Fishing Update

FEBRUARY 18th to 24th, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 86%

BILLFISH: We were pleased with the upturn in fishing this week, with decent catches of marlin, despite a drop in water temperature. This period started off with a few boats with single striped marlin in the 11.50 area of the Sea of Cortez. On February 18th, we saw a couple of boats step it up with “Yahoo” catching and releasing three striped marlin up to 160 lbs on live mackerel at Punta Gorda for David Attebery, Tim Smith and John Allan. This same day “Rebecca” had two on the same bait, in the same area for Kevin Sullivan from Champaign, Illinois fishing with buddy Will Klein. The marlin bite was fair to good one day, then down a day then back on again; “La Brisa” had two also at Punta Gorda for Brian & Glenn O´Neil from Kerwsburg N.J & Hudson N.Y on the 20th. This same day “Valerie” dii well to release three on live caballito for Mark Beckham, Scott Quaintana & Eddie Julian; all from North Carolina. “C Rod” had a nice variety bag for Matt Percy from Canton, Mi, with a striped marlin released, a dorado and four roosterfish. Thirty two percent of charters caught marlin this week, adding up to a total of twenty two fish, all released except one.

Not the biggest yellow fin tuna, but tasty and one of only four caught this week for the fleet; aboard La Brisa.

OTHER SPECIES: There was plenty of action on smaller game this week, so boats had to choose whether to head up to Punta Gorda to try for the not so certain marlin, or head up the Pacific where lots of fish were available. Top two smaller game this week were yellow tail, a delicious firm fleshed fish and roosterfish, a dream catch for lots of anglers but not considered good eating. The yellow tail were found at Los Arcos, with bait, rapalas and iron jigs working well and weights up to 35 lbs. Catches were not quite as plentiful as last week with the average catch being from one to four, nevertheless thirty percent of boats landed this species. Rooster fish began to bite mid-week and “Adriana” had an amazing day on smaller game with thirteen rooster fish up to 25 lbs, a yellow tail and three skipjacks for Daniel Sorenson from Hamilton, Montana. There were good amounts of sierra, skipjacks, some snappers and small groupers as well as jack crevalle. The only wahoo of the week was caught aboard “Rebecca” by Mike Ryan from Merrill,Wi, at the 11.50 spot on a petrolero lure, not big at 25 lbs, but tasty. We had just a few dorado, picked up in different locations and only three yellow fin tuna for the fleet, small at 15 lbs, aboard “La Brisa”
LOCATION: Punta Gorda and 11.50 for marlin, Pacific, Los Arcos for smaller game.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Windy on the Pacific most of the week, making for uncomfortable seas, nevertheless boats could hug the shore and avoid most of the chop. Calmer on the Cortez side.

BEST LURES. Live bait, huchis, light green, rapalas, petrolero.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 66-69 F

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

One Of Our Buddies

You know one of the most fantastic things about living in Cabo are the wonders of nature all around us.

How many people get to pet sea-lions as part of their every day job? In this clip we see Martin Gonzalez deckhand of the Tracy Ann, giving dead bait to our local friendly sea-lion Pancho.  He is a lovable beggar that has learned that tourists on sportfishing boats don’t mind parting with old bait at the end of the day. So how do you tell the difference between a seal and a sea- ion? Well this is a really easy way to remember; seals have no ears just holes for ears and sea lions have tiny ears – easy way to remember, sea lions, longer word have ears, seals shorter word, no ears.

FISHING UPDATE

FEBRUARY 11th to 17th, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate 86% for all Species Combined

Beautiful Yellowtail, our Number One Catch this week.

BILLFISH: It’s kind of embarrassing to write this section as it was super slow for marlin this last week, in fact we only caught one estimated at 120 lbs, aboard “ C Rod” by Brian Burnett from Burlington, Ontario on the 15th, at the Jaime Bank on the Pacific. We did also hear of a very nice fish with estimated between 580 and 682 lbs, (obviously fisherman because it got bigger as the day went on) aboard a vessel called Ziggy with Captain Manuel Dominguez. The angler was Bill Mason who took just one hour and thirty minutes to boat this large fish after it took a petrolero lure at the Cabrillo sea mount on the Cortez side. We did see some window shopping marlin, but they were not hungry at the close of this report boats were starting to see and hook marlin, with some triple hook ups.

These kids were thrilled with these huge yellowtail....they didn't need a marlin.

OTHER SPECIES: Yellow tail a hard fighting firm fleshed fish accounted for fifty one percent of our catches this week, giving us a total of eighty six fish caught. They were found close to Cabo and weighed anywhere from 18 to 40 lbs. Live bait and rapalas worked on getting this species to bite. Michael Hilbert from Emporia, Kansas reeled in eleven aboard “Ruthless” plus four sierras. “Bill Collector” was close behind with ten for Bill Hendricks from the unlikely sounding Chocowinity, N.C. (but it’s real we looked it up and it means little otters). Other catches were lots of sierra or Spanish mackerel, mojarras, a couple of rooster fish, skipjacks and even a hammerhead shark at Destiladeras for Ken Pekar aboard “Adriana”. The “Cabolero” was the only boat to catch yellow fin tuna, for Dean Smith from McDonough, Georgia, but they were not that big at 15 lbs.

Sierra were a lot of fun on light tackle and make excellent ceviche

LOCATION: Los Arcos, Migriño, Gaspareño., Jaime Bank, Punta Gorda, Pozo Cota, Margaritas.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: March like, partly cloudy and windy, seas rough on the Pacific.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 68 F

BEST LURES: Live caballito, rapalas, huchis, petrolero, green.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Nice Wahoo & Dorado Aboard Falcon

The Falcon did very well a couple of days ago, getting some serious fish, after all the small game it was nice to see some heavier hitters. Both fish were caught 15 miles off of Palmilla on  lures. The waho was 45 lbs and the dorado 40 lbs.. They also had three marlin strikes, but nothing that stuck. Show in the photos are Mike Connolly from Cabo/Montana and Captain Manuel Romero.

Nice Fish!

What do we do when there aren't many clients in town? Well we go fishing of course! Shown here is Abrahan Castro, with a lovely 42 lb yellow tail caught yesterday. Abrahan is the deckhand aboard 28 ft Andrea and also the son of long time captain Julio Castro, from Tracy Ann. Guess you could say fishing is in his blood.

Fish Report

February 4th to 10th, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate 83.33%
BILLFISH: Marlin was on the slow side this week as the water temperature dropped down to less than ideal for billfish. The full moon worked against us too, with hungry fish feasting at night then not being as hungry during daylight hours. The moon reached its zenith and is now waning, which means the fish should be getting hungry again. Just four striped marlin were caught this week, with “Bill Collector” releasing one on February 4th for John Mixon from Walton Beach, FL. On the February 6th, “Great Escape Jr” released one for Mark Corrigan from Boston, MA. The last two were released by Karl Pool, Ryan Hohimer & Curtis King from Kenewick, WA aboard the “Tracy Ann” who also landed a very nice 30 lb wahoo. A total of 4 billfish were caught this week, all released. Billfish success rate 16.66%
OTHER SPECIES: After a great week for tuna, they decided to go even further, last catches being at 40 to 50 miles out. Only the “Bill Collector” found 3 yellowfin tunas by the end of the week at San Jaime banks on the Pacific side and they were about 10 lbs each. The rest of the fleet did really good on small game, plenty of sierras or Spanish Mackerel, skipjack and yummy yellowtail are around for you to catch and cook.

LOCATION: Old lighthouse, Los Arcos, San Jaime, Balmaceda, ½ mile from Solmar Beach.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: 72 - 82F, Sunny days all week except in the early hours of Wednesday morning when we experienced cold weather and very unusual thunder and lightning, followed by light rain. The lowest temperature recorded was 55F on Sunday.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 68 - 72F

BEST LURES: Live bait, caballito, mackerel, huchis. Lures: Petrolero.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Jorge Narro & Tracy Ehrenberg

A Roundup of Today, Fishing, Yachting, Moon?

Today was a beautiful and pefect Baja day, clear sunny skies, calm seas and the smart people were here in Cabo enjoying themselves. Here are some photos from today, explaining a little about our lives.

Michelle Gottstein from Gardner Kansas caught this spectacular yellowtail aboard Andrea; this is one of the best eating fish around.

Rick Miller from Belton Texas, went out on a panga and caught both yellowtail and sierra.

These guys from New York did not go fishing but signed up for a cruise aboard Fearless Jr. looks like the captain let them drive the boat....their faces say it all.

Wahoo caught aboard Tracy Ann, shown here with his prize is Curtis King from Washington State.

Hands down Tracy Ann was our top boat today; they released two striped marlin plus the wahoo above out from the Jaime Bank - shown here are Ryan Hoeimer, Karl Pool, Curtis King, Captain Julio deckhands Fernando & Martin...and we are missing one persons name.

If all this great fishing wasn't enough this was the view as we closed the office tonight. What a moon! This photo snapped by my trusty Blackberry.

920 Lb Tuna Caught by Solo Fisherman

Before everybody gets excited, this was not in Cabo in fact it's a species we don't even get here, but we thought this was so impressive that we wanted to share this with you.

 The huge bluefin was caught off of Argus Banks, Bermuda on February 1st by Andrew Card, who unbelieveably only took two hours to get this giant on 80 lb test. The fish was ten feet long and was attacked by sharks, so imagine what it could have weighed.  Andrew was fishing alone so radioed for help from another boat, who helped him get it aboard. A crane was used to hoist it from the boat to the dock.

FISH REPORT

January 28 to February 3rd, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate for All Species Combined 72%

Does this lady look happy or what? Mary Jo Bower, from Pennsylvania, released a striped marlin aboard Valerie, she was one of our top anglers this week.

It's O.K fishy don't worry, Ernesto (the deckhand) is not going to kiss you....we will let you go in a second after we get the photo with angler Edmund Metzgar...warmer here than Williamsport Pennsylvania, right Edmund?

BILLFISH: Fishing seasons are certainly hard to predict right now, but with only a few anglers in town and the moon getting bigger every night, it wasn’t that surprising that we only had a catch rate of eighteen percent for billfish this week. Anglers of the week were Maurice & Mary Jo Bower, fishing with Edmund Metzgar from Williamsport, Pennsylvania. They were out on February 1st aboard “Valerie” and did very well to release three striped marlin ranging from 100 to 150 lbs at the Golden Gate, caught on a combination of live mackerel and caballito. This same day Liz Fedora from Manhasset, New York released two marlin in the 100 to 130 lb class 35 miles out from the Old Lighthouse; both fish took live bait. January 28th was also a pretty good day with “Fearless” getting two marlin in the complete opposite direction at Destilderas for Mike Robert from Fort Mill, South Carolina fishing with Keith Buettner from Greensburg, Pennsylvania. “Andrea” also fished this same area and was able to release two striped marlin for Kevin McAlpin and Ashley Keessar from Canada. Basically marlin were found both on the Pacific and Cortez side but not in great numbers and a key to getting a hook up was having fresh live bait.
OTHER SPECIES: For sheer numbers yellow fin tuna was the most plentiful fish this week giving us a total count of seventy nine fish. Catches were good, if you went a really long way though. “Bill Collector” did just this going 47 miles out with Philip Carter, from Stamford, Connecticut aboard; they had success though, catching twenty seven tuna on a combination of cedar plugs and lures. Weights are not that big though at 8 to 20 lbs. “Tracy Ann” had a decent catch too, with seventeen up to 25 lbs, 40 miles out from Cerro Blanco. Twenty percent of charters caught tuna with catches ranging from 8 to 20 plus fish. Dorado catches were also at twenty percent, but when found the numbers were lesser, in fact no more than three fish. Inshore there were plenty of skipjacks as well as some smallish red snappers, sierras a few roosterfish and bonita.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Seas mostly calm, skies partly cloudy.

LOCATION:Destiladeras, 25 to 46 miles out from Lighthouse and Cerro Blanco as well as the 210 and 230 spot, Punta Gorda, Golden Gate, San Jaime.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 70 F

BEST LURES: Live bait, cedar plugs, green.

Two Of Our Most Popular Boats

Pictured below are two of our most popular boats the Rebecca & Valerie, both are Bertrams, very sea-worthy, reliable boats, with hulls that can live forever.  You don't have to fish on a fancy, new or modern boat, these do just fine and produce a lot of fish, as the flags attest to, plus they are great value for money. This is what a regular afternoon looks like in our world. This photo was snapped as clients disembarked and you can see Captain Roberto waving goodbye on the far right.

Strange Fish Surfaces in Cabo

It wasn't until a few years ago that we had ever seen anything like this in Cabo and everybody was baffled. Now a few years later this is the third that has come to our attention and we now know that this odd looking creature is a ratfish or chimera, though there are differing opinions as to which sub-species it is. These catches always cause a stir amongst scientists and they will be visiting the Pisces headquarters tomorrow to take measurements and samples of this newly caught specimen.  This one appears to be a female as it is lacking the "clasper" on the forehead that males have; then again a previous ratfish had four "chicken" like feet,  once the scientists examine it we will have better information.  This ratfish was brought to us by Captain Francisco Rodriguez, who was out on a trip with clients from Mexico City, aboard his 27 ft "Viviana", when he spotted it on the surface two miles before Golden Gate and about six miles offshore. They motored over to investigate as it floated on the surface and lifted it aboard, it was barely alive so they put it back in the water, but it just floated sideways. Francisco said that in his 30 years of fishing he had "never seen anything like it", but that this mother a native of Cabo San Lucas had heard of tales when she was a girl of a strange sea creature with a "dog like head" which he thought it might be. He remembered that he had seen a  photo of  a Pisces captain with a similar fish and decided to bring it in to us.Take a look at the pictures below:

 Here the fish is on ice waiting for the scientists to get here.

 In this photo you can really appreciate the overall length

 A close up of the  head reveals the strange markings and large eye.

 Oscar, whatever you do, don't kiss it!

 You see why, the breath does not look too fresh.

 The strange front flippers looked jointed like a turtle with  no shell

 We don't know what this is but will have an answer soon

Looks fresh here and you can see the markings more clearly

The funny little back flippers/fins probably assist in scuffling along the bottom.