FISH REPORT

Nov 16th to 22nd, 2013
Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 94%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 65%, Dorado84%, Tuna 6%, Small Game 16%

BILLFISH:  A bit of an up and down week for billfish as we transition into what is really our fall. Full moon during this past week slowed things down for a few days, plus some changes in the water temperatures and currents, nevertheless sixty five percent of boats did catch striped marlin. Pisces Tracy Ann had the highest scoring marlin day on November 18th, when they released six stripers for Bruce Tysor from Sidney Iowa.  They fished in the Los Arcos area and caught their fish on live caballito. Fearless was not far behind with five striped marlin released plus six dorado near the lighthouse for Victor Carrera & friends from Dallas, Texas. Pisces Rebecca had back to back four marlin days with a half dozen dorado as a bonus each day for Aline & Stefan Apostol from Rumania & Marina Sedic & Mike Gormley from Vancouver, Canada. Other boats caught from one to three marlin, with catches predominantly on the Pacific on live bait; the nice thing was that nearly every boat was able to pick up something for the table as well. Pisces anglers caught a total of 113 striped marlin this week all released.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado remains the top gamefish in Cabo right now with eighty four percent of our charters catching this species in the 10 to 30 LB class. Depending on the location an average catch could be from one to ten dorado with our top producer being Bill Collector for angler Mark Chiavetta with twenty one fish in a day (ten released) & friends. Our total dorado count this week was 434 fish. Tuna catches were super slow with just six percent of charters even able to find them and when found the catches were one or two fish and if you were lucky perhaps six, football size fish.  Several wahoo were caught with sizes ranging from 30 to 45 LBS. We are starting to see more activity on the inshore fishing with rooster fish, jack crevalle, sierra and skipjacks caught – a sure indicator of changing water temperatures.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: We did not have perfect weather which we expect at this time of year. Skies were partly cloudy and seas were choppy on several days.
LOCATION: Golden Gate, Los Arcos, Gaspareno, San Jaime, Las Margaritas, Pozo Cota.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 75 – 80 F
BEST LURES: Live caballito, ballyhoo, green & yellow lures.

You Don't Always Need a Rod & Reel to Catch a Nice Fish

 

 

 

Here in Nathan Visser's own words is the account of how he caught this beautiful grouper.

 

"Got this hog on a recent trip to Bahia Magdalena.  We started out at 5:00AM and left for a 3hr trip to the Thetis Bank.  The previous week, the captain reports seeing school of 30+ wahoo under the boat is 80 degree water.   When we got there the water was 74 degrees.  After 4 hours of diving, throwing chunk bait and flashers, we had 0 wahoo sightings.  We decided to try our luck with the grouper off the San Carlos Channel .  I was diving shallow in about 30 feet of water when I saw 4 grouper about 20-25 pounds each.  As I approached I saw a much larger grouper moving quickly away from the school.  I followed for about 20 yards and after losing sight decided to circle back for the 20-25 pounders.  I had 4 below me and dove down to pick out dinner.  As I descended, the larger grouper came back and rushed me, with his pectoral and dorsal fins fully extended.  He came within 5 feet of me before turning broadside and offering a perfect shot behind the gills.  He ran about 50 yards before poorly selecting a cave he could barely fit into.  The captain saw my buoy skipping across the water and came immediately over in the panga.  I stayed on the surface and applied tension to the line while the captain went to pick up Luis Espinosa to help me.  Luis arrived to assist and went down immediately to inspect without knowing what I had.  As he was diving down, I pulled on the line and the grouper came out of the cave face to face with Luis.  While he admitted afterwards he was torn between helping me and “accidently” cutting my line, he effectively applied the coup de grâce and I got the fish of a lifetime."

Fish Report, we've been trying to post this for days......

November 8th to November 15th,2013
Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 94%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 86%, Dorado 55%, Tuna 8%, Wahoo 12%

BILLFISH: Wow a fabulous week for billfish, which is good and bad, bad for those hoping to catch tuna that were in the tournament but great for those who were targeting the big fish, or in some cases not targeting, such as Justin Long from Roseville California who was fishing with Mike Vise & Richard Wade aboard the Tracy Ann. They were participating in the tuna tournament when they hooked a large blue marlin at Golden Gate, the fish got tail wrapped and expired, forcing them to hand-line it up and boat it; a dead marlin is rarely seen on this particular boat as they prefer to release. The fish was sizeable though at between 470 and 500 LBS. A couple of days after the tournament fishing turned pretty tough and they were hard to locate, but a look at Terrafin charts showing sea surface temperatures gave the clues as to why, as the current and temperature breaks had changed, making closer to shore a better option. Pisces La Brisa found this out and had an amazing day for Joel Hershey & friends with a blue marlin, three striped marlin, four dorados and a wahoo. A few days later the bite was back on at Golden Gate when Roger Wright from Alabama released nine striped marlin on live caballito and ballyhoo. This same day Tracy Ann released six striped marlin and boated five dorado for Hans Scemfelth from Sweden.  The Swedes have been doing very well – Anders Lundgren a long time Pisces client, caught & released an approximate 250 LB blue marlin, plus a striped marlin and dorado on November 13th. Next day out  November 14th the fishing  was outstanding, with Rebecca releasing eight stripers and boating five dorado, for Roger Wright again. Tracy Ann released six this day with Anders Lundgren aboard & La Brisa had a 200 LB plus blue marlin, two striped marlin and a dorado for Beth Carver from Beals, Maine. Matthew Tonkin from Mercer Island, Washington was out on C Rod this day and caught a 332 LB blue marlin and five dorados. There were many great catches with boats regularly having triple billfish days. Eighty six percent of our charters caught billfish consisting of 169 striped marlin, 5 blue marlin & 11 sailfish.

OTHER SPECIES:  After marlin dorado were the next most likely fish you could encounter this week in Cabo with catches ranging from one to sixteen fish in the 10 to 25 LB class, which explains why no qualifying dorado were weighed in at the Tuna Tournament.  Nearly all the catches were on the Pacific  with lure and bait working. Our total dorado count was 185 fish, which shows that the numbers are on their way down. Tuna catches were slow as the competitors in the tournament would tell you just eight percent of our boats found tuna with the only sizeable one aboard Andrea at 172 LBS which took second place in the tournament. We were out the day after the tournament and despite being able to locate huge schools of spinner dolphins & being able to see tuna schools underneath them on the radar, they were not biting.  Wahoo catches were on the up with twelve percent of boats were able to find wahoo, with weights topping out around 35 LBS.
LOCATION: Pacific, Lighthouse to Golden Gate.
WEATHER: Some cloudy days, seas moderate to calm.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 82 F
BEST LURES: Live bait, frozen ballyhoo, petrolero, green colors, pink.

In Memory of Jerry Dotson -This Letter Moved Us All

 

 

This email we received today really moved us all...thanks Kim for sharing.
"Sorry it took so long to post a review but I was able to do that today. We enjoyed fishing with you guys and would definitely book with you again.
I recently just f...ound out that my dad went on a fishing trip in March 3, 2006 and booked the Andrea with you guys. Oddly enough we happened to book the Andrea with you guys too last October, without even knowing. What makes this so meaningful is my dad passed away December of 2012 after struggling with Stage 4 tongue cancer for 9 months. It makes me wonder if he wasn't right there with us encouraging the fish to take the bait. Its incredible to think that my dad sat in the same spot 7 years ago. It amazes me to think of how small the world really is and little things really do mean a lot. I have attached the bill fish foundation release certificate with my dads name, Jerry Dotson, on it.
Another amazing thing that happened on the boat was my boyfriend of 7 years proposed to me, even while he was feeling a lil under the weather.
Anyways just thought I would share these wonderful memories with you.
Thanks again,
Kim Dotson"

SWEDISH INVASION?

Swedish invasion in Mexico? The Swedes did it again, this beautiful striped marlin was caught & released by a very excited Kjell aboard Pisces Rebecca.

Another Blue Marlin on the Tracy Ann

So, here's a different blue marlin on Tracy Ann, caught yesterday...this one was safely released. Proud angler is Roger Sturk from Sweden.

Fish Hard to Weigh, Estimated at 500 LBS

 

Julio Castro on the Tracy Ann is a strong proponent of catch & release and it is rare that you see a dead marlin on the back of his boat. This big blue however was hooked during the tuna tournament, got tail-wrapped and died, so was brought on board. Justin Long from Roseveille, Ca. was the angler. We had a hard time weighing it but calculated between 470 and 500 LBS

 

 

 

 

WEEKLY FISH REPORT

NOVEMBER 2ND TO 7TH 2013
Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 97%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 74%, Dorado 58%, Tuna 18%

BILLFISH: We had some pretty spectacular billfish catches this week, as we finally felt the weather turn from summer to autumn/winter. After a couple of sweltering hot days,  rain fell on Cabo on November 3rd & the port was closed, but once it was reopened you could tell the weather had changed and the marlin bite was on.  Pisces Adriana had a spectacular day on November 7th, releasing SIX striped marlin & SEVEN sailfish, off the lighthouse on a combination of live and dead bait as well as green and yellow lures.  We also had many boats with fast & furious striped marlin action such as Pisces Rebecca with Joe Capizio & Sarah Mindick from San Diego aboard, on November 6th, who did very well to release five striped marlin off of Migrino & to boat two dorado. Valerie, was up there too with five marlin released, three tuna & a dorado for Jason Riha, Brandon Brooks & Rafael Guardardo. Bill Collector, Yahoo, C Rod & Fearless also had days this week when they released five marlin each plus a dorado or small yellow fin tuna, all this at a time when the tuna tournament was supposed to be the focus.  We had many great catches of one to three fish throughout the week and it was a struggle for boats in the tuna tournament to keep the billfish off of their lines, such as Pisces Andrea, who ended up taking second place in the tournament – they hooked a 400 LB blue marlin on a petrolero lure, which they released, before hooking their large tuna on the same rod & reel.  Seventy four percent of our boats caught billfish, consisting of 125 striped marlin, 2 blue marlin & 8 sailfish.

OTHER SPECIES: The main event this week was the WON Tuna Tournament, in which 135 boats participated. Tuna pickings were slim though and we did not see the slew of huge fish as we have in the past couple of years. Some days the schools were not too hard to find, but they were small fish in the 10 to 20 lb. class with only a handful of fish making the 100 LB plus mark this year.  Our anglers caught a total of 96 yellowfin tuna which means when they were found they could catch a number of them – up to a couple of dozen, but finding them was the hard part, or better said, getting them to bite. Eighteen percent of our charters hooked tuna. Dorado numbers have started to decline though are still here in good numbers, with fifty eight percent of our charters catching from one to ten fish. All were on the small side thought, a fact proven in the tuna tournament where not one dorado could make the minimum weight of 30 LBS. Our anglers caught a total of ninety nine dorado. Wahoo catches were not bad, but no big ones for us in the tournament, just in the days leading up to it when we had fish from 35 to 50 LBS. Pisces La Brisa released two sharks this week, one a 75 LB pilot shark & the other an 80 LB hammerhead.
LOCATION: Pacific, lighthouse to Golden Gate
WEATHER: Port closed one day, rain on Thursday, and seas on the rough side.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 81 F
BEST LURES: Live caballito, ballyhoo, green colors, petrolero.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS OF TUNA TOURNAMENT & PRIZES

These are the unofficial results that will be given tonight - we don't think there will be any changes, so this will not be confirmed until tonight.

 

 

Winning fish is pictured here with team Reel Quest, who weighed in this beauty 15 mins before the event was over. Congratulations this team are finally first place after participating every year.
1ST PLACE REEL QUEST 192.4 LBS WINNINGS $242,960.00
2ND PLACE PISCES ANDREA 172.6 LBS WINNINGS $5,360.00
3RD PLACE REINA DE WAHOO 170 LBS WINNINGS $2,680.00
DAY ONE JACKPOT $500, 1K, 2K EL DIABLO 131.9 LBS, $83,400
DAY ONE JACKPOT 3K, 5K, 10K BOB MARLIN 85.7 LBS $114,000.00
DAY ONE WAHOO KOI SUSHI 52.6 LBS $46,800.00
DAY TWO WAHOO CHEERS 1 39.6 LBS $46,800.00

 

DAY TWO ACTION IN THE TUNA TOURNAMENT

Pisces Andrea in lead at 15th annual Tuna Tournament....with a 172.6 LB tuna caught by Keith Gelfand from Richmond, Texas. First time in the tournament - their fish was caught outside San Jaime on a petrolero lure. They also released a 400 LB blue marlin on the same rod, reel & lure shortly before they hooked the tuna.

DAY ONE RESULTS OF THE TUNA TOURNAMENT

BIGGEST FISH OF THE DAY, THOUGH NOT THE BIGGEST MONEY WINNER FOR DAY ONE.

Leader in Day One Tuna Jackpot is a 147.8 LBS tuna caught by the Reel Medicine, this fish however, is not entered in the jackpots only the straight tournament entry. El Diablo, weighed in a 131.9 LBS tuna which makes them the winner in the ...5K, 1K & 2K daily jackpots, however team Fat Farmers will take more money for their 85.7 LB tuna as they had the biggest fish in the 3K, 5K & 10K pots. Irish Goodbye had been in the lead with their 123.10 LB fish the first 100 LB plus fish to the scale today, but they were displaced by the Diablo fish. Largest wahoo today was 52.6 LBS aboard Koi Sushi which should earn them around $47,000. Biggest fish of the day is pictured here. Today there were five qualifying tuna and two qualifying wahoo.

TUNA TOURNAMENT GETS UNDERWAY

W.O.N Tuna Jackpot Tuna Tournament kicked off today with 135 boats participating -as always the tournament is already fun. For the first time in the tournament's history boats took off under cloudy and slightly rainy skies. One boat came in around 10.30 am, as they didn't read the rules about the scale not opening until 2.00 pm. We went ahead and weighed it for them on our Pisces scale and it came up slightly short at 25 LBS, if it had gone over 30 LBS, it could have potentially been worth $46,000.00 - but let's wait and see what comes in later today.

WEEKLY FISH REPORT

OCTOBER 26TH TO NOVEMBER 1ST, 2013
Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 96%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 68%, Tuna 34%, Dorado 70%

BILLFISH: Weather remains warm in Cabo which accounts for blue marlin catches that continued throughout this past week, whilst at the same time we saw an increase on striped marlin caches, with a few sailfish thrown into the mix.  Pisces Cabolero, a 31 ft. Cabo, had a an outstanding da for David Wisniewski & Ken Neighring  from Place Pella,  Iowa on October 28th, when they were fishing  twenty two miles from the Old Lighthouse – they released two blue marlin estimated at 300 and 260 LBS respectively; both took lures.  Paul Linden out on Pisces Attitude Adjustment released a blue marlin in the same area, also on a lure.  The last day of October Pisces Rebecca had a fantastic day with a blue & striped marlin released a 40 LB wahoo and a dorado for John & Rich Dibenadeto & Howard King from Maine. October 31st was one of the best days this report;  La Brisa released three striped marlin and caught four dorado and two skipjacks for Doug Rubino from Houston, Texas.  Valerie this day and anglers from South Africa who did will to have a striped marlin triple header.  Tracy Ann & Bill Collector also had triple striped marlin days with some dorado and tuna the same day.  Average catches on striped marlin was one or two fish and occasionally up to three; these numbers should start to climb as we transition towards winter.   The majority of the catches were on the Pacific side, the stripers & sailfish preferred bait, whereas all the blue marlin were caught on lures. Sixty eight percent of our boats caught billfish, giving us a total catch of 73: Striped marlin 67, blue marlin 4, and sailfish 2.

OTHER SPECIES:  Dorado remained the top catch, though the sheer numbers have dropped to catches mostly in single digits.  In previous weeks it had been common to see catches of twenty plus fish, but this week the most anybody caught was twelve. Sizes were on the small side at 12 to 25 LBS with catches on the Pacific.   Seventy percent of our charters caught dorado giving us a total of 233 fish. Yellow fin tuna catches picked up with lots of school size fish, though none of the bigger ones were caught; hopefully they are keeping a low profile until the tournament next week.  Top boat was Andrea with twenty seven in a day 25 miles out for John Hopkins from San Antonio. Catches ranged from one to twenty plus fish, with the faithful cedar plug the most effective way of catching fish in the 15 to 25 lb. class.  Thirty four percent of boats caught tuna, giving us a total count of 236 fish. The only other catches were a few 30-40 lb. wahoo and the odd skipjack.
LOCATION: Pacific, Lighthouse, Gaspareno San Cristobal up as far to Golden Gate – Cortez, Cabeza de Ballena.
WEATHER CONDTIONS: Sunny and hot, seas calm with some chop in the afternoons.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 82 F
BEST LURES: live caballito, cedar plugs, petrolero, red/black, green

Countdown Begins for Tuna Tournament

 

 

Hoping for lots of these next week, for the WON Jackpot Tuna Tournament to be held Thursday & Friday - this one was caught aboard Pisces Speedwell by John Whittle from Houston and weighed 148 LBS, he would be smiling even more if it was a week later.

PLEASE NOTE, YOU NEED TO SIGN UN IN THE U.S FOR THE TOURNAMENT , www.loscabostunajackpot.com