STRIPED MARLIN LANDINGS CLIMB TO 85 PERCENT
OF PISCES FLEET BOATS THIS WEEK AT CABO SAN LUCAS

Nov. 18-24, 2005, Tracy Ehrenberg, Pisces Fleet, Cabo San Lucas sportfishing, Baja California Sur, Mexico Report:

Cabo San Lucas had an absolutely fantastic fishing week for striped marlin, with perhaps our highest catch rates ever, as Pisces anglers reeled in a whopping 233 stripers, of which 229 were released.

Eighty-five percent of our Cabo San Lucas sportfishing charters were able to hook up to marlin in the 115 to 180 pound range, with pretty much all the fish taking live bait. The striped marlin were found from the Old Lighthouse to the Finger Banks, with the top two fishing locations being Golden Gate and the Finger Banks.

Notable catches were achieved every day, such as 12 striped marlin released aboard "Libre" on the 21st, by Eric Korensold, John Dorsey and Rick Beckley from Chandler, Ariz.

This same day "Blue Thunder" released an amazing 20 stripers for the Fornos family from San Francisco. This was not the only high marlin day for this boat. Earlier in the week, on the 19th, they released 15 fish for another group.

"Tracy Ann" released 11 striped marlin on November 20th for Bill McCormick from Pennsylvania and Mike Shillingsford from N.J and also caught a 250 pound blue marlin fir Mike Gardner from Sugarland, Texas.

"C Rod" had a couple of 8 fish days, and several other boats had up to a half-dozen marlin.

"Felina" had an outstanding fishing day at the Finger Bank for Scott Meriman and friends from Colorado releasing 15 Cabo San Lucas striped marlin, as well as two mako sharks and boated 14 dorado.

Despite these big numbers there were a few boats here and there that did get skunked, but overall it was a hugely successful week.

After marlin, dorado were the most commonly caught species at Cabo San Lucas, with 31 percent of charters finding fish in the 15 to 40 pound class. Catches were between one and four fish per boat when found.

Cabo San Lucas yellowfin tuna catches were slow, but then again, everybody was rushing up the Pacific to take advantage of the marlin bite.

Lavon Colbert has fished Cabo for years and has more than his fair share of marlin, so he asked the captain of "Andrea" to try for tuna. They headed out straight from Land's End, about 20 miles and found a school that they were able to load up on, resulting in over 20 fish in the 15 to 30 pound class. There were a few other tuna catches, but only 5 percent of boats found yellowfin.

It was nice to see a few sharks being caught, both Makos up to 50 pounds, and a hammerhead, all released. Any sharks caught should be released, as they have become very rare in our waters.

Inshore pangas caught roosterfish, skipjacks and the odd stray dorado.

Our overall catch success rates for all species combined was 91 percent.

The best Cabo San Lucas fishing location was on the Pacific, from Old Lighthouse to Finger Bank. We had beautiful fishing conditions, up to the end of the week, when it got windy on the Pacific making it a bit bumpy. Average water temperature was 77 degrees, and live bait worked best.