Super Windy In Cabo Yesterday & Still the Fishing was Fab

Yesterday it was super windy in Cabo all day, both on the Pacific and Cortez side whitecaps could be seen for most of the day and I thought "poor anglers" - but what poor anglers, fishing was fantastic.....Dave Nolte and Meagan Weakle from Longtree, Colorado, were looking to share a boat and we managed to put them together with Mark and  his son Kadden, Smith from Dallas, TX. They ended up on the "Rebecca" and you could say that there expectations were exceeded, when they released SIX marlin, a 100 lb pilot shark, also released and an 18 lb dorado boated.

The happy anglers are shown below with a multitude of flags.

Great Fishing This Memorial Day Weekend - Why Aren't You Here?

Cabo is a bit quiet this week-end which is a shame as the fishing is outstanding, the weather beautiful and the town and beaches uncrowded.
Today we saw some excellent fishing, such as that enjoyed by Neil Nelson & Dean Hilde fishing with their sons, from Bosie Idaho. They were out on "C Rod" with Captain Abel, who was sure to make the kids feel welcome, but then all of our captains are great with kids and get a kick out of introducing them to big game fishing.  They ended up with two striped marlin released estimated at 120 and 140 lbs and  a 100 lb pilot shark released. Again the pictures tell a better story of their experience than words can....they sure look like happy campers.

It won't be long before this cute little guy will be able to handle  a marlin all on his own.

Another boat that did well was "Rebecca" with SIX STRIPED MARLIN released today with weights ranging from 110 to 170 lbs all caught on live caballito at the 11.50 spot - the busy anglers were almost an all girl team from  Houston Texas, Crystal and Jade Porter, Lauren, Helena & David Thomas, who they may have brought along as a bodyguard....we can't work out why there were so many guys around when these pics was taken......



Dorado Now Showing Up in Fair Numbers

It was nice to see some dorado showing up, giving anglers something to bring aboard and take home, or to have cooked locally. Not only many boats catching doardo but pretty much all are also releasing striped marlin. Art Whittlesey from Washington state, took his daughters fishing aboard "Ruthless" and had a fabulous time releasing two striped marlin and boating two dorado; one caught by Kendell Whittlesey from Bellvue.  The fish were caught at the 11.50 spot on live bait. The larger dorado was close to 45 lbs.

Jack Rosenblum from New York fishing with friends and family had a fun time on "Yahoo", releasing one striped marlin and boating four nice dorado, seven miles from Cerro Colorado....enjoy the pics below.

Art Whittlesy with his daughters had a great day.

Yahoo did well for Zack Rosenblum from New York, they released one marlin and boated four dorado.

Captain Ricardo Escamilla of Yahoo shows off the largest of four dorado caught aboard his boat.

Art Whittlesy from Washington State with a nice 45 lb dorado caught on Ruthless

Well Known British Actor Robson Green Does Cabo

Robson Green is a household name in the U.K but not quite as well known in the U.S. Robson became a household name during his four year spell as Fusilier Dave Tucker in Soldier, Soldier. A performance of Unchained Melody in an episode of the drama launched him and co-star Jerome Flynn onto a short, but successful, pop career - this one song was at number one in the British charts for seven weeks. His recent TV credits have included Trust, Grafters, Reckless and Rocket Man. Most of our U.S clients will not have heard of any of these programs but a lot when asked, said they  had heard of his fishing show Extreme Fishing, which airs on cable in the U.S.A and Mexico. This week we had the privledge of taking Robson fishing and hooking him up with his first striped marlin, one of four caught aboard "Tracy Ann" on May 25th. Cabo came through as always - deserving it's name of Marlin Captial of the World. We found Robson and his whole crew to be charming, down to earth and fun. They came over to Captain Tony's next to the Pisces office the night after fishing for some delicious fresh tuna prepared many different ways. They had a LOT of fun as the photo below attests to.




The Extreme Fishing Crew, Robson Green the presenter is the one holding the fake dorado, second row, third from the right, Pisces founder Marco Ehrenberg, our very own dockmaster Mario Bañaga second row, first on left.

Great News, Fishing Picks Up!

Cabolero had a fantastic day fishing on May 25th fishing at the 95 spot in the Sea of Cortez releasing four striped marlin for anglers G. Clatworthy & Alan Brooks from Perth, Australia fishing with friends Pipa Cummins & Robert Wiltenoon from Cabo San Lucas.

Extreme Fishing Coming to a Channel Near You Soon

Robson Green is a British T.V presenter of the very popular show "Extreme Fishing". He travels the planet looking to sample every kind of fishing imaginable. Despite traveling far and wide he still had not caught a marlin, that is until today.  After some careful research by his production team, we were honored that he picked Pisces Sportfishing. Out on the "Tracy Ann" today, he challenged Captain Julio to a fish off....Robson and his team were blown away with Cabo and the amount of marlin they saw. Robson ending up catching and releasing two striped marlin ending a six year quest. Great job by the whole Pisces team and by the T.V crew who ended up with some outstanding footage ( and yes Julio won the fish off ).

From Left to Right: Captain Julio Castro, Robson Green, Deckhand Matin Gonzalez, Captain Roberto Sandez

Striped Marlin Bite Takes Off in Cabo!

It seems like we have some incredible fishing right now and as long as it stays warm and the bait supply good, we see now reason why it should not stabilize and get even better. Today Krista Nalder from Roy, Utah had a fabulous day aboard "Ruthless" with Captain Julio Castro standing in for Captain Leon and regular mate Beto Lira & Tracy Ann mate Martin Gonzalez. They did extremely well to catch and release seven striped marlin, a pilot shark and boat a dorado....pretty tiring day, but boy does Krista look happy.

Krista Nalder from Roy Utah with friend in foreground Beto Lira
At back Captain Julio and Mate Martin Gonzalez

Mexico’s Dorado and Anglers Win!

BY ROBIN WADE

WON Staff Writer

CABO SAN LUCAS-- In a long drawn out battle between the commercial and sportfishing industries, yesterday in Michoacán, Mexico, the government met in a third round of public forums to decide the fate of the sportfishing industry but amending Article 68. Guess what-we won!

“The Department of Mexican Fisheries decided to violate their own laws by allowing the commercial fishing industry to illegally harvest dorado,” Vince Radice, producer of the El Oro de Cortez (The Gold of Cortez) documentary said. You may remember WON ran an article about the video depicting the greed and corruption of a few, helping to destroy the last relatively abundant fish in the Sea of Cortes. If you missed it, here is a link to the latest version http://sancarlos.tv/portfolio/a-fish-made-of-gold/

“Twenty five years ago, some far-sighted Mexican legislators decided that tourism and sportfishing jobs were more sustainable and lucrative than commercial fishing jobs and created Article 68 in the general law of the Mexican fisheries,” Radice said. “This made it illegal to commercially fish six species of fish in Mexico; sailfish, marlin, roosterfish, swordfish, sabalo, and dorado.”

The less than stellar oversight of the commercial fishermen’s efforts created a decline in their catches and they turned their attention to the wanton take of dorado. There is a very lucrative, illegal market in the United States for them and both governments seemed to look the other way.

“I have filed a Freedom of Information Act with NOAA through lawyers from the Center for Biological Diversity out of San Francisco to receive documents regarding their investigations related to dorado crossing into the U.S.,” Radice said. “Once we have these documents we will know what our options are against the U.S. Feds. and make America close the border to dorado imports. They have to enforce the Lacey Act as long as Article 68 remains intact.”

It’s long and complicated but the jest of it is there were “language loop holes” based on the fact that in some areas, there is no enforcement available, and given the bad economy, “needy commercial fishermen” were legally allowed to fish for dorado. What the findings turned up during the public forums though, was that only a few (and none of the needy) were benefiting from the loop holes.

So onto Friday’s victory! Victory number one: Based on his “poor performance,” the Fisheries Commission voted to request Federal Legislators to ask Ramon Corral, Head of the National Commission of Fisheries to step down.

Victory number two: After hearing testimony and presentations regarding the alleged “economical benefits of commercial dorado take” to the coastal communities, it was determined that only a few were reaping any rewards from NOM 029 and the words “social justification” were stripped from the amendment.

“This victory is truly amazing considering we only heard of the forum two weeks ago,” Minerva Saenz, President of the Los Cabos Sportfishing Union said. “Representation from many distant areas of Mexico rallied together with a single e-mail, and attended the forum creating an incredible united front against the commercialization of dorado. In attendance were sportfishing leaders from Manzanillo, Culiacan, Loreto, the East Cape, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico City and many other areas,” Saenz said.

Of the many representatives there Friday, 85 percent voted in favor of supporting the sportfishing industry over the commercial industry. “It's a well deserved victory for all of Mexico’s sportfishing interests, anglers from everywhere, boat owners, charter companies, airlines, hotels, marinas, fuel docks, and an endless list of trickle down benefits,” Cortez Yacht Charters said.

Anglers are reminded there are still ways to continue to protect Mexico’s sportfishing. One is to go online and take the national survey called “Angler Economic Survey” after they return from trips here. These statistics will be compiled to scientifically prove the importance of the angler dollar. http://surveys.questionpro.com/akira/TakeSurvey?id=1751677&rd=66335670

And before you come down if anywhere in the state of Baja Sur is your destination, don’t buy your license online. Baja Sur is the only state in Mexico where a special Marina Resources fund (FORMA) is set up. This special “pool of funds” allows the licensing money to stay within the state for resource management and funding marine law enforcement, such as gas for patrols. Every area has licenses available locally, usually through your outfitter, so please consider this option when you can.

"C-Rod" our 38 ft Blackfin, looked great as she took off in the recent I.G.F.A World Offshore Championship, skipper Abel Ramirez is shown on the bridge.

Latest Fish Report

May 14th to 20th, 2011


Overall Catch Success Rate 93.20 % for All Species Combined

BILLFISH: Almost everybody caught fish this week, giving us a significant increase in our success rate with marlin still being the number one catch in Cabo. Fifty two percent of our boats caught billfish. “Shambala” did well this week, as they released three striped marlin on the 19th for the Parson´s family from Melbourne, FL; congratulations to Joanne Parson as she released one striper as a birthday gift. The same day, “C-Rod” also had a triple marlin day for Jeff & Harry Hartman and Chris Woodfin from Ballwin, MO; their fish were released in the Sea of Cortez between the 95 spot and San Jose area- they had a fantastic day with one hammerhead released, two yellow fin tuna and one dorado to boot. The next day, Charlie Stoll and friends from Florida had a great time aboard “Attitude Adjustment” with two striped marlin released one sailfish and one 20 lbs yellow fin tuna; the fish took a combination of lures and live bait. On the 16th, “Falcon” released two striped marlin and two jack crevalle for a group from Florida and Tennessee at the 11:50 Spot. Pierre & Coco Lacroix and friends from Denver, CO had a double marlin header and boated three yellow fin tuna 3 miles out from Chileno aboard our luxury 80 ft vessel “Mick” – goes to show these larger yachts are not just pretty they can perform too. Pisces anglers caught 22 striped marlin and 1 sailfish this week, all but one released.

OTHER SPECIES: We were right on the money in our last report and dorado and yellow fin tuna are back in Cabo waters with thirty eight percent of our anglers catching dorado or tuna. Best day was on the 19th aboard “Rebecca” for Robert Mendez, Kelly Gregg and Jon Jewitt from San Diego, CA with five dorado from 10 t 35 lbs (two of them were released); they also were lucky to release a striped marlin and boat four yellow fin tuna in the 20-30 lbs class; the fish was caught at Cabeza Ballena. On the 14th Steve Andrews and friends from Illinois had three dorado between 20-30 lbs aboard “Valerie”; they also released one striped marlin three miles out from Cerro Blanco; the fish took blue/white lures and the marlin took live bait. May 18th saw “La Brisa” have a triple dorado day for Andrew & Margaret McKown and friends from Beverly, MA; they had lots of fun reeling in five nice 30 lbs tuna and then went on to release a striped marlin. On the 17th Scott Mayer and friends from Washington boated three yellow fin tuna between 20 – 30 lbs aboard “La Brisa”; the fish took cedar plugs and black/red lures at the 95 spot. We had a total of 20 dorado and 25 yellow fin tuna this week.

We had a nice 40 lb wahoo on the 19th for a group from Houston, TX aboard “Mick”; they caught the fish at out from Santa Maria bay with a black/red lure.

As to other species, we had hammer head shark, sierra, bonita, jack crevalle, skipjacks, rooster fish.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies with some windy days. Some white caps on the Pacific side.

LOCATION: Pacific Side – Herradura

Sea of Cortez – 11:50 Spot, Palmilla, Punta Gorda, Chileno, 95 Spot, Cerro Blanco, San Jose, Cabeza Ballena, Sta. Maria

AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 76 F

BEST LURES: Green/yellow, green/black, cedar plugs, feathers, squid, purple, yellow, volador, hoochis, white/blue, red/black,

Live bait: caballito, ballyhoo, sardines , yellow tail

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

"La Brisa” have a triple dorado day for Andrew & Margaret McKown and friends from Beverly, MA; they had lots of fun reeling in five nice 30 lbs tuna and then went on to release a striped marlin.

Robert Mendez, Kelly Gregg and Jon Jewitt from San Diego, CA had a great day with five dorado from 10 t 35 lbs (two of them were released); they also were lucky to release a striped marlin and boat four yellow fin tuna in the 20-30 lbs class



Latest Fish Report - IGFA Tournament

May 7th to 13th, 2011


Overall Catch Success Rate 69.87 % for All Species Combined

BILLFISH: We had a big tournament this week, the IGFA World Offshore Championship; there were fifty nine teams from all over the world – Spain, Italy, Brazil, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Angola, Croatia, USA, Mexico and many more. All billfish are released, circle hooks must be used to increase the survival of the fish and certified 30 lb test line must be used. Smaller game fish such as tuna, dorado and wahoo can be boated during the event. Anglers do not get to choose which boat they fish on; a draw is done amongst local charter boats and the anglers rotate to different boats each day. To be invited to enter you have to win a qualifying event anywhere in the world. Fishing was fantastic, compared to last year, this was actually the first time there was even swordfish in the area. This year hook up ratio for the event was of 83.43% with a total of 292 billfish released - 282 striped marlin, 6 sailfish, 2 blue marlin and 2 swordfish. As to the smaller game there was 6 dorado, 3 yellow fin tuna and 1 wahoo which they have to be more than 30 lbs to qualify. Two swordfish were caught during the event, which is a feat on 30 lb test and we are proud that our very own “Tracy Ann” caught one of these two broabills. Another first this year was a tie for first place.


1st Place Team, Islamorada Fish Club Captain's Cup Sailfish Tourn from Florida with 17 marlin released.



1st Place Team - last year, IGFA Offshore World Champions 2010 with 17 marlin released.



2nd Place Team, again with only 1 billfish less- for IGFA Offshore World Championship2010-2nd Place from Bahamas with 16 marlin released



3rd Place Team , IGFA Offshore World Champions 2008 from USA with 12 marlin released.


The top dorado weighed in was caught by Carl Cavossa from Falmouth, MA representing the Falmouth Offshore Grand Prix was 39.10 lbs.

The top tuna weighed in was caught by Flavio campos from a team from Brazil and weighed 226.20 caught on a spinning rod!

The top wahoo weighed in was caught by Jury Kozlov from Russia, representing the 60th Ernest Hemingway International Billfish Tourn and was 43.50 lbs.

Back to regular news, marlin is still the top catch of this week with fifty four percent of our Pisces boats catch billfish. “Tracy Ann” did a very good job on the tournament being one of the boats that had a swordfish (YES, two swordfish in 10 days!) for the Senagal team, which gave them 500 points. Julio Castro was the top 6th captain in the tournament. “Tracy Ann” was the top billfish boat this week with eight striped marlin and one swordfish released. One of the best days was on the 12th with three striped marlin released for a group from USA, two of them were released by Palmilla and one out of the 11:50 spot. On the 10th they released one swordfish and one striped marlin for the Senegal team at the 11:50 spot; the fish took ballyhoos. “Great Escape Jr” did very good as well on this tourney with nine striped marlin released; Captain Ricardo Agundez was the 10th top captain. They had two triple marlin day, one on the 9th with three striped marlin released for a group from Brazil at the 11:50 spot; the fish took a mix of pink lures and mullet. On the 12th, last day they released three more stripers for a group from Florida and also boated three yellow fin tuna in the 30 lbs test range.”C-Rod” had a triple marlin day too, for the Papua New Guinea team on the 11th. Pisces anglers had at total of fifty eight billfish all released.

OTHER SPECIES: Looks like the dorado bite it’s starting to pick up, as we had more than couple this week. “Cabolero” ended on 3rd place for the heaviest dorado on the tournament with a 34.5 dorado for one of the groups from Italy. On the 13th, Dan Growny and friends from Albuquerque, NM caught a BIG dorado which probably would won the heaviest dorado category, approximately weighed 50 lbs aboard “Great Escape”. Finally, the yellow fin tuna are back as twenty one percent of our boats caught caught between one to nine tuna in the 15 – 40 lbs range. One of the best day was on the 13th for Craig & Lindsey Klement and friends from Georgia with nine yellow fin tuna between 20 to 30 lbs aboard “La Brisa; the fish took cedar plugs and feathers at the Herradura spot. They also boated one 25 lbs dorado and had plenty of fillets to take back home. On the 11th, “Bandito” scored with nine tuna for a group from Los Angeles, CA at the same spot. We had a total of 43 yellow fin tuna. On the 9th, Michael & Kristen Peck and friends from Connecticut boated a 30 lbs wahoo aboard “Bandito” and they also reeled in a 30 lbs dorado; the fish took a mix of lures.

As to other species, we had wahoo and rooster fish.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies with warmer weather, some windy days at the end of the week

LOCATION: Pacific Side – Herradura, Ventanas

Sea of Cortez – 11:50 Spot, Palmilla, Punta Gorda, Chileno, Barco Varado,

AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 75.5 F


BEST LURES: Green/yellow, green/black, tigrillo, petrolero, cedar plugs, feathers, squid, guacamayo, purple, pink,



Live bait: caballito, ballyhood and mullet



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

Craig & Lindsey Klement and friends from Valdosta, GA had plenty fillets to take back home

Fishing Update First Week

Overall Catch Success Rate 86.85 % for All Species Combined


BILLFISH: Its marlin, marlin and marlin this week, making them the number one catch in Cabo on this report. We also need to make a special mention, as we had a great catch this week of the most valuable billfish, swordfish. Rick Morris & Bruce Kesler from Braselton Georgia did not know what they were in for when they boarded "Tracy Ann" on May 1st. Sure they had expectations of marlin, Cabo is famous for marlin...the weather was beautiful as they left the dock. They made a stop on the way out to pick up some live bait, caballito or horse-jack was the only type available, so they dropped ten into the bait well and were on their way to the 11.50 spot, which had produced some fish the previous day. It wasn't long before they spotted a striped marlin, cast a live bait to it and soon had a hook up. They fought the fish to the boat and estimated it at 170 lbs before successfully releasing it. They then proceeded to troll again as did other boats from our fleet fishing the same area. Valerie and Tracy Ann spotted the swordfish sunning itself on the surface at the same time. The guys on Valerie cast a bait but the fish did not take it, they were circling back to offer another bait, when Tracy Ann swooped in right behind them, cast a bait, which landed right on the bill of the fish and it bit; probably more from annoyance than hunger....but who cares, they were hooked up. They struggled with this very strong fish for over six hours before finally landing it, making it back just before dark.

The crew was thrilled; swordfish are such a prized catch. This one was estimated at 270 lbs. Chic McsSherry however, the angler on the Valerie was not thrilled. Chic is from Scotland and a long-time friend and regular angler, he whined to me "That was my fish, I saw it first, it was my fish". This is one of the few billfish he has not caught and this would have been a crowning achievement for him, but that's the way it goes sometimes first-timers get them. Nevertheless, Chic didn't have too much to complain about; he ended up releasing five striped marlin that day. Back to marlin news, SEVENTY FOUR percent of our boats caught billfish this week. Top marlin boat was the “Valerie” and their best day was on May 1st for Chic McSherry from Scotland, as we mentioned before he released five striped marlin at the 11.50 spot; the fish took a combination of ballyhoo and caballito. On the 5th, they also did very good for Mike & Shannon Giles from West Jordan, UT releasing three striped marlin between 120 - 150 lbs at out for the 11.50 spot by the Sea of Cortez. This same day, “Tracy Ann” did well too for the Heitmann family from Clarkston, WA as everyone had a chance to release one striped marlin, with a total of four stripers back to the water. On the 4th “La Brisa” had a triple marlin day for Kasey and Nikola Peisley and friends from Eagle Mountain, UT; they came on one of the numerous cruise ships that visit us and had a wonderful time fishing. A day before, Dan and Jeff Sopczak from Indiana also had three striped marlin released aboard “Tracy Ann”; fish took live bait caballito and ballyhoos. Pisces anglers caught a total of 50 striped marlin all released and one swordfish (270 lbs approximately)

OTHER SPECIES: As the marlin fishing is picking up, many of the anglers are forgetting about smaller game and they are trying to go for the trophy fish. Nevertheless, we had a couple of dorado as well this week, thought they are not here yet in any real numbers. On the 2nd “Great Escape Jr” boated a 20 lb dorado for Scott and Holly Huebner from Houston, TX; the fish took a live bait at the 11.50 spot. They were also lucky to released one striped marlin. On the opposite side, our good client “Butch” and wife Kristy Bustamante from Huntington Beach, CA went to San Jaime spot on the Pacific side and caught their lunch - a 30 lbs mahi and one football size yellow fin tuna aboard “Andrea”. On the 3rd, “Valerie” went bottom fishing with Don Richardson & Dwight Thaker from Arkansas and had fun reeling in three trigger fish, one yellow tail and two sea bass – one was a nice 25 lb’er; they hooked the fish with yoyos and some chunk bait. The same day, Chic McSherry tried in shore fishing aboard “Sirius” panga and caught four sierras, good size about 12 lbs and released one rooster fish at the Old Lighthouse.

As to other species, we had Spanish mackerel, rooster fish, sea bass, mojarras, trigger fish.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies with warmer weather.

LOCATION: Pacific Side – Old Lighthouse, San Jaime, Margaritas, Golden Gate, Pedregalito

Sea of Cortez – 11:50 Spot

AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 76 F


BEST LURES: Green/yellow, green/black, tigrillo, yoyos

Live bait: caballito and ballyhood.

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

Mixed Bag Aboard Valerie

Not everybody is up for marlin, in fact many of our anglers request "eating fish" and thankfully at this time of year we can usually oblige. Pictured here are Don Richardson & Dwight Thaker from Bellavista, Arkansas. They had a couple of nice seabass, a sizeable yellowtail and triggerfish. Whatever they caught you can tell they had a great time.

Mixed Bag for Valerie today, including this seabass. These guys will have enough fish to feed a lot of people.

Recession What Recession?

When we showed up for work the other day it looked like we had a new neighbor, but they were on the large side and blocked the view from our office.  We checked it out and Attessa belongs to Dennis R. Washington (born 1934)  a Montana-based industrialist and philanthropist who owns, or co-owns controlling interest in, a large consortium of privately held companies collectively known as the Washington Companies and, in Canada, another collection of companies known as the Washington Marine Group. With an estimated current net worth of around $4.2 billion, he is ranked by Forbes as the 58th-richest person in America. The overall length of Attessa is 225 feet and   she is a Feadship launched in 1998 and acclaimed as one of the finest Feadships ever, Aviva (former name) suffered a fire in the Red Sea in May 2000. Despite this happening in the middle of the night, Aviva’s crew succeeded in putting out the fire and saving the vessel. After Aviva had returned to Holland, De Voogt Yacht Services facilitated the surveys required to assess damage levels. Once insurance issues were resolved, the yacht was sold to Dennis Washington in April 2003 who then did a total refit and improved the now newly named Attessa. Cabo is still the one of the best places to hang out and totally safe, or people like this guy would not be here.

Swordfish On Tracy Ann



Tracy Ann with Swordfish from left to right mate Julio Castro Jr., Captain Julio Castro, Deckhand Martin Gonzalez, anglers Rick Morris & Bruce Kesler from Braselton, Georgia USA



Rick Morris & Bruce Kesler from Braselton Georgia did not know what they were in for when they boarded "Tracy Ann" on May 1st. Sure they had expectations of marlin, Cabo is famous for marlin...the weather was beautiful as they left the dock. They made a stop on the way out to pick up some live bait, caballito or horse-jack was the only type available, so they dropped ten into the bait well and were on their way to the 11.50 spot, which had produced some fish the previous day. It wasn't long before they spotted a striped marlin, cast a live bait to it and soon had a hook up. They fought the fish to the boat and estimated it at 170 lbs before successfully releasing it. They then proceeded to troll again as did other boats from our fleet fishing the same area. Valerie and Tracy Ann spotted the swordfish sunning itself on the surface at the same time. The guys on Valerie cast a bait but the fish did not take it, they were circling back to offer another bait, when Tracy Ann swooped in right behind them, cast a bait, which landed right on the bill of the fish and it bit; probably more from annoyance than hunger....but who cares, they were hooked up. They struggled with this very strong fish for over six hours before finally landing it, making it back just before dark. The crew was thrilled; swordfish are such a prized catch. This one was estimated at 270 lbs. Chic McsSherry however, the angler on the Valerie was not thrilled. Chic is from Scotland and a long-time friend and regular angler, he whined to me "That was my fish, I saw it first, it was my fish". This is one of the few billfish he has not caught and this would have been a crowning achievement for him, but that's the way it goes sometimes first-timers get them. Nevetherless, Chic didn't have too much to complain about, he ended up releasing five striped marlin that day.

Fantastic Time Aboard Valerie

Troy and Brittany Geis from Shawnee,  Kansas, were out with friends on April 19th, aboard our 35 ft Bertram Valerie and had a fabulous time. Then ended up releasing this beautiful striped marlin, who was released unhurt and swimming stongly after giving them a workout. We just loved the look of pure joy on their faces....something we all need to do from time to time de-stress and take a vacation.

Here is what they sent us:
"Here is a pic of 4 of the 6 of us on Valerie with our Marlin.  It was 91 inches.   Thanks for another great trip.  Hope to be back next year (or maybe later this year, who knows) Roberto & Rosendo rock!".

Latest Fish Report

April 23th to 30th, 2011


Overall Catch Success Rate 86.05 % for All Species Combined

BILLFISH: We are thrilled to see the marlin catches climb this week - as the waters warm up so does the marlin action. We did have a few skunks, but even then those that did not catch marlin did at least see them, but they were picky and not willing to eat. Despite this SIXTY EIGHT percent of our charters caught striped marlin. “Rebecca” was the top marlin boat this week as they came back with marlin flags every day they went out fishing. Best day was on the 25th for David Kertzman and sons, Andrew and Michael from Seattle, WA with a total of five striped marlin released between 110 to 150 lbs approximately; the fish took live bait caballito and ballyhoos at the 11:50 spot. On the 23rd, “Rebecca” scored big this time with four stripers released for Gerald Richmond from Islamorada, FL; the marlin were released at the same spot on the Sea of Cortez. Next day out Courtney Murphy and Sandy Edmonstone from Calgary, Canada also released four striped marlin between 120 to 150 lbs aboard “La Brisa”; they took a mix of caballito and ballyhoo. We had different boats that had triple marlin days, like “Andrea” on the 25th with three released for a group of guys from Canada and “Adriana” for Ken Ranger, Glenn Brown, Joe Kennedy and Rob Bernard from California and Canada; they released their marlin at the 11:50 spot after hooking them with a mix of green lures and bait. “Tracy Ann” had two triple marlin days, on the 24th for Ron Evenhaim and friends from Los Angeles twenty nine miles from the 11.50 spot. The day before they fished with David Billion and his seven year old son, Max, from Sioux Falls, SD who did well to release their fish in the same area. On the 23rd “Shambala” had a great day for the Canavati family from Monterrey, Mexico with three marlin that took live caballito. We had single and double marlin days too, too numerous to mention them all. Pisces anglers caught a total of 59 striped marlin all released except one.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches are still very quiet, with just a couple on the 23rd aboard “C-Rod” for the Leon de la Barra family from Mexico City; they were also very lucky to release two striped marlin at the hot spot of the week, the 11.50 spot. Yellow tail fishing is the second best bite of the week with twelve percent of our boats catching this tasty fish. On the 28th the Kertzman´s opted to go for the smaller game, after already having five marlin on their score sheet, they went to the Pacific side by the Molino and boated four yellow tail from 10 to 30 lbs as well as releasing a rooster fish; they used rapalas and mullet for the rooster fish. The next day, “C-Rod” had fun on a half day trip for Scott & Blake Lazarus and friends from Long Beach, CA as they reeled in three 20 lb yellowtail and released an impressive50 lbs rooster fish; they took rapalas in front of the desal plant on the Pacific side. On the 28th “Falcon” boated a 30 lb wahoo for Phillip and Anthony Zollars from Scottsdale, AZ which they picked up on the way back to the dock about six miles from Cerro Blanco; earlier in the day they had released a striped marlin at the 11.50 spot; the wahoo took a petrolero lure.

As to other species, we had Spanish mackerel, bonitas, skipjack, needle fish and rooster fish.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies with warmer weather at the end of the week. Some windy afternoons.

LOCATION: Pacific Side – Old Lighthouse, Bombas, Cerro de Arena, Cerro Blanco, Molinos

Sea of Cortez – 11:50 Spot

AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 76 F

BEST LURES Rapalas, guacamayo, hoochis, green/yellow, green, petrolero, chiliwili, cedar plugs, purple

Live bait: caballito, mullet, ballyhood

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

The Kertzman´s boated four yellow tail from 10 to 30 lbs as well as releasing a rooster fish aboard "Valerie" with captain Roberto Sandez and deckhand Ernesto.