Overall Catch Success Rate 78.95%
BILLFISH: O.K. things are a bit glum on the marlin front this week and anybody telling you otherwise is not being truthful. So what’s the problem, first off mackerel have not been readily available for bait, then we had full moon this week and water temperatures have been varied, combined with that is the fact that marlin are far and wide, so yes, some have been spotted but few have been tempted to eat. This is typical of March fishing, but we are in January! Besides this, captains know their odds are not great for marlin right now, so they are opting to stick to what they know they have a better shot at, yellowfin tuna or inshore fish. Several swordfish were spotted as they like the kind of water we have right now, colder and green in some places, but nobody had the fortune to hook one. Nevertheless we did have a couple of boats that were the envy of the fleet for actually catching marlin, both on January 15th: Royce and Kerry Peacock from San Diego, CA were lucky to release one striped marlin aboard “Adriana” when the fish took a live caballito seventeen miles from 120 Spot. “Shambala” had Mike and Larry Lichter from Chicago, aboard with friends, when they released one striped marlin and boated four nice yellow fin tuna between 25 to 30 lbs twelve miles out from the 95 spot.
OTHER SPECIES: It was all about tuna again this week as Dorado catches dropped off with the cooler currents. The only boat that caught dorado was “Tracy Ann” on the 18th for Andy and Wendy Smith from Bourbonnais, IL with a 35 lb ‘er 40 miles out from the 180 spot taken on a blue and white lure –they went a long way in search of marlin (this boat incidentally was just awarded Most Striped Marlin Released 2010 by the Billfish Foundation, congratulations Julio Castro & Martin Gonzalez). Tuna catches are still steady with forty percent of our boats catching between one to twelve fish. Top tuna boat this week was “Bill Collector” for Jeff Landman and friends from Nashville, TN who caught twelve football size tuna twenty eight miles from the 180 spot; the fish took a combination of lures. On the 16th, “Tracy Ann” had a great day too for Bryan and Shirley Northcutt from Houston, TX when they landed ten yellow fin tuna between 15 to 20 lbs; they went farther than “Bill Collector”, forty five miles out from the 180 spot. On the 14th, Peter Tatllberg, Andreas Olofson and Johan Fager from Sweden kept busy reeling in nine yellow fin tuna aboard, also aboard “Tracy Ann” thirty miles straight out to the south; the fish took cedar plugs. “Bill Collector” again did well on tuna this time with Mark Chiavetta and friends from San Jose, CA; they caught six yellow fin tuna for a nice dinner. January 18th saw Eric Katajamaki and friends from Vancouver, Canada having fun aboard “Fearless” with captain Benito Agendas , when they boated six yellow fin tuna, most of them football size 25 miles east of Cabo Real. The next day, John Jorgensen and Leigh Goldman from Albany, NY caught six yellow fin tuna aboard “Bandito” with the fish taking a combination of hoochis and cedar plugs. Bull sharks were seen at Pedregalito 16 miles up the Pacific coast, in just 15 feet or water. Michael Theodore was fishing aboard “Little Hooker” and had caught some bonita earlier in the day which he used as bait, to throw to the sharks, which were right on shore in about fifteen feet of water. He battled what turned out to be a 100 lb shark, for forty five minutes before it could be subdued and boated. He said there were at least a dozen in the same area and that the shark put up an aggressive fight – he ended up hooking four that day, but just the one stuck. Next day out he had three strikes at the same location and managed to catch a 70 lb ‘er. As to other species we had a lot of sierra, also known as Spanish mackerel inshore with twenty percent of our boats catching between one to fourteen fish. This little fish (seldom over 11 lbs) is a lot of fun on light or spinning tackle and is exceptionally tasty, with a sweet white meat. The absolute best eating fish caught this week was a beautiful 70 lb caught on January 16th aboard “Rebecca” for John and Ward Davenport from Chattanooga, TN. They fished at the Herradura, where the fish hit a petrolero lure – a 70 lb wahoo can feed a lot of people. On the 18th, Tom Lewis, Jeff Morgan and Mike Moroskey from Newport Beach, CA went bottom fishing aboard “Bill Collector” and did they catch (and release many) fish; they ended up with a tally of thirty red snapper, one 20 lb yellow fin tuna and two mojarras at Punta Gorda. They used langoustines for bait. Inshore we also had roosterfish to 15 lbs, jack crevalle, yellowtail and many bonitas
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, seas mostly calm to a few choppy days, cooler weather
LOCATION: Pacific Side – Cabeza Ballena, Migriño, Old light house, 180 spot, 210 spot, Cerro Blanco, 120 spot, Pedregal, Herradura, Margaritas Elias Calles, Gaspareño, 150 Spot
Sea of Cortez - 95 Spot, Punta Gorda
AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 72 F
BEST LURES; Cedar plugs, tigrillo, rapalas, hoochis, purple, petrolero, mackerel, blue/white
Live caballito, ballyhoo, sardines
Based on the catches of Pisces by Ale Almada & Tracy Ehrenberg.
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