CABO HEAVY DUTY--Among the scattering of big tuna caught at Cabo in recent weeks was this 242-pound yellowfin, landed by Brandon Haller aboard the Pisces Fleet boat Ruthless on June 18, 2005. Photo courtesy Tracy Ehrenberg.

ENORMOUS BLACK MARLIN ESTIMATED AT WELL OVER 1,000 POUNDS
LOST BY CABO SAN LUCAS FISHING BOAT FELINA AFTER 29-HOUR FIGHT

June 24-30, 2005, Tracy Ehrenberg, Pisces Fleet, Cabo San Lucas fishing, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

The Cabo San Lucas vacation area saw quite a dramatic drop on marlin catches this week, but our overall catch success rate was actually higher, at 94 percent for all species combined. However just 31 percent of Pisces sportfishing charters managed to entice marlin up to the leader.

"Felina" fishing further up in the Sea of Cortez, at the 88 spot, near Isla Cerralvo had a monumental battle with a huge black marlin, in 80-degree water. The fight with this monster fish, between 1,200 and 1,400 pounds, lasted 30 hours! The black marlin was definitely the victor, going through three different anglers, Mark Dilbeck, Matt Lewis and Peter Vehl, all from Los Angeles. The black marlin took a black and purple lure that was attached to a bird teaser on 80 pound test line. Captain Tony hooked the first angler and fish up at 1:30 p.m. on Monday and the black marlin and the captain decided on a mutual release, the following day at 6:30 in the evening. The fish was extremely tough and not even 33 pounds of drag, or a change over to a bent butt rod could break the 16-foot long giant black. This was not Tony's first marathon battle. He coached actor Willie Aames to a first place win in the Cabo San Lucas Bisbee fishing tournament close to 15 years ago in a similar fight that lasted almost as long.

The highlight of this past fishing week at Cabo San Lucas was the Stars and Stripes, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County, charity tournament. This event is a lot of fun. No prize money is won, but trophies are received and all monies raised go to charity. They were able to raise over $1 million dollars for needy kids and the first place boat was "Valerie" with four striped marlin for the Green family.

Other boats that did well this week included "Ensueno" with four stripers on June 30th, for Gary Tognoni and friends; "Karina" on the 28th for two stripes as well as six tuna.

Most boats opted to fish straight out from Cabo San Lucas where bonus catches of dorado and tuna could be had and in fact were more of a guaranteed catch than the marlin. Pisces anglers caught a total of 29 striped marlin of which 27 were released.

Yellowfin tuna, were definitely the most numerous game fish at Cabo San Lucas this week, with a little over 65 percent of boats catching fish in the 25 to 50 pound class, giving us a total of 172 fish. We did not have any huge fish like, the couple of 200 pound plus specimens caught last week, though we did hear of a 300 pounder, which we will confirm if and when details become available.

Cabo San Lucas dorado catches increased this week, with 36 percent of Pisces boats landing fish in the 25 to 45 pounds. Wahoo catches were slower at a little under ten percent and weights were moderate at 45 pounds average. Inshore some roosters, snappers and jacks were caught.

Cabo San Lucas weather was up and down. Some days were quite cool but by week's end, we had warm, humid weather. The Pacific is now calm, but with some winds in the afternoon. Fishing locations included Land's End, Old Lighthouse, 5 to 25 miles offshore. Some boats went to Destiladeras. Cabeza de Ballena and Chileno also produced some good catches.

Cabo San Lucas fishing area water temperatures were at 73 degrees, and the best lures were live bait, black/purple, cedar plugs, and feathers.