Anglers - March 11, 2001 Although the weather was not quite as crazy as last week when there was rain and hail reported, it was unpredictable as far as which direction the wind did come from. This is normal for March, which is a transition period from winter to springtime patterns. One day the wind would blow out of the north and then just as quickly it would switch and come out of the south. Though it was a bit breezy on certain days, the high temperatures ranged from 70 to 75 degrees and for the most part conditions were very comfortable. Fleets are finding the most consistent action in the areas off of San Jose and to the north. There were abundant supplies of live sardinas available and they continued to be the bait of choice for the mix of medium sized gamefish being targeting. The water temperature was averaging a cool 66 to 68 degrees and has started to clear up some, but is still a bit greenish, blue water is being found further offshore. Most of action is now being found closer to shore, and in recent days the bite did improve on the Inner Gordo Bank. Yellowfin tuna have been on and off the bite but were the most common surface fish taken offshore. On some days the pangas were reporting from six to ten fish each, while on others they managed just one or two. The tuna averaged about 20 pounds but over the weekend many quality fish of 40 to 75 pounds also were weighing in. They hit on both live sardinas and chunk, with the larger fish preferring chunk bait. The fish were not particularly line shy and anglers had success using tackle ranging from 30 to 80 pound. One problem was that at times the black skipjack were so aggressive it made it impossible to get a chance at the yellowfin. Though dorado were not numerous they are being taken daily, most of them closer to shore, with the most consistent area being Punta Gorda. The more fortunate anglers accounted for two or three of them, but the average was maybe one dorado for every couple of boats. They were found in small groups or pairs and hit best on live bait, though some were taken on lures. Sizes were ranging from 10 to 30 pounds. On the days when conditions were not right on the offshore Banks anglers could break up the action by trying the bottomfishing or the shoreline. At spots like Iman and La Fortuna anglers working yo-yo jigs off the bottom found a mix of amberjack, pargo and cabrilla, most of them in the 10 pound class but a few of the amberjack topped 30 pounds and there were also several yellowtail found that weighed in the 20 pound range. The sandy stretches from the San Jose Estuary to Punta Gorda produced some quality light tackle action for roosterfish, sierra, pargo and the season’s first African pompano. They hit on live sardinas, most of the fish in the two to eight pound range but a couple of the roosterfish topped twenty pounds and there was one monster 11 pound sierra taken. The pompano were found schooling near the beach of La Playita and ran from 6 to 12 pounds. No good news on billfish action, and many of the cruisers are now fishing in the same areas as are the pangas in order to find some type of action for their clients. A couple of striped marlin were hooked on live sardinas while fishing for tuna on the Gordo Banks, but they were on light tackle and the battles did not last long. Good Fishing, Eric