Tailhunter Fish Report

ROOSTERFISH ERUPT RIGHT OUT THE GATE AS WATERS WARM AND WIND GIVE US A BREAK!

The La Paz/ Las Arenas Report for April 8, 2008

PHOTO 1: Fred Li of Tarzana CA gets personal with a big roosterfish he took north of La Paz.

PHOTO 2: Doctor Al Yu from Simi Valley CA is a trauma doctor. He put the hurt on this big pez gallo this past week out of La Paz

PHOTO 3: Our amigo, Jorge “Campion” Romero, always does well in the local yellowtail tournament. He placed 3rd this past week with a nice 26 pounder.

PHOTO 4: I love signs! This is from Seward, Alaska! Makes sense to me!

Photo 5: Al Bruns took this great shot from the bow of “Mama’s Mink” one of our super pangas just off Espiritu Santo Island. It’s a pod of whales leaving footprints on the calm channel waters.

THE FISHING REPORT!

Well, amigos…better things to report this week fer shure! Winds weren’t quite so brutal on us and, although the fishing wasn’t quite WFO, compared to previous weeks, our people sure had some fun because THE ROOSTERS SHOWED UP!

I’ve been waiting for this. A bit late this year, but they sure came hard charging this week. Many of our guys got their first roosters ever and the best part…these weren’t punk fish! Normally, early in the season, we got the schoolie fish that are 10-30 pounds. However, this week, wow…there were some TOADS!!! These were roosters (pez gallo) in the 40-60 pound class.

As one of our amigos said, these were like “carp with bad haircuts!” But they sure came busting.

Glen Marks went out two days with us this week and the first day they ran into a mess of big yellowtail, “Man they fight like tanks!” he would tell us later.

Then, the next day to the island. “Wednesday, we went out and found ourselves in the middle of hundreds of roosters. If we were any good we should have caught 10 or more!”

Fred Li from Tarzana CA and his cousin Al Yu, from Simi Valley CA got into the roosters as well.

“We got to an area where the water was so clear that you could see 20 feet down. We then saw about 50 roosterfish swimming below us! They didn’t take the slow trolled live sabalos we had out so Captain Martin took a caballito and threw it out and we were on!. I brought in this (I believe to be 60+ lbs…I’m 250+lbs myself and couldn’t hold it up with one arm and had difficulty with two!) behemoth in about 10 minutes. I didn’t know roosterfish got that big and my cousin’s mouth dropped as he thought they got only to 15-30 lbs. The whole school of them were in the 40 to 50 lb range. My cousin then hooked into a beauty of a roosterfish also on a caballito. His also had to be 55+ lbs. ” (See the photos above)

(Fred and Al would have released the fish, but thought they’d try some for dinner. I guess no one told them how bad roosterfish tastes and I didn’t get to warn them because prior to this week I hadn’t seen any roosters, but these big sluggers taste terrible! Small ones taste like yellowtail.)

Anyway…nice to know the roosters are there! Pargo still out at Las Arenas, but also some dorado popped up. Might have something to do with the waters now in the 70’s and we also got another sailfish this week as well. Fingers crossed that we’re finally on the upswing!

ALASKA SHOUT OUT!

To all the amigos who came to visit us in Anchorage, great to meet you all. Thanks for the visit. What a magnificent state it is up there and hat’s off to some of the hardiest people I’ve ever seen. The American frontier is still alive in our northernmost state. That’s our last outdoor trade show of the year after 3 months on the road. See ya all in La Paz the rest of the year!

LUGGAGE REGULATIONS FOR LA PAZ

As many of you know, we finally have 3 airlines flying regularly servicing La Paz…Alaska, Delta and Aero Mexico. It’s great. Prices are half of what they were last year. However, you should note that there’s some changes in the luggage regulations. Looks like Alaska and Delta are both allowing rods now for free as long as they do not exceed regulations. However, instead of the customary 70 pounds for each check-in piece, you are now limited to only 50 pounds, OUCH! So keep it simple and small. No need for those 100 quart ice chests anyway! Stuff that’s overweirt or oversized are subject to as much as 100 bucks surcharge.

If you’re flying domestically, for example Tijuana to La Paz, take note that the total amount of luggage cannot exceed 50 pounds FOR EVERTHING and only one carry-on piece.

Check out the following links from Alaska Airlines and make copies:

THE LINK BELOW CONFIRMS THAT ALASKA AIR ALLOWS SOME OF YOUR TACKLE TO BE CARRIED FREE IN ADDITION TO YOUR TWO CHECKED BAGS. I SUGGEST MAKING A COPY OF IT AND CARRYING IT WITH YOU. ALSO CHECK AGAIN NEAR YOUR TRAVEL TIME IN CASE THEY CHANGE THE RULES.

http://www.alaskaair.com/www2/help/faqs/SportRelatedItems.asp

BELOW IS THE TSA LINK THAT RECOMMENDS CARRYING YOUR REELS IN YOUR CARRY-ON. READ THNE LAST PARAGRAPH TITLED “TACKLE EQUIPMENT.” THE LAST SENTENCE IS DEFINITIVE. I HAVE USED A COPY OF THIS PAGE IN MEXICO AND HAVE HAD NO PROBLEMS FOR THE LAST TWO YEARS.

http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/assistant/editorial_1188.shtm

That’s my story! Have a great week!
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 Pichilingue KM 5, Numero 205, La Paz, Baja Cal 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.”