Update on the Freak Shark

Shark expert Felipe Galvan sent us an e-mail saying he has seen this shark and tried to buy it from the fisherman, who was unwilling to part with it, however he did agree for the scientists to do some studies on the shark. At first they thought the "eye" might have been fused nasal cavities, but now they are going to do some testing to see if the "eye" is actually that, or if it is part of the tissue. They already have a scientific manuscript that is under revision for publication. We will keep you updated as more information becomes available.

Freak Shark Puzzles Scientists

A few days ago I was in the office talking to some guys, who had won a fishing trip from Pisces after taking first place in the Asupesca Speafishing Tournament held in La Paz in April. In a casual conversation one of the anglers mentioned a strange shark that he had seen in La Paz. He whipped his camera out and showed me a photo of a very weird, almost unbelievable animal. He told me that a commercial fisheman had caught it. That said, we set off  on the hunt for more information.  Apparently this is a bull shark fetus. The mother who must have been a pretty large creature herself, when cut open, had this strange baby inside of her. So far the fisherman has not been willing to give it up for science but we were pleased to at least get these photos which we showed to a couple of scientists attending the dorado forum in Cabo yesterday. They said they had never seen anything like it and we will forward the images to a shark expert.



Latest Fish Report June 18th to 24th, 2011





15 year old Noah Leibling from Miami Florida, took just 12 minutes to land this 65 lb tuna aboard La Brisa

Overall Catch Success Rate For All Species Combined 99%

BILLFISH: Billfish catches remain steady and look to improve if the weather can ever make up its mind. Right now areas such as La Paz are baking hot, whilst the Pacific is still enjoying cool breezes. There has also been a red tide in Cabo, which despite horror stories you usually hear, has not affected offshore fishing. We have seen a lot of smaller fish wash up on the beach but no big game fish. Catches were steady to good on billfish and excellent on yellowfin tuna. Fifty nine percent of our anglers this week managed to catch between one and six marlin in a day. Top boat was “Shambala” the 60 ft Hatteras, who during the first day of the Stars and Stripes event managed to release six striped marlin and boat four tuna for John Modejeski from El Cajon, California fishing with friends, just above the 95 spot, with live mackerel the ticket for the marlin whereas the tuna took cedar plugs. Earlier in the week “Shambala” also released four marlin and Galapagos for another group this time at the 11.50 spot. As if to prove that size doesn’t really matter, when it comes to boats, “Adriana”, 28 ft Uniflite also released four striped marlin this same day plus three tuna fro Linda & Hal McIver from Jackson, Tn. fishing with Leo Martinez from Escondido, Ca; also at the 11.50 spot. Gerald Richmond from Islamorada, Florida, always seems to make it into our fish report every time he is in town; this week it is for three striped marlin released aboard “Rebecca” at the Herradura on the 23rd of June. Catches this week on the marlin moved a little, with some at the 11.50, others at the Herradura and still others off of Land’s End, the common denominator was live bait. Pisces anglers caught a total of 59 striped marlin this week, all released.

Deckhand Salvador Flores of La Brisa shows off a tuna chomped by a shark as it was being reeled in. Quick thinking Salvador got his revenge though, he tossed back a live bait and hooked the shark which took the angler 40 minutes to bring to the boat; it was approximately 140 lb and was released

OTHER SPECIES: Yellowfin tuna was definitely the most popular catch this week with seventy seven percent of our boats catching from one to twenty two fish, all pretty much in the 15 to 40 lb class, although there was one an exception, a 220 lb’ caught 25 miles off of the Old Lighthouse on the Pacific by a group consisting of Nick Totten & Stephen Adams from McKinney, Texas fishing with Mike Parsons form Bluffton, South Carolina – they caught a total of five tuna all on lures, ranging from cedar plugs, to petroleros and green type lures aboard “La Brisa”. Total count on tuna was 187 fish with the best catches between Land’s End and the Old Lighthouse 20 to 25 miles out. Dorado catches were slower this week with just seventeen percent of boats catching one or two fish in the 20 to 30 lb class with blue and green lures working well for this species. We had a solitary wahoo this week, weighing in at 36 lbs for Kevin Otten from Albuquerque, New Mexico; he also released a striped marlin and boated one tuna close to the 11.50 spot, also aboard “La Brisa”. The only other fish we caught were sharks mostly Galapagos type with some as large as 130 lbs. They are taking a lot of our lures and trying to steal angler’s catches, in fact we had a repeat of our tuna/shark story from a few weeks ago…but this time on a smaller scale. Peter  & David  from London, England were out on La Brisa and caught almost six tuna. The last one was being reeled in when it was attacked by a shark. The quick thinking deckhand hauled what was left of the tuna aboard and swiftly dropped back bait, which the shark took. The angler then had a great time reeling the 140 lb predator to the boat before releasing it.

Largest Tuna of the Week aboard La Brisa, 220 lbs

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Some quite rough seas on windy days and calmer on less windy days, skies are blue and weather nice, not super hot yet.

LOCATION: 11.50 spot, Herradura, Cerro Blanco (Land’s End) to Old Lighthouse.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 71-74 F

BEST LURES: Live bait for marlin, cedar plugs for tuna, blue and green lures for dorado, sharks live bait.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg





Latest Fish Report

June 10th to 17th, 2011

Overall Catch Success Rate 99%

BILLFISH: Marlin catches were surprisingly quite good this week even with a full moon and a drop in water temperature. After some heat last week, it’s like the season slipped back again and those on the Pacific side are again sleeping under quilts. We had a few more anglers in town this week and catches were at fifty four percent for marlin and a few sailfish. Not only did we have marlin but some also fast action on tuna for a few days, some dorado and good amounts of sharks, who proved pesky as we lost a lot of lures and cedar plugs to them. On June 12th “C Rod” had a very nice day, releasing three striped marlin and catching twenty tuna twenty miles off of the Old Lighthouse for Gerald Snyman & Guy Lester from England fishing with Robert Cuthbert from Zimbabwe. “Shamabala” also had a fantastic catch this same day with three striped marlin released, ten tuna and an approximately 100 lb Galapagos shark for a group from Auckland, New Zealand (quite an international week for us); James Gleeson, Paul Draof, Tony Sergison, Pete Dynes and Steve Herring. They caught the fish between the 11.50 spot and the Cabrillo sea mount with petrolero lures and live caballito working for them. Another boat with three striped marlin was “Rebecca”, who also caught eleven tuna for good friend and clients Gerald Richmond from Islamorada, Florida fishing with John Mason from Las Vegas. They fished fourteen miles off of Cerro Blanco and caught their fish with live caballito, petroleros and green colored lures. Other boats averaged one marlin and occasionally two. Pisces anglers caught a total of 40 marlin and one sailfish, all but two released.


Shown here are the guys from Auckland, New Zealand, who fished aboard Shambala, where they released three marlin, a galapago shark and boated ten tuna - Ady Moya, in red, is shown here in our marina office having a laugh with the guys.

OTHER SPECIES: Tuna catches were the ticket this week with a whopping eighty three percent of boats catching from one to twenty fish in the 15 to 35 lb class. Our total catch was two hundred and eighty five fish. The tuna were spread out from the Old Lighthouse to just above the 11.50 spot. Dorado catches were slower and very seldom more than a single fish; nevertheless twenty seven percent of our boats did catch them. Cartney Steinnagel from Lake Wood, Kansas was our top dorado angler with a beautiful 45 lb’er caught aboard “Rebecca” four miles out from Chileno on a flying fish lure. The ladies did well this week, as another notable catch was also taken by a lady angler, a very nice 61 lb wahoo by Kimberly Sutter from Sterling, Colorado, aboard “Adriana” off of Cabeza de Ballena; her group also released a striped marlin this day. Four sharks were released and reported as Galapagos and sardine sharks – it’s hard to know if these descriptions are accurate as it is hard to tell without a biologist on board, so we are going to ask anglers and crews to try and get us some photos to clarify this. Most sharks were reported at around 100 lbs and all were released. Inshore there were a few roosterfish, amberjack, skipjack and even a few stray marlin.


We loved this father and son photo of  Trevor and Nick Tuckwood, visiting all the way from London U.K- they fished aboard the panga Sirius, shown here with captain Norberto in the middle.

WEATHER: Windy and cooler most days whitecaps several days. A dive boat sank at Punta Gorda, apparently due to strong winds and the boat taking on water, all divers were successfully rescued thanks to a speedy response by the navy who utilized their new helicopter. Skies are clear but wind is still up on the Pacific.

This beautiful 61 lb wahoo was caught by Kim Sutter from Sterling, Colorado aboard Adriana. Pictured here with friends and captain Enrique "Kikon" Martinez on the left and deckhand Fernando Noyola on the right



LOCATION: The Old Lighthouse on the Pacific to Cabrillo Sea Mount on the Sea of Cortez; 11.50 spot was still the most productive area.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: Water is as cold as 71 F close to cabo and up to 81 at the Cabrillo Sea Mount.
BEST LURES: Live caballito, cedar plugs, petroleros, green colored lures.
Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Georgia Angler Has Great Time on Ruthless

Mario wanted me to send you guys a picture of the Marlin I caught while my family and I were in Cabo. This fish was caught last Thursday aboard the "Ruthless". Thanks again for such an outstanding experience!!
Mike Mondich, Kennesaw, GA



Nice Dorado Catches Today

The Picture Tells The Story

Tagging Program for Dorado

Mario our dockmaster snapped this photo of part of our team looking quite intense at a breakfast meeting yesterday with Dr. Sofia Ortega. As you may know Mexico is considering opening dorado up to commercial fishing, which we do not agree with. Dr. Sofia was in Cabo and was showing us details of a doardo tagging project she is working on to quantify the population and habits. We have a meeting on this issue with federal and local politicians on Friday, June 24th and are preparing our particpation for this event and defense of sportfishing.

From left to right front row, Marco Ehrenberg, Glenn Ehrenbeg, Dr.Sofia Ortega, back row Bio. Carlos Narro, Marcela Zuniga, Tomas Comacho - Asupesca

Catch Of The DAy

Mark Allen from San Antonio Texas, caught this beautiful pargo (snapper)  by the Old Lighthouse on the Pacific today. It took a live mullet. He also released a roosterfish and yellowtail. This illutrates the diverse fishing available in Cabo year round; that's what is so great about this place, inshore/offshore, there is pretty much always some action going on.

Thanks For A Great Time On Tracy Ann

We just received this note from happy clients from Mexico City, they ended up with four striped marlin and a sailfish released.

Just wanted to say Thanks Again for an excellent adventure this weekend on the Tracy Ann. Captain Julio and crew were fantastic and aggressively sought out the fish to make our day complete, including this beauty that was landed and released after quite a fight.
Best Regards

John Carr and Andy Gent

John P Carr

Chief Technology & Services Officer (CTSO) - Latin America
HSBC México, S. A.



Fish Report June 3rd to 9th, 2011

Dorado & Tuna Catches Were Steady, Even Though Marlin Was The Most Likely Encounter

Overall Catch Success Rate, All Species Combined 89%

BILLFISH: Striped marlin catches remained steady this week with the exception of one day, when boats saw lots of stripers but could not get them to bite. Nevertheless sixty three percent of charters managed to catch between one to six marlin per day, with a good number also loading up on tuna too. Weights on the marlin were good with the average size 120 to 170 lbs. The marlin were found to be more spread out this week ranging from four miles off of Cerro Blanco to Destiladeras and we are now seeing a spill over into the Pacific off of the Old Lighthouse. Best one day marlin catch, was for “El Gallo” on June 3rd, for six marlin released for the Schmitz family from Gainesville, Texas at Destiladeras; all on live jurelito . “Tracy Ann” also did very well with four striped marlin and one sailfish, released on June 8th for Bob Arrit & Steve Keane from Omaha NE, fishing with Troy Traycke from Washington & Steve Pearson from Wilsonville, OR at the 11.50 spot and Destiladeras. Next day out theyA headed back to the 11.50 area and released another four marlin, this time for Louis Abbott from Encinitas Ca. Top boat for sheer numbers though, has to go to “La Brisa” on June 4th for four striped marlin released, a sardine shark and seventeen tuna off of Cabeza de Ballena and the 95 spot, so pretty close to Cabo, for Hector Bonilla & Jaime William from Mexico City. Pisces anglers caught a total of 50 striped marlin and one sailfish this week, all released.

OTHER SPECIES: Although more boats caught marlin than tuna, when boats came across this species the catches yielded higher numbers with catches from one to seventeen fish, though none of unusual size – average was 15 to 25 lbs. Fifty percent of charters caught tuna and our total catch was of 122 fish. The tuna were found between the 95 spot and San Jaime on the Pacific with the most effective lure being cedar plugs. Dorado catches dipped off a bit but were still decent with twenty nine percent of charters catching one or two fish in the 15 to 30 lb class found over a widespread area. Inshore amberjack, jack crevalle and yellow tail were caught. The area close to El Tule yielded roosterfish in the 10 to 30 lb class. “Sirius” the panga released a hammerhead shark and we also had the sardine shark mentioned above.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear sunny skies, weather was hot with the effects of Hurricane Adrian way out in the Pacific being felt somewhat. Weather has now cooled again with some wind on the Pacific.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 80 F

LOCATION: 11.50 spot, 95 spot, Destiladeras, San Jaime, Cabeza de Ballena, and Cerro Blanco.

BEST LURES: Live bait, jurelito, caballito, green colors, cedar plugs.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Fish Report for May 28th to June 2nd

Spread the word, FISHING IS FANTASTIC IN CABO, shown here from left to right.
Captain Nicolas Winkler, a happy Ginnette Little, Daniel Melin and Deckhand Fernando Noyola.
They released three marlin and were on their HONEYMOON,  Daniel sure got himself a great woman.

MAY 28th TO JUNE 2nd, 2011


Overall Catch Success Rate 100%

BILLFISH: Marlin fishing was really great this week, with lots of action and hungry fish around, despite the lack of what we would consider “good” bait. Every boat out this week caught fish, with eighty six percent catching marlin and in fact multiple marlin catches were more the norm than a rarity. “Rebecca” had a great week, producing a couple of back to back days with six marlin as well as days with two to four fish; on May 28th we had a group predominantly of Texan women Crystail & Jade Porter, fishing with Lauren & Helena Thomas, who brought along the only guy in the group David Thomas, maybe as a bodyguard as this group cut quite a figure in their bikinis. This group ended up releasing six marlin at the 11.50 spot. The other six fish were on the 29th for Dave Nolt & Meagan Weakle from Longtree, Colorado fishing with Kaden Smith, from Dallas, Texas. Not only did they release six marlin they also boated a dorado and released a pilot share around 100 lbs. May 30th, saw “Andrea” release five marlin for Chad Willingham, Dennis Carreiro & Alexis Gilberi from Rockwall, Texas….I tell you these Texans are lucky. “Fearless” our 50 ft Viking showed some good fishing to Marc Cleary and friends from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with five striped marlin from 120 to 160 lbs at the 11.50 spot. Pisces anglers had a total of 72 striped marlin this week with all but one fish released.

OTHER SPECIES: “Falcon” had the only wahoo of the week a 45 lb’er caught by Nick Pappas from New York who also released a striped marlin. The wahoo took a petrolero lure. Dorado and Tuna were on a par this week, though when tuna were found the numbers per boat were a bit higher. Nevertheless the catches weren’t that great at fourteen percent. We actually had more sharks than small game this week, with pilot sharks being the most numerous, also known as silky sharks. . Some roosterfish showing up of a good size.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Partly cloudy skies, seas mostly calm, though one day was very windy with whitecaps.

LOCATION: 11.50 spot, Cabeza de Ballena, Chileno.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 78 F

BEST LURES: Live bait, dead ballyhoo, petrolero.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Ale's Last Fish Report

This fish report was written by Ale (Alejandra Almada) and we didn't get it posted. So this is last week's report and the most recent one will be posted shortly. Ale is leaving Pisces to start a new venture in the mainland city of Guadalajara. Any of our clients dealing with Ale would agree what a great asset she has been. Not only is she beautiful, but very intelligent and has a lot of insight and is quick thinking. We will really miss her, but feel we may see her back here again in the future, where a job at Pisces will be waiting.
Ale we wish you the best in your this new chapter in your life.  Great job on the fish report!


May 21st to 27th, 2011

Overall Catch Success Rate 97.37%for All Species Combined

BILLFISH: Fishing was FANTASTIC this week, with an almost perfect success rate for our anglers. Marlin bite took off with NINENTY percent of our boats catching mostly striped marlin. “Shambala” with captain T.J Dobson was definitely the marlin boat of the week, with a total of TWENTY SIX striped marlin released in TWO DAYS! The best day was on the 23rd for Larry & Lisa Barnes and Michael & Roberta Jester from California with fifteen striped marlin released at the 11.50 spot all hooked with caballito as a live bait. On the 21st, Homer Richer and friends from Brownsville, TX had a busy day as well, releasing eleven stripers by the same spot. “Ruthless” was not that far of those numbers as they had a great day on the 24th for Kristeen & Robin Nalder from Utah as they released seven striped marlin- fish took a mix of caballito and ballyhoo as bait; not tired yet they also released one pilot shark and boated two nice dorado between 25- 40 lbs at the same spot. On the 25th Robson Green from Newcastle, UK released four striped marlin aboard “Tracy Ann” – his very first marlin and good material for the episode for his show; we can’t wait to see it!... “Cabolero” also released four striped marlin this day for Robert Wittenoom & Pipa Cummins and their friends from Perth, Australia; the fish took a combination of caballito and lures by the 95 spot. On the 21st, Richard Campbell from Van Nuys, CA released four stripers aboard our 42 ft “Yahoo”. Pisces anglers caught 90 striped marlin and 1 sailfish this week, all but one released.


OTHER SPECIES: Even though everybody is busy with the marlin, dorado and yellow fin tuna catches are still good. Twenty four percent of our boats caught dorado this week from 15 to nice 45 lbs range. At the end of this report, “Yahoo” did pretty good for Ben Wells and buddies from Greenville, SC boating four dorados from 20 to a nice 44 lbs and releasing one striped marlin at seven miles out from Cerro Colorado. On the 21st Stephen Grove from Long Beach, CA reeled in four dorado and four football size yellow fin tuna at the Herradura spot aboard “Cabolero”. On the 27th “Ruthless” caught two dorado, one was a nice 45 lbs bull dorado for Art, Christine & Kendall Whittlesey from Bellevue, WA; they also released two striped marlin. Yellow fin tuna catches was the second place this week with twenty nine percent of our boat caught between one to sixteen fish. Top tuna boat was “Ruthless” as they had a fantastic day on the 21st for Robin and Kristeen Nalder from Utah again, as they boated sixteen yellow fin tuna, one 45 lbs wahoo and four dorado- plenty of fillets to take back home! The same day, “C-Rod” caught fifteen tuna for Edward Lamb from Lafayette, LA at ten miles out from Cerro Blanco; they were also fortunate to released one striped marlin and one mako shark by the 95 spot. On the 25th William Anderson and Friedrich Gruetmacher from California boated ten yellow fin tuna between 10 – 25 lbs with cedar plugs aboard “Adriana”; they also released one striped marlin each. On the 22nd Mark Chiavetta and friends from San Jose, CA caught ten yellow fin tuna between 25 to 40 lber aboard his “Bill Collector” out from the Herradura spot. A day before, “Bill Collector” caught nine of this delicious fish and released one striped marlin for Jeff Turnbull from Charlotte, NC . Looks like the 21st was tuna day, as most of the boats caught some yellow fin tuna, like the “Andrea” for John Baumgartner from Indiana with a nice 170 lber at the 11:50 spot; they also caught two dorado and released one striped marlin & one pilot shark- they were tired and back to the dock at noon (talk about a lucky day!) We had a total of 22 dorado and 76 yellow fin tuna this week.

As to other species, we had wahoo, mako & pilot shark and a couple of skipjacks

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies with some windy days

LOCATION: Pacific Side – Herradura

Sea of Cortez – 11:50 Spot, Chileno, 95 Spot, Cerro Blanco, Cabeza Ballena, Sta. Maria

AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 78 F


BEST LURES: Pink/blue, cedar plugs, feathers, squid, purple, volador,, white/blue, red/white, petrolero, green, guacamayo, tigrillo

Live bait: caballito, cocinero , yellow tail and ballyhoo
Based on the catches of Pisces by Ale Almada –

Back At The Dock By 1.00 pm And Four Marlin Released, One Guy!



Angler Shawn Clemmons from Alabama with Captain J.R on Left and Deckhand Luis on Right



Shawn Caught and Released Four Striped Marlin Today

The fantastic fishing continued today. Shawn Clemmons from Orange Beach Albama was out as a single angler with the crew of Rebecca today. Liking a challenge, Shawn was able to catch and release FOUR striped marlin, between our two top snorkeling spots, Chileno and Santa Maria, however further offshore between five and eight miles. All were taken on live bait. The fish were caught in rapid succession and a tired Shawn was back at the dock around 1.00pm...you can only handle so much good fishing.
WELL DONE SHAWN!

It Was a 250 lb Tuna, Why Is It 150 lbs at the Dock?

A few days ago Tyson Seeliger from Houston, Texas boarded our 35 ft Cabo "Great Escape Jr." for a day of fishing with Captain Ricardo Agundez, expecting that he would probably catch a marlin.  Ricardo headed up to the 11.50 spot (between Palmilla and San Jose about 11 miles offshore) and didn't disappoint Tyson, soon having him hooked up to a striped marlin.  It wasn't long before they had the striper up to the boat and released it safely, after some photos of course. The crew then spotted another marlin up on the surface and were about to throw a live bait to it, when from out of nowhere something hit the lure on their left outrigger and took off at what seemed like a hundred miles an hour. This fish was so fast and strong that it almost spooled them. Tyson, struggled and pumped and reeled but they had no idea of what it was. They got a glimpse of something black and large as it's back broke the water and for a second Ricardo, thought it was "one of those big black dolphins (porpoise)" that nobody wants on the line. They perservered and finally after one and a half hours they finally realized that it was a large tuna. This tuna never dove but stayed up on the surface the whole time. After another two hours they had the fish twenty feet from the boat, when it was attacked by four pilot (silky) sharks. They ripped into it devouring it in large bites, as Tyson frantically  reeled as fast as he could to try and save his sushi.  Once what was left of the tuna was on board, the sharks still persevered, which was their mistake; the crew managed to hook two of them and bring them to the boat, but being more merciful than the sharks were with the tuna they released them,  after estimating their weight at 120-140 lbs. Back at the dock the tuna caused quite a stir when it was unloaded.

This Tuna Looked Like Any Other Large Yellowfin When It Showed Up At The Dock at First Glance.

This Fish Was Easily 250 LBS, Until Four Sharks Attacked It

This is The Lure It Took, a Jet Head Petrolero

Fantastic Time Aboard Andrea!

Pisces Sportfishing:

I just wanted to drop a line and say a big THANK YOU!! On Monday May 30th, we took a 8hr trip on the Andrea. I can't tell you what an amazing time we all had. At the days end we ended up catching a total of 5 striped marlin!!! Orlando and Abram were FANTASTIC!!! We were in total shock at not only their knowledge of where to find the fish, but their effort they both made to continually search for more fish. They never slowed down, the entire time, if there wasn't a fish on the line, they were both up top searching for more fish. I have already recommended both Orlando and Abram to everyone I know making a trip to Cabo, and would highly recommend them to ANYONE making that trip and thinking about going fishing.

Again, thank you to the guys and can't wait to book my trip next year!

Please see some of the photos attached....


Chad Willingham

Dallas, TX