August | 2009 | Tailhunter Fish Report

Archive for August, 2009

Posted in Uncategorized on August 29, 2009| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1: Sheryl Lucero doesn’t have many oceans in New Mexico where she’s from but got out on the water with Captain Victor and our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet and got this nice dorado not too far offshore on live bait.

PHOTO 2: From San Francisco area, Shannon Aurand and her husband got 10 different species of fish over 3 days of fishing. Captain Jorge from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet help with gaff duties on a feisty yellowfin tuna. This past week, they ranged from 10-30 pounds.

PHOTO 3: My dive buddy from San Luis Obispo CA, Anthony Reynolds got into a nice snap of dorado fishing north of La Paz with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet. He just racked this nice bull but buddy , Bob, pumps one to the boat in the stern.

ANGLERS AND CAPTAINS WORK HARD FOR THEIR FISH AS DARK MOON PHASE SEEMS TO HAVE SLOWED THE BITE THIS WEEK…OR SOMETHING…IT WAS DEFINITELY OFF…

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 23-29, 2009

Fishing was so-so at best this week. Something was surely off. I can’t put my finger on it. But I guess, even in Baja, it can’t be stellar every single day and every single week so best to be honest about it. By the time you’re reading this, it will probably have swung back around.

It wasn’t for lack of trying and surely the captains worked hard and pushed hard trying to find fish or getting them to bite. Also, for anglers, if you didn’t have your “A” game in place, that didn’t help. When the fish aren’t being cooperative and you start losing fish it makes it doubly hard. We lost some marlin and sailfish (that would have been released); some larger tuna and dorado were also lost. Those might have been the highlights!

When things get lockjawed, sometimes it’s just best to listen to your captain. On several occasions this week, anglers were so frustrated by the slower bite that they understandably wanted to try this and that or this lure and that lure and run all over the ocean. When, in fact, if they had just been patient and wait and listen to the skipper, they might have gotten into the bite which sometimes didn’t happen until late in the day. The captains were frustrated too. Everyone wants to catch fish.

For the most part, the fish that were caught were a mix of small the medium dorado, some roosterfish, some yellowfin tuna, some amberjack, cabrilla and pargo. No one got skunked, but certainly not the kind of fishing we’ve been having all year. Something was surely off.

I will note, however, that this past week was dark moon time again! I’m not a big believer in the moon phases, but all year, the slowest bites have been on the dark moon phases. For what it’s worth.

Quick flash…as I’m writing this, we’ve got some hurricane action to the south of us. It’s bending out and away from the Baja Peninsula, but we’ll probably have some wind and thunderstorms this week. Just another week in paradise!

That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: http://www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

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.”

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

PHOTO 1: Wahoo went on the chew again this week! South end of Cerralvo Island held most of the fish. Here’s one that chased down a Rapala pulled by Jeff Sakuda of Monterey Park CA. Captain Jorge shares the smiles.

PHOTO 2: Professional hunting dog trainer, Steve Artis from N. California looks pained, but he was pretty happy with this fat wahoo he got his first day fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. That’s Captain Victor hiding behind him.

PHOTO 3: Again with Captain Jorge! This time assisting Shannon Aurand from the San Francisco Bay area with her first wahoo she pulled on the troll. The fish showed a definite affinity for dark Rapalas this week.

PHOTO 4: All the way from New York, this is Arie Hendeles. Arie took a break from school like he does each summer to fish with us. This is one of several wahoo he put on the boat.

PHOTO 5: Yes, the yellowfin tuna also bit and they also got bigger too! Rod’s yellowfin was taken just off Las Arenas. The fish ranged from 10-30 pounds this week and crashed the live baits.

PHOTO 6: Bill White from San Luis Obispo is a fireman and he had sashime and sushi in mind for dinner as he holds up two of his yellowfin tuna he got fishing with our Las Arenas fishing fleet.

PHOTO 7: “Three Chicas and a Pancho!” Captain Pancho poses with Roseanne Ishihiro from Hawaii; Marianne Sugawara from Los Angeles and Karen Sakuda-Aizawa from San Franciso and their catch of dorado.

PHOTO 8: George is all smiles holding a bull dorado that might be our largest dorado of the week. George caugth this fish while fishing with Captain Victor and our Las Arenas Tailhunter Fleet. The fish fell for a live sardine.

