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!

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

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.”