Dr. Nathan Beckord had only one day to squeeze in to a tight schedule visit to La Paz, but stuck it to this nice yellowfin tuna with Captain Jorge earlier in the week before the winds kicked back up. He’s standing on the Beach at Muertos Bay.
Big smiles and calm seas for Patricia Trautman from Issaquah WA who was out with Captain Hugo when she put the hurt to this beautiful yellowfin tuna.
Captain Jorge looks on as Dr. Brian Beckord poses with a nice early season wahoo taken off the south end of Cerralvo Island.
On Sunday, winds calmed down enough for Gilbert Sylvia from Oregon to get out his flyrod and have some fun light action on snapper, bonito, jack crevalle and cabrilla. (Jack crevalle in photos below)
Tough fish on a flyrod, a fiesty jack crevalle by Gilbert Sylvia on the flyrod.
NATURE NOT READY TO GIVE UP WINTER…JUST YET
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of March 19-26, 2017
Although the calendar says spring has started, winter isn’t quite ready just yet to give itself up. Last week we had a decent week of fishing as the winds abated and, to some degree, the early part of this week wasn’t bad either. But, then the winds kicked in again, much to the joy of the windsurfers and kite boarders, but it sure didn’t do our fishermen any favors. As the week went on the winds got worse. Over the weekend, there was a huge triathlon in La Paz and the waves and wind in the normally calm Bay of La Paz was tossing swimming competitors back onto the beach.
So, in a quick summary, early in the week we did get a few tuna again. Don’t get me wrong. This is NOT a “tuna bite” per se. It’s not like the fish are crashing. But considering this is so early in the year, it’s surprising to see tuna around and of this size and quality with fish going 20-50 pounds near the south side of Cerralvo Island. But, these are some isolated fish. For the time being, it’s a nice bonus, but until I see more, I wouldn’t call this a tuna bite. Still, it was worth headed to the nearby grounds and taking a swing for the fence and trying to hit a home run. There were also a few biters on wahoo.
More common were the types of inshore fish that we usually get during the winter that included some bonito, snapper, pargo, jack crevalle, sierra and even a few amberjack and rooster fish which is a good sign. But that’s when it all hit a snag as the winds came roaring back again as I mentioned. However, as you’re reading this, it looks like the coming week the winds are gonna lay back again so we’re encouraged as we head towards spring break and Easter!
TAILHUNTER 2017 ROAD TOUR
Many thanks for the great hospitality this past week as Jill and Jonathan had to split up to cover to great shows. Jonathan was in Scottsdale AZ for the ISE show. Jill took the other booth to the Del Mar Fairgrounds in San Diego CA for the Fred Hall Show. We both had a great time and lots of reservations came in and super to see all our old amigos! Muchas gracias!
But now…onto OUR LAST SHOW after 3 months on the road. We’re headed to Montana to Bozeman for the Great Rockies Sportsmans Show. We’re headed to one of our most favorite states and all the fun folks there. We’ll be there for three days from Friday through Sunday (March 31-April 2). Hope to see you there!
Yes, yellowfin this week! This is our amiga, Taylor Murphey from Lakewood CA fishing on her uncle’s boat with Captain Hugo who hung this nice YFT just south of Cerralvo Island. The tuna were taking Rapalas as well as chunked squid.
Always in the fish and always with the great photo, Roger Thompson with a pretty wahoo on the gaff off the south end of Cerralvo. The wahoo this week were also off the rocks just off Punta Perrico.
Portland, Oregon in the house! Austin Tighe had just one day to fish on this trip and got essentially our first and biggest tuna of the season fishing with Captain Victor and posing on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos.
The right kind! Tal Nazani with some good-sized and GREAT EATING cabrilla (Mexican seabass). It has been a good few weeks for the feisty reef fish.
If you want some tough action, look no further than the schools of jack crevalle that are near the rocks and beaches right now! Related to roosterfish, there’s a reason the Mexican name for them is “toro.”(Bull). Captain Armando is the masked man!
What great colors on this fresh one! Taylor Murphey had herself quite a week with a variety of fish including this yellowtail hung on a Rapala in the same spot where tuna and wahoo were taken this week. Fishing with Captain Hugo.
As mentioned above, good week for the tasty cabrilla, but with all the bait in Muertos Bay, hordes of bonito have provided some awesome rod-bending as well.
I’ve posted so many photos of our amiga, Donna Thompson! But that’s because she’s always nailing the fish including another early-season yellowfin tuna!
BEST WEEK of the SEASON…FINALLY!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of March 12-19, 2017
Finally, after so many up-and-down-weeks of windy weather and cold waters, Mother Nature smiled and sent calm seas, gentle breezes and warming waters! The result was a variety of fish we haven’t seen so far this season and is encouraging now that we’re finally getting away from the erratic weather of winter and finally moving towards spring! For the moment, we reveled in it, as we’re not quite out’ve the clutches of winter quite yet as forecasts show more wind is on the way.
But for now, it’s nice to have a decent report to show-off.
Not only did we get into some of our regular winter catches, but the quickly warming waters produced unusual pelagic blue-water species we usually don’t see until later in the season. But who’s complaining? It was far from wide-open, don’t get me wrong. But the variety was a great bonus. It was almost a “I-have-no-idea-what-we-will-catch-today” kind of fishing. Some days really had some nice action and with many first-timers or snowbirds fishing who really only fish one day of their vacation, this kind of fishing was ideal for having some fun and catching some dinner too! Boats side-by-side often caught different fish that didn’t seem to synch with the time of the year!
Inshore cold-water species this week included a smattering of yellowtail, several varieties of pargo and snapper, some really nice cabrilla (sea bass) out’ve the rocks, plus hefty bad-tempered jack crevalle, bonito, and even some sierra which should be abundant this time of year, but have rarely made an appearance.
But the blue-water species really sparked some raised eye-brows. It’s March yet some fun-sized 25-30 pound tuna showed up at the southside of the island. These are our first verified tuna of the season. So, did wahoo and even some respectable dorado. These are species we normally would not see until May or so depending on the water temperature. And, I think that’s the key! Water temps were showing 70-75 degrees and not as green and dirty as they had been in previous weeks when winds were kicking up. It remains to be seen what will happen this coming week when forecasts show that winds will roll in again and predominate for the better part of the week.
Another variable that worked in our favor was the presence of a variety of bait. Unfortunately, no sardines showing up, but larger baits like ballyhoo, mackerel, small jacks worked well as live and dead baits. Cut fresh squid worked as well, but slow trolling Rapalas and Yo-Zuris produced big strikes as well. Interestingly, dragging the big crank baits over rocky areas that should have produced cabrilla, pargo, and yellowtail resulted in open-water surprises from tuna and wahoo…in shallow water! As I often tell folks, you don’t have to go out far in our area to get the glamour species! Dropping and jigging yo-yo iron also worked!
We’ll keep you posted! Things are changing!
TAILHUNTER TOUR – JILL & JONATHAN SPLIT UP!
We had another super show with lots of reservations and great times with all our Salt Lake City amigos at the International Sportsman’s Expo this past week. Thanks for the great visit UTAH!
And now…Jill and I go our separate ways for the week. Jill will head to California and be at:
Jonathan will be taking the other trail to the ISE Show and Arizona Boatshow at Scottsdale, Arizona at the Westworld Center March 23-26 (Thursday to Sunday)
Feisty jack crevalle and sunny days just near the rocks at Muertos Bay provided great fun and bent rods.
Gary Wagner at his place at Rancho Costa in Bahia de los Muertos took this nice yellowtail mid-week. Gary tells us there’s a ton of bait in the bay.
Another jack crevalle lip-gaffed ready for the photo then a quick release!
Thanks for the great time, Bakersfield! We had blast at the Fred Hall Central Coast Fishing Show this past week. Thanks to everyone who visited and came to say hi or sign up for visits to La Paz!
WATER STILL OFF BUT GOOD WEEK OF ACTION!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of March 5-12, 2017
For once, the weather cooperated and we didn’t have too much wind. We’re finally getting closer to spring and away from some really crazy winter weather. The result was a pretty good week for fishing action. Not alot of big fish, but there were some big yellowtail and pargo lost. However, there seemed to be plenty of inshore action characteristic of this time of year with a great variety of fish.
There were a few dorado, but there were some big-time 10-20 pound jack crevalle. Good numbers of bonito. A surprising number of 3-8 pound cabrilla, pargo and red snapper as well, despite the waters remaining pretty cold, green and dirty from so much wind for so long. There’s an incredible amount of mackerel and ballyhoo in Muertos Bay which should be bringing in the fish any time! C’MON SPRING!
HERE WE COME SALT LAKE CITY ISE SHOW!
Jilly and I will see you this week at the International Sportsmans Expo at from Thursday to Sunday at the South Town Expo Center just south of Salt Lake City, Utah.
We just finished a bang-up show at the Fred Hall Central Valley Fishing and Hunting Show at the Kern Co. Fairgrounds and now count 8 shows down and 4 to go for our 2017 Tailhunter Tour!
We’re now on our way back to one of our favorite city at Salt Lake City for the International Sportsman’s Expo. This is a big show and goes from Thursday to Sunday and it always fun with so much to see and do! We’re filling rapidly for 2017 but still have some spots available for your La Paz fishing trip so talk to us or get in touch with us ASAP! We want to make sure we have you covered!
He made the most of one day to fish! Mike Sinott from Tilamook, Oregon found some sunshine and a quality yellowtail fishing with Captain Victor just outside of Bahia de los Muertos! First time for Mike with us!
Our good friend, Ken Gragg, from Bakersfield got himself a nice yellowtail earlier in the week, and ran into “double Trumps” on the beach!
From Folsom CA, Mike McGuffin, was able to get his family out early in the week and got an early season dorado and a sierra. We haven’t seen many sierra this year!
Pretty typical of our winter-season fishing, Garrett Sills from Utah with a cabrilla and yellow snapper.
This guy is everywhere, but needs to smile a little bit! He’s all puckered up! Captain Pancho with The Donald. I think if all politicians took some time to go fishing, the world would be a better place!
Thanks Long Beach and all the amigos and Tailhunter Tribe members who came to see us this past week at the Fred Hall Fishing Show at the Long Beach Conventione Center! It was a grand time…as always!
WEATHER MORE COOPERATIVE…FISH NOT SO MUCH…THEN THE WEATHER CAME BACK!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Feb. 27-March 5, 2017
The week started off better than expected with sunny skies and relatively calm seas and minimal winds. Given how erratic it has been over the previous weeks with wind, rain, and other crazy conditions, it was a welcome thing to put folks on the water and have them actually ENJOY not getting bounced around!
I think however, even the fish didn’t know what to do with it. We had some great schools of mackerel fire up in Bahia de los Muertos with yellowtail and some indications of possibly tuna feeding as well under the yellowtail. The reality didn’t quite match the excitement. We got a few yellowtail. Really nice quality fish and lost a few, and no tuna showed up when our boats were there, but other than some dorado and a few reef fish like cargo and cabrilla, the fish seemed to be a bit lock-jawed. But, at least it was encouraging to get into some better quality fish like these yellowtail. Just no volume and nothing consistent.
It looked like it might be a decent week, but as the weekend hit, crash…thunder, lightning, wind, and rain hit us again and that pretty much shut things down. Back to winter!
I did sent out some recon boats to check out fishing the La Paz side given that it’s been such a windy winter and my La Paz captains are aching to get out’ve the blocks and get going, but the waters were still very green, cold and dirty…for now. The winds will have to settle for the waters to settle. Spring can’t come soon enough!
WHALES STILL HANGING OUT
Mike McGuffin got to spend a day at Mag Bay with us hanging out with the whales.
Almost coming out to the end of our whale-watching season, but Mike McGuffin and his family from Folsom CA had a nice little day spending time with the whales.
NEW TRIBE MEMBER!
I just had to post this. Sorry to dote. He’s our first grandchild, Nolan Frederick Reid last Sunday night. Jill and I were there in Vegas all weekend sleeping in the hospital parking lot waiting for him to arrive, but he took his time! When he still hadn’t shown up, Jill had to make the call that we would have to cancel her appearing at the Boise Sportsmans’ Show and cancel her flight. So sorry, Boise! We’ll make it up to you next year!
Then, Nolan showed up!
I only had time to see him for a few minutes. I have yet to hold him but only kiss mom and rush out the door and hit the road to get from Vegas to Long Beach to set up the booth for the Fred Hall Show. I arrived at 3 a.m. Can’t wait to get back to Vegas in two weeks on our way to Salt Lake City to hold the little guy!
THANKS LONG BEACH AND SO-CAL! SEE YOU IN BAKERSFIELD!
Had another spectacular outing this past week at the Long Beach Convention Center for the 5-day Fred Hall Fishing and Boating Show. The aisles were packed with thousands every day and I’m hoarse from all the talking even tho’ I used my microphone system! What a blast! Great to see you all and thanks for all of you who brought gifts and birthday wishes. You’re the best! Lots of bookings for La Paz fishing too!
We now pack up the van for the Bakersfield Fairgrounds for the Sportsman’s Show there from Friday to Sunday. Come see us and say hi!
Here’s some photos from some of the fun!
Dave Balthius, the head man at Costa Sunglasses came out to visit from Florida!
He braved the snows of Idaho to visit the Fred Hall Show for the first time, Tom Mullican will be back to visit us twice this year!
The best part of the week was a visit by my dad who just celebrated his 90th birthday!
So many great cards and birthday gifts from friends!
All-around good guy, Pat McDonell, head editor of Western Outdoor News.
The best! The famous “twins” Caroline Collette and Judy Passorello who work with us at Western Outdoor News for the Tuna Jackpot Tournament each November in Cabo San Lucas.
Ty and Spike! Out of control and we wouldn’t have it any other way!
Love these folks! Always a party!
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jilly
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
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