Anglers - July 14, 2002 The first real heat wave of the summer season was felt this week, days were in the mid 90's and there were only slight afternoon breezes to help stay cool. Until this weekend the climate had been unusually mild for the month of July. Crowds of tourists have been light, surely more anglers would be arriving if the fish counts were up to standards. The overall fishing action was spread out and not very consistent at all, fleets were searching all different directions for signs of cleaner and warmer waters, water temperatures varied from 68 to 78 degrees this past week, with the warmest areas being found 15 to 25 miles off of Desteladera to Los Frailes. The persistent winds of the past month have now resided and this has made for very calm ocean conditions, clarity of the water is now improving each day and if the weather continues like it is now it will not be long before we find that deep blue purple 80 degree tropical water. There has been a southern hemisphere swell causing higher than normal surf conditions, which combined with early morning minus low tides, made it not feasible for the panga fleets out of La Playita to launch, they were completely shut down for several days, though at Palmilla beach the pangas were still able to easily launch. Live bait supplies included mackerel and mullet, with the mackerel being the more favorable bait for offshore and mullet the choice close to the beaches. At this time there is Tropical Storm Cristina brewing to the south, but it is over 500 hundred miles away, slowly heading west, and does not appear to be any threat at all to the Baja Peninsula. Though no particular species of fish was abundant, there was a good variety of gamefish accounted for, including sierra up to 14 lb., roosterfish to 50 pounds, amberjack to 45 pounds, dorado to 45 pounds, striped marlin to 180 pounds, grouper to 35 pounds, bonita to 10 pounds and yellowfin tuna to 20 pounds. Most of the marlin and dorado activity was found further from shore, 10 to 20 miles out, Desteladera and outside of the Gordo Banks were productive for anglers trolling lures and with live mackerel. Cruisers reported as many as three marlin landed per boat, though the average was more like one, along with the billfish was a mix of nice sized dorado, an occasional blind strike from a tuna, and on at least one occasion a 50 pound wahoo, which was landed from a cruiser out of Palmilla on Friday, July 12. Average catches per boat were only two or three combined fish, with much of the action coming after midday. Pangas catches were perhaps at one of their all time low for the month of July, with the cool water being the major factor, amberjack and roosterfish made up the majority of the inshore catches, live mullet proved to be the best deal for anglers targeting closer to shore. There was a much higher than normal skunk ratio in recent days, with as many as 50 % of the boats being completely blanked. It can only improve now, with the weather heating up we expect that the water will only continue to warm and in turn attract more numbers of fish. One local angler got lucky when he landed a 36 pound snook off the beach of La Playita, he was using a belly strip from a mullet when he hooked into the monster fish. Overall action off the beach was slow, but there were sierra, jack crevalle and at least the one big snook and a 12 pound halibut accounted for. Good fishing, Eric