Amazing Marlin Bite in Cabo

April 20th to 26th, 2013

Overall Catch Success Rate 91%
Numbers at a glance: Marlin 76%, Dorado 18%, Tuna 3.5%, Small Game 11%

According to Bob Sallis the "best marlin day ever"

BILLFISH: All we can say is “wow”, what a turnaround, this past week we had a growing moon, with full moon on Thursday the 25th, which is when we had the best catches of the week. It just goes to show that there are no set rules when it comes to fishing.  It is generally thought, big moon at night, fish feed at night, less hungry during the day. Try telling that to Captain Abel of the Pisces “C Rod” – he had a group of Canadians on board from Queen Charlotte, who must have thought they were dreaming as they hooked marlin after marlin, outside of Punta Gorda until they had reeled in fifteen fish in the 100 to 150 lb. class. One of the anglers got so excited, that he stripped off his shirt and dove into the water to hug his marlin before safely releasing it. Pisces Rebecca had an outstanding day too, releasing nine marlin at Destiladeras for Dave Burton and friends from Mount Vernon, Washington. The Tracy Ann always seems to do well and as is his custom, Julio worked hard to catch and release six striped marlin for Emilio Lopez and the Barrios brothers from Miami, Florida.  Other boats this day released between two and five marlin.  The following day, boats headed in the same direction on the Cortez side up to Destiladeras where they again encountered great fishing; top boat this day was Pisces La Brisa with seven marlin released for Steve & Cheryl Mazzuca fishing with Jamie & Carrie Jose, all from Washington State. The boat that had alerted the fleet to the bumper marlin catches though was Pisces Yahoo, who found them at Destiladeras on April 22nd and managed to release seven for Marshall Tate and friends from Salt Lake City. Of course we did have a couple of boats that got “skunked” which is horrible if you happen to be one of the few boats that did not catch, but even these crews did see fish and cast bait to them but were just unable to get any takers. Overall though the marlin bite was very good with seventy six percent of our charters catching and releasing marlin. If the weather stays good, we believe we will see even better numbers of marlin as we get into May. Remember there was a reason that the IGFA World Offshore Championship, picked May as a prime month in Cabo. In other words buy your plane tickets and give us a call. Pisces anglers caught a total of 90 striped marlin this week with all but one released.

60 lb wahoo on the Ruthless

OTHER SPECIES: Pretty much all the boats that we sent this week concentrated on marlin and there was not a great deal of smaller offshore fish to be had anyway. Two very nice fish though were a couple of wahoo, at 60 and 65 lbs., the first was aboard Pisces Ruthless who seems to have a knack for this species and the second was aboard Pisces C Rod. Dorado catches were on the slow side with eighteen percent catching the odd fish here and there whilst trolling for marlin. One exception was Pisces Tracy Ann, who caught four up to 20 lbs. at Destiladeras as well as releasing five striped marlin for Dave Burton and friends - what an ideal day. Tuna catches were very slow with just a few 10’lb’ers picked up. Inshore pangas could catch up to fifteen skipjack in a day and the odd yellow tail. Surf Fishing: Wesley had a total of four trips this week which led to a total of 11 sierras, 13 jack crevalle and 1 red snapper – resulting in happy anglers. With the wind dying down the casts have been easier to make and the hook up ratio much higher.

Wesley shows off a nice size jack crevalle, known locally as a "Toro".

WEATHER: Clear skies, still a couple of chilly mornings, whitecaps on Pacific earlier in the week now calm. Cortez side we did have some big swells, now calmer.
LOCATION: Destiladeras, Punta Gorda, 11.50 spot, 22- 25 miles out, Herradura.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: The satellite imagery makes it pretty clear why they are catching fish on the Cortez side at that particular point. The Pacific shows 67-68 F and the Cortez Destiladeras areas shows 73 F.
BEST LURES: Live caballito or frozen ballyhoo.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Better Late Than Never Fish Report

April 13-19th, 2013
Overall Catch Success Rate 71%
Numbers at a glance: Marlin 49%, Dorado 7%, Small Game 38%, Tuna 0%
BILLFISH: Seems like March fishing in April right now, with inconsistency being the watchword, nevertheless we can’t complain as a little over seventy percent of our boats caught fish of some type and almost half of our charters did manage to catch striped marlin. One of the better days was April 19th when the boats headed towards the Herradura, about one hour and fifteen minutes from port, where a combination of ballyhoo and caballito did the job in getting three marlin for Pisces Adriana with David & Matt Yocum, from San Francisco on board.  This same day Pisces Cabolero also released three and our top boat this day was Pisces Ruthless for Ben Onanian, Peter Din and Brian Yee from Sacramento, who did extremely well to release five marlin. We found out why the fish have been so picky; they captains have reported spotting marlin and throwing bait to them, but many showed no interest, it seems that they have been gorging themselves on large squid – one of the marlins that Ruthless released spat up a large squid that it had already swallowed before it took the bait. Simple choice for a fish, 1 lb. baitfish or 10 lb. squid? The Enquist’s, John Senior and Junior had to run a long way aboard Pisces La Brisa on April 15th, forty one miles to be exact, but it paid off as they were able to release four striped marlin that weighed between 100 and 150 lbs. Some days the boats would get one or two marlin each, then the next day only half of them would catch a single marlin, next day it would rebound and so it went throughout this period. Pisces anglers caught a total of 40 striped marlin this week; all were released.

Deck hand Beto shows off a 12 lb squid that one of five marlin released aboard Ruthless spat out
 

OTHER SPECIES: Not a great deal happening for smaller game offshore this week, with just three dorado caught for the fleet and no tuna taken. Inshore, however between pangas and surf fishing trips the success rate was thirty eight percent. Boats caught jack crevalles up to 40 lbs., quite a few skipjacks, sierra and a few yellow tail.  Surf fishing guide Wesley struggled on some of the windy days but still achieved some good catches, like on April 16th when he caught a sierra and five jack crevalles off of Sunset Beach. He outdid himself on April 18th when he released nine jack crevalle up to 15 lbs. plus a sierra.

Beautiful Jack Crevalle almost 40 lbs with our Surf Fishing Guide Wesley

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Windy most of the week, seas rough on the Pacific, moderate to calm on the Cortez side.
LOCATION: Predominantly the Cortez side, Medano Blanco, Destiladeres, Punta Gorda, Los Frailes, Herradura.
BEST LURES: Live bait.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Fishing News

April 6th to 12th, 2013
Overall Catch Success Rate 82%
Number at a glance: Billfish 50%, Dorado 46%, Tuna 3.5%, Small Game 21%
BILLFISH:  Striped marlin were the most likely catch for Pisces anglers this week, though it was rather up and down. Some days we had good catches when boats caught up to four in a day, followed by a drop down to one per day. As the week progressed, it was marlin catches one day, none the next, or half the boats caught and the others caught dorado or nothing. The water looks good, the temperature is a little lower than last week, but the fish on many days simply weren’t hungry. That said half of the boats we sent out did catch marlin. A contributing factor to the lower catch rate this week was the windy weather – our skittish new Port Captain, closed the port on two occasions; never heard of for this time of year. It was windy in Cabo, but up at San Jose where the boats were fishing, it was a different story. The beginning of this report is when we saw the better catches, such a Pisces Andrea with four striped marlin released for Dave Deeg & Randy Dodge from Alberta. Pisces Rebecca always seems to make the fish report and this week was no exception – they released four striped marlin and boated a dorado for the Roeder boys from Durham, New Hampshire on April 7th.  Shambala was another of our boats with a four marlin day, six miles out from San Jose for Phillipe Roux from New York. Alan Greg and Daniel Atlas from Los Angeles had a great day aboard Tracy Ann, releasing three marlin and boating two dorado up to 30 lbs. La Brisa and Yahoo also had a triple marlin day.  In the last few days captains report the fish as being “picky eaters and not hungry”, which means they are sighting them and throwing bait, but only hooked up half the time towards the end of this report.  Sounds like how March should have been. Ballyhoo and caballito were the bait of choice; mackerel would probably be even better. Pisces anglers caught a total of 51 striped marlin this week, all but one released.

The Roeder boys from New Hampshire, had one of the better days aboard Rebecca, releasing four marlin and boating a dorado.

 OTHER SPECIES: The second most likely catch after marlin this week was dorado, with forty six percent of charters landing between one and three.  The dorado were taken on lures whilst trolling and looking for marlin and weighed up to 35 lbs. Tuna catches were super slow though we did have five aboard Pisces Valerie for Greg Nichols, who also caught a dorado and released a striped marlin. Pretty small though at no more than 20 lbs. The boats really only caught skipjacks in shore, but where we saw some fantastic catches was from the shore, where our surf fishing expert Wesley got clients multiple hook ups on sierra as well as some nice jack crevalle and even a red snapper. Wesley’s best day produced 24 sierra and 5 jack crevalle, at his top secret spot – the majority of these fish were released.
LOCATION: Punta Gorda, Cerro Colorado, Chileno, 95 spot, Cabeza de Ballena.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Most days windy but boats managed to fish within the wind line on the Cortez; Pacific rough.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 69 F
BEST LURES: Live bait, ballyhoo.
Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Latest Fish Report

March 30th to April 5th, 2013
Overall Catch Success Rate 92%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 83% Dorado 39% Tuna 3% Small Game 16%

Hey, I would smile for the camera, but you've got my nose!

 

BILLFISH: We were shocked at how good the marlin fishing was at the start of the report, in fact we can’t remember a March when marlin fishing was so good. The catches on March 30th were quite astounding, starting with Pisces Shambala who had Antonio Buchanan from Napa aboard with friends. They fished off of Medano Blanco and released eight striped marlin and a sailfish, as well as catching a wahoo, two dorado and four jack crevalle. This same day Pisces Tracy Ann also released eight striped marlin between 100 and 140 lbs. for Mark Constancio from Neenah Wisconsin. Pisces Rebecca didn’t have as many marlin, with just six, but they did release a sailfish and then boated two wahoo. Other boats caught between five and marlin this day giving us some of the best results of the month.  Catches did not remain at this speed though; they slowed in the following day to one to four billfish per boat and then declined a little throughout the week when boats caught dorado and skipjacks, with some marlin in the mix. Marlin were caught every day, with one to three fish more the norm and of course there were a few boats that got “skunked”; eight percent to be precise. So very high catch rates anywhere in the world, just a downer if you were in the percentage that didn’t catch. To hook up boats used a combination of live bait, frozen ballyhoo and lures with all the catches taking place on the Cortez side. Marlin were the number one catch in Cabo this week with eighty three percent of our charters successful for this species. We caught a total of 93 striped marlin and 4 sailfish, all but one billfish released.

Two of the larger dorados this week

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches edged up slightly this week to thirty nine percent, but the number of fish caught was not huge at one to four fish per boat, when found, with weights from 20 to 35 lbs. Our total dorado count this week was thirty nine fish. Yellow fin tuna catches really dwindled with just two boats catching school size fish, no more than eight fish landed when found. It was nice to see some wahoo, one of the top eating fish you can catch, however, they  were far from plentiful and sizes no more than 35 lbs. A few skipjacks were caught as well as yellowtail.  We had some jack crevalle from the beach and boats.  A solitary mako shark, around 40 lbs. was released aboard Cabolero by Leticia Echeverria from Tabasco, who also let a striped marlin go and boated a jack crevalle.
LOCATION: Cortez – Destiladeres, Punta Gorda, Medano Blanco, 11.50 spot, 95 spot.
WEATHER: Great – clear sunny skies, calm seas.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 69F-72F
BEST LURES: Ballyhoo, caballito, blue/white, red/black.
Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Fishing's Gone Crazy, Get on a Plane......Now!

This very cool photo was sent in by Roxanna Stein who fished La Brisa & Tracy Ann

You need to get here now, fishing has gone crazy! We really have no explanation, but our jaws dropped when we got the week end fish report - here is a taste, March 30th......Pisces Shambala 8 striped marlin, 1 sailfish, 1 wahoo, 2 dorado, 4 jack crevalle AND THAT'S ON ONE BOAT! Well done Antonio Buchanan & party from Napa, Ca.  BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE (we sound like a cheesey ad' but this is all true) Pisces Rebecca 6 striped marlin, 1 sailfish, 2 wahoo. Tracy Ann 8 striped marlin, La Brisa 5 striped marlin, Ruthless 4 striped marlin, Valerie 4 striped marlin, plus other catches - WOW , those are superb catch rates for fishing just one day.