Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Capt. Tracy Ehrenberg
October 30, 2006
Cabo San Lucas - Saltwater Fishing Report

PISCES WEEKLY FISH REPORT October 20th to 26th, 2006

Overall catch success rate for all species combined: 90.2%

BILLFISH: This week we saw a marked improvement in billfish catches mostly on striped marlin at the Golden Gate area, bringing out marlin catch success rate up to fifty percent. The participants in the Bisbee tournament hoped for likewise success, but with a 300 lb minimum weight limit, the pickings were slim, resulting in only three qualifying fish, two of which were from the same team “Bad Company”, a 55 ft Hatteras. Another spanner in the works was tropical storm Paul, which caused the port to be closed for two days, including what was supposed to have been the first day of the Bisbee. Due to this problem the tournament was only two days instead of three. Team “Bad Company” snagged a huge $3,902,997.50 total winnings (yes you read right, almost four million dollars) for the largest individual payout in sportfishing history. Their day one fish was caught by Randy Parker from Holualoa Hawaii and weighed 361 lbs, the day two fish was caught by Pete Groesbeck from Escondido Ca and weighed 422 lbs. Don’t be fooled, this team are a core of seasoned professionals who studied, planned and “teched out” their boat to win. Randy Parker is from a very famous fishing family from Hawaii; Pete Groesbeck is a full time captain who has been fishing Baja since the 1970’s. Captain of the vessel Steve Lassley was at the helm of After Midnight as they took first place in the 2000 Bisbee. The third place fish barely made it at 301 lbs, aboard “Retriever”, nevertheless it was worth a decent $110,862.50. One hundred and eighty three teams entered, consisting of a total of 937 anglers. One hundred and fifty two billfish were caught, with the majority released, consisting of 64 blue marlin, 6 black marlin, 61 striped marlin and 21 sailfish. In regular non-tournament fishing we had some good catches, such as a 360 lb black marlin aboard “El Soltar” for Todd Berardi from San Francisco, Ca on October 20th. Next day out “Valerie” was our top boat with five striped marlin released and a dorado boated for a group from Pennsylvania. Sean Cavanaugh, Paul Bordonaro and Steve Stafford had a great time aboard “Adriana” (now with her new turbo engine, she zips about all over the place passing bigger boats) releasing three striped marlin and boating a couple of 25 lb dorado for the table. Next day out “Andrea” (also with a new turbo engine) released four striped marlin for this same group. Pisces anglers caught a total of 48 striped marlin, 2 blue marlin, 1 black marlin and 4 sailfish, all but one fish were released. OTHER SPECIES: There were slightly more dorado than marlin in Cabo this week, with 52% of boats landing fish in the 15 to 50 lb class, with the majority right at 20-25 lbs. Numbers of fish caught dropped this week to eighty two total fish caught, found over a widespread area. Tuna catches were even slower, at just fifteen percent, so we are hoping for something big to happen soon for the tuna tournament which starts this Thursday. Nevertheless, two 300 lb plus fish have been caught in the past two weeks, which bodes well. The tuna we caught this week were no more than 50 lbs. “Ni Modo” had a nice 70 lb wahoo for Jim Lee off of Land’s End on October 22nd, our only one of the week. Inshore rooster fishing has really picked up; one panga we sent caught 11 in four hours in the 15 to 25 lb class.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: We had rain from tropical storm Paul on Tuesday and Wednesday, when the port was closed due to barely rough seas….by Thursday we had beautiful blue skies and seas were mostly calm. Now cooling down.

LOCATION: Golden Gate, Migriño, Cabeza de Ballena, Palmilla, Punta Gorda.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 85 F

BEST LURES: Live bait, sardines, petrolero, mostly live bait.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

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