WEATHER: It looks like things are changing a bit down here. This week we had mostly cloudy skies, a bit of wind at the middle of the week and no rain, but it felt like it should have rained. Our nighttime lows varied between 68 and 75 degrees while the daytime highs were in the high 80's to low 90's. With the cloud cover the humidity kicked up a notch.

WATER: The Pacific side of the Cape was cooler than the Cortez side at 68-70 degrees and was off color as well. The greenish water wrapped around the Cape through the middle of the week and crossed into the area of the 95 spot. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water was much warmer, and the farther up to the north you went, the warmer it got. In the area of Punta Gorda and the Gorda Banks we were marking water as warm as 81 degrees, and it was blue water. Elsewhere on the Cortez side (offshore) the water was in the high 70's and pretty clear.

BAIT:Mackerel and Caballito were available at the new price of $3 per bait, and there were Sardina at the Palmilla are at $25 a scoop.

FISHING:

BILLFISH: There were a lot of Marlin to be seen on the surface up in the Palmilla area close to shore but they were stuffed with squid and did not want to eat. Lucky boats were catching one or two per trip. There were a few decent Sailfish coming from the same area as well. There was not a lot of action on the billfish front but I am awaiting reports from a few friends that went up to fish the warm water on the Cortez side, they should be back early this coming week. My fingers are crossed.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: A few boats caught a few small football sized fish after the seiners left the area. Overheard on the radio were reports of them talking to each other and bragging about stuffed holds, guess they took all the fish.

DORADO: A few small fish were caught close to home, but the concentrations we had earlier were with the Tuna, guess the seiners got most of them too. I am hoping the warmer water to the north on the Cortez side holds more and they will work their way down to us.

WAHOO: What Hoo? New moon phase.

INSHORE: Green water on the Pacific side had most of the Pangas fishing the Cortez up around Palmilla point. These boats were getting some decent Sierra and Amberjack as well as some Snapper and Grouper. Bait of choice was Sardinas.

NOTES: Bad news was the seiners showed up again and wrapped all of the fish, the government allows it and now we don't have anything to fish for. The good news is that the water is warming up and we should have a new mass of fish moving into our area soon. I really don't know how else to put it other than the fishing this past week was extremely poor. My fingers are crossed that the government does something to regulate the encroachment of Seiners into the sport fishing areas. Tuna from the seiners goes for $480 a ton to the packing plants; wonder how much that same fish is worth in income from sport fishing? Enough said, I don't want to get into trouble.

Until next week, keep your fingers crossed for tight lines!

Water temperature: 67 - 75
Air temperature: 61 - 91
Humidity: 78%
Wind: WNW 9 to 12 knots
Conditions: Mostly Sunny
Visibility: 5 miles
Sunrise6: 38 a.m. MST
Sunset:7:53 p.m. MST