Tailhunter Fish Report

SOLID DORADO AND TUNA FISHING KEEPS RODS BENT AT LAS ARENAS AND LA PAZ!

FISHING REPORT FOR OCTOBER 1, 2006

Wow! Just another fun week of fishing that simply rocked! There might have been a slow spot or two, but if you just kept your line in the water, soon enough, something was gonna gobble your worm…so to speak. Heavy ice chests were the rule of the week as happy anglers tried to figure out what to do with excess weight on their flights home!

PHOTO 1: Mitch Chavira, our good amigo, from Cardiff CA, hugsthis gorgeous roosterfish north of La Paz this late in the season. Mitch was initially handed a local scale and when he saw it said “64” he thought it meant “kilos” not “pounds.” Well, in pounds that would be about 130 pounds and would have shattered the current world record of 114 pounds! Turns out the scale was indeed set to pounds so it wasn’t a world record, but still a darned nice 64 pound pez gallo! The world record, by the way, just happened to have been set here in La Paz. Our average rooster the last two years has been 40 -100 pounds!

PHOTO 2 and 3: Cole Chavira seems to always do well here. (His dad hung the big rooster above). He’s only 8 years old, but has a quiver of big fish to his name. Here he stuck this huge 40 pound class dorado and did it all unassisted except in the photo you can see where dad tied some rope to the reel. Great team effort!

PHOTO 4: Mike Bacon of Indiana was on his first visit to us in La Paz and found himself sticking alot of dorado including this 45 pound beastie. He’s standing at Balandra Beach north of La Paz City.

PHOTO 5: Charlie “Stix” McGee is one of the most accomplished big game fishermen I know and also a famous high school music teacher from San Diego. Plus he’s a helluva nice guy! When he heard the big dorado were breaking, he played hookie on Friday and snuck across the border to Tijuana and jumped a plane for a quick weekend with us sticking this 30 pound class mahi off Espiritu Santo Island
PHOTO 6 : Al Lewis flew his own plane in from Indianapolis, Indiana for his first trip to La Paz and even wore his lucky orange boxer shorts to go fishing. Here he displays some of the fish he and his buddy caught along with the lucky underwear (which had fish printed on it!)

PHOTO 7: Jeff Sakuda and Marianne Sugawara come down about 3 times a year and always do well. They were here this week and had 3 days of tuna fishing to fill their coolers. They also brought me two In-N-Out double double burgers from Southern California too! That rocks!
PHOTO 8 : We put this baby on the scale and it topped my 50 pound mark! Eddie Leal is given a hand by his buddy Dave Roberts. Both are from Huntington Beach and caught several dorado just south of Muertos Bay in front of Cardonal. Eddie would have another similar fish the next day.
PHOTO 9: Scott Zimbler from Long Beach CA and his brother, Eric, finally made it down to us after trying all year, but getting wrapped up in the Aero Cal mess. They fished 3 days with us this week and got tuna from Las Arenas and dorado from La Paz.

AND NOW THE FISH REPORT!!!

Whether you fished Las Arenas or La Paz this week, you were gonna get fish! Some days one boat did better than another, but you couldn’t help but catch fish. With super weather (OK…it was HOT!) and warm water temps, the biggest problem for most anglers was what to do with the extra fish they had when trying to pack up to go home and trying to stay under the weight limits. Alot of guys were releasing fish or giving it away even BEFORE they put fish in the freezers and still had a problem when it came time to pack!

La Paz

How long can this go on? Other than that screwy Labor Day weekend when the hurricane hit, I cannot remember a dorado bite that has been so consistent; so good; with so many quality fish!

This is not “rocket science!” If you can hold a rod and keep from falling in the water, there’s fish to be caught. Mostly it entails going to get bait from the bait man at the islands north of town then coming right back towards La Paz and slow trolling or drifting live sardines or cut bonito strips just off Bonanza Beach on the SE corner of Espiritu Santo Island. I mean, often we’re so close to shore you can see the ripples of sand about 30 feet under the pangas!

After you get hit, we fight the fish to the boat and keep it in the water looking for trailers. Not surprisingly, often 2, 3, or more fish follow it in. Throw bait then hold on because double, triple or quadruple hookups are not uncommon. That’s when it gets wild with fish going ballistic and guys screaming and lines crossing not to mention there’s probably other boats real close to yours also dealing with fish and joining in the melee as you try to keep your fish from crossing other lines or fouling with other boats. Way too much fun!

Las Arenas

There was a little tiny lull of tuna mid-week but at both ends, the tuna bit nicely at Las Arenas again for the 4th straight week. These are fun 15-25 pound footballs with occasional 30 pounders in there too. We’re not talking a far run to the fish, either. How about 100 yards in front of the old Hotel Las Arenas! The ticket is to go get some giant squid early (up to 80 pounders) just 1/4 mile offshore then be among the first boats to get into the foamers of tuna before all the rest of the boats show up. The tuna aren’t eating the live sardines. They are chewing up the chunks of giant squid we are using for bait. That’s why it’s so important to go hang these squid early in the morning!

In addition to the tuna and squid, the dorado bite picked up just south of Las Arenas too. Some nice 30-50 pound bulls were taken this week around Cardonal and roosters are still in the surf with some fun baby roosters tearing up the bait schools in Muertos Bay.

SPECIAL THANKS!

After you have been down here for months on end and working like we do seven-days-a-week and often grabbing whatever food you can shovel down standing up or while trying to work, it’s so incredibly great to get treated. Don’t get me wrong, for a guy who loves Mexican food anytime and any place, I ended up in the right spot, but to all of you who have been bringing me goodies from the states these past two weeks, you ROCK!!!! Jeff and Marianne…for the In-N-Out Double Double (animal style) burgers and Asian food goodies…to Don Melucci for more In-N-Out Burgers (and my neat wall plaque) …Ron and Sheila for the box of Kentucky Fried chicken (extra crispy)…Joe Robinson for the See’s candy (it didn’t melt!) and Krispy Kreme donuts…and Jackie Yamada and family for the Portugese sausage from Hawaii…YEAH!!!!!

We have a full week of fishermen here so I”ll keep you posted!!!!
That’s my story!
Jonathan

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TUNA AND DORADO CONTINUE TO BLOW UP FOR ANGLERS!

FISHING REPORT FOR SEPTEMBER 24, 2006

PHOTO 1 : Dave Hansow of Grand Junction, Colorado is a westling coach and holds up a sweet 25 pound yellowfin tuna (we put it on the scale!) at Las Arenas beach that at a chunk of squid. After two days of fishing tuna and dorado Coach Hansow said he was “completely sore, tired and feeling old.”

PHOTO 2: Talk about a chunk of calamri! We used part of this for bait and we fried up the rest. Tony Betz of San Diego got this off Las Arenas lighthouse and Captain Jorge “Moscoron” gives him a hand. Many of the squid are even larger!

PHOTO 3: Don Melucci from San Diego always has a good trip. Here he shows off a nice rack of yellowfin tuna

PHOTO 4: Greg Perez and Brian Martin from Orange Co. CA got several ice chests full of dorado like this. Here’s they’re standing at Balandra Beach north of La Paz

PHOTO 5: Stewart Silva from Orange Co. CA had 3 days of this kind of dorado fishing this week!

PHOTO 6: Check out this 60 pound pargo (dog tooth snapper) ! This fat critter was caught by Greg Gomes from Northern CA. He’s assisted by Capt. Adolfo (“Yofo”) and Greg’s son, Dalondo. Greg actually hooked several of these before finally getting this monster out of the rocks near Las Arenas at a place we call “Castille.”

PHOTO 7 : Todd Brushwyler from Fontana CA got several fish like this 49 pound giant bull dorado. It was a good week for Todd who works for G & T guitars and says he’ll “hook me up!”

PHOTO 8: Isaac Cortez of Oxnard CA gets an assist from Capt. Eddie Carballo with this 47 pound dorado that was a personal best for Isaac. He fought the fish over an hour!

FISHING OFF THE CHARTS!!!!

Just another outstanding banner week of fishing! With air temperatures in the mid-90’s and water temps in the low 90’s, it was flat, sunny, warm and blue most of the week and again, the fish came to chew! It was almost one-stop shopping fishing and the kind of fall fishing La Paz is famous for.

LAS ARENAS

How easy is this? I was out on the water several times this week (check out all the photos!) and if you wanted tuna, this was surely tuna week, but this was sometimes silly. We’d push off the beach in the pangas and head about a half mile west of the Arenas lighthouse (that’s all of 10 minutes). We’d drop the big squid jigs and get our early morning wake up call pulling up these huge beasts from the deep! Some of these monsters are rolling at 50-70 pounds (see the photo of one of the “smaller guys!). It’s a workout pulling up one of these guys and that’s just to start the day.

It gets pretty funny because all the pangas are in tight and when the squid start coming up, all this stuff can be squirting all over with geysers of ink and water shooting all over the place and anglers grunting and laughing. You know how us guys are…give us a water balloon and a squirt gun and we’re easily entertained especially if you can soak your buddy! Tell ya what, if you’re not watching out, getting a jet full of squid water is like getting hosed with a jet spray and you just hope it’s not ink too! But some of these squid can hose 10 feet in the air! That’s some power!

Anyway…get some squid (pop some into the ice chest and bring it back to your hotel to fry some up!) and cut them into chunks. Then head right back to the beach. I mean…100 yards in front of the old Hotel Las Arenas!

Drop chunks into the water and stick your hook into another chunk and let it drift and WHAM!!! Tuna hook up! Earlier in the week the tuna were 35-40 pounds, but dropped to the 15-25 pound range later in the week. Also as the bite got more steady, more boats started showing up so the boats that showed up earlier in the week or even the boats that showed up earlier in the day before all the traffic showed up had an edge! Get there as early as possible!

Among the tuna, every now and then, dorado would also blow through as well. All in all a lot of fun and when all was said and done, the fishing spot is only 5 minutes and away from where we take off and only 100 yards or less from the beach!

Hot tip…if you can, bring a giant squid jig plus a 12 oz torpedo sinker if you can get your hands on one. A squid jig that is already weighted is a plus. My own personal ones weigh over a pound. Also, if you have 25 pound flurocarbon leader, after the tuna get shy with all the boats around, the fluro is a bonus. Just make sure you tell your skipper. Lastly, if your skipper hangs out even after it seems like the bite has shut off, it’s a trick we’ve been pulling. As the other boats move off to do other things, we’ve noticed that as the boats dwindle off…the tuna come back up! So, your skipper is being cagey and playing the numbers…just be patient!

LA PAZ

What can I say? It’s madness…sheer utter dorado madness every since the hurricane earlier this month! I don’t know what happened! Did the hurricane drop some mutant nuclear stuff in the water? All of a sudden, all those punk dorado we had turned into steroid mutant beasts! I kid you not…if you ever wanted a trophy dorado, the last few weeks have been nothing short of magnificent. A “small” dorado right now is about 20 pounds! The “larger” variety can be…well…most of our scales just don’t go that high, but some of my captains have estimated some fish up to 70 pounds!!! Think about that.

If you look at the photos above, the largest there is 49 pounds! Imagine what a 60 or 70 pound toad might look like and you get an idea.

Basically, we’ve been doing most of our damage at Espiritu Santo Island. There was one day (Saturday) when it was completely snotty and windblown but even then the mahi still big like dogs! The fish have been right about where the island splits in two on either the west or east side of the island. Using slow trolled sardines or small caballitos as well as strips of fresh bonito, you wait until you get ripped, then throw bait and wait until you see the “flashes” of green shoot through then you’d better have your guns ready and back up rods all lined up because it can go fast and furious in nano-seconds! I’m serious…if you can keep the school around, it’s slash and burn time and you’ve got no time to be tying on new hooks. If you hesitate a moment the school swims over to torment the next boat!!! And you have to start rolling again. But…if you’re ready to play…it can be incredible 1, 2, 3, or 4 rods going at the same time until your arms fall off. Some of these fights on the larger mahi are taking over an hour to get the fish to the boat and I cannot begin to tell you how many stories I’ve heard of “larger fish” that simply got away; got unbuttoned while jumping or even…BITING THROUGH the leader material!

Whatever you do or have in your hand…I highly recommend bringing at least 40 pound string or 40 pound leader material to splice to your main line! These fish will eat the 50 and 60 pound string as long as your bait is swimming naturally! One day we tied on a small bonito to 50 pound string and it got blasted, but the dorado merely took the bait and then swam around the boat like a sealion tossing the little bonito in the air and catching it the swimming and tossing it in the air again! Great entertainment but hard for me to keep my angler from jumping the gun and pulling the trigger on the fish…especially because it was about a 40 pounder. However, what happened was that the big fish dropped his “toy” and a smaller fish zoomed in like a kid stealing a french fry and running for the door and grabbed the bonito and took of with it! Way too much fun!

I’m exhausted and fired up just writing about this stuff! Today is Sunday and I’m not on the water for the first time in several days so I could get this report out to you plus I have to send folks to the airport and bring new ones in, but I’m back on the water again Monday with clients then most of this week so I’m totally amped! I hope this bite stays hot!

AIRLINE ALERT

Just for the fun of it to see if I could ruffle some feathers, I walked into the Aero Cal office here in La Paz with my handful of tickets. I put on my “game” face and acted angry. I went to the first girl at the counter and demanded a refund. She started laughing. “No refunds, Sorry!” In fact, all 4 girls at the counter (the place was empty) started grinning and gigling at me as if I had on the wrong colored socks or my fly was open. It was like listening to 4 parrots..”No refunds! Sorry!” ….”No refunds! Sorry!” one after the other. How could I not crack up too. I walked out smiling. I have already applied to have my tickets reversed by my credit card company anyway, but just wanted to see what Aero Cal would say…

One good piece of news…I’ve already told you that Alaska starts flying her to La Paz Oct 30th and quite a few of you have taken advantage of it to book trips in November. I just heard that Nov 15th, Alaska will probably start flying here from San Francisco as well so all you Bay people…head’s up!

That’s my story! (my fingers are tired!)
Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
Phone: (626) 333-3355
FAX: (626) 333-0115
E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico office: Carr. a Pichlingue KM5; Numero 205, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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INCREDIBLE TROPHY DORADO AND TUNA FISHING RIPS LINES AND BREAKS RODS!

LA PAZ – LAS ARENAS FISHING REPORT FOR SEPT. 17, 2006

PHOTO 1 : Get Bent Sportfishing Group from the Santa Barbara/ Ventura CA area had several monster days of fishing with fish between 35-over 50 pounds (bottomed out the scales). Here L-R are Tood Brushwyler, Joe “Pineapple” Caricungan, Hank Gonzalez, Larry Brussard, Bill Sutton, Isaac “Icee” Cortez. You should have see the fish that were still in the box!

Photo 2: Mike “Flipper” Anderson of Ventura stuck this huge monster bull dorado off the East side of Espiritu Santo Island on live bait. We estimate it might have been a 60 pounder as it bottomed out the 50 pound scale we had. It was Flippers largest fish.

Photo 3: This is also the Get Bent Sportishing Group, but a different day than the one above! Left to right are Hank Gonzalez, Larry “Buzzard” Brussard, Todd Brushwyler, “Bajadave” Gutierrez, Mike “Flipper” Thompson, Fernando Garcia, Joe Caricungan and Duffy Shropshire are having trouble holding up their fish for the photo!

PHOTO 4: Dan Fedorka’s Group from California and Arizona are all from Fedorka Construction. Dan is holding the big dorado 2nd from the right. These guys had some much fish they had to get extra ice chests after 3 outstanding days of fish pulling.

LET THE PHOTOS DO THE TALKING!!! INCREDIBLE BIG TIME FISHING THIS WEEK!

Well, it seems like we dodged the full impact of Hurricane Lane, but are already watching something to the south that is a “tropical depression” that is only called “T-14.” It doesn’t have a name yet, but everyone is so sensitive to storms this season that watching weather has become something everyone does as a past time and trades information back and forth. Most conversations start out, “Have you heard the latest…?”

Although Lane didn’t hit us in the face, it did cause some problems. We did have some strong winds and some rain forcing us to cancel some of our boats as well as strips over the weekend to Las Arenas. We also had some pretty rough seas. For those of our clients who decided to cancel, I think you made the right decision. At the time you made the decision, there was every indication that Lane would take the same track as the deadly Hurricane John two weeks ago. At the very least, it looked like the airport was going to be closed as well as the ports and the roads for coming up from Cabo would have been closed. I’m glad you decided to forego the trip on the side of safety.

On to the fishing…!!!!

LA PAZ FISHING…

This was maybe one of the best weeks of fishing this entire season and we’ve had some great weeks. Just check out the photos. It was almost one-stop shopping and it seemed like the fish got bigger as the week went on. They got bigger and thicker! On the La Paz side, steady limits of dorado and most were huge bulls. Fishing both the east and west side of Espiritu Santo Island near the gap and working the current and debris lines, we had an incredible number of 40-60 pound fish (on the scales) and some days that was the ONLY side we got! There were so many stories of “the fish that I lost next to the boat” that I have to imagine there were even larger fish that got away. I have been stacking dorado fillets in the hotel freezers all week! Oh…also giant squid are in the area too and make some great fried calamari for dinner!

LAS ARENAS FISHING…

For Las Arenas, limits of tuna came up late in the week where anglers were pulling away from too many boiling fish. These were a better grade of fish with most in the 20-40 pound class size. I’ll have some photos next week. However, these were the kinds of fish we’ve been waiting for. The fish came to chew and tore the heck out’ve some of the anglers who had never had a tuna in their hands other than one that pressed between two slices of bread.

In addition to the tuna, dorado keep breezing through the area and it seems like the pargo continue to bite as well. Can’t get much better except telling you that big squid also showed up! Bring those big squid jigs and a heavy lead!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter International

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

Phone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115

E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com

U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745

Mexico office: Carr. a Pichlingue KM5; Numero 205, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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DORADO MAKE BIG COMEBACK AFTER STORM!
La Paz Fishing Report for Sept. 10, 2006

PHOTO: Captain Kiki gives an assist to Jimmy Peters of Riverside CA who stayed extra days in La Paz with his dad so he’d have a chance to fish after being stuck indoors for almost 3 days during the storm!
PHOTO: Downtown La Paz floods during the hurricane. This is looking west from the Malecon near Carlos and Charlies’ Restaurant. The water is about 2 feet deep here.
PHOTO: La Concha Beach Resort’s swimming pool filled with mud. The hotel took it the worst with no power or running water for days and having to evacuate it’s guests. Windows were blown out and numerous trees fell as well as chunks of roof and walls. Working round-the-clock, the hotel cleaned up and got itself spruced up and repaired.
PHOTO: Howling hurricane winds up to 115 mph. did extensive damage to La Paz. Huge palm and coconut trees were uprooted and tossed like straws!

PHOTO: Within days of the storm, fish charged back. Here, Todd Brushwyler, a professional bass fisherman from Fontana CA and Fernando Garcia from Oxnard CA heft a 42 and 45 pound dorado respectively. Fernando’s fish was a blaster as it fried his Newell reel on it’s initial run and a second rod and reel had to be spliced on.
PHOTO: Chris Sutton and Tamara Eberhardt from Ojai CA had a great first day of fishing out of Las Arenas with tuna and dorado.
PHOTO: Tamara Emberhardt was on her first Mexico trip and missed the tuna, but got into the dorado.
PHOTO: Joe “Pineapple” Cariguncan from Oxnard CA said this 28 pound bull dorado dragged him around the boat 3 or 4 times before he got it to gaff.

FLAT SEAS AND HUNGRY DORADO GET LA PAZ BACK ON TRACK AFTER HURRICANE JOHN SPANKS THE CITY!

Well, we seemed to have bounced back since the hurricane bit time! Before the storm it was WFO on dorado and tuna and I was worried that the hurricane had ruined things but with each day it gets progressively better. The tuna really haven’t come back full turbo, but the dorado fishing ratchets up each day. On the La Paz side, there is so much debris in the water it seems like there are acres of tree trunks, grass, branches and other stuff that got washed in into the ocean. Of course underneath, dorado lurk and it’s been a lot of fun. Fish are hitting on both the east and west side of Espiritu Santo.

This is NOT complicated fishing. Live bait on a hook is about all it takes. Just hold onto the rod because we’ve had a lot of guys lose big fish all week! If you hit the right spot, it’s one-stop shopping and some boats have had to come back early with anglers that are just too tired to go on! Same with Las Arenas with some solid dorado fishing and big bulls in the 40-50 pound class not uncommon. Roosterfish and pargo are also still available ,but strangely we got some sierra which are a cold water fish and we don’t expect them until November or December.

We’re digging out from the storm! It’s been awhile since I’ve gone 4 days with no shower and even I couldn’t escape myself! Like alot of folks, I finally checked into a hotel for a night.

BTW…check it out. Aero Cal (the airline we love to hate) has fares as low as $133 right now from Tijuana to La Paz and back!

That’s my story!
Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
Phone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115
E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico office: Carr. a Pichlingue KM5; Numero 205, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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DORADO AND TUNA AMP IT UP –THEN HURRICANE JOHN SHOWS UP!

La Paz Las Arenas Fishing Report for Sept. 4, 2006

Sorry this is late. I think I’ve been late only a handful of times in 10 years of doing this…but the hurricane cut me off from everything…

PHOTO: Shawn James of West Hills CA crammed alot of fishing into just two days and did about as well as anyone could do putting the hurt to alot of fishing including this sweet bull taken off Isla Espiritu Santo. Here’s his first person report…

“I fished in La Paz for the first time with Jonathan Roldan and Tailhunter International the 25th and 26th of Aug. and it was awesome. On Friday using a Calstar 970 and a new Shimano Torium 20 with 40lb leader I landed 7 beautiful Dorado, one estimated at 40lbs and the other 45lbs. The dorado bite was very good with fish boiling on the chum right at the boat. On Sat. we made the run to Las Arenas where I hooked up with my first ever tuna followed by two more with the largest around 25-30lbs. The tuna bite was trickier with the 20lb fluorocarbon and Captain Victor being the difference between getting tuna or not. Back to back solid fishing days in La Paz.

Jonathan, Thanks again for unbelievable fishing and a first rate operation”

BEFORE THE HURRICANE

IT ALMOST COULDN’T GET MUCH BETTER!

The week started on such a spectacular high note! Folks…the fishing this past week almost could not have gotten better for the most part. Tuna, dorado, marlin, sailfish, pargo…

Then nature stepped in and stepped ON the party as Hurricane John turned it all topsy-turvy. Read on…

La Paz Fishing

Ever have one of those fishing trips where you think you’re so good you should have your own TV show? For most of my anglers all week fishing on the La Paz side, it was “Dorado Slam.” There were a few slow boats here and there, but for the most part, it was as WFO as you could want it to be. Fish everywhere!

Boats were all over as well. From San Juan de La Costa to various parts of the island banks, the boats pushed, but they sure nailed fish. Big bulls up to the 40-50 pound class were not uncommon. Sardines, mackerel, slow trolled bonito slabs and lures all produced like gangbusters. It was THAT good.

Here’s the first person report from Dan Fedorka:

“What an unbelievable trip ! Great weather, great captains, and wide open fishing action !!
Thank YOU for putting it all together and making this trip as flawless as the previous years. Everything that could go right did ! Bait every morning, and Dorado till your arms fell off. Throw in a handful of Marlin and a dozen of Tuna ! What can I say? Does it get any better than what we experienced? I think not !
I highly recommend Aeromexico from LAX. A few extra dollars, but well worth it.
No problems at all ! As you know that doesn’t happen very often.
I will forward you pictures once everyone recovers from all the FUN !
Be safe with the up coming storm. See you next year. “

Las Arenas Fishing

For our Las Arenas anglers, the tuna continued to be hard chargers! For lots of anglers it was a first time pulling on the bullet train wec all the YFT…yellowfin tuna! If you hit the spot, the fish we on fire boiling all over the boat. From Pescadero to the south all the way up to the Punta Arena lighthouse, there were schools to be found. Fun-sized 15-30 pound fish were the norm, but the largest fish were actually the dorado that would come slicing through the tuna schools picking up the chum and hammering some poor guy that wasn’t expecting it and watching his “tuna” turn into an aerobatic dorado! (I really should have made more guys eat hearts this week since so many of them caught their first dorado or tuna!)

Hat’s off to:

1. All of Danny Fedorka’s Group from Arizona who caught more fish than they knew what to do with over 3 days. (Get your stories straight guys on who did what and where each night…one “consistent” story line is all you need!)

2. Noah and Lucas Love from the San Fernando Valley area of CA near Los Angeles. Fishing with their dad, Steve, this 10 and 7 year old were originally supposed to be here during spring break, but had to cancel due to Aero California and re-scheduled to come this past week. The first day…5 dorado plus lost 2 blue marlin and finally hooking a striper. Day 2, half-a-dozen yellowfin tuna (told you boys they were strong!), pargo, snapper and dorado. Day 3 – another striped marlin!

3. Tim Farrell – came with his wife Angie from Oceanside CA – finally got his rooster he’s been chasing. In fact, he got two!

4. Chris Cribbs and Mike from Naked Lures – each day was better than the last! Roosters and dorado all over.

5. Shawn James from Los Angeles – First timer. Busted his Baja cherry in grand style on just about everything that could swallow a hook. Thanks for all the great Disney songs too. Man knew ’em all!

6. Charlie Di Carlo and Ray Darius – For keeping the good smiles and attitude and staying upright most of the time and fishing despite not feeling so good!

THEN THE HURRICANE SHOWED UP!

FRIDAY

It got ugly by Friday. Rain and wind hit us as Hurricane John finally showed up. It wasn’t as strong as predicted (ast least that first day…we were all goofing and having fun) , but enough that we had to cancel boats. Felt bad for the anglers that were here especially Jarrod Groff’s group from the Temecula area. Many of his group were first timers and only had two days to be here and then the storm dropped a king-sized pelican poop on the whole trip. I know how disappointed they were. They kept great attitudes, however. Everyone did.

Parts of Cabo and the East Cape had to be evacuated and we got hit with wind and rain although not as bad as it could have been. Still, there were long lines at the grocery stores and gas stations and we did have to tape up our windows as everyone still remembered hurricane “Marty” that whacked us a few years ago and sunk over a hundred boats and killed a few folks.

FRIDAY NIGHT HOWL

So much for an “easy hurricane…”

Amid “hurricane parties” and people having fun in the rain and mild winds, everyone went to bed. The rain got stronger and stronger coming down in sheets. Warnings were posted not to leave our rooms.

About 2 a.m. we were shaken awake with a howl that sounded as if we were suddenly stuck in a jet engine. It was deafening. Wind and rain hammered us. I could hear glass exploding and doors ripped off hinges. Huge trees were broken in half. Rain hit sideways and to stick your head outside risked getting decapitated by flying debris, pieces of brick and wood and other flying objects. People pushed furniture against doors and mattresses against windows. All electricity flickered then died and in the din of wind it was total darkness.

Crazy amigo Jarrod Groff was out on his balcony with his camera ( I wanna see some of thos photos) and almost got blown off his second story terrace. He said at one point he let go of his big camera and it was standing straight out from his body. One group of gals from Dallas had their window explode on them while they were fighting to keep the wind from tearing off their front door!

Then, it all stopped. An eerie silence as I realized the eye was passing over. From the sound of a passing train to absolutely nothing. People started to come out’ve their rooms, but others walked the hallways telling people get to back inside. In the dark, transformers on power lines were exploding and big trees continued to fall.

And it started again from a different direction and everyone ran for cover as more rain and wind snarled and gusts estimated at over 115 mph tore through trees, buildings and roofs. Rainwater was pushed under doors and window…the ones that weren’t outright shattered and rooms began to flood as we started packing towels and rags under doors in an effort to stem the waters.

By morning, strong winds continued with sheets of rain, but it was clear that the worst had passed by Saturday and the devastation could be measured. Huge trees were uprooted. Power lines were down. Giant branches were thrown through windows. Cascades or water tumbled down crumbling walls. Roofs that existed the night before were simply no longer there. Ceiling tiles hung loosly. Mud was everywhere and rivers of water gushed. Wind had punched ragged holes in cement and drywall. And we began to dig out…

I ran shuttles in my mini-van back and forth across town all day in the rain so that folks could get to the store to buy food and water. It was like a war zone. I have been through 6 of these now and this was a doozy. I have never had the eye of a hurricane pass directly overheard. Town is a mess but cleaning up. We’ll be fine!

THE AFTERMATH

Only this evening, have I gotten internet to be able to post my report. We have been 3 days with no running water, cooked food, electric, phones, toilets or lights. In fact, I am the only one left here at La Concha Beach Resort. Everyone else has been evacuated to other hotels. It’s hot a humid and we’ve been digging out of mud for the last two days.

But…I did get four boats out today! We were the only fleet with boats out from what I could tell and everyone got dorado! It will only get better! There’s alot of green water out there and we had to go far for the fish. However, there’s an incredible amount of debris floating around. Give it a few days to gather up and I think we’re gonna have some spectacular dorado fishing again!

That’s my story!
Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
Phone: (626) 333-3355
FAX: (626) 333-0115E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico office: Carr. a Pichlingue KM5; Numero 205, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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