Tailhunter Fish Report

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Sunday March 30, 2007

Sure….here you go… it;s kinda hard to believe, but let me put this into context…

Normally, La Paz isn’t exactly Yellowtail Central. We get our share, but the normal Meccas for yellowtail are north of here in Loreto, Mulege, Santa Rosalia, Bay of L.A., etc. Normally, when we do get the yellows, it’s in late March or April.

This year, they started two months ago and the bite has just gotten better. As winter winds have given way, the yellowtail have come on like gangbusters. The initial bite was mostly off Bahia de Los Muertos in the shallow rocky waters just off Punta Perrico not 5 minutes away from where our panga fleets leave the beach. Unlike early fish, these fish kicked right off the bat with 30 and 40 pound sluggers!

And it got better from there. As the winds diminished, other spots north of La Paz around Cerralvo Island and Espiritu Santo Island joined the fray. Some days are better than others, but overall, this is possibly the best yellowtail bite we’ve seen in years. At El Bajo yellowtail, normally deep fish, are crashing and foaming on the surface chasing baits with bird diving on the melee. At La Reyna north of Cerralvo, the lighthouse and other high spots are producing fish tickling the 50 pound mark on big baits and iron. And, the original spot between Muertos Bay and Las Arenas seems to have that same school holding and holding. These fish are not line shy and have been hitting, 40, 50 and 60 pound test, but probably 50 percent or more of the fish are rocking anglers or busting them off. The key is to get out early and get to the fish first and before the sun gets too high.

For about 3 or 4 days this past week, the bite was just solid. El Bajo, especially, north of town was producing 5-10 fish per boat. with anglers telling me that they lost almost as many. Several rods got busted. Literally snapped. As one angler told me, “I had my Shimano 30 buttoned down in full drag with 60 pound test and could NOT stop the fish!” Another wasn’t ready when he got hit and was almost yanked over the side had the captain not grabbed him.

The La Paz side was definitely the hot spot this past week, but as we got into the weekend, perhaps because of more traffic on the spot, the bite slowed. For our hot spot at Muertos, the yellows were not quite so thick…at least, not as many fish were put on the boat, but….whoaaaa…the pargo jumped into the gap!

The pargo have been getting ignored, but they came on strong this week. Lots of hookups on BIG fish, but not many made it to the boats. Perhaps 1 fish out’ve 10-15 hook ups! That’s how powerful these fish are! But, we also had good light tackle action on a variety of other species including sierrra, big eye jacks, jack crevalle, pompano and roosterfish, not to mention bonito and skip jack. All-in-all, a pretty good week!

Tell ya what…if you’re coming down…here’s some tips..heavy short rods…40-60 pound test…flurocarbon leaders in 30-80 pound diameters are working well.

The yellowtail got bigger, feistier and hungrier this past week. Check out these photos above. I guess if you just read the captions, there’s not much more for me to write without sounding like a broken record! See, the thing is, La Paz just isn’t known as a great yellowtail fishery. When someone says, ” I really want to catch yellowtail!” and are in earnest, I usually send them to Loreto, Mulege or Santa Rosalia where the waters are cooler and the yellowtail fishery is much more predominant.

La Paz gets it share of yellowtail, but it’s sometimes hit or miss. We get a few days in spring, then nothing, then a few more days, then nothing, then a few more days. You get the idea. Fortunately, other fish are often biting when the yellowtail aren’t biting.

But this season the yellowtail have come on like gangbusters and they showed up early. Normally, we don’t see yellows until late March or April, but these fish have been parked off Punta Perrico for the better part of two months. How long will they stay? I have no idea!!! The neat thing is that with the winds calming, we can now start checking out some of the other spots like Espiritu Santo Island or El Bajo or other spots around Cerralvo that have been too rough to get to. Who knows? Maybe even more and bigger yellowtail! We do know that some schools of the big pargo have started showing up around Cerralvo in a couple of our secret spots and also amberjack as well…the big toad boys that go up to 100 pounds. One lump of about 60 was hooked and busted off near the boat at color! But the captain told me he saw larger ones following it up as amberjack will often do! Dang…that gets my toes curling thinking about that. We actually got a few of those big boys last season!

Anyway, the yellowtail are eating sardines. No secret about that. Same with the pargo. Same with the roosterfish and cabrilla. Same with he sierra and big eye jacks we are also catchiing as well.

The biggest problem has been the seals and the rocks. Both are out there ready to cut you off! You really can’t horse with these fish. You have to turn their heads and get them to the boat ASAP! The longer they are in the water, the great the chance you’re gonna lose it!

We’ll keep you posted!

ALASKA RATES DROP

We noticed that on selected dates, Alaska Airlines has dropped it’s rates again. We found some as low as $350 round trip from Los Angeles to La Paz and back. That’s incredible. It was close to double that early in the year! Alaska flies Mon/ Wed/ Saturdays into La Paz. If you happened to purchase one of the higher priced tickets early, you may want to re-book at the lower rate. Even if Alaska charges 75 bucks or so to re-book, you still save money!

FISHING IN A PEN? IS THIS CHEATING? OR ARE YOU JUST A WEENIE? Hahahahaha….Man up!

Click this. Can you believe it? They are putting marlin in a pen as well as tuna, jacks, wahoo…whatever fish your little heart always dreamed of catching. They put the boat in the pen with you and the fish and you hook up. Guaranteed!!! C’mon… Big bad big game fisherman!!! Pound your chest! Maybe this is what it’s coming to!

It’s a fishing ranch, where they catch ’em; grow ”em in a pen just so YOU can tell everyone you caught a grander marlin or 200 pound tuna! Click this: http://www.bluewaterfishingranch.com/

Have a great week!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

And then again, the better yellowtail bite is usually north of La Paz, especially off the north ends of Cerralvo Island and then around Espiritu Santo Island and El Bajo Seamount. However, for whatever reason the fish gods have decided, these big forktails have decided to park themselves right off Punta Perrico in relatively shallow water. Go figure. Like most things, it’s probably a chunk of bait sitting there or something.

I’ve dove the area with tanks and the area is pockmarked with terraced channels that go from about 10-100 feet with schools of fishing swimming parallel to the shoreline. It would be great to see what these schools of yellowtail look like underwater as they’ve been there in numbers now since February.

The only other time I’ve seen concentrated yellowtail was a dive I did off the wreck of the Salvatierra a ferry boat that went down in the channel between La Paz and the south point of Espiritu Santo Island. Right under the fantail of the large ship, I swam up and felt like I was being watched. I turned to my right and under the fantail there must have been a 20 foot curtain of hundreds of 20-30 pound yellowtail all facing into the current like a huge sheet of fish. It was amazing. I just parked myself on a little patch of sand about 15 feet in front of the school of hundreds of fish and sat down on it and just watched and watched until my air tanks got low. I wonder if the schools of Perrico are like that now too!

Anyway, these fish are eating bait pretty readily so it’s not complicated fishing. Basically, pin a bait on a hook and drift it down. A bit of flurocarbon leader doesn’t hurt. The fish do not seem to be line shy at all.

In addition to the big yellowtail, however, there’s schools of jack crevalle in the area (see the photos). These fish taste like the bottom of a shoe, but are excellent sportfish. There’s also schools of bonito and skipjack, cabrilla (seabass) and pargo in the same area as the yellowtail.

Well, we’ve been on the road since the beginning of January and we just wrapped up our final show in Salt Lake City. What a great venture it is every year and continues to be. Eight states covered in that time and driving the whole time perhaps through one of the worst winters on records through rain, sub zero weather, high winds, snow, ice, and mud. But at each show, at each city it was incredible to see all the old friends and meet the new ones. Thanks for all the hospitality, amigos. We got invited to so many homes and asked out to so many dinners and lunches and drinks, we could have been taken care of from start to finish and never paid for a motel or a meal. Thanks to all.

Now…back home to La Paz and a great 2008 season!

That’s my story!
Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s