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MAY 19^th to 25^th, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate for All Species Combined 73%

THIS BEAUTIFUL STRIPED MARLIN, WAS RELEASED BY ONE OF OUR DUTCH ANGLERS DURING THE EUROPEAN SEA ANGLERS DUTCH NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

BILLFISH: As noted in last week’s fish report, fishing dropped off abruptly on the last day of the IGFA World Offshore Championship, when only eight marlin were caught and that vein continued for several days as we were blasted by blustery winds and fog on the Pacific as well as whitecaps on the Cortez side for several days. Nevertheless fifty percent of anglers did catch marlin this week with the catches generally one or two fish per boat; the only exception was “La Brisa” on May 22^nd for Jaap Hoorenman & Bernard Kortman from Holland who were here participating in the European Federation of Sea Anglers, Dutch National Championship – Jaap, in his eighties, ended up taking first place amongst a field of very skilled and experienced anglers. Fishing for this group ended up being very good; we were honored to have them fish with Pisces for this prestigious event which combined five days of panga fishing inshore, followed by three days of cruisers offshore. The final tally for the Dutchmen was 75 roosterfish, 16 chopos, 14 sierras, 10 jack crevalles, 6 skipjacks, 1 sea bass, 3 bonitas, 13 pompano, 11 striped marlin, 2 dorado and 1 yellowfin tuna – not bad for eleven guys fishing 12 lb test on the pangas and 30 lb test on the cruisers, quite an achievement in fact. Overall a little under half of the boats caught striped marlin between the 11.50 spot and Punta Gorda. Pisces anglers caught and released 34 striped marlin this week. Weights on the striped marlin ranged from 90 to 110 lbs.

ONE OF 75 ROOSTERFISH RELEASED BY OUR DUTCH ANGLERS

OTHER SPECIES:  The section above gives you an idea of how the inshore fishing was, but we did have a little bit of action offshore too. For the first time in months we caught some yellowfin tuna; several boats had one and two fish but they were small at 10 to 20 lbs.  Some dorado were also caught but again not very large at up to 22 lbs.

A HUGE YELLOWTAIL FOR ANOTHER DUTCH ANGLER

LOCATION: 11.50 spot, 95 spot, Punta Gorda, Land’s End to Old Lighthouse

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear sunny skies, windy, cold and foggy on the Pacific, Cortez whitecaps on three consecutive days.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 67 to 69 F, which explains the slowdown on fishing.

BEST LURES: caballito, ballyhoo, jurelito, cedar plugs, guacayamos.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg