Tuna Tournament Comes to an End

This was the second and final day of the tuna tournament and as expected nothing could come close to the monster fish taken yesterday which retains its first place status. We will have a full round up tomorrow. The dorado/wahoo prize will go to our 31 ft Bertram Ruthless for bringing a 61.2 lb wahoo to the scale for angler Carl Johnson from Phoneix Arizona, from what I can see this fish will net them $44,000.00 Photos shown here are of the shotgun start this morning.

History Made in the Tuna Tournament

The first day of fishing is over and boy what a day. I got a phone call from well know local angler and personality Oscar Daccarrett at around 10.30 am today and he said "Tracy we have a good fish on, around 300 lbs", not wanting to jinx himself he said "I'll call back when we've got it on board" and hour and half later he told me that had boated it and he thought it would surpass the current Tuna Tournament record of 318 lbs. I told him to take it easy and slow down to wrap the fish in wet towels and to conserve it as best they could as the scale would not be open til 2.00 pm. I knew that he had bought a special ticket from Costa del Mar one of the sponsors, which was an oppotional deal, where if you get a fish over the current record of 318, they kick in $50,000.00 to the prize money... not bad for a $50.00 ticket going to charity....but what were the odds of beating the 318? Well in my mind it could be done. Judging by the number of big tuna we had seen coming in over the last couple of months and the perfect fishing weather....blue, blue seas, no wind and still on the hot side. Figuring I had some time I got to work doing some chores out of the office, until I got a phone call from Mike at Tournament Control....who was laughing and saying can you believe it the fish is 383 lbs....just five pounds short of the all tackle world record. INCREDIBLE... I rushed off to the dock to see the fish in person and to congratulate the anglers, all local guys from San Jose. The fish was taken at the Gordo Banks on 100 lb test on a Penn International 80 two speed and a bent butt rod. The fish took what is know as a "bullito" which is a small tuna or bonita that was approximately 2 lbs. The fish took one hour and 35 minutes to boat. The main angler on this fish was Hugo Pino, also Augustin Pino and Oscar Daccarrett. See, this tournament is about fun and they needed three guys to muscle this brute up to the boat. The fish is worth approximately $175,000.00 to this team from "Fisherman" a 35 ft Cabo skippered by Alfredo "Perico" Sanchez. The length of the fish was 74" and the girth was 62". This team however, was not entered in all the jackpots, so a 102 lb fish caught by Mel and Judy Ostberg who are entered in everything look like they will take $44,000.00. Spartacus also brought a nice fish to the scale, weighing in at 122.4 lbs, they are entered across the board they also weighed in an 87 lb 'er so we will see where they stand.

Photos show the team of Fisherman and myself and Oscar Daccarrett, from this shot it give you a good idea of the size in comparison to people.

Tuna Tournament Begins!

Today was the first day of fishing of the Western Outdoor News Jackpot Tuna Tournament now in its' 11th year. The check-in was at the Tesoro Hotel and there was a great turnout of 104 teams, making it the only tournament to actually increase in size this year and also the largest tournament of the year. We love this tournament because it's all about fun as well as fishing. Lots of local boats particpate and the entry fees are accessable to pretty much anybody with the minimum being $700.000 and the maximum of $23,200.00 if you enter all the jackpots. The organizers throw parties every night for the particpants, not just an awards dinner and we see anglers return year after year. The control boat was Oceanus and we were away from the dock aboard her by 6.00 am to start checking in the teams, which can be a bit chaotic with 104 vessels coming at you all at the same time. They have to be visually checked off by the control boat and hold up their team number as they go by. It's a lot of fun to wave to friends and captains we know and there is a lot of excitement in the air. The State Secretary of Tourism was on board to fire the flare for the shotgun start. I got roped into being the tournament control operator to check in boats, but it was quite fun actually. I have already heard from a couple of boats hooked up to large tuna but the scale won't open until 2.00 pm, so we will keep you posted.

Tracy Ehrenberg

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