PISCES FISH REPORT
April 14th to 20th, 2012
Overall Catch Success Rate 71%
BILLFISH: Marlin were about the only game in town this week and with few anglers and few boats going out, the catch rates hovered at sixty percent. The weather has not stabilized, meaning some days it would be baking hot, then the next breezy and fresh, which caused the water temperature to drop several degrees this week. Catches of striped marlin remained consistent up until the 19thk when they dropped considerably, with the only remarkable catch taking place on that day, for “Tracy Ann” who did remarkably well to release five striped marlin ranging in size from 100 to 150 lbs for John Staub, Ed Cain, John Courson, Mogen Smeel and Jack Matthews, a group of guys from Arizona, Texas, Illnois and Calgary. All of their marlin took bait, ballyhoo and jurelito between Cabeza de Ballena and Lands’ End, three and a half miles offshore. April 17th was a good day too, when “Bill Collector” released three at the 11.50 spot and Chileno for Charlie Keeny and Mike Weinsz from Canton, Ohio. This same day “Tracy Ann” had three at the 11.50 spot for Lance Kozak, Rick Mully and Rick Carson from Alberta, Canada. The only other boat with a triple fish day was “C Rod” on the 15th with three fish between 130 and 145 lbs also at the 11.50 spot for Guy Schweppe & Leah Poporich from Austin Texas. These fish took a combination of caballito and ballyhoo. David Wanderer & Brett Walker from Bozeman, Montana, were not far behind them though, as they released two striped marlin, one actually on a Petrolero lure, one of the only marlin caught on artificial bait this week and the other on live bait aboard “Attitude Adjustment”. Pisces anglers caught 28 striped marlin this week, with all but one released.
OTHER SPECIES: We caught just one dorado this week and no tuna. Inshore there were just a few roosters and sierra, but then again most boats were off in search of marlin so it’s not to say that there was no small game action. Up the Pacific coast a little we did hear of some boats doing well on yellowtail up to 35 lbs, which is great eating by the way.
LOCATION: Sea of Cortez, Lands End to the 11.50 spot.
WEATHER: Clear, sunny skies, calm on the Cortez, windy on Pacific, rougher at the weeks’ close.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 69 F
BEST LURES: Live caballito and jurelito, dead ballyhoo.
Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg