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Archive for September, 2016

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for the Week of Sept. 18-25, 2016

WEEKLY VIDEO REPORT

WEEK IN SUMMARY (1-10 being best)

WEATHER – 8 (threat of rain never really materialized mostly sunny warm and humid cooler than normal)

WATER CONDITIONS – 8 (cooler than normal but clear and blue)

QUALITY OF FISH – 7 (hard to argue with roosterfish, wahoo, tuna and billfish)

QUANTITY OF FISH – 5 (lots of dorado around La Paz / Las Arenas has fewer but better fish)

BAIT SITUATION:  3 (Not much at Las Arenas so we’re selling special squid / La Paz has some live bait)

JONATHAN’S ATTITUDE:  7  (“I have no idea what you’ll catch today. But you’ll catch SOMETHING!“)

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:  “Good things come to those who bait”

 

THE BIG PICTURE

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Captain Jorge helps Ralph Cortes wit his first wahoo that he caught with a Mini Whopper Stopper fishing rod.

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Dan Lewis was hoping to catch a tuna or two this trip! At Muertos Bay with a nice handful of yellowfin.

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Beautiful photo of our good friend, Dave Lindell from Pendleton, Orego and his yellowfun tuna with Captain Armando.

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First day of fishing was a good one for Mike Hryciw from Portland. In addition to tuna and dorado, he also put this nice wahoo in the boat.

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Darla came all the way from Arkansas and got this nice dorado with Captain Ramiro working the boat.

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Good start for first-timer Bill Stewart with dorado, tuna and a huge triggerfish. Bill’s from  OREGON.

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Ken Seibert from Washington was intent on getting a roosterfish with us and he did it several times over including this hefty guy that hit a big bait and was released after the fight.

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Captain Jorge gives a thumb-up to the camera on Gerry Valiquette’s first marlin that he caught just off the rocks near Punta Perrico.

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Duncan Sides from New Mexico spent a single day on the water with us on a visit from Angel Fire, New Mexico and caught a mess of dorado, but I heard the funnest part of the day was being allowed to drive the boat.

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Our smiling amiga, Malina Lindell, from Pendleton OR and Captain Armando with a big rainbow runner, cousin to the yellowtail.

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Captain Moncho grimaces trying to help Dan Gleason of San Diego with his first marlin.

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Frank Guillen and Andy Reynolds pose up with a couple of their nice football tuna.

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Jeff Lynn and Pete Codallos were here from a trip they won with the San Diego Make-A-Wish Foundation and took him a mess of dorado and some tuna like these.

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From Utah, Wendy Greatorex with Captain Adolfo and one of the larger dorado of the week just outside of Bahia de los Muertos.

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Ben Fischer finally got his wahoo, although not on a flyrod as he would have liked. But, he’ll surely take this nice speedster! With Captain Moncho.

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Debbie is a bit camera-shy here but she and her amiga Milicent had fun with dorado, triggers and tuna.

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From New Mexico, young Sam Sides is all smiles with one of several dorado he hooked fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

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Jorge Romero with Dave Lindell after Dave’s first day on the water and a good start of tuna, dorado and a big triggerfish.

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Dr. Ed Moreno gets a hand from Captain Victor and his buddy Charlie on Ed’s first marlin. Ed came down from Texas.

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More tuna for Jim Garner and Wendy Greatorex from Utah on their first visit to La Paz with Tailhunter.

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Wayne Siebert from Washington was hoping to get his first roostefish down here!

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Captain Gerardo with Mike Czarneki from Denver and his first trip down to see us and he stuck a nice wahoo right off the bat.

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Olivier came from France to spend the week diving, but decided to take one day to fish and was rewarded with some nice dorado and a pair of tuna.

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Good start for Mike and Jean from Oregon and a few of their yellowfin tuna.

FISHING STEADY WITH WAHOO DORADO TUNA BILLFISH ROOSTERS ON TOP

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Sept. 18-25, 2016

It wasn’t great fishing.  But there were some great catches.  At best, I’d say fishing was steady.  There were some slow times and some nice flurries.  I say there were some “great catches” because although maybe the numbers weren’t spectacular, many of the anglers did hook wahoo or their first rooster fish…maybe their first tuna or dorado…their first billfish.  No denying the smiles on that account.  Some fishing can’t be quantified by how many fish are in the box.  Sometimes, it’s just the satisfaction at the end of the day.

So, in terms of numbers, fishing was not as good as the week before.  In terms of some quality catches, it was not bad at all!

La Paz Fishing

If you were just interested in putting limits in the boat and crazy action, then our La Paz fleet was on top of that.  While there were some real ruts as we looked for fish, the waters could suddenly blow up with dorado or you could have a day where you’d spend the day picking up a fish or two here and there and at the end of the day realize you had a pretty full box of fish.

For sure, the dorado were 90% of the catch.  They ranged from little punks to the “larger” 20-pound class fish.  There was no rhyme or reason as to where to find the larger fish and there was some grumbling about so many little fish.  I have no control over that, but if you don’t have a line in the water, you definitely have no shot at all getting one of the larger models.  Very often the anglers would get “stuck” in the middle of the firecracker dorado then find that one bigger boy just swimming around the perimeter.  And that’s the fish that makes the whole day…or the trip!

However, for sure, if you just wanted a go at pure numbers of biters with a good chance of filling an ice chest over several days, the fishing with our La Paz fleet was the ticket.

LAS ARENAS FISHING

If variety of species was more interesting.  If exotic species was on the bucket list.  If you wanted a shot at the big leagues, and maybe not get as many fish, then fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet from Muertos Bay was the better place to be this past week.

Not as many yellowfin tuna, but they’re still there.  Smaller footballs in the 8-12 pound category with some larger up to 20 pounds taken.  Squid has been the best for them and chunking has worked well.

But, above-and-beyond the tuna, it seemed all week there was a shot at wahoo.  Every day we had a few hooked…and a few lost.  But the ones that came in were nice healthy 25-40 pound fish.  We had a couple of rookies hook some this week and they were kind of ho-hum about the catch.  I had one guy tell me, “Fishing was slow.  Only got one of those long-skinny fish.”   They don’t realize that wahoo are like a holy grail in some places.  Folks come for years trying to get just one “long-skinny fish!”  Nor do they realize how prized the meat is.  I had another rookies give away almost all his wahoo because someone told him wahoo were “members of the mackerel family” and mackerel meat is oily and strong. I told him wahoo is about $30 per pound in the states and his mouth fell open.

Anyway, in addition to the mackerel, we also had more of those big slugger rooster fish back in the shallows.  These were a trophy-grade fish with some going up to 60 pounds.  The key is spending the time to catch those big ladyfish (sabalo) to use for bait.

We also had a pretty nice bite of striped marlin as well. Almost always they were incidental catches hooked when the anglers were fishing for dorado or tuna, and not specifically targeted.  Most were released.

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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, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Video Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBLvdHL_p4-OAu3HfiVzW0g

“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/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of September 11-18, 2016

MINI-VIDEO FISHING REPORT

For those of you who like it visually…

WEEK AT A GLANCE (Scale of 1-10 being best) 

For those of you who don’t have time…

Weather – 8 (great until Sunday!)

Water – 7 (not bad until Sunday when wind and waves mucked it all up)

Fishing Quantity – 8 (if you were fishing for dorado)

Fishing Quality – 3 (if you were fishing for dorado and only got the peanut-sized fish)

6  (if you caught other species like tuna, wahoo, a roosterfish or larger dorado)

Jonathan’s Attitude – 5 (feel badly for those folks who did NOT have a good week…there were 2 or 3)

Forecast for Upcoming Week – 5 (it all depends on what Sunday’s rain will do)

 

THE BIG PICTURE

For those of you who want the whole enchilada with all the sides…

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Whoa! We haven’t seen many of these around lately! Brandt Knudsen from Colorado hammered this big bull dorado fishing with Captain Archangel from Las Arenas. Dorado getting a little bigger!

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This is a GREAT story! Todd Jones has been all over the place for 10 years chasing a roosterfish unsuccessfully. He had only 1 day to fish and gave us a shot since we’re the “roosterfish capital of the world.” Fishing with Captain Victor, he broke the curse and got this massive rooster we estimate around 80 pounds. Todd told me he’s 6’4″ and 270 pounds so you can see how big the fish is. As excited as he was, he told me he was more heartbroken that they couldn’t release the fish although they tried mightily. The met ended up feeding alot of folks in the pueblo. Oh…he also got a big wahoo on the way in (photo down below). Todd’s from the Salt Lake City area.

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Captain Jorge with first-timer, John Green, from S. Carolina who rocked this big-time wahoo and poses on the beach at Muertos.

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Robert “Leon Redbone” Martinez with Clyde Dent and some of the better “yellowfun” tuna we got this week.

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Capitan Moncho with Karen Gerber from Washington and a BIG roosterfish. She’s just a tiny gal too and did a great job, especially considering this was her first time fishing! The fish was released.

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Texas in the house! Kevin Preuss and Randy Moe had a good solid 3 days of fishing with us and included some tuna like these in their homeward bound ice chests.

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You’ll not find nicer guys than Ray and Raymond Ahner from Fresno CA and San Francisco CA respectively. They got into a school of rainbow runners in Muertos Bay. If they look like yellowtail they are cousins and very tasty eating fish. These are some of the largest I’ve seen.

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Our buddy Kris Honkola brought down first-timer Chris Wilbur with him this year and it paid off with a great week of fishing including tuna, dorado, marlin and several wahoo.

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Colin Jensen was great to have down. He had never seen the ocean and never fished in the ocean. Visting from Utah, he made up for it with his nice bull dorado and more!

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Fun-sized dorado like these really lit it up this week. Hopefully, they keep getting bigger, but nice to see more and more of them showing up.

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All the way from Finland!!!Herkko Miettinen had quite a nice week topped by this big-time wahoo on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos.

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Another of our Utah amigos this week with a female dorado…the kind we NEVER even saw last season. Very encouraging to finally be better some better-sized dorado!

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Jordan Rabinowe with a nice yellowfin tuna. The “footballs” are sticking around and giving us some fun action around Bahia de Los Muertos. Jordan came with his dad and sister and her husband. He’s from Portland area.

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From the Bay Area of CA, Jeff Cassens is all smiles with one of several of his yellowfin tuna.

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From Washington, Bob Griffiths, does his best to cradle this big roosterfish so he can take a photo and let it go! Jeff got this just off the Las Arenas lighthouse and the fish swam away strongly!

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Capitan Boli with Karen Gerber and one of the better-sized La Paz dorado. They’re getting bigger finally!

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Birthday trip for Brandt Knudsen from Colorado! He got tuna, wahoo and dorado to take home!

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Kevin Preuss is holding the biggest rainbow runner I have ever seen in my 20 years here. With Randy Moe and his tuna. On the beach near Las Arenas. The guys are from Texas.

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Two more Texas guys that happen to be visiting! Ed Moreno and Charles Riley on their first day ripped a nice wahoo and a couple of yellowfin tuna.

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Just one more to add to his ice chest! Senor Knudsen put the wood and gaff to this nice speedy wahoo!

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What a day! Todd Jones had only one day to fish! He racked a huge roosterfish then stuck this big wahoo on the way back to the beach!

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If ever there was a gamer! Carolyn Knudsen from Colorado hefts up another nice yellowfin. She fished 5 of 6 days here like a trooper!

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Fun dorado to start the trip for Ray and Raymond Ahner. They added to the count shortly after with a variety of species.

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Our Arizona amigo, Ted “Roosterfish” Kuhn, tries his best to pose with a nice roosterfish he caught just outside of Bahia de los Muertos. He used to be known as “Bluegill Ted” before he started fishing in La Paz. Hard to find a funner guy to fish with.

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Migue and Chris drove all the way down to La Paz along the mainland then took the ferry across to the Baja. Miguel with another rainbow runner and Chris with a yellowfin tuna.

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It’s great to finally see so many dorado finally rolling into our waters. Ed and Jordan Rabinowe at the start of their fishing week!

FULL MOON?  TELL THAT TO THE FISH

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 11-18, 2016

No storms.  Great weather.  Even the full moon seemed to have zero effect on the bite this week.  Dorado, tuna, big rooster fish and wahoo were all highlights.

La Paz Fishing

If you fished with our La Paz fleets this week, I could pretty much do something I never do…guarantee you fish.  There’s plenty of dorado everywhere.  You cannot help but catch dorado right now.

The downside is that there are so many “dinks”  out there that are literally the size of a big trout, it’s like you’re molesting the nursery.   But, these little guys are born hungry like little pac-man fish and they go after anything that’s in the water.  They are attacking lures twice their size.  They go after and destroy any bait you put in there and ergo, there goes your precious bait supply!   In a word, they’re pests!

But that’s the only way to catch anything even remotely larger!  If you don’t have line in the water, you’re not gonna catch anything.  And there’s some larger 10-30 pound fish running with the “children” but the issue is how many of the squirts you have to deal with to get a larger fish!

The upside here is that these fish are a load of fun on the lighter tackle or flyrods.  The other side is that dorado grow faster than just about any fish in the ocean because all the do is eat.  In a month or two, these fish will double and triple in size.  Two months ago, there were zero dorado around and we were all bitching. So, it’s hard to complain too loudly when there’s this kind of action out here.  We just want ‘em to grow FASTER!

As a little side note to the dorado, if you want to catch a billfish like a marlin or sailfish, a great color pattern for your lure would be…(drumroll)…dorado colors like green, yellow, blue and white!

LAS ARENAS/ MUERTOS BAY

This is where it was happening all week.  This past week and the previous two weeks (minus that little hurricane last week) was like what Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay were like “back in the day.”

We had wahoo between 20-50 pounds.  There’s a good smattering of yellowfin tuna in the 10-20 pound class.  We have dorado…mostly in the 10 pound size, but got some of the largest dorado I’ve seen in two years up to 30 pounds.

And, we had some monster rooster fish up to about 80 pounds!  In fact, about the smallest I think we got this week was in the mid-20’s with most in the 40 pound class.

Now, in all fairness, it wasn’t wide open and not every boat did great every day.  But over all, with most of our anglers fishing 2 or 3 days, you really had some of the better fishing we’ve had in a long time.

Here’s the ticket…we had squid!

Several weeks ago when the tuna and dorado showed up, we cut open bellies and found they had baby squid in them.  The problem is that there’s zero baby squid to be caught.  Impossible.

So, for about 2 weeks now, we have our staff head to town and buy every bit of fresh giant squid they can get their hands on.  Every night, I’m cutting up to 100 pounds of blocked frozen squid into 3 pound bags to sell to our guys.

From what I hear, we’re buying out the city and are the only ones with the squid.  The fish are eating it and, at the very least makes great chum.

This is not “bait squid.”  This is edible “CALAMARI” that’s “restaurant grade.”  It’s expensive.  But the fish eat it and it’s making a difference.

We had some good guys come to our restaurant for dinner.  They fish with a competitor however ad asked if they could buy squid from me and I regretfully had to turn them down and say it’s only for our fishermen and there’s not enough to sell to anyone else.

So, one of the laughed and said, “Well, we’re here to order dinner.  So, we’d like to order the “calamari plate.”  However, please tell the chef we want 30 pounds of it and not to cook it and make it “to go!”  We all had a laugh.

Anyway, as long as the fish are eating it and I can keep getting it, I’ll sell to our clients to be prepared to purchase it.  It’s better than headed to the water and paying the bait guys the waiting maybe 1-3 hours for them to find enough mackerel or caballitos to sell you…if they find any at all.

For the rooster fish, the best bait is still the big ladyfish so be patient.  You DO have to catch these baits and it can take a bit and you can only catch them one-at-a-time, but this is what the big rooster fish want.  Anything that can wrap it’s mouth around an 18-inch bait is gonna be big!

Lastly, we hit some monster rainbow runners this week.  These were the largest I’ve ever seen down here in 20 years.  Cousins to yellowtail, they look like smaller cousins and are great eating.  Usually, we catch these in the spring when waters are cooler so it’s a mystery why they are here now…unless waters are cooling earlier than normal.  Hmmmmm…

BUT WAIT!

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Don’t let it be said that I don’t put out the most up-t0-date-info that I can or that I sugar-coat things.  I really do my best not to!  Despite all my optimism…Sunday, we got some really high winds that knocked the bite down dramatically for our Las Arenas fleet as high winds produced big waves and kicked the bite to the curve.  Except for a few firecracker-sized dorado, the Las Arenas bite stunk.

Tropical Storm Paine came in and is supposed to make landfall way way way north of us along the Baja Peninsula.   We’re not in the target area.

But, some rain clouds moved in.  We’re supposed to get a few little quick thundershowers and then it’s over-and-done. Some showers maybe linger through Monday.   Hopefully, not too much effect on the fishing.  At least, the storm isn’t hitting us directly.  I just feel badly for our Sunday anglers!

Our La Paz fishermen did just fine on Sunday.

TAILHUNTER DONATION NATION!

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Bruce “BC” Champlin and Ted “Roosterfish” Kuhn had a load of clothes, shoes and other items.

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Wayne Seibert and brother Ken, brought down some sports equipment for the boys plus bags of pencils.

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Joe Prouty and Al McDowell from Washington with much-needed school supplies.

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Millones de gracias to Ben Fischer and Dan Gleason for trooping in so much stuff as well!

High-five’s to all our Tailhunter Tribe who brought down stuff for our Tailhunter Charity Outreach programs!  School supplies…adult and kids clothes…toys…sports gear…We can’t tell you how grateful we are.  Several photos of folks never got in here either for various reasons (my cell phone hasn’t worked real great since the hurricane), but God bless you as well even if your photos didn’t make it in!

That’s our story!

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Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Video Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBLvdHL_p4-OAu3HfiVzW0g

“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/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of September 4-11, 2016

WEEKLY VIDEO FISHING REPORT

It’s a little longer than usual, but that’s cuz there was a bunch to tell you including alot about Hurricane Newton that his us this week.  Got some good live video in here of the hurricane.

WEEK AT A GLANCE – (Scale of 1-10 being best) 

WEATHER – (Not sure if that’s a 1 or a 10.  Depends how you look at it.  Let’s go with a 5.  It was bad, but could have been alot worse! )

WATER – 7 (Not bad and surprisingly good after a big storm)

FISHING QUALITY – 6 (nice fish, but not HUGE fish but tuna and dorado are always quality fish to have)

FISHING QUANTITY– 7 ( dorado limits are easy and mixed with tuna or other species, you get a full box)

JONATHAN’s ATTITUDE –  8 (Relieved!!!)

FORECAST:  6 (Cautiously Optimistic, but hurricane broke the crystal ball…sent for repairs)

 

THE BIG PICTURE!

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A good day! Firefighters Tim Larson and Jamie Moore with 5 nice yellowfin tuna!

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Captain Ramiro on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos flanked by Mike Martin and Brian Rubino and a big rack of good-sized tuna and dorado.

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All the way from Ohio on their first trip to visit us, Naomi and husband Jay Harless with Captain Armando. Jay’s first day out and first fish he hangs this nice wahoo too!

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The right kind for Steve Douds our amigo from Arizona and Captain Archangel.

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Our Kansas amigo, Adam Florence got his son, Elijah out’ve a few days of school to come play in La Paz and chase some fish like this nice yellowfin and dorado.

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His personal best roosterfish! Tim Larson holds up a thick gallo just off the rocks at Punta Perrico. He released the fish.

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Brothers Mac and Don Treasure are happy fellas with a few of the larger tuna of the week with Captain Pancho. Don’s first time down to La Paz to fish!

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Big smiles on the beach along with a nice load of tuna and dorado for Bobby Florence from Kansas with Captain Gerardo from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.

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Dave “Brah” Hill has been fishing with us almost 20 years from Texas. Dave’s dorado was caught north of La Paz near Espirito Santo Island.

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Mike Wilbur poses with a few of his fish on the beach at Las Arenas near the Las Arenas lighthouse.

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They guys from Helena Chemical spent the better part of the week with us and got into some of the local tuna and dorado with Captain Jorge at Bahia de los Muertos.

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Slugger big roosterfish in the panga for Matt Bradford with an assist from Captain Jorge. Brad released the big fish.

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Another nice fish, Elijah! Dorado in the boat!

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A bit of variety! Gale Sanderson poses with a good-sized pargo mulatto!

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So good to finally start seeing some larger dorado working the area now! This bull grabbed a chunk of fresh squid.

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Matt Mills and Matt Bradford hold up a yellowfin tuna and a dorado headed to the fillet table on the beach by the Las Arenas lighthouse.

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Now that’s a nice spread of tuna! Dave Hill and his niece Debbie Champley with a morning’s catch…all in just a few hours.

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Tim Larson got TWO nice roosterfish and was able to release both of them!

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Captain Armando had a fun day with this crew…Gale Sanderson, Jim Andrews and Gary Bowie who visit us every year and got into some of the week’s tuna.

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BRRRR…it’s COLD IN HERE! The big smile from Jonathan in the big walk-in freezer with more than 500 bags of fish we vacuum sealed! A great week of fishing and great to send guys home with full coolers!

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Hurricane Newton and how it looked when it got ugly last Tuesday.

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Calm Muertos Bay…when nature get’s it’s dander up! Everything underwater!

And here’s a little video that we made about being right IN the hurricane.  Turn up the sound.  Kinda fun! It’s only about a minute-and-a-half!

DID HURRICANE NEWTON JACK THE BITE? 

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 4-11, 2016

Well…I guess the weather was the big story as Hurricane Newton popped up and plopped itself smack dab in the middle of the week and right in the middle of what had been the best bite of the season.

Fortunately, for us in La Paz, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been or as bad as it was in so many other areas. Fortunately, it also moved fast and only lasted a day and the max intensity was only for a few hours.  However, for those few hours, we had sustained winds of 50-60 mph and gusts edging over 100 mph with rain.  The brunt of the damage was taken by the trees in town with lots of debris scattered about a few busted windows and some damage to roofs.  But overall, we made it through.  The city lost power anywhere from a few hours to a few days and some outlying areas were without water or power for the balance of the week.

A few days of cleanup in the sunshine and everyone was more-or-less good-to-go!

Our own restaurant had some new holes poked in the palapa roof and since we have no walls, alot of debris from the wind came in, but we put things back together and were open like normal again.

The worst part was probably the fishermen we had here had to forego a day and just hang out and watch the weather.  We hate it anytime folks can’t go out…probably as much as they do.  But, everyone we had here was a good sport about it for the most part and rolled with it.  For quite a few, the fishing had been pretty good before the storm and some welcomed the day to sleep in and listen to the rain, wake up, drink beer and just hang out!  Hat’s off to all of that were with us and for your patience!  I wish we could have control over the weather, but you were all champs!

So…what about the fishing?

Prior to Hurricane Newton, we had been having some of the best fishing of the season…of not the last two seasons!  And I’m always worried after any kind of storm.  Weather changes the currents…the water…the visibility…the bait.  It can take days for the waters to recover.  Before the storm, the tuna and finally  shown up. The dorado had woken up. There were billfish and wahoo, rooster fish and pargo willing to bite.

So, it was with alot of trepidation that we viewed the storm.

LAS ARENAS/ MUERTOS BAY

It has been about 2 seasons since we had tuna of any kind in the area, but for the week or so before the hurricane, some nice schools of football tuna parked themselves just off the beach and were willing to chew!  We had a few days where it was crazy good and guys were knocking out limits of 10-15 pounders and even some larger fish by 10 or 11 a.m. then chasing other species.

The key was having the right bait.  In the tummies of the fish, we’re finding little bitty squid.  Impossible for us to catch tiny squid so almost every night, my staff and I were hunting seafood markets here in La Paz and buying every bit of FRESH consumable squid (not the cheap bait stuff) we could find; packing it into little bags; and having it ready for our anglers.  Using it as chunk bait made all the difference.

The tuna ate the chunks.  The dorado like the tentacles.  When the tuna weren’t biting, we had dorado to catch.  So there was alot of action good solid action.

Then, the storm hit.  And we didn’t know how that would affect things.

We couldn’t fish the area the first 2 days after the storm because the beach there are Muertos had been underwater and battered.  Debris and rocks littered the shoreline so our guys were out there cleaning it up so they could get their trailers into the water and launch.  That took two days.

When we finally did get back in the water…YEA!  The tuna and dorado were still there.  And some of them were bigger!  Fish up to 30 pounds were hitting.  Lots of small to medium dorado most day as well, plus the occasional wahoo, billfish and even some good rooster fish!

So, we’re gonna keep packing squid and hopefully these fish will stick around!

LA PAZ

Before the storm, we’d been getting increased action on 10-15 pound dorado.  We had some days when there were lots of billfish hookups too with sailfish, striped marlin and blue marlin running around out there, especially in the areas where the baby dorado and smaller bonito were hanging out feeding on the smaller fish.  It was the best dorado fishing we had seen all season.

After the storm, to some degree, the waters were a bit more turned over, colder and greener than the waters around Muertos Bay/ Las Arenas where our other fleet operates.

But, the dorado were still there.  Although the locations were a little more scattered and the fish a bit smaller.  Instead of finding a school of dorado, our anglers were telling me they’d get one fish…move to another spot and get another 2-3 fish.  Find fish somewhere else and pick up another one and go to a spot and find one more.  At the end of the day, they had a nice little box of fish.  Hopefully, as we distance ourselves from the storm, waters will settle and the fish will school up again.

TAILHUNTER DONATION NATION

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Bob Griffiths and Karen Egbert brought in a big load of clothes ad school supplies.

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These guys from Helena Chemical Company were amazing. First time visitors, each amigo brought down a full ice chest full of everything from clothes to shoes and toys and school supplies!

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Nothing wrong with toasting your arrival and a great donation! Margaritas in red Solo cups!

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Raymond Ahner and his dad, Ray hauled a full soft cooler down of kids clothes and some neat toys!

Regretfully, making the video above of the hurricane, I messed up my smartphone and either cannot access any of the photos or was not able to take any more photos because we’re missing photos of other big-hearted Tailhunter Tribe members who brought stuff for our kids and families at the Alberge Kids Orphanage, the La Paz Women’s Shelter and the two outlying schools on the outskirts of the city.  I hope I didn’t miss anyone!

Kris Honkola, Andy Hartman, Carolyn and Brandt Knudsen, Tim Larson, Gale Sanderson, Gary Bowie, Jeff Herringer, Jon Holtby, Jim Andrews, Craig Yoder.  You all rock and your generosity is appreciated more than you know!

That’s our story!

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Jonathan and Jilly Roldan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Video Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBLvdHL_p4-OAu3HfiVzW0g

“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/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Aug. 28 -Sept. 4, 2016

MINI-VIDEO FISHING REPORT

WEEK AT A GLANCE (Scale of 1-10 being best)

Weather – 8 (like a postcard most of the week)

Water – 7 (mostly great and blue with some patches of dirty or cold)

Fishing Action and Quantity –  8 (Las Arenas)  4 (La Paz)

Fishing Quality – 7 (nice tuna to big marlin)

Fishing Outlook for Coming Week– 3 (worried about the storm coming Tuesday and winds on Wednesday)

Jonathan’s Attitude – 7 (If you’re happy, I’m happy – lots of happy fishermen mostly!)

Fishing Quote of the Week“Men and fish are alike.  They get in trouble when the open their mouths.”

THE BIG PICTURE

Jason Robert Rudloff tags 9-16 tuna

First time with us, Jason Rudloff and his dad, Robert, from California started out their fishing trip with a bang. They hung all these nice yellowfin tuna plus dorado (released some too!) just outside of Bahia de los Muertos.

Titman tuna wahoo tags adolfo 9-16

John Titman from Oregon, has one of the best weeks of any angler all year. Here he is with Captain Adolfo and their wahoo plus some chunky yellowfin tuna. John caught so much fish (including the blue marlin below) that he went home with about 150 pounds of fillets (and that was AFTER he released fish and gave fish away!)

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San Diego in the house! Mike Rose and Doug Ladderbush stuck some nice tuna and dorado with Captain Gerardo on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos. They said to me, “Uh your “football tuna” are alot bigger than our San Diego football tuna! “

Chito John Titman blue marlin 9-16

Happy fella, John Titman and Captain Chito and a blue marlin estimated at over 220 pounds. John donated 1/2 the fish. It was quite a week for billfish with a number of fish lost and most released.

 

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Captain Armando had a great day with Joe Hill and girlfriend, Shelly Andrade from the Sacramento CA area who had a banner day during the tuna bite during the week.

Elijah Florence dorado 9-16 tags

We have some great amigos that come from Kansas, including Elijah Florence who fishes the light tackle spinning rods and got these 5 feisty dorado.

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Dave Hill from Texas has been fishing with me since about 1999! With his favorite Captain, Jorge, he shows of a couple of his yellowfin tuna!

Wahoo Mike YOung 9-16 tags

First time speedster wahoo for Steve Douds  from Arizona! He explained that his facial expression as well as sore arms and hand joints were attributed to the battle with the wahoo.

Debbie Champley 9-16 tuna Jorge tags

Beautiful shot of first-timer, Debby Champley, with Captain Jorge and another yellowfun tuna in the boat!

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Oh-oh! Here’s the path that “INVEST 90E” is showing as it heads towards the Baja Peninsula. It’s not slated to be a hurricane, but winds in the mid-70’s are expected and a few inches of rain.  No bueno. Just a one day event fortunately. I hope.

BEST WEEK AS TUNA CRASH…BUT WAIT!

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 28-Sept. 4, 2016

It turned out to be one of the best weeks of the season down here.  Not only did we have some outstanding weather with warm (but not hot) sunny skies and blue calm waters, but for the first time in about 2 years, the tuna crashed for our Tailhunter Fleet at Las/ Arenas Muertos Bay with some outstanding catches.  Mixed with some of the other species, it was the kind of week we have rarely seen since the El Nino weather conditions dropped in on us 2 seasons ago…and now apparently are diminishing.

Will it continue?  Read on…

LAS ARENAS/ BAHIA de LOS MUERTOS

In a scene reminiscent of the glory days of the area, for about 4 days this week, yellowfin tuna came up from the trenches to within a few hundred yards of the beach or closer and crashed our pangas!  It started with some football 5-10 pounders, but these turned into heftier beefier feistier 20-25 pounds fish and pulled many first-time anglers right out’ve their flip-flops!

Literally, a long casting distance from the beach in an area that stretched from just south of Bahia de los Muertos to just around the corner to Punta Perrico and the old Hotel Las Arenas, the tuna rolled up with an appetite.  Our pangas were slamming fish with limits in a few hours, then turning their attention to other species like dorado, wahoo and billfish.  What a luxury.  (For once, rooster fish weren’t center stage!).  Even releasing fish, anglers were filling their take-home ice-chests in a single day of action!

I spoke to one person who was scuba diving in the area and he told me, “There’s huge schools of tuna milling around down there, even in the shallow waters!”

For many of our anglers, not only was this the first tuna they had ever encountered, (“Man, I didn’t know tuna were THAT strong!), but for some, it was their first fish or first time fishing (“I caught two and had to sit down because my back and arms were cramping!”).  Imagine your first-fish ever is a 20 pound yellowfin tuna!

But, here’s the rub…the ONLY bait that was working was squid!  Bellies of the fish were filled with small squid that the fish must have followed up from the deep.  That’s why they were in the area.

However, it’s impossible for us to catch little tiny squid!  It’s impossible for to hook them unlike when the huge Humboldt squid come up from the deep with monsters that are 10-80 pounds and we can actually fish for them!

Therefore, it became incumbent on us to scour the city of La Paz looking to buy all the squid we could find.  The better stuff was the bodies, but squid bodies were in short supply.  Also, this couldn’t be “bait quality” squid.  This has to be fresh-dead squid that’s restaurant/ table quality stuff.  So, I had stuff running around and over the course of just a few days, we purchased over 220 pounds of blocks of fresh-frozen squid and then vacuum sealing them into 2 kilo bags for our anglers to have!  It made for some long days, but you do what you gotta do!  As it is, there’s not much other bait out there at Las Arenas.

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This stuff is COLD!!! Big 20 pound bricks of frozen giant squid had to be packed everyday hoping to give our folks a bit of an “edge” getting the tuna to bite. We went through about 250 pounds of giant squid in 3 days and scoured every store, market and fish store to have enough everyday! I’ll keep doing it too…if it means the difference on our folks getting bit!

Anyway, after 4 days, the bite quieted down and the frenzy turned to a trickle as the fish moved further south.  At the time of my writing this report,  we have our whole fleet looking south today for the fish!

However, as the tuna diminished, small to medium dorado came up which was the first time we’ve ever really seen dorado in the area so that was good news!  We’ll keep you posted.

And…also wahoo around as well and hitting the dark Rapalas as usual!

My biggest concern as of the time of writing this is that there’s a bit of a storm and rain coming on Tuesday that might be a complete game-changer.  It could make things better or it could dirty up the water; cold water; and scatter the fish..and then it will take several days to clear up again.  Then, who knows?

LA PAZ

The story for our Tailhunter La Paz fleet were the billfish.  I think almost every one of our pangas hooked a billfish at some point in the week.  One day each of our pangas hooked at least one sailfish or marlin.  Most were lost.  Or, after a fight, they were released (thanks guys!).  A few of the larger ones that were blue marlin were either kept (perfectly legal!) or were unable to be revived.    The fish seemed to be right in the areas where, not surprisingly, we also found small dorado and small bonito which are perfect candy-food for billfish.

Dorado were also around with a few of the better quality in the 20-25 pound class around and alot getting lost and released as well

Inshore, still some good steady action on big triggers and small-to-medium cabrilla and pargo.

 TAILHUNTER DONATION NATION

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Joe Hill, Shelley Andrade, (Jorge Romero photobomb), Debby Champley and Dave Hill brought a LOAD of much needed school supplies in several ice chests!

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Mega and Dave Bosteter from Phoenix, AZ, hauled down clothes, toys, little girl costumes and bathroom supplies for our kids and their families!

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The guys from the Helena Chemical Company…you guys are TOO much! They hauled down 7 full ice chests of kids clothes and other supplies for our Women’s Shelter and the Alberga Kid’s Shelter Orphange in Los Planes.

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And a well-deserved mango margarita toast by the Helene Chem guys for bringing down so much needed items!

An awesome shout-out to our Tailhunter Tribal amigos who went an extra step and brought down donations for our two schools, the women’s shelter and the orphanage.  This last week almost 300 pounds of items went to one of the orphanges.  These new items might be headed to one of the schools or the women’s shelter.  Tailhunter Donation Nation rocks!  Thank you all!

Thanks also to Jason and Robert Rudloff for their donation.  I didn’t get their photo except ABOVE with BIG FISH!

That’s our story!

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Jonathan and Jilly and Catlyn the Fishing Cat

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, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://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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