It appears that the Pacific striped marlin have started their move around the tip of Baja on their annual trek into the Sea of Cortez. While still not overly eager to bite and not in the numbers that are usually available for the anglers, it was a much better fishing week for our boats than it has been, with 75% of the fleet landing a striper with more than half of the fish taken between Santa Maria Bay and the Palmilla Ridge, just a couple miles offshore. Even with the increased striper action the fish of the week continued to be the inshore Sierra from the Pacific side of the peninsula, along with a few yellowtail. The big buzz around Cabo right now is the insanely cold evenings that dropped to a possible record setting 47 degrees last night, by far the coldest temp I have ever reflected in our reports for this area spanning more than 20 years. The overall fish counts for the past week for 16 days fished reflected 12 stripers released, 4 dorado, 1 wahoo, 22 yellowfin tuna, 4 yellowtail and 67 Sierra.

Cabo Climate: Partly cloudy days in early week and then mostly sunny days. Coolish days and downright cold nights with temps that ranged from 47 nights to 77 daytime highs.

Sea Conditions: Pacific side now ranging from 68-70 degrees and mostly off-color greenish tinted water, rising to 71-72 degrees from Cabo Falso to Chileno, then falling back to the cooler 68-69 degree water and again, greenish tinted color. The only blue water is the area from Cabo Falso to Chileno.

Best Fishing Area: From Chileno to Palmilla Ridge for the billfish with all other fish mostly on the Pacific side.

Best Lure/Bait: Live bait was required for the billfish that are still very fussy about biting. Cedar plugs and feathers for the tuna and live sardinas and small rapala type lures for the Sierra.

Live Bait Supply: No problem currently for the Caballitos but sardinas were only available sporadically.