PISCES SPORTFISHING REPORT, CABO SAN LUCAS March 7th to 13th 2001 PISCES WEEKLY FI SH REPORT MARCH 7TH TO 13TH 2001 BILLFISH: A poor week again for striped marlin here in Cabo, with only about 20% of the boats hooking up to these, the most desired of our sportfish, at this time of year. Water is still cold and seas have been pretty rough. Boats had to search far and wide, with some going as far out as 38 miles to be able to find marlin. The stripers are not being found in numbers and not many are even being sighted. Those boats that are finding marlin report that that are solitary fish and occasionally in two’s. On the last day of this report, things did pick up somewhat, which is a good sign. Gary Orgill and Benson Clark from Arizona, were our top anglers this week; they released two striped marlin and boated three yellowfin and released a couple of skipjack, aboard “Karina” on March 13th, just off of Palmilla. This boat fished a completely new spot, as we have still been fishing mostly on the Pacific and obviously the skipper picked the right place to produce our best catch of the week. Basically boats have been fishing the Pacific, particularly the Old Lighthouse, for smaller game, to avoid being skunked; but, as the week progressed they took a chance and headed off in the opposite direction, between Red Hill and Punta Gorda, which did produce more catches. Erin Newman and Michael Reed form Seattle, Wa, were very happy to be one of the few boats that caught fish on March 11th – they released a striped marlin and also had one dorado and 6 skipjack, aboard “Andrea”. Robin Petty, from College Station, Texas, was another fortunate angler to release a marlin, aboard “Andrea” on March 13th, as was Patrick Gleason from Encintas, Ca. who released a striper aboard “Karina”. Pisces anglers caught a total of 7 striped marlin, with all but one released. Our overall catch success rate for all species combined was 83%, a vast improvement over last week. OTHER SPECIES: The saving grace this week, were the yellowfin tuna, which appeared on the last day of this report, to boost catches. There had been the odd one here and there throughout the week, but on Tuesday, March 13th, every boat out caught between 3 and 7 yellowfin, in the 15 to 30 lb class, along with lots of skipjack. La Brisa this day released 20 skipjack on light tackle as well as boating seven yellowfin. Sierra was still the most widely caught fish this past week, with boats catching from 2 to 20 near the old lighthouse. Boats fishing this area also caught red snapper in good numbers up to 15 lbs. There were a few yellowtail, which were small. Just one wahoo for us this week at 40 lbs. LOCATION: Starting off at the Old Lighthouse, then moving to Los Arcos, Punta Gorda and Red Hill. WEATHER CONDITIONS: Partly overcast, windy in the afternoons, seas on moderate to rough. AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 68-69 F BEST LURES: Live bait for marlin, assorted feathers and bait for tuna, Rapalas and Hoochis for inshore fish. BASED ON THE CATCHES OF PISCES FLEET BY TRACY EHRENBERG