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Archive for March, 2011

It was that kind of week! Rick (aka "Rock") Hosmer, our amigo, from Manhattan Beach, gives us the big smile and pose after he and his buddy, John, knocked out the yellowtail fishing out've Muertos Bay. Once again the yellowtail bit strong this week!

As good as it gets! Check out the size of this pair of yellowtail by La Paz Yellowtail Tournament Champion Jorge Romero, who many of you know as head of our transportation services with Tecolote Transporation. Even he had to jump in on the hot action as he holds the "jurel" on the beach at Muertos Bay.

Not all the action was on the yellowtail. The pargo are up in the shallows schooling right now, but although we hooked alot of them this week, not many got put into the fish boxes as fish-after-fish busted guys off in the rocks. However, this one didn't get away. John Nagy of Marina Del Rey hoists one up with the help of Capt. Mundo.

You know it's a big fish when you can only hold up one, like Daryl Valdez from Fresno, is doing. The average size of these yellows was 25-45 pounds this week.

Another big dawg! This pargo liso didn't escape Gary Bray. Only about 1 out've 10 pargo makes it to the gaff but these powerful fish are schooling right now and it's pretty amazing and frustrating fishing!

We've had roosters around for a few weeks, but this is our first official "big rooster" of the season. The fish looks big in it's own right but Brad Davison from Long Beach is 6'4" tall so we figure this might be a 60-70 pound pez gallo! It was released.

These are BIG yellowtail. Our Canadian amigo, Leonard Bishop stuck these two bad boys fishing out've Muertos Bay in the early morning.

Even on days where bait is difficult, the Davison Family from Long Beach, on their first Baja trip and first day fishing got 7 yellowtail off Cerralvo Island WITH NO BAIT! The trolled deep running Rapalas and stuck 7 of these and were back on the beach by 11 a.m.

Ken Gragg is checking something out but the camera still captured Gary Bray and the two of them with some of the yellowtail they ripped while fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet this week.

MAYBE SOME OF THE BEST YELLOWTAIL FISHING ALL SEASON!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for the week of March 20-27, 2011

It was another pretty solid week of fishing for us here in La Paz.  Still some north winds pretty typical of this time of year made it bumpy and we could have done without them , but that’s also why we’ve been doing 90 percent of our fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet out of Muertos Bay.  Air temps have been in the low 80’s and sunny for the most part so conditions continue to be ideal other than the winds!

Around Punta Perico and the south end of Cerralvo, we’re still jumping these nice Baja-grade yellowtail.  That’s been the big story.  A 20-pound class fish is small!  Most of these fish have been easily 30-40 pound sluggers and they’re eating the yo-yo iron on the fast retrieve as well as live sardines with a little bit of weight to get them down.  Also, some of the guys have been slow trolling mackeral-patterned crank baits like Yo-Zuri Magnums, Rapalas and Bombers over the shallower areas and getting strikes although, they’re also losing alot into the rocks too! 

There’s actually quite a few spots where the big yellowtail are holding.  North Cerralvo near La Reyna and La Reynita have fish.  El Bajo Seamount has them as well as the SW corner of Espiritu Santo.  The problem is getting in there to fish in between the wind gusts or traveling there.  That’s why we’re doing the majority of our fishing with our Las Arenas fleet so that we can fish either closer to shore or on the lee side of the island with as much protection as possible. But no doubt, the fish are here!  And, if one place is tough to get to…go fish another!  The fish were stacked this past week!

In addition to the yellowtail, and often in the same spots,  there’s a growing number of the big pargo liso…mullet snapper.  But, getting them in the boat has been a more difficult proposition than the yellowtail.  It’s pretty exciting to see them all balled up like an undulating mass of copper and red just below the surface.  Then, tossing a handful of live sardines at them, the whole things explodes or the boils on the water looks someone dropping 30 pound boulders from the sky!  When the guys get bit, however, if they can’t turn the fish away from the rocks within the first few seconds…FORGET IT!  These horses can’t be stopped before getting into the reefs and we’re losing 90 percent of the hookups.  The ones we are putting into the boats are the “smaller” 20-30 pounders!  There’s larger ones down there.   Guys were snapping off 50 pound test “like it was nothing” according to one of our fishermen.

“It was like trying to hold into a moving car over the side of a building!” said another.  “Not a thing I could do except wait for the line to pop!” 

“It was fun getting hooked up on these big fish but so frustrating watching them take the baits and losing fish-after-fish!”  commented his buddy.

Oh…just a teaser…I know it’s March but…

  • We hooked and lost our first marlin of the season north of La Paz!
  • There was a sailfish that was caught!
  • Commercial guys are reporting more tuna…big ones…at the north end of Cerralvo Island
  • We got some dorado this week too!

 

Wow…hope this is just the beginning!

Will keep you posted!

That’s our story…

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

 

TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor

TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR #1 Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor

 

Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO

 

 
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:
https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

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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Roger Thompson had a banner day fishing El Bajo seamount north of La Paz with our Captain Chito taking a boat load of big yellowtail. The only reason they stopped was because they ran out've bait! The latter part of this week, yellowtail literally blew up the waters around La Paz!

Dan Fedorka of Monrovia CA used to make yearly trips to La Paz, but hadn't made a trip in awihle, but brought his family back for spring break. Dan took this nice pargo liso just off the rocks near Las Arenas.

Donna Thompson from Long Beach and La Ventana and Judy Davis from Hercules, CA had quite a day north of La Paz taking 11 big yellowtail like this one between two of our super pangas.

Another shot of Donna and Judy...this time with the beach line-up of big forkies!

SLOW START TO WEEK ENDS WITH YELLOWTAIL GOING FULL TURBO IN LA PAZ WATERS!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of March 14-21, 2011

Y’know…if it weren’t for a few things like wind and bait, it would have really been a pretty outstanding week of fishing this past week!  With temps in the high 80’s and mostly sunny blue flat calm waters, it could have been banner.  However, there were a few days when the winds just whipped.  That, consequently makes it harder to get bait.  We need those live sardines to get going.  Sure, lures work, but nothing like a live squiggly to get the bite into gear.

Our captains worked hard…the commercial guys worked hard…the clients were as patient as could be expected.  But when the winds are rolling, then it often crashes waves into the shallow beach or rocky areas where bait is netted.  It scatters the bait.  Makes the waters cloudy too.  Or, it’s so rough the pangas can’t get into the rocks to throw the nets.   We did the best we could.  Fortunately, not EVERY day was like that and since most of our clients this week fished more than a day or two, well…there were some really nice fish to be caught with some great action.  Especially as the week went on…

As a matter of fact, as the week went on we had perhaps some of the best yellowtail fishing we’ve seen in a long time! 

Yellowtail seemed to have busted out in numerous places!  Nice homeguard mossbacked 25-45 pound fish!  Real quality stuff.

Roger Thompson, our amigo from Ventana (photo above) had this to say:

“We caught 11 yellows today between our two boats. Bait was a struggle, but El Bajo was on fire again. If we had more bait, we would have caught more fish for sure. No wind, temps in the low 80s on the water.”

There’s nothing like first-hand reports!

Another of our good Tailhunter amigos, James Davis jumped in with this:

“The weather has been fantastic and the fishing is awesome.  Being down here right now is Crazy Good, wouldn’t want to be anywhere else….Guys are coming back into Muertos with so much fish that after they get their ice chests full of fillets they are giving the rest of their fist away…. More and bigger….I weighted one 47 pound Yellowtail yesterday….Been fishing the back side of island, south side, pulling these big brutes right off the beach…..Heard some reports of huge Tuna off the north end of the island….my neighbor and one of the captains from Muertos (Fernando) hands are thrashed from trying to hand line them….”

For our La Paz fleet, the fish were found as far north as the El Bajo Seamount where fish were holding 30-60 feet off the top of the mount.  As well, the north end of Cerralvo Island near the drop off plus off Isla Ballena at the SW side of Espiritu Santo Island we found a nice grade of fish.  (By the way like James Davis confirmed above…commercial guys again spotted finning yellowfin tuna again at the north end of Cerralvo moving too fast to get on top of them!)

For our Tailhunter Fleet operating off the Muertos Bay, Las Arenas area, the yellowtail were working off Punta Perico, the Las Arenas lighthouse where the boulders are; and the SE corner of Cerralvo Island.  In all cases the fish are eating live bait, but yo-yo ing the heavy lures in blue/white ; yellow/ green/ and yellow/white also generated some viscious hits!

In addition to the yellowtail, we’re seeing increased numbers of pargo in the shallow areas by both our fleets and got action from sierra, cabrilla and snapper.

COME JOIN THE FUN!

Alaska Air has just announced some great price reductions on airfare.  Check out www.alaskaair.com   You have to purchase tickets to La Paz by March 28 and travel to La Paz between April 5-May 13.   For example…Los Angeles to La Paz…one way as low as $129 dollars right now.  Some restrictions!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

 

TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor

TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR #1 Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor

 

Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO

  

 
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:
https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

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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Nice trophy yellowtail were again the centerpiece of the weekly bite as shown off here by popular Tailhunter Fleet Capt. Jorge and Phil Coo and Chris Cribbs from Los Angeles. The week started slowly with tough winds, but got better thru the week.

Talk about a FAT fish for a first timer...note not only this big yellowtail by Chris Pena, but also the calm waters AND HOW CLOSE TO SHORE! Only about 50 yards off just out of Muertos Bay!

Angelino, Chris Cribbs comes down at least 2 times a year and ALWAYS does well. His week started slowly, but he finally slammed his last day. Check out the size of this big fork-tail YT and the smile of Capt. Jorge also! The fish ate a live sardine.

For sure! The big pargo have moved in, but we're losing so many to the rocks! However, every now and then, we get one of the big boys like this one by Chris Pena. These guys are spawning in shallow waters right now.

Phil Coo always has a great time. He owns a bar in Los Angeles and comes to see us a few times a year and does well with Capt. Jorge holding up one of several big yellowtail he got.

Not exactly dorado season which is usually when the water is warmer, but we're starting to get a few dorado here and there which leads me to believe that waters are already warming. This mahi was taken just inside of Bahia de Los Muertos near Las Arenas.

Another nice big PHAT pargo (liso) aka "mullet snapper" being shown off at Muertos Bay where we've got our boats right now. These fish are just casting distance from shore and have moved into the shallow rocky areas around Punta Perico and Cerralvo Island.

Our good amigo for so many fishing years from Austin, TX, Ron Martis went home with a truckload of fillets after a great day of yellowtail fishing. Note the calm waters behind!

Barry Mendelson from Malibu CA got 3 of these pargo liso after a single day fishing.

Thanks to everyone who asked if we were OK after the earthquake this past week. Everyone is fine. Our bar and restaurant is fine (even tho' we're only about 20 feet from the water!). But our captains took no chances...just-in-case...pulling their pangas about 50-100 yards up from the water very high and very dry! Thanks to our amigo, James Davis, for the shot!

It was crazy utter madness and fun this past week at the Fred Hall Fishing & Boating Show at the Long Beach Convention Center with packed aisles and a great time seeing all the amigos. However, the Tailhunter International 2011 "road tour" moves on to it's final show of the season and we'll be at the International Sportsman's Expo in Salt Lake City this week from Thursday to Sunday!

Just a special shout-out and "thank you" again to our amigo, Charles Belnavis...tattoo artist supreme to so many of us in the fishing industry...who gave me one of the most unique gifts I have ever gotten! He spent more than 30 hours hand-painting this pair of Vans deck shoes with incredible underwater sportfishing scenes...one has a dorado and the other a billfish. The detail is amazing! He only makes two of these a year. He is the owner of the Shogun Tattoo Shop in Pasadena CA http://shoguntattoo.com/

 

AFTER SLOW START YELLOWTAIL AND PARGO AGAIN KICK IT!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of March 7-14, 2011

The week started with with some really strong winds but our early-week clients were veterans and didn’t want to lose out to the weather and got into some great fish.  This time, more pargo than cabrilla.  Nothing like a bit of experience to put some fish into the boat.   Although the winds were whippy early in the week, it calmed as the week went on and we had air-temps in the high-80’s and low 90’s. Perfect beach and fishing weather.

This time we actually put out some pangas for the first time with our La Paz fleet to go along with our Las Arenas fleet and both sides scored fish although it seemed like the numbers favored more pargo in the boats than yellowtail.  Some of these fish were real chunky power fish too!  Pargo in the 30- pound class and yellowtail in the 40 pound class were highlights. Still, quite a few fish were lost.  Sometimes, there’s just nothing you can do but hang on and know that your big fish is going to break off in the rocks.  Pretty powerless feeling to have your rod bend almost in half and all the strain on your arms and back then suddenly…POW!  Line breaks!

Chris Cribbs (photos above) had this to say which was not unusual this week.  Some tough days, but sticking with it paid off:

” Little bit of a rough trip- Sure you’ve heard- . . . Bait was tough and as windy as I’ve ever seen there !! Anyway never gave up – Got good bait Saturday- Beat everyone there and killed them- Big bitch-en fish !! Had a couple of monster Pargo snap off 50lb Fluro leader like it was trout line !!”

As well, we also had cabrilla, quite a few bonito and jack crevalle and sierra taken inshore as well.  Even a few dorado!

 TAILHUNTER COMES TO SALT LAKE CITY THIS WEEK

Our 2011 Tailhunter Road Tour of all the biggest and best Fishing/Hunting shows comes to Salt Lake City for the ISE show at the Expo Center in Sandy, Utah, this week!  We’ll be there in the booth from Thursday to Sunday.  We’ve been on the road since Dec. 31st and this will be out 10th and final show…10 shows in 11 weeks…11,000 miles driving!  Come say hi and talk to  us about your 2011 La Paz Fishing Vacation!

We are just pulling out of Long Beach after the Fred Hall Fishing & Boating Show!  Had the usual awesome time.  To everyone who came by to say hi…old friends and new…to everyone who showered us with gifts and all the good food…homemade cookies, pizza, sandwiches, Chinese dimsum potstickers, cheese, See’s candy, pastries, homemade Mexican frijoles/ cheese and salsa, chicken, ribs, carnitas burritos and more…we never had a hungry moment!  We leave with great smiles and 10 pounds heavier!  You all rock! 

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

 

TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor

TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR #1 Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor

 

Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO

  

 
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:
https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

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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Dentist Desmond Sjauwfoekloy, often calls us at the last-minute to book a quick get-away trip from his practice in Los Angeles and always does well. In two days fishing he slammed 4 big yellowtail every day in the 35-40 pound class fishing with our Captain Pancho. It was a wild week of yellowtail and pargo. Some days hit and some days miss, but overall, a solid week of fishing! Read Desmond's first-hand account below.

Take a look at the thickness of the bodies of these yellowtail that Greg Jaquez of Long Beach got fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet out've Muertos Bay. All these fish are 35-40 pound class fish!

Another of our amigos who comes running at the last-minute when he sees the fish are biting is Barry Mendelson who splits his time between Malibu and Cabo. In just a few hours, he spanked 3 yellowtail and pulled 3 nice pargo liso out've the rocks fishing with Captain Archangel.

Bill Zambriski from Long Island, NY, and Mark Martis from Redondo Beach CA have a long successful run of fishing in La Paz with us. In a matter of less than 2 hours their group caught enough yellowtail to send 6 guys home with about 100 pounds of fillets each! Check out these two fat yellowtail that were in the mix!

Not a bad day for Desmond! He fished two days and got 4 of these 35-40 pound class yellowtail each day! Slamming mossbacks just outside of Muertos Bay. He was fishing with Captain Pancho.

Take a close look at this photo! Yes...that's a yellowfin tuna and it's still WINTER! That's north Cerralvo Island in the background. Dan and Tony, members of the Ventana Fishing club live in the area and Gary Morris also on the boat sent me the photo. There had been rumors of some stray tuna around, but no one could confirm it! Well, the guys were fishing North Cerralvo and thought they had hooked another yellowtail and instead...SURPRISE! It was a YFT! So, yea...it's confirmed. There's some weird fishing going on with yellowfin tuna prowling around!

When I first posted up the previous photo showing the tuna, I got some sceptics telling me it was a "fish story" and that the fish had actually been caught at a different time of year. Well, take a look at this photo showing both Dan, Tony and Gary holding their tuna PLUS the yellowtail still wearing the same clothes as the photo above! Thanks to Gary for sending me the photos!

THE BIG SHOW is THIS WEEK! We leave the great sportsmans show in Boise, Idaho and drive to the Long Beach Convention Center for the Fred Hall Fishing and Boating Show this week. This is the largest outdoor show on the West Coast and goes from Wed. to Sunday. It promises to be crazy! Come check it...hunting, fishing, boat, camping...everything outdoor!

BIG YELLOWTAIL AND STUBBORN PARGO TAKE CENTER STAGE!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Feb. 27-March 6, 2011

For the most part, it’s hard to argue with winter weather in the upper 80’s for fishing and even the low 90’s although some days were surely more windy than we would have liked.  Still, overall some really solid fishing this week, especially with our Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay fleet.  Some days were better than others.  Some boats on a given day did better than others.  However,  we surely didn’t hear too much grumbling because the fish were definitely  biting!

The yellowtail were trophy-size sluggers!  Most fish were 35-40 pounders and a boat could hook 5 and only get one to the boat.  The next boat would land 8.  The next panga would land 6 or 7.  The panga next to that one would lose 3 and show a zero (good fishing…bad catching!). 

 But there’s no doubt yellowtail were on the feed and after two weeks, we’re officially into yellowtail season.  The fish were holding off high spots or up from dropoffs in several spots such as Punta Perico, South and SE Cerralvo Island, North Cerralvo and out of Muertos Bay.  Live bait worked best with a little bit of weight or else fast retrieved blue and white or yellow/white yo-yo iron. 

As well, it was a good week for pargo also.  Lots of fish hooked. Lots of fish LOST to the rocks and inexperience or simply bad luck!

 Just like the yellowtail, there were pangas that would hook 5, 6, 7 of these fish big fish and lose all of them or the next panga would hook 6 and land 4.  Just the nature of these toothy-beasts!  The largest of the fish we saw that made it back to the beach were in the 20 pound class but tales of much bigger fish were told by wide-eyed tired and frustrated clients. 

But wait…there’s more!!!

We also had several small spots of yellowfin tuna show up!  What?  YFT’s in February and March?  Yup!  For several weeks, commercial pangeros have been taking a fish or two and some gringo locals have told us of seeing YFT carcasses on the beach where the commercial guys clean their fish. 

Well, then several of our gringo amigos who live in the Ventana area actually got some of the tuna around north Cerralvo and it surprised the heck out of them as well.  They thought they had another yellowtail hooked and then when the fish got to color…WHOA!!!  What’s this?  WTH…IT”S a TUNA!!! 

As if to underscore the wacky bite this week, another of our local gringo amigos, Mike Madlock from La Paz, got into two days of 12-18 pound dorado as well to go along with his yellowtail. 

Things are heating up!  Here’s what our amigo, Desmond Sjauwfoekloy, from Los Angeles told us after 2 days and 8 big yellowtail:

“…  I should have stayed another day, but not bad at all for a last minute impromptu get-away!The fishing was great.  (Captain)  Pancho got us out there and we put the hurt on the fish, or was it the other way around?

It’s been years since I’ve gotten a quality yellowtail, and it was just one specimen after another.  The second day we left after another 4 yellows to get a few pargo. Frustrating when the seas are discolored all around you (from so many red pargo in the water) and they just won’t bite…  Nonetheless, the beer was cold, the sashimi fresh, and I always get to talk to a few interesting folks in the van.  Thanks for “hooking me up” and I’ll be down there again — no doubt another last minute phone call…”

TAILHUNTER TOUR BRINGS IT TO LONG BEACH CONVENTION CENTER THIS WEEK!

Finally, the big Fred Hall Fishing and Boating Show hits the Long Beach Convention Center this week!  This is the oldest and largest of the outdoor shows and for us, after almost 9 weeks on the road and 8 shows, we’re looking forward to seeing all our amigos!  Check this video clip out: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqIkyz-cSnE

If you need more info such as show times, tickets, etc. check out the website: 

http://www.fredhall.com/

We will be in our usual spot on Tackle Row next to Izorline.  It gets really crowded so the best advice I can give you to finding us is to look for the palapa (grass) roof on our booth!  That’s us!  We’ll see you there!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

 

TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor

TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR #1 Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor

 

Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO

  

 
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:
https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

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 »