Monday, September 06, 2010

Wahoo Filleting 101



Good friend Johnny Mack Powers from Rockwall, Texas, was here this week having the time of his life with wife Stacie, aboard out latest edition to the fleet 60 ft Hatteras, "Shambala" with captain T.J Dobson and mate Steve Geary. They caught a bunch of fish,  marlin, wahoo, dorado and tuna.  Here you can see why wahoo is considered the top eating fish.....firm, white flesh, no bones and as easy as slicing bread....oh, almost forgot....the taste....better than swordfish...come on down and catch one.

Fishing Roundup for the last week

August 28th to September 2nd, 2010


Overall Catch Success Rate 83.4%



BILLFISH: With a darker moon the marlin are hungry again and this week they were the number one catch for our fleet. One of the best days for billfish was on September 2nd which is when Chic McSherry from Scotland was out on the Valerie, fishing alone (well crew was there of course, Captain Roberto Sandez & Ernesto Alonso, deckhand) we had our first double black marlin day of the year. They went to the 11.50 spot in the Sea of Cortez, early in day they hooked a 120 lb striped marlin on live bait, which gave a great show jumping all over the place, before it was successfully released. The put the lures back in and out of nowhere a black marlin crashed on the outrigger lure……almost spooling him the fish ran fast, but Chic was able to subdue it within half an hour and managed to release the fish estimated at 250 lbs. The lures went back in again and they hooked a striped marlin, which came off, but the lures were put out again….and they were slammed on the center lure by another black marlin –this aggressive fish came towards the boat flat out “like a guided missile” said Chic, causing the captain to gun the boat to keep tension on the line. After about 25 minutes they had the fish to the boat, the lure had double hooks which had sandwiched both the bottom and top jaw making it very difficult to remove the lure. They struggled for ten minutes to release the fish, they managed to get one hook out, the fish lunged and cut the deckhands arm with his bill, prompting the decision to take the fish before anybody else got hurt. Back at the dock the fish weighed 200 lbs……Chic is a hard core angler that loves to release fish but will not put the crew in danger, hence his decision.. Johnny Mac Powers and wife Stacy Mac from Rockwall, TX fished several days aboard “Shambala”. They had a great day on September 2nd also releasing two striped marlin and a 250 lb blue marlin at Destiladeras; they also boated five dorado, one was 52 lbs, all took tigrillo lures. Other catches during their stint on “Shambala” , were two striped marlin on the 30th and a 250 lb blue marlin plus one other striped marlin on September 1st. Benjamin Hill from Tyler, Texas and friends from Whitehall, PA released two striped marlin on live bait and also caught five football size yellow fin tuna at Jaime bank on August 29th. A day before, Dennis and Melodie Browne from Tomball, TX released one striped marlin and a blue marlin in the 200 lbs class at the 95 spot. They also caught one 35 lbs dorado for a delicious dinner with friends at Captain Tony´s. Eighty nine percent of our charters caught billfish. Pisces anglers caught 12 striped marlin, 6 blue marlin and 2 black marlin this week….. .we still need more anglers to come to Cabo and fish!



OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches were the second most likely catch this week with forty five percent of our boats catching from one to six fish. Most of them were in the 20 to 35 lbs class but we did also have a hook up on large fish like the one mentioned above of a 52 lbs aboard Shambala on the 2nd . Scott Pharr from Tomball, TX released three dorado and kept three between 20 to 25 lbs and also caught a nice 44 lb wahoo 6 miles out from Migriño aboard “Rebecca” on the 28th. It was a little slower for tuna catches, with twenty three percent of our charters taking between one to five tunas. On the 30th Dan Carter and friend Neil Alford from North Carolina had a great day catching a 70 lb yellow fin tuna on green /yellow lure, a 30 lbs dorado and releasing a blue marlin seven miles south of Jaime Banks aboard “Rebecca”. Johnny Mac Powers boated four nice yellow fin tuna between 40 to 50 lbs on sardines on the 28th. The only different fish this week were a few wahoo, like the one caught by Deidre and Michael Phelps from Vancouver, WA on the 31st with a 35 lb fish; they also caught one dorado and one blue marlin aboard “Andrea”



WEATHER CONDITIONS: Sunny hot days, a couple of clouds now and then and humidity. Mostly calm seas with a couple of days of swell but everything good for fishing.



LOCATION: Sea of Cortez: 95 spot, 11:50 spot, Destiladeras.

Pacific Side: Migriño, Golden Gate, Jaime Banks, Lighthouse



AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 84 F



BEST LURES; Tigrillo, petrolero, green, rapala, chilihuili, volador , blue/red, green/yellow. For live bait was caballito and sardine



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