PLENTY OF STRIPED MARLIN PLUS AN OUT OF SEASON BLUE MARLIN

Jan. 4, 2007, Tracy Ehrenberg, Pisces Fleet Sportfishing, Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

Cabo San Lucas had a fantastic fishing week again. Despite having a full moon period, Pisces Fleet's overall fishing success rate for all species combined was almost perfect at 97 percent.

Pisces Fleet anglers caught a total of 154 striped marlin this week, of which 148 were released, as well as 3 sailfish released, and 1 blue marlin. Seventy nine percent of charters caught billfish.

The few Cabo San Lucas fishing boats that didn't catch fish usually had seasick anglers aboard that asked to be brought back or were on a half-day charter fishing trip.

We did see a slight slow down in the fishing action, at one to three marlin per boat, on the marlin catches as the moon reached it's zenith, but the next day it began to pick up again.

Pisces Fleet also had a few small wahoo in the 20 to 40 pound category, again while trolling at the Golden Gate Bank fishing area.

For the first time in a while Pisces Fleet also had two small Mako sharks released, at 45 and 60 pounds respectively.

The Golden Gate Bank fishing area continues to be the most productive, as it has been for the past six weeks or so.

Pisces Fleet had several catches worthy of special mention.

On January 3rd, our charter boat "Ni Modo" released ten striped marlin and boated two dorado for Kristina Veanderkerkhot from Vancouver, Canada, who was fishing with Cristina Nothones and Miranda Romaniuk.

This same day, "C Rod" released six striped marlin for Doug and Colin Murphy from Irvine, Calif.

One unusual catch this same day was a blue marlin, around 220 pounds, that was released by a charter panga we sent out. The blue marlin was caught by Ian Leslie, from Australia, just three miles off of the Cabo San Lucas Old Lighthouse.

I say this is unusual, but actually every year in the first week of January a blue marlin is caught in the Cabo San Lucas fishing area, normally a big one of 500 to 700 pounds. Anybody willing to forgo the 21 mile run to fish at the Golden Gate Bank has a distinct possibility of catching a big blue marlin in front of the Cabo San Lucas lighthouse if tradition stands.

The "Josephine," our beautiful 80 foot yacht, is not usually considered a prime fishing boat, but it nevertheless released six marlin on January 3rd.

The next day out, the charter boat "Falcon" had seven striped marlin released and four dorados boated for the Reid family from Oregon.

The same day, "Andrea," a 28 foot boat, released five marlin for Ron Ruiz and Murdock Smith.

After striped marlin, a dorado catch was the next most likely this week at Cabo, with 46 percent of Pisces charters finding dorado from 15 to 30 pounds and dorado catches averaging one to five fish per boat. These were found at the Golden Gate Bank and at Pozo de Cota. Lures were the most likely way to get a dorado hookup.

In inshore fishing around Cabo San Lucas, it was sierra, roosterfish and a few jack crevalle.

The main fishing location was at the Golden Gate Bank this week. Cabo San Lucas weather had partly cloudy skies, with seas mostly calm. The average water temperature was 73 degrees.

Dec. 28, 2006:

Except for a few people that got seasick and turned around, absolutely every boat out caught fish this week. I can't remember when we have had a better Christmas week of fishing at Cabo San Lucas.

Pisces Fleet's overall catch success rate for all species combined was 95 percent, and our catch success rate for marlin was 94 percent, an enviable ratio by anybody's standards.

Our best fishing location was the Golden Gate Bank on the Pacific side of Cabo. Weather conditions started clear and then turned cloudy towards the end of this report. On Dec. 28th, Cabo had a little light rain, which is perfectly normal. It always rains lightly on or around New Year's Day. Cabo San Lucas fishing area seas were on the rough side due to the strong winds that blew all night. The average fishing water temperature was 75 degrees.

Our grand total on striped marlin this week was a fabulous 198 fish caught, of which 195 were released, along with one sailfish.

The charter boat "Yahoo" was one of our top boats with eight marlin releases on the 21st for the Hendel family from Beverly Hills, Calif., who also boated four dorado.

Other charter fishing boats such as Pisces Fleet's "Rebecca" consistently had 3 to 5 striped marlin per day, whilst others had one to six marlin during their trip.

The boat "Ni Modo" also had eight fish for Robert Karpp and Alex Sivo from Massachusetts.

All of the marlin action for Cabo San Lucas fishing boats this week was at the Golden Gate Bank and live bait was the key to getting hookups.

Fishing at Cabo could have been even better if not for some very windy weather towards the end of the week, causing some boats to turn back early and some anglers to get queasy.

After striped marlin, dorado were the most widely caught species, with 38 percent of charters catching fish in the 15 to 35 pounds class. Dorado catches were between one and seven fish, with most being found mixed in with the striped marlin at the Golden Gate Bank.

Yellowfin tuna catches were extremely slow. Most Cabo San Lucas sportfishing boats didn't even bother trying for tuna. One Pisces charter did head out 22 miles from Land's End but only turned up a solitary 30 pound specimen.

We did have a couple of wahoo at 40 and 70 pound, and inshore at Cabo this week there were skipjacks and roosterfish.

(See "Mexico Fishing News" online for current fishing reports, photos, weather, and water temperatures from Cabo San Lucas and other major Mexican sportfishing areas. Vacation travel articles, fishing maps and seasonal calendars, and fishing related information for Cabo San Lucas may be found at Mexfish.com's main Cabo San Lucas page.