Fish Report Roundup

September 29^th to October 5^th, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate for All Species Combined 93%

Numbers in brief:

Billfish: 41% chance – total catch 27

Dorado: 74% chance – total catch 242

Tuna: 20% chance – total catch 60

BLUE MARLIN SEASON IS HERE, THIS ONE IS BEING RELEASED

 BILLFISH: It seems that blue marlin season is upon us, hot weather makes them show up. We started out the week with a bang and as reported earlier in our blog a 722 lb (official weight) was weighed in aboard Pisces 46 ft  Bertram “Attitude Adjustment”, the fish was found 11 miles straight out from Cabo and was this groups fourth fish of the day, after two sailfish and a dorado. The same green colored lure did the trick and got them hooked up to a very strong fish that gave its all before expiring boat-side. Congratulations to fifty eight year old Dave Smith from Atlanta and to his fellow anglers who encouraged him, Tom Montour of Atlanta and Jack Bowen and Clint Dean from Chattanooga. The following day our Pisces 31 ft Cabo “Cabolero”  scored another blue for Dave Wisniewksi from Pella, Iowa around the same area, again a lure fish, this time the famous Petrolero, this fish was just over half the size of the other one at 384 lbs, but nevertheless it would be a qualifier in a tournament. Now a word about blue marlin, yes, we would like to see more of them released and we suggest all anglers do so, but they are more delicate than the stripers and die much more easily in the fight. It is important to catch them as quickly as possible to give them a better chance of surviving; often anglers especially first time marlin fishermen are unprepared for the strength of these creatures and it can feel like you have hooked a truck, so make sure you are in good shape and don’t give up. Pisces “Valerie” had a fabulous day on October 5^th with Tom Johnson from San Ramon, California on board. They fished at Los Arcos and also off the Old Lighthouse and managed to release four sailfish and a blue marlin between three anglers. Again the blue marlin was caught on a dorado colored lure. This same day Pisces  38 ft Blackfin “C Rod” fished just seven miles from the Old Lighthouse and caught a blue marlin around 300 lbs and nine dorado up to 20 lbs for Steve McDonald and friends from Arizona. Our last blue marlin of the week was aboard 28 ft Uniflite Pisces “Adriana” this time for Mike Weals from Redlands, California at Los Arcos. This healthy fish was around 250 lbs and took a purple lure, before being successfully released; they also caught six dorado.  Striped marlin in the 100 to 130 lb class were also caught this week at diverse locations on the Pacific and preferred bait. Sailfish were the most widely caught billfish this week and like the striped marlin wanted live bait or dead ballyhoo on the Pacific. Forty one percent of our anglers caught billfish this week giving us a total of 27, consisting of 14 sails, 8 stripes and 5 blues – all but three billfish were released.

NOTHING LIKE A NICE DORADO ON A HOT SUMMER'S DAY, SHOWN HERE MATE SALVADOR FROM LA BRISA.



OTHER SPECIES: Dorado was by far the most prolific fish in our waters this week and why not, it’s the right time for it and the right conditions, in fact seventy four percent of our boats caught between one and seventeen with weights ranging from 18 to 40 lbs - one medium size dorado goes a long way when it comes to dinner time, it is very mild tasting, easy to cook and moist. Remaining floating debris from the rains made dorado easy to spot as they congregating underneath it as well as being found spread out on the Pacific side. The majority of dorado took lures, though some preferred ballyhoo. Our total dorado count was 242 fish or to put it another one around 4840 lbs! Tuna catches were at twenty percent this week with boats catching between one and thirteen, though none were of notable size. With only a twenty percent chance at tuna it was only a few fortunate boats that found them, such as Pisces 31 ft Bertram “Rebecca” fishing seven miles off of Elias Calles, with Jon Svendson & friends from Scottsdale, Arizona on board; they caught 13 yellow fin up to 25 lbs, one dorado and four skipjacks. Total tuna tally was 68 fish.  It was nice to see a bit more activity on wahoo this period, though again, no really big fish with the average 30 to 35 lbs. “Falcon” caught the largest one at 44 lbs on a petrolero lure at Cerro de Arena for Manuel Green from Dallas – they also caught six dorado.

LOCATION: Mostly Pacific from Land’s End to San Jaime.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Hot and sunny, seas calm.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 86 F

BEST LURES: Green/yellow, petrolero, purple, live caballito, frozen ballyhoo.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg