WEATHER: I think that the season's change is upon us. This week the low was down to 61 degrees, cold enough for me to be wearing a long-sleeved shirt and a sweater on top of it when we went to the marina in the mornings. Our daytime highs were up to 89 degrees a couple of days but for the most part remained in the low 80's. We had mostly cloudy skies for most of the days this week but there was no rain with the clouds, at least in our area. We had a couple of days of blustery weather at the end of the week but by Saturday things had really calmed down.

WATER: Surface conditions on both sides of the Cape were very nice most of the week with the exception of the Pacific side on Monday and Tuesday as the wind blew fairly strong in the afternoons on both of those days, and on the Cortez side on Friday as the wind switched direction and came from the southeast. The swells were not bad anywhere but there was some fair sized surface chop accompanying those winds. On the surface the water on the Sea of Cortez averaged 80 degrees well offshore and a cooler 78 degrees within 10 miles of the shoreline. On the Pacific side the water to the north of the San Jaime stayed cool at an average of 76 degrees, while the water on the San Jaime and to the south of there was a warmer 78 degrees.

BAIT: There was a full moon this week that made it a bit more difficult for the bait boats to catch the Caballito. There seemed to be plenty of Mackerel around though and all the larger baits were at the normal $3 per bait. I heard that there were Sardinas at the Palmilla area but can only assume that they were the normal $25 per scoop since I did not buy any myself.

FISHING:

BILLFISH: The high note for the week on the billfish front was the capture (and non-release) of a Blue Marlin that weighed over 850 pounds. The fish was caught on the Pacific side within a mile of the beach just to the inside of the Golden Gate Bank. This area had been providing some action the week before on fish to 400 pounds or so. The amount of bait in the form of young Dorado kept these large fish in the area much longer than normal. When weighed, this Marlin had two Dorado in the 12-pound class in its stomach. Other than this one large fish there were few other Blues or Blacks reported this week. There were plenty of Striped Marlin; however getting them to eat was a problem. Many boats were seeing groups of a dozen or more feeding on bait balls off of the area known as Los Arcos and were able to get an occasional fish to bite. A good catch for the week was two or three Striped Marlin released for the day, but most boats were lucky to get one.. ((In a last minute update: On Sunday the 6th as the boats started coming in there were blue marlin flags flying everywhere. Mid-morning the bite on Striped Marlin had busted wide open on the ledge at the lighthouse and boats were releasing between two (for the slow boats) and 17 (high flag boat) marlin, best of all, there were only 30 boats in the area at the time. Hopefully the bite will continue. The bait was stacked up and the fish were feeding hard on a mix if Mackerel and large Sardinas, but boats using Caballito as bait got bit as well.))

YELLOWFIN TUNA: Once again the Yellowfin action remained slow as the few fish that were found on a regular basis seemed to have been fished so hard that it was difficult to get anything going. The Gorda Banks bite slowed quite a bit and there were occasional schools of fish moving through directly south of the Cape, mostly in the 20-pound class and associated with Dolphin that provided action once in a while.

DORADO: The water continues to cool down and the bite continues to drop off, not that it has gotten bad, mind you, but not the numbers were had been spoiled with a month ago. Boats were averaging 4-8 fish per trip with an occasional limit load. Most of the fish remained in the warmer water on the Pacific side and around the structure of the 95 spot on the Cortez side. The fish were averaging 12 pounds with a few large fish in the pick, but no big numbers of them. Live bait seemed to do the trick on them this week, slow trolled in areas where Frigate Birds were seen to be working.

WAHOO: Once again we had a good week for Wahoo. While never a common fish in our area, the past couple of months have really been good. The fish have not been large, with an average weight of 20 pounds once again, but there have been many more than normal come in on the boats. Perhaps one in 10 boats came in flying Wahoo flags this week, about double the norm for this time of year. Working areas just off the beach around the rocky points in water ranging from 50 to 250 feet in depth with dark colored lures that work below the surface, or with live bait dropped deep and slow trolled on wire leader has provided most of the action.

INSHORE: Inshore has been a decent mix of Sierra, small Roosterfish and Dorado. Most of the activity has been taking place on the Pacific side of the Cape and you did not have to go very far to get into the action.

NOTES: More whales continue to arrive in our area, providing a break from watching lures behind the boat most days. I am off to the beach with the dog in a few minutes; she needs a few more boogie-board lessons and some exercise (as well as a bath). This weeks report was written to the Alligator Records 20th Anniversary Collection of blues, released in 1991. Until next week, tight lines!