ROOSTERS AND DORADO RUN THE SHOW!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of
July 1-7 ,2019
WEEK at a GLANCE
Water – Calming down and getting bluer and warmer. Surface temp about 80 degrees. Colder thermocline 30-60 feet down drops another 5-15 degrees. Still choppy some days especially in the mornings.
Weather – Consistently highs in the mid-90’s and nighttime cools to mid-70’s. Feels warmer some days, but then the afternoon breeze cools things down. Very tropical
Wind – Mostly better than other weeks. Calming down hopefully. Did have one day at Las Arenas/ Muertos where a baby storm went through and made it tough to go out for about an hour or so, but then it blew out and the folks got out on the water. We just waited it out.
Fishing – Lots of variety, but more of the warm water-water fish like dorado becoming more prominent. No wahoo, but fish caught this week included lots of big roosterfish (Las Arenas); dorado (La Paz); pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle, skipjack, bonito, amberjack, pompano, yellowtail, palometa, snapper, baja grouper, marlin, sailfish.
Fish Scale of 1-10: A solid 6
MEXICAN MINUTE WEEKLY VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE AND THE REST of the STORY…
Captain Gerardo gives Erik Foraker from Washington a hand with a big roosterfish caught and released off Punta Arenas. The fish was released and 3 were caught that day off the panga.
Mike and Jacquiline Aguilar caught 3 big roosterfish including this beast on a single day. All fish were released.
Miles and Sydney Wagner with big-time bull dorado there at Bahia Muertos staying at their dad, Gary’s place at Rancho Costa.
One of my favorite photos of the week. Captain Jorge gives a thumbs-up to Will’s big roosterfish. Will is from Denver and released the fish.
That’s alot of fish for an 11-year-old, but Levi Moore from Encinitas CA did the job on this big roosterfish then took the photo and let it go to swim strong!
Our buddy who never stops smiling! Rick Kasper has a handful if dorado for the camera then the grill. Rick is a hunting guide and TV personality in Wyoming and Arizona.
Just off the beach, Anabel, holds up a pretty roosterfish for the camera before letting it go.
And another roosterfish for Erik and captain Gerardo doing the great photo-bomb for the camera!
Deno and Mark Buchanan with the big tuna of the week hooked off Cerralvo Island.
Beautiful and rarely caught Baja Grouper or Golden Grouper taken by Vern Marschall who spent the week with us and fished two days . He caught this one off Espirito Santo Island.
The roosterfish is almost bigger than Jacqueline!
Colorful shot and another rooster on deck for Eric Ryan who released the fish.
Headed back to the hotel grill with two legit dorado, Jason Wagner took these fish working that area just outside of Bahia Muertos.
Big smile for Nick Gatelein with his first roosterfish at dawn off Las Arenas. Good way to start your day!
Incredible colors on this big dorado caught by Anabel not far off the rocks at Punta Perrico.
The tired satisfaction of besting a big fish is evident on our buddy, Ed Mitoma, who finally got his big roosterfish then realeased it . He also had another one on the line that got away. Punta Arenas in the background.
Another one for the camera! Levi Moore was on a roll with another roosterfish caught-and-released.
All the way from Kansas, Lilly Korbach, has a pretty smile for a pretty jack crevalle. She was staying at Rancho Costa there in Bahia Muertos.
1..2..3…LIFT! It’s a handful for 14-year-old Seth Moore and his big rooster almost as long as he is tall! Despite it’s looks, the fish swam off strongly upon release.
From Paso Robles, CA and on his first venture with Tailhunter Sportfishing, Scott McGuire put quite a few dorado like this on the hook.
Kris Korbach poses another big one for the camera shot then quickly released the big roosterfish.
That is one giant needlefish! Andy Lauber from New Orleans took this beast.
Weather was a little more agreeable this past week although we had one bit of a bump. We caught a lot of different species again as well including: snapper, pargo, jack crevalle, pompano, marlin, sailfish, several types of bonito, yellowtail, tuna and others. However, the hotshots this week all came down pretty much to two species: Dorado and roosterfish.
Pompano still biting. Jacqueline Aguilar does the honors.
First day out…first day on the water…first marlin! Andrew Tawaroski from Florida with Captain Gerardo . Andrew released the pretty fish.
Jules caught this football tuna off Bahia Muertos.
DORADO
For the most part, this is the time of year when we should be swarming with dorado. However, this year started pretty sluggishly with these warm-water species as waters have been taking their time getting warmer and no thanks to the pestering cool winds that have plagued us for months.
But, it seems like the fishing is finding it’s stride.
There are still patches of cold green water. There are still erratic currents that push the bite and the baits off the mark. But, this past week it was a lot more consistent although still not fully up-to-speed. Nevertheless we saw more and larger dorado in the counts, especially for our Tailhunter La Paz fleet that fishes north from the city towards Espirito Santo Island and around Punta Coyote and Punta Mejia.
Those areas not only produced some great shallow-water fishing for the pargo, cabrilla, amberjack and snapper, but the shallows also produced dorado without having to go too far off or venturing to some of the other high spots or finding floating sargasso weed the dorado could also be found.
What a great shot and check the colors of Lauren and her dorado off Espirito Santo Island. Great smile too!
It wasn’t full turbo and not every panga caught fish every day, but over-all pretty consistent on the dorado. It could be a day of picking off a fish here-and-there all day. It could be a day where one panga found the dorado and the boat next to it couldn’t buy a bite. It could be a day where it was slow for hours then all heck-breaks-loose in a frenzy of action…then it dies. Just no way to tell.
That’s the right kind! Bull dorado headed for the fish box for Andy Lauber from New Orleans. Check out the flat ocean behind him! Like glass.
You could run into a school of firecracker-sized dinks or a group of larger bigger fish. Or, it could be one big fish of the day. But, the dorado are definitely around.
You don’t have to go far for bluewater sportfishing here! Eric Ryan caught this pretty dorado right off the rocky cliffs of Espirito Santo Island in shallow water.
ROOSTERFISH
The bigger story continues to be the roosterfish.
As one of our guys told me,
“I’ve never seen so many roosterfish in one spot. We were hooked on two of them but others that looked like giants were boiling right next to the panga. We could have caught all we wanted all day long if our arms held out!
Firs roosterfish for Taryn Mitoma! Punta Arenas beach in the background. Taryn did a great job in releasing the fish.
In all my years here, I have never seen this kind of rooster season. We are catching and releasing as many fish in one week as we might catch in several months of fishing.
One more rooster! Seth and Levi Moore!
Fish are running 10-70 pounds and actually schooling in big groups and boiling on the surface in feeding frenzies! Anglers coming down to just catch one fish for the bucket list end up hanging 2 or 3 in a single day and losing others.
“I fought two roosterfish for almost an hour each and that was it! It was still early and I wanted to back to the beach. If we never caught another fish the rest of the week, those two fish made my trip. Seeing them swim away was awesome!”
Will from Denver holds up another one for the camera.
He’ll grow up to be a monster! Nick Gatelein on deck at sunrise .
Pretty much all the fish are getting released and they’re really close to shore in shallow water. Using mostly the large 12-inch ladyfish for bait, some of the battles are lasting well near an hour-or-more and exhausting anglers, especially first-timers having fun, but not used to the strain these big fish can put on arms, backs, legs and fingers!
“I finally got the roosterfish off my bucket list. But, I paid the price. A big blister on my finger and sore arms. Never thought a fish could be so strong. Great time!”
Mike Aguilar has another!
Right on top of the rocks! Vern holds up his rooster.
Almost all of these fish are being caught by our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet and the fish are scattered from the Punta Arenas lighthouse down to Boca de Alamo then also around Espirito Santo Island.
Of note, at the beginning of the week we did have a “torito” (small bull) hit around our Las Arenas area. While La Paz stayed flat calm, when our boats at Muertos Bay were ready to go out, suddenly the torito hit which is essentially a small localized wind/rainstorm almost like a baby hurricane. They come out’ve nowhere with no warning. It whips the winds and waves and no one could get off the beach.
But, they can blow over quickly. We kept everyone in the vans and decided to wait it out rather tha come back to town. Surely enough, about 90 minutes later the winds died and, although the waters remained choppy, our anglers finally got out on the water. Fishing was less than stellar, but fortunately, the big roosterfish stuck around!
That’s my story!
Jonathan & Jilly
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.”
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