WEATHER:
It was a windy week here in Cabo. It started on Monday and did not let up until this Sunday morning. It was also blowing hard up at the East Cape according to the reports I got. Add in some cloud cover early in the week, thick enough that we were almost positive we were going to get some rain and it was about as far from the sunny beach scene as you could imagine happening here. And moisture? Well, there was no rain but we did get some misting on the car windows and when I was at Cabo Real Golf course Friday and Saturday we did have some fog move in off the shoreline! Cool winds, clouds, hmm, not much to say about that!

WATER:
At the end of the week there was a cold 60 degree current sweeping down the Pacific coastline. The current extended this cold water as far as 40 miles to the southwest. Coldest close to shore 64 degree water extended to the west as far out as the outer edges of the San Jaime and Golden Gate Banks. On the Cortez side of the Cape it is 72 degrees close to the beach, 70 degrees any farther out than 5 miles and when you get up around the Punta Gorda area it warms a bit to 73 degrees. Surface conditions on the Pacific side were choppy to rough because of the winds so most of the cruisers were fishing the Sea Of Cortez. Some of the Pangas were hugging the shoreline and fishing as far north on the Pacific side as Punta San Cristobal.

BAIT:
Bait, at least good live bait was hard to come by this week. Many of the boats were going with frozen Ballyhoo instead, at least you could get those, but they were expensive at $4 each. There were a few live baits of the larger size, but not much in the way of quality baits. Toward San Jose you could get decent Sardinas, and the farther you got from Cabo the more you got for your money.

FISHING:
BILLFISH:
Well, the Striped Marlin did finally show up, but they are a long way offshore and they still are not very hungry. The question we have is how long they are going to stay in the area, and will they get hungry? A trip of 30+ miles has been needed to get to them, and that is a trip out to the Cabrillo Seamount area, making for a choppy ride home afterward, but boats that have been doing the trip have been seeing between 12 and 20 fish per trip and getting 5-6 bites, averaging 3 releases per trip. High boat for the week managed to get 10 releases in one day, but that was a full day trip on a private boat. Lures have worked for a few of the fish but the right live bait has been the big producer. That live bait has been hard to get so some of the private boats have been spending the time to try and catch their own, a time consuming proposition that can ruin a normal charter trip.

YELLOWFIN TUNA:
There were scattered Yellowfin Tuna found, but still nothing in any size or numbers. It is quite possible that they are out there on the Pacific side but the water has been rough and few boats have been willing to go out there and get beat up on slim chance of finding fish. The area of the Gorda Banks has been producing an occasional Yellowfin Tuna, but better luck has been had for large Bonita, some of them going 12 pounds.

DORADO:
I didn't see any Dorado flags this week.

WAHOO:
The red/orange flags I saw this week were for Sierra and Sharks, not wahoo.

INSHORE:
Still the way to go if you want action, the sea conditions really changed where most of the Pangas went. On the Pacific side you could hug the beach and get as far north as Punta San Cristobal for some Sierra and a decent Yellowtail bite. There were also a few Snapper to be found in the rocks between there and the arch, but the swells kept many boats from getting close enough to fish for them. You had to be a hardy, determined soul to fish the Pacific side! On the Cortez side there were fish as well, but there seemed to be a few less Sierra than we had last week, at least in the spots where they had been found last week! Most of the boats were working hard to get a few fish and Sardinas were definitely the key to success.

FISH RECIPE:
My thanks to Sam Choy for the recipe this week, my wife found the basic recipe in one of his cookbooks many years ago and when we manage to get the ingredients it is our hands down favorite fish dish. You need some white meat fillets, preferably Wahoo but Dorado works fine as well. Also a couple of Mangos, fresh is best but canned will do, minced Macadamia nuts, a couple of eggs, some cilantro, vinegar, sugar, finely minced hot red chillies, butter, lime and fix up a pot of rice! Start by cutting the fillets to portion size, then slicing a pita like pocket into the side of each one. Warm the butter, add lime juice to the butter as well as some minced cilantro, chill in the fridge for a while until firm, then place an equal amount into the pocket of each fillet. Dip the fillets in flour, dip in an egg wash then roll in the minced nuts. Place in a pan and cook for a couple of minutes on each side, just until the nuts brown, then remove to a glass pan to be placed in the oven at 275 degrees for about 10 minutes. Take the Mango (sliced and chunked), place  ? in the blender, add some more cilantro, a bit of white vinegar, a bit of sugar, red chillies to taste, blend then place in a saucepan and heat. When the fish is done, remove and place on top of cooked rice, mix the remaining chunked mango with the sauce and spoon on top of the fillets!

NOTES:
Inshore, inshore, inshore, sigh, and inshore once again. On the bright side the Striped Marlin have shown up, our fingers are crossed that they come in closer and start to bite. We are getting ready to take the kid for her weekly Sunday morning walk on the beach, Bloody Mary's when we get back and I am done washing drying and brushing her, a very nice breakfast, they off to town to watch the last round of the Masters. My music for this weeks report was the sound of the wind blowing through the palm trees out back, maybe I need to wear long pants to the beach this morning! Until next week, tight lines!