WEATHER:
As almost always happens at this point in the year, the temperatures dropped this week. I am not sure why, but the middle of October almost always sees this happen, one of the many reasons we look forward to it. Our early morning averages dropped from 83 degrees to 78 degrees while the daytime highs dropped from 100 degrees to the mid 90's. We saw no rain this week but there were a few clouds in the sky and we dis have some days in the middle of the week when the afternoon breeze picked up, from the northwest early in the week and from the southeast at the end of the week.

WATER:
Water conditions were wonderful with the Sea of Cortez showing 87-88 degrees almost everywhere we went, from up around Los Frailles all the way to outside of Cabo. On the Pacific side it was a bit cooler with 84-85 degree water near shore and warmer 86-87 degree water across the San Jaime Bank. With only slight winds almost every day was smooth, and the water was a very deep blue color.

BAIT:
Caballito, Mullet and Sardines were the live bait available with the bigger baits at the usual $3 each and Sardinas in Cabo were $25 a small scoop.

FISHING:

BILLFISH:
My apologies as I have made an embarrassing mistake on the first draft of my report and listed the fish caught in the Los Cabos Billfish Tournament from 2010 instead of from 2011. I did not fish this tournament and apparently brought up the stats from last year and incorporated them into this years data. Now this is the correct information: Two tournaments over 5 days of fishing with a total of 101 teams with 264 total fishing days. There were a total of 106 Billfish caught and only two of them were over 300 pounds, one was a 503 pound Blue Marlin and the other was a 408 pound Black Marlin. As an average this was 1 billfish per team. Boats that were charter fishing did very well on Striped Marlin and on Sailfish, but the tournament boats were looking for the larger species, therefore the stats are a little skewed if you look at them for an idea of overall bill fishing success.

YELLOWFIN TUNA:
The interesting thing about the tuna this week was during the second tournament there were more large fish caught than during the first tournament, but it was tuna instead of marlin! During the 2 day tournament there was a 204 pound Yellowfin taken and on the second day there was a 133, 181 and a 187 pound fish, more large Yellowfin than during the first tournament, even though there were some nice ones taken then as well. A few of the larger fish were caught by anglers fishing for big black marlin on the Gorda Banks, but there were plenty taken from schools found around the San Jaime Banks area as well. Regular charter boats had no problem putting their anglers on some good quality fishing this week, with most of them getting more than enough bite to keep coolers full!

DORADO:
The Dorado bite this week was very steady on fish that ran in size from 8 pounds to 25 pounds. There were very few fish over that weight, even though the 2 day tournament had a category for Dorado, they had to meet the 30 pound minimum weight and there were no qualifying fish caught on the first day and only two caught on the second day. We were trying to catch bait early in the morning on both days of the two day tournament and on both days had Dorado swim into our underwater lights to feed on the sardines we were chumming with. We caught three of them on the first day and one on the second day, all before daylight! All the fleet boats fishing normal charters were coming in with riggers full of yellow flags for the Dorado they were catching.

WAHOO:
There were not a lot of Wahoo flags flying this week even with the full moon but there were some nice fish caught. During the three day tournament each day saw a fish between 40 and 50 pounds brought to the scale, and there were more than that hooked up. The charter fleet did pretty good as well with fish in the same size range.

INSHORE:
Very little inshore fishing change this week with most of the information mirroring last weeks and the week before. Mast Pangas were fishing the fantastic Dorado bite, there were some really good days when the Roosterfish were on with an average of 20 pounds in size. Plenty of Skipjack Tuna and a scattering of bottom fish rounded out the inshore action.

NOTES:
We have finally come to my favorite time of the year! The weather is perfect, the tournaments are happening and the fishing is just about as good as it can get! I have great expectations for the Western Outdoor News Tuna Tournament during the first part of November. With the size and the action on the Tuna we have been having the past few weeks it looks to be a great event with lots of fish and plenty of happy anglers! My fingers are crossed that the Bisbee Black and Blue Marlin Tournament that begins on Wednesday (I am fishing on my friends boat "Sporty Game", follow the action on the Bisbee website and cheer us on!) and ends on Friday results in a few large Marlin being caught (of course, one of them will be for us!). My music is going to be updated this coming week and one of my main CD supplier is back visiting us, thanks to Mark Bailey I should have some more great selections to listen to, and relay to you!

Until next week, tight lines!