WEATHER:
I saw my low for the week at 66 degrees, and it was a windy morning, really glad I took a light jacket with me! Don't sneer, I've lived in the tropics for so long that is cold to me. Our daytime temps have gotten to the high 90's. We had afternoon winds this week from the northwest at 12 to 16 knots but they have died off about the time the sun comes up. At the tail end of the week (Friday) the clouds moved in and the wind went away. Of course it was partly to mostly cloudy on Friday and Saturday but the sun got out and about on Sunday, but so did the wind.

WATER:
Water temperatures continue to climb as at the end of the week we were seeing 80-81 degrees on the Cortez side of the Cape. The Pacific side remained quite a bit cooler, if you went just north of the Golden Gate Bank (if you were a masochistic) the water was 20 degrees cooler. Surface conditions on the Pacific side were rough with swells at 6-9 feet and wind chop on top of that. The wind continued to blow all week from the northwest and the only fishermen who went on the Pacific side were die-hard Yellowtail fishermen working just off the beach 15 miles to the north. On the Cortez side the swells were to 5 feet but spaced well apart, there was a 2-3 foot wind swell on top of that, but depending on where you were the wind did not hit until later in the afternoon.

BAIT:
There was no change in the bait situation this week. A few decent Caballito but mostly junk bait at $3 each. Don't buy the junk bait unless you are desperate. Sardines up at Palmilla at $25 a scoop. Frozen Ballyhoo at $3 or $4 each depending on the supplier.

FISHING:

BILLFISH:
Overall the bill fishing has improved and the fish are staying in the same spot, roughly. Anywhere around the 1150 area would produce fish this week but they were fairly tight to the bait. This made it necessary to watch other boats for signs of fish and to pay close attention to the electronics. Find the bait, find the fish, pretty basic and simple, but easy to forget. Most boats were able to release one or two Striped Marlin per trip, the better ones were releasing three or four, the best ones were releasing double digit numbers. What was the difference? Easy to answer, and the answer is bait. If you had no good bait and just used lures and junk bait for drop backs you might get a release or two if you were in the fish. If you had good bait (mackerel, Caballito) you might get a couple of them on a drop back and a couple on deep drops. If you were running rigged ballyhoo your chances for a great instead of good catch improved dramaticly. Don't get me wrong here, I have no interest in the bait boats nor do I sell ballyhoo. Also, not all the crews are willing (or know how) to rig them properly. Also, sometimes the ones you buy from the bait boats have been thawed and re-frozen several times, making them mushy and unsuitable for bait.

YELLOWFIN TUNA:
There was still scattered action on the smaller tuna close to the beach by pangas using Sardinas, but the quality fish were coming off of the area between the 1150 and the Cabrilla sea mount. Finding the right porpoise was the key, and not all the boats that found them were able to catch fish. The fish were shy and the best results were had by boats that had, and used kites to fly the bait well away from the boat. Fish to 80 pounds were caught this way. Also, there were some fish reported from the outer Gorda Banks on the same method.

DORADO:
Same as last week. There were a few Dorado caught this week, almost all of them on the Cortez side of the cape. Small ones were found close to the beach, little guys of around 8 pounds. Offshore a bit farther were larger fish averaging 15 pounds. There were not a lot of them, but enough that you had a decent chance of getting one for dinner.

WAHOO:
There were a few more Wahoo caught this week and a lot more strikes as we just eased past the full moon. No real numbers on these fish but they were nice as a surprise package when fishing.

INSHORE:
The inshore fishery this week has been scattered as there have been some decent Yellowtail on the Pacific side for those who are willing to take the e-ticket ride to the fishing grounds, or going to the beach around the El-Tule area for some Sierra and small Roosterfish if the winds were not too strong. The bite on Yellowfin close to the beach that we experienced last week tapered off and was a hit-or-miss proposition.

NOTES:
Once again I was a bit late with the fish report, but hey, I got to go fishing so aren't you happy for me? I am out again tomorrow, leaving my lovely wife to deal with all the domestic stuff, like posting this report! Not written to any music this week except for the sound of the golf announcers on the television downstairs, if I had listened to some I think it would have been to Pink Floyd, from any album they ever did!

Until next week, tight lines!