Fish Report: June 24th to July 8th

Overall Catch Success Rate 92%


BILLFISH: Wow what great fishing we are experiencing right now. As always, when the weather hots up so does the fishing. We have been experiencing high temperatures and even a sprinkling of rain and it was on this day that we had our catch of the week, an impressive 650 lb blue marlin aboard “Cabolero” caught by Andrew and Steven Wigger (father and son) from Nashville, Tennessee, just three miles off of Land’s End on a black and yellow lure, taking them 55 minutes to bring to the boat on 80 lb test, not only did they catch his huge fish but a striped marlin also, released by Katie Wigger- what an incredible family memory for this group! We have not seen such a big blue so early in the year for many years. This was an enviable catch but others were not left out with some great catches of striped marlin and even a sailfish. We were thrilled for the guy that caught the sailfish as he had traveled all the way from Redcar, England. Alec Connell visiting with wife Dot to celebrate their anniversary, told me “I have to catch a marlin, I have been trying for years” – being the kind chap that he is, he shared his boat with two people he met and it turned out that THEY caught a marlin each, while Alec sat by watching, aboard the “Tracy Ann”, though he did get a sailfish. His good deed was rewarded though, a few days later when he went out on the “Rebecca” on July 5th, a day before going home, when he released three striped marlin and caught twelve tuna. “Shambala” did really well this week, releasing six striped marlin in the “Stars and Stripes” charity event on June 24th as well as catching four tuna for John Modjeski and friends close to the 95 spot. On July 2nd this same boat released four striped marlin twelve miles off of Land’s End for Mark Miller from Houston, Texas. “Adriana” did well to release three marlin, just five miles off of La Playita, all on live bait, for Steve Gray from Bauxite, Arkansas & Karen Webb from Hernando, Mississippi. Catches were not so close for Audrey and Steven Sowada from Cottage Grove, Minnesota who went forty eight miles out from the lighthouse to catch and release two striped marlin, one dorado and seven tuna aboard “Tracy Ann”. Forty nine percent of charters caught marlin with most catches one or two fish, though as shown above, others did a little better. Pisces total billfish catch was 74, breaking down into 72 striped marlin, 1 blue marlin and 1 sailfish; all but three fish were released.

OTHER SPECIES: Tuna were the mainstay of fishing this week with sixty percent of boats catching from one to twenty fish, generally of the football class, 20 to 30 lbs, though as usual there were some exceptions such as “Adriana” who had a 200 lb fish caught 18 miles off of the Old Lighthouse for Ryan Simon and Frankie Lusma from Crowley, Louisiana – they also caught four other regular tuna and a dorado. Most of the tuna catches were off of Land’s End to the Old Lighthouse varying from three to twenty miles out. Our total tuna count was a very respectable 463 fish. Dorado catches were slower with just twenty eight percent with the catches usually one or two fish and every now and then three. There are some good size dorado, such as a 50 lb’er caught on “La Brisa” outside the 95 spot on a pink and blue lure by Gee Bezuidenhout, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida and a 48 lb fish caught on “Adriana” 18 miles of the Old Lighthouse by Ryan Patton, from Troy Missouri. Other fish caught were bonitas and roosterfish inshore and a solitary 30 lb wahoo as well as a silky shark, that was released.

LOCATION: Three to fifty miles out from Lands End and the Lighthouse, 95 spot, Palmilla, Punta Gorda,

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Hot, sunny, seas calm, one day light rain.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 81 F

BEST LURES: live bait, cedar plugs, green combinations.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

650 lb Blue Marlin - First Big One of Season

Yesterday the weather was hot and muggy and we got the first smattering of rain we have had in 11 months.

The Wigger family from Nashville, Tennessee had been out for a half day on La Brisa and like it so much wanted to go out again, this time they ended up on Cabolero our 31 ft Cabo. They were fishing just three miles off of Lands End, when they had a monster marlin come up hard on a yellow and black lure. Andrew and Steven shared the work struggling for 55 minutes until the fish was at the leader. Back on shore the father and son combo were shocked to learn that their catch was close to 650 lbs. Katie Wigger, also released a striped marlin, just two miles off of Lands End. Good job Captain Lupe!

The Wigger Family from Nashville with the 650 lbs blue marlin caught aboard Cabolero

Cyclops Shark Update

The interest in the weird shark has been amazing, thousands of people have seen the photos and we have been contacted by different organizations, publications and individuals from around the world. There are a lot skeptics but we assure you that this is real.

We just spoke to the commercial fisherman who caught the bull shark that had the albino one-eyed baby inside of it and he filled in some of the details for us. The mother bull shark was caught on what is known locally as a "simplera", this is a large cork buoy which is attached to a sack of sand as an anchor to keep it on the bottom, a smaller buoy is then attached horizontally to the main buoy by a line, with a  smaller  vertical line hanging down with a hook on it. The hook was baited with ballyhoo. The fisherman set the equipment up off of Isla Cerralvo then went back later to see what he had caught. When they reached this "simplera" and brought it up there was a dead female bullshark that weighed 286 lbs and was almost ten feet long. Back at the beach where the shark was filleted they found ten pups inside of her. All of them normal except for the one posted here, which was albino and had the one "eye". The fisherman told me that this one would have been born first, due to the position it was in -first in line at the exit, but that he doubted that it would have survived. Scientists currently have it in their possession and are performing tests.

It's sad to hear of this large female with pups inside killed, but this was taken by a commercial fishing skiff (panga) and this is how the fisherman makes a living to take care of his family. All parts of the shark are used, including the skin. The meat is salted and sent to mainland Mexico where it is usually sold as bacalo or "cod".

General Area where the female Bull-Shark was caught

Pisces Sportfishing will continue to bring you more on this story as it unfolds.

Update on the Freak Shark

Shark expert Felipe Galvan sent us an e-mail saying he has seen this shark and tried to buy it from the fisherman, who was unwilling to part with it, however he did agree for the scientists to do some studies on the shark. At first they thought the "eye" might have been fused nasal cavities, but now they are going to do some testing to see if the "eye" is actually that, or if it is part of the tissue. They already have a scientific manuscript that is under revision for publication. We will keep you updated as more information becomes available.

Freak Shark Puzzles Scientists

A few days ago I was in the office talking to some guys, who had won a fishing trip from Pisces after taking first place in the Asupesca Speafishing Tournament held in La Paz in April. In a casual conversation one of the anglers mentioned a strange shark that he had seen in La Paz. He whipped his camera out and showed me a photo of a very weird, almost unbelievable animal. He told me that a commercial fisheman had caught it. That said, we set off  on the hunt for more information.  Apparently this is a bull shark fetus. The mother who must have been a pretty large creature herself, when cut open, had this strange baby inside of her. So far the fisherman has not been willing to give it up for science but we were pleased to at least get these photos which we showed to a couple of scientists attending the dorado forum in Cabo yesterday. They said they had never seen anything like it and we will forward the images to a shark expert.



Latest Fish Report June 18th to 24th, 2011





15 year old Noah Leibling from Miami Florida, took just 12 minutes to land this 65 lb tuna aboard La Brisa

Overall Catch Success Rate For All Species Combined 99%

BILLFISH: Billfish catches remain steady and look to improve if the weather can ever make up its mind. Right now areas such as La Paz are baking hot, whilst the Pacific is still enjoying cool breezes. There has also been a red tide in Cabo, which despite horror stories you usually hear, has not affected offshore fishing. We have seen a lot of smaller fish wash up on the beach but no big game fish. Catches were steady to good on billfish and excellent on yellowfin tuna. Fifty nine percent of our anglers this week managed to catch between one and six marlin in a day. Top boat was “Shambala” the 60 ft Hatteras, who during the first day of the Stars and Stripes event managed to release six striped marlin and boat four tuna for John Modejeski from El Cajon, California fishing with friends, just above the 95 spot, with live mackerel the ticket for the marlin whereas the tuna took cedar plugs. Earlier in the week “Shambala” also released four marlin and Galapagos for another group this time at the 11.50 spot. As if to prove that size doesn’t really matter, when it comes to boats, “Adriana”, 28 ft Uniflite also released four striped marlin this same day plus three tuna fro Linda & Hal McIver from Jackson, Tn. fishing with Leo Martinez from Escondido, Ca; also at the 11.50 spot. Gerald Richmond from Islamorada, Florida, always seems to make it into our fish report every time he is in town; this week it is for three striped marlin released aboard “Rebecca” at the Herradura on the 23rd of June. Catches this week on the marlin moved a little, with some at the 11.50, others at the Herradura and still others off of Land’s End, the common denominator was live bait. Pisces anglers caught a total of 59 striped marlin this week, all released.

Deckhand Salvador Flores of La Brisa shows off a tuna chomped by a shark as it was being reeled in. Quick thinking Salvador got his revenge though, he tossed back a live bait and hooked the shark which took the angler 40 minutes to bring to the boat; it was approximately 140 lb and was released

OTHER SPECIES: Yellowfin tuna was definitely the most popular catch this week with seventy seven percent of our boats catching from one to twenty two fish, all pretty much in the 15 to 40 lb class, although there was one an exception, a 220 lb’ caught 25 miles off of the Old Lighthouse on the Pacific by a group consisting of Nick Totten & Stephen Adams from McKinney, Texas fishing with Mike Parsons form Bluffton, South Carolina – they caught a total of five tuna all on lures, ranging from cedar plugs, to petroleros and green type lures aboard “La Brisa”. Total count on tuna was 187 fish with the best catches between Land’s End and the Old Lighthouse 20 to 25 miles out. Dorado catches were slower this week with just seventeen percent of boats catching one or two fish in the 20 to 30 lb class with blue and green lures working well for this species. We had a solitary wahoo this week, weighing in at 36 lbs for Kevin Otten from Albuquerque, New Mexico; he also released a striped marlin and boated one tuna close to the 11.50 spot, also aboard “La Brisa”. The only other fish we caught were sharks mostly Galapagos type with some as large as 130 lbs. They are taking a lot of our lures and trying to steal angler’s catches, in fact we had a repeat of our tuna/shark story from a few weeks ago…but this time on a smaller scale. Peter  & David  from London, England were out on La Brisa and caught almost six tuna. The last one was being reeled in when it was attacked by a shark. The quick thinking deckhand hauled what was left of the tuna aboard and swiftly dropped back bait, which the shark took. The angler then had a great time reeling the 140 lb predator to the boat before releasing it.

Largest Tuna of the Week aboard La Brisa, 220 lbs

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Some quite rough seas on windy days and calmer on less windy days, skies are blue and weather nice, not super hot yet.

LOCATION: 11.50 spot, Herradura, Cerro Blanco (Land’s End) to Old Lighthouse.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 71-74 F

BEST LURES: Live bait for marlin, cedar plugs for tuna, blue and green lures for dorado, sharks live bait.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg





Latest Fish Report

June 10th to 17th, 2011

Overall Catch Success Rate 99%

BILLFISH: Marlin catches were surprisingly quite good this week even with a full moon and a drop in water temperature. After some heat last week, it’s like the season slipped back again and those on the Pacific side are again sleeping under quilts. We had a few more anglers in town this week and catches were at fifty four percent for marlin and a few sailfish. Not only did we have marlin but some also fast action on tuna for a few days, some dorado and good amounts of sharks, who proved pesky as we lost a lot of lures and cedar plugs to them. On June 12th “C Rod” had a very nice day, releasing three striped marlin and catching twenty tuna twenty miles off of the Old Lighthouse for Gerald Snyman & Guy Lester from England fishing with Robert Cuthbert from Zimbabwe. “Shamabala” also had a fantastic catch this same day with three striped marlin released, ten tuna and an approximately 100 lb Galapagos shark for a group from Auckland, New Zealand (quite an international week for us); James Gleeson, Paul Draof, Tony Sergison, Pete Dynes and Steve Herring. They caught the fish between the 11.50 spot and the Cabrillo sea mount with petrolero lures and live caballito working for them. Another boat with three striped marlin was “Rebecca”, who also caught eleven tuna for good friend and clients Gerald Richmond from Islamorada, Florida fishing with John Mason from Las Vegas. They fished fourteen miles off of Cerro Blanco and caught their fish with live caballito, petroleros and green colored lures. Other boats averaged one marlin and occasionally two. Pisces anglers caught a total of 40 marlin and one sailfish, all but two released.


Shown here are the guys from Auckland, New Zealand, who fished aboard Shambala, where they released three marlin, a galapago shark and boated ten tuna - Ady Moya, in red, is shown here in our marina office having a laugh with the guys.

OTHER SPECIES: Tuna catches were the ticket this week with a whopping eighty three percent of boats catching from one to twenty fish in the 15 to 35 lb class. Our total catch was two hundred and eighty five fish. The tuna were spread out from the Old Lighthouse to just above the 11.50 spot. Dorado catches were slower and very seldom more than a single fish; nevertheless twenty seven percent of our boats did catch them. Cartney Steinnagel from Lake Wood, Kansas was our top dorado angler with a beautiful 45 lb’er caught aboard “Rebecca” four miles out from Chileno on a flying fish lure. The ladies did well this week, as another notable catch was also taken by a lady angler, a very nice 61 lb wahoo by Kimberly Sutter from Sterling, Colorado, aboard “Adriana” off of Cabeza de Ballena; her group also released a striped marlin this day. Four sharks were released and reported as Galapagos and sardine sharks – it’s hard to know if these descriptions are accurate as it is hard to tell without a biologist on board, so we are going to ask anglers and crews to try and get us some photos to clarify this. Most sharks were reported at around 100 lbs and all were released. Inshore there were a few roosterfish, amberjack, skipjack and even a few stray marlin.


We loved this father and son photo of  Trevor and Nick Tuckwood, visiting all the way from London U.K- they fished aboard the panga Sirius, shown here with captain Norberto in the middle.

WEATHER: Windy and cooler most days whitecaps several days. A dive boat sank at Punta Gorda, apparently due to strong winds and the boat taking on water, all divers were successfully rescued thanks to a speedy response by the navy who utilized their new helicopter. Skies are clear but wind is still up on the Pacific.

This beautiful 61 lb wahoo was caught by Kim Sutter from Sterling, Colorado aboard Adriana. Pictured here with friends and captain Enrique "Kikon" Martinez on the left and deckhand Fernando Noyola on the right



LOCATION: The Old Lighthouse on the Pacific to Cabrillo Sea Mount on the Sea of Cortez; 11.50 spot was still the most productive area.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: Water is as cold as 71 F close to cabo and up to 81 at the Cabrillo Sea Mount.
BEST LURES: Live caballito, cedar plugs, petroleros, green colored lures.
Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Georgia Angler Has Great Time on Ruthless

Mario wanted me to send you guys a picture of the Marlin I caught while my family and I were in Cabo. This fish was caught last Thursday aboard the "Ruthless". Thanks again for such an outstanding experience!!
Mike Mondich, Kennesaw, GA



Nice Dorado Catches Today

The Picture Tells The Story

Tagging Program for Dorado

Mario our dockmaster snapped this photo of part of our team looking quite intense at a breakfast meeting yesterday with Dr. Sofia Ortega. As you may know Mexico is considering opening dorado up to commercial fishing, which we do not agree with. Dr. Sofia was in Cabo and was showing us details of a doardo tagging project she is working on to quantify the population and habits. We have a meeting on this issue with federal and local politicians on Friday, June 24th and are preparing our particpation for this event and defense of sportfishing.

From left to right front row, Marco Ehrenberg, Glenn Ehrenbeg, Dr.Sofia Ortega, back row Bio. Carlos Narro, Marcela Zuniga, Tomas Comacho - Asupesca