PISCES WEEKLY FISH REPORT MARCH 21ST TO 27TH 2001 BILLFISH: Fishing did improve this week, especially with a couple of really good days, Sunday and Monday, March 25th and 26th, but colder weather again moved into the area, causing catches to slow. March has always been known as a swordfish month and even though catches of broadbill are not plentiful, some very fortunate anglers did manage to hook up. Dozens of swordfish were spotted this past week, but getting this fish to bite, takes skill, patience and a big dose of luck. One such angler was Hector Barragan from Sacramento, Ca. who landed a 400 lb broadbill aboard Gaviota on March 25th. A couple of days before this Gary Tolksdorf, landed a 240 lb swordfish aboard, “La Brisa” – an exhausted Gary fought the fish until well after dark, with the boat returning to the dock around 8.00 pm. Marlin catches did climb a little this week with almost thirty percent of charters catching stripers. Gerry and Kevin Petzold from Seaford, N.Y did extremely well, having a double hook-up on striped marlin – Kevin hooked up on live bait and Gerry on a lure that he was retrieving to avoid tangling with Kevin’s line; they also boated seven yellowfin tuna this same day aboard “Karina”. Logan Boyles form Rancho Santa Fe, Ca. had a very decent day aboard “Ruthless” on March 23rd, releasing a striped marlin and a mako shark, as well as landing a dorado for the table, off of Destiladeres, a long way out of Cabo, almost up as far as Los Frailes in the Sea of Cortez. This same boat, a couple of days later, scored a striped marlin, six tuna and a dorado, for David Mill, from Tampa, Fl, but this time in the complete opposite direction; off of the Old Lighthouse. The outlook is for the fishing to continue to improve. Pisces anglers caught 8 striped marlin this week and one swordfish. The overall catch success rate for all species combined jumped up to 88%. OTHER SPECIES: Yellowfin tuna dominated Cabo fishing this week. The largest fish landed was taken by an angler from the Tom’s River area, New Jersey, aboard Stimulator – the tuna weighed in at 140 lbs and took a live caballito 6 miles off of Palmilla. Throughout the week boats regularly caught between 2 and 10 yellowfins ranging in size from 18 to 30 lbs, over a widespread area. Dorado catches were on the slow side, with just the odd specimen up to 30 lbs. There were some catches of mako shark - we had three, with weights ranging from 30 to 70 lbs. Inshore still quite a few sierra around and lots of skipjack. LOCATION: Varied, Chileno 12-18 miles out, 20-28 miles south of Cabo, 3-10 miles off of the Old Lighthouse, Palmilla. WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear sunny skies, now turning cloudy, seas good, now turning to whitecaps in the afternoons. AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 67- 71 F BEST LURES: Live bait for marlin and swordfish, assorted feathers for tuna and green/yellow lures for dorado. BASED ON THE CATCHES OF PISCES FLEET BY TRACY EHRENBERG