Latest Fish Report

December 3rd to December 9th, 2010


Overall Catch Success Rate 89.59%

BILLFISH: It looks like the marlin are still not very hungry as we had a decrease this week; many of our boats saw billfish in the area but only thirty percent of around a third of charters managed hook ups. Based on this a fair amount of anglers opted to go for tuna and dorado instead. Nevertheless there were still some good catches such as on Dec. 3rd for John and J.P. Fitzpatrick from Carbondale, Colorado who did well to release three striped marlin aboard “Ruthless” at the Golden Gate. The next day, “Valerie” released three stripers too for a group from Gillete, WY; the fish took live caballito.. James Frash, from Baldwinville, NY who was mentioned in our last fish report for the release of a large black marlin aboard “Bill Collector” ; went out for a final day of fishing before heading back home and released two striped marlin then headed inshore and had fun releasing three rooster fish and landing a sierra and a sea bass. Pisces anglers had a total of 19 striped marlin this week all released.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches are pretty much similar to last week, with thirty two percent of boats catching between one to seven fish. “Valerie” did well on the 5th for Bob Engstrom and friends from Gillete, WY with seven dorado (one released) at Gaspareño on the Pacific side. On the 8th, the LeDuc family boated three dorado and released two aboard “Ruthless”; the fish took a combination of lures and live bait. This same day, “La Brisa” loaded up with five dorado in the 20 lb plus class for David Forester from New Castle, CA and friends; they also released one striped marlin. On the 9th, “Ruthless” boated five dorado between 20 to 30 lbs for a group from California. Yellow fin tuna were the number one species this week, with a few schools of football size tuna in the area, mostly between 10 to 25 lbs and some larger fish up to 80 lbs. The best day was on the 3rd aboard “Shambala” for Johnny and Stacy Mac Powers from Rockwall, TX they caught sixteen yellowfin tuna between 30 to 80 lbs; the fish took a combination of live bait, cedar plugs and feathers. At the end of this week on the 9th, “Rebecca” had a great day for Chris Moates and Jon Ruth from Seattle, WA boating eleven football size yellow fin tuna; they went 27 miles out from the 210 spot to chase them. On the 4th, “Shambala” did well again for a group of friends from Mexico city with nine yellow fin tuna, football size, and then went on to release one striped marlin. On the 9th, Michael Arzewski from New York City shared the “Andrea” with James Bozza from Long Island, NY and had a fun day catching nine tuna between 15 to 40 lbs. A group from Massachusetts boated nine yellow fin tuna too on the 6th aboard “La Brisa” at 12 miles north of Golden Gate.

For inshore species we had catches of roosterfish, Spanish mackerel, jack cravelle, amberjack, and sea bass. “Valerie” caught a nice size rooster fish on the 6th for Larry Harrell from Wyoming, estimated at 50 lbs.

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

LOCATION: Pacific Side - Golden Gate, Los Arcos, Migriño, Gaspareño, La Ballena, Pozo Cota, Elias Calles, Margaritas, Old light house, San Jaime, Cerros de Arena, Herradura, 170 spot, 150 spot, 210 spot.

Sea of Cortez: 11:50 Spot, Herradura

AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 77 F

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

Live mackerel and caballito

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

New All Tackle World Record Tuna!

It looks like the all tackle world record for yellowfin tuna has finally been broken - for those not familiar with the term, "all tackle" means the heaviest yellowfin ever taken on rod and reel by the rules laid down by I.G.F.A; in other words the  angler did it all by himself with no assistance with tackle approved to be sporting, by the governing body of fishing world records. The fish was caught in Mexico, of course, where the biggest yellowfin tuna in the world are found, off of Mag Bay by a 63 year old retired school administrator from Sunland, California. Captain Mike Lackey of the 80 ft Vagabond, knew the fish was big and using a special formula had taped the fish out and estimated it at 390 lbs. The fish took over three hours to boat on 100 lb test line and then was promptly frozen until they could get back to their home port of San Diego. The fish was greeted by a crowd of excited onlookers and registerd at 405.2 lbs on the scale, smashing the record of 388.12 lbs held since 1977, by a fish also caugth in Mexico, at the Revillagigedo Islands, which are now closed to sportfishing. We have seen the size of tuna increase off of Baja in the last two years, but this one is really outstanding and a great omen for the Mexico sportfishing industry. This fish has been submitted to I.G.F.A and the new record should be officially declared shortly.

The Whales Are Here!

Whales are starting to show up off of Cabo and Pisces boats are now all lined up with their whalewatching permits so we can fish in the morning and take you to see the whales in the afternoon, or arrange trips to suit you and your family. Laura Cera and family were visiting Cabo and came in to see about arranging a private trip to see whales. We told her whales were in the area but that we still weren't into peak whale season, so we couldn't guarantee they would see them. Neverthless she took a gamble and booked 28 ft Bandito and it paid off. Just look at this spectacular photo that Laura snapped of a humpback whale breaching off of the Cabo shore.

Last Week Black Marlin caught aboard Bill Collector

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 .

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"