WEATHER: Everything is in flux this time of year. Just as we thought that summer had arrived, it cooled off and now feels once again like winter. The wind picked up at the beginning of the week, a lot of the larger yachts that move north this time of year sat in the harbor waiting for good weather for the ride north. At the end of the week a few of them left, but a few waited it out, and it may have been a good thing. The wind really picked up and the water got pretty miserable on the Pacific side of the coast as the winds blew at 20-25 knots from the west-northwest, bringing the swells up and the chop into play. Our nights have been as cool as 63 degrees while the daytime highs have been in the low 80's. With the winds came partly cloudy skies as the remnants of a tropical depression from the Yucatan came over us.

WATER: The Pacific side of the Cape was fishable early in the week but when the winds picked up it became miserable. Swells were at 4-6 feet with an occasional 8-foot in the mix and the winds were blowing hard from the west-northwest. The current along the Pacific side was helped by the wind and the cool water from the Pacific punched its way into the Sea of Cortez. Like I said above, things are in flux. This cool water is at around 71 degrees and has extended itself from the beach at the arch out across the 1150 and almost to the outer Gorda Bank. Inside this band, along the shore, the water remained around 79 degrees, and up past the Gorda Banks it stayed warm as well. Along with the cooler water brought in, the clarity dropped as well, with green becoming the prevailing color.

BAIT: Mackerel and a few Caballito were available at the new price of $3 per bait, and there were nice sized Sardinas at the Palmilla area at $25 a scoop.

FISHING:

BILLFISH: Very little changed this week on the Marlin front with most of the fish being found along the shore off of Palmilla and San Jose. They had moved toward us early in the week but the influx of cooler water from the Pacific side pushed them back toward the north. They are still not biting very well and it seems as if lures are working better than live bait for the most part. Pulling lures at slightly higher than normal speeds seems to get the fish active, they may be striking out of aggression rather than hunger as the moon gets larger. A decent trip is one or two releases per boat, a good trip this week would have been three or more releases, but we saw very few boats with more than three.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: I sure saw a lot of tuna flags on some of the boats, but upon checking with the anglers found that the flags were being flown for Bonita that averaged 12 pounds in size, with a few reaching 18 pounds. A decent fight to be sure, but not Yellowfin by any stretch of the imagination.

DORADO: The Dorado bite dropped off as the cool water moved back in, but there were reports heard of some kelp patties being found offshore up in the East Cape area that were holding Dorado. In our area there were about 10 % of the boats coming in with Dorado flags at the end of the week, and they were found along with the Striped Marlin.

WAHOO: The Wahoo went somewhere else this past week.

INSHORE: Action inshore consisted of small Roosterfish to 10 pounds with an occasional fish to 30 pounds, a few holdover Sierra to 8 pounds, a decent spot of Grouper and Snapper averaging 8 pounds along the rocky points and those nice 12-18 pound Bonita just a few miles off the beach. All the action took place on the Cortez side of the Cape.

NOTES: Word is out that the Marines have been stopping boats from fishing within three miles of the beach from Gray Rock and to the north on the Sea of Cortez. Any boats found fishing within this area have been escorted outside the three-mile limit. We have been told that this is because about 30 years ago this area of the Sea of Cortez was designated some kind of reserve, and this is the only way of keeping the commercial boats like the purse Seiners we had such a problem with last month, out of our area. If they have to stay out, then we have to stay out as well. I guess I understand that a little bit, but we are not commercial fishermen, so there has to be reconciliation here somewhere. Anyway, until next week, tight lines!

AS OF JAN 23RD, 2007 EVERYONE MUST HAVE A PASSPORT TO TRAVEL TO AND FROM MEXICO!!!!!