New World Record Tuna Caught Off of Cabo

Guy Yocom from Dana Point, Ca poses with what is unofficially a new all tackle world record yellow fin tuna. Weight has to be verfied between 421.5 and 427 lbs and could be worth $1,000,000.00 in the Mustad Hook a Million Contest a worldwide competition.

 

"El Suertudo", which is Spanish for "the lucky one" is the perfect name for the 61 ft Viking, that belongs to Guy Yocom from Dana Point, California and Guy is the lucky angler that hauled in a monster yellow fin tuna, which looks to be a shoo in for a new all tackle world record, the fish was weighed on two different scales, with local IGFA rep Minerva Saenz present and registered 421.5 and 427 lbs - the scale belonging to the boat was sent off to verify that it is correct and to have the certification checked. Nevertheless either of these weights would make it a new world record. Guy a contractor by trade, is also a hard core angler who knows what he is doing and along with his crew, headed up by Captain Greg DiStefano from San Clemente, went out precisely on a mission to land a large tuna. "El Suertudo" left Cabo on satuday around noon and according to Guy "we headed out looking for schools of porpoise, each time we found them we would postion the boat in front of the school and bait fish with the kites, using "bolitos" and dead flyfishing, when that didn't work we switched to drifting with chunk baits". They ended up 180 miles due south of Cabo and landed a 200 lb tuna on Monday as well as some smaller fish. It was  around 10.45 am on Tuesday, September 18th though, as they were drifting with chunk bait that the monster fish, broke from the deep and Guy got his hook up. Being an experienced angler he worked the fish like a pro and had the yellow fin to the boat and gaffed by the crew in 55 minutes. They started to head back after the fish was in the boat, knowing they had an exceptional catch, reaching Cabo at 8.00 am today, Wednesday. Guy sounded exhausted but excited when we reached him by phone earlier today when asked what his previous record for tuna was he said "two hundred and twelve pounds is my previous record, but my son did get a 350 lb'er on the boat last month". The tackle used was 100 lb test line, with a Shimano Tiagra reel, chunk bait with a mustad hook, which might just make this catch eligible for the Mustad $1,000,000.00 competition which offers registered anglers a chance to win a million dollars if they can catch a certified all tackle world record before September 30th. Way to go guys and great for Cabo, shows that we still have the best fishing in the world.

Its always down to team work shown here from left to right are Dave Poling, Daniel Alvarez, Oswaldo,  Guy Yocom,Pepe de la Pena, Todd Clarke, and Captain Greg DiStefano

Straight From the Dock

News couldn't be any fresher than this: Tracy Ann went out for a half day today, so they are already back. Trey MacDonald from Overland Park, Kansas was on board and was thrilled to release this beautiful sailfish at San Cristobal on a live caballito. Well done Trey!

So How Green is the Desert

After the most rain we have seen in three years the desert looks beautiful, carpeted in green and wildflowers sprouting - a complete transformation.
Here are a few snapshots taken on the way home from work.

Yesterday's Catch

So we just wrote about how the sailfish were outnumbering the marlin, then the next day it changed and we saw some more stripers , Rebecca had two and a tuna at Golden Gate and below is one released aboard Valerie by Elizabeth Groth from Ines, Texas, closer at Gaspareno. Tracy Ann and Ruthless also scored marlin and La Brisa a sailfish.

Fish Report

September 8^th to 14^th, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate 100%

BILLFISH: A surprise this week was the number of sailfish, surpassing those of striped marlin; several boats had two and three each as well as smaller game. Weather was again hot in Cabo but as a general rule of thumb, hot weather produces great catches – in fact every boat we sent out caught fish of some sort. We were again refreshed by rain at the end of the week, but thankfully without a storm, nevertheless the Port Captain chose to keep the port closed on Friday, due to larger than average waves. September 8^th was one of the top days when “Cabolero” caught and released three sailfish up to 90 lbs, as well as boating three dorado and a tuna. The sailfish took ballyhoo, the dorado green and orange lures and the tuna a sardine – great fishing for Mitch Sandifer and friends from San Clemente, Ca.  Our second triple sailfish catch was aboard “Falcon” for Chase Galbraith and Tom Lippincott, from Dallas and Houston respectively. They fished the same area “herradura” using the same methods as above. This same day “Rebecca” chose to go to a different spot and picked the 95 spot for anglers Ralph Mundia from Yorba Linda, Ca and Paul Paulson from Gary, Indiana. Captain J.R kept these guys busy, releasing a striped marlin and a sailfish, ten yellowfin tuna of football size and a skipjack. Other notable catches were aboard “La Brisa” on September 11^th with two sailfish released, eight tunas and eight dorado caught, outside the Golden Gate for Connie Jones & Mike Salia from Phoenix, Arizona. Annette Warren from Golden, Colorado booked the “Andrea” for her party and was pleased with the days result of one striped marlin released, fourteen tunas, three dorado and a skipjack; they fished on the Pacific between Migrino and Elias Calles.  Pisces anglers caught a total of 6 striped marlin and 14 sailfish. Fifty four percent of our boats caught billfish.

OTHERS SPECIES: Yellow fin tuna was the top catch in Cabo this week, with sixty one percent of charters catching between one and twenty five fish. The majority of the tuna were from ten to twenty five pounds, but there were exceptions, such as hefty 110 lb er caught by Richard Mantell from Huntington Beach, California, aboard “Cabolero” which too a white squid type lure seventeen miles from Land’s End.  For sheer numbers “Andrea” came out on top  with 24 in a day, plus 8 white skipjack and a dorado  for Rocky Warren and party from Golden, Colorado. Our total tuna count this week was 175 fish, even with some commercial boats in the area. Dorado catches were high, as expected in summer months with fifty seven percent of our boats catching between one and twenty five fish, with weights seldom over 25 lbs. “Tracy Ann” headed up the dorado chart with twenty five in a day just half a mile from Los Arcos for Garret Kusak from Victoria Texas who along with friends also released a striped marlin – feathers and live caballito did the trick on the dorado. Our total count for dorado was 80 fish this week. The only boat to have a wahoo this week was “Great Escape Jr” with angler Troy Clay on board, who also caught six dorado; the wahoo was on the small side at 30 lbs. The only other catches were of skipjack with most the white variety which are good to eat.

LOCATION: Pozo Cota, Elias Calles Gaspareno, Herradura, 95, 11.50 spot – most catches on the Pacific.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Cloudy, hot, some rain, skies now clear.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 81-86 F

BEST LURES: Ballyhoo, caballito, cedar plugs, feathers, green/orange, purple/black.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Big Boys Are Around

Weather is hot in Cabo right now but fishing is even hotter. In the first photo is Richard Mantel (sorry Richard we didn't wan to tell you that your name means tablecloth in Spanish) from Huntington Beach, Ca with a sizeable yellow fin tuna that came in around 110 lbs, however in this weather it probably felt like a 200 lb fish. Richard was fishing aboard our 31 ft Cabo, "Cabolero" with  captain Lupe ,shown in the second photo standing in the fish blood,;caught 17 miles off of Lands End on a white squid lure. Richard was good though - it only took him 40 minutes to land. He also caught four smaller tunas.

Dreams do come true!

You know fishing in Cabo is usually a once in a lifetime experience for many anglers. Angler Raymond Vega from Odessa TX, his dream was to catch either a marlin or a sailfish, he was worried as yesterday the port was closed due to rain, and did not open until today around 7am, so we called our clients, let them know it was OK to go and all went out. Unfortunately, Mrs. Vega got seasick and the boat came back to shore at 9:45am, but Ray had waited his whole life to this chance and decided to go back out by himself, and after 20 minutes trolling, deckhand Martín spotted a sailfish going after the lures, he immediately threw a line with live bait and hit the sail right in the mouth, Ray took the rod and within 35 minutes, he got his sail on the boat and made his dream come true. He was aboard the Tracy Ann, this time captained by Nicolas Winkler.

PISCES FISH REPORT AUGUST 18th to 24th, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate 100%

BILLFISH: This past week, every single boat caught at least one fish, unfortunately, the water is getting a bit too warm for the billfish and we don’t have much to report about these guys. Also, most of the clients were looking for fish to take home to eat. “Valerie” released the only striped marlin of the week for Cooper Hogg from San Angulo TX, 3 small sailfish were caught, unfortunately, only one was released. “Great Escape Jr caught a 180lbs blue marlin for Matt Ward from Walnut Creek, CA. Most of the catches were at the Pacific side at the Golden Gate bank.

OTHER CATCHES: Yellow fin tuna was the best catch this week, with 85% of the boats catching these babies. They are still at the football size stage but they are catching them in good numbers. There were some really nice catches; “Rebecca” caught 16 tunas between 16 to 18lbs for Randy Newton from Aller TX. “Tracy Ann” went ahead and caught 23 for Thomas & Deborah Moertl from Wauwatosa WI. We thought that was going to be the catch of the week, but then “Rebecca” catches 29 for Walter Coy from Texas, we are thinking, ok, this guy is going to get the catch of the week, but no!, Captain Julio Castro and the “Tracy Ann” sure love to be the highlight of the reports, they made Angus Wear from the UK, fight 33 tunas with an average weight of 20 to 25lbs. A total of 380 tunas were caught this week, the major part of them were released. Dorado slowed down quite a bit as well because of the warm water, only 30% of the boats caught dorado. “Yahoo” caught a very nice 45lbs wahoo for birthday girl Cassy Caldwell from Dallas TX.

LOCATION: Pacific, Golden Gate, San Jaime, Margaritas.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: The rain is gone, the heat is back and with a vengeance, with an average temp of 95F some days reaching the 107F

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 88-90 F

BEST LURES: Cedar plugs, green lures..

Based on the catches of Pisces by Jorge Narro

PISCES FISH REPORT AUGUST 11th to 17th, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate 94.44%

BILLFISH: What a week! Héctor brought us 3 days of rain, in a row! That does not happen often; last rain we saw was about a year ago and lasted 10 minutes. For a little bit we were worried about the strong rain and the wind, but the Harbor Master gave us a go and we went fishing with rain and wind, all the clients were happy to go and the catch was amazing, they got soaked but they caught fish, a lot of fish.

The sea was a little bit rough on the way out, 5 to 6ft waves but after a 5 mile ride it was like a swimming pool. As the water ran down the hills, the creeks brought a lot of debris to the ocean which is great for fishing, usually the logs they drag are filled with bugs and dorado just love them bugs! There were only a couple of people who got seasick, the rest did take the Dramamine and did perfectly fine, I always say it’s better to be sleepy or take a nap on the way out than be sick all day and ruin the trip for the rest of the party.

Ok, now, the catch report, we did not see many billfish this week, dorado was the number one catch, but it was still pretty decent, 22 out of 34 boats caught at least one, that’s a very nice 65% catch rate. We saw an improvement on sailfish and blue marlin, “Rebecca” released a blue marlin estimated at 220 lbs for William Scott Fricke from Orlando FL, and the same day, Tracy Ann caught a 180lber, unfortunately, the fish died, they also released a 70 lbs sailfish and landed 3 dorado for Sean & Robert Rayner from Menifee, CA. The billfish catch of the week goes to “Andrea” with Captain Orlando Murillo, releasing 3 pacific sailfish for Robert and Jeremy Vargas & Al Stellan from Colonia NJ, they also release 3 dorados. A total of 28 billfish were caught, 25 were released.

Vanessa, Lori, Steve and Brock Lloyd from Lake Crystal MN, ready to release Steve's stripey.

OTHER CATCHES: Tuna is still a bit slow with only 53% of the boats catching this babies, still there were some very nice catches, C-Rod landed 10 tunas with an average weight of 15 lbs, for Clay Mazur from Forthworth, TX. “La Brisa” with Captain Rey Winkley landed 15 tunas and 2 dorados for Paul Michael from Paradise TX, and “C-Rod” the same day landed 16 tunas, 1 dorado and a sailfish released for Alexa Egnotovich from Canal Fulton, Ohio. Dorado was much better, 88% of the boats caught an average of 4 dorados, the average size was 15 to 25 lbs. Best catches of the week were for Rebecca with 10 dorados, 9 tunas and 2 striped marlin released for Greg & Ryan Cohn from Setauket, NY and the Tracy Ann with 12 dorados and a striped marlin released for Steve & Vanessa Lloyd from Lake Crystal MN.

LOCATION: Pacific, Migrino, Gaspareno, Margaritas, Golden Gate.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Rainy and cool the first part of the week, now it’s free sauna everyone! The sky is still a bit cloudy some parts of the day but mostly the sun is back and with a vengeance. HOT!!!

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 86-87 F

BEST LURES: Caballito, guacamayo lures, yellow lures.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Jorge Narro

PISCES FISH REPORT AUGUST 4th to 10th, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate 97.77%

BILLFISH: Thought last week was good? Well, 2% better overall but when it comes to marlin count, this week was awesome. 75% of the boats returned with at least one marlin released, a total of 95 striped marlin were caught, 93 were released, plus 3 pacific sailfish and a blue marlin released as well.

Catches averaged 1 or 2 striped marlin per boat but you know that’s just not enough for some of our guys, Captain Ricardo Agundez released 4 striped marlin for Jayce McMhahon’s party from Keller TX aboard the Great Escape Jr. On August 5^th, Adriana released 5 stripeys for Kieran Meaney from Sydney Australia, and the same day, celebrity Captain Julio Castro released 9 stripeys for Ross Donahue & James Connelly from Spearman, TX, followed by Captain J.R. Alucano aboard the Rebecca with 5 striped marlin for Jim Olstad from Canada. Next day, again Captain Julio gets the catch of the day with 8 striped marlin released for Ron, Elizabeth, Alexandra and Christopher Eckhoff from Irving TX plus 2 20 lbs dorado for a nice supper. Captain Enrique Martinez aboard Adriana released 2 striped marlin and 2 pacific sailfish for Matt Tabbert from Dallas TX. Dr. Rick Walsh released a blue marlin estimated at 350 lbs aboard the Tracy Ann with Captain Julio Castro and mate Martin, these guys are on fire!

OTHER CATCHES: Tuna catch slowed down a little bit by the number of fish caught, still 58% of the boats caught an average of 4 fish. La Brisa with Captain Rey Winkler wins the catch of the week with 19 tunas, 4 striped marlin and 2 dorados for Van, Haddon and Duncan Alford from Lexington KY. Dorado on the other hand was a hoot, 90% of the boats caught at least 2 dorados with an average weight of 18 to 20 lbs, however, 17 year old Landon Tabor from Duluth GA wanted to make it to our Facebook page and landed a very nice 61 lb’er aboard C-Rod with Captain Abel Ramirez.

Stephen Passy's 35lbs Dodo caught aboard the Great Escape Jr, Captain Ricardo Agundez on the left with the white shirt.

LOCATION: Pacific, Migrino, Gaspareno, Margaritas, Golden Gate.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Partly cloudy, a bit windy by the end of the week.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 83-85 F

BEST LURES: Billfish were mostly caught on live bait (caballito), tunas were more interested on cedar plugs and dorado on yellow, purple and green lures.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Jorge Narro