Tailhunter Fish Report

April 1, 2007 by riplipboy

SIMPLE FORMULA: WHEN THE WINDS BLOW IT’S HARD TO FISH! WHEN THE WINDS LAY DOWN, THE FISH CHEW! ANYONE HAVE A CRYSTAL BALL?

LA PAZ/ LAS ARENAS REPORT FOR APRIL 1, 2007

PHOTO 1: No, this is not La Paz Bay covered with shaving cream! This is Anchorage, Alaska under a long winter coat and what the ocean looks like when it’s frozen solid! So much for global warming! We’ve been up here in Anchorage for our last fishing show of the season. This photo is the Cook Inlet.

PHOTO 2: Hmmmm…strange laws in old Anchorage! Look carefully at the mandates! No rum…no fun! Hot chocolate anyone?

PHOTO 3: Jeff Holcomb came all the way out from frozen Wisconsin for a week in La Paz. Jeff had told me they had been ice fishing before coming out so basically, winds or colder weather didn’t deter Jeff. He went out only 1 day…a day with minimal wind and banged 3 nice yellowtail including this one fishing with Captain Martin on Mama’s Mink at the island.

PHOTO 4: Rick Hosmer from S. Cal holds up a nice slugger pargo (mullet snapper). The pargo have finally moved into the shallows for their spring spawn. As I’ve told other clients when they move through, it can look like a carpet of red…Japanese koi on steroids! There are bigger ones than this moving around Cerralvo Island and other spots like Punta Perrico right now.

PHOTOS 4-8 : I wanted to share these photos with you. We’ve had some funky weather conditions lately, but here’s one you will rarely see. In all my years here in La Paz and all the time I spend on the water, I’ve seen fog maybe only 1 time. This is the second! It’s eerie how it moves up around the island but then behind it the sun is blazing!

THE FISHING REPORT

In like a lion and out like a lamb so much for winter…our fishing was hampered all week by winds. Early in the week, we had a break and hooked some yellowtail, dorado and even some tuna which got everyone fire up but my mid-week the winds were howling and made La Paz Bay look like beer suds with so much foam on it and chop. We couldn’t even go out. Later in the week, it got better but things are still unsettled. Still, some pargo, cabrilla and finally a few roosters were hooked. But, nothing remarkable unfortunately. If the winds would finally lay down, we’d sure like to check out the dorado and tuna a bit more and get over to Cerralvo Island where the bigger pargo have finally move in. But with the winds, it’s not only tougher to get out, but it also makes it difficult to get bait.

I guess the bottom line is that fishing kinda depends on who you talk to!!! Unfortunately, some of our amigos that fished this week had to have their trips canceled by the wind OR…made a valiant effort to hang in there during tough conditions. Others, like Jeff Holcomb holding the yellowtail in the photos above, go out on that one day when the winds lay down and just do a beat down on the fish! We know they are there! Just waiting for the conditions to turn the corner.

I will tell ya one thing…at the very end of the week, the roosterfish finally convinced me they’re up on the beaches. Several fish in the 30-50 pound class were hooked and others were lost so I guess…Rooster season is ON!

Like I said, it all depends on who you talk to! Here’s a first-hand report from our amigo from San Diego, Charlie “Stix” McGhee who fishes with us quite a bit out with Mitch Chavira and his son Cole:

” Anyway, the wind layed down but the swell was still strong and the water green from a week of wind. We found bait on the south end which made things easier. We hit all the high spots south of the island trying yoyo and dropperloop. We caught some Cabrilla, chica. Then we went to Punta Perico and spent the rest of the day slow trolling for whatever. We saw a lot of action! Yellows, Pargo, and Jacks break the surface all around us.

We couldn´t get bit on ·40 so we bumped down to ·30. We got bit on ¨Bonita¨ Big Eye. NOT the Bonita from San Diego. Anyway we just couldn´t get bit from all these breaking fish! Finally Cole caught a Pargo using a crazy jig that Mitch had in his box. I don´t remember the name but it is a terrible looking thing. When all was said and done most of the boats fishing with us caught one pargo each. The size was 15 to 20. No Yellows. There was one boat that fished the NEW bouys that were placed outside. They were looking for Dodos but came up dry. “

This one is from Jeff Holcomb, our Wisconsin amigo who was fortunate to fish for the first time on a day when the winds weren’t an issue.

“Well, all of the months of anticipation and yesterday, I finally went fishing in the Sea of Cortez on the Super Panga. We stopped for bait for chum and then jigged for some mackeral. Then we headed out to the fishing area.

The guide Captain Martin was a very good boat handler, especially since he had to put up with a boat motor that was having problems with a fuel pump. We started out with some bonita and kept a few nice ones. Then the first yellowtail… and I learned the power of the fish and how to reel properly!

Then another yellowtail. Now my arms know what good fishing is like! We ran out of mackeral and had one slightly larger bait fish that we put out. the guide noticed something in the line movement and rushed for the pole and set the hook, but nothing. So he left it alone a few minutes and again went to set the hook. Finally on, I think the 3rd try was the charm and he handed me the pole for the 3rd and biggest yellowtail of the day.

Captain Martin was pleased that his boat outfished his brother´s boat and, of course Missy and I had the time of our lives.

We saw a whale, seals, and lots of dolphins. I gave my guide $20, plus a nice Wisconsin Badgers hat and a nice pocket knife. In the knife box I placed a penny. This is a tradition that when you give a knife as a gift you give a penny as good luck so the person won´t cut themselves with it.”

FINALLY OFF THE ROAD!

Well, after three months, we are finally pulling off the road! As I write this, we are wrapping up our final outdoor show here in Anchorage, Alaska and now we had back for the rest of the season and the REAL work home in La Paz! Our travels have taken us through California, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Utah and now Alaska. What a great great adventure it is every year and a great time to meet so many new amigos, and shake hands again with old amigos! Thanks to all of you who are now reading this that welcomed us to your great cities! Hope to host you someday down our way where the sun is warm and hopefully the fish are willing!

I will tell ya that this trip up here to Alaska has been one for the books! They have had an extensive winter here and it was as low as 11 degrees in Anchorage, but folks were treating it like a heatwave because two weeks ago, it was 16 degrees BELOW zero! There’s still several feet of snow on everything. The funny thing is that the Great Alaskan Outdoor Show was at the Sullivan Ice Hockey Arena. Well, it’s actually three ice rinks! Yes, I-C-E !!! They play hockey year-round here so in one hall, the literally put boards down on the ice and then the vendors set up their booths on the boards. In our own rink, they just melted the ice off before we set up on FROZEN concrete! It was so cold in there one day that we could see our breaths as we talked to customers! I think it was colder INSIDE that OUTSIDE the show!

Two little notes…it’s really strange that the sun is still blazing at 9 p.m. at night! It throws your entire body rhythm off that the sun stays up so long. Second, if you ever get a chance to see the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis), it’s incredible. It shimmers and undulates across the sky like a florescent rainbow on LSD. Well, it’s prettier than that, but words escape me…just go see it!