Ocean Lure Sportfishing - Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Recent Catches and Tournament Results

12/28/05 - 1/02/06
The last several weeks of the year in Cabo has been some of the greatest fishing in many years. From huge "cows" (yellowfin tuna over 200-lbs), and huge amounts of bait at the Finger Banks, to numerous striper action closer to home just off the old lighthouse. Many boats were getting 10 to 12 releases on stripers, and the few lucky one's scoring on the huge yellowfins at the Finger Banks and the Jamie Banks.

On 12/28/05, Keith, Barbara, Paul, and Michele, released 2 stripers, a lone dorado and tuna. The next day, Corey and Craig scored 2 dorados, and on 12/31/05, Corey and Craig released 13 stripers (100-lbs to 180-lbs) and managed to lose another 7 of the fiesty fighters. The captain, Chacho, and his family went out for a half day on 1/02/06 and released at least 11 more stripers, and a few skipjacks.

12/05/05
Kevin and Richard fished the San Jaime Bank today and scored 16 yellowfin tuna ranging from 60 to 80-lbs. Great conditions with 75 degree blue water. Bring long pants and sweat shirts for evening attire, it's getting cooler in the evenings now.

9/19/05
Bonus day today with 3 tunas to 75-lbs, a 50-lb dorado, followed by a released 200-lb class blue marlin. The tunas were caught on lures while trolling for marlin.

9/17/05
Dorado and blue marlin are in full swing now with Chacho and crew releasing one blue marlin and 9 dorados to 30-lbs. Chacho said the dorados were caught on sardinas while the blue marlin fell for a rigged skipjack.

8/5/05

Another nice run in with tuna today. Chacho reports 5 tunas ranging from 60-lbs to 110-lbs. Chacho said we "slayed" them while most of the fleet boats were barely able to scratch out a few fish in the football size. Chacho added, "we had fish jumping all over with the new minibar from Fred Archer". "These bars are perfect for going high speed and chase down when fishing the porpise schools", Chaco remarked.

8/4/05

WFO on the tuna. 25 tunas caught, ranging from 20-lbs to 90-lbs, mostly in the 50-lb range.

8/3/05

Fishing the Gorda banks today, yielded 2 nice dorados and 1 striped marlin, which was released unharmed.

07/15 -17/05

James Lee and friends were in town again and had 3 great days of fishing. James was targeting night fishing on the Gordo Banks using light emitting fish lures such as they do in Georgia. They dropped the anchor on the outer bank and by 3:30AM, in 225 feet of water, something hit the bait that striped 400 yards of 100-lb test line off the 80SW reel in seconds. The hooks finally pulled and it was guessed to be either a swordfish or a big marlin or shark. At first light, unable to raise any tuna, the trolled the 1150 and Gordo area and went 4 for 6 on stripers.

The next day they went all the way to Los Frailes where they nailed some 10 - 35 lb sized tuna and a nice 35 lb dorado plus another striper.

5/14/05 - 6/1/05

Weather/Sea conditions:

5/14 to 5/20 - Daytime, mid 70's, mornings and evenings 68, cold and non-stop wind 25-30 mph. Water temperatures lower 70's.

5/21 to 5/30 - Winds finally died down, but water is green out to 20 miles from Cabo to San Jose. Water is also cold at 62 - 68 from the wind blown in pacific cool water.

5/31 to 6/1 - No wind, upper 80's to 90 degrees. Water temperatures are now in the mid 70's.

I will be in town from May 14 to June 22 so check back often.

The sixth annual world championship of blue water anglers, Rolex/IGFA Offshore Championship, got off to a great start on May 15th at the Captains meeting. Fishing started on Monday the 16th for four days. The event hosted 70 teams from 31 countries. The teams fished on a different boat each of the four days, all guided by local Cabo Captains. Final scores were announced on Friday with the awards ceremony closing the event on Saturday evening. The Eagle One hosted 3 teams from the U.S. and one team from Jamaica. For the four days of fishing, Chacho reported 8 stripers released and 32 stripers hooked but lost.

Overall tournament results:

Day 1. 108 stripers, 4 sailfish, 3 wahoo, and 3 dorado.
Day 2. 128 stripers, 6 sailfish, and 5 dorado.
Day 3. 134 stripers, 2 sailfish, 1 wahoo, 2 dorado, and 1 tuna.
Day 4. 133 stripers, 2 sailfish, 1 wahoo, 1 dorado and 1 tuna.

All billfish were released and the meat fish were donated to charity.

First Place winners were the Miami/Illinois Team from the U.S.

Friday, May 27th, El Mackerele Hermanos (John and Louis Vallon), fished with Chacho and Poncho but were, sadly, skunked. There was no shortage of stripers, but following the full moon phase, and an abundance of bait (red crab, squid, and huge schools of mackerel), the stripers were simply not biting on lures or live bait. We had one knock down shortly after putting the lures in, but the fish didn't stick. We pitched baits to over 12 stripers without success.

Saturday, May 28th, Ocean Lure clients scored on 4 yellowfin tuna, football sized, an 80-lb Wahoo, and a small Mako shark while fishing near the Gorda Banks.

Monday May, 30th, El Mackerele Hermanos returned for a second try at the now abundant yellowfin tuna in the area. The previous day, Louis and I toured the weigh-in dock and found that there were many tuna flags flying and lots of football sized yellowfin, along with a few skipjack tuna being cleaned. The wind had finally subsided and the daytime temperature had increased to the mid 80's, so we thought the lackluster fishing the past several days was about to change.

We departed from the Port Captain, as before, at 6:30 AM and put the lures out after a run, straight out, of 18 miles, at 7:45 AM, but in very windy and rough conditions. It wasn't long before we had two yellowfin hooked at the same time. Not much effort with these school'ers, but hey, it puts lots of sashimi on the table. We released any yellowfin under 10-lbs, and kept the rest. The wind finally died down as we trolled towards the Gorda Banks, but we found colder, green water when the bite stopped. Moving further outside would again find the blue water with a pick up in the bites. We ended up with 6 nice yellowfin in the cooler.

As we headed in, we saw nearly a dozen stripers on the surface, but they again, were not interested in anything we presented to them. There were red crabs all around the inner Gorda bank, and from about Red Hill to Whales Head, we spotted an almost endless amount of mackerel swimming near the surface. No wonder the stripers weren't interested.

03/24/05

Laurena Johnson's party had a great day today raising 6 marlins. They released 3 and lost 3, and a nice dorado for the cooler. The fish were caught near the 95 and 150 spot.

02/28/05

26 tunas (school size), tambien en cabrillo bank.

02/27/05

2, marliyn y 16 tunas, tambien en cabrillo bank.

02/26/05

2 marlyn y 4 tunas, A 4 millas de cabrillo.

11/29/04

Fishing again at 23 miles SW from Cabo: 4 dorados (30-lbs, 48-lbs), 2 marlins, and 2 marlins lost.

11/26/04

Fishing 6 miles from Punta San Cristobal (half day trip): 2 dorados (30-lbs) and 7 small tunas.

11/25/04

Fishing in the same location: 1 marlin, 12 tunas, 2 dorados (30-lbs), lost wahoo, lost dorado, lost marlin.

11/24/04

Fishing 23 miles SW from Cabo: 1 marlin , 6 tunas, and 8 dorados.

10/28/04

Update to 10/21 and 10/22:

10/21 Chacho said they managed to get a few tunas near the 95 spot, and nice 55-lb dorado in front of the Westin Regina Hotel. On the final day, 10/22 Friday, at about 4 miles from the Cabrillo Seamount, on their way to the Gorda Banks, they lost two big blue marlin (one estimated to be 600-lbs).

10/21/04

Today we have some high clouds and temperatures in the mid 80's. These are the first clouds I've seen in the 4 weeks that I've been here. Sort of a relief!

Well, the Eagle I team went to the Pacific Side yesterday and struck out. They had good bait but no fish to take it, save a shark that only left the head of a bonito.

Yesterday evening, several fish were weighed in, and today, as of 12:30PM local time, the leader board has not changed:

That 645-lb black marlin is going to be tough to beat, and in my opinion, will win the jackpot. Below is a picture of Brady Bunte's 329-lb blue marlin that had just been weighed:

10/20/04

The current leader is a 343-lb blue marlin weighed in early this morning. The fish was caught by angler Tom Czyz aboard the Black Sheep III.

Too bad for these guys. This fish was 282, 18-lbs underweight. The fish only measured 96 inches - you need something more like 100 inches and some girth.

10/19/04

The crew of the Eagle I is busy making final preparations for the big day tomorrow, as are the anglers, Steve, Kevin, Ken, Bob and Ray, from Flagstaff and Serria Vista, Arizona. Obeth Garcia will be doing double duty, acting as a mate and hopefully running my video to capture the highlights of the trip. During the Bisbee tournament, mate, Carlos Sanchez, will be joining the crew.

The crew has my cell phone number and will call me if they are bringing a fish to the weigh-in station. It's only a short walk for me to the scales, so I can get a picture and post it almost immediately.

Good luck to the anglers and crew of the Eagle 1!

10/18/04

The Eagle I hit it hard with 6 yellowfin tuna, 5 dorado, and a catch and release sailfish. A great day of fishing. Registration for the big event, the AutoExotica Bisbees Black & Blue begins tomorrow.

10/17/04

Today was the last day and unfortunately, it appears there were no eligible fish caught.

10/16/04

Today is the first day of the Bisbees Offshore Tournament, formerly called the "Bisbees Alumni". The Eagle I, with Captain Chacho and son Pancho are also participating in this tournament and I will report their status also.

10/15/04 Final Day

The first qualifying fish arrived early this morning on the 53 foot Solmar boat with angler Federico weighing in a nice 333-lb blue marlin.

When I returned around 5:45 PM there was a lineup of boats rallying for their position to weigh-in anything they caught, since the penalties were a moot point for those that previously had no points. The only striped marlin weighed-in for example, came today on the Baja Raider. If the fish met the 175-lb minimum, it would have been worth $23,000, but it came up shy with a weight of 121-lbs.

There was a mixed bag of dorado and wahoo weighed-in:

Chuck on the Minerva IV weighed-in a 32.5-lb dorado, Paul Bender on the Summer Time topped that fish by a few ounces at 32.9-lbs; Dave Kohler on the Que Sera had a 31.2 wahoo, and Bill Campbell, on the Juanita VIII beat that with a 33.5-lb wahoo.

Grant and Michael had another flagless day, ending the tournament with no fish caught.

They will team up again for Wednesdays start of the Bisbees Black and Blue Tournament fishing aboard the Spicy Tuna. (10/20 The Spicy Tuna wasn't repaired in time for the tournament, so Grant and Michael chartered a Picante boat.)

10/14/04 7:05 PM Cabo time

Only 1 qualifying fish was weighed in today and it was a black marlin that tipped the scales at 351-lbs, caught aboard the Summertime, no further details were available.

Marcos, fishing on the Verdict released an estimated 261-lb blue marlin, one other non-qualifying fish was weighed in, and the Salsa brought another non-qualifier, a blue marlin, weighing in at a paltry 287-lbs. Tournament rules penalize teams for bringing an underweight fish to the weigh-in. The penalty is 250 points, plus 2 points per pound that the fish is under 300 -lbs.

Gary said "we had great baits, the water was perfect, but the big fish just were not biting." Tomorrow is the final day for the Los Cabos Billfish Tournament, so we are all hoping their luck changes tomorrow. Gary and Michael will be fishing the Bisbee Black & Blue that follows right after this tournament.

Good luck to the Eagle 1 Team tomorrow!

10/13/04

Today's Los Cabos Billfish Tournament action got off to a slow start with 68 boats fishing. The light winds during the night increased by the time the Bimini start occurred, forcing most boats to the Sea of Cortez side.

Just two fish were weighed in today, only one of which was a tournament qualifier:

At 2:30 p.m. Artoro Rivera, fishing aboard the "Big Brother" qualified with a 379-lb blue marlin taking the day's purse.

At 3:50 p.m. Robert, fishing aboard the "Jalapeno" weighed in a 275-lb blue marlin, thus not a qualifying fish, as the minimum weight is 300-lbs. Robert, from Texas, fought the fish on 80-lb test tackle for an hour and 20 minutes. The length was measured to be 91 inches, well below the 99 inches recommended for boating.

Michael and Grant also experienced some slow fishing, with only one blue marlin taking a look at the spread, and spotting 2 others jumping in the distance.

10/12/04

It's tournament fishing time again in Cabo. Kicking off the month of tournaments is the Los Cabos Billfish Tournament with today's final registration and captains' meeting party at the Playa Grande Resort. Tomorrow, October 13, at 7 a.m. the event begins with the standard Bimini Start with lines out at 4 p.m. The tournament runs 3 days with the awards banquet held at 6:30 p.m. October 18.

I just returned from the marina where angler Michael D. Contreras, a well known and respected fisherman from Houston Texas, along with his partner, Grant Hartman, of "Baja Anglers", here in Cabo, were making final preparations for tomorrow's start aboard Ocean Lure's Eagle I with Captain Chacho and son, Mate Pancho.

Also, Chacho and crew where making last minute repairs. It seems that on the last trip, a propeller shaft snapped off and damaged the remaining propeller. All of this was repaired in the span of just a few days.

Obeth Garcia will be video taping the entire day of fishing as well as taking notes on the days events which I will post as soon as they return to the slip each day. I also equipped Obeth with my digital camera so we can get some first hand photos of what we hope will be winning fish.

Good luck to Michael and Grant, as well as to the crew of the Eagle 1.

10/3/04

John Vallon returned again today, this time fishing alone and without Obeth Garcia, who normally runs the video while John battles his fish. Sad day to miss because it was nothing less than spectacular.

We left the dock at 6:15AM while it was completely dark outside, the sunrise was at 7:11AM. The plan was to take a scoop of sardines and a few cabalitos, but we had to wait until the vendors showed up.

On the way to the Banks, Chacho stopped a few times on pods of porpoises but they were devoid of any tuna. We reached the outer bank and began fishing for schooling bonita using the sardines. The seas were flat calm again and the water was a deep blue at 83 degrees.

Only a few boats were in the area and we were all loading up on bonita and small yellowfin for the tuna tubes. Soon we had all 4 tubes full, so the next 4 bonita caught were quickly rigged to the big 80-wides and the single 130-wide and put over the side for trolling.

Pancho set out the downrigger on the port short corner and lowered a bonita down about 200 feet to see what would happen. Then we trolled towards the northern edge of the outer bank and immediately got a knock down on the starboard long rigger. The blue jumped about 100 yards back,, sending the huge bonita flying 20 feet high but the hook came unbuttoned.

Trolling with live bonita can get boring real fast. Typically, one engine is taken out of gear, then the other engine is cycled in and out of gear just long enough to keep the bonita moving forward, around 3 knots. A large drop back is put in the line, a loop of slack line, to allow the marlin to grab the bait and swallow it before it feels any tension in the line and snapping the line from the rigger clip. At that point, Pancho removes the rod from the holder and feeds line to the marlin for a short period, then moves the drag to strike position followed by Chacho gunning the engine to set the hook.

On our 3 rd strike, the marlin was firmly hooked and I got in the chair and fought the fish to the side of the boat when it was released. Pancho said it was about 200-lbs, small, by bisbee standards.

Shortly later, a seal showed up and at times we brought in our bonita bait only to find a head, so we had to move several times.

Around 12:10PM Pancho put a cabalito on my 30-wide and dropped it back from the stern, and before he could sit down, we had a 30-LB bull Dorado hooked. Pancho told me to real it in slow while he prepared another bridal. When the rod with the bridal prepared, I reeled in the Dorado and Pancho quickly hooked it to the hook and put it over the side. We trolled the Dorado along with the 4 bonita, very close to the starboard corner, where a teaser would normally be placed.

The wind suddenly came up out of the north so we switched to trolling lures and headed for Punta Gorda. We trolled for a few hours picking up a few dorado then headed back to Cabo. Since I didn't have anyone to run the Video, all I have are the camera shots of the flags. When I get home, I'll grab a few shots of the video I took of the marlin being revived.

9/29/04

Today, the Vallon family returns to spread Geoff Vallon's ashes over the Gorda Banks, and to celebrate John's Birthday. Before leaving the hotel, Vanessa and Moira asked the grounds keeper if we could pick a few flowers for the event; they said yes and even helped pick some.

We left the dock at 7:15AM and headed for the Gorda Banks, hopefully are luck would be better today I thought while connecting my laptop and GPS. As I turned around, I noticed everyone was inside the cabin. On the table behind me, Chacho had placed a birthday cake with a single lighted candle burning. I made a wish and blew it out, then we all had a piece. What a great person and friend Chacho is. What other captain would have gone to the trouble I thought.

We reached the Gorda Banks by 8-ish. The water temperature was 83 and flat with no wind at all. Jared got out on the transom and spread Geoffs ashes while Moira and Vanessa gently tossed the flowers in.

After a few moments of silence, Jared said, "now, lets get that marlin Geoff would have wanted us to have".

Unfortunately, few marlin were caught that day and the few Dorado strikes we got all came unbuttoned. At least they got to see a huge school of porpoise up very close to the boat and got some great pictures.

Flagless, we returned to the slip by 4:30PM, but Chacho, Pancho, and Obeth did a great job of trying to get us some action. It was a wonderful birthday and a fine memorial to my brother Geoff.

9/28/04

Jeff sends us his recent report: James,my wife and I went out with Capt. Chacho on Tuesday, Sept. 28th. What a day! We were hunting for yellowfins, and Capt. Chacho suggested the Pacific side, to look for porpoise. We found them past the Jaime Bank, but in spite of the large school, we only got 2 small tuna in the 30 lb. range. We then hooked, landed and released a 300 lb. Blue. We got into the Dorado, catching 2 nice sized bulls, releasing 2 and losing another. We had 4 sails in the lure spread at one time, and had 2 on, but both got off. On our way in, we saw a Sail jump, threw a live bait out, but he took the bait without a hookup. All in all, probably a typical day in Cabo, but a spectacular day anywhere else. Chacho and Pancho were fantastic. We are going out again on Thursday to look for large tuna and marlin on the Cortez side. Can't wait. Thanks for your help in booking your boat. Very truly yours, Jeff Uzick

9/27/04

Today, the Vallon family joined us for two days of fishing with Chacho, Pancho, and Obeth Garcia running the video camera. John flew down from Seattle to celebrate his birthday with his brothers family, Moira and her children, Jared, and Vanessa. Geoff wanted his ashes spread on the Gorda Banks so we took care of his wishes on the following Wednesday. Monday we fished the Pacific Side and Moira got lucky with a nice bull dorado around 10:00AM. Vanessa was a little green and toyed with a small bonita. Later, Jared scored on a small Dorado that we had for dinner that evening. The kids were lucky for their first trip to Cabo as we saw plenty of porpoises, Manta Rays, and clear skies with flat seas. We lost 3 Dorado and missed on two marlin that just pulled enough drag to get everyone excited.

Jared's nice dorado. Fishing will resume next Wednesday.

9/16/04

Today, Brent Paynter caught 1 Dorado, 30 lbs, and released a striped marlin and a sailfish. 3 Dorados jumped off and 3 sail fish came unbuttoned.

8/25/04

Location: Golden Gate Bank

Wednesday, our clients caught 4 tunas, 8 Dorados (40-70 lbs) and released a sailfish, while missing on a striped and blue marlin.

8/20/04

Location: San Jose area and Golden Gate Bank

Friday, Scott Herman, fishing the Golden Gate and San Jamie Banks managed to put 4 Dorado and 2 tunas in his cooler. Saturday, while fishing off of Punta Gorda area, Scott caught 1 wahoo (est 50 lbs), 3 Dorados and 4 tunas.

8/14/04

Location: San Jose area and Golden Gate Bank

Tim Bothwell did well Saturday, releasing 2 blue marlin, both caught on cabrillo's, plus a lost striped marlin and a sailfish. Sunday they fished the Golden Gate Banks catching a 35-lb Dorado and 23 yellowfin tunas ranging from 20 to 40 lbs.

7/27/04

Location: San Jaime Banks

James Lee and friends had some awesome fishing this past week. Their tally for 3-days with Captain Chaco included: One catch & release blue marlin (est. 160-lbs), one lost blue marlin, one brown shark, two Dorado, and limits of yellowfin tuna ranging in weight from 20-lbs to over 150-lbs.According to James, the tuna were feeding on "mini" flying fish that were in abundance on the banks. James said "there must have been over 30 tunas jumping and crashing simultaneously at any given time. This went on for over 3 hours. I've never seen a sight like that". James went on to say that " A 50-lb tuna jumped just 3 feet from the boat, almost landing on the cockpit deck." Above, Gary Hutton with his nice bull dorado.

Jim Kim and his blue marlin..

Gary Hutton with his nice yellowfin tuna.

6/28/04

Summary:

Water conditions: Not reported

Location: Palmilla and El Faro

Anglers: Dave Chamberlin, Dean Brady, Tanner Fischer

Departure time: 7:50AM

Catch for the day: 13 big stripers and 2 dorados (60 and 70 lbs)

Chacho says, don't bring bananas on the boat - they are bad luck!

No Banannas En El Barco!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

6/26/04

Summary:

Water conditions: Blue water,79.2 gulf side.

Location: 9 miles from Palmilla

Catch for the day: 1 strip marlin est 150 lbs on a lure (Charlie, at 11:27AM).

Anglers: Charlie, dave, Adm Banlir

Other information: raised 11 marlin and 1 dorado. Many marlin seen, but not biting.

6/22/04 - A Striper for Jimmy

Summary:

Weather: upper 90's daytime, low 78 night; blue, cloudless skies, little to no wind, with afternoon breezes.

Water conditions: 60's on Pacific side, 78.6 gulf side, blue water beyond 7 miles from shore.

Location: 8 miles from Palmilla

Catch for 1 day: 1 for 9 on striped marlin (all on lures), and 2 Toro.

Crew: Captain Chacho Bojorquez, Mate Pancho Bojorquez.

Anglers: Jim, Tracy, Grace, Jimmy Unmacht, Charlie, Danny Kelly.

Little 13-year old Jimmy Unmacht and his family joined us for a pleasant, and exciting day of fishing yesterday, departing at 6:48AM. Chacho said the marlin are coming in from the pacific side and heading north east to the east cape. Unlike the past few days, these marlin are taking trolled lures and are not found on the surface. "We had 9 different stripers come into the spread and grab a lure, but they just wouldn't hold on, but we managed to get one to stick". Jimmy's marlin was estimated at 100 lbs and was cauht on a lure around 9:00AM

Later Chacho spotted a large school of porpoise with hopes that they had yellowfin tuna mixed in with them, but none were spotted., but at 10:58AM Tracy and Grace (14 and 15 yrs) were able to capture two Toro on lures.

All and all, it was another great day down here in Cabo. The cool water that suddenly wrapped the pacific side has brought cool breezes to the town at night. Some of the locals even had light sweaters on.

6/17/04 - 6/19/04 - Striper Fury

Summary:

Weather: mid to upper 90's, high 70's night; blue, cloudless skies, little to no wind, afternoon breezes.

Water conditions: 78-82 degrees, blue water once past the green water from Cabo to San Jose.

Catch for 3 days: 7 for 8 on striped marlin (2 for 3 on lures), 8 Dorado, 4 Jack Crevalle (Toro), 1 yellowfin. Stripers 180-220 lbs, Dorado 15-40 lbs, Jacks 10-15 lbs, yellowfin 18 lbs.

Crew: Captain Chacho Bojorquez, Mates Pancho Bojorquez (19 yrs)and Obeth Garcia(26 yrs).

Angler: John Vallon (El Mackerele).

John, from Kirkland, WA, and Ron from Palm Desert, CA, joined Chacho, his son, Pancho, and Obeth Garcia, for an action packed day of text book fishing. The weather was picture post card perfect, cloudless blue skies and just enough breeze to keep the cockpit cool.

Weather in Cabo this past week has been perfect, with little to no wind and not a cloud in the sky. Daytime temperatures have been in the mid 90's cooling off to the upper 70's at night.

Thursday, 6/17/04

After a 6:00 PM departure this morning, Chacho headed for the Gordo Banks to make bait before heading further up the Cortez to La Fortuna. Chacho explained "there has been a large concentration of bait in the area for the past week now, and there have been many stripers along with them, so put on your fishing face!".

The first strike came at 7:15 with a small yellowfin that John quickly dispatched to the tuna tubes. Chacho reported the water temperature at the banks to be 82 degrees. With no visible bait, Chacho headed further towards La Fortuna, and about 8 miles off shore.

When we arrived, there were about 20 boats in a tight area. There were striped marlin jumping in every direction you looked with bait on the surface as far as you could see. Pancho and Obeth put out two lines with cabilitos on and we had an instant double hookup with two stripers. Ron took the chair and John fought his marlin standing up. John was able to release his fish quickly because it was caught on a 50SW which gave him the ability to pour on the power. Ron's fish was caught on a Penn Senator using 30 lb test. While Ron was still battling his marlin, John took a rod and went to the bow and subdued a 15 lb Jack Crevalle. Mean while, Ron finally got his fish to the leader but we all feared it had drown. It was tail wrapped from the last jump it made. Pancho, leadered the fish, then dragged it alongside to get the fish oxygenated. After about 10 minutes, the fish was completely revived and swam off unharmed harmed.

Not only were there many marlin, but also a huge school of Jack
Crevelle. Unfortunately, although Toro's a prized light tackle game fish, they were eating all of our bait. We started out with 10 baits, and after the last stop were we picked up 2 more Toro's, we were down to just 2 baits, one of which was half dead.

By 10:00 AM we were down to one dead bait, and the marlin were not interested in the dead bait or the trolled lures. We probably threw that dead bait at 8-10 more tailing marlin before 11:30 AM. If we had more bait, we could have easily put on 5-6 more stripers.

We headed back to the Gorda Banks in the hopes of making bait, but there was nothing but a lone striper jumping as we had seen all morning long. Not interested in the trolled lures, so we headed back in, only close to shore in the hopes of catching a few Dorado.

We had 3 or 4 knock downs, most likely very small Dorado. As we passed San Jose, John got lucky with a 40 lb Dorado, but it broke off just as it was being gaffed.

Hopefully this incredible run will continue tomorrow for John, who will be fishing alone.

Friday, June 18, 2004

John was along again today, alone, to enjoy more of some of the best striper fishing in recent years.

We left 30 minutes earlier today, to get a head start on the other boats, after buying 20 baits instead of the normal 10. The Eagle One is a darn fast boat so the 35 mile trip took less than 90 minutes on flat seas. It was another cloudless day, no wind, and warm deep blue colored water conditions. Perfect for feeding stripers.

While we were enroute, we stopped 7different times on tailing stripers. Always a group of them 3 to 5 in count. We tossed pitch baits each time but these marlin were simply not hungry. It was so depressing to see so many stripers and not get any action on live bait.

We were the first boat to arrive at the same area we fished yesterday and were greeted by huge balls of bait and stripers cruising on the surface everywhere. Again, we found the marlin would not cooperate - bait tossed right in front of there bill was ignored each time. We tried everything, including stunning the bait first, but to no avail. By 10:00 AM about 30-40 boats had arrived from San Jose and Cabo. All of these boats were concentrated in about 1/2 square mile. There were groups of 10-15 boats all racing to a frigate bird, a tailing marlin or other sign of a marlin.It was something rarely seen. It's more normal to only see a few boats on the horizon. Everyone was trying to jockey their position to toss a pitch bait. You would see huge puffs of diesel smoke as captains gunned their engines to race to a spotted fish. Kind of like the starting gun at the Bisbee Black and Blue tournament. The boats were so close to each other you had to be careful that your toss of the pitch bait didn't land on a boat next to you!

Around 9:40 AM we finally got bit on a pitch bait that Pancho launched from the bow. Because we were trolling 6 rods, it was easier to toss a pitch bait from the bow without the lines and outriggers in the way. The Eagle One is equipped with a bait tank on the bow which greatly helps this method of fishing. As we were hooked up, you could see just about every boat within 200 yards were also backing down on a hooked marlin. Because we were running a video camera of all the action, Chacho doesn't back down on a fish at 8-10 knots as the other captains do because of the waves splashing over the transom. For this reason, the fight is more tied to the anglers strength and endurance. The fish was released at 9:52, a 12 minute fight, but it still wears out a strong arm and back.

Around noon, John made one of his outstanding sandwiches - smoked turkey, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, white onions, mustard and mayonnaise, on freshly baked bread from the supermarket, accompanied by 3 Claussen kosher dill pickles. Too bad he didn't have time to eat it. He set it down on the cushion and reached in his cooler for a bottle of water and at that instant, Obeth had hooked marlin #2 on a pitch bait tossed from the transom. John decided to fight this fish from the chair because it was on a 50SW. The fish took a wild initial run of nearly 100 yards. Luckily the boats had dispersed somewhat so there was no danger of getting the line cut. It took John 15 minutes to get this fish to the rail where Pancho leadered the striper for a nice release. John got up and went back to his cooler and took a few sips off of his bottled water, when Pancho gets another bite for marlin #3. Back to the chair John goes, leaving his water and sandwich behind. Fifteen minutes later, the striper is again leadered and released unharmed, and again, John returns to his sandwich. John notices that 2 of the 3 pickles are gone and there is a rigged bait in their place - must be the fish gods!

While John finally got to eat his lunch, Obeth and Pancho were busy each time we'd stop on another tailer, but they weren't eating. Around 2:00 PM we decide to head in, again hugging the coast line while trolling for a few Dorado. It wasn't long before we got a knock down on the starboard long outrigger. It was a nice bull Dorado, but the gaff missed the first attempt and the fish jumped off. Not a big deal, happens all the time, but Pancho was really let down over the event. Oh well.

Day's tally: 3 stripers, all on pitch bait, all released, one early released Dorado. Not bad, a great crew.

Saturday, June 19, 2004

Another 5:45 AM departure after a brief stop with the Port Captain and the bait vendors. We had a small bit of clouds this morning but their was no wind until we got past San Jose when the wind picked up generating some moderate white caps. As in the previous 2 days, we stopped enroute on many tailing stripers but they again, wouldn't even look at our tossed baits. The marlin would sound as we got near them, possibly they have been spooked over the past several days by all the boats.

The plan was the same as before, trolling, then stopping on a tailer and pitching a bait. As we reached the area, there were no real concentrations of boats as in the past several days, and only about half the number of boats, 25-30, where fishing today. Chacho remarked that "the bait was gone, eaten maybe by the school of pilot whales". The fathometer was blank and silent unlike the previous days when it was constantly beeping and echoes showing solid from the surface down to 100 meters. We were able to get 3 bites on the trolled lures, and all from the starboard long outrigger. We got one release in the morning and the other two knock downs after lunch. The last knock down was so brief that it jumped off before Pancho could hand off the rod to John. A catch and EARLY release John told Pancho! We all laughed.

The real action occurred on the way back, again trolling within a 1/2 mile from shore. The water was especially clear and deep blue in color. We switched to bright colored small lures and within no time had a small female Dorado in the cooler. There was a frigate bird circling a huge ball of bait, but we didn't get anything after two passes over it. Then we must have hit a school of Dorado because we got 3 fish in less than 30 minutes with one estimated at 40 lbs.