OVERALL FISHING CONDITIONS SPOTTY BUT WARMING
WATER AROUND CABO PRODUCES SOME GOOD BILLFISH ACTION

Jan. 6-12, 2006, Tracy Ehrenberg, Pisces Fleet, Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

Cabo San Lucas had a rather up and down sportfishing week with 56 percent of Pisces Fleet charters hooking striped marlin and the occasional sailfish.

It seemed we were on a downward trend, but every boat sent out on Thursday caught at least one marlin and some had up to three, even with full moon looming.

The sportfishing week started out a bit on the slow side, with colder water and Cabo San Lucas charter fishing boats searching the area between the Old Lighthouse and San Jaime looking for fish. Most came up with something, but by midweek as many as half the boats were getting "skunked". As the week progressed we got a current of warmer water near the lighthouse, with temperatures up to 73 degrees, which may have been a factor in the increased catches.

Cabo San Lucas has had cloud cover the last couple of days, to the extent that the moon could only be glimpsed through a haze, which bodes well for fishing in the next few days.

Three marlin in a day this fishing week was considered good and we did have quite a few boats reaching this number.

"Andrea" with a triple day plus a yellowfin on the 9th.

"Karina" also released three on the 12th for Larry Peterson from Courtway, B.C fishing with Richard and Jackie Traxel also from Alberta, aboard "Karina".

"Sundancer" had three stripers released and eight tuna boated on the 7th for a group from Alberta, Canada.

"Valerie" had three for Charlie Perkins and David and Marcia Shapiro from Maryland.

Pisces anglers caught a total 47 Cabo San Lucas striped marlin this week, all but one released and one sailfish, also released.

Dorado catches were slower at just 16 percent, with boats rarely catching more than one, usually an incidental catch whilst trolling. Weights were from 15 to 30 pounds.

Thirty-one percent of Pisces Fleet charters hooked yellowfin from 15 to 30 lbs, with the occasional fish as large as 60 lbs. Catches were from one to eight fish, found straight out from Land's End about 20 miles. The tuna took mostly jigs, cedar plugs and small marlin lures, with spreader bars working particularly well.

Pisces Fleet had one very nice wahoo at 70 pounds aboard "C-Rod" on January 11th.

Inshore there was a lot of sierra action as well as some skipjacks.

The main fishing location as between Los Arcos and Golden Gate, and the Old Lighthouse between 2 and 20 miles had the best overall location.

Cabo San Lucas had partly cloudy skies, seas calm, daytime temps 77-82 degrees, nighttime around 60-63 degrees, water temperature 70-73 degrees. Live bait worked best.