Latest Fish Report

JANUARY 7th to 13th, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate For All Species Combined 85%

BILLFISH: Pretty slim pickings for billfish this week. The thing is as well as having a full moon there was no one set area where they were congregating, so boats could go up the Pacific and find the odd one, or offshore 30 miles and they might locate them, or they could be off of Chileno on the Cortez side 15 miles and also find a stray fish. The exception was again “Shambala” on January 7th, when they participated in a charity event for the MVP (Making Victory Possible For People In Need) Foundation with anglers Jon Brovitz, Andrew Stegan, Anthony Cerone, Tim Murphy & Jim McMahon – this boat and team did extremely well to take top honors with six striped marlin released on live mackerel at the edge of the Golden Gate as well as boating four dorados. This same boat later in the week again found the fish this time 30 miles from the 220 spot. Repeat angler Noel Briscoe from Clovis, California was on board and all fish were caught on live caballito. “Attitude Adjustment” had a decent day on the 8th of January catching and releasing a striped marlin, estimated at 120 lbs, one dorado and four skipjacks. Just fifteen percent of our anglers caught striped marlin this week, resulting in eleven fish caught & released. I spoke to some of the captains to get their input on why marlin fishing is like it is and they think there are several factors, such as full moon, cooler water temperature, water a little greener on the Pacific and fish not grouped but spread out.

Who says you need big fish to have fun? This group had a blast catching sierra, yellowtail a tiny pargo & mojarra, on the other hand you could be somewhere else freezing your butt off.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches were at thirty percent for fish up to 30 lbs but catches were usually of only a single fish, with just a few boats getting more than this. Tuna catches were at nineteen percent for fish up to 35 lbs; top boat for tuna for the third week in a row was “Andrea” with twelve caught 30 miles from the 240 spot by Greg Greene and friends from Dallas, Texas. The inshore fishing was the best of all this week we had loads of skipjack, some yellowtail up to 35 lbs , some good roosterfish catches, with up to a half dozen per boat and sierra were plentiful.
LOCATION: Pacific; Golden Gate, Gaspareño, South 20 to 30 miles, Poza Cota, San Cristobal.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Mostly sunny, seas calm to moderate.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 70-73 F

BEST LURES: Live bait, green/yellow, cedar plugs, feathers.
Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg