WEATHER: This was an interesting week as we did receive some rain on Tuesday. It was not just a little spit that dotted the dust on the cars either; it actually rained! Not hard, but enough to collect in small pools. The rest of the week was partly cloudy with highs in the mid 80's and lows in the low 60's. The wind really started to blow on Wednesday making it chilly at night.

WATER: On the Pacific side of the Cape this week the water continued to cool down. Along the beach out to several miles the water was 68 degrees and green. Outside that very cool band it warmed up a bit to around 71 degrees. On the Cortez side the water outside Punta Gorda and around the Gorda Banks out to the Cabrilla Seamount was a relatively warm 74-75 degrees. There was a break in the temperature around 15 miles due south of us as strong currents from the Pacific forced the cool water into the 75-degree water to the south and east of us. The water on the Cortez side, and particularly the water just to the east of us was quite green. This was unfortunate for us as the winds really were blowing the later half of the week making fishing on the cleaner Pacific side uncomfortable.

BAIT: There was a mix of Mackerel and Caballito available this week at the normal price of $3 per bait and there were Sardinas available up around the Chileno area at a cost of $25 a scoop.

FISHING:

BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin bite tapered off a bit this week as we saw the full moon make its appearance. With the fish feeding all night long, the fish that were caught were biting in the late afternoon. For this reason most of the charter fleet boats were not flying many Marlin flags on their return. The few private boats the braved the weather out there and stayed until 5 or 6 PM returned flying outriggers full of blue flags. With less competition in the afternoon and the fish starting to feed, they were able to do quite well. Catching bait on site was a big key as well, once again the Mackerel at the Golden Gate were a bit smaller than the ones boats were able to buy at the harbor, and the fish definitely preferred the smaller baits.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: Once again there were not very many fish caught this week. I did find a small pod of white-bellied dolphin five miles from the arch and metered fish under them, but did not have the time or gear to fish them. The few fish that were caught this week were from either very fast moving small groups of dolphin such as the ones I found, or as a result of heavy chumming with Sardinas up around Punta Gorda.

DORADO: A repeat of last weeks situation, there were scattered Dorado caught among the feeders at the Golden Gate Bank as well as some fish scattered up around the Punta Gorda area early in the week. Without any floating debris to hold them we have just not seen very many this week.

WAHOO: I was quite surprised this week as I only saw a couple of Wahoo flags. With the full moon I thought that the bite would have been good, but perhaps the water cooled too much.

INSHORE: Once again Sierra were the fish of the week inshore, with the appearance of some decent Yellowtail adding to the excitement for those fishing close to the beach. Add in the occasional Jack Crevalle, Pargo and Amberjack, and factor in the conditions offshore, I think that the Pangas were the way to go this past week!

NOTES: We are still seeing Humpback Whales, but very few Gray Whales were seen in our area this season. This weeks report was written to the soundtrack of the movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", one of my favorite movies! Until next week, tight lines!