PISCES WEEKLY FISH REPORT MARCH 12TH TO 18TH, 2004 BILLFISH: Well I was surprised at the fishing this week, at the way it improved so dramatically. We are still not seeing huge amounts of marlin, but sixteen percent of boats were lucky enough to hook them. The water temperature reached 72 F in some places and many marlin were spotted, but were not always hungry, due to the abundance of squid still in the area. Fishing overall for all species combined was very good, giving us an overall catch success rate of eighty-nine percent. One boat that did exceptionally well was “Ni Modo” on March 18th; their day was impressive for a group of anglers from Dallas, Texas, – one striped marlin and one sailfish for Terry Adams, a beautiful 80 lb wahoo for daughter Natalie, and ten yellowfin tuna and three dorado, one 60 lbs, landed by Ty for the rest of the group – pretty impressive, making this group our anglers of the week. Several swordfish were also sighted, but none boated that we know of. On March 16th,. James Rappaport from Boston, Ma, had a decent day too, aboard “Andrea”, releasing a striped marlin and landing five yellowfin from 30 to 45 lbs. As we write this “Adriana” is hooked up to a big blue and has been for the past five hours. We’ll have the outcome for you next week. The marlin caught this week took more bait than lures. Boats fished on the Cortez side from Chileno to Punta Gorda. Pisces anglers caught a total of eleven striped marlin and one sailfish, all but three were released. OTHER SPECIES: We are thrilled with the tuna, still in the area after more than a month, they were again the top sportfish in Cabo, with sixty-six percent of boats landing between one and sixteen in the 20 to 45 lb class, so coolers are going home packed. The tuna took more lures and cedar plugs than bait and were found over a widespread area. Dorado catches also improved this week, with twenty-one percent of boats landed this tasty species. The period started out with boats landing one or two, but by the close of the week, four fish for a boat was not uncommon. Inshore, still lots of sierra, some roosters and even some marlin close in. LOCATION: Chileno to Punta Gorda, though still some action on the Pacific, off of the Old Lighthouse. AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 68 -72 F BEST LURES: Purple/black, red/black, live bait. BASED ON THE CATCHES OF PISCES FLEET BY TRACY EHRENBERG