Tuna, Tuna, Tuna, Marlin & One Swordfish in Cabo
Capt. Tracy Ehrenberg
May 5, 2008
Cabo San Lucas - Saltwater Fishing Report
PISCES FISH REPORT
APRIL 22nd to 30th, 2008
OVERALL CATCH SUCCESS RATE 99%
BILLFISH: An excellent week for fishing here in Cabo, with a variety of fish, not usually expected at this time of year. Water temperatures are beginning to rise and the fishing thermometer is climbing too. We were fortunate to have fair numbers of striped marlin this week, with a catch success rate of fifty one percent for billfish, however anglers were kept busy even when they weren't catching marlin, by huge schools of tuna. Catches got better towards the end of this period and catch of the week had to go to Herb Skinner from Savannah, Georgia, who fished aboard "Fearless" with Captain Benito Agundez on April 24th. Herb released an approximate 100 lb swordfish, as well as a striped marlin and caught 15 yellowfin tuna, all at the Punta Gorda area. On April 28th Kipp and Hallie Howard from Kansas City, were fishing with Justin and Tara Andrews from Minneapolis, aboard "Ruthless" and were very fortunate to release six striped marlin at Destiladeras, on the Cortez side. A couple of days later the Hamm family from Vancouver, Canada, also released six marlin aboard "Bill Collector", all on live bait at Punta Gorda. This same day " Cabolero" released five in the same area for a group from Texas. Todd Williams from Tulsa, Oklahoma, caught a large striped marlin, which weighed 200 lbs aboard "Falcon", just five miles off of Land's End on April 22nd; he also caught nine tuna. Pisces anglers caught a total of 73 striped marlin of which all but one were released.
OTHER SPECIES: Tuna, tuna, tuna right off of Cabo, as close as three miles…..sounds great, but this event brought the big guns of commercial fishing right on our doorstep. For five days, large super seiners preyed on our own backyard, scooping up thousands of football size tuna. Just so you get a clear picture on one day we counted NINETEEN super seiners, boats over 100 feet, dropping their nets and working with a team of spotter helicopters. As you can imagine locals were outraged. However the law does not consider tuna a sport fish, but a commercial fish and tuna boats can fish anywhere except within a conservation zone. We have a conservation zone that runs from Land's End to Cabo Pulmo and is about three miles wide. But these tuna guys were professionals coming within 1 degree of the conservation zone. At our request the Navy and Fish and Game went out to inspect the boats and checked that they were using the gear they were authorized and that their permit were in order. The report was that yes, all was in order, but nevertheless it got local people's blood boiling. We did have good tuna catches despite the seiners presence, but catches did drop off considerably after they were in the area. Pisces anglers caught a total of 573 yellowfin tuna in the 15 to 30 lb class. With some boats catching as many as 38 in a day (mostly released). Sixty five percent of charters caught tuna. Dorado catches were pretty decent too, with thirty nine percent of charters catching from one to three fish and more rarely up to six. A lot of the dorado were found close in at two to five miles. We had just one 45 lb wahoo this week and a quick spike on the large squid, up to 25 lbs which soon dropped off again. Inshore boats caught bonita, a few jack crevalle, roosters and sierra and red snapper in lesser numbers.
LOCATION: Destiladeras, Punta Gorda, Cerro Colorado, 3-10 miles off of Land's End.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, seas calm on the Cortez side, quite a bit of chop on the Pacific, foggy on the Pacific early morning and evening.
AVERGE WATER TEMP: 74 F
BEST LURES: Live bait for marlin, cedar plugs for lures, assorted lures dorado.
Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg
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