WEATHER:???? Our weather this past week was just what we were expecting for this time of year.?? It seems that on the 15th of October every year (or really close to that date) Mother Nature throws the switch that cools up down.?? Our daytime highs averaged 86 degrees while the nighttime lows were in the low 70's.?? I think that is about as good as you can get.?? We had sunny days with a light overcast in the middle of the week.?? Winds were from the north and the northwest at an average of 10 knots.?? Up the coast on the Cortez side past Punta Gorda it was a bit brisker at about 20 knots from the north.?? We are keeping our eye on Tropical Storm Kiko, hoping it is downgraded and turns to the west.

WATER:?? We were in great shape for most of the week on the Cortez side with small swells and light breezes until you got past Punta Gorda.?? Up there the wind kicked in and it got a little choppy.?? On the Pacific side the wind was not too bad early in the week, it was a bit bouncy up until Wednesday, and then everything mellowed out.?? There were still some good size chopped swells as a result of shore reflection along the points, but farther offshore and to the north things were very nice.?? On the Cortez side of the Cape the temperature was a very even 85 degrees on the surface.?? On the Pacific side at the end of the week that warm water had finally extended out to the San Jaime Bank.?? For 10 miles or so to the west of the San Jaime, extending up the coastline across the Golden Gate Bank and approximately 5 miles off the beach all the way up past Todo Santos there was a band of water in the 82-85 degree range.

BAIT: ??As far as buying from the bait boats the most common bait was Caballito.?? A few boats had Mackerel but they were easier to catch yourself than buy if you were in the right place.?? The big baits were averaging $2 per bait.?? There were also Sardinas around, both here in Cabo and up to the north outside San Joes.?? They were priced at $25 per scoop.

FISHING:

BILLFISH:?? With the Los Cabos Billfish Tournament held this week it was easy to find what was happening on the billfish front, and on all the rest of the species as well.?? There was a #560 Blue Marlin and others of #400, #360 and #330 weighed in and a Striped Marlin of #202.?? The first day of the tournament had 36 released billfish, the second had 42 releases and I am not sure how many were released the third day, but it was more.?? The top three release boats were all in the double-digit range.?? Most of the Blue Marlin action was found around the 95 spot and farther up the Sea of Cortez but there were a few found on the Pacific side close to shore in that warm water band.?? The majority of the Striped Marlin reported were on the Pacific side with Golden Gate Bank being the hot spot.

YELLOWFIN TUNA:?? Once again there was spotty action on Yellowfin Tuna of any size.?? Football fish were found close to shore by tournament boats making live bait just off of Gray Rock as well as up off of the Inman Bank.?? These fish were chummed up using Sardinas.?? A few slightly larger fish were found among Porpoise on the Pacific side of the Cape and the tournament had the two largest Tuna weighed in at just under #100 for the largest and #70 for second largest.?? I am not sure if these fish were found with Porpoise or were caught while soaking live bait.

DORADO:?? The best Dorado action was on the Pacific side along the current-temperature break.?? There were some pieces of wood found that held fish and a few boats really enjoyed great action off of them.?? I passed up one such spot because there were already 15 boats working it, but returning later in the day we were still able to get 6 nice fish there.?? Even without the wood, fishing for Dorado within 4 miles of the coast was good, at least up until the end of the week, then things dropped off a bit.?? Largest fish of the Tournament at the end of day two was just under #40.

WAHOO: Quite a few Wahoo were caught this week and the average size was about 25 pounds.?? Close to shore along the current line on the Pacific and on the flats edge up at Punta Gorda were the best spots.?? Dark lures and of course the usual Marauders and Rapallas worked great on these speedsters.?? Largest fish of the Tournament was just under #60.

INSHORE:?? A repeat of last week. The inshore Roosterfish bite started up again with most of the fish in the small range at 5-10 pounds but almost everyone that targeted the Roosters were able to release at least one or two in the 30 pound class.?? Dorado were plentiful just a bit farther off the beach and an average catch consisted of four or five per Panga.?? Plenty of Bonita and Skipjack with a few football Yellowfin rounded out the inshore fishery.

Notes:?? Tournament time again and I am busy.?? Bisbee's Black and Blue is this coming week.?? I'll let you know how much we won next week!?? Until then, tight lines!