Six Marlin in One Day! Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report for May 14-20, 2016

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 94%  
Marlin 70%, Sharks 20%, Dorado 13%, Tuna 12%, Other 20% 

MARLIN:  We are so pleased that fishing has stayed on track and continues to improve after a season of scarcity during the last few months.  Even with a big moon the fish were not deterred and gave a good showing all week.  To give you an idea of how great it’s been let’s look at the aptly named Brett and Melissa Fisher from Texas; they managed to hook, fight and release SIX striped marlin, ranging in size from 100 to 160 LBS aboard Tracy Ann at the 11.50 spot.  Hot Rod had a hot day on May 16th, when they released five striped marlin up to 160 LBS as well as landing a tasty wahoo for the table with a group from Washington D.C. aboard headed up by Richard Battaglia.  A couple of days later they again were able to catch five marlin  with Wes and Susan Sellew on board.  Another boat that did well was Bill Collector with four marlin released, also at the 11.50 spot for the McLaurin and Smith families from Livingston, Texas.  Not to be left out were the Rebecca and Ruthless each with four marlin apiece released on May 20th.  Other boats released between one and three marlin with those not catching generally people that got seasick and who wanted to come back early.  Live bait was absolutely the way to go and the best location was the 11.50 spot on the Cortez side.  Marlin was the top catch this week, with seventy percent of our boats catching, giving us a total of 109 fish of which 107 were released – several fish tagged.

OTHER SPECIES:  We continue to see a variety of sharks being caught in the same area as the marlin all of them are being released.  Andrea a 28 ft Uniflite released two thresher sharks up to 100  LBS, a 70 LB pilot shark and also released a striped marlin for Glen McLaughlin and Sara Madsen.  The varieties of shark caught this week were pilot, hammerhead, thresher, mako and lemon and twenty percent of our charters hooked them.  Dorado catches were a little better this week at thirteen percent and this should increase as we approach summer.  Bill Collector caught five small dorado, two small tuna and released a pilot shark and a striped marlin for Art Muff and Nicole Scarduzio.  Tuna catches were slow with just a few fish caught around the 10 LB mark.  Inshore the fishing has slowed down somewhat with the pangas being hit or miss, nevertheless twenty percent of the boats caught a trigger fish, skipjacks, grouper, sierra, jack crevalle and small roosters.  Mid week there was a flurry of wahoo activity for boats fishing a bit closer to Cabo with some fish up to 60 LBS.  George from Cleveland out on the panga Tres Amigos caught a 40 LB wahoo, two tuna and thee jack crevalles.

LOCATION: 11.50 for marlin and shark, Cabeza de Ballena and Lighthouse for smaller game.  Difficult to fish the Pacific as the wind blew hard all week.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear sunny skies, windy on Pacific, seas calm to moderate.

AVERAGE WATER TEMPERATURE: 78-80 F

BEST LURES: Live caballito, rapalas & cuchis.

Based on catches by Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report for May 7th to 13th, 2016

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 80% 
Numbers at a glance: Marlin 52%, Sharks 39%, Tuna 7%, Dorado 5%, Other 9% 

Striped marlin lit-up released by Chic McSherry aboard Tiburon

MARLIN: We are sooooo happy to finally have some stable striped marlin catches and in fact they were our top catch this week.  Pisces Rebecca lead the way with four marlin up to 140 LBS and a pilot shark released on May 7th for Michael Francesconi and party from Georgia at the 11.50 spot.  Michael’s friends were out on Tracy Ann the same day and managed to release three marlin in the same area.  It’s easy to see why Rebecca is one of our top boats, as they again released four marlin up to 170 LBS on May 9th for anglers Charlie Piermarini, Jack Piermarini and Bob James – all on live bait at the 11.50 spot.  Tracy Ann had another triple header day on May 11th for Jason and Christy White from Colorado, once again the 11.50 spot was the place and caballito the bait.  Back to the 31 ft. Bertram Rebecca they had an amazing day for Trey Simon, Kristi Istre Ricky & Angie Chavez from Texas, with three striped marlin up to 160 LBS and FIVE pilot sharks up to 120 LBS, all released – thank you.  The Engel families, fellow Texans, were out on Valerie the same day and were pleased to release three marlin up to 140 LBS.  Fifty two percent of our charters caught marlin this week with many have more than one fish, giving us a total catch of 54 fish, with all but two released.  Our overall catch rate was 80% for all species, though we noted that those anglers that opted for a half day had significantly lower catch rates – moral of the story; take a full day.

OTHER SPECIES:  So plentiful are sharks right now that they almost need a dedicated section, of course the shark ban is in place until July 31st, but that doesn’t stop you from catching and releasing them.  This week we had pilot sharks – local name but probably silky or bronze whalers, a blue shark and threshers. Shambala our 60 FT Hatteras caught three thresher sharks up to 180 LBS as well as a pilot shark for Maarten Durent and friends from New Zealand.  Overall thirty nine percent of our charters caught sharks with a total of 30 caught and released.  It was nice to actually see some dorado this week, not many, but at least a start. Ruthless out on a half day managed to catch six up to 18 LBS eight miles out from the Lighthouse.  Just five percent of charters found dorado.  Tuna catches began to show this week as well with seven percent of boats managing to hook a few, most were school size fish, though Bill Collector was the exception with a 75 LB tuna caught by Art Muff from New Jersey, who was also very fortunate to release two striped marlin and a jack crevalle.  There is still small stuff available in shore but with the big game catches vastly improved not many boats tried for these species unless they were on half days, as there wasn’t enough time on these shorter trips to get to the marlin grounds and back.  Nine percent of our boats caught a mix of skipjacks, sheephead, triggerfish, lady fish and grouper.

LOCATION: 11.50 spot
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Sunny, seas moderate, still windy on the Pacific.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 78 F
BEST LURES: Live Caballito

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report April 30th to May 6th, 2016

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 99%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 49%, Sharks 73%, Other 46%

Photo by our anglers Tommy & Delafuente

BILLFISH:  We’re back!  Finally after months of small game fishing we saw a return this week to the big stuff.  We were pleased to see more consistent billfish catches and even multiple marlin catches for some boats.  At the start of the week the hot boat was the Hot Rod as they released three striped marlin up to 150 LBS and SIX pilot sharks up to 130 LBS all caught at the 11.50 spot by Kevin Bremer, James Snyder, Pamela Snyder, Jesse Jernigan & Sam Jernigan – a pretty busy days for these lucky anglers.  Our 35 ft. Cabo Listo celebrated 5 de Mayo in style as they also released three striped marlin and released a large pilot shark for a group of Mexican anglers from Monterey, mainland Mexico.  Another boat with more than one marlin was Pisces 31ft Bertram La Brisa; they released two striped marlin at the 11.50 spot for the Collins and Lancers from Maryland, who also did well to release an 180 LB pilot shark and a 110 LB thresher shark.  Forty nine percent of our charters caught marlin this week, not fantastic, but definitely on the road to recovery with a total of 23 marlin released this week.

OTHER SPECIES:  The killing of sharks’ ban that runs from May 1st to July 31st went into to effect this week and it’s like somebody told them they were safe as they showed up by the dozen.  Anglers are allowed to catch and release them during this period but cannot kill them or bring a dead shark back to the dock.  Pisces Tracy Ann released a total of SIX pilot sharks, a large 180 LB thresher shark and a striped marlin for 10 year old Bentley Willcott who was on a special birthday trip to Cabo with his dad Matthew from Texas. Henry & Kaitlin Troutner from Virginia had a great time battling three thresher sharks up to 180 LBS and a pilot shark, all caught on live caballito.  Hot Rod made the fishing report a second time for having the most variety of sharks with a thresher, a pilot and mako shark, as well as a striped marlin released for the Sutton family from California.  Seventy three percent of our charters caught sharks this week giving a total of 49 sharks released.  Just a couple of boats caught dorado and tuna catches were on a par – all small fish.  Small game catches continued throughout the week but to a lesser degree with forty six percent of boats catching grouper, ladyfish, triggerfish, babosas, sheephead, skipjacks, roosterfish and one solitary wahoo that was around 40 LBS.

LOCATION: Marlin and shark were caught in the Sea of Cortez between Santa Maria and the 11.50 spot.  Smaller game were on the Pacific at Migrino.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Partly cloudy, windy on the Pacific, lighter winds on the Cortez side.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 76 F

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report April 23rd to 29th 2016

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 83%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 38%, Other Species 63% 

Bentley caught his 1st Marlin ever aboard our Tracy Ann. In 2 fishing trips our little friend and his dad Matthew released 1 striped marlin and 9 sharks (Pilot & Thresher shark)!

 
BILLFISH: Marlin catches increased this week, but not by much. Almost all marlin caught this week were caught this Friday, April 29th, and all out at the 11:50 Spot.  Almost every boat that headed out that way caught at least one marlin, with the Ruthless and Hot Rod catching 3 each.  David Sandoval and friends from Austin, Texas, the anglers aboard the Ruthless, also landed two Pilot sharks that averaged around 120lbs, which they released along with their marlins.
 
Keith Johnson from Georgia had a busy day out on the Bill Collector on Wednesday. The crew headed out to Punta Gorda and hit the jackpot, catching 1 small striped marlin, 1 pilot shark, 7 skipjacks and 1 amberjack.  All fish were caught on caballito bait. The Knot Workin was also one of the lucky few to not only catch the marlin they were looking for, but also land the only yellowfin tuna caught this week.  They caught the 25 lb. tuna along with a small grouper a few miles out from Las Viudas.  Pisces boats caught a total of 20 striped marlin this week.

OTHER SPECIES: Shark and small game fish have remained the majority caught this week once again.  The Howards and Mr. Dailey, anglers from Washington who fished aboard the Andrea got their daily work out with their catch, a total of 37 fish, mostly triggerfish and ladyfish, as well as a small grouper.  All their catches were found out of Migriño, on caballito and ballyhoo bait. 
Another busy day was for the Ruthless on Monday, with anglers Michael and Jill Steinbacher reeling in 12 triggerfish, 8 groupers and 5 ladyfish, also out of Migriño.
 
The panga 3 Amigos decided to stay close to shore and found themselves catching 2 sierras, 1 roosterfish and 1 jack crevelle, all out from the Old Lighthouse.
 
We have also been hearing about rising tuna and wahoo bite out from Medanos in San Jose.  Fisherman from over that way have been starting to see and catch wahoo and see schools of tuna, so we are hoping to see more catches of both of these next week.  For now, only two wahoo were caught this week, one aboard the Rebecca, caught on green/black lure at Medanos and the other caught aboard the Flora T on caballito bait, both weighed around 20-25 lbs.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Mostly clear skies, with seas a little choppy and wind coming up in the afternoons.
LOCATION: Migriño, 11:50 spot, Destiladeras, Cerro Colorado, Las Margaritas, Medano, Old Lighthouse.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 76 F
BEST LURES: Caballito, ballyhoo, jurelito, green/black.

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Rebecca Ehrenberg.