Pisces 2018 Tournament Season Report
Capt. Tracy Ehrenberg
November 18, 2018
Cabo San Lucas - Saltwater Fishing Report
Overall catch success rate, all species combined: 86%
Numbers at a glance: Billfish 59%, Tuna 24%, Dorado 28%, other 9%.
First of all I would like to apologize for the lack of reports in the past month. This does not in any way reflect the fishing, because it has been off the charts and like we haven't see in Cabo in years and this week is no different! I will be updating the reports from the last month in this week so you will be able to go through them and use as reference if needed.
I will start off with what I think is a pretty impressive number… There were 376 billfish caught by Pisces this week, out of which 375 billfish were released. 104 of those billfish were caught in just ONE day, while 84 of those were caught by only THREE boats in one day. That's the kind of billfish fishing we're experiencing at the moment! Of these billfish the majority were striped marlin caught at Finger Bank, about 50 miles north of Cabo, however, there have also been marlin closer by; just not the double digits as we've seen further North. The billfish caught this week also included sailfish, spearfish, black marlin and even a 415 lbs Blue marlin caught by Pisces 28' Andrea.
Apart from billfish we had a few impressive yellowfin tuna, including a 270 lbs yellowfin caught aboard Pisces 35' Knot Workinonly two days after the end of the Tuna Tournament (the winning tuna, netting almost $400k was 272 lbs!) and a 127 lbs tuna on Pisces 31' La Brisa. We've also seen quite a few wahoo and good dorado numbers.
And to top it off, many of our boats were entered in the Los Cabos Big Game Charter Boat Classic (the only tourney which boasts free entry if you charter a boat) and we are proud to say we placed in the top three places daily.
The largest tally of billfish caught in ONE day out at the Finger this week was by Pisces 42' Caliente, Captained by Jaime Gonzales. The same anglers fished the Finger two days in a row, November 14th and 15th, landing 68 marlin total. Amazingly, they caught 34 fish each day (yes, exactly the same number both days). Caliente found luck with the stripeys even without going to the Finger though. Earlier in the week they caught and released 5 striped marlin, all around 120 lbs, on ballyhoo bait out of Gaspareno, where they also landed a 20 lbs dorado. Anglers were from Wakefield, Rhode Island.
Pisces 31' Rebecca also had a spectacular day at the Finger on the 15th, landing 28 striped marlin, 2 sailfish and one doradofor lunch, by anglers Alexander Lejonklou and Bertil Pettersson who made their trip all the way from Sweeden well worth it as they also fished the Rebecca on November 12th and caught and released 20 striped marlin.
Anglers Bruce Welsh, David Palmer and James Schrank onboard Rebecca on the 10th also had a spectacular day, catching and releasing 22 striped marlin and a nice 40 lbs wahoo on mackerel bait.
Also present at the Finger banks this week was Pisces 42' Yahoo, which caught and released twenty striped marlin. All boats headed to the Finger used a mix of live caballito and mackerel bait, and ballyhoo occasionally.
Earlier in the week, Pisces 38' C Rod also impressed with a double digit marlin count out at the Finger, with 24 striped marlincaught and released by anglers Chris Bekaert, Dave Burnett, Michael Brown, Scott Pearson and Sue Bekaert from Ontario, Canada. All marlin caught at the Finger this week averaged about 100-120 lbs.
Others who had great marlin catches nearer to Cabo were Pisces 31' La Brisa, Tracy Ann and Tiburon. I think we will start seeing the marlin move closer to Cabo in the next few weeks here.
November 11th La Brisa caught and released 6 striped marlin, with the largest of about 180 lbs. The fish were caught on mackerel bait and on green and yellow lures out at "La Brecha". Anglers were Justin and Robert Pill and Glen Gardner. La Brisa did well again two days later, this time entered in the Los Cabos Big Game Charter Boat Classic Tournament with anglers Bob Mc Kee, Nick Teal and Roger Bradbury from Redhill in Surrey, United Kingdom.
Tracy Ann also caught 6 striped marlin later in the week, the largest of which was about 150 lbs, caught on caballito and mackerel out of Punta Lobos.
They landed 2 striped marlin which they released, along with one dorado of about 12 lbs and 9 yellowfin tuna. Their largest tuna of 127 lbs gave them 1st place in Day One of the Tournament, netting $1,800 dlls for the day. This is the only free-entry fishing tournament on the Baja California Peninsula lasting four days from Nov 13th - 16th, and had 100-plus boats enter.
Pisces boats that placed in this tournament were:
Day 1: 1st Place Tuna: 31' La Brisa with a 127 lbs tuna.
2nd Place Dorado: 28' Adriana with a 17.2 lbs dorado.
Day 2: 1st Place Dorado: 31' Rebecca with a 20.6 lbs dorado.
Day 3: 1st Place Dorado: 28' Adriana with a 21 lbs dorado.
Day 4: 2nd Place Tuna: 27' BajaMark with a 86 lbs tuna.
2nd Place Dorado: 38' C Rod with a 18.6 lbs dorado.
The angler(s) catching the largest tuna, wahoo and dorado won $1,800 each day, the second largest of each species took $900 each day and the third largest of each species $635 each day.
As the 2018 Los Cabos Big Game Charter Boat Classic came to an end, registration records showed close to 460 anglers participated in the event. Next year's dates are the Tuesday through Friday before the week of Thanksgiving in the United States: Nov. 19-22. For info or to register go to www.loscabostournaments.com.
Now for some of the black and blues of the week, starting off with Pisces 32' Bill Collector, which landed a beautiful black marlin of about 230 lbs. which they tagged and released. Anglers also landed another striped marlin of about 130 lbs. Both fish hit on caballito bait. The next day Bill Collector caught 4 striped marlin at Golden Gate on mackerel bait and a blue marlin of about 200 lbs, on a black/red lure at the 70 Spot, which they released.
Pisces 28' Andrea had a spectacular catch this week, with our English anglers catching a 415 pound blue marlin on a tigrillo lure out at Gaspareño. They also landed a 10 lbs dorado on a red and white lure. These same anglers fished on the 31' Tiburon a few days later and also landed 4 striped marlin, which they released, all hitting on mackerel and caballito live bait out from the Golden Gate shoreline.
And the largest tuna caught this week was by Pisces 35' Knot Workin and anglers Beth and David Dobrzynski from Rochester, NY, who had themselves the fishing day of a lifetime. They started off by catching and releasing a striped marlin each, which hit on a green feather lure at about 12 miles, around the 200 Spot. They also released a sailfish there, which hit on caballito bait and then went on to catch 5 yellowfin tuna which hot on cedar plugs, feathers and caballito bait. All tuna were about 20 lbs, except for one. They fought their tuna for 3.5 hours on 100 lbs test, returning after the sun had set; but it was worth it, the monster fish weighed in at 270 lbs! A great job by anglers and crew.
Pisces 60' Reel Machine had some luck with the yellowfin as well, but not in size but in numbers; they caught 19 yellowfin ranging from 10 to 40 pounds each on cedar plug lures about 20 miles out from the Old Lighthouse. They also landed a very decent sized dorado, of about 30 lbs which hit on a flying fish lure. Their day culminated with a nice 40 lbs spearfish which they released.
More tuna and dorado caught on Pisces 31' Tiburon which landed 5 dorado between 15 and 20 lbs each out of Cerritos on feathers. And then ended 3 yellowfin of about 15 to 20 lbs out of Gaspareño the next day along with 2 striped marlin (released) which hit on green/black lures and a nice 15 lbs dorado which hit on feather lure as well.
LOCATION: Finger Bank, Old Lighthouse, Gaspareno, Golden Gate.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Calm waters, only one day midweek (Nov 14) with strong wind, otherwise beautiful conditions with cristal clear waters.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: Temperature varied a few degrees depending on location, from 77- 80 F, with a high of 82 F.
BEST LURES: Caballito and mackerel bait, ballyhoo; varied lures: green/yellow, tigrillo, black/red, cedar plugs, feathers.
Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing Fleet and written by Rebecca Ehrenberg
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