Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Cabos Smallest Sailfish!

 Chris Fuller, Ruben Orantes & Rob Lawford Pose with a 3 lb Sailfish

Rob Lawford captain of "Petrolero" called us today to tell us about his unique catch this past Saturday. He was fishing close to the Iman Bank just east of La Fortuna looking for tuna. They were using live sardines as bait and fishing with 40 lb leader and size 2 circle hooks, when their bait got bit by what they thought was a needlefish, according to one of the crew, but Rob insisted "you know I think it's a sailfish", sure enough as it got closer to the boat, putting on an incredible aerobatic display, they realized that it was definitely a tiny sailfish. This is when the importance of circle hooks is clearly illustrated; the hook did its job, catching in the corner of the mouth, not damaging any soft tissue and not being swallowed - after a brief five minutes on the line and posing for the paparazzi, the tiny sailfish was successfully released.  Pisces has been using live bait exclusively with cirlce hooks for the past three years now in an attempt to lower fish mortality rates.