Marlin fishing has remained slow, though quite a few more boats were able to find the fish and they were biting a bit better...still it was nothing to write home about. The fish seemed to be concentrated closer to shore than normal, with most of the fish being found within three miles of the beach, and on both sides of the Cape.

Just like last week, most of the tuna were found quite a long way from home, necessitating a two hour or more cruise to get to where you might find some. There are always exceptions; recently 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 clos- in fish found this week as well but for the most part, tuna were a long run from home with your fingers crossed!

Just a few yellow flags were flying recently; most of the boats did not have any luck with dorado and those that did only caught 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.

The sierra bite busted wide open on the Pacific side and it was disappointing 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+ pound sierra and then complain the next day 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 doing that.

The whales are beginning to thin out. There were still plenty of Humboldt Squid out there if things seem really slow fishing...George and Mary Landrum