Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for February, 2009

Posted in Uncategorized on February 22, 2009| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1: It’s calm now, but most of the week it was whipping and frothing pretty hard down here and had most folks hunkered down against the strong winds!

PHOTO 2: Fireworks over the waterfront and 2 miles of streetfair go off as Carnival time roared into town this past week.
STRONG WINDS SHUT DOWN PORT AND FEW ANGLERS MADE FOR SPOTTY FISHING!
La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Feb. 14-21, 2009

It can’t be good all the time…especially in winter. I’d love to tell ya it was a great week of fishing. It really looked promising, but then the winds hit us. All those storms from up along the Pacific Coast of the U.S. that dropped rain and snow resulted in a face blast of winds down here.

In fact, it was so strong, they had to close the port of La Paz a few days. But that’s the way it is during winter fishing. It was still a warm and sunny time ashore with 80 degree weather, but on the water, it was rough if you planned to fish north of the city.

That’s why we put most of our boats out’ve Muertos Bay. Fishing was calmer and closer to shore. That would’ve been fine and good, but on the other side of the coin, we just didn’t have a lot of anglers this week either. Those that went out did run into sierra and some bigger pargo were lost. Some smaller yellowtail were caught…none of the bigger hogs this week. As well there were big bonito and roosterfish to be caught as well. At the time I’m writing this winds have flattened and things are looking pretty good out on the water from where I’m sitting looking at the bay. We’ll keep you posted.

CARNIVAL LA PAZ 2009

Carnival has been going on full blast most of the week and will continue on until FAT TUESDAY which is Feb. 24 (appropriately) it’s also the full moon! For sure, the town was howling. It was full scale party all week. I’ve never seen the waterfront so packed. Rides, game, food stands, and seemingly a concert stage every block or so, the carnival occupied a good 2 miles of waterfront area!

Town has been out in full force and you can hear the pounding music from a mile away. They even built two full-sized roller coasters in the area in front of the now-closed Los Arcos Hotel as well as the park across the street from the hotel which was turned into a huge midway of rides and games. There hasn’t been a hotel room available for over a week.

TAILHUNTER ROAD TOUR 2009 ONTO PHOENIX ARIZONA
We hit the road again this week. After doing shows in San Mateo and Sacramento, CA, we hit Denver and Portland. This coming week we’ll be at Cardinal Football Stadium in Glendale AZ which is the fishing/hunting show for the greater Phoenix AZ area. IT’s the International Sportsmen’s Expo.
It’s a 3 day show and starts Friday and goes to Sunday. Come check us out! It’s right down on the football field!

After that. we crank it up for the gigantic Fred Hall Fishing and Boating Show at the Long Beach Convention Center March 4-8 followed by the International Sportsmen’s Expo in Salt Lake City. Hope to see you!

That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International
Phone: (626) 333-3355
FAX: (626) 333-0115
Cell: (626) 278-1585
Mex. Cell: 044-612-114-17176
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: , 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Cal Sur, Mexico
Tailhunter YouTube Videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate
“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.”

Read Full Post »

Posted in Uncategorized on February 14, 2009| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1: MIGHTY YELLOWTAIL HOGS! Yes…the yellowtail have finally started to show. Greg Keehr from Bothell WA made their first trip to see us in La Paz this past week and stuck some great roosters, cabrilla and these AWESOME yellowtail while fishing out’ve Muertos Bay.

PHOTO 2: Janet Keehr admittedly outfished her husband with this 35-pound yellowtail that she took on 25 pound test. That’s Captain Victor that many of you know, holding the gaff and sporting a DOUBLE CHIN! (Must’ve been hibernating in the off-season!). Janet took the fish on live bait. That’s a slugger of a fish!

PHOTO 3: You’ve probably neve seen one of these. One of our amigos, called it the “Boy George Fish” for the pink makeup on it’s lips and rouge on it’s cheeks. This is a rare louvar fish. Normally never seen in the Sea of Cortez, but correctly identified by our friend, Gene Kira from Mexfish.com http://www.mexfish.com/fish/louvar/louvar.htm. The photo was sent by Ed Hoffman and the fish was found in Loreto.

PHOTO 4: The louvar is not only rare. It’s also usually only about 30 pounds or so. This was estimated at 200 pounds. No idea how it tasted! More details on the way.

PHOTO 5: Yes, it finally happened. La Paz has it’s first golf course at Mogote Peninsula just across from the city. This is the driving range.

PHOTO 6: That’s our amigo, Dan Shore from the La Concha Pearl condos with the purple polo shirt being told that his ball went down a rattlesnake hole and he’d have to get it himself plus suffer 3 penalty strokes.

PHOTO 7: Bilingual warning sign on the Colorado River telling us not to fish for trout! We’ve just finished our 5th week traveling the U.S. visiting all our amigos and clients at the fishing and hunting shows. We just finished Portland, Oregon and will be going to Phoenix AZ next at Cardinal Football Stadium the last week of February. Come say hi!

YELLOWTAIL FINALLY CHEW!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Feb. 8-14, 2009

Well! Sunshine…low wind…and YELLOWTAIL! Finally some lunker toad forktails! Check out the photos above. That’s the style we like…20-40 pound fish! We got fish for both our La Paz and Las Arenas fleet. Fishing the high spots and reefs, it would appear that the fish are in our waters although because of the winds, most of our fishing remains fishing out’ve Muertos Bay where the waters are calmer.

The fish are in shallow and eating live bait. But, in those same areas, we got some really nice pargo (and lost some HUGE fish too in the rocks!) as well as cabrilla. Sierra are still around, but we got another shot of roosterfish as well as some of those big gigantus bonito that kick our butts! All good signs! Weather has been great for the most part. We had wind earlier in the week but temps have been in the hight 70’s to lower 80’s.

This is CARNIVAL WEEK this week too so the town will be in party zone along the malecon waterfront all week! Gonna be rowdy!

Oh…and the whales are in full turbo as well at Mag Bay. We’re running trips daily now and seeing lots of whales in the shallow waters of the bay. We’re still booking trips so let us know.

LITTLE WHITE BALLS…

Lastly…you saw the golf course photos above…Yes…La Paz has it’s first golf course. It’s over at the Mogote Peninsula…that big sand spit across the way from La Paz. If you’ve been to La Paz and stood there on the malecon looking out at the ocean, it’s directly across. It’s still a 45 minute car ride over, but they have a quick 5 minute shuttle on a pontoon boat that will take you over. I guess I better learn to play golf. I’ve never been real good. I always had a fishing rod in my hand. I did shoot a 63 once, and would have done better, but my ball hit the windmill and missed the clown’s mouth by the castle…

According to our friend, Rory King, he says, ” The course is not ‘Open’ until March. The grand opening will be a round of golf played by the developer, and Arthur Hills, and Brian Yoder, the golf course architect and designer. At this time, the people living there, can play the course, but most of the markers are not up now, details have to be done, so it is not open to the public, except for the driving range.Driving range is open 10 to 4 every day. $12.00 for one hour or the whole day if you wish. Anyone can go. The little electric boats leave from the dock that goes down to El Patron restaurant. Short ride to the other side, then they pick you up in a golf cart and take you to the driving range. They have a rudimentary food stand, water, hot dogs, stuff like that, and it is beautiful. Anyone can play at this time. The price is right for a couple of hours of hitting balls.”

That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International
Phone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115Cell: (626) 278-1585Mex.
Cell: 044-612-114-17176E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: , 755 Paseo Obregon, 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.”

Read Full Post »

Posted in Uncategorized on February 8, 2009| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1: Snapper like this nice pargo have moved into the shallows. A bit earlier than normal, but great sport trying to pull them out’ve the rocks. This is a “small” one and one of the most frustrating of Baja sportfishing. However, this is the time of year when they come in to spawn.

PHOTO 2: Here’s a nice winter-time catch that makes great eating. From left-to-right, cabrilla (seabass), two pargo mulatto (barred pargo) and yellow snapper (huachinango). All of these species inhabit the rocks and reefs inshore and can actually get pretty big. Willing to eat a live bait, chunked dead bait, slow trolled lures; and plastic jig and swim baits. Just be ready to lean into the rod and put alot of pressure on them to keep them from going back into their holes!

PHOTO 3: We’re traveling the country doing all the outdoor fishing and hunting shows right now. Just wanted to share some of the road signs we’ve come across. This is a rather famous truck stop in Colorado.


PHOTO 4: One can only speculate on what’s being sold here! Oregano?

YELLOWTAIL FINALLY BITE BUT PARGO NOT WILLING TO GIVE UP CENTER STAGE!

The La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Feb. 1-8, 2009
Well, it’s a bit early in the season perhaps, but the yellowtail that had been teasing us for a few weeks finally got into a nice snap and we got some of the forktails off Punta Perrico this past week. They weren’t the big hog yellows, but still, decent 12-16 pound fish. Too early to say if this is the full-blown thing yet, but it’s nice to put some yellowtail in the boat finally! All the signs are there. Last year we went full turbo on big tails so we can only hope that maybe things are heating up!
Still…other species did more than make up for everything else. Pargo appear to be ready to rip and the schools are getting thicker. They’re up in the shallows already in the same spots we’re seeing cabrilla, snapper and breezing schools of sierra. Not sure if the roosterfish are still in. We’ve been hitting the roosters the last few weeks bit didn’t get any this week but that could also be a function of the fact that no one wanted to fish for them!
I will tell ya that it was unseasonably warm this past week. Temperatures were in the low 80’s, but the winds were still a mess. It was windy enough earlier in the week for them to issue small craft warnings out of La Paz Bay. That time of year. But that’s why we’re doing all our fishing out of Muertos to stay on the lee side of things.
Whales are still packing them in at Lopez Mateos at Magdalena Bay. Our whale watchers are seeing lots of the whales now as we move into the height of the whale watching season there in the shallow lagoon waters. They’ll be around for about a month more.
Thanks to all the amigos who came to see us this past week at the Northwest Sportsman’s Expo at the Portland Expo Center in Oregon. It was five great days in the booth and the show was packed! No snow and no rain for once and Portlanders were great hosts. I’ll be in La Paz the rest of the month then back in the states for the International Sportsman’s Show in Phoenix, Arizona at Cardinal Stadium…actually in Glendale. It’s our first appearance in the Phoenix area in a number of years and hope to see many of you there.
YOU TUBE!
You can now check out all our video clips from last year in one spots on Youtube! Just click:
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Phone: (626) 333-3355
FAX: (626) 333-0115
Cell: (626) 278-1585Mex. Cell: 044-612-114-17176
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: , 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Cal Sur, MexicoTailhunter
“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.”

Read Full Post »

Posted in Uncategorized on February 1, 2009| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1: Lots of inshore species biting now which is a good thing because strong seasonal winds keep the pangas close to shore. But that’s fine. Sierra, cabrilla, snapper, and several types of pargo like this barred pargo are more than willing to bite. Just because it’s “inshore” doesn’t mean these are small fish either. Pargo can be up to 30 pounds. Cabrilla (seabass), snapper and sierra can be large as well as give attitude when hooked.

PHOTO 2: Roosterfish are either still here from last season or are here early for 2009. Who cares? They are here! These are the large mondo-monsters but it’s still alot of fun when a school of 5-10 pounders are up near the beach and willing to hit the fly or live bait. Best when the winds are down, but every few days…

PHOTO 3: Sad day. The historic Hotel Los Arcos on the waterfront of La Paz was officially closed this past week. One of the most popular hotels in La Paz, the hotel was originally shuttered just before Thanksgiving when the labor union boarded up the hotel and prevented anyone from entering or exiting. No one blinked during negotiatons and the owners decided to just close the property and fire everyone. That’ll show ya. Something like 200 employees are now out’ve jobs during a tough tourist economy and one of the great hotels is now permanently dark.

PHOTO 4: Hola from the Royal Gorge in Colorado. Our 2009 Tailhunter Tour continues on. It was great to meet and see so many old friends and new friends at San Mateo, Sacramento and Denver. We had to slug our way out’ve the blizzard in Denver and stopped for a Kodak moment along the Colorado River in the snow. Our next stop is this week in Portland OR at the Expo Center Feb. 4-8 Wednesday to Sunday. It’s the Pacific Northwest Sportsman’s Show. Come say hi.

PHOTO 5: This is the blizzard that hit us as we left Denver on Monday last week. It was crazy. Up to then, we’d had incredible weather. Then, the hammer fell. Jill kept us on the road headed forward unlike my adventures last year when we went spinning off the road.

PHOTO 6: Couldn’t resist this photo. Gas in Utah. It was even cheaper in Wyoming.

NOT MANY ANGLERS BUT GOOD INSHORE FISHING AWAY FROM THE WINDS PROVIDES ACTION

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Reprt for Week of Jan. 25 to Feb. 1, 2009

Inshore fishing continued to deliver steady action as seasonal northern winds keep our pangas close to shore. This is fairly typical for winter fishing. However, there’s a good variety of inshore fish. For light tackle fishing this can be a great time. Using either live bait or lures such as crankbaits, plastics or poppers, cabrilla, sierra, and snapper are willing to hit. On the days when the winds slow down, even the flyfishers got into the hookups. Roosterfish and jack crevalle along the beaches have shown up. None of the big ones, but these fish can’t be beat for action. We know some yellowtail have popped up but they come up and disappear. Some of the commercial guys are getting them but it’s real sporadic…so far. We’re seeing more and more pargo as well. Bait is good but all the fishing right now is still coming out’ve Muertos Bay. La Paz fishing is still too rough most days.

In other activities, the whales are in full turbo right now and we’re running all-day trips out to check out the grey whales at Magdalena Bay. The whales usually hang out until mid-March.

HOTEL LOS ARCOS CLOSES

Sadly, the Hotel Los Arcos has officially been closed. One of the most popular hotels in La Paz history, the old Hotel Los Arcos was shut down this week. Originally, the hotel was shut down by the local labor union just before Thanksgiving. The union boarded up the the hotel and it was anticipated that they could negotiate a quick re-opening. However, there was no movement and the owners fired all the employees and closed the hotel this past week. Hopefully, there’s some other resolution down the road, but for now, Hotel Los Arcos is dark for good.
TAILHUNTER INTERNATIONAL ON THE ROAD IN PORTLAND

We’ll be at the Portland Expo Center this week for our next hunting/ fishing/ outdoor show. Come by and check us out and say hi. The show is Wednesday to Sunday and our booth is in the main hall.

That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International
Phone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115
Cell: (626) 278-1585Mex. Cell: 044-612-114-17176
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: , 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Cal Sur, Mexico
Tailhunter YouTube Videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate
“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.”

Read Full Post »