La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Sept. 16-23, 2018

September 24, 2018 by riplipboy

RAIN STYMIES EARLY WEEK – BUT TUNA ROLL BACK IN

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 16-23, 2018

MEXICAN MINUTE WEEKLY VIDEO REPORT

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN WEEK-AT-A-GLANCE

Weather – It was getting pretty crummy and snotty even before the storm hit us late Tuesday when it started raining and didn’t stop until late Wednesday. So it wasn’t real great at the beginning of the week weather-wise although the fish bit right up to the wind, waves and rain started crashing on our heads.

It wasn’t a hurricane, but it rained or drizzled or misted for over 24 hours. The Port Captain closed down all boat traffic on Wednesday so we couldn’t fish at all.

Temperatures have dropped to the mid-90’s, but humidity is still up. I measure 92% on morning at 5 a.m. and 88% humidity one night at midnight! STICKY! LOL

Water – I’m never sure how the waters will be after a storm as it can really be messed up. It was choppy and rough before the storm hit. After the storm, it was a little off, but not as bad as it might have been. Fish were still hungry

FISHING – Tuna still center-stage from footballs up to 100 pounders. They bit right up to the storm. After the storm, they took about a day or two to get up to speed again, but then it picked up again.

Biggest surprise was all the tuna that showed up just outside of La Paz Bay where the fish foamed. So, we had tuna hitting at both Las Arenas/ Muertos as well as La Paz!

CATCHING – Everyone who wanted fish to bring home had fish. But most of the larger tuna busted off…and busted up some of our anglers who ended up with sore backs, shoulders and arms!

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST OF THE STORY…

With Captain Jorge, Dave, Tony and dad, Felix Basadre from Long Beach pulled this hefty dog-tooth snapper out’ve the rocks! Great catch!

Chris Hutto…yes, you made the fishing report, Bro! From Colorado, Chris got in on the tuna explosion just outside La Paz Bay that surprised everyone and resulted in this 60-pound class yellowfin!

Captain Armando cranks out another big tuna with Steve and Ivy Carey. Check out the all the other fish on the table too! They’re from Marysville CA near Sacramento.

That’s a big rooster! Dennis Wenholz and Captain Pancho were just off the rocks near Punta Perico when Dennis whacked this 80-pound class roosterfish. They fish swam off strong after being released!

That’s the right kind! Dan Lewis from Lancaster started off his week right with this power rocket yellowfin tuna that he fought for almost an hour on light tackle just off the beach.

Our newest Washington friends, Clint and Gloria Carey (married over 50 years and still fishing buddies!) and some of their fat yellowfin.

With ominous storm clouds brewing in the background that would shut us down early in the week, John Ehlers (visits us several times a year) watches Dennis Wenholz with another tuna!

Andrew Suedkamp from Denver pulled out his flyrod the first day and whacked about a half-dozen species including this feisty bonito! Andrew brought his whole gang of 16 from Ground Engineering Consultants for 3 days on the water. Great group!

A double handful of dorado just before the storm hits for Art Sanchez from Victorville CA. They got in 3 good days of fishing before the weather arrived.

Two fun amigos from Oregon! Back to visit us is Marty Sering who came along with buddy, Mat Large with two of their tuna from Punta Arenas.

Elvin “EL” Momon was great fun to have visit us this week on his first fishing trip to La Paz and poses here with two of his yellowfin tuna.

Great colors on Ivy Carey’s bull dorado just at the mouth of Muertos Bay. Headed for dinner at Tailhunter Restaurant.

Phil Rachal has known us since way back in the day, almost 20 years ago and his first day knocked out these quality yellowfin tuna. He’s from W. Sacramento CA.

Nothing wrong with this tuna! Great colors and a smile from Mir Wong from San Diego.

I love this photo!! It’s kinda self-explanatory! John Ehlers and Dennis Wenholz having a ball!

Ivy Carey looks a bit tired after battling this yellowfin tuna just a few hundred yards off the point. Posing here with Captain Armando.

Big smiles . Captain Jorge and Clint Carey from Washington with 4 nice models of tuna!

Good shot! Good tuna. Craig Wong from San Diego with another YFT!

Colorado in the house! Tuna and dorado for Joe Zorack and Aaron Klingsworth.

Captain Gerardo shows give Debbie Omstead a hand with her big yellowfin tuna. Dave Sealy looks on. They’re from Alaska and even Dave noted how rough the waters got before the storm hit us.

Good way to start the week for Brian Hudson and Andrew Suedkamp and some football yellowfin!

Good-bye summer and hello to the fall!

What a week!

We’ve had an excellent bite for the last few weeks, especially on tuna so when the forecast said we might have a “little rain” we expected that usual afternoon localized showers of short duration or the occasional little thunder and lightning cloudburst.

What we got instead wasn’t a hurricane or anything that dramatic. But we got almost 2 days of wetness that included heavy rain or drizzle that just never stopped! We have had hurricanes in the past with lashing torrential rain that might last 4 of 5 hours…and then it’s done!

But at one point this week it rained for about 27 hours! We were telling our Oregon and Washington clients that they brought their weather from the Pacific Northwest down here. We also had some strong gusts of wind and some big seas to go along with it!

It didn’t do us any favors for fishing although the desert has exploded with green everywhere and flowers are in full bloom!

Even as the storm approached the fish kept biting, but then well…it became just too rough and the port captain even shut down all boat traffic and that was it for us . We had to keep everyone on shore for a day. No fishing.

That always worries me because you never know what a storm will do to the waters and the fishing. Will the waters be dirty? Will there be a lot of runoff? Will there be a lot of debris in the water? What about water temps and bait? Lots of variables!

Well, we hit the water on Thursday and while fishing wasn’t up to par, we still got into fish. Much better than I anticipated. By Friday, we were back on our game for the most part. With each passing day away from the storm, the tuna came back harder. The dorado were more willing to bite. Just overall better fishing.

The tuna bite has generally been mostly with our Taihunter Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fleet all season. Fish between 10 and 100 pounds have been the general rule and it’s been very very good for about a month. Mixed with dorado, pargo, cabrilla and a few other species, it’s been solid.

But the big surprise this week was with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet!

Out’ve La Paz Bay, most of the fishing is dorado fishing. Probably 90% of the catch is dorado. It’s the “honey hole” for mahi mahi! Well, this season we’ve little jags of tuna here and there. Pretty surprising all by itself and a nice bonus. But, this past week, we had entire areas bust loose with boiling, foaming tuna! Fish between 20 and 60 pound just blasting out’ve the water and slamming every bait tossed in the water! Friday this past week was especially explosive! In 23 years down here ,I’ve never seen so many tuna!

Hope it continues. We might get s’more showers this week, but nothing major like this last week where the first 3 days of the week were pretty much in the dumps because of weather.

Air temps are cooling. Most day only in the mid-90’s. However, the humidity has been incredible! One morning at 5 a.m. when we were sending out our fishermen it was 92% humidity. One evening at midnight it was 88% humidity!