Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 88%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 88%, Dorado 21%, Tuna 15%, Other 37%
BILLFISH: One of the best weeks
of the year for billfish, even though the port was closed for two days
due to the proximity of Hurricane Linda. The biggest fish we’ve seen so
far this year was landed off of San Jose aboard a 22 ft. panga Viviana I
on September 11th by local angler Carlos Cota Lucero. The huge black
marlin weighed in at 765 lbs. and took just two and a half hours to
boat. The next day this same location produced another black marlin,
caught aboard Alexandriana with Captain Antonio Guluarte; this fish was
436 lbs. and took a Chiwilie lure at the Inner Gordo Bank – thanks to
Erick from La Playita for passing us the news on these two admirable
fish. Early on in the week we had some smaller blue marlin, such as one
landed aboard Contessa 85
feet out on a pleasure cruise; the fish was estimated at a little over
100 lbs. and was caught by the Valbh family from Florida just one mile
out for the arch. This same day Australian angler Brett Hewerdine and
friends fished aboard 55 ft. Flora T and
were thrilled to release a 250 lb. blue marlin they caught at Punta
Gorda on a petrolero lure, as well as a wahoo, dorado and skipjack. On
September 7th Bill Collector did
really well to release a blue marlin and two sailfish at the 11.50 spot
for Jennifer Hill & Stephen Kelly from Texas. This same day fellow
Texan Clint Herbst and friends were out on Listo but
on the Pacific side, 32 miles out form the Old Lighthouse, where they
released two sailfish, a striped marlin and boated three tuna up to 120
lbs. Tracy Ann fished
in close this day at 4 miles and released a 250 lb. blue marlin for
Arkansas anglers Craig and Donna Wing. Most anglers shut out by the
rain on the 8th & 9th shut out by the rain, were able to reschedule
which was a good thing, as fishing seemed to get even better. Tracy Ann picked
the pace right up after two day in port and scored two striped marlin
and two sailfish for Thomas & Rebecca Hobb from Pikeville, Kentucky
on September 10th at the 95 spot. To close out the week Cabolero had
an outstanding catch of five sailfish and a striped marlin nine miles
out from Lands’ End by Aaron & Charles Earnhardt from Tennessee.
Not far behind, it was again Tracy Ann with
three sailfish and striped marlin released at the 11.50 spot for Jeff
Anderson fishing with Jeremy & Amy Ross, all on live bait, this same
day. Billfish were the most common catch this week, with seventy nine
percent of our charters catching big game species. Pisces anglers
caught a total of 54 billfish consisting of 18 striped marlin, 32
sailfish and 4 blue marlin.
OTHER SPECIES:
This week we did see an improvement on smaller game with twenty one
percent of boats landing dorado, however, catches were seldom more than
one or two fish and usually no bigger than 15 lbs. Tuna catches were a
bit slower at fifteen percent but some of the fish did have some size to
them at the 100 lb. plus mark. We also know of a 300 lb. plus tuna
caught aboard Fourplay out of La Playita. Wahoo were a blessing this
week with catches of this tasty fish quite steady with catches of up to
three fish per boat as large as 50 lbs. Inshore triggerfish, grouper and
skipjacks were caught. One of the pangas we
sent, Tres Amigos, did exceptionally well to release a sailfish and a
hammerhead shark and catch eight tuna up to 20 lbs. for William Morris
& Frank Brown from Texas.
LOCATION: Boats
fished both sides the Pacific and the Cortez, with Punta Gorda
producing some of the bigger fish, other locations were Old Lighthouse,
Lands’ End, 11.50 spot and Pozo de Cota.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Hot and humid, some rain, port closed Sept 8th and 9th, seas calm to moderate.
AVERAGE WATER TEMPERATURE: 86 F
BEST LURES: Live bait, petrolero, chilwillie, green colors.
BEST LURES: Live bait, petrolero, chilwillie, green colors.
Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.
