October 6th to 12th, 2012
Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 95%
This week at a glance:
Billfish 55%
Dorado 92%
Tuna 5%
BILLFISH: This week we saw plenty of activity in Cabo, with lots of anglers taking advantage of the outstanding fishing we are currently experiencing. Billfish rates climbed slightly to fifty five percent, with striped marlin the most frequently caught, followed by sailfish and then blue marlin. We had a handful of blue marlin, all were between 200 and 300 lbs – minimum weight for the upcoming tournaments is 300 lbs. Pisces “Valerie” did well to release two blues this week – on October 9th and 12th, for the same angler, Brian Barnsley from Walden, Colorado. Both of Brian’s fish were caught on a blue and pink lure, on the Cortez side at Cabeza de Ballena and Palmilla. Pisces “Fearless” a 50 ft Viking released a blue marlin on the Pacific side at San Cristobal, also on a pink lure, for Tommy Bowden from Gulf Shores, Alabama. Another boat that did well this week was Pisces 31 ft Cabo, “Cabolero” with two sailfish and six dorado in front of Pedregal, then a blue marlin, caught on live bait at Los Arcos the following day. Top striped marlin boat, was Pisces 28 ft Uniflite “Adriana” with three released plus six dorado for Michael Flora from Dinuba, California; they fished on the Pacific near Migrino, with live caballito doing the trick on the billfish. “Tracy Ann”, Pisces 31 ft Bertram had a great day with Patrick Neville & family from Bradenton, Florida on October 9th. They fished their way up the Pacific from San Cristobal to Golden Gate and picked up two sailfish, one striped marlin and fifteen dorado…not too shabby. There were so many other great catches, too many to mention but Pisces anglers caught 59 billfish this week, consisting of 32 striped marlin, 22 sailfish and 5 blue marlin.
OTHERS SPECIES: Practically every boat out this week caught dorado and a lot of it. Catches ranged from one to a maximum of thirty caught aboard “Rebecca” – of course a lot were released but our final tally was an impressive 607 fish, either caught or released. The dorado are hungry so are taking pretty much anything, though green colored lures seemed to be the most productive, as well as red and black lures, caballito and ballyhoo. Best place to find dorado was all the way up the Pacific coast as far as Golden Gate. Tuna catches were on the slow side, but that does not mean they are not there. With the excellent dorado and billfish catches, anglers tended to concentrate on these rather than go offshore in search of big tuna; nevertheless some boats did find them, such as Pisces “Great Escape Jr” who headed 22 miles out from Land’s End to catch a total of fifteen, up to twenty pounds plus a sailfish. We caught just one small wahoo this week and a few skipjack.
LOCATION: Pacific side was the most productive for all species.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Calm seas, except one day with whitecaps, clear skies.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 84 F
BEST LURES: green, pink, red, caballito, ballyhoo.
Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg