WEATHER: We had a really nice week as our daytime highs were reaching 100 at the beginning but had ended the week in the high 80's and low 90's and the lows have been in the low 80's. Nice comfortable weather, if just the humidity would drop a bit it would be perfect. We had scattered clouds this week and no rain.

WATER: The water's color returned to it's normal blue on both sides of the Cape; the Pacific side was looking much better. With our normal northwesterly breeze back in place the Pacific side was a bit choppy but fishable. The band of cooler 80-degree water 30 miles to the southwest is still in place, closer to home it steadily increases to a nice 86-87 degrees close to home across both the San Jaime Bank and the Golden Gate Bank. On the Cortez side of the Cape at the end of the week the water inside the 1,000-fathom line was 87 degrees and outside it was 84-85 degrees, but blue on both sides. Surface conditions on the Cortez side have been great with just a little chop in the afternoons.

BAIT: Almost all the larger baits this week were Caballito and mullet at the normal $3 per bait. Sardinas were available from the Palmilla and Puerto Los Cabos area at $25 a scoop.

FISHING:

BILLFISH: It was still a slow week for billfish as few Striped Marlin were caught locally. There were reports of some decent numbers beginning to show up at the Finger Bank but with things being in constant flux the boats that went there were just as likely to strike out as to find a decent concentration of fish.. A scattering of fish were found locally, most of them being found close to shore on the Pacific side up around the Los Arcos area and northward. There were still some Sailfish to be found but they were scattered as well, only on the Cortez side, and again, close to shore. I did not hear any reports this week of big Blue or Black Marlin, but there may have been a few hooked up.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: There have still been some nice fish caught this week but they have been scattered. 30 miles to the south has been producing a few nice fish to #150 if you are in the right pod of porpoise, and there have been fish to #80 being caught on Sardinas up the coast in the Inman bank area. That was scratch fishing with only a few fish a day with lots of chumming taking place, but at least the fish were there.. Light floura-carbon leader, #30 and #40 was needed, but you could get some fish. Some boats did all right catching a few Humboldt Squid at Punta Gorda and using them for chunk baits. Closer to home there were scattered schools with fish to #35 but averaging #15-#20. Most of these were found on the Pacific side between the beach and the San Jaime Bank and on the Golden Gate Bank.

DORADO: It took a while but there was finally some debris in the water this week, perhaps washed into the ocean up north from last week's hurricane. Boats that managed to find the pieces of wood were able to put a few nice #30 Dorado in the box along with some smaller fish. Inshore on the Pacific side was also producing Dorado once again with the average size being 15 pounds and a few larger fish in the mix. We hooked up one female on Tuesday at may have been 30 pounds and a much larger male was following her. Unfortunately she shook the hook while still a distance from the boat and even though we slow trolled a couple of live baits in the area for a while we could not get hooked up again. That's fishing!

WAHOO: A friend of mine did get a nice Wahoo this last week, early in the week. It weighed around #85 and he caught it while checking out the Inman Bank area. A few other Wahoo flags were being flown but I have no idea what size the fish were or where they were caught.

INSHORE: Most of the Panga Captains are doing well on Dorado and football Tuna since they are close to shore. There are still some decent Rooster fish being found and a few snapper and grouper as well.. The Pacific side has been the favorite side of the Cape this week.

NOTES: The fishing has been decent if not great this week and things are returning to normal on the water. This coming week should see good action on Striped Marlin as the new moon is on the 18th; I hope it happens close to home. This weeks report was written to the music of Darius Rucker (Hootie and the Blowfish) on his first country album, "Learn To Live", a 2008 Capitol Records release. Until next week, tight lines!