LOCALS REMAIN HOPEFUL

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of April 30-May 6, 2020

MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Although no one is allowed to be Sportfishing, if there’s a bright side to the quarantine which is set through May 30th, is that we’re witnessing Mother Nature on the rebound. As we have seen throughout many places in the world, the absence of a human presence has demonstrated a remarkable change in wildlife and the environment.

Local waters and skies have been among the clearest that many people can remember. Trash on the beaches has disappeared.

There are reports of baitfish and sportfish showing up in numbers, locations and sizes that we haven’t seen in a long time. The variety has been incredible. Inshore rock and reef fish like pargo, yellowtail and amberjack are crashing shallow water baits like sardines, ballyhoo and mackerel. Yellowtail have even been seen in the marinas. Big roosterfish are cruising the beaches, but also schools of the roosters are right on the malecon where normally thousands of people are walking and driving every day. Dorado schools with fish up to 30 and 40 pounds are wondering where everyone went. Tuna over 100 pounds are at the islands. Add in jack crevalle, sierra, bonito, cabrilla and others and it’s great to see.

I can only say that when we finally kick off the season, things should be super hopefully with big hungry fish!

Among so many complaints we are hearing these days is that there’s NO BEER! Although there aren’t any real shortages of mechandise in the markets, one noticeable space on the shelves is the beer aisle. Because breweries like Modelo (makers of Corona and many other brands) as well as Tecate (which also brews and distributes a number of brands), were labeled as non-essential businesses, they were shut down.

So, like toilet paper in the U.S., beer has become a crisis item. People hoarded it at the beginning. Now, if any shows up on the shelves, it quickly disappears. Markets are jacking the prices up to 300% of normal retail. As well, an illegal closet industry of people selling beer from their homes, online like Facebook, or out’ve the trunks of their cars has sprung up.

Because so many people were ignoring the quarantine, the governor has changed the curfew from 10 p.m. to 8 p.m.  No one out after that hour.  No more food sales allowed.  Any businesses that defy the rules (as many were) are subject to 17,000 pesos fines.

ONE OF OUR OWN!

Our Don Hugo! Good friend and gentleman is in the hospital.
Although La Paz has relatively few cases of the virus among more than 150,000 residents one of our Tailhunter Team members is now hospitalized.

If you’ve gone to fish with our Tailhunter Fleet at Bahia Muertos/ Las Arenas you were probably driven in our van by Hugo. He’s a great fun guy and a big favorite of our fishermen and their families. Always smiling and he’s been an incredible part of our team.

Since the shutdown, Hugo has been working picking up odd-jobs as a carpenter which was his trade when he lived in the U.S. He started to show symptoms about 2 weeks ago and is now hospitalized in serious condition with the virus.

Our prayers and best wishes are with our amigo. If there’s a bright spot, it’s that we’re glad he’s in La Paz which has some of the best medical care in the state and the best facilities for handling the disease.

Hugo getting clowned by Captain Gerardo.