PHOTO 9: Los Angeles resident Moise Hendeles got a cooler full of tuna fillets and added some great wahoo steaks to the catch with this fish.

PHOTO 10: First-timer, Ian Colbert from Belmont CA near San Franciso had a great first outting while fishing with us this past week. Here, he shows off a nice dorado he caught north of La Paz with our La Paz Tailhunter fleet.

PHOTO 11: Dave Tyree pulled this whopper dorado fishing on one of our super pangas with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet out of La Paz Bay. The dorado were hit or miss some days, but if you found the right spot, it could go nuts.

PHOTO 12: One of the most amazing action photos I’ve seen. If you’ve ever tried to take a shot of a leaping fish, you know how hard it is. Your eye, your brain, your finger and your camera just don’t work fast enough! Well, Steve Artis had everything lined up perfectly for this shot of a big bull dorado going ballistic and grabbing air while on the hook!

PHOTO 13: Not a bad day! Arie Hendeles from New York; Eli Hendeles and Jonathan Uretsky from Los Angeles do the group pose with wahoo and dorado. They had a banner few days with us taking wahoo, tuna and dorado.

PHOTO 14: Double fist tuna for Tom Aurand after fishing a day with our Las Arenas fleet. Tom comes from the San Francisco area and got into a nice snap of yellowfin tuna early in the week off the Arenas lighthouse area.

WAHOO AND YELLOWFIN TUNA LEAD THE CHARGE AT LAS ARENAS WHILE DORADO KEEP LA PAZ ANGLERS BUSY (MOST DAYS).

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 16-24, 2009

Finally back on track after a little glitch the previous week. Not only did the dorado find their way back into the feeding mode, but even more importantly for our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet, the tuna and wahoo came back strong! Yellowfin tuna running 10-30 pounds bit nicely just off the beach inhaling live baits, dead chummed bait and iron. Light tackle anglers had a blast because the tuna were mixed in with even harder-charging bullish bonito and big skipjack so it was non-stop action between the 3 species. Limits were very common.

As well, and even more exciting, the wahoo made a strong comeback at the south end of Cerralvo Island along the rock highway. Two to four biters per boat were the average if you were pulling a big dark crank bait or wahoo rig. Quite a few fish were lost with bad hooksets and busted lines but boats were taking 1-2 wahoo in the 30-50 pound class.

Other species this week included a few marlin (released), roosterfish (most released) as well as some cabrilla, pargo and a nice jag of large pompano. Dorado ran 10-30 pounds on the average.

There were some slow spots and if you fished a few days you might have an off-day, but overall, it was a real good week of fishing with some anglers canceling (bad for us!) some of their trips later in the week because they had too much fish to take home after 2 or 3 days fishing! Glad to see guys releasing more and more fish and also more guys going to circle hooks as well. It wasn’t wide open, but the opportunities are there for some great catches right now.

That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

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.”

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Posted in Uncategorized on August 15, 2009| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1: Perhaps one of the largest dorado of the season, Captain Chito helps Steve McWhorter of Ventura with the big fish taken north of La Paz. Steve is 6′ tall and you can see that this fish is about that long. Captain Chito estimated the fish at about 60 pounds and was amazingly taken after a long battle on light tackle by Steve.

PHOTO 2: John Seidensticker of Huntington Beach CA fished with Captain Victor and our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet and pulled in this nice bull dorado. The dorado bite at Las Arenas slowed this past week but tuna and wahoo picked up the slack.

PHOTO 3: Whittier CA resident Alan Cutler poses with another nice La Paz dorado he got north of town of Espiritu Santo Island. Live bait worked well this week, but many of this week’s larger fish were taken with strips of dead bonito.

PHOTO 4: It might not be the biggest fish picture, but it’s certainly my favorite of the week. Rebecca Waverly from Ventura CA was with us for the first time on her first fishing trip and fished with Captain Ramiro. The sheer exhuberance captured in this photo is priceless. We sometimes get so “hardcore” about our fishing we forget it’s supposed to be fun. Good job, Rebecca!

WAHOO AND YELLOWFIN TUNA CRASH THE BOATS UNTIL SPEARFISHERMEN JUMP IN WATER AND SHUT OFF THE BITE

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of August 9-15, 2009

We had a really nice wahoo and yellowfin tuna bite going on for our Las Arenas fleet the last few days the earlier half of the week. Guys were getting 2-5 bites on the skinnies per day and putting 1-2 in the boat. The wahoo ran up to about 50 pounds and were eating the big crank baits like Yozuri and Rapalas in the darker colors. As well, the yellowfin tuna popped up as well not far off the point. These were a fun grade of fish going 10-25 pounds.

All was good until freediving spearfishers dropped into the middle of the bites while the pangas were trying to fish. Incredible. Well, I do believe it and spearfishers wonder why they get such a bad rap here and get stinkeye from local captains…both commercial and sport captains and there has been open antagonism in the past and confrontations. Local commercial guys are trying to catch a few fish to feed their families. Panga captains are out there trying to put a few fish on the pangas for their clients.

A few jerk spearfishers screw it up for everyone and basically, they shut off the bite. It taints all spearfishers who show up. Word has it that some of them were using illegal gas-powered guns as well instead of the normal band guns. Nothing like little explosions underwater to put the lockjaw on the fish!

Additionally, they didn’t heed requests to go find other spots. The ocean is big. No reason to drop right in the middle of guys trying to make a living. Anyway, that surely screwed up the bite and hopefully, by the time you’re reading this, the bite will have come back.

After that, the pickings the rest of the week were marginal at best with fishermen chasing a few dorado, a few tuna and inshore species like roosterfish, pargo and cabrilla. Like I said, hopefully, by the time you’re reading this, the bite will have come back.

The dorado are still biting, however, for our La Paz boats. The bite has been pretty far-ranging from the outer banks all the way down the channel around Las Cruces. You might find a big school that makes your day or dink or single and double biters all day long, but limits or near limits were not uncommon for our boats. Live bait worked best, but catching a few bonito then using dead slabs on the troll drew fish to the boat.

That’s our story

Jonathan and Jill

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

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.”

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

PHOTO 1: Leave it to the rookie to roll the big one! Just an incredible fish by Juan Martinez from Northern CA who made his first trip fishing to La Paz at the last minute and nailed this huge bull dorado near Espiritu Santo Island. Again, this week, dorado were the hot ticket.

PHOTO 2: One of our bestest amigos, this is “Coach” Don Rea who fishes with us several times a year. Every trip he fishes his brains out but never gets in the report. He always fishes with his favorite captain Marcos who’s helping him hold up the beast dorado. Coach took this fish on light tackle with a little Avet SX and fought the fish over an hour and admitted the fish slugged it out with him. Well, he finally made the report. Congrats, Coach!

PHOTO 3: Here’s another guy who worked like crazy for his fish. Rich Jones is an experienced long-range angler from Utah who came “just to get ONE roosterfish!” Well, over his first 3 days of fishing he put “60-70” roosterfish on light tackle and had a ball and finally nailed this beauty saying, “We saw it come into the shallow water after my ladyfish and it ripped into deep water!” Best of all…Rich released all his fish. He also caught dorado, snapper, cabrilla, and jack crevalle. By the way, knowing what this looks like, he wanted it known that he does NOT fish with a blue bonnet on his head. His boonie hat had the brim tilted back!

PHOTO 4: Tom Moon from Northridge CA put in a day with Captain Adolfo fishing off S. Cerralvo Island and put this mahi mahi in the panga while fishing with our Las Arenas fleet.

PHOTO 5: Ron Hepner put the gaff to a number of dorado and other species while fishing 5 days with both our La Paz and Las Arenas fleet this past week. He released all his roosterfish, but this dorado went into the box and onto the dinner table! Ron came to visit us from Utah in the Salt Lake area.

PHOTO 6: Coach Joey Fuschetti is high school track coach from Orange Co. CA who does lots of work with putting kids on fishing trips. He took some time out do some fishing of his own and comes to see us each year. Fishing with our La Paz Fleet, Joey got this dorado near Espiritu Santo Island. “We were w/ limits both days at Las Arenas w/ our famous capitan Jorge and the high boat out of La Paz w/ Capitan Boli. But, reality check on day three when the Pargo took us for a ride at Isla Partida and we landed 3 and lost a bunch of big toothed beasts to the rocks………” said Joey. Joey insists that chumming the waters with minced papaya is his secret to success.

PHOTO 7 – It’s always nice to know that someone caught their personal best fish when on one of our trips. George Higi has fished Baja for years, but got his personal best dorado fishing with Captain Jorge and our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. George stands 6’2″ so this fish is the real deal!

PHOTO 8: Kodak moment with dorado, left-right, Bob Wood, Tom Moon, Tony Toven and Doyle Wood holding some of their day’s catch fishing north of La Paz with our La Paz fleet.

WEEK STARTS SLOW AND SCRATCHY BUT GETS BETTER AS MOON GOT FULLER!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of 2-9, 2009

It was a difficult week to put a finger on. In some respects, it was scratchy fishing as water temps seemed to have dropped and fish scattered. Let me put it this way, often you had to work hard for your fish! This was especially true for our Las Arenas Fleet. While there was a mix of fish that includes dorado, some billfish and a smattering of tuna, the “offshore bite” really wasn’t happening. Those anglers that worked inshore however, took advantage of some great fishing for roosters, pargo, jacks, cabrilla and snapper. In fact, they had an excellent time, especially on light tackle.

For our La Paz fleet, the bite was much more consistent. While there wasn’t much variety, the dorado more than made up for anything else School-sized fish in the 10-20 pound class made up most of the catch, but there were some monster 40-60 pound fish caught and many more lost to bad gear, busted lines or inexperience or simply bad luck. You might have a bad day here or there, but for the most part, limits or near limits of fish with many released were the rule more than the exception.

LATE breaking news…as the week went on and the moon got fuller…THE BITE GOT BETTER. Tuna and dorado started showing up again at Las Arenas and the La Paz dorado bite got more consistent!

JACK VELEZ FUND

Thank you to many of you who have been sending condolences, prayers and checks to the family. We have already raised several thousand dollars and will be making a surprise presentation to them in a few weeks. In advance of their appreciation, thanks from all of us with the Tailhunter Family. Please write if you’d like more information.

That’s our Story
Jonathan and Jill

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

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.”

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

PHOTO 1: Jack McGuire from Orange Co., California with this monster of a dorado. The 50 pound-class fish was taken on light tackle which is Jack’s specialty when he comes down here. Dorado were once-again the mainstay of the week’s catch although changing water conditions meant sometimes it was hit-or-miss. See more details below.

PHOTO 2: Bob Woods, Tom Moon, and Tony Toven from the Los Angeles CA area show off a really strange catch for July. Take a close look…in addition to the dorado and the tuna they’re holding YELLOWTAIL! These fish are normally caught here in the spring when waters are cooler, but for the last two weeks we started getting yellowtail again on bait and on yo-yo iron! Weird! Some of the fish have been as large as 40 pounders. The yellowtail might be here because waters cooled this past week a few degrees which might also explain why overall fishing slowed a bit as well.

PHOTO 3: When you only have two hands to hold 3 fish, it’s hard to show off a grand-slam catch of tuna, dorado and yellowtail, but TonyToven found a way to photograph all of them at Las Arenas Beach. Needless to say they dog-piled onto the sashimi that night at the restaurant! Nothing fresher!

PHOTO 4: All the way from New Mexico, Darren Hanson holds up one of the nicer bull dorado of the week. Darren was fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet north of La Paz our towards the islands. Dorado were the focus of most of the fishing this week. While not spectacular, the fishing for the most part was solid with some good days and some slower days as the dorado schools moved around.

PHOTO 5: Sailfish release. We love to see this. Not only a good photo, but a good release as well. We release about 80 percent of our billfish and encourage letting ’em go. This season has been about average for the billfish. We haven’t seen alot of marlin or sailfish the last two weeks but there were still some bitiers. We’re about to head into the blue and black marlin zone as the end of summer and the fall seasons approach. Our largest fish this year has been around 700 pounds.

PHOTO 6: First-timer, Kevin Blakely, Jr. from Los Angeles had a momentus first trip with us getting tuna, sailfish and dorado including this bull while fishing with Captain Yofo and our Las Arenas fleet.

PHOTO 7: Although the tuna weren’t as crazy as previous weeks, but off Las Arenas there’s still some tuna cruising through. Al Tesoro comes down several times a year and always fishes with Captain Adolfo.

