OVERALL CATCH SUCCESS RATE 75%
BILLFISH: Fishing is pretty decent right now, though not what we call outstanding, however marlin were the most widely caught fish this week. Striped marlin were the only type of billfish caught with a total of fifty nine overall for our anglers which worked out to fifty-six percent of boats hooking up to fish in the 110 to 170 lb category. Our overall catch success rate for all species combined was seventy five percent.
Most catches were of one or two striped marlin in a day, with a bit of a slow down on the dates around full moon. Some boats did better than average such as "Rebecca" on March 2nd with three released for Jimi Rich and Ray Neta, off of the lighthouse. This same day "Cabolero" also released three for William Braun Jones III fro Virginia, in the same area. Next day out our two 28 ft boats "Andrea" and "Adriana" had three apiece between three and six miles off of the Old Lighthouse for groups from California and Las Vegas. It's interesting to see the change of location for fish, with a switch back to the Pacific side. Pretty much all of the marlin took live bait.
OTHER SPECIES: Not much happening with dorado and tuna this week, with less than ten percent of boats catching either of these species. Dorado catches were of a single fish most of the time and occasionally two. Sizes were average at 15 to 25 lbs, all caught on lures whilst trolling. Just a few boats caught tuna and those that did best had to go a long way. "C Rod" went forty miles out from the Old Lighthouse and managed to boat 15 fish in the 10 to 25 lb class for Greene Holcomb from Minneapolis.
This same day "Sundancer" also did well on tuna in the same area with 17 fish of the same class for Mark Brecher. Several boats had small mako sharks which they released. Inshore boats caught roosterfish and lots of sierra. Some yellowtail, in fact "Rebecca" had a nice one that weighed in at 37 lbs, caught by Josh Schorlemmer from Salt Lake City.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Mostly sunny skies, seas calm.
LOCATION: This period all on the Pacific, between the Old Lighthouse and Golden Gate.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 70 F
BEST LURES: Live bait.
Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg
