Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report August 22nd to August 28th 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All species combined 80%

 

BILLFISH:  Blue Marlin, Striped Marlin and Sailfish are here! We are just a week away from our hot September!, that means humidity and hard core fishermen  focusing on one thing: Big game and upcoming Tournament Season.   Pisces Ruthless is on fire!  Two striped marlin up to  160 lb., one sailfish estimated at 80 lb., one dorado close to 25 lbs at  Pozo de Cota and Los Arcos, on the Pacific side gave an outstanding day to the Todd Schafer group visiting from California, all billfish successfully released!  Andrea our 28 ft Uniflite managed to released a 190 lb. Blue Marlin and a good sized Sailfish at Punta Gorda with the Ferreiro group from New Jersey.  Listo  released a Striped Marlin and a Sailfish at the 95 Spot in the Sea of Cortes with the Bryan Keene Group from New Mexico and Oregon, good job!  On August 23rd Pisces Rebecca hooked up an 185 lb. Blue Marlin for the Wilson-Lundquist  & Taquino-Hendrix Group from San Francisco, California.  Mr. Phong  Vuong and friends from Houston, Texas celebrated his 50th birthday  aboard the 42ft Pisces Yahoo and his favorite  boat , 38ft CRod where he released a 60 lb. baby Striped Marlin and reeled in some good size tunas up to 40 lbs. on the Pacific side, Happy Birthday again! Pisces Rebecca released a Sailfish on August 24th from Brian Reynolds visiting from Boise, Idaho.

August 25th Pisces Tracy Ann gave the fight with two Sailfish to Hailey group visiting as well from Hauser, Idaho. 31ft Pisces Tiburon over Punta Gorda released Striped marlin around 120 lb. for Brian Bowen and group from Saginaw, Texas.  Also 31ft Rebecca got a busy day for Alan and Sandra Younger with two striped marlin one sailfish and a pilot shark.  Ruthless did it again with a 350 lb. Blue Marlin outside of Punta Gorda, with Jason Charo, Jeff Dewease and Tom Sands from Houston, Texas.  Another Blue Marlin for Mahmood Somani visiting from London released aboard the 42ft Yahoo!;  32ft Pisces Bill Collector fought another Blue Marlin of 200 lb. outside of la Herradura, Sea of Cortes with David-Winfrey Group from New York, Georgia and Texas.  On August 27th 35ft Listo released one good size Sailfish 130 lb. in San Jaime for David and Messie Almasy from California.  The last day of our week, we had lots of action for billfish: Pisces 28ft Adriana, released Striped Marlin in Cerro de Arena and two yellow fin tunas (20 lb.)  for Reeves-Snuffer group from West Virginia; Andrea and Tracy Ann released Striped marlin and yellow fin tunas in Los Arcos  for Rob Kellog from Texas and Adam Shrout from Los Angeles, California. 31ft  La Brisa and  Ruthless got hooked on Sailfish one over Punta Gorda for Cristina and Craig Downer from Kalamazoo, Mi. and the second over San Jaime for Dewease Group visiting from Houston, Texas.  Our  46ft Attitude Adjustment behaved releasing a Blue Marlin estimated 200 lb. for the Ginilli Group from San Francisco, Ca.  Pisces anglers released a total of 44 billfish this week, consisting of 24 Striped Marlin, 14 Sailfish and 6 Blue Marlin.

OTHER SPECIES:  Tuna, tuna, tuna good sizes!  Starting on August 22nd with Pisces Knot Working with 30 lb. tunas over San Jaime for the Keene Group from Arizona and New Mexico;  August 23rd the 28ft Andrea got a 40 pounder in the same area for Powell-Cooper-Wolcott from Roseburg, Oregon;  28ft Andrea fought two yellow fin tunas ranging from 20 to 45 lbs. in Cabrillo, Sea of Cortes for Ferreiro family visiting from New York.  On August 25th Knot Working again gave a fought to 40 minutes and lost a 150 lbs. tuna over the Pedregal area.  31ft Cabolero got a 40 lb. in Cerro de Arena, for Jack Hunter Group from Strongville, Ohio.  And 24ft panga Poseidon got two tunas from 30 to 50 lb. for Cody Wood from Alpine, Texas. Two Wahoo were spotted this week, one 35 lb. aboard the Pisces Listo and one 25 lb.  on Rebecca, over the 95 and San Jaime area.  We got some action for Mahi- Mahi as well ranging from 10 lb. to 25 lb. aboard Pisces Andrea & Ruthless over Pozo Cota, Cabeza de Ballena & 95 Spot. Panga Poseidon caught two as well!  We also saw some Sharks!  Yes, sharks! Three Sardine sharks over 100 lb. and one Pilot shark  75 lb. with La Brisa and Rebecca all of them over Punta Gorda.  For inshore besides the great tuna and dorado in pangas we saw lots of skipjacks and pierna fish which is great for lunch.  We had a total of 36 big game species this week, 24 yellow fin tunas, 10 Mahi Mahi, 4 sharks and bunch of skipjacks. 

LOCATION: Punta Gorda, Destiladeras, 95, Los Arcos, San Jaime, Cabeza de Ballena, Herradura, 11.50 

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Flat seas, Hot and sunny! 

AVERAGE WATER TEMPERATURE: 85F- 88F

BEST LURES: Guacamayo, feathers, rojo-negro, for Billfish Live bait- caballito.

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Ady Moya. 

 

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report Aug 15-21, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 76%

BILLFISH:  What a week we’ve had – lots of nice catches but as is normal for this time of year we still had a little over twenty percent of boats that drew a blank.  When booking in summer, especially August and September it is a good idea to book more than one day.  When it’s good, it’s really good but you can have one great day followed by a blank so by booking a couple of days you cover yourself and can be pretty sure of catching something.  Blue marlin catches continue unabated and they were almost our number one catch this week.  To start out the week Valerie released both a blue and striped marlin outside of Punta Gorda for Anthony Tsim and friends from Redmond, Washington.  This was followed by one of the top catches of the week aboard Rebecca, an estimated 320 lb. black marlin and a smaller blue marlin for Mark Giddings, Bonson Woodall & Benjamin Bockrath from Newport Beach, Ca. both fish were also caught near Punta Gorda.  This same day, August 16th, Ollie Otmer and Lisa Mitcham released a 300 lb. blue marlin aboard Bill Collector at the 95 spot.  Stephen and Adison Haas from Georgetown, Texas had a grand slam aboard Tracy Ann with a blue marlin, striped marlin and a sailfish all on live caballito at Punta Gorda.  A couple of other Texans, Scott and Wes Williams did really well to release an approximate 250 lb. blue marlin but also boated a nice 96 lb. tuna to take home, aboard La Brisa.  Ilona and Thomas from Arizona had a quadruple billfish day aboard 28 ft. Andrea on August 20th, when they released two striped marlin and two sailfish – all on live bait.  This day proved to be the best of the week, as Rebecca also had a four fish day, releasing a lineup of striped marlin from 80 to 140 lbs.  Not only that, but Speedwell  gave us our grand slam of the week,  for Falgun Patel from Georgia, who with his friends released a blue marlin, striped marlin and sailfish.  Pisces anglers caught a total of 57 billfish this week, consisting of 24 striped marlin, 20 blue marlin, 12 sailfish and 1 black marlin.

OTHER SPECIES:  Marlin was the main focus this week so most anglers targeting the big game, however there were some nice tuna catches.  Bill Collector had two nice fish up to 105 lbs. as well as a pilot shark that they released at the Herradura for Byran Keene and friends.  This same day Knot Working a 35 ft. Cabo released a pilot shark, caught two tuna up to 80 lbs. and released a blue marlin for Bryan Keene and friends.  The 31ft Bertram Tiburon had one of the biggest tuna of the week which weighed in at 115 lbs. caught by Bert Sampson from Canada.  Only fifteen percent of boats caught tuna, which when found rarely yielded a catch of more than two fish, but at least they were of a decent size.  We had some nice wahoo, with some getting as large as 70 lbs.  Inshore there were a few needle fish and skipjacks.

LOCATION: Punta Gorda, Herradura, 11.50 spot, Margaritas, 95 spot.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Mostly sunny skies, seas calm to moderate.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 87 F

BEST LURES: Live bait, green/yellow, orange/black, green/black.

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.

Cabo Fishing Tournaments Fall 2015 - Book Your Charter Now

 

LOS CABOS BILLFISH TOURNAMENT

October 13 – 17, 2015 

The Los Cabos Billfish Tournament is a three-day big-fish team event with honors going to the team that tallies the most points per pound – prize money goes to the top three teams. A trophy and a smaller cash prize is awarded to the boat releasing the most billfish.  The 2012 event was won with a 487lb black marlin that swept the daily jackpots, levels one thru three.  Total winnings for team Bill Collector was $167,877.50 along with an invitation to the 2013 IGFA Offshore World Championship to be held in May in beautiful Quepos, Costa Rica. 

More info on the tournament here.

Boats Available: (Last Update August 19th, 2015)

- 31 ft Tiburon Bertram 

- 38 ft Speedwell Mediterranean 

- 46 ft Attitude Adjustment 

- 60 ft Shambala Hatteras 

BISBEE'S LOS CABOS OFFSHORE

October 16 – 18, 2015 

The second of three Bisbee events in southern Baja, the Los Cabos Offshore tournament takes place a few days prior to the multi-million dollar Black and Blue.  Many teams that fish the big one fish this as well – it's the prefect "pre-fishing" opportunity.  In 2013, the tourney attracted 80 teams and 466 anglers with nearly $500,000 in prize money up for grabs.  The team aboard Chupacabra came away with top honors for their 583lb blue marlin and a check for $206,973.  Second place went to Sneak Attack with a 565lb blue for $189,837.

More info on the tournament here.  

Boats Available: (Last Update August 19th, 2015)

- 31 ft Cabolero Cabo Express 

- 35 ft Valerie Bertram 

- 38 ft Speedwell Mediterranean 

- 42 ft Yahoo Bertram 

- 60 ft Shambala Hatteras 

BISBEE'S BLACK AND BLUE

October 20 – 24, 2015 

The big daddy of the them all has paid out big over it's 30+ year history.... two checks come to mind.  In 2006 team Bad Company took it all with a check for over $3.9 Million.  In 2012, team Frantic Pace did the same to the tune of nearly $2.5 Million.  Sure, risking over $60,000 to enter across the board stings, but I bet hoisting a check as big as those takes the pain away quick!  Now, you don't need to enter across the board, base entry fee is $5,000 and that can still make for a big payday. 

More info on the tournament here. 

All our boats have been already booked for this tournament. 

WON LOS CABOS TUNA JACKPOT

November 4 – 7, 2015 

$432,000 paid out to nine teams in 2010.  $438,000 and 108 teams in 2011.  What did 2013 hold?  How about a field of 121 teams and prize money of nearly $600,000!!  Yep, the WON Tuna Jackpot just keeps getting bigger and better.  How so?  Well, 2012's tourney is being called the greatest tuna fishing tourney ever held in Los Cabos – it was certainly a record breaker by virtue of the number of big fish.  A 372lb cow was the overall winner followed by 11 fish that tipped the scales at over 200lbs. 

More info here. 

All our boats have been already booked for this tournament. 

For more information about the tournaments or charters, please email us at eduardo@piscesgroupcabo.com or call from US: 877-286-7938, and from Mexico: 624-143-1288. Thank you!

Tragedy at the East Cape Bisbee

Tragedy at the East Cape Bisbee:  It wasn’t widely publicized, but the recent East Cape Bisbee ended on a tragic note for team Ardilla Ciega (Blind Squirrel).  The sixty-one boat event enjoyed active fishing but still no qualifying marlin had come to the scale at the start of the third and final day.  Fifty-three year old Andy Wickward worked aboard the well known 72 f Donzi sport fisher, Tiger Spirit as the engineer and was no stranger to tournament fishing as this impressive boat is always at the starting line in all the tournaments.  This year though Andy wanted to fish the Bisbee his way on his own boat, he wanted to prove it’s not about the size of the boat; he could win this, on his boat, his way.  He and teammates Gregorio Liera and Sergio Cota left Cabo and made their way up to the East Cape with his 22 ft. panga Ardilla Ciega and were out there fishing the tournament under blazing hot skies. 

They finally hooked up a nice black marlin, definitely a qualifier.  Andy managed to get the fish to the boat and was surely ecstatic, no qualifying fish had been caught;  they were going to win the Bisbee’s; a dream fulfilled!  Just after the mate had gaffed the fish, they turned to see Andy slumped over and unresponsive.  Gregorio & Sergio, tried to revive him, but to no avail.  It appeared he had suffered a massive heart attack.  It was a very subdued Ardilla Ciega team that made their way back to the event site.  The organizers had been informed ahead of time by radio of what had happened and sensitively had an area cordoned off & tented, away from the main area, as Andy was brought ashore.  Andy died doing what he had loved and believing that he had won the tournament; you could see how devastated the team members were as they held up a photo of Andy fishing, accepting the award with the team captain absent from the stage.  Our condolences go out to Andy’s family, teammates and friends. The fish however, did not end up being the winner – not long after this black marlin was boated angler John Peelman landed a 409 lb. blue marlin aboard his vessel Hot Rod which netted his team $366,531.00.  Hot Rod, a 40 ft. Cabo Flybridge is now available for charter through Pisces Sportfishing.

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report Aug 1 - 15, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 73%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 72%, Tuna11%, Dorado 6%, Other 8%

BILLFISH: Fishing is really good in Cabo right now, but not for everybody with just a little over seventy percent of charters catching – which is great if you are on the positive side of the equation but not so good if you were in the close to thirty percent that did not catch this week.  The thing is, we are really spoiled in Cabo, anglers expect to catch fish every time out and at this time of year that is simply not the case.  The water is great, blue, mostly calm and high water temperatures, up in the high 80’s but there is a lot of bait in the water, giving the fish a lot of choice and making them less hungry.   Factoring all this in we can still say without a doubt that this is the best blue marlin and sailfish season we have seen in years – you just have to be patient and perhaps book more than one day to be sure of catching fish.  Blue marlin are trickier to catch and many times were seen or even briefly  hooked before getting off;  this scenario was repeated with sailfish, so catch rates could have been higher.   We saw some great catches and it was nice to see striped marlin rebounding – Tracy Ann caught two up to 160 lbs. on August 7th for Luv  & Brittany Mirani from Atlanta, Georgia at Los Arcos.  On August 10th Bill Collector had a great day for the Roester family from San Francisco; they were fishing at the 11.50 spot and were fortunate to release a 300 lb. blue marlin and a large sailfish that was close to 120 lbs.  South Carolina anglers Robert & Fran Powell had a busy day aboard Andrea releasing two big sailfish and a 140 lb. striped marlin, that took petrolero lures and one live caballito.  One of the top catches of the week was by the Nave family from Texas; they were fishing the area between the 95 and 11.50 spots and managed to catch and release four sailfish and a blue marlin aboard Cabolero.  Brian Anderson & Clayton Bartlett, from Houston, were the only anglers to catch two blue marlin in a day, with the fish between 220 and 300 lbs. both on lures aboard Tiburon.  This same day another 31 ft. Bertram Rebecca released a 300 lb. blue marlin and a 110 lb. sailfish for Brett & Dagney Olson from Scottsdale, Arizona. Pisces anglers caught at total of 110 billfish this week consisting of 23 blue marlin, 37 striped marlin and 50 sailfish.

OTHER SPECIES:  Billfish was what most anglers went after this week, as the odds for catching were good, however we did have some nice tuna catches – nice size fish but not many quantity wise.  Brian Williams caught a nice 163 lb. tuna on a green and yellow lure aboard Valerie.  The McWhorter’s from Georgia had a nice 121 lb. tuna on Bill Collector and were fortunate to release a blue marlin the same day outside the 11.50 spot.  Just eight percent of or boats found tuna, giving us a total of 24 fish caught.  Dorado catches were on the slow side with just nine smaller ones caught.  The panga Poseiden  released a large pilot shark which was estimated at 170 lbs.  Other fish caught were a couple of wahoo, we even heard of one close to 100 lbs., though ours were in the 35 to 50 lb. class.  Inshore skipjacks, bonitas and a few yellow tail were caught. 

LOCATION: Mostly Cortez, 95 to 11.50 spot, Punta Gorda, Cabrillo. 
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Mostly clear skies, hot, seas mostly calm. 
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 88 F  
BEST LURES: live caballito, petrolero, green colors. 

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report July 25 - 31, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 65%

Numbers at a glance: Billfish 64%, Tuna 13%, Dorado 3%, Other 9%

Black Marlin on Flora T

BILLFISH:  This week we had outstanding billfish catches, but the only thing was, not for all the boats.  It was feast or famine; while some boats came back with flags flying and smiling anglers, others drew a blank, often losing fish that wouldn’t stay, or just simply not getting them to bite.  One of the main factors was the full moon, meaning the fish were gorging themselves at night with the heightened visibility.  Those opting for a half day, did not meet with the same success rate as the full day charters.  Warmer than normal water temperatures are giving us an influx of sailfish and one of the best blue marlin bites we’ve seen in years.  Pisces Valerie started out the week with a bang – achieving a grand slam and more.  A group of anglers from Los Angeles headed up by Ben Gebhardt fished with captain Roberto Sandez at the 11.50 spot and released a blue marlin, striped marlin, sailfish, two pilot sharks and boated a dorado and a tuna – what a day!  There were several boats that had double sailfish day, such as Chad & Amy Norris from Alabama, aboard Speedwell at the Cabrillo Sea Mount.  On July 27th Andrea did well to release two striped marlin 32 miles out from the 180 spot for Julian & Matt Puentes.  This same day Cabolero had a super day with two blue marlin & a striped marlin released outside the Herradura for Mike & Alex Bunje, Jim  & Marshall Tucker from Carlsbad, California.  Bill Collector  had a blue marlin estimated at 240 lbs, off of Cerro Colorado for the Talley family from Midland, Texas.  Ruthless  also managed to hook up a small blue marlin, which was successfully released by Heath & Kash Sisk.  What we heard from a lot of captains is that blue marlin are coming up & striking lures & bait but not sticking, so there’s action but not always a catch.  One boat that did have action was Rebecca for Cruz Hernandez & friends from San Antonio, Texas  - they released a 120 lb striped marlin & a sailfish, before hooking a black marlin, which got away.  Flora T on the other hand had a black marlin that stuck the Wiviott family from California were thrilled to release this prized catch estimated at 250 lbs.  Pisces anglers released a total of 53 billfish this week consisting of 18 striped marlin, 8 blue marlin, 1 black marlin & 21 sailfish.

7 year old Luca Chiavetta gets dinner aboard Bill Collector.

OTHER SPECIES:  We did not see a huge amount of action on other species this week as boats were concentrating on the hot marlin bite.  We just had a few tuna this week, most on the small side between 20 and 50 lbs, the one exception was Bill Collector with anglers from Fayetteville, Arkansas who landed a beautiful 136 lb tuna just four miles from Los Arcos.  Very few dorado were caught this week – it leaves us wondering if commercial fishing is making inroads on this species as recently the Mexican government passed a law making it legal for commercial boats to have up to 10%  dorado as bycatch, which they are allowed to commercialize – the question is who is checking?  Only a couple of wahoo were caught, both on Bill Collector – a first for seven year old Luca Chiavetta from San Jose, Ca. who brought dinner home for the family.  Inshore there were a few triggerfish, snappers , skipjacks & roosters.  A few pilot sharks were also released.  The ban on shark fishing is over today  - and already one commercial long liner was  spotted off ours shores. 

LOCATION: 20-32 miles out from the 180 spot, 4 miles off of Los Arcos, 95 spot, Herradura, Punta Gorda, La Laguna, Golden Gate 

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Thunder clouds and heavy rain over San Jose a couple of days, Cabo San Lucas remained dry.  Hot but seas are calm.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 86-89 F

BEST LURES: Caballito, green colors, guacamaya.

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.