PISCES WEEKLY FISH REPORT FEB. 1-8 TH 2002 PISCES WEEKLY FISH REPORT Feb. 1st to 8th 2002 BILLFISH: This was rather an odd week; some boats did exceptionally well getting up to four marlin in day, only to be “skunked” the following one and on the last day of this period the fishing was downright poor. Top catch of the week was a beautiful 230 lb striped marlin caught by a young 11 year old angler from Canton, South Dakota – Jordan Johnson hooked his fish on a live bait 30 miles straight out from Land’s End and took 45 minutes to boat on 50 lb test – dad Todd also released two stripers this same day aboard “Ni Modo”, 42 ft Ocean. This is an outstanding catch, as we only see maybe one striped marlin a year here over 200 lbs. Another angler that did really well was Dennis Epping from Salem, Oregon; he released 4 striped marlin aboard “La Brisa” on February 2nd and followed up with a couple more two days later, giving him a total of six. “Karina” had three stripers on the 3rd for Dave Franson, (Iowa), Brent White (Mo) & Joe Verina (Wi) – one a piece. The fishing generally was pretty hard due to it’s lack of consistency and boats were having to run a long way, some days up to 34 miles and didn’t always meet with success. On several days boats spotted fish, but couldn’t get them to bite, or had fish come up and look at baits before turning away. Our overall catch success rate for all species combined was seventy-nine percent and forty-six percent caught marlin, less than expected at this time of year; it seems the season is a little ahead of itself, being more like March than February. Pisces anglers caught a total of 34 striped marlin this week of which 30 were released. OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches were on the slow side with fish being picked up whilst trolling for marlin. Only about twenty percent of boats got these and they were normally a single fish, though occasionally they did have up to three – weights are average at 15 – 25 lbs. About the same amount of boats got yellowfin tuna too, but when this found anglers tended to catch more. La Brisa on February 7th, lucked out, finding a school and managing to play 34 ranging from 15 to 66 lbs, (not all boated) about 30 miles straight out from Cabo. Other boats 2 to 9 of this species. Inshore there was plenty of sierra, but this were a fair way up the coast by San Cristobal as well as by the lighthouse. Some roosters and jacks close to Cabo. LOCATION: Straight out from Land’s End up to 35 miles, 12 miles off of the Westin, 95 spot, 20 miles out from Chileno. WEATHER CONDITIONS: Very strange, it poured with rain here on February 5th for a few hours in the morning, turning dry by 8.00 am but overcast the whole day, seas have been calm and sunny, blue skies since Tuesday. AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 70 F BEST LURES: Live bait Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg