What you need to know when you take your fish to be cooked

Recently we have received questions from fellow anglers regarding if you need to show your fishing license when you take your fish to have it cooked?  The answer is yes, and no.  Let us explain:

By Mexican law, each restaurant has to have documents proving the legality of their fish.   In case of marlin, dorado, sailfish and rooster fish, these are all fish that cannot be traded, unless the restaurant has a proof that the fish has been legally caught by an angler.  If the restaurants have such fish stored in their freezers without proof to verify that it is legal, they can be fined.

Many restaurants in Los Cabos provide a “You hook it, we cook” service.  In case of the above mentioned fish you don’t need a licence in case the restaurant will prepare the fish at the moment you bring it to them.  But if the customer brings his fish in the morning to come to have a dinner from it in the evening, they do need to provide a copy of their license to support the restaurant, in case the authorities come to do an inspection, so they can see that fish is caught legally by a client.  Please note that if the fish is caught from the shore, you do not require a fishing license, and you won’t be asked to show the license when you bring it to the restaurant.

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report March 28 - April 3, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 74%

Numbers at a glance: Billfish 57%, Dorado 9%, Other 29%

Top boat this week was Tracy Ann on March 30th for catching and releasing three striped marlin.

BILLFISH:  We are pleased to report an improvement in fishing this week both generally and for billfish.  Nevertheless it still could not be described as great.  Water temperatures remain higher than normal for this time of year which could be a factor.  More marlin were spotted this week but they tended to be fussy eaters.  We had catches at both ends of the spectrum of our fishing grounds, from Destiladeras on the Cortez side to Margaritas and Migrino on the Pacific side.  Top boat this week was Tracy Ann on March 30th for catching and releasing three striped marlin at Pozo de Cota for Jamie, Benjamin, Gretchen and James from Easly, South Carolina.  All three fish took live caballito and were of a good size at 140-160 lbs.  It was nice to see boats catching more than a single marlin and a little over a third of the charters managed two stripers and often some smaller game too.  Valerie, Tracy Ann, Attitude Adjustment, Adriana, La Brisa, Rebecca were all boats that caught more than one marlin in a day.  The fishing is becoming more consistent but has still not stabilized, for example on April 1st a lot of the boats were skunked despite spotting multiple marlin but the following day every boat out caught one to two marlin, even those on shorter days.  Fifty seven percent of Pisces Sportfishing boats caught marlin this week, giving us a total of 46 fish, all released, except one.

OTHER SPECIES: There was a not a lot of action on smaller game this week with dorado catches continuing to drop and just nine percent of boats finding the odd fish here and there whilst trolling for marlin.  Most of the dorado were taken on live bait on the Pacific and weighed from 20 to 30 lbs.  There were a half dozen mako sharks caught between 40 and 80 lbs.  Flora T had a very nice day on March 30th for Owen Kilmury from Huntsville, Alabama.  They caught and released a striped marlin, a 70 lb. mako shark, skipjack and sierra between Pozo de Cota and Migrino.  Other catches closer to shore were a few sierra, skipjacks, jack crevalle and the odd grouper.  These smaller game catches accounted for twenty nine percent of the fleet production.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Partly cloudy skies, otherwise sunny, seas moderate with light winds.

LOCATION: Migrino, Los Arcos, Pozo de Cota, Margaritas, Destiladeras – catches were better on the Pacific.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 75-76F

BEST LURES: Live bait, petrolero, tigrillo.

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report March 20 - 27, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 62%

Numbers at a glance: Billfish 38%, Dorado 7%, Other 38%.

 

BILLFISH:  It was definitely feast or famine this week but we can see the fishing is gradually getting better.  More boats reported spotting multiple marlin but generally had a hard time getting them interested in bait.  On the other hand we had some boats that did exceptionally well.  Catch of the week has to go to Tracy Ann and for anglers Jason Jones, Steve Hawkins & Fred Gabel from Chico, California.  On March 26th this trio was fishing at Cerros de Arena on the Pacific side when they hooked a black marlin – very unusual for this time of year - the fish was estimated at 210 lbs. and released healthy; they then went on to release two striped marlin in the 60 to 100 lbs. class.  All three fish took live caballito – thanks guys for releasing all three fish.  Not far behind Tracy Ann this week was the ever popular Rebecca who had an outstanding day on March 25th for a group from Oceanside, California, when they released four striped marlin between Margaritas and Los Arcos.  The fish were between 80 and 110 lbs. and were hooked on live bait.  Another boat that did very well earlier in the week was La Brisa with Bart Findley and friends on board from Blue Springs, Mo.  They went up quite a way up the Sea of Cortez coastline, to Destiladeras where they managed to release three striped marlin in the 60 to 130 lb. class. These catches show that the marlin are on the small side, so it looks like there are a lot of juveniles around.  There were several boats that had double marlin days though quite a lot of boats were “skunked” too.  These catches give us hope that the billfish catches will stabilize soon and become more consistent as the watchword lately has been “inconsistent”.  Pisces anglers caught a total of 35 billfish this week with 34 released.

OTHER SPECIES:  Most of the smaller game this week consisted of inshore species such as sierra and skipjacks, with a few groupers and nice yellowtail thrown in.  We also saw several small mako sharks, 20-50 lbs. released.  A couple of small wahoo were caught, but nothing over 30 lbs.  Dorado catches slowed way down with just six caught total for our fleet and tuna catches similar.  The anglers aboard Valerie on March 22nd, weren’t concerned about the size of their catch but were glad to have action for everybody on board as they caught twelve skipjacks, releasing four.  Bill Collector had a nice mixed day for Trey Parker and friends from Plano, Texas, with a mako shark, skipjack and striped marlin released at Destiladeras on March 27th.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Warmer than usual, clear skies, windy on the Pacific, some swell late in the week.
LOCATION: Herradura, Los Frailes, 11.50 spot, Los Arcos, Cerros de Arena, Destiladeras
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 76-77 F


Based the Catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report March 7 - 13, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 77%

Numbers at a glance: Billfish 35%, Dorado 50%, Other 22%

 

BILLFISH:  We had some good catches this week but were plagued with inconsistency.  Some days every boat had a marlin then the next they caught nothing as the fish moved around and refused to be tempted by the bait offered.  Our top boat this week was 28 ft Adriana on March 8th for anglers Robert & Paul Henry from San Diego.  They released three striped marlin and caught three dorado – perhaps it was something to do with Captain J.R from the Rebecca going out as the mate that day.  A couple of days later this same boat, with the regular crew managed to release two marlin and catch a dorado at Cerros de Arena for Scott Pruitt and family from Dallas, Texas.  Nathan Hawes fished a little further with Devon McCleery, from North Carolina aboard the Rebecca this same day and were fortunate to release a striped marlin each in the 100 to 140 lb class on live caballito.  The only other boat that had more than one marlin was Bill Collector  with two on March 9th both on live bait at Cabeza deBallena for Gerry Rosales fishing with Mario and Carter from Atlanta, Georgia.  There was no set game plan to be able to catch marlin this week, as they were spread out and not always hungry.  Thirty five percent of our boats caught marlin this week with 28 fish released.

OTHER SPECIES:  We are so thankful for the dorado which have been the mainstay of the Cabo fishery over the past couple of months.  This species was again the most widely caught sportfish with fifty percent of boats out  catching one to seven fish in the 10 to 20 lb class.  La Brisa was had the best catch, which was seven fish in one day  at Las Margaritas for the Hughes family from Richmond, Virginia – all of their fish were caught on lures.  Our total tally on dorado was eighty three fish.  A lot of skipjack both the black and white variety were caught inshore as well as some yellowtail, sierra and snappers. The only wahoo of the week was 25 lbs and caught aboard Yahoo. 

LOCATION:  Mostly Pacific off of Lighthouse, Migrino, Gaspareno, some days on the Cortez side, at Cabeza de Ballena and even as far as Destiladeras.

WEATHER CONDITIONS:  Mostly clear skies, windy most days, average seas.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 73 F

BEST LURES: Live bait, green colores, tigrillo.

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report Feb 28 - March 7, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined: 97%

Numbers at a glance: Billfish 16%, Dorado 32%, Tuna 1%, Other 27% 

BILLFISH:  Our overall percentage of billfish catch is down from last week, but only because we had more boats go out, not because we caught less fish.  Although, with more boats out fishing we’d hoped that billfish numbers would rise even more.  However, we did see an increase in marlin catches and the temperature did slowly drop, raising numbers from 9 fish caught last week, to 16 this week; all released.  Again, most boats caught only one striped marlin, but La Brisa and Andrea managed to land two each.  The Andrea caught its two stripers off of La Bomba on caballito bait, and released both specimens, averaging around 120 to 140 lbs.

La Brisa and anglers from Ilinois and Colorado, including 9 month old Garret, caught their two striped marlin off of the Cerros de Arena. They also landed a small 10 lbs dorado. 

OTHER SPECIES:  Dorado was again the species of the week.  We had 29 boats catch all of 69 dorados.  Little panga Salsa caught 9 dorados (5 released) off of La Bomba on caballito and feather lures.  They also caught 9 sierras closer to the Lighthouse.

Flora T also caught a few dorados, catching them on a tigrillo lure out of the Lighthouse and weighing about 20 lbs each. They also landed a nice 20 lbs wahoo out of Los Arcos, one of only 6 caught this week. 

Suprisingly, we had three mako sharks caught this week.  Bill Collector had a pretty decent fishing day on March 6th, catching its 80 lb mako, which anglers from Illiois released, on caballito bait out of the Old Lighthouse.  They also caught a 120 lbs striped marlin, which they released, and a 25 lb dorado on caballito bait.  The other makos caught were also caught off of the lighthouse, and out of Migrino, but on different days.

As for tuna, the only boat to catch any this week was the Tracy Ann who went 35 miles out to the 230 Spot and used cedar plugs to land their 3 yellowfins, only about 10 lbs each.  They also found a nice striped marlin out that way, whch they released and six skipjacks between 8 and 10 lbs. 

Other fish caught this week were skipjack, jack crevelle and one snapper. Sierra outnumbered the smaller game caught this week with 36 caught in total.

LOCATION: Lighthouse, Migrino, Cerros de Arena, Los Arcos.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Mostly clear, moderate seas and some wind starting to pick up.

WATER TEMP: 70-75 F

BEST LURES: Caballito bait mainly, as well as tigrillo, petrolero, white/blue, red/black.

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Rebecca Ehrenberg.

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report Feb 21 - 27, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 78%

Numbers at a glance: Billfish 20%, Dorado 60%, Tuna 4%, Other

BILLFISH:  We had an up and down week in Cabo, all the right elements are present, lots of bait, good color water, temperature a little high at 73 F, but the fish were hard to locate.  Added to this was the fact that there were fewer anglers in town this week, perhaps half of the previous week, so less boat out fishing means less fish being caught.  It was rare that anybody caught more than one marlin but 28 ft. Adriana managed to catch and release two up to 120 lbs. plus a tiny dorado for the Baker family from Coleville, Washington at Elias Calles on the Pacific side on February 21st.  One of their fish took a live caballito & the other a petrolero lure.  This ended up being the best day of the week for marlin with pretty much every boat catching a single marlin plus a few dorado.  On February 22nd, Adriana was one of the only boats to catch marlin, this time at Migrino for Mallorie Edenfeld who also caught a 20 lb. Dorado. Rebecca fished a little further up the coast this day, close to Golden Gate and also released a 130 lb. marlin and landed a 25 lb. dorado  for Rod Savage & friends from Michigan.  Many times the crews spotted marlin and threw bait to them, which they mouthed and then declined.  Twenty percent of our charters caught marlin this week giving us a total catch of 9 fish; all released.  Our overall catch rate however, did improve slightly.

OTHER SPECIES:  Dorado catches provided the bulk of what was landed this week, even though their numbers declined a little.  Catches ranged from one to five fish in the 5 to 30 lb. range.  Dorado were spread out along the Pacific coast from the Old Lighthouse to Golden Gate and took both live bait and different lure colors.  Tuna catches were slow with just a couple of boats finding them.  Tracy Ann travelled 48 miles to find them and even then only got five football size for Derrick & Marilyn from Red Deer, Canada.  Greg Cox was the only angler to catch a shark, a small mako that was released aboard Yahoo.  A small wahoo was caught aboard Andrea as well as a dorado on February 23rd.  Valerie had a good day on small game with eight sierra and three grouper off of Margaritas for George Harrison from Pennsylvania.  Inshore there were a few skipjacks, the odd yellowtail and grouper.

WEATHER: Mostly clear skies with some wind on the Pacific, seas mostly calm.

LOCATION: Pacific from Old Lighthouse to Golden Gate, one day at Cabeza de Ballena on Cortez side.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP:  73 F

BEST LURES: Live caballito, green, red & black, petrolero.

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg

  

Cabo San Lucas Sport Fishing - Customer Review

We received this review from Greg Jackson on our Facebook page, and wanted to share it with you:

 "Went fishing with Pisces on February 11th and 13th February 2015.  We fished on the La Brisa and Rebecca.  The first day on the La Brisa weather was nice with calm seas.  Fishing was slow but that is fishing. The Deckhand Roberto and Captain Rey were spot on when we did hookup.  We had one marlin shred 3 baits but couldn't get him hooked up.  After 6 fish and 5 hookups we did manage to get 3 in the boat; 1 marlin and 2 Dorado.  The 2nd Day was on the Rebecca.  Again Captain and Deckhand, sorry dont remember their names, were spot on when we did get hooked up.  We only seen one marlin but did get 2 Dorado.  The day was unusually cold and the seas were rough.  So the Captain was quite busy with the boat.  

I have taken several different Charters out of Cabo and Pisces Sportfishing is the only one I would use again. There were issues with the other Charters but I will not mention them here.  The resort hooked up 3 and one other I chartered.  I will give a shout out to Pat for her patience with the Crazy guy that must have sent 500 emails.  Lastly the Marlin was released, and the Dorado sure did taste good.  What we didn't think we would eat we gave to the Captain to distribute how he seen fit.  They were prepared at an outdoor cafe about 50 yards from the boat.  A place simply called Fisherman's.  The guys on the Dock in the morning were very helpful with getting us to our boats.  I felt we were rushed a bit.  But I think we should have gotten there earlier than 06:30 as there were others wanting to get to their boats also.  This same group of guys were also waiting at the Boat as it backed into the slip, wanting to know if you were taking your catch, if you wanted it mounted and letting you know that almost all the restaurants on the wharf."

- Greg Jackson 

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report Feb 14 - 20, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 73%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 26%, Dorado 47%, Other 30%

 

BILLFISH:   This week was a bit frustrating as the start of the week was pretty slow, with the fish moving around a lot and being hard to pinpoint, so what was a productive area one day, drew a blank the next.  Marlins were few and far between so even our top billfish producers struggled to get hook ups.  On one day Tracy Ann decided to go the opposite direction of everybody else and met with success for Dave Mabuy & Dave Farrell, from Spartanburg, South Carolina, when they released two striped marlin in front of Palmilla & Cabeza de Ballena on the Cortez side on February 14th, which was a nice achievement on a day when most boats got “skunked”.  Debora & Ricky Keller from New York headed out on 28 ft. Andrea on February 15th and travelled a long way, thirty two miles out from Land’s End to be exact, but they did end up releasing two striped marlin.  One of our better days was February 16th, when nearly all the boat managed a marlin each plus some dorado.  Top boat was 31 ft. Bertram Rebecca who released three marlin between 100 lbs.  and 140 lbs. at the 11.50 spot for Robert & Tammy Felinski from Texas.  This same day Tiburon our newest 31 ft. Bertram had two marlin released in the same area.  At the end of the week we saw catches again pick up when boats again released an average of one marlin and a lot of dorado.  Captain Rey and La Brisa did better than average at the close of the week with two striped marlin released, a dorado & three skipjack for Eric Baker and party from Delphi, Indiana.  The water is still warmer than normal for this time of year and the striped marlin have still not arrived in huge numbers, however Flora T spotted swordfish that they baited without success and Ruthless had a 350 lb. blue marlin on.  Twenty seven percent of our boats caught billfish, which is up from the previous week, giving us a total of 25 fish. 

OTHER SPECIES:  Dorado was the most widely caught fish this week but even though catches were excellent, even this abundant fish was missing in action a couple of days.  Best day for dorado was February 19th when boats had fast and furious action, with Ruthless and Valerie getting twenty plus fish in the Elias Calles and Gaspareno areas as well as several skipjacks.  Weights were nice at 15 to 30 lbs. and on this our best day, the dorado were hungry for live caballitos.  Adriana did well for Cindy & John Jacober from Ohio with nine dorado and a striped marlin released in the same area.  The average catch per boat was closer to two fish per boat.  Forty seven percent of our charters caught dorado giving us a total of 186 fish, with many released.  Bill Collector was the only boat to catch a shark this week, not a huge one but they did release the 60 lb. mako at Punta Gorda for Troy and Ada from Michigan.  Inshore there was a lot of skipjack, some sierra and triggerfish, as well as a few amberjack, needlefish and roosters.

LOCATION:  Gaspareno, La Ballena, Elias Calles, 95 spot, 11.50, Punta Gorda, Chileno, Los Arcos, Golden Gate.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Great – clear sunny skies and calm seas.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 74-75 F
BEST LURES: Live caballito & frozen ballyhoo.

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.

Dramatic review from one of our clients, not the usual story

We just received this dramatic review from one of our clients, not the usual story. Read on:

"We fished with the Pisces group in February on La Brisa with Captain Ray.  The boat was in top shape, well maintained, all gear good as well. Pisces is a well organized company, licenses were waiting for us, lunch was pre ordered and all onboard.  They took good care of our catch, packaging and freezing was taken care of.

On the first day we caught and released a marlin, at around 09:30 a distress call came over the VHF, the crew immediatly pulled the gear and throttled to the spot were a man was swept off the rocks while fishing.  We arrived on scene and spotted the victim floating face down, in my 23 years as a Coast Guard rescue specialist it was apparent that he was deceased.  Captain Ray manuevered as close as possible to try and recover him, he got within 3 meters, however we were now in the danger zone, the swell was heavy and he wisely would not allow the crew to jump in, this was now a recovery.  He then got his boat out of the surf zone.  The Cabo rescue boat arrived shortly after, the victim was pushed onshore by the surf and 2 officers on the beach recovered him.

During this call for help, not one other boat came to assist, we passed at least 15, still fishing.

Captain Ray should be reconized for not only his excellent seamanship but for his compassion, he was the only boat to respond to a fellow man in distress.  I salute him.

He is a heck of a fishing guide as well.  Look forward to fishing with him next year."

Brian M.

Visited February 2015

**Our heros are Captain Rey in navy blue, deckhand Fernando in red an Rey Jr in orange.

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report Jan 31st to Feb 6th, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 96%

Numbers at a glance: Billfish 16%, Dorado 95%, Other 22%

BILLFISH: This week we had picture perfect weather, flat seas, tons of whales, lots of fish; but they weren’t billfish.   The catch rate for marlin remains low even though this week more fish were spotted and our catch rate climbed a few points up to sixteen percent.  Slowly but surely more fish are being caught.  This week we did have a full moon which usually means slower catches due to the fish gorging all night with better visibility and not being so hungry during the day.  Nobody got more than one marlin in a day, but more boats were able to achieve that single fish.  All the fishing was on the Pacific side and some quite close.  Stephen & Karen from Sacramento took a half day trip aboard “Attitude Adjustment”,  not something we normally recommend, but seeing as this is a fast 46 ft. vessel they nipped up the coast and were able to release a 130 lb. striped marlin and boat two dorado off of San Cristobal and were back a little after 11.00 am.  La Brisa had a superb day on February 5th for Bob & Matthew from New York when they released a 135 lb. striped marlin and caught twelve dorado up to 25 lbs.  The striped marlin took live caballito and was from 120 to 150 lbs. in weight.  Pisces Sportfishing anglers caught a total of nine striped marlin this week, all released.

OTHER SPECIES:  Practically every boat out caught dorado this past week, with the catches varying from one to twelve fish per boat in the 15 to 25 lb. class.  Dorado took a variety of live bait such as caballito, sardines and ballyhoo as well as lures; in other words they were hungry.  Tracy Ann was the top dorado boat, scoring a dozen up to 30 lbs. on February 5th for Ian and Wendy from England at Pozo de Cota.  Ninety five percent of our charters caught dorado giving us a total of 233 fish.  A few of the boats went strictly for small game and did well on sierra up to 6 lbs.   A group from Florida out on Andrea caught eighteen plus a couple of dorado.  There were also some small sea bass and amberjacks as well as few skipjacks.  The wahoo run may be over as we only had a few of this species this week which is a dramatic drop. 

LOCATION:  Pacific, Old Lighthouse to Golden Gate, with Pozo de Cota, Margaritas and Cerro del Golden being the most productive.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP:  74 F

WEATHER:  Perfect in every sense.

BEST LURES:  Live caballito, ballyhoo, green, orange/black.

BASED ON THE CATCHES OF PISCES SPORTFISHING BY TRACY EHRENBERG