April 25th to May 1st, 2003 PISCES WEEKLY FISH REPORT April 25th to May 1st, 2003 BILLFISH: Marlin catches were a bit on the slow side this past week, that is not to say that they were not seen; lots of charters sighted more than one in a day and threw bait to them, but for some reason it wasn’t what they wanted. It seems food is plentiful in Cabo and they are well fed. Despite this twenty percent of charters were able to hook up to fish in the 140 to 180 lb class, giving us thirteen catches this week, all released. Top anglers this week were Dan & Michelle Porter, from Upland, Ca, who fished with friends aboard “ La Brisa” on April 28th. They were hot, releasing two striped marlin and boating thirteen yellowfin tuna ranging in size from 20 to 65 lbs, along with two nice dorado. A couple of days later, John Dedominic & Jeff Hume from Wilton, Ca. had an outstanding day aboard “Rebecca” releasing one striped marlin & landing nine yellowfin, one wahoo & one dorado. This same day Alan Webster and Steve Stack from Friendswood, Tx, were fortunate to release one marlin and boat three tuna & a dorado. Looking back to the past two years, we see that fishing is not as good as it was in 2001 & 2002. Hopefully this means that the fish are saving themselves for the upcoming IGFA/Rolex tournament to take place later this month. Most of the fishing was again on the Cortez side from the 95 spot to beyond Punta Gorda. Some boats reported unusually high water temps, at 74 F plus. OTHER SPECIES: Great catches on tuna and dorado this week – although the actual number of tuna caught was higher the dorado were more spread out. Sixty-one percent of charters landed dorado in the 20 to 40 lb class, with catches being one to four fish per boat. We 225 yellowfin caught this week, with fifty-three percent of boats catching these, weights were from 15 to 40 lbs, with the odd fish here and there a little over 60 lbs. Wahoo catches were fair as opposed to outstanding this same week in 2002, some boats had two in a day and weights were from 40 to 75 lbs. Inshore sierra are around, good amounts of roosterfish as well as yellowtail & trigger fish. WEATHER CONDITIONS: Mostly sunny, some overcast days, seas calm to fair. LOCATION: Cerro Blanco, Chileno, 95 Spot, San Jose 20 miles out, Punta Gorda. AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 71 F BEST LURES: Live bait, purple/black, green/yellow. Based on the catches of Pisces Fleet by Tracy Ehrenberg