"Please Release me"
By Captain George Landrum
Cabo San Lucas has garnered acknowledgement as the “Marlin Capital of the World.” Among just the three largest charter operators in Cabo, records have been set with the most striped marlin releases in the world for 11 of the past 17 years.
Minerva and Bob Smith have been in the fishing charter business for 25 years and their boats and captains have always been in the forefront of catch and release. At Minerva’s fleet, the most mentioned captain is Epigmenio Fiol, also known as Pimi. He is the captain on the Minerva II and has been with the fleet close to 25 years. Everyone raves about his marlin catching skills and he has released every billfish possible in the past 10 years. Except, Pimi did keep some extremely large tournament-winning fish.
Pisces Fleet Sportfishing is another top fleet with internationally recognized captains. With a strong affiliation in the Billfish Foundation, there have been more than a few top captain awards among this group. In 2006, José Ramon Alucano received the Billfish Foundation Award as top release captain of striped marlin. Only promoted to captain position two years ago, he has a bright future. He is presently the captain of the 28-foot Uniflite Andrea. Julio Castro, captain of the 31-foot Bertram Tracy Ann, has received the Hugo Ceseña Memorial Billfish Award from the Billfish Foundation. Enrique Martinez was awarded Top Striped Marlin Release Captain from the Billfish Foundation.
Picante Bluewater Sportfishing is one of the other large fleets in Cabo and is also affiliated with the Billfish Foundation. Captain Hugo Ceseña was awarded the Billfish Foundation title of Captain of the Year two years in a row for releasing more striped marlin than any captain in the world. Many of Picante’s captains have been honored with this title, including Captain Genaro Winkler on the Picante Dream, Captain Antonio Romero, on the Picante Pride, and Captain Juan Bertin on the Picante Espresso.
Although, these three charter companies are the most acknowledged, there are quite a few private boat captains who would be in their ranks if they fished as many days. As a matter of fact, as their skill becomes common knowledge, many of these top fleet captains leave the charter business to earn high-paying salaries on larger boats.
As you can see, there is a lot of talent around Los Cabos. Of course, the more you go out, the more fish you have a chance to catch and release. Often captains on private boats, or those who work for smaller fleets, are just as good, however don’t receive the recognition. Ask around, and you will find a captain who is into releasing all billfish caught. Also, please remember that it is your charter and your money, so they will be playing by your rules. State up front, that all billfish are to be released and if the captain isn’t comfortable with that, get a different boat.
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