WEATHER:
Today was the low of the week as far as I saw with a temperature of 67 degrees at 6AM. We had warmer mornings earlier, some as warm as 78 degrees but the average was about 71 degrees. Daytime highs averaged 86 degrees with a couple of days getting into the low 90's. On Thursday clouds moved into the area but earlier in the week was sunny. Monday was a windy day all day but the rest of the week the breeze did not start up until about noon.

WATER: The week started out strange as on Monday the winds from the east that had started out light on Sunday really kicked in and started blowing. With the wind came the swells and chop, and coming from the east it was not comfortable on the Cortez side of the Cape at all. Winds to 25 knots and seas at 4-6 feet resulted in the Port Captain closing the Port to the entry and exit of Pangas. The main reason was that it was unsafe for the water taxis and the glass bottom boats in the bay. On Tuesday things returned to normal and the wind switched back and started to come again from the northwest. Water temperatures on the Sea of Cortez were warmer than on the Pacific side with most areas showing 81 degrees. On the Pacific the warmer water was close to shore inside the San Jaime and the Golden Gate Banks and was 80 degrees. Outside the Banks the water cooled to 78 degrees.

BAIT:
Most of the bait is still very small Caballito and junk fish but there have been a few Mackerel showing up, just not enough to depend on. The cost is still around $3 per bait. Some Sardines can be had here at $25 a scoop but better deals can be found by going to San Jose if you are going to be fishing in that direction. $20 can get you a full scoop up there, but if you are going to be fishing on the Pacific side it's not worth the time.

FISHING:

BILLFISH:
There was no change in the situation with the Striped Marlin this past week as we continue to have reports of good numbers of Striped Marlin appearing to the north of us on the Pacific side. Some of the fleet boats are starting to get multiple fish on their day trips, occasionally as many as four or five releases, but they are still having to a way to get to them. Most of the action has been on live bait tossed in front of tailing fish, bu there has been decent action reported on lures as well. Quite a few boats have begun to drop live bait toward the bottom at the Golden Gate and the Los Arcos area hoping to intercept feeding fish that are not showing on the surface.

YELLOWFIN TUNA:
This weeks result on Yellowfin Tuna can be show by a recap of the just completed one day Toyota Tundra Tuna Tournament, sponsored by Toyota and Monex. The fishing was on Saturday and since it was the inaugural tournament there was not a lot of notice given. 33 boats competed and with an entry fee of $2,500 pesos and jackpots of $500 and $1,000 pesos it was affordable. It was Tuna only and payouts were on the three largest fish. Fishing started at 7AM and lines out was at 4PM, scales closed at 6PM. The largest fish was caught on the Curandero III and weighed #275. Shark's Parlour weighed the second place fish at #212 as well as a #191. Third place was a #208 caught on the Bad Medicine. There were several other fish over #150 brought in and scores of fish from #30 to #80. We had one client fishing and they limited out on fish averaging #30 and hooked several larger ones. These were just the tournament fish, the fleet did pretty good as well and there were several fish reported over #200. I also had an unconfirmed report of a very large Yellowfin of #400 being caught earlier in the week by a commercial Panga using #200 test hand-lines fishing the Gorda Banks. The majority of the tournament fish came from the Pacific side to the north of the Golden Gate but there were a few, including one of the prize winners that were caught at the Gorda Banks. So there you go, we still have good Yellowfin fishing even though it's December!

DORADO:
For most of the fleet boats the Dorado were the fish of the week once again, both because of the numbers out there and because they could be found closer to home. The boats that are getting the slightly larger fish are going offshore and looking for feeding Frigate Birds. They are not getting large numbers but there are some quality fish out there. One example is a boat getting 6 Dorado that averaged 25 pounds, but most of the boats are getting the smaller fish close to the beach. Live bait is the key here, but many of the smaller fish are coming in on hootchies and then the boats are leaving one in the water and feeding chunks of Bonita to keep the action going.

WAHOO:
Not as many Wahoo this week as last week, the bunch that were being caught off of Palmilla Point seemed to have either moved on or stopped biting. There were some fish caught close to the beach on the Pacific side, but as usual most of them were lost due to mono leaders.

INSHORE:
Dorado were the target for most of the Pangas but there is a decent Snapper bite starting as well as a few Sierra starting to show up. Football Yellowfin just off the beach has attracted quite a few of these small boat anglers as well.

NOTES: Great weather, good water conditions and great fishing made for a fantastic week. The whales are showing up, not a lot of them yet but we are seeing a few every day we go out.

This weeks report was written to the music of Radney Foster on his new album "Revival". Excellent music and thanks once again to Mark Bailey for his continued support of my music habit!

Until next week, tight lines!