Pisces Sportfishing, Cabo 9-28

[Fishing Report]

New Record in Cabo? Blue Marlin 1213 lbs!
A 1213 lb Blue Marlin was caught in Cabo San Lucas yesterday, or should we say Saturday, as the fish took 28 hours to boat!

“That was the hardest thing I ever did in my life by far. I’ve shot bull moose and trekked out with 200 lbs on my back and it doesn’t even compare. It was the greatest experience of my life. I travel all around the world, Africa, Asia and nothing comes close to this”. Angler Richard Biehl, Traverse City, MI

The monster, which could be a new Cabo record was caught by Richard Biehl from Traverse City, MI, aboard a 31 ft Blackfin “Go Deep”. We had a chance to speak with the crew and get the whole story. Captain Luis Abaroa comes from a long line of fisherman, all great in their own right; his grandfather, father, uncle and brother have all landed fish over 1000 lbs.

They took off from the dock at 7.00 am on Saturday morning with two anglers on board and headed to the 95 spot, where Luis thought he could find some marlin. Lines were in the water by 7.30 am and they started to troll. At 8.20 am a huge marlin crashed on the right outrigger which was set up with a small Zuker guacamaya lure (orange/green/yellow) intended more for striped marlin. They saw the fish jump completely out of the water about 400 feet from the boat and looked at each and other and told the angler, “That’s a big fish, around 700 lbs”, the fight then began, with the captain being super careful, knowing he only had 60 lb line, on a Shimano 50. Luis would wait for the fish to take out half the spool then quickly follow him, recover the whole spool of line and then follow again; his objective was to not let the fish go down but to follow him around , as he said “kind of like taking a strong dog for a walk on a leash”.

Poor Richard slaved away at the reel, barely seeming to make a dent in the brute strength of this fish. By 5.00 pm they were out of food and water and had to resort to drinking the melted ice water in the cooler. Luis called his brother Frankie another captain, who showed up with supplies and to keep them company. The fish jumped one more time before sunset, this time closer and they reconsidered their size estimate, to 800 to 1000 lbs. By this time Richard could not go on and, Frankie’s deckhand went aboard to work on the fish, reeling and waiting. They continued to be patient and settled in for the night, with the guys struggling to stay awake at times. Frankie’s boat provided light so they could see the line. As the sun rose the fish continued to fight on and the deckhand was relieved by the angler. By 9.00 am the crew decided they had to do something; they rigged up a special snag set, consisting of four hooks, tossed it at the fish and hooked it in the cheek. Now with two anglers pumping away at the fish it finally tired and they were able to get it alongside the boat. 

Frankie rigged up a snag set to help bringthe marlin to the boat.


Even With Two Anglers on The Fish It Still Took Another Three Hours to Bring to the Boat
Richard the angler, said, “It’s a once in a lifetime fish. I want to take him”. That said, they gaffed him and tried to get him on board, but the huge body would not fit through the transom door, so they had to leave half of the fish in the water and motor back to port. The fish had taken them a long way, with them ending up 30 miles off of the Old Lighthouse. The leader was 300 lb but had stretched so much, it looked like 100 lb, and one of the hooks in the lure had also sheared off.

The Fish Was So Large That It Wouldn't Fit in the Boat
 Back at the dock, they had to borrow an electronic scale from another boat which showed 972 lbs, however they could not get it completely clear of the floor, so measured the fish which was 137 inches long, without the bill and had a girth of 75 inches. According to the formula used the fish was 1213 lbs. Richard must be a real aficionado though, he went out again today and released a striped marlin and caught a tuna, but then believe it or not got sea-sick! Anyways just shows Cabo and Mexico are still the best spot in the world for fishing

The Boat Motored Back with Half the Fish in the Water


*please note the fish was not caught aboard a Pisces boat. Fish was caught aboard a local charter boat "Go Deep"
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Sunday, September 25, 2011
Pisces Weekly Fish Report September 17th to September 23rd
Overall Catch Success Rate 97.7%

BILLFISH: Excellent week, billfish are starting to pop again and in good numbers. We are beginning to see more Blue Marlin as October closes in, the “Great Escape Jr” caught a 280 lbs Blue for Graham Osborne from LA, CA. “Tracy Ann “ released a Pacific Sailfish and landed a 22 lbs tuna and a 20 lbs dorado for Ivan Kury from Monterrey, Mexico. Same day “Ruthless “ caught another Blue Marlin of 210 lbs, for Daniel Mirisola also from Los Angeles. On the 18th “La Brisa” caught a 200 lbs Blue marlin and 3 tunas for George Willard, from Lebanon OR, same day “Andrea” caught two Striped Marlin one was weighet at 140 lbs and the other one was successfully released by Nila Vanacore from Cedar City UT. September 19th, “Andrea” hooked a Blue Marlin estimated at 200 lbs for Walter David, he struggled with the fish for a little over two hours, to successfully release the fish, little after, they had a triple hookup, 3 tunas about 40 lbs each, the anglers were thrilled already with the success of the trip, when a 4th line zipped off, the line was almost gone so Captain Nicolas maneuvered the boat until one of the anglers could take the rod, John David was the lucky guy, he fought the fish for an hour and forty-five minutes to boat it, it was a very nice 160 lbs yellow fin tuna. 33.3% of the boats caught billfish this week, 6 striped marlin, 5 released, 4 pacific sailfish, all released, and 6 blue marlin, 3 were released.

OTHER SPECIES: Good week for small game as well, with 50% of the boats returning with Dorado flags and 48% with tuna. Dorado catched started slow with only one or two fish per boat, later it got much better as they were coming back with 4 to 8 dorados per boat, this week we caught a total of 86 dorados. Tuna was average, between 3 to 6 fish per boat, ranging from 20 to 45 lbs except for the 160 lbs John David caught as we mentioned before. There were some nice catches, “Falcon” caught 14 tunas from 20 – 30 lbs for Ricky Stutts from Magnolia TX, “Andrea” again for John David’s party, 14 yellowfin from 10 to 40 lbs, Castle Rock CO will be eating a lot of fish for a while.

LOCATION: Herradura, 20 to 30 miles from the Old Lighthouse, Los Arcos.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: 90 to 94F.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 84 – 86F

BEST LURES: Green petroleros, caballito.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Jorge Narro

Pisces Sportfishing
Cabo Maritime Center
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
1-877-286-7938
http://www.piscessportfishing.com/