STRIPED MARLIN ACTION INCREASES
AS SQUID CONCENTRATIONS THIN OUT

May 6-12, 2005, Tracy Ehrenberg, Pisces Fleet, Cabo San Lucas, Baja Sur, Mexico:

We are pleased to report an increase on striped marlin catches at Cabo San Lucas. In fact, towards the end of the week catches of two to four striped marlin per Cabo San Lucas charter fishing boat were quite common.

As the squid in the Cabo San Lucas vacation area decreased and bait became scarcer, the fish got hungry.

Nevertheless, most of the fishing action is still quite a long way off, with most hook ups occurring in the Destiladeras area.

Some Pisces charter fishing boats got lucky closer to home, such as "Rebecca" on May 12th, who caught and released three striped marlin and one sailfish, for Steve Albert from Myrtle Beach, S.C., fishing with Ed Shrewbury from Orange Park, Fl, in the Chileno area.

On May 6, "Ruthless" caught five stripers for Dale Hageman and friends from Oklahoma. This same boat scored another five on May 10th this time for Dennis Christensen from Papillion, NE.

Lonnie Nolan and Ray Orlowski from Tampa on their annual Cabo San Lucas fishing trip were not disappointed with their three fish aboard "Rebecca".

Not everybody was lucky. There were several boats that were "skunked", but all saw fish.

Last week we had quite a few foul hooked fish, as they would come up to look at the baits lethargically, not really attacking in the normal manner, meaning that some ended up being snagged.

Our overall catch success rate this week was 86 percent, with 79 percent catching marlin.

The Rolex-IGFA Offshore World Championship fishing tournament, starts at Cabo San Lucas on Monday and will be over four days. With temperatures beginning to climb, we should see good numbers of fish caught in the upcoming days.

Pisces anglers caught a total of 114 billfish this week at Cabo San Lucas, of which 110 striped marlin were released, along with five sailfish.

Not much happening was on smaller game. Boats are heading up the coast for bigger prey. We had just a few football size tuna this week and the numbers of dorado weren't much better. Inshore there were just a few skipjacks, amberjacks and some sierra.

The best fishing location was on the Cortez side from Chileno to Destiladeras. Cabo San Lucas water temperatures averaged 72 degrees, with clear, sunny skies, mostly calm seas, and the best lure was live bait.