WEATHER: Great weather at the start of the week continued on until the weekend arrived. Then we had a few clouds move in, the wind picked up and the temperature dropped several degrees in the night. For most of the week our morning lows were around 69 degrees and the daytime highs in the low 90's. On Saturday the wind picked up and the morning low was 63 degrees and Sunday we had a high of 85 degrees.

WATER: We had calm water on both sides of the Cape early in the week but as the days went on the wind slowly started to pick up and by Friday the wind, from the northwest, had kicked up the swells on the Pacific side and the currents had brought cold water into our region. On Saturday the water on the Pacific was rough and close to shore was only 60 degrees. Water on the Sea of Cortez was choppy and a bit warmer at 70 degrees and up around Los Frailles there appeared an area of warmer water at 76 degrees. BAIT: Some Caballito and Mackerel at the normal $3 per bait, and if you went past the bait boats supplying Sardinas to the Pangas outside Cabo Real you could get a decent amount of Sardinas for $25 instead of just a hand full. The Dines were decent size also, some of them 4" long.

FISHING:
BILLFISH: Mid week there was a brief showing of Marlin up in the Los Frailles area, a 50 mile trip out of Cabo. Boats were seeing plenty of fish but they were not hungry. A good trip to the are for those few days might have resulted in a couple of hook-ups and a release. Later in the week you could travel 70 miles in one direction and end the day with just one Marlin if you were lucky. It has not been good fishing for Marlin this year, I just hope that things get better when the water warms up and the Blues and Blacks show up, Of course, that will be a few months from now, but my fingers will remain crossed!

YELLOWFIN TUNA: Here one day, gone the next, sort of like the Marlin this week. If you were in the right place at the right time you could catch Tuna, the problem was that there was no way to predict that time or place! Once in a while one of the boats would get into a school of fish ad limit out on Yellowfin ranging in size from 8 to 25 pounds, other time you could go all day without getting a bite. Due south past the 1,000 fathom line and around the Gorda Banks and Punta Gorda were areas where some fish were found, but not in any great numbers or with any consistency.

DORADO: I didn't see any Dorado flags this week.

WAHOO: The red/orange flags I saw this week were for Sierra and Sharks, not wahoo.

INSHORE: Once again the inshore fishing was the way to go this past week. At least there were fish there to be caught! The Sierra bite was good on the Cortez side if you chummed heavily with Sardinas the free-lined a live one behind the boat with a light wire leader to protect from getting cut-off. Limits were easy to get on fish ranging in size from three to six pounds. Yellowtail were the other inshore fish of the week. The little firecrackers (4-8 pounds) were everywhere, almost every rock-pile held them, and in the slightly deeper water you could fish fish that went to 30 pounds.

FISH RECEIPE: For my recipe this week I share my version of fish balls. Unlike last weeks, this one uses fresh fish instead of leftovers, and you need to use sticky sushi rice instead of long grain white rice. Take a fillet of fresh fish with all skin and bloodline removed, cube it into 1" cubes. Cook enough sushi rice to make as many balls as you want. Dampen you hands and form a ball with some rice, press your thumb into it and place a cube of fish in the center, close the opening. Dip the ball in beaten egg, roll in flour and deep fry until golden brown. Remove and set on paper towels to drain oil. Use either homemade or store bought tarter sauce and have a ball! The outside of the ball is crispy, the fish tender and the rice holds it all together. A little soy and wasabi also work as sauce for this.

NOTES: Inshore was once again the way to go, but sometime soon the offshore should start to happen! There are still plenty of whales to be seen, I watched a mother and calf Humpback yesterday as they breached, tail lobbed and had a great time off of Cabo Real. While there I had a chance to watch pro golfer Steve Ames work on the range, wow, what a smooth swing! The Cabo Cultural Center had it's grand opening and it's first concert this week as the "Mariachi Vargas De Tecalitlan" played a free 90 minute show. Great music, my wife and friends all bought CD's and got their autographs! Their next show was the next night in Mexico City. This means of course that they are my choice for writing this report, and the CD is titled "Romantico Boleros" . Until next week, tight lines!