SPECIAL BILLFISH UPDATE (Monday)

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.))

The high note of the fishing week the capture (and non-release) of a blue marlin that weighed over 850 pounds. The fish was caught on the Pacific side just on the inside of the Golden Gate Bank within a mile of the beach. This area has been providing some action 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. There are plenty of striped marlin; however getting them to eat has been 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.

Once again the yellowfin action remained slow as the few fish that found on a regular basis seemed to have been fished so hard that it was difficult to get anything going.

The water continues to cool and the dorado bite continues to drop off. Boats were averaging 4 to 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.

We continue to catch 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.

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 have not had to go very far to get into the action...George and Mary Landrum