STRIPED MARLIN FISHING IMPROVES FOR CHARTER
FLEET BOATS AROUND THE TIP OF MEXICO'S BAJA PENINSULA

Jan. 13-19, 2006, Tracy Ehrenberg, Pisces Fleet, Cabo San Lucas fishing, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

After a downward trend last week at Cabo San Lucas, we were extremely pleased by the way fishing turned the opposite direction this week, despite some rough seas on a couple of days, which sent some anglers scurrying back to port.

The last day of this report we saw some of the best numbers per boat of fish. The majority of marlin this week were caught on live bait. Our overall catch success rate for all species combined was 88 percent with 53 percent of charters catching striped marlin, which was our most abundant sportfish. Pisces anglers caught a total of 91 striped marlin this week.

Tuna and dorado were on the slow side this week.

Just 10 percent of boats found yellowfin tuna, with catches usually two or three fish.

"C-rod" found some nice tuna up to 60 pounds off of the Old Lighthouse as well as some squid up to 30 pounds on January 14th.

Dorado catches were slightly higher than tuna, with 11 percent of boats landing dorado no more than 30 pounds and very rarely more than one fish per boat.

The Cabo San Lucas sportfishing week started out with boats 18 miles off of the Old Lighthouse, where Ni Modo released four striped marlin for angler Daniel Lyle.

Fishing stayed fair at this location for a couple of days, with boats picking up a single marlin each average, plus the odd tuna or dorado.

Boats then switched locations to the Golden Gate Bank where some outstanding catches were had.

"Adriana" released eight striped marlin and boated ten sierras for Steve Rhodes and Rodney Biel both from Staten Island, New York.

"Ni Modo" released nine striped marlin and a Mako shark for Bob and Scott Abercrombie from Trumbull, CT, fishing with Kenneth Dugan, Kevin Callaghan and William Miller. Well done guys. This same boat followed by with an additional seven marlin the following day.

"Valerie " also did well with six marlin released for Harry Zifferblatt and family from Punta Gorda, Florida.

On the 18th "Rebecca" released five striped marlin and boated two red snapper for Chris Kelly, from Cleveland, Ohio, fishing alone.

Some of the best smaller game fish were found on the Pacific side of Baja's tip between the Lighthouse and Golden Gate, lots of sierra with some as large as 16 pounds and up to a dozen fish per boat. We also saw some very big snapper, with one reported at 60 pounds on a panga.

A couple of Mako sharks were released at Golden Gate and closer to shore both black and white skipjack were caught as well as a few roosterfish and needlefish.

Cabo San Lucas skies were partly cloudy, now turning clear and sunny. Air temperatures have dropped considerably. The wind blew hard for a couple of nights causing rough seas. However, the seas are currently calm. The average water temperature was 71 degrees.