Week started out at Punta Gorda, then moved to our mid section, 11.50 and Chileno area and 95 spot

March 31st to April 1st, 2006

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Generally good, clear sunny skies, seas fair on the Pacific, calm on the Cortez side

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 68 - 69 F.

BEST LURES: Live bait.

BILLFISH
This week, I heard of what I thought was an incredible feat: on April 3rd, George Kreiner from Buffalo, New York, caught and released an approximate 150 lb swordfish, on spinning tackle, using 15 lb test, twenty seven miles directly south of Cabo, taking one and a half hours to bring to the boat. The fish had been dozing on the surface and once George spotted it he cast a live bait a couple of feet in front of the fish, which immediately became alert and snatched the mackerel – for those that doubt this, we have seen pictures. In other news here in Cabo, fishing has been rather inconsistent, but on the last day of this week, pretty much every boat we sent out was able to catch at least one striped marlin. Looking back on past years we see that fishing has held up pretty well, with catch rates generally higher. Our overall catch success rate this week for all species combined was seventy percent. Some days nearly ever boat would draw a blank, next day half of them would catch, next day all would catch and then it would drop back to lower numbers. On April 1st Adam Grismer and friends did very well to release five striped marlin aboard “Ni Modo” at Destiladeres, up beyond San Jose, close to 40 miles away from Cabo. April 4th turned out to be one of the better days with “Rebecca” releasing three in the Chileno area for Dave and Dylis Pantry from Bermuda, Texas. This same day “Tracy Ann” also released three in the same area for Kyle Lepley, Jake and Jarad Swank from Indiana. To close out the week “Karina” had three striped marlin and an 80 lb yellowfin also in the Chileno area for Ryan McDowell, Kevin Proctor and Bernie Zewski, visiting from Canada. Our marlin catch success rates was fair at fifty-four percent, with 59 striped marlin caught by our anglers of which 56 were released.

OTHER SPECIES:
After marlin the next most likely catch was dorado, but then again I consider the catches slow with just eleven percent of boats picking up a single fish in the 20 to 25 lb class whilst trolling. At this time of year we should see an influx of school size yellowfin tuna, but with commercial boats in the area, it will be hard for sportfishing boats to compete. Still, it is early April and there is still a chance for them to move through in large numbers in the upcoming weeks. Just eight percent of charters caught tuna, but some of the catches were nice, two large fish, 90 and 110 lbs respectively aboard “Sundancer” on March 31st, at the Cabrilla Sea Mount. This same day “Blue Thunder” had ten fish in the same area, but considerably smaller in the 15 to 30 lb class. We had just one 45 lb wahoo this week, aboard “Ruthless” caught at the 11.50 spot. Inshore it was sierra, jack crevalle and the odd rooster.