IGFA World Offshore Championship Ends

The World Offshore Championship concluded today at 3.00 pm and we now have the official results.

1^st Place Mexico, with a local team from Los Cabos with 14 marlin released over the four day event. The team consisted of Hernando "el conejo" (rabbit) Gonzalez, Jobe Villavicencio, Cubi Villavicencio, Oscar Daccarrett and Drew Andrews. None of these guys are strangers to success. Up until last week, Jobe held the record for the largest tuna caught in the WON Tuna Tournament, until fellow angler Oscar broke that record last week with a 383 lb tuna. Jobe and Cubi are brothers and Hernando is their cousin. These three formed the crew aboard our very popular charter boat "Ni Modo" for many years and they are now the crew aboard "Get Over It". You could not get a more experienced team than these guys that fish this area pretty much every day. CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR LOCAL BOYS AND FRIENDS!

2^nd Place Guatemala for ten marlin released.

3^rd Place Brazil for nine marlin released.

Looks like the Latin guys are on a roll.

Fish Report Oct 29 to November 10th, 2009

Overall Catch Success Rate 96%

BILLFISH: Firstly our apologies for the fish report being out late, but this is going to be worth reading…..we have been very much involved with the recent tournaments which has absorbed a lot of our time.

Right now the weather is warmer than it should be for November and it appears as if the season is about three to four weeks behind what it should be. Many of you may recall that last November was a record breaking one for us, with an incredible number of striped marlin, 2050 in fact, for Pisces, in this month alone. That is not the situation this year but we are still having fantastic fishing but more along the lines of what we catch in October. So if all goes as with think it will, late November or December will be the month we see an explosion on striped marlin catches. We are not complaining though, this last period produced the biggest blue marlin we have caught all year, just a week late for the big tournaments…..isn't that always the case…but there is always next year. The weekend after the Bisbee "Andale" had a 475 lb blue marlin and seven dorado at the Golden Gate for Ron McCall and friends from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Next day out "Attitude Adjustment" fished just beyond the Golden Gate and landed a large blue, which though not officially weighed, was calculated at 550 to 600 lbs, as well as five dorado for Marsha & Stacy Steward, Ken Hoffman & Sheryl Johnson, all from Illinois. This same boat had a 250 lb blue, a striped marlin, 15 tuna and a dorado later in the week for Donny McVelfy & friends from Parker, Colorado. Other boats that released blue marlin between 200 and 300 lbs later in the week were Falcon, Tracy Ann and Bandito. With the IGFA World Offshore Championship currently underway boats were eager to start practicing for striped marlin, for this all release on billfish tournament and some did very well. On November 4^th "Tracy Ann" released four striped marlin off of Los Arcos for Jeremiah & Tess Hawkins from Des plains, Illinois. "Bill Collector" fishing this same area released six striped marlin and got four dorado for Sandro Onofaro and friends from Rome Italy, a team practicing for the IGFA event. There were other boats that also had up to three marlin in a day plus some sailfish. Despite these great catches the marlin bite could be better; there are plenty of fish, but they are dorado and tuna. Twenty nine percent of charters caught billfish this week consisting of 53 striped marlin, six blue marlin and four sailfish.

OTHER SPECIES: This period saw the 11^th Annual Western Outdoor News Jackpot Tuna Tournament take place. This was a hugely successful event with 104 teams participating, the only tournament in California and Baja to see growth in what is considered a slow year all around. This fun event is a tournament accessible to anyone, with a reasonable $700 entry fee and optional daily jackpots, plus you don't need a fancy boat and the rules are flexible so you don't have to worry about somebody touching your line, or handing the rod to a friend if you get tired. The weather was perfect on the first day November 5^th and you could feel the anticipation and certainty that big fish were going to be caught. I got a call from one of the boats at 10.30 on the first day, Oscar Daccarrett, aboard "Fisherman" called to say that his team had a big fish on at the Gordo Bank, he told me "at least 300 lbs", but then decided to hang up rather than jinx himself and said he would call back when they had it on board. Forty minutes later he called back to tell me they had it on board and that he thought it would surpass the current tournament record of 318 lbs. This was great news as Costa Del Mar sunglasses, one of the sponsors said they would give a bonus prize of $50,000.00 to anybody beating the tournament record. "Fisherman" was the first boat to the scale when it opened at 2.00 pm and nobody was prepared for the monster fish that they had on board. When hoisted up the electronic scale registered an amazing 383 lbs! This is just u 5 lbs under the all tackle world record, making it the largest tuna caught not only in Los Cabos, but in the whole of Mexico. It was 74" long and had a girth of 62" and had a zillion photographs taken of it by passersby's who posed with it like it was a celebrity. Everybody knew this would be a tough fish to beat, but team "Fisherman" was not in all of the jackpots so there was still a shot at prize money and of course the wahoo/dorado division which ended up being won by our very own "Ruthless" with a 61.2 lb wahoo. The prizes were distributed as follows:

Team Fisherman 383 lb Tuna $119, 480.00 plus the $50,000 bonus for $169,480

Team Spartacus 122 lb Tuna $32,080.00

Team Express 102.3 lb Tuna $30,636.00

Team Doctor Pescado II 38 lb Wahoo Day One $33,200.00

Team Alejandra 98.7 lb Tuna $35,600.00

Team Ruthless 61.2 lb Wahoo Day two $33,200.00

Team Tantrum 90.3 lb tuna $25,200.00

Team Bullrider $25,200.00 85.5 lb tuna.

Team El Loco II 51.1 lb Tuna $21,600.00

A great time was had by all and the event was honored by the Governors presence along with other dignitaries; the first time he has attended a Tournament Awards Banquet.

Dorado catches were number one this week with eighty five percent of boats catching from one to twenty with weights ranging from 15 to 35 lbs. The total dorado count for this period for Pisces was 591 fish caught, with many smaller ones released. Tuna catches were slower with twenty five percent of charters catching between one and fifteen in a day, the average size being 25 lbs. "Bill Collector" did have a very nice tuna four days before the tournament a 220 lb fish caught just two miles off of the Old Lighthouse on a green and yellow lure for Gary Geringer from Wichita Kansas. It was a good week for wahoo, with "La Brisa" catching four in a day for Walt Wade from Temecula California, going after the wahoo prize in the tournament, but just edged out by "Ruthless". Weights on wahoo were fairly small with most under 40 lbs. We also had some roosterfish up to 20 lbs and a few amberjacks.

LOCATION: Mostly Pacific from Los Arcos to Golden Gate and Punta Gorda on the Cortez side for big tuna.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Beautiful, clear sunny skies, calm seas.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 80 F

BEST LURES: Green/yellow, live bait, rapalas.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Winning Wahoo at the Tuna Tournament

Well we were finally able to download the pictures of our winning wahoo for team Ruthless and veteran captain Leon Camacho and deckhand Beto Lira. Leon has been with Pisces since we started in La Paz 30 years ago, so I guess you could say he has some experience. We will have the amounts on winnings up on the blog soon as we get a sneak preview before the awards dinner. The Governor of Baja California Sur will be attending the dinner the very first tournament dinner he has attended. This is in recognition of Western Outdoor News and their years of dedication and promotion of Baja. Enjoy the photos.

Tuna Tournament Comes to an End

This was the second and final day of the tuna tournament and as expected nothing could come close to the monster fish taken yesterday which retains its first place status. We will have a full round up tomorrow. The dorado/wahoo prize will go to our 31 ft Bertram Ruthless for bringing a 61.2 lb wahoo to the scale for angler Carl Johnson from Phoneix Arizona, from what I can see this fish will net them $44,000.00 Photos shown here are of the shotgun start this morning.

History Made in the Tuna Tournament

The first day of fishing is over and boy what a day. I got a phone call from well know local angler and personality Oscar Daccarrett at around 10.30 am today and he said "Tracy we have a good fish on, around 300 lbs", not wanting to jinx himself he said "I'll call back when we've got it on board" and hour and half later he told me that had boated it and he thought it would surpass the current Tuna Tournament record of 318 lbs. I told him to take it easy and slow down to wrap the fish in wet towels and to conserve it as best they could as the scale would not be open til 2.00 pm. I knew that he had bought a special ticket from Costa del Mar one of the sponsors, which was an oppotional deal, where if you get a fish over the current record of 318, they kick in $50,000.00 to the prize money... not bad for a $50.00 ticket going to charity....but what were the odds of beating the 318? Well in my mind it could be done. Judging by the number of big tuna we had seen coming in over the last couple of months and the perfect fishing weather....blue, blue seas, no wind and still on the hot side. Figuring I had some time I got to work doing some chores out of the office, until I got a phone call from Mike at Tournament Control....who was laughing and saying can you believe it the fish is 383 lbs....just five pounds short of the all tackle world record. INCREDIBLE... I rushed off to the dock to see the fish in person and to congratulate the anglers, all local guys from San Jose. The fish was taken at the Gordo Banks on 100 lb test on a Penn International 80 two speed and a bent butt rod. The fish took what is know as a "bullito" which is a small tuna or bonita that was approximately 2 lbs. The fish took one hour and 35 minutes to boat. The main angler on this fish was Hugo Pino, also Augustin Pino and Oscar Daccarrett. See, this tournament is about fun and they needed three guys to muscle this brute up to the boat. The fish is worth approximately $175,000.00 to this team from "Fisherman" a 35 ft Cabo skippered by Alfredo "Perico" Sanchez. The length of the fish was 74" and the girth was 62". This team however, was not entered in all the jackpots, so a 102 lb fish caught by Mel and Judy Ostberg who are entered in everything look like they will take $44,000.00. Spartacus also brought a nice fish to the scale, weighing in at 122.4 lbs, they are entered across the board they also weighed in an 87 lb 'er so we will see where they stand.

Photos show the team of Fisherman and myself and Oscar Daccarrett, from this shot it give you a good idea of the size in comparison to people.

Tuna Tournament Begins!

Today was the first day of fishing of the Western Outdoor News Jackpot Tuna Tournament now in its' 11th year. The check-in was at the Tesoro Hotel and there was a great turnout of 104 teams, making it the only tournament to actually increase in size this year and also the largest tournament of the year. We love this tournament because it's all about fun as well as fishing. Lots of local boats particpate and the entry fees are accessable to pretty much anybody with the minimum being $700.000 and the maximum of $23,200.00 if you enter all the jackpots. The organizers throw parties every night for the particpants, not just an awards dinner and we see anglers return year after year. The control boat was Oceanus and we were away from the dock aboard her by 6.00 am to start checking in the teams, which can be a bit chaotic with 104 vessels coming at you all at the same time. They have to be visually checked off by the control boat and hold up their team number as they go by. It's a lot of fun to wave to friends and captains we know and there is a lot of excitement in the air. The State Secretary of Tourism was on board to fire the flare for the shotgun start. I got roped into being the tournament control operator to check in boats, but it was quite fun actually. I have already heard from a couple of boats hooked up to large tuna but the scale won't open until 2.00 pm, so we will keep you posted.

Tracy Ehrenberg

Big Tuna On Target for Upcoming Tournament

On October 30th, the 32 ft Cabo Bill Collector took out Gary Geringer from Wichita, Kansas who got more than he expected when he hooked into a huge tuna, 30 miles out from Land's End. The fish took green and yellow lure and took just under an hour to land on 50 lb test...back at the dock the stocky fish weighed in at 220 lbs. Gary also got a smaller 45 lb tuna and 15 tuna from 18 to 35 lbs, of which he released 13.....how on earth would he have carried all those fillets home... so this is a good sign for the tuna tournament coming up in the week.

Andale Gets a 475 lb Blue Marlin!

It is a question of being at the right place at the right time. Andale fished the Bisbee recently and despite catching striped marlin didn't hook up to a blue, this fish would have taken the whole tournament.... Pictured here is Michael LaPorte from Massachussets, who took two hours and 15 minutes to boat this large fish on 80 lb test, aboard the 60 ft Mikelson "Andale" with Captain David Marquez on October 30th.

Fish Report Oct. 22 to 28,2009

PISCES FISH REPORT

OCTOBER 22nd to 28th, 2009

Overall Catch Success Rate 97%

BILLFISH: This week we saw the marlin catches nudge up a couple of percent again with thirty four percent of boats catching marlin or sailfish. We are still seeing quite a few blue marlin…..more than were present during the tournaments over the last couple of weeks, maybe because the water temperature is around 84 F, down from the 90's, so perfect for blue marlin and a bit warm for striped marlin, which despite this still outnumbered the blues. "Ruthless" was our top boat with four blue marlin this week, way above an average catch for this species. On October 22^nd they had two blues in one day, both between 200 and 300 lbs , plus three dorados, at the Golden Gate for Alan Chaplin from Sudbuy, in Suffolk, England - making him our angler of the week and catching him as he put it "the fish of my life. Please thank the crew aboard Ruthless". On the 24^th they released a blue taken on a Petrolero lure again at the Golden Gate for Martin Walsh from Mobile, Alabama. The last blue of the week for "Ruthless" was caught by a ladies group from Texas, consisting of Cindy Burney, Sandra Brooks, and Lynn Baker, once again at golden Gate on their hot petrolero lure; they also caught seven dorado. "Bandito" had two blue marlin this week, the first on October 25^th for Billy & Michael Buckingham from Jacksonville, Florida; they had a particularly good day, as they also released a striped marlin and boated a dorado. "La Brisa" released a blue marlin around 250 lbs taken on a black & red lure close to Golden Gate and also caught fourteen dorado closer to Cabo at Gaspareño for Derek Zimmel, John These, Steve & Tom Sprint. There were fair number of striped marlin but interestingly they were found closer to Cabo near the Old Lighthouse and Los Arcos, with live bait the best way to get a hook up. Pisces anglers caught a total of 32 billfish this week consisting of 17 striped marlin, 6 blue marlin and 3 sailfish.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado were again the number one catch in Cabo this week with sixty three percent of boats catching between one and eighteen in a day (many released); our total count was 274 fish. Most dorado are on the Pacific between Land's End and Golden Gate with weights averaging 20 lbs. Yellowfin tuna catches were good with forty four percent of charters catching between one and ten fish; top tuna boat was "Cabolero" with twenty three in one day. Weights were average with very few over 40 lbs and some up to 90 lbs…so it looks like they are saving them for next week's tuna tournament put on by Western Outdoor News, set for November 5^th and 6^th. This years' tournament looks set to be good with close to 80 entries already registered and several tuna over 200 lbs reported in the last month bode well for the event. Roosterfish have started to show up in good numbers and are up to 25 lbs currently. Just one wahoo this week, small at 40 lbs. The only other catches were bonita inshore.

LOCATION: Pacific – Land's End to Golden Gate.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Spectacular….clear skies, sunny, daytime air temps between 77 and 82 F, flat seas; everything is beautiful and green…causing quite a few people to go into full blown hay fever.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 83 F

BEST LURES: Live bait for striped marlin, cedar plugs for tuna, green/yellow lures for dorado, petroleros and red/black for blue marlin.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Bisbee Tournament Payouts

1st Place Mi Novia blue marlin 375 lbs Total Winnings $436,602.00
2nd Place Extraction blue marlin 305 lbs Total Winnings $559,362.00
1st Place Release Division Team Ole Ole 1 blue marlin (on time) $33,150.00
2nd Place Release Division Team Carpe Diem 1 blue marlin $11,475.00
3rd Place Release Division Team Reata del Mar 1 blue marlin $6,375.00

As you can see the second place fish won more money, this was because the monies were rolled over from day two when no qualifying fish were caught; this team entered the following daily jackpots $200, $500, $1000, and the $2000.
Mi Novia was entered in the same jackpots. Neither boat was entered in the $5000 or $10000 daily jackpots.