WEATHER: Well, now we know for sure that summer is full on us as our daytime temperatures this week have been consistently above 100 degrees, in a few cases getting higher than 103 degrees at my house. Our nighttime range has been in the mid to high 80's early in the morning, I have yet to see anything lower than 80 degrees on the chart. We did have a couple of days when the wind blew a little from the east and brought some cooling to town, and on Sunday morning it felt for abut an hour that we might have a bit of fog move in and cool things down, but that never happened and things have stayed warm. No clouds, no rain and sunny skies, if you are coming in the next few months, leave the long pants and sweater at home, just bring swim suits and sunblock!

WATER: The strength of the California current died off and the warm water that was stacked up past the Punta Gorda area worked its way quickly across the Cape. At the end of the week we had surface temperatures in the high 80's across the Sea of Cortez and up into the Pacific as far as 10 miles northwest of the Golden Gate Banks, a big difference from what we were seeing last week. From the San Jaime Banks and the 1,000 fathom line all the way across the Cape into the sea of Cortez the water was 85 degrees or higher. On the Pacific side up above the Golden Gate Bank half way to the Finger Bank it began to cool a bit and at the Finger Bank itself it was 77 degrees. Even thought the water was warm above the San Jaime Bank, it was still a little off color, but everywhere else it was a deep blue. Sea swells were a little larger than normal due to the passing far to the south of Hurricanes Blanca and Carlos, but there was very little to no wind on top of the swells so conditions were great for fishing.

BAIT: Caballito and Mackerel at the normal $3 per bait as well as Mullet at the same price.

FISHING:

BILLFISH: The numbers of Striped Marlin that have been seen this week are down, but that is considered normal for this time of year as the water warms past their comfort zone. A few are still being seen out there and a few are caught every day, but as the water stays warm the numbers will continue to drop off. There have been a lot more Sailfish showing up in the catch reports this week, once again due to the warmer water. They are being caught on smaller lures being pulled for Dorado and a few boats have had instances where all the lures have been attacked at once. There are also reports every day of Blue Marlin, and occasionally a Black Marlin appearing in the pattern and engulfing a lure. Not a lot of them are being brought to the boat yet, but that will change soon as the fleet boats start gearing up for these larger fish.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: Once again we were seeing small football fish in and around some of the porpoise pods that were found. Not all pods had tuna with them, often a large pod would be found with plenty of feeding activity and bird action, yet not one fish would be caught or show up on the fish finders. On about half the occasions that the porpoise were found there would be fish with them. In the middle of the week there was decent action for one day with a nice pod of porpoise holding fish averaging 30 pounds between the San Jaime Bank and the Golden Gate Bank, but the fish did not stay around long enough for more that a couple of boats to get in on the action. Other than that one day, a good bite on football fish would be between 10 and 20 fish a trip, but you had to be in the right place at the right time for that to happen. Most boats looking for Tuna were lucky to get a couple of them in the box.

DORADO: Still averaging 2 fish per boat, Dorado remained the fish of the week this week. While not everyone got into one of the nice 50-pound fish, there were enough of them in the 15-pound class to get a nice dinner for everyone aboard. Most of the action shifted to the Pacific side of the Cape as the warm water pushed its way up the coast. Closer to shore, mostly within five miles was where the majority of the action took place and small brightly colored feathers or plastic lures worked the best. Dropping back a live bait behind a fish that was already hooked up sometimes gave anglers a chance at a second, larger fish.

WAHOO: With this week having the full moon I did hear of a few nice Wahoo in the 40-pound class being caught offshore. These were fish that were incidental catches caught while fishing for Marlin or Dorado.

INSHORE: It was a pick this week with steady action on small Roosterfish averaging 10 pounds and an occasional fish to 40 pounds, a couple of Sierra and small Yellowtail found on the Pacific side and a scattering of Pargo in the mix. There were two days in the middle of the week when the grouper action was decent, but then the fish moved to deeper water. Most of the Pangas were working just offshore looking for Dorado and Tuna action.

Notes: While the fishing was not red hot by any means, it was not dead either. The action was a steady pick all day for most of the boats, just enough action to keep anglers from getting bored. As the water remains warm the action for Blue and Black Marlin, Sailfish and Dorado should heat up. If there were more anglers in town perhaps the action would be better, but as so many have said recently, it is almost like a new day every day out there. Until next week, tight lines!