The snapper catches were the fish of the week and reflected red snappers, dog-toothed snapper, & yellow-tailed snappers, with a total of 33 taken in the latest fish count. Even more exciting was the 3 off-season sailfish taken this past week, keeping the anglers very optimistic with their daily fishing. Overall, the fishing slowed up this past week for the fleet and the crews attributed it to the full moon conditions and while they are probably right, I think we tend to think the wide-spectrum catches of 14-15 species just automatically occur every week. When the variety drops down to 10, (the lowest species number we have ever reported) we get nervous and try to build something reasonable into the reasoning for the decline. Fact is, the fish just don't bite all of the time, everyday and every week. The overall fish counts for a total of 23 days fished reflected a 10 fish variety catch that included 3 sailfish, 33 snappers, 2 blackfin tuna, 1 grouper, 15 bonito, 2 banana fish, 6 triggerfish, 4 Spanish mackerel, 2 king mackerel and 2 giant Atlantic barracuda.

PM Climate: Mostly cloudy days with rain predicted for the weekend. Temps are good at 59 nights to 81 daytime highs.

Sea Conditions: 79-80 degrees throughout the area, with continued good clarity. Calm during the early part of the week with changes coming in with the rain. Winds coming in from the northerly directions and up to 20 mph by Saturday.

Best Bait/Lure: The availability of the ballyhoo bait for the area keeps the crews happy with a continuous supply of fresh caught rigging baits that work extremely well for all of the fish in this area, both surface fish and bottom fish, alike.