Overall Catch Success Rate for all Species Combined 94%
Numbers at a glance: 74% billfish, 54% tuna, 49%
BILLFISH: This week we saw a definite slowdown on anglers but not on fishing. We had some stupendous catches, headed up by Gibbons Addison from Baton Rouge, Louisiana who had “the best offshore fishing trip I have ever been on”. Gibbons researched the Cabo fleets and decided on Pisces and the “Tracy Ann”, this turned out to be a good decision. He ended up catching and releasing a striped marlin, losing another, catching nine tuna, as well as an unexpected large blue marlin, that was mixed in with the tuna and took him four and a half hours to release – the boat got back well after dark and the big fish was estimated at 500 lbs plus. There were really so many great catches this week – Pisces “La Brisa” released a total of five striped marlin for Brad Aitken and friends from Clinton, Canada at the Golden Gate on the 24th. Next day out, this same boat managed another four striped marlin ranging in size from 100 to 130 lbs for the same anglers. Pisces “Tracy Ann” also had a quadruple marlin day for the Sheltons and Jenkins from Florida, also at the Golden Gate. Pisces Valerie and Shambala did well also, totaling three marlin each this day. Mike and Sue Sturges, first time Cabo anglers from East Hampton, Connecticut had a sailfish and two striped marlin aboard Pisces Adriana. Most of the boats this week headed out for yellowfin tuna, but still managed to find a marlin or two to the south of Cabo 10 to 20 miles out. Later in the week the bite switched to Golden Gate as well as other locations on the Pacific; live mackerel was the best thing to use to get a hook up. Seventy four percent of our boats caught billfish this week consisting of 45 striped marlin, 1 blue marlin and 1 sailfish – all were released.
OTHER SPECIES: For sheer numbers yellow fin tuna was the most numerous species, with a total of 208 caught by our anglers, with catches ranging from four to twenty six fish per boat. Sizes ranged from 15 to 35 lbs with cedar plugs the most popular way to catch them. We had very busy anglers, such as Sadie Whipple from Snoqualmie, Washington who with her party released a striped marlin & boated eight tuna and four dorado aboard Pisces Adriana. Hands down Pisces Tracy Ann was our top boat this week, not only for the huge blue marlin mentioned above but also for tuna. On January 23rd they caught twenty three tuna and released two marlin for Bob Keeney and friends from Michigan, 19 miles out from the lighthouse. The following day they caught twenty six tuna up to 30 lbs for Tim Blackwell from Indiana who with his friends also managed to release a striped marlin. The tuna bit stayed good until the tuna seiners moved into the area and scooped up the large schools which we had been enjoying over the past few weeks. Fifty four percent of boats found the tuna schools generally located 15 to 20 miles out. Dorado catches were not bad with forty nine percent of boats finding fish up to 30 lbs, however, when found catches were usually of one to three fish, though some boats caught up to seven. These were not in any set place but tended to be picked up whilst trolling for marlin. Inshore not a lot happening for us except some fantastic whale watching and the odd needle fish or skipjack. A few small wahoo were also caught this week.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Don’t want to make you jealous but beautiful. Clear sunny skies, smooth seas. Pacific was like glass on many days.
LOCATION: Pacific, Old Lighthouse to Golden Gate.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 74 F
BEST LURES: Live mackerel, cedar plugs, and feathers.
Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg
