La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of Sept 8-15, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
They only had ONE day to fish! Tim and his amigo, Adam, hooked FIVE marlin with several on simultaneously and awesomely RELEASED all of them but brought home an ice chest full of pargo, cabrilla and snapper.
New amigos visