Yes…some big tuna showed up but few taken! The fish were 50-100 pounders, but after long battles, there wasn’t much to show for it as the grumpy fish bent rods and backs. However, our good amiga, Debbie White from Oregon, who fishes with us every year and often puts the guys to shame stuck this plug yellowfin tuna estimated at 60 pounds. She did it in 30 minutes on 30 pound test with some good skippering by Captain Pancho with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. The fish are pretty far outside of Cerralvo Island.
Another one who put the big boys to shame this week was 8-year-old Grayson (“G-man”) Richmond from Colorado. Over 4 days fishing he put a couple of dozen dorado and other species in the boat WITHOUT HELP and he did it on conventional tackle…light 15 pound spinning gear…and on the flyrod! With his big smile, he impressed everyone from our captains to our drivers and us as well. About the only help he needed all week was to hold up the fish for photos like this one with dad Bill Richmond.
No, Captain Rogelio from our Tailhunter La Paz fleet is not trying to eat this hefty bull dorado! He and angler Russ Blount were wrestling with the big fish trying to keep it still for the photo as it had already smacked them several times! Russ had a great week with us and is from Oregon.
She likes pickle juice with her tequila shots and fishing in warm waters! Shawn Kirk from Denver, Colorado was on her first visit to us in La Paz and shows off one of several nice dorado she caught north of La Paz.
“Bonefish” Bill Richmond spent 4 days whacking dorado with us, but on this particular day after climbing off the panga, he was casting his flyrod from shore and caught and released this nice dorado JUST A FEW YARDS OFF THE BEACH! People can never believe when we tell them we don’t have to go far for our fish! This is a great catch….even moreso on the flyrod!
The ladies really put on a show this week! Another of our first-timers…Diane Kunze came with husband Frank who fished with us last year who just retired. The two of the were with us for the week and Diane had fun with dorado like this one and Captain Adolfo from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.
There’s good number of marlin and sailfish right now and the fact that we’re using big baits most days entices more bites than normal. Fortunately, most fish are getting released. Don White from Oregon visits us several times a year here at Tailhunters and always does well. He tangled with several blue marlin that broke lines and caught and released this hefty striper off Cerralvo Island on light tackle. Captain Pancho with all the smiles.
Coach Joey Fuschetti has been fishing with Tailhunter since the beginning…almost 18 years. Joey has a knack for lots of fish and big fish. He also has few “secrets” that he swears by like chumming with fresh papaya! (Yes…he does!) It seems to work. He had chunks of papaya out there when this big colorful bull hit!
Just had to post up another photo of our new favorite poster kid…Grayson “G-Man” Richmond smiling big time with Captain Rogelio after putting another big dorado in the boat on light tackle!
First-time visitor to La Paz, Ben Kirk had some banner fishing with us all the way from Denver. Here, he stands on the beach at Balandra posing with 2 of several nice bull dorado he caught or La Paz near Espirito Santo Island.
DORADO HOLD CENTER STAGE FOR ANGLERS
La Paz- Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 11-18, 2013
No doubt this is dorado season in full-color and full-turbo right now and we’re grateful because the mahi provide all the things you want out’ve a sportfish…eager to bite…swarming schools…great colorful action…can be big and mean…and taste great on the table!
Although our Tailhunter La Paz fleet had the better and most solid catches all week of dorado, our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet also provided steady action. Both sides had fish that were generally schoolie-sized in the 10-15 pound class, with some larger bulls in the 25-30 pound class and the largest fish of the week around 40-ish pounds.
The bigger issue has been the bait situation that seems to change from week-to-week. Las Arenas is having another year with a scarcity of sardines so we’re doing well with caballitos, mackerel, zebra fish, ballyhoo and, chunks of giant squid that we started catching about 2 weeks ago (that also make great eating as well!).
One of the good things about the bite at Las Arenas is that the fish are closer now. In previous weeks the schools have ranged pretty far (relatively speaking for us!) for what we are used to. The last week or so the fish are inshore or as close as the nearby commercial buoy lines.
Even for our La Paz fleet, there were schools of dorado as far out as the channel to San Francisquito as well as the Charo Bank, but as close as even finding some schools of dorado right in the bay…right outside Balandra which is a stone’s throw north of town better know for a place to go swimming than for fishing! However, breaking schools of dorado were located under bait balls right there just outside Balandra.
As for the La Paz bait, the situation has been a bit better than with Las Arenas. Most days we have sardines to purchase from the bait guys. Plus going out as early as we do with our fleet, we’re often able to jig up some mackerel and caballitos before the sun comes up. Then, after getting some sardines some quick trolling for bonito enables us to hit the fishing spots with 2 or 3 or 4 different kinds of bait for the day!
In terms of other species, we got a steady number of sailfish and striped marlin hookups with both our fleets with all fish either being busted off or released (bravo!). There’s still a few big roosterfish around but it’s late in the season for them, but the largest was in the 50-pound class. No wahoo this week, but didn’t really have too many of our anglers devoting time to the wahoo and the few that did, came up with nothing.
However, we did hook some nice tuna. Everyone wants a big tuna! But you have to be careful for what you ask for. Out’ve Las Arenas, there’s been a rise of the giant squid that I had mentioned before. When the squid come up from the deep trenches, often the tuna come up as well. Sure enough, we had some of the bigger tuna with some muscle show up.
Like I said, everyone wants a tuna, but a 40 or 60 pound tuna isn’t 2 or 3 times stronger than a 20 pound tuna! Guys battled some big models between 40 and 100 pounds this week for an hour or more and came back saying, “Never ever ever again do I want a big tuna!” There were stories of handing the rods back and forth between anglers and guys having their backs seize up on them as well as shaky-arm syndrome in the heat! And then BLINK!….losing the fish!!! It’s a long way and a long fight to lose a fish. Great experience, but we warn ’em that it’s a home run hit and you better pull your socks up tight and high. Tuna show no quarter. The few fish we did get in were 50’s and 60 pounders…but very few compared to the number of hookups.
Weather wise…geeze…the air is heavy!!! I can’t believe some guys are fishing in long pants! Bring a big hat. The sun beats down and this week it was also humid with some quick summer showers that were refreshingly welcome. But sunscreen…t-shirt…shorts…flip-flops is the uniform of the day!
STILL NO FISHING LICENSES TO SELL so you have to purchase them online until the Mexican Government can print more up for the whole country. Ask us if you need assistance! But here is the link: https://www2.ebajacalifornia.gob.mx/Pesca/
Just remember to click the American flag to get English and also that the amounts are in PESOS! So don’t have a panic attack when you see the amounts. Just divide by 11 or 12 and you’ll see the prices in reasonable dollars.
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jilly
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com
Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
U.S. Mailing Address: Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine CA 91903-1149
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
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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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