WEATHER: Our new year started out with partly cloudy skies and nighttime lows in the mid to low 60's. As we approached the end of the week things warmed up a bit and the lows were in the high 60's while the daytime highs remained in the high 70's and low 80's.

WATER: The was no change in the water conditions from what we had during Christmas. The water on the Pacific side remained in the low 70's almost all week and became a little choppy in the afternoons when the winds picked up. The swells increased in size later in the week, or the direction they came form changed, either way, on the Pacific side we had swells at 3-5 feet. On the Cortez side the water has remained in the high 70's and the swells have been small and there has been no wind chop.

BAIT: Caballito and Mackerel were available at the normal $3 per bait, most of the Caballito were small ones, the mackerel were larger. You could still catch plenty of Mackerel at the Golden Gate Bank if you ran out. Sardinas were available at Palmilla for an average of $25 a bucket.

FISHING:

BILLFISH: Still the fish of the week, Striped Marlin continued to bite week at the Golden Gate Bank. Catch rates varied from between 17 fish to two fish per day, depending on the length of time spent there and the experience of the anglers. Running to the diving Pelicans and Frigates and throwing a couple of live baits in among the feeding seals and Marlin resulted in many hook-ups, both on Marlin and on Pelicans. The other day we released three Marlin and three Pelicans in an hour. Slow trolling live bait also worked very well. Drifting with live bait set deep did not seem to do as well at the Gate this week. Another area where the Striped Marlin began to show was just off of the lighthouse on the Pacific side. Along the flats at the point the bait has begun to stack up and many boats have been saving time by fishing there instead of making the run to the Golden Gate Bank. The fishing has not been quite as good, but that should change soon. Elsewhere, there have been a few fish caught on the Cortez side of the Cape, but most of the fish seen in that area have been sleepers.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: Yellowfin remained scarce this past week. A few football-sized fish are beginning to show up off of the Westin area on the Cortez side of the Cape, the same area where we had such a good time catching them on light tackle last year, just a few miles off shore. Using live Sardinas as chum and bait resulted in catches of up to 6 fish per boat. There were also a few fish 15-20 pounds found among Porpoise off of Gray Rock late in the week, and the same type of action was occasionally found 8-10 miles off the beach on the way to the San Jaime Bank on the Pacific side.

DORADO: There were decent catches of Dorado this week from the Pacific side of the Cape just a few miles off the beach. For some reason these seemed to be fish that averaged 12 pounds. Farther off shore at 10 or more miles the fish seemed to be bigger, one boat came in with three Dorado, all of them over 35 pounds. Slow trolling live bait seemed to work best on the Pacific side. On the Cortez side there was fair action up around Punta Gorda about two miles off the beach. Again, slow trolling live bait worked best, but pulling lures at 8 knots or more also resulted in fish being brought in.

WAHOO: I heard of a few Wahoo being hooked up but none being brought in.

INSHORE: Near the beach things have been very good. Friends of mine managed to catch and release a Roosterfish of 50+ pounds just to the east of the lighthouse one day, and clients of ours have had a blast on small Roosterfish ranging from 5 pounds to 15 pounds. The Sierra bite is getting better with some very nice fish to 8 pounds being caught. I saw one fish caught from a commercial Panga that may have been 12 pounds. A few nice sized Pargo have been found among the rocks on the Pacific side and I have seen some good grouper to 30 pounds being brought in as well.

NOTES: Happy New Year everyone! As a side note, there have been quite a few Mako sharks, small ones, being caught up at the Golden Gate Bank. That has been a prelude to the southern movement of the Striped Marlin in the past, so it is very possible that the Marlin action will move closer to us pretty soon. Also, there have been plenty of Humpback Whales out there and watching them for a little bit has really been a treat. Until next week, tight lines!