The Better Late Than Never Fish Report

Fish Report Dec. 17th to 31st, 2011

Overall Catch Success Rate 90%

BILLFISH: I don’t need to be told that this report is late, way too late, but I think it is important that we finish out the numbers for last year and have them on file. Unfortunately with all the Christmas rush work and over commitment many posadas (Christmas parties) etc. visitors, meals and so on, I ended up with a pulled week and a forced week of bed rest. So here is the last fish report of 2011 and the new one for the first week of January will be out this afternoon. Marlin catches have not exploded as we thought they might but we see some glimpses of incredible catches, then things calm down again. However, when marlin are not biting we are catching plenty of other fish such as dorado, tuna and inshore, tons of Spanish mackerel or sierra. This period saw thirty three percent of our boats hooking up to striped marlin, the only type of billfish being caught. “Shambala” our 60 ft Hatteras, was again our top boat, with some fantastic catches. Captain T.J on this boat showed anglers incredible fishing over a four day run, starting on December 27th when Scott Stevens and friends from Steubenville, Ohio were aboard. They fished just outside the Golden Gate and released ten striped marlin on live mackerel and boated a dorado. Next day they headed to the same spot and almost matched the previous day, but this time released eight striped marlin and a dorado. Scott Stevens out again on the 29th released another five striped marlin, before they nipped inshore for some light tackle fun where they caught 15 sierra. To close out the week “Shambala” released an additional eight marlin on the 30th for Mary & Murray Sinclair from Toronto also at Golden Gate. This was not the only boat that did well; “Yahoo” released six marlin as well as catching a red snapper and a nice roosterfish for a group from Acapulco & Durango, Mexico. This same day “Falcon” has four marlin caught on large sardines, at Gaspareño for the Quinn family from Dallas, Texas.“Bill Collector” also had a quadruple marlin day plus a dorado off of La Brecha for James Bickerstaff from New York. Other boats had one and two marlin days giving us a total marlin number for this period of 84 striped marlin.

OTHER SPECIES: Anglers had plenty of action eve with only a little more than a third of boats hooked up to marlin, there were plenty of dorado and tuna to keep them busy, to say nothing of the inshore fishing. Dorado catches were at thirty three percent with catches of one to fifteen fish in the 15 to 25 lb category. Top dorado boat was “El Gallo” with fifteen up to 35 lbs, plus a striped marlin released for Clayton Clark and friends from Houston, Texas fishing at Elias Calles & Golden Gate. Our total dorado catch was 105 fish, with many released. Tuna catches whilst lower percentage wise, yielded a higher overall fish count. Thirty one percent of boats caught tuna with weights seldom over 25 lbs; our total tuna count was 281 fish, with catches ranging from one to twenty fish. The best area for tuna was off of the Old Lighthouse between ten and twenty five miles as well as at Jaime Bank. Green & yellow lures worked for this species as well as the ever popular cedar plugs. We had one wahoo this week, a decent size at 60 lbs, caught on Shambala by Eric Olsen form Corona del Mar Ca, this group also caught six tuna and released two striped marlin, included a first ever marlin for 87 year old Lynn Hall, patriarch of the family. We had one mako shark around 100 lbs released, several roosterfish, fair amounts of skipjacks and a record number of sierra. “Valerie” got out their light tackle and kept anglers furiously busy catching a total of 84, with just a few kept for Dave Jones from California.

LOCATION: Pacific, Old Lighthouse to Golden Gate.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Partly cloudy skies, seas moderate.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 71-75 F

BEST LURES: Live bait, green/yellow combinations, cedar plugs.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg