BILLFISH: This week we had outstanding billfish catches, but the only thing was, not for all the boats. It was feast or famine; while some boats came back with flags flying and smiling anglers, others drew a blank, often losing fish that wouldn’t stay, or just simply not getting them to bite. One of the main factors was the full moon, meaning the fish were gorging themselves at night with the heightened visibility. Those opting for a half day, did not meet with the same success rate as the full day charters. Warmer than normal water temperatures are giving us an influx of sailfish and one of the best blue marlin bites we’ve seen in years. Pisces Valerie started out the week with a bang – achieving a grand slam and more. A group of anglers from Los Angeles headed up by Ben Gebhardt fished with captain Roberto Sandez at the 11.50 spot and released a blue marlin, striped marlin, sailfish, two pilot sharks and boated a dorado and a tuna – what a day! There were several boats that had double sailfish day, such as Chad & Amy Norris from Alabama, aboard Speedwell at the Cabrillo Sea Mount. On July 27th Andrea did well to release two striped marlin 32 miles out from the 180 spot for Julian & Matt Puentes. This same day Cabolero had a super day with two blue marlin & a striped marlin released outside the Herradura for Mike & Alex Bunje, Jim & Marshall Tucker from Carlsbad, California. Bill Collector had a blue marlin estimated at 240 lbs, off of Cerro Colorado for the Talley family from Midland, Texas. Ruthless also managed to hook up a small blue marlin, which was successfully released by Heath & Kash Sisk. What we heard from a lot of captains is that blue marlin are coming up & striking lures & bait but not sticking, so there’s action but not always a catch. One boat that did have action was Rebecca for Cruz Hernandez & friends from San Antonio, Texas - they released a 120 lb striped marlin & a sailfish, before hooking a black marlin, which got away. Flora T on the other hand had a black marlin that stuck the Wiviott family from California were thrilled to release this prized catch estimated at 250 lbs. Pisces anglers released a total of 53 billfish this week consisting of 18 striped marlin, 8 blue marlin, 1 black marlin & 21 sailfish.
OTHER SPECIES: We did not see a huge amount of action on other species this week as boats were concentrating on the hot marlin bite. We just had a few tuna this week, most on the small side between 20 and 50 lbs, the one exception was Bill Collector with anglers from Fayetteville, Arkansas who landed a beautiful 136 lb tuna just four miles from Los Arcos. Very few dorado were caught this week – it leaves us wondering if commercial fishing is making inroads on this species as recently the Mexican government passed a law making it legal for commercial boats to have up to 10% dorado as bycatch, which they are allowed to commercialize – the question is who is checking? Only a couple of wahoo were caught, both on Bill Collector – a first for seven year old Luca Chiavetta from San Jose, Ca. who brought dinner home for the family. Inshore there were a few triggerfish, snappers , skipjacks & roosters. A few pilot sharks were also released. The ban on shark fishing is over today - and already one commercial long liner was spotted off ours shores.
LOCATION: 20-32 miles out from the 180 spot, 4 miles off of Los Arcos, 95 spot, Herradura, Punta Gorda, La Laguna, Golden Gate
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Thunder clouds and heavy rain over San Jose a couple of days, Cabo San Lucas remained dry. Hot but seas are calm.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 86-89 F
BEST LURES: Caballito, green colors, guacamaya.