Pisces Fish Report
August 5th to 11th, 2010
Overall Catch Success Rate 94%
BILLFISH: Hot weather, usually produces hot fishing and that is exactly what we had this week. Blue, black, striped marlin and sailfish were all present. It's hard to know where to start as there was so much good fishing this week, so I guess we'll do it by date. The week started off with a bang when the biggest fish of the week was caught, a black marlin estimated between 600 and 700 lbs caught at Punta Gorda aboard "Shambala"; the anglers two young guys from Los Angeles, had a double hook up on yellow fin tuna, which they had targeted with 40 lb test, one of the fish got off and the other was snatched up by the large marlin. It took almost two hours to bring to the boat before being successfully released. August 5th "Ruthless" released a blue marlin just under 250 lbs at Punta Gorda after it took a blue and black lure for the Leonard & Wendy Hawkins from Brooklyn, Michigan, they also had a 20 lb dorado. This same day "Andrea" fished closer to Cabo and released four striped marlin, on a combination of lures and bait for the Berkman's from Houston, Texas. Next day out "Andrea" again did well to release a 350 lb blue and a 120 lb striped marlin at the Cabrillo Sea Mount for a group from Paso Robles, Ca. "Andrea" (top boat overall this week) went on to release both a blue and striped marlin on August 7th at the 11.50 spot for Amber Jesic & Dexter Carpenter; petrolero lure for the blue and a live caballito for the striper. "Andale" had a busy day on the 8th for a group from Harper Texas, including Scott Brown & the Doyle family; they released a striped marlin and a sailfish then went on to catch twelve tuna and three dorado. This same day "Bill Collector" had an outstanding day at the Gordo Banks with a 400 lb black marlin released, three tuna, two dorado & a 60 lb wahoo; doesn't get much better than that. "No Big Deal" released a smallish blue for John Matthews from Columbia, South Carolina, eight miles from Palmilla on the 10th and "Falcon" fished a completely different location on the 11th nineteen miles out from the arch and caught both a blue & striped marlin for David & Roxana Bednar from St. Charles, Iowa. Johnny Mack Powers along with wife Stacey, took their 13 & 15 year old granddaughters out on "Shambala" where they did exceptionally well to reel in a 250 lb blue marlin, which they released, plus eight tuna; well done Molly & Presley…These were just some of the highlights and there were plenty more double marlin days, plus small game. We did have a couple of boats "skunked", but even these saw fish, but just couldn't get them to bite. Sixty nine percent of our charters caught billfish giving us a total of 32 striped marlin, 9 blue marlin, 2 black marlin & 2 sailfish.
OTHER SPECIES: Billfish weren't the only game in town, dorado and tuna catches were brisk also. Fifty three percent of boats caught between one and eleven dorado giving us a total of 82 fish overall. "Andrea" had the most dorado, eleven, caught at the Golden Gate bank, on the Pacific but the fish on this side tended to be smaller. We saw an increase in size of fish on the Cortez side with the average weight around 30 to 35 lbs and "Ruthless" had two 50 & 55 lbs for Jim and Cynthia Hamner from Rockland, Ca. Dorado were hungry and took lures, live sardines & caballito. Thirty one percent of boats caught yellow fin tuna giving us a total of 72 fish, with main locations near Punta Gorda on the Cortez and Golden Gate on the Pacific, like the dorado the Pacific fish were smaller 10 to 15 lbs and on the Cortez they were 20 to 35 lbs, with the one exception a 100 lb fish, aboard "Andrea" for Jim & Cynthia Hamner from Texas, also mentioned above; these anglers did well all week being our top dorado catchers and they also released two hammerhead sharks. An example of a great mixed day would be "Rebecca" on August 10th with two striped marlin released, six dorado up to 55 lbs, two yellow fin tuna, a 38 lb wahoo and an 80 lb pilot shark released and that was with just two anglers Amanda Kacal & Kurt Sanders from Katy, Texas on board…..they must have been exhausted. The only other fish caught were a few roosters.
LOCATION: 95 spot, 11.50 spot, Punta Gorda, Golden Gate, 8 miles off Palmilla, Cabrillo.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: We had a couple of baking hot days, even on the Pacific but the breezes are back, Sea of Cortez is warmer, clear skies, sunny, seas calm, now a bit rough on the Pacific as the breeze returns.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 77 on the Pacific to 83 F on the Cortez.
BEST LURES: Live bait, red/black, blue/black, guacamaya, cedar plugs.
Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg
