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.
