Once again striped marlin were the top fish, giving anglers all the action they could wish for on most of the boats that worked the Golden Gate Bank. Not every day was a red-letter day though; we saw a definite slowing of the bite right around the full moon, several days either side of it seemed to be better. The same held true for the action we had been having on the Lighthouse ledge as the bite went from red-hot to hot to cool over three days. At the Golden Gate the better catches were had just before the full moon and boats that had experienced anglers were releasing double-digit numbers per day. That bite died to two or three fish per day during the full moon, and as of Saturday things had picked up very well

Yellowfin remained scarce this past week. A few boats managed to get into some fish ranging from 20 to 50 pounds working due south of Cabo on Tuesday. On Wednesday the fish had moved north about 15 miles and on Thursday they disappeared.

The best action for dorado appeared to be close to the beach on the Pacific side of the Cape. With an average size of 15 pounds, most boats were able to get two to five fish trolling live bait under areas where the frigate birds were hanging out, or trolling bright colored artificial lures within a mile of the beach. An occasional 35-pound fish added spice to the catch as well.

The sierra bite is picking up and the fish are very nice size, between 8 and 10 pounds when you find the right areas. There are a few nice yellowtails starting to pop up occasionally off of the Rocky points as well as some pargo to 25 pounds right in the rocks. Many of the pangas have been working just offshore for dorado and striped marlin and doing fairly well.

We are still seeing plenty of humpback whales outside of the beach area but have not seen any gray whales yet?Ķat least I haven't. The whale harassment fleet (whale watching charters, the small panga guys) can be spotted right on top of the pods, often 10 boats at a time.

Water temperature: 73 - 82
Air temperature: 63 - 84
Humidity 32%
Wind: NW 2 to 3 knots
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy
Visibility: 10 miles
Sunrise: 7:02 a.m. MST
Sunset: 6:00 p.m. MST