STRIPED MARLIN CATCH RATE HITS 89 PERCENT FOR PISCES FLEET BOATS

June 24, 2004, Tracy Ehrenberg, Pisces Fleet, Cabo San Lucas fishing, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

BILLFISH: An absolutely fantastic week at Cabo San Lucas, lots of striped marlin and now some strikes on blues as the weather warms up.

On the fishing front Pisces anglers had a total of 111 striped marlin this week of which 109 were released. Our catch success rate for marlin was 89 percent and our overall catch success rate for all species combined was 95 percent. The few Cabo San Lucas fishing boats that were skunked were just plain unlucky.

Boats averaged from one to four striped marlin in a day, with both lures and bait working well. A lot of fish came up on the lures then took bait cast to them. Weights were from 110 to 200 lbs.

On June 19th David Brown, along with Joe & Kevin Hudnall from South Dakota and California respectively, released four striped marlin aboard "La Brisa".

This same day "Libre" also released four as well as boating a 60 lb wahoo for the Deberry family from Chino, Ca.

"Valerie" had another of our quadruple days this time for Heather Pekarthey and Connie Villareal from San Jose Ca. and San Antonio Tx.

As we enter summer, we will start to see more of the blue marlin strikes mentioned above, materialize into solid catches.

The water temperature was from 76-80 F so once it hits the 80's we'll see more of these larger fish as well as an increase on sailfish.

OTHER SPECIES: A big jump on Dorado this week, with a total of 61 for our fleet and a little over 50 percent of charters hooking fish in the 15 to 40 lb class.

Just a couple of wahoo in the 40 to 60 lb class.

Tuna fishing was on the slow side, though we did see catches of one or two fish in the 10 to 20 lb category throughout the week.

One boat that had an enviable and active day was "Ruthless" on June 24th, scoring seven dorado, two tuna, a wahoo and one striped marlin release. Inshore at Cabo San Lucas there was quite a lot of activity for roosterfish which are of a nice size, many around the 30 to 45 lb mark; amberjack, sierra and some snappers.

CABO SAN LUCAS WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, blue skies, seas are a beautiful deep blue and mostly calm. Pacific side is still breezy.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 78 F

BEST LURES: Live bait, green/yellows, petroleros, black/orange.