Why are you still freezing back home when you could be here catching marlin?

Ron & Lori Chabot from Melbourne FL, went out fishing yesterday aboard the Rebecca, they released 8 Striped Marlin from 100 to 140lbs while you were freezing back home. 


What are you waiting for?

It pays to wake up early in Cabo

Meet Greta, Pisces Group newest sales agent, she decided to go to the Marina really early this morning to see how Dockmaster Mario dispatches the boats. As soon as they were finished they grabbed a piece of live bait and threw a line in the water, after a couple of tries, there was a bite, and after 15 minutes Greta landed a beautiful 8lbs Roosterfish. This was Greta's1st time fishing from the dock and 1st Roosterfish ever. So what are you doing back home in the snow? Come on and catch some fish with Pisces!

Pisces Weekend Special

FISH REPORT

Pisces Fish Report

November 4th to 23rd, 2011


Overall Catch Success Rate 95% (all species combined)


BILLFISH: We have had a hectic few weeks and have been unable to produce a fish report, so here is a roundup of what has been happening. First we are happy to report that we have had a taste of some of the incredible catches, like we had back in 2008 at this time of year. Case in point would be “Shambala” who on November 21st released seven striped marlin, fifteen wahoo and fifteen dorado for Barry Suave and friends from Houston at the outer edge of Golden Gate. There were quite a few catches of double striped marlin days mixed with lots of dorado, but we also had blue marlin too. “Attitude Adjustment” released an almost 400 lb blue for a client from Australia, Marco Zimit, which they hooked on a blue and orange lure off of San Jaime on November 6th. Both “Bandito” and “Adriana” also had blue marlin at the Los Arcos area in the 200 to 300 lb class. We have also had a group from Sweden that are producing a documentary and are fishing from kayaks. They have been very pleased with the action they have been guided to by the crew of “La Brisa”, even though releasing one of the marlin caused them to capsize their kayak. Forty three of charters have caught billfish, consisting of 72 striped marlin 9 sailfish and 3 blue marlin.
OTHER SPECIES: This could be called dorado month, with our boats tallying up a total of 746 fish this report, with sizes averaging 20 lbs per fish. Everything has been on the Pacific with dorado found at most of our popular fishing spots. Mostly lures have been productive though some have also been caught on live bait. Eighty five percent of boats caught dorado with catches ranging from one to thirteen fish. Tuna catches dropped considerably but there have been some really big fish 200 to 300 lbs and we also know of a new Cabo record which will be posted on our blog shortly. What was really nice was to see the amount of wahoo being caught, though most were babies and released. Nevertheless, Bill Collector did have a couple of 50 lb’ers. Boats often caught four in a day and the most was fifteen aboard Shambala. Our total wahoo count was 44 fish. Inshore we had some roosterfish, pompano, skipjack and small cabrillas.

LOCATION: Pacific, Lighthouse to Golden Gate, popular spot was Gaspareño, Los Arcos, Golden Gate.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Beautiful…mostly sunny skies, though we did have our first rain of the year during the night last week which lasted three hours and damped the dust down. Slight chill at night, seas mostly calm.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 78-79 F

BEST LURES: Live bait for striped marlin, orange/yellow, green, black lures.
Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Thanksgiving in Cabo

Happy Thanksgiving everybody, from a sunny and beautiful Cabo San Lucas. So how is it celebrated here? Well Americans do the whole thing, turkey, friends, get togethers, it's a big deal. Mexicans are kind of  puzzled thought they know its "tanksgivin o somin, elike dat" and are pleased if they get invited to eat something delicious and to join in. So we couldn't find a turkey picture, but thought you would enjoy this one, of a burro getting gasoline in Todos Santos

Can You Catch Fish From the Dock?

Fishing in Cabo is very reasonable when compared to elsewhere in the world, but not everybody can afford to rent a boat. You often see locals fishing from the rocks at the entrance to the harbor and along some of the beaches, their equipment is usually very basic, sometimes just a Coke can with line wrapped around and we see them get hooked up. Dave and Megan Nolt, from Lone Tree, Colorado have fished with us many many times and were out last Thursday aboard Tracy Ann and caught four dorado, but their experience continued when they got back to shore. Mario had spotted roosterfish around the dock, borrowed a  rod from one of the boats, gave it to Dave who got this beauty. So if you don't want to rent a boat, talk to Mario and maybe he can get you hooked up.

Does This Guy Look Happy Fishing or What?

Dean Strawn from Arvada, Colorado was thrilled to catch this 40 lb yellow fin tuna and be in Cabo, from the looks of things he will be back.



Mississippi Anglers Kept Busy on Tracy Ann

Gary Owen was visting with his wife Leslie from Brandon, Mississippi and fished aboard Tracy Ann our 31 ft Bertram on November 8th, 9th and 10th and had such a good time they already booked for November of next year! This is what Gary had to say and the pictures say even more:

"Ady,
Buenos Dias, I just wanted to say "Thanks" for your help organizing our trip. We had a blast! My wife (Leslie) caught her first Dorado and first Marlin on this trip. I also caught my first Marlin!
I cannot say enough about Julio, Martin, and Abraham, they were so nice and helpful to my wife, as this was her first, Blue Water fishing trip. We cannot wait until NEXT YEAR!!!!!! see you then.

I attached some pics for you too. The first one is a double on dorados. Then the dorados from the double, then the pics of our FIRST Marlin each! Thanks again, Hope you have a great weekend."
Best Regards,
Gary






Gary &Leslie Owen Spend Time Together Fishing off  of Cabo on the Pacific

Leslie Caught her First Dorado....nice size too.

Leslie's First Marlin All Lit Up with Stripes Clearly Visible from the Fight, about to be Released

Gary's First Marlin was a Good Size close to 170 lbs, about to be Released

Los Cabos Tuna Jackpot 2011 report.

This Years WinningTeam with their 213 lb Tuna.  Foto Mario Bañaga

This year’s Western Outdoor News Jackpot Tuna Tournament could be considered the best to date. Great participation made it the largest tournament of the year on the Cabo calendar with 108 boats participating. Many of the anglers returned from previous years, with some even fishing it since its inception thirteen years ago.

What is so nice about this tournament is that it is accessible to anybody. You don’t have to be a millionaire to enter or own a fancy boat. In fact the first year Estrella de Mar a panga from San Jose took first place.  Although only costing $800.00 to enter there are optional multi-level jackpots which can pay off some serious money.

I cannot say enough about this tournament, the organization, the fun element, the giveaways by the sponsors, the great parties. Most tournaments just do an awards dinner, this one gives the anglers at least two fully catered dinners, fun events, a casting competition and the rules are easy.

Day one of the competition saw boats streaking out of the harbor after the 7.00 am shotgun start with probably seventy percent heading to the Pacific and the rest to the Sea of Cortez and the Gordo Bank. Around 10.00 am we got a call from “Fisherman” one of the tournament favorites, who reported that they had lost a propeller and were on one engine. This was the team that set the tournament record with a 383 lb fish, in 2009, so definitely one to keep an eye on, even with only one engine.

The afternoon weigh in, which started at 4.00 pm showed some nice fish showing up. We all took notice when Captain Jobe Villavicencio arrived aboard Angelina; he is a past winner and the first to break the 300 lb barrier, when he weighed in a 318 lb’er several years ago, taking first place. Of course Jobe weighed in a nice fish, 198.10 lbs and went into first place; this team however was not entered in all the jackpots, leaving quite a bit of money on the table. Nevertheless it looked as if team Angelina would get a payday of over $35,000.00.

Day 1 Big Fish Aboard Angelina 198.10  lbs .photo Brandon Hayward

The team aboard Precision III showed up with a less than impressive fish weighing in at only 48.1 lbs, but they had put up some jackpot fees and were in the $10,000.00 optional daily jackpot, one which few boats has entered and as it turned out they ended taking that jackpot this day giving them a tentative payoff of $24,000.00 if nothing bigger came in for a team entered in this same daily optional.

Team Fisherman limped in to port on one engine, barely before the allotted time to be in the harbor  by 6.00 pm, but they were not down, they had a nice fish on board 107.7 lbs to be precise, which would be worth $94,000.00 come Saturday nights awards.

No dorado were weighed in that could make the 30 lb minimum on day one but team Checkmate did bring a 55.5 lb wahoo to the scale assuring them of a $36,000.00 prize come Saturday night, or to look at it a bit differently that fish was worth $654.00 per lb!

Day two saw hopes high for most teams as the wind had died down and seas looked more comfortable as boats took off again at 7.00 am. A few more headed towards Punta Gorda as everybody knew that team Fisherman had caught their fish in that direction, but others decided to stick with their game plan of the Pacific.

It wasn’t long that boats started to show up with big fish, some even before lines were out and soon the first 200 lb plus fish was weighed in, Bottom Line headed up by team captain John Buchan from San Jose del Cabo was thrilled to learn that his fish weighed 205 lbs, putting them immediately into first place, but seeing as they were not entered in any jackpots, the big prizes were still up for grabs.

Lots of fish came to the scales over 100 lbs; Pisces Bill Collector, with a  beautiful 192 lb’er  and they were in nearly all the jackpots, so angler David Bick waited around, hoping  nobody else would bring in a bigger fish. He was on edge, as Cabo Magic pulled up with a sizeable tuna looking a lot like his, it was only 30 minutes before the scale closed and a roar went up from the crowd as Pat McDonnell called out the weight of “213 lbs”, however this team was not in the jackpots either.  We wondered how this angler had managed to pull such a big fish in on a 6/0 Senator Reel, pretty much obsolete these days in tournament fishing.

Team True with their 206 lb Fish that Earned  $158.520.00 photo Brandon Hayward

There was a line of boats waiting at the dock that still needed to weigh their fish and one in particular that got our attention, True XII, they had a nice tuna on the deck, but also gave us a sneak peek at an even larger one they had in the refrigerated fish box, below deck. It was hard to guess the weight but it looked good. 

This boat could not have had a more experienced team aboard, Steve Geary, a charter boat captain that has run boats under the Pisces banner,  a very very good fisherman and a proponent of kite fishing ,fairly new to this area, who has been teaching a lot of the guys here how to fish this technique. Also aboard were Brett Eller, captain of True, Tom Aland, Rodalto Hemeniz and Chris Fuller and Cubby another captain who has been here forever. They had clubbed together to get the entry fees together and were fishing for themselves.

Team True, teased the crowd, choosing to weigh their smaller fish first, which turned out to be 164 lbs, before pulling out the big guy, who tipped the scales at 206 lbs, causing immediate celebration on the part of the team as they had entered across the board. We asked them how and where they had  caught their fish and they told us that they were fishing 7 to 8 miles off of Gaspareño on the Pacific 10 miles north of Golden Gate and had caught it on a flying fish lure attached to a kite.

After the scale closed and they were setting up tables for the dinner on the marina boardwalk, we had a chance to speak with the angler of the 213 lb winning fish, Orville Henseler from Springtown, Pennsylvania. He was looking very pleased so we wanted to get some insight into how he caught his fish. We asked him if this was his first tournament and his answer kind of surprised us when he said, “Yes” and that it was his “first time in Cabo”. 

He told us that it was really hard to reel in his fish, which they had found straight off the Old Lighthouse and hooked on a live caballito (google eye), with 60 lb test on a Senator 6/0 reel, in fact it took him four hours and forty five minutes to bring to the boat. It was hard not to notice that Orville was missing his leg from the knee down so we asked if that was a factor, his answer moved and surprised us. He told us how eight months ago he had been involved in an industrial accident, when his shoelace had been caught in machinery and he had been terribly mangled by the large Harley rake that had grabbed his leg and destroyed it. He had had to cut himself free of the machine by cutting through it (the machine). His laborer saved his life by calling 911 and he was air lifted off the job by helicopter. Orville was in and out of hospital for months until the leg finally succumbed to infection and had to be amputated from the knee down. He has only had his prosthesis for three months and does not find it easy or comfortable yet, but he told us that after the accident his whole view of life changed, he and his wife came up with their “bucket list” and one of the things on it was to fish in Cabo San Lucas.

Even though they couldn’t really afford it they booked a vacation to Cabo San Lucas and put it on a credit card. When they saw that a tournament was to be held the week after they were supposed to leave, they called and changed their dates so that they could enter the fishing competition. They never thought in their wildest dreams that they would win. 

The captain added some insight and said that “Orville was so tenacious, that he would not release the rod, even when it was time to gaff the fish, he wanted to do it himself while still hanging on to the rod” he told the crew “Don’t touch my fish, I can do this on my own, I do this in Alaska”, but salmon are a bit different than a large tuna, so they ordered him to sit down, while they quickly dispatched the fish and got it on board. Orville was still clutching his rod as he made his way to the weigh station.

Orville his wife and even the captain were overcome with emotion as they took their place on the stage to receive their trophies and check at the Saturday night’s awards banquet, with “We Are the Champions” played over the sound system, tournament director Pat McDonnell recounted Orville’s story to the crowd, while a few tears escaped the teams eyes.

Team Cabo Magic along receive their check.

Fishermen were not the only ones honored that evening, Admiral Felipe Solano was asked to come up with the medic from his base to be recognized for keeping Cabo seas safe and for saving the life of Hollywood screenwriter Kay Alden in a dramatic rescue that she calls a miracle and was awarded a handsome Reactor Watch.

Sponsors and anglers were also generous and raised $17,800.00 for charity to be given to a local kid’s shelter.

That’s why we love this tournament, its fun, it’s real and there are a lot of fish.  It’s amazing to think that a first time tuna fisherman and visitor to Cabo could beat out the likes of the fishing greats of team True. Not only that but one day after the tournament “Shambala”, captained by TJ Dobson, also a past winner of this tournament, boated a 210 lb tuna  - that’s Cabo for you.

See below details of tournament payouts:

1^st Place  Cabo Magic  213 lbs Orville Henseler                  $36,720.00

2^nd Place  True XII 206 lbs Tom Aland/Chris Fuller           $158,520.00 with jackpots

3^rd Place  Bottom Line 205 lbs John Buchan                          $2,160.00

Day One Jackpots

Fisherman  Hugo Pino 107.70 lbs                                         $94,400.00

Angelina  Marty Griffith 198.10 lbs                                        $35,800.00

Precision III Mark Callahan 48.20 lbs                                    $24,000.00

Wahoo/Dorado Category:

Day 1 Checkmate 55.50 lbs wahoo  Ed Dona                        $36,000.00

Day 2 Reina del Wahoo 39.20 lbs wahoo Miguel Angeles     $36,000.00       
Report by Tracy Ehrenberg                                    

Here's The Weekly Fish Report

October 29th to November 3rd, 2011

Overall Catch Success Rate for All Species Combined: 96%

BILLFISH: This week billfish did not seem to be the main target as boats loaded up on abundant catches of dorado and yellowfin tuna in preparation for the Western Outdoor News Jackpot Tuna tournament. Nevertheless some boats did find marlin and sailfish. On the last day of the month “Ruthless” with captain Leon & deckhand Beto, guided Robert and Janna Maddox from Dallas, Texas to the right spot, Migriño and Pozo Cota and got them hooked up to two sailfish as well as fifteen dorado. This same day “Cabolero” fished a little further up the coast at Golden Gate with John Beekman & Ron Zutz from Red Deer, Alberta on board who did extremely well to catch and release a striped marlin each and seventeen dorado. Next day out it was “La Brisa’s” turn with a sailfish and striped marlin released as well as two dorado boated at Los Arcos for the Mercier group from Punta Gorda, Florida. Just eighteen percent of boats caught billfish this week, which is pretty low for Cabo; however we have received reports from boats coming down from San Diego of huge amounts of striped marlin at Mag Bay, which is a good indicator for the marlin bite to take off here in Cabo soon. Pisces anglers caught seven striped marlin and three sailfish, all released.

Janna Maddox from Dallas,  shows off her sailfish before safely releasing it.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado have been thick off of Cabo for the past couple of weeks but have now begin to peter out or have moved elsewhere, nevertheless catches were such that we ended up with 209 total with sixty eight percent of our boats catching between one and seventeen fish in the 15 to 25 lb class. It should be pointed out that many of the dorado are being released. Tuna catches were not far behind with our boats landing a total of 199 fish from 18 to 180 lbs, with the largest being caught aboard

This dorado took a guacamaya lure.

“Cabolero” by the guys mentioned above from Red Deer. Catches varied from three to twenty fish per boat. Wahoo were scarce with just a 35 lb’er caught. Inshore we had a few roosters and needle fish.

Robert Maddox from Dallas, hoists his dorado aloft for a photo

LOCATION: Everything is on the Pacific right now from the Old Lighthouse to Golden Gate.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 80 F

LIVE BAIT: Mullet was available as well as ballyhoo and boats used a combination of live bait, dead bait and lures, which worked equally well. Lure colors that were popular were green, guacamaya, orange and black.

 Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg