World Record Dorado Caught in Cabo San Lucas

A few days ago a group of guys came into the office after their days’ fishing aboard Pisces 60 ft. Hatteras Shambala they were excited and sunburnt and eager to get some Pisces Sportfishing shirts.  We asked the group what they had caught and were stunned when 33 year old Brian Lindsey, a  physician from Indianola, Mississippi , said that he had landed a 102 lb. dorado.  We thought, well he’s probably a first timer and confused, he probably got a marlin.  So we asked what color his fish was to which he replied “yellow”, intrigued, we asked to see pictures.  Brian’s dad, Tracy, a long time Pisces angler, whipped out his camera and proceeded to show us a massive dorado which looked big in photos but enormous in the video.  

Our first thought with our practiced eye, was “that looks like a 60 to 70 lb. fish”.  So we asked how he had come up with weight and were told that they had weighed it on a spring type hand scale and that it had said 102 lbs., just before the fish had been taken away by the fillet guys.  One of the staff called the dock to tell the fillet guys NOT to cut that fish up, but we were told it had been filleted as quickly as possible due to the hot weather, so that the meat would not spoil.  Now we wanted to try and verify the weight if possible and at the same time quickly entered the IGFA website to check the world record.  If the fish truly weighed 102 lbs., we knew without looking that this would be the biggest dorado ever caught on rod and reel.  The website revealed that the all tackle world record (the largest dorado ever legally caught on any kind of test line) was an 87 lb. fish caught in Costa Rica, a record held since 1976.

We happened to have an identical scale in the office so decided to test it by asking Captain Tony’s restaurant next door, for a product with a verified weight. They handed us a 4.4 lb. block of cheese, which when weighed on the scale, showed that the scale was pretty accurate.  It just happened that a group of scientists from the Mexican Fisheries Institute were having lunch at Captain Tony’s so we asked them to help verify the weight.  They asked for the length of the fish, which was 66 inches and we were told that the carcass weighed 36 lbs.  They used a scientific formula which gave them a result of 94 lbs., however, they said that they wanted to verify this with one of their colleagues who is an expert in dorado and asked for the photos and video – as of yet they have still not reached a final conclusion.  The fish had struck the silver and black trolled lure with the ferocity of a marlin, just two miles offshore near Pozo de Cota on the Pacific side and took Brian thirty minutes to bring to the boat on 50 lb. test line.  

The jury is out still, if the weight is true, this fish would have been the all tackle world record, but a filleted fish cannot be a record… nevertheless this was a magnificent fish and a remarkable achievement by Brian Lindsey.  It also shows that Cabo San Lucas is still a world class fishing destination.

See the video below:

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report July 11 - 17, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 89%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 51%, Dorado 45%, Tuna 37%, Other 13%

 
BILLFISH:  This week we have a much shorter report than normal as the port was closed for three days due to the proximity of hurricane Dolores.  The storm caused no ill effects in Cabo except for big surf and a smattering or rain but as a precaution the boats were told to stay in, leaving many anglers frustrated as they didn’t get to fish.  The fishing was exactly as it should be at this time of year, with a bit of a drop on striped marlin and an increase on blue marlin and sailfish.  We had several blue marlin this week; David Gonzalez from Houston, got a nice fish on Speedwell as did the Bowen family from Emmett Idaho, who caught a blue marlin estimated at 160 lbs. at the 95 spot aboard Rebecca.  July 13th saw 28 ft. Andrea catch a 300 lb. blue marlin at the Herradura on an orange and black lure for Claude & Kathy Callahan from Virginia.  This same day Tracy Ann had a smaller blue in the same area for Houston anglers, the Villarreal family.  Surprise of the week was for Cody Jeffcott from North Carolina, who had rented a panga by himself; he was shocked to catch a 360 lb. blue marlin just five miles off of Lands’ End as well as four tuna and two dorado. Buddies Jaxon Bates and Brad Jacobs from Boise, Idaho & Snohomish, WA, respectively were thrilled with the fishing and service they received aboard Tracy Ann where they were able to release a striped marlin each in the 120 lb. class on July 14th.  The majority of the fishing was on the Pacific side this week with a good success rate, though there were some boats “skunked” mostly those who opted for half days.  Pisces anglers caught a total of 27 billfish this week consisting of 17 striped marlin, 5 sailfish & 5 blue marlin.

OTHER SPECIES:  It was nice to see the dorado starting to appear this week – right on time for the Dorado Shoot Out at Los Barriles and another dorado tournament out of Cabo San Lucas.  The fish however tended to be on the small side, though some medium size fish were caught, such as a 25 lb. fish on Rebecca who had a total of ten ranging in weight from 10 lbs. upwards to the largest mentioned here.  Some of the dorado were as small as 3 or 4 lbs. and were released. Our total dorado catch was of 68 fish with some boats catching as many as fourteen in a day.  Tuna catches were of small school size fish with catches of between one and thirteen fish for thirty seven percent of our charters.  No real size to any of the tuna this week in the Cabo area, though we did hear of a 300 lb. plus tuna out of San Jose.  With the big surf inshore fishing was not great but we did catch triggerfish, skipjacks and needle fish.  A few wahoo were caught whilst trolling but none over 40 lbs.

LOCATION: Herradura, San Jaime, Pozo Cota, Old Lighthouse 3-10 miles out, Migrino, Golden Gate.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Port closed three days, big waves, partly cloudy skies, seas now flat.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 83-86 F

BEST LURES: Live caballito, green/yellow, purple, white/blue, orange/black

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.

 

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report July 4 - 10, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 95%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 56%, Tuna 30%, Dorado 17%, Other 16%

 
BILLFISH:  This week we saw excellent fishing resulting in ninety five percent of our charters catching fish – the first couple of days of the week though, we saw several boats “skunked” as the fish moved around and would not settle on one location.  The hot weather brought blue marlin, with the largest being a 380 lb’er caught by Australian angler Angelo Abela aboard Attitude Adjustment (that’s a lot of “A’s”).  The fish took a live caballito and was safely released at the 11.50 spot.  Pisces C Rod did very well to release three blue marlin on three consecutive days, July 6th, 7th & 8th;  all were close to 200 lbs. and were caught at the 11.50 spot – they also released a couple of striped marlin on these same dates.  Michael & Alex Jennings from Orange County, California had a fabulous day aboard Pisces Speedwell fishing at the 95 spot they released a 300 lb. blue marlin, a sailfish and landed a yellowfin tuna and skipjack.  Mexican anglers Jaime & Diego Williams were pleased with their billfish catch of an almost 200 lb. blue marlin and a sailfish aboard Valerie on July 6th.  The Andrea had a 200 lb. plus blue marlin that they caught on a Chiwillie lure in front of San Pedrito for Yance Warbel from Colorado, who also boated a tuna.   The Widner family from Austin, Texas, fished aboard Ruthless and did well to release on of the biggest striped marlin we’ve seen in a while at 200 lbs. (estimated).  Tracy Ann made the fish report this week for three striped marlin released for the Vanderburg family from Texas – their fish took live caballito and were caught on the Pacific side between Elias Calles and Golden Gate.  A nice mixed bag day was had by Andrea on July 7th with a striped marlin, pilot shark & twenty two tuna.  There could have been more billfish catches but many anglers decided to try for tuna.  Our anglers caught a total of 65 billfish this week, consisting of 46 striped marlin, 8 blue marlin & 11 sailfish.

OTHER SPECIES:  The tuna schools move around a lot and this week the catches were better on the Pacific and in fact the largest of the week was caught near Golden Gate aboard Valerie - the 190 lb. fish was caught by Zachary & Leigh Veal and was taken on a yellow & black lure.  A group from Texas, headed up by Brad Spalding did very well to catch seventeen yellowfin tuna thirty miles out from Lands’ End aboard Tracy Ann.  The fish ranged in size from 20 to 130 lbs.  The Valerie had one of the best tuna days, catching thirty football size tuna plus five skipjacks at the Golden Gate for Kevin & Cameron Calogne from Houston, Texas.  Other tuna catches were of one to sixteen fish, with thirty percent of our boats catching this species.  Our total tuna count was 298 fish.  Dorado catches were a lot slower with just 18 caught this week, usually just a lone fish and more occasionally two – there was one exceptionally large dorado but that warrants a separate story – check back tomorrow for that one.  We had several wahoo in the 30 lb class.  The largest wahoo this week was caught by Matt Dutile from Astoria New York aboard Rebecca and was 40 lbs. class as well as a few roosterfish.  Two pilot, one mako and one hammerhead shark were all released.  The only other catches for us this report were skipjacks found inshore.  Pangas had slim pickings inshore this past week with catches being skipjacks and the odd marlin.

LOCATION: Both Cortez and Pacific – tuna more on the Pacific along with striped marlin, blue marlin & sailfish on the Cortez side. Dorado spread out.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Hot, mostly clear skies, still a nice breeze on the Pacific.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 85 F
BEST LURES: Green/black, yellow/black, live bait, cedar plugs.
Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.
 

A Touching Story About Father and Son Fishing Tradition in Cabo

This is a little story about father & son fishing tradition in Cabo, a vintage 25 Pisces cap and soul fishing.  A big thank you goes to Robert for sharing his story with us, we are honored to have him, his dad, and their loved ones in Pisces family!

One day in May, when we were welcoming back our anglers at the dock, we started talking to Robert, from Signal Hills, CA.  He and his team had a great fishing day with 4 marlins caught and released, among others.  Robert said that the last time he caught a marlin was about 15 years ago on his fishing trip with his dad - they fished with Pisces aboard Rebecca boat.  He remembers it was a good fishing day, as they returned at 11 am with 3 marlins and 3 dorados.

This time, he was fishing aboard C-Rod with his wife Debbie and Teddie & Nasta from Signal Hills, CA.  We noticed that his cap has a Pisces logo on, and as we haven’t even remembered of this model any more, we asked him about it.  Robert explained that it was his father’s, who passed away 3 years ago.  His mother found the cap 2 days before Robert’s flight to Cabo, and gave it to him for good luck.  The dad bought the cap on his first fishing trip with Pisces about 25 years ago! 

It seems that this vintage Pisces cap really was a good luck charm, because after 15 years of fishing without catching any marlin, Robert had a fantastic fishing day yesterday. We believe his dad was soul fishing with them as well!

Their catch: 

- 4 Striped Marlin 120 to 140 Lbs aprox released

- 1 Dorado 20 Lbs

- 1 Pilot Shark 120 Lbs aprox released

- 1 Big Thresher Shark 170 – 180 Lbs aprox released

Robert & Debbie and Teddie & Nasta from Signal Hills, CA

Pictured: Our guest Angler Robert Adam (in the middle) with the crew of “C-ROD” Captain Abel Ramirez (red shirt) and Mate Daniel Alcaraz (White shirt and blue cap).

 

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report June 27 to July 3, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 94%

Numbers at a glance: Billfish 84%, Tuna 21%, Other 33%

 

Brian, Chris, Ed, Scott and Tom from Florida and Georgia were the lucky anglers aboard our 31 ft Cabolero, who caught (and released) 2 striped marlins, 6 dorados and 2 yellowin tunas, all in one fishing trip. 

 

BILLFISH: Wow what an incredible week; fishing was hot with multiple catches of blue & striped marlin as well as sailfish.  The week culminated in the Stars and Stripes tournament, a fun, well run event, which raised over two million dollars for charity. One of our top boats was Pisces Listo which on June 27th released ten striped marlin & a 300 lb. blue marlin for team SoCal anglers during the Stars & Stripes event.  Samantha Everhardt from Texas released a 320 lb. blue marlin, which took her just an hour and 15 minutes to subdue, whilst her companion Kyle, released a striped marlin  around 120 lbs.; both fish were caught at Destiladeras aboard Pisces Rebecca.  Blue marlin are a definite goal for anglers that have been fishing Cabo for years and have released striped marlin, but these bigger fish are more elusive and fewer and farther between, this week though we had first time anglers as well as repeat clients that were able to get a blue.  Jen, Brad & Mark Hoffman from Gainesville, Florida had a blue marlin that took them four hours to fight to the boat before releasing the approximately 300 lb. fish – they also released a striped marlin aboard Pisces Andrea.  Rick Walsh, long time Pisces angler was able to release a blue marlin close to 250 lbs. aboard Rebecca also at Destiladeras.  Ruthless, Speedwell & Cabolero each released a blue marlin in the 200 to 250 lb. class on July 2nd with lures of various colors the trick to getting a hook up.   Deddi & Eddie West from North Carolina were some of the only anglers that went to the Pacific side; Captain Julio guided them to San Jaime aboard Tracy Ann where they released six striped marlin & boated a wahoo.  La Brisa had a super busy day Tom Ginn & friends on June 29th, they took up a huge space on our fish report with three striped marlin, a sailfish, two pilot sharks, two yellowfin tuna and four skipjacks.  Remember the hotter the weather the hotter the fishing.  Pisces anglers caught a total of 71 billfish, consisting of 54 striped marlin, 8 blue marlin and 9 sailfish released.

OTHER SPECIES:  There were some good yellowfin tuna catches with some boats able to catch up to 24 in a day, mostly of school size but there were also some sizeable ones, such as 155 lb’er caught aboard Shambala by Tampa, Florida anglers who also released two striped marlin.  This same day Bill Collector landed a 147 lb. tuna for Mark Chiavetta, the largest of fourteen caught by this group, as well a striped marlin release.  The pilot sharks don’t seem to want to leave as they are still mixed in with the striped marlin and we had ten released this week.  Dorado catches were on the slow side with just a few caught here and there.  We did have some nice roosterfish, such as a 45 lb. fish caught aboard Pisces Valerie; these anglers lucked out as they also caught seven dorado and eleven skipjack.  Jack crevalle, amberjack & skipjacks rounded out the rest of the catches.

LOCATION: Destiladeras, 11.50 spot, Punta Gorda, 95 spot, off of Cerro Colorado.
WEATHER: hot, skies mostly clear, seas calm.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP:  84 F
BEST LURES: live bait for striped marlin, lures for blue marlin, cedar plugs for tuna.
Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.