Giant Squid Kill Fishermen in Loreto! (Not True)

We were in hurry this morning on our way out when we got this story sent to us. We took a glance and thought wow, that's big, but didn't take time to see where it came from. So it wasn't until later in the day that we realized this was a hoax, especially after checking with sources in the area (thanks Robin).
Anyway, it makes for good reading so here it is.......

LORETO, Mexico — A pack of giant squid capsized a fishing boat in the Sea of Cortés yesterday, killing seven fishermen.
The band of sea creatures attacked the boat as it was returning to shore, creating a gruesome spectacle for late afternoon beach-goers.
“I saw four or five bodies wash up on the shore. They were totally black and blue all over. They looked like they had been attacked by monster suction cups,” reported Timmy Irwin, a surfer visiting from San Francisco.
Witnesses say the lone survivor was barely recognizable after being dragged from the boat and chewed by several of the giant squid.
Marine biologists rushed to the scene hoping to catch at least one of the squid. Dr. Luis Santiago of the Universidad Autónoma Baja California Sur explained, “We captured one of the attackers. She is female and we believe most of the pack to be female because of their size. We also believe they coordinated the attack by using pigment cells to communicate, which is very typical in a situation like this. I’m afraid we may be seeing more of these attacks in the coming years, and possibly forever.
“Beaches in the area are closed indefinitely, and fishing boats are banned from heading out to sea until authorities can determine a squid-free safety zone.
Locals, who refer to the giant squid as “diablos rojos” – red devils, report that the legendary sea creatures have become more aggressive over the last few years. Marine biologists fear that the trend will continue because of the diminishing number of fish in their tropical hunting waters

Fish Report Jan 29th to Feb 4th, 2011

January 29th to February 4th, 2011


Overall Catch Success Rate 80.58%

BILLFISH: We are starting to see a gradual increase on marlin present in the area and the billfish action began to show towards the end of the week, but we are still not up to the numbers we expect at this time of year. There were a couple of skunks but most boats at least saw marlin and even the occasional swordfish; but finding the hungry ones was the real task. Nevertheless billfish catches are steady with seventeen percent of our boats releasing striped marlin. On January 3rd “Valerie” was the envy on the dock, when they returned with marlin flags flying for Gregory Lien and friends from Maple Grove, MN, who had released three striped marlin. The fish they found took a combination of live bait and lures fifteen miles out from the 180 spot. The fish released by “Valerie” were between 110 to 140 lbs approximately. The following day, Ken Ballentine and Johnny Barbour from Scotland released two stripers aboard “Ruthless” about the same size, but they found their fish on the Pacific at Moros Prietos spot, ten to fifteen miles out. These guys also did well to catch three yellow fin tuna and one dorado, making for one of the best catches of the week overall. On the 1st, “La Brisa” had a double marlin day for Scott Meneer and Scott Wilson from Scotland (lots of Scots involved in this) the fish took live caballito, one of them at Herradura and the second only two miles from Cerro Blanco. This same day, “Tracy Ann” released one striper for the other half of the group from Scotland seventeen miles from Cerro Blanco as well as boating one dorado and two skipjacks. We are thrilled that the group from Scotland is doing so well, this trip was over a year in the planning and then the fishing dropped off making us a little nervous, with the group coming from so far. However they forged ahead with their plans and have not been disappointed, not only with the fishing but also with the weather which couldn’t be more different to Scotland at present. On the 30th, Ken Koch from Santa Maria, CA released one striped marlin estimated at150 lbs aboard “Adriana” eight miles out from the 95 spot.

OTHER SPECIES: We had some dorado this week, with twenty five percent of our boats catching one or two fish. On the 31st, Dale Darmante from New York City, NY caught two dorado – one released and the other at 35 lbs. They fished aboard “La Brisa” and also boated one tuna; the fish took lures. On the 2nd, Noman Scott and Brian Wright from Scotland caught a nice 35 lbs dorado aboard “Tracy Ann” twenty seven miles out from the 150 spot. Yellow fin tuna are in the same area- straight out a ways offshore, though some were found closer, giving us a catch rate of thirty one percent for this species, with catches ranging from one to fourteen fish, most of them football size. The best day was on the 29th, “C-Rod” again this week was the top tuna boat with a total catch of fourteen tuna between 10 to 30 lbs for Duncan and Kathy Clark from Delaplane, Virginia; the fish took a combination of lures thirty miles straight out southwest from Cabo. “Valerie” was in second place with twelve tuna, football size, for our friend Chic Mc Sherry from Scotland; they went to the same spot. “La Brisa” also did well boating nine tuna for Todd Mabry and Denise Jones from South Whitley, Indiana; the fish took cedar plugs and petrolero lures. (We are considering re-naming the fish report this week, to the Scottish abroad fishing report).

As to other species, sierra catches were good inshore, with twenty percent of our boats catching between four to twenty fish. On the 2nd, Scott Meneer and Ian Wilson from Scotland focused on this species aboard “La Brisa”, catching twenty sierras, good sizes mostly 10 pounders, seventeen bonitas and also released two rooster fish at Elias Calles, all on light tackle. On the 3rd, John and Tracy Carlyle from Spring, TX went fishing aboard a super panga and caught four 10 lbs sierra, two bonita and one skip jack. Tracy came to the office the next day and told us they had a great time not only fishing but getting to have a close up encounter with whales…..we will be looking forward to them sharing the pictures with us.

Inshore we also had roosterfish, skipjacks, lady fish and many bonitas

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, some windy days. Mostly calm seas with a few choppy days. Cool weather.

LOCATION: Pacific Side – Cabeza Ballena, Migriño, 180 spot, Cerro Blanco, Elias Calles, Gaspareño, 150 Spot, Herradura, Pozo Cota, Los Arcos, Old Lighthouse

Sea of Cortez - 95 Spot, 11;50 spot,

AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 69 F

BEST LURES; Cedar plugs, tigrillo, rapalas, hoochis, petrolero, green/yellow, red/black, green/blue, purple, feathers,

Live caballito, ballyhoos.

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

Chic McSherry from Glasgow Scotland had a fabulous day on Valerie. Chic pictured here without the shirt
Shown with Captain Roberto Sandez and Deckhands Rosend and Ernesto. Chic ended up with 17 tuna up to 40 lbs
and commented what a fantastic day on the water he had, more than anything to the rapport with the crew who he considers his pals.

Latest Fish Report Cabo

January 21st to January 28th, 2011


Overall Catch Success Rate 85.19%

BILLFISH: Actually our overall catch success rate as reflected above was good, and finally we started to see a bit more action on marlin. Anglers reported seeing more fish, but again only a few were hungry. Nevertheless, nineteen percent of our boats did release billfish, which shows that numbers are climbing. At the end of this report on the 28th, “Falcon” was out with Michael Connolly on board and they actually managed to hook three striped marlin, unfortunately two got off but the third one they managed to get to the leader. They fished 15 miles out from Cabeza Ballena on the Cortez side and estimated the fish to be110 lbs; they also caught a 20 lbs yellow fin tuna for the table. This same day, Dale and Tara Darmante from New York, NY released one striped marlin aboard “Adriana” with their favorite captain of years Enrique “Kikon” Martinez. They headed offshore thirteen miles out from the 95 spot which is where they got the hook up. On the 26th Armando Ramirez and Kevin Whelan from Spring, TX released also released a striper aboard “Great Escape Jr”, when the fish took a live caballito. On the 25th, a group from Hartford, CT was out for just a half day aboard “El Gallo” and did very well to release a striped marlin twelve miles out from Chileno on the Sea of Cortez.

OTHER SPECIES: Tuna catches were again the top catch this week as dorado decreased, with just a few stray ones caught. On the 28th, Terry Smith and Jerry Meyer from Norman, OK released one dorado when it took a green/yellow lure forty miles from the 150 spot; they also boated two football size yellow fin tuna. On the 23rd, Michael and Carmine Caputo from Mont Clair, NJ caught one dorado and six yellow fin tuna thirty eight miles out from Cerro Blanco. Tuna catches are still about the same with thirty four percent of our boats catching between one to fifteen fish. We had two top tuna boats this week; on the 24th “C-Rod” did well for Ted Melson and friends from Forth Mills, SC landing fifteen yellow fin tuna, all football size at thirty four miles out from Cerro Blanco; all on cedar plugs. The other top tuna boat was “Bill Collector” which caught the same amount of tuna on the 21st for Mark Chiavetta and friends from San Jose, CA; they weighed between 15 to 20 lbs and they took a combination of cedar plugs and feathers. They were also fortunate to release one striped marlin after it took a live mackerel for bait at Migriño. “C-Rod” had a great day again on the 22nd, this time for Taylor and Scott from Aurora, OR who caught seven yellow fin tuna twenty seven miles straight out from Cerro Blanco; they had plenty fillets to take back home.

As to other species, we are still have sierra mania going on inshore with thirty percent of our boats catching between one to fifty four fish (majority released). This little tasty fish are everywhere close to shore and great fun to catch too. On the 27th, Shaun Green and friends from Mill Valle, CA had a lot of sierra action with a total of fifty four Spanish mackerel between 3 to 10 lbs; they also released one rooster fish. We had one wahoo this week, a 60 pounder for Ted Melson and friends from South Carolina aboard “C-Rod”; the fish took a black/red lure. Sharks are still in the area (be careful surfers!), this time the mako sharks were present at the 95 Spot. On the 27th, James Stoyko from Foster city, CA aboard “Valerie” released one mako shark estimated in the 100 lb class; this fish took a silver and black lure. A day before, in the same area “C-Rod” released another mako with, Ted Melson, out for his second day; as you can see he had a great time with Captain Abel. We hope to see you soon again!

Inshore we also had roosterfish, skipjacks, needle fish, lady fish and many bonitas

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, a couple of cloudy days at the end of this report, but the sun is out again. Mostly calm sea days cool mornings.

LOCATION: Pacific Side – Cabeza Ballena, Migriño, 180 spot, Cerro Blanco, Elias Calles, Gaspareño, 150 Spot, Pedregalito

Sea of Cortez - 95 Spot, 11;50 spot, Chileno

AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 71 F

BEST LURES; Cedar plugs, tigrillo, rapalas, hoochis, petrolero, green/yellow, red/black, green/blue

Live caballito, mackerel.

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

Client´s Video - Releasing a Striped Marlin..

We received this video from Ken Koch from Santa Maria, California releasing  a striped marlin on January 30, 2011 aboard the "Adriana".

Thank you for sharing with us!

Is This Photo Incredible or What?

Photo Mario Bañaga Jr.

This is another great photo. It clearly shows the spacious and well-kept cockpit of Shambala our 60 ft Hatteras, available for charter through Pisces. Chic McSherry happened to be in the photo modeling one of our sweatshirts nicely then to top it off, this friendly dolphin, who blends a bit too well with the water color, obliged by leaping out of the water and "smiling" just as Mario hit the shutter button. Doesn't get much better than this. And what are you doing?

A Study of Contrasts

Photo by Mario Bañaga Jr.

We just loved this picture of our good friends T.J Dobson captain of Shambala and Chic McSherry, Pisces collaborator long time friend and fisheman. T.J has lived in Cabo since he was fourteen and being aclimatized found it chilly the other morning. Chic, on the other hand comes from Scotland where they have had one of the coldest winters on record......don't think we need to explain any more.

Latest Fish Report

January 14th to January 20th, 2011

Overall Catch Success Rate 78.95%

BILLFISH: O.K. things are a bit glum on the marlin front this week and anybody telling you otherwise is not being truthful. So what’s the problem, first off mackerel have not been readily available for bait, then we had full moon this week and water temperatures have been varied, combined with that is the fact that marlin are far and wide, so yes, some have been spotted but few have been tempted to eat. This is typical of March fishing, but we are in January! Besides this, captains know their odds are not great for marlin right now, so they are opting to stick to what they know they have a better shot at, yellowfin tuna or inshore fish. Several swordfish were spotted as they like the kind of water we have right now, colder and green in some places, but nobody had the fortune to hook one. Nevertheless we did have a couple of boats that were the envy of the fleet for actually catching marlin, both on January 15th: Royce and Kerry Peacock from San Diego, CA were lucky to release one striped marlin aboard “Adriana” when the fish took a live caballito seventeen miles from 120 Spot. “Shambala” had Mike and Larry Lichter from Chicago, aboard with friends, when they released one striped marlin and boated four nice yellow fin tuna between 25 to 30 lbs twelve miles out from the 95 spot.

OTHER SPECIES: It was all about tuna again this week as Dorado catches dropped off with the cooler currents. The only boat that caught dorado was “Tracy Ann” on the 18th for Andy and Wendy Smith from Bourbonnais, IL with a 35 lb ‘er 40 miles out from the 180 spot taken on a blue and white lure –they went a long way in search of marlin (this boat incidentally was just awarded Most Striped Marlin Released 2010 by the Billfish Foundation, congratulations Julio Castro & Martin Gonzalez). Tuna catches are still steady with forty percent of our boats catching between one to twelve fish. Top tuna boat this week was “Bill Collector” for Jeff Landman and friends from Nashville, TN who caught twelve football size tuna twenty eight miles from the 180 spot; the fish took a combination of lures. On the 16th, “Tracy Ann” had a great day too for Bryan and Shirley Northcutt from Houston, TX when they landed ten yellow fin tuna between 15 to 20 lbs; they went farther than “Bill Collector”, forty five miles out from the 180 spot. On the 14th, Peter Tatllberg, Andreas Olofson and Johan Fager from Sweden kept busy reeling in nine yellow fin tuna aboard, also aboard “Tracy Ann” thirty miles straight out to the south; the fish took cedar plugs. “Bill Collector” again did well on tuna this time with Mark Chiavetta and friends from San Jose, CA; they caught six yellow fin tuna for a nice dinner. January 18th saw Eric Katajamaki and friends from Vancouver, Canada having fun aboard “Fearless” with captain Benito Agendas , when they boated six yellow fin tuna, most of them football size 25 miles east of Cabo Real. The next day, John Jorgensen and Leigh Goldman from Albany, NY caught six yellow fin tuna aboard “Bandito” with the fish taking a combination of hoochis and cedar plugs. Bull sharks were seen at Pedregalito 16 miles up the Pacific coast, in just 15 feet or water. Michael Theodore was fishing aboard “Little Hooker” and had caught some bonita earlier in the day which he used as bait, to throw to the sharks, which were right on shore in about fifteen feet of water. He battled what turned out to be a 100 lb shark, for forty five minutes before it could be subdued and boated. He said there were at least a dozen in the same area and that the shark put up an aggressive fight – he ended up hooking four that day, but just the one stuck. Next day out he had three strikes at the same location and managed to catch a 70 lb ‘er. As to other species we had a lot of sierra, also known as Spanish mackerel inshore with twenty percent of our boats catching between one to fourteen fish. This little fish (seldom over 11 lbs) is a lot of fun on light or spinning tackle and is exceptionally tasty, with a sweet white meat. The absolute best eating fish caught this week was a beautiful 70 lb caught on January 16th aboard “Rebecca” for John and Ward Davenport from Chattanooga, TN. They fished at the Herradura, where the fish hit a petrolero lure – a 70 lb wahoo can feed a lot of people. On the 18th, Tom Lewis, Jeff Morgan and Mike Moroskey from Newport Beach, CA went bottom fishing aboard “Bill Collector” and did they catch (and release many) fish; they ended up with a tally of thirty red snapper, one 20 lb yellow fin tuna and two mojarras at Punta Gorda. They used langoustines for bait. Inshore we also had roosterfish to 15 lbs, jack crevalle, yellowtail and many bonitas

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, seas mostly calm to a few choppy days, cooler weather

LOCATION: Pacific Side – Cabeza Ballena, Migriño, Old light house, 180 spot, 210 spot, Cerro Blanco, 120 spot, Pedregal, Herradura, Margaritas Elias Calles, Gaspareño, 150 Spot

Sea of Cortez - 95 Spot, Punta Gorda

AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 72 F

BEST LURES; Cedar plugs, tigrillo, rapalas, hoochis, purple, petrolero, mackerel, blue/white

Live caballito, ballyhoo, sardines

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

Amazing Video

Wow we just watched this video from our clients Cenk and Christopher Durukal  from Vienna, this is one of the best client videos we have ever seen, the underwater footage makes it extra special. A big THANK YOU for releasing your fish, especially the blue marlin.

Congratulations Jorge Cu!

Well we don't know how he did it, but Jorge Cu our reservation agent and dockmaster, manged to sweep Eliza off of her feet and they were married this month, aboard our beautiful yacht Mick. You can see how happy they both were and Jorge has waited for this for a long time. We wish them much happiness and blesssings.

Bull Sharks On the Shoreline!

Marlin fishing may not be that good right now, but there are still some big fish around, like this 100 lb bull shark caught by Michael Theodore part time Cabo resident. Michael was fishing the shoreline at Pedregalito about 16 miles up the Pacific coast - he had caught some bonita earlier in the day and used one of the heads as bait. The fish was taken in just 15 feet of water and took 45 minutes to land on 50 lb test. It put up a good fight and was very agressive so they made sure that once gaffed it was really dead before they put it in the boat. He told us that there were several other sharks in the same area as they hooked a total of four but could only get one to stay on. Next day out they had another three hook ups on bull sharks and caught a 70 lb'er.