March 28th to April 3rd 2001 Pisces Weekly Fish Report PISCES WEEKLY FISH REPORT MARCH 29TH TO APRIL 3RD 2001 BILLFISH: It’s kind of a joke to talk about billfish this week, as there were practically none. In fact the only boat that caught a striped marlin from our fleet, was the “Rebecca” on March 30th. The angler was Jeff Goodwin, from Stockton Ca, who hooked up 30 miles out from San Jose and took 40 minutes to boat his 170 lb fish. Apart from this one catch, marlin fishing was super slow and we didn’t even hear of any swordfish either, though a few were spotted. Weather has been really windy with large surf and whitecaps in the afternoons. This is typical of March fishing, though we have been spoilt the last few years, as in the previous 4 years or so, it was unseasonably good during this month. Once the weather settles and warms up I’m sure we will see a return of striped marlin. Despite the slow marlin fishing, catch rates were very good, with ninety-four percent of boats catching fish, almost exclusively small game. See below: OTHER SPECIES: With not much happening on the big game scene, boats concentrated on the species that they could be sure of, yellowfin tuna, sierra, yellowtail, some snapper and sea bass. The most numerous fish was sierra, which was a lot of fun on light tackle. “Andrea” totaled 73 sierras for the week, ranging in size from 4 to 10 lbs. Best area for these was from Cabo Real to Palmilla. The only fish of any size were yellowfin tuna, not record breakers, at 25 to 40 lbs, nevertheless those anglers that caught up to 20 in a day were very happy (taken aboard Tracy Ann on March 30th – incidentally this boat caught 49 this week) average tuna catch was two to three per boat, for those vessels offshore looking for marlin. Skipjacks were found inshore by the sierra and were fairly numerous. Delicious yellowtail were also caught this week, though not in huge amounts, found inshore also, average weight was 15 lbs. A few small cabrilla were also caught. LOCATION: Mostly on the Cortez side, out from Chileno, Cabo Real, Palmilla and Punta Gorda. WEATHER CONDITIONS: Sunny, windy, seas moderate to rough. AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 64-68 F BEST LURES: live bait, Hoochi’s , feathers. BASED ON THE CATCHES OF PISCES FLEET BY TRACY EHRENBERG