Fishing Roundup

MARCH 2nd to 8th, 2013

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species 88%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 29%, Tuna 29%, Dorado 17%, Small Game 52%

BILLFISH: No doubt about it we are in March, the month that frustrates anglers, as it is so up and down and the water temperature has dropped. As we look at the overall picture for this week, the numbers actually are not that bad despite the port being closed mid-morning last Saturday as winds out of the east struck Cabo making it unsafe for small boats, under 30 feet to navigate. Marlin catches were up and down, lacking consistency but some boats, still managed to hook up to one or two and in fact Pisces Rebecca was on a roll being the only boat this week to find, catch and release five striped marlin at Destiladeres on March 8th for Rebecca & David Jersen fishing with Isabel Easterbrook from Utah. These fish were of a good size at 140 to 160 lbs. and all took live mackerel.  This same day Pisces Cabolero fished a little close, though still on the Cortez side, at Punta Gorda and released two marlin for Bob Hoover from Raleigh, North Carolina.  Pisces Valerie had a couple of back to back good days; March 3rd for David Delashmit & Bruce Henneck form Missouri and Texas respectively who released a marlin each at San Jaime on the Pacific and caught a tuna. Next day out, they had the same group on board and again released two striped marlin and caught four tuna and a dorado – a good couple of days in a tough week. Pisces La Brisa had a fun day for John Harenza from Wyomissing, Pa, but had to go a long way for it; they fished 30 miles out from the 240 spot and caught two striped marlin on live caballito plus a dorado and a tuna. Closing out the week for honorable mention is Pisces Bill Collector with two marlin released and twenty tuna caught for mark Chiavetta and friends from San Jose, California. Twenty nine percent of charters caught marlin this week giving us a total catch of 25 fish that were all released.

Sierra caught from the beach

OTHER SPECIES: Smaller game catches were on a par with the marlin this week, in that they were not consistent and boat had a hard time finding one particular consistent location but rather changed where they fished from day to day. There were some pretty decent tuna catches but these tended to be far 30 to 40 miles offshore, with catches of up to nine fish in the 20 to 30 lb. class. The one exception was Bill Collector mentioned above for twenty fish. Our total tuna count was 78 fish spread between twenty nine percent of the fleet. Dorado catches were at seventeen percent with boats picking one to three over a vast area, generally swimming alone.  Inshore sierra were the most active species with some nice catches of up to fourteen fish in a day. Skipjacks were often a consolation catch on the way back when nothing else was caught. Roosterfish season is here and Pisces Adriana released six up to 20 lbs for Mark Moore from Libertyville, Illinois on March 6th. Surf fishing offered lots of opportunities for sierra, some jack crevalles and Wesley is also reporting a couple of dorado lost from the beach, as well as lots of roosterfish spotted with several caught.
LOCATION: San Jaime, 20 to 40 miles out from 240 spot and 210 spot, Punta Gorda, Destiladeres.
WEATHER: Windy, seas on the rough side, a couple of calmer days.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 68 F
BEST LURES: Live mackerel, live caballito, cedar plugs, green and blue colors.
Based on the catches of Pisces By Tracy Ehrenberg