PISCES FISH REPORT January 22nd to 31st, 2008 Overall Catch Success Rate 91% BILLFISH: Before we get into the fish report we want to congratulate two of our captains; Roberto Sandez formerly of Rebecca, now Valerie, for winning the award given by The Billfish Foundation for releasing most striped marlin worldwide in 2007 (Pacific) and Edgar Rentaria, of Libre, for being top captain worldwide for releasing spearfish. The mate for both captains was Luis Cota. For the first time in a long time, we had a bit of a slow down on marlin fishing this week, in that the success rate for billfish dropped to 75%. Our overall catch success rate for all species combined remained decent at 91%. Nevertheless there were a handful of boats that got “skunked” this week. The Golden Gate dropped off for a couple of days and boats moved to the Cortez side and off of Land’s End where they found tuna for a couple of days as well as less hungry marlin, that needed more coaxing to get a hook up. However as the wind died down a bit, boats again returned to Golden Gate and started producing the number of fish that we have grown accustomed to. So basically we had a couple of wobbly days and then it was back on. “Valerie” had eight marlin on January 31st seven released and 170 lb fish kept by the client, G Blumenfeld from Petaluma, Ca fishing with D Sawieki from Detroit. This same day “Rebecca” released seven for Matt Birk and Steve Collette from St. Paul, Minnesota; they also released a mako shark and skipjack, at Golden Gate. Earlier in the week “Falcon” had two stripers, two dorado and eight tuna 22 miles out from Chileno. Pisces anglers caught a total of 105 striped marlin this week with all but one released. OTHER SPECIES: After marlin yellow fin tuna was the most widely caught species. Twenty five percent of charters found tuna over a couple of days, with weights in the 15 to 30 lb class. “Spartacus”, 60 ft Hatteras caught 14 with assorted feathers 38 miles from the 95 spot, as well as releasing one striped marlin on January 28th for Garret Berg from Maple Grove, Minnesota. The day before this “Bandito”, 29 ft Blackfin caught 11 and released one marlin at the 180 spot for Chris Varner and Dave Filz from Charlotte, North Carolina. Pisces anglers caught 91 tuna this week, but none were of a size to boast about. Just nine percent of boats found dorado with catches seldom more than one or two fish and weights not much more than 30 lbs at best. Inshore roosters are starting to increase, as our skipjacks, amberjacks and sierra. Boats continue to catch small mako sharks at Golden Gate. WEATHER CONDITIONS: Mixed, some days cloudy, windy most of the week, then calming and skies clearing. LOCATION: Golden Gate, 28 miles from Cerro Blanco, 180 spot, 95 spot, San Cristobal, 18 miles out from Old Lighthouse, San Jaime. AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 69 F BEST LURES: Live bait, assorted feathers. Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg