Pisces Rebecca One of Only a Few to Score a Marlin

Yesterday fishing was on the poor side due to the extremely strong winds the day before, most of the boats got "skunked", however Don & Jackie Saunders from Minnetonka, Minnesota fished aboard Pisces Rebecca, with young son Henry and were one of a handful of boats to release a striped marlin and catch this dorado for the little guy

Inshore Fishing For a Windy Day

Yesterday, March 16th, was super windy in Cabo and San Jose and it appears most of the Baja peninsula. The Sea of Cortez & the Pacific were a mass of frothing whitecaps - boats were out fishing though. Some boats preferred to stay close to shore & not deal with the rough seas and caught small game, which can be a lot of fun on light tackle - sierra, trigger fish and roosterfish were the top catches.

March Shaping up to be a Great Marlin Month

March 8th to 14th, 2014
Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 97%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 85%, Dorado3%, Other 20%

Billfish: Fantastic marlin action was experienced by most boat throughout this past week, as boats regularly had multiple hook ups, however, this week the location changed mid-week to a completely different area  - Golden Gate was no longer the location of choice. Boats moved into the Sea of Cortez, following warmer water temperatures and fished the 11.50 spot, Golden Gate & even Destiladeras. March 10th, was one of the best days of the week, when we saw Pisces Yahoo release eight striped marlin at the 11.50 spot for Byron & Heather Underwood from Yakima, Washington. This same day we saw Ruthless & C Rod release seven marlin each, whilst Rebecca & Tracy Ann managed a half dozen each, at the 11.50 spot. Biggest striper of the week took angler Kim Snell, from Oklahoma two hours and ten minutes to release aboard Pisces Shambala & was estimated at 200 lbs. As if that wasn’t enough, Kim released three other marlins in the 120 to 140 lb. class this same day. All kinds of bait worked, with mackerel topping the list, followed by sardines, ballyhoo & caballito. March is traditionally known as a slow month for billfish, but this does not seem to be the case this year. As long as the water stays warm we think the bite will continue. Eighty five percent of our charters released marlin giving us a total catch of 174 fish.
OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches were extremely slow this week with just a couple of lone fish, caught whilst trolling for marlin. Pisces Petrolero caught two big thresher sharks on separate days in the 140 to 150 lb. size range. Bill Collector had some incredible fishing on March 9th, when they released seven striped marlin, plus a 40 lb. mako shark for Jay Levi from Charlotte, North Carolina. This was not the only mako shark for Bill Collector they also got another around 55 lb. specimen for Fredrick & Erin Rahr from Fort Worth, Texas, who did well to released four striped marlin & a couple of skipjacks in addition to the shark. Byron Hill from Victoria, Canada caught a beautiful 70 lb. wahoo on a green lure at San Jaime aboard Pisces Speedwell. Inshore a few roosters, some large sierras, bonitas & jack crevalle were caught.
LOCATION: 11.50 spot, Punta Gorda, Destiladeres, Golden Gate, and San Jaime.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Mostly sunny, seas calm with some chop on the Pacific.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 70-73 F
BEST LURES: Live bait

Its A Bit Late, but Here's the Fish Report

MARCH 1ST TO 7TH, 2014
Numbers at a glance: Billfish  84%, Tuna 0%, Dorado 0%, Small Game 15%
Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 89%

Chic McSherry from Scotland released nine striped marlin aboard Valerie

BILLFISH: This past week could almost be called the striped marlin report, because that is practically all we caught, and in good numbers. Looking back over the past three years, the first week of March of this year has been better by far for marlin, than in previous years. The water temperature is still above 70 F even us far up as Loreto. Fishing was exclusively at Golden Gate for marlin in the 100 to 150 lb. class with catches consistent with a the exception of  a couple of days when several boats got “skunked” – just a question of fish not being hungry, because they were spotted & enticed. Angler of the week was Chic McSherry from Glasgow, Scotland for releasing nine striped marlin (he says it was ten but the last was a “Mexican release”) aboard Pisces Valerie, on a combination of mackerel & sardines. This same angler & boat scored again a few days later, on March 4th, releasing another seven marlin.  Pisces Valerie was definitely boat of the week, as on March 5th they were the high catch boat again, this time for Ronald Brochu, Jim Glass & Rick Sangetta from Castro Valley, California; they managed to release seven marlin up to 150 lbs., once again at the Golden Gate bank.  Eighty four percent of our charters caught between one and six striped marlin this week, giving us a total of 138 fish released.
OTHER SPECIES: Because boats were concentrating on marlin they were heading straight to Golden Gate, but even then did not pick up any dorado or tuna either at the bank or the way to and from it.  A couple of sharks were caught in the area, the first an approximate 60 lb. thresher  by Bill Ellerbrock aboard Pisces Andrea, the second was a 45 lb. mako by Walter Myers from Minnesota, who also released a striped marlin, aboard Pisces Adriana.   Inshore the only other catches we had were some sierra and skipjack.
LOCATION: Golden Gate for marlin, Old Lighthouse for small game.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Cortez calm, some wind on the Pacific which made seas a bit bumpy.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 72 F
BEST LURES: Live mackerel & sardines

FEBRUARY 22ND to 28th, 2014
Overall Catch Success Rate, All Species Combined 88%
Numbers at a glance: Marlin 68%, Dorado 8%, Small Game 58%

 60 lb wahoo aboard Valerie, angler Chic McSherry 2nd from left

BILLFISH: We usually approach March with some trepidation as in past years, this signifies cooler water & poor billfish catches, however, that is not the case this year, so far. Water temperatures are holding firm right around 72 F & the awaited winter came and went without it ever really happening. Striped marlin catches continue to be very good with the only thing hampering catches windy weather on a few days, which discouraged anglers to tough it out past Cabo Falso, which is a shame, because once they reached Golden Gate it was much calmer. Nevertheless quite a few groups opted to not confront the wind and stayed around the shoreline fishing for smaller game. Pisces Bill Collecter was again the number one boat for most marlin in a day, for releasing seven for Steven & Kathy Fix, Darcy Reid & Cindy & Dave Nelson – they used a combination of sardines & caballito at Golden Gate. Not far behind was the 31ft Bertram Tracy Ann, with six marlin in the 130 to 150 lb. class for Alexander Simkas on February 22nd. This same boat released five marlin the day before for Jason Moore, Jay Carson & Cliff Montgomery as did Pisces La Brisa, for lone angler Chic McSherry from Scotland, who commented that some of his fish were extremely tough & athletic.  These were the better catches this week, with other boats releasing between one and four fish, almost exclusively at Golden Gate, though a few stray stripers were picked up by boats concentrating on small game. Sixty eight percent of our boat caught marlin this week, giving us a total of 105 fish, with all but one released.

Low res pic of possible world record amberjack (see above)

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches dwindled right down, which is normal for this time of year. A few were picked up by trolling but tended to be incidental catches, with the exception of Pisces Rebecca, who deliberately went looking for them on the Cortez side and managed to catch two, plus some skipjacks and needle fish. Only eight percent of our charters managed to find dorado. Once again some big sharks were caught, complimenting already good fishing days for some anglers.  William Babb from Texas released a 140 lb. thresher shark, caught on a live mackerel as well as three striped marlin aboard Pisces Rebecca on February 22nd.  Bernie Graham from North Bay, Canada had a fabulous day aboard the 35 ft. Cabo, Listo, releasing a 145 lb. thresher shark & a striped marlin, with a bonus 25 lb. wahoo for the table.  This was not the only wahoo, Scottish angler Chic McSherry landed a beautiful 60 lb. wahoo, which he said put up zero fight but came straight to the boat on February 23rd as he fished aboard Pisces Valerie – he also released three striped marlin this same day. We had one other shark; an 80 lb. mako released aboard the 28 ft. Uniflite Adriana. One big story this week was a monster amberjack that reportedly weighed 150 lbs. caught by Craig Heiges from New York, aboard a local charter boat, Edith V, with captain Vicente (not a Pisces boat). Craig took 45 minutes to reel in the huge fish, the largest we have ever seen in Cabo, on 20 lb. tackle. At the main dock the fished weighed 150 lbs., but there are doubts about the accuracy of the scale – the all tackle world record is 156 lbs. 13 oz., so this one was just a little shy, it could possibly be a 20 lb. test class record though and is definitely a Mexican record. Any potential world records have to be weighed on a certified scale by an IGFA rep, neither of which was done leaving the status of this fish in doubt. Nevertheless an incredible achievement, well done Craig! Inshore boats saw action on skipjacks, sierra, jack crevalle, red snapper & a few roosters & needle fish.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Partly cloudy, seas, calm on Cortez, some moderate to rough seas on the Pacific.
LOCATION: Golden Gate, Old Lighthouse to Migrino
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 71-72 F
BEST LURES: live bait, hoochis, and feathers

We Don't Want to be Cruel........But....

We don't wan't to be cruel to those of you freezing in other parts of the world right now, but this photo was snapped this morning, by Rebecca from Cabo San Lucas, as she waited to board our 31 ft Bertram, Rebecca before a day of fishing - come on down; we are only a plane ride away.

Ten Marlin on One Boat!

FEBRUARY 9TH to 21st, 2014
Overall Catch Success Rate 93%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 71%, Tuna 12%, Dorado 11%, Small Game 32% 

BILLFISH: This week’s report covers a two week period as we were at a boat show last week and couldn’t get this out – the good news is that we have had some superb fishing. The stripe marlin bit was particularly good, even though we did have a few boats “skunked” right around full moon, but on the other hand we had a couple of boats that released as many as ten in a day. Top catch was Pisces Bill Collector, a 32 ft. Cabo Express, with ten marlin released along with a 175 lb. thresher shark for Mark Chiavetta from San Jose, California. The other top boat was also a Cabo, this time a 35 ft. flybridge, Listo, which also released then striped marlin for Barlet Sequeira, Jason & Jennifer Hammonds, Kasandra Hutson & Kelly & Matt Thomas, all from Houston. The first week of this report, boats switched from the Pacific to the 11.50 spot on the Cortez side, mainly due to some gusty winds on the Pacific, but as we write this Golden Gate on the Pacific is again, the location of choice for most boats willing to go up the coast and not settle for close by small game. The boats are using mixed live bait, with mackerel their first choice, but also taking along caballito & sardines. Catches ranged from one to ten fish with many boats in the four, five & six fish category. Seventy on percent of our boats caught striped marlin this week, giving us a total catch of 229 stripers, with all but one released.
OTHERS SPECIES: As mentioned in our fish report header, ninety three percent of our charters caught fish of some type and even though marlin was the most likely catch we still had several boats that did quite well on tuna. Pisces 31ft Bertram, Tracy Ann, always seems to make the fish report – this week she had more tuna than anybody else, as this crew don’t mind going the extra mile, sometimes traveling 40 miles to where they think they will find tuna –this is exactly what they did for Dennis Albin from Washington and ended up catching him & John Lodrige 29 tuna up to 20 lbs. as well as releasing a striped marlin. Just twelve percent of our charters found tuna and generally they were far out, twenty five to forty miles, with catches of one to fifteen fish the norm. Dorado catches were slightly slower with eleven percent of boats hooking these, generally when trolling for marlin, the difference here though, was that when found catches were rarely more than one or two fish. We are still seeing lots of sharks them most we can remember in a decade. Hunters Hoshiko from San Diego hooked an approximately 110 lb. thresher shark & released a smaller hammerhead and a striped marlin.  A couple of small mako sharks were also released by the fleet. Inshore thirty two percent of our boats caught sierra, bonita, skipjacks , needle fish, some roosters and the odd yellowtail.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Partly cloudy skies, warm, seas somewhat choppy in the afternoons, some whitecaps on the Pacific when windy.
LOCATION: Golden Gate, 11.50 spot, 20-40 miles off lighthouse, inshore near lighthouse & migrino.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 72 F
BEST LURES: Live mackerel, sardines, caballito, cedar plugs, green colored lures.
Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

First Spear Fish of the Year Caught

FEBRUARY 1ST TO 7TH, 2014
Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 80%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 60%, Tuna 10%, Dorado 20%, Other 18%

Paul Boswell from Canada, releases his first striped marlin aboard Pisces Rebecca

BILLFISH: We had a pretty decent week, even though numbers are a bit lower this report, but this was directly linked to bad weather on February 5th, when we had cloudy skies, wind & choppy seas, causing even our most productive boats to come back with nothing, nevertheless other days we saw some really good fishing. The most exciting catch this week was of a 60 LB short bill spearfish, caught and released aboard Pisces Petrolero on February 1st by Shari Miller from Peoria, Arizona. The unexpected catch took place sixteen miles outside of Santa Maria Bay on the Cortez side when the fish took a trolled “guacamaya” colored lure & was quickly let go. This is an extremely rare catch; usually no more than two a year are caught for the entire Cabo fleet. Striped marlin catches remained good at Golden Gate as long weather allowed the boats to get up there, on some days it was very windy and cold meaning that most anglers simply did not want to get beaten up to  get there. Nevertheless we had some great catches- the Adams family from Encinitas, California had a great day aboard Pisces Yahoo, releasing five striped marlin between 100 and 170 lbs., at Golden Gate on February 6th, using live mackerel for bait, making these guys our anglers of the week. Deanna Beasley from Austin, Texas fishing with friends had a great time releasing four marlin & boating one dorado for the dinner table aboard Pisces La Brisa. The 31 ft. Bertram Tracy Ann also achieved a high catch day with four striped marlin for Curtis Matthew & Frank Ulhorn from South Carolina.  Sixty percent of other boats caught between one and three striped marlin each, giving us a total of 71 released plus the spearfish.
OTHER SPECIES: Although we still have tuna and dorado around, the numbers arestarting to decrease, that said, we do expect another strong tuna run right around April. Only a half dozen boats found tuna this week & when found it was feast or famine, they eight caught one or two or did the opposite and caught fifteen to twenty five. Sizes were small at 15 to 25 lbs. slightly more boats caught dorado, giving us a catch rate of twenty percent, but the catches were of a single fish in the 15 to 30 lb. class.  Pisces Tracy Ann caught an 80 lb. mako shark for Parker Jones from Raleigh, North Carolina and one other mako was released for the fleet. The inshore fishing is starting to pick up and we saw some red snapper, yellowtail, bonita, skipjack & sierra in moderate numbers.
LOCATION: Pacific, Golden Gate, inshore Light House to Gaspareno.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Feels like winter has arrived in Cabo, some chilly evenings, a couple of windy days and rough seas, however, at the end of this report, we had returned to our normal beautiful weather.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 71-72 F
BEST LURES: Live mackerel, green/orange lures, cedar plugs.

Great Fishing in Cabo - See the Numbers Here

January 11th to 17th, 2014
Overall Catch Success All Species Combined 100%
 Numbers at a glance: Billfish 45%, Tuna 66%, Dorado 5%, Other 11%

BILLFISH: There is no better place to be right now than Cabo, fantastic weather, warmer than average water temperatures and superb fishing in general, with every single boat sent out by Pisces catching fish.  Marlin catches were good, but with a full moon the fish were feeding at night and not quite as hungry during the daytime, nevertheless forty five percent, a little under half of the boats, did manage to hook up between one and four striped marlin. Marlin could be found most days at Golden Gate or close by, but could not always be enticed to eat even their favorite bait, mackerel. Craig Romanisson from Vancouver was out with friends aboard Pisces Adriana on January 11th when the released four striped marlin up to 120 LBS. This same day Pisces Fearless, fishing the same area also had a quadruple marlin day for Ken Dellinger, Ryan Rousser & Kris Owens from McKinney, Texas. The only other boat to have a four marlin day was Pisces Rebecca on the 12th, for Gerald & Mary Schultz from Butesmart, Wisconsin, who also caught a 30 LB grouper. Other boats caught one or two fish, almost exclusively at Golden Gate on live bait. Our total marlin catch was of 34 fish all released.

OTHER SPECIES: Yellow fin tuna catches were fabulous this week, with boats able to load up on fish in the 12 to 30 LB class and occasionally up to 50 LBS.  More tuna was caught than any other fish this period giving us a total of 477 fish and a catch rate of sixty six percent. Catches ranged from twelve to thirty five fish per boat, with the majority caught between 25 miles out from the Old Lighthouse and San Jaime. Dorado catches took a sharp downturn this week with just a few caught. Inshore boat caught some sierra, skipjacks and the odd grouper. Pisces Tracy Ann caught a sizeable thresher shark at 146 LBS, taken by Sam Shrader from Boston, who along with his brothers Steve and Connor also released a striped marlin.  Our surf fishing guide Wesley took out Gerardo Gonzalez from Holister, California, they were fishing for sierra off of Los Arcos when they got a huge surprise, a large lemon shark took the bait intended for the sierra – Gerardo struggled and was coached for 35 minutes until they managed to get the 220 LB shark to the beach, were they took out the circle hook and safely released it. A remarkable achievement on 30 LB braided line and spinning tackle.
LOCATION: Old Lighthouse to Golden Gate.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear sunny skies, flat seas.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 74 F
BEST LURES: Live bait, cedar plugs, sardines.

January 4th to 10th, 2013

Overall Catch Success Rate 100%

Numbers at a glance: Billfish 61%, Dorado 41%, Tuna 47%, Other 24%

BILLFISH: The good thing this week was that we had a perfect score, every single boat we sent out caught something and more often than not, quite a lot of fish. This period striped marlin was the species most likely to be encountered by anglers aboard Pisces boats. We had great catches of other species too, but nevertheless more boats found marlin than anything else. As predicted in our previous fish report, the stacking up of boats off of the Old Lighthouse who were bottom fishing for the stripers, came to an end after three weeks, the fish spread out and charters are moving up the coast, mostly to Golden Gate to find them.  Catches ranged from one to three marlin per boat, with our top boat Pisces Yahoo, having a fabulous day releasing five striped marlin for Greg Stewart from Palin City, Alabama, who also caught a tuna, grouper and two dorado. Our little 28 ft. boat Adriana, really must have flown to be able to get to Golden Gate & back on a half day trip and release three striped marlin for Mike Flanagan from Pennsylvania. This same boat had three big stripers on January 8^th, up to 200 LBS at La Bomba & Golden Gate for Joe Xumphonphakdy (yes we questioned that name too) & Megan Laube from New Jersey. It was nice to finally have some live mackerel available – striped marlins’ absolute favorite, improving the odds of hook ups. That said those boats that took caballito for bait also did well.  Sixty one percent of our boats caught marlin this week, giving us a total of forty eight fish, all released.

OTHER SPECIES: Marlin might have been the most frequent catch this week but for sheer numbers yellow fin tuna could not be beat. Our top tuna boat this week was Pisces Rebecca with an amazing catch of fifty fish up to 25 LBS, (many released) for Steve Turner from the aptly named Fishers, Indiana - he along with his friends also release a striped marlin. They fished 38 miles to the south of Cabo on January 10^th. This same day Pisces Tracy Ann did not want to be left out, but they went to San Jaime where they were able to catch thirty tuna, two dorado and release a striped marlin for Daniel O’Connor & buddies from Australia.  Pisces Bill Collector went a long way out, forty miles from Lands End, to be able to catch thirty five tuna up to 30 LBS for Jo Ellen Jablonski & party from Illinois.  Forty seven percent of our charters caught tuna giving us a total count of 324 fish.  Dorado catches remain good, with forty one percent of boats catching between one and ten fish up to 25 LBS. One of the better catches was by George Leopold from Santa Fe, California aboard Pisces La Brisa, for ten fish caught at La Ballena on live mackerel and an assortment of lures.  The dorado are more spread out now, but generally were found along the coastline about a mile offshore between the Lighthouse and Golden Gate.  Several boats caught grouper up to 20 LBS as well as skipjacks and the odd sierra inshore. Just a couple of small wahoo were taken and the only other catch was that of a blue shark, a tiny 20 LB specimen, released aboard Adriana by Ken Kinslow from Oklahoma.

LOCATION: Pacific – Golden Gate, Margaritas, San Jaime, Migrino, 30- 40 miles south.

WEATHER: Perfect

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: Water is still warm at 74 F

BEST LURES: Live mackerel, live caballito, cedar plugs, green/black, petrolero