Overall catch success rate, all species combined: 81%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 24%, Tuna 43%, Dorado 7%, other 17%.
Fishing has been consistent this month, with this week maintaining roughly the same averages of species caught per boat. Slightly better this week have been tuna numbers, with more fish caught per boat. This Friday we saw marlin numbers start to pick up as well, with every boat out catching marlin, except for one. We are eager to see if this trend continues into next week… Weather has continued to be pretty nice, hot sun and some days with some wind picking up (only for a few hours).
Anglers and Captain Tito with their 62 lbs yellowfin caught aboard 34ft Pisces Sea Bum
Starting off with the tunas this week, we saw Captain Tito Olascuoga, known for his expert kite fishing skills find the biggest tuna we’ve seen this week. Anglers on board the 34ft Sea Bum a nice 62 lbs yellowfin which hit on the kite with a flying fish lure.They also caught another football size tuna, both at San JaimeBank. Anglers were Brian Hansen, Eric Witcher, Martin Klingman and Ryan Tognetti. These anglers came as a group who went out on several of our boats, all on the same day.
Two striped marlin released aboard the 31ft Rebecca
They chartered, in addition to the Sea Bum, the Tracy Ann, La Brisa, Ruthless, Rebecca and the Valerie in a self organized fishing tournament between them. This group had a lot of fun going for the largest fish (by length) and the Ruthless came up the winner, only by an inch! The Valerie’s fish came in very close second, estimated at about 130 lbs and measuring 103 inches. Ruthless anglers, Anthony Montez, Mantas Juska, Robert Downey, Charlz Boado, Scott Jewell took their first place with a 104 inch marlin also weighing approximatelyy 130 lbs, winning them $1,000 dlls pooled between them. The Ruthless team caught and released both their marlin out at Punta Gorda on the East Cape; they hit on mackerel bait and caballito. All other boats in this group caught 2 striped marlin each, also at Punta Gorda on mackerel and caballito, with the exception of the Sea Bum.
On May 7th, with more tuna, the Pisces 38ft C Rod and anglers from Montgomery, Texas, caught 24 yellowfin tuna ranging between 8 and 10 lbs each, which hit on feathers and cedar plug lures at about 4 miles from San Jaime Bank. This same day, the Pisces Ruthless and anglers Austin and Caryn Taylor, from Texas, celebrating Caryn’s birthday caught 20 yellowfin tuna ranging between 8 and 15 lbs each. Captain Beto Lira went all the way out to the 220 spot (about 30 miles) to find the fish, which hit on cedar plugs. The couple went out again on May 9th, this time on Pisces La Brisa, deciding to stay in shore this time. They caught 2 nice roosterfish, which they released, of about 20 and 30 lbs each around Palmilla area and caught 1 jack crevalle of about 15 lbs on caballito bait around Marbella area.
We didn’t see much dorado this week, but the Pisces 60ft Shambala did well to catch 2 dorado of about 10 lbs each, releasing one of them, on their Half day of fishing. The fish were caught at about a half mile from Morro Prieto, by anglers from Alberta, Canada.
Pisces boats caught 241 fish total this week, with 15 being marlin, 175 being tuna, 4 being dorado and 47 being smaller game fish. All marlin except one, were released, and catch limites well respected.
LOCATION: San Jaime, Punta Gorda, 11:50 Spot, Cerros de Arena.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Calm seas, some wind in only certain areas, sunny.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: This week temperatures varied greatly between location on the Pacific and East Cape, ranging from 68 F to 83 F in some areas, but with an average of about 73 F.
BEST LURES: Cedar plugs, feathers, mackerel bait.
Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing Fleet by Rebecca Ehrenberg