MOSTLY STRIPED MARLIN CAUGHT AS BISBEE'S
BLACK AND BLUE MARLIN TOURNAMENT APPROACHES AT CABO SAN LUCAS

Oct. 14-20, 2005, Tracy Ehrenberg, Pisces Fleet, Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

Cabo San Lucas marlin fishing was not that great this week. Just 36 percent of our charters managed to catch marlin or sailfish. Practically all the billfish caught were striped marlin, with just a couple of blue marlin and a few sailfish.

This does not seem to bode well for Cabo San Lucas' upcoming Bisbee event. However, it seems that most Cabo charter fishing boats went to the Pacific to concentrate of the more secure catch of striped marlin. Few sportfishing boats fished the Cortez side and the famous Gordo Banks, known to be a hang out for large blue marlin.

The only two blue marlin we had this week were caught close to San Jose and the Gordo Banks. "Sundancer" caught a fish that unfortunately came up dead and weighed 220 pounds. The same day "Valerie" released a fish close to 300 pound as well as a sailfish for Rusty and Kathy McDaniel, from Laguna Park, Texas 30 miles out from Punta Gorda.

This same day, October 18th, "Ni Modo" fished both sides of Cabo San Lucas, releasing three striped marlin at the 95 spot and hooking eleven dorado at Gaspareno on the Pacific for Phillip and Richard Belkiani form New York.

Next day out "Rebecca" released four striped marlin and boated a dorado at the Golden Gate for James Klug from Cloverdale, Calif., fishing with brother Jeremy from Colorado and buddy Chad Price.

"Halcon" had the most striped marlin in one day, totaling five for Lonnie Gulseth from Wisconsin.

Pisces charter boats "Tracy Ann" and "Rebecca" had matching catches on the 20th, with three striped marlin each released plus two dorado, all caught at San Jaime.

There was more small game caught this week at Cabo San Lucas than billfish, as captains concentrated on the more sure dorado.

Pisces anglers caught a total of 48 billfish, consisting of 43 striped marlin, 3 sailfish, and 2 blue marlin. All but one blue marlin were released.

Our overall catch success rate for all species combined was 84 percent.

Dorado were the most plentiful game fish in Cabo this week with 58 percent of charters landing fish from 18 to 45 pounds. The average catch was two to four fish, spread out from the 95 spot to Golden Gate, with the majority of fish between the Old Lighthouse and Golden Gate.

Cabo San Lucas yellowfin tuna catches were a bit on the slow side, but again the situation is similar to that of blue marlin. Boats went where they knew they would have sure catches. Only seven percent of charters caught tuna, average at 25 to 50 pounds, one to five fish.

Just a few wahoo in the 30 to 50 pound class were caught, and we also had a couple of small Mako sharks.

Inshore charter fishing pangas started seeing more action than they've seen in quite awhile, with catches or roosterfish, skipjacks, amberjack, needlefish and dorado.

Cabo San Lucas had clear sunny skies, seas moderate, rough on the Pacific in the afternoons, when the wind picks up producing whitecaps.

The best fishing locations were on the Pacific from Land's End to Golden Gate, and Punta Gorda for blue marlin. Average water temp 82 F.