La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Aug. 10-17, 2014

August 17, 2014 by riplipboy

Another pretty solid week of dorado fishing with some really nice bulls taken including this sweet one that jumped a bait and bent Steve Dorsey’s rod fishing north of La Paz.

Captain Adolfo poses with our Colorado amigo, Frank Kunze who fished with us all week and had a good shot of dorado including this nice bull he got on the flyrod after just missing a rooster on the fly. He’s on the beach here at Bahia de los Muertos.

Ed Sakuda was on his first visit to fish Las Arenas and we think he’s “sold” on coming back with 3 days of dorado fishing. His sister Caryn and her husband Mark Aizawa from Pasadena CA get in the photo too!

Daniel Llerena from Buena Park had never fished salt water before and his dad hadn’t fished in salt water in more than a decade! The two of them came down and got in two quick days of fishing with some great results! Dan was fishing with Captain Joel when he put the hurt on this mahi.

Lee Carlson from the Denver Colorado area, spent 6 days on the water with us fishing with both our Tailhunter fleets and shows off one of his better bull dorado he got near Cerralvo Island.

Dan Hayler and his family all got together on one of our mega pangas for a day of fishing on the bay and had a nice day of action. The family is from Upland CA.

marlin dan and gino llerena tags small 8-14

Gino and his son Daniel Llerena got in two quick days of fishing and made the most of it with some nice dorado as well as this striped marlin on light tackle. Cerralvo Island in the background.

Kelly Soo Hoo has fished with us before and did really well. This time she brought her son, Nick, for his first experience. Nice had a great time and got a variety of fish including these very tough jack crevalle!

From Bankor, Pennsylvania, Rich Normyl had a full hand of mahi. Check out the storm clouds coming up behind him at Bahia de los Muertos!

The whale sharks have returned to La Paz bay. Dan Hayler took this great photo of a “baby” whaleshark of only about 20 feet in the shallow bay water. They can grow to over 50 feet long and are true sharks, but are gentle and have no teeth and eat plankton.

This is what 15 minutes of rain produces on the La Paz waterfront right in front of our Tailhunter Restaurant Bar.

CRAZY WEATHER PACES FISH BITE

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug 10-17, 2014

Even with the week of “super moon” we still had a pretty decent week of fishing going on. Even with the tropical thundershowers late in the week that were almost like baby hurricanes, the fish still bit. But it was a bit of a challenge. But, like I said, the fish still bit.

The super moon was beautiful over Baja waters, especially here in La Paz over the bay making it much like a postcard with the huge bright moon shimmering over the bay and the palm trees.

The big problem was more of these afternoon thunderstorms that crashed into us late in the day. Fortunately, mostly after the fishing was done. But something to watch. Blue skies would darken quickly. Incredible lightning storms would follow then almost simultaneously thunderclaps that would sound like they were right overhead. During one 2 hour period during one storm, over 70 light night strikes were counted. During another storm, a bolt hit a palm tree on the malecon waterfront area igniting it which then caused it to fall on the palapa roof of a popular bar. The bar caught on fire then burned to the ground with huge flames 30 feet in the air.

Within minutes of the thunder and lightning the rains would cascade. Huge rolling waves of sheer water flooded streets and turned many into rivers and lower areas and arroyos into raging category 2 or 3 cauldrons that would’ve been the envy of whitewater kayakers…except they were all brown mud!

Cars suddenly found themselves up to the doors in water and many stalled. Neighborhoods found themselves turned into islands with people trapped in long rainy lines unable to leave the area and others in the opposite directions unable to return home. Off the La Paz cliffs, mini-Yosemite-like waterfalls tumbled 20, 30 40 feet to the roads along with rocks and boulders. In a one hour period during one storm, more than 3 inches of water descended on La Paz.

But, like I said as far as fishing, at least most of this was all taking place later in the day or evenings when the fishing was done.

LAS ARENAS

There was only one day during the week when we decided it wasn’t worth it to fish Las Arenas because of the stormy conditions. The rest of the time, for the most part, Las Arenas was pretty much as good as it has been all year. Relatively speaking.

We actually even had small sardines to use for bait and we had flyfishers hooking rooster fish, dorado, jack crevalle and bonito.

The dorado were 5-15 pounders with a few 20-30 pounders as well. If a boat found the right spot, limits were pretty easy. Roosterfish, while not as plentiful as earlier in the season were still around with most in the 10-30 pound class. Bonito, jack crevalle and even some barred pargo gave us some variety.

LA PAZ

Our La Paz fishery has been the most consistent all year. Some days are better than others, like anywhere else, but 9 out’ve 10 days, the fish are around and biting. Even on that 10th day, I’m not sure what the issue is, but anglers and my captains will tell me…”The fish were all around. We could see them or they would sniff the baits, but just wouldn’t take the baits!”

That was usually made up for on the other days of fishing when the dorado would be found in many areas from just inside the bait to the island and then around the point to El Rosario and Las Cruces.

Generally, the fish were 10-15 pounders although there were still persistent squirts in the 5 pound class around. But, larger 20-30 pounders were not uncommon. We also hooked some marlin and sailfish with most being released as well as some stray rooster fish that ran about 30 pounds near Espirito Santo Island.

That’s our story!