Two Of Our Most Popular Boats

Pictured below are two of our most popular boats the Rebecca & Valerie, both are Bertrams, very sea-worthy, reliable boats, with hulls that can live forever.  You don't have to fish on a fancy, new or modern boat, these do just fine and produce a lot of fish, as the flags attest to, plus they are great value for money. This is what a regular afternoon looks like in our world. This photo was snapped as clients disembarked and you can see Captain Roberto waving goodbye on the far right.

Strange Fish Surfaces in Cabo

It wasn't until a few years ago that we had ever seen anything like this in Cabo and everybody was baffled. Now a few years later this is the third that has come to our attention and we now know that this odd looking creature is a ratfish or chimera, though there are differing opinions as to which sub-species it is. These catches always cause a stir amongst scientists and they will be visiting the Pisces headquarters tomorrow to take measurements and samples of this newly caught specimen.  This one appears to be a female as it is lacking the "clasper" on the forehead that males have; then again a previous ratfish had four "chicken" like feet,  once the scientists examine it we will have better information.  This ratfish was brought to us by Captain Francisco Rodriguez, who was out on a trip with clients from Mexico City, aboard his 27 ft "Viviana", when he spotted it on the surface two miles before Golden Gate and about six miles offshore. They motored over to investigate as it floated on the surface and lifted it aboard, it was barely alive so they put it back in the water, but it just floated sideways. Francisco said that in his 30 years of fishing he had "never seen anything like it", but that this mother a native of Cabo San Lucas had heard of tales when she was a girl of a strange sea creature with a "dog like head" which he thought it might be. He remembered that he had seen a  photo of  a Pisces captain with a similar fish and decided to bring it in to us.Take a look at the pictures below:

 Here the fish is on ice waiting for the scientists to get here.

 In this photo you can really appreciate the overall length

 A close up of the  head reveals the strange markings and large eye.

 Oscar, whatever you do, don't kiss it!

 You see why, the breath does not look too fresh.

 The strange front flippers looked jointed like a turtle with  no shell

 We don't know what this is but will have an answer soon

Looks fresh here and you can see the markings more clearly

The funny little back flippers/fins probably assist in scuffling along the bottom.

So What Are Your Buddies Doing in Pennsylvania?

A picture is worth a thousand words and we would agree when it comes to these pictures, taken today aboard "Rebecca", of Maurice Bower from Montourville, Pa.  He released this beauty at Destiladeres after a 45 minute battle.

Does this look like love or what? This fish looks extremely healthy and is estimated at 170 lbs. Caught on a live caballito.

Now fully on board, you can see the pure joy this catch gave Maurice as he gets to briefly hold the fish. The crew handles the fish expertly so as not to damage it and you can see deckhand Luis, on the right, loves his job. Fish was safely released.

Latest Fishing Update

These January mornings have been beautiful. This is the mouth of the marina, with bait boats waiting to sell their catch from the night before.

January 14th to 27th, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate for All Species Combined 85%

BILLFISH: Fishing in Cabo for marlin has improved a lot but still has a long way to go; nevertheless we had some encouraging daily fish reports this period. Blue marlin season is from July to mid November, nevertheless pretty much without exception a blue marlin, usually very large is caught in January. Well this year was no exception though the fish was small, right around the 200 lb mark, caught aboard “Adriana” on January 18th after it took a purple lure 18 miles out from the Old Lighthouse by Jeff Bliss from Lapeer, Mi, the blue was released before Jeff went on to catch six yellow-fin tuna. Our other 28 ft boat “Andrea”, also did very well, fishing on the other side of our fishing spectrum at Destiladeras on the Cortez, where they released three striped marlin and caught three skipjacks for Glen Burmeister and John Nelson from Colorado. Richard Patrick from Lowestoft, England had a good day releasing a striped marlin and catching four dorado and three skipjacks on January 26th. This same day “Rebecca” produced the goods for Kyle Hammling and Alan Klein from Manda, North Dakota; releasing two striped marlin on live caballito, two dorados and six skipjacks. The day before this “Tracy Ann” was the top boat with three striped marlin caught and released between Punta Gorda and Destiladeres on the Cortez, one dorado and three skipjacks for Karry Allison from Davenport, Florida. “Rebecca” rounded out the week with a double marlin day at Cerro Colorado fro Jeff Kernochan from Los Angeles. We are starting to see some big stripers, “Ruthless” reported a 170 lb’er released at Destiladeres for Stuart Drummond from Vancouver. Looking over our numbers for this period we see that the majority of marlin were in the Sea of Cortez, quite unusual for this time of year, whilst tuna and other game fish tended to be on the Pacific. Pisces anglers thirty two percent of charters caught marlin this report, resulting in 16 marlin released.

Crew of Tracy Ann, Julio and Martin took out La Brisa and got fifteen tuna for Edwin Holman & Co. from Atlanta, Georgia.

OTHER SPECIES: We are known for picking up on unusual fish stories, they somehow find their way to us. This period we were advised of a strange fish found, by the boat Viviana, they brought the fish to us to examine and to keep for scientists; this is now the third of this species that we have seen over the last few years. The odd looking creature is a chimera or ratfish and judging by what we’ve seen before this one is a female, as it lacks the clasper on the forehead sported by males. These are deep water fish, never seen here before until three years ago. They are usually found on the surface where they are dying and just scooped up and taken aboard. As of now we don’t have all the details but will follow up with them as soon as we locate the fishermen on board and will post the pictures at that time. In regular fishing news dorado fishing was actually quite good with half of the boats catching from one to eleven up to 25 lbs; they took live bait and green lures, with most found on the Cortez side. Our total dorado tally was 75 fish. Yellow fin tuna catches were fair with twenty eight percent of our boats catching from one to seventeen up to 25 lbs. “La Brisa” caught fifteen but had to travel thirty three miles off of the lighthouse to find them- cedar plugs were the most effective method of hooking up. Lots of skipjacks around but the black type not considered good eating. Some roosterfish and sierra.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear sunny skies, seas calm on Cortez, some choppy days on the Pacific.

LOCATION: Golden Gate, 20-30 miles off of Lighthouse, San Jaime, Destiladeres.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 68-70 F

BEST LURES: Live caballito, jurelito, green, petrolero, huchis, cedar plugs.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg



A Man At Peace With His Work

Pictured here is Roberto Sandez (also known al "El Jefe" or boss). Roberto is captain of our 35 ft Bertram Valerie and has been with Pisces for over 20 years. He is a great fisherman and an even greater person. I heard some excellent advice given to a young person recently, which as "Find what you love to do and then figure out a way to get paid doing it. Great advice. Roberto loves his job and who wouldn't with an office like his!

Latest Fish Report

JANUARY 7th to 13th, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate For All Species Combined 85%

BILLFISH: Pretty slim pickings for billfish this week. The thing is as well as having a full moon there was no one set area where they were congregating, so boats could go up the Pacific and find the odd one, or offshore 30 miles and they might locate them, or they could be off of Chileno on the Cortez side 15 miles and also find a stray fish. The exception was again “Shambala” on January 7th, when they participated in a charity event for the MVP (Making Victory Possible For People In Need) Foundation with anglers Jon Brovitz, Andrew Stegan, Anthony Cerone, Tim Murphy & Jim McMahon – this boat and team did extremely well to take top honors with six striped marlin released on live mackerel at the edge of the Golden Gate as well as boating four dorados. This same boat later in the week again found the fish this time 30 miles from the 220 spot. Repeat angler Noel Briscoe from Clovis, California was on board and all fish were caught on live caballito. “Attitude Adjustment” had a decent day on the 8th of January catching and releasing a striped marlin, estimated at 120 lbs, one dorado and four skipjacks. Just fifteen percent of our anglers caught striped marlin this week, resulting in eleven fish caught & released. I spoke to some of the captains to get their input on why marlin fishing is like it is and they think there are several factors, such as full moon, cooler water temperature, water a little greener on the Pacific and fish not grouped but spread out.

Who says you need big fish to have fun? This group had a blast catching sierra, yellowtail a tiny pargo & mojarra, on the other hand you could be somewhere else freezing your butt off.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches were at thirty percent for fish up to 30 lbs but catches were usually of only a single fish, with just a few boats getting more than this. Tuna catches were at nineteen percent for fish up to 35 lbs; top boat for tuna for the third week in a row was “Andrea” with twelve caught 30 miles from the 240 spot by Greg Greene and friends from Dallas, Texas. The inshore fishing was the best of all this week we had loads of skipjack, some yellowtail up to 35 lbs , some good roosterfish catches, with up to a half dozen per boat and sierra were plentiful.
LOCATION: Pacific; Golden Gate, Gaspareño, South 20 to 30 miles, Poza Cota, San Cristobal.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Mostly sunny, seas calm to moderate.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 70-73 F

BEST LURES: Live bait, green/yellow, cedar plugs, feathers.
Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

FISH REPORT JANUARY 1st to 6th, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate for All Species Combined 81%

BILLFISH: The year New Year has started out pretty well with over eighty percent of boats catching fish; however jthe majority were not marlin. Tuna were actually the top catch this week, which is what happened at the beginning of last year too. The first week of January there are not too many anglers here which means fewer boats go out and less fish are caught. Nevertheless there were several boats that had double hook ups on stripers around the Golden Gate and Jamie Bank areas. None of our boats fished January 1st as everybody gets a day off but January 2nd turned out to be the best day of the week for us, when “Rebecca” released two striped marlin between 120 and 140 lbs and caught three tuna at the Jamie Bank for Steve Stergy from Toronto, Canada. This same day “Valerie” released two marlin twenty miles out from the Old Lighthouse for Brent Stutsman & Tim Cain from Novato, Ca. They also got a tuna for the table. On January 4th, Riley DeWitt from Waco, Texas did very well to release two striped marlin aboard “Yahoo”, at Golden Gate, with less than desirable bait , which was jurelito, or little jack, as well as catching a dorado and a snapper. This week the moon has been waxing so with the bright night sky fish have been feeding during the evening hours and are not as hungry during the day. Twenty percent of our charters caught billfish this week with ten fish caught and released.

A Study in Blue; deckhand Luis Cota in his blue Pisces shirt & cap, with blue jeans, against a blue sky and sea, holding a beautiful 140 lb striped marlin with a blue dorsal fin. The only one not blue is the happy angler Jessie Gebhardt from Chandler Arizona. Photo is aboard Rebecca 25 miles out from Old Lighthouse
OTHER SPECIES: Tuna was king this week with fifty five percent of charters catching from one to fourteen fish in the area between the Old Lighthouse and Jaime bank. Our total tuna count was 150 fish, in the 18 to 30 lb class. Like last week cedar plugs and green colored lures seemed to do the trick in getting them to bite. “Andrea” was the top tuna boat with eighteen caught 22 miles off of the lighthouse for Matt Cleary and friends from Sydney, Australia. Dorado catches dropped off considerably this week with just fourteen percent of boats catching just one or two fish, the exception was “C Rod” who caught six dorado for Austin Vander Lee from Stettler, Canada at the outer Golden Gate; he also caught a striped marlin & ten sierras inshore. “Valerie” had some guests from Beijing, China who were thrilled to catch a 70 lb mako shark & eight yellow fin tuna. Inshore we again saw some good action on sierra or Spanish mackerel and pargo, or small snappers.

Some good size sierra and  some pargo, or snappers shown here being held by brothers Mike and Jeff Hulquist, from Alaska and Washington, O.K now which one do you think is Captain Franciso from Salsa?

LOCATION: Pacific, Old Lighthouse to Golden Gate.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Much improved this week, we finally got some sunshine and seas were calm most of the time. The whales are here too.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 72-74 F

BEST LURES: Cedar plugs & green colored lures, for marlin live bait, which was caballito or jurelito, very little mackerel available.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Moonrise

We posted a photo the other day of a beautiful sunset taken by my trusty Blackberry, so here is one of the moon rising last night. This was taken at Cerro Colorado, close to Palmilla. It's amazing how much light the moon gives, as you can see it reflecting in the water. Looks great, but the fish have too much visibility at night and tend not to be so hungry during the day, well that is the marlin; tuna and doardo do not seem to be affected, nor the inshore fish.

The Better Late Than Never Fish Report

Fish Report Dec. 17th to 31st, 2011

Overall Catch Success Rate 90%

BILLFISH: I don’t need to be told that this report is late, way too late, but I think it is important that we finish out the numbers for last year and have them on file. Unfortunately with all the Christmas rush work and over commitment many posadas (Christmas parties) etc. visitors, meals and so on, I ended up with a pulled week and a forced week of bed rest. So here is the last fish report of 2011 and the new one for the first week of January will be out this afternoon. Marlin catches have not exploded as we thought they might but we see some glimpses of incredible catches, then things calm down again. However, when marlin are not biting we are catching plenty of other fish such as dorado, tuna and inshore, tons of Spanish mackerel or sierra. This period saw thirty three percent of our boats hooking up to striped marlin, the only type of billfish being caught. “Shambala” our 60 ft Hatteras, was again our top boat, with some fantastic catches. Captain T.J on this boat showed anglers incredible fishing over a four day run, starting on December 27th when Scott Stevens and friends from Steubenville, Ohio were aboard. They fished just outside the Golden Gate and released ten striped marlin on live mackerel and boated a dorado. Next day they headed to the same spot and almost matched the previous day, but this time released eight striped marlin and a dorado. Scott Stevens out again on the 29th released another five striped marlin, before they nipped inshore for some light tackle fun where they caught 15 sierra. To close out the week “Shambala” released an additional eight marlin on the 30th for Mary & Murray Sinclair from Toronto also at Golden Gate. This was not the only boat that did well; “Yahoo” released six marlin as well as catching a red snapper and a nice roosterfish for a group from Acapulco & Durango, Mexico. This same day “Falcon” has four marlin caught on large sardines, at Gaspareño for the Quinn family from Dallas, Texas.“Bill Collector” also had a quadruple marlin day plus a dorado off of La Brecha for James Bickerstaff from New York. Other boats had one and two marlin days giving us a total marlin number for this period of 84 striped marlin.

OTHER SPECIES: Anglers had plenty of action eve with only a little more than a third of boats hooked up to marlin, there were plenty of dorado and tuna to keep them busy, to say nothing of the inshore fishing. Dorado catches were at thirty three percent with catches of one to fifteen fish in the 15 to 25 lb category. Top dorado boat was “El Gallo” with fifteen up to 35 lbs, plus a striped marlin released for Clayton Clark and friends from Houston, Texas fishing at Elias Calles & Golden Gate. Our total dorado catch was 105 fish, with many released. Tuna catches whilst lower percentage wise, yielded a higher overall fish count. Thirty one percent of boats caught tuna with weights seldom over 25 lbs; our total tuna count was 281 fish, with catches ranging from one to twenty fish. The best area for tuna was off of the Old Lighthouse between ten and twenty five miles as well as at Jaime Bank. Green & yellow lures worked for this species as well as the ever popular cedar plugs. We had one wahoo this week, a decent size at 60 lbs, caught on Shambala by Eric Olsen form Corona del Mar Ca, this group also caught six tuna and released two striped marlin, included a first ever marlin for 87 year old Lynn Hall, patriarch of the family. We had one mako shark around 100 lbs released, several roosterfish, fair amounts of skipjacks and a record number of sierra. “Valerie” got out their light tackle and kept anglers furiously busy catching a total of 84, with just a few kept for Dave Jones from California.

LOCATION: Pacific, Old Lighthouse to Golden Gate.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Partly cloudy skies, seas moderate.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 71-75 F

BEST LURES: Live bait, green/yellow combinations, cedar plugs.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Couldn't Resist

I couldn't resist snapping this photo of the incredible sunset tonight.  Taken just a few minutes ago - what a priviledge to live here....oh and by the way, whales are spouting off in the distance but the Blackberry isn't good enough to zoom in.
Enjoy!