So How is the Fishing?

Yesteday we had a cloudy and rainy day. People were surprised but it always rains a bit right around January 1st. THE FISH DON'T MIND THOUGH, so never cancel your trip due to a bit of rain. Here is what PISCES caught December 30th:
25 Striped Marlin
1 Sailfish
69 Dorado
8 Yellowfin Tuna
2 Skipjack
1 Yellow Tail
GREAT FISHING! All Billfish released as well as some of the dorado.

Fish Report

December 15TH TO 28TH, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 97%

Numbers at a glance:
Billfish 62%, Dorado 68%, Tuna 8%

 

BILLFISH: This will be our last fish report of the year so next week look for one started out 2013. The striped marlin have not shown up “en masse “ at Golden Gate yet but we are still getting some good catches, however, the fishing has tended to be a bit up and down. One day the marlin bite was fast and furious off of the Old Lighthouse, the next day the same location was dead and boats had to move on in search of more productive seas. One boat that did exceptionally well this period was Pisces Falcon, with TWO blue marlin, in what is considered off season for this species. The first one was approximately 180 lbs and was caught by Tim Koll from Appleton, WI on December 23rd, at Migrino. This group also went on to release two striped marlin and catch three dorado on the same day. Next blue for Captain Manuel was on December 28th , a similar size fish off of the sand hills this time for David Jones, who also got a dorado and ten sierra. Pisces Andrea, a 28 ft boat, released four striped marlin near the Old Lighthouse for David & Barbara Fiocca from Ardamone, Pa on December 15th on live mackerel & lures. A few days later Pisces “Tracy Ann” went to a spot known as “Herradura” or horseshoe and also released four marlin and caught a dorado for Jared Gorden from Boston, Ma. We had a couple of boat with triple marlin days worthy of mention, such as Pisces “Rebecca” on the 23rd for Brian Monroe & Kellen McCormick. Brian Driscoe from Durango, Co also released three marlin and boated ten dorado with friends, aboard Pisces “Cabolero” at San Jaime, on the 27th.  Sixty-two percent of our boats caught billfish this week consisting of 60 striped marlin, 2 blue marlin & 1 sailfish.

 

OTHERS SPECIES: Dorado catches remained pretty steady and ended up being the number one catch in Cabo this week with sixty eight percent of boats catching between one and ten fish up to 30 lbs.  The fish were quite scattered and were usually picked up in ones and two. The boat that did the best was Pisces “Rebecca”, when they found a floating chair 30 miles south of Cabo and where angler Curtis Sander from Tucson, AZ, along with friends, loaded up on ten dorado, 8 tuna, 1 skipjack and released a marlin too. What was surprising this week were the tuna catches, although only a few were caught some were of a remarkable size. Rick Walsh from Cleveland, Ohio caught a beautiful 200 lb tuna aboard Pisces “Tracy Ann”, then Pisces “Valerie” had a great day for Andrew Boston and Andy Ziskind from Chicago; they caught a 30 lb, 175 lb & 240 lb’er sixteen miles from Land’s End on December 26th. The only other fish caught were a few small wahoo, some sierra and skipjacks.

LOCATION: Mostly Pacific, though 95 spot was good a couple of days, marlin and dorado Lighthouse to San Jaime, tuna were south of Cabo 13 to 30 miles.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Partly cloudy, seas calm.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 75 F

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Strange Dorado

Was this Dorado Attacked and if so by what?
One of the pangas we sent today showed up with this dorado with strange markings on it.....what do you think? The tears are gaff marks, but we have not seen such strange markings before.

Tonight's Beautiful Sunset

Wait There's More...

Wait, there's more.....Dr. Rick Walsh from Ohio caught this 200 lb beauty aboard Pisces Tracy Ann with Capt. Julio Castro 29 miles south of Cabo on a tiger color lure - he also released a striped marlin and a small 20 lb tuna. Way to go Rick and what a beautiful photo thanks to Mario. The tuna still looks fresh!

Surprise Huge Tunas Today

Pisces Valerie surprised us all today when she backed into the dock, we thought she had a few skipjacks....boy were we wrong. Look at these huge tunas! They were caught 16 miles out from Lands End one on a green and black lure the other on a green and yellow lure. Angler was Andrew Boston with the 240 lb fish and Andy Ziskind got the 130 lb, both guys are from Chicago

It's Official, World Record Approved!

The story we broke back in September went viral and now here is the seal of approval....well done Guy Yocom!

The IGFA has officially approved the record application for the 193.68 kg (427 lb) yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) caught by Guy Yocom on September 28, 2012 while fishing aboard his boat, El Suertudo (“The Lucky One”). The boat was captained by Greg DiStefano, who put Yocom on the fish approximately 100 miles off the coast of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Yocom and another angler were chunking to a school of yellowfin, taking turns with the rod and reel, and Yocom just happened to be “the lucky one” who fed the record fish. Fifty minutes later – a relatively short fight for a yellowfin of that size – Yocom had reeled in what would be the world’s next All-Tackle yellowfin tuna record.
“We started hearing about the catch almost as soon as it was back at the docks,” IGFA World Records Coordinator Jack Vitek said. At the docks in Cabo, Yocom’s fish was weighed on an IWS Scale Master II digital scale that was successfully re-certified in San Diego just a few days after the weighing, confirming the accurate reading of 193.68 kg (427 lb).
“Yocom and his crew knew they had a shot at the record and they made sure all their gear and techniques were compliant months before the catch was made,” Vitek continued. “So once the weight was confirmed, Yocom immediately got to work on submitting the application and all the other requirements.” With the scale certified, line samples and photos submitted and the application completed, all aboard El Suertudo have been eagerly waiting to hear whether their efforts would result in an approved record.

Here is the original Baby Marlin/Spearfish

Mystery Solved.....Baby Marlin or Spearfish

Mystery solved.....so going back to the baby striped marlin/spearfish story, as we hinted earlier we have an answer from the scientists, but we wanted to back it up with evidence and thanks to Matthew Leonard the angler, we now have that. We first stated this fish was a baby or juvenile marlin then a local fisherman quipped, that he was surprised we did not know that it was a spearfish....so we thought about it and yes, it looks like a spearfish, but a longbill spearfish, which are not found in the Pacific......mystery is solved, it's a striped marlin, as clearly seen in the photo taken boatside, revealing it's clearly defined signature stripes. First one to answer, once the question was posed was Mike Mondich - he wins the Pisces Tee.

Here's the Fish Report

December 8th to 14th, 2012

Numbers at a glance:
Overall Catch Rate 92%
Billfish Catch Rate 62%
Dorado Catch Rate 62%
Tuna Catch Rate 12%
Other Species 25%


This Beautiful Striped Marlin glitters in the sun, as it leaps from the water. Captured by the skilled camera of Mario Banaga aboard Pisces Shambala

Billfish: We saw an upturn in marlin catches this week as they started to appear at Golden Gate on the Pacific as well as some spots closer to Cabo, giving us an overall rate of sixty two percent of boats hooking up to billfish. We had a couple of boats that did really well this week; Pisces “Tracy Ann” released a 250 lb blue marlin just four miles off of Lands End, then went on to release two stripers at the Herradura for Michael Newman and friends from Chilliwack, British Columbia on what proved to be a lucky day for them, December 13th, a day when it unseasonably poured with rain.  On December 9th, Pisces “Valerie” had an exceptionally good day with our longtime friend and client Chic McSherry from Scotland, who with his group, released three striped marlin, three mako sharks and boated three dorado, between Pozo de Cota and Migrino. Pisces 28 ft “Adriana” had a double marlin day for a group from Wisconsin, plus three dorado boated at the Golden Gate on December 10th.  Not to be outdone Pisces 61 ft Viking “El Gallo” fished 8 to 12 miles offshore between Los Arcos and Las Margaritas with Ed Dowling from Colorado aboard and did well to release two striped marlin and boat one dorado and one small tuna. Other boats did get a single marlin here and there and often picked up a dorado to two as well. Pisces anglers caught a total of twenty billfish this week, 19 stripers and 1 blue; all were released.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches were on a par with billfish this week, with boats picking up between one and nine in a day mostly on the Pacific with weights averaging fifteen to twenty five pounds. Green colored lures seemed to have an edge over other colors for this species, but they also took ballyhoo and other colors. Tuna catches dropped to twelve percent, with four the most caught by a single boat, fifteen mile out from the Old Lighthouse.  We had quite a few juvenile mako sharks; none over 40 lbs and all released. Skipjack were caught closer into shore and we had a single wahoo aboard Pisces “Petrolero”.

LOCATION: Golden Gate, Old Lighthouse, Margaritas, La Ballena, 95 spot, Pozo Cota.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Some overcast days, heavy rain on Thursday December 13th. Seas mostly calm.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 75-78 F
BEST LURES: Caballito, ballyhoo, green colors, red/black.

Biggest Yellowfin Tuna Caught on Rod and Reel 445 lbs

Thanks to Pete Thomas, for breaking the news on the new record tuna ......http://www.petethomasoutdoors.com/ of course in Mexican waters, at the Hurricane Bank, the spot where it just so happens we had our 60 ft Hatteras "Shambala" fishing  the same spot, the same day with our very own dockmaster Mario aboard along with captain TJ and Johnny and Stacie Powers......darn that fish could have been ours, but hey we are happy to see these kind of fish coming out of Mexico and getting the fishing world's spotlight focused here. The long range boat Excel pulled into Point Loma this Sunday morning and the scale dock registered 445 lbs, which is the largest tuna of this species caught by rod and reel. This will not qualify for a record though, as the deckhand did handle the rod briefly. Great fish and congratulations to John Petruescu for this magnificent fish caught on his first ever long range trip.

PISCES FISH REPORT - DECEMBER 1 TO 7TH

Overall Catch Success Rate 90.27%

 

BILLFISH: Marlin catches still a bit slow with 42% of the boats coming back with blue flags flying. Fish are getting closer to shore making the traveling time shorter and offering more time to actually fish, however, the full moon didn’t help, the crew and clients saw the billfish practically next to the boats but with their bellies full, they were not interested in taking the anglers bait. “Rebecca” released 3 striped marlin at the 11:50 spot for Gerald Richmond and John Mason from Florida, they also landed 4 25 lbs dorados. John decided to go by himself the next day again aboard the Rebecca, and he released 2 striped marlin, one pacific sailfish, landed 4 dorados and 5 yellowfin tunas. Rebecca again, this time with Stephen Price and Gary Crisp from Silverdale TX released 2 striped marlin and one pacific sailfish, they boated 3 white skipjacks (perfect for ceviche). “La Brisa” also released 2 stripeys and one sailfish for Vicky and Ross Haberman from New York, New york on December 6^th, same day, “Bill Collector” released 3 striped marlin and landed 3 20 lbs dorados for Stan Pilinko from NYC, NY, Hal Williams from Albany, NY and Cliff D’Angelo from Orlando, FL. A total of 28 striped marlin and 4 pacifi sailfish were caught, all of them successfully released.

OTHER CATCHES: Dorado catches keep rising, almost 87% of the boats are catching at least one. Average size of 22.5 lbs. Most catches were of 3 or 4 per boat, with some really nice ones like the one of “Andrea” with 12 dorados for Torbjorn Svensson from Sweden, “Adriana” with 11 for Daniel Esparza’s party from California, “Ruthless” with 15 dorados gets the catch of the week award for Tim Wilson from Huntington Beach, CA. Only 3 boats caught yellowfin tuna this week, “Valerie” caught 10 of them, 2 white skipjack and released one sailfish for Larry Harrell from Gilette, WY.

LOCATION: 11:50 spot, Gaspareño, Golden Gate.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear sunny sky.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 82 F

BEST LURES: Caballito, dead ballyhoo.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Jorge Narro.

Another New Tuna Record?

New record tuna may be on it's way in......bigger than the new all tackle world record.....well that is according to Pete Thomas who wrote that a fish estimated at 459 lbs was caught at the Hurricane Bank off of Baja by John Petruescu aboard the San Diego-based long range boat, Excel. If this taped out weight holds it will be the largest yellowfin tuna ever caught on rod and reel, but will not be eligible for a world record as a deckhand briefely grabbed the rod. It was caught on a live skipjack and took two hours to land. Just a couple of months ago Guy Yocom landed what looks to be the new record, at 427.5 lbs, which was caught according to IGFA rules. The Excel should be back in port on Sunday morning when the weight will be known.

Pisces Weekly Report November 24th to 30th

Overall Catch Success Rate 96.5%

BILLFISH: Billfish catching rate keeps rising from 42% to almost 47% this week. Most of the boats catching billfish hooked only one fish and most of them caught a few dorado as well, there were are few boats with multiple hookups like Tracy Ann, releasing 3 striped marlin for Ellen Hardy and Leon & Jerrey Klien, or Rebecca, releasing 2 striped marlin and a blue marlin estimated at 250 lbs for Ola Skinnarmo group from Sweden. Valerie caught 3 striped marlin for Clinton Pike and Steve Bond from Keller TX, unfortunately one of the stripeys died before the crew could release it. The catch of the week goes to 37ft Falcon with Captain Manuel Romero releasing 4 striped marlin and a Blue Marlin estimated at 350 lbs for Brian and Mike Nelson from Dallas TX. A total of 33 striped marlin were caught, 32 were released, 4 pacific sailfish, all released, and 3 blue marlin, 2 were released.

Linda Smith from Norman Oregon aboard the Tracy Ann, ready to release one of her stripeys.

OTHER CATCHES: Much better week for small game, 84% of the boats catching at least one dorado, with an average of 5 per boat. Tracy Ann caught 15 dorados in one day for Donna Walker from Pleasanton CA, followed by Ruthless and La Brisa with 10 dorados each. Not much tuna action this week either, only 4 boats catching tuna, mostly under 20 lbs.

LOCATION: Los Arcos, 11:50 spot, 18 miles straight out from the Old Lighthouse..

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear sunny sky.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 82 F

BEST LURES: Caballito, green, black and blue lures.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Jorge Narro.

Best Sunset Photo Ever

This incredible sunset photo was taken by our very own Mario Banaga on a trip up the Pacific taken near Uncle Sam Bank. Wow, Mario one of your best, taken aboard "Shambala

PISCES FISH REPORT NOVEMBER 17th to 23rd, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate 90%

 

BILLFISH: Another amazing week for fishing in Cabo. Beautiful weather, calm seas, just perfect. The week started off a bit slow, boats went to the Golden Gate area and the dorados were hard to find, so were the marlin, Bill Collector took Richard &Dustin Simoncic from Phoneix AZ to the Finger banks, about 18 miles further than the Golden Gate, a long run but was worth it as they released 5 striped marlin and landed 2 football size tunas and a 20 lbs dorado. Our good friends Terry & Linda Smith from California went on their annual trip aboard the Tracy Ann on the 18^th, Julio took them to the 220 spot on the Pacific side and they released 3 striped marlin and 2 Blue Marlin, both estimated at 350 to 400 lbs. After that, some marlin were found closer to shore around the Old Lighthouse but still a bit slow, however the boats started to find some yellowfin around that area, so only the anglers really interested on going for marlin ventured all the way to the Finger again, like the Dunlap Family from Baton Rouge LA, releasing 5 striped marlin aboard the Tracy Ann on the 19^th, our Swedish friends, Anders Lundgren (he looks just like Sammy Hagar), Roger Sturk and Robin Gustaussum, relasing 6 striped marlin aboard the Rebecca, the rest of their group went aboard La Brisa and released 5 sriped marlin, they were closer though, only about 10 miles from shore. Falcon released a Blue Marlin estimated at 250 lbs for Mike Verdegaal from Cali. Fearless released 5 stripeys for Angelo, Lasehe, Max, Peter, Nick and Panss Smyrnios from Colorado, they were fishing the Herradura spot.

This week, 42% of our boats caught billfish, a total of 82 striped marlin, all released, 3 pacific sailfish, all released and 7 blue marlin, 6 were successfully released.

Anders Lundgren "Sammy Hagar" with his Striped Marlin

OTHER CATCHES: Small game fishing turned up to be a bit slow this week, Dorados have been a bit hard to find and tunas are still scattered between the Sea of Cortes and the Pacific. Still, 62% of our boats caught Dorado, only 13% caught tuna. The catch of the week goes to Bill Collector with 20 dorados in one day for Richard Simoncic from Phoenix AX, this guy’s week was awesome!

LOCATION: Herradura, Golden Gate, Finger Banks.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear sunny sky.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 82 F

BEST LURES: Caballito, ballyhoo, assorted lures.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Jorge Narro

Cabo a Fisherman's Paradise?

November 10^TH TO 16^TH, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 96%

Matt Leonard from Bel Air Maryland released this long bill pacific spearfish aboard Adriana, shown here with deckhand Fernando on the left

BILLFISH: Cabo is a fisherman’s paradise right now, the fish are thick, lots of dorado, some big tuna and some amazing marlin catches that hint of what is to come. November 16^th, the end of this report, was when we saw the jump on marlin catches. This day saw Pisces 31 ft Betram “Rebecca” catch and release eight marlin, plus a sailfish for Dieter Decker and friends from Sarnia, Canada, off of Todos Santos.  This same day Tom Collins, Jim Huson and Matt Gray from Idaho also did very well to release eight striped marlin aboard Pisces 31 ft Bertram “Tracy Ann”.  One day before, this same boat had released six marlin and boated a dorado for Gary and Leslie Owen from Brandon, Missouri. Not only did we have striped marlin making an appearance, Pisces 31 ft Cabo, “Cabolero” caught a 380 lb blue marlin at the 95 spot, on a pink and black lure, for Larry Barkley and Bart Durrant from Edmonton. There were plenty of other boats that got a single marlin, plus other game fish such as dorado or tuna. The marlin were taking ballyhoo or live bait and were found up the Pacific by Todos Santos, which is a fair run.  Twenty six percent of boats caught billfish this week, breaking down into 39 striped marlin, 1 sailfish and 1 blue marlin; all but one fish were leased.

Matt Leonard again, this time with a nice size dorado, also aboard Adriana

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado remains the number one sportfish in Cabo at this moment, with no sign of a slowdown. Our top dorado boat was Pisces 31 ft Bertram “Ruthless” for thirty caught in one day, plus a wahoo for Dave Kaminski & family from Valparaiso, Idaho – fifteen of the dorado were released.  Several other boats had twenty plus dorado days. This species are averaging 20 to 30 lbs with catches on the Pacific between the Lighthouse and all the way up to Punta Lobos. Seventy eight percent of boats caught dorado and the total fish count was 420. We had some nice tuna catches too, with some large fish such as a 200 lb’er caught aboard Pisces 38 ft Blackfin “C Rod” on November 14^th, caught on a black and green lure twenty five miles out.  Pisces “Bill Collector” had a couple of very nice fish too at 100 lbs and 140 lbs, taken at Punta Gorda on a skipjack and candy lure respectively. Besides these catches we had others of smaller fish, 10 to 50 lbs off of the Old Lighthouse giving us a catch rate of nineteen percent and a tally of 79 fish. We had several smallish wahoo this week, plus a few skipjack inshore. Our catch record would have been perfect this week if it had not been for a couple of pangas that drew a blank.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Perfect, clear, sunny skies, flat seas.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 82 F

BEST LURES: Live bait, dead ballyhoo, green and pink colors.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Another Lousy Cabo Morning

The Tuna Weigh in was a Zoo

This is an arial shot of the weigh in which we thought was pretty cool.

Beautiful Cabo Sun ...or was it Moon Rise?

It's a beautiful morning here in Cabo, autumn is finally here and it was  a bit cooler this morning. The moon was coming up at the same time as the sun and we were moved to snap a couple of pictures.

Louvar, Rare Fish - We Answer Back

Just checking the comments left for us in regard to this story, some were pretty nasty - so please take time to read the stories properly.
1. Pisces did not catch this fish - neither of the boats associated with this story belong to us.
2. We did not steal anybody's fish.
3. We are just reporting the news....don't shoot the messenger!

Los Cabos Tuna Jackpot 2012 Results

W.O.N JACKPOT TUNA TOURNAMENT

Winning team gets their check

This year’s tuna tournament was without a doubt the best ever, everything about it, the organization, the people, the parties, the fishing were fantastic. There is a real sense of community around this event. People came from as far afield as Alaska and Wyoming to take part in this tournament which due to the low entry fee is accessible to anybody – you don’t have to be a millionaire to take part, you have jackpot options if you really want to try and win some big money and the amount of door prizes and raffles, means most people do not go home empty handed – including a local children’s home which benefited from the generosity of the anglers.

One hundred and twenty one teams signed up, making this the largest tournament held in Cabo in 2012. A field of mostly local charter boats, though a fair share or larger, private sportfishers also participated in the two days of fishing on Thursday and Friday.  For sheer numbers of big fish, there has never been a better year.

Shotgun start.

Day one saw twelve fish over 100 lbs come to the scale and five over 200 lbs – in previous years a 200 lbs fish was good enough to put you in the money, but this year it was no guarantee. Team Renegade Mike stole the show when they weighed in a 266 lbs fish, caught aboard a 31 ft Bertram – a very nice fish and the thinking was that this was quite possibly the tournament winner. Team “Santana” had  a couple of the guys on board from the team that had landed a 383 lb - the current tournament record – so this really got our attention as we made our way down to the boat as it backed in. The fish looked good, longer than Team Renegade’s, but was it fatter? The answer was soon provided as the weighmaster called out “224 lbs”.  Team Santana trailed away disappointed, not realizing that they were in the money, to the tune of $92,000.00 due to the jackpots they had entered. This day not a dorado or wahoo was weighed in over the 30 lb minimum

Team Renegade Mike with their 266 lb tuna

Day two, started out fabulous, with over 100 people on the committee boat, organized as a charity event with sponsors and guests on board, enjoying mimosas, breakfast burritos and getting in on the excitement of 121 boats jostling for position, contained in a small area behind the start boat.  Fishing this day was even better with thirteen fish over 100 lbs, five fish over 200 lbs and what ended up being the overall winner a 372 lb tuna,  for team North Star a striking wooden boat,  cold molded with a fiberglass liner, Carolina style of just 30 feet. It looks more like an Italian speed boat than a fishing boat, but who cares, they know how to catch fish.

Winning fish was fat at 372 lbs

Tournament Results:

1^st North Star  372 lb tuna  total winnings $223,540.00

2^nd Renegade Mike 266 lb tuna $95,240.00

3^rd Dona Meche 262 lb tuna $2,420.00

Day 1 optionals Santana 224 lb tuna $92,000.00

Optional $10,000 pot two days, went to Maybe Manana who did not need a big fish, in fact theirs was just 97.7 lbs to win them $72,000.00.

Nice pay off for a 30.5 lb wahoo for team Baja Bait, who took the rollover to the second day and took home  $79,200.

Hard luck story was for team Missing Lenk; they were entered in the $10,000 jackpot and had a nice fish, but broke down – team Maybe Manana went by with their fish on board, which they knew was smaller, the twist is that the captain of Mabye Manana and Missing Lenk are brothers, plus the father of both captains was also aboard the distressed vessel. Team Maybe Manana were in a dilemma as to what to do, should they stay and help or go in and weight their fish. There was a 6.00 pm deadline to be back at the marina or the fish could not be weighed. They turned back to Maybe Manana, made sure they were O.K then headed in to weigh their 97 lb fish, but looked pretty glum. They then headed out to assist Missing Lenk who coming in on one engine did not make it back in time but who would have taken the $10,000 optionals with their 217 lb fish.

Team Maybe Manana had to leave family behind to get his payday