LATEST FISH REPORT

PISCES FISH REPORT


APRIL 23rd to 30th, 2010

Overall Catch Success Rate for all species combined 79%

BILLFISH: This week was very slow for billfish with just six percent of our charters managing to hook up to marlin. One of the main reasons for this, it appears, was the weather; with most of last reports’ marlin catches at the Jaime Bank on the Pacific, it was practically impossible to get up there this week. The wind blew hard most days, creating nasty white caps and making it practically impossible to fish. Nevertheless we heard another report of marlin at the Finger Banks, which means they should be moving this way soon. William Quin Harris from Cypress, Texas was one of our lucky anglers, releasing a striped marlin on a live caballito and boating a yellowfin tuna aboard “La Brisa” on April 25th. This was one of the few boats that made it to San Jaime early in the week. The only other boat to catch a marlin was “Andrea” on April 29th, outside of Santa Maria for Jason Spencer, Joshua Renne and Robert Moore, from Bloomfield and Frankenmuth, Michigan, respectively. At the close of this report boats switched areas, as they were unable to get up the Pacific and began fishing between Santa Maria and Chileno, where some boats reported spotting up to five marlin in a day, but none hungry enough to take the bait offered. Pisces anglers released two marlin this week and we hope the fish show up on time for the World Offshore Championship, set to begin on May 10th.

OTHER SPECIES: Even though the marlin fishing was poor anglers were entertained with other fish. Dorado catches crept up to forty one percent for our boats, with the catches usually of one or two fish over a widespread area, taking both bait and lures and weighing between 18 and 35 lbs. Top dorado boat was “C Rod” with five on April 25th, twenty five miles out from the Old Lighthouse for Joseph Thessin from Washington, D.C. Our total dorado count was twenty-six fish. Tuna catches were not far behind with thirty-eight percent of charters catching from one to twelve fish with the area near San Jaime one of the better areas, if the anglers could take the weather, as well as locations on the Cortez side. Top boat for tuna was “C Rod” who seemed to have the knack with these smaller game this week. On April 27th this boat caught a dozen fish for the Burkey’s and Walton’s from Santa Barbara, Ca; the fish took cedar plugs and green colored lures. Our total tuna count was thirty one fish, with sizes no bigger than 30 lbs. Twelve percent of the boats caught wahoo this week. On April 24th, “Ruthless” caught two weighing 30 and 45 lbs, as well as two dorado and one tuna for Andreas Harti and friends from Vista, California they were close to shore on the Pacific side. “Fearless” and “Cabolero” also had wahoo to 45 lbs. Other catches this week were a 60 lb hammerhead shark, aboard “Andrea”, released half a mile off the Old Lighthouse by John Dunn from Auckland, New Zealand. “Valerie” also caught a shark, this time a mako, estimated at 60 lbs six miles in front of the Old Lighthouse, along with a dorado for Malcolm Catherall and friends from Red Deer, Canada. We are starting to see an increase on roosterfish at this time.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Partly cloudy, very windy and rough on the Pacific, seas calmer past Cabeza de Ballena on the Cortez side.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 70 F

BEST LURES: Live caballito, cedar plugs, green colors.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Fishing is Getting Better!

PISCES FISH REPORT


APRIL 15th to 22nd, 2010

Overall Catch Success Rate 73%

BILLFISH: We saw a marked improvement on striped marlin catches this week, with 27% of boats catching fish up to 150 lbs, some boats were fortunate enough to get two in a day. On April 16th, seven miles off of Cerro Blanco, Marcel and Catherine Archer from Long Island, New York fished aboard “Tracy Ann” and did very well to release two striped marlin, taken on live bait and also boated three dorado between 20 lbs and 40 lbs, also taken on live caballito. Next day, “Ruthless” headed up the Pacific into pretty rough whitecaps, but once they were past Cabo Falso, the sea was calmer and they made it to San Jaime where they released two striped marlin and boated nine yellow-fin tuna for Adam Torney, Tyler Capman, Eric Blitzstein, Erin Hall, Jim Clancey and Kate Peterson, all from Edwards, Colorado. “Tracy Ann” was the hot boat this week, as on April 19th they released a striped marlin, three miles from San Jaime and then caught 21 tuna from 8 lb to 28 lbs (many released) for William Hall from Sherwood, Arkansas. Next day out this same boat again, released a striped marlin and caught six tuna –the marlin on bait and the tuna on cedar plugs and orange/black lures forty miles out from Morros Prietos for Dan Brusca and friends from Oak Creek, Colorado. Marlin were caught in diverse locations such as five miles out from Cerro Blanco for “Fearless” who also boated three dorado for a group from Virginia Beach. Marlin also showed up at the 11.50 spot and below the 95 spot. Pisces anglers caught a total of thirteen striped marlin this week; all but one released.

OTHER SPECIES: The top game fish in Cabo this week was yellow fin tuna with 32% of boats catching fish ranging from 8 lb to 30 lbs. Catches varied from one to twenty one fish with most catches on the Pacific. The area around San Jaime was the best place to find tuna. Tuna took cedar plugs and some lures. When found the tuna catches tended to be good with boats averaging six to ten fish, giving us a total count of 100 tuna this week. Dorado catches were a bit slower with 21% of our charters finding fish up to 40 lbs, usually swimming alone. Catches ranged from one to three fish, found at Punta Gorda, the outer edge of San Jaime, Cerro Colorado as well as other locations. Out total dorado count was seventeen fish. “Andale” had a great day on April 22nd with a 65 lb wahoo, 10 yellow-fin tuna and 3 dorados, close to San Jaime for Steve Hartnett and friends from Dallas, Texas.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Some very windy weather towards the close of this report which produced whitecaps close to Cabo, but once up the Pacific it was calmer. Skies mostly sunny, seas on the Cortez side moderate to calm.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 67 F inshore, offshore around the San Jaime 73 F

BEST LURES: Live bait, cedar plugs, orange/black, green/yellow.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Joss Stone in Cabo, but nobody knew who she was.......

 

One of our staff Francisco Jorge  Cu, is also a musician and Tae Kwon Do Teacher....well this week-end he was playing piano down at the Sand Bar on Medano Beach, he started to play and noticed two girls sitting at one of the tables, just like tourists with their large Mexican sombreros, that had just finished dinner. They stayed listening to the music, then the waiter came over with one of the girls, who was a bit shy, she sat down next to Francisco who began to play Fly Me to The Moon, she told him that she loved music and started to sing along, excusing herself for not knowing all the words, but improvising and singing the same melody, Franciso was totally shocked by her voice, which was incredible. He noticed that she was a Brit, a sweet and shy girl with a huge voice. After she left the waiter came over and said "Do you know who that was", Francisco did not know and he was told that she was Joss Stone.....very few Mexicans  know who she is but all were impressed with her voice. We heard that she is staying at Capella, Cabo's latest luxury enclave.

Watch Joss Stone performing here:

 

Latest Fish Report.....Nice Swordfish by Robert Ross

APRIL 1st to 14th, 2010

Overall Catch Success Rate 74%

BILLFISH: Billfish catches have still not stabilized in the Cabo area, meaning one day every other boat would catch one, then the next day nobody, besides this the fish are really spread out. One day marlin were caught off of the Old Lighthouse, next day off of San Jose, then 13 miles off the lighthouse and 3 miles from Santa Maria on the Cortez side. However, twenty three percent of charters in Cabo were fortunate to catch striped marlin and we even had one boat, “Rebecca” with two in a day, just above Golden Gate on April 2nd for Bruce Matous and Mark Lawrence from Temple, Texas. This was our only boat with a double marlin catch, though we ended up with a total 20 billfish this week 18 striped marlin and two sailfish. All but one 140 lb marlin were released. If fishing was not that great here, it was for one boat up in Loreto on April 7th. Robert Ross aboard his vessel “Bad Company” had one of the most incredible days I have heard of. They fished around Catalina Island, approximately 20 miles out and caught a 350 lb swordfish, (which locals say you don’t catch up there…..but we have the photo); plus four striped marlin, two sailfish, one mako shark and fifteen dorado. Now that is a day to be envious of. This private boat and crew are top-notch fisherman originally from Cabo and well known to us and as such we believe their report. Perhaps all our Cabo fish are hanging out up there for awhile.

OTHER SPECIES: There was plenty of activity on smaller game with some very nice catches. Gary Allison from Henderson, Nevada caught a beautiful 65 lb wahoo, aboard “Valerie” as well as four sierras and two pompanos on April 10th. “Rebecca” also had a nice wahoo just a bit smaller at 60 lbs on April 1st along with seven yellow fin tuna, close to Golden Gate for the same anglers mentioned above Mark and Bruce from Temple, Texas. These are the largest wahoo was have seen in a long time. Twenty one percent of charters caught tuna in the 20 to 35 lb class, with June and Jeff Fisk from Big Rapids, Michigan being the top anglers for catching a total of 35 (mostly released) 35 miles out from San Jaime aboard “Tracy Ann”. Other catches were between one and sixteen fish. Dorado catches were very slow with just six fish taken by our anglers. Boats tried to load up on smaller game when the big game was not cooperating and we had good catches of course of trusty sierra which saved many a day from being blank for some boats. Catches ranged from one to sixteen fish, we also had jack crevalles, triggerfish, sheep’s head, cabrilla, roosterfish, red snappers and a couple each of mako and hammerhead sharks, none any bigger than 40 lbs.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: A bit breezy on the Pacific, mostly sunny skies, seas moderate.

LOCATION: Golden Gate, Los Arcos, Gaspareño, 30-45 miles out from Lighthouse, San Jaime, 95 spot, Las Margaritas, Herradura.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 70 F

BEST LURES: Live bait, cedar plugs, green/yellow, orange/yellow, hoochis.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

March 24th to 31st Fish Report

Overall Catch Success Rate 85%

BILLFISH: It’s a bit hard to write this section this week as marlin catches were slow….however, as we close this report, there have been better catches of striped marlin and a couple of sailfish. Our total tally for the days covered in this report was just three fish. “Andrea” had two of these, the first for Tim and Terry Veenstra from Prince George, Canada, at Punta Gorda on live bait. The other aboard this boat was on March 28th, in the complete opposite direction at Jaime Banks, caught by Edwin Baxter from Pennsauken, New Jersey, also on live bait. The third marlin of the week was aboard “Ruthless” on March 31st just four miles off of Los Arcos, by the Patrick & Deisato brothers all from Colorado….as well as the marlin they got a cabrilla and a couple of chopos. March is traditionally the slowest month of the year for marlin, so the catches are not too surprising; however, water temperatures continue to be higher than normal for this time of year which could be a contributing factor. All the marlin caught were released.

OTHER SPECIES: The top big game catch in Cabo this week was yellowfin tuna, with “Tracy Ann” being the top scorer but in order to achieve this, they had to go a long way; 43-45 miles out from Cerro Blanco. On March 30th this boat caught ten up to 30 lbs with a combination of feathers, cedar plugs and lures for John & Jeannie Coogle, Ron &Diana Techa from Omaha Nebraska. Next day out they managed to get another eight with cedar plugs and tiger type lures for the Stacke family from Chicago, Illinois. Other catches of tuna ranged from one to five fish giving us a catch success rate of twenty two percent for this species. Dorado catches dropped down this week, resulting in just three single catches. Smaller species inshore accounted for forty nine percent of all catches this week. The number one catch was sierra or Spanish mackerel with boats catching up to eighteen in a day. Not to be sniffed at; this species is fun on light tackle and delicious to eat. Other inshore catches were of “chopos”, jack crevalle, pompano, cabrilla and triggerfish.
PHOTOS SHOW OUR TOP TWO BOATS THIS WEEK, ANDREA FOR MARLIN AND TRACY ANN FOR TUNA.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Hot and sunny, seas calm.

LOCATION: No one set location both the Cortez and Pacific: 36-45 miles off of Cerro Blanco, San Cristobal, 95 spot, Punta Gorda, Los Arcos, 95 spot, Jaime Banks, Las Margaritas plus others.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 71 F

BEST LURES: Live bait for marlin, cedar plugs, feathers, petroleros, tigrillos, guacamayas.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Latest Fish Report

PISCES FISH REPORT


MARCH 11th to 23rd, 2010

OVERALL CATCH SUCCESS RATE 91%

BILLFISH: Well there has been plenty of activity fishing wise, just not for the big game that Cabo is famous for. Marlin were again few and far between as we go through the March “doldrums”. Even when spotted it was frustrating for anglers as at times they could see marlin within six feet of the boat and would cast bait over and over again, dead, live, whatever they could, but still the marlin would just look and swim off. Nevertheless we did have a couple of boats that did very well managing to find fish that were actually hungry. On March 17th “Bill Collector” headed up to Punta Gorda with Mark Chiavetta on board from San Jose, California, where he was fortunate to release three striped marlin on live caballito (not marlin’s favorite bait); they also got four skipjacks. Next up were Josef & Rachel Poncik from Richmond, Texas, who were here on their honeymoon. They went out on “Tracy Ann” and ended up 30 miles out from Cerro Blanco, where they managed to release two striped marlin, the first for each one of them, also with live caballito. On March 20th, “Andrea” released three marlin just five miles off of Cerro Colorado for James Collazo from Queen Creek, Arizona, sharing the boat with Tifanie Tuchshere & Melissa Hernandez from McMinnville, Oregon. This was one of those times when things worked out perfectly where we were able to pair people up via our boat share program and each person got a fish. As seen from the catches mentioned above, fish were not in one location but in diverse areas. Just eighteen percent of charters caught marlin this week, giving us a total of 18 caught, with all but one 110 lb fish released.

OTHER SPECIES: The best big game catch this week was yellowfin tuna. Thirty percent of boats caught between one and eighteen fish in the 15 to 25 lb class. Top tuna boat was “Valerie” for 18 and 1 dorado at the 95 spot for Scott Zivic and David Pathworth from Iowa City. “Tracy Ann” came second with 17 for Judy Davis and friends from Victoria, Canada, thirty miles out from Land’s End. Total tuna count was 106 fish. Dorado catches were on the slow side with just five caught, all random catches whilst trolling for marlin or tuna. As expected in March, the inshore fishing can be very good and boats loaded up on sierra, taken on lighter tackle, thirty five percent of charters caught sierra up to 12 lbs with catches ranging from a solitary fish to a whopping fifty-six aboard “Andrea”….of course the majority were released –final count was 322 sierra. Catches on large squid were also high and on a couple of days you didn´t even have to board a boat, you could just drag them out of the surf on the main beach. For some strange reason, the annual squid run brought them the closest to shore that we have seen in decades resulting in them washing up on the Medano Beach. Those fishing aboard boats had fun pulling in these hefty and strong fighters, with catches of up to twenty in a day up to 40 lbs. We know of one angler and crewman who were unceremoniously squirted with squid ink, the crewman taking a direct hit in his open mouth, whilst getting ready to release one of these creatures. Other small game catches were pargo, cabrilla, triggerfish, skipjack, jack crevalle, roosterfish and yellowtail.

LOCATION: Diverse, Gordo Banks, Chileno, Cerro Blanco, 95 Spot, Morros Prietos, 11.50 spot, Palmilla, Las Margaritas, slightly more activity on the Cortez side this period.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Pretty nice, some beautiful days but with marked differences in weather, one day windy on the Pacific smooth on the Cortez and vice versa.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 69 F

BEST LURES: Live bait for marlin, cedar plugs and petrolero lures for tuna, hoochis and rapalas for squid and sierra.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

PHOTOS SHOWN ARE OF JOSEF & RACHEL PONCIK FROM RICHMOND, TEXAS...BOTH CAUGHT THEIR FIRST EVER MARLIN ON THEIR HONEYMOON ABOARD TRACY ANN.

Fishing Report for March 1st to 10th, 2010.

Pisces Fish Report

March 1st to 10th, 2010

Overall Catch Success Rate 89.4%
BILLFISH: This week we saw a marked improvement on billfish catches with forty percent of charters catching marlin, up considerably from last week’s fourteen percent. Our little 28 ft “Andrea” was on a roll this week, being our best marlin producer with a total of seven; they even caught two the same day, plus a mako shark, for Jeff Crawford and Ryan Hunt from Burlington, Vermont. They fished very close in at just two and a half miles from Pedregal on March 7^th.  However, as mentioned in our last few fish reports, the fish are not sticking to one location. “Andrea” did well close in as mentioned above, but then went a couple of hours up the coast the next day to get another marlin at Golden Gate for Jay Harvey and friends from Senela, Illinois. We had a couple of other boats that also caught two marlin in a day; “Attitude Adjustment” on March 7^th, was fishing four miles off of Los Arcos with the Walker family aboard from Beaumont, Texas when they were able to release two striped marlin, just over 100 lbs, that took live bait. They then came closer to shore to catch seven sierra.  “Yahoo” out on March 8^th, fished a completely different location, this time in the Sea of Cortez at the 95 spot  with Dan Sheard and John McGraner on board, both from New Jersey, who were fortunate to release a striped marlin each that had taken live mackerel.  Despite the improvement on the marlin front we did have some slow days, such as March 9^th when several boats drew a blank.  Pisces anglers caught a total of 25 striped marlin this week of which all but one was released. A couple of boats spotted swordfish but had no luck in getting them to bite.
OTHER SPECIES: After marlin, yellowfin tuna were the next most likely catch on the big game scene. Even though less boats caught tuna, when they did the quantities of fish were higher, with catches of up to eighteen fish in the 18 to 30 lb class.  With better catches tending to be offshore; “C Rod” caught the eighteen mentioned above but had to go 38 miles offshore to do so, for Tom Johnson and friends from Phoenix, Arizona.  A combination of rapalas, feathers, and regular lures all worked. Of course the tuna did not stay put, but were also found in the Sea of Cortez and other diverse locations. Dorado catches slowed down quite a lot this week with just seventeen percent of charters catching an odd fish here and there.  Inshore fishing remains good and in fact there were some days that were so windy and rough, it was practically the only option.  The most abundant inshore catch was sierra, as well as some triggerfish, roosterfish, skipjacks and jack crevalles.  Not to mention large squid up to 40 lbs and a few small mako sharks.
LOCATION: No one set location though Pacific tended to be more productive.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Partly overcast, windy, seas on the rough side, now calming, rain on March 6^th.
AVERGE WATER TEMP: 69-70 F
BEST LURES:  Live bait for marlin, hoochis, rapalas inshore, assorted feathers.
 Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Dutch Angler, Wout Van Etten gives this Striped Marlin a smooch, although where not to sure the Marlin is to happy about it!

Jay Harvey Testimonial

Tracy
Buenos Días

Attached is one of the fish that we got on the Adriana Tuesday with Captain Orlando and Abraham. Orlando and Abraham are great guys who are true sportsman in every meaning of the word. They helped our USA/Canadian Team not only bring in this Marlin after 2.5 hours but we also caught a nice Dorado and the crew made several attempts on the way back when we came across yet another school of not so hungry Marlin! The trip was beyond my expectations and it was great to meet you as well.

Happy Fishing,

Jay Harvey
Seneca Illinois

 

*Please note the Boat was actually Andrea not the Adriana, and the Marlin died after a lenghty fight.

Tsunami Videos

Here are some videos on youtube of the Tsunami effects here in the Cabo San Lucas marina, it was generated from the massive earthquake in Chile on Saturday.

February 18th to 28th,2010

Overall Catch Success Rate 86%

BILLFISH: Last week we talked about how the fishing was "March like", now we are practically in March and it hasn't changed. We often refer to this as the March doldrums, but in reality there is lots of activity on the fishing front, just not for marlin. There has been no one location where boats were sure to spot marlin and we are not seeing them congregate in any one area. As an example let's look at some of the locations of where marlin were caught; the envy of everybody this week was "Andrea" for catching and releasing two striped marlin for Brian, Jason & Pat Garret from Breton, Canada – one of their fish was hooked up outside the Golden Gate and the other three miles out from Las Margaritas. Later in the week this same boat released a striper twelve miles out from Golden Gate where they were also very fortunate to get eight yellowfin tuna for Lee Pearson from Paynesville, Florida. "Falcon" on the other hand, went the opposite direction, into the Sea of Cortez and released a striped marlin at the Herradura. This same day "Rebecca" released a marlin eighteen miles from where Falcon got their fish and at the same time "Tracy Ann" released a marlin thirty five miles from the Old Lighthouse. So you couldn't really get a wider range if you tried as each of the locations mentioned above is at the limit of day charter range and all in completely different areas. This is probably why our billfish catch rate was a low fourteen percent, consisting of a total of eight fish, all released.

OTHER SPECIES: Catches for other traditional catches, considered staples of the Cabo fishery were also only average with twenty percent of boats catching dorado, though seldom more than a single fish in the 15 to 25 lb class. Yellowfin tuna catches were on par with that of marlin with fourteen percent of boats hooking fish up to 30 lbs, but the difference here was that when found they could catch up to thirteen in a day. "No Big Deal" was the top tuna boat with thirteen caught, plus two dorado four miles out from the Old Lighthouse for Gary Wade from Pickering, Ohio, fishing with friends. We had several sharks this week "Andrea" taking top honors again, this time for two mako sharks for Naomi Kretzwieser & Paul Handley from Canada, one was very big at 130 lbs and the other was estimated at 60 lbs, they also caught six sierras, all between Gaspareño and Golden Gate. "C-Rod" released the only hammerhead shark, estimated at 60 lbs and also caught a dorado, 20 miles from Moro Prieto for Steve Henager from Kennewick, Washington. Now, a big story……do you remember the odd ratfish from last year? Well another one appeared this week, at almost the exact same location. This time Fish Cabo was out between eight and nine miles from Cerro Blanco, looking for marlin, when they saw birds in a feeding frenzy on the surface of the water, they zipped over there and immediately recognized as that what the birds were pecking at was a ratfish. It was already dead and starting to decompose, so the deckhand carefully scooped it up in his bait net to bring back to shore, where we have it safely stored for scientists to pick up. This one was larger than the previous one and did not have the feather/lure type thing on its forehead like the previous one. Going back to regular news, the small game catches were excellent with well over eighty percent of boats catching a mixture of sierra, roosterfish, large squid, sea bass, snappers, bonitas and even a solitary wahoo. "Rebecca" fished at Punta Lobos near Todos Santos and caught and released twenty roosterfish, two sierras and a tuna for Matt & Stacey Osiecki, from Tallahassee, Florida – what a fun and active day they had. "La Brisa" fished half a mile from Chileno and landed five large squids, the biggest topping out at 40 lbs (that's a lot of calamari!) and also got three sierra and a roosterfish for Robert Mabry & Dennis Jones from South Whitley, Indiana.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Beautiful, clear sunny skies, windy some days, seas calm to moderate. Very weird…..we were affected by the Tsunami caused by the earthquake in Chile. On February 27^th, starting at noon and lasting until 2.00 pm, the water level in the marina would rise and fall, sucking back and making the pelicans float by in reverse. Nobody here had ever seen anything like it. We saw the sand in some places of the marina. The water got so low in the area where our boats leave from that you could walk from the seawall across the sand to our floating dock, which was no longer floating…then the tide would come back in. There was no damage at all, but it was an eerie experience.

LOCATION: No one set area, though smaller game was better on the Pacific.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 74 F; higher than it should be for this time of year.

BEST LURES: Live bait for marlin, assorted green colored lures for dorado, cedar plugs and marlin lures for tuna, hoochis and rapalas inshore.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg