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Archive for June, 2012

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of June 17-24, 2012

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, grouper, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 24, 2012| 1 Comment »

It’s been a long time since we had a nice dorado bite as we waited for waters to clear up and get warmer! It’s about time! Dorado finally kicked it into gear! Our buddy, Len Atkinson from the Sacramento CA area hasn’t visited us in a few seasons but good to have him back as he and Captain Marcos try not to get their shins slapped by a struggling big bull dorado!

TUNA? Yes! Mary Wehner always seems to do well. She and husband, Dave, went just east of Cerralvo Island with Captain Victor and found a couple of big dorado as well as this nice slugger yellowfin tuna! Everything just seemed to finally get better about mid-week!

Early in the week, with waters still on the chilly side, we had another run of nice yellowtail around Espirito Santo Island. Check out this trophy held by Joel Ofrancia who visited us from Washington to get some sun, fishing and diving. He caught 5 of these beauties!

Talk about a fishing vacation! Larry Watkins from Los Angeles decided to go “all in” and spend two whole weeks with us to get get ONE ROOSTERFISH! Well, he picked a good time because the roosterfish were tearing it up and he got this this colorful rooster just off Cerralvo Island. Some days the boats averaged 4-8 roosters per day in the 20-60 pound class. Almost all fish, including this one were released.

Tbis is Gerda Siewart from Anaheim CA with Captain Gerardo of our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. Gerda had never been fishing before. She was also nervous because she just had surgery last week. But she went out anyway…and had a blast! She says she’s hooked. First day 7 roosterfish. 2nd day 5 roosterfish. 3rd day big yellowtail and cabrilla. 4th day a box full of dorado. She just let the captains fish and said, “Let’s have some fun!” She’s never stopped smiling the whole time! This was the only rooster she couldn’t release.

Cameron Hutcheson from Orange Co, CA is another of our clients who had a great time on their first trip…roosterfish…yellowtail…dorado! All of them were on their list they were hoping to catch. Cam holds up a big bull dorado he caught north of La Paz!

It’s a long way from Michigan to La Paz! But check out this trophy bull dorado that Jim de Boer holds on the beach at Balandra. It was great to finally see some of the larger models decide to bite and we’re happy that Jim came all this way and was able to get into quality fish. He also got his first roosterfish as well!

I gottta hand it to Mike Harvey who lives in Montana. This guy busted his butt all week trying to get a roosterfish…even fishing from the beaches at night. He finally got one on his third day. In fact, he got several plus got a nice load of dorado as well when the bite turned on mid-week. Mike’s posing with this sizeable rooster right off the lighthouse at Las Arenas.  Mike’s already got reservations to come back in September “when the fish are bigger!”

Marlin finally got a bit more active as well this week. We’ve been seeing them for week turn up their noses at us. Guy Petree and his buddy Oscar hold up a fish they got north of La Paz. They released the marlin after the photo. Guy is coming back later this week for more fishing!

The man behind the fish is Brian Hutcheson! He’s from Cote de Caza CA and on his first day popped this nice rooster off of Cerralvo Island. First time fishing with us, he had a banner 3 days of fishing.

Monster yellowtail for Dr. Norm Harris who gets a hand from Captain “Fettucine” Alfredo off Espiritu Santo Island. Great catch! Doc is from Santa Ana CA

BEST WEEK OF FISHING TO KICK INTO SUMMER!  IT’S ABOUT TIME!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 17-24, 2012

It was like night and day in the difference between fishing early compared to later in the week.  For 2 months, I kept saying that all we needed was a little kick in water temperature and the tough fishing would improve.  Well, the water temps went up by 2 degrees this week into the low 80’s.

By the same token…it was THE BEST WEEK of the SEASON on so many levels!  Still not quite up to standards, but what a difference in this week compared to the last few months!  We still need to get better, but just take a look at the variety of species in the photos!

It was like someone threw light switch!  The first day of summer…June 22nd…everything changed!

Early in the week, with waters still a bit chilly, our bite consisted of a very good roosterfish bite with fish between 20 and 60 pounds. Great fun but not very good eating.  As well we had a pretty sweet bite of 20-40 pound yellowtail off the west end of Espiritu Santo Island.  That was good for a few days  and we had some fun.

But about mid-week waters started warming.  We were seeing more marlin.  We started seeing breezing schools of dorado.  Everyone was excited.  Just one problem…they wouldn’t eat.  Not even remotely interested in biting!  So frustrating to see so many dorado and they just had no interest in biting.

Then, about Thursday the water temps kicked up a notch.  The dirty green cold water started to dissipate and BOOM!  Dorado started slamming!  It was like someone threw a swtich.  Some of the dorado were real punk squirt fish, but others were in the 20-40 pound class and larger fish were lost.  As well, marlin started to jump into the act as well as sailfish and each day we hooked, lost , caught and released several.

Not everyone caught fish everyday.  Some boats did great some days then not so good the next.  Also anglers lost a lot of fish as well.  However, for those who fished a few days, there were definitely fish to catch and opportunities to put fish in the boat compared to what it’s been lately.  All very encouraging!

Hope this is something we can finally count on.  The bite has been a long time coming after a really slow spring bite.

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

.
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 June 11-17, 2012

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, cabrilla, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 18, 2012| 3 Comments »

A late…really late burst of fish on Sunday gave us some hope that things are turning around after what many are saying is the toughest fishing in many years in Baja…not just La Paz…IN BAJA! But on Sunday, our amigo, John McVay got two nice dorado off Las Arenas at the start of his week-long fishing!

A big high-five to Gerda Siewart! This was her FIRST DAY fishing..ever! Except for fishing off a pier. She was a bit nervous being in a panga, but on top of it all, she just had surgery last week and was ready to head for shore if things got a bit uncomfortable for her. However, on the contrary, she said she had the “best day ever!” With the help of Captain Gerardo, she put 7 roosters on the hook plus a jack crevalle and an amberjack releasing all but 3 fish. Roosters are biting! Good job, Gerda!

OK…go figure! It’s mid-June and waters are still cold enough that we’re getting yellowtail around Espiritu Santo Island. Amy Lenhart from Idaho shows off one of their many fish. It’s crazy…many days of nothing then the yellowtail start biting!

When you’re 8 and 10 years old and on your first Baja fishing trip with dad, every fish is a monster, especially when you bait your own hook; put it in the water; and reel the fish in all by yourself like 8-year-old Sean and 10-year-old A.J. Rose from Colorado.

One upside to the colder dark water and one of the reasons for the dark green water is the algea bloom going off, but that means whale sharks are back! These gentle giants are incredible creatures and one of the highlights of visiting La Paz is a swim with a “fish” that can be 10-50 feet long! Don’t worry…they eat plankton but are true members of the shark family and a highlight of any visit to get in the water with them. Thanks for Bob and Becky Solee, our Oregon, amigos who had whale sharks swimming around their fishing panga!

Nice bull for Troy Lenhart who was on his first La Paz trip with us and took this bull dorado north of La Paz where some fingers of warm water seem to have finally moved in!

The latest water temperature chart from http://www.terrafin.com shows that waters are finally getting back up there into the 80 degree range, but still unseasonably cooler than normal. We need more of the yellow and orange colors around the La Paz area, but as recently as last week, we had only cold blue colors!

TOUGH WEEK OF FISHING PUNCTUATED BY  A PROMISING TURNAROUND SUNDAY!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Week of June 11-17, 2012

Not much to tell you about.  It wasn’t that great a week of fishing.  Honest.   Early in the week we still had that nice snap of yellowtail of solid 20-50 pound fish off Espiritu Santo Island.  But the cold waters that seemed to have brought the fish in then started getting warm like it should be in the first place.  That colder water was replaced by warmer water and well…there went the yellowtail replaced by sporadic dorado, roosterfish, marlin and cabrilla fishing.  But it was hard scratchy fishing for both our La Paz and Las Arenas fleet.  You gotta work at it.  You have to have your “A” game or be pretty lucky and if you do run into fish, you might not get a second chance if you miss the fish!  That’s the way it was this last week.  It might help also, if folks come to fish for what’s here rather than fishing for what’s not biting.  But, everyone is trying so many different things, it’s just such a crazy non-bite! Hopefully, as we get away from the big full moon and other things, fishing will kick in again.

BUT WAIT!!!

I’m writing this SUNDAY evening.  AND WE HAD A PRETTY DECENT DAY TODAY!  It wasn’t all-out-nuts, but maybe the best bite in over a week!  Our Las Arenas pangas ran into some scattered decent dorado, roosterfish, marlin and amberjack!  Our La Paz guys…wow…bigger dorado up to 40 pounds, marlin plus…(get this) yellowtail up to 25 pounds!

Captains that were struggling to get nibbles were grinning today.  Are things changing?  I sure hope so.  Best dorado day of the year so far!  Fingers crossed that by the time you’re reading this we’ll be on the upswing!

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 from Tailhunter International for Week of June 3-10, 2012

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, cabrilla, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, grouper, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sierra mackeral, snook, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »

This is the kind of bite we see in March and April…maybe not even THIS good! But with water temps dropping low, the yellowtail came roaring back near Espiritu Santo Island north of La Paz. 17-year-old, Emiily Duncan poses on the beach at Balandra with the catch taken by herself, her dad and friend Jorge. They were back on the beach by 10 a.m. this morning!

From Pocatello, Idaho, on his first trip to La Paz, Troy Lenhart takes a knee on the beach in front of La Concha Beach Resort with just a portion of his catch for the day. The fish were 20-50 pound slugs and they put 11 of them in the box, and lost several others. Their captain said, “We could have had 20 fish easy!” They were done by 10:45 in the morning.

Our first official wahoo of the season…FINALLY! Also turns out to be Dave Rose’s first wahoo as well. Dave DROVE all the way down from Colorado as he does several times a year. Dave initially had one wahoo come off, but came back and gave it another shot and put this nice one in the boat just south of Cerralvo Island on a dark Rapala CD 18.

It’s always nice to put a “check mark” next to an item on the bucket list. Ed Hoffman lives just north of us in Loreto and came down specifically to catch a trophy rooster and got this beauty just of the Las Arenas lighthouse first thing in the morning! Just what he ordered! The fish was released.

First timer from Idaho, Amy Lenhart, was on her first day fishing and just off the beach at Las Arenas put the wood to this super nice grouper! The fat guy was put in the boat by Captain Victor who poses with Amy. She also got her first roosterfish as well the same day.

Our amigo, Jorge Romero, does the gaff honors with Bob Duncan of Santa Barbara on a day that they put 11 of these nice fish in the panga west of Espiritu Santo Island. Daughter, Emily, fights another fish in the stern. This week, waters were again green and dirty but for some reason, the yellowtail came roarding back!

Our buddy, retired fireman, Craig Braswell, grunts to lift up two of their limits of yellowtail as he stand in the shallows of Balandra Beach.

Sacramento amigo, Dave Frausto, should be happy about the 10 yellowtail they landed! But here he hoists two of the nice yellows they put in the box one of the banner days this week that the yellowtail went crazy.

A look at the Terrafin sea temperature satelite maps (www.terrafin.com) show some encouraging signs. Much of the water near Las Arenas is inching up into the high 70’s and low 80’s. A vast improvement over the past several weeks when the waters were in the 60’s and showing blue/green on the satellite maps. Hopefully, the warmer waters will burn off all the cloudiness in the water and also bring back the sardines as well.

YELLOWTAIL in JUNE? CRAZY BITE MARKS WEEK OF FISHING!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 3-10, 2012

Who could have imagined.  It’s June. Last time I checked, it’s summertime on most people’s calendars.  In southern Baja and here in La Paz this is the time when we should be sticking dorado like crazy as well as marlin, sailfish, tuna, wahoo and other warm water species.  However, on the contrary, water temperatures in the Sea of Cortez and around the southern Baja fishing “hot” spots that are traditionally on fire this time of year have fallen off the charts!  In a bad way.  Instead of 80 degree water temperatures, anglers have been facing cold, green, dirty, cloudy waters down in the 60’s!  On top of it, getting bait has been like finding a needle in a haystack!

Needless to say, like many areas, the fishing around La Paz has been less than stellar.  In fact, it’s been really difficult. Using lures, larger baits like live and dead mullet, mackerel and other species, we’ve been able to scratch up roosterfish, some jacks, the occasional dorado and a few other species.  And that’s been it.  Lots of disappointment. But what are you gonna do?

You’re gonna keep fishing!

And then things kinda took a little upswing this week! Earlier in the week, for our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet, we got into some nice jags of wahoo at the south end of Cerralvo Island.  We also got some great quality roosterfish up to about 50 pounds plus got into some pretty decent pargo and cabrilla. We also hooked a few striped marlin as well.  Still not up to snuff, but surely way better than what we had been doing most of May and early June.

And, with waters still cold, green and cloudy…when we were giving up on warm water species…a surprise.  No warm water fish, but instead, we had a late week eruption of 20-50 pound yellowtail!  This is crazy!  Yellowtail season is March and April. We haven’t seen yellowtail in over a month.  But this week for our Tailhunter La Paz fleet, they not only got into yellowtail, they had some of the best snaps of yellowtail we have ever seen!

Boats were coming back by 10 or 11 a.m. with limits of 10 big slugger yellowtail.  They would tell me they lost 4, 5, 6…8 other fish to the rocks.  Captains would tell me they could easily have taken 20 or more yellowtail.  The fish were eating in about 40 feet of water and taking the larger cocineros and live mackerel we were catching in La Paz Bay.  Folks didn’t know what to do with so much fish.   When you have 10 fish that are 40 pounders…you suddenly find yourself with about 150 pounds of fillet!   Kind of a good problem…especially when many of our anglers were geared to really having to scratch for any fish at all and finding that by 10 a.m. they were too tired to pull on another fish!

As the week closed out, the yellowtail got a bit more elusive.  One day on and next day off.  But, I stopped trying to guess where and when.  We were just glad they showed up!

Don’t know if this will hold or it’s just a blip on the radar, but it surely saved a crazy week!

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 from Tailhunter International La Paz for Week of May 27 to June 3, 2012

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, cabrilla, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, grouper, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sierra mackeral, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 3, 2012| Leave a Comment »

One little flurry of fast-moving tuna looked promising but turned out to be a fluke and didn’t develop into much, but the fish were quality slugs like this one that Carlos has! But that was it…gone like ghosts!

Roosterfish were surely the highlight of the week either because that’s what everyone focused on or because that’s all that was biting. But for many folks, getting a rooster is a unique thrill and a much sought-after trophy fish like this beautiful fish held by Joe Jacobs caught near Espiritu Santo Island and released.

Some of the roosters we’re getting have been quality fish. The photo great, but we don’t have many photos mainly because most of the fish are released. They don’t taste very good either so lucky for them! Captain Archangel with our Tailhunter Fleet at Las Arenas hefts a nice one before letting the big fish swim off.

This is the satellite view from the http://www.terrafin.com. It shows the water temperature surface gradients around La Paz which could explain alot of things. Every week the water seems to change from warm to cold and back to warm then cold again. The fish might just be shocked. However check out the reading from June. 2. The green and blue colors are cold waters in the 70 degree range. The orange and redder colors are the warmer waters. A week ago, almost all the waters around La Paz were in the 80 degree range! Now, if you’re on a boat, the waters are cold and green.

ROOSTERFISH  MARLIN HIGHLIGHT OTHERWISE SLOW SLOW WEEK OF FISHING

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 27 to June 3, 2012

A tough scratchy week of fishing here.  None of us can get a “read” on this.  It’s maybe the most inconsistent season I have ever seen.  Water temps rise and fall by 10 degrees warm…cold…warm…cold.  Winds are dead then howl…then die again.  As I write this the palm trees are bending over from strong northwesterlies and it looks like the port captain will shut down the port.  This after a week of relatively calm waters.  The bait situation is fluid.  Our La Paz boats have bait, but the water temperatures are so varied that the fish are lockjawed.  Marlin and dorado ignore the baits and lures and we have to scratch out any kind of a bite.  On the Las Arenas side, our fleets have no sardines or they are very tiny. So, the guys have resorted to using frozen ballyhoo, or jigging up pilot fish or cocineros or liso (mullet).  It’s hard to chum if you don’t have sardines.  I’m recommending guys bring fresh frozen squid or mackerel right now.  Not the kind you buy at the bait store.  Fresh frozen is the kind you buy in the market that’s for human consumption.  It could make a big difference.

On the bright side of things…

The marlin finally seem to have woken up.  For weeks the marlin have been lethargicly sunning themselves on the surface.  No interested in anything.  Well, each day now, the marlin seem more active. We seem to get a hookup or two each day and sometimes more.  Credit to the anglers and captains for releasing all fish.  Most of the fish have been about 120 pound stripers although we had one that one of my captains estimated close to 200 pounds that busted the line during the fight.

Also, if you want a roosterfish…we got those running around.  Most days each of our Las Arenas boats is getting 1-4 of them up to about 40 pounds.  All on bait.  Really tough on the flyfishermen with no chum to speak of right now.  But using mullet and cocineros, the conventional fishermen are getting the roosters.  We’re also getting a few dorado now and then up to about 25 pounds, the occasional snapper or pargo as well as cabrilla.  But nothing to get too excited about.  Hope it turns around.

NEW TAILHUNTER WEBSITE IS LIVE

After 7 months, we’ve finally got the new website up and live.  Check it out  www.tailhunter-international.com

With increasing frequency, folks have been having problems with viewing the website as more folks use browswers other than Microsoft Explorer.  Many folks are increasing using Google and Yahoo browsers and we wanted to keep ahead of the curve to reduce future problems and bring you up-t0-date information.  Hope you find the new site enjoyable and informative.  Thanks to our master IT guru Bil Pulford for the great job and patience.

Have a great week!

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

.
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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