200 lbs Yellowfin Tuna caught on Pisces 25′ No Borders
Overall catch success rate, all species combined: 93%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 73%, Tuna 10%, Dorado 35% Other 13%
Another great week of fishing in Cabo. Marlin fishing turned way up beginning the week, with striped mostly up the Pacific coast and more blues towards the Sea of Cortez. We also got a report out of the East Cape at La Ribera, of an estimated 800 lbs Black Marlin caught by local fishermen. Again this week we have had a large yellowfin of about 200 lbs caught on Pisces 25′ No Borders, which is the same boat that caught the 110 lbs yellowfin last week. These consistent large tuna and marlin catches are making for a great warm up to tourney season, starting off in exactly a month from now! And not only have we seen the large gamefish, but the striped marlin bite has heated way up. Top marlin release boat this week was Pisces 37′ Tag Team III with 16 Striped Marlin released in one day! We had a total of 165 Marlin caught this week by the fleet, with 100% of them successfully tagged and released. We are every proud to be working hard to conserve our fisheries, and taking on the responsibility of increasing chances of survival by keeping all billfish in the water upon release. We are happy to see our anglers cooperating by respecting billfish and becoming more actively involved in the tagging, re-oxygenating and release process. If you would like to learn more about why we have vowed to keep all marlin in the water upon release, you can read this article on Proper Billfish Handling Techniques by the Billfish foundation or check out www.keepemwet.org. Dorado turned up very nicely this week too. Most of them were about 15 to 25 lbs each, with a few over that and in good numbers. We had 45 dorado caught total with quite a few released. Some nice wahoo have been caught as well, ranging from 25 to 40 lbs each, and still a few scattered roosterfish. Only about 4 boats targeted tuna this week, but they got good results. Appart from the 200 lbs, we saw boat land quality fish, for example, Pisces 32′ Bill Collector landed 3 YFT of about 40 to 60 lbs each, while releasing an approx 300 Blue marlin in the same day.
Image sent by fishermen of La Ribera, who estimated this
Black Marlin at 800 lbs.
16 Striped marlin released in one day!
Top release boat Pisces 37′ Tag Team III caught their marlin, all striped, close to Punta Lobos, trolling ballyhoo. Anglers were Tom Schneider and William Redell from Montgomery, TX. Previously in the week, the Tag Team III released 11 striped marlin, this time closer to shore at the height of Golden Gate, again on ballyhoo. Most marlin were about 100 lbs. Anglers from Florida also caught a 10 lbs dorado on ballyhoo.
This same day Pisces 31′ Rebecca fished the Punta Lobos area as well; they used a mix of fishing techniques including ballyhoo on the troll and a combination of live and dead caballito (goggle eyes). Anglers Brendan Crotty, Dustin Greenvoal, Jeff Viktorin and Lyn Goldman went 11 for 18 on striped marlin. The fish ranged from 70 to 140 lbs each.
Pisces 31′ Tracy Ann and anglers Mike Louis Wright, Randall Scott Cross and Warren Meade Schucker had an action packed day, successfully tagging and releasing 12 of 22 striped marlin which hit their trolled ballyhoo. They also released an approx 90 lbs sailfish and kept three yellowfin of about 20 lbs each, which hit on cedar plugs.
Angler Lukis Hines with his GrayFishTag and Release cards
Our Top Angler this week was Lukis Hines, age 11, who fished on Pisces 31′ Ruthless with crew of the La Brisa, Captain Rey Winkler and Fernando Noyola (as La Brisa is undergoing a full refit at the moment). In the course of three days, Lukis caught and released 5 Striped malrin and 1 sailfish. The group of anglers, Bret Hines, Paul and Tim Gilberry from Louisiana released 22 Striped Marlin total, with 15 more marlin bites that didn’t produce, and went 1 for 1Sailfish. Lukis tagged 20 of those marlin himself. All billfish hit on pacific side between Punta Lobos and Elias Calles mainly, and ranged in size from 80 to 120 lbs, hitting on ballyhoo and caballito bait. They also landed 3 yellowfin tuna of about 20 lbs each on cedar plugs.
One of 22 striped marlin released for Lukis Hines and group on Ruthless!
Pisces 32′ Bill Collector with Angler Peter Gelfand and friends the Calhuun’s specifically targeted Blue Marlin on their three days of fishing.. I spoke to Captain Juan Lopez about their days out, he explained, “The sea was not kind to us on our first day. There was quite a bit of wind where we were and some swell. We lost 3 nice Blues, and 1 Striped along with some dorado. Fortunately a 35 lbs Wahoo stuck to save the day.” The crew was not giving up though, on the second day, the ocean calmed and luck improved, going 4 for 6 on Striped Marlin, 1 Blue and 3 nice Yellowfin around 50 lbs.
Juan continued, “Day three we trolled with skipjacks looking for the big one, but after two hours of nothing we switched to lures and it paid off. We went 1 for 2 on Blue Marlin which were around 300 pounds each, hitting on a black/green lure and went 3 for 4 on Striped Marlin, that took live and dead caballito”, said Juan. They closed out 3 days with 15 marlin bites total, and also released a silky shark.
Approx. 300 lbs Blue Marlin released on Pisces 32′ Bill Collector
The first day they fished between Punta Gorda and Destiladeras and wahoo hit on a flying fish lure, other days they fished between the 1150 and 95 Spot. Tunas hit on tigrillo, purple and green/yellow lures.
200 lbs Yellowfin caught by Ryan Caughren on Pisces 25′ No Borders
Pisces 25′ Cape Horn “No Borders” continued with a good tuna streak after their 110 pounder last week. Ryan Caughren headed out Sunday about 40 miles from Cabo and about 25 miles South using the kite and yummy flyer. They landed 3 yellowfin tunas of about 15, 30, 40 lbs and the biggest at about 200 lbs.
Top dorado boat was Pisces 31′ Ruthless; on their best day they landed 14 dorado, but respecting limits of course, they released 9. They kept those closer to 20 lbs. The dorado hit on green/white and blue/white feather lures. Anglers Cheryl and Elza Robinson caught all fish between Pozo Cota and Migrino.
Dorado on Pisces Panga!
Two days later the ladies fished the Ruthless again, this time landing 12 Dorados between 10 and 20 lbs, and releasing 7. The dorado hit on live and dead bait close to the Golden Gate hill. They also released two sailfish and lost 2 striped marlin at Pozo Cota and caught 4 red snapper of about 15 lbs at La Lobera.
Angler Warren Meade Shucker and Mike Wright were in search of roosterfish on this trip as well, so they decided on a Panga trip on Pisces 24′ Anamar II and released a small 8 lbs roosterfish, and kept 2 dorado that hit on feathers out of Pozo Cota.
Top wahoo catches this week were on Pisces 30′ Karina which landed an approx 30 pounder on caballito at Punta Lobos and anglers Ann and Robert Eckroat from OK also released 5 Striped Marlin with 5 more bites that didn’t produce. Pisces 35′ Bill Collector 2 also caught and approx 30 pounder near Cabeza Ballena along with dorado and bonita.
Wahoo on Pisces 30′ Karina
LOCATION: Mostly Pacific from Pozo Cota to Punta Lobos, also 11:50 and 95 Spot, Punta Gorda.
BEST LURES: Live/dead Caballito and ballyhoo bait, varied lures: purple, tigrillo, green/yellow and Cedar plugs, feathers.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Good weather conditions overall with some intermittent swell beginning the week, 2-3 feet.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: Temperatures varied between Seas, with the Cortez side between 2 to 4 degrees warmer than Pacific. Temps varied between 80/82 – 84 F.
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Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing Fleet, written by Rebecca Ehrenberg.