WEATHER:
The birds are chirping outside this morning as they are very happy with this 73 degree weather, and so am I! We have been experiencing lows in the low 70's all week long and highs in the high 80's. Great weather, and everyone is commenting on it. We have had mostly clear skies this week with a few offshore and mountain area clouds, along the coastline it has been sunny. The wind has been light to non-existent with an occasional breezy hour or so in the late afternoon.

WATER:
On the Pacific side of the Cape the water has been blue and the swells have been small at 3-5 feet early in the week and tapering down to 2-3 feet by weeks end. On the Cortez side the water has been a bit greener, but not really enough to be readily noticeable, and the swells have been 1-3 feet. Water on both sides of the Cape have been 82-84 degrees all week long with no apparent temperature breaks anywhere. With the light winds the water on the Cortez side yesterday looked like a mirror until noon, when a few breezes kicked in. On the Pacific side it was almost as smooth and flat.

BAIT:
Our normal $3 each for Caballito and a few Mullet with some Sardines at $25 a bucket if you travel toward San Jose to get them. I know it's expensive, but trying for an hour to make your own bait really takes a chunk out of the fishing time, but it's always your choice. Frozen Ballyhoo at $3 each.

FISHING:

BILLFISH:
There were Blue Marlin this week as yesterday we had one client who had a double strike on them. Since he was fishing alone one was lost quickly but he managed to get the other one, estimated at between #200-#250 to the boat for pictures and a release. A couple who we had on another boat had a hook-up on another Blue estimated to be in the same size range but lost it after a short fight. Other boats reported strikes as well and these fish were within 3 miles of the beach on the Pacific side, caught while working the area for Dorado. In my report last week I said I had not heard of any Blues or Blacks being caught that week and I was notified via e-mail by a good friend that his Captain, who has caught Black Marlin as large as 742 pounds, had hooked one he estimated at 900 pounds on Thursday of last week. The boat was 15 miles to the south and they fought the fish for 6 hours, bringing it to leader 8 times before the line finally broke. You just never know what you are going to hook into out there! There were some scattered Striped Marlin along the coast line as well, but few of them were willing to eat a live bait, they were more interested in checking out the lures than anything else. Still, there were fish caught and as was the case last week, I thing the sucess rate was about 20%.

YELLOWFIN TUNA:
The current changed direction according to Captains who have been working the Gorda Banks looking for more of the big Tuna that were there for the Tuna Tournament. The shift in the direction has resulted in a shift in the fish as well and the methods that were taking fish are no longer working, the fish have to be there to catch them! Along the coast line on the Sea of Cortez there has been scattered concentrations of football to #25 Yellowfin, and chumming with Sardines has worked to bring them up where they can be caught. The only problem is weeding through the white Skipjack, but even these white Skipjack are good to eat and fight hard. Unless you are a die-hard big tuna guy, these fish offer lots of action and good table fare as well. Elsewhere the action has been spotty as there have been few Porpoise pods that have been holding tuna. Once in a while one is found and the first boat there has fantastic action on fish to 40 pounds, but for the most part these fish have been absent this week.

DORADO:
Dorado have regained their title of "fish of the week". We went through a three day dry spell as many of our anglers can attest, but that may have been due to the new moon on the 13th. By the 16th the action resumed on the Pacific side close to the beach. Being in the right place at the right time was key to a good catch close to home as the bite was early, and getting a fish hooked quickly resulted in others following it in. In the area from the Arch to Migraino Beach the fish were scattered in small groups. For boats willing to make a run of 1  ? hours to outside Todo Santos at the end of the week, the action was wide open. A few boat charged a fuel surcharge to go there as that is quite a fuel consuming trip, but if you just chugged your way up there after running for  ? hour you missed the wide open bite, you still caught fish, but not as many. And these fish were decent sized, most of them in the #20 class or better. Boats working the inshore area on the Sea of Cortez caught Dorado while working for Yellowfin, but not in quantity and the fish were not as large. Remember, the limit is two Dorado per angler!

WAHOO:
The only Wahoo action I heard of this week was at the end of the week in the Todo Santos area by boats that went there for the Dorado. One boat reported landing 5 Wahoo in one trip, but the fish were smaller sized, in the 12-20 pound class.

INSHORE:
I don't think there was any change in the inshore fishing with the exception of a few decent Grouper being caught. Scattered small Roosterfish, not many of them but a few that averaged 10 pounds, a few Sierra on the Pacific side and a few early Yellowtail, not large but in the 10 pound range were pretty much the basis of the catch reported by the few Pangas that actually fish the conventional inshore fishery. Most of the Pangas were going for Dorado and Tuna, good action and more fun.

NOTES:
Thanksgiving is coming up and as we do every year, we are having 30 or so people over to the house for dinner. A 25 pound turkey in the oven, a prime rib on the grill, everyone bringing side dishes and drinks. I forgot what hard work it is to get the house presentable and everything set up. Boy, are we going to be busy this week. I think we will once again have a great time, last year we had 36 people and everyone enjoyed it. I hope your Holiday is a good one as well!

Until next week, tight lines!