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.
