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

Last Fish Report of 2013

DECEMBER 21st to 27th, 2013
Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 92%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 35%, Dorado 63%, Tuna 12%, Other 21%

BILLFISH: We had quite a dramatic slowdown on marlin catches this week, down from seventy two percent last week to thirty five percent this week. Now, that is not to say they are not here, they are, but are a little more difficult to catch.  On several days this week mobs of boats could be seen in a tightly packed area off of the Old Lighthouse. The reason is the yearly phenomenon of bottom fishing for marlin. This happens over a few weeks when they are down deep, feeding on plentiful bait at lower depths. A great deal of patience is needed and they will come and touch the baits and even mouth them but getting a hook up has not been easy. Other free swimming marlin have been seen close to shore but didn’t seem much interested in what was offered either. So just as we start to sound gloomy about the marlin bite, Pisces Tracy Ann went and caught an out of season blue marlin that was around 420 LBS. This vessel was out on December 22nd with anglers from Papillion, Nebraska, Jacob Cockle & Mason Becker aboard and headed up to the Herradura where the huge fish hit a blue & white lure. The fish took them one hour and thirty minutes to leader on 60 LB test line. Another notable catch was that of the Sullivan family from Roswell, Georgia, for releasing four striped marlin up to 120 LBS aboard Pisces Yahoo.  There were other catches of usually a single marlin and more rarely two or even three. The bite will get better & meantime the dorado are cooperating. Pisces angler caught a total of 33 billfish this week, all but one released.
OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches were pretty consistent if you found the right area which seemed to be a mile from shore in the Migrino to Margaritas area. They took a combination of bait and lures – the smaller ones under 15 LBS were released and those kept were in the 15 to 25 LB class. Catches ranged from one to fifteen, the most for any one boat, which was Pisces Rebecca on December 24th for Jack Sullivan and party from Arkansas. Our total dorado catch was 151 fish. Yellow fin tuna put in a brief appearance if you were dedicated at finding them, but only twelve percent of boats caught up to a half dozen football size fish. A 40 LB mako shark was released aboard Ruthless and inshore there were catches of white skipjack (good eating) as well as black skipjack, a few sierra & one 25 LB wahoo.

LOCATION: Old lighthouse, Migrino, Las Margaritas, Los Arcos, Cerro Del Golden.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Skies finally clear, mostly beautiful weather with calm seas.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 74 F
BEST LURES: Live bait, yellow/green, red/white, blue/white.

Latest Fish Report from Pisces in Cabo San Lucas

December 14th to 20th, 2013
Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 95%
Numbers at a Glance: Billfish 72%, Dorado 65%, Small Game 16%

 

BILLFISH: This week we had steady marlin catches even though we had a big moon all week – the general rule is that the marlin bite drops off when the moon is big as they have an opportunity to feed all night. The fish were fussier about eating this week, preferring almost exclusively live caballito, they would come up and mouth the dead ballyhoo offered but would not take it or lures.  Plenty of marlin are being seen, mostly solitary fish and sometimes in groups of two or three with the majority seen close to shore, however the hooks ups were occurring about six miles out. One captain told us that that on December 19th they cast bait to twenty five marlin and managed to catch and release four. The majority of them were smaller fish, barely making 100 LBS and the largest no more than 120 LBS. Some of the better catches were for Pisces La Brisa with four striped marlin released for Jeff & Amy Holkan from Casper, Wyoming on December 16th and five released aboard Pisces Tracy Ann as well as four dorado boated, for Jim Gebhardt & family from Washington. A couple of late season sailfish were also released. Overall seventy two percent of our boats caught billfish resulting in a total 56 billfish, all released.

OTHER SPECIES: December signals the arrival of sharks in the area, but for several years we did not see any, that is until last year, when they started to reappear.  Tracy Ann caught a large Thresher shark that was a little over 150 LBS and Ruthless released a 50 LB mako shark. Dorado was steady but decreased a little this week, a pattern that will continue into January. Sixty five percent of boats located dorado and when found the numbers ranged from one to seven or eight, the exception was Bill Collector who caught twenty plus a striped marlin for Ginni Madsen & Michael Davis from Richmond, Canada. Weights on the dorado ranged from 15 to 30 LBS and our total catch was 118 fish. Inshore boats caught the odd striped marlin , skipjacks and needlefish.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Partly cloudy, seas moderate.
LOCATION: Pacific, Los Arcos Cerros de Arena, Golden Gate, Margaritas, Old Lighthouse.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 74 F
BEST LURES: Live caballito, ballyhoo, dorado colored lures, pink/red.

Big Thresher Shark Caught Today

Fishing was great today even though we have full moon tonight, the marlin continued to bite. Angler Brian Robinson from Silver City, New Mexico was thrilled to land this 152 LB thresher shark aboard Pisces Tracy Ann. Brian also released a 120 LB striped marlin off of Cerros de Arena. Top marlin boat today was La Brisa with four striped marlin released for Jeff & Amy Holkan from from Casper Wyoming.