WEATHER:
This week was interesting in that at the beginning we had morning temperatures in the low 70's, daytime highs in the high 80's, sunny skies and plenty of wind. At the end of the week we had mornings in the 79-80 degree range, highs in the mid to high 90's, no wind to speak of and cloudy skies. The remnants of the hurricane that struck the eastern coast of Mexico earlier in the week finally made it to us and brought the clouds and a possibility of rain in the mountains. Having the wind die down was a big plus.

WATER:
The Sea of Cortez remains warmer than the Pacific side of the Cape. With water temperatures in the 78-81 degree range, the Cortez side is averaging 6 degrees warmer, and it is much cleaner water with very little off-color green to it. At the end of the week the surface conditions on both sides of the Cape were excellent, but earlier in the week the offshore areas were blustery and choppy with fairly large swells.

BAIT:
Mackerel and Mullet were easy to get this week at the normal $3 per bait, there were no Sardinas and only a few Mackerel to be had.

FISHING:

BILLFISH:
Early in the week there were Striped Marlin to be seen almost everywhere, but the problem was they were not hungry, and those that were hungry were very picky. Throw out 6 baits and get six refusals, toss out one without a hook and it was eaten right away. Go down in leader size until you were running just straight line with no leader and it did not make a difference. At the end of the week things changed! The fish were found right outside the bay, most of them between  ? and 5 miles out, and they were hungry. Not a wide open bite by any stretch, but much better than we had seen earlier in the week. Most boats were able to get between two and four releases for 5 or 6 bites, and rigged Ballyhoo worked wonders.

I was just notified by my friend Phil Orr that I forgot to mention his 476 pound Blue Marlin caught yesterday. They hooked it after catching 15 Yellowfin, filling the fishbox, and then changing to larger lures. "Renagade" Mike Tumbrillo was aboard as the angler, Phil operated the boat as the Captain. So.....there are Blues out there as well, the warm water is showing what it can deliver! Congradulations Phil and Mike!

YELLOWFIN TUNA:
Last weeks fish of the week disappeared this week, only to reappear 30 miles out, and even then they were not in large numbers. At a heading of between 150 and 180 degrees and past the 30 mile mark boats started to see occasional pods of Dolphin, and some of the pods held Tuna. Not many were large, the average size was 20 pounds, but there were a few reported to 80 pounds. The problem was the distance and scarcity. Going for the Tuna meant that was all you went for, as all the other species were found much closer to home. For boats that did make the trek, the success rate was only about 25%, and only 4 to 6 fish apiece for those that did get fish.

As this is usually written on Sunday morning and posted on Monday morning, I have to change what I had originally written. I had said that the Tuna we had been seeing last week had gone away, but it appears that they had just vanished for the first part of the week, only to re-appear on Sunday! We had two boats out yesterday, and the both came back with between 13 and 15 Yellowfin each, ranging in size between 12 and 40 pounds. We were not the only ones either, almost all the fleet that went the correct direction got into fish. The correct direction appeared to be between 150 and 200 degrees, and the distance to travel between 3 and 20 miles. That area between shore and the 1,000 fathom line had fish both associated and non-associated with porpoise.

DORADO:
As the water warmed up so did the Dorado bite. Not really a hot bite right now, there were boats coming in with between 1 and three Dorado between 15 and 25 pounds apiece. Most of these fish were caught around Punta Gorda early in the week, but at the end of the week the warm water had moved in front of us and it was only a short distance to find them. My guess is that about 35% of the boats got a Dorado on board this week.

WAHOO:
I did not hear of any Wahoo being caught this week.

INSHORE:
Most of the inshore fishing this week was done on the Cortez side early in the week and a little was done close to the beach as far up the Pacific side and Los Arcos. At the end of the week the water had calmed down on the Pacific side and boats were able to venture farther north. Inshore action consisted of Sierra, Yellowtail, Amberjack, Roosterfish, Bonito, Lady-fish and Needle-fish. There were some decent Snapper and grouper caught off the bottom as well.

NOTES:
Overcast, 80 degrees, no wind, 2 groups out fishing and the beach walk waiting! My music for this report was a compilation of that retired surfer, Jack Johnson. Talk about laid back and relaxing!

Until next week, tight lines!