Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report April 18 - 24, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 87%

Numbers at a glance: Marlin73%, Dorado 6%, Other 20%

BILLFISH:  This week we saw a marked improvement in the Cabo fishery, as striped marlin finally put in a steady appearance.  The area in front of Cabeza de Ballena the 95 spot and the 11.50 sport, all on the Cortez side is where the marlin could be found and on most days enticed to bite.  The few boats that did not achieve a catch did see and bait fish, but they were not always hungry.  On April 20th C Rod had an outstanding day catching and releasing five striped marlin and boating a wahoo for Greg Kent.  This same day Listo released four marlin ranging in size from a tiny 60 lb. fish up to a 120 lb’er the largest they caught, for John Nelson and friends from Woodbury, Minnesota.  This same group went out a couple of days later, this time aboard Cabolero  and again released four marlin, this time a little larger in the 120 to 140 lb. class, all caught on caballito (green jacks).  Earlier in the week it was the Ruthless that released four marlin from 100 to 120 lbs. on a combination of bait and lures for Kim & Paul Salceda from California.  The fishing stayed concentrated in this area producing catches of one to three billfish for seventy three percent of our charters giving us a total of 82 striped marlin and our best week for this species so far this year.

OTHER SPECIES:  The marlin fishing was so good this week that boats did not really try for much else, nevertheless there were a few interesting catches such as Bill Collector  on April 23rd,  with two thresher sharks, estimated at 90 and 110 lbs. released.  We also had a couple of pilot sharks, both around 80 lbs. released.  Inshore some sierra, skipjacks and rooster fish were caught, which accounted for twenty percent of our catches.  Just four dorado were caught this week, one a nice size at 45 lbs. aboard Tracy Ann taken by Rick Falk from North Field, Minnesota.  We also had one smallish wahoo.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Windy on the Pacific, fair on the Cortez side, mostly sunny.

LOCATION: 11.50 spot, 95 spot, Cabeza de Ballena.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 78 F

BEST LURES: Live caballito.

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report April 4 - 17, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 79%

Numbers at a glance: Billfish 54%, Dorado 12%, Other 49%

The Farbers from Miami, released five marlin on Tracy Ann, our top boat in this report.

BILLFISH:  This report covers two weeks as we were unable to get one out last week, as we were having too much fun enjoying the Sea of Cortez.  Inconsistency has been the watch word for the last two months and the first part of this reports seemed to follow the same vein but as we entered the latter half of this report, things turned around and we started to see multiple marlin catches on a regular basis.  It may be to do with the weather, as we started to have some colder nights.  Marlin were seen with more frequency, though they were not always hungry.   Tracy Ann our 31 ft. Bertram was easily our top boat this report.  This was the crew that kicked the door open on April 8th, when they released five striped marlin for Bob Schneider from Youngstown, Ohio fishing at the 95 spot.    They followed up a few days later with five marlin and four skipjacks at the Cerros de Arena for Brad & Robert Dickinson from Washington and then went on to release four marlin up to 160 lbs. plus a dorado for Daniel Alonzi & friends from Lone Tree, Colorado.  As if this was not enough they finished the week with another five marlin at the 11.50 spot for Mark, Cary & Saul Farber from Miami.  This boat caught and released twenty nine striped marlin in this report.  La Brisa headed to the 11.50 spot on April 17th with Kevin & Tom from Wauwatosa, WI, aboard and managed to release four marlin up to 130 lbs., which all took live caballito.  We saw a definite improvement the second half of this report when boats regularly caught between one and three marlin giving us a total catch of 118 stripers of which all but one were released.

OTHER SPECIES:  The most notable catch was a mako shark we heard of that came in around 9.00 pm on April 18th – this was not aboard a Pisces boat, but we were able to obtain photos, though not full details as yet.  We know it was caught aboard a boat called Griscelda and seeing as the scale was closed the weight was estimated at 250-350 lbs. – more details to follow shortly.  Nevertheless this is the largest Mako we have seen in years, with the average weight usually around 40 to 80 lbs.  Dorado catches had a bit of a comeback with twelve percent of boats catching one or two fish over a widespread area in the 15 to 30 lb. class.  Smaller game catches, mostly inshore, were pretty good accounting for forty nine percent of our catches.  There were lots of skipjack, sierra on some days, roosterfish, needlefish, amberjack, jack crevalle, triggerfish and a couple of smallish wahoo.

LOCATION: Old lighthouse, Los Arcos, Margaritas, Cerros de Arena, 95 spot, 11.50 spot & Palmilla. 

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, light winds all week, causing some whitecaps on the Pacific.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 76 F

BEST LURES: Live bait.

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing, Cabo San Lucas, by Tracy Ehrenberg.

What you need to know when you take your fish to be cooked

Recently we have received questions from fellow anglers regarding if you need to show your fishing license when you take your fish to have it cooked?  The answer is yes, and no.  Let us explain:

By Mexican law, each restaurant has to have documents proving the legality of their fish.   In case of marlin, dorado, sailfish and rooster fish, these are all fish that cannot be traded, unless the restaurant has a proof that the fish has been legally caught by an angler.  If the restaurants have such fish stored in their freezers without proof to verify that it is legal, they can be fined.

Many restaurants in Los Cabos provide a “You hook it, we cook” service.  In case of the above mentioned fish you don’t need a licence in case the restaurant will prepare the fish at the moment you bring it to them.  But if the customer brings his fish in the morning to come to have a dinner from it in the evening, they do need to provide a copy of their license to support the restaurant, in case the authorities come to do an inspection, so they can see that fish is caught legally by a client.  Please note that if the fish is caught from the shore, you do not require a fishing license, and you won’t be asked to show the license when you bring it to the restaurant.

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report March 28 - April 3, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 74%

Numbers at a glance: Billfish 57%, Dorado 9%, Other 29%

Top boat this week was Tracy Ann on March 30th for catching and releasing three striped marlin.

BILLFISH:  We are pleased to report an improvement in fishing this week both generally and for billfish.  Nevertheless it still could not be described as great.  Water temperatures remain higher than normal for this time of year which could be a factor.  More marlin were spotted this week but they tended to be fussy eaters.  We had catches at both ends of the spectrum of our fishing grounds, from Destiladeras on the Cortez side to Margaritas and Migrino on the Pacific side.  Top boat this week was Tracy Ann on March 30th for catching and releasing three striped marlin at Pozo de Cota for Jamie, Benjamin, Gretchen and James from Easly, South Carolina.  All three fish took live caballito and were of a good size at 140-160 lbs.  It was nice to see boats catching more than a single marlin and a little over a third of the charters managed two stripers and often some smaller game too.  Valerie, Tracy Ann, Attitude Adjustment, Adriana, La Brisa, Rebecca were all boats that caught more than one marlin in a day.  The fishing is becoming more consistent but has still not stabilized, for example on April 1st a lot of the boats were skunked despite spotting multiple marlin but the following day every boat out caught one to two marlin, even those on shorter days.  Fifty seven percent of Pisces Sportfishing boats caught marlin this week, giving us a total of 46 fish, all released, except one.

OTHER SPECIES: There was a not a lot of action on smaller game this week with dorado catches continuing to drop and just nine percent of boats finding the odd fish here and there whilst trolling for marlin.  Most of the dorado were taken on live bait on the Pacific and weighed from 20 to 30 lbs.  There were a half dozen mako sharks caught between 40 and 80 lbs.  Flora T had a very nice day on March 30th for Owen Kilmury from Huntsville, Alabama.  They caught and released a striped marlin, a 70 lb. mako shark, skipjack and sierra between Pozo de Cota and Migrino.  Other catches closer to shore were a few sierra, skipjacks, jack crevalle and the odd grouper.  These smaller game catches accounted for twenty nine percent of the fleet production.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Partly cloudy skies, otherwise sunny, seas moderate with light winds.

LOCATION: Migrino, Los Arcos, Pozo de Cota, Margaritas, Destiladeras – catches were better on the Pacific.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 75-76F

BEST LURES: Live bait, petrolero, tigrillo.

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.