Cabo San Lucas, Mexico - Fishing

June 26th to July 3rd, 2008

Overall Catch Success Rate 68%

BILLFISH: The weather is finally warming up here in Cabo and with it; we are going to see a huge improvement in fishing. If fact this week marlin catches climbed from 50% to 63%. We did have some tropical weather nearby which caused some rain on July 3rd and our new Port Captain, who is overly cautious, closed the port for two days; from midday on July 3rd, when seas were rough and on July 4th, when boats actually could have fished. This last week we participated in the Stars and Stripes tournament which is a charity event, to raise money for the Big Brother Big Sisters organization. This was a fantastic classy event where over two million dollars was raised for charity. The event on June 27th and 28th, reported a total of 129 marlin released, with our very own “C Rod” taking second place, for Dennis Brown’s , Echelon group who released nine striped marlin, edged out by team Onaroel with 11 releases. “C Rod” also gets a mention for catching a 200 lb swordfish on June 29th, for Jim Walton from Cabo San Lucas. The fish took a live caballito outside the Cabrillo sea mount. On July 1st, John Penter from San Antonio, fished with Peter Hayden and Ed Robinson from New York, aboard “Rebecca” and did very well to release five striped marlin and boat a 50 lb dorado. Pisces anglers caught a total of 63 striped marlin this week all released.

OTHER SPECIES: After marlin, the next most likely catch was dorado and it was nice to see some size to these fish. It was rare to catch more than one, but when caught the size ranged from 35 to 55 lbs. Twenty seven percent of charters caught dorado. Tuna catches were extremely slow this week with just one 25 lb fish caught for our fleet. Some boats opted to fish inshore where a variety of fish were caught in two locations, off of the Old Lighthouse and the opposite direction off of San Jose. Yellowtail, bonita, pargo, rooster fish, sierra, amberjack and jack crevalle were all caught in varying amounts.

LOCATION: 95 spot, Old Lighthouse, Cerro Blanco 20 miles.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Both air and water temperatures are starting to rise and although early morning is still cool, daytime temps are now in the 90’s. Seas were mostly calm with the exception of July 3rd when large swells came in caused by the tropical depression nearby. Skies are clear.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 80 F

BEST LURES: The bait supply is back to normal with a mix of mackerel and caballito available, green colors on lures, rapalas and cedar plugs inshore.

June 15th to 25th, 2008
BILLFISH: The weather in Cabo has still not stabilized with June like days and March like nights. Fog is still prevalent in the morning on the Pacific and we need to have higher sea temps for the fishing to improve. Added to this cold weather was full moon during this period and a lack of live bait, all contributing factors to less than ideal fishing. However, looking back to last year for this same time, we see an exact repeat of conditions. Fishing was better at the start of this period when a few boats did really well. On June 16th, “Andrea” was very fortunate to release five striped marlin just below the Jaime Bank on the Pacific for Jack and Jerry McCracken from Phoenix, Arizona and Monrovia, Indiana, respectively. Next day out “Yahoo” fished at the San Jaime and also released five marlin as well as boating a 15 lb dorado for Mark Weynands, Tim & Tiffany Ennis from Washington State. After this marlin catches went to between one and three per boat but by the time full moon came around and in the days immediately afterwards, just a few boats here and there were able to hook up marlin. Boats then began fishing the Cortez side, seeking warmer water and calmer seas, heading up to Chileno, the 11.50 spot and Cabeza de Ballena. There was a shortage of bait, with boats resorting to just a few fish or even dead bait, which disappointed anglers, but this is something the charter outfits have no control over. Lures are always productive in Cabo so it is always still worthwhile trolling when the bait can’t be found. It is always disappointing both to crews and clients when no fish are caught, but Cabo has such an incredible reputation, that people tend to expect fish every time out. Fifty four percent of our charters caught marlin this week and we had a total of 84 striped marlin caught, four were boated in the 120 to 170 lb class and one sailfish was released.
OTHER SPECIES: Not that fabulous on smaller game either, after marlin dorado was the most likely catch with twenty one percent of boats catching an average of one or two fish and less frequently four, with weights between 15 and 40 lbs. Yellowfin tuna catches were even slower with just nine percent of boats finding an odd tuna here and there, the exception being “Cabolero” on June 15th, with 8 tuna between 20 and 25 lbs, 4 dorado and 1 marlin released for Edward and Jake Dowling, fishing with Dan Rehil from Denver, Colorado. There was one 40 lb wahoo caught aboard “C Rod” on June 23rd, 8 miles off of Redhill. Closer to shore a few small mako sharks were caught, up to 40 lbs. There quite a few yellowtail up to 18 lbs inshore on the Pacific and lots of bonita.
LOCATION: The whole range, from Destiladeras to San Jaime, with several days off of the Old Lighthouse and at the Jaime Banks then Punta Gorda, Chileno and San Jose.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Seas up to 4 feet, some chop on the Pacific. Skies mostly sunny, windy on the Pacific.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 70 F
BEST LURES: Live bait was scarce but as we close this report, we hear that bait has been spotted close by, guacamayos, rapalas, purple/green, assorted greens.
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June 8th to 14th, 2008
BILLFISH: We had another extremely windy week in Cabo and anglers had to deal with pretty unpleasant seas until they got past Santa Maria. The fishing however was not that bad, though difficult to guess where the best spot would be each day. Fishing ranged from Destiladares on the Cortez side to 20 miles off of the Old Lighthouse on the Pacific. Marlin were the predominant game fish species this week but simply spotting them was not enough, they were pretty fussy eaters and only wanted the freshest of bait. Some days captains reported casting bait to 50 fish and hooking up and fighting just one. Nevertheless sixty one percent of charters were able to catch from one to five marlin in a day. One of the best days of the week was June 10th; “Bill Collector” released five marlin just half a mile off of Cerro Blanco for Scott and Shannon Taylor from Lakeland, Florida. This same day “Bandito” also let five marlin go off of Cabeza de Ballena, all on live bait for Greg and Tom Langmo form Litchfield, Minnesota, fishing with Harry Thompson from San Diego. Next day out, Barry Rich from Dallas, Texas did well to release five stripers aboard “Spartacus”. “La Brisa” was the only boat to release a sailfish and also had a striped marlin. Pisces anglers caught a total of 72 striped marlin, with all but one released.
OTHER SPECIES: It was on the slow side for other game, with just fourteen percent of charters catching dorado and just a handful of boats caught tuna. Those fishing inshore had an assortment of jack crevalle, bonitas, sierra, skipjack, yellowtail and roosterfish. The better small game catches were at La Laguna in San Jose. Mark Chiavetta from San Jose, California had a spectacular day on June 9th aboard “Bill Collector”, releasing one striped marlin, one dorado, one wahoo and 20 roosterfish.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Very windy, seas moderate to rough. Skies partly cloudy.
LOCATION: Destiladeras, San Jose, Chileno, Barco Varado, Santa Maria, Cabeza de Ballena, Cabo Real, Palmilla, Cerro Blanco, La Laguna,11.50 spot, 18 miles off of Old Lighthouse.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 69 F
BEST LURES: Live bait.
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June 1st to 7th, 2008
BILLFISH: Cabo still can’t make up its mind if it is going to move on into summer. We are almost at the start of summertime and the fresh Pacific breezes continue to blow giving us cooler water. The Cortez side has been much warmer, which means the fishing has been concentrating from Chileno to Destiladares. Sharla Richer from Lewisville, Texas fished with friends aboard “El Gallo” her favorite boat and did very well to release four stripers on June 1st all on live caballito. We then saw fishing start to move a little closer to Cabo and catches ranged from one to three marlin per boat but the norm tending to be one. On June 4th Jack, Chris and Trent Newell from Hope Hull, Alabama fished on “Bill Collector” and actually went the complete opposite way, up the Pacific just below Golden Gate, where they released three marlin and a hammerhead shark. Next day out “Ruthless” had three stripers plus a sailfish, off of Palmilla fro Marcus and Marsha Starkey from Port Aransas, Texas. Top boat of the week though was 60 ft “Spartacus” who worked hard to release six striped marlin between La Playita and Punta Gorda on June 7th, making Jim Merritt and friends from Irving, Texas our anglers of the week. I tell you there is something about Texans, they are plain lucky. The bait situation was up and down again this week. Eighty one percent of charters caught billfish this week, consisting of 101 fish, broken down into 96 striped marlin, with all but two fish of 145 and 160 lbs respectively, released and 5 sailfish released.
OTHER SPECIES: It was pretty slim pickings offshore for smaller game such as dorado and tuna, in fact just twelve percent of charters found dorado and usually just a stray fish up to 25 lbs. Tuna was even slower, but better than last week, as we had none. This week we at least caught 9 yellowfin, close into to Chileno. Inshore boats fond jack crevalle and bonita and “Eureka” even had ten roosterfish.
LOCATION: Almost exclusively on the Cortez side, Chileno to Destiladeras.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, windy on the Pacific.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 67 F at Lands End, up to 73 F off of San Jose.
BEST LURES: Live bait, caballito and mackerel, guacamayo, sardines, petrolero.
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May 22nd through May 31st, 2008
BILLFISH: The Cabo area was plagued by very strong winds and rough seas, especially on the Pacific side this past week. For the first time in as long as I can remember at this time of year, the port was closed on May 22nd, due to rough seas. In fact the sea had been worse the day before so it seemed pretty pointless to close it when they did. The majority of fishing took place on the Cortez side between Punta Gorda and Destiladeras and it was a struggle to be able to purchase bait every day. The weather teetered between spring and summer, most of the week blustery but then when the wind died and the air temperatures soared and the fishing turned good. To summarize it was an up and down week, some boats did great and got four marlin in a day, whilst others drew a blank. Boats also fished closer to shore in the San Jose area and did well on smaller game as outlined below. “Bandito” 29 feet, did really well to have two quadruple marlin days; May 26th they fished at Destiladeras with Mark Kellen and Brandon Tollfeson, from Minot, North Dakota, releasing two fish a piece in the 120 lb class. On May 24th, “Libre” also released four for Jose Rebocho and friends from Portugal. David Lee and friends from New York fished “El Gallo” on May 30th and released four marlin and boated a 30 lb dorado also at Destiladeras. To close out the week “C Rod” had four marlin after getting an early start for Ray Espinoza and Jorge Petro from Chula Vista, Ca. fishing with Alfredo Gamboa from Tijuana. Pisces anglers caught a total of 120 striped marlin this week of which all but four were released. We also released 3 sailfish. Sixty two percent of charters caught billfish this week.
OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches were fair with twenty one percent of boats catching one or two fish, and less occasionally up to five in a day. They weren’t something boats concentrated on but rather a bonus when trolling for marlin. It was nice to see some size on these fish, such as a 42 lb specimen caught aboard “Andrea” by John Hopkins from San Antonio, Texas on May 27th. Some boats had enviable mixed bags; “Ruthless” landed a 17 lb pompano, the largest seen in quite awhile, for angler Mitchell Podgorsky from Lynbrook, New York on May 27th, this same boat also caught a dorado , roosterfish and 35 lb wahoo, the only one of the week. Boats did well on sierra, with catches of up to a dozen fish not unusual….some were as large as 10 lbs. Some jack crevalle, fair amounts of skipjack and white bonita, as well as a few cabrillas, a solitary yellowtail and fair numbers of roosterfish.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny, skies, very windy most of the week, impossible whitecaps on the Pacific, turning calm as the wind died.
LOCATION: Punta Gorda, Destiladeras, San Jose.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 72 F
BEST LURES: Live mackerel when available, mullet, frozen ballyhoo, when there was nothing else, petrolero, guacamayo, rapalas.
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May 15th through May 21st, 2008
BILLFISH: Things are nicely back on track this week in Cabo, with dozens of billfish sighted and lots of hook ups. The billfish catch rate climbed to ninety percent, meaning it was the number one catch in Cabo this week. Apart from the striped marlin we are now also beginning to catch sailfish, which is early. The best day of this period was April 8th when we had three boats that had eight marlin each: “Rebecca”, who also caught four tuna, for Scott and Sarah Meyer from Carmel Indiana, “Valerie” fishing 20 miles from the 95 spot, for Allen Titbor from Monroe, New Jersey and “Falcon” who also had five tunas for Mike and Skylar Perkins from Dana Point, fishing with John Snedegar from Laguna Beach, Ca. Most of these boats started off at Land’s End picked up the tuna and then went into the Sea of Cortez where they caught marlin. A couple of days later “Tracy Ann” had five for Brian Cowan from Scottsdale at the 95 spot. On April14th, “Rebecca” went further up, pretty much to the limit of our day fishing grounds on the Cortez side, to Destiladeres, where Mark Williams and Blaise Pewinske, from Emmett and Allenton, Michigan, respectively released four striped marlin and two sailfish around 100 lbs. Now for an impressive day of fishing I would have to consider “C Rod” on this same day for the variety of fish caught and they never fished more than four miles offshore; they caught and released four striped marlin, 1 mako shark, 2 jack crevalles and 12 tuna….for anglers Ray Riha from Northport, New York and Tom Myers from Huntersville, North Carolina, who barely had time to eat their burritos. Pisces anglers caught a total of 127 striped marlin and 5 sailfish this week, with all but two fish released.
OTHER SPECIES: After marlin, yellowfin tuna was the most common catch with thirty eight percent of boats finding fish up to 30 lbs. The catches ranged from one to twenty five fish per boat, with cedar plugs being the most popular catch method. Dorado catches were very slow, with just three solitary fish caught this week. “La Brisa” did have a nice 40 lb wahoo and boats closer to shore caught skipjacks, jack crevalle a few yellowtail and several small mako sharks.
WEATHER: Well, what can I say, superb weather, we are starting to feel the heat getting turned up a bit, but nights are still comfortable, in fact we enjoyed the best weather of the counlm to moderate on the Pacific and calm on the Cortez side.
LOCATION: Pretty much all the action has switched to the Cortez side and boats fished from Cabeza Ballena to Destiladeres.
BEST LURES: Live bait for marlin, cedar plugs and feathers for tuna.
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May 8tht through May 14th, 2008
BILLFISH: Things are nicely back on track this week in Cabo, with dozens of billfish sighted and lots of hook ups. The billfish catch rate climbed to ninety percent, meaning it was the number one catch in Cabo this week. Apart from the striped marlin we are now also beginning to catch sailfish, which is early. The best day of this period was April 8th when we had three boats that had eight marlin each: “Rebecca”, who also caught four tuna, for Scott and Sarah Meyer from Carmel Indiana, “Valerie” fishing 20 miles from the 95 spot, for Allen Titbor from Monroe, New Jersey and “Falcon” who also had five tunas for Mike and Skylar Perkins from Dana Point, fishing with John Snedegar from Laguna Beach, Ca. Most of these boats started off at Land’s End picked up the tuna and then went into the Sea of Cortez where they caught marlin. A couple of days later “Tracy Ann” had five for Brian Cowan from Scottsdale at the 95 spot. On April14th, “Rebecca” went further up, pretty much to the limit of our day fishing grounds on the Cortez side, to Destiladeres, where Mark Williams and Blaise Pewinske, from Emmett and Allenton, Michigan, respectively released four striped marlin and two sailfish around 100 lbs. Now for an impressive day of fishing I would have to consider “C Rod” on this same day for the variety of fish caught and they never fished more than four miles offshore; they caught and released four striped marlin, 1 mako shark, 2 jack crevalles and 12 tuna….for anglers Ray Riha from Northport, New York and Tom Myers from Huntersville, North Carolina, who barely had time to eat their burritos. Pisces anglers caught a total of 127 striped marlin and 5 sailfish this week, with all but two fish released.
OTHER SPECIES: After marlin, yellowfin tuna was the most common catch with thirty eight percent of boats finding fish up to 30 lbs. The catches ranged from one to twenty five fish per boat, with cedar plugs being the most popular catch method. Dorado catches were very slow, with just three solitary fish caught this week. “La Brisa” did have a nice 40 lb wahoo and boats closer to shore caught skipjacks, jack crevalle a few yellowtail and several small mako sharks.
WEATHER: Well, what can I say, superb weather, we are starting to feel the heat getting turned up a bit, but nights are still comfortable, in fact we enjoyed the best weather of the country whilst other parts of Mexico staggered under a heat wave. Actually April is the hottest month for many mainland cities such as Guadalajara. Seas were calm to moderate on the Pacific and calm on the Cortez side.
LOCATION: Pretty much all the action has switched to the Cortez side and boats fished from Cabeza Ballena to Destiladeres.
BEST LURES: Live bait for marlin, cedar plugs and feathers for tuna.
May 1st through May 7th, 2008
BILLFISH: This week we saw a lot of marlin but there was also a lot of bait so they made it a little harder for us to catch them. There were a few comments from a few anglers and some crew members reporting over 30 marlin swimming around the boat, sometimes they could actually touch the fish, but when they threw the bait, they just looked the other way as they were stuffed already, even so we had a very nice 52% Billfish success rate and all fish were released.
On May 1st, Spartacus released 7 striped marlins for James Feagin from Dallas all on live bait, the next day we had a tie between Tracy Ann for the Culling's party from Washington and the Yahoo for the Star Lumber Group, each boat releasing 5 striped marlins close to Palmilla on the Sea of Cortez. On May 3rd, marlin started to slow down a little bit, however Spartacus went all the way to Destiladeras and released 8 stripers for Chris Blake from Firth Idaho. Starting Monday, May 12th we will have the annual IGFA OFFSHORE WOLRD CHAMPIONSHIP, over 60 teams from all over the world will participate on this famous tournament, we will keep you posted on how it goes.
OTHER SPECIES: The week started a bit slow for small game, however, on the 3rd we had some awesome catches, like the one aboard the Andrea with 18 yellow fin tunas and 2 striped marlins for Stephen Glickiman from Ocala Fl, the same day, Bill Collector came back with 32 yellow fin tunas, only 3 miles away from Pedregal beach on the Pacific side. The rest of the week we had boats with 17, 19 and 20 tunas, a few Mako and Hammerheads, as well as a few yellow tail, sierras and a 30lbs Wahoo.
Dorado was a bit slow with only 26% of the fleet catching them.
WEATHER: Mostly sunny with a few clouds, 77F average.
WATER TEMP: 74 to 77F
LOCATION: Pedregal beach, Palmilla, Cabeza de Ballena, Destiladeras.
BAIT: Live bait and cedar plugs.
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APRIL 22nd to 30th, 2008
BILLFISH: An excellent week for fishing here in Cabo, with a variety of fish, not usually expected at this time of year. Water temperatures are beginning to rise and the fishing thermometer is climbing too. We were fortunate to have fair numbers of striped marlin this week, with a catch success rate of fifty one percent for billfish, however anglers were kept busy even when they weren’t catching marlin, by huge schools of tuna. Catches got better towards the end of this period and catch of the week had to go to Herb Skinner from Savannah, Georgia, who fished aboard “Fearless” with Captain Benito Agundez on April 24th. Herb released an approximate 100 lb swordfish, as well as a striped marlin and caught 15 yellowfin tuna, all at the Punta Gorda area. On April 28th Kipp and Hallie Howard from Kansas City, were fishing with Justin and Tara Andrews from Minneapolis, aboard “Ruthless” and were very fortunate to release six striped marlin at Destiladeras, on the Cortez side. A couple of days later the Hamm family from Vancouver, Canada, also released six marlin aboard “Bill Collector”, all on live bait at Punta Gorda. This same day “ Cabolero” released five in the same area for a group from Texas. Todd Williams from Tulsa, Oklahoma, caught a large striped marlin, which weighed 200 lbs aboard “Falcon”, just five miles off of Land’s End on April 22nd; he also caught nine tuna. Pisces anglers caught a total of 73 striped marlin of which all but one were released.
OTHER SPECIES: Tuna, tuna, tuna right off of Cabo, as close as three miles…..sounds great, but this event brought the big guns of commercial fishing right on our doorstep. For five days, large super seiners preyed on our own backyard, scooping up thousands of football size tuna. Just so you get a clear picture on one day we counted NINETEEN super seiners, boats over 100 feet, dropping their nets and working with a team of spotter helicopters. As you can imagine locals were outraged. However the law does not consider tuna a sport fish, but a commercial fish and tuna boats can fish anywhere except within a conservation zone. We have a conservation zone that runs from Land’s End to Cabo Pulmo and is about three miles wide. But these tuna guys were professionals coming within 1 degree of the conservation zone. At our request the Navy and Fish and Game went out to inspect the boats and checked that they were using the gear they were authorized and that their permit were in order. The report was that yes, all was in order, but nevertheless it got local people’s blood boiling. We did have good tuna catches despite the seiners presence, but catches did drop off considerably after they were in the area. Pisces anglers caught a total of 573 yellowfin tuna in the 15 to 30 lb class. With some boats catching as many as 38 in a day (mostly released). Sixty five percent of charters caught tuna. Dorado catches were pretty decent too, with thirty nine percent of charters catching from one to three fish and more rarely up to six. A lot of the dorado were found close in at two to five miles. We had just one 45 lb wahoo this week and a quick spike on the large squid, up to 25 lbs which soon dropped off again. Inshore boats caught bonita, a few jack crevalle, roosters and sierra and red snapper in lesser numbers.
LOCATION: Destiladeras, Punta Gorda, Cerro Colorado, 3-10 miles off of Land’s End.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, seas calm on the Cortez side, quite a bit of chop on the Pacific, foggy on the Pacific early morning and evening.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 74 F
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APRIL 15th to 21st, 2008
BILLFISH: Fishing was pretty good in Cabo this week, with the start of the period the best, before the moon got big. Full moon was on the 20th, but the days preceding this we saw a slow down on marlin. Besides, angler numbers are down in Cabo which is reflected in the catches; less boats out equals less fish caught. Top boat was 28 ft “Andrea” with four striped marlin released on April 15th for Robert Stont from Tallahassee, Florida and Jeff Hendricks from Marquette, Michigan. They headed up to Destiladeres on April 15th and caught all their fish on live mackerel. Next day out both “Ruthless” and “Tracy Ann” had three striped marlin and one sailfish each, also at Destiladeres. Whilst “Rebecca” had three marlin fishing close by for Jason and Stacy Adams from Fair Oaks, Ca. As the week progressed it was harder to find marlin, as they moved around a lot. For instance later in the week, boats that had done well at Destiladeres, headed back that way, missing fish that were three miles offshore a lot closer to Cabo around Santa Maria. Fifty six percent of charters managed to catch marlin with the norm being one or two released with an odd dorado here and there. Pisces anglers caught a total of 65 striped marlin and 5 sailfish, all but one striper were released.
OTHER SPECIES: We saw dorado pick up this week but a big decrease on tuna. Dorado catches were seldom more than one or two per boat but more boats were getting them, in fact twenty seven percent. Weights were nothing to write home about at 15 to 30 lbs. Just eight percent of boats caught tuna this week with catches ranging from 12 to 20 per boat. Cruisers picked up a few sharks, all of which were released the majority were mako’s but we also had one hammerhead the first caught in a long time. Inshore pangs caught jack crevalle and skipjacks.
LOCATION: Cortez side, Destiladeres, Punta Gorda, Chileno 20 miles, 3 miles off Chileno. The water was warmer on the Cortez side.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, seas good, a bit rough on the Pacific, but nobody is really going that way.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 70 F
BEST LURES: Live bait.
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March 8th to March 15th, 2008
BILLFISH: Still slow for marlin with just twenty five percent of charters actually getting billfish to take bait, though our catch was up slightly this week with a total of 15 marlin caught. The squid in the area continue to increase, with marlin feasting upon them. Even our anglers got in on the action with some catching up to 35 squid in a day in the 25 to 40 lb class. They are pretty aggressive too, making the reels zing, like a marlin is on. The only boat that got more than one marlin was “Bill Collector” on March 12th with two released 25 miles off the Cerro de Arena, by Abi Owens and Sara Wilson from Collegeston and Katy Texas, respectively. They also boated four dorado from 15 to 20 lbs. Other boats that caught marlin, only managed a single fish, usually with tuna catches taking up the slack. As mentioned last week this is absolutely normal for this time of year, even though 2007 was an exceptional year and we had pretty good catches. March is windy, the fish are here but they are not hungry. Many of the local captains say that they are breeding during this time.
OTHER SPECIES: Thank goodness for the tuna, they were a saving grace this week and we are thankful that they are still in the area. Pisces anglers achieved the respectable number of 563 tuna caught with seventy six percent of boats catching between one and forty fish in the 15 to 35 lb category. Top boat for tuna was “Mucho Bueno” with forty fish (smaller ones released) for Harry Holmes, from Scottsdale, Arizona. The fish were caught on a combination of cedar plugs and feathers 28 miles from the 210 spot. Dorado catches were on the slower side with twenty three percent of boats catching between one and nine fish in diverse locations. “Tracy Ann” did best on dorado with nine fish from 20 to 30 lbs 25 miles from the 180 spot, caught by Ray Bryan from New York. Our anglers caught a total of 30 dorado. Inshore there were some skipjack, a drop on the sierra and one boat, “Adriana” caught 14 yellowtails at Pozo Cota, using Yoyo’s for Terence O’Keefe, Mike Rusin and Manny Lopez from Chicago on March 11th.
LOCATION: Predominantly the Pacific, off of San Jaime, up to 35 miles off of the Old Lighthouse, 27 miles out from Santa Maria.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Sunny but windy….especially towards the end of the week. Seas rough on the Pacific, forcing some boats to fish the Cortez which was much calmer.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 67 F
BEST LURES: Live bait for marlin, cedar plugs, Mexican flag feathers, blue and white feathers, cedar plugs.
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March 1st to March 7th, 2008
BILLFISH: We have good news and bad news this week. Marlin catches dropped to just twelve percent, this is not to say that they are not around, just that they are not hungry. Boats are seeing striped marlin on a daily basis, throwing bait, again and again but the fish are simply not interested. Captains report beautiful blue water, albeit a bit cold and believe that the marlin are stuffing themselves with squid, so prevalent in the area right now, meaning that they turned their noses up at the bait offered. Seeing as there are a lot of squid in the area, it attracted one of the most prized and elusive billfish, the broadbill swordfish. On March 6th, after a day out fishing, “Valerie” was trolling back to Cabo, three dorado and four yellowfin tuna in her fish box, when Captain Roberto Sandez spotted a large fish on the surface 22 miles south of the Old Lighthouse. Roberto, got excited as he realized it was big swordfish, not wanting to leave anything to chance he jumped down from the bridge and cast a live caballito to the fish who appeared to be hungry, it circled the bait and then lost interest. Roberto reeled in the bait, switched it for a fresh one and again cast it to the broadbill, which quickly gobbled it up. The rod was handed to Bill Santiemmo from Chicago, who was surprised at the strength of the fish. Bill worked the swordie until the point of exhaustion before handing the rod to brother Nick who continued to struggle with the fish on 40 lb test, until well after sunset. Just before it got dark the fish jumped clear out of the water giving everybody a good look at the real size. Roberto who caught a 350 lb swordfish, 15 years ago, told me the fish was over 400 lbs, “bigger than 400 lbs” he told me. If you knew Roberto, you would know it is not in him to exaggerate, which means the fish was between 450 and 500 lbs. We have not seen a swordfish of that size in two decades. All the staff stood by into the early evening, ready to rush down to the dock to receive the victorious anglers, but it was not to be. At ten to eight, the fish jumped again and came off. They were able to recover all of their tackle, the circle hook had held, the leader was intact, so perhaps the fish’s mouth ripped; swordfish are notorious for having soft mouths. Next day out our crews were abuzz with swordfish fever and headed out to the same area. “La Brisa” was the fortunate boat this time, managing to hook up a swordfish on a live mackerel, for Craig Burns from Tampa, Florida, this one was probably the great grandson of the other though, as it weighed 150 lbs. The other notable catch of the week was also this same day for Brian Tom, Derek, and Jack Johnson, from Phoenix, Arizona, who fished aboard “ C Rod” and did something very right, to be able to catch and release four striped marlin and boat eight tuna, 30 miles out from Los Arcos. Pisces anglers caught a total of 10 striped marlin this week and the swordfish mentioned above.
OTHER SPECIES: We were not let down by the tuna this week and fifty eight percent of boats caught fish from 15 to 30 lbs, with catches ranging from one to over forty fish per boat, with many of the smaller fish released. Four hundred and thirty two tuna was our final count for the week. Dorado catches were up this week with twenty six percent of boats catching fish from 15 to 30 lbs. “Bandito” was the top dorado boat with ten caught, as well as ten tuna, 38 miles out at the 210 spot for Thomas and Anni McPhee from Park City, Utah. “Spartacus” had the only wahoo of the week, average in size at 50 lbs. Inshore there were plenty of sierra and bonita, which is surprisingly good as sushi, along with good numbers of skipjack and some yellowtail to 20 lbs.
LOCATION: Most of the fishing took place on the Pacific but boats did extend into the Sea of Cortez as far up as Chileno. Boats fished these areas starting at San Jaime, but for most of the week they fished far offshore at 22 to 40 miles.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, week started out windy with 4 to 6 ft seas, now calm with 2 to 3 ft seas.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 68 F
BEST LURES: Live bait, cedar plugs, feathers, blue/white, green/white.
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February 22nd to 29th, 2008
BILLFISH: This week was quite slow for marlin catches in Cabo, with just twenty one percent of charters being able to hook up to striped marlin in the 110 to 150 lb class. We are not overly worried by this, we always have a few weeks in spring, usually around March, where the water gets colder, the wind picks up and the fish become indifferent and fussy. Marlin were encountered fairly frequently, but getting them to bite was a completely different issue. It was very rare for boats to catch more than one, in fact the only one that did from our fleet was “Spartacus”, with two released on February 23rd for Richard Worthington from Las Vegas, at the Golden Gate. We did hear of a 140 lb swordfish caught mid week aboard “Mañana” outside of the Jaime. This fish was hungry and took the bait just a few feet from the back of the boat. Pisces anglers caught a total of 18 striped marlin this week.
OTHER SPECIES: If we were unable to deliver on the marlin we certainly could on the yellowfin tuna. Fifty eight percent of charters caught tuna in the 10 to 25 lb class and anglers were able to load up on the larger fish and let the smaller ones go. Catches of over twenty fish on a boat were not uncommon. Pisces anglers caught a whopping 725 yellowfin tuna this week. Feathers, cedar plugs and King Busters worked well and the better locations were 20 to 25 miles out from the Old Lighthouse and 35 miles straight south. Dorado catches were a bit slow but nevertheless ten percent did catch fish up to 20 lbs. Closer to shore there was lots of action n sierra, with catches of 2 to 15 fish per boat, skipjacks, some roosterfish, several yellowtail and bonitas. Boats near Golden Gate caught a few mako sharks and one hammerhead, all released.
LOCATION: Golden Gate, 45 miles from the 210 spot, San Cristobal, 20 to 35 miles straight out.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear skies, quite windy, seas choppy when wind was present, often calm early morning and evening.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 68 F
BEST LURES: Live bait for marlin, cedar plugs, feathers for tuna, assorted lures dorado, inshore rapalas and hoochis.
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February 8th to February 21st, 2008
BILLFISH: We saw quite a drop off on marlin catches this period, with colder water moving into the area, plus a full moon, which were contributing factors in the resulting fifty percent catch rate for marlin. Though the marlin rate was lower we actually had quite a lot going on with smaller game, especially sierra and in the latter part of this report some great tuna catches. The slow down on marlin, and when the majority of “skunks” occurred, was a couple of day preceding and after full moon. During this time it was frustrating for anglers and crews as they could see marlin, threw bait, but could not get a hook up. Despite our finally tally on marlin this period was pretty good, with 163 striped marlin caught by Pisces anglers, with all but two released. Top boat was “Valerie” with seven striped marlin released on February 11th for Bill Black and Tom Robertson from Scotland at Golden Gate. A couple of days before this, February 9th, was the best overall day of the week, with five marlin and one mako shark for Maurice Farisser from Geneva, IL and Don Setsma fom Grand Rapids, aboard “Ruthless”. This same day “La Brisa” released five at the Golden Gate for Thorleif Brokke, from Australia fishing with Karen and Dave Seitz form Michigan. “Yahoo” also did really well with six marlin released plus a mako shark for Scott Wells and a group of friends from Fresno and Clovis, California. “C Rod” had an exceptional day for Matt De Soto and friends from Fresno, with five striped marlin, fifteen sierras, four bonitos and one yellowtail; reels were busy all day.
OTHER SPECIES: Cabo is blessed with such good fishing that even when marlin aren’t biting there is something else going on. As marlin catches declined, crew got out their light tackle and went inshore for tasty sierra, which are a lot of fun and taste delicious. Boats loaded up on these fish which ranged from 5 to 12 lbs, resulting in a total catch of 525 specimens, with many released. As well as sierra boats caught some yellowtail, skipjack, bonitos and roosterfish, along with 17 mako sharks. Yellowfin tuna moved into the area towards the end of the week and several boats caught 30 or more in the 10 to 20 lb class. “Tracy Ann” had some large fish mixed in catching 8 from 16 to 70 lbs at the Jaime Bank for the Mercado family from Renton, Washington. Thirteen percent of charters caught tuna giving a total catch of 206 fish. Dorado catches were slow with just 10 boats catching a single fish here and there.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Cold and windy some days, conditions better on the Pacific than the Cortez, now picture perfect, air temps in the mid 70’s, clear skies and calm seas.
LOCATION: Golden Gate, San Jaime, Los Arcos, Gaspereño, 35 miles out from the Old Lighthouse.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 69 F
BEST LURES: Live bait for marlin, cedar plugs and feathers for tuna, Rapalas for sierra and roosterfish.
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February 1st to February 7th, 2008
BILLFISH: We had quite a slow down on marlin catches this week, with just fifty seven percent of charters hooking up to striped marlin. The fishing seemed to be along the lines of March fishing rather than February. We did have one boat that seemed to have a secret fishing spot; they headed up far beyond the mass of boats at Golden Gate and met with extreme success. “Spartacus at Sea” hosted the Hardy brothers Doug and Dan fishing with sister Jennifer, who are from Glen Ellyn, Illinois and Ladue, Mo respectively. They fished February 2nd and 3rd and were blown away by great fishing provided by this crew which ended up catching and releasing them twenty nine striped marlin and two mako sharks over two days, making the Hardy siblings our anglers of the week. On February 1st, “Falcon” also did very well, releasing nine striped marlin for Mark Fuller and friends Butch Pedersa, Carlos Magallanes and Debra Esquivel, all from Southern California. “Libre” did well too this day with six marlin released and a mako shark for Ken Mahez from Portland, who fished with Ray Kelly, Jeff Marsh and Scott Dahlgrey all from the Pacific Northwest. It was harder to find marlin this week and then when found it was not easy to get them to bite. It was also a pretty slow week for anglers, which is a factor in the lower numbers also. Nevertheless Pisces fifty seven percent of anglers were able to fight marlin, giving us a total of 86 striped marlin of which all but two were released. Our total catch for the month of January we can now report was 889 striped marlin, with 98% released.
OTHER SPECIES: The humble sierra was the fish most widely caught this week with 200 caught by Pisces anglers, ranging in size from 4 to 10 lbs. This fish are extremely tasty and fun on light tackle, with the larger amounts caught from pangas. We had quite a lot of mako sharks ranging from 30 to 80 lbs, most released. No dorado for us this week but we did have some tuna over a couple of days, though seldom over 30 lbs. Inshore boats also caught good amounts of roosters, some jack crevalle and snappers.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Partly cloudy, windy on several days which produced rough seas, calm at the end of the week.
LOCATION: Golden Gate, Old Lighthouse, Pedregalito.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 68 F
BEST LURES: live bait, rapalas.
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January 22nd to January 31st, 2008
BILLFISH: Before we get into the fish report we want to congratulate two of our captains; Roberto Sandez formerly of Rebecca, now Valerie, for winning the award given by The Billfish Foundation for releasing most striped marlin worldwide in 2007 (Pacific) and Edgar Rentaria, of Libre, for being top captain worldwide for releasing spearfish. The mate for both captains was Luis Cota.For the first time in a long time, we had a bit of a slow down on marlin fishing this week, in that the success rate for billfish dropped to 75%. Our overall catch success rate for all species combined remained decent at 91%. Nevertheless there were a handful of boats that got “skunked” this week. The Golden Gate dropped off for a couple of days and boats moved to the Cortez side and off of Land’s End where they found tuna for a couple of days as well as less hungry marlin, that needed more coaxing to get a hook up. However as the wind died down a bit, boats again returned to Golden Gate and started producing the number of fish that we have grown accustomed to. So basically we had a couple of wobbly days and then it was back on. “Valerie” had eight marlin on January 31st seven released and 170 lb fish kept by the client, G Blumenfeld from Petaluma, Ca fishing with D Sawieki from Detroit. This same day “Rebecca” released seven for Matt Birk and Steve Collette from St. Paul, Minnesota; they also released a mako shark and skipjack, at Golden Gate. Earlier in the week “Falcon” had two stripers, two dorado and eight tuna 22 miles out from Chileno. Pisces anglers caught a total of 105 striped marlin this week with all but one released.
OTHER SPECIES: After marlin yellow fin tuna was the most widely caught species. Twenty five percent of charters found tuna over a couple of days, with weights in the 15 to 30 lb class. “Spartacus”, 60 ft Hatteras caught 14 with assorted feathers 38 miles from the 95 spot, as well as releasing one striped marlin on January 28th for Garret Berg from Maple Grove, Minnesota. The day before this “Bandito”, 29 ft Blackfin caught 11 and released one marlin at the 180 spot for Chris Varner and Dave Filz from Charlotte, North Carolina. Pisces anglers caught 91 tuna this week, but none were of a size to boast about. Just nine percent of boats found dorado with catches seldom more than one or two fish and weights not much more than 30 lbs at best. Inshore roosters are starting to increase, as our skipjacks, amberjacks and sierra. Boats continue to catch small mako sharks at Golden Gate.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Mixed, some days cloudy, windy most of the week, then calming and skies clearing.
LOCATION: Golden Gate, 28 miles from Cerro Blanco, 180 spot, 95 spot, San Cristobal, 18 miles out from Old Lighthouse, San Jaime.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 69 F
BEST LURES: Live bait, assorted feathers.
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JANUARY 15th to 21th, 2008
BILLFISH: Striped marlin continues to be the top catch in Cabo, in fact ninety seven percent of boats that went out caught between one and eleven fish in the 90 to 160 lb class. The Golden Gate was still the prime location though some boats did fish near San Cristobal and the Old Lighthouse. Mike Myatt fished with Dan Jacobs and our very own Mario Bañaga, Dock master aboard Minerva 4 and released 15 striped marlin a little beyond normal range, in front of Pescadero. We had a fabulous group from Sweden, who were easy to spot due their extremely white skin, led by Fredrik Moller. They used light tackle, spider wire and Abu Garcia reels, as they are tackle distributors in Europe and were thrilled with the service and action they found here. Their tally was 54 marlin for four days fishing. Top boat this week was 60 ft Hatteras, “Spartacus” with twelve marlin released in a single day for Chris Blake and friends from Firth, Idaho. On January 19th, 32 ft “Bill Collector” released seven for Matt Rainwater from Los Angeles. This same day 37 ft “C Rod” also had seven releases for Steve Parish, Dave Kuitz from Stoughton, Wisconsin. Pisces anglers caught a total of 204 striped marlin, with all but one released.
OTHER SPECIES: Apart from the marlin, there really wasn’t a lot going on. There were some fair catches of dorado between one and three fish per boat in the 20 to 30 lb class, but only twelve percent of boats picked up fish, whilst trolling for marlin. Very few tuna, just a couple of small wahoo between 20 and 35 lbs. a few mako sharks and the odd rooster here and there.
LOCATION: Golden Gate.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Partly cloudy, seas moderate to calm. Daytime temps in the low 80´s.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 70 F
BEST LURES: Live mackerel.
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January 8th to 14th, 2008
BILLFISH: Despite cooler weather the marlin bite continues to be extremely strong off of Cabo San Lucas. Our anglers again enjoyed excellent fishing with ninety five percent of charters catching striped marlin in the 90 to 160 lb class. Maybe we should change the name of the Golden Gate to the Platinum Gate, as this location has been the mainstay of the marlin fishery for months now. Live mackerel is still the best method of hooking up a marlin and multiple catches in day have been commonplace. Some of the best catches were on January 12th, when 61 ft Viking, “El Gallo” released thirteen marlin and 60 ft Hatteras “Spartacus” released eleven plus a dorado….anglers were all with Mike Olsen’s party. Next day out 29 ft “Bandito” had ten for Greg Cooper from Tucson and Mike Moertl from Phoenix, Arizona. “Tracy Ann” 31 ft Bertram released eleven for Martin Benjamin, Dan McGuire and Mike Lombardi from Poway Ca, Reno, NV and San Diego, respectively. Other boats ranged anywhere from one to ten marlin in a day. Our tally for the week was 260 marlin released.
OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches were pretty decent with thirty percent of charters catching one or two fish in the 15 to 25 lb class and occasionally a little larger. No tuna or wahoo for us this week. Inshore pangas caught skipjacks, some rooster fish, sierra, jack crevalle and a few mako sharks.
LOCATION: Golden Gate
WEATHER CONDITIONS: The best in the world. Clear, sunny days with one overcast day, seas calm, daytime temps in the high 70’s low 80’s.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 70 F
BEST LURES: Live bait.
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January 1st to 7th, 2008
BILLFISH: The year started with a bang, with the striped marlin still thick off of Land’s End. All but one of the boats we sent out caught striped marlin or an odd sailfish, giving us a marlin catch success rate of 99%. Pisces anglers this week totaled 317 striped marlin and 2 sailfish, all released. Story of the week though has to be that of Jon Schwartz an elementary school teacher from Oceanside, Ca. He contacted us with a rather strange request; that he wanted to fish from a kayak. Willing to oblige we loaded up Jon his cameraman and kayak aboard 28 ft "Andrea" and headed up to the Finger Banks, not that fishing was not good closer, but we all figured it would be much safer with less boats around. Once the location was reached Jon and his kayak were lowered into the water, where he proceeded to catch and release, completely on his own, five striped marlin (see photo below). On Jon’s second trip with his kayak yielded three striped marlin released, a 100 lb tuna that snapped the hook just before being leadered and a dorado. Jon displayed awesome fishing skills and great balance and especially enjoyed the challenge. At the end of each month we tally up our catches and found that Pisces anglers had caught a total of 1167 striped marlin during December. Some of the better catches this period, were 15 marlin released aboard “Tracy Ann” on January 2nd for Don Armstrong from Park City, Utah. This same day “C Rod” released 14 marlin and caught 6 tuna at the Jaime Bank for John and Jim Carey from St Louis, Missouri. Next day out, January 3rd, “Yahoo” caught and released 17 marlin at the Golden Gate for Lee Thurston, John Pehoy, Larry Williams and Randy Hutto, all from southern states of, Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia. “Bill Collector” had 15 this day for Lance Morgan from Texas as well as three red snappers for the table.
OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches were not frequent but still 15% of charters were able to land fish in the 15 to 25 lbs. Catches ranged from 1 to 11 fish mostly caught on the Pacific. “Andrea” caught 11 at San Jaime for Marilyn Carson and Mike Lowes from Alberta, Canada. Tuna catches were even slower with just 4% of boats finding football size fish. Top tuna boat for us was “Rebecca” for 36 fish plus one marlin for Peter Vanderhook and Kevin Branson from AK fishing with Josh Vakerlich, San Diego, Ca, and Travis Klingerman from Tulsa, Ok.
LOCATION: Pacific side, Golden Gate, San Jaime, Los Arcos.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Perfect whale watch while you fish…..clear sunny skies, seas calm with some wind in the later afternoon.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 70 F
BEST LURES: Live bait.
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December 20th to December 30th, 2007
BILLFISH: Marlin fishing could hardly be better as we close out 2007; ninety four percent of charters caught between one and fifteen striped marlin in a day, plus the odd sailfish here and there. Seven to nine fish days were common, with fifteen fish in a day exceptional. This week’s report is a couple of days longer for us to finish out the year and with the additional two days, we ended up with our all time record of striped marlin caught at a total of 409 - FOUR HUNDRED AND NINE STRIPED MARLIN RELEASED - and one 140 lb’er kept, plus four sailfish also released. It doesn’t get much better than that. Of course we would love to be able to mention everybody, but there’s not enough room, so those groups that caught 15 or more get a mention this week. On December 29th, 42 ft “Yahoo” released sixteen striped marlin at San Jaime for the Maxim family fishing with Ryan Berry and Marc Tishbein from Cincinnati, Ohio. This same day 32 ft “Bill Collector” released 13 plus a sailfish also at San Jaime for John Carey and family form St Louis, Maryland. Not to be left out, this was a good day also for 31 ft “Rebecca” who also caught 15, releasing 14 for James and Tammy Kiser from Houston. A couple of days before this on the 26th, “Yahoo” was the hot boat again with 15 releases at the Golden Gate for the Zachman’s and Von Bank’s from Minnesota. “C Rod” a 38 ft Black fin also hit the mark with 15 marlin released for David Osbourne from Goodlettsville, and Caleb and Tony Newell from Nashville, Tennessee
OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches were pretty decent for this time of year with 37% of boats catching between one and seven in the 15 to 25 lb class. “Yahoo” caught seven, plus one mako shark, as well as releasing seven marlin at the Golden Gate for the Johnson family from Sullivan, S.C and Mt Pleasant, S.C. Most of the catches though were of one or two fish picked up whilst trolling for marlin. Tuna catches were a bit slower at 13%, nevertheless there were some boats did well, such as 34 ft “Mucho Bueno” with 13 in the 10 to 15 lb class for Matt Belich and party on the 27th, who also released 5 striped marlin. Other boats caught between one and three tuna of the same size. We are still seeing quite a few juvenile mako sharks, usually up to about 40 lbs, “Libre” released five for Darrell Sullivan and party from Potomac Fall, Virginia as well as releasing a couple of marlin.
INSHORE: See above.
LOCATION: There has begun to be a shift towards Cabo by the striped marlin; some of the better catches were at San Jaime rather than the Golden Gate and some boats are now fishing off of the Old Lighthouse. The Golden Gate will continue to be a destination over the next month or so, but the marlin will gradually move towards Land’s End.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: We finally have some blue skies after overcast weather for over a week. Seas are moderate to calm.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 70 F
BEST LURES: Live bait.
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December 14th to December 20th, 2007
BILLFISH: Another fantastic week for striped marlin fishing here in Cabo, however there are not many anglers in town and the number of visitors is off by about twenty percent for this time of year, which is a shame as the weather is beautiful and the fishing amazing. The two top spots were again the Finger Banks and Golden Gate but we are also starting to see fish much closer to Cabo near the Old Lighthouse. There has been a considerable slow down on dorado and tuna, but at the same time we have seen an increase on inshore fish, such as juvenile sharks, roosterfish and sierra. There were many boats that had multiple catches, ranging from one to ten fish; however, those mentioned this report caught a dozen or more marlin: on December 15th, David Woodson, Rosanna & Clint Walker released 15 striped marlin aboard “Bill Collector” with live mackerel at the Golden Gate. Next day out this same boat went up to the Finger Bank and managed to release 20 fish plus 5 dorado for Tony Vancootan, Stuart Whitham and Phil Keock from Newcastle, U.K. Doug Salomon from Hatteras, NC fished with Kara Dixon from Roanoke, VA and had a great time aboard “Tracy Ann” released 15 marlin on December 16th. “Rebecca” had 12 marlin on the 17th for Mike Witter from Petaluma, Ca, Darryl Kenyon from Carmel, Ca and Richard and Don Hayman from Osburn, ID. “El Gallo”, 61 ft Viking had a superb day at the Golden Gate on the 18th, releasing 14 striped marlin for Lee and Kim Gragg from Morganton, NC. Towards the end of this report “C Rod”, 38 ft Blackfin released 18 at the Finger Bank for Linda Jones, Viki and Brett Hedin and Teri and Butch Drury, all from California. This same day “ La Brisa” scored a dozen marlin in the same area for Dave Quoller, fishing with John and Jessica Highfill from Albuquerque, NM. Eighty one percent of our charters caught marlin and our total tally for the week was a very impressive 221 marlin caught and released, which is very good for the reduced amount of anglers fishing.
OTHER SPECIES: As mentioned above tuna and dorado catches are on the decline, however, “C Rod” always seems to do well on tuna, when nobody else is. They caught 16 yellowfin in the 15 to 20 lb class on December 14th, off of Palmilla with live sardines for Will Burleson, Justin Lott and Brian Murrill from Austin, TX as well as releasing a stripe marlin. Just nine percent of charters found tuna and catches ranged from one to six fish. Dorado catches were slightly better at a catch rate of thirteen percent, but catches were seldom more than three fish and more likely to be a single fish. Inshore lots of action on sierra Spanish mackerel), which are an extremely tasty eating fish, as well as rooster fish up to 20 lbs. Small makos are still being caught up to 40 lbs, both inshore and at the Golden Gate.
LOCATION: Golden Gate and Finger Banks on the Pacific.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Partly cloudy, seas dead calm.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 70 F
BEST LURES: Live bait.
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December 7th to December 13th, 2007
BILLFISH: The first two weeks of December are traditionally some of the slowest of the year in regard to anglers being around, being between Thanksgiving and Christmas; the fish however are here in great numbers. The striped marlin continue in excellent numbers both at Golden Gate and the Finger Banks. On Monday we awoke to thunder, lightning and rain, making most anglers reluctant to go out, however those that did caught fish, as the skies had cleared by ten o clock. The day after the storm was when we saw a bit of a slowdown, with several boats “skunked”. Top boat this week was “Tracy Ann” with 21 striped marlin, released at the Finger Bank by Tony Vancooten, Stuart Whitam and Phil Keoch from Newcastle, U.K. on December 13th. This same day 28 ft “Andrea” fished the same area and released 12 for Sabine Foster and Karl Merlich from Cerritos and Palmdale, Ca. This same boat also had 12 marlin released earlier in the week for Chris Baynes from Welwyn, U.K. “C Rod” did best at Golden Gate, releasing 11 for a group from Nebraska on December 7th. It was quite common for boats to catch six or seven, whilst others just fought a single fish. Ninety percent of charters caught striped marlin this week. Total catch was 208 fish, with just one 150 lb’er kept.
OTHER SPECIES: We saw a big slow down on dorado and tuna this week, in fact we only caught two dorado and one tuna. We did see several boats catch mako sharks and “Tracy Ann” caught the largest one we have seen in over a decade at close to 200 lbs, for angler George Fee from Fanwood, New Jersey. Other makos were 30 to 50 lbs. There were quite a lot of roosters, in fact Dave Smith from Seattle, released 19 aboard the panga “Sirrius”. Sierra, skipjacks and a few groupers were also caught.LOCATION: Golden Gate, Finger Banks, inshore close to Cabo both sides.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Great all week with the exception of Monday when we had a storm in the early hours of the morning, seas got rough later this day but the rest of the week were calm.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 74 F
BEST LURES: Live bait.
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November 30th to December 6th, 2007
BILLFISH: Cabo has been blessed with extraordinary striped marlin fishing for over three months now and it seems set to continue that way. Not only did we see great marlin fishing this week we saw an increase on different species inshore, all of which contributed to every single one of our boats catching fish this week. Striped marlin was the number one catch with 80% of charters catching an average of 1 to 6 fish per trip. Of course there were those boats that went above and beyond this. The best day of the week was December 1st, when “Bill Collector” caught and released 26 striped marlin at the Finger Banks on a combination of live bait and lures for Johnny and Stacey Powers form Dallas, Texas. “Spartacus”, 60 ft Hatteras, headed up to the same area and released a whopping 30 fish, between the six anglers on board, headed up by Gord Dridger. We have had some people question how so many fish can be caught in one day, like the angler mentioned last week who released 30 in one day fishing alone. The truth is, in areas like the Finger, the fish have been so thick, it is normal to get a strike every five minutes or so, when the fishing is really on; basically you catch a fish, see another one, cast a bait get a hook up. Many of our anglers have lots of experience, taking no more than 5 to 6 minutes to bring a fish to the leader; you do however have to be in pretty good shape. Chris Baynes from Hertfordshire, England took 28 ft “Andrea” up to the Finger Banks and did well to release 12 marlin on December 5th, equaling the catches of many larger boats that went that way this same day Fishing closer to home at Golden Gate was fine for most people who really didn’t want more than 6 marlin in a day, preferring to try and pick up a dorado or shark. Dave Smith from Tyler, Texas, fished with Jeff Gunn and Bill Coley from Alba, Texas on December 4th and did extremely well to release 14 striped marlin aboard “Rebecca” at the Golden Gate. “Bandito” released 10 for Robert Huebner and Wes Liefer from California. Equaling this was “Adriana” with 10 marlin released for Tony Vancooten from London, Phil Weogh and Stuart Whitum from Huddersfield, U.K on December 6th. Pisces anglers caught a total of 291 striped marlin this week all of which were released. We also had a report of a white marlin (impossible I hear you say); however the captain swore that it was, but until we see the photo, we will chalk this up to a small striper or short bill spearfish.
OTHER SPECIES: The percentage of boats that caught dorado and tuna was even at 18%, however the tuna catches were far better in that when found they were from 2 to 30 fish in the football class of 10 to 20 lbs. Yellowfin tuna were found on the Cortez side and also around the Old Lighthouse on the Pacific, but best location was between the Westin and Iman. Jason Wald from Orlando, Florida was thrilled to catch 22 on a panga off of the Westin and could have fought way more if his arms had held out. “Libre” had 30 tunas for a group from Houston off of Palmilla, with live sardines the bait of choice. Dorado catches were seldom more than one or two fish caught over a widespread area, this is quite normal and we will continue to see a decrease on this species over the next few months. We are starting to see a lot of small mako’s sharks, which is right on target for December, however we should mention that this is the most sharks we have seen in years. One boat released 8 small mako,s up to 40 lbs; these are obviously juveniles so we are asking anglers to release them. Boats also caught some squid up to 30 lbs, snappers, up to 5 in a morning, some yellowtail, skipjack and grouper.
LOCATION: Marlin on the Pacific, Golden Gate and Finger Banks, Tuna mostly on the Cortez, Dorado widespread, smaller game inshore.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: We don’t want to make you feel bad if you are in a cold place, but fantastic, mostly sunny days; on partly cloudy days we had spectacular sunrises and sunsets, seas dead calm.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 74
BEST LURES: Live bait.
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November 16th to November 22nd, 2007
BILLFISH: The phenomenal striped marlin action continues in Cabo; this week our anglers again produced record numbers of catches, with 378 marlin caught and released. Weights on fish range from 110 to 190 lbs. Eighty three percent of charters caught marlin. The action was again on the Pacific with Golden Gate the location of choice for most vessels, a little over 20 miles up the Pacific coast from Cabo. Some boats continued further up to the Finger Banks, but in all honesty the number of fish at Golden Gate was about all most people could take. Top boat this week was “Ni Modo” with 32 striped marlin released in one day, November 18th at the Finger bank for John Carey, Jon Casey and Jeff Hartman all from Missouri and Chuck Turbanic from Destin, Florida. “Falcon” had 16 marlin, closer to home at the Golden Gate for Mike Connolly from Montana. This same day “Bill Collector” released 13 and boated 3 dorado for Matt Rainwater and Kevin Carson from Los Angeles. Tony Machad, David Bazar, Russell Harris, Manny Mainado and Lee Meyer, from a funny sounding town, called Chowchilla, Ca, were thrilled to release 12 striped marlin on November 20th aboard “Fearless” with captain Benito Agundez. The “Bill Collector” scored big again on the 21st with 14 marlin and 4 dorado for Mary and Mark McWillis from Clackamas, Oregon. Other boats released up to 11 marlin such as “Rebecca” and “Yahoo”, as well as several others releasing up to 9 in a day. There is lots of bait at the Golden Gate and the better bite tended to be early. The fish are ravenous and eating very quickly. Full moon is coming up which may affect fishing somewhat but when it’s this good it normally doesn’t become a contributing factor. Live bait was the preferred method but the marlin were taking lures too.
OTHER SPECIES: After marlin, dorado was the most widely caught fish, with the majority also caught on the Pacific. “Rebecca” caught 13, plus 4 marlin on the 20th for Gerald Richmond from Oceanside, Ca fishing Randy Richmond from Key Largo, Fl and Robin Demarse from Lawrenceville, GA. “Andrea” had 12 this day plus a marlin for Tristan Vellam form Jersey, Channel Islands, England. Weights on the dorado were not that big with the average around 15 lbs. Tuna catches were a bit slow with just 14% of boats catching fish in the 10 to 20 lb class; top boat was “Marea” with 24 up to 20 lbs off of Shipwreck.
INSHORE: Inshore there were skipjacks, roosters, sierra and needlefish, but none in impressive numbers. Just a couple of wahoo caught, and several small sharks, mostly Makos but also a couple of threshers and one hammerhead.
LOCATION: Golden Gate and Finger Banks.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Beautiful, you can’t beat November weather….clear sunny skies, though overcast one day at the end of this week. Seas calm, except for last day of this report, when it was very windy causing whitecaps close to Cabo.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 72 F
BEST LURES: Live bait.
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November 9th to November 15th, 2007
BILLFISH: This week Pisces anglers set an all time record for the number of striped marlin caught for our fleet with an impressive 385 fish caught, just three kept. The Finger Bank was a hot area but so was Golden Gate, with many boats not needing to go that far to catch ten or more fish. Some catches were simply spectacular such as 21 striped marlin released by Mark Sydow from San Francisco fishing with buddy Benito Agundez aboard “Libre” on November 11th. Next day out Mark Chiavetta from San Jose, Ca, equaled this number fishing aboard “Bill Collector”. Thirteen year old Thomas Hardy Jr, fished with dad, Tom senior, aboard “Tracy Ann” and were pleased to release 10 marlin as well as boating 4 dorado; they are from Centerville, Maryland. “Valerie” released 18 and had 4 dorado for Tom Atkins, Steve Marcknack and Mark o Banion all from Illnois on November 13th at the Finger bank. This same day “Ni Modo” had 13 marlin and 1 sailfish for a group from Oklahoma, consisting of Rob Coleman, Phil Longan, Kevin Rabor, Jimmy Lane and Barry Eller. Not to be left out “Fearless” released 17 marlin and boated 4 dorado for Ed, Jeannie and Dick Van Hook from Ontario, New York. “Falcon” released 16 marlin at the Golden Gate on November 15th , whilst “Valerie” released 15 and “Rebecca” 13 this same day. It was nice to see a bit more size on the stripers with the average this week around 140 lbs. Bob Turney, fishing with captain Leon Camacho released a large striper, estimated around 200 lbs, the biggest of the week. Eighty eight percent of charters caught marlin, though we did have a few boats “skunked”.
OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches were pretty good with 56% of boats landing fish up to 30 lbs. Most caught one or two fish whilst trolling and less occasionally up to six. Tuna catches were slower at 11%, though some boats, like “Valerie” did really well on football size fish, catching a total of 25 for Tom and Marie Theel from Phoenix fishing with Dan and Denise Miller from Fort Myers, Florida, just half a mile off of Cabeza de Ballena; most catches were of two to four fish. We did see some specimens as large as 79 lbs. We are starting to see quite a lot more roosterfish and this week again several mako sharks to 50 lbs.
LOCATION: Golden Gate and Finger Bank for marlin, Cortez side for tuna, both Pacific and Cortez for dorado.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: We have always thought November is the best time weather of the year and we are not disappointed, clear, sunny skies, bearable daytime temps and evenings now starting to have a slight chill. Seas mostly calm.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 79 F
BEST LURES: Live bait
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November 2nd to November 8th, 2007
BILLFISH: Wow, possibly the top week for striped marlin this year. Pisces anglers caught a whopping 274 striped marlin this week with all but two released, as well as one 325 lb blue marlin, one black marlin and two sailfish released. Our overall catch success rate for all species combined was ninety four percent, with seventy five percent of boats catching billfish. Added to this was the excitement of the WON Tuna Jackpot Tournament. Our boat of the week was the “Billcollector” for releasing 21 striped marlin on November 6th for Wayne Wilson and friends from Juneau Alaska…..Wayne also went on to take third place in the Tuna Tournament a couple of days later. This same day “Fearless” 16 striped marlin at the Finger Bank, whilst “Halcon” released 9 at the Golden Gate. “Rebecca” released 9 at the Finger for John Mason from Las Vegas and Gerald Richmond from Oceanside as well as boating a couple of dorado on November 5th. This same day “Cabolero” released 3 striped marlin and a black marlin at Gaspareño for lady anglers Margaret Williams and Barbara Lehr from Dallas, Texas. Day before this “Tracy Ann” had 10 for Terry Clark, Steve Miles and Darryl Ulskey from Edmonds, WA. The 325 lbs blue marlin was caught during the tuna tournament by Mel Scott, from Oakland, Ca (great fish Mel but wrong species this time). There were many other boats that had outstanding catches of four, five and six marlin but we don’t have space to mention them all.
OTHER SPECIES: Towards the end of the week we had the 9th annual Western Outdoor News, Jackpot Tuna Tournament. Teams competed from the USA, Canada, Mexico and England with 125 boats fishing over two days. This is tournament is well organized; a lot of fun and you don’t need to be a millionaire to enter. The entry fee is $700.00 with several optional jackpots available. The minimum weight for tuna was set at 40 lbs. This year there was a new division of wahoo and dorado, also with a 40 lb minimum, however after the first day when none of these species were caught the weight was lowered to 25 lbs for dorado and wahoo.
Results were as follows:
1st Place Team Katusha with a 189 lb tuna winnings of $126,360.00
2nd Place Team Borracho Amigos with a 142.2 lb tuna winnings $167,180.00
3rd Place Team Picante Salsa with a 139.9 lb tuna winnings $2,460.00
Others in the money for being entered in optional jackpots were:
Bottom Line with a 59.9 lb tuna winnings $80,000.00
Rehab with a 79.6 lb tuna winnings $34,800.00
Minerva II with a 79 lb tuna winnings $38,000.00
Solmar IX with a 32.1 lb dorado for the optional division, winnings $70,400.00
In non tournament fishing 49% of our boats caught dorado, with weights between 10 and 25 lbs, catches were between one and seven fish per boat. Tuna catches were at 23% with most caught of football size. Several small mako sharks as well one thresher shark were caught at the Golden Gate. Inshore, several roosters and skipjacks were caught.
INSHORE: see above
LOCATION: Golden Gate, Finger Bank, Old Lighthouse.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear sunny skies, seas calm on the Cortez, some chop on the Pacific.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 81 F
BEST LURES: Live bait.
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October 26th to November 1st, 2007
BILLFISH: This week we again had excellent fishing with pretty much all the boats catching fish, that is for those that were not entered in the Bisbee (last day was the 27th and these vessels decided to concentrate exclusively on blue marlin). Eighty three percent of our charters were able to catch marlin, with striped marlin as usual the dominant species, in the 110 to 190 lb class. The Pacific was the best place to fish with Golden Gate one of the better locations. The Finger Bank was also going off, but at 50 to 55 miles one way was further than most boats cared to venture, however, those wishing to pay a fuel surcharge were delighted to fish that location. Our top boat this week was “Tracy Ann” with 8 striped marlin released at the Finger Bank for Paul Giles from Anacortes, Wa and Bob Richards from Trucker, Ca on October 28th. Next day out this same boat was fortunate to release 7 and catch 3 dorado for Dave Bales from La Vista fishing with buddies Kevin Ritz and Jerry Carter from Oceanside, California, this time at Golden Gate. “Bill Collector” had an outstanding day on the 28th for Mr Chiavetta Sr. releasing 8 striped marlin and boating 6 tuna and 5 dorado. Pretty much all the fish were caught between San Jaime and Golden Gate and on live bait. Pisces anglers caught a total of 154 billfish of which all but on were released, consisting of 152 striped marlin and 2 sailfish.
OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches were still very good this week with fifty two percent of boats catching fish from 15 to 45 lbs. Most of the dorado were caught on lures of assorted color with catches between one and ten fish. Yellow fin tuna catches were not abundant, but then again, most boats were fishing for striped marlin, so it was a nice surprise when Mextime pulled up with a 120 lb fish for Martin and Patty Dominski from Littleton, Co on October 30th - in fact they caught a total of 5 yellowfin ranging from 10 all the way up to the big 120 lb’er on a combination of live bait and lures, including the Mexican flag. Not much of anything else except a couple of small mako sharks a small wahoo and a couple of small skipjacks.
LOCATION: Pacific, San Jaime, Golden Gate, Finger Banks.
AVERAGE WATE TEMP: 83F.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Fabulous, clear sunny skies, seas 2 to 4 feet.
BEST LURES: live bait for marlin, petrolero, bait, cedar plugs and assorted lures for tuna, lures for dorado; red/yellow, green/yellow.
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October 19th to 25th, 2007
BILLFISH: This week was again very successful for most of our anglers giving us an overall catch success rate of ninety four percent for all species combined. Catches were good in the build up to the Bisbee, with “Swinger” getting an impressive 600 lb fish just one day before the multimillion dollar tournament for Mark and Allan Kellett from Ontario, Canada, caught with a petrolero lure at Los Frailes, they also caught a wahoo and a couple of dorado. Eighty nine percent of our anglers were successful in catching a billfish this week, giving us a total of 162 fish, consisting of 151 striped marlin, 1 black marlin, 1 sailfish and 8 blue marlin, all but 6 fish were released. This same day “Ni Modo” released 10 striped marlin for Jerry Daniel, Ron Jovy, Ron Thompson and Steve Quashnick all from Fresno, California. “C Rod” released a blue marlin close to 300 lbs this day for Randy Butera from Medford, New York, who also landed 15 yellowfin tuna. October 25th proved to be a good day for almost everybody with “Andrea” releasing 9 striped marlin for Brent Michelson and Brent Watson from Michigan. This same day both Rebecca and Tracy Ann released 7 striped marlin each at Golden Gate and Finger Banks. The Bisbee came to a close on Friday the 26th, with 166 boats participating. The first day six qualifying fish came to the scale with lead going to Missing Lenk for a 591 lb black marlin caught by Mike Powell. Next day though, Bad Company last year’s winning pulled in with a 539 lb blue marlin sweeping all the jackpots for that day. These guys play hard, work hard and always enter all the jackpots meaning their payoffs are always high. Last week, they placed 2nd in the Los Cabos Billfish, where though they did not win, were the boat that won most money. Third day was a shocker when a local Mexican from San Jose, David Zarate, known as “El Bico” pulled in with a 620 lb fish and took the top spot.
OTHER SPECIES: After marlin, dorado were the most widely caught fish with 77% of boats catching fish in the 20 to 40 lb class and from one to fifteen fish per boat. Most productive area was the Pacific and the Golden Gate. Tuna catches were fair at 30% of charters finding fish up to 80 lbs, though the average was closer to 25 lbs. Quite a lot of wahoo this week with 21% of charters catching usually a single fish ranging in size from 25 to 70 lbs. Quite a lot of juvenile mako sharks from 20 to 45 lbs were caught in the Golden Gate area.
LOCATION: Golden Gate and the Pacific were still very good, with some boats going even further to the Finger Banks. Los Frailes on the Cortez side as well as Punta Gorda.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, some whitecaps on the Cortez side. Pacific some swells earlier in the week with a tropical depression down below us.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 82 F
BEST LURES: Live bait, petrolero.
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October 12th to 18th, 2007
BILLFISH: This week we had the first major fishing tournament of the season, The Los Cabos Billfish Tournament” sponsored by the Los Cabos Hotel Association. Seventy boats participated in an event that produced 161 fish.
Results were as follows:
1St Place 566 lb blue marlin aboard Outcast for total winnings of $134,550.00
2nd Place 406 lb blue marlin aboard Bad Company for winnings of $275,433.00
3rd Place 376 lb blue marlin aboard Get Over It for winnings of $139,983.00
Largest striped marlin award went Ninja for a 202 lb fish which netted them $169,741.00. Most releases, 16 in total went to Summertime earning them $41,000.00. There were also prizes for dorado and wahoo of $15,758 for the largest fish each of this species. A great time was had by all as usual as this event is fun and well organized. We were especially thrilled to see four teams from Finland join us this year, hoping to defend their title which unfortunately eluded them. In regular fishing news. Pisces anglers totaled 148 billfish this week with all but two fish released. The billfish catch success rate was sixty nine percent consisting of 133 stripes, 11 blues and 4 sails. On October 12th “Swinger” released 8 striped marlin for Bert from Holland fishing at the Golden Gate. This same day “Ni Modo” released six plus four dorados for Greg Burnett from Lake Havasu, Arizona. The following day these two boats were again the ticket, with another eight marlin for Bert from Holland again, plus nine tuna up to 40 lbs, aboard Swinger. Ni Modo edged up to eight marlin this day too, with Greg and friends aboard who also caught sixteen dorado. Bert out on his third day on Swinger, released six stripers and boated a 60 lb wahoo and four dorados. On October 15th, Ni Modo kept their record with another eight striped marlin and one wahoo at the Golden Gate for Ed Donahue from Wayne Eille, N.C. On October 17th Rebecca released three blue marlin for Timo Helle from Finland and followed up the next day with a 400 lb blue released for the same group a day early, before the tournament.
OTHER SPECIES: Sixty five percent of charters caught dorado with catches ranging from one to twelve fish per boat in the 15 to 35 lb class. Pisces anglers totaled 335 dorado this week. Tuna catches were quite a bit slower with just ten percent of boats catching between one and nine fish, weights were moderate at 20 to 60 lbs. Again some nice wahoo catches between 30 and 70 lbs with a couple of boats even catching a couple in a day.
LOCATION: Predominantly Golden Gate, though during the tournament most boats opted to fish the Cortez side at Punta Gorda and beyond.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, seas moderate at 5 to 6 feet.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 81 to 86 F
BEST LURES: live bait.
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October 5th to October 11th, 2007
BILLFISH: Wow, what an amazing week! We did not keep our perfect record of every single boat catching a fish with a few “skunks” here and there, but we did surpass our all time record for billfish caught with a whopping 260 billfish caught by Pisces anglers this week. The breakdown was 246 striped marlin, 10 blue marlin and 1 sailfish. All but two of the blues were released. One of the most outstanding days was October 8th with 83 striped marlin released this day alone. Surely this must be the best place on earth to fish right now. Most catches were mixed between striped marlin, the odd blue marlin, lots of dorado and good amounts of tuna, as well as it being the best wahoo week of the year so far. Everybody would love to be mentioned but we don’t have enough space, so here are some of the more noticeable catches. On October 5th, 38 ft “C Rod” fished the 95 spot and released a blue marlin estimated at 200 lbs, plus a striped marlin and a sailfish for Mike Lovell, Robert Whitman and Ken Tornquist form Edmond, Oklahoma. I guess the oakies were on a roll, because next day out this same boat had 15 striped marlin released and three tuna between 20 and 100 lbs for Kurt Schrantz from Oklahoma City, at the 95 spot. On October 8th 31 ft “Mextime” released a 270 lb blue, after it took a petrolero lure, 7 striped marlin and boated a dorado, all at Golden Gate for David Smith, from Duncan Ville, Arizona and Steve Wood from Irving, Texas. Not to be outdone 32 ft Cabo, “Bill Collector” released 8 stripers a dorado and a mako shark at Golden Gate. The following day, Ron and Mary Helen Smart form Granbury, Texas released 8 striped marlin, all on live bait, at Golden Gate (they tell me people back home don’t believe them……it’s true, stop giving them a hard time). This same day, “Falcon” released a blue marlin estimated at 250 lbs, 5 striped marlin and boated 2 wahoo and 2 dorado for a group of Brits, Gordon Richmond from Cliffnock and Fred Richardson and Ian McDonald from London. “C Rod” again made news this same day, releasing 10 striped marlin at the Golden Gate for a bi-nation group, of Roger Huntinsford and Bob Haughtlow from Berkshire, Peter Walker, from Surry, U.K and David Price from New York. This day though, 42 ft “Yahoo” was the top boat with 15 stripers released for Jeff Dreseser and Jeff Loose from Ontario, Canada. Barry Suave from Houston Texas had his work cut out; fishing alone aboard 50 ft “Bottom Line” he released 8 striped marlin and 3 mako sharks at Golden Gate, all on live bait. To close out the week 42 ft “Ni Modo” had 13 striped marlin at the Gate too, for the guys from the U.K and New York, mentioned above. Our billfish catch success rate was seventy-five percent.
OTHER SPECIES: Dorado edged out marlin as the number one species this week by 5 % with 80% of charters catching anywhere from 1 to 30 plus dorado, many are being released, but we are asking anglers to respect catch limits. More dorado on the Pacific side than on the Cortez, weights are from 15 to 30 lbs. Pisces anglers caught a total of 510 dorado this week. Yellow fin tuna catches increased slightly to 26% this week with catches of between 1 and 18 fish; most were smaller at 20 lbs but others were as large as 100 lbs. Wahoo catches were the best they have been all season with12 for us this week, not a lot but still the most we have seen. Most of the fish were 30 to 50 lbs, but Matt Kortas from Minneapolis did catch a very nice 72 lb wahoo aboard 28 ft “Adriana” on October 5th as well as 1 yellowfin tuna, 8 dorado and 1 striped marlin at Gaspareño.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Seas were pretty calm at 5 to 6 feet, skies clear, weather still hot as summer.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 79 to 84 F
BEST LURES: Live bait, petrolero.
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September 28th to October 4th, 2007
BILLFISH: Fishing in Cabo continues to be fantastic, though we did see a drop on billfish catches, mostly for striped marlin. It got windy towards the close of the week, which prevented boats heading up to Golden Gate and San Jaime where they have been fishing for the last two months. We also saw rough seas on September 30th when a tropical depression was out in the Pacific. It is normal for the striped marlin to start to slow down, as we see an increase in water temperature, which should move in the blue marlin. Nevertheless some boats had amazing days for striped marlin. On September 30th 42 ft “Yahoo” released 15 striped marlin at the Golden Gate for Colin Rotmery and Mike Greenwood from Calgary, Canada; they also caught four dorado and four yellowfin tuna. Next day out “Andrea” released 15 striped marlin and caught 13 yellowfin tuna at San Jaime for Paul Koch and party from Plantation, Florida. This same day, October 1st “Adriana” had 15 marlin released and 16 tuna alongside Andrea at San Jaime for Jody and Chris Akens from Chicago, IL. Not to be left out “La Brisa” equaled with another 15 striped marlin, as well as 8 dorado for Edwin Hartay, Jay Brant and Dean Smith from Claremore, Oklahoma. Other notable catches were 5 sailfish and 5 dorado for Steve Fournier from Winchester, Oregon, aboard “Adriana” on September 30th. This boat was definitely on a roll this week as the day before they caught two blue marlin; one released the other at 220 lbs for Tove Pederson from Burnaby, British Columbia. “Tracy Ann” had a great day on October 4th for Ken Scheffler from Seattle, Wa with a nice blue released estimated at 350 lbs and a sailfish estimated at 110 lbs, plus a couple of dorado. The catch success rate for billfish was 51%. Pisces anglers caught a total of 130 billfish this week consisting of 109 striped marlin, 7 blue marlin and 14 sailfish.
OTHER SPECIES: Dorado surpassed marlin catches for the first time this year. We had a huge increase on this species with 99% of our charters catching fish in the 15 to 30 lb class. Catches per boat were from1 to 15 fish in a day. They were found in various locations but San Jaime and Golden Gate were good. Our total tally for dorado was 445 fish – a fair percentage were released. Yellowfin tuna catches also increased but could not be compared to the dorado, though thirty percent of boats did find between one and eighteen fish with weights average at 15 to 30 lbs. The one exception was a beautiful 110 lb fish caught aboard 37 ft “Falcon” by Team de Santis from San Diego, Ca. Not only did they catch this whopping fish, they also released a blue marlin and caught four dorado, 18 miles south of Cabo. An excellent mixed bag day was had by Scott and Rebecca Lamb, fishing with Darlene Masteller from Portland, aboard 38 ft “C Rod”; they caught 12 yellowfin tuna, 3 dorado, 3 striped marlin and 3 mako sharks, all at Golden Gate. Just a few smaller wahoo this week no more than 40 lbs average. We also caught several small hammerheads and makos.
LOCATION: Golden Gate, San Jaime, Cerro Colorado, Gaspareño, Cerro Blanco, 95 spot.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Skies partly cloudy, most days windy on the Pacific, seas average.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 84 F
BEST LURES: Live bait, green/yellow feathers for dorado, red/white blue/black for tuna, red/blue and Petrolero for blue marlin.
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September 21st to 27th, 2007
BILLFISH: We are truly blessed here in Cabo with a great summer season almost behind us and a perfect record of every boat catching fish for the past six weeks. Even with full moon this week, fish continued to bite, though we did see a slow down on striped marlin relatively speaking, from catches of up to 10 fish in a day down to 3 or 4. It was nice to see a big jump on blue marlin this week, with a total of 11 caught by Pisces. Weights on these are beginning to increase a little now ranging from 180 to 350 lbs. Golden Gate was still the mainstay of most of the action, but those boats trying areas a little to the south, such as the Old Lighthouse, Land’s End and even Chileno, caught more of a mixed bag. Ninety nine percent of our charters caught billfish this week, which is absolutely outstanding. Some of the top catches were as follows: 28 ft “Andrea” fished 10 miles straight out of Cabo on the 21st of September and released two blue marlin and a sailfish as well as boating three dorado for Walter Seehaus, Orland Thornburg & Michael McCormick, from Pompano Beach, Florida. This same day 37 ft “Falcon” released nine stripers at the Golden Gate for Richele Blanc and Mike Horn from Fresno, California. “Yahoo”, 42 ft, had the highest tally this day though, with an impressive twelve striped marlin released for Mike Gonzales & Jerome Parker from Auburn, Georgia, fishing with Ross Kline from Reno, Nevada. Next day out 28 ft “Adriana” had two blue marlin, sailfish and one dorado on out outer edge of the Golden Gate for the same guys who had almost an identical catch as the previous day aboard “Andrea”; four blue marlin, two sails and four dorado in two days of fishing is quite impressive. “C Rod” 38 ft, also had two blue marlin this day estimated at 200 and 220 lbs and were back in port by 1.00 pm at the angler’s request. Mike De Ganahl form Sanford, Florida caught a blue marlin estimated at a little over 300 lbs on the Bill Collector 10 miles out from Cerro Blanco and boated four dorado in the 20 to 40 lb class. On September 24th “Adriana” had an enviable mixed back day for Shannon and Patrick Conden from Orange, Connecticut, with on blue marlin, one striped marlin; one sailfish and three dorado….all the billfish were released. This same day 31 ft “Tracy Ann” released two blue marlin 11 miles out from Santa Maria for Kim & Dan Eerkes from Bluffdale, Utah…weights were 180 and 280 lbs approximately. Pisces anglers caught a total of 170 billfish this week consisting of 149 striped marlin, 11 blue marlin and 10 sailfish, all but two fish were released. Port was closed one day, so catches could have been higher if the boats had been allowed out.
OTHER SPECIES: We saw the same pattern again this week with dorado being the second most widely caught fish with 85% of charters catching fish in the 15 to 40 lb class, catches were between one and six fish with the best dorado catch aboard “Bandito” with 10, in the 20 to 35 lb class off of Chileno for Douglas Carson from Murietta California. Most of the others were picked up at the Golden Gate whilst trolling for marlin. Total dorado caught was 125 fish. Yellowfin tuna catch were not fabulous with 19% of charters catching fish in the 20 to 30 lb class. Top tuna boat was 38 ft “C Rod” with 10 up to 50 lbs caught at Golden Gate, where they also released five striped marlin and boated a dorado for Larry Allen, Steven & Eileen Harris from North Carolina. A total of 53 tuna were caught. Wahoo catches were on the slow side with just three caught up to 40 lbs. A couple of juvenile mako sharks to 40 lbs were also released.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear sunny skies, still a little humid, the port was closed for one day as tropical storm Ivo approached. Seas calm.
LOCATION: Golden Gate, Old Lighthouse, straight out of Cabo, Chileno.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 82 F
BEST LURES: live bait, guacamaya, green/yellow.
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September 14th to 20th, 2007
BILLFISH: Every boat we sent out this week caught fish; once again we ended up with a one hundred percent catch success rate. In fact the number of billfish caught is an eight year record for Pisces with our total for the past six days at 234 fish and this was with charter activity below normal. Striped marlin was still the number one sportfish with two hundred and twenty five caught for our anglers, as well as three blue marlin and ten sailfish. The number of striped marlin being caught is definitely unusual, in fact we cannot remember a time when this many have been caught in summer months. All but two striped marlin were released. It was nice to see the blues starting to appear, albeit a bit late. Weights on the blues ranged from 180 to 300 lbs. Overall ninety five percent of charters caught a marlin or sailfish, or better said a few marlin. Although Golden Gate was still one of the top locations, boats also fished closer to Cabo as well. Everybody did really well this week and we don’t have enough space to mention each person, but some of the outstanding catches were as follows: September 14th, Max Montague from Plano, Texas and friends released a total of 11 striped marlin as well as a sailfish at the outer edge of Golden Gate aboard “Ni Modo”. The 19th was a good day, when “Yahoo” released 12 striped marlin and boated two dorado for Karl & Tracey Krebbs from Las Vegas, fishing with John and Carolyn Clay from Philadelphia and Roger Brook form Palm Beach, all at Golden Gate. This same day and in the same area “ C Rod” released 9 stripers and landed one dorado for Michael Jensen and Cory Taylor from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, fishing with Chuck Kane and Cliff Kupnow from the Dallas area. On the 20th of September “C Rod” again fished the group mentioned above but was able to release even more fish, totaling 12 marlin and one dorado. Following this with 10 striped marlin released and two dorado and one tuna boated was "Falcon", for Jeremy & Vanessa Perkins fishing with Ricky & Becky Stutts from Huffman, Texas; followed by “Bandito” with 7 striped marlin and 3 sailfish released for Renee Brown, Dan & Debbie Ducote and Fali Kapadia, from Texas, North Carolina and Tennessee respectively. “Andrea” also had 9 this day for Michael McCormick fishing with Walter and Orland from Pompano Beach, Florida. Striped marlin and sailfish preferred live bait and blue marlin took lures.
OTHER SPECIES: After marlin dorado were the most likely catch, with 105 total for Pisces anglers. Weights were from 15 to 35 lbs with some of the better catches at Herradura. Nevertheless most boats fishing Golden Gate picked up one or two and the highest catch was 12 fish for Todd Whitesell on the 19th who also released both a blue and striped marlin. Overall sixty six percent of our charters caught dorado. We are pleased to report the first really big tunas of the season, both “Andrea” and “Bill Collector” had fish over the 200 lb mark on the same day, September 16th ,12 miles south of Cabo. Anglers on Andrea were Reinhold Gartner from San Francisco and Edward Lybrand, after a slow start to the day the captain spotted a school of porpoise, they landed two in the 70 to 80 lb class before going on land the 210 lb fish, which took two and half hours to boat. Jeff Hrenha from San Jose was the angler aboard Bill Collector. Catches on tuna rose to seventeen percent with several fish in the 100 lb class whilst others were around 30 to 40 lbs. Just four wahoo between 40 and 50 lbs this week.
LOCATION: Golden Gate, San Cristobal, Old Lighthouse….Pacific.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Hot, slightly humid, seas calm, skies partly cloudy.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 80 F
BEST LURES: Live bait.
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September 7th to September 13th 2007
BILLFISH: The incredible striped marlin fishing continues in Cabo giving us one of the highest numbers of billfish caught in one week for the year. Despite being September, traditionally a slow time in Cabo we had a total of 190 billfish this week, consisting of 186 striped marlin; all but one released and 4 sailfish, all released, giving us a billfish catch success rate of 91%. Once again boats concentrated almost exclusively at Golden Gate. Boats caught anywhere from one to ten striped marlin in a day, usually with a dorado or two thrown in too. Pretty much all of the catches this week were outstanding, but to mention a few “Valerie”, skippered by Roberto Sandez, released 10 marlin and boated 4 doardo for Bryan Holland, John Simone, Steve Kinderman and Steve Carlson, hailing from Boca Raton, Lighthouse Point and Delray Beach, Florida, in fact this group, ended up releasing a little over twenty marlin during their Cabo trip. “Ni Modo” with captain Cubi (Jobe’s brother) released 8 stripers and boated a 40 lb dorado on September 10th. Weather was picture perfect as were the seas.
OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches climbed again this week with 77% of boats catching fish from 15 to 45 lbs. Catches ranged from one to nine fish per day, with the average two to three fish. “Andrea” landed nine for Cory Hickman and Deborah Anderson as well as three marlin, which were released. One of our anglers got a an unexpected catch…..Tom Stein from Peoria, Arizona was aboard the Mextime, they had a marlin strike and the deckhand was reeling in the lures to get them out of the way, however, unbeknown to the people aboard, a wahoo had spotted the fast moving lure and was chasing it. The fish jumped clear into the air after the lure, grazing the cheek of Tom, as he flashed by, before ending up in the cabin of the boat, where he was quickly dispatched before damaging the boat. Tom’s friend went home with him in an ice chest. Besides this wahoo only one other was caught and tuna catches were very slow with just five fish caught for our fleet.
INSHORE: See above
LOCATION: Golden Gate, San Jaime…when people got tired of marlin they went to the 95 to pick up a dorado or two and try for blues..
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Skies partly cloudy, cooler than normal for September, seas calm.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 81 F
BEST LURES: Live bait.
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August 31st to September 7th, 2007
BILLFISH: Fishing was fantastic for striped marlin again this week, even with the interruption of Hurricane Henriette, a category one storm that caused the port to be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. As far as hurricanes go, this was quite a mild one, damage to the town was minimal, with some trees and telephone lines down; we did unfortunately get damage to one of our boats. Fishing didn’t miss a beat, with striped marlin catches picking right up after the storm at Golden Gate . Best day was September 1st when each boat we sent out caught a minimum of four striped marlin each. This day we had several outstanding catches, “Bill Collector” released nine stripers and boated one dorado for Matt Rainwater, “Cabolero” released eight plus a Mako shark and one dorado boated. This same day “Sr Moment” also released eight for Bob Alvarado, plus a token dorado. Next day out “Valerie” had seven striped marlin for Brett Rive, Colen McLarrery and Troy Steiner frm Canyon Lake and Fallbrook, Ca. Live bait was definitely the most productive method of catching striped marlin and sizes ranged from 110 to 160 lbs. Everybody caught something this week, though some boats concentrating on small game, hence a marlin catch success rate of eighty nine percent. Even with the shortened fishing week, Pisces anglers managed to catch 130 marlin with all but one released.
OTHER SPECIES: Dorado continued to give a good showing with sixty nine percent of boats catching fish up to 40 lbs. The average catch was one to four fish and occasionally some boats got as many as eight. The dorado were picked up whilst trolling for marlin with more caught on lures than on bait. Tuna catches were extremely slow with just one solitary fish for us. Again we had a few small Mako sharks, all released and seldom over 50 lbs. The most enviable catch of the week was a 75 lb wahoo, aboard “Tracy Ann” for Mike and Sheryl Denan from Satellite Beach, Fl, they also caught five striped marlin and a dorado…..hard to beat a day like this. They fished in the Cortez at the Gordo Banks.
LOCATION: Predominantly Golden Gate.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Port closed on Tuesday and Wednesday; Monday afternoon we saw big waves before the storm arrived. By Wednesday the seas were like glass, but the port remained closed on the Port Authorities instructions. Seas clear, air temps in the 90’s.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 78 F
BEST LURES: Live bait.
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August 24th to August 30th, 2007
BILLFISH:TWhat can I say except fishing is amazing right now. Even with a full moon, the fish continued to bite with a vengeance at Golden Gate on the Pacific. On other dates boats tried the opposite direction for something larger than striped marlin, which currently average 130 lbs. One boat that hit the jackpot by doing this was “Bill Collector”; they released a 300 lb black marlin at Punta Gorda on August 26th for David Haveh from Portland, Texas. This fish took a green and yellow lure and took forty minutes to release, they then went on to catch ten yellowfin tuna and then whipped in shore for some pargo and triggerfish….I tell you Texans are very lucky. There were not that many anglers in town, actually about twenty percent less than we usually see, but those that were smart took advantage of the unusual marlin bite and got good practice for upcoming tournaments. “Bill Collector” has to be awarded boat of the week as on August 25th, they released 13 striped marlin and caught two dorado and three small mako sharks at the Golden Gate for Sharon Reynolds and party. On the 29th they released seven striped marlin and boated three dorado for Matt Rainwater and friends from California. “Ni Modo” also had a good week, releasing 11 striped marlin on the 25th as well as two dorado and three mako’s for Lori Wetlaufer and John McEwan from Berkley, Mi. On the 28th this same boat released 8 plus two dorado for John Engel and friends from Tampa, Florida. There were other boats that release up to six marlin in a day such as Libre, Valerie and Sr Moment, however to get a mention this week catches had to be six fish or higher ….. what times we live in. Weather is still slightly cooler than normal; once we hit blistering heat the and water temperature rises a few notches we should see more blues and blacks. Every boat out this week caught fish and our catch rate for billfish was ninety three percent. Pisces anglers caught a total of 158 billfish, consisting of 156 striped marlin, all but one released, a black marlin and sailfish also released.
OTHER SPECIES: After marlin came dorado, with seventy five percent of charters catching a fish here and there, usually whilst trolling for marlin. Catches were usually one or two fish, but we are also starting to see catches of up to eight fish in a day per boat. Weights range from 15 to 45 lbs. Lures were the ticket, unless you found yourself in a small school, when live bait was also utilized. Tuna catches were on the slow side with just eleven percent of charters finding these. Amount of fish caught ranged from one to ten, with weights seldom over 40 lbs. What is surprising is the number of Mako shark caught, seventeen percent of boats caught Makos with some as tiny as 11 lbs up to 45 lbs. Could it be said that the Norma 029 is actually working to protect juvenile sharks . . . Just one wahoo this week for us at 40 lbs aboard “Tracy Ann”.
INSHORE: Inshore pangas caught dorado and the odd tuna here and there.
LOCATION: Golden Gate and Jaime Banks.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Partly cloudy skies, humid, seas average, neither dead calm, or really rough.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 82 F
BEST LURES: Live bait.
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August 17th to August 23rd, 2007
BILLFISH: This past week was awesome, with a total of 220 billfish caught, and 216 released, all this despite the port being closed on Sunday the 19th. If it had been over then we would have had another 20-25 fish to add to this number. Even though the weather was rather cloudy most of the week and winds on the strong side, we had some really impressive catches, such as those aboard C Rod the 17th, 9 striped marlin were released for Richard Desmarteau from Pedria, AZ, whilst the Ni Modo, released 8 striped marlin and landed 4 Dorados for Neil Stogdill from Texas, fishing with brother Chris from New York,Gina Serban from Rumania and Grant Jensen from Fargo, ND. This same day, the newest addition to the fleet, a 29ft Blackfin, “Bandito”, released 5 striped marlin and 1 pacific sailfish for Rene Garcia and Jeff Hannes from Texas. Andrea released 7 stripers for Rob Hayashi and Eric Garcia from Carlsbad, CA. Adriana and Rebecca released 6 striped marlin each too. On the 18th, Reel Heaven followed up catching 8 striped marlin, with all but one 180 lb fish released for Jamie & Brett Tomnlinson and friends from Texas. This same day Rebecca released 8 striped marlins and 3 Dorados for David Moore’s party from Philadelphia; Libre released 6 marlin for Rob McGibben and Ryan & Jeff Thomburgh from Indiana. Not to be left out, Sr. Moment also released 6 stripers for Denny & Karen Chastain, Mike Daniel and Allison Benish from Texas…..it was a great week for the Texans. Catch of the week though goes to Ni Modo, for releasing 11 striped marlin for the Cortez Family from Diamond CA, on the 21st and 9 striped marlins for David Farely’s party on the 23rd.
OTHER SPECIES: Small game was a bit slower than last week, from 86% we dropped down to 78%, and only 8 boats came back with tuna. We had a few Wahoos, red snapper and mako sharks.Inshore was mostly dorado and red snapper. This is not to say that smaller game was not around, but with the marlin fishing being so good, most boats preferred to concentrate on big game species.
WATER TEMPERATURE: 78F
LOCATION: Golden Gate and Jaime Banks.
BEST LURES: Live Bait
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August 10th - August 17th, 2007
BILLFISH: Another fantastic week with every boat out catching fish except one. Most boats had multiple catches of marlin. The marlin caught were almost exclusively striped marlin with just one blue marlin and no sailfish. The average catch was between one and no sailfish. However there were several boats that went above and beyond the average. Such as Mark Chiavetta aboard “Bill Collector , who releaed 9 striped marlin and caught 25 dorado (most released). On August 11th, “Valerie” released 5 striped marlin at Punta Lobos for Danny Bussey’s party, this same day, “Ni Modo” released 10 striped marlin at the Golden Gate for Wes Akin and Brett Dambold from Pflugerville, TX. On the 12th, Ni Modo released 8 stripers and landed 4 Dorado also at the Golden Gate for Hunter Evans, Steven Ladner and Bo Rogers from Tennessee. On the 15th, Adriana released 5 striped marlin for Butch Barger and Will Childress from Texas, and the next day released 6 stripeys for Gary & Anthony Thoma from Ohio. Billfish success rate was a very good 89%, a total of 199 striped marlin and 1 blue marlin was caught, with just one striper caught.
OTHER SPECIES: Great week for Dorado, 86% of our boats came back with this species, Rebecca caught 12 and released 8 on the 13th for Anthony and Jeanie Thomas who also released 3 striped marlin. Andrea caught 10 Dorados for Richard & Janet Hartley from Arizona. We caught a total of 179 Dorados, most of them caught at the Golden Gate and Jaime Banks. Tuna was only 17% of the catch this week, however the Falcon caught 12 on the 11th for John Mooring about 15 miles straight down form the Arch, the same day CROD caught 10 tunas for James Johnson at Jaime Banks.
INSHORE: see above.
LOCATION: Golden Gate, Jaime Bank with a few catches at Punta Gorda.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Seas mostly calm, though we did get some big swells with tropical weather offshore, which caused the port to be closed for a few hours on Wednesday afternoon. Whitecaps later in the week on the Pacific which forced boats to go the other way to the Cortez.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 79-80F on the Pacific and 83F on the Sea of Cortez
BEST LURES: Live bait.
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August 3rd to August 9th, 2007
BILLFISH: Wow, come on down to Cabo…..the weather has hotted up and so has the fishing; every single boat we sent out caught fish. The number one fish was marlin, predominately striped marlin giving us a catch success rate for billfish of ninety one percent, high by anyone’s standard. Pisces anglers caught a whopping 143 billfish this week, consisting of 140 striped marlin, 2 sailfish and 1 blue marlin, with all but 3 striped marlin released. Fishing was consistent throughout the week and some boats had outstanding catches, such as “Rebecca”, the 31 ft Bertram with seven striped marlin released on August 3rd at the Golden Gate on the Pacific for Craig Lares from Chico, California. Next day out this same boat has six marlin releases plus three dorado, in the same area for Jeff Cagle, Ken Grounds and Alan Ringard from Napa, California. It was obvious “Rebecca” was on a roll when a few days later she caught five stripers, a mako shark and a dorado, just four miles off of Gaspareño for one of our regulars, Rick Walsh form Cleveland, Ohio. “Falcon” a 37 ft Bertram, had two great back to back days for Mike Connolly part time Cabo resident, with seven marlin released on the 3rd, followed by six on August 4th, at Golden Gate. “Valerie”, 35 ft Bertram was our only boat to release a blue marlin, which was close to 250 lbs. Most boats averaged two marlin plus a dorado, whilst others did pretty well on tuna.
OTHER SPECIES: We saw a nice increase on dorado this week, with the catch success rate of thirty seven percent. Catches were from one to three fish were the norm and weights were from 15 to 25 lbs. Dorado were spread over a wide area, both the Pacific and Cortez side. Yellowfin tuna catches also increased climbing to a catch success rate of almost twenty percent. Catches were from one to eleven fish. Mike Stuart from Stillwater, O