Overall Catch Success Rate 99%
BILLFISH: Marlin catches were surprisingly quite good this week even with a full moon and a drop in water temperature. After some heat last week, it's like the season slipped back again and those on the Pacific side are again sleeping under quilts. We had a few more anglers in town this week and catches were at fifty four percent for marlin and a few sailfish. Not only did we have marlin but some also fast action on tuna for a few days, some dorado and good amounts of sharks, who proved pesky as we lost a lot of lures and cedar plugs to them. On June 12th "C Rod" had a very nice day, releasing three striped marlin and catching twenty tuna twenty miles off of the Old Lighthouse for Gerald Snyman & Guy Lester from England fishing with Robert Cuthbert from Zimbabwe. "Shamabala" also had a fantastic catch this same day with three striped marlin released, ten tuna and an approximately 100 lb Galapagos shark for a group from Auckland, New Zealand (quite an international week for us); James Gleeson, Paul Draof, Tony Sergison, Pete Dynes and Steve Herring. They caught the fish between the 11.50 spot and the Cabrillo sea mount with petrolero lures and live caballito working for them. Another boat with three striped marlin was "Rebecca", who also caught eleven tuna for good friend and clients Gerald Richmond from Islamorada, Florida fishing with John Mason from Las Vegas. They fished fourteen miles off of Cerro Blanco and caught their fish with live caballito, petroleros and green colored lures. Other boats averaged one marlin and occasionally two. Pisces anglers caught a total of 40 marlin and one sailfish, all but two released.
OTHER SPECIES: Tuna catches were the ticket this week with a whopping eighty three percent of boats catching from one to twenty fish in the 15 to 35 lb class. Our total catch was two hundred and eighty five fish. The tuna were spread out from the Old Lighthouse to just above the 11.50 spot. Dorado catches were slower and very seldom more than a single fish; nevertheless twenty seven percent of our boats did catch them. Cartney Steinnagel from Lake Wood, Kansas was our top dorado angler with a beautiful 45 lb'er caught aboard "Rebecca" four miles out from Chileno on a flying fish lure. The ladies did well this week, as another notable catch was also taken by a lady angler, a very nice 61 lb wahoo by Kimberly Sutter from Sterling, Colorado, aboard "Adriana" off of Cabeza de Ballena; her group also released a striped marlin this day. Four sharks were released and reported as Galapagos and sardine sharks – it's hard to know if these descriptions are accurate as it is hard to tell without a biologist on board, so we are going to ask anglers and crews to try and get us some photos to clarify this. Most sharks were reported at around 100 lbs and all were released. Inshore there were a few roosterfish, amberjack, skipjack and even a few stray marlin.
WEATHER: Windy and cooler most days whitecaps several days. A dive boat sank at Punta Gorda, apparently due to strong winds and the boat taking on water, all divers were successfully rescued thanks to a speedy response by the navy who utilized their new helicopter. Skies are clear but wind is still up on the Pacific.
LOCATION: The Old Lighthouse on the Pacific to Cabrillo Sea Mount on the Sea of Cortez; 11.50 spot was still the most productive area.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: Water is as cold as 71 F close to cabo and up to 81 at the Cabrillo Sea Mount.
BEST LURES: Live caballito, cedar plugs, petroleros, green colored lures.
Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg
