La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Sept. 8-16, 2018

September 17, 2018 by riplipboy

TUNA FOAM FOR BOTH LAS ARENAS & TAILHUNTER FLEETS

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept .8-16, 2018

Mexican Minute Video Report

Short Attention Span Week at a Glance

Water – Blue and warm with surface temps at 86 degrees but lower thermoclines might be cooling off since we’re seeing some species biting like pargo, pompano and sierra that we normally only see in the springtime when waters are cooler.

Weather – Pretty much every day, the forecast calls for some rain. But this time of year, that really doesn’t mean much. It could be raining in the mountains or across the bay, but technically, it’s still “raining in La Paz. ” We get some lightning in the mornings from the heat then it mostly clears up. Then, afternoons, the thunderheads build and there’s some localized showers here and there. Then, it clears up to a great sunset. Mostly! Now then it rains hard! Humidity is a scorcher . At 4:30 in the morning the other day it was 94% humidity. Like a fog of heavy air! Then, it got better.

Fishing – Crazy tuna biters! Las Arenas still producing tuna very nicely between 5 – 100 pounds off Muertos Bay, the Arenas lighthouse, the opening of the bay, Punta Perico and the south end of Cerralvo Island. Some fish are fun. Some want to kill you! LOL. Not kidding. Stay hydrated. Have had several folks pretty much keel over from the heat; fighting fish and not drinking enough water (not beer!) WATER!!! All goggle-eyed and delirious cuz their brains were getting friend. Almost had to call the ambulances. Know when to way when!

Catching – Dang, we lost some big tuna over 100 pounds this week. Heartbreaking, especially after long fights and getting the fish close to the boat!

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Yea…this is the right kinda! Jeffrey and Michelle Martin came all the way from Michigan and had just one day to fish and stuck it! Two huge tuna for the coolers out’ve Bahia de los Muertos!

Paul Nagata, is our long-time amigo from San Francisco and tries to fish twice a year in La Paz with the Tailhunter Fleet. He shows off a gorgeous dorado he caught just outside of Bahia de los Muertos near Punta arenas on a live sardine.

Here’s trouble! Captain Armando with Jim Andrews and Terry Hudson after a nice day of fat tuna!

Leif Dover, our Georgia amigo from Atlanta with another nice fish to add to the many he has caught over the year. Roosterfish in the boat then photo’d and released!

Our new Tehachapi CA friends on their first visit to us, Frank and Annette Brooke had a really good first day with tuna and a nice dorado.

Jim Stahlman from Boise, Idaho was joined by brother, Jeff from Pennslyvania and had quite a variety during their week with us including tuna, pargo, cabrilla, and also dorado (not shown) as well as roosterfish (released).

That’s alot of meat! Scott Laughlin from San Diego and dad, Bob, from Arizona with Captain Armando posing with two 70-80 pound class tuna. One was fought for 3 hours and snapped Bob’s new rod!

Adriana Beucler is just 8-years-old from Laguna Niguel CA and joined granddad, Wayne Meriwether for a day on the water and got quite a variety including her two tuna, dorado, pargo and cabrilla that ended up at a delicious dinner that night, according to Grandpa Wayne! Good job, Adriana! Come visit us again!

Captain Pancho looks on with our friends, Mac Treasure and Paul Jordan and a nice start to 3 days of fishing.

Fun folks from Redmond, Oregon, Ryan and Kelsey Williams pose with a couple of their yellowfin tuna.

The man of bronze! Scott Herman with another dorado caught with our Tailhuter La Paz fleet north of the city near Espirito Santo Island.

Great photo of Garrett Admiak and his 56-pound rocket tuna! It was Garrett’s first time fishing with us.

From Pennslyvania, Jeff Stahlman was able to pick up his first roosterfish. Caught and released!

The man in the cool sunglasses, Lolo Bencomo with a double fist of tuna for the cooler.

John Paladino had a big one on that got unbuttoned his first day, but came back on day 2 with this 40-pound class, yellowfin.

With the clouds, it almost looks a bit like Alaska, but it’s Muertos Bay and Dave Sealy and Debbie Omstead are actually from Alaska! Nice tuna to add to their cooler of fish!

Bob Pair has been coming to see us for year since way back in our first days almost 2 decades ago. He got a nice load of yellowfin with Captain Jorge. (more tuna on the table!)

Jamie Moore, one of our visiting firefighters poses with a nice day’s catch of mixed tuna and dorado from Bahia Muertos.

Great eating fish! We’re seeing more pargo lately than normal. Tough fighters, but delicious eating. Note the afternoon storm clouds in the distance. Not uncommon this time of year to get a tropical thundershower or two.

On the iron! Ari Caldavilla from Redondo Beach CA dropped a jig and got inhalded by this hefty yellowfin with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet where we don’t usually see the kind of tuna action we’re getting this year!

Greg West and Rich Pashley stacked ’em up on the beach. Somehow snuck a lone dorado into the pile!

Paul Nagata from San Francisco and Captain Pancho are all smiles with this hefty barred pargo!

It was pretty solid fishing again this past week and tuna left no doubt that they’re going to hog center stage right now.

With our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet the tuna bite continued to charge with fish ranging from a small as 10 pounders up to over 100 pounds. It’s like the tuna never left from last year and we’re just gonna keep riding that horse because these are fun fish…until you tie into one of the gorillas and spend 1, 2 or more hours bent on one of these hog fish.

The thing is, most of this is on lighter tackle of 30-40 pounds. You just never know when the next fish will crush you. In the middle of boiling footballs suddenly a volkswagen yellowfin gulps your little sardine and you’ve got no choice but to hang on. The problem is that if you’re using the heavier stuff…you won’t get bit at all! So, the fish already has an advantage on you!

The fish are in several spots, but you can never tell. There’s a spot at the south end of Cerralvo Island, but they are as close as the drop-off near the Punta Arena lighthouse maybe only ¼ mile offshore. There’s also another spot maybe 100 yards from the beach near Punta Perrico and another close to shore spot just outside of Bahia Muertos before you hit Boca de Alamo. Imagine 50-100 pound fish that close to shore where sometimes you can see the bottom!

The biggest surprise is the tuna showing up en masse for our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. Usually for the La Paz fleets, the dorado are the main characters. Probably 90% of the catch is dorado. However, over the past few weeks tuna have been occasionally showing up in the middle of the dorado.

Well, this past week, the tuna came up boiling. And these were healthy fun 20-30 pound class fish. Not footballs. Also some larger 40 pounders ripping around as well plus we had several folks hooked on freight trains estimate at over 100 pounds!

But, yes, there’s still dorado around. Plus roosterfish up to 70 pounds this past week. Add in some unusual big mullet snapper (pargo liso), some fat cabrilla (seabass) plus snapper and some other species and everyone had stuff to bring home in their ice chests.

The weather was variable all week. Mostly hot and humid. One morning at 4:30 a.m. it was 94% humidity and like a heavy hot fog!!! Most days, rain is predicted, but it’s mostly in the afternooons after everyone is done and localized falling only here and there or enough to mess up your windshield. Then it’s gone.

TAILHUNTER OUTREACH

Want to shout out to everyone these past few weeks who have brought down stuff for our outreach program we’ve had now for 5 years that has produced several tons of donations around the city in an on-going year-long program. All from our Tailhunter Family and Friends finding a little space in their luggage and ice chest for everything from school supplies to shoes and toys to medical and hygiene items.

Regretfully I don’t have photos of everyone the past two weeks, but wanted to share some with you and the smiles they produced including one from a whole soccer team who were beneficiaries of an incredible donation of new uniforms and gear from Len Weaverling. Thank you all!