WEATHER:
The clouds and cold weather continued for Christmas week. Our walk on the beach with the dog on Christmas morning was done with a jacket on over my t-shirt and swim shorts since the air was a cool 58 degrees. With mostly cloudy skies this week it was not our typical Cabo weather and some of us were thinking it might actually snow in the mountains, Yeah, sure. Our coldest morning was 57 degrees but it was warming up in the afternoons to almost 85 degrees on a few days, and just 78 degrees on a couple of other days. It seemed strange to walk the beach and see people with their knees drawn up to their chests wearing hoody sweaters and towels over their legs sitting in the beach lounge chairs!

WATER:
Just like last week, the swells this week were mixed with some days small ones coming in from the east and other days normal ones coming from the northwest. All in all there were no large swells, the biggest were on the Pacific side at 4-6 feet, the smaller on the Cortez at 1-3 feet. As far as water temps went, the water next to shore out to about 5 miles on the Cortez side between San Lucas and San Jose was cold at 68 degrees. Everywhere else it was 73 degrees with a few warm spots of 76 degrees to the southwest 30 miles.

BAIT:
Some Caballito and a few Mackerel were to be had at $3 per bait, mostly boats were getting junk bait for their money so many were going with frozen Ballyhoo instead. There were some Sardinas at $25-$30 a scoop as well.

FISHING:

BILLFISH:
I am surprised that we have not had concentrations of Marlin in our area since the water is the right temperature, but they just have not made it here yet. Not to say were are not catching any, far from that, it's just that we are not getting double digit numbers in our area. The Striped Marlin are here and the boats that are concentration on them are getting several a day to the boat, but we are not yet seeing the groups of four and more tailing together on the surface. Many of the boats have been concentrating on the usual drop areas such as the flats off of the lighthouse and the ridge at San Cristobal and putting live bait down halfway to the bottom. Others have been working 5 miles from the shore looking for tailing fish. Running a few ballyhoo in the pattern seems to be a very successful method as that added bit of enticement can turn a looker into a biter.

YELLOWFIN TUNA:
Plenty of fish in the 12-25 pound range are to be found between 5 and 25 miles out and there are larger fish out there too. While catching the smaller ones it is not uncommon to see fish in the 100 pound class breaking the surface as they chase baitfish. The best bets for the smaller fish have been very small red hootchies, trying to imitate the krill that are showing up. On the larger fish it has been more difficult, but dropping back a rigged live bait a half-spool has worked for many boats if there are not other boats to run over the line. Boats hat have been working a kite with a rigged bait under it have also done well on the larger fish. Limits have been very possible on the smaller tuna this week, the larger tuna have been much more difficult to come by. The best areas have been on the Pacific side but I did hear of a few boats that worked the are between the 1150 and the Cabrillo Seamount and found good schools of fish.

DORADO:
With the water cooling off fairly rapidly I am not sure how much longer the Dorado are going to be around, but there are still some out there. The warmer water on the Pacific side still holds fish and there are more on the inside than on the outside, but the numbers have dropped since last week. With an average size of 18 pound sand the cooler water the best technique has been to slow troll rigged live bait in areas where Frigate birds are spotted working. There have been limits of Dorado caught this week (2 per angler) but not as many as last week.

WAHOO:
While not catching any myself, a few boats we had fishing did manage to get into some Wahoo this week. With the new moon Christmas eve the few days before then did produce some fish averaging 30 pounds. The normal areas such as the Gorda Banks (just on the edge of the cool water) and the rocky points on the Pacific side were popular areas to work and the drop right on the edge of San Lucas bay kicked out a couple of very nice fish for early boats.

INSHORE:
Just like last week, the Sierra are starting to bite good and there are some Snapper in there among the rocks if you have the hooks and lead to spare. You are going to hook a lot more than you land and for some reason the Snapper are not swallowing the bait but just chewing on them instead so it was hard to get a good hook-set on them. A few Yellowtail have been reported from the Pacific side so perhaps we will start to see some more action on these great fish as well.

NOTES:
Great weather, a large variety of fish to choose from, whales to be watched and not being too crowded this time of year should put visiting us at the top of your travel list! This weeks report was written to the music of Chuck Allen Floyd from his album "Tonight An Angel Fell", courtesy of my good friends Mark and Allen Bailey. No M. Koch, this is not Mark Bailey from California, it is Mark Bailey from Texas, and he and his family are good, honest friends. Thanks Mark and Allen!

Until next week, tight lines!