Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 37%, Tuna 43%, Dorado 16%, Other 24%
Photo: Noel Luck
BILLFISH: Marlin fishing this week was not an easy thing, with a big moon and fussy eaters it was hard to get a hook up. Fish were seen but both the marlin and bait were hard to hook up. We heard reports of marlin activity before the sun came up but once it was daylight their activity slowed down, giving credence to the belief that when there is a big moon they feed at night and are not hungry during the day. Nevertheless thirty seven percent of our charters were able to find and fight striped marlin. We also heard of a 400 LB blue marlin caught this week; an exception on a slow day.
Pisces Rebecca had one of the best catches of the week on January 18th, when they released three striped marlin between 100 and 130 LBS between Pozo de Cota and Margaritas for Justin Tidwell and friends from Arizona. Equaling the Rebecca was latest edition to the fleet
Hot Rod who released three marlin up to 150 LBS a little further up the coast at Golden Gate for Kirk Kindred and party from California. Other catches were of one or two marlin per boat, when found, giving us a total of 31 striped marlin.
OTHER SPECIES: What kept anglers busy this week, if the anglers didn’t mind a long ride out offshore was the yellowfin tuna. Boats could load up on huge numbers of small tuna with the occasional larger fish mixed in.
Pisces Ruthless for example caught forty eight tuna (many released) thirty miles out from Land’s End for Scott Lindsey and friends from Illinois. Randy Wolf and buddies from California had perhaps one of the best days of the week aboard
Pisces Valerie, they released a striped marlin and then went on to muscle in forty two forty two tuna on January 22nd at San Jaime. Others catches were of five to twenty five fish, with plenty of double digit catches – our total tuna catch was of 316 fish with forty three percent of charters finding this species. Dorado catches continue to slow with just ten boats finding one or two fish, which is normal for this time of year. We had a nice size wahoo again this week, this time aboard
Knot Workin which weighed in at 62 LBS caught by Bradley Lukkasson from San Francisco. Inshore the boats had varied catches with triggerfish by the dozen, some ladyfish, skipjacks, yellowtail, sheep heads, grouper and snappers.
LOCATION: Pacific from Old Lighthouse to Golden Gate and offshore up to 35 miles.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear skies, seas moderate.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 75 F
BEST LURES: Live bait, cedar plugs, and feathers.