Big Tuna On Target for Upcoming Tournament

On October 30th, the 32 ft Cabo Bill Collector took out Gary Geringer from Wichita, Kansas who got more than he expected when he hooked into a huge tuna, 30 miles out from Land's End. The fish took green and yellow lure and took just under an hour to land on 50 lb test...back at the dock the stocky fish weighed in at 220 lbs. Gary also got a smaller 45 lb tuna and 15 tuna from 18 to 35 lbs, of which he released 13.....how on earth would he have carried all those fillets home... so this is a good sign for the tuna tournament coming up in the week.

Andale Gets a 475 lb Blue Marlin!

It is a question of being at the right place at the right time. Andale fished the Bisbee recently and despite catching striped marlin didn't hook up to a blue, this fish would have taken the whole tournament.... Pictured here is Michael LaPorte from Massachussets, who took two hours and 15 minutes to boat this large fish on 80 lb test, aboard the 60 ft Mikelson "Andale" with Captain David Marquez on October 30th.

Fish Report Oct. 22 to 28,2009

PISCES FISH REPORT

OCTOBER 22nd to 28th, 2009

Overall Catch Success Rate 97%

BILLFISH: This week we saw the marlin catches nudge up a couple of percent again with thirty four percent of boats catching marlin or sailfish. We are still seeing quite a few blue marlin…..more than were present during the tournaments over the last couple of weeks, maybe because the water temperature is around 84 F, down from the 90's, so perfect for blue marlin and a bit warm for striped marlin, which despite this still outnumbered the blues. "Ruthless" was our top boat with four blue marlin this week, way above an average catch for this species. On October 22^nd they had two blues in one day, both between 200 and 300 lbs , plus three dorados, at the Golden Gate for Alan Chaplin from Sudbuy, in Suffolk, England - making him our angler of the week and catching him as he put it "the fish of my life. Please thank the crew aboard Ruthless". On the 24^th they released a blue taken on a Petrolero lure again at the Golden Gate for Martin Walsh from Mobile, Alabama. The last blue of the week for "Ruthless" was caught by a ladies group from Texas, consisting of Cindy Burney, Sandra Brooks, and Lynn Baker, once again at golden Gate on their hot petrolero lure; they also caught seven dorado. "Bandito" had two blue marlin this week, the first on October 25^th for Billy & Michael Buckingham from Jacksonville, Florida; they had a particularly good day, as they also released a striped marlin and boated a dorado. "La Brisa" released a blue marlin around 250 lbs taken on a black & red lure close to Golden Gate and also caught fourteen dorado closer to Cabo at Gaspareño for Derek Zimmel, John These, Steve & Tom Sprint. There were fair number of striped marlin but interestingly they were found closer to Cabo near the Old Lighthouse and Los Arcos, with live bait the best way to get a hook up. Pisces anglers caught a total of 32 billfish this week consisting of 17 striped marlin, 6 blue marlin and 3 sailfish.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado were again the number one catch in Cabo this week with sixty three percent of boats catching between one and eighteen in a day (many released); our total count was 274 fish. Most dorado are on the Pacific between Land's End and Golden Gate with weights averaging 20 lbs. Yellowfin tuna catches were good with forty four percent of charters catching between one and ten fish; top tuna boat was "Cabolero" with twenty three in one day. Weights were average with very few over 40 lbs and some up to 90 lbs…so it looks like they are saving them for next week's tuna tournament put on by Western Outdoor News, set for November 5^th and 6^th. This years' tournament looks set to be good with close to 80 entries already registered and several tuna over 200 lbs reported in the last month bode well for the event. Roosterfish have started to show up in good numbers and are up to 25 lbs currently. Just one wahoo this week, small at 40 lbs. The only other catches were bonita inshore.

LOCATION: Pacific – Land's End to Golden Gate.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Spectacular….clear skies, sunny, daytime air temps between 77 and 82 F, flat seas; everything is beautiful and green…causing quite a few people to go into full blown hay fever.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 83 F

BEST LURES: Live bait for striped marlin, cedar plugs for tuna, green/yellow lures for dorado, petroleros and red/black for blue marlin.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Bisbee Tournament Payouts

1st Place Mi Novia blue marlin 375 lbs Total Winnings $436,602.00
2nd Place Extraction blue marlin 305 lbs Total Winnings $559,362.00
1st Place Release Division Team Ole Ole 1 blue marlin (on time) $33,150.00
2nd Place Release Division Team Carpe Diem 1 blue marlin $11,475.00
3rd Place Release Division Team Reata del Mar 1 blue marlin $6,375.00

As you can see the second place fish won more money, this was because the monies were rolled over from day two when no qualifying fish were caught; this team entered the following daily jackpots $200, $500, $1000, and the $2000.
Mi Novia was entered in the same jackpots. Neither boat was entered in the $5000 or $10000 daily jackpots.

Bisbee Final Results

So the big event is over and just two qualifying fish were weighed during the three days of fishing.
Largest fish was Mi Novia 375 lbs next was a 305 lb, aboard Extraction, both were blue marlin.
I went down to the marina last night to see the awards, but was kind of surprised as there were no tables or chairs, just a crowd standing around the stage, mixed with the general public. Usually a dinner is laid on for the participants with local dignitaries invited. I heard Wayne Bisbee say " Well we are not having a dinner tonight, because everybody says my food sucks anyway"...so seeing as there was no place to sit we didn't stay and will wait for the breakdown of the monies to be published hopefully today.

Bisbee Lines Out in 40 Minutes......Fish Weighed

We have just heard of another qualifying fish being weighed in for the Bisbee.
305 lbs blue marlin aboard Extraction a 48 ft Ocean. Captain Hiram Montaño. We do not know which jackpots they are in so cannot put a value on the prize they may win....but there is still 23 minutes of fishing time to go and more fish may be coming to the scale.

Day Two Bisbee Report

The second day of fishing saw zero fish come to the scale. So that means the lead fish is still the 375 lb blue aboard Mi Novia. All monies from day two roll over to today the last day of fishing, if there is a fish larger than this 375 lb'er and the team landing it has entered all the jackpots the fish caught today could be worth $1,343,170.00

Day One Bisbee Report

Ninety four teams competed on day one in the world's richest Billfish Tournament, but only one qualifying fish i.e over 300 lbs was brought to the scale by the team aboard "Mi Novia" headed up by San Diego native Bryan Miller. The fish took a 15 lb live yellowfin tuna and for obvious reasons the angler is not saying where, taking 23 minutes to boat the 375 lb blue marlin on 130 lb tackle. The fish is worth $232,000.00 for taking top honors on day one.

Tragedy on First Day of Bisbee

There were a good number of entries for this year's Bisbee Black & Blue Jackpot Tournament, totaling 94 all together. However, just 30 minutes after the shotgun start a boat was reported as being in trouble. The Bottom Line, 50 ft Hatteras was on fire off of Palmilla and then we heard she had sunk. We know the owner and crew of the Bottom Line well and talked to them when they came back on the rescue boat ....it seems like this was a freak accident. They were running at 35 knots then slowed down to 30 knots, when the captain noticed a sudden drop in power. The gauges were not showing overheating engines, but then they lost all power. Captain T.J Dobson, orginally from Oklahoma but now a naturalized Mexican citizen, put the boat in neutral and told his deckhand to open the engine hatches, which spewed out a cloud of black smoke. T.J immediately called for help on the radio whilst simultaneously grabbing the fire extinguisher. A boat close by "Sneak Attack", sped over and the anglers transferred over. T.J tried to battle the blaze but even the automatic fire safety equipment in the engine room wasn't enough and the smoke was so thick within two minutes that the crew couldn't see anything and had to abandon ship to save their lives. The boat burned furiously and then sank before the eyes of her horrified owner and crew. Owner Mike Menas from Illnois lost his passport, credit card and even his wedding ring and that was just his personal items. This team were dazed, sad and in shock when we saw them a couple of hours after the incident. This was a professional team, the boat was well maintained the captian is one admired by his peers both American and Mexican alike, in fact they just took 2nd place on Sunday in the Bisbee Offshore and first place in last years' Tuna Tournament. They were told that their entries would be refunded but were later told the rules did not allow this. So tomorrow they will be going out again, aboard a boat loaned by a kind hearted local, John Moon , a 50 ft Viking, "Fearless", which we hope they will be. It would be fantastic if they went on to win the the tournament after going through this... .we're pulling for you guys.
You can see photos here http:latimesblogs.latime.com/outposts/ scroll down to see the the ones relating to this story.

Someone is Watching Out for Us

Wednesday Oct 21st 5.45 PM

Everybody breathed a sigh of relief to see the back of Hurricane Rick. Lives, boats and homes were safe and as if to prove it a beautiful rainbow was seen in the sky....this photo shows an incredible scene of the rainbow, touching down on the cross set upon the aptly name Hill of the Cross looking over the working class neighborhood of 4 de Marzo . I just happened to glance over my shoulder on the way home from work and slammed on the brakes when I saw this, jumped out of the car and blindly snapped a couple of pictures. I couldn't see a thing with the glare in my eyes, but the result was very cool.

Tracy Ehrenberg