Late fall is a particularly good time for "destination fishing," especially for those who head south to the warm waters off Mexico's west coast. A number of outstanding reports came in this week from a few local anglers who had the good fortune to make a trip this year.

Captain Mike Baxter took an eight-day cruise from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas aboard "The Other Office," as a guest of the Merin family. They fished the whole way and ran into some phenomenal situations. Baxter reports: "It was unbelievable fishing, with acres of yellowtail off of San Pablo. Wahoo, dorado and tuna were kegged up on top of the ridge at Magdalena Bay. The water went from 65 degrees to 80 from Magdalena on down to Cabo."

Larry Wolf from the Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project raised my envy factor when he submitted a photo of 240-pound yellowfin tuna caught while fishing on the "Margarita" out of Puerto Vallarta last week. Wolf fought the cow tuna for over an hour, and also reported hooking up on dorado, sailfish and black marlin on his trip.

Whenever Capitola Boat and Bait has a good season, owner Frank Ealy hosts a sojourn to Mexico as a reward for the staff. Ealy, Ed Burrell, Myron Larson, and Larry Roland took a few days in Mexico to chase nearshore species, and found great fishing for dorado from the sportfishing vessel "Jamaica."

Burrell wasted no time once he returned home proving you don't necessarily have to travel to Mexico for good fishing. Things are still humming locally. On Monday, he traveled to our North Coast area and managed to find not one, but two white sea bass, one weighing 30 and the second 46 pounds. Burrell also caught a few quality rockfish and a halibut on the trip. He credits his success to the live squid he managed to catch near Davenport.

Burrell also was happy to report decent rockfishing from the Capitola area to Natural Bridges from the rental skiffs, and noted halibut in the 15-20-pound class are still being caught outside the Mile buoy and near the Capitola SC3 buoy, in 70-80 feet of water. Squid or live bait such as jacksmelt, kingfish or anchovies is working best for the flatties.