As we swung into the full moon, dorado became the main catch this past week like this colorful dorado picked up by Tom Aurand from Daly City, CA who gets a hand and a smile from Captain Jorge from our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet.
There aren't many roosterfish around right now, but the ones that are here are usually larger stock. Jeff Welch was on his first trip to fish Baja and wore himself out on tuna, dorado and this trophy roosterfish he got just south of Muertos Bay with Captain Archangel.
Al Tesoro makes two trips a year to fish with us in La Paz. Although we didn't get many tuna this past week, Al did get a few of them like the two he's posing with here on the sands at Muertos Bay. The tuna bite we've had was great until about 2 weeks ago when the bite went sporadic. It may have something to do with the disappearance of the giant squid.
All this week's photos make it seem like we caught alot of tuna, but we didn't. It's just that tuna make for some nice photos and many of the dorado caught this week weren't very big. However, Dave Lindell from Oregon had a momentus trip, not only did he pop some nice tuna like this, but he also fought a 180 pound striped marlin to highlight his trip.
Stephanie Mizuno from Sacramento CA took this nice tuna on a mini-Whopper Stopper rod that she's holding. Over three days, they loaded up several coolers with dorado and tuna like this.
Happy girl! Shannon Aurand happily outfished her husband this day. He spent 90 minutes on a sizeable tuna and, in that time, she put 3 of these in the boat.
Richard Onishi shows off a pretty typical catch this week...a few dorado and maybe a tuna or two. He's standing on the beach at Muertos Bay with our Tailhunter fleet.
FULL MOON AND CHANGING SEASONS SLOW DOWN THE TUNA BUT FILL IT WITH MORE DORADO
La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 14-24, 2010
Yes, we did have an earthquake out here on Thursday morning. It registered 6.9 on the scales and was located in the Sea of Cortez about 120 miles east of La Paz about 60 miles off Cerralvo Island. Most of us never felt or or nothing more than a bump and a little bit of swaying. That was it! Most folks I spoke to didn’t even know we had an earthquake here in town. It must have been a slow news day in the U.S. because our phones and e-mails lit up with friends and family from the states who had seen it on the news back in the U.S.
And it didn’t affect the fishing!
In all honesty…fishing was OK. Not great. Not off-the-charts. Just steady.
The dorado kept most folks happy. Most of the fish were school-sized 10-20 pounders and there were times when there were all you wanted to catch and release. Another boat right next to it might struggle. Some boats hit limits and others scratched. But, if you fished at least a few days, more-often-than-not, you went home with a pretty nice cooler of fillets. But probably 80 percent of the catch this week focused on the dorado for both our La Paz and Las Arenas fleets.
As for the tuna, well…spotty at best. Every day we still get a few, but ever since the squid disappeared about three weeks ago, it’s been pretty picky. Every day, a few get caught by our Las Arenas fleet with most fish about 15-25 pounds with occasional 30’s-40’s , but there aren’t that many and the fleet ends up focusing on dorado around the buoys or drop-offs or goes chasing big roosters that might be cruising the beaches.
One high spot was the appearance of quite a few marlin. We had some banner marlin hook-ups. Most of the guys are NOT trying to catch marlin, but what are you gonna do when a billfish comes up and eats your sardine intended for a big dorado or chomps on a piece of stripped bonito you have dragging behind the boat. One day, we had 7 marlin hooked and either broken off and released. Another day there were 9 with the largest being an estimated 350 pounder.
Conditions have definitely changed. If you walked around town this week, you would have noticed folks in long pants, sweatshirts and jackets. Days are sunny but relatively cooler. Nights (for us locals) are definitely actually chilly! Of course, the tourists think we’re nuts watching us get “cold” in 72 degree weather and are finding the climate to be incredibly comfortable although I recommend anyone going out on the water to bring a sweatshirt or light jacket. You can always take it off!
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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