Fish Report

JANUARY 15th to 21st, 2010

 

Overall Catch Success Rate 81%

BILLFISH: We have to be honest, in that fishing is not great for marlin right now. Compared to last year when we had 945 striped marlin total for January, this year's numbers look bleak in comparison. It is hard to say exactly why fishing is slower, but water temperatures are higher than normal and there is a lack of bait in the area, well that is mackerel, the meal of choice for striped marlin. Weather is getting a bit cooler, so hopefully when we get a cold snap the bait will show up, followed by the marlin. As with most things it is just a question of time. Best day for marlin was January 15^th when three of our boats had two marlin each. "Tracy Ann" released two at Pozo de Cota on the Pacific that took live caballito; they also boated four dorado for William West from Norwalk, Ca and Robert Harrok from Redondo Beach, Ca. "Valerie" had an identical catch this day in the same area, two marlin and four dorado for Judson Todd and Troy Barder from Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. To round out this, our most successful marlin day, "Yahoo" released two, a little closer at San Cristobal fro Scott Steinberg and Mike Cuts, both from Chicago, Illinois. Other marlin catches were just of one fish and the locations were far ranging, from the Old Lighthouse to 27 miles off of the Finisterra, to 25 miles out around the 150 spot. Just twenty one percent of charters caught marlin this week giving us a total of eleven fish released.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado have provided entertainment and have saved the day several times this period, along with the spectacular shows put on by both gray and humpback whales in the area in large numbers. Forty nine percent of boats were able to pick up between one and nine dorado, in the 15 to 35 lb class. Found in diverse locations and taking mostly lures, in assorted colors and the odd live bait. Yellowfin tuna catches were in between those of marlin and dorado with thirty one percent of boats catching between one and fifteen fish, rarely over 25 lbs. "Tracy Ann" had fourteen one day but had to go forty miles to find them for a group from Whitmore, Michigan. Next day out this same boat caught fourteen tuna but this time closer to home at 23 miles out from the Old Lighthouse for Herb Radke from Canada. Not a lot going on for other species with just one small wahoo caught and several roosterfish.

LOCATION: Mostly Pacific, though one day off of Palmilla.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: We had a couple of windy days, otherwise, clear skies and flat to moderate seas.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 73 F

BEST LURES: Live caballito for marlin, cedar plugs for tuna and assorted color lures for dorado.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

 

FISHING UPDATE

PISCES FISH REPORT

January 7th to 14th, 2010

Overall Catch Success Rate 99%

BILLFISH: The billfish catches to start of the year have not been as good as we would desire, but again, we have not really started our winter weather, with it still being warmer than normal. Boats have reported good numbers of striped marlin but they are reluctant to eat. Nevertheless our overall catch success rate was almost perfect with dorado catches dominating throughout this period. We were very pleased though, to see Benny Gunnarsson & Parl Johan Sandberg who had traveled all the way from Sweden, catch and release three striped marlin and four dorado aboard "Rebecca" on January 14^th at Las Margaritas –making the Swedes our anglers of the week. This same day though, "Tracy Ann" also released three striped marlin just four miles from Los Arcos by Ron Lucia, William West & Robert Harrah, all from Southern California. When marlin were caught this week, it was most likely to be a single fish plus a few dorado if they did well. There were a few exceptions with double marlin days, such as two aboard "La Brisa" for Barbara & David Fiocca from Ardmore, Pennsylvania, two aboard "Cabolero", plus eight dorado for Joel & Beverly Carter & Jason & Lauren Friedlander from Starfordville, New York. The only other double fish day was aboard "Bill Collector" at the outer Golden Gate from Kevin McCluskey from Palm Beach, Florida. Just thirty one percent of boats caught striped marlin this week giving us a total of 21 striped marlin released. All of the striped marlin were caught on the Pacific between the Old Lighthouse and Golden Gate.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado saved the day this period when it was hard to get a hook up on marlin. Eighty four percent of boats caught between one and nineteen fish in the 15 to 25 lb class. Again, the dorado were caught on the Pacific with the top boat "Rebecca" with Lisa Jenika, Andy White, Craig & Jake Michelson aboard, all from Great Falls, Montana….they were fortunate to catch 19 dorado up to 30 lbs, with 17 released. The dorado are taking lures, with many color combinations working. Our anglers caught a total of 213 dorado this report. Yellow fin tuna catches were fair with thirty one percent of boats landing between two and twelve fish in the 12 to 25 lb class. Top tuna boat was "Tracy Ann" with a dozen fish out of Golden Gate for Frederick Moller from Sweden. Our total tuna count was ninety four fish. We had quite a lot of wahoo this week but the catches were of a single fish and generally small at around 25 lbs; the largest caught this week was a 40 lb'er. A couple of mako sharks were released as well as one reported as a "sardine" shark. Sierra started to show up as well as a few skipjacks and bonitas.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Picture perfect with the exception of a couple of windy days towards the end of this report. Blue skies and seas; calm until the wind picked up.

LOCATION: Old Lighthouse to Golden Gate, some days boats didn't find marlin, but pangas inshore picked up the odd one here and there.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 73 F

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

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Fish Report

DECEMBER 18th to 31st, 2009

Overall Catch Success Rate 94%

BILLFISH: We finished out the year on a good note, with a high overall catch success rate for all species combined, however the marlin catches could have been better, but then again this was a rare "blue moon" month, in other words two full moons in one month, which will not take place again for another 19 years. Marlin tend to eat less around the full moon, as they have an opportunity to feed during nighttime and are less hungry during the day. This didn't stop "Bill Collector" though, they did amazingly well on December 18^th, catching and releasing fourteen striped marlin for Stephen Palmer from London, England, fishing alone (crew aboard) at Los Arcos with live bait. We also heard of another huge blue marlin, this one was caught aboard a boat aptly named "Blue Marlin" and was 800 lbs. We don't have all the details but did see the photo. We had a few smallish blue marlin on other boats such as an approximate 200 lb'er released aboard "Andrea" after taking a purple lure at Gaspareño for Mark Schafer from Edmonton, Canada. John Haskell from Omaha, Nebraska also released a small blue aboard "Tracy Ann" as well as a striped marlin on December 18^th. A couple of days later this boat caught and released a baby blue marlin, no more than a foot and a half long for regulars, Billy and Joan Daughdrill , from Pensacola, Florida. The weather still continues to be warmer than normal accounting for blue marlin still in the area and a resurgence of dorado. The average catch was one striped marlin but others did better; "La Brisa" released four marlin, close to the Old Lighthouse for Julia, Greg & Jordan Jung, fishing with Ross & Glenn Aske, all from Austin, Texas on December 21^st and "C Rod" released three and got twelve tuna and a dorado for the Carey family from St. Louis, Missouri. Fifty two percent of charters caught billfish this week consisting of 45 striped marlin, 3 blue marlin and 1 sailfish, all released.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado reclaimed is throne as king of Cabo sportfish this week, with a whopping 421 caught by our anglers, giving us a seventy eight percent catch success rate for this species. Catches ranged from one, up to the top day, of twenty nine, aboard "Tracy Ann" for the Daughdrills from Pensacola, Florida. Not all fish are being kept with a lot of the smaller fish returned to the water. We were surprised by rain, pretty heavy, on December 28^th, which lasted most of the day but which the dorado seemed to like, as it washed stuff down into the sea, making them easier to find, congregating under debris. Dorado were found along the Pacific coast from the Old Lighthouse to Golden Gate, quite close to shore taking both live bait and assorted color lures. Weights were from 12 to 40 lbs. Nineteen percent of boats caught yellow fin tuna with the highest catch of 22 fish in a day being aboard "Rebecca" from Thomas McLaughlin, from San Francisco. The fish took a combination of lures and live bait just outside the Golden Gate; others were found 7 miles off of the Cerros de Arena. Weights on the tuna are smallish at no more than 25 lbs. We had quite a lot of wahoo this week, but fish were usually 25 to 35 lbs and rarely over 40 lbs, though Howard Kessler from New York did get a 50 lb'er at Migriño aboard "Tracy Ann". Roosterfish have started putting in an appearance as have sierra and mako sharks up to 50 lbs.

LOCATION: Pacific: Lighthouse to Golden Gate, fairly close to shore.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Just beautiful, mostly clear skies, calm seas.

BEST LURES: Live bait, guacamaya lures, petroleros.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 75 F

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Latest Fish Report

December 10th to 17th, 2009

Overall Catch Success Rate 100%

BILLFISH: We had a couple of important things happen this week and both were in regard to the same boat. Firstly, "Bill Collector" our 32 ft Cabo, or rather the Captain Julio Gonzalez was named Top Captain Worldwide, by the Billfish Foundation for most striped marlin released in 2009. Then on December 14^th, the "Bill Collector" had a double hook up on spearfish (short bill Pacific variety) at Destiladeres in the Sea of Cortez. These are the only spearfish that we know of that were caught this year in Los Cabos. The crew had heard a report of marlin in that area, the opposite of where most boats are currently fishing, so they decided to check it out. The crew told me the fish came out of nowhere; they thought they saw a dorado or something on the surface so circled the area and suddenly got two strikes at the same time on the lures, one a green/yellow the other a "petrolero". Seeing as they were rigged for striped marlin, the tackle was way too much for these little guys, taking just a couple of minutes to bring them to the boat for release. Captain Julio said they were about 25 lbs each and really beautiful. The anglers were Stuart and Ryan Moore from Aurora, Illinois and they also caught five small tuna. This is the same boat that caught an almost 900 lb blue marlin a couple of weeks ago. The good news this week is that every boat caught boat of some description with fifty nine percent of boats catching billfish, almost without exception, striped marlin. Boat of the week for striped marlin was 31 ft "Tracy Ann". On December 16^th, this boat released seven striped marlin and a sailfish, all on live bait at Los Arcos for Thomas McLaughlin and Mandy Moy from San Francisco, Ca. Next day out they released three for Hannah Simpkins & David Grilliot from Anchorage, Alaska, also at Los Arcos. The only other boat with a triple marlin day was "Rebecca" on the 16^th for Randi Church, Ginger Pung & Gene Montgomery, all from Minnesota ; they also caught a couple of yellowfin and a dorado. To be honest the marlin fishing has not taken off like we would like it to, but we think this is due to the continuing warm weather, with water temps still around 78 F when they should be closer to 70 F. Once we get that colder weather, the bite should be better. There were several boats with a single marlin but dorado edged them out slightly. Pisces anglers caught a total of 43 billfish this week, consisting of 40 striped, 2 spearfish and 1 sailfish.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado were the number one catch in Cabo this week with sixty six percent of charters catching between one and eight, with weights average at 18 to 25 lbs. "Ruthless" had eight at Migriño for Terry Pearce from Buellton California on the 15^th. Our total dorado catch was 95 fish and we should see a decline on this species from now on. We did have a showing of yellowfin tuna, which was a bit unusual, or we are normally concentrating on marlin at this time of year. Twenty nine percent of boats found these fish with an average weight of 20 lbs, found at several different locations. Top boat was "Tracy Ann" on the 11^th with fourteen at Chileno, on the Cortez side for James Green from New York, fishing with Thomas Cypolisk from Centerville, Montana. Inshore we had a couple of tuna and a solitary 35 lb wahoo.

LOCATION: Los Arcos, La Ballena, Migriño, Pozo de Cota, Punta Gorda, Faro Viejo, outside Golden Gate.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Perfect, calm seas, blue skies.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 78 F

BEST LURES: Live caballito, green lures, petroleros.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Fish Report

 

Overall Catch Success Rate 96%

BILLFISH: This week we saw a huge improvement on striped marlin catches, with the success rate for this species jumping to seventy four percent. As predicted once the cooler weather hit, we expected striped marlin to take off and this report started off with a bang, with mackerel moving into the area, being chased by striped marlin. One of the top days was December 6^th, when "Cabolero" released 14 striped marlin, 1 sailfish and a dorado off of the Old Lighthouse for Jay Lanigan, Gol Stroan and Dave Brown, all from Golden Badge, New York. This same day "Rebecca" released eight striped marlin and boated two dorado fro Henry King, from Close, New York and rounding out the day for the New Yorkers was "Tracy Ann" with seven stripers released and three dorado boated for Jerry Giovina, from Staten Island, fishing with Tom Lindsey and Michael O´Rourke. The weather did not remain that cold and we have had some warmer nights again, nevertheless there is no doubt that the striped marlin season, with ridiculous numbers of fish being caught, is getting underway. Other notable catches were those of "Valerie" on December 3^rd, when they released an approximate 200 lb blue marlin as well as a striped marlin and then boated two dorado and three tuna, 18 miles off of Cerro Blanco for lady anglers, Jennifer Fagen from Earlham, Idaho and Any Strawn from Awanda, Colorado…way to go girls. "Andale" had eight striped marlin released and two dorado boated on December 7^th off of the Lighthouse and Los Arcos, for the aptly named John Fisher from Sykesville, Maryland. There were many catches of between one and five marlin in a day with a dorado or two to boot, with the majority of fish caught between the Old Lighthouse and Los Arcos. Pisces anglers caught a total of 117 billfish this week, consisting of 115 striped marlin, one sailfish and one blue marlin, all released.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado are staying late into the year, as normally by this time they start to slow down, however, they were again the number one catch this week, with eighty one percent of vessels catching between one and thirteen fish in the 15 to 25 lb class. The sheer numbers were lower this week with 184 caught total, but still they were the fish most likely to be encountered. Just eleven percent of charters caught tuna, but then again most were not looking for them, preferring to enjoy the striped marlin and dorado catches close to home. One boat that targeted tuna did very well; "Spartacus" caught 38 of them 35 miles out from Cerro Blanco, as well as two striped marlin, closer to shore, for John Gordon and friends from California (smaller fish were released). There were some nice wahoo again this week, with weights topping out at 50 lbs. Some roosterfish close to shore as well as Sierra. "C Rod" had a fabulous day on the 5^th, with a 90 lb mako shark, eleven dorado and one striped marlin released for George Bond and friends from Fort Worth, Texas.

LOCATION: Pacific, Old Lighthouse to Elias Calles.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Perfect…clear sunny skies, calm seas.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 78 F

BEST LURES: Live bait for marlin, green colored lures for dorado, cedar plugs tuna, purple colors for wahoo.

The Striped Marlin Are Here!

In our last few fish reports we predicted that the striped marlin would show up in good numbers once the weather turned cold. This is exactly what has happened; it was as if somebody flipped the switch to "winter" and for the last four days we have had typical November weather, not the unseasonal warmth experienced throughout November, not only that but the cooler water has bought mackerel, the bait of choice for striped marlin into the area. There are not that many anglers in town right now, as traditionally this is a slow time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but those that are here and went out had a fabulous time. Yesterday, Sunday, December 6^th "Cabolero" 31 Cabo Express, released fourteen marlin, one sailfish and two dorado, for Jay Lanigan from Florida, fishing with Dave Brown from New York, close to the Old Lighthouse and I mean less than two miles from shore. "Rebecca" 31 ft Bertram released eight striped marlin for Henry King, also from New York and "Tracy Ann", 31 ft Bertram released seven striped marlin and three dorado a little further up the coast at Pozo de Cota, for Michael O'Rourke, Tom Lindsey and Jerry Giounasso from New York too…(guess it must be cold in New York). All I can say is I hope we are in for a repeat of the striped marlin numbers we saw last year and that the season as just delayed due to overly warm weather. Last November Pisces caught 2050 billfish, with 98.4% released.

Weekly Fish Report

PISCES FISHING REPORT

November 26 to December 2nd, 2009

Overall Catch Success Rate 95%

BILLFISH: This last week was the most exciting of the year for Pisces with two incredible catches that will probably take up the whole fish report, so here goes with copy of what was posted on our blog: On Saturday, November 28th, I received a phone call from our dockmaster, Mario, around 8.00 am to tell me that our 54 ft Bertram "Get Over It" was hooked up to a very weird fish and they asked "what should we do". I immediately got on the phone with the captain Jobe Villavicencio to see what was going on. Jobe was very excited saying they were hooked up to a sailfish that was completely white. Incredulous I got on the internet and found that a couple of "albino" sailfish had been caught before, one aboard a commercial boat in Manzanillo, Mexico and another in Guatemala. The captain wanted to know if he should boat the fish or release it. This put us in a bit of a dilemma; knowing how rare this fish was, we knew that it would be very valuable to local scientists, however we had paying clients on board and the decision had to be theirs, when you charter a boat from Pisces you get to call the shots, it is  your boat for the day. The angler, Matt Dye from Alexandria, Virginia, decided to release this, his first every sailfish and a weird one at that and we were happy with his decision. This group also released a striped marlin and boated a couple of dorado. Captain Jobe told me that they were fishing 14 miles off of the Old Lighthouse on the Pacific when they saw the fish jumping they quickly cast a live caballito to it, which it immediately took. He said the way the fish took the bait was very odd. It didn't run or jump, he could not express very well what he meant but said it was just strange. It took them 15 minutes to bring to the boat on 20 lb test and weighed approximately 110 lbs. From what I read these fish are white due to a lake of melanin, but cannot be considered truly albino unless they have pink eyes.  Due to the excitement the pictures taken were not the best and there is quite a bit of shadow on the fish making it look darker. I asked the captain about the eyes and he said they were really beautiful, pink with a brown tinge, which is not appreciated in the photographs.  Jobe always seems to be in the news, but then again he is a great captain. Both he and brother Cubi (Javier) the mate were named World Offshore Champions, competing against 30 countries, in the IGFA World Offshore Championship held here in Cabo just a few weeks ago. The other really BIG news was that of a BIG fish as follows, again taken from our blog: Nobody expected a fish of this size to show up at the dock yesterday, the Captain didn't even tell us until he had it on board and we thought perhaps there was some exaggeration going on, but then again Julio Gonzalez aboard the 32 foot Cabo "Bill Collector" is one of the best captains at Pisces. They were trolling about one mile from Golden Gate, when they saw the something feeding in the distance, about half a mile from where they were. At first they thought it was a whale or a very big porpoise, so they raced over to see what it was. They realized as they got close that it was a marlin and that it was eating a 20 lb dorado.  The deckhand started to prepare one of the dorado that they had caught earlier in the day, to use as bait, as they thought with a fish this size, they needed something big to attract its attention.  They got as close as six feet while the deckhand was still preparing the bait, but they had lures in the water, they started to circle the fish, going around while they were still preparing the bait. They continued circling the fish; she was oblivious to the boat concentrating on the tasty dorado that she was eating. Captain Julio suddenly dropped the speed of the boat to 6 knots and one of the lures was very close to the fish, they saw when she opened her mouth, the widest they had ever seen and took the lure it was like everything was happening in slow motion.  It was Martha Chisholm's turn in the chair, she is from Singer Island, Florida, despite being in her later season in life, she is very strong and an avid fisherwoman. The fish jumped twice and then started to go down. The tackle was a Shimano Tiagra 80 reel with 100 lb line, 300 lb leader and the lure a 5.5 Zuker, they types used for striped marlin, green, with a white underside. The fish had finished her meal and thought that this lure was another dorado. They started to work the fish, though it wasn't that active. They put as much pressure on the fish as they dared but one hour into the fight, the saw that line was going out very slowly, just with the current, and they were down to half the reel; Captain Julio realized the fish was dead and between all of them, taking turns on the reel they pumped the fish to the surface. It was not tail-wrapped and they assumed that it had died of a heart attack. This was such a shame as the angler and crew had planned on releasing it.  They had to remove the fighting chair to get it into the boat and after 30 minutes of struggling, it was   wave that helped them out working in their favor to push it into the boat. Back at the dock it took a dozen guys to hoist the fish up, but even then, they couldn't clear the bill off of the floor as the fish was so long, to truly let it hang free and get the accurate weight. Nevertheless the fish showed as 865 lbs according to the dock scale, which is not that accurate. In other fishing news forty six percent of our charters caught billfish this week with the Pacific still being the location of choice ; as we write this boats are stacked up off of the Old Lighthouse and it seems as if striped marlin are moving into the area and the preferred bait of mackerel starts to show up. We did have a big moon this week which can be a factor in less billfish being caught, nevertheless there were several boats that had triple marlin days and Dan Ryan from New York and friends, were able to release four in one day aboard "Rebecca". Pisces anglers caught a total of 46 billfish this week consisting of 41 striped marlin, two sailfish and three blue marlin, all released except the huge fish that died.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado remains the number one catch in Cabo with eighty three percent of our boats catching between one and twenty five in a day. Weights are from 15 to 30 lbs and they are spread out from the Old Lighthouse, some very close to shore, to Golden Gate and can also be picked up on the Cortez side. Tuna catches were on the slow side with just the "Bill Collector" loading up on these for Mark Chiavetta from San Jose, California on November 29^th, when they headed out 36 miles in the direction of the 210 spot and managed to get fourteen between 25 and 30 lbs, as well as on dorado and release two striped marlin. Again fair amounts of wahoo near Migriño up to 40 lbs. Roosterfish to 30 lbs inshore as well as a few skipjacks and sierra.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Partly overcast, now clear, seas calm.

BEST LOCATION: Gaspareño, Elias Calles, Migriño, Los Arcos, Golden Gate.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 77 F

BEST LURES: Live bait, green colored lures.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Mako Sharks Put in an Appearance

Now that we are into December we should start to see an increase on sharks, mostly Mako's but there will be some hammerheads too. This one was caught yesterday, December 5^th by George Bond from, Fort Worth, Texas and weighed approximately 80 lbs. George fished aboard our 38 ft Blackfin "C Rod" and did very well; besides catching the shark he also released one striped marlin and caught eleven dorados with friends that were on the boat with him. Weather is picture perfect right now and seas are dead calm. Photo taken by our Dockmaster Mario Bañaga

Iversons from Folsom, California

We fished with Pisces on November 23, 2009. We fished with Captain Martin on the El Bandito, and had an incredible time. We caught 8 beautiful Dorado and one terrific Marlin. It is the first time I have gone fishing for Dorado and I was so excited about that but the fact that we spotted and caught a marlin was the thrill of my fishing life.

Thank you Pisces for a wonderful trip. We will all fish with you again: Louise Iverson Folsom, California

Comment from Iverson Family, Folsom Ca.