We Said There Were a Lot of Black Marlin.....but this one was big.....

We just received this e-mail from a group that fished a few days ago on the 37 ft Bertram "Falcon"....here are the photos to prove it....we couldn't put them all as we would run out of space!

"On behalf of myself, Steven Thomas, Tim Ross and Mark Colerick, I would to tell you how much we appreciated and how pleased we were with Pisces Sportfishing, the day, the boat 'Falcon' with the crew of Capt. Manuel and his assistant Jesus and the pleasure we experienced during the day and with your organization September 13th. Capt Manuel and Jesus working their tails off and was much appreciated. Their professionalism and experience sure paid off with a wonderful day and catch. Attached are some pictures of our eventful day and feel free to use for your blog.
The tally amounted to two (2) Striped Marlin at 130+ pounds each, a Sailfish weighing in at 140 pounds (all released) a Dorado,at 60 lbs, two other momentarily hooked but lost Striped Marlin, and a 900 pound Black Marlin fought for 5 hours but  that eventually broke line and was lost. I believe this should  be considered a catch, seeing the leader twice, with a touch of the leader once. I understand this catch may have also been the record for the 'Falcon' and crew and might possibly be a record for Pisces. Please confirm and verify the weight of the catches with the Falcon crew if you like but these weights are what we thought was conveyed to us from the Captain and Jesus. We began fishing in 5500'-6000' of water and caught the first Marlin 1 1/2 hours after boarding and leaving port.

My appreciation also to Oscar Banagas with his picture of the 'Falcon' and all on board back in port.

I would also like 'Falcon' and Pisces T-shirts when available, please contact when you have more in stock. I also have a video of the Black Marlin I can send you if you like.

Thanks again for a great experience, a Great day and a lasting memory. We will definately be recommending your organization to others and hopefully be chartering a return visit in the future.

Thanks, Bill Thomas, Kingwood, Texas"

What Happens to Fish That Are Killed

Pisces is very much conservation minded and we ask anglers to release all billfish that they do not intend to eat, in fact our release rate is 98.6%, we believe this to be one of the highest release rates in Mexico. It was not always so and over the years we have educated our crews and clients to see how releasing favors the long term health of sportfishing. Unless a fish is injured beyond the ability to survive or the angler wants a skin mount or wants to take the fillets home, pretty much all are released. Locally and culturaly marlin is considered a good source of protein, especially in these hard economic times - one marlin can feed a lot of families. This year has been one of the best we have seen in a decade for blue and black marlin with a lot of large fish caught or nearly caught. We were sent the pictures below by Mario Bañaga of a fish caught out of San Jose  by local Juan Carlos Castro aboard a private boat. It is a black marlin that weighed 480 lbs...he caught on 100 lb test line whilst trolling an 18 lb tuna as bait aboard the boat "Fisherman" with captain "Perico" Sanchez ...this is a boat to watch they place pretty much in every tournament they enter. Sounds like they were practising for the October tournament season. The photos show the fish and then how it is filleted to distribute to local families.

La Paz Gold Cup Fishing Tournament

Cabo is not the only place to hold fishing tournaments, each summer there is a great tournament in La Paz too, the payouts are not as large and are in pesos, but 1st place took over one million pesos this year.This is a fun tournament but we would like to see a 300 lb weight minimum in place to preserve the blue marlin population. Seventy Four boats entered this event that took place last week-end and the results were as follows:

Victor Manuel Diaz  with a  400 lb Black Marlin aboard  Asturon


Esaul Valdez with a 251 Lb  Blue Marlin aboard Dottie B lI

Daniel Fisher  Jr. for a 249 Lb Blue Marlin aboard Fisherman (last year's winning boat in the Tuna Tournament).

Angel Rafael Agundez  with a 235 lb Blue Marlin aboard Condor.

Photos show the happy anglers receiving their prizes and the winning fish. Photos by Mario Bañaga Jr.

Pisces Fish Report

September 11th to September 17th, 2010






Overall Catch Success Rate 96.3%

BILLFISH: The fishing is still hot in Cabo with pretty much every boat catching lots of fish… the only boat that did not catch, fought and lost a blue and a striped marlin on their trip...Striped marlin are still the most numerous billfish hook ups but we also had a couple of blues and sailfish. One of the best days was on the 11th for our Pisces client mentioned on the past fish report, Art Hevener with his son from Philadelphia, PA releasing three striped marlin and a blue marlin approximately 200 lbs both with live bait at the Herradura aboard “Rebecca”; they also caught a 70 lbs yellow fin tuna and one dorado for dinner.. Good job!! On this same boat, Ken Olive Jr and family from Kingwood, TX had a great day on the 13th releasing four striped marlin and boating ten dorado at three miles out and above from Golden Gate. William Thomas and friends also from Kingwood, TX released two striped marlin and one sailfish and kept one dorado; to top of their day they fought a huge black marlin estimated at 800 lbs for over FIVE HOURS, they lost it, but marveled at the whole “Old Man & The Sea Experience and of course were very tired…nevertheless a memorable day for them aboard “Falcon”. On the 16th David Worthey from Bonney Lake, WA released three striped marlin at the Golden Gate and also boated five dorado between 15 to 25 lbs which took tigrillo lures. We also had a couple of double marlin days, like on the 12th for the Paulson family from Gary, Indiana with two striped marlin released and one 30 lbs dorado at San Jaime spot aboard “Rebecca”. Brian, Milton, and Marc Faseler from Arizona released two striped marlin as well aboard “Bill Collector” on the 14th; they caught a 30 lbs wahoo and one dorado to take back home. Seventy four percent of our charters caught billfish with a total of 25 Striped marlin, 2 blue marlin and 4 sailfish this week.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches were number one for us this week with eighty nine percent of our boats catching from one to eleven fish. We had 83 dorado total this week between 15 to 45 lbs. On the 16th James Collazo and Anna Ramirez from Queen Creek, AZ caught eleven dorado (four released) at Pozo Cota aboard “Rebecca”. Graig, Earle and Chad Wells with friends Sean Martin and John Wesley from Oregon caught nine dorado between 20 to 30 lbs and three yellow fin tuna at Pozo Cota and Golden Gate area aboard “La Brisa”. Michael Vick, and Mark, Jordan fishing with Paavo Ensio from Tucson, Az caught two nice dorado (30 and 45 lbs each) aboard “Valerie”, they also caught four yellow fin tuna and released one striped marlin at the golden gate. Tuna catches improved with a thirty four percent of our boats catching this species. On the 12th the Thesen family from Alberta, Canada caught six yellow fin tuna between 15 to 20 lbs aboard Andrea all with lure at down of the Golden Gate; they were also lucky to release one striped marlin. Ralph Mundia from Yorbalinda, Ca and the Paulson´s from Indiana caught nine 20 lbs yellow fin tuna ad two dorado aboard Rebecca; the tuna took cedar plugs. There were a couple of nice wahoo this week, like the one caught on the 14th for Michael and Elizabeth Mellen from Millbury, Ma, they were lucky to catch a 55 lbs wahoo, seven dorado and one tuna aboard “No Big Deal”, all took lures of different colors. We had a total of 83 dorado, 33 yellow fin tuna and 4 wahoo this week.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Sunny hot days, mostly calm seas, weather was perfect for fishing.

LOCATION: Sea of Cortez: 95 spot, Cabeza Ballena, Punta Gorda, Cerro Blanco, Herradura, La Playita, 180 Spot, Cabrillo

Pacific Side: Golden Gate, Jaime Banks, Lighthouse, Margarita, Elias Calles, Migriño, Pozo Cota

AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 84 F

BEST LURES; Cedar plugs, blue, tigrillo, petrolero, green, purple, chilihuili, blue/white, blue/green, green/yellow, red/black, guacamayo, feathers, all colors

For live bait was caballito and skypjacks

Based on the catches of Pisces by Ale Almada & Tracy Ehrenberg.

 

O.K We Know Who it Belongs To....

The other day our very own Mario Bañaga snapped this picture of this unusual mega yacht.   We posted it on our blog as it was so impressive, but didn't really have information on it.  The yacht is back in Los Cabos now and the owner was spotted disembarking from his dinghey in Puerto Los Cabos the other day with two armed bodyguards in tow...this yacht is too large to dock in either of our marinas so has to stay offshore. Fortunately, our good friend Pete Thomas did some digging and came up with some interesting information which can be seen here http://www.petethomasoutdoors.com/2010/09/cabo-san-lucas-la-paz-latest-stops-for-boat-named-a-.html but basically it belongs to Russian billionaire businessman Andre Melnichenko who is number 189 on the Forbes list of the world's wealthiest people.  The yacht is 390 feet long and 62 feet wide and is valued at over $300 million. The 2583 square foot master stateroom is surrounded with bomb proof glass. The twin 6000 hp engines cruise at 20 knots and this vessel has a crew of 36. So far we haven't received an invitation to tour the vessel or to dinner, so this may be as close as we get and the yacht will remain a mystery.

Is That James Bond's Boat?

This is extremely strange and amazing yacht was here in Cabo San Lucas, last week and then moved on to La Paz....shrouded in mystery, nobody knew anything about....or seen anything like it. One tourist mentioned that he had seen it in San Francisco and  that it was reportedly worth $300 million....we kind of thought they were shooting a new James Bond movie....

Pisces Fish Report

September 3rd to September 10th, 2010


Overall Catch Success Rate 96.67%

BILLFISH: Fantastic catches in Cabo this week, especially for Pisces, with an almost perfect catch success rate…. the few boats that did not catch fish, had clients that got sea-sick and asked to come back and occasionally they were just plain unlucky. Marlin remained the top catch this week with consistent hook ups that resulted in an eighty seven percent billfish catch rate. Blue marlin were in the area as were sailfish but the most numerous was striped marlin. “Rebecca” was the top boat, with a perfect billfish score; at least one every single trip this week. One of the best days was September 8th, when Allen and Tami Fuller from Phoenix, Arizona caught a 480 lbs blue marlin, which they fought for 2 hours and 45 minutes on 50 lbs tackle at Punta Gorda; they also released a striped marlin. Next day our long time Pisces client, Art Hevener from Philadelphia, released two striped marlin on live bait four miles out from Cerro Colorado aboard “Rebecca”. Another double marlin day was on the 3rd for Richard Nichol and friends from Memphis, TN, which they successfully released and then went to catch and release a dorado; also aboard “Rebecca”. “La Brisa” gave a good showing too, on September 5th with Rowena Boyd from San Francisco and Kevin Krell from San Bruno, CA with a 300 lb blue marlin and two sailfish, all released at the 11:50 Spot... good job – these anglers were absolutely thrilled and told us this was a dream come true for them. Kathy and Jerry Meyer and friends from Norman, OK released two sailfish and one striped marlin on the “Bill Collector” on the 9th, on the Cortez side at the Cabrillo seamount; they also released a pilot shark. Pisces anglers caught 17 striped marlin, 6 blue marlin and 7 sailfish this week.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches increased significantly with sixty four percent of our boats catching from one to ten fish. We had 67 dorado total this week with some small ones released. On the 7th, Martin and Amy Olson from Oceanside, CA shared the Andrea with Bobby Waters from Forth Worth, TX and caught ten dorado (five released) between 15 to 20 lbs and also released one striped marlin. Joseph Ceravolo and friends from Louisiana, came on a cruise ship to Cabo and went for a half day on the beautiful 60ft Andale and did very well, considering the time restraints with a shorter day, to release a striped marlin and four 30 lb dorado at the 95 Spot; they fought and lost a blue marlin too. Tuna catches are on the slow side just seven percent of our boats catching this species. One lucky guy was Keith Erickson from Seabeck, WA who had a wonderful day aboard C-Rod with Captain Abel on the 7th, catching a 120 lbs yellow fin tuna, four dorado between 20 to 40 lbs and one 40 lbs wahoo all at the 11:50 Spot; he also fought a striped marlin but lost it.., nevertheless he ended up with a lot of table fish and is probably still tired! On the 5th, Jennifer Martens from Atlanta, GA, Cole Martens and William Lineberry from California had one 40 lb yellow fin tuna, four dorado and one striped marlin released aboard Andrea, all except the dorado were caught on live bait; (dorado took tigrillo lures) again this group were thrilled with their catch and raved about their crew. The only other fish this week were a few wahoo, one pilot shark, one amberjack and one stingray.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Sunny hot days, a few windy days that helped the heat to cool off a little bit. We had some days with swells at the beginning of the week, but the last days were pretty calm. The Pacific has been unusually cool the last couple of days, equaling nights of no a.c, no fan and actually a quilt….in September, which is unheard of!

LOCATION: Sea of Cortez: 95 spot, 11:50 spot, Chileno Bay, Destiladeras, Cerro Colorado, Punta Ballena, Punta Gorda, Cerro Blanco, Cabrillo, Herradura

Pacific Side: Golden Gate, Jaime Banks, Lighthouse, Margarita

AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 86 F

BEST LURES; Cedar plugs, hoochis, tigrillo, petrolero, green, purple, chilihuili, blue/white, blue/red, red/orange, green/black, guacamayo, feathers.

For live bait was caballito and ballyhoo

Based on the catches of Pisces by Ale Almada & Tracy Ehrenberg.

Fantastic Dorado Pic

Is this a beautiful fish or what? This large male dorado was caught by Johnny Mack Powers from Rockwall, Texas (right) pictured with wife Stacie and deckhand from Shambala. Photo my Mario Bañaga Jr.

Client Feedback on Recent Trip......we love being in the dream business...

Dear Pisces ,

I just wanted to thank you for a dream come true . I caught 2 sailfish and a large Blue Marlin which were all released . My captain of the La Brisa and deck mate were the best . I will be spreading the news of the Pisces company to all my fishing buddies here in California . A special thank you to Francisco for his kindness and helpful suggestions .

Sincerely ,

Kevin Krell, San Bruno, California

Sept 8th, 2010

Great Fishing Today in Cabo....Check out C Rod, Way to Go

Keith Erickson from Seabeck, Washington had a fabulous time today on our 38 ft Blackfin "C Rod". They fished at the 11.50 spot on the Cortez side and caught four dorado between 20 and 40 lb a 100 + lb tuna and a 45 lb wahoo. This guy is going to have  LOT of fish to take home.
Congratulations......