April 3rd to 8th, 2011
Overall Catch Success Rate 83.34% For All Species Combined
BILLFISH: O.K. things are not great, but we had a sign this week that they may soon well be; on April 7th “Shambala” had an incredible day, probably the best marlin day for us of the year so far, when they caught nine striped marlin for Bob Elmore & friends from Madison, Mississippi. To achieve this though, they had to go out a pretty long way, 40-45 miles out from Vinoramas, which is not far from Cabo Pulmo. The marlin took live mullet and all but one, which died during the fight, were released. Marlin catches overall showed an improvement though a lot of anglers when given a choice trying for marlin, opted for inshore where a more sure catch was likely. Those anglers that did try for marlin were not always successful; on occasion they saw a dozen or more in a day but could not get them to bite, however twenty five percent of our boats released at least one marlin. On the 4th, “Falcon” did well to release three striped marlin between 120 – 150 lbs ten miles out from Destiladeras for Michael Connelly and friends. A day before this, “C-rod” had a triple marlin day also for faithful client John Carey and friends from Saint Louis, MI. Not only did John have marlin he also hooked a broadbill swordfish that they had on for over an hour before they lost the approximate 200 lb fish. They were fishing five and a half miles out from the Cabrillo Sea Mount –live bait was the ticket for all of their hook-ups. “C-Rod” scored again on April 5th with a double marlin hook up for the Kitchen´s and the Galla´s from Muskegon, MI; this time they were fishing a little close at the 11.50 spot. “Falcon” was on the money again on the 6th again with Michael Connelly & friends aboard with two stripers released at Destiladeras. Our anglers had a total of twenty five striped marlin – all released except two.
OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches are still on the slow side, only one boat was lucky to return with a yellow flag. On the 5th Mark and Sandy Cunningham, a charming couple from Buffalo, NY boated a respectable 35 lb dorado aboard “Bill Collector” with captain Julio Gonzalez; they caught the fish with a white/red lure at the 11:50 spot after releasing two striped marlin; an enviable day. The best catches for smaller game were for white bonita and sierra. Forty five percent of our anglers caught between one to sixty nine white bonitas (the good kind that you can eat), with the majority released. April 6th was definitely a bonita day, “La Brisa” caught sixty nine bonitas and eleven sierra for Tyler Leggette and Lane Covachuck from Canada; they released most of the fish and just kept a few fillets to have them cooked up at Captain Tony’s. This species is biting on rapalas at Migriño on the Pacific side. “Valerie” had action for the Saretsky party from Canada reeling in thirty bonitas and twenty sierra at the same spot. This same group also went out on “Ruthless” where they had twenty one bonitas and twenty sierras, most of them released well; they fished close by at Pozo de Cota. Yellowtail are still around giving us a seventeen percent catch rate for this delicious fish. On the 6th Karl Tek and his son signed up for a panga with us and caught four between 10 and 20 lbs and two sierra, one of them was a nice size at 15 lbs.
As to other species, we had one hammer head shark for Debra & Robert Tucker and Andy & Sarah Dale from Ohio aboard “C-Rod” – they released the shark estimated at 70-80 lbs they also caught two yellowtails for dinner.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies. Mostly calm seas to some choppy days with windy afternoons.
LOCATION: Pacific Side – Old Lighthouse, Pozo Cota, Margaritas, Golden Gate, Migriño
Sea of Cortez – 95 spot, 11:50 Spot, Barco Varado, Cabrillo, Cabrillo, Vinoramas, Destiladeras
AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 73 F
BEST LURES Rapalas, hoochis, yoyos, petrolero, white/red
Live bait: caballito, mullet, ballyhood
Based on the catches of Pisces by Ale Almada & Tracy Ehrenberg.
Eric & Stacey Bewley from New Mexico and Mike & Marissa Simmons from Colorado had a great time aboard "Andrea" with three nice yellow tail for a delicious dinner; they released nineteen bonitas as well.
