Latest Fish Report Cabo

January 21st to January 28th, 2011


Overall Catch Success Rate 85.19%

BILLFISH: Actually our overall catch success rate as reflected above was good, and finally we started to see a bit more action on marlin. Anglers reported seeing more fish, but again only a few were hungry. Nevertheless, nineteen percent of our boats did release billfish, which shows that numbers are climbing. At the end of this report on the 28th, “Falcon” was out with Michael Connolly on board and they actually managed to hook three striped marlin, unfortunately two got off but the third one they managed to get to the leader. They fished 15 miles out from Cabeza Ballena on the Cortez side and estimated the fish to be110 lbs; they also caught a 20 lbs yellow fin tuna for the table. This same day, Dale and Tara Darmante from New York, NY released one striped marlin aboard “Adriana” with their favorite captain of years Enrique “Kikon” Martinez. They headed offshore thirteen miles out from the 95 spot which is where they got the hook up. On the 26th Armando Ramirez and Kevin Whelan from Spring, TX released also released a striper aboard “Great Escape Jr”, when the fish took a live caballito. On the 25th, a group from Hartford, CT was out for just a half day aboard “El Gallo” and did very well to release a striped marlin twelve miles out from Chileno on the Sea of Cortez.

OTHER SPECIES: Tuna catches were again the top catch this week as dorado decreased, with just a few stray ones caught. On the 28th, Terry Smith and Jerry Meyer from Norman, OK released one dorado when it took a green/yellow lure forty miles from the 150 spot; they also boated two football size yellow fin tuna. On the 23rd, Michael and Carmine Caputo from Mont Clair, NJ caught one dorado and six yellow fin tuna thirty eight miles out from Cerro Blanco. Tuna catches are still about the same with thirty four percent of our boats catching between one to fifteen fish. We had two top tuna boats this week; on the 24th “C-Rod” did well for Ted Melson and friends from Forth Mills, SC landing fifteen yellow fin tuna, all football size at thirty four miles out from Cerro Blanco; all on cedar plugs. The other top tuna boat was “Bill Collector” which caught the same amount of tuna on the 21st for Mark Chiavetta and friends from San Jose, CA; they weighed between 15 to 20 lbs and they took a combination of cedar plugs and feathers. They were also fortunate to release one striped marlin after it took a live mackerel for bait at Migriño. “C-Rod” had a great day again on the 22nd, this time for Taylor and Scott from Aurora, OR who caught seven yellow fin tuna twenty seven miles straight out from Cerro Blanco; they had plenty fillets to take back home.

As to other species, we are still have sierra mania going on inshore with thirty percent of our boats catching between one to fifty four fish (majority released). This little tasty fish are everywhere close to shore and great fun to catch too. On the 27th, Shaun Green and friends from Mill Valle, CA had a lot of sierra action with a total of fifty four Spanish mackerel between 3 to 10 lbs; they also released one rooster fish. We had one wahoo this week, a 60 pounder for Ted Melson and friends from South Carolina aboard “C-Rod”; the fish took a black/red lure. Sharks are still in the area (be careful surfers!), this time the mako sharks were present at the 95 Spot. On the 27th, James Stoyko from Foster city, CA aboard “Valerie” released one mako shark estimated in the 100 lb class; this fish took a silver and black lure. A day before, in the same area “C-Rod” released another mako with, Ted Melson, out for his second day; as you can see he had a great time with Captain Abel. We hope to see you soon again!

Inshore we also had roosterfish, skipjacks, needle fish, lady fish and many bonitas

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, a couple of cloudy days at the end of this report, but the sun is out again. Mostly calm sea days cool mornings.

LOCATION: Pacific Side – Cabeza Ballena, Migriño, 180 spot, Cerro Blanco, Elias Calles, Gaspareño, 150 Spot, Pedregalito

Sea of Cortez - 95 Spot, 11;50 spot, Chileno

AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 71 F

BEST LURES; Cedar plugs, tigrillo, rapalas, hoochis, petrolero, green/yellow, red/black, green/blue

Live caballito, mackerel.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Ale Almada & Tracy Ehrenberg.

Client´s Video - Releasing a Striped Marlin..

We received this video from Ken Koch from Santa Maria, California releasing  a striped marlin on January 30, 2011 aboard the "Adriana".

Thank you for sharing with us!

Is This Photo Incredible or What?

Photo Mario Bañaga Jr.

This is another great photo. It clearly shows the spacious and well-kept cockpit of Shambala our 60 ft Hatteras, available for charter through Pisces. Chic McSherry happened to be in the photo modeling one of our sweatshirts nicely then to top it off, this friendly dolphin, who blends a bit too well with the water color, obliged by leaping out of the water and "smiling" just as Mario hit the shutter button. Doesn't get much better than this. And what are you doing?

A Study of Contrasts

Photo by Mario Bañaga Jr.

We just loved this picture of our good friends T.J Dobson captain of Shambala and Chic McSherry, Pisces collaborator long time friend and fisheman. T.J has lived in Cabo since he was fourteen and being aclimatized found it chilly the other morning. Chic, on the other hand comes from Scotland where they have had one of the coldest winters on record......don't think we need to explain any more.

Latest Fish Report

January 14th to January 20th, 2011

Overall Catch Success Rate 78.95%

BILLFISH: O.K. things are a bit glum on the marlin front this week and anybody telling you otherwise is not being truthful. So what’s the problem, first off mackerel have not been readily available for bait, then we had full moon this week and water temperatures have been varied, combined with that is the fact that marlin are far and wide, so yes, some have been spotted but few have been tempted to eat. This is typical of March fishing, but we are in January! Besides this, captains know their odds are not great for marlin right now, so they are opting to stick to what they know they have a better shot at, yellowfin tuna or inshore fish. Several swordfish were spotted as they like the kind of water we have right now, colder and green in some places, but nobody had the fortune to hook one. Nevertheless we did have a couple of boats that were the envy of the fleet for actually catching marlin, both on January 15th: Royce and Kerry Peacock from San Diego, CA were lucky to release one striped marlin aboard “Adriana” when the fish took a live caballito seventeen miles from 120 Spot. “Shambala” had Mike and Larry Lichter from Chicago, aboard with friends, when they released one striped marlin and boated four nice yellow fin tuna between 25 to 30 lbs twelve miles out from the 95 spot.

OTHER SPECIES: It was all about tuna again this week as Dorado catches dropped off with the cooler currents. The only boat that caught dorado was “Tracy Ann” on the 18th for Andy and Wendy Smith from Bourbonnais, IL with a 35 lb ‘er 40 miles out from the 180 spot taken on a blue and white lure –they went a long way in search of marlin (this boat incidentally was just awarded Most Striped Marlin Released 2010 by the Billfish Foundation, congratulations Julio Castro & Martin Gonzalez). Tuna catches are still steady with forty percent of our boats catching between one to twelve fish. Top tuna boat this week was “Bill Collector” for Jeff Landman and friends from Nashville, TN who caught twelve football size tuna twenty eight miles from the 180 spot; the fish took a combination of lures. On the 16th, “Tracy Ann” had a great day too for Bryan and Shirley Northcutt from Houston, TX when they landed ten yellow fin tuna between 15 to 20 lbs; they went farther than “Bill Collector”, forty five miles out from the 180 spot. On the 14th, Peter Tatllberg, Andreas Olofson and Johan Fager from Sweden kept busy reeling in nine yellow fin tuna aboard, also aboard “Tracy Ann” thirty miles straight out to the south; the fish took cedar plugs. “Bill Collector” again did well on tuna this time with Mark Chiavetta and friends from San Jose, CA; they caught six yellow fin tuna for a nice dinner. January 18th saw Eric Katajamaki and friends from Vancouver, Canada having fun aboard “Fearless” with captain Benito Agendas , when they boated six yellow fin tuna, most of them football size 25 miles east of Cabo Real. The next day, John Jorgensen and Leigh Goldman from Albany, NY caught six yellow fin tuna aboard “Bandito” with the fish taking a combination of hoochis and cedar plugs. Bull sharks were seen at Pedregalito 16 miles up the Pacific coast, in just 15 feet or water. Michael Theodore was fishing aboard “Little Hooker” and had caught some bonita earlier in the day which he used as bait, to throw to the sharks, which were right on shore in about fifteen feet of water. He battled what turned out to be a 100 lb shark, for forty five minutes before it could be subdued and boated. He said there were at least a dozen in the same area and that the shark put up an aggressive fight – he ended up hooking four that day, but just the one stuck. Next day out he had three strikes at the same location and managed to catch a 70 lb ‘er. As to other species we had a lot of sierra, also known as Spanish mackerel inshore with twenty percent of our boats catching between one to fourteen fish. This little fish (seldom over 11 lbs) is a lot of fun on light or spinning tackle and is exceptionally tasty, with a sweet white meat. The absolute best eating fish caught this week was a beautiful 70 lb caught on January 16th aboard “Rebecca” for John and Ward Davenport from Chattanooga, TN. They fished at the Herradura, where the fish hit a petrolero lure – a 70 lb wahoo can feed a lot of people. On the 18th, Tom Lewis, Jeff Morgan and Mike Moroskey from Newport Beach, CA went bottom fishing aboard “Bill Collector” and did they catch (and release many) fish; they ended up with a tally of thirty red snapper, one 20 lb yellow fin tuna and two mojarras at Punta Gorda. They used langoustines for bait. Inshore we also had roosterfish to 15 lbs, jack crevalle, yellowtail and many bonitas

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, seas mostly calm to a few choppy days, cooler weather

LOCATION: Pacific Side – Cabeza Ballena, Migriño, Old light house, 180 spot, 210 spot, Cerro Blanco, 120 spot, Pedregal, Herradura, Margaritas Elias Calles, Gaspareño, 150 Spot

Sea of Cortez - 95 Spot, Punta Gorda

AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 72 F

BEST LURES; Cedar plugs, tigrillo, rapalas, hoochis, purple, petrolero, mackerel, blue/white

Live caballito, ballyhoo, sardines

Based on the catches of Pisces by Ale Almada & Tracy Ehrenberg.

Amazing Video

Wow we just watched this video from our clients Cenk and Christopher Durukal  from Vienna, this is one of the best client videos we have ever seen, the underwater footage makes it extra special. A big THANK YOU for releasing your fish, especially the blue marlin.

Congratulations Jorge Cu!

Well we don't know how he did it, but Jorge Cu our reservation agent and dockmaster, manged to sweep Eliza off of her feet and they were married this month, aboard our beautiful yacht Mick. You can see how happy they both were and Jorge has waited for this for a long time. We wish them much happiness and blesssings.

Bull Sharks On the Shoreline!

Marlin fishing may not be that good right now, but there are still some big fish around, like this 100 lb bull shark caught by Michael Theodore part time Cabo resident. Michael was fishing the shoreline at Pedregalito about 16 miles up the Pacific coast - he had caught some bonita earlier in the day and used one of the heads as bait. The fish was taken in just 15 feet of water and took 45 minutes to land on 50 lb test. It put up a good fight and was very agressive so they made sure that once gaffed it was really dead before they put it in the boat. He told us that there were several other sharks in the same area as they hooked a total of four but could only get one to stay on. Next day out they had another three hook ups on bull sharks and caught a 70 lb'er.

Latest Fish Report

January 6th to January 13th, 2011

Overall Catch Success Rate 85.08%

BILLFISH: We are still missing the good fishing of January for stripers like the past years, but the odd weather has made a change this year. The water is too cold that feels like March, some of our anglers had even seen some swordfish; it’s early for their season. Nevertheless, seventeen percent of our boats caught billfish this week. We had double marlin days such as on the 11th aboard “Shambala” for Sean Gunn and Hunter Hale from San Antonio, TX they released two striped marlin at out of San Jaime bank; they were also lucky to boat four yellow fin tuna. On the 6th, Lee Zimmerman and friends from Boston, MA released two stripers as well aboard “Bandito”; they were busy too reeling in ten football size tuna. The next day, “Bill Collector” did well too with two striped marlin, both released for the Matarese family from Carney Points, NJ; they caught two nice 30 lbs dorado for dinner. This same day, the Koch family from Denver, CO had a fun day aboard “Rebecca” releasing one striped marlin and boating ten yellow fin tuna between 20 to 30 lbs, one dorado and one mako shark at San Jaime bank on the Pacific side.. Well done guys! At the end of this report, “Tracy Ann” released another striped marlin for a group from Sweden and caught six yellow fin tuna; the fish took lures, chilliwili and cedar plugs respectively. We had a total of fourteen striped marlin all released.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches are still, with the same rate from last week with eighteen percent of our boats catching between one to two fish. On the 10th, Tommy Engstrand, Roger Vesti and Andreas Andersson from Sweden caught two dorado aboard “Bandito”; the fish took tigrillo and cedar plugs lures. On the 6th Jamie Archer and friends from Toronto, Canada always loyal with captain Nayo Winkler aboard “El Gallo” caught a nice 35 lbs dorado and went for the in shore fishing and had fun catching eighteen Spanish mackerel and four bonitas. Tuna catches are on the lead again with forty four percent of our boats catching between one to twenty two fish. Top tuna boat this week was for the “Andrea” on the 9th, James and Sarah Hsiao from Orlando, FL were really busy reeling in twenty two yellow fin tuna between 10 to 25 lbs; the fish took a combination of lures. Several boats did well on this day actually; “Tracy Ann” was second with nineteen tuna for Mark and Jonathan Klins and friends from Charlotte, NC. “Ruthless” was just behind with sixteen tuna for Lee Boese and Tore Greco from British Columbia; they went down of San Jaime bank. “Rebecca” also present, boated fifteen yellow fin tuna for Robert Kowalski, Mitch Long and Todd Wellington from Olympia, WA. On the 7th, the Hamner family from Sacramento, CA caught sixteen tuna between 20 to 30 lbs aboard “Valerie”; they boated one 30 lbs dorado as well.. Congratulations! Also from Sacramento, CA Harry Bunfill, John Molis and Marco Grandinetti had a similar catch aboard “Adriana” a day before with fourteen tuna in the football size range and one 30 lbs dorado; they went thirteen miles in front of Pedregal. Pisces anglers caught a total of two hundred and forty yellow fin tuna this week.

As to other species we had a lot of Spanish mackerel in the area with twenty five percent of our boats catching between one to twenty six fish. Another species were rooster fish, jack crevalle, yellow tail, bonitas and a mako shark.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, some windy days in the morning, seas mostly calm to a few choppy days, cooler weather

LOCATION: Pacific Side – Cabeza Ballena, Migriño, Old light house, San Jaime, 180 spot, 210 spot, Cerro Blanco, 120 spot, Pedregal, Herradura, Pozo Cota, Los Arcos, Margaritas Elias Calles, Gaspareño, Pescadero

Sea of cortez - 95 Spot, , Chileno

AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 71 F

BEST LURES; Cedar plugs, tigrillo, green, red/black, rapalas, hoochis, purple, feathers, yoyos, green/yellow, petrolero, mackerel color

Live caballito, mackerel, ballyhoo, sardines


Based on the catches of Pisces by Ale Almada

January 2011 Fishing Gallery

Below find some pictures of our clients catches :

Jan 3rd - William and Ben Bastedo from Houston, TX released one striped marlin and caught two 20 lbs dorado and one skipjack aboard "Adriana"; the fish took live bait at Cabeza Ballena and Old Lighthouse

   

Jan 4th - Dale and Tara Darmante from New York, NY caught two 20 lbs dorado aboard "Adriana"; the fish took live bait and red/black lure at Cabeza Ballena 

 

Jan 5th - Jim, Aaron, Elizabeth Meyrick and Chris Akerman from Lincoln, IL boated seven yellow fin tuna between 15 to 20 lbs aboard "Rebecca"; the fish took cedar plugs at  31 miles from 180 spot

Jan 9th - Mark and Jonathan Klins, Michael and Lauren Thompson from Charlotte, SC caught nineteen yellow fin tuna between 18 to 30 lbs aboard "Tracy Ann" ; the fish took a combination of cedar plugs and hoochis at outter and below San Jaime bank 

Jan 9th - Robert Kowalski, Mitch Long, James Gee, Todd Wellington from Olympia, WA caught fifteen yellow fin tuna between 15 to 30 lbs aboard "Rebecca"; the fish took cedar plugs at 10 miles out from San Jaime bank

Jan 10th - Harry, Harrison and Pauline Rogers and Taylor Gripe from Greenville, CA released one striped marlin and one dorado, and caught three 20 lbs yellow fin tuna - 20 lbs aboard "Adriana"; the fish took a combination of ballyhoo and cedar plugs at San Jaime bank 

 Jan 10th - Wayne Woolsey, Ray Smither, Ron Dower from Excelsion, MO caught four 20 lbs yellow fin tuna aboard "Andrea"; the fish took a combination of cedar plugs and feathers at San Jaime banks

 Jan 11th - Jay and Brad Christopherson from Rhineland, WI caught ten spanish mackerel aboard "Andrea"; the fish took hoochis at Margaritas by the Pacific side.