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.