Overall catch success rate, all species combined: 88%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 19%, Tuna 58%, Dorado 6%, other 31%.
This week of fishing in Cabo was, simply put: fun! With our main catch, yellowfin tuna, found quite far out, at distances upwards of 20 miles off shore on some days, it made for a true offshore fishing experience for anglers. And it was all well worth it, as the tuna have been abounding! Averages of 25 tuna per boat were not unusual this week. Marlin have slowed considerably, but the few persistent marlin hunters have been able to find them. Small game such as sierra, roosterfish, and groupers or triggerfish have also been great fun for those looking to stay closer to shore.
Tuna, tuna, tuna! One of our most fruitful days for yellowfin was on April 17th, with family of anglers, the King’s and Sharp’s, from Minnesota, catching 35 yellowfin ranging in size from 15 to 25 lbs each. The crew of the 31ft Pisces Rebecca landed the tuna on cedar plug lures at about 31 miles out of the Golden Gate Bank. They also landed one striped marlin of about 140 lbs on mackerel bait at the Bank itself, which was released.
The Rebecca also did well beginning the week, with anglers from San Fernando, CA, catching 26 yellowfin tuna on April 14th. The fish hit on cedar plug lures, 23 miles out form the Old Lighthouse and weighed between 10 and 30 lbs each.
The next day, Pisces 31ft La Brisa did very well to find 30 yellowfin tuna of about 6 to 10 lbs each. The tuna were caught by the Pollard’s and Christopher Alford, from Tyler, Texas, 32 miles out from Golden Gate on cedar plugs.
Captain Julio Castro, one of our best tuna fishermen, of course did well this week, with the Pisces 31ft Tracy Ann and sole angler Sanford Horwitz catching 34 yellowfin tuna. The tuna were a nice size, between 15 and 20 lbs each, and hit on cedar plug lures 30 miles out from Golden Gate. Horwitz also caught and released a nice 140 lbs striped marlin, on mackerel bait.
Dorado were few and far between this week, but Pisces La Brisa did well to find a nice 25 lbs dorado, which hit on caballito bait as well as landing 26 yellowfin on feather and cedar plugs about 20 miles out. Anglers were Amber Upton and Justin Zink from Washington.
For small game this week, we had one group in particular that came all the way from England to look for rooster fish and half the week with our Pangas. With only a half day of fishing each day, they still did well to catch fish every day. For example, starting the week, Peter Atterbury caught 5 sierra mackerel of about 4 to 6 lbs each on hoochi lures out of the Old Lighthouse. 1 Sierra of about 6 lbs, 1 roosterfish of about 8 lbs, and 6 triggerfish were also caught that same day by the group on a different panga. These were caught between Solmar area and Los Arcos. And another good day, 3 roosterfish between 10 and 18 lbs each caught on mackerel out of Los Arcos and 1 jack crevelle of about 18 lbs (released), this time caught by AJ Poulton and JP Carey.
Pisces boats caught 470 fish total this week, with 9 being marlin, 360 being tuna, 3 being dorado and 98 being smaller game fish. All marlin were released, and catch limites well respected.
LOCATION: 20+ miles out from different banks: Golden, San Jaime, small game closer to shore.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Moderate seas, still with some wind, but much less than the previous week.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 73 F
BEST LURES: Cedar plugs, feathers, mackerel bait/chum.
Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing Fleet by Rebecca Ehrenberg