Weather
We had a great weather week until Thursday evening when the clouds started to move in. It was nice and sunny earlier in the week with morning lows in the low 60's and daytime highs in the mid 80's. Once the clouds moved in it warmed up a bit so that on Saturday our low was 71 degrees and our high was 83 degrees, but the clouds also brought rain. It was just a good spit on Friday but on Saturday it came down steadily, but lightly, almost all day. Great for all the plants but it was uncomfortable out on the water, and it got worse in the afternoon when the wind suddenly changed and came from the east. Everything had settled down after 7 pm but the shift surprised a lot of boats. It looks as if we are in for a few more days of cloudy weather before things clear up.

Water
It looked as if conditions had not changed before the clouds moved in as far as water temperatures go, it was warm on both sides of the Cape with an average of 73 degrees out to 30 miles almost everywhere. Once the clouds moved in we had no shots from above, but the boats were reporting pretty much the same thing on the water. There was a bit of a swell all week from the northwest on the Pacific side, as well as a bit of wind so the conditions were a bit choppy at times. The Cortez side was smoother with smaller swells and less wind. The water everywhere was a little off in color, it all had a green tinge.

Bait
There were Pacific Green-backed Mackerel and Caballito at the normal $3 per bait and up in the Palmilla area a few boats were selling small Sardinas for $25 a scoop.

FISHING
Billfish
Marlin fishing has remained slow, the best I saw this past week was one boat flying three flags as he returned from a charter. Quite a few more boats were able to find the fish this week, compared to last week and they were biting a bit better, but it was still nothing to write home about, at least for those of us who go out all the time. The fish seemed to be concentrated closer to shore than normal, most of the fish were found within three miles of the beach, and on both sides of the Cape.

Yellowfin Tuna
Just like last week, most of the Tuna that were found were quite a long way from home, necessitating a two hour or more cruise to get to where you might find some. At least that was the conditions for most of the week. There are always exceptions though and on Saturday there was a pod of Dolphin found three miles off of Chileno Beach that had loads of football tuna, 5 to 20 pound fish, and the first dozen boats to get there had a blast. There were a few other close in fish found this week as well but for the most part tuna were a long run from home with your fingers crossed!

Dorado
Just a few yellow flags were flying this week, most of the boats did not have any luck with Dorado and those that did only got one or two at the most. The fish were found offshore on the Cortez side by boats searching for Tuna and there were a few very small ones in close to the beach, also on the Cortez side of the Cape.

Wahoo
Just like last week, what Hoo?? I saw lots of orange flags flying this week, but they were all for Sierra.

Inshore
For the fourth week in a row, inshore fishing was the way to go. The Sierra bite busted wide open on the Pacific side late in the week and I was disappointed to see so many of these so called "conservationist" captains load up with two, three or more times their limits. Come on guys, you have two clients on the panga, come in with 40+ Sierra and then the next day complain that the fish have disappeared? Get a clue, please. Anyway, the bite was good and there were a few decent Yellowtail caught as well as a few grouper and snapper. The surprise for many was the Marlin that were found so close to the beach. While dropping bait to the bottom for grouper and snapper, many boats keep a live bait half way down for Amberjack, but there were quite a few marlin caught this week doing that.

Notes: I didn't see as many whales on Saturday as I thought I would see, and there were still plenty of Humboldt Squid out there if things got really slow fishing. The rain is great and I am looking forward to the trips into the desert in a few week to take pictures of all the flowers! Until next week, tight lines!