Pete Thomas Outdoors

Could enormous Baja amberjack have been a world record?

The powerful amberjack was so massive it might have been a world record.

But the fisherman who battled the monstrous fish, and the Mexican crew that helped deliver it from the Sea of Cortez to a remote Baja California beach, were not thinking about records.

They marveled at the size of the fish and hefted their great prize as if to see if it could, indeed, be hefted—then carved it up for fish tacos and fillets for the grill.

(Note: This is a reprint from a Pete Thomas story on GrindTv Outdoor.)

The International Game Fish Association lists a 156-pound amberjack caught off Japan in 2010 as the all-tackle world record. The fish caught last week by Kevin Shiotani was conservatively estimated to weigh at least 135 pounds.

As anyone who has done a lot of weight-guessing knows, however, estimates can be wildly inaccurate.

Regardless of a possible record lost, Shiotani's amberjack is one of the largest ever caught, although it's likely that larger specimens have been hooked and lost in the rocks.

The catch was made after a 25-minute struggle near Cerralvo Island, the southern-most island in the Sea of Cortez. Shiotani is a regular customer of Tailhunter International Sportfishing, a La Paz-based charter business that trucks clients to a remote beach to fish Cerralvo and offshore waters out of pangas, or large skiffs.

Jonathan Roldan, who owns Tailhunter International and Tailhunter Restaurant, explained the catch to Phil Friedman Outdoors Radio.

"Kevin fought the fish for 25 minutes to a half-hour and got it to the boat and, of course, blew everyone away," he said. "They stuck a gaff in it, got it back to the beach, and started taking pictures. It's a magnificent fish."

Roldan said there was no scale on the beach and that he was not present when the fish was brought ashore. Had he been, he would have been sure to get the behemoth weighed on a certified scale.

He said that because amberjacks are so powerful and always lurk near structure, the larger fish are incredibly difficult to land.

"The largest we've put on a scale is 110 pounds, and 60- to 70-pounders have taken an hour or two hours to put on the boat, so this is just a fish that [Shiotani] happened to turn and put the wood to it, and got it back out of the rocks and got it to the boat.

"Like [with] a lot of world records, there was a lot of good luck and good angling."

There is one world record out of La Paz that seems as though it might last forever: a 114-pound roosterfish, a cousin of the amberjack, that was caught in 1960.

--Pete Thomas

--Photos of Kevin Shiotani's amberjack, being lifted by captains Mundo (top) and Nando are courtesy of Esteban Romero

Another two-headed shark photo surfaces, but one-eyed Cyclops shark may still reign supreme in realm of the bizarre

Another photo of a two-headed shark has surfaced. The first was that of a bull shark found recently by fishermen in the Florida Keys. The second, published Thursday by National Geographic, shows a baby blue shark with two heads (pictured at right).

Very bizarre, since only about a half-dozen cases of two-headed sharks have been documented.

But based purely on appearance, many will agree that when it comes to bizarre-looking specimens the one-eyed Cyclops shark captured in 2011 in Mexico's Sea of Cortez still reigns supreme.

The two-headed blue shark was found in 2008 by Christopher Johnston, during a longlining expedition in the Indian Ocean. He supplied the accompanying image to National Geographic.

"We pulled up a pregnant blue shark, cut it open, and there was the two-headed one," he said. "It was about two-thirds the size of the rest of the pups in length. I put it in the tank on the deck. It swam a little while, but it couldn’t swim properly, it just swam in one spot as if it were on a treadmill. I tried feeding it squid but it wasn’t interested."

It's believed that two-headed sharks would be vulnerable to predation and would not survive in the wild. This one eventually died.

After this website broke the story about the one-eyed cyclops shark, thanks to a tip from Pisces Sportfishing, the image went viral and lots of people didn't believe the shark was real.

 

The story became more believable, however, after Felipe Galván-Magaña, a prominent Mexican scientist, acknowledged that he had inspected the shark and had even written a paper on the discovery.

That albino shark fetus, with what appeared to be a single eye perfectly centered on its forehead, was one of 10 babies removed from a pregnant bull shark by fishermen near La Paz.

The shark, which was caught via a baited line beneath a buoy, was dead when it was pulled up by commercial fishermen.

To read more about the two-headed blue shark, click on the National Geographic link atop this post or see David Strege's story on the GrindTv Big Blue blog.

--Pete Thomas

--Blue shark image is courtesy of Christopher Johnston, via National Geographic

Orcas surprise Baja anglers, emerge just inches behind boat

For Bryan MacGowan and friends, a recent Sea of Cortez fishing trip will remain memorable not because of what they caught, but what they saw: several large killer whales that emerged off the stern of their 31-foot boat, two of them just inches away, at times seeming to inspect the anglers and crew.

"As the stern dipped in the waves, they would peer into the cockpit," MacGowan said. "It was intimidating--they are big!"

The encounter, involving at least 12 killer whales, or orcas, occurred off Baja California's East Cape region as the anglers were cruising offshore to hunt for marlin. There were no lines in the water during the encounter.

Two were immediately behind the boat when MacGowan captured the top image, revealing a killer whale practically within touching range. "There was another orca in the prop wash on the other side, but my camera could only capture the one," he said.

MacGowan captured a second image (posted below), showing a killer whale "playing in the stern wash, after the close ones dropped out."

It was startling because everyone had been looking forward until the captain spotted the mammals and shouted for everyone to turn and look.

The top image first appeared Saturday on the Pisces Sportfishing blog and Facebook page, with a post that reads: 


Look very carefully at this photo, sent to us by Brian MacGowan from Newport Beach, California, who is out today on the Tracy Ann. He was fishing at the East Cape recently, when the captain yelled for him to look back... he did, glad the lures were not in the water, he could have had the fight of a life time on his hands.

The captain told MacGowan that he sees what he thinks is the same pod two or three times a year.

Boaters farther north, off Loreto, enjoyed a similar encounter last fall. Perhaps those were from the same pod or family group.

--Pete Thomas

Killer whale's sudden appearance behind boat startles anglers

Imagine cruising along in a fishing boat and turning to gaze off the stern and spotting not a sunning marlin, leaping tuna or ray--which anglers might not be too surprised to see--but a large killer whale riding in the boat's wake only a few feet away.

This was Bryan MacGowan's experience recently in the Sea of Cortez, in Baja California's East Cape region.

MacGowan on Saturday was fishing farther south off Cabo San Lucas and showed the photo to Pisces Sportfishing general manager Tracy Ehrenberg.

She posted the photo to the Pisces Facebook page in late afternoon, and by about 7:30 p.m. it had been viewed by 30,000 people and shared more than 300 times.

Ehrenberg's post reads:

Look very carefully at this photo, sent to us by Brian MacGowan from Newport Beach, California, who is out today on the Tracy Ann. He was fishing at the East Cape recently, when the captain yelled for him to look back... he did, glad the lures were not in the water, he could have had the fight of a life time on his hands.

--Editor's note: Pete Thomas Outdoors tried reaching MacGowan by telephone, to obtain more details, but at the time of this post he had not returned the call.

Amazing baby gray whale encounter videotaped off Baja

 

If the baby gray whale in the accompanying video were a kitten, you'd expect it to purr.

The incredible footage was captured this past week by David Anderson during a family vacation to Magdalena Bay on Mexico's Baja California peninsula.

Intimately close encounters with gray whales in Baja's lagoons are not unusual, and gray whale calves often approach people aboard skiffs, with their mothers, and allow themselves to be touched.

But the calf that spent a full hour with the Anderson group--the footage was boiled down to three minutes--seemed to have adored the human touch more than anything else it had experienced in its brief existence. Excluding mother's milk, of course.

Anderson, who runs Capt. Dave's Dolphin and Whale Safari in Dana Point, Calif., describes this event as "one of the best encounters I have ever had with a whale in my life. And I have had many."

It is incredible, in large part, because of the whale's seemingly endless craving for human affection; the opening of its mouth and willingness to be caressed in such a vulnerable area, and the closeups of the eyes, above and below water.

At least once the calf seems to close its eyes upon being stroked on its head, as might a kitten or puppy.

What's missing, however, is the calf's mother, and how she responded to her baby's prolonged human encounter. Presumably she was nearby and simply didn't make Anderson's final editing cut.

Guadalupe Island great white shark enters Southern California waters; journey is unprecedented

**Update: On Friday morning the shark's position was to the north past San Miguel Island

A great white shark tagged in 2012 at Guadalupe Island, west of Baja California, is closing in on Southern California and is the first known adult white shark from the Mexican island to have entered California waters.

The adult female white shark, which was tagged by Michael Domeier and the Marine Conservation Science Institute, on Thursday had passed Cortes Bank and was closing in on San Clemente Island (see graphic posted below). Cortes Bank is about 100 miles west of Orange County. Guadalupe Island is 165 miles west of Ensenada.

The adult female shark (pictured above) is named Arden Grace.

"Have you got a SCUBA trip lined up at San Clemente this weekend? If you do you might want to watch your back," MSCI posted on its Facebook page.

Another post reads: "This is a strange time of year for her to be in the coastal region. We've never had a female in our cold winter waters at this time of year, and we've never had one of our Guadalupe white sharks swim to California...

"She's headed towards San Diego now! Will she make it or turn around?"

(Those who wish to follow the movements of sharks tagged at Guadalupe can do so via the MCSI's Expedition White Shark app, available through iTunes.)

Great White sharks in the northeastern Pacific are known to have site fidelity during the fall and early winter to either Guadalupe Island or Northern California elephant seal rookeries, such as the Farallon Islands west of San Francisco.

During this time of year, however, the vast majority of adult white sharks from both aggregation regions are hundreds of miles offshore, in areas stretching as far as Hawaii.

Interestingly, sharks tagged at Guadalupe Island have never visited Northern California white shark aggregation sites. In 2008, an adult female white shark tagged near the Farallon Islands was tracked to Guadalupe.

--Pete Thomas

Cabo San Lucas anglers kick off Super Bowl weekend by landing 987-pound blue marlin

The most remarkable catch on Super Bowl weekend might have been made before the big game: That of a 987-pound blue marlin by four anglers who were at least in their 80s. (The anglers are not pictured in this post.)

Capt. Manuel Dominguez said he was led to believe that the youngest angler in his charter group, which embarked from the Mexican resort city Saturday morning on what it hoped would be a brief and relaxing tuna-fishing excursion, was 82.

The excursion lasted more than 16 hours.

While aboard the 32-foot cruiser, Ziggy,  Arizona anglers Sergent and Sandy Sergei Snegireff, and John and Edie Rayno, had caught several tuna before deciding to call it quits.

It was 1:20 p.m.

But then something large and mighty struck the line attached to the right outrigger. At the end of the line was a lure resembling a flying fish.

(Note: A version of this post also appears on the GrindTv.com Outdoor blog.)

An epic battle was at hand, whether the old-timers liked it or not. All took turns with the rod but none could make significant headway.

The crew members helped but even they could not turn the head of the valiant billfish.

Capt. Dominguez initially thought the fish was a giant tuna, but after 40 minutes it jumped. "I thought it was around 800 pounds because I've caught two around that size before," he told Tracy Ehrenberg, general manager of Pisces Sportfishing, which was first to blog about the catch.

They were still fighting the fish as the sun began to set over the Pacific.

Would they be able to bring the behemoth to the boat before sharks moved in?

Dominguez was more worried about fuel; the marlin had towed the yacht several miles offshore and showed no signs of tiring.

Thank goodness for cellphones.

Dominguez phoned Pisces Capt. Julio Castro, who gathered some friends on shore and made a run to the nearest gas station. They then voyaged out aboard Tracy Ann and met up with Ziggy.

The new crew helped battle the marlin for two more hours before realizing they were supposed to play in a soccer match later that night, so they scurried back aboard Tracy Ann and sped toward shore.

Finally, Capt. Dominguez took the rod and fought the marlin until it was alongside the boat. His crew promptly gaffed and secured the billfish with ropes, but determined it was much too large to be brought aboard, or even draped across the stern swim step.

(It remains unclear why this group chose to kill, rather than release the fish.)

With no other recourse, they simply tied the head of the marlin to the swim step and left the body dangling in the water during the 16-mile, four-hour ride to port. Everyone was too tired to weigh the fish that night, so they hired a watchman to keep tabs on the catch until morning.

At 8:30 a.m. Sunday, the marlin tipped the marina scale at 987 pounds. Many wondered how much weight it lost while lying on the concrete dock overnight. The best estimate was 10% of its body weight, meaning it would have easily topped 1,000 pounds if weighed when it had arrived.

Regardless, it remains one of the top five or six heaviest marlin ever caught at Cabo San Lucas, and it's undoubtedly the heaviest ever caught by four senior citizens from Arizona.

Top photo: Left to right: Deckhand Alejandro Suarez, Captain Manuel "El Chichi" Dominguez and Jaime Dominguez. Credit: Pisces Sportfishing

Giant wahoo (114 pounds) caught off Baja's East Cape

A 114-pound wahoo was landed Tuesday in the Sea of Cortez off Baja California's East Cape region.

Hotel Palmas de Cortez spokesman Eddie Dalmau said the fish was caught just north of the resort near Punta Pescadero aboard Borraccho y Amigos, captained by Oscar Verdugo.

Dalmau did not name the angler but said the fish, caught on a ballyhoo, was one of four wahoo hooked by a team of anglers, and the only one landed.

Wahoo, known in Hawaii and by sushi and sashimi aficionados as ono, are caught seasonally and somewhat sporadically in the Sea of Cortez.

They're prized both for the sizzling runs they make when hooked, and for their firm and delectable flesh.

They're also known for their razor-sharp teeth.

While this was an impressive specimen, the International Game Fish Assn. lists a 184-pound wahoo, caught off Cabo San Lucas in 2005, as the all-tackle world record. 

--Pete Thomas

--Image showing the 114-pound wahoo is courtesy of Hotel Palmas de Cortez

First-time marlin catch off Cabo San Lucas worth $2.4 million

Until arriving in Cabo San Lucas for last week's Bisbee's Black & Blue Marlin Jackpot Tournament, Dave Sanchez's most impressive catch was a largemouth bass caught in his home state of Missouri.

But on Thursday, the second day of the prestigious billfish competition off the Baja California resort city, Sanchez reeled in a 465-pound marlin that would earn $2,396,800 for his team aboard the yacht, Frantic Pace.

"I'm really starting to like this offshore fishing," Sanchez said at the awards ceremony on Saturday. "We had a lot of fun. It was a great team effort and I'm just glad we ran across that fish. We found one, caught it, and as luck would have it, that was all it took."

The payout was the second-largest in the tournament's 32-year history. The record year was 2006, when a $4,165,960 purse was up for grabs and the winner's share was $3.92 million.

At 465 pounds, the marlin Sanchez caught was not especially large. But it was the only marlin that met the 300-pound minimum qualifying weight, and because the team had been entered in all of the daily side jackpots, it claimed most of the overall purse.

Frantic Pace was one of 106 teams entered in the three-day competition, and it's probably the only team that's still celebrating.

As a side note, the marlin came within one ferocious lunge of escaping because the snap swivel connecting the reel's main line to the leader had opened toward the end of the battle. Only the quarter-inch bend in the swivel was holding the leader in place when the fish was reeled close to the boat. But crewman Josh Temple gently grabbed the leader and slowly pulled the weary marlin close enough to be gaffed, securing the million-dollar catch.

--Image shows Team Frantic Pace celebrating at the weigh-in of its 465-pound blue marlin

Playful killer whales dazzle boaters in Sea of Cortez

Boaters off the Baja California city of Loreto on Friday were treated to a rare and magical sight: large killer whales playfully riding in the wakes created by a 70-foot yacht they were riding aboard. Surprisingly, this same event occurred in June and involved the same yacht, which runs from Cast N' Reel Charters. The first two images are from Friday, amid a tropical storm, and the bottom two are from a sunnier day in June.

This type of behavior is common among some species of dolphins, and technically killer whales, or orcas, are dolphins. But killer whales, as a rule, do not bow-ride and wake-ride.

"It's extremely unusual to see something like this," said Alisa Schulman-Janiger, an American Cetacean Society killer whale researcher.

Ashley Ross, owner-operator of Cast N' Reel, said her father, Robert Ross, snapped the images, which have become incredibly popular on the company Facebook page. Ashley said the company has the area's only large charter yacht and that the images were captured beyond the islands outside Loreto.

"Before this, Loreto was mostly known for panga fishing [aboard skiffs]," she said. "We're the only company to offer yachts so we can travel out farther than the islands."

The company logs orca sightings three to four times a year, usually in late summer and fall, Ashley Ross said, but these sightings were the most incredible to date.

It remains unclear exactly what type of killer whales these are, Schulman-Janiger said. But they could be those loosely classified as Eastern Tropical Pacific killer whales.