THE MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT for WEEK of April 24-May 1, 2017
I’m a bit rusty as it’s been 4-months since my last video, but if you’re short on time, here it is in a nutshell! Forgive my verbal stumbling!
PAST WEEK AT A GLANCE
Weather – Pretty windy at times. Sunny. Daytime temps high 70’s to low 80’s. Nights high 60’s.
Water – Mostly blue and clear but choppy from winds some days.
Fishing: 5 on a scale of 10. Good action on bonito. Big fish, but many lost. Yellowtail surprised us.
THE BIG PICTURE
Attaching photo of Patty Killian’s big amberjack. She and Tracy Chung were with Capt. Chito and she fought the fish for a long time . As the fish got to the boat and was right next to it, the hook just came out. Simply came out of the mouth. The fish was flapping on the surface and quick thinking Chito when he realized that moved fast with a long reach and gaffed it quick as it was swimming away from the boat on the surface. You can see where he barely got the gaff in near the tummy. Chito and Patty rocked it. She’s from Portland.
Paul Nagata has some fun with his yellowtail along with buddy Michi Nakota and Captain Pancho who has a big pompano to go along with the forktails. The amigos are from San Francisco.
Now THIS is a big yellowtail because Paddi is 6’5″ and this is a horse of a fish! Caught at the north end of Cerralvo using jigs and fishing with Captain Hugo.
Always cracking up! Jeff Killian from Oregon poses with his nice yellowtail on the beach at Muertos.
From Colorado, Jeff Ferguson, holds a huge sierra! Jeff was staying at the Rancho Costa in Muertos. Thanks for the shot, Gary!
You know the sierra are big when they’re almost…not quite…as big as the yellowtail! Michi Nakota and Paul Nagata have some good eating in store!
Big smiles for Angie Meehan from Montana who just had one day to fish driving up from Cabo San Lucas and had a big jack crevalle to show off plus hooking other fish for her first time on salt water!
Captain Armando and Jeff Killian showing off some of the big sierra we had this week near Muertos.
First yellowtail is a fine one for Michi Nakota getting a hand on the gaff from our buddy, Paul Nagata.
Angie Meehan again from Montana holds up her sierra. She had two dorado on the line, but got away.
John Chung, Captain Armando and Jeff Killian had a pretty good day on the water with some hefty yellowtail and three others got off!
Roosterfish for Jen Wilson from Colorado right inside of Bahia de los Muertos. Caught and released!
If you know how to fish iron, here’s some samples of the iron that worked this week on the yellowtail, but most of the fish were caught on mackerel which are abundant right now.
WIND BACK BUT SO ARE THE YELLOWTAIL!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing Report for Week of April 24-May 1, 2017
Just when I thought the winter winds were finally behind us and we were forward into the warmth of the season, Mother Nature came up with a (hopefully) final reminder that she can do what she wants and is entitled to be fickle. After several really nice weeks we were into double-digit winds again for the better part of the week, mostly coming up in the mornings (ugly) then at night (nice…to cool things down).
It was still sunny and a great place to be for vacation, but it did make for some really rough fishing some days.
By the same token, just when it looked like we were into our “warm water species” it was like the clock turned backwards a month or two. Not a terribly bad thing because we still got some really nice fish. But they were the cooler water fish that we hadn’t seen in awhile.
TAILHUNTER LAS ARENAS/ MUERTOS BAY FLEET
What I said above was probably best reflected in our catch this past week from Muertos Bay and working around Cerralvo Island.
In the past few weeks, we’ve seen more and more warm water species like tuna, wahoo and such. Barely any cold water species!
Well, I’m not sure what happened. As mentioned, the winds did come back but the water surface temperatures stayed pretty warm about 72-75 degrees. All I can think of is that maybe the turbulence brought up some of the deeper cooler waters from down below so there was a sub-surface thermocline that caused the cold water species to come up and get active.
For sure, not much in the way of the bluewater fish (a few dorado) but holy cow…we got big yellowtail all of a sudden! Maybe our best yellowtail week of the year and this is already MAY! This is what we should have been catching in March! These yellowtail were 20-40 pound slugs and we probably lost 3 times as many as were caught. Many went right back to the rocks or simply busted off for other reasons.
Areas at both the north and south ends of Cerralvo Island produced fish willing to eat mackerel, squid, Rapalas and jigged iron. They also showed up just off the rocky areas at Punta Perico and Castillo near the Arenas lighthouse. These are heavy, healthy powerful fish and the same areas produced pargo and cabrilla as well. Generally fish we associate with cooler water fishing!
It was’t wide open and it wasn’t every day and some boats struggled ever day despite best efforts from the captains and anglers themselves, but there were quality fish to be found.
In addition, we had some of the largest sierra I have seen in a long time. These were thick long and more like baby wahoo than big mackerel! Great eating and we just haven’t seen many of them all season until this week. There’s also lots of bonito for action including white bonito which are great eating and have a soft pink meat not unlike their big cousin tuna.
Some rooster fish around, but hard to tell since not many folks are fishing for them right now and are chasing the more edible fish.
TAILHUNTER LA PAZ FLEET
For our La Paz Fleet fishing straight north out’ve the bay and around Espirito Santo Island, they were most affected by the winds which come mostly from the north making it a rough rough trip to the fishing grounds then getting bounced around until the winds settle down in the day.
There’s a few dorado around, but most of the focus was on the yellowtail and amberjack around the island with a number of big fish lost, but some really nice amberjack in the 30-60 pound class caught. A few rooster fish around mixed with pargo, cabrilla and triggerfish.
PACK FOR A PURPOSE
Thanks for Paul Nagata and Michi Nakota who hauled down an ice chest full of school supplies, dental supplies and medical things for our charities! Thanks, guys!
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jilly
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
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