In Memory of Jerry Dotson -This Letter Moved Us All

 

 

This email we received today really moved us all...thanks Kim for sharing.
"Sorry it took so long to post a review but I was able to do that today. We enjoyed fishing with you guys and would definitely book with you again.
I recently just f...ound out that my dad went on a fishing trip in March 3, 2006 and booked the Andrea with you guys. Oddly enough we happened to book the Andrea with you guys too last October, without even knowing. What makes this so meaningful is my dad passed away December of 2012 after struggling with Stage 4 tongue cancer for 9 months. It makes me wonder if he wasn't right there with us encouraging the fish to take the bait. Its incredible to think that my dad sat in the same spot 7 years ago. It amazes me to think of how small the world really is and little things really do mean a lot. I have attached the bill fish foundation release certificate with my dads name, Jerry Dotson, on it.
Another amazing thing that happened on the boat was my boyfriend of 7 years proposed to me, even while he was feeling a lil under the weather.
Anyways just thought I would share these wonderful memories with you.
Thanks again,
Kim Dotson"

SWEDISH INVASION?

Swedish invasion in Mexico? The Swedes did it again, this beautiful striped marlin was caught & released by a very excited Kjell aboard Pisces Rebecca.

Another Blue Marlin on the Tracy Ann

So, here's a different blue marlin on Tracy Ann, caught yesterday...this one was safely released. Proud angler is Roger Sturk from Sweden.

Fish Hard to Weigh, Estimated at 500 LBS

 

Julio Castro on the Tracy Ann is a strong proponent of catch & release and it is rare that you see a dead marlin on the back of his boat. This big blue however was hooked during the tuna tournament, got tail-wrapped and died, so was brought on board. Justin Long from Roseveille, Ca. was the angler. We had a hard time weighing it but calculated between 470 and 500 LBS

 

 

 

 

WEEKLY FISH REPORT

NOVEMBER 2ND TO 7TH 2013
Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 97%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 74%, Dorado 58%, Tuna 18%

BILLFISH: We had some pretty spectacular billfish catches this week, as we finally felt the weather turn from summer to autumn/winter. After a couple of sweltering hot days,  rain fell on Cabo on November 3rd & the port was closed, but once it was reopened you could tell the weather had changed and the marlin bite was on.  Pisces Adriana had a spectacular day on November 7th, releasing SIX striped marlin & SEVEN sailfish, off the lighthouse on a combination of live and dead bait as well as green and yellow lures.  We also had many boats with fast & furious striped marlin action such as Pisces Rebecca with Joe Capizio & Sarah Mindick from San Diego aboard, on November 6th, who did very well to release five striped marlin off of Migrino & to boat two dorado. Valerie, was up there too with five marlin released, three tuna & a dorado for Jason Riha, Brandon Brooks & Rafael Guardardo. Bill Collector, Yahoo, C Rod & Fearless also had days this week when they released five marlin each plus a dorado or small yellow fin tuna, all this at a time when the tuna tournament was supposed to be the focus.  We had many great catches of one to three fish throughout the week and it was a struggle for boats in the tuna tournament to keep the billfish off of their lines, such as Pisces Andrea, who ended up taking second place in the tournament – they hooked a 400 LB blue marlin on a petrolero lure, which they released, before hooking their large tuna on the same rod & reel.  Seventy four percent of our boats caught billfish, consisting of 125 striped marlin, 2 blue marlin & 8 sailfish.

OTHER SPECIES: The main event this week was the WON Tuna Tournament, in which 135 boats participated. Tuna pickings were slim though and we did not see the slew of huge fish as we have in the past couple of years. Some days the schools were not too hard to find, but they were small fish in the 10 to 20 lb. class with only a handful of fish making the 100 LB plus mark this year.  Our anglers caught a total of 96 yellowfin tuna which means when they were found they could catch a number of them – up to a couple of dozen, but finding them was the hard part, or better said, getting them to bite. Eighteen percent of our charters hooked tuna. Dorado numbers have started to decline though are still here in good numbers, with fifty eight percent of our charters catching from one to ten fish. All were on the small side thought, a fact proven in the tuna tournament where not one dorado could make the minimum weight of 30 LBS. Our anglers caught a total of ninety nine dorado. Wahoo catches were not bad, but no big ones for us in the tournament, just in the days leading up to it when we had fish from 35 to 50 LBS. Pisces La Brisa released two sharks this week, one a 75 LB pilot shark & the other an 80 LB hammerhead.
LOCATION: Pacific, lighthouse to Golden Gate
WEATHER: Port closed one day, rain on Thursday, and seas on the rough side.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 81 F
BEST LURES: Live caballito, ballyhoo, green colors, petrolero.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS OF TUNA TOURNAMENT & PRIZES

These are the unofficial results that will be given tonight - we don't think there will be any changes, so this will not be confirmed until tonight.

 

 

Winning fish is pictured here with team Reel Quest, who weighed in this beauty 15 mins before the event was over. Congratulations this team are finally first place after participating every year.
1ST PLACE REEL QUEST 192.4 LBS WINNINGS $242,960.00
2ND PLACE PISCES ANDREA 172.6 LBS WINNINGS $5,360.00
3RD PLACE REINA DE WAHOO 170 LBS WINNINGS $2,680.00
DAY ONE JACKPOT $500, 1K, 2K EL DIABLO 131.9 LBS, $83,400
DAY ONE JACKPOT 3K, 5K, 10K BOB MARLIN 85.7 LBS $114,000.00
DAY ONE WAHOO KOI SUSHI 52.6 LBS $46,800.00
DAY TWO WAHOO CHEERS 1 39.6 LBS $46,800.00

 

DAY TWO ACTION IN THE TUNA TOURNAMENT

Pisces Andrea in lead at 15th annual Tuna Tournament....with a 172.6 LB tuna caught by Keith Gelfand from Richmond, Texas. First time in the tournament - their fish was caught outside San Jaime on a petrolero lure. They also released a 400 LB blue marlin on the same rod, reel & lure shortly before they hooked the tuna.

DAY ONE RESULTS OF THE TUNA TOURNAMENT

BIGGEST FISH OF THE DAY, THOUGH NOT THE BIGGEST MONEY WINNER FOR DAY ONE.

Leader in Day One Tuna Jackpot is a 147.8 LBS tuna caught by the Reel Medicine, this fish however, is not entered in the jackpots only the straight tournament entry. El Diablo, weighed in a 131.9 LBS tuna which makes them the winner in the ...5K, 1K & 2K daily jackpots, however team Fat Farmers will take more money for their 85.7 LB tuna as they had the biggest fish in the 3K, 5K & 10K pots. Irish Goodbye had been in the lead with their 123.10 LB fish the first 100 LB plus fish to the scale today, but they were displaced by the Diablo fish. Largest wahoo today was 52.6 LBS aboard Koi Sushi which should earn them around $47,000. Biggest fish of the day is pictured here. Today there were five qualifying tuna and two qualifying wahoo.

TUNA TOURNAMENT GETS UNDERWAY

W.O.N Tuna Jackpot Tuna Tournament kicked off today with 135 boats participating -as always the tournament is already fun. For the first time in the tournament's history boats took off under cloudy and slightly rainy skies. One boat came in around 10.30 am, as they didn't read the rules about the scale not opening until 2.00 pm. We went ahead and weighed it for them on our Pisces scale and it came up slightly short at 25 LBS, if it had gone over 30 LBS, it could have potentially been worth $46,000.00 - but let's wait and see what comes in later today.

WEEKLY FISH REPORT

OCTOBER 26TH TO NOVEMBER 1ST, 2013
Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 96%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 68%, Tuna 34%, Dorado 70%

BILLFISH: Weather remains warm in Cabo which accounts for blue marlin catches that continued throughout this past week, whilst at the same time we saw an increase on striped marlin caches, with a few sailfish thrown into the mix.  Pisces Cabolero, a 31 ft. Cabo, had a an outstanding da for David Wisniewski & Ken Neighring  from Place Pella,  Iowa on October 28th, when they were fishing  twenty two miles from the Old Lighthouse – they released two blue marlin estimated at 300 and 260 LBS respectively; both took lures.  Paul Linden out on Pisces Attitude Adjustment released a blue marlin in the same area, also on a lure.  The last day of October Pisces Rebecca had a fantastic day with a blue & striped marlin released a 40 LB wahoo and a dorado for John & Rich Dibenadeto & Howard King from Maine. October 31st was one of the best days this report;  La Brisa released three striped marlin and caught four dorado and two skipjacks for Doug Rubino from Houston, Texas.  Valerie this day and anglers from South Africa who did will to have a striped marlin triple header.  Tracy Ann & Bill Collector also had triple striped marlin days with some dorado and tuna the same day.  Average catches on striped marlin was one or two fish and occasionally up to three; these numbers should start to climb as we transition towards winter.   The majority of the catches were on the Pacific side, the stripers & sailfish preferred bait, whereas all the blue marlin were caught on lures. Sixty eight percent of our boats caught billfish, giving us a total catch of 73: Striped marlin 67, blue marlin 4, and sailfish 2.

OTHER SPECIES:  Dorado remained the top catch, though the sheer numbers have dropped to catches mostly in single digits.  In previous weeks it had been common to see catches of twenty plus fish, but this week the most anybody caught was twelve. Sizes were on the small side at 12 to 25 LBS with catches on the Pacific.   Seventy percent of our charters caught dorado giving us a total of 233 fish. Yellow fin tuna catches picked up with lots of school size fish, though none of the bigger ones were caught; hopefully they are keeping a low profile until the tournament next week.  Top boat was Andrea with twenty seven in a day 25 miles out for John Hopkins from San Antonio. Catches ranged from one to twenty plus fish, with the faithful cedar plug the most effective way of catching fish in the 15 to 25 lb. class.  Thirty four percent of boats caught tuna, giving us a total count of 236 fish. The only other catches were a few 30-40 lb. wahoo and the odd skipjack.
LOCATION: Pacific, Lighthouse, Gaspareno San Cristobal up as far to Golden Gate – Cortez, Cabeza de Ballena.
WEATHER CONDTIONS: Sunny and hot, seas calm with some chop in the afternoons.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 82 F
BEST LURES: live caballito, cedar plugs, petrolero, red/black, green