Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Capt. Tracy Ehrenberg
May 24, 2003
Cabo San Lucas - Saltwater Fishing Report

PISCES REPORT MAY 16TH TO 23RD, 2003

PISCES WEEKLY FISH REPORT MAY 16TH TO 23RD, 2003

BILLFISH: Overall an excellent week here in Cabo, with plenty of action for pretty much every boat. That’s not to say that a marlin catch was a given for every outing; there were plenty of boats baiting up to ten stripers in a day, that only managed to catch one and a few drew a blank. Bait was scarce this week; with very little mackerel available, which may have had something to do with this – marlin prefer mackerel over the mullet currently being supplied. The percentage of boats that actually caught billfish this week was sixty-two percent, though the catch rate for all species combined was close to ninety-seven percent. There were some boats that did really well, such as “Valerie” on May 19th, fishing the Destiladeres area; they managed to release four marlin and one sailfish for Craig Webster and friends. A couple of days later “Tracy Ann” fishing much closer to Cabo at the Chileno area, released four for Grady & Claire Crawford from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Next day out this same boat was at the top again with three, this time for Dave & Douglas Hand and Mike Price, from Laguna Beach, New York and Thousand Oaks respectively. Paul Watson fishing aboard “Rebecca” on the 22nd also had three releases as we well as one dorado. Angler of the week though, has to go to seven year old Thomas Matthew Hardy from Centreville, Maryland for releasing an approximately 145 lb striped marlin on 30 lb test line in just 35 minutes aboard “Tracy Ann” (see photo below). Pisces anglers caught a total of sixty-two striped marlin and two sailfish, all but one marlin were released. Average weight on marlin is 120 to 150 lbs and sailfish 80-110 lbs. OTHER SPECIES: Last report, boats fished pretty much all the time on the Cortez side, seeking marlin for the tournament, but now that we are back to usual, they began to head up into the Pacific again and did well off of the Old Lighthouse on yellowfin tuna, though they weren’t limited to that area. On other days they found tuna at the 95 spot and also in front of San Jose. Our total on yellowfin this week was 121 fish, with the average weight being 18 to 30 lbs. Boats caught anywhere from 3 to 18 with the norm around 6 fish. Largest tuna this week was caught by a lady angler – Cathi Boyle from Las Vegas landed a 73 lb beauty aboard “Rebecca” on May 23rd, that took her one hour to boat on 30 lb test line (see photo below). There is still a lot of dorado around but they are not found in schools, but rather being picked up whilst trolling for marlin – common catches were of one or two fish and more rarely four per boat in the 20 to 40 lb class. Wahoo are still in the area and again we lost couple of hundred dollars in lures to their sharp teeth – though if we use wire leaders, the marlin will be reluctant to bite – largest for us this week was aboard “Valerie” caught by Stan Cope on May 20th and weighing in at 70 lbs; others average 40 –50 lbs. Inshore it was a little quiet, but pangas did catch hammerhead sharks, a few jack crevalle and fair numbers of roosterfish. LOCATION: From Old Lighthouse on Pacific to Destiladeres on the Cortez side. Top spots were Chileno, 95 and in front of San Jose. WEATHER CONDITIONS: It turned a bit colder this week and we had heavy fog most mornings that cleared by 8.00 am, seas calm to moderate. AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 72-75 F BEST LURES: Live bait, green/orange, cedar plugs. BASED ON THE CATCHES OF PISCES FLEET BY TRACY EHRENBERG

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