PISCES WEEKLY FISH REPORT APRIL 22ND TO 28TH, 2005 BILLFISH: Cabo lived up to it’s reputation this week as the top place in the world to catch striped marlin. Catch rates climbed to a very decent seventy-two percent and now, with the moon waning and both air and water temperatures increasing, we will see even better numbers in the upcoming weeks. This is good news as the Rolex IGFA World Offshore Championship is just around the corner. This year’s event is set to be better than ever, with eighty teams signed up so far, some from such exotic places as Angola and Portugal, to mention but a few. Most of the striped marlin caught this week were found between Cerro Colorado and Destiladeres, on the Cortez side and with a preference for live bait. “Andrea” a 28 ft Uniflite, had the highest number of marlin in one day, totaling six, on April 24th, for James Sigler from Poughguah Wy, along with Daniel Ryan and Shannon Alport both from New York – Dan Ryan knows about building a rapport with the crew and fishes this boat several times a year. This same day “Karina” and “Ruthless” also had quadruple marlin catches. “Valerie” had five stripers just one day before for Robert & Kay Shaver from Pensacola, l, just four miles off of Cerro Colorado and “Ni Modo” followed up with five for William Hidell from Dallas, fishing with friends on April 28th . We are also starting to see a few sailfish; on April 25th Dale Pittman Jr. from Crystal River, Fl released a huge 150 lb pacific sail aboard “Ensueno”. One or two marlin per boat per day was the norm, but there was still the occasional boat “skunked”. Our overall catch success rate for all species combined was eighty-eight percent. Pisces anglers caught a total of 103 striped marlin this week, of which 99 were released, along with two sailfish. - OTHER SPECIES: Not a whole lot going on with smaller game, however, at the very close of this report, yellowfin tuna were found at Jaime Banks on the Pacific resulting in catches of up to 30 school size fish for some boats, though most boats were going the other way looking for marlin. Dorado catches were sparse with just nine fish for our anglers this week. There were some very nice wahoo up to 70 lbs, mostly an incidental catch whilst trolling for marlin. Inshore some small cabrillas, skipjack and a few bottom fish. WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny, skies, seas mostly calm, until wind picked up late in the afternoons. LOCATION: Cortez side – Cabeza de Ballena to Destiladeres, with San Jose and Punta Gorda the best spots, also Migrino to San Jaime for smaller game. AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 69-70 F BEST LURES: Live bait, which was a little scarce this week. Based on the catches of Pisces Fleet by Tracy Ehrenberg