Numbers at a
glance: Marlin 41%, Tuna 47%, Dorado 16%, Other 33%
MARLIN: This
week marlin catches remained steady, but with the influx of schools of tuna
many boats opted for eating fish and not strictly marlin. Catches slowed a
little as the moon grew and strong winds provoked rough seas on several days.
Top boat this week was definitely Pisces Hot Rod our 42 ft. Cabo. On June 17th
she had a fabulous day with six striped marlin released by David Whiting, Casey
Whiting and Jordan Stout, along with three small tuna and a dorado boated. This
same day was good for Pisces Listo II a 48 ft. Viking, with four marlin
released up to 140 LBS and a 100 lb. pilot shark released for a group from
Dallas headed up by John Wiggins. A couple of days before this it was the 35
ft. Cabo Pisces Knot Workin that has the best day, just three miles from Cabeza
de Ballena with Matt and Angela Husky from Tampa, Florida on board. They
managed to catch and fight four large striped marlin, with the top fish just
over 160 LBS, on live caballlito. The
Ackernecht and Costa families from California fished together on the ever
popular 31 ft. Bertram Pisces Rebecca on June 13th and with six anglers on
board Captain J.R went above and beyond to make sure each person caught a fish.
They ended up with three striped marlin up to 140 LBS released, a 120 LB pilot
shark released and four nice dorado for the table. On June 11th Javier Casillas and friends from
La Paz and Cabo San Lucas were out on this same boat and were able to fight
three striped marlin up to 140 LBS. Other catches were of one or two marlin
usually with a few tuna thrown in. Forty one percent of our boats caught marlin
this week, giving us a total catch of 57 marlin – remember we go where the fish
are –all but three of the marlin were released.
OTHER
SPECIES: You could have almost called it “Tuna Week” as they were the most
prolific catch this report; in fact our total tuna tally was 451 fish. The
majority of the tuna were school size fish from 5 to 30 LBS, with many
released. There were however, a couple of very nice exceptions, both caught on
the same day. Pisces Ruthless, one of our 31 ft. Bertram’s managed to catch a
total of 30 tuna, with many released in one day for Brian Gernand and Johnny
Berry from New York. They went out again June 17th, on this same boat and had
their work cut out when they hooked a tuna that took them one and a half hours
to land; it was worth it though, it tipped the scales at 205 LBS after taking a
tuna plug at the Herradura. Just a few pounds behind this fish was Pisces Bill
Collector ‘s fish which weighed in at 197 LBS the largest of fourteen tuna they
caught that day plus a striped marlin released for Mark Chiavetta and friends
from San Jose, California. Forty seven percent of our boats caught between one
and eighteen tuna in the 5 to 25 LB class. Dorado catches remain a bit slow
with just sixteen percent of boats finding smaller examples of this species.
Catches were usually a single fish and occasionally up to four, with the
exception being Pisces Rebecca who managed to catch eleven and release ten -
the fish they kept was 20 LBS, the others that were released were very small. We had several sharks again this week, with
most being pilot sharks up to 120 LBS. A Mako was released on the Panga Jessica
who was also fortunate to release a striped marlin and catch a small tuna and
skipjack. It was nice to see fair
amounts of roosterfish this week, with Tim Osterman from Missouri able to catch
two aboard the Panga Pichurro that weighed approximately 35 and 40 LBS. Other
small game catches were of jack crevalle, sierra, amberjack and skipjacks.
WEATHER:
Skies clear, seas moderate to choppy, windy on several days.
LOCATION:
11.50 spot, 95 spot, Herradura, Destiladeras, Punta Gorda, Cabeza de Ballena
off of Old Lighthouse and Lands End.
AVERAGE
WATER TEMP: 77-79 F
BEST LURES:
Live caballito, ballyhoo, cedar plugs, red/black, assorted feathers.
Author:
Tracy Ehrenberg
Date
Published: 6/18/2016