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!
A good day! Firefighters Tim Larson and Jamie Moore with 5 nice yellowfin tuna!
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.
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!
The right kind for Steve Douds our amigo from Arizona and Captain Archangel.
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.
His personal best roosterfish! Tim Larson holds up a thick gallo just off the rocks at Punta Perrico. He released the fish.
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!
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.
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.
Mike Wilbur poses with a few of his fish on the beach at Las Arenas near the Las Arenas lighthouse.
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.
Slugger big roosterfish in the panga for Matt Bradford with an assist from Captain Jorge. Brad released the big fish.
Another nice fish, Elijah! Dorado in the boat!
A bit of variety! Gale Sanderson poses with a good-sized pargo mulatto!
So good to finally start seeing some larger dorado working the area now! This bull grabbed a chunk of fresh squid.
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.
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.
Tim Larson got TWO nice roosterfish and was able to release both of them!
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.
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!
Hurricane Newton and how it looked when it got ugly last Tuesday.
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
Bob Griffiths and Karen Egbert brought in a big load of clothes ad school supplies.
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!
Nothing wrong with toasting your arrival and a great donation! Margaritas in red Solo cups!
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!
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
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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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