Latest Fish Report

November 26th to December 2nd, 2010


Overall Catch Success Rate 85%

BILLFISH: This week it tended to be feast or famine. We had some superb catches at the start of the week, and then went to days to where many boats got “skunked” despite determined efforts by the crew. In pretty much all cases crews saw fish, threw bait to them, changed lures, switched tactics and still could not get them to bite. It seemed as if they simply were not hungry. Added to this there was a drop in water temperature and some cold currents came through Cabo which threw the fish off. However, sixty-eight percent of our boats did catch billfish; most of them striped marlin – decent number most places, but not what we are used to. Around this time last year Captain Julio on “Bill Collector” caught a monster blue, that was 850 lbs – he had seen it feeding on a dorado on the surface and actually mistook it for a whale in the distance. Well it seems Julio is a magnet for large fish at this time of year. He was trolling a Zuker 3.5 purple/black lure, just one mile off of La Playita hoping to pick up a striped marlin, when from out of nowhere a large black marlin attacked. Angler James Frash from Baldwinsville, NY was on board and had already fished a couple of days on Bill Collector so they had learned to work together as a team. James grabbed the rod and set the hook on the 50 lb Shimano trolling gear and then determinedly got to work, getting the fish to the leader in 30 minutes. James had not realized how big the fish was, but Julio did, calculating it at just less than 700 lbs. He knew it would not be easy to release. Twice they grabbed the leader and got a hand close its bill, but it thrashed wildly and they thought better of it. Then even though it was right at the boat, it got its head down and refused to budge. The tail was sticking out but the head was straight down, with the fish extremely strong and vigorous – nothing could move it then a touch of its bill on the line resolved the situation as the line broke on the abrasive bill and it was off .On the 26th, Richard Long and friends from Morgan Hills, CA had a fantastic day aboard “Shambala” with a total of thirteen striped marlin at Elias Calles by the Pacific side. The next day “Tracy Ann” did well too for the Adams family from Colorado Springs, CO with five striped marlin released; the fish took a mix of live bait and green lures. On the 1st, it was “Shambala” again with our good clients Johnny and Stacy Mac Powers from Rockwall, TX with four stripers released. On the 28th, “Rebecca” released four striped marlin for Mel Lamont from Galveston, TX, at Golden Gate as well as boating a dorado. The Bryan family from Seattle, WA had a great time with Captain Julio Castro aboard “Tracy Ann” with four striped marlin released as well as catching a 35 lb wahoo. This same day Francis and Susan Satalamacchia and friends from Saratoga, FL fished aboard “Andale” at Los Arcos and released four striped marlin. Pisces anglers had a total of 80 striped marlin and 1 black marlin this week.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado is still in second place this week with thirty four percent of boats catching between one to six fish, with a total of 30 fish caught. The best day was on the 27th aboard “La Brisa” for the Weins family from San Jose, CA with six dorado boated; they also released one striped marlin at the Golden Gate. The next day “Valerie” did well for Les and Roberta de Asis and family from Miami, FL with three 25 lbs dorado and they released two stripers at Pozo Cota spot. We had an improvement on the tuna catches, as they are starting to show up. One of the best days was on the 26th, “C-Rod” did well to catch sixteen yellow fin tuna for a group from Houston, TX and they still had time to release two striped marlin at San Jaime. The tuna took a combination of cedar plugs and feathers. The next day, the Hearn family from California caught nine football size tuna and one dorado aboard “Falcon”. This same day, “Ruthless” had a good day for Lanny Dacus and Larry Herodeck from Ft Lauderdale, FL with one nice 150 pound yellow fin tuna; they also released one striper marlin. On the 26th, “Rebecca” caught four yellow fin tuna and released three striped marlin for a group from Danville, CA. This same day, George McIntosh and Fraser Frizzel from Canada caught four yellow fin tuna and one striped marlin released aboard “Bandito”; the tuna took tigrillo lures. We had a couple of wahoo this week, one was on the 27th aboard “Andrea” for Robert and Lori Glassford from Las Vegas, NV with a nice 70 lbs wahoo caught with green/yellow lure and they also released two striped marlin.

Inshore we had catches of roosters, yellowtail and jack crevalle.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, seas mostly calm, cooler mornings.

LOCATION: Pacific Side - Golden Gate, Lighthouse, Los Arcos, Migriño, Gaspareño, La Ballena, Pozo Cota, Elias Calles, Margaritas, Old light house, San Jaime, Pescadero, Todos Santos

Sea of Cortez: San Jose, La Playita,

AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 77 F

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


Live mackerel, caballito, ballyhoo

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

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Stacie Powers from Rockwall Texas, had this fish to the boat in no time, as you can tell by its healthy color and lit up stripes. Just aboard for a few seconds, before being safely released.


Caught aboard Shambala.



Thank You Letter from the Bryan Family

Please extend our gratitude to Julio and Martine on the Tracy Ann; we had a great time fishing on 26 November. Here is a photo of our family with one of the four marlins we caught and released that day...

We will gladly recommend Pisces to anyone who asks!



Karen Bryan

Seattle, WA

Who Are Those Guys?

We ran across these two unlikely scots the other day; we thought they were a bit darker than other scots we know. Turns out they are Beto Lira, deckhand of the Ruthless and J.R Alucano captain of the Rebecca, getting into the swing of things at the birthday party of good friend and client Chic McSherry who visited last week to fish and to celebrate his birthday. The scots truly know how to party. Beto and J.R weren't sure if they blended in but went along with the spirit of things by donning the tartan caps and redhair supplied by Chic to his guests.

Landmark For Our Blog - 100,000 Visitors!

Today was a landmark for our blog as we reached 100,000 (one hundred thousand) visitors.  We just want to say thank you, for reading this and supporting us in bringing you the latest fishing news and of course most importantly we thank you, our clients and friends who send us  such fantastic letters and photos which encourage and motivate us all at Pisces. So drop us a line and let us know what you would like to see more of, or less of pisces@piscessportfishing.com  again THANK YOU.

Latest Fish Report

November 19th to 25th, 2010


Overall Catch Success Rate 91.80%

BILLFISH: This week saw a slight decrease on billfish catches as a beautiful, huge full moon was present during this period, causing marlin to gorge themselves during the nighttime hours and be less hungry during the day. Added to this was a lack of live bait. Nevertheless seventy percent of our boats caught billfish, consisting almost exclusively of striped marlin. One of the best days was November 21st when “Tracy Ann” with a group from Houston, Texas aboard, released six striped marlin at Los Arcos on the Pacific side. The next day, Andrea & Jim Shilston from Daphne, Alabama fishing with their friends, matched this catch by also releasing six marlin aboard, this time aboard the 61ft Viking “El Gallo” with Captain Nayo Winkler. November 25th saw “Tracy Ann” again the hot boat, loading up with another six stripers, released this time for the Hom family from Bellevue, WA; all of their fish took live bait. Thanksgiving Day proved to be good for “Rebecca” with our friend and longtime client Gerald Richmond from Key Largo, Florida aboard, who managed to release five striped marlin, plus boat a dorado. Earlier in the week “Rebecca” and her crew had proved themselves by releasing five striped marlin for Charlie & Charlotte Grindstaff from Friendswood, TX at Los Arcos. It seems Texans are very lucky when it comes to fishing as Dieter Thompson & friends who come from Colleyville, TX released four striped marlin aboard the 60 ft Hatteras, “Shambala” as well as boating four dorado to take home. At the beginning of the week, Ian McDonald and John Ramsey from Scotland concentrated inshore, aboard the 22ft Panga “Sirius” and were very lucky to release a sailfish as well as to release four roosterfish and boat a 25 lb dorado off of the Old Lighthouse (Cabo Falso). Pisces anglers released a total of 116 striped marlin and 1 sailfish this week.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado was the second most abundant species this week with forty two percent of boats catching between one to seven fish, with a total of 64 fish caught. The best day was on the 25th aboard “Bandito” for Jeff Snider and Tim Lorenzo from Eureka, CA with seven dorado caught 18 miles out from Cerro Blanco; the fish took lures of all colors. On the 19th Stuart Lee and Valerie Keck from Grand Coulee, WA did well to catch six dorado in the 35 lbs class as well as releasing two striped marlin aboard “Ruthless”; an enviable day. Jerome & Jed Fisher with an apt name did well with friends Scott Shier & Bob Barbosa, from Anaheim. Ca. fishing on “Valerie” & “Andrea”, they caught five dorado between 20 to 35 lbs aboard at Migriño as well two 40 lbs fish, which took tigrillo lures and went on to release three striped marlin. One other large dorado, al little over 40 lbs, were taken by Richard Holestine from Washington at Elias Calles. Tuna catches are slow but we did see some improvement with catches registered of one to eighteen fish for some boats. “Cabolero” did very well on the 23rd for Francis Saltalamacchia and Brian Trasidder from Saratoga, FL boating eighteen yellow fin tuna between 15 to 25 lbs. The fish took cedar plugs and blue/white lures. On the 25th “Cabolero” hit the tuna again, this time for John & Karen Beech from Boca Raton, FL with a total of fifteen football size yellow fin ten miles out from the Old Lighthouse. This same day “C-Rod” caught a few for Cathy Trung and friends who boated eight yellow fin tuna, one dorado and released one striped marlin. The yellow fin tuna caught this week were mostly football size, with the largest being a 40 lb’er aboard “Ruthless”, for Stewart Keck who also released a striped marlin. Wahoo catches were quite good. On November 24th “La Brisa” had Michael Smith from Montebello, NY aboard when they boated a 50 lb wahoo and released a striped marlin, a dorado and a yellowtail. “No Big Deal” caught two 40 lbs wahoo for Kim and Mike Brastad from Kansas City, KS as well as three dorado.

Inshore we had catches of roosters, Spanish mackerel, yellowtail and jack crevalle.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, seas mostly calm, though there were some whitecaps close to Cabo on the Pacific a couple of days on windy days

LOCATION: Pacific Side - Golden Gate, Lighthouse, Los Arcos, Migriño, Gaspareño, La Ballena, Pozo Cota, Elias Calles, Margaritas, Cerro Blanco, Cerro de Arena, Old light house, 150 spot

AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 79 F

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

Live mackerel, caballito, ballyhoo, sardines

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

Some Pictures of the Anglers from November 24th

We had some pictures snapped by Oscar, Pisces dockmaster,  from our clients returning to the dock with nice catches, such as:

Chris, Ryan and Michael Smith from Montebello, NY released one striped marlin and boated this 50 lbs wahoo (shown in the picture); also they caught one dorado and one yellow tail aboard "La Brisa"

This group from Canada were lucky to caught two wahoo aboard "No Big Deal"; they also caught three dorado at the Golden Gate by the Pacific side.

Richard Holestine from Sokane, WA shown here with a nice 40 lbs dorado aboard "Andrea" with captain Orlando Murillo (right) and deckhand Abraham (behind)

Ted and Travor Ballou and friend Jet Mitchell from Newport Beach, CA were fortunate to release one striped marlin and caught this nice 30 lbs dorado for dinner aboard "Ruthless"



Thank You Letter from Doug Rubino

We would like to thank you all at Pisces for another great week of fishing. The two boats "Rebecca and the LA Brisa" had a banner 5 days of fishing and both boats achieved personal bests in total marlin caught and marlin caught in a single day. Between the two boats fishing 5 days 48 marlin released, on November 11th the Rebecca 12 marlin released and the La Brisa 10 marlin released.

The crew members on both boats did an outstanding job, and for Luis he has great eyes for spotting those marlin. Without him our success rate would have not been possible.

This will be hard to beat next year, but we are willing to give it our all as always. Pisces also made John Di Benedetto a very happy man by stopping on the way in to catch his first rooster fish, even though it was small he was ecstatic. He has been wanting to catch a rooster fish since he has been coming to Cabo for the past 10 years.

Thank you all again at Pisces,

Doug Rubino

Deer Park, TX

I will be in touch sometime in February to start the scheduling of next years trip.

           Doug Rubino pictured with a striped marlin before releasing with deckhand Martin

Flying flags

Getting ready to release the striper

 November 11th  back to the dock with Rebecca 12 marlin released and La Brisa 10 marlin released.

Latest Fish Report : Overall Catch Success Rate 100%

November 13th to 18th, 2010


Overall Catch Success Rate 100%

BILLFISH: The fishing is still hot in Cabo with every single boat catching something giving us a perfect score this week. Marlin were thick off of Land’s End with nearly every boat catching, giving us a billfish success rate of ninety one percent. One of the best days was on November 16th for Mike and Beth Fraser from Lake Charles, LA they released fifteen striped marlin at Gaspareño on the Pacific side and also boated two dorado aboard “Cabolero”. The next day Tim and Lucy McCulloch from Oregon had a busy day catching and releasing thirteen striped marlin aboard “Bill Collector” with the fish taking live mackerel. On the 16th “Tracy Ann” did a great job for Ross Donahue from Spearman, TX with twelve striped marlin released. A day before, “Falcon” also had twelve stripers released for a group from Oregon; they also caught two dorado for dinner. Our long time clients Dennis & Clyde Trendel from Boston, MA fished with friend Glen Kish and did very well aboard “Tracy Ann” on the 14th, with ten striped marlin released at the Golden Gate. “Tracy Ann” was again the hot boat of the week with a total of 45 striped marlin released Wow, congratulations to the crew! On the 16th Anders Lundgren, Peter Palsson and Robert Gabruelsson from Sweden released nine striped marlin aboard “Rebecca” at the same area. On the 15th “Bill Collector” had a great day for a group from Florida with nine striped marlin released, six dorado, one 45 lbs wahoo and three jack crevalle; well done! Gerald Richmond from Key Largo, Fl did well also with nine striped marlin released at the Golden Gate aboard “Rebecca”. Looks like we may be heading for a repeat of the amazing marlin numbers we had in 2008. Our total fish count was 307 striped marlin and one sailfish this week.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches are still good with fifty seven percent of our boats catching between one to fourteen fish, with a total of 121 fish caught. One of the best days was on the 18th aboard “Valerie” for Jerry and Eileen Walker from Idaho they caught fourteen dorado at the Golden Gate; they also released three striped marlin and caught a wahoo. These same clients had another excellent day on the 15th with twelve dorado; with some kept some for dinner – as if this wasn’t enough they released four striped marlin! This same day James and Marilyn Wright from Alabama caught eight dorado aboard “Tracy Ann”, with live bait being the way to go. They also released six striped marlin. Kenneth Kratsch and Monica Mohler from La Quinta, CA caught seven dorado aboard “Yahoo” at Las Margaritas; they released six striped marlin as well. Tuna catches are still slow, as striped marlin has been the main attraction for our anglers. Only the “Tracy Ann” caught tuna this week on the 17th for Dave Adamson and friends from Nampa, ID they caught twenty four football size yellow fin tuna at 32 miles out of Cerro Blanco; they still had time to release three striped marlin. We had a few wahoo catches one was on the 17th for Dave Henderson from Edmonton, Canada aboard “Ruthless” they caught one 40 lbs wahoo at Migriño and released four striped marlin and caught one 35 lbs dorado. A day before, “Ruthless” again caught a 40 lbs wahoo for Ben Miles, Paul Hinton, Jane Murdock from Houston, TX; they released three stripers as well. For other catches we had roosters, Spanish mackerel, needle fish and jack crevalle.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, seas mostly calm, a little bit cool in the morning and at night.

LOCATION: Pacific Side - Golden Gate, Lighthouse, Los Arcos, Migriño, Gaspareño, La Ballena, Pozo Cota, Elias Calles, Margaritas, Cerro Blanco, Cerro de Arena

Sea of Cortez: Punta Gorda

AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 80 F

BEST LURES; Cedar plugs, tigrillo, petrolero, green, red/black, green/yellow, guacamayo, huchis, pink, purple

For live bait mackerel, caballito and ballyhoo

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

One of the Most Compelling Thank You Notes We Have Ever Received

Capt. Fred here: Dear Tracy, I have just completed my 35th year fishing in Cabo San Lucas, this included bring my boat down several times from Californa in the old days. I started off in the old Tortuga Fleet and worked up to the Pisces Fleet. I always have fished a panga with Enrique "Tiliche" Gonzalez for over 17 years and have gotten a lot of fish over the years, even a Blue Marlin. But, I always take a Pisces every year for the larger fish. Last year it was Tuna and a Sailfish. The crews and the office staff have always acted professional in every step of the way, from booking the trip to having the fish cleaned. This year, I talked 3 other couples to come to Cabo to enjoy the fishing experience. On Nov. 9th, we had a once in a life time fishing trip on the Rebeeca with Capt. Jose Alucano and mate Luis Coted. We hooked 9 Striped Marlin and released 8 Marlin and 2 Dorado. I have fished around the world for billfish including the Pacific Rim, Central and South America and this was the best fishing day of my life (I am almost 70). The men on the boat with me had a great time fishing, but do not understand how great a day it was, since this is their first experience at billfishing. I would just like to thank you, your boat crew, the office staff, and the dock crew for the best fishing day in my life.
Capt. Fred van den Broeck, Backdraft Charters, Punta Gorda, Florida . www.backdraft- charters.com

Did These Guys Have a Great Time or What?

 Steve getting into the spirit of it at Captain Tony's next to our office, best fish tacos and pizzas in town

 Tom  holds his marlin for a few seconds before releasing it.

 The whole group with a nice tuna board Cabolero

Paul was pleased to release a striped marlin too.

I just wanted to take a minute to thank everyone at Pisces for an amazing trip last week. We fished 2-days with Leon and Beto on the Ruthless and another day with Rico and his captain (sorry I forgot his name) on the Cabolero. We caught more fish than we could have ever imagined and the boat crew, and office staff (particularly Pam) was great to work with getting our trip arranged, helping with transportation of our fish, our lunches…and YES, thanks for the T-shirts!

We noticed that our group (Dornell, Banks, Hafner) made it into your blogs and that was great to read. I’ve attached some pictures of our trip with each of us celebrating. There is no doubt in our minds that if we return to Cabo again there is no other company we’d fish with! Hopefully we’ll find pictures of ourselves on your wall of fame!

Everyone at Pisces made our trip enjoyable and we want to thank all of you.

PS: Tell Beto never to get rid of his lucky (but bright!) shorts
Paul Dornell
Assistant Director -Public Works Operations
City of Palo Alto