February 19th to February 25th, 2011
Overall Catch Success Rate 71.70%
BILLFISH: This week was definitely the best we've had in awhile for marlin especially when we look back on the past month. Nevertheless we did have a few "skunks", but this was mainly due to anglers requesting half day trips, when they saw lots of marlin but could not get them to bite. Patient is a must with fishing and perhaps these boats would have got hook-ups if they had stayed longer. Thirty one percent of our boats caught one to three striped marlin this week. "Tracy Ann" started out with a bang on February 19th, the envy of the dock, when they showed up with three marlin flags. Robert Bernstein was on board from Weston, Florida and they fished close to Palmilla; all three fish were released and were estimated between 120 to 160 lbs. This same day, "Bill Collector" released two stripers for Armand and Ryan Maaskamp from California five miles in front of Cabo Real as well as landing a bonita. "Bill Collector" also did well at the end of this report, releasing two more striped marlin at Punta Gorda for Griffin Ordway from San Diego, CA and his father in law from Russia. On February he 25th, Reed Mack and Mike Kelly from San Jose, Ca. had a double marlin aboard "Great Escape Jr", this time at the 11:50 spot; both fish took live caballito. Jed Crabb and Jim Bielich from Edmond, Ok released one striped marlin which was between 150 – 160 lbs seven miles out from Chileno aboard "Adriana". Pisces anglers had twenty one striped marlin this week; all released except two.
OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches were basically the same, just a couple around, the water is a bit on the cold side for them. One of them was a respectable 35 lb'er for Brian and Glenn O´Neil from Keansburg, NJ aboard "La Brisa", who also did well to release a striped marlin on the 24th at Punta Gorda. Tuna catches are steady but not great, with twelve percent of our boats catching between one to twenty two fish. Actually the last day of this report was the best for tuna. "Rebecca" slammed them with twenty two tuna, for Dale & Cheryl Duke & Mike Malone from Kent, WA; the fish took a combination of cedar plugs and brown/black lures. Not far behind was "Andale" with sixteen tuna for a group from Austin, TX; they went thirty five miles out from Santa Maria bay. "Tracy Ann" also did well for Dwayne Skow and friends from Texas, boating thirteen yellow fin tuna between 15 to 20 lbs in front of Palmilla by the Sea of Cortez.
As to other species, sierra catches are still good with twenty one percent of our boats catching between one to twenty five fish- many released. Darren Stevenson and son from Alberta, Canada went out on the 24th aboard a panga and had a lot of action reeling in twenty five of these little fish (great fun on light tackle) most of them between 8 to 10 lbs with hoochis as lure by the old lighthouse. This same day "Attitude Adjustment" went inshore and achieved twenty sierras at Los Arcos on the Pacific side. Tom Schmidt and Mark Wright from Wilder, KY did well on February 19th, aboard a panga with ten Spanish mackerels, one bull shark and one jack crevalle released; the fish took a combination of live bait and hoochis.
On the 19th, "La Brisa" was out with some anglers who had traveled a REALLY long way to be here; Campbell & John Ferguson are from Melbourne, Australia, which is a very long flight. They were fishing out at Punta Gorda and had already caught a striped marlin that weighed around 150 lbs (thanks guys for making us look good, when fishing has been ahem.....slow) when the crew saw something odd floating on the surface and went over to investigate, it was a ratfish, also known as a quimera and it was dead. They gently lifted it into the boat to bring back to shore and to the scientists. You may recall that we saw the first one of these two years ago and nobody had a clue as to what it was. It was identified by local scientists who went on to do research with the specimen we gave them. We followed up with a second fish several months later and now they have this one. It appears that this is a new species of ratfish, not known before and they are expected to publish a paper on it soon. We applaud the crew of La Brisa, as they have been working with the scientists on several projects and all of our crews are showing a keen interest in conservation and want to learn more. They did well to recognize this as something unusual and to get it to us intact to the freezer.
As to other species we had rooster fish, skip jacks, lady fish, sea bass, bull shark, rock fish, mojarras, jack crevalle, rat fish and many bonitas.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies. Some windy days. Mostly calm to choppy seas. We are back to cooler mornings.
LOCATION: Pacific Side – Golden Gate, Migriño, Pozo Cota, Los Arcos, Old Lighthouse, Molino.
Sea of Cortez – Palmilla, Chileno, 95 spot, San Jose del Cabo, Punta Gorda, 11:50 Spot, Cerro Colorado, Destiladeras, Santa Maria
AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 73 F
BEST LURES; Cedar plugs, rapalas, hoochis, petrolero, chilliwilli, green, guacamayo, black/brown
Live bait: caballito, ballyhoos, sardine
Based on the catches of Pisces by Ale Almada & Tracy Ehrenberg.
