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.

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report April 16th to 22nd 2016

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 73%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 18%, Other Species 52%

BILLFISH: This week was another slow one for marlin with a gorgeous full moon not helping either.  Pisces Rebecca was one of the few boats that had a good day on April 19th off of Punta Gorda.  Jon Svendsen and Jean Hubler, repeat Pisces anglers, did very well to release two striped marlin, one a baby 60 lb’er and its bigger brother at 130 LBS with ballyhoo and a blue and white lure doing the trick.  The day before this, Rebecca was again one of the few boats to find marlin, on this occasion at Medano Blanco, a nice fish over 180 LBS that took a live caballito.  Not only did they catch this large striper they also caught a wahoo for the Feasler family from Michigan.  Nobody could say that the crew on Tracy Ann doesn’t try; they headed out forty two miles with the Desmarais family from Connecticut on board and were rewarded with the release of a striped marlin.  They were also kind enough to fish out a 30 LB turtle that was wrapped in a plastic bag and return it alive and well to the water.  Pisces Valerie had an active day for Dennis and Tracy Bohrer from Wisconsin; first off they caught a 130 LB striped marlin at Los Arcos, and then had fun at Migrino catching nine triggerfish, three ladyfish and three mulejinos.  Several other boats did see marlin and even hooked them, but getting them to the boat was another question.  Pisces anglers caught a total of fifteen striped marlin this week.

OTHER SPECIES:  Just a few yellowfin tuna were caught this week and were not anything to write home about at 5 to 10 LBS.  A couple of sharks were caught this week, one was a 60 LB pilot shark aboard Valerie and a 150 LB hammerhead shark was released from the panga Poseidon by French angler Luc Trasleglise. We remind anglers that a ban on catching sharks will go into effect on May 1st; all sharks have to be released between May and July.  More than half of the boats caught good quantities of smaller game this week.  The most numerous fish to be caught were ladyfish, followed by grouper, triggerfish, babosas, mujelinos, then sheephead, skipjacks, amberjack and red snapper.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, seas a little choppy with wind coming up in the afternoons.
LOCATION: Migrino, Margaritas, Los Arcos, Punta Gorda, Medano Blanco, Destiladeras, Pozo de Cota, 11.50.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 76 F
BEST LURES: Caballito, white/blue, ballyhoo, jurelito, green/white.

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report, Feb 20 to 26th, 2016

Overall Catch Success Rate 70%

BILLFISH: We have had slow fishing for marlin and as we approach the March “doldrums”, they are certainly living up to their name.  A big moon did not help either, but that said the marlin were hard to locate anyhow.  Nevertheless our crews came through for some anglers that were in the right place at the right time with a hungry fish in vicinity.  First striped marlin of the week was aboard Pisces Valerie Mike McCoy & Dickson Ganstra from Iowa.  They were fishing in front of Margaritas on the Pacific and hooked a small 70 LB striped marlin which they released, followed by a 25 LB dorado which they kept.  To keep the anglers busy the crew set them up on light tackle & they spent the afternoon reeling triggerfish to the boat; the majority released.  Utah anglers Michael & Sandy Kelly, along with friends, were some of the lucky anglers to catch a marlin this week too; out on Pisces La Brisa on February 23rd, theirs was a huge striped marlin, estimated at 200 LBS, but thankfully released - they also got one yellowfin and eight skipjacks fishing at Los Arcos.  Adriana released a striped marlin for the Chilivetis family from Texas, which was estimated at 120 LBS as did Bill Collector, though theirs was a little larger at around 140 LBS.  Last marlin for us of the week was aboard C Rod, caught off of the Old Lighthouse with an approximate weight of 120 LBS, also released; angler was James Resendez from Texas.  Just 5 marlin for us this week, but thankfully all were released.  Smaller game took up the slack on most days and Pisces boats achieved an overall catch rate of 70% for all species combined, dominating the marina when most other fleets came back “skunked”. Our boys worked harder and went further.

OTHER SPECIES:  Yellowfin tuna were our saving grace this week with thirty percent of our charters catching fish in the 10 to 20 LB class, though some boats found fish up to 40 LBS.  Thomas & Brenda Reed from Louisiana headed out 30 miles aboard Pisces Andrea but were glad they did when they ended up catching twenty two tuna.  La Brisa had a good tuna day on February 24th, for Jeffery Pries and party from Michigan with seventeen tuna in the area.  Tuna champs of the week were a group of anglers headed up by Rory Anderson from Utah, with thirty tuna caught 25 miles from the Herradura.  We never thought we would see a week where triggerfish were the top catch but it happened; we had almost 200 this week- not exactly big game, but fun if you gear down to light tackle.  Small game accounted for the majority of our catches this week, dominated by the triggerfish but also with lesser numbers of skipjack, roosterfish, ladyfish, grouper, yellowtail, snapper, sierra and pompano.

LOCATION: Pacific from Cabo to Golden Gate, inshore Lighthouse and Margaritas, offshore San Jaime, Golden and 210.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, seas mostly calm.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 72-75 F
BEST LURES: Live bait for marlin, cedar plugs and brujas for tuna, bait for smaller game.

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report January 16 - 22, 2016

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 

Numbers at a glance: Billfish 37%, Tuna 43%, Dorado 16%, Other 24%

 

Noel Luck

BILLFISH:  Marlin fishing this week was not an easy thing, with a big moon and fussy eaters it was hard to get a hook up.  Fish were seen but both the marlin and bait were hard to hook up.  We heard reports of marlin activity before the sun came up but once it was daylight their activity slowed down, giving credence to the belief that when there is a big moon they feed at night and are not hungry during the day.  Nevertheless thirty seven percent of our charters were able to find and fight striped marlin.  We also heard of a 400 LB blue marlin caught this week; an exception on a slow day.  Pisces Rebecca had one of the best catches of the week on January 18th, when they released three striped marlin between 100 and 130 LBS between Pozo de Cota and Margaritas for Justin Tidwell and friends from Arizona.  Equaling the Rebecca was latest edition to the fleet Hot Rod who released three marlin up to 150 LBS a little further up the coast at Golden Gate for Kirk Kindred and party from California. Other catches were of one or two marlin per boat, when found, giving us a total of 31 striped marlin.

OTHER SPECIES: What kept anglers busy this week, if the anglers didn’t mind a long ride out offshore was the yellowfin tuna.  Boats could load up on huge numbers of small tuna with the occasional larger fish mixed in.  Pisces Ruthless for example caught forty eight tuna (many released) thirty miles out from Land’s End for Scott Lindsey and friends from Illinois.  Randy Wolf  and buddies from California had perhaps one of the best days of the week aboard Pisces Valerie, they released a striped marlin and then went on to muscle in forty two forty two tuna on January 22nd at San Jaime.  Others catches were of five to twenty five fish, with plenty of double digit catches – our total tuna catch was of 316 fish with forty three percent of charters finding this species.  Dorado catches continue to slow with just ten boats finding one or two fish, which is normal for this time of year.  We had a nice size wahoo again this week, this time aboard Knot Workin which weighed in at 62 LBS caught by Bradley Lukkasson from San Francisco.  Inshore the boats had varied catches with triggerfish by the dozen, some ladyfish, skipjacks, yellowtail, sheep heads, grouper and snappers.

LOCATION: Pacific from Old Lighthouse to Golden Gate and offshore up to 35 miles.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear skies, seas moderate.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 75 F

BEST LURES: Live bait, cedar plugs, and feathers.

Based on catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.

 

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report December 19 - 24, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 93%

Numbers at a glance: Billfish 51%, Dorado 53%, Other 16%

 

BILLFISH: This week saw steady catches of striped marlin for a little more than half of the boats, with a few sudden spikes of multiple catches per single boat.  Weather has been colder and windier, which meant boats couldn’t always fish the Pacific where more marlin were believed to be.  One of the top catches in a single day goes to Pisces Yahoo for six stripers up to 140 LBS at Pozo de Cota for the Hattners from Keller, Texas on December 20th; they also caught two dorado.  Tracy Ann had the only sailfish of the week, a big one, estimated at 110 LBS, plus two striped marlin released for Swedish anglers Ola Eklund, Peter Mucander and Johan Ingenmanusson; all three fish took live caballito at the Herradura.  Next day out it was Greg & Jack Sullivan who had the best day, this time aboard La Brisa as they released four striped marlin up to 120 LBS at Los Arcos.  They also managed to land two dorado for the dinner table.  It’s no wonder Tracy Ann won top marlin boat for Pisces this year; they seem to have a knack for it and proved it by releasing six marlin up to 100 LBS on December 21st for McCullough family from Fayetteville, Georgia – well done!  One of the most enviable days was aboard Flora T for a group from Dallas headed up by Darrell Overcash – they released three striped marlin and caught six dorado and two wahoo, fishing at Los Arcos. The marlin were spread out this week, with no one set location.  Boats started out fishing on the Cortez side then moved up the Pacific as far as Golden Gate.  Fifty one percent of our charters caught between one and six marlin giving us a total catch of 61 billfish.

 

 

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches were steady for most boats and could be caught over a wide area. When found, catches ranged from one to nine fish in the 15 to 25 LB class.  Pisces Valerie had an active day on dorado on the Pacific at Migrino where they caught nine dorado on a combination of ballyhoo and ballyhoo for Brad Lassila and family from Colorado.  Adriana, one of our 28 ft. boats, had some good dorado action too, with eight caught up to 25 LBS at Los Arcos and Margaritas for a group of anglers from Kansas.  Fifty three percent of our anglers caught dorado this week giving us a total catch of 129 fish.  Tuna catches were very slow this week with just a few boats even finding them.  The exception was Bill Collector who headed to Jaime Bank on the Pacific and managed to land fifteen up to 20 LBS for Ross Benson and Steve Buckley and friends from New Jersey and Massachusetts respectively.  Several boats caught wahoo this week but they are by no means plentiful and tended to be small at 15 to 20 LBS.  There was not much inshore action except for an odd triggerfish, rooster or sierra.

LOCATION: 95 spot on the Cortez side, then Los Arcos, Pedregal, Migrino, Margaritas and Golden Gate.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Windy and on the cold side, mostly overcast, seas moderate to choppy.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 77 F

BEST LURES: Live bait.

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report Nov 20-27, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 86%

Numbers at a glance: Billfish 85%, Dorado 70%, Tuna 9%, other 24%

BILLFISH: Another great week for late season blue marlin catches in Cabo!  We are not used to seeing all these blues so late in the year and surely this is the result of the “El Niño” current which has brought consistent warm water throughout the year and therefore steady, good catches.  Let's start with the Pisces 28ft “Adriana” who released a blue marlin estimated at 200 lbs. outside of la Herradura for Ulf Cristiansson and Lennart Arrenius visiting from Sweden. Pisces 38ft “C Rod” released another 200 lb. blue outside of el Cerro for William Gluckman and Sonia Schaeffer from New Jersey along with one Dorado and two yellow fin tuna. Pisces “Andrea” headed up to the San Jaime Bank and released yet another blue marlin for Allyson, Sean, Chris and Lizzie Park from Nashville, Texas. “Bill Collector” our 32 ft. Cabo, worked really hard and got a 350 lbs. blue marlin, forty miles out from Land’s End for Richard & Grey Simoncic and Joseph Zucarello from Paradise, Az.  To round up the blue marlin catches Pisces 55 ft. “Flora T” released 250 lbs. blue some way up the Pacific coast at Migriño, for Wade & Forrest Threadgill from Austin, TX.  Pisces “Speedwell” a 38 ft. Mediterranean released one Striped Marlin, one sailfish and one dorado for Jason Allen, Brian Van Holland and Narciso Flores from Laguna Hills, Ca. at La Antena close to Migriño.  Brian Dodd and friends from Colorado and Montana fished aboard 31ft Pisces “Tiburon” and were really pleased releasing their first Striped Marlin!  “Cabolero” released two Striped marlin and one dorado at the Old light house for John Thompson & Diana Goettle from Helena, Montana. Pisces 31ft “Rebecca” and 31ft “Tracy Ann” with our good friends Anders Lundgren of Sweden released two Striped Marlin, one Sailfish at the 95 Spot and two Striped Marlin at the 11.50 spot during their last trip of this year”.   Pisces “Ruthless” did well too with one striped marlin released and ten dorados at Elias Gaspareño for Ken & Elizabeth Kerr, Kevin and Laura Atamamuk from San Clemente. Pisces “Valerie” released two Striped Marlin and boated two dorados, two sierras and released two rooster fish at the Golden Gate for Susan, Eddie and Katie Janecheck from Costa Mesa & Sacramento, Ca.  Panga Poseidon released a striped marlin at the Old Lighthouse for Mike & Erin Elgru from South Carolina.  Eighty five percent of Pisces Anglers released a total of 79 billfish, consisting in 69 Striped Marlin, 5 Blue and 5 sailfish.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado fishing was hot this week, with seventy of our clients catching a total of 341 dorado, ranging from 10 to 25 lbs. Tuna catches were on the slow side with just nine percent of our anglers bringing in a total of 35 yellow fin tuna, ranging in size from 10 to 15 lbs.  Four of our vessels brought in wahoo, whilst others caught rooster fish, needlefish and sierras which are excellent for making ceviche.  Pisces “Bill Collector” brought in eight dorados , with one released at La Ballena, on the Pacific side for the Stein Family visiting from Miami, Fl.  Pisces Shambala a  60 ft. Hatteras, caught five dorados at Elias Calles for Manuel Araujo and Stephanie & Matthew Mason from Houston, TX.  On November 25th the majority of boats had a great day for dorado fishing, such as Pisces “Tiburon”, “Ruthless”, “Tracy Ann” over at the Golden Gate. Pisces “Andrea” caught six tunas for Paul Smith and Tom Dufell from United Kingdom at San Jaime.  

LOCATION: Pacific Side -Golden Gate, La Ballena, San Jaime, El Faro, Elías Calles, Pescadero. Sea of Cortes: 11.50, 95 spot. 

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Rain on a couple of days which cause the port to be closed for two days due to tropical storm Sandra. Cool, nice, overcast, cloudy a little choppy. The outlook is for excellent fishing.

AVERAGE TEMPERATURE: 82F- 85FT

BEST LURES: live bait, green, pink, red/black, blue/white. 

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Ady Moya.

 

 

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report Nov 14-20, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 87%

Numbers at a glance: Billfish 74%, Dorado 26%, Tuna 14%, other 18%

 

 

BILLFISH: Another great and busy week in Cabo for billfish with an increase of thirty one percent over last week.   We are still seeing a late run of Blue Marlin in the area coming in general from different fishing grounds spread over the Pacific side and the Cortez side.  Art Hevener, Sean Ziconi and the rest of the Hevener´s gang Arthur and William, released a 350 lbs. blue marlin on November 16th aboard the 31ft Halcon.  The group of Anders Lundgren from Sweden on their yearly visit to Cabo managed to release a blue marlin on Pisces “Tiburon” outside of the 11.50 spot.  Twenty eight foot  Pisces “Andrea” went all the way to the Golden Gate making a memorable trip for father and son Jim and Brandon Boyd, from Bal Harbor, FL. Released a 200 lb. blue; good job guys!  On the other hand Stefan Trumstedt, Kjell Ljunggren and Jens Bergstrom had a great fight on the Pisces “Rebecca” releasing another blue marlin and four striped marlin on November 18th.  But we have more!  Another group visiting from England, headed up by Bob Challis, Peter Gurd and Paul Smith did well on the 35ft Valerie releasing a 250 lbs. blue marlin at Cabeza de Ballena in the Sea of Cortez.  Pisces 32 ft. “Bill Collector” with Brian & Lori Swift, James and Wendy Yale from Texas aboard did well releasing a 210 lbs. blue marlin and dorados over at San Jaime Bank. Pisces 38ft “C Rod” our most recent winner from the Tuna Tournament battled another blue marlin for William Gluckman and Sonia Schaefer from New Jersey.  More Swedish anglers in town!  Ulf Christiansen and Lennart Arrenius, first timers are huge billfish fans and decided to visit our areas, which paid off as they released a blue marlin and a sailfish aboard the 28ft Pisces “Adriana”; they are promising to return next year!  Loads of striped marlin released as well!  Pisces 35ft “Listo” released three striped marlin at San Jaime, with the Alexis Hodges group, Cecile, Angie and James visiting from Woodrock, Georgia and Phoenix, Arizona.  Pisces “Shambala” our 60 ft. Hatteras had one of the rarest of billfish catches, a Shortbill Pacific Spearfish, a fish few anglers can claim to have caught in the Los Cabos area.   Captain Nayo mentioned this is his first one in over 40 years fishing!  The crew also managed to release a Striped Marlin at the Herradura for the John Pappanastos group visiting from Houston, Dallas. That’s what we call lucky!  The fish was kept for local scientists to study. Pisces 31ft “Ruthless” was hot on November 18th releasing four Striped Marlin and two dorados for Bruce Tysor and friends visiting from Sidney, Iowa at Punta Lobos.  Our good friend Bob Stewart and friends aboard the 38ft Pisces “Speedwell” released a 307 lbs. blue marlin, one Striped Marlin, two dorados and one rooster at Migriño putting them in top spot at the Los Cabos Charter Boat Classic Tournament.  “Flora T” fished at Elias Calles, on the Pacific side and released a black marlin estimated at 220 lbs.  The anglers Steve Dick and Kristen Worth from Seattle, Washington were very happy!  Pisces 31 ft.  “Cabolero” released a sailfish and six tunas at the Old light house for Chris Zanoni, Paul Dornell, Steve Bankis and Thomas Hafner all of them visiting from California. 43% of Pisces anglers caught a total 73 billfish this week with most successfully released, consisting of 54 Striped Marlin, 8 Blue Marlin, 9 Sailfish, 1 Black Marlin and 1 Spearfish.

 

 

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado and tuna were quite popular this week; with sizes ranging from 10 to 30 lbs. Pisces “Adriana” found a school of yellow fin tuna outside of San Jaime for Jacob and Tim Brownlee from Austin, TX. 30 lbs. dorados spotted at Cabeza de Ballena aboard the panga” Tres Amigos” with our good friend Bob Dicheck  and frineds visiting from New Jersey.  Welcome back Bob!  Pisces “Tracy Ann” managed four tunas at the 220 spot for our Swedish group as well.  “Hot Rod” brought in 38 lbs. wahoo off of Pescadero with Jake and Stephanie Burnside from Houston, Texas.  Pisces 42ft “Yahoo” and Captain Ricardo Escamilla released 9 out of 10 dorados for Walter and Valinda Weible from Houston, Texas and James Hedge and Scott Hamilton from Orlando, Florida.  Good Job!  The dorado were 18 to 30 lbs. with the best spot at Golden Gate.  Inshore we caught Jack Crevelle, needlefish, roosterfish from 3 to 8 lbs. all taken on the Pacific side.  Forty percent of our anglers caught 76 Dorado and 88 yellowfin tunas, eight percent of the catches were of other species such as wahoo and inshore smaller fish.

LOCATION:

Pacific side: Golden Gate, Jaime Banks, 33 miles out of the hill, Elias Calles, Margaritas, Cerros de Arena, Pozo Cota. 

Sea of Cortes: Cabeza de Ballena, 11.50

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Sunny, fresh some days windy over the Pacific.

AVERAGE TEMPERATURE: 83F

BEST LURES: live bait, green, pink, red/black, blue/white. 

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Ady Moya.

 

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report Nov 7 - 13, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 90%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 43%, Dorado 60%, Tuna 16%, Other 17%

BILLFISH: Marlin fishing is in a transition stage right now, that is, the catches are still good, but we are waiting for an influx of striped marlin from further up the Pacific.  In the meantime we are still seeing catches of late season blue & black marlin as well as sailfish.  Weather is starting to change which means fishing can be less consistent on a daily basis.  Hot Rod, the latest addition to the fleet is already proving to be one of our best & this crew did not disappoint for Dave Bulthuis, Costa Del Mar tournament sponsor, when they were able to release his son Chet’s first ever blue marlin which was tagged & released, estimated at 220 LBS on November 7th.  This wasn’t the only great catch this day; Pisces Yahoo released a much sought after black marlin, not huge at around 160 LBS, but nevertheless a nice catch for Craig Bentham from Canada Dan Brendes & friends had a great day out aboard Pisces Listo on November 10th when they were able to release three striped marlin & boat four dorado up to 20 LBS at Pozo de Cota.  Out this same day was the Mercier group from Florida aboard Pisces Valerie who did even a little better with four striped marlin released & three dorado boated.  Not to be left out and with a respectable catch of three marlin released & eight dorado was Yahoo with Florida anglers Francesca & George Filafas. Pisces Tracy Ann always seems to make the fish report & this week was no exception; on November 12th, Corey Hopkins, Ron & Paige Simonson fished outside the Herradura & did very well to catch & release a blue marlin, two striped marlin & eight yellow fin tuna.  Pretty much all the catches were on the Pacific side.  Forty three percent of Pisces anglers caught a total of 66 billfish this week, consisting of 60 striped marlin, 2 blue marlin, 1 black marlin & 3 sailfish.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado was the most popular catch this week with a respectable 213 fish caught by sixty percent of our anglers.  Catches ranged from one to eleven fish with weights from 15 to 30 LBS.  Pisces La Brisa had one of the better dorado catches with eleven caught off of Elias Calles, plus a striped marlin released, a little further up at Golden Gate for George Fee & party from New Jersey.  Another boat to do well & keep their anglers busy all day was Pisces Rebecca with ten dorado, one roosterfish & one needlefish.  Another high dorado boat was Tracy Ann with not only eight dorado, but two striped marlin released & two roosterfish for British anglers Gary Morrison & Kevin Moreton.  Although lures did work, live caballito was definitely the way to get more hook ups.  Tuna catches were on a par with last week at sixteen percent, but when found the catches tended to be multiple & up to fourteen fish, though the norm was three to ten fish.  Our total tuna catch was of 92 fish.  Roosterfish increased slightly but were seldom bigger than 10 or 15 LBS. Inshore triggerfish, needlefish, bonitas, skipjacks & sierra were all caught but in conservative quantities. 

LOCATION: Old Lighthouse to Golden Gate on the Pacific.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: November is our favorite time of the year, sunny with calm seas.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 83 F

BEST LURES: Live bait, green, pink, red/black, blue/white.

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.

 

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report Nov 1 - 6, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 95%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 50%, Dorado 65%, Tuna 16%, Other 9%

BILLFISH:  The top story this week was the Los Cabos Tuna Jackpot, popular Tuna Tournament, a yearly two day fishing competition now in its 16th year.  This fun event drew 143 teams and over 500 anglers.  As tuna were the target species many teams opted to fish practice days so the marlin count went down somewhat this week.  Pisces Listo got off to a good start by releasing a smallish blue marlin and boating four dorado at Los Arcos for Robert & Laura Coffelt from Pennsylvania, while on this same day Valerie managed to release two striped marlin, a sailfish and boat a dorado for anglers from Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.  Listo scored their second blue marlin of the week on November 3rd, at the Golden Gate as well as catching four dorado for John Amsler and friends from Austin, Texas.  The biggest fish of the week for us was aboard Pisces Tiburon, a blue marlin estimated at 310 LBS, which was released along with a striped marlin, at San Jaime by Mike Casey from Wareham, Massachusetts.  Robert and Lisa Lindquist from Sandy, Oregon had an off the charts day aboard the ever popular Tracy Ann when they released three striped marlin, two sailfish, a roosterfish and five dorado – it doesn’t get much better than that.  Even during the tuna tournament the blue marlin kept coming – Andrea had a blue released thirty eight miles out after it an orange and black lure for Keith Gelfand.  This same day La Brisa released a small blue marlin, around 200 LBS.  Pisces Cabolero a 31 ft. Cabo Express, released two blue marlin and a striped marlin during the tuna tournament for Canadian anglers headed up by Jim and Lane Hyslop. Attitude Adjustment was another boat to release a blue around the 200 lb. mark.  Overall a great week, with lots of anglers having fun and catching a ton of fish, even if they weren’t always the species they wanted.  Pisces anglers caught a total of 40 striped marlin, 8 blue marlin and 10 sailfish this week; all but one were released.


OTHER SPECIES:  Tuna was on everybody’s mind and radar but it was a shame that the numbers dropped this week as several seiners moved in to the area and beat a lot of the boats to the big fish, of course there were still plenty of qualifiers out there with  thirteen fish over 100 LBS and several other qualifiers.  The dorado category was a tough one to fill, even though many of this species were caught  it was hard to find one that could make the minimum weight of 30 LBS, in fact only was weighed in at 31 LBS sending the anglers wild for a few minutes, thinking they had won $50,800 for their fish.  Their dream was short lived however, as five minutes later as the tournament drew to a close, Gladiator pulled up with a 49 LB wahoo that knocked the dorado out of the running.  Of course we are very proud of Pisces C Rod who took top honors with a 210 LB tuna and of Ruthless who took biggest wahoo on day one with a 36.9 LB fish.  Details of winners and prizes at the end of this report.  Dorado was the most frequently caught fish this week with sixty five percent of charters catching between one and sixteen fish in a day in the 12 to 25 LB class.  The dorado were found spread out along the Pacific coast and took live caballito, ballyhoo and different lures – in other words they were hungry.  Rebecca caught over a dozen of at Los Arcos for Dan and Dawn from Cody, Wyoming.  Top dorado boat though was Tracy Ann with sixteen in a day plus a striped marlin at Los Arcos for Glenn Rogne and Jim Vasi from Florida.  Pisces anglers caught a total of 377 dorado this week.  As mentioned above tuna catches could have been better and boats went far and wide trying to track down a winner.  The guys from Maybe Manana that took second place and earned themselves a payday of over $200,000 told us that they went far, over forty miles and when they got there the tuna seiners were wrapping up all the fish, but they figured one or two had to escape; they didn’t lose heart and stayed close by which enabled them to land a nice 198 LB fish.  Other boats, such as Bill Collector found the tuna at San Jaime and were able to catch seventeen on November 3rd but all were small school size fish.  Pisces anglers caught a total of 74 tuna this week.  We had a few wahoo up to 36 LBS and a couple of sharks, pilot and hammerhead, both released.  Inshore it was nice to see some roosterfish showing up and gaining a little consistency.

WEATHER CONDITIONS:  November is the best time of year –clear sunny days and cool nights; seas were calm inshore but a little rough out where the tuna were. 
AVERAGE WATER TEMP:  83 F
BEST LURES: Live caballito, ballyhoo, cedar plugs, green/yellow, orange/black/yellow.

LOS CABOS TUNA JACKPOT 2015 RESULTS
1ST PLACE: PISCES C ROD TEAM AMZ 210 LBS. team #2 Joe Zuccolotto
$60,775.00 plus $500 daily $18,200 = $78,975.00

2ND PLACE: MAYBE MANANA 198 lbs. team #102 Brad Stevenson
$7,150.00 plus all daily’s (except the $500) = $227,550.00

3rd PLACE: 181 MAGNUM PICANTE team #117 Pedro Orantes
$3575.00 plus all daily’s $242,175.00

1ST DAY WAHOO: PISCES RUTHLESS 36.9 TEAM #42 AMZ Mike King
$50,800.00
2nd DAY WAHOO: GLADIATOR 49 LBS TEAM #101 David Crook
$50,800.00

Daily jackpots offered in this tournament are:
$500 Tuna
$1,000 Tuna
$2,000 Tuna
$3,000 Tuna
$5,000 Tuna
$10,000 Tuna
$1,000 Wahoo/Dorado

143 boats 527 anglers

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.


 

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report October 24 - 30, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species 87%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 75%, Dorado 34%, Tuna 28%, Other 14%

BILLFISH:  You can definitely notice a change of season is underway in Cabo.  We don’t really have four seasons, but rather have summer and spring.  The heat is finally beginning to abate somewhat and we have had our first cooler evenings and early mornings.  All this signals a slowdown on blue marlin and sailfish and an increase on striped marlin.  Nevertheless water temperatures remain in the 80’s which keeps the blues and sails hanging around.  Live bait became scarce mid-week and a full moon disappointed a few anglers as marlin refused to cooperate some days.  Overall though excellent fishing with some superb catches.  Claudia Cooper along with Mike and Stephen Walsh were out aboard on of our smaller boats, 28 ft.  Andrea, they headed up the Sea of Cortez to Destiladeras, over 20 miles away, but it paid off when they were able to release three striped marlin up 120 LBS and a sailfish.  Later on in the week this same group and boat went on to release a blue marlin and boat six tuna. Thirty one foot Bertram, Ruthless has been on a roll for blue marlin and didn’t disappoint this week either, releasing a 250 LB specimen at the 11.50 spot for Courtney and Jared from Waco, Texas.  This same day, October 25th, Tracy Ann had lucky Texan anglers from Rockwall, George Hearn and friends aboard; two sailfish and a blue marlin was there tally off of San Jose.  How about three striped marlin, two sailfish and a dorado?  That was the sum of the catch for Darrell Brock and brothers from Texas, aboard Bill Collector off of Golden Gate on the Pacific. Speedwell had an enviable catch for the Flora family from Englewood, California.  They were kept busy releasing two striped marlin, two sailfish and boating a wahoo and skipjack.  Modesto angler Troy Bergman headed up the group aboard Valerie when they had a five billfish day consisting of four stripers and a sailfish.  Brian Livingstone and friends from Charlevoix, MI had an action packed day aboard Tiburon on October 28th when they released FIVE striped marlin and boated a dorado.  Closing out the week with a higher than regular catch was La Brisa with four striped marlin released for Michael and Ann Leroux, who also got a nice dorado for the table.  There were many other great catches, simply too many to mention.  Pisces anglers caught a total of 114 billfish this week, consisting of 82 striped marlin, 29 sailfish and 3 blue marlin.
 

OTHER SPECIES:  The dorado that has been absent all summer have finally shown up and we saw some nice catches of between one and nine fish for a portion of the fleet.  Thirty four percent of charters were pleased to be able to boat fish in the 15 to 35 LB class and to have some nice eating fish to take home.  Top dorado boat was Ruthless for catching nine off of Las Margaritas on the Pacific for Aaron and Jennifer from Houston – the smaller ones were released.  Speedwell was another boat that did well on dorado; they got seven as well as a wahoo and three striped marlin for Jim Dustin and Joe Frey.  Our total dorado count was seventy four fish.  Tuna catches dropped down a bit this week as dorado moved into the area and boats tried for these, as they were closer in along with striped marlin.  We did see a few big fish, such as a 288 LB monster caught aboard Mucho Bueno.  Our smaller twenty eight foot boats caught the biggest tuna this week starting out with Andrea who had both a 189 LB and a 152 LB, both quality fish they would probably hit a prize in the upcoming Tuna Jackpot – these anglers caught a total of six tuna and released a blue marlin too – well done to Claudia Cooper, Mike and Stephen Walsh from Colorado.  San Diego angler Blake Robinson landed a 120 LB tuna just below San Jaime on a green and yellow lure aboard Adriana.  Catches ranged from one to ten tuna per boat, when found and our total catch was of eighty seven fish.  It was nice to see fair activity on wahoo with several boats catching fish in the 30 to 40 LB class. The only other fish we caught this week were a few skipjack and a single lemon shark.

WEATHER: Clear sunny skies, some wind on the Pacific especially towards the end of the week, when it blew hard in the week. Moderate seas.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 83 F

BEST LURES: Live caballito, ballyhoo, petrolero, guacayamo, green and yellow.

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report October 17 - 23, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 88%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 68%, Tuna 43%, Dorado 11% Other 13%
 

BILLFISH:  An exciting week in Cabo culminating in the Bisbee Black & Blue Marlin Tournament resulting in a huge payday for Costa Rican charter boat Tranquilo, not only did they win the Bisbee Offshore they took third place in the Black & Blue with a 327 lb. blue marlin, but because they were in all the different jackpots they took home more dinero than first or second place - $2,511,462.00 USD was added to the cash they had already won a few days before to give them a grand total of $2,971,662.00 and yes, that is dollars.  First place was taken by local charter boat Rondinella for a 500 lb. blue marlin on the last day for a group of Canadian anglers headed up by Tyler Squire which netted them $356,255.00.  Second place also went to another local charter boat, what a Journey for Texan anglers who landed a 356 lb. blue and took $156,937.00 in prize money.  Although regular charter business was brisk and productive the same could not be said of the tournament fishing resulting in one of the slowest Bisbee’s we can remember.  Of the 121 teams competing over three days only three qualifying fish were weighed in.  Pisces Sportfishing boats competing did quite well with Ruthless releasing a blue marlin each day, unfortunately though the anglers had not entered the release division (take note….always enter the release division).  The top release boat only had two and won $72,000.00!  In regular business we had some superb catches; Tracy Ann released ten striped marlin on the Pacific side for Patrick & Jeanne Neville from Bradenton, Florida on October 17th – this same day the panga Gloria managed to release four marlin for British angler Devine Jones.  Tiburon released a 300 LB blue marlin and boated eight tuna for Barb & Keith Mehlenbacher at the Jaime Bank.  Tracy Ann cranked it up again on October 20th and managed to catch eight striped marlin at Golden Gate for the Roxbergs from Minnesota.  This same day 28 ft. Andrea released five striped marlin up to 180 lbs. for Doug Logan and friends from Seattle, who also boated a dorado.  Though not in the tournament our 35 ft. Cabo Knot Workin landed a 354 LB blue marlin for a group from Texas on a day where no qualifying fish were weighed at the tournament.  Boats fishing in the tournament were only targeting blue and black marlin, so our catch rate is a little lower than it could have been, as there was plenty of striped marlin around.  Pisces anglers caught a total of 135 striped marlin, 11 sailfish and 9 blue marlin.

OTHER SPECIES:  Tuna catches were good this week with a total of 228 fish caught by our anglers, with catches ranging from one to eighteen fish in a day.  A little under half of the boats managed to land this tasty species and some were of a good size which bodes well for the upcoming WON Tuna Tournament.  Flora T II  landed a nice fish that weighed in at 147 LBS which they caught with a skipjack (is that cannibalism?) for angler Andre Gauron.  On October 19th 28 ft. Andrea had a great day for Felix Forjet and friends at San Jaime, where they caught seven tuna up to 110 lbs. and released a striped marlin too.  Cabolero did well with Alaskan anglers on board when they caught nine tuna up to 100 LBS, plus a nice wahoo and sailfish released.  Lots of sharks around at the moment – Bill Collector released five pilot sharks and boated a dozen tuna for Richard Prather & Meli Baum from Texas. Another one of our boats released an aggressive bull shark.  Other catches were the odd roosterfish, skipjacks, wahoo and a couple of early sierra.

LOCATION: San Jaime was the top spot  - also from the Lighthouse to Golden Gate on the Pacific.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: A couple of rough days with wind blowing from both sides now calm.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 85 F
BEST LURES: Live caballito, green, cedar plugs
Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report October 3 - 9, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 86%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 77%, Tuna 41%, Dorado 15% 

BILLFISH:  It seems that finally summer has come to an end , ushered in by a flurry or rainy days that cool everything off, before the sun re-emerges making the days hot again, but not like they were a few weeks ago.  Fishing remains on track and excellent though not every boat is catching fish every day, nevertheless there was plenty of action on striped marlin which are increasing in number, still a lot of blues around, albeit smaller ones and a good amount of sailfish too.  C Rod was out of the gate at the beginning of this report with two blue marlin released, small at 150-160 lbs., plus a striped marlin and a few tuna at the San Jaime bank for the Titmus family from Las Vegas, on October 3rd.  A couple of days after this we saw lots of action with Cabolero releasing a 230 lb. blue marlin plus two striped marlin as well as boating a 105 lb. tuna for Ohio anglers Gavin, Larry and Keith, 20 to 30 miles out.   This same day Listo had both a blue marlin and a sailfish and a couple of tuna.  Jorge Koosis from Argentina was disappointed to lose a three hour fight he had with a 400 lb. blue marlin on the Pacific side aboard Tiburon.  Billy King and Elizabeth Thomson from New York had a thrilling but tiring day aboard 31 ft. Cabo Cabolero with what seems to be the catch of the week; a blue marlin, three striped marlin and a sailfish released and a tuna boated – all at the Herradura – well done Captain Lupe!  Hot Rod is the newest addition to Pisces, a beautiful 42 ft. Cabo with an outstanding crew who are already proving themselves popular and who wouldn’t be with catches like they had on October 8th with the Hewitt’s and Gowland’s aboard from Austin, Texas.  They release a blue marlin, a striped marlin and landed a couple of tuna, the largest of which was 165 lbs. –bigger than the striped marlin they released.  Pisces Ruthless a 31 ft. Bertram closed out the week with an unbelievable catch for Ernesto and Roxanne Rojas, fishing with Michael Jennings, all from Texas at the 180 spot – their catch consisted of a blue marlin, striped marlin, four pilot sharks, two dorado and one tuna – the sharks and billfish were released.  Pisces anglers caught a total of 78 billfish this week, consisting of 41 striped marlin, 21 sailfish and 16 blue marlin.
 

OTHER SPECIES:  After billfish tuna were the next most likely catch and just like last week, fewer boats found tuna but when they did they managed to catch between one and twelve.  Several large fish were caught, which makes us eager for November to be her and the Tuna Tournament to start – many qualifiers being taken right now.  Pisces Tracy Ann had a respectable 180 lb. tuna, taken on an orange and black lure, on October 3rd 38 miles out for Gavin Narburgh from Ohio.  Bruce Chounick from Florida had his work cut out for him aboard Valerie on October 4th with five tuna, the largest at 160 lbs., plus a striped marlin released, ten miles out from the Old Lighthouse.  La Brisa and Cabolero also had 100 lb. plus fish this week along with several other boats.  Not much happening on small game but then again we weren’t really trying with offshore fishing so good.  Just one wahoo for us this week, plus a hammerhead shark released along with the pilot sharks mentioned in this report.

LOCATION:  Pacific, San Jaime, straight out from the Lighthouse 5 to 40 miles, Herradura, Migrino, Margaritas, 95 spot.
WEATHER CONDITIONS:  Partly cloudy, seas calm to moderate, some rain.
AVERAGE WATERTEMP: 86 F
BEST LURES: Live caballito, pink blue, greens, tigrillo, red/black, ballyhoo, chiwillie.
Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.

Shark Bitten Tuna! Shark Bitten Tuna!

Long time Pisces angler Rick Walsh from Cleveland was out aboard Pisces Valerie about 30 miles out from Land's End trolling a small blue and white Hoochi (squid lure) when it was slammed by a large tuna.  Rick went to work reeling hard, knowing he was in for a long fight it the fish managed to get its head turned away, even though it was down deep.  After about 20 minutes of muscle tiring work, the crew and angler knew something had changed, the line went slack.  Then they spotted coming up from the depths four of five pilot sharks that were attacking the fish as they reeled it towards the boat, now as a dead weight - the guys wanted this fish and they did not plan on sharing their hard work with freeloaders.  Captain Roberto quickly put the boat into reverse to scare the sharks off and they successfully got it on board, albeit missing a few pounds.

White Marlin in Cabo - The Mystery Continues

The mystery about white marlin in Cabo (we wrote about it here) continues..... other opinions about the so called "white" marlin are "hatchet marlin" volunteered by WON Tuna Tournament weigh master Mike Packard and long bill spearfish, which we think it could be - both are plausible and yes there is such a thing as a hatchet marlin and long bill spearfish, but they are also supposed to be in the Atlantic.  I guess we have to ask the scientists?  What do you think, please research and post your comments.  We found this link useful.

Very Rare White Marlin Spotted in Cabo?

 

Captain Julio Castro of the Pisces Tracy Ann, says this is the 3^rd fish he has caught like this in 31 years, locally they call these white marlin, but are they? This species is only supposed to occur in the Atlantic, so what do you think? Is it a white marlin or a juvenile striped marlin?

Yesterday Andrew and Paul from Charleston were two lucky anglers with an amazing fishing day aboard Tracy Ann! They caught and released a very rare “WHITE MARLIN” (60-70 lbs)- in fact it is so rare, that our captain Julio Castro says that it’s his 3rd wh...ite marlin in all of his 31 years as a fisherman - and man he has been fishing a lot!

It was the first white marlin for our deckhand Martin and for Andrew and Paul. 

They tagged the fish under the Gray Fish Tag program and we'll follow up on the story with more info from our anglers, so stay tuned! 

Just to mention that Andrew & Paul didn't stop with 'only' a white marlin - they caught and released 2 blue marlin (200-210 lbs) and 1 striped marlin (180-190 lbs), and they kept three yellowfin tunas for a well-deserved dinner! 

The marlin took live caballito, and their lucky fishing spot was 42 miles outside of  the Cerro. 

What an amazing day, great job team!

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 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.