January 30th to February 6th, 2003 PISCES WEEKLY FISH REPORT JANUARY 31ST TO FEBRUARY 6TH, 2003 BILLFISH: Fishing really couldn’t be much better than it is right now. This week we are again happy to report a one hundred percent catch success rate for all species combined – every boat out caught something and what’s more, eighty-seven percent of boats caught marlin. Once again the San Jaime to Golden Gate area was tops, with multiple hook-ups on marlin most days. Highest day was six striped marlin released aboard “Ruthless” for Scott & Ray Millman from California,- who went on to release another four the next day aboard the same boat. We had a pilot group of Dutchmen led by Bert Goeree; we were pleased that after traveling such a long way they hit one of the best weeks we’ve had in a long time. Anglers with names that sound unusual to our ears, Ravolwelk, Vrolyk, Traas, Gerris, and Marion, all from the Netherlands – fished aboard “Karina” & “Adriana” and in five days released twenty-two striped marlin and captured fifteen yellowfin tuna and four dorado. Bert stuck to pangas and finished up his week, with some beautiful roosterfish catches. Steve & Paula Carver from Kentucky, were thrilled to release five stripers on February 2nd, aboard “La Brisa” – in fact this day proved to be the best of the week with twenty-five marlin between eight boats. Other notable catches were five stripers, one dorado and two tuna for Travis & Hoskell Ward from Idaho, aboard “Valerie”. The majority of the marlin were taken at San Jaime, with live bait, that was attached to sinkers. Pisces anglers caught a total of one hundred and three striped marlin this week, of which two were boated. Weights averaged from 120 to 160 lbs. OTHER SPECIES: A bit of a comeback this week on dorado and some were nice size fish at over 40 lbs, however, nobody caught more than four in a day and the norm was one or two, taken by trolling over a widespread area. We did have a couple of days when yellowfin tuna were caught, just out beyond the marlin grounds and small schools were found from the Old Lighthouse all the way up to Golden Gate, those that got lucky boated up to 10, while others just picked up the odd one here and there – weights were small at 15 to 25 lbs. Just one smaller wahoo for us, we also had a 40 lb cabrilla picked up at San Jaime and a 180 lb mako shark that was released. Inshore the week started off slow, but by the close of this period, roosterfish, sierra and even a few pargo were being caught. WEATHER CONDITIONS: Mostly overcast, seas calm. LOCATION: Old Lighthouse to Golden Gate. AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 70-71 F BEST LURES: Live bait. Based on the catches of Pisces Fleet by Tracy Ehrenberg