Catches are up! Weekly Fish Report March 22nd to March 28th, 2014

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 78%
Numbers at a glance: Marlin 49%, Dorado 23%, Small Game 30%

BILLFISH: We are pleased to report an improvement in the fishing this week, as the moon waned we still had some hit or miss days but also some outstanding ones. The water never really got cold so now with the moon gone all the signs are that the fishing will take an upturn. To start out the period Pisces Listo headed to the 95 spot on the Cortez side where they did well to release four marlin from 120 150 lbs. for Robert Russell & Todd Miller from Las Vegas & Kingwood Texas, respectively. This same day Pisces Rebecca had a great day too, a little further out at the Herradura, where they released three stripers and boated six dorado for Candy Johnson and friends from Dress, Idaho. Next day out Listo had the same anglers on board and not having luck at the 95 spot they motored further north and parallel to shore, which was the right move, as they ended up releasing six marlin, on live bait in front of La Playita. After this fishing dropped off again, with Punta Gorda producing a few marlin, but not for everyone. It was in this area that the Rebecca caught one of the largest stripers of the week; the fish caught & released by Patrick Mitchell from Illinois was right at the 200 lb. mark, it was estimated, and he was fortunate to get a couple of dorado too. On a day when very few boats caught fish Pisces La Brisa, dug deep and managed to catch the first ever marlin for fifteen year old Nathan Soby from Calgary, Canada and as if that wasn’t enough they caught a nice wahoo for his dad Chris, a mako shark for his mom, Tracey, & then to round out the day, Nathan landed a dorado for the table – thanks Captain Rey & Deckhand Salvador for helping this family to fulfill a dream. On March 27th, Anthony Spiegelberg from Wyoming, new he was on the right boat, Rebecca, when they released five striped marlin and boated two dorado, twenty miles from the 150 spot.   A lone sailfish was caught by Rick Kiersh from Houston, Texas at the Herradura as well as two striped marlin, aboard Pisces Valerie.  A group of friends got together, who are usually spread out between New York, California & Arizona and booked Listo, the 35 ft. Cabo for March 28t; they were not disappointed as they ended up releasing six striped marlin at the 11.50 spot – well done Scott, Greg, Steve, Nick, James & Alex. Forty nine percent of our boats caught marlin this week, giving us a total catch of 71 fish released plus a sailfish.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado had all but disappeared from the Pacific but this week when boats fished the Cortez the catches were much better, with fairly regular catches of one to three fish; the exception being Rebecca, with six, mentioned above. The dorado are liking live bait at the moment, with the odd one caught on a lure. There was plenty of inshore action for sierra, a few roosters, and lots of skipjacks, fair amounts of jack crevalle, an odd needle fish, yellowtail & grouper. We had a few wahoo this week, but none more than 40 lbs. Just one Mako shark around 40 lbs. caught on La Brisa.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, except on March 28th when it was partially cloudy, seas calm to moderate.
LOCATION: Herradura, Punta Gorda, Palmilla, 95 spot, Cerro Colorado, Los Arcos, Old Lighthouse.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: Warm at 72-74 F
BEST LURES: Live bait.

Cabo Fish Report March 15th to 21st, 2014

Overall Catch Success Rate 62%
Catches at a glance: Marlin 30%, Dorado 21%, Tuna 4%, Small Game 45%

BILLFISH: This week was the poorest so far of the year, overall for fishing. A full moon combined with very windy weather and a drop in water temperatures was the recipe for slow catches. That is not to say that the fish were not there; first it was hard to get to where the fish were on several days due to the rough seas caused by the wind. Crews could not depend on the Golden Gate at the start of this week & had to go the other direction to Destiladeras and Punta Gorda on the Cortez side.  The striped marlin were not as easily found as they had been on the Pacific and when spotted were not that hungry, as they had been feeding all night, which accounts for our low catch rate of just thirty percent. When marlin catches did occur it was usually just a single fish; the exception was Pisces La Brisa who released three striped marlin caught on combination of ballyhoo & caballito, twenty miles out from Land’s End of Frank & Kelly Chapman from Wyoming on March 18th.  As the week drew to a close boats again ventured into the Pacific where they did slightly better, however, there were days when even the best boat and crews, drew a blank. Pisces anglers released a total of 25 striped marlin in the 110 to 160 lb. class.
 

OTHER SPECIES: Inshore and smaller game dominated the catches this week with forty five percent of our charters catching skipjacks, sierra, rooster fish, trigger fish and lesser number of pompano, yellow tail, amberjack & bonitas.  Pisces Ruthless released five roosters up to 25 lbs. for John Ropas from Lubbock, Texas and was the high catch boat for this species. Not only roosters, but Ruthless also had two hammer head sharks at the 95 spot, both released for Jack Suddarth from Newport Beach, Ca.  Dave Fairfield released a mako shark aboard Listo as well as Kelly Wood, who also released one aboard a panga. None of the sharks were huge at around 50 lbs. each. We had a single wahoo, smallish at 25 lbs. aboard C Rod. Seeing as boats fished the Cortez side on several days, there were able to pick up some dorado, mostly around Punta Gorda, with catches between one and three dorado up to 30 lbs., giving us a catch rate of twenty one percent and a total of fifteen fish. Tuna catches were very slow with just a few here and there caught.
LOCATION: Punta Gorda, Destiladeras, Herradura, 95 spot, Cerro Colorado, Pedregalito, San Jaime, Margaritas, 30 miles from 210 spot.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Sunny, extremely windy on some days, seas, choppy to moderate.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 71-72 F (warmer than past years for March)
BEST LURES: Live bait, caballito, ballyhoo, green color lures.

Pisces Rebecca One of Only a Few to Score a Marlin

Yesterday fishing was on the poor side due to the extremely strong winds the day before, most of the boats got "skunked", however Don & Jackie Saunders from Minnetonka, Minnesota fished aboard Pisces Rebecca, with young son Henry and were one of a handful of boats to release a striped marlin and catch this dorado for the little guy

Inshore Fishing For a Windy Day

Yesterday, March 16th, was super windy in Cabo and San Jose and it appears most of the Baja peninsula. The Sea of Cortez & the Pacific were a mass of frothing whitecaps - boats were out fishing though. Some boats preferred to stay close to shore & not deal with the rough seas and caught small game, which can be a lot of fun on light tackle - sierra, trigger fish and roosterfish were the top catches.

March Shaping up to be a Great Marlin Month

March 8th to 14th, 2014
Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 97%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 85%, Dorado3%, Other 20%

Billfish: Fantastic marlin action was experienced by most boat throughout this past week, as boats regularly had multiple hook ups, however, this week the location changed mid-week to a completely different area  - Golden Gate was no longer the location of choice. Boats moved into the Sea of Cortez, following warmer water temperatures and fished the 11.50 spot, Golden Gate & even Destiladeras. March 10th, was one of the best days of the week, when we saw Pisces Yahoo release eight striped marlin at the 11.50 spot for Byron & Heather Underwood from Yakima, Washington. This same day we saw Ruthless & C Rod release seven marlin each, whilst Rebecca & Tracy Ann managed a half dozen each, at the 11.50 spot. Biggest striper of the week took angler Kim Snell, from Oklahoma two hours and ten minutes to release aboard Pisces Shambala & was estimated at 200 lbs. As if that wasn’t enough, Kim released three other marlins in the 120 to 140 lb. class this same day. All kinds of bait worked, with mackerel topping the list, followed by sardines, ballyhoo & caballito. March is traditionally known as a slow month for billfish, but this does not seem to be the case this year. As long as the water stays warm we think the bite will continue. Eighty five percent of our charters released marlin giving us a total catch of 174 fish.
OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches were extremely slow this week with just a couple of lone fish, caught whilst trolling for marlin. Pisces Petrolero caught two big thresher sharks on separate days in the 140 to 150 lb. size range. Bill Collector had some incredible fishing on March 9th, when they released seven striped marlin, plus a 40 lb. mako shark for Jay Levi from Charlotte, North Carolina. This was not the only mako shark for Bill Collector they also got another around 55 lb. specimen for Fredrick & Erin Rahr from Fort Worth, Texas, who did well to released four striped marlin & a couple of skipjacks in addition to the shark. Byron Hill from Victoria, Canada caught a beautiful 70 lb. wahoo on a green lure at San Jaime aboard Pisces Speedwell. Inshore a few roosters, some large sierras, bonitas & jack crevalle were caught.
LOCATION: 11.50 spot, Punta Gorda, Destiladeres, Golden Gate, and San Jaime.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Mostly sunny, seas calm with some chop on the Pacific.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 70-73 F
BEST LURES: Live bait

Its A Bit Late, but Here's the Fish Report

MARCH 1ST TO 7TH, 2014
Numbers at a glance: Billfish  84%, Tuna 0%, Dorado 0%, Small Game 15%
Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 89%

Chic McSherry from Scotland released nine striped marlin aboard Valerie

BILLFISH: This past week could almost be called the striped marlin report, because that is practically all we caught, and in good numbers. Looking back over the past three years, the first week of March of this year has been better by far for marlin, than in previous years. The water temperature is still above 70 F even us far up as Loreto. Fishing was exclusively at Golden Gate for marlin in the 100 to 150 lb. class with catches consistent with a the exception of  a couple of days when several boats got “skunked” – just a question of fish not being hungry, because they were spotted & enticed. Angler of the week was Chic McSherry from Glasgow, Scotland for releasing nine striped marlin (he says it was ten but the last was a “Mexican release”) aboard Pisces Valerie, on a combination of mackerel & sardines. This same angler & boat scored again a few days later, on March 4th, releasing another seven marlin.  Pisces Valerie was definitely boat of the week, as on March 5th they were the high catch boat again, this time for Ronald Brochu, Jim Glass & Rick Sangetta from Castro Valley, California; they managed to release seven marlin up to 150 lbs., once again at the Golden Gate bank.  Eighty four percent of our charters caught between one and six striped marlin this week, giving us a total of 138 fish released.
OTHER SPECIES: Because boats were concentrating on marlin they were heading straight to Golden Gate, but even then did not pick up any dorado or tuna either at the bank or the way to and from it.  A couple of sharks were caught in the area, the first an approximate 60 lb. thresher  by Bill Ellerbrock aboard Pisces Andrea, the second was a 45 lb. mako by Walter Myers from Minnesota, who also released a striped marlin, aboard Pisces Adriana.   Inshore the only other catches we had were some sierra and skipjack.
LOCATION: Golden Gate for marlin, Old Lighthouse for small game.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Cortez calm, some wind on the Pacific which made seas a bit bumpy.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 72 F
BEST LURES: Live mackerel & sardines

FEBRUARY 22ND to 28th, 2014
Overall Catch Success Rate, All Species Combined 88%
Numbers at a glance: Marlin 68%, Dorado 8%, Small Game 58%

 60 lb wahoo aboard Valerie, angler Chic McSherry 2nd from left

BILLFISH: We usually approach March with some trepidation as in past years, this signifies cooler water & poor billfish catches, however, that is not the case this year, so far. Water temperatures are holding firm right around 72 F & the awaited winter came and went without it ever really happening. Striped marlin catches continue to be very good with the only thing hampering catches windy weather on a few days, which discouraged anglers to tough it out past Cabo Falso, which is a shame, because once they reached Golden Gate it was much calmer. Nevertheless quite a few groups opted to not confront the wind and stayed around the shoreline fishing for smaller game. Pisces Bill Collecter was again the number one boat for most marlin in a day, for releasing seven for Steven & Kathy Fix, Darcy Reid & Cindy & Dave Nelson – they used a combination of sardines & caballito at Golden Gate. Not far behind was the 31ft Bertram Tracy Ann, with six marlin in the 130 to 150 lb. class for Alexander Simkas on February 22nd. This same boat released five marlin the day before for Jason Moore, Jay Carson & Cliff Montgomery as did Pisces La Brisa, for lone angler Chic McSherry from Scotland, who commented that some of his fish were extremely tough & athletic.  These were the better catches this week, with other boats releasing between one and four fish, almost exclusively at Golden Gate, though a few stray stripers were picked up by boats concentrating on small game. Sixty eight percent of our boat caught marlin this week, giving us a total of 105 fish, with all but one released.

Low res pic of possible world record amberjack (see above)

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches dwindled right down, which is normal for this time of year. A few were picked up by trolling but tended to be incidental catches, with the exception of Pisces Rebecca, who deliberately went looking for them on the Cortez side and managed to catch two, plus some skipjacks and needle fish. Only eight percent of our charters managed to find dorado. Once again some big sharks were caught, complimenting already good fishing days for some anglers.  William Babb from Texas released a 140 lb. thresher shark, caught on a live mackerel as well as three striped marlin aboard Pisces Rebecca on February 22nd.  Bernie Graham from North Bay, Canada had a fabulous day aboard the 35 ft. Cabo, Listo, releasing a 145 lb. thresher shark & a striped marlin, with a bonus 25 lb. wahoo for the table.  This was not the only wahoo, Scottish angler Chic McSherry landed a beautiful 60 lb. wahoo, which he said put up zero fight but came straight to the boat on February 23rd as he fished aboard Pisces Valerie – he also released three striped marlin this same day. We had one other shark; an 80 lb. mako released aboard the 28 ft. Uniflite Adriana. One big story this week was a monster amberjack that reportedly weighed 150 lbs. caught by Craig Heiges from New York, aboard a local charter boat, Edith V, with captain Vicente (not a Pisces boat). Craig took 45 minutes to reel in the huge fish, the largest we have ever seen in Cabo, on 20 lb. tackle. At the main dock the fished weighed 150 lbs., but there are doubts about the accuracy of the scale – the all tackle world record is 156 lbs. 13 oz., so this one was just a little shy, it could possibly be a 20 lb. test class record though and is definitely a Mexican record. Any potential world records have to be weighed on a certified scale by an IGFA rep, neither of which was done leaving the status of this fish in doubt. Nevertheless an incredible achievement, well done Craig! Inshore boats saw action on skipjacks, sierra, jack crevalle, red snapper & a few roosters & needle fish.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Partly cloudy, seas, calm on Cortez, some moderate to rough seas on the Pacific.
LOCATION: Golden Gate, Old Lighthouse to Migrino
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 71-72 F
BEST LURES: live bait, hoochis, and feathers