Overall Catch Success Rate 72.92%
BILLFISH: Despite a dip on marlin catches this week, thirty percent of our boats released striped marlin. The majority of the boats met with success in the Sea of Cortez, between the 95 spot and up as far as the Gordo Banks. The Top marlin boat this week was definitely “Tracy Ann”, with two double-header marlin days and the rest of the week one a day, with the exception of a single day when they saw them but couldn’t get a hook up. First double marlin day for “Tracy Ann” was on the 10th for Charles Meissen and Dave Schroder from Colorado; they ending up sharing a boat and did very well releasing a marlin each, both estimated around 150 lbs, released three miles out from the 95 spot. On March 8th, they had another double marlin day for birthday girl, Susie Hodnik from Juno, Alaska. Both the fish were released at Cabrillo sea mount and took live caballito. Susie was thrilled as this was her first marlin ever – way to go Julio & Martin; what a great birthday gift. “Adriana” did well too on the 5th for Mike and Melissa Brightwell from Springfield, Maryland. They did well to catch two stripers this time on the Pacific in Migriño area. They released on of the fish and estimated at 170 lbs and the other died during the fight –this one proved to be the larger of the two weighing in at close to 200 lbs, larger than usual. On the 7th, Larry and Saundra Dunsnoor from Klamath Falls, OR released one striped marlin which weighed approximately 160 lbs again, board “Tracy Ann”. This one was found at a favorite haunt of striped marlin, Golden Gate. On the 4th, Doug Noonan and friends from Florida had a great day, guess with whom... Yeap “Tracy Ann”! They were not even trying for marlin, instead they wanted to concentrate inshore and managed to hook up twenty sierras and a bonita at Gaspareño; on their way back to the dock with all the lines out of the water, Martin, deckhand, saw a marlin jumping out of the blue. Now, Martin is young lithe and eager, he leapt to the bait well had a caballito on the hook in no time, cast it with accuracy right in front of the marlin and got a hook up. It was Doug´s turn and his first marlin. He reeled and reeled under the watchful eye of Nicolas Winkler, skippering that day, and with some coaching managed to get the fish boatside for a couple of photos, before releasing it. He was extremely appreciative of crew’s skill. Thank you Doug for stopping by to the office and share your story. Pisces anglers had seventeen striped marlin this week; all released except two.
OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches were better this week, but not great. Nine percent of our anglers managed to find this species. We had a couple of good sizes though, such as on the 5th aboard “Fearless” for Christopher Garcia and friends from New York City, NY who caught a respectable 40 lb dorado, taken at thirty miles out from Chileno bay; they also boated two yellow fin tuna between 15 t& 30 lbs; the fish took a combination of lures. On the 10th, Scott Towers and friends from Littleton, CO landed a 35 lbs dorado aboard “Adriana” and they caught one 20 lbs tuna as well. The same day, “Ruthless” caught another dorado from the equal size hooked with a blue/white lure for Tyler Mincemoyer from Philadelphia. Tuna catches were slightly better this week with fifteen percent of our boats catching between one to eight fish. The best day was on the 5th for Carla and Bill Davis from Pawley Island, SC they boated eight yellow fin tuna between 25 to 30 lbs fifteen miles from Cerro Blanco, all the fish took cedar plugs. They were lucky to release one striped marlin too. Early in the week, “Andale” caught six yellow fin tuna on feathers for a group from New York; most of them were football size. Catches are still steady with nineteen percent of our anglers hooking up to these tasty but tough fighters. On the 10th, Michael and Cindy Hulquist from Alaska had a good day aboard “Salsa” panga with a total of fifteen sierra from about 8 to 10 lbs; all caught with hoochis. On the 3rd, William Bartow tried the same boat and caught fifteen sierra as well as releasing a couple of rooster fish and a jack crevalle, close to the old lighthouse. We had a few yellow tail this week, on the 3rd the McLean´s from Florida caught ten of these fish (great for sashimi) aboard “La Brisa”; they went for a half day so they focus on inshore fishing and caught eight sierra and one 25 lbs sea bass. Other species; we had yellow tail, rooster fish, sea bass, trigger fish, mako sharks, grouper and a lot of bonitas.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies. Mostly calm seas, great weather overall.
LOCATION: Pacific Side – Golden Gate, Migriño, Old Lighthouse, Cerro Blanco, Margaritas, Gaspareño, Cerritos, Elías Calles
Sea of Cortez – Chileno, 95 spot, Punta Gorda, 11:50 Spot, Santa Maria, La Playita, Barco Varado, Chileno, Cabrillo
AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 71 F
BEST LURES; Cedar plugs, rapalas, hoochis, green, guacamayo, yellow, blue/pink, yoyos, tigrillo, green/white, purple, blue/white, red/black, feathers
Live bait: caballito, ballyhoos, sardine
Based on the catches of Pisces by Ale Almada & Tracy Ehrenberg.
Tyler Mincemoyer and friends from State College, PA with a 30 lbs dorado aboard "Ruthless"
Doug Noonan pictured with his first marlin released aboard "Tracy Ann"
