Numbers at a glance: Billfish 16%, Tuna 66%, Dorado 20%, Small Game 20%
BILLFISH: Not the greatest time for marlin this week, so those who did get one were very fortunate; but again, this is March and what we expect, besides with the tuna fishing so good, many captains forwent the marlin for the somewhat more assured catch of yellow fin. The only good day for marlin was on the first day of this report, when every boat we sent, except Tracy Ann, who’s anglers got sea-sick, caught at least one marlin. On this day Pisces Bill Collector released two stripers and caught a tuna and a 35 lb wahoo for Ron Brochu and friends from Castro Valley, California. Eric Temple from Scottsdale, Arizona also released two marlin at Punta Gorda on live mackerel aboard Pisces Andrea. March 11th, saw Pisces C Rod do better than most boats, at the 11.50 spot, releasing three marlin and catching two dorado and two skipjack for Collin, Kyle and Steve Burdick from Los Angeles. Tipped off by C Rod, Captain Julio from Bill Collector headed to this same spot a few days later and managed to release four marlin, making this our top boat of the week for billfish, for Mike Warson and party from Mill Valley, California who also caught five skipjacks. Other boats did catch a single marlin – all were caught on the calmer Cortez side, giving us a total of 17 marlin released.
OTHER SPECIES: Yellow fin tuna catches were amazing this week in fact our most productive day was March 13th, obviously not unlucky, when we caught 301. Seas were rough on the Pacific for several days, but getting out beyond the wind line they were smoother and anglers loaded up on tuna in the 15 to 30 lb. class, not huge, but fun on light tackle and good to eat. Top tuna boats were Pisces Rebecca and Tracy Ann, for 42 and 44 fish in a single day respectively, 20 miles out from the Old Lighthouse, with many released. Cedar plugs were the most effective for getting hooked up with double digit catches pretty common. Tuna were the most abundant catch this week with sixty six percent of charters finding them and giving us a final count of 802 over seven days. Dorado catches were O.K this week with twenty five percent of boats hooking one or two between 10 and 20 lbs., when trolling for marlin – total catch was 27 fish. Twenty percent of boats caught other fish such as skipjacks, yellow tail, jack crevalle and roosterfish. Surf fishing was a bit slower this week, probably due to it being so windy on the Pacific beaches, nevertheless, Wesley the guide did well on some days with the better days producing four jack crevalle and a rooster at Los Arcos and a jack crevalle, pompano and hawk fish at the same location.
WEATHER: Port was closed due to the wind, midday on March 9th, to boats under 30 feet, the following day fishing was super slow but began to improve as the wind dropped. Sunny skies, seas up and down, generally rough on the Pacific, calmer on the Cortez.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 68 F
BEST LURES: Live bait for marlin, cedar plugs for tuna, green or blue lures for dorado.
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