Tailhunter Fish Report

RAIN SUN WIND AND DORADO!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Oct. 28, 2006

PHOTO 1 – This is simply an incredible fish. Check out the size of the head of this freaky beast dorado! On the left is Mark Logan helping his amigo, Jerry Pelton, both from the Palm Springs area. The fish is estimated at 65 pounds and took Jerry almost 2 1/2 hours on 20 pound string. He was glad that I recommended he put on some 40 pound leader because this fish put the wood to him. The other part of the story is that Mark did not remain idle while his buddy battled the big toad mahi. Mark kept his own line in the water and caught and released several limits of his own dorado! Mark would later put an even larger fish aboard. This horse was caught just north of La Paz

WHAT A WEEK!!!!

What a way to taper off the season. Out of nowhere, hurricane warnings. Winds, waves, rain all hit La Paz in a freak storm, but in between, we still did manage a few dorado and when they hit they blew up big time!

LA PAZ FISHING

I’m not even sure where to start. What a freaky freaky week. Amigos, we’re supposed to be D-O-N-E with this kind of weather of any kind! Two weeks ago were were all saying it was finally cooling off and looking at some great fall dorado fishing. The next thing you know we’re getting the alarms going off that Hurricane Paul was on the way!!! No one can ever rememeber a hurricane this late in the year or even rain!

We did as much fishing as we could as we all watched the winds increase and clouds come in from the south. With each approaching day…it just looked more and more ominous as we also watched the computer weather screens and jumped at any info we could.

But, we kept going out until the very last minute when the rain started falling. Headed out to that same area north of La Paz and to the south of Espiritu Santo Island, the dorado weren’t much affected and if you found the right spot you could do some serious damage in short order! Not just punk fish either…I’m talking the big trophy bulls and there were several fish in the 50-70 pound class size this week. One day they would eat only sardines. The next it was only bonito strips or the whole bonito. They guys who fished those last days got slammed in the waves and wet from the rain and fished until they absolutely had to turn it around.

Then, the rain came and came and came. So did the wind. The full force of the hurricane never hit, but it was enough that we couldn’t fish. It was yucky for about 3 days. More like being in Seattle or Oregon with 100 percent humidity. The roads from Cabo were bad. Cabo itself closed the port. Almost all our clients from mid-week on canceled their trips.

On Thursday the clouds parted long enough to get out although it was still rough. The few boats that got out all got dorado.

That got us encouraged to go out on Friday. Bad move. Let me put it this way…the winds and waves were so big and so strong that the entire fleet was back by 8:30 a.m. I was on a super panga myself and we got soaked and blasted. After an hour we were going so slowly through the chop and swells that we hadn’t even passed Pichlingue Marina. Panga after panga turned around and headed back. The waves were coming straight at us and higher than the panga and we’d chug up the face then slam down over and over until our teeth rattled. By this time we had lost the bilge pump; the bait pump AND the radio! We were going to try to keep going but when we started seeing 50 and 60 foot sportfishers turn around, we figured our 22 foot super panga had not business out there!

Coming back, we literally surfed down the faces of waves trying not to broach the boat and get rolled. Kinda scary! When we got back, for those of you that have been to La Paz, imagine waves at La Concha Beach big enough to ride a surfboard or body surf! Imagine the entire bay filled with churning white water even though the sun was out bright. Imagine huge waves hitting the Malecon (waterfront) downtown and throwing spray all over the road! Yea…it was that kinda day…

The next few days it’s supposed to calm down. At least the sun is out, but the weather folks say this wind is part of the Santa Ana winds buffeting California right now.

LAS ARENAS FISHING

Easy…we couldn’t. Rain hammered the roads again making it dangerous and winds on the water made it the type of water you wouldn’t want to be on either. Northern winds are the worst!

NOT SURE I BELIEVE IT BUT…

Boys and girls…guess what? Aero California says it’s refunding money to those of us that got stuck with tickets when they were pulled outta the air. Don’t get mad at me, I’m on the messenger, but they say if you mail a letter to:

Roberto Castro
Aero California
Alvaro Obregon #550
La PazBaja California SurMexico 23000
Include the ticket numbers, passengers names, address, telephone number, and credit card for refund.

My take…

I won’t believe it until I see it! Most of you know what we’ve gone through with Aero Cal all year. In fact, last week, I purposely put on my “angry face” and marched into the Aero Cal office here in La Paz just to see what they would say if I pretended to demand a refund. I marched right up to one of the counter gals and in both English AND Spanish, I demanded a refund. She said, “No refunds!” I demanded again. She repeated her response and giggled. I demanded again and looked at the rest of the ladies at the counter all watching me. Then they started to laugh. I couldn’t keep up the charade and started laughing too. I knew that was going to happen.

Frankly, I think you’re still better off going through your credit card company. It would be just like us to mail our stuff to Aero Cal then it “disappears.” When you call them to find out what happened, they won’t know anything! They haven’t known anything all year. Why now?

That’s my story
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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La Paz /Las Arenas Fishing Report for Oct. 22, 2006

Despite windy days, dorado continue to tear it up north of La Paz while roosters and other species keep anglers busy at Las Arenas!

PHOTO 1: Gary Maskiewicz, Marty McCune and Brian Cyr spent about a week with us on their first trip to La Paz from S. California. They ripped up the dorado and filled coolers with nice bulls such as these.

LA PAZ FISHING

As I’m writing this, we might have a storm on the way as Mother Nature wants to give us one last shot to the huevos before the season tapers off. Just when we had all been saying that we were out of the storm season, tropical storm “Paul” popped up. It might end up being nothing at all, but we’ll be keeping an eye on it.

Actually, we thought we were moving into our “winter mode.” Northern winds started up this week and knocked out any traces of humidity; dropped the air and water temps and actually made it a bit rough on the water. Really pleasant in town, but bumpy and choppy outside the bay.

Still…what can I say…the dorado continued their phenomenal chew. Without a doubt this has been the best dorado season I’ve ever seen here. It’s not just the numbers of fish, but the consisten BIG fish we see everyday. I have never seen so many trophy fish…not just bulls either but some HUGE females as well. If you ever wanted to hunt a big dorado…fish in the 30-60 pound category, this has been the year.

We’re still picking up live sardines at the bait boats then heading out near Punta Coyote to get live bonito. Then, it’s off to the SE corner of Espiritu Santo Island in an area no bigger than say, 1 mile x 1 miles. The dorado have taken up seasonal residence there and the big dorado are inhaling whole bonito! You do not want to be out here with less than 40 pound test leader. These fish are not line shy. Also, this is one of the few times when I tell anglers to bring a few 7/0 and 8/0 hooks because when we are using the big baits, you need a larger hook that will sink into the hard mouths of these mahi!

I don’t know how much longer this will last…maybe another week or two before we put the wraps on this epic dorado bite, but we’ll enjoy it for as long as we can.

I talk so much about the dorado that I forget that we also have sailfish and marlin out here too as well as snapper and pargo!

PHOTO 2: Tim Butterworth fished a couple of days with us at both Las Arenas and La Paz and shows off one of his nice bulls that he hung just outside La Paz bay.

LAS ARENAS FISHING

I don’t know whether to say it’s over, but the tuna bite sure turned anemic. The fish are still basically right off the Punta Arenas lighthouse, but one day there’s 2-6 per boat and the next two days there’s nothing. Hard to predict. Fish are still fun 15-25 pounders in shallow water, but no way to know if they will be there or not! The neat thing is that there’s still alot of action. If you have a line in the water, there’s big bonito, and marauding dorado that charge on through so folks are still having fun. The interesting thing is the roosters! It’s way late in the season for the pez gallos, but there are still fish along the beaches, at Muertos Bay and other spots that are giving anglers a chance at these exotics. No squid to speak of anymore, but I keep my big jig handy. We’re now launching our boats out of Muertos because of the north winds.

PHOTO 3: Ned Keough told me he spent most of his life never going ANYWHERE! He barely ever took a vacation. He finally decided to stop telling himself he’d go “tomorrow” and do something about it so he came to La Paz to try fishing. He had a blast. This is one of his nice bull dorado he got out of La Paz.

HEADS UP

Just in case you didn’t already hear…Alaska Air starts flying direct from Los Angeles to La Paz beginning Oct. 30th and from San Francisco Nov. 15th!!! Delta starts Dec. 15th! Finally…!!!!

PARTING SHOT! “It’s a keeper!”

Photo 4: I am not sure if this is Frank Suh or Steve Lui from S. California in the line up, but I like funny candid shots. Anyone can hold up a fish, but creativity gets style points! These guys were on their first trips to La Paz and got so many dorado they had to buy extra ice chests! Thanks for the shot, guys!

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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FULL MOON HURTS TUNA BUT FISHERMEN CONTINUE TO HURT DORADO!

LA PAZ – LAS ARENAS FISHING REPORT FOR OCTOBER 15, 2006

Anglers are still headed home with full ice chests even though the full moon this past week seems to have put a damper on the big squid and tuna bite. Thanks to one of the best dorado bites in years, we’re still going bendo!

PHOTO 1 : Deborah Pellini from Colorado was fishing for the first time in La Paz and spent a day with us hooking this monster bull dorado as well as several others fishing with Captain Joel Martinez. They were fishing off the SE corner of Espiritu Santo Island.

LA PAZ FISHING

If you had been fishing with us the last 10 weeks or so you would say the dorado bite had dropped off, but to most folks, this was some of the most incredible dorado fishing they had ever seen. OK…so we’re not catching 20 big bulls a day per boat, but what can you do with that much fish anyway except keep on releasing them! Most anglers are too tired anyway after just a few of these beasts. Limits this past week were still more the rule rather than the exception and if you ever wanted a trophy bull dorado, there are still plenty of 30-50 pound sluggers out there and plenty of “one-that-got-away” stories from tired anglers.

The hot spot still seems to be the area around the SE corner of Espiritu Santo Island. I have no idea why the fish hang out there, but in shallow water, we’re trolling live sardines as well as stripped dead bonito and whole fresh bonito as well. Believe me…anything that can inhale a 2 pound bonito is usually pretty BIG!

If you’re coming down, you do want to have some heavier leader for these fish…at least 40-60 pound leader. The dorado are not shy. Also, bring some 7/0 or 8/0 live bait hooks to use for the bonito and also some swivels too. One day the dorado only want the sardines and the next day only the bonito will work, but there’s something incredibly awesome about watching a 40 pounc class bull shoot or greyhound across the water to pounce on a big bait and then hearing the reel scream! The biggest problem I see with the anglers is that they get too excited. That creates two problems:

1. They get excited and burn their thumbs! (I have never seen so many of you guys burn your thumbs and you know better than that…I have been passing out a regular supply of bandaids and neosporin!)

2. When using these bigger baits, the fish need time to swallow the meal. Pulling the trigger too fast only yanks the big bonito hot dog outta the fish’s mouth! Result..no hookup!

I don’t know how long this bite will last, but we’re already noticing a drop in temps and more northern winds so fingers crossed that things will last.

In addition to the dorado, we’re also still getting sailfish, marlin and roosters on the La Paz side!

PHOTO 2: Mark Stoller and his amigos from Northern California tried 2 times to come down to La Paz this year! First time they were thwarted by Aero California losing it’s flights. Then, on their second try, the threat of a hurricane caused another postponement. Well, we finally got them all down and they really beat up on the fish nicely. Mark got this nice bull dorado his first day out and it turned out to be his biggest dorado ever.

LAS ARENAS FISHING

Frankly, early in the week, it was pretty stanky at Las Arenas. The full moon put a whammy on us. The big squid went bye-bye and so did the yellowfin tuna off the lighthouse. Not only did the tuna disappear, but not even the bonito bit. We were reduced to catching triggerfish!!! Well, as the week went on, things got to thawing and as of this report, we were back to getting 2-4 yellowfin per boat ranging from 10-25 pound fish. Some larger ones were sighted.

The squid have not yet returned so I don’t know if they are gone for good or only went deeper during the big moon. However, we’ve moved the fleet to Muertos Bay and there’s a good supply of small sardines there (as well as alot of small roosterfish) and the tuna are willing to chew the sardines. What’s cool is that in between the tuna, there’s quite a bit of action as the big bonito maraud through and beat everyone up and you can never tell when the dorado will also move through the drifting boats. Guys using light flurocarbon…like 25 pound test…as leader material or using small rubbercore sinkers are getting more bites…that’s the hot tip!

THE BANANA CURSE STRIKES AGAIN!

To those of you who know me or have fished with me before, you know how I feel about bananas or anything to do with bananas on board a fishing boat. Don’t ask me why it happens, but bananas are just bad ju-ju. It’s not me being excentric…the banana thing is a universal bad omen in many place around the world. Don’t call it superstition either if you’re an angler who trusts having his lucky rod; lucky socks; lucky underwear etc! If you need more info click this: http://www.tailhunter-international.com/bananas.htm

Anyway, I was fishing last week with two of my clients from Utah, Randy Hales and Johnny Ogao. We were fishing out’ve Las Arenas and I was aboard with Captain Chito Martinez one of our most popular captains. We worked our way up to the fishing zone at Espiritu Santo Island and almost before the rest of the fleet even got their lines wet..wham…we had 7 dorado aboard!

Then, we lost a few that we shouldn’t have lost! I remarked that it was, “as if we had bananas on board!” I was joking. Johnny and Randy asked me about the banana curse and I told them. They didn’t say anything except laugh.

We then lost a few more fish and one of the guy said, “Maybe we outta tell Jonathan.”

Tell me what?

They told me to look in their cooler. I opened it. Not one or two, but an entire dozen bananas were in there! I didn’t even want to touch it.

“Should we throw them away?” they asked.

I told them I couldn’t tell them to toss away food, but…(I said with raised eyebrow)

Without hesitation, they tossed the offending bunch of yellow fruit over the side.

Captain Chito started cracking up. He thought it was the funniest thing ever! He turned the boat around and fished the bananas out of the ocean with a gaff and said I was being ridiculous. He put the bananas back in the ice chest. He also got on the radio and told the rest of the fleet and my captains and clients how funny it all was.

Oh-oh…the banana gods were offended.

For the rest of the afternoon, we never got another fish despite the fact that the rest of the fleet continued to hammer the dorado. We lost fish after fish. We lost big fish and small fish. Hooks simply fell out of fish mouths. Fish spit hooks. Lines broke. Lines tangled. Reels stopped working and one froze up. Weird crap happened. They finally relented and tossed the bananas back over the side. But it was too late. The first seven dorado were all that we got.

When we got back, I also discovered one of my rods had broken. As well, the pocket in my fishing shorts where I always keep my things was empty. I had lost about 80 dollars; my room key; my i.d.; and my credit card. I fish hundreds of days I keep my stuff in the same pocket day after day and year after year. I never lose them. But today…vanished. I can only assume they blew out over the side of the boat.

Lessons learned?

The next day…16 dorado and another 10 released. Big 40 and 50 pound bulls. Not a single fish came unbuttoned or got lost. Now they believe…

That’s my story!

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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FULL MOON BITE ON DORADO AND TUNA HOWLS!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Oct. 8, 2006

Despite full moon fears, the great bite we’ve had for over a month continued…maybe not quite as strong, but folks were still getting blown away by what was happening. Basically, maybe it dropped off a litte…yea…right…from an 11 to a 10 on a scale of 1-10. Honestly, I know this can’t go on, but in my time hear in La Paz, this has to be the longest and most consistent run of fish I have ever seen!

PHOTO 1: Gary Tsunoda and Lois Masushige from Gardena CA spent 3 days of fishing with us and took him alot of mahi meat including a this pair of nice dorado taken just north of La Paz

I was worried that with the approaching full moon this dorado binge of the last 6 weeks surely had to come crashing down. Well, it didn’t crash, but it dipped just a tad, but most folks didn’t notice and we had a blast!

Getting sardines then trolling up some small bonita, we still went to the SE end of Cerralvo Island and got hammered. I have no idea why these fish congregate here this time of year, but we can’t be more than a mile off the beach. There weren’t as many of the big huge bulls of the past, but there were still some big toad fish and we still got our share of 40-50 pound bulls as well as a few striped marlin and sailfish. Additionally, maybe there weren’t as many bulls, but I have never seen so many big time female mahi and let me tell ya…the ladies could fight as hard as some of the big bulls…they had game! They had attitude.

Side note: In the last two weeks alot of our anglers have been showing me burned thumbs and blisters from trying to stop charging fish. In fact, I think I’ve seen about 10 thumbs in the last two weeks where human skin was sacrificed trying to stop spinning spools attached to dorado headed for the horizon. It was funny, but not funny at the same time!

PHOTO 2: The full moon did have an effect on the big squid at Las Arenas. They either disappeared for good or were forced to deeper waters by the full moon and we just can’t hunt them that deep! However, eaerlier in the week, the big uglies were still around. Vic Ochoa is a long time amigo and lives in Lakewood CA This is a “small one.” Others were twice this size. Chunked and cut squid made excellent tuna bait all week.

LAS ARENAS FISHING

Beginning of the week, the key to everything was getting the big squid. Only problem is that the squid kept moving or going deeper and deeper. They were alot of fun to catch and surely one of the most interesting and weird creatures on the planet. Plus…the tuna love ’em.

Well, as the full moon approached it got more difficult to get the calamari. So, that meant getting live sardines. The tuna didn’t care for that much, but after a few days, they did start eating the sardines (so did the bonito and needlefish unfortunately). But it still produced 4-10 tuna per day in the 15-20 pound class with some larger fish up to 30.

First to the spot has the edge as the tuna will foam around the pangas and will eat just about anything and it’s the time to load up on the ahi!

There’s still roosterfish around along the beaches but more concentrated around Muertos Bay. As well, dorado will occasionally maraud through the tuna schools or were found south towards Cardonal.

Plenty of life in the water..blue whales, pilot whales, whale sharks, manta rays and porpoise can pop up on any given day! Water temps are in the high 80’s.

PHOTO 3 : You gotta love this. Joe Sunoda is 87-years-yound and can still put in 3 days of fishing in the hot Baja sun and put the hurt to big fat dorado like this one! He’s helped by Captain Martin on the “Mama’s Mink.” You gotta check out Joe’s great smile. May we all be so lucky to be able to do this like Joe!

FOOD THANK YOU!

Brian Cyr from San Diego brought down a topper! He and his wife got me two New York cheesecakes! Talk about a treat. I had to hoard them for a few days before deciding I could wait no longer. Incredible!

PHOTO 4: Ryan Hales was on his first trip to La Paz all the way from Utah. He slammed this bad boy at the SE corner of Espiritu Santo Island.

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter InternationalWebsite: 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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