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.
