WEATHER:
The weather had a few fluctuations this week as our lows varied from 57 to 71 degrees depending on the amount of cloud cover and the wind. With a cloud deck that moved in during the middle of the week we had warmer weather with early in the week being the coolest. Daytime highs were pretty much the same with an average of 82 degrees. We did experience a little spit of rain on Friday evening and early Saturday morning with more being felt toward San Jose than here in San Lucas.

WATER:
Surface conditions were pretty good this week with the exception of Saturday when we had some strange winds happen. Early in the morning until about 8AM the wind was almost gale force blowing from the north up in the Sea of Cortez causing great amounts of chop on the water and some larger than normal swells, then it died off. About 11 AM it returned for 30 minutes but in the opposite direction, coming in from the south, then we were back to normal light winds. Sea surface temperatures on the Cortez side were 74 degrees inside the 1,000 fathom lone and 73 degrees outside that area. On the Pacific side there were three bands of water, 72 degrees close to the beach and then out to the banks, 71 degree water across the San Jaime and the Golden Gate, then warm 76 degree water to the west of the San Jaime on the 1,000 fathom line.

BAIT:
Small Caballito, some Mackerel and some junk baits were available at $3 each, frozen horse Ballyhoo could be had for between $3 and $4 each and there were a few sardines to be found toward San Jose at $25 a scoop.

FISHING:

BILLFISH:
Fishing is so strange, one day they are there and the next day they are gone. This past week they seemed to have been gone, maybe on vacation to visit relatives. There were still some Striped Marlin being caught, but my guess is that only 20-30% of the boats were getting hooked up, and most of the action was incidental with fish being seen while targeting other species. Scattered fish were found on the Pacific side from one to three miles off the beach by boats working that area for Dorado and there were still a few small concentrations scattered about to the north 25-35 miles. A few fish were reported from the Palmilla area toward the end of the week but they were not biting well. Perhaps the full moon had something to do with the bite not being on. We had one fly fisherman who had a fish come into the teasers but just eyeballed his fly, then refused to eat a live bait. Go figure....
YELLOWFIN TUNA:
Probably the fish of the week in terms of numbers, at least for the off-shore species, they were not the fish of the week in terms of size. Most of the fish found were football sized, and they were being very picky when it came to feeding. Scattered pods of Porpoise were found from just off the beach to 30 miles out on the Pacific side and one out of three held these smaller fish. The key to success was small hootchies, as small as two inches fished on 20 pound leader. With the fish ranging in size from 6 to 15 pounds you still got a good fight if you were using the lighter tackle, but if one of the very few fish in the 35 pound class happened to bite, well, Katy bar the door, you were in for a struggle and more than likely were going to lose the fish. Boats traveled up to 50 miles to the west trying to find larger fish in the warmer water but did not have any success.

DORADO:
This week was almost a repeat of last week's action as the fish are small and few in number. As the water continues to cool we will observe this trend continue. The best concentrations of Dorado were found off of the Palmilla area close to the beach. Chumming heavily with Sardinas brought the fish around then it was a matter of getting them to eat. Since the limit is two Dorado per person, it was hard to justify the run up there and the time spent just to catch some of these fish which averaged 8 pounds. On the Pacific side there were fish scattered between just off the beach to three miles out, most of them in the warmer water up above San Cristobal. Slow trolled live bait worked if you were willing to put in the time, at least there were plenty of whales to watch while waiting for a bite!

WAHOO:
I saw a couple of Wahoo flags flying this week but there is a distinct possibility they were for Sierra as I did not hear of any Wahoo caught.

INSHORE:
While the offshore fishing has been spotty and mostly consists of smaller members of normally larger species, the inshore fishing has been pretty darn good. While most of them are not large, we have been having great success with Sierra, almost everyone has been able to limit out on these fish. Average size is under 5 pounds but there have been a few schools out there that have been averaging 7-8 pounds. As well as the Sierra, there have been some decent reports of Yellowtail being caught on the Pacific side, some of the fish over 30 pounds. An average, at least this week, was 15 pounds but while there were good numbers out there, not all the boats that were trying for them had success. You had to fish a rock or ledge in 150-250 feet of water that showed marks on the depth sounder and make repeated drifts over it. With the target area so small it was easy to get off the mark and only end up with one or two fish. Also, jigging or yo-yo'ing was the way to get to the fish and not a lot of anglers are familiar with the correct method of working these lures. Also on these rock-piles were Grouper, some to 30 pounds and they were just as likely to grab a lure and tangle in the rocks as a Yellowtail was! A scattering of Roosterfish were reported but no large numbers, and there was plenty of action on Bonito and Skipjack.

NOTES:
While the fishing has slowed down, the weather has been great! All we need is for the Marlin to start biting and we will be having a great season. With the inshore species picking up the slack it is almost impossible to get skunked out there, but you have to be patient. Plenty of Dolphin to watch offshore, whales along the beach, good water conditions, it all makes for a nice day on the water. Return with fish for dinner and it's a success! This weeks report was written to the sounds of Sirius Radio channel 6.

Until next week, tight lines!