Archive for August, 2010

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Aug. 22-29, 2010

Posted in baja fishing, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, mexico fishing, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international on August 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Light tackle big roosterfish for Caryn Aizawa from Pasadena CA. Captain Pancho put her on the fish near Muertos Bay just offshore. Caryn had a great 2 days of fishing taking roosters, tuna, dorado, and other species. The big roosters are still prowling the shallow waters off the beach. The big fish was released.

He came all the way from Vermont to get into the bite, but Ed Martinez nailed some great fish this week. He shows off a 70 pounder he took fishing with Capt. Jorge just off Las Arenas. Ed got another big tuna that day about the same size and his cousin dropped another big fish, but a bad back got the best of him in the middle of the fight. Ed also got several wahoo as well. The big tuna are still prowling and fresh dead squid chunks are still working, but most big fish are lost.

Tak Okamoto is "80-something-years-old" and he looks tired. But that's because he spent almost 90 minutes in the Baja sun putting the wood to this 39-pound-yellowfin as well as several other tuna. Tak is from Gardena CA

Oh to be 10-years-old again! You remember what that was like! Alex here from Sacramento holds up his first tuna on his first-time-fishing trip where he claims he "caught all the fish!"

Ron Lopez and Captain Adolfo ("Yofo") blew up the fish over 3 days. First day, Ron spanked the tuna. 2nd day he got more tuna and wahoo. Third day, Ron fought a marlin estimated at 350 pounds for the better part of the day only to have it bust off at the boat. (He was going to release it anyway). Then on the way back to the beach he dropped back a Rapala and got this wahoo!

Some guys come for years and make numerous trips trying to catch a big pargo. Luis Cardenas from Los Angeles comes down for the first time and on his first day on the water rips this huge dog tooth snapper. I can't believe we still have these big pargo running around here. Normally, pargo season is in the spring.

Just so you know we're still getting dorado...absolutely yes! Not alot of big dorado, but yes, there's dorado to be caught. Most fish are 10-20 pounders. Jack Kruse has a gaff in a decent bull. Most of the dorado fishing has been with our La Paz fleet. Our Las Arenas fleet is getting dorado as well as tuna, roosters, wahoo and other varieties.

Dave Rose from Colorado helps out his amigo, Jack Garcia from San Bernardino CA who was on his first trip to La Paz. This dorado was caught just off the beach near Punta Perrico.

Ernie Correa from S.California was also lucky enough to stick it to a big dog-tooth this week where first-timers outdid the veterans when it came to pulling on pargo. These fish are in really shallow waters right and willing to crash the surface when chummed with either live bait or dead bait.

On the flyrod! Mark Aizawa has come several times trying to get at least one dorado on his flyrod and finally succeeded on getting this one to hit his pattern and was kept for dinner. I get asked often how come I don't post up more flyfishing photos. It's not that we don't get flyfishers. It's that most of the catch gets released so unless the shot is taken on the panga, there's no fish to photograph on the beach! I personally rarely get on one of our pangas with flyfishers since with all the gear and all the lines shooting all over the place, there's no room for two flyfishers, me and the captain without me getting in the way. Plus, I'm a real hack on the flyrod anway. I stink. I play golf better than I flyfish! It's a real art.

For dorado fishing, ninety percent of our catch with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet has been on dorado. Karen Kruse from Sacramento poses at Balandra Beach for photos and fish cleaning with two of her limits of dorado.

This is the whacked fish story of the week. Take a look at this 45 pound fish and our Captain Armando. . For several weeks we've been telling people how close the big fish are to shore. No one believes us. Captain Armando was running his panga up onto the sand, he was trailing a chunk of big squid. Now...a bunch of clients saw this...suddenly a big tuna comes greyhounding out of the water chasing after the panga! The big fish was so intent on getting the squid and so hungry, the crazy thing charged right up onto the sand where a bunch of captains and clients tackled it like a fumbled football at the Super Bowl. Here's Captain Armando with the proof. Everyone was talking about the crazy tuna! This tuna was only about 20 yards off the beach when it got fired up and turned on the jets! That's Cerralvo Island in the background. Flat as a lake out here! As I heard the story again from several sources, some of the guys thought they saw a big marlin just off shore that appeared to be feading so maybe this tuna was just trying to get out of the feeding zone!

HURRICANE FRANK PETERS AFFECTS FISHING WITH WAVES AND WIND BUT NO RAIN AND MOSTLY A FAIRLY SOLID WEEK OF FISHING!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 22-29, 2010

It’s the end of summer and town is almost empty as folks head back to school and higher humidity even keeps the locals indoors until late at night when the sun goes down and the breezes cool things down. However, there’s still alot of fishermen coming down and except for a few day when Hurricane Frank threatened, it was a pretty good week of fishing. Some guys had spectacular weeks of fishing. For others it was little scratchy depending on what you wanted to catch.

The hurricane popped up about mid-week about 600 km south of La Paz and kept us all glued to the news and our computers. It eventually petered out, but not before disrupting the fishing for a day or two with large swells and winds. We still caught fish but it was far off the kind of fishing we’d been having.

Except for that glitch, it was pretty good fishing. Wahoo continued to be a bonus at the north and south ends of Cerralvo Island. Using big chunks of giant squid, tuna between 10 and 80 pounds could be caught within yards of the beach. Marauding schools of free-swimming dorado could pop up at any time or be found in the current lines or around the buoys in a number of spots. Big roosters were in the surf and trophy pargo kept boiling. Great variety!

Live bait is still an issue for our Las Arenas fleet, but relatively speaking the fresh giant squid we’re using works just fine! Chunking the squid has produced almost all the fish you see here in the report with no complaints! The only part that’s a pain-in-the-crack, is catching the darned things. These critters can be up to 70 pounds and catching them 1000 feet down. It’s not exactly like pulling up a dead weight…these things will fight all the way up and it’s crazy starting your day dripping sweat in the Baja sun…I mean it’s fun…but this is just to catch bait! If someone offers to sell it to you…jump on it!

About the only things that aren’t eating the sqiud are the wahoo. Several days the wahoo were thick enough on the surface that guys said they were freeswimming around the pangas, but wouldn’t take any baits. Wahoo are a bit like cats. If you have a ball just sitting on the carpet, the cat isn’t interested. If you ROLL the ball past the cat, it attacks. Wahoo seem to be the same way.

It’s that time of year when tropical rain storms can come up at any time. Nothing big. But, it’s not unusual to get a few minutes of rain a day or enough to mess up your windshield of your car. It’s warm and usually doesn’t affect the fishing. But, we keep an eye on it every day.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: 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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La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 15-22, 2010

Posted in baja fishing, Cerralvo Island Fishing, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, mexico fishing, Muertos Bay Fishing, sea of cortez, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tagged baja fishing, baja mexico, cerralvo island fishing, darren hanson, jonathan roldan, La Paz fishing, la ventana fishing, las arenas fishing, light tackle fishing, mexico fishing, mexico fishing report, muertos bay, panga fishing, southern baja fishing, sportfishing packages, tailhunter international on August 22, 2010| Leave a Comment »

It's like they were just waiting and feeling ignored. The last few weeks everyone was so excited about the tuna and dorado fishing that no one went to chase the wahoo. Then, about 2 weeks ago, a few of our guys took a shot and scored big time. Since then, we're getting daily hits at both the north and south end of Cerralvo Island with fish between 20 and 50 pounds coming up on dark Rapalas and other trolled wahoo rigs. Paul Nagata had a spectacular week with tuna, dorado, pargo, roosterfish and his first wahoo shown here.

Al Cutler from Whitter CA holds up his "new best friend" a big yellowfin tuna cradled in his arm. Great shot! They had some of the "best tuna fishing ever" over three days fishing with our two fleets. The tuna varying in sizes from 5 pound peanuts to fish over 100 pounds continue to roll through our area.

Steve Uretsky and Moise Hendeles from Los Angeles made a last-minute spur-of-the-moment trip to see us and show off their first day catch of tuna and dorado at Las Arenas.

Dave Rose powered all the way down in his truck driving from Denver in two days to get in a some fishing with us when he heard the tuna were biting and was rewarded with some great yellowfin action including this thick YFT taken near the Arenas lighthouse on chunks of squid.

Just a great shot. Young Alex Kruse came fishing for the first time and got out with his family including dad, Tim. Alex struggles to lift one of his dorado he caught fishing north of La Paz with dad and in two days, "I caught all the fish!" he says.

Surprising for this time of year but big pargo have been ripping up tackle and anglers. Normally, we get most of our pargo fishing in during the spring time months, but cooler-than-normal water temps have kept fish like this pargo liso held by Randy Lyons and Captain Pancho as well as yellowtail and cabrilla on the feed in shallow waters.

Pargo and yellowtail in August? You bet! Not very typical, but John Pastorello holds up the proof.

Headed for the sashime plate! Fresh one for Paul Nagata from San Francisco holding one of several nice tuna he took during the week. This one filled up the cooler all by itself. Chunks of fresh giant squid continues to be the hot bait.

Jack Garcia almost canceled his trip when he got a new job back in San Bernardin CA, but was able to put it off as this would be his first trip to La Paz. It paid off. He shows off a nice bull dorado with fresh colors.

Oh-oh...it's that time of year again. It's feeling tropical with occasional showers now and then. Dark ominous clouds looking north off Las Arenas Beach towards Cerralvo Island. While our boats were out, a quick little storm hit that forced all the fleets to pull their boats back to the beach. We figured the storm would pass. All the other fleets called it a day and left the beach. We kept our folks waiting in the vans. In an hour the sun came back out blazing and we shoved off again to find the fishing grounds completely deserted...except for us! We blew up the fish that day! The tuna came hungry and often! Some of the anglers spent the downtime shore fishing or swimming in the warm downpour.

ANGLERS BEND RODS ON TUNA NOW SHOWING UP FOR BOTH LAS ARENAS AND TAILHUNTER FLEETS!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 15-22, 2010

Other than a ripping little thundershower one day that chased everyone off the water for about an hour (and then we all went right back out to catch fish), we had some great catches and another solid week of fishing. Again, waters are cooler than normal for the season so it’s providing us with an incredible variety of fish.

Our normal warm water species are around such as dorado, billfish, wahoo, roosters and tuna, but it’s also providing some outstanding and surprising catches of amberjack, pargo, cabrilla and even yellowtail.

Tuna continue to be centerstage for most of our Las Arenas anglers who are seeing some of the best tuna fishing we’ve had all year and maybe in a long time. Smaller football-class tuna from 10-25 pounds are close to shore near the lighthouse and south towards Muertos Bay in waters that are incredibly shallow. As one angler said, “It was crazy. I got hit by a 40 pound fish and instead of going down like a normal tuna, the thing zinged off about 100 yards of line straight out. Then I realized we were only in about 20 feet of water! I could see the bottom. The tuna had nowhere to go!”

Indeed limits or near limits of the football tuna were available most days. But the big boys are still around and providing the most drama.

Again, we don’t have much in the way of live sardines, but we’re catching and also buying chunks of live squid and chumming the waters The tuna are coming to feed and when some of them show up, it’s even scaring some of the anglers.

“We were at the south end of Cerralvo Island on the high spot and were tired of fishing for the smaller tuna close to shore,” said one of our anglers. “We started tossing chunks of squid into the current and suddenly there were swirls that were half-the-size of the panga! Then big splashes and the back of a yellowfin about 150 pounds came right up next to the boat and inhaled a piece of squid. You could look down and see fish that looked even bigger! Out-of-the water, backs of big tuna were rising with that big sickle yellowfin sticking out. We’re not stupid. I knew we were not up to fish like that. We went back to look for dorado!”

Quite a number of anglers tangled with the larger models with battles lasting 1, 2, and even 3 hours and most of the fish breaking the lines and hearts! Most of the fish actually making it to the beach were the 50-80 pound fish.

“We fought one fish for 3 hours and passed the rod between 4 anglers and two different pangas. The 60 pound line just snapped!” One disappointed fisherman said. That was their whole day and they came back with only 2 small dorado for the day.

Dorado have been evening out the catches. However, not many big mahi. A “large” dorado right now would only be about 20 pounds. I don’t know where the big bull are, but there’s plenty of 10-15 pounders running around right now in various spots. They are also eating squid and chunks of bonito.

For our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet, dorado have been 90 percent of the catch. The fish are holding in various places but the bite has normally been later in the morning or early afternoon so fishermen need to be a bit patient. If you can find a big patch of floating weeds all the better. Something to keep an eye on is that in the channel later in the week, 20 pound-class yellowfin tuna showed up which was a nice topper for a day of dorado fishing.

Other species we’re watching:

Yellowtail – every other day someone hooks a hog…20-40 pound fish only about 30-40 feet down near the reefs.

Roosterfish – big beasts can be seen prowling the sandy beaches. Several large fish were hooked and lost this week. One captain estimated one fish at about 80 pounds hooked in about 5 feet of water

Wahoo – No one had been fishing for them until about a week or so ago because everyone was concentrating on tuna. Then at both the north and south end of Cerralvo Island, trolled lures started hooking wahoo between 20 and 50 pounds. One angler hooked 4 and two came unbuttoned, but the fish have definitely been there. Dark trolling sub-surface lures are best that run deep.

That’s our story. Have a great week!

Jonathan and Jill

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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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La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Aug. 8-15, 2010

We haven't caught wahoo for several weeks, but that was because everyone was focused on the tuna and dorado! Randy Lyons took one day off from fishing the other species to troll around the south end of Cerralvo Island and came up with 3 'hoo! All were taken on dark rapalas. Randy, from Elk Grove CA and his amigo, Dick Winslow, had a stellar week with some of the best catches of the week. See the other photos of them below.

Yes...there are still some nice-sized tuna around playing among the 15 pound footballs. Many anglers are either getting beat up or busting off their fish or simply getting spooled by beasts they never see except for a smoke trail from their reels. This 60-pound class tuna by Cathy Corda didn't get away. She's trying to lift it on the beach at Las Arenas. The big tuna re readily eating chunked squid.

I believe that I will have to revise my predictions about the best time to fish for pargo. In the past few weeks, we've had some of the BEST and LARGEST pargo fishing that I can remember. Captain Pancho really tore it up this week with Dick Winslow who got his first tuna (sea below) as well as his first pargo which included several like this one in the 30-40 pound class. This one is a pargo liso (mullet snapper). The fish were boiling on chummed squid.

James Henning (blue shirt) brought 10 of his Denver amigos and kneels amid some of their catch of tuna and dorado. Over three days the guys limited or near limited on tuna, dorado, pargo, cabrilla and snapper.

There were some really nice fish caught this week and some surprising catches even for old-time returning amigos like Joey Fuschetti from Orange Co. CA who holds up a 50-pound amberjack. Joey has an unusual method of fishing that he swears by. He chops up bits of papaya when he fishes and chums with it first. We all think he's nuts. The captains just shake their heads. However, it's hard to argue with success. Joey always catches fish and often some of the largest fish of the day.

Like I said, above, it's been a crazy season for pargo and some of the biggest have been caught the last few weeks. Here's our good, amigo, Randy Lyons again with a big dog-tooth snapper taken near Cerralvo Island. Randy had several large ones during the week and said there was one that literally dragged him with from one end of the boat to the other with his heels dug into the deck and the drag completely buttoned down on a 2-speed reel and the fish was still moving! It eventually broke off in the rocks on 50 pound test. He said that chunks of squid tossed into the water got the fish boiling to the surface except once when spearfishers dove right into their spot and chased the fish away.

Blue water and fresh tuna for Tom Moon and Tony Toven off Las Arenas beach! The two caught tuna ranging from 10 pounders up to 63 pounds. Both are from the Los Angeles area.

This is what it looks like to have been on a fish for 4 hours...a 250 pound marlin on light tackle for Craig Corda. Check out the story below!

Initially, Dick Winslow didn't have any wire on his Rapala that morning, but Captain Pancho suggested putting some light wire leader on just-in-case. It did the trick. Dick got this wahoo and the sharp teeth of the wahoo shredded the lure plus the plastic sheath protecting the wire leaving the fish barely on by a thread. Straight mono would never have held.

Our La Paz fleet continues to consistently kick out dorado...about 90 percent of the catch for our fleet on the side with fish ranging from 5-20 pounds on the average. We're waiting for the larger bulls to show. Much of the time, the bite seems later in the day so we caution anglers to be patient and give the captain time to get the fish going. Our boats have been staying out extra long...sometimes not coming back until after 4 p.m. to find the fish. Joey and Bob hold up a couple of typical La Paz dorado.

WAHOO TUNA DORADO AND BIG PARGO RIP ANGLERS!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 8-15, 2010

A pretty good week here. What did you want to catch? It seemed like there were opportunities for everything from marlin to roostefish and from pargo to tuna and dorado! Such a great variety.

For our La Paz boats, the dorado bite continued fairly solidly. Perhaps there were too few big fish compared to last week, but limits or near limits were the rule rather than the exception for our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet. Most of the fish were 5-15 pounds. A larger La Paz dorado might go maybe 20 pounds. But there were also some jags of pargo, cabrilla and sailfish and marlin.

The most variety were for our anglers fishing out of Las Arenas. Our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet had it’s share of dorado up to 30 pounds. However, it was the other species that poked their heads up that continued to keep rods bent and anglers fired up!

For instance, there were good numbers of football tuna running 5-20 pounds, but every day or so, some guys tangled with the big gorillas that either beat the anglers or busted up the gear! No giant giant fish put in the boat, but several 40-70 pound yellowfin tuna were landed. As well, we saw several 20-40 pound yellowtail…that’s right YELLOWTAIL (in August) make it into the fish boxes.

As well, roosterfish and some huge pargo were also landed. Just like the yellowtail, we normally don’t see these big monster pargo this time of year, but it’s a screwy year. We’re seeing some of the best and largest pargo fishing of the year the last few weeks. The funny thing is that like the yellowfin tuna and the yellowtail, we’re catching these guys on big chunks of fresh giant squid! We’ve not had much live bait so we’re catching or buying giant squid in the morning and then chunking for the big fish! And they’re eating it!

Also, for several weeks no one has caught any wahoo. It’s not because they’re not here. It’s because no one has been fishing for them. The tuna bite has been so good that no one wants to veer off and take a shot. Well, several guys went after them and it was like the wahoo were just waiting and feeling ignored. The fish were on the usual spots at the south end of Cerralvo Island and jumped all over the dark Rapalas.

FIRST PERSON STORY

CATCH & RELEASE Marlin by Cathy and Craig Corda…sorry no photos…Cathy almost got pulled overboard!

“Another wild time at Las Arenas beach – while fishing for tuna at the sweet spot in front of the beach houses, south of El Faro ~ my wife Cathy, our guide Aldolfo and myself unexpectedly hooked up to a marlin- WHAM! the battle was on, taking out line very fast, about a 1/2 hr. into it we had the marlin close to the panga. WOW bigger then we expected ~ 250 lb. blue, on a 40 lb. line, with a Penn Senator reel.

As Aldolfo put the gaff into its back it woke up and off it went with Aldolfo hanging on for all he had and the marlin was splashing everything and everyone, Aldolfo’s feet left the pangas deck, I caught his shirt tale and pulled him back in before he went for a swim.

Marlin takes off with our only gaff in its back, for about another 1/2 hr. we kept the marlin on the side of the panga, calling for anyone to come with another gaff. Finally, we got the bait guys to come over, all they had was a harpoon, so they pulled up next to us with the marlin between both pangas and tried to harpoon it a few times but this only pissed the marlin off more, finally it turned and burned, broke the line. I was really relieved to get back to fishing for tuna, dorado and pargo all which were ranging in the 30 to 60 lb. range.
So this was a true “Catch and Release”. Side note ~ Aldolfo’s gaff floated to the surface and he got it back.”

VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK

Here’s some video footage from the week taken on the beach. Click this…some good stuff!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llNsWm7xNLs

SOME WEEKLY FISHING HUMOR

I get sent all kinds of funny stories and video clips. This week, there were two that were excellent and I just wanted to share then with you.

The first is called “Adolph’s Bad Day.” For those of you who own boats, this will be especially good…

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/81057766/

This one is all about fish leaping in the boat! The cameraman laughing is the best part!

http://www.purplepug.com/Videos/Asian-Carp-Wabash-River-August/13187983_T9fdj#957217611_fEWWb

Have a great week. 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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La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Aug. 1-7, 2010

Posted in baja fishing, Cerralvo Island Fishing, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, mexico fishing, Muertos Bay Fishing, sea of cortez, sportfishing packages, tagged jonathan roldan, la paz, La Paz fishing, la ventana fishing, las arenas fishing, light tackle fishing, mexico fishing, muertos bay, panga fishing, sea of cortez, tailhunter, tailhunter international on August 7, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Tony Toven from Los Angeles had gotten enough "football tuna" and asked Captain Pancho to try for one of the bigger models. He hooked up on a big chunk of fresh squid over the trench off Las Arenas and was in for a big fight. By the time they got it to gaff, the fish had towed the panga into shallow water (see the photo below). The fish weighed in at 63 pounds (on a scale). Tuna continued to crash this past week for our anglers!

This is what a 63 pound tuna looks like at gaff next to the panga. Note the color of the water. The fish had towed the panga all the way back to shore into water that was only a few feet deep!

If you ever wanted to see what a world-class roosterfish looks like, Dave Lester from Temecula and Captain Jorge hold up a beast pez gallo just off the beach. These are the types of fish that made the Las Arenas famous. This 70 -pound class fish was one of several that he took on a special trap-hook setup using a big live bait slow trolled in the shallow water. This is the same area where the world-record 114 pound roostefish was caught...twice the size of this trophy. Dave released every one of his roosters!

Northern Cal residents Dave Tyree and Steve Artis did some serious damage to the fish population over 5 days of fishing using light rods and tackle. Here's a load of yellowfin tuna like the kind that kept crashing all week in various spots. Most fish have been in the 10-25 pound class but other larger fish continue to prowl and frustrate anglers after long battles.

Big smiles and a big fish for 12-year-old Jared Esquival from Hacienda Heights CA on his first trip with his family to fish our area. The dorado are getting bigger every month and are schooling up in various areas eating live bait, slow trolled stripped bait and chunked fresh bait.

Hard to believe, but yes, we're getting yellowtail in August. That just means there's gotta be some cold water down there mixing it up. Yellowtai are normally around for us in February to May...sometimes into June, but it's I can't remember ever catching yellowtail this deep into the summer. Joe Bishop put the hurt on this big hamachi fork-tail using a big piece of dead sqiud.

Family shot! Love this photo...From left Flower, Jorge Sr., little Mia and Jorge, Jr. Grijalva...then Vicki and her son Jared Esquival all on a family vacation and standing at Las Arenas beach. They plugged two boats with tuna and dorado over two days and had a marlin get away as well.

It was a good week for the larger roosters. Dave Wilson caught and released this fish just off the Punta Perrico rocks.

Back in the sunshine! Amigo Ron Burgess recently re-located from Brianshead Utah where he ran a ski resort back to S.California closer to his Baja fishing and shows off a nice barred pargo.

SUMMERTIME BLAST CONTINUES WITH TUNA AND DORADO BENDING RODS!

Las Arenas/ La Paz Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 1-7, 2010

It was almost like the “old days” around here this past week. It was like the days you read about in the magazines. Lots of guys didn’t know what to do with all the fish they caught.

Their biggest “problem” was realizing that even after giving away fish and releasing fish when it came time to fly home, their ice chests were WAY too heavy! It was a good problem and one that most just laughed about and chatted about having to have a quick weekend barbecue to get rid of all the excess fish that wouldn’t fit in the home freezers.

Honestly, for both our Tailhunter La Paz and our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet, that bite that started during the full moon just flared bigger!

Our Tailhunter La Paz fleet keep rolling up on the dorado schools. Most of the fish continue to be about 10-15 pounds, but there were many other fish into the 20-30 pound class and a few larger too that were lost. Fish were found in a scattered area, but often the bite would be slower until later then big schools would be located and it would blow into a dorado rodeo.

“We trolled and drifted for hours without much except big bonito and needlefish. Then, all of a sudden, we found the biggest line of sargasso weed and even before we got there, you could tell it was alive! There were flying fish around it and birds diving on it and a sea turtle swimming through it and all kinds of nervous water!” said one of our anglers. “We threw some sardines and chunked bonito at it and the whole thing exploded with dorado! We had triple instant hookups that went on for a good hour until we said no more. We released at least half the fish we hooked.”

That was pretty typical for many of our La Paz anglers. One boat decided they had enough dorado and asked our captain to head for the rocks to look for other species and got a box load of pargo, cabrilla, roosters and jacks as well.

For our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet, it was crazy as ever. The bad news was that there was very little live bait in the way of sardines so the guys laughingly had to start each day pulling up giant squid from deep deep down. It’s quite a chore and in no time guys are drenched in sweat!

The good news however, was that EVERYTHING was eating the squid…tuna, big yellowtail, pargo, dorado and even marlin were all hooked on squid chunks this week.

The tuna bite changed, but no one complained. The previous weeks BIG BIG tuna were not uncommon, but some of the fish were so big that many anglers would come back blanked after fighting the sluggers for up to 3 hours. After awhile, that stops being fun.

Instead this week, much more manageable football tuna between 10 and 25 pounders were the norm and many anglers got daily limits of tuna to mix up with dorado and other species such as pargo and roosterfish. We had a number of kids fishing with us this week and this size of tuna was ideal for the youngsters to get into.

One of the largest fish of the week was a 40 pound beast of a yellowtail taken by 10-year-old Jorge Grijalva of Hacienda Heights. It was Jorge’s first time fishing and he took the fish on 30 pound test. Unfortunately, he also busted dad’s custom-wrapped Calstar rod on the fish! Dad was still pretty proud.

If you check out the photos above, you’ll also see photos of a big time tuna and roosterfish. No telling how long this bite will last. I’m growing to expect the “unexpected” the way this season has been!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

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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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La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of July 24 to Aug. 1, 2010

Posted in baja fishing, Cerralvo Island Fishing, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, mexico fishing, Muertos Bay Fishing, sea of cortez, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tagged baja fishing, darren hanson, Dave Castanon, Doug idsinga, jonathan roldan, La Paz fishing, light tackle fishing, Marcos Holguin, Mark Holguin, panga fishing, sea of cortez, tailhunter, tailhunter international on August 1, 2010| Leave a Comment »

FULL MOON GRAND SLAM for 17-year-old Marcos Holguin and 13-year-old Ricardo Gil del Montes, Jr. from Los Angeles. Captain Jorge helps out with the nice pargo (dog tooth snapper), yellowfin tuna and nice yellowtail caught while fishing with with chunked squid and our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. It was a good week for the opportunity to catch multiple high-grade sport species despite fears of the full moon. Highly unusual to find big pargo and yellowtail in these warmer months!

It's incredible that we are getting yellowtail of this quality in July. Normally, we only get these in the cooler months of February to May, but LAPD detective Mark Holguin holds a nice pair. Note the two other tails at his feet! The fish are in shallow water near shore and have averaged 15-35 pounds this week.

Even better than a grand slam (3 sport species) is a Grand Slam plus One! Northern Cal residents, Dave Tyree and Steve Artis hold up a yellowfin tuna, a yellowtail, a dorado and a barred pargo...all prized catches. They fished 5 days and encountered similar results each day.

Some of those bruiser yellowfin tuna are still around! New Mexico angler Darren Hanson holds the gaff on a fatty taken off Las Arenas. The fish were in-close most days and showed an affinity for chunks of giant squid which meant starting the day pulling up 50 pound squid from 1200 feet down...a workout!

S.Cal resident Gina Fowlkes and husband Mitch brought the family for a week of fishing and shows off a days catch with a nice mix of dorado and yellowfin tuna

Yellowtail trio on the beach for Victor, Ricardo Jr, and Ricardo Sr. Gil de Montes. Keeping it in the family.

Mahi for the coolers! Long time amigo, Dave Castanon and son Brent from La Verne CA is and fire captain and is often chasing brushfires this time of year, but got down for a quick week of fishing and started off with two good-sized dorado!

Juan Martinez says he catches all the fish...all the time! He holds up one of the yellowfin tuna caught this week near Punta Arenas.

Mean slugger tuna up to 60 pounds like this one held by Dougie Idsinga continued to battle and frustrate our anglers often taking up to 2 hours to boat them. Many larger fish were lost. That's Cerralvo Island in the background. Some of the fish were hooked within casting distance of shore or could be seen swimming in the shallows.

Marcos Holguin's dog-tooth snapper is the first picture in the report, but a solo shot was worth posting again because it's such a great fish! Surprisingly, we've got a good pargo bite going on with dog-tooth snapper, mullet snapper and barred pargo all biting!

Ernie (on the left) had some reservations fishing with newbie rookie Rick (on the left) and joking told him so. But, as you can see from the two mugging for the camera, they did just fine.

Despite all the other "glamour" species showing up these days, our bread-and-butter fish for both our La Paz and our Las Arenas Fleets continues to be the dorado which are scattered over a wide area with more sargasso weeds stacking up in the channel. Steve Artis holds up a nice bull.

NO FULL MOON BLUES! FISH BITE STRONG!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 24 to Aug. 1, 2010

In all my years here, I can remember very few times when it was possible to catch a “grand slam” of fish and where there was so much quality in the water. So much for the full moon! I was worried, but as it turns out, this has been one of the better fishing weeks of the season in terms of variety as well as quality.

When we speak of a “grand slam” it’s the fishing equivalent of taking at least three sportfishing species the same day. This week on several occasions, we had anglers nail big tuna, big yellowtail plus a marlin or a big dorado or big pargo or roosterfish all in the same day…sometimes in the same hour!

The weirdest thing is that we’re well into the thick of summer. Tuna, dorado and marlin are typical this time of year, but we’re having one of the best runs of yellowtail…a fish we normally catch in the COLDER water months of February to May…slamming baits right now!

The fish are a nice grade too. Tuna in the 40-60 pound class are not uncommon and there have been fish much much larger lost. Yellowtail are 20-40 pounds. Pargo are 10-40 pounds. Roosters up to 70 pounds were caught this week!

The best shot at this variety was with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. The fish are not very far either.

One of the guys said, “We’re so close to shore we’re fishing for rooster fish one moment then the next just a few more yards out…we’re fishing for tuna!:

One big tuna bit just offshore and they fought it for two hours. By the time they got the fish to the boat, the boat was literally on the beach as the fish had towed the boat around and was now only in about 10 feet of water!

Las Arenas has been quite the surprise!

The bad news is that live bait has been very difficult to get for our pangas there. Sardines are not very plentiful. The good news is that there has been giant squid and chunks of giant squid have worked solidly all week. As long as they are around, certainly, the tuna seem to keep hanging out. But some days there are no squid!

The other problem with the giant squid is that…well…they’re giant! As one angler put it…”By 8 a.m. I’ve pulled 4 of these 50 pound squid up from as deep as 1200 feet! I’m covered in sweat. I need a beer. I just want to sit down. Instead, the captain takes a 3 pound chunk and sends it back down and I’m now bit by a 50 pound tuna that kicks my butt for another hour!” Another angler laughingly said, “I offered our captain an extra 20 bucks to do all the work to catch the squid for me! That’s too much work! The captain laughed and said I had to do it myself!”

Chunking the big squid and dropping bits in the water to drift then pinning a big slab on a huge hook has been the ticket. Or, a small weight and a strip of squid sent down nails the big pargo or yellowtail. Slow-trolled strips have been great on the dorado.

Our Tailhunter La Paz fleet has not been encountering as much variety, but there’s been no shortage of fish either. Dorado between 10 and 20 pounds have been the main target as patches of sargasso weeds normally found in the late spring are now popping up and holding fish. There have also been some jags of wahoo at the north end of Cerralvo Island as well.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

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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 »