NOVEMBER 23RD TO 29TH, 2013
Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 95%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 72%, Dorado 77%, Tuna 4%, Other 13%
BILLFISH: Cabo’s famous striped marlin fishery seems to be gearing up for a fabulous winter season, but then again the marlin bite has been sensational pretty much all year. Weather is slightly warmer than normal for this time of year and also a bit cloudier than we are accustomed to, but who cares, as long as the fish are biting. The action has been on the Pacific from the Old Lighthouse to Golden Gate, with catches at times surprisingly close; as little as a mile offshore. Boats regularly had multiple marlin days, but top number for a day’s catch this week, went to Pisces Yahoo, a 42 ft. Bertram for catching and releasing eight stripers up to 140 LBS, for Terry Maakestad and friends just outside the Herradura. This same day Pisces Bill Collector had an enviable day for Mark Chiavetta from San Jose, California when they released a late season blue marlin, a little over 200 LBS as well as striped marlin; this was the only blue caught this week. We did not get to interview personally Ola Skinarmo from Sweden, who fished on Pisces Rebecca, but back in his own country he is a well-known explorer; he has hiked unassisted, with no support to the North Pole, so I guess catching and releasing six striped marlin along with his fellow Swedes, Bertil Petterson & Olou Lindquist, was a walk in the park. Gary & Leslie Owen from Brandon, Massachusetts were out on Tracy Ann and not only released five marlin and a dorado, they also took some of the best photos we’ve seen in a while; they will be appearing in our news section of our new website (check it out www.piscessportfishing.com). The catches this week tended to be a marlin or too, plus some nice dorado catches with many boats surpassing the norm, bumping up the marlin numbers. Seventy two percent of our boats caught marlin this week giving us a total of 156 billifish; all striped marlin except one blue and one sailfish.
OTHERS SPECIES: After a tapering off, dorado made a bit of a comeback this past week, making them the number one sportfish for anglers to find. They were spread out along the Pacific coast with catches of fish weighing up to 30 LBS ranging from one to fifteen fish in a day – the top boat was Ruthless for angler Jeff Edmonstone from Canada. Seventy seven percent of anglers caught dorado giving us a total of 388 fish. Tuna on the other hand was dead slow, with just a few catches. The boats that were “skunked” this week and there were not many, were usually those that wanted to look for tuna – tough task as only four percent of charters could find a few small football size fish. Several small mako sharks were caught, weighing no more than 50 LBS, these juveniles were released to grow and have a chance to breed. Brian Watson from Los Angeles landed a nice wahoo aboard Crystal II and there were several others in the 30-40 LB class. It is nice to see the inshore fishing starting to pick up with roosterfish catches becoming more common, as well as the start of sierra & needlefish.
LOCATION: Pacific, Pozo de Cota, Gaspareno, La Lobera, Margaritas, Golden Gate, Migrino.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Partly cloudy skies, seas calm.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 75 F
BEST LURES: Dead & live bait, green, petrolero, orange/black.
Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg
The whales are here and you can find out more about whale watching in Cabo here