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
