Tailhunter Fish Report

PHOTO 1: They started slow, but finished fast. Yusuke Suzuki and his dad Katsu from Portland had to cancel their first trip to La Paz 2 times last year, but finally made it down. Their first day fishing the winds blew strong and they barely scratched out a bite and had tough fishing. However, the fish gods finally smiled on their second day and they had quite a variety including sierra, pargo, snapper, cabrilla and bonito. This is pretty typical of winter fishing for inshore species.

PHOTO 2: Yusuke holds up a pargo happily pulled out near Punta Perrico. Popular captain Archangel helps with the gaff.

PHOTO 3: Whale watching in Lopez Mateos is in full swing right now. The whales aren’t quite as plentiful as normal…maybe it’s El Nino…but everyone is having fun in the shallow bays watching the whales come up to the pangas!

PHOTO 4: On the weekends, EVERYONE comes out to see the whales! Hopefully, they’ll be around until about mid-March and we’re running folks out every week.

ANOTHER WEEK OF MIXED INSHORE FISHING WITH NUMEROUS VARIETIES

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Feb. 14-20, 2010

It was a mixed bag of fish, so to speak, this past week which is pretty characteristic of this time of year. What we catch and how we fish and where we fish are often dictated by wind, weather and the bait conditions rather than by what clients want to specifically target. At least moreso than other times of the year.

Most of our fishing is confined to the Muertos Bay area as it is more protected and fishing is closer. Whether we go much further than that depends on the winds but generally we focus on the Punta Perrico areas, Punta Arenas, Boca de Alamo and the surrounding areas. If winds permit, we can head over to Cerralvo Island.

The other aspect is bait. Can’t fish without it so sometimes getting bait is hunt and peck a little bit. Since waters are a bit rougher this time of year, often the sardines get scattered by the wave action or the waters get too cloudy from the splash and it’s hard to throw the net. Alternatively, sometimes it’s hard to get in tight in the rocks to throw the bait nets when the waves are pushing you into the rocks.

Anyway, I guess that’s the so-so news and the realities of fishing some days. Others, it’s flat, calm, warm and the bait is readily taken. All that taken into account, we’re still having a great time with sierra which are easy since they can be taken close to shore anyway and will eat lures when bait is a little sketchy…basically, anything shiny will attract strikes. As well, pargo are frustrating anglers also. The big red fish are biting, but anglers will lose half their fish or more to the rocks when the fish immediately burrow down. But, in the same areas, cabrilla (seabass) and snapper are being taken and we’re also getting jack crevalle and some roosters along the beaches. Attribute it to El Nino, but every now and then, just a hair offshore, someone hooks a tuna or dorado.

PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL SPORTSMENS EXPO THIS WEEK

That’s where we’ll be from Friday to Sunday this week for the next stop on our road tour. We’ll be right on the floor of the football stadium where the Cardinals play. It’s a great facility and great place to come out and spend the day; see some great exhibits and, of course, come say hi to us and check out some dates for your La Paz fishing trip this year! See you then!

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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PHOTO 1: Larry Barnes all the way from Alberta Canada was down for his first time and got a variety of fish including this nice pargo just off Punto Perrico. Conditions were less than stellar this week as you might notice from the grey skies and Captain Victor needing to wear his slickers.

PHOTO 2: Our amigo from La Paz by way of Mazatalan, Leonard Bishop, at first thought this was a funny looking yellowtail and found out later it’s a rainbow runner… a close cousin to the yellowtail caught near Muertos Bay. For Leonard’s full account see below. He got this fish on his flyrod.

STRONG WINDS AND EVEN SOME WET DAYS PUT A DAMPER ON THE WEEK’S FISHING

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Feb. 7-14, 2010

A bit of a mixed week down here with some surprising varieties of fish. Quite a mix considering it’s only February and everyone is talking about “El Nino.” Everyone wants to know. Heck, I’m no scientist. We just go fishing and catch what’s biting and right now, you just never know what’s out there! This week, it was a bit on the windy side. The winds have the obvious effect of making it a bit rougher than we would like, but it also affects our ability to get bait. Sardines are usually in the shallow areas near the rockys or beaches and when waves are spanking the shore, it not only scatters the little guys, but if you’re a panga captain trying to throw a net and get close into the shallows, it’s hell trying to keep the waves from smashing your panga into the rocks. It gets dicey!

Anyway, as mentioned, there’s good fish to be caught. Pargo are up in numbers inside now. We’re seeing ’em for sure. But catching them is another issue. I had guys lose 8, 12, 16 fish to the rocks as the big red boys racked the lines and tore them up. They had fun trying to stop the beasts, but still managed a few “smaller” fish in the 10-20 pound class around Cerralvo Island and Muertos Bay. As well, in the same areas, they met with better success on snapper and some nice cabrilla (seabass). No shortage of sierra and you can play with those all day long and have a blast. Surprising species, however, included rainbow runners (baby cousins to yellowtail and great eating!) as well as some dorado and even a few yellowfin tuna!

The bad news is that mid-week, the winds really picked up for really the first time all year. It just made it really tough to fish. We actually canceled the fishing for a few days. We could’ve gone out and gotten a few fish, but no sense in being miserable out there and the clients decided to simply postpone fishing until later in the week. After the winds abated a bit, fishing was still off a bit, but, as mentioned above there were some decent varieties of fish to be caught although in all honesty, it surely could have been better.

Carnivale started this week so the whole city is in party mode!

FIRST PERSON

Thanks to Leonard Bishop on his report for his fishing day:

“We trolled rapalas at the south end of Cerralvo (Island), while we waited for Captain Victor to get bait. Caught 4-5 nice size cabrilla some 4-6 lbs!
Got bait then went out from Punta Arena in open water. We got bonito, sierra (1 big one), skipjack, and a rainbow runner, We went back to rocks near Muertos Bay, more cabrilla, dog snapper, triggerfish, golden trevally, couple other “toss em` backs”
missed a bunch of pargo liso (mullet snapper), just got rocked again and again! The bite was really fussy. Yes I got the rainbow runner on a pink bucktail fly. The cabrilla were dee-licious!!!”

PORTLAND SPORT SHOW

Thanks to everyone who came to say hi to us at the Portland Expo Center this past week for the Northwest Sportsman’s Hunting and Fishing Show. What a kick! Five great days in the booth and thanks to all our friends who brought us goodies as well. We ate and drank well! You’re the best!

Now…onto Phoenix! Our next Tailhunter appearance will be at Cardinal football Stadium right there on the football field. We’ll be there Friday to Sunday Feb. 26-28. Come check it out and say hi.

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.”

Read Full Post »

PHOTO 1: It wasn’t what you would call incredible fishing this past week, mostly because of less-than-stellar fishing conditions, but it got better as the week continued. Surprisingly, there’s still dorado swimming around like these two held by our amigos Rob and Jodi McClean even though we’re in the dead of winter! We even had some biters right in La Paz Bay!

PHOTO 2: No, we didn’t catch this brute of a black seabass here in La Paz, but rather this big boy was taken by commercial fishermen on the Pacific side of northern Baja about 2 weeks ago. Unlike in the states, it is legal to take blackseabass. Hate to see this, but I”m sure this was a big payday for some lucky commercial guy who eeks out a living and I’m sure every bit of this fish got eaten or used. This is an ancient fish and hopefully, it had lots of years of breeding. In the states, black seabass must be released.

VIDEO 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqpLHerDkKo

We know alot of our amigos back in the states are having some weird and horrendous weather. We’ve been travelling across the U.S. all during January with our booth doing all the hunting and fishing shows in Denver, San Francisco, Sacramento and most recently in Puyallup, Washington (near Seattle/Tacoma). It’s been great, but this week, we’re back here in La Paz. We had not seen sunshine in more than a month and some of our friends and clients on the trade show “tour” asked me to post up some sunshine in the weekly fishing report. I took this Saturday morning, Feb. 6th, on the waterfront downtown.

VIDEO 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMWu3pAXlAs

We’re coming to Portland, Oregon this week! After 4 shows we finally come to visit our amigos in Portland. It’s one of the best shows of the tour and we’re looknig forward to seeing alot of you. The show will be from Wednesday to Sunday Feb 10-14 at the Portland Expo Center! It’s always packed. Come say hi. This video is some of the aisle action from the Denver ISE show where it was 10 degrees below zero outside! That’s Jill you see talking in the booth.

THE EARLY WEEK IS DIMINISHED BY WINDS AND EVEN SOME RAIN BUT IMPROVES LATER IN WEEK

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Feb. 6-13, 2010

It was a bit of an off-week here in La Paz. Earlier in the week it was literally a sierra “rodeo” with all the inshore fun you might want with unlimited sierra biters pretty much at any of the usual spots along the beaches where shallow waters tapered to deeper waters. It seemed like the schools were really concentrated. Normally, you might get a handful at any stop and have a good day, but this week, it was almost one-stop shopping. If you’ve ever been in a bonito or mackerel bite, that’s what it was like. Any shiny lure slow trolled or any piece of bait in the water got hit. I had one client catch and release almost 40 fish on day and he said he lost count of all the sierra he lost that bit through the leader. Even with wire, he said sometimes they bit higher than the wire and nipped the mono. He had a blast. Another client who was flyfishing, didn’t bring wire, but still managed half-a-dozen on a 6 wt rod and lost a ton more, but said, “Having never fought a fish that had REAL TEETH and power, it was the most fun” he’d ever had on a flyrod. As well, there were a few roosters and jacks also caught inshore.

Not much else worth mentioning except a few stray small dorado. However, like I keep saying strange thinks keep happening. One of our local amigos took his boat out just to cruise around La Paz Bay for 30 minutes with visiting family. He ran into a feeding school of dorado. He managed to get two on the flyrod right off the shore!

As the week went on, waters got choppier and things got windy. We even had two days of sporadic rain and showers that periodically and in spots, came down pretty steadily for a few minutes.

OTHER HAPPENINGS IN LA PAZ

Just some bits and pieces of info to pass on.

I went walking downtown. There is now a little Subway Sandwich place now down near where Carlos & Charlie’s used to be. Kinda nice. I also found a cool little place that makes awesome cinnamon buns!

On a sadder note, it looks like the brand new Fiesta Inn at Costa Baja is going to be closing it’s doors. Looks like so many operations, they had financial problems. From what we understand, Costa Baja will be taking over but they are letting all the staff go. Probably they’ll be looking for a new operator. They never really catered to fishermen anyway there so hopefully, the new tenants will be more fishermen-friendly.

CARNIVAL COMING !

We have CARNIVALE (Mardi Gras) starting this week so the town is really gearing up to put on it’s party-face for a whole week. The place rocks. The whole waterfront will be closed down for the revelry. Our Tailhunter Bar just happens to overlook the street and all the parades and booths so folks are reserving tables out front. Great fun.

PORTLAND SPORTSMENS SHOW

Beginning Wednesday, we’ll be at the Northwest Sportsmens Show at the Portland Expo Center from Feb. 10-15. Five full days with great exhibits and, of course…US! Come say hi and check us out for your 2010 La Paz fishing trip too. Things are filling up.

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.”

Read Full Post »

PHOTO 1: Inshore fishing right now can be outstanding. Even on days when it’s windy, there’s usually no shortage of fish willing to chew in the rocky areas and reefs like this nice pargo mulatto (barred pargo). Tough fighters…great on the dinner plate! This was taken just off Punta Perrico.

PHOTO 2: I don’t know if it’s El Nino, but yes, we’re still getting exotic roosterfish like this one around the beach areas. No big ones lately, but this fun size school fish rooster is alot of fun on light tackle. You can catch dozens of these some days if you hit the right school. Note how close to the beach this is.

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