PHOTO 8: Captain Victor put Steve Kerchichian on this nice roosterfish he got off S.Cerralvo Island. The high-schooler came with the intent of catching just a single rooster and instead “stopped counting at 10” and maybe got over 20 roosters on his first day. The roosterfish are still here but few folks are fishing for them now that the dorado and tuna are in the area.

PHOTO 9: On a sadder note, we lost our friend, mentor and Tailhunter Family member, Jack Velez, to a heart attack this week. Jack had been sick for the past few months but seemed to be on the recovery. He was an icon and a character in La Paz for decades and with us since the first days of Tailhunter 15 years ago. Many of you may remember his crazy sense of humor and boisterous laugh in the early morning hours as he delivered the breakfasts and lunches before we packed you off in the vans to Las Arenas. He could laugh at anything and certainly himself and always greeted people by bragging, “I am the only Mexican that is ever on time!” He was one-of-a-kind and will be sorely missed. Jack leaves a wife and 3 young kids so we’re starting a fund for them. Details are below.

CHANGING WATER CONDITIONS MAY HAVE SLOWED THE BITE BUT DORADO STILL FILL FISH BOXES MOST DAYS

LA PAZ/ LAS ARENAS FISHING REPORT FOR WEEK OF JULY 26 – AUG. 2, 2009

It can’t always be “SPECTACULAR” or “AWESOME” or “OF THE CHARTS!” But better to be honest. It wasn’t bad either! In fact, we had some pretty darned nice fishing all week. I think the fishing had just been so incredible for the last few weeks that we got spoiled, but we had some good solid fishing this week with a nice mix of fish.

The backbone of our catch were dorado for both our Las Arenas and La Paz fleets. At times the fish were thick. At others, it was a pick day. Each boat seemed to do differently each day. The slow boat one day became the hot boat the next. The boat that had all the big fish one day, had trouble finding fish the following day. But, if you put in 2-3 days on the water, EVERYONE got fish! They ranged in size from newbie 5 pounders up to fish in the 40-50 pound class.

As well, there was still a smattering of tuna off Las Arenas and incredibly, some yellowtail biting as well. These yellowtail have been showing up the last two weeks in a total surprise since yellowtail season is in the spring when the waters are cooler and right now things are anything but cool. The yellowtail are biting the live bait fished a little deeper and some larger fish were lost in the rocks estimated in the 30-40 pound class. The guys who knew how to fish yo-yo iron really did better.

I tell you what I think, we looked at the satellite charts and although it seems like the ocean is warm as a bath and the air is blazing, the water tempos actually have been dropping over the last week or so. It’s come down a good 3 or 4 degrees. That may not seem like much but it’s enough to put the fish into a bit of a pout until things level off. I think that’s why the bite may be a bit off. Other species this week included some sails and striped marlin (all but one released) and a few wahoo were hooked, but not landed.

JACK VELEZ

As mentioned above, we lost our amigo, Jack Velez this week. To so many he was a comic, a character, a scamp and a clown, but he was always a gentleman from the old-school. He could make anyone laugh and best of all could laugh at himself. “Never fear when Jack is here!” was his motto. He always loved all the clients and would always go the extra mile for service and deliver it with a smile and often a song too! I used to call him the “Ricky Ricardo of La Paz.” I wish you could have heard some of the stories he would tell of “Old La Paz.”

Jack’s dad, Rudy Velez, used to run the fleet for the Ruffo Brothers for the old Hotel Cocos then went off on his own and set up his own fleet. Jack and his brothers ran with dad and their list of stories and celebrities who fished with them back in the day included Chuck Connors, Clark Gable, Steve McQueen, James Garner and others.

Many of you wanted to send flowers or donations for flowers, but we came up with a better idea instead that has met with a lot of approval so far from many of you. Jack leaves his wife, Gelines and three great youngsters that many of you have watched grow up…Felicia, Daniel and Jacobo. Rather than spend money on flowers, anyone who wants to contribute to a special fund for the family, would be welcome. No pressure. A number of amigos have already sent checks even before this announcement. Just send me an e-mail at riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com

I’ll give you more details rather than take up the fishing report. To those of you who have already written, God bless. Your thoughts and prayers have been appreciated.

That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

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.”