February 28th to March 6th, 2003 PISCES WEEKLY FISH REPORT FEBRUARY 28TH TO MARCH 6TH, 2003 BILLFISH: Good news again this week, we are happy report excellent catches on striped marlin once again. This week we totaled one hundred and eleven with only two boated, the rest were released. Weights were good at up to 180 lbs. We also had a lone sailfish caught on the “Rebecca” by Kevin Dahlin, who also had two marlin this day. Fishing concentrated in the Sea of Cortez between Punta Gorda and Destiladeres. Top day was had by “Valerie” on March 2nd, with six stripers released for Marc Bachtle and friends from Newtown, Pennsylvania. This same day Bob Ellis and party, also from Pennsylvania scored five, aboard “La Brisa” which was impressive too. The day after, “La Brisa” again had five for the Tobin family from Albuquerque and Colorado respectively. Last week we neglected to mention Dave Palmer from Huntington, Texas – Dave and friends fished “Tracy Ann” and claimed that Julio and Edgar, crewmen “have the best eyes for spotting marlin that I have ever seen” – these guys were very pleased with three marlin and a dorado that they caught. Our overall catch success rate this week was ninety-five percent – the billfish catch success rate was seventy-seven percent. Although the marlin did take a combination of lures and bait, towards the close of the week, live bait was taken exclusively. OTHER SPECIES: Most boats shot off to the Sea of Cortez for the marlin frenzy, but boats going the other way to the Pacific were able to catch tuna and dorado, neither were a sure thing though. The area off of the Old Lighthouse was productive one day for “football” size fish – “Ni Modo” had 23 and also picked up a striped marlin that had strayed that way, other boats had up to 8. At the close of the week tuna were spotted at the Golden Gate area, swimming with porpoise, they were jumping into the air but only a few were persuaded to bite. Dorado were picked up amongst the marlin, but on the Pacific, strikes of up to six in a day were reported. Weights on these were from 15 to 40 lbs. Inshore lots of sierra, with weights getting at big as 11 lbs, as well as some skipjacks and roosters. LOCATION: Punta Gorda, Destiladeres. WEATHER CONDITIONS: Seas pretty good most of the week, with one very windy day on Wednesday, seas now calm, skies blue. AVERAGE WATER TEMP : Cortez 70-71 F, Pacific 68-69 F BEST LURES: Live bait. Based on the catches of Pisces Fleet by Tracy Ehrenberg