PISCES FLEET BOATS FIND SLOWER MARLIN FISHING ON BAJA'S PACIFIC SIDE

Jan. 26-Feb. 2, 2007, Tracy Ehrenberg, Pisces Fleet Sportfishing, Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

Cabo San Lucas fishing weather was partly cloudy, but with more sunny days than the forecast predicted. Seas were mostly calm, but somewhat bumpy on the way out.

The start of the fishing week and most of it was very good for striped marlin at Cabo San Lucas.

However, as the moon got bigger and by the end of this report, it was if fishing was switched off.

The signs are that as the moon wanes a little, the striped marlin fishing will switch on again. We have been very spoiled the last few weeks at Cabo San Lucas, with multiple fish release days for many boats.

Cabo San Lucas sportfishing boats reported lots of fast moving bait seen at the Golden Gate Bank, but not much activity on the marlin front. It seems like the marlin are gorging at night and then resting up during the daytime.

Fish count numbers this week still good resulted in an overall catch success rate for all species combined of 87 percent with 76 percent of Pisces boats catching marlin.

Some of our boats did really well, such as "Ruthless" with five marlin released on January 29th for James Killingsworth, Warren Pescud and Max Jones from Hong Kong.

The "Valerie" was one of our hottest charter boats this week, with five marlin and five dorado on January 28th and four marlin on both January 27th and January 28th.

Our boat "Yahoo" also had five marlin for a fishing group from Anaheim, California, consisting of Jose Ochon, Kevin Pullan and Erik Aguilar.

Pisces Fleet Sportfishing anglers caught a total of 114 marlin at Cabo San Lucas this week, of which all but two were released. The marlin averaged 130 pounds in weight.

Again this week at Cabo San Lucas, dorado were in second place to marlin with 36 percent of Pisces boats catching between one and nine dorado, and the average no more than 1 or 2 fish. Dorado weights were averaging 20 to 30 pounds.

The "Falcon" fished off of the Cabo lighthouse on the Pacific Baja coast and did capture three tunas, but they weren't anything to write home about at 20 pounds each.

Some Pisces boats fishing offshore also had Humboldt giant squid to 35 pounds.

Pisces Fleet inshore fishing boats caught red snapper, sierra in good amounts, and skipjacks.

Cabo San Lucas fishing, Pisces Fleet, Jan. 19-25, 2007:

We are very thankful that fishing at Cabo San Lucas continues to be so outstanding. Pisces Fleet had an overall catch success rate for all species combined of 100 percent, a number rarely repeated in other sportfishing destinations around the world.

Our striped marlin catch rate was 99 percent; just one Pisces charter boat this week did not catch marlin.

The majority of the striped marlin at Cabo San Lucas are still being caught at the Golden Gate Bank, although some charter boats did fish off of the Old Lighthouse this week, which is much closer to Cabo, but with less spectacular results.

The "Yahoo" was Pisces Fleet's top boat for the week with 9 striped marlin released on January 20th for Liz and Dennis Sisk from Fort Worth, Texas, who fished with Joni Cannon from Alvarado, Texas.

A group from Florida, consisting of Paul Koch, Jody Akens and Chet Laupert did very well to release 6 stripers at the Golden Gate Bank.

Other boats that caught a half-dozen fish in a day were "Sr Moment" and "Ruthless". Nearly all the fish took live bait, on calm seas with overcast skies.

This week Pisces Fleet anglers caught a total of 175 striped marlin and 1 sailfish, and all but 4 marlin were released.

Dorado were the next most abundant fish at Cabo San Lucas this week 41 percent of Pisces charters caught between one and four dorado. Some were up to 42 pound, whilst others were an average of 20 pounds.

Several small mako shark were caught and released. Red snapper were caught at the Golden Gate Bank while bottom fishing.

Cabo San Lucas inshore sportfishing pangas had a few roosterfish and the odd dorado here and there.

Fishing waters at the tip of Baja California were mostly calm with skies overcast all week. The average water temperature was 70 degrees.