Not much left of the massive yellowtail bite we had going on for 3 months, but we still found a few. First time angler with us from Florida Joe Hussin hefts up one of several they found fishing the west side of Espirito Santo Island.
In the past few weeks, roosterfish have really taken off. None of the big boys that La Paz has historically been known for but fun school-sized 20-40 pounders have not been uncommon. Captain Victor here helps our buddy Bob Solee of B & B Fishing Rods in Portland OR to hold up a nice pez gallo before releasing it. That’s the rocks of Punta Perico in the background about 50 yards back.
Although he’s not smiling, Belmond Mann and his wife Amy love fishing with Captain Archange at Las Arenas and on this particular day, Bel surprisingly outfished Amy putting this nice pargo liso in the boat. Over two days they got a variety of pargo, cabrilla and snapper. Typical of the weekly bite.
Charlie Gibson fished with us for a while week. Charlie just had his right hand (reeling hand) surgically repaired so when the yellowtail bit off Espiritu Santo Island, he struggled mightily to get the fish to the boat! But, he gritted it out and got 3 ‘tails.
Yes, marlin have started to show and, although they’re not quite in the feeding mode, it could happen any day. The three Rodriguez brothers hooked this one which was not able to be released. It was caught off Cerralvo Island. Reports say that the high spot at the 88 has stripers sitting all over it just waiting for the water temps to go up a tad!
Don and Deb White from Oregon come to see us several times a year and always do well. All week, Don was the “King of Cabrilla” taking big seabass after big seabass. Here, he and Debbie show off two huge cabrilla, a snapper and a barred pargo.
Every now and then they even let me out on the water! I wanted to stay out’ve the way our other pangas so I grabbed a flyrod and we went out to the bonito ground to experience the “pain” of pulling on 10-15 pound horse bonito on a whippy 10wt flyrod…just for fun! OUCH! I still have bruises on my knuckles and forearm. None of these fish took less than 15 minutes to put in the boat! You veteran flyfishers can attest to this! Tough tough fish! We released all of them!
Just had to share this amazing photo with you. Joe Hussin from FLA was fishing with us this week and were in Capt. Archangel’s panga and just about 200 yards of Punta Perico a huge humpback kept breaching around them to the point where they were getting sprayed and splashed. The last one was no more than 30 feet in front of the panga. At that point Capt. Archangel said, “We’re outta here!” Joe caught this amazing shot during on of the jumps…just right…with his iPad!!! It’s poster quality! The waters are full of life right now…porpoise, turtles, whales, birds…an amazing place to be this time of year!
MIXED WEATHER AND MIXED FISHING ADDS VARIETY!
La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of April 29-May 5, 2012
It was a mixed week on all levels this week. We had hot muggy sunshine to wind to rain to flat seas and bouncy rolling chop. Sometimes the fish bit better when it was rough. Sometimes they bit better when it was flat as glass. No rhyme or reason. One day , they would all chase baits. The next day the fish would turn their noses up at the bait and only want slow trolled slices of dead fish. Or they wanted only dead sardinas. As one of our clients said ,who fished with us all week, “It was like the fish were picky kids never knowing what they wanted!” The game of the week was trying to figure out where they would be….what they would want…and what they would eat.
It would help that there are so many different conditions on top of the fact that there were so many different species of fish as we hit that “transitional period” when the waters are getting warmer, but there’s some areas of cold and some areas of warmer waters. These differences in water temperatures could be horizontal where you would be in green cooler water in one spot, but move 100 yards to the side and the waters would be warm clear blue. Or, the thermoclines could be vertical. On the surface it could be 75. A few feet down it could drop 10 degrees or, the temp change might not occur for 40 feet.
I was scuba diving last week and I ran into thermoclines on many levels and saw different fish depending on the water temperatures and feeding in different thermoclines. For instance, I found 69 degree water at 25 feet down, but at 40 feet down, I found 72 degree water…it was actually warmer the further I went down. I found pargo in the cooler water swimming but bonito and jacks swimming in the warmer water further down.
Anyway, the bite reflected all the change. I gotta tell ya…the ocean is really full of life, even if you’re not fishing. But the conditions are such that all of us are saying that it just looks like it’s gonna bust open.
There’s so much variety out there. Cooler water fish like yellowtail and big amberjack are sporadically still around. Pargo and big cabrilla are feeding in the rocks and shallows. Along the beaches, the roosterfish are getting livelier as well as the jack crevalle and occasional pompano. Where the water is cooler in the shallows, there are still sierra to be caught as well.
Offshore, sargasso weed is building up and literally strewn across the ocean. Schools of dorado are starting to show although not necessarily ready to eat just yet. Same with the marlin. The big guys are sitting on the surface just sunning. Give another few degrees in water temperature and they’ll start to chew. Just a matter of time. A few were hooked! Flurries of fast moving tuna have also been spotted as well.
We’ll just have to see!
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jilly
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
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Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm
Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
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