This massive fish was shot by local Nathan Visser - the monster tipped the scales at 390 LBS, here is the story in Nathan's own words:
"Got this cow in 45 feet of water about 30 miles
north of Todos Santos on the Pacific. It took 4 shots and 3 guys to bring
him to the surface. After I put the first spear in it dragged me and Roberto
Contreras around for 10 minutes before Luis Espinosa could get close enough and
take another shot. Before he got back to the surface, my spear pulled
out. Roberto then went down with his gun and put the third shot in.
Meanwhile I reloaded my gun and went back down with my spear (which now had a
broken/bent flopper) to put the 4th shot in it. He then
floated to the surface and it was over"
Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 87.5%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 73%, Dorado 14%, Small Game 11%
BILLFISH: The week started out a little shaky with boats not quite sure where to go as the marlin were spread out and hard to locate, so they headed up towards San Jose where the odd marlin was found as well as a bit of small game inshore. Pisces Rebecca was one of the fortunate boats to actually find fish off of La Playita on April 27th. They caught and released four striped marlin up to 120 lbs. and boated a dorado for John Majewski, Al Ainsworth & Jay Long from Waco, Texas. This crew knew there were on to something and headed back to this spot a couple of days later, where this time they managed to release five marlin, up to 160 lbs. for Thomas Migas from Idaho. Things changed mid-week though, when the crews discovered that the marlin had returned to one of their old haunts, the 11.50 spot and to a lesser degree the 95 spot. This day saw Robert & Christina Marshall from Temple, Texas achieve one of the best catches of the week aboard Pisces Listo, with five marlin and a 70 lb. sailfish released. This same day Rebecca, La Brisa & C Rod all released four marlin apiece making for very satisfied clients all round. It as was a shame that there were less people out fishing this week, there seemed to be a lot of people in town but many opted to stay on the beach. May 1st, a national holiday in Mexico, saw La Brisa hook Chris & Janice Smith from Sahuarita, Arizona up to four marlin, which they released. C Rod out the following day released another four marlin, fairly big in size with one fish estimated at over 160 lbs. for Brian Crawford and party from Gulfport Mississippi. Seventy three percent of our boats caught marlin this week giving us a total of 85 striped marlin and one 1 sailfish.
OTHER SPECIES: Boat focused on billfish more than anything else this week, nevertheless there was some dorado caught, only fair with just fourteen percent of boats hooking usually a single fish, no more than 25 lbs. La Brisa caught a smallish 25 lb. wahoo and inshore there were some jack crevalle, skipjacks & needlefish. Surf fisherman Wesley had a day where his guests caught five jack crevalle and two red snapper.
LOCATION: Sea of Cortez, La Playita, 11.50 and 95 spot.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 74 -75 F
WEATHER CONDITIONS: clear sunny skies, seas moderate, turning calm.
BEST LURES: Live
April 12th to 18th 2014
Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 78%Numbers at a glance: Marlin 76%, Dorado 8%, Other 2%
BILLFISH: Although catch numbers were lower this week than the previous one, we were still very pleased with the fishing, because we had a full moon and some very windy weather – normally a recipe for poor catches - yet seventy six percent of our charters caught marlin. Not only that, we had some outstanding catches, such as those aboard Pisces Rebecca, who released seven striped marlin on April 12th for the Haran family from Dallas, Texas. All of their fish were released at the 11.50 spot after taking live bait or ballyhoo – these were our anglers of the week. This same day Pisces Valerie did not fare too badly either, releasing four marlin up to 120 lbs. for Gary Allison from Las Vegas. Next day out Rebecca was again the top boat, this time with four marlin for Duncan, Denisse & Christopher Roberts from Frisco, Colorado. The wind blew for several days, typical for March, meaning we had several boats turn around with sea-sick anglers, nevertheless we were able to catch eight night striped marlin with all but one released.
OTHER SPECIES: Well this section will be short as marlin dominated and this is what the captains concentrated on. We did have a few dorado – Ted Marsella, Brian Halligan & Tito Barilacchi caught two up to 25 lbs. at the 11.50 spot and also released three marlin, on, and you guessed it….Rebecca. Just eight percent of our boats caught dorado and almost without exception it would be a single fish, picked up when trolling for marlin. The only other fish we caught this week was a 150 lb. thresher shark caught by Craig Everly from Washington D.C aboard Bill Collector.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Windy and rough.
LOCATION: 11.50 spot was the main place and some days Destiladeras.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 73 F
BEST LURES: Live caballito, frozen ballyhoo.
Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 95%
Numbers at a glance: Marlin 92%, Dorado 3%, Other/Small Game 10%
BILLFISH: This week was FANTASTIC for striped marlin catches in Cabo, with nearly every boat catching between one and six in a day, resulting in a lot of happy anglers. Best day of the week was April 5th, when thirty nine marlin were released, between nine of our boats! The fish seemed to be parked at the 11.50 spot on the Cortez side, though occasionally the odd one was found towards Punta Gorda. Pisces Valerie, Ruthless & Bill Collector all had a half dozen marlin each caught on a combination of live caballito and frozen ballyhoo on April 5th. Next day out Bill Collector equaled this number again for anger Ross Kline from Reno, Nevada. John & Tamara Moskites, fishing with Todd Turner, all from North Carolina, were very pleased to release six marlin up to 140 lbs. aboard Pisces La Brisa on April 7th. This same boat followed up the next day with another six, this time for Russian angler Aleks Bezzubenko, with fish ranging from 90 to 130 lbs. Yahoo was not to be left out, as they also scored six for Michael Walters & Jennifer Smith from Texas also at the 11.50 spot. With the big moon coming on now though, we are likely to see a slight drop off in catches in the coming days. Ninety two percent of our anglers caught marlin this week, giving us a total catch of 193 fish, all released except one.
OTHER SPECIES: Because the marlin bit was such a sure thing, very few boats targeted other species, with tuna practically non-existent and dorado extremely sparse, out catches were very low for these species, with just three dorado and zero tuna. Inshore the pangas we sent caught a few sierra, jack crevalle & skipjacks. We did have some sharks though; Michael Bartlett from West Chester, PA released an 80 lb. pilot shark as well as three marlin, with his buddies Leo Cole & Bob McCullen. La Brisa had the Russian guys out again, the time Aleks Bezzubenko was accompanied by Nail Muzafarov &Nail Khakimzyanov (yes our dockmasters had a lot of fun spelling those ones) on April 10th when they released two striped marlin and a 150 lb. sardine shark, and they also caught a 152 lb. thresher shark, which they kept.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear & calm.
LOCATION: 11.50 Spot.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 73 F
BEST LURES: Live caballito & frozen ballyhoo
March 29th to April 4th, 2014
Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 91.4%
Numbers at a glance: Marlin 83%, Dorado 21%, Small Game 7%
BILLFISH: Wow what a comeback the marlin fishing made this week; we had great catches for most boats, though we did have a few that got “skunked” due to anglers getting sea sick and asking to come back, or simply not finding hungry fish. It would seem unusual that marlin fishing is so good, until we check back out trusty archives, which show that fishing was the same last year and moderately good the year before. Timothy Miller & Michael, Jacob & Connor Grauweis from Minnesota, were out aboard Pisces Rebecca, a boat always in our top five and were fortunate to catch and release seven striped marlin and be back in port before 2.00 pm. They fished five miles off of San Jose and caught their fish on a combination of ballyhoo and caballito. Captain J. R and the Rebecca were obviously onto something as a couple of days later, on April 2nd, they caught and released a total of six striped marlin & dorado for ecstatic, lone angler John Batchelder from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Well we have to say the Minnesotans were on a roll this week, looks like our high catch anglers were all from that state. On April 3rd we had Steve, Linda, John & Matt Olmstead from Minnesota out aboard C Rod, fishing at the 11.50 spot where they released six striped marlin in the 100 to 130 lb. class. This same day Pisces Ruthless had Gerry Sexton from Maple Grove, Minnesota aboard and he also released six marlin in the 90 to 130 lb. category. Keith & Donna Kramer though, are from Aurora, Colorado, but that didn’t stop them from releasing six striped marlin aboard La Brisa. All the high number marlin catches were on the Cortez side between the 11.50 spot and Destiladeras, though we should mention there were plenty of other boats that caught two, three or four marlin, all respectable catches. Eighty three percent of our boats caught striped marlin this week giving us a total of 139 fish released.
OTHER SPECIES: Because the marlin bite was on, this is what most of our boats targeted, plus action for other offshore species was a bit slow, nevertheless twenty percent of the boats managed to find a dorado here and there, with two boats catching three. They were standard size at 15 to 25 lbs. Only one wahoo was caught this week & that was a 45 lb. specimen hooked by David Brady from Alabama, aboard Petrolero. Inshore we just had a few roosterfish, sierras and skipjacks.
LOCATION: Cortez, 11.50 to Destiladereas, inshore San Cristobal to Los Arcos.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Some cold weather and choppy seas this week on intermittent days.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 72 -73 F
BEST LURES: live caballito, frozen ballyhoo.
Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 78%
Numbers at a glance: Marlin 49%, Dorado 23%, Small Game 30%
BILLFISH: We are pleased to report an improvement in the fishing this week, as the moon waned we still had some hit or miss days but also some outstanding ones. The water never really got cold so now with the moon gone all the signs are that the fishing will take an upturn. To start out the period Pisces Listo headed to the 95 spot on the Cortez side where they did well to release four marlin from 120 150 lbs. for Robert Russell & Todd Miller from Las Vegas & Kingwood Texas, respectively. This same day Pisces Rebecca had a great day too, a little further out at the Herradura, where they released three stripers and boated six dorado for Candy Johnson and friends from Dress, Idaho. Next day out Listo had the same anglers on board and not having luck at the 95 spot they motored further north and parallel to shore, which was the right move, as they ended up releasing six marlin, on live bait in front of La Playita. After this fishing dropped off again, with Punta Gorda producing a few marlin, but not for everyone. It was in this area that the Rebecca caught one of the largest stripers of the week; the fish caught & released by Patrick Mitchell from Illinois was right at the 200 lb. mark, it was estimated, and he was fortunate to get a couple of dorado too. On a day when very few boats caught fish Pisces La Brisa, dug deep and managed to catch the first ever marlin for fifteen year old Nathan Soby from Calgary, Canada and as if that wasn’t enough they caught a nice wahoo for his dad Chris, a mako shark for his mom, Tracey, & then to round out the day, Nathan landed a dorado for the table – thanks Captain Rey & Deckhand Salvador for helping this family to fulfill a dream. On March 27th, Anthony Spiegelberg from Wyoming, new he was on the right boat, Rebecca, when they released five striped marlin and boated two dorado, twenty miles from the 150 spot. A lone sailfish was caught by Rick Kiersh from Houston, Texas at the Herradura as well as two striped marlin, aboard Pisces Valerie. A group of friends got together, who are usually spread out between New York, California & Arizona and booked Listo, the 35 ft. Cabo for March 28t; they were not disappointed as they ended up releasing six striped marlin at the 11.50 spot – well done Scott, Greg, Steve, Nick, James & Alex. Forty nine percent of our boats caught marlin this week, giving us a total catch of 71 fish released plus a sailfish.
OTHER SPECIES: Dorado had all but disappeared from the Pacific but this week when boats fished the Cortez the catches were much better, with fairly regular catches of one to three fish; the exception being Rebecca, with six, mentioned above. The dorado are liking live bait at the moment, with the odd one caught on a lure. There was plenty of inshore action for sierra, a few roosters, and lots of skipjacks, fair amounts of jack crevalle, an odd needle fish, yellowtail & grouper. We had a few wahoo this week, but none more than 40 lbs. Just one Mako shark around 40 lbs. caught on La Brisa.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, except on March 28th when it was partially cloudy, seas calm to moderate.
LOCATION: Herradura, Punta Gorda, Palmilla, 95 spot, Cerro Colorado, Los Arcos, Old Lighthouse.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: Warm at 72-74 F
BEST LURES: Live bait.
Overall Catch Success Rate 62%
Catches at a glance: Marlin 30%, Dorado 21%, Tuna 4%, Small Game 45%
BILLFISH: This week was the poorest so far of the year, overall for fishing. A full moon combined with very windy weather and a drop in water temperatures was the recipe for slow catches. That is not to say that the fish were not there; first it was hard to get to where the fish were on several days due to the rough seas caused by the wind. Crews could not depend on the Golden Gate at the start of this week & had to go the other direction to Destiladeras and Punta Gorda on the Cortez side. The striped marlin were not as easily found as they had been on the Pacific and when spotted were not that hungry, as they had been feeding all night, which accounts for our low catch rate of just thirty percent. When marlin catches did occur it was usually just a single fish; the exception was Pisces La Brisa who released three striped marlin caught on combination of ballyhoo & caballito, twenty miles out from Land’s End of Frank & Kelly Chapman from Wyoming on March 18th. As the week drew to a close boats again ventured into the Pacific where they did slightly better, however, there were days when even the best boat and crews, drew a blank. Pisces anglers released a total of 25 striped marlin in the 110 to 160 lb. class.
OTHER SPECIES: Inshore and smaller game dominated the catches this week with forty five percent of our charters catching skipjacks, sierra, rooster fish, trigger fish and lesser number of pompano, yellow tail, amberjack & bonitas. Pisces Ruthless released five roosters up to 25 lbs. for John Ropas from Lubbock, Texas and was the high catch boat for this species. Not only roosters, but Ruthless also had two hammer head sharks at the 95 spot, both released for Jack Suddarth from Newport Beach, Ca. Dave Fairfield released a mako shark aboard Listo as well as Kelly Wood, who also released one aboard a panga. None of the sharks were huge at around 50 lbs. each. We had a single wahoo, smallish at 25 lbs. aboard C Rod. Seeing as boats fished the Cortez side on several days, there were able to pick up some dorado, mostly around Punta Gorda, with catches between one and three dorado up to 30 lbs., giving us a catch rate of twenty one percent and a total of fifteen fish. Tuna catches were very slow with just a few here and there caught.
LOCATION: Punta Gorda, Destiladeras, Herradura, 95 spot, Cerro Colorado, Pedregalito, San Jaime, Margaritas, 30 miles from 210 spot.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Sunny, extremely windy on some days, seas, choppy to moderate.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 71-72 F (warmer than past years for March)
BEST LURES: Live bait, caballito, ballyhoo, green color lures.
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
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 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
