Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 73%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 26%, Dorado 47%, Other 30%
BILLFISH: This week was a bit
frustrating as the start of the week was pretty slow, with the fish
moving around a lot and being hard to pinpoint, so what was a productive
area one day, drew a blank the next. Marlins were few and far between
so even our top billfish producers struggled to get hook ups. On one
day Tracy Ann
decided to go the opposite direction of everybody else and met with
success for Dave Mabuy & Dave Farrell, from Spartanburg, South
Carolina, when they released two striped marlin in front of Palmilla
& Cabeza de Ballena on the Cortez side on February 14th, which was a
nice achievement on a day when most boats got “skunked”. Debora &
Ricky Keller from New York headed out on 28 ft. Andrea on
February 15th and travelled a long way, thirty two miles out from
Land’s End to be exact, but they did end up releasing two striped
marlin. One of our better days was February 16th, when nearly all the
boat managed a marlin each plus some dorado. Top boat was 31 ft.
Bertram Rebecca
who released three marlin between 100 lbs. and 140 lbs. at the 11.50
spot for Robert & Tammy Felinski from Texas. This same day Tiburon
our newest 31 ft. Bertram had two marlin released in the same area. At
the end of the week we saw catches again pick up when boats again
released an average of one marlin and a lot of dorado. Captain Rey and La Brisa
did better than average at the close of the week with two striped
marlin released, a dorado & three skipjack for Eric Baker and party
from Delphi, Indiana. The water is still warmer than normal for this
time of year and the striped marlin have still not arrived in huge
numbers, however Flora T spotted swordfish that they baited without success and Ruthless
had a 350 lb. blue marlin on. Twenty seven percent of our boats caught
billfish, which is up from the previous week, giving us a total of 25
fish.
OTHER SPECIES: Dorado was
the most widely caught fish this week but even though catches were
excellent, even this abundant fish was missing in action a couple of
days. Best day for dorado was February 19th when boats had fast and
furious action, with Ruthless and Valerie
getting twenty plus fish in the Elias Calles and Gaspareno areas as
well as several skipjacks. Weights were nice at 15 to 30 lbs. and on
this our best day, the dorado were hungry for live caballitos. Adriana
did well for Cindy & John Jacober from Ohio with nine dorado and a
striped marlin released in the same area. The average catch per boat
was closer to two fish per boat. Forty seven percent of our charters
caught dorado giving us a total of 186 fish, with many released. Bill Collector
was the only boat to catch a shark this week, not a huge one but they
did release the 60 lb. mako at Punta Gorda for Troy and Ada from
Michigan. Inshore there was a lot of skipjack, some sierra and
triggerfish, as well as a few amberjack, needlefish and roosters.
LOCATION: Gaspareno, La Ballena, Elias Calles, 95 spot, 11.50, Punta Gorda, Chileno, Los Arcos, Golden Gate.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Great – clear sunny skies and calm seas.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 74-75 F
BEST LURES: Live caballito & frozen ballyhoo.
Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.
