Jaws Up Close!

Here is another picture of the huge shark found dead in a net off of the coast of Sonora. What a beautiful fish and what a shame, nevetheless not one scrap went to waste; it fed the whole town.

2000 lb Shark Caught in Sea of Cortez

On Sunday April 15^th, two commercial fishermen Guadalupe y Baltazar, motored out in their panga with its 75 hp outboard motor, from the Sonoran region, on the mainland side of the Sea of Cortez, known as El Choyudo to check their nets that they had set the night before. Little did they know that they were in for the surprise of their lives.  As they began to haul their net in, it seemed much heavier than usual – more than their usual catch of smaller scale fish. “We were amazed and immediately realized that we had a huge, dead, great white shark and  then we thought what are we going to do?” said Guadalupe. They were in a dilemma; how to get it back to shore? Though they were less than two miles from the beach, there was no way they could possibly get this monster into their 22 ft skiff. They thought about it for a few minutes then decided to tow it to shore and radioed for help. It took an hour to make it back to the beach where it took fifty people to drag it up onto the sand. The shark was measured and was just shy of twenty feet long and a record catch for this area, with it weighing one ton or 2000 lbs. Guadalupe y Baltazar swore they had never seen a fish this big before in their lives, even though on March 13^th of this year, some of their fellow fishermen had also caught a great white, which had weighed 450 kg or 990 lbs. They added “we have seen a lot of sharks, in fact this is an area known for sharks, but we have never seen anything like his”. Officials from the Environmental Protection Agency (Profepa) are investigating as this is a protected species and they thought is strange that a fish like this would be so close to shore

Another Swordfish and Fishing Updates

April 7^th to 13^th, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate 78%

BILLFISH:  The week started out on the slow side, but as the moon began to decrease in size the marlin catches started to come back. Starting out the report was “Tracy Ann” with two striped marlin released for Riley and Drew Walker from Lakeville, Minnesota, at the 11.50 spot on live jurelito, aboard “Tracy Ann”. Boats went back the next day to this same place and drew a blank with the exception of “Andrea” who released a solitary marlin for Steve Ruthenberger from East Greenville, Pennsylvania. Then we started seeing the majority of boats getting at least one. The best day of the week though was Friday, the 13^th which was decidedly lucky for several of our anglers. Andy Banbury and friends from Surrey, in B.C Canada had a fabulous day on “Rebecca” catching and releasing three striped marlin on ballyhoo at the 11.50 spot.  “Valerie” also had Canadians on board, Darcy Burton & Kyle Schuarte from Calgary; they released three marlin too on live bait in the same area. Catch of the week however, has to go to “El Gallo” a beautiful 61 ft Viking. Jess and Stacy Richards from Sugarland, Texas were on board and released two marlin on ballyhoo at the 11.50 spot, when legendary local captain Nayo Winkler, spotted what he thought was another marlin, it submerged and turned purple at which he shouted “swordfish”. They lost sight of the few and crew and anglers scanned the sea trying to find it. Nayo brought out his binoculars and found the fish, again. In the meantime the deckhand brought out his special rig, ready for an opportunity like this. It is a two speed Shimano 30, with 50 lb test line, a number ten hook and double leader consisting of 400 and 150 lb fluorocarbon. They cast live bait to the fish and hooked up, putting angler Jess in the chair, who had it to the boat one hour and ninety minutes later. When they were confident they could get it on board, the fish got a second wind and went nuts, striking the boat so hard with its bill, thrashing constantly that it broke its bill.  They managed to get it on board and back to the dock, where it was taped out at 350 lbs.   One other notable catch was a 190 lb striped marlin, released at Punta Gorda by Shawn Hall form Arlington, Washington aboard “Andrea”. Fifty three percent of our anglers caught marlin this week giving us a total of 29 striped marlin and one swordfish.

The bill had to be taped on for the photo. Anglers Jess and Stacy Richards shown Left with Legendary Captain Nayo Winkler shown standing behind them, deckhands on right.

OTHER SPECIES: Most boats concentrated on billfish this week, so not a lot happened on smaller game. Boats had to decide either to try for marlin, or skip it altogether on big moon day and try for stuff inshore, along the windy Pacific, making it tough to get hooked up. There were just a few dorado caught, mostly when looking for marlin on trolled lures. Inshore sierra, skipjacks, a few yellowtail and jack crevalle were caught as well as the odd mako and hammerhead shark.

LOCATION: 11.50 spot, Punta Gorda, Cerro Colorado, Desal plant.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Sunny, calm on Cortez, rough on Pacific, windy on Pacific.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 71 F

BEST LURES: Live caballito or jurelito, dead ballyhoo.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Pisces NEW Sportfishing Website Homepage

For the past four months, we have been working on a few surprises for our Cabo Sportfishing enthusiasts, worldwide! Pisces Sportfishing has provided more than 300,000 fishing charters to guests for more than 34 years now. We take great pride in offering the best captains and crews to our clientele visiting Los Cabos, Mexico.

Our company philosophy has always been dedicated to an excellence in customer service standards. As an industry leader in sportfishing and yachting, our credibility and brand name has allowed our company to grow into various divisions all under the umbrella of Pisces Group Cabo. Pisces Group Cabo also includes real estate, sportfishing, yachting, a marina within the Cabo San Lucas Marina, three restaurants and one club such as Captain Tony's, El Squid Roe and Billygan's at Medano Beach and even commercial leases.

Look for the launch of our dynamic, new Pisces Sportfishing website at the end of April. Lastly, the world renowned Pisces Sportfishing Fleet Blog and Pisces Fish Report will also have a new home within the sportfishing website.

Pisces Newsletter Help

We are working on a brand new Pisces Newsletter with "insider" information of everything worth knowing that happens in Baja, we are having a bit of a hard time choosing the title, maybe you guys can help us, here are some of the titles we have but you are free to suggest your own :)

Click here to vote: Pisces Newsletter Title

Pisces Weekly Fish Report March 31st to April 6th

PISCES FISH REPORT

March 31^st to April 6^th, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate 75%

BILLFISH: This week we had really good fishing up until the moon got big, then the fish dispersed and the hot spot at Punta Gorda went flat and we had a couple of days of slim pickings. Boats that had steadily caught marlin all week went to the usual place and came up blank, whereas a few other boats ventured into the rougher Pacific and found some odd billfish off of the Old Lighthouse. “Tracy Ann” was on a roll this week, producing the marlin day after day, giving her a total of fifteen for the week. Of course the better catches were at the start of the week for this boat, when the moon was smaller, starting out with four releases at Punta Gorda for Susan Hodnik form Juneau, Alaska. Next day out, they went to the 11.50 spot and released four marlin on live bait for Robbie Schab & Ryan Wishikan from Monroe, Washington. On April 2^nd the Parker family from Pleasant View, Utah had a blast releasing four striped marlin up to 160 lbs at the 11.50 spot again. This was not the only boat to do well, “C Rod” released four on March 31^st for Sonny, Jordan & Joel Haro from Austin, Texas, all on live boat. “Ruthless” had three marlin for Eric, Elise and Trenton Bratz from Pueblo West, Colorado, two on live bait and one on a Petrolero lure, also at 11.50 spot. Catches began to drop towards the end of the week, and we had a lot of boats skunked the last two days of this report.  Nevertheless fifty five percent of charters were able to catch marlin giving us a total of 39 marlin; all but one were released.  

GIRL POWER, SUZY  HODNIK
FROM JUNEAU, ALASKA RELASED FOUR STRIPED MARLIN.

OTHER SPECIES: It was pretty slim pickings for smaller game this week, with just a few dorado caught, some rooster fish up to 20 lbs,  fair amount of sierra, a couple of jack crevalles, skipjacks and one small mako shark.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Pretty much picture perfect, warm and sunny, seas calm on the Cortez side but some rough days on the Pacific.

LOCATION: Punta Gorda, 11.50, Old Lighthouse.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 68 F

BEST LURES: Live bait.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Man Catches Fish With Bare Hands

You know people travel miles, spend lots of money and invest in fancy fishing equipment to catch the fish of their dreams, but in Cabo it’s not always necessary; you just have to have your wits about you and be in the right place at the right time as long time Cabo resident, John Parks an American in his early 50’s can attest to. He got a surprise whilst taking his nightly power walk along the beach near his home in the Cabo Real area. The waves were big and the surf crashed loudly on the beach between the Dreams Resort and Casa Del Mar, when he saw something thrown onto the beach by the powerful waves, he could see that it was a sizeable fish and thought it was a halibut, as it flapped and struggled trying to make it back into the sea. John knows a meal when he sees one though; he dropped his hat and sunglasses and sprinted towards the fish, before it was sucked back out to sea, passing three surprised local beach fishermen. He grabbed the fish which was pretty slippery and got his hands into the gills, cutting his fingers on the dorsal spines in the process and deftly snatched it away from the water; he threw it up onto the beach as it spewed sardines from its mouth.  As he hoisted the still struggling fish up, he realized that it was a snook, around 20 lbs and one of the best eating fish in these waters. He did think about throwing it back but then he thought “barbecue!” We can just imagine the looks on the faces of the three local fishermen and what went through their minds, “we’ve been fishing here for years, we’ve never caught a robalo (snook) and along comes this foreigner, who doesn’t even have a rod and snatches one up with his bare hands”. John trudged back along the beach with his prize, which wasn’t easy going in the sand, but he found a little piece of rope and tied it through the fish’s gills, to give his hands a respite. It took him fifteen minutes to get back home, where he excitedly called to his wife to “bring the camera”.  They snapped some photos then took it to the kitchen where the fish was still struggling to the horror of John’s wife, Adali, who was supposed to cook it.  Seeing as they didn’t have fishing equipment at home, John dispatched it with a wine bottle, before filleting it and cooking some on the barbecue and they still have enough for several meals. Snook are known to converge where fresh and saltwater merge; seeing as the exact spot where this one was found, is where an arroyo empties into the sea, it makes sense, though we’ve never heard of one caught by hand, but then as John said “this fish made a fatal mistake”.

Susan Hodnik From Juneau

Suzy Hodnik from Juneau Alaska is a confirmed fisherwoman taking every opportunity to escape to Cabo for a different kind of fishing than they do in Alaska. Her favorite boat is Tracy Ann and with good reason; on March 31st, Susan was able to release FOUR striped marlin on her own, at Punta Gorda on live caballito. Shown here with her crew from left to right, Captain Julio Castro, deckhand Fernando Noyola, Suzy in the chair and regular deckhand Martin Gonzalez. Reeling in four 100 to 150 lb fish would be hard for many guys, but Suzy has practice.

Al Monte's 391lbs Swordfish

We have shown you the pictures, here is the video of the monster being weighed.

Fish Report Roundup

MARCH 24^TH TO 30^TH, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate 92%

BILLFISH: It is finally a pleasure to write the fish report; we have fish! It’s funny how seasons change, normally if you would ask us when is a good time to fish for marlin, we would answer “not March, it’s windy and the fish aren’t hungry”. Looks like we may have to change our minds; instead of March doldrums we have had fantastic fishing this week at Punta Gorda (literally fat point) on the Cortez side and also at the 11.50 spot. A whopping eighty one percent of our boats caught striped marlin this week with catches ranging from one to seven fish in a day. Top boat was “Great Escape Jr”, skippered by Ricardo Agundez, a very savvy fisherman though understated in demeanor – they produced seven releases of marlin all on live bait for Robert Owen, Dan Line and Ben Canella from Zophyk Cove, Nevada on March 27^th. This same day “Rebecca” had four releases for fish in the 100 to 140 lb class, in the same area on live caballito for Rick & Brendan Boutillier from Lake Barrington, Illinois. Not wanting to be left out of the news “Tracy Ann” released four marlin also, same day, same place for Mark Farber from Coral Gables, Florida whom they had released three marlin for the previous day. March 28^th, saw “Adriana” release four marlin between 100 and 150 lbs for Mark Schreiber from Sandy, Oregon. Other anglers caught one to three fish with the odd boat here and there drawing a blank, seeing fish, but not getting the desired hook up. Pisces anglers caught a total of 66 striped marlin this week; all but one released.

OTHER SPECIES:  Nearly all the boats concentrated on marlin this week, so not much smaller game was caught. Just a few dorado such as the three up to 30 lbs caught aboard “Ruthless” below Punta Gorda on black and red lures by John Steinert from Portland, Oregon and a few yellow fin tuna at Golden Gate aboard “Valerie” for Arturo Kassel from San Diego. Inshore just a few roosterfish, yellow tail and skipjacks from the pangas that we sent out.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: It warmed up a bit this week, though we continued to have windy weather on the Pacific and nights are still cool, Cortez side was much calmer.

LOCATION: Punta Gorda, 11.50.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: As low as 63 F on the Pacific and up to 72 F on the Cortez side.

BEST LURES: Live bait.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg