The "Gaviota IX", skippered by Captain Christian Lopez, led the billfish catches this past week and released 9 of his 10 stripers for the week with the bulk of the catches coming from the 95 fathom spot. The "Tuna Time" reported in today with a 4 striper release day, also with the bulk of the fish coming from the 95 fathom spot. The overall combined totals for a total of 20 days fished reflected 23 stripers, (21 released) 7 dorado, 2 roosterfish and 32 skipjack for their efforts and that included the slump on Monday & Tuesday. Tomorrow starts the first day of the Stars & Stripes 2-day tournament, an all-charity event, that for the first time will board from the docks in Cabo San Lucas instead of from the beach at Chileno. The organizers were concerned for safety issues with the residual swell activity creating wave action from the beach front at Chileno Bay. There was no wind today and it is likely to be a calm ocean for tomorrow's event and if it is, they will probably board from the Chileno Bay Beach area on Saturday morning.

Cabo Climate: A mostly cloudy week with temps that ranged from 69 nights to 96 daytime highs. Some intermittent sunshine as the week progressed but not too much. Surface winds coming in from the SSE at 10-25 mph during the early part of the week but calming considerably by late Thursday and into the weekend. Hurricane Cosme whisked by Cabo about 100-plus miles offshore and provided a southerly swell pushing at the lower end of Baja but no damage to the area and better yet, no closures to the Port.

Sea Conditions: The Pacific current has pushed cool water back around the end of the peninsula and into the Sea of Cortez, all the way to Punta Arenas, and extended about6 8-9 miles offshore on the Sea of Cortez side, Past the 8-mile mark the waters were much warmer from just outside the 1150 fathom spot and along the 1000 fathom curve, northerly, with temps that ranged from 76-79 degrees. Winds flowing in from the SE at 10-25 mph and some residual swell from the hurricane, but all is expected to subside by Thursday evening with the end of the week on a plus mark.

Best Fishing Area: It varied a little this past week but for the most part, the best striper bite was in the 95 to the 1150 fathom spot areas and in the Gorda Banks area.

Best Lure/Bait: Live bait was by far the best but some fish were being taken on the artificials.

Live Bait Supply: Live bait remained readily available right through the full moon phase and continued to be mostly caballitos, (aka goggle eyes on the east coast). Price remained at $3.00 per bait.