prefer. Boats have reported seeing striped marlin, but getting them to eat was another story. This prompted anglers to go in search of the more cooperative species of tuna and dorado. Just two boats were fortunate to release billfish this week. One of them was “C-Rod” on the 11th for Daniel Rodriguez and Neil Hoyos from California; they released one striped marlin and were lucky to catch three nice yellow fin tuna between 40 to 60 lbs. “Cabolero” released one striped marlin at the end of this report for Rob Lyn, Isaac Chavoya and Aaron Brady from Dallas, TX; in addition to this they caught six yellow fin tuna and one dorado.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches were fair with twenty nine percent of our boats landing between one to nine fish. The best day was on the 11th, when “Rebecca” boated nine dorado between 20 to 25 lbs for John Little and Lisa Nylund from Castle Rock, CO and Michael Arzewski from New York City. This same day “Adriana” also caught nine dorado for Marvin and Jennifer Shirley and friends from Tulsa, OK; they boated six yellow fin tuna as well. Tuna catches have provided entertainment to our anglers being the number one catch this week with sixty three percent of our boats catching between one to twenty one fish. Top tuna boat was “Tracy Ann” with twenty one tuna for Tamara and Lance Million from Palmer, Alaska; they found a school at ten miles out from the old lighthouse on the Pacific. Chris Tisornia from New Cannon, CT and John Meserve from New York City had a great day aboard “Attitude Adjustment” on the 11th, boating eighteen yellow fin tuna in the 20 to 30 lb class; they went to San Jaime bank. “Rebecca” on the 14th caught eighteen tuna too for Arle Long and Anni Hakman from San Antonio, TX. On the 11th, Steve Dick from Phoenix, AZ and Robert Schwab from Seattle, WA were busy boating fifteen tuna between 15 to 40 lbs; the fish took a combination of lures. Cameron Clements and Ben Liebetrau from South Carolina had lots of fillets to take back home as they caught fourteen yellow fin tuna between 20 to 40 lbs aboard “Adriana” on the 14th. Our total tuna count was one hundred and eighty nine fish. As to other species we had some rooster fish, wahoo, yellow tail and Spanish mackerel.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, seas mostly calm, cooler mornings.

LOCATION: Pacific Side - Golden Gate, Los Arcos, Migriño, Gaspareño, La Ballena, Old light house, San Jaime, Cerros de Arena, Herradura.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 74 F

BEST LURES; Cedar plugs, tigrillo, green, red/black, green/yellow, feathers, red/orange, petrolero, rapalas, hoochis

Live mackerel, ballyhoo, caballito

Based on the catches of Pisces by Ale Almada & Tracy Ehrenberg.

Fish Report - December 20th: Sashimi Anyone?

Yesterday most of our boats focus on yellow fin tuna, these were the catches of the day:

- 28ft "Adriana" : Two yellow fin tuna (20 lbs) for Adam Kwasman and Shayna Maskell from Tuczon, AZ

- 28ft "Andrea": Six yellow fin tuna(15-20 lbs) for the Clifton family from Little Rock, OR

- 31ft "Tracy Ann" : Twenty yellow fin tuna (10- 20 lbs) for James Griffin, Dan & Joel Oliphant from Ontario, Canada (shown in the picture)

- 35ft "Valerie" : Twenty seven yellow fin tuna (10-20 lbs) for Cameron Blair and friends from Edmonton, Canada (shown in the picture)

- 31ft "Bill Collector" : One dorado (25 lbs) for the Morgan family from Mesquite, TX

- 42ft "Yahoo": One striped marlin and one yellow fin tuna(15 lbs) for the Stephenson family from Camargo, OR

Latest Fish Report

December 3rd to December 9th, 2010


Overall Catch Success Rate 89.59%

BILLFISH: It looks like the marlin are still not very hungry as we had a decrease this week; many of our boats saw billfish in the area but only thirty percent of around a third of charters managed hook ups. Based on this a fair amount of anglers opted to go for tuna and dorado instead. Nevertheless there were still some good catches such as on Dec. 3rd for John and J.P. Fitzpatrick from Carbondale, Colorado who did well to release three striped marlin aboard “Ruthless” at the Golden Gate. The next day, “Valerie” released three stripers too for a group from Gillete, WY; the fish took live caballito.. James Frash, from Baldwinville, NY who was mentioned in our last fish report for the release of a large black marlin aboard “Bill Collector” ; went out for a final day of fishing before heading back home and released two striped marlin then headed inshore and had fun releasing three rooster fish and landing a sierra and a sea bass. Pisces anglers had a total of 19 striped marlin this week all released.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches are pretty much similar to last week, with thirty two percent of boats catching between one to seven fish. “Valerie” did well on the 5th for Bob Engstrom and friends from Gillete, WY with seven dorado (one released) at Gaspareño on the Pacific side. On the 8th, the LeDuc family boated three dorado and released two aboard “Ruthless”; the fish took a combination of lures and live bait. This same day, “La Brisa” loaded up with five dorado in the 20 lb plus class for David Forester from New Castle, CA and friends; they also released one striped marlin. On the 9th, “Ruthless” boated five dorado between 20 to 30 lbs for a group from California. Yellow fin tuna were the number one species this week, with a few schools of football size tuna in the area, mostly between 10 to 25 lbs and some larger fish up to 80 lbs. The best day was on the 3rd aboard “Shambala” for Johnny and Stacy Mac Powers from Rockwall, TX they caught sixteen yellowfin tuna between 30 to 80 lbs; the fish took a combination of live bait, cedar plugs and feathers. At the end of this week on the 9th, “Rebecca” had a great day for Chris Moates and Jon Ruth from Seattle, WA boating eleven football size yellow fin tuna; they went 27 miles out from the 210 spot to chase them. On the 4th, “Shambala” did well again for a group of friends from Mexico city with nine yellow fin tuna, football size, and then went on to release one striped marlin. On the 9th, Michael Arzewski from New York City shared the “Andrea” with James Bozza from Long Island, NY and had a fun day catching nine tuna between 15 to 40 lbs. A group from Massachusetts boated nine yellow fin tuna too on the 6th aboard “La Brisa” at 12 miles north of Golden Gate.

For inshore species we had catches of roosterfish, Spanish mackerel, jack cravelle, amberjack, and sea bass. “Valerie” caught a nice size rooster fish on the 6th for Larry Harrell from Wyoming, estimated at 50 lbs.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, seas mostly calm, cooler mornings.

LOCATION: Pacific Side - Golden Gate, Los Arcos, Migriño, Gaspareño, La Ballena, Pozo Cota, Elias Calles, Margaritas, Old light house, San Jaime, Cerros de Arena, Herradura, 170 spot, 150 spot, 210 spot.

Sea of Cortez: 11:50 Spot, Herradura

AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 77 F

BEST LURES; Cedar plugs, tigrillo, green, red/black, green/yellow, feathers, all colors, red/black, blue/white, petrolero, rapalas, huchis

Live mackerel and caballito

Based on the catches of Pisces by Ale Almada and Tracy Ehrenberg.

New All Tackle World Record Tuna!

It looks like the all tackle world record for yellowfin tuna has finally been broken - for those not familiar with the term, "all tackle" means the heaviest yellowfin ever taken on rod and reel by the rules laid down by I.G.F.A; in other words the  angler did it all by himself with no assistance with tackle approved to be sporting, by the governing body of fishing world records. The fish was caught in Mexico, of course, where the biggest yellowfin tuna in the world are found, off of Mag Bay by a 63 year old retired school administrator from Sunland, California. Captain Mike Lackey of the 80 ft Vagabond, knew the fish was big and using a special formula had taped the fish out and estimated it at 390 lbs. The fish took over three hours to boat on 100 lb test line and then was promptly frozen until they could get back to their home port of San Diego. The fish was greeted by a crowd of excited onlookers and registerd at 405.2 lbs on the scale, smashing the record of 388.12 lbs held since 1977, by a fish also caugth in Mexico, at the Revillagigedo Islands, which are now closed to sportfishing. We have seen the size of tuna increase off of Baja in the last two years, but this one is really outstanding and a great omen for the Mexico sportfishing industry. This fish has been submitted to I.G.F.A and the new record should be officially declared shortly.

The Whales Are Here!

Whales are starting to show up off of Cabo and Pisces boats are now all lined up with their whalewatching permits so we can fish in the morning and take you to see the whales in the afternoon, or arrange trips to suit you and your family. Laura Cera and family were visiting Cabo and came in to see about arranging a private trip to see whales. We told her whales were in the area but that we still weren't into peak whale season, so we couldn't guarantee they would see them. Neverthless she took a gamble and booked 28 ft Bandito and it paid off. Just look at this spectacular photo that Laura snapped of a humpback whale breaching off of the Cabo shore.

Last Week Black Marlin caught aboard Bill Collector

Around this time last year Captain Julio on “Bill Collector” caught a monster blue, that was 850 lbs – he had seen it feeding on a dorado on the surface and actually mistook it for a whale in the distance. Well it seems Julio is a magnet for large fish at this time of year. He was trolling a Zuker 3.5 purple/black lure, just one mile off of La Playita hoping to pick up a striped marlin, when from out of nowhere a large black marlin attacked. Angler James Frash from Baldwinsville, NY was on board and had already fished a couple of days on Bill Collector so they had learned to work together as a team. James grabbed the rod and set the hook on the 50 lb Shimano trolling gear and then determinedly got to work, getting the fish to the leader in 30 minutes. James had not realized how big the fish was, but Julio did, calculating it at just less than 700 lbs. He knew it would not be easy to release. Twice they grabbed the leader and got a hand close its bill, but it thrashed wildly and they thought better of it. Then even though it was right at the boat, it got its head down and refused to budge. The tail was sticking out but the head was straight down, with the fish extremely strong and vigorous – nothing could move it then a touch of its bill on the line resolved the situation as the line broke on the abrasive bill and it was off .

Latest Fish Report

November 26th to December 2nd, 2010


Overall Catch Success Rate 85%

BILLFISH: This week it tended to be feast or famine. We had some superb catches at the start of the week, and then went to days to where many boats got “skunked” despite determined efforts by the crew. In pretty much all cases crews saw fish, threw bait to them, changed lures, switched tactics and still could not get them to bite. It seemed as if they simply were not hungry. Added to this there was a drop in water temperature and some cold currents came through Cabo which threw the fish off. However, sixty-eight percent of our boats did catch billfish; most of them striped marlin – decent number most places, but not what we are used to. Around this time last year Captain Julio on “Bill Collector” caught a monster blue, that was 850 lbs – he had seen it feeding on a dorado on the surface and actually mistook it for a whale in the distance. Well it seems Julio is a magnet for large fish at this time of year. He was trolling a Zuker 3.5 purple/black lure, just one mile off of La Playita hoping to pick up a striped marlin, when from out of nowhere a large black marlin attacked. Angler James Frash from Baldwinsville, NY was on board and had already fished a couple of days on Bill Collector so they had learned to work together as a team. James grabbed the rod and set the hook on the 50 lb Shimano trolling gear and then determinedly got to work, getting the fish to the leader in 30 minutes. James had not realized how big the fish was, but Julio did, calculating it at just less than 700 lbs. He knew it would not be easy to release. Twice they grabbed the leader and got a hand close its bill, but it thrashed wildly and they thought better of it. Then even though it was right at the boat, it got its head down and refused to budge. The tail was sticking out but the head was straight down, with the fish extremely strong and vigorous – nothing could move it then a touch of its bill on the line resolved the situation as the line broke on the abrasive bill and it was off .On the 26th, Richard Long and friends from Morgan Hills, CA had a fantastic day aboard “Shambala” with a total of thirteen striped marlin at Elias Calles by the Pacific side. The next day “Tracy Ann” did well too for the Adams family from Colorado Springs, CO with five striped marlin released; the fish took a mix of live bait and green lures. On the 1st, it was “Shambala” again with our good clients Johnny and Stacy Mac Powers from Rockwall, TX with four stripers released. On the 28th, “Rebecca” released four striped marlin for Mel Lamont from Galveston, TX, at Golden Gate as well as boating a dorado. The Bryan family from Seattle, WA had a great time with Captain Julio Castro aboard “Tracy Ann” with four striped marlin released as well as catching a 35 lb wahoo. This same day Francis and Susan Satalamacchia and friends from Saratoga, FL fished aboard “Andale” at Los Arcos and released four striped marlin. Pisces anglers had a total of 80 striped marlin and 1 black marlin this week.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado is still in second place this week with thirty four percent of boats catching between one to six fish, with a total of 30 fish caught. The best day was on the 27th aboard “La Brisa” for the Weins family from San Jose, CA with six dorado boated; they also released one striped marlin at the Golden Gate. The next day “Valerie” did well for Les and Roberta de Asis and family from Miami, FL with three 25 lbs dorado and they released two stripers at Pozo Cota spot. We had an improvement on the tuna catches, as they are starting to show up. One of the best days was on the 26th, “C-Rod” did well to catch sixteen yellow fin tuna for a group from Houston, TX and they still had time to release two striped marlin at San Jaime. The tuna took a combination of cedar plugs and feathers. The next day, the Hearn family from California caught nine football size tuna and one dorado aboard “Falcon”. This same day, “Ruthless” had a good day for Lanny Dacus and Larry Herodeck from Ft Lauderdale, FL with one nice 150 pound yellow fin tuna; they also released one striper marlin. On the 26th, “Rebecca” caught four yellow fin tuna and released three striped marlin for a group from Danville, CA. This same day, George McIntosh and Fraser Frizzel from Canada caught four yellow fin tuna and one striped marlin released aboard “Bandito”; the tuna took tigrillo lures. We had a couple of wahoo this week, one was on the 27th aboard “Andrea” for Robert and Lori Glassford from Las Vegas, NV with a nice 70 lbs wahoo caught with green/yellow lure and they also released two striped marlin.

Inshore we had catches of roosters, yellowtail and jack crevalle.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, seas mostly calm, cooler mornings.

LOCATION: Pacific Side - Golden Gate, Lighthouse, Los Arcos, Migriño, Gaspareño, La Ballena, Pozo Cota, Elias Calles, Margaritas, Old light house, San Jaime, Pescadero, Todos Santos

Sea of Cortez: San Jose, La Playita,

AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 77 F

BEST LURES; Cedar plugs, tigrillo, green, red/black, green/yellow, guacamayo, feathers, all colors, red/black, blue/white


Live mackerel, caballito, ballyhoo

Based on the catches of Pisces by Ale Almada & Tracy Ehrenberg.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Stacie Powers from Rockwall Texas, had this fish to the boat in no time, as you can tell by its healthy color and lit up stripes. Just aboard for a few seconds, before being safely released.


Caught aboard Shambala.



Thank You Letter from the Bryan Family

Please extend our gratitude to Julio and Martine on the Tracy Ann; we had a great time fishing on 26 November. Here is a photo of our family with one of the four marlins we caught and released that day...

We will gladly recommend Pisces to anyone who asks!



Karen Bryan

Seattle, WA

Who Are Those Guys?

We ran across these two unlikely scots the other day; we thought they were a bit darker than other scots we know. Turns out they are Beto Lira, deckhand of the Ruthless and J.R Alucano captain of the Rebecca, getting into the swing of things at the birthday party of good friend and client Chic McSherry who visited last week to fish and to celebrate his birthday. The scots truly know how to party. Beto and J.R weren't sure if they blended in but went along with the spirit of things by donning the tartan caps and redhair supplied by Chic to his guests.