Tailhunter Fish Report

PHOTO 1: Even Captain Victor is smiling. “Lucky” Lenny Bishop of La Paz holds up the RIGHT KIND.” This is a trophy-type yellowtail and Lenny now says it’s his new favorite fish. Despite fish taking him to the rocks he managed to stop this nice hog. The yellowtail are big, mean and definitely here! Lenny was kind enough to also rub it in by sending photos of how he prepared the fish when he got home! (see below)

PHOTO 2: I let Lenny describe it…this is classic. He’s great… “Ok. its THE BEST FISH man we had a Blackened y`tail burger with avocado, sprouts, wasabi mayo coleslaw on a big mexican torta bun, the first meal then crunchy tempura fried strips, dipped in spicy sweet chili japanese dipping sauce…..holy #&@$!!! It was sooooo crunchy…and the sauce! oh…the .sauce…and the baked “tin foil fish” was UNBELIEVABLE too!”

PHOTO 2: Kelly May from Alberta Canada made his first trip down and was all smiles with this nice yellowtail. Note how close to shore they are and the flat waters. The big yellows are in several places around Cerralvo Island, Muertos Bay and Espirito Santo Island the last few weeks.

PHOTO 3: Again, our amigo Lenny (“Don’t call me Leo” ) Bishop with a fresh phat yellowtail he got on live bait fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet this past week. The fish have been running 20-40 pounds…when you can stop them. If you’re not ready, these fish will yank you out’ve your flip-flops!

YELLOWTAIL and INSHORE SPECIES AGAIN TAKE CENTER STAGE WITH GOOD CONDITIONS THIS PAST WEEK

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of March 21-28, 2010

A good solid week of fishing this past week. Winds were relatively calm most days compared to previous weeks and the yellowtail remained firmly entrenched. They’re biting and they’re big, but putting these hard-charger 25-40 pound fish in the boat aren’t easy when their first instinct is to dive right back to whatever structure is close by.

Guys are busting off alot of fish to the rocks when the fish duck back. You really have to high-stick these fish and put alot of pressure on them to turn them before they rock you. But boy…such great looking fish!

These are solid forktail yellows. These trophy-sized fish will hopefully hold around as long as the waters stay cool from now until May or early June. The guys are hooking the fish with live bait, sardines, mackerel and caballitos or else yo-yo jigging blue/white or yellow/tan/white (scrambled egg) patterns for the deeper fish.

However, most of these fish aren’t deep. Literally 10-40 feet down so that doesn’t give you much room for error. By the time most anglers realize they are bit and react, the fish is already turning and making a freight train back into the rocks.

If you’re fishing the iron and cranking, when the iron suddenly stops and freezes, THAT’S a FISH! Many anglers make the mistake of swinging and trying to set the hook. The secret is to just keep on grinding and winding. Don’t stop! You have to set the hook and bury it into the fish’s mouth or you’ll lose ’em.

Once that hook is buried, believe me, your rod will bend and there’s no doubt the fish is on! Even then, swing on the rod and bury the hook deeper all the while grinding the reel to keep the fish headed up and not down back to the rocks!

As for the pargo. The big red fish are 10-30 pounders and they don’t give you much slack either. Again. big powerful fish that can truck right back into the reef and rocks before you know what’s going on. We’re landing maybe 1 out of every 5 or 6 bites. And then again, only the smaller fish are getting stopped. Captains tell me much larger fish don’t even slow down!

We’ve got some other species as well. Guys are having a blast on the sierra, roosterfish, cabrilla (seabass) and pargo in the shallow spots. Light tackle is the best trick!

FLASH…just as I was writing this…breaking news….it’s winter (that’s not the news)…our boats got dorado and marlin!!! WHOA!!!! More details coming 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.”

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PHOTO 1: Tim Fitzpatrick of Redondo Beach spent a few days with us going north of town with Captains Chito and Raul and hit some rough weather but still got into some great grades of yellowtail like this big slugger.

PHOTO 2: Two of our old amigos, Chris Fitzpatrick and Mark Martis come down several times a year and always seem to do well. The two of them show off some big-time yellowtail they caught this week fishing live bait north of La Paz. The two of them have fished with us since the earliest days of our Tailhunter Fleet.

PHOTO 3: Yes…the amberjack are in! Mark Martis from Redondo Beach CA holds up an amberjack…these are generally the larger and tastier cousins to the yellowtail and grow over 100 pounds. However, these “smaller” guys are better tasting but surely fights just as hard.
All members of the “jack” family have “attitude”…yellowtail, amberjack, jack crevalle, pompano, roosterfish are all part of the tribe.

PHOTO 4: Headed for the grill, Mark holds up this nice pargo mulatto (barred pargo) one of the best eating fish in the Sea of Cortez.

INSHORE SPECIES CONTINUE TO COME ON STRONG BUT WARM WATER FISH MOVING INTO THE AREA

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of March 14-17, 2010

It was largely a cloudy grey week with sometimes intermittently strong winds, but we had some undoubtedly encouraging fishing. Big yellowtail continued to be the highlight with some nice grades of fish being taken at the usual spots like north and south ends of Cerralvo (aka Jacques Cousteau ) Island and around Punta Perrico. As well, some of the coves around the east side of Espirito Santo Island, the Salvatierra wreck, and also around Punta Coyoto produced some fish in the 25-35 pound class that gave anglers all they could handle.

In those same areas, if the yellowtail were taking a powder, large jack crevalle, amberjack up to 25 pounds and pargo up to 20 pounds were also taken although our captains tell us that larger fish were lost to the rocks and reefs.

Additional varieties of fish this week included cabrilla (seabass), sierra, and surprising schools of roosterfish that seemed to pop up…several days of nothing then one day, large schools of 15-20 pound fish move in chasing the baits. Reports as well of numerous marlin and sailfish sunning themselves in various spots make us wonder about El Nino since it’s pretty early to be seeing billfish in the area, but they seem to be lethargically sunning themselves.

Usually when we see this, it just takes a few degrees of warming in the waters and they suddenly go off and get hungry so we’ll have to keep an eye. To the south of us, they’re getting giant humboldt squid which is also unusual as they huge animals are often a vanguard for tuna coming up out of the trenches.

Some of the private boats are seeing schools of dolphin 30-50 miles offshore travelling with tuna, but the fish are moving so fast, it’s hard to get on them. Still seeing the occasional dorado caught as well so things are definitely brewing for us to see so many signs of warm water fish this early.

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: Now THAT’s what we call a yellowtail! Rob Maclean comes down several times a year whenever he can sneak on down and teams up with Capt. Jorge for some great catches every time. He fished several days with us and ripped up some of the big boy yellowtail we’ve been waiting for. This fish was caught while fishing out’ve Muertos Bay with the Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet.

PHOTO 2: Rob did some nice damage to the yellowtail schools. Here, he holds another big forktail. That’s the southern end of Cerralvo Island in the distance across the way.

PHOTO 3: Check out the flat seas and big fish! This is Rob Maclean admiring one of the big yellowtail. The guys said that they got cabrilla, but broke off alot of nice fish in the rocks. Fish were holding in several places as deep as 100 feet but also feeding on the surface.

PHOTO 4: Miguelito helps Tom and Rob Maclean with a load of their yellowtail standing in the sand at Muertos Bay.

PHOTO 5: Ramon holds up a nice brace of “dinner.” On the left is a nice-sized cabrilla (seabass) and also a small yellowtail which is actually tastier than the larger grade fish. The fish are holding in the same areas up along the rocky shorelines and over the reefs and high spots.

YELLOWTAIL ROLL INTO ANGLERS AND LEAVE ALOT OF BROKEN LINES AND FRUSTRATED TIMES BUT SIGNS OF WARM WATER FISH STILL AROUND!

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

Not the best weather this past week so it was fortunate we didn’t have alot of anglers. It wasn’t really bad but just perhaps more windy than we’d like it to be , which is often common this time of year and why it’s off-season. But characteristic of this part of the season, you get 3 gorgeous days and then you get a day or two of wind. Fortunately, with most of our anglers, we schedule them so that there’s flexibility in the schedule plus with our two fleets, we can accommodate them so that they fish on only the better days. Fish are here, but it’s always more fun when the sun is shining and the seas are flat, right?

Anyway, like I said, the fish are here. Not in full turbo yet, but definitely I’ll have to say yellowtail season has started and there’s some sluggers out there! Fish have been close into the rocky areas as is their habit and been in the 20-40 pound class. We’re losing more than half the fish, but that’s part of the game!

When you see these fish, you know it’s worth it. Take a look at the photos! Areas include north and south ends of Cerralvo Island. Punta Coyote, Pilot Cove, Punta Perrico and a few others including one little hot spot that if I tell ya…I know a bunch of guys will take their private boats into it and boom…no more fish! You gotta come fish with us to find out!

The bite is not wide open…just yet, but we’ll keep you posted! I tell ya…it’s bubbling up. The fish are definitely here and some guys have really tangled with some slugger fish! These are quality fish and some real trophies. They are eating a variety of baits including sardines, mackerel, jigs and caballitos as well as slow trolled Rapalas or Yo-Zuri hydros as long as you don’t let the lures dive too deep and hang you up in the rocks in the shallows.

In addition to the yellowtail, they’re almost in the same areas where the big dog-tooth pargo and pargo liso have come into spawn. As one of our first-timer anglers described, “I looked down into the water and it was like a red copper colored mist was moving over the bottom and then I realized it was 30 pound fish undulating like giant Japanese koi under the panga! My first bait didn’t stand a chance and neither did I. My first 4 fish ripped me right into the rocks. I’ve never had my rod bend like that or been so frustrated trying to stop a fish!”

I’d say about 1 in 10 fish are getting put into the boat and then again, the average size of the fish are only the “smaller” 10 pounders. We haven’t had anyone been able to put one of the horse 30 or 40 pounders into the boat yet this season!

Roosterfish and sierra are still up in the shallows if you know where to look. There are all you could handle if you hit the right spots with light tackle being the most preferred way to have some fun.

One angler got tired of getting sawed off by the sierra teeth and lost several small crank baits. Being out, he pulled out a little hoochie (plastic skirt) with some wire on it and said he dropped it no more than 10 feet behind the gurgle of the slow prop wash of the motor and took 10 quick sierra up to 7 pounds. “Best ceviche I ever had and cooked with butter and garlic, was incredible at the Tailhunter Restaurant that night.”

Small flash: We ran into some tuna and marlin this week! Yes…that’s right. Have to keep the lid on it, but a strange strange hookup! We’ll keep you posted. Not supposed to be fish like that this early in the season! We’ll do some exploring and let you know!

Update on the Fiesta Inn that closed last week. They are apparently now going for a re-model and looking for a new big-name hotel tenant and plan to re-open as soon as that can be accomplished.

HEADING TO SALT LAKE CITY!

The Tailhunter 2010 tour is just leaving Redmond, Oregon and now we’re on the road headed to Salt Lake City for the final show on our 3-months road trip. We’ll be at the Expo Center in Sandy, Utah from Thursday to Sunday. Come by and check out the booth 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.”

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YELLOWTAIL FINALLY SHOW TO KICK OFF MARCH!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Feb. 28-March 7, 2010

We had another interesting week with quite a bit of variety at such diverse ends that it makes us wonder about the El Nino everyone says is upon us.

The best part is that yellowtail finally showed up in the counts. It’s about time! Fish ran 20-40 pounds and there weren’t alot caught compared to the number hooked, but that’s because most of the anglers were simply outgunned by the slugger fish or simply weren’t up to it! About 3 out of every 4 fish broke off!

The fish hit a variety of baits including mackerel and sardines as well as some of the caballitos that were found. Defintely, the larger baits were the preferred “candy” for the bigger fish. As well, yo-yo iron dropped off and jigged quickly back got some tremendous strikes. The secret is to not try to set the hook on a pick up but rather to keep grinding and turning that reel handle to make sure the fish is securely stuck in the jaw. Prefferred colors of lures includes blue and white as well as “scrambeled egg” (white, yellow, brown). Best spots included the north and south sides of Cerralvo Island, Punta Perrico off of Bahia de los Muertos and off Coyote Point where fish up to 30 pounds were seen in as shallow as just a few feet of water! We’ll keep you posted!

Inshore also, roosterfish and cabrilla as well as sierra were almost slam-dunk easy to hook most days. Wish we could say the same thing about the pargo. Easier to hook than put into the boat and the ones we got were the 5-15 pounders. The larger toad pargo kept taking guys into the rocks. The best news about the inshore fishing is that it looks like the yellowtail bite finally seems to have kicked in. Fish were in the 15-25 pound class, but about half the fish were breaking off. Still, it’s encouraging to finally get into some of the forktails.

On the other end of the spectrum, warm water fish like dorado are still hanging out. Not big fish but even seeing 5-15 pound fish in March is pretty remarkable. The fish are readily hitting sardines or any small feathers in dragged behind the pangas. As well, we’re seeing more and more marlin. We didn’t get any to bite this week, but again, having marlin in our waters this early in the season is worth keeping an eye on.

FIESTA INN IN LA PAZ CLOSES IT’S DOORS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

Just as an aside, the new Fiesta Inn Hotel in La Paz closed it’s doors this week. Word has it that they plan to re-open at some undisclosed time in the future, but for now, the hotel is closed.

VOLARIS AIR ANNOUNCES SURPRISE DISCOUNT SALE UNTIL MARCH 9!

Volaris Airlines, the ever-growing popular airlines flying out of Tijuana to La Paz (and several other destinations) announced a pretty incredible fare to come to La Paz. Basically, for about 118 dollars one way and ONE PESO to come back, they’ll sell you a ticket! The restrictions are that you MUST purchase the ticket before March 9 and you MUST use the ticket to travel between May 1st and June 30th! Jump on it. Here’s the website:

http://www.volaris.com.mx/Inicio.aspx?culture=en-US

Check it out. Don’t wait. Seats are limited. Then c’mon down to see us!

TAILHUNTER ROAD TOUR CONTINUES BACK TO OREGON THIS WEEK!

Our 2010 road tour of the best fishing and hunting shows in the west continues this week as we head to Bend, Oregon in the beautiful central Oregon area. The show runs from Thursday to Sunday and we’ll be there with the full booth and all the new brochures and DVDs to set up your next trip to come fishing in La Paz.

We just left the Fred Hall Fishing and Boating Show in Long Beach after 5 days and it was a monster! Wow! In more than 2 decades of doing this massive show, I’ve never had a show like this one. We were swamped from the get-go and folks were making their reservations about as fast as we could take them! Thanks to all of you who came by to say hi; to let me know you enjoyed yourselves fishing with us; to share your photos; to let me know you’re reading my reports and Baja columns and to make your reservations for 2010. A special shout-out to everyone who brought us goodies to the booth also!

I’m surprised we could even walk out of there after all the home-made cookies, Chinese food, jerky, cakes, Mexican food, pastries, sandwiches, and cheese, sausage, sushi and other goodies. Also, thanks to everyone who came by to wish me a happy birthday and brought cards and gifts. You’re the best! It was the best place to spend my day…in the middle of a fishing show with all my fishing amigos!

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: Not bad for a beginner. Anglers come for years to try to land one of these beauties, but Vanessa Cannon from Utah got this nice roosterfish, but it was her first fish on her first day fishing…ever! Captain Jorge mugs with Vanessa. Note the calmness of the water just a few yards off the beach at Muertos Bay.

PHOTO 2: Next stop…the BIG SHOW! Long Beach Convention Center for the Fred Hall Fishing and Boating Show. We are leaving a great show in Phoenix, our 6th show of the Tailhunter Tour and now headed to Long Beach where we’ll be in our regular booth spot on tackle row next to Calstar rods, Izorline and our pal, Ed Robison at Whopper Stopper Rods. The show goes Wednesday to Sunday at the Long Beach Convention Center.

LONG BEACH SHOW COMING UP MARCH 3-7 LONG BEACH CONVENTION CENTER

Well, we’ve put 5 shows under our belts on the 2010 tour…Denver, San Mateo, Sacramento, Puyallup (Washington), Portland and now we’re just finished Phoenix where we had an outstanding show at the University of Phoenix Football Stadium where the NFL Cardinals play. So, now…here we come…the Fred Hall Fishing and Boating Show at the Long Beach Convention Center. This is the big crazy one! Our booth will be in it’s usual spot on tackle row smack in the middle of the main hall next to Izorline and Calstar rods. Come see us and say hi and lock in your La Paz fishing trip for 2010.

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 »