WEATHER: We had partly cloudy skies this week and even had just a spit of rain on Thursday and on Saturday, not enough to do anything but you could see the spots on the cars. There was thunder and lightning in the mountains on Saturday so there must have been some decent rain going on up there. Our daytime highs were in the high 90's to low 100's and the nighttime lows did not drop much below the high 80's.

WATER: Surface conditions on the Pacific became a bit on the choppy side during the later half of the week as the clouds also brought in a bit of wind. It seemed that the wind was from the west so that even the Sea of Cortez was affected, receiving the results as fairly choppy conditions later in the week. Earlier in the week things were much nicer! Water temperatures on the Sea of Cortez remained high, and the farther north you went the higher they got. On Saturday I was reading 86 degrees at the 95 spot and as I got to the east of the 1150 on the 1,000-fathom line it had crept up to 87.7 degrees. Most of the water on the Pacific side was considerably cooler with 85 degrees being the warmest out around the San Jaime Banks.

BAIT: Almost all the larger baits this week were Caballito and mullet at the normal $3 per bait. There were Sardinas available up in San Jose at the usual $25 per scoop.

FISHING:

BILLFISH: There were fewer Blue and Black Marlin caught this week, but that may have been due to the effects of the full moon. There were still some caught, just not as many as last week. Once again the area to the south of the Cape had the most Blue Marlin hookups while the Blacks were found closer to shore. On the Pacific side the bite for Striped Marlin continued at its slower than normal summer pace, but there were boats that released two to three fish per day, most of them being found fairly close to the beach, within five miles, up past the Los Arcos area. There were Sailfish around, we hooked one on Saturday out by the 1150 in warm 87-degree water, and released one at the 95 spot in 86-degree water. Others were caught to the south and west of the Cape as well. Most of the Sailfish were in the 40-60 pound class.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: There have been decent numbers of fish this week in the 20-30 pound class being found on the Pacific side of the Cape, out around the San Jaime and the Golden Gate Banks. Early in the week there was a group of fish that were between 100-200 pounds found south of the Cabrilla Seamount. As the week progressed these fish worked their way around the Cape and at the end of the week they were outside of the San Jaime Bank. There were fish in the 120-180 pound class caught every day, one boat got covered up, hooking and landing five fish over 100 pounds on one pass. Bet those guys were tired afterward! Cedar plugs and feathers worked great on the smaller fish; Marlin lures and live bait were hooking up the larger ones.

DORADO: The bite definitely improved over the results of last week, as most boats were able to get five or six fish a trip, averaging 15 pounds as long as they fished the right area. From the lighthouse on the Pacific side up to inside the Golden Gate Bank, as long as you stayed about 2-3 miles off the beach you were going to hook up. The boats that fished slow trolled live bait had the best results, but plastic lures worked as well. Closer to the beach the fish were smaller, but very active.

WAHOO: The full moon did have an effect on the Wahoo bite, we had two on Saturday, both of them found in the open water around the 95 spot, and both were about 20-25 pounds. Other fish were caught by boats working off the beach for Dorado on the Pacific side and there were fish found at the San Jaime and Golden Gate Banks as well, and all of them were about the same size.

INSHORE: Dorado in decent numbers and sizes as well as some good Rooster fishing kept Panga anglers happy this week. When the football tuna ventured close to shore the Pangas would scoot out and score a few fish, but for the most part they stayed within 3 miles of the beach, and almost all of them were fishing the Pacific side of the Cape.

NOTES: I have a few more days of fishing coming up so will be able to relate some information next week based on personal observation instead of having to rely on other Captains and anglers to let me know. Take your pick on the music this week, during this report I covered everyone from Mark Knopfler to Craig Chaquiso to Ottmar Liebert, one song here and one song there. Until next week, tight lines!