Monday, October 29, 2012

Pisces Weekly Fish Report



PISCES FISH REPORT
OCTOBER 20TH TO 26TH, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate 89%

BILLFISH: What a week! One of the most important tournaments worldwide and the richest one just took place in Cabo, the Bisbee’s Black & Blue 2012, with 107 teams and over 700 anglers. Unfortunately there were not many fish worth taking back to the weight station, with a minimum 300lbs weight limit, anything smaller would have been disqualified and the team penalized. With a total of 67 billfish caught, 64 of them were released, 3 were brought to the weight station, unfortunately, 2 of them were below the limit and the fish was disqualified. As on day one there were no qualifying fish brought to scale, the $711,000 jackpot was rolled over to the second day, adding up to a $1.4 million dollar price to whoever brought in the biggest catch, lucky team Frantic Pace (fishing the tournament for the very first time) brought in their blue marlin to be weighed and scored 465lbs, with no other fish caught that day, they took home the jackpot. At the end of the 3rd day, there was no other qualifying fish brought to the station, and Team Frantic Pace being the only team presenting a qualified catch, they earned the full jackpot, $2.4 million dollars for this first timers, I think we will be seeing them a lot around here from now on.
On our regular report, not too much action on billfish, “Tracy Ann” released 2 striped marlin and landed 4 dorado for Clint Lord from Phoenix AZ on the 23rd and then another 2 stripeys for Christopher Klekar from Halletsville TX and also 13 dorados. “Bill Collector” caught a 270 lbs Black Marlin for Matthew Rainwater from Forth Worth TX. 31% of the boats caught billfish this week, a total of 18 striped marlin were caught, 17 were released, 3 pacific sailfish, all released, 4 blue marlin, 3 of them released, and a 270 lbs black marlin.


OTHER CATCHES: It’s all about the Dorado, hundreds of them! Seems like we will be having mahi-mahi for a while. 89% of the boats caught at least one of this guys. Most of the catches were between 3 and 7 fish, but there were some really nice ones, starting with Bill Collector, with 15 dorados between 20 – 25lbs caught at Pozo Cota for Eric Katajamaki from BC Canada, La Brisa with 13 for Brian O’neil from Berlin NJ, Rebecca & Tracy Ann are tied with 12 dorados for Sean Patterson from Little Elm TX (Rebecca) and Jim Jandrain from Austin TX. The catch of the week however goes to “Ruthless” with Captain Leon Camacho, with 20 dorados caught at Migriño for Dennis Wyssbrod’s party from Florida. We are still waiting on the yellow fin tunas to arrive, we have the Los Cabos Tuna Jackpot closing in and only 4 boats of our fleet caught tuna.


LOCATION: Migriño, Los Arcos, Pozo Cota, Margaritas.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear sunny sky.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 86 F

BEST LURES: Caballito, assorted lures.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Jorge Narro

Friday, October 26, 2012

1.4 million dollar marlin caught 2nd day of the Bisbee's Black & Blue

After a 79 minutes fight, angler Dave Sanchez from Team Frantic Pace landed the first blue marlin qualified to bring back to the scale to be weighed.

Back at the docks, the fish was brought to the scale and it weighed a total of 465 lbs. As the first day of the tournament there were no winners, the $700K jackpot was rolled over to the second day, earning Dave and the Frantic Pace Team a net $1.4 million dollar jackpot.
$1.4 million dollar winners. Team Frantic Pace, 1st time ever participating in the tournament.

BISBEE'S BLACK & BLUE TOURNAMENT UPDATE THE FIRST DAY OF THE BLACK AND BLUE GOT OFF TO A SLOW START FOR THE 706 ANGLERS DIVIDED IN 106 TEAMS.

At the end of the day, yesterday only one boat brought a fish to be weighed, which cost him several points as it turned to be smaller than the specified weight. The day ended with a tie between 4 boats, all with 300 points, Teams Sea Angel, Sneak Attack and Chupacabra by releasing a blue marlin each, and Team Hammertime by releasing the first black marlin of the tournament.
As the first day did not bring any qualified winners, the daily jackpot rolls over to 1.4 Million for the 2nd day.


Monday, October 22, 2012

YOU HAVE TO WATCH THIS

O.K you have to watch this..... airing tomorrow on Swedish TV, it is about a crazy Swede who came to Cabo to fish from a kayak with Pisces Fleet. This is huge in Sweden and will be shown all across Scandanavia. We attended the premiere in Gothenburg where the King & Queen of Sweden were present...this IS VERY COOL http://www.theoldmanandthesea.se

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Was This a Marlin or a Tuna Tournament?

The Bisbee Offshore is over, with just two qualifying blue marlin weighed in at 583 & 565 lbs by Chupacabra and Sneak Attack respectively. However that is not to say that fishing was not good, the yellow fin tuna catches were nothing short of amazing, as seen by the table below. Is our name going to change to "Tuna Capital of the World"?
Some big dorado were caught too with a 54.8 lb'er winning this division for Hang Em High.

Heaviest Tuna Overall
Heaviest Dorado Overall

Need a Boat for the Bisbee Black and Blue?

Bill Collector seems to be on a roll. They won the Los Cabos Billfish Tournament with a 483 lb black marlin and they hooked up a black again today in the Bisbee Offshore. The fish struck late in the day and was just shy of 300 lbs. Captain Julio did not want to chance it so preferred to let the fish go. This boat is still available for the Black and Blue if there are any late entries. Give us a call.

Bill Collector Scores Big $167,877.00 in Prize Money

Last night the Los Cabos Billfish Tournament awards banquet took place beachside, at the Playa Grande resort, giving teams a chance to get spruced up and mingle with other teams during a delicious four course dinner. Of course we were very proud of Pisces Bill Collector, a 31 ft Cabo, for taking first place and to have caught the only qualifying fish during the event. Total winnings for the team headed up by Mark Chiavetta and crew Julio Gonzalez  & Esteban Balderas was $167,877.00.
Team Bad Medicine scored $43,753.00 for most billfish released and a dorado weighed in, whilst team Galanti took $30,200.00 for most billfish released on day two.
Wild Hooker, did very well with two tuna of 227 and 247 lbs respectively for angler Alan Stewart winning him $19,507.00. These are exacly what he needs for the Tuna Tournament coming up next month.
This is the second time Pisces has won this tournament; in 2006 Tracy Ann, a 31 ft Bertram, won over $400,000.00 for a group of anglers from Finland.
Just goes to show you don't necessarily need a big boat to place.

 

Tournament Info

Here is a quick run down of current tournaments:

Just finished, Los Cabos Billfish Tournament. Normally a three day fishing event, it was reduced to two, due to tropical storm conditions. Boats fished Thursday and Friday of last week, 18th and 19th of October.
Taking place now, is Bisbee Offshore, Saturdy and Sunday, so far just one fish weighed in a 583 lb blue marlin aboard Chupacabra.
Coming up, the main event, Bisbees Black and Blue, with fishing to take place, Wedns, Thursday and Friday. Below is the schedule for the Bisbee Black and Blue.

2012 Black & Blue Schedule of Events

TUESDAY OCTOBER 23 REGISTRATION

2:00-5:30pm Registration and distribution of team bags in front of Puerto Paraiso Mall.
5:30pm-6:30pm Captains Meeting, Puerto Paraiso Mall. One team member must attend.
6:30pm-9:00pm Registration continues.
7:00pm-9:00pm Opening Ceremonies begin: Flag Honors with Mexican Naval Escort, Mexican National Anthem, Pre-Colombian New Fire Dance, Lighting of the Tournament Torch, Traditional Japanese Dance, Japanese Taiko Drums, Music by Cabomax.

WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY-FRIDAY OCTOBER 24-26 FISHING DAYS

8:00am Shotgun Start.
8:00am-5:00pm Tournament Fishing; lines must be out of the water by 5:00pm.
8:00am-9:00pm Weigh Station is open in front of the Puerto Paraiso Mall, boats inside the harbour entrance by 9:00pm can weigh.

SATURDAY OCTOBER 27 AWARDS CELEBRATION

7:00pm-9:30pm Awards Celebration starts off with cocktails followed by dinner and a big screen presentation of the tournament video. The awards presentation starts after viewing the tournament video followed by music by Cabomax. Open to tournament participants only

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Pisces Bill Collector First Place So Far 483 lb Black Marlin

 
Pisces Bill Collecter caught a 483 lb black marlin today, the only billfish weighed in at the Los Cabos Bill Fish Tournament on the first day of competition...way to go Captain Julio! First place so far...no need to look so serious, you guys just won around $50,000.00 - shown here angler Jim Glass on left, captain Julio on right.
 
Another beautiful fish to come in today was this large yellowfin tuna that weighed 227 lbs took angler Alan Stewart just ELEVEN minutes to boat after it took a like bonito aboard Wild Hooker.
 
 
 

 


A Few Pics From the Last 12 Hours

There is no better place to live than Cabo, the scenery the people, THE FISHING here are a few pics taken in the last 12 hours.
We had a get together at Captain Tony's on the marina, next to the Pisces office, just to say thanks to our crews and to wish them the best for the upcoming season. New Pisces shirts were distributed and it was great family time together. The crews are the backbone of Pisces and we think they are the best.

A beautiful sunrise this morning, for the first day of the Los Cabos Billfish Tournament, which had 37 entries.

This was snapped on Cabo San Lucas street by the church, an unusual site in downtown Cabo today. These guys had come from Rancho Guacamaya to take part in a "Cabalgata" which is like a pilgrimage on horseback with a lot of particpants; these guys had lost the rest of the group.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

PORT IS OPEN

This morning we woke to surprisingly calm seas and the port being open. Really, we never know with the current Port Captain. We also have cell phone service and internet back, which was down from 2.00-4.00pm, depending on the part of town, until 4.00 am this morning. Some boats are out, but due to the lack of communication it has been hard coordinating everything. The Los Cabos Billfish Tournament set to start today, cancelled the first day of fishing last night at the Captains Meeting, as they were not sure if the port would be open or not. This will now become a two day event.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

See The Marina & Conditions in Real Time

Here is a link to our webcam, that shows the marina and mouth of the harbor. You can zoom in on the image or change the size of the display.
This will give a better idea of true conditions. Hope this is a useful tool for you http://192.168.1.158/img/main.cgi?next_file=main.htm

Hurricane Paul Passes By But Leaves Rough Seas

It seems like the hurricane has passed by us and that we are seeing the tail end of the outer bands, nevetheless seas look rough, as seen in the photo above. This was taken at noon from the Pisces offices, looking out over the marina and towards Cabo Bello. Waves can be seen hitting the point which is about three miles away. We consider that the port will be closed tomorrow but probably open on Thursday. The Los Cabos Billfish Tournament was set to have the first day of fishing tomorrow, but it looks like it will be reduced to a two day tournament.

Hurricane Paul Assaults Baja Coast


All the charts show Hurricane Paul missing Los Cabos, with it not even being included in the cone, but right now we are in the midst of a tropical storm, which are the outer bands of this hurricane, a catergory two, predicted to make landfall later today further up the Baja. It was around 4.30 am this morning when strong winds began to batter the coast as the storm moved parallel to Cabo. We are experiencing intermittent rain, which is heavy at times. The port and schools are closed today. Right now we are beginning to see some clear patches of sky. The good thing is the storm is moving fast so should be past us soon. Shown are a couple of pics taken at 8.00 am on the Pacific side close to Cabo Falso, better known as the Old Lighthouse. More updates as the day progresses.


Monday, October 15, 2012

Rain Has Stopped & It's Looking Clear Over the Mountains

A Couple of Rain Pics

We have heard from Robin on the East Cape and she has power and internet back which is great. The rain continues, though it is not super hard, but is persistant.  Photo 1 shows, downtown Cabo the boat launch ramp.
Photo 2 is just outside town; you can barely see the Pacific, everything just looks grey. Pretty cool how the raindrops were caught in mid flight. Looks like this might last a day or two but fishing should be really good afterwards and even during. Fish don't mind the rain, it's people that do.


Its Raining in Cabo

It's raining in Cabo and has been for the last twelve hours. What started out as light rain has now turned into a steady drenching rain. The port is open this morning, but the Port Captain has already said he will proably close it this afternoon. Hurricane Paul is located a litte over 500 miles to the south east of us, but is not predicted to come this way but rather make landfall further up the Baja, nevertheless, it looks like we are in for a lot of rain. Friends have reported by cell phone that they are without power and internet on the East Cape. This is the weather page we use, as it has a lot of information. Scroll down to see all the different formats of report and keep checking along with us http://eebmike.com/

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Weekly Fish Report


October 6th to 12th, 2012
Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 95%
This week at a glance:
Billfish 55%
Dorado 92%
Tuna 5%
Dorado was the name of the game, shown here the Iverson Family from Folson, Ca.
BILLFISH: This week we saw plenty of activity in Cabo, with lots of anglers taking advantage of the outstanding fishing we are currently experiencing.  Billfish rates climbed slightly to fifty five percent, with striped marlin the most frequently caught, followed by sailfish and then blue marlin. We had a handful of blue marlin, all were between 200 and 300 lbs – minimum weight for the upcoming tournaments is 300 lbs. Pisces “Valerie” did well to release two blues this week – on October 9th and 12th, for the same angler, Brian Barnsley from Walden, Colorado. Both of Brian’s fish were caught on a blue and pink lure, on the Cortez side at Cabeza de Ballena and Palmilla. Pisces “Fearless” a 50 ft Viking released a blue marlin on the Pacific side at San Cristobal, also on a pink lure, for Tommy Bowden from Gulf Shores, Alabama. Another boat that did well this week was Pisces 31 ft Cabo, “Cabolero” with two sailfish and six dorado in front of Pedregal, then a blue marlin, caught on live bait at Los Arcos the following day. Top striped marlin boat, was Pisces 28 ft Uniflite “Adriana” with three released  plus six dorado for Michael Flora from Dinuba, California; they fished on the Pacific near Migrino, with live caballito doing the trick on the billfish. “Tracy Ann”, Pisces 31 ft Bertram had a great day with Patrick Neville & family from Bradenton, Florida on October 9th. They fished their way up the Pacific from San Cristobal to Golden Gate and picked up two sailfish, one striped marlin and fifteen dorado…not too shabby. There were so many other great catches, too many to mention but Pisces anglers caught 59 billfish this week, consisting of 32 striped marlin, 22 sailfish and 5 blue marlin.
OTHER SPECIES:  Practically every boat out this week caught dorado and a lot of it. Catches ranged from one to a maximum of thirty caught aboard “Rebecca” – of course a lot were released but our final tally was an impressive 607 fish, either caught or released. The dorado are hungry so are taking pretty much anything, though green colored lures seemed to be the most productive, as well as red and black lures, caballito and ballyhoo. Best place to find dorado was all the way up the Pacific coast as far as Golden Gate. Tuna catches were on the slow side, but that does not mean they are not there. With the excellent dorado and billfish catches, anglers tended to concentrate on these rather than go offshore in search of big tuna; nevertheless some boats did find them, such as Pisces “Great Escape Jr” who headed 22 miles out from Land’s End to catch a total of fifteen, up to twenty pounds plus a sailfish. We caught just one small wahoo this week and a few skipjack.

LOCATION: Pacific side was the most productive for all species.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Calm seas, except one day with whitecaps, clear skies.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 84 F

BEST LURES: green, pink, red, caballito, ballyhoo.
Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Amazing -Nothing to do with Fish, but we Loved this New Watersport

With a name like Zapata Racing, you think Mexico, or California, but actually this takes place in France of all places. Thanks Gary, for sending us this amazing video, that left us with our mouths open, kind of futuristic, definitely stunning.
Watch here:

 

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Fisherman Stabbed by Marlin - Fish Fights Back and Wins

Salvador Benitez has been a mate aboard the 31 ft Bertram "Blue Marlin" for five years. The twenty-four year old, is orginally from Ixtapa, mainland Mexico, but moved here to take advantage of the better job offers of the Cabo sportfishing industry. Last Wednesday was a day like any other, he left the dock along with Captain Luis Olascuaga and six anglers from Texas  and they headed out to the Pacific where they started fishing dorado, four miles offshore in front of Pedregal.They did well and in no time they had five dorado in the boat. They spotted a marlin tail on the surface and Salvador quickly cast a live "caballito" or green jack to the approximately 120 lb striper, hooking it up on the first cast. The rod was passed to one of the anglers and the fish dutifully headed towards the boat. It did not jump, it did not put up much of a fight and after ten minutes they had it to the leader. It was at this time, that the fish felt it was in danger; it sensed the nearby boat, looked up and saw the deckhand, who had the leader in his hand and launched itself skyward in a fury. Salvador reactly quickly and dodged the bill of the fish, at the same time thinking "it will land in the water and try to swim away" WRONG....the fish rebounded, as if it were on a pogo stick and hit him squarely in the side, about five inches below the armpit, with the bill piercing his flesh, before it dropped back into the water and released itself.  Salvador felt a sharp pain and saw a little blood, but being the young macho fisherman that he is, told the captain that he was fine and to keep on fishing. He put the lines out again, but after about ten minutes he was seeing black, felt weak and shook from the tremendous pain he told us he thought "I'm screwed" (pardon the French, just reporting it as we were told). They decided to head back and with a painkiller offered by the tourists aboard, Salvador was able to walk off the boat, where transportation was waiting to take him to the hospital. At the hospital doctors discovered that the marlin bill had entered between two ribs and pierced the pleura, a membrane covering the ribs, which is highly sensitive and appeaerd to have also made a small puncture in the lung, but as the incident took place so quickly, the lung had closed back over itself. They kept him in for observation to make sure the lung would not collapse, cleaned the wound and put in a few stitches before sending him home. We asked him what he had learned from this, to which he replied "never grab an angry marlin".
Salvador Benitez Shown Standing at Rear of Boat, Back to Work Yesterday, After His Battle with a 120 lb Striped Marlin

Friday, October 12, 2012

Update on Oarfish

Medano beach and the surrounding area is a Protected Natural Area, they have park wardens patrolling the area and these are the guys that took the oarfish away. Being a bit over-zealous, they zipped to the beach in panga, unceremoniously loaded the fish on board, took it out two miles and dumped it in the sea! So the scientisits will not be getting the tissue samples they requested. They did mention to us that they had seen another oar fish in the area of the Hotel Hacienda, so maybe we will see another one wash up  in the next few hours. Now that would be something, two in the same day!

Sea Monster Washes Up On Main Beach - Actually it is an Oarfish


Onlookers were stunned by this strange fish.
 
Around 10.15 this morning, Roberto Gonzalez a realtor from Pisces Real Estate, was working very hard, sitting under an umbrella on the main beach of Cabo -El Medano at an open house we are hosting today at Hacienda. He was right in front of Villa 2 when he saw a commotion on the beach and a small crowd gathered at the water's edge. His first thought was, "there's been an accident" then he saw three locals supporting what appeared to him as a monster from the deep. He ran down to get a closer look and saw them  assisting the strange creature, which appeard to be in distress as it struggled for air. The local beach guys, were helping the fish to float, but it continued to drift towards the beach. It really was a sight, being about twenty feet long, silver colored with spots and a bright orange dorsal fin.
Once ashore, it was put back in the water, but Roberto could tell it was not going to last long. A panga from the Protected Areas department came and took it away. We have contacted scientists in La Paz to advise them and they will come and pick it up for studies to be made. These are deep water fish, rarely seen, unless they are dying. This is the first we have heard of to ever wash up on the main beach of Cabo though.
This is what it looked like in the water



This close up shows what appears to be its air bladder in its mouth.
 


Wednesday, October 10, 2012

New Radio Show is Good News for Baja

Phil Friedman of 976-Tuna is a Baja aficionado and is producing a great new weekly radio show about Baja, what is going on and fishing. We were delighted to be invited to particpate on a weekly basis. This is a refreshing change from all the negative media coverage and shows what a safe and wonderful place our state is. Listen now to the first show (Pisces report is around minute 50) http://www.blogtalkradio.com/philipfriedmanoutdoors/2012/10/05/baja-now-with-phil-friedman

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

768 lb Black Marlin Caught in Cabo!

18 YEAR OLD DAVID CESENA POSES WITH THE 768 LB BLACK MARLIN
David Cesena, an eighteen year old local boy, from Cabo, must have what is known as beginners luck; he hauled in a 768 lb black marlin this past Saturday aboard the 60 ft Hatteras "Bad Company". Captain Steve Lassley, spoke with us today and said "We were fishing on the Cortez side, pulling baits, when we got hit by something. For ten minutes we had no idea what was on our line. We didn't know if it was a tuna, a marlin or what, until it jumped. Then we knew we had a big fish."
They were out practicing for the upcoming tournaments and young David, was invited along at the last minute, as the owner was unable to make it and extra bodies were needed, never mind that he had no experience.
Captain Steve, was not giving any secrets away so kept the details general and with good reason, he has won the Bisbee Black & blue twice; first in 2000 with a 500 lb black marlin and then in 2006, with two blues that weighed 366 lbs & 422 lbs respectively. He did tell us that he was using 130 lb line and that the fish took two hours to bring to the boat, he added "We really don't like to kill fish, this one was 30 or 40 feet down, when it went belly up. It was done, the fish and the kid, were done - that will be something he never forgets". Fast forward 18 days from now and that fish could very easily have earned them some serious cash. 

Saturday, October 06, 2012

Fish Report Roundup

September 29th to October 5th, 2012
Overall Catch Success Rate for All Species Combined 93%
Numbers in brief:
Billfish: 41% chance – total catch 27
Dorado: 74% chance – total catch 242
Tuna: 20% chance – total catch 60
BLUE MARLIN SEASON IS HERE, THIS ONE IS BEING RELEASED
 BILLFISH: It seems that blue marlin season is upon us, hot weather makes them show up. We started out the week with a bang and as reported earlier in our blog a 722 lb (official weight) was weighed in aboard Pisces 46 ft  Bertram “Attitude Adjustment”, the fish was found 11 miles straight out from Cabo and was this groups fourth fish of the day, after two sailfish and a dorado. The same green colored lure did the trick and got them hooked up to a very strong fish that gave its all before expiring boat-side. Congratulations to fifty eight year old Dave Smith from Atlanta and to his fellow anglers who encouraged him, Tom Montour of Atlanta and Jack Bowen and Clint Dean from Chattanooga. The following day our Pisces 31 ft Cabo “Cabolero”  scored another blue for Dave Wisniewksi from Pella, Iowa around the same area, again a lure fish, this time the famous Petrolero, this fish was just over half the size of the other one at 384 lbs, but nevertheless it would be a qualifier in a tournament. Now a word about blue marlin, yes, we would like to see more of them released and we suggest all anglers do so, but they are more delicate than the stripers and die much more easily in the fight. It is important to catch them as quickly as possible to give them a better chance of surviving; often anglers especially first time marlin fishermen are unprepared for the strength of these creatures and it can feel like you have hooked a truck, so make sure you are in good shape and don’t give up. Pisces “Valerie” had a fabulous day on October 5th with Tom Johnson from San Ramon, California on board. They fished at Los Arcos and also off the Old Lighthouse and managed to release four sailfish and a blue marlin between three anglers. Again the blue marlin was caught on a dorado colored lure. This same day Pisces  38 ft Blackfin “C Rod” fished just seven miles from the Old Lighthouse and caught a blue marlin around 300 lbs and nine dorado up to 20 lbs for Steve McDonald and friends from Arizona. Our last blue marlin of the week was aboard 28 ft Uniflite Pisces “Adriana” this time for Mike Weals from Redlands, California at Los Arcos. This healthy fish was around 250 lbs and took a purple lure, before being successfully released; they also caught six dorado.  Striped marlin in the 100 to 130 lb class were also caught this week at diverse locations on the Pacific and preferred bait. Sailfish were the most widely caught billfish this week and like the striped marlin wanted live bait or dead ballyhoo on the Pacific. Forty one percent of our anglers caught billfish this week giving us a total of 27, consisting of 14 sails, 8 stripes and 5 blues – all but three billfish were released.
NOTHING LIKE A NICE DORADO ON A HOT SUMMER'S DAY, SHOWN HERE MATE SALVADOR FROM LA BRISA.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado was by far the most prolific fish in our waters this week and why not, it’s the right time for it and the right conditions, in fact seventy four percent of our boats caught between one and seventeen with weights ranging from 18 to 40 lbs - one medium size dorado goes a long way when it comes to dinner time, it is very mild tasting, easy to cook and moist. Remaining floating debris from the rains made dorado easy to spot as they congregating underneath it as well as being found spread out on the Pacific side. The majority of dorado took lures, though some preferred ballyhoo. Our total dorado count was 242 fish or to put it another one around 4840 lbs! Tuna catches were at twenty percent this week with boats catching between one and thirteen, though none were of notable size. With only a twenty percent chance at tuna it was only a few fortunate boats that found them, such as Pisces 31 ft Bertram “Rebecca” fishing seven miles off of Elias Calles, with Jon Svendson & friends from Scottsdale, Arizona on board; they caught 13 yellow fin up to 25 lbs, one dorado and four skipjacks. Total tuna tally was 68 fish.  It was nice to see a bit more activity on wahoo this period, though again, no really big fish with the average 30 to 35 lbs. “Falcon” caught the largest one at 44 lbs on a petrolero lure at Cerro de Arena for Manuel Green from Dallas – they also caught six dorado.
LOCATION: Mostly Pacific from Land’s End to San Jaime.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Hot and sunny, seas calm.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 86 F
BEST LURES: Green/yellow, petrolero, purple, live caballito, frozen ballyhoo.
Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Friday, October 05, 2012

So What Do They Do With All That Fish?

Last weekend we reported a 722 lb blue marlin, that was caught aboard Pisces Attitude Adjustment. As our post read, the fish died after a two hour battle as the angler brought it to the boat for the umpteenth time. So what do you do with 722 lb's of fish? Well first of all by the time the fish is skinned, filleted, head and tail removed, the weight of the fish is reduced considerably. The anglers told us that they wanted none to go to waste, they took some fillets over to Captain Tony's to get them cooked and left the crew to distribute the rest. Now, crews and anglers cannot sell fish, caught on a sportfishing license, as the name implies it is not for commercial exploitation. Most of the fisherman here are related or are friends, so the crews were thrilled to receive pounds of fish and it was split up among many families. With the summer being on the slow side and not that many trips for a sizeable part of the Cabo fleet, this fish was received thankfully, packed carefully and frozen for a lot of families to enjoy for weeks to come. So just how far did that fish go? Well one of the sizeable fillets - see below- should feed 12 people, figure 8 fillets per side of the fish, 16 total, so 192 people and depending on the size of the portions perhaps a lot more.