BILLFISH: A pretty fair week here in Cabo, with eighty-six percent of the boats we sent out catching fish of some kind, with around fifty-five percent getting striped marlin. The striped marlin fishing was actually pretty frustrating as boats reported seeing as many as 50 in a day, but getting them to bite was another issue. Most were gorged on squid which is abundant in Cabo waters right now. Not everybody had this problem though; Robert and Teena Drake, from Jacksonville, Florida had an outstanding day on “Andrea”, with Teena releasing one striper, Robert releasing two, as well as landing an impressive 60 lb dorado (see photo) on May 11th. This same day Gerald Richmond, from Las Vegas (this is the third week in a row, that Gerry’s been in our report) also released three striped marlin aboard “Ruthless”. Our only other triple was on the “Adriana” on May 15th for Tricia La Monda and William Seery, both from New York.  Most of the other marlin catches were of single fish spread throughout the week, where it was a case of getting lucky and finding a hungry one, amongst those spitting up squid. Paul and Walter Keller also got a fish each on “Tracy Ann” on May 10th. Fishing was a long way off this week, with boats fishing as far out as 38 miles form Red Hill, 20 miles off of Cabeza de Ballena and outside Destiladeres to add to the long distances covered we again are experiencing colder weather, with heavy fog most mornings. Pisces anglers caught a total of twenty-one striped marlin this week, all released.

OTHER SPECIES:  Yellow fin tuna were the most widely caught fish this past week, despite some commercial boats sweeping through the Gordo are and cleaning them out later in the week. We had boats that caught up to nine in the 15 to 25 lb class, off of Cabeza de Ballena and others that did pretty well off of the Old Lighthouse on the Pacific side. Fair amounts of skipjack and bonita closer in to shore.  No wahoo for us this week, but we did hear of some around the 40 to 50 lb mark being caught.

WEATHER CONDITIONS:  Fog most mornings, seas moderate, some overcast days. Windy on the Pacific.

LOCATION: Sea of Cortez, Destialderes, Red Hill, Punta Gorda, Cabeza de Ballena.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 70 F

BEST LURES: 69-70 F

Based on the catches of Pisces Fleet by Tracy Ehrenberg