PISCES WEEKLY FISH REPORT DECEMBER 23RD TO 29TH, 2005 BILLFISH: The week started out with a bang, with sensational fishing close to Cabo, in fact I counted close to one hundred boats is a two square mile area off of the Old Lighthouse, no more than a mile and half from the beach. This was not to last though, despite ideal conditions, the fish dropped off after Tuesday, perhaps due to the pressure of so many boats in one area. As has been the norm, we did have some boats that did really well. “Ni Modo” took a run up to the Finger Banks to check out and see if there were still fish stacked up there, this was on the 29th – they did well with a total of nine striped marlin for William & Kristi Kleinfelter, Brian & John Hogan, Brendan Rivage-Seul all from Ivyland, Pennsylvania. “Andrea” a 28 ft boat did exceptionally well on the 28th, with five stripers released, fishing a little further away than the herd of boats, at Moros Prietos, for Ed Katz from Ohio. Vicente Torta, visiting from the Cayman Islands, set himself a challenge, fishing with ultra light line aboard the “Tracy Ann” he was able to catch three striped marlin on 6 lb test, before gearing down to 4 lb, where he ended up with a broken rod. “Valerie” released four marlin on the 26th for the Olstad family from Canada, as did “Libre” this same day. The Shroeders from New Jersey released four striped marlin just one mile off of the Lighthouse on the 28th, aboard “Ruthless”. Famous guests this week were Beyonce and Kelly, from Destiny’s Child, along with Jay Zee who caught a nice dorado aboard “Josephine”, great well-mannered people who enjoyed all that Cabo has to offer. Our overall catch success rate for all species combined was eighty-nine percent with sixty-four percent of charters catching marlin. Pisces anglers caught a total of 106 striped marlin of which 94 were released along with one sailfish. OTHER SPECIES: Yellowfin tuna took up some of the slack when the marlin slowed, resulting in a catch success rate for this species of twenty-nine percent. Weights ranged from 10 to 60 lbs and they were found over a widespread area ranging from San Jaime, pretty much to San Jose, catches were between one and twenty fish – the smaller tuna took lures and cedar plugs, whilst the larger ones preferred live mackerel. Top tuna fisherman this week was Rick Walsh, with a tally of 20 fish aboard “Rebecca”. Marlin were so close that many pangas were able to hook up, as well as getting good numbers of skipjack and some sierra and roosters. LOCATION: Mostly Pacific at the Old Lighthouse, though some boats went to Cabeza de Ballena towards the close of the week. WEATHER CONDITIONS: Perfect, clear sunny skies, calm seas. AVERAGE WATER TEMP: Pacific 71 F, Sea of Cortez 74 F BEST LURES: Definitely live bait – on the marlin, about 90% took mackerel, with just a few on lures. Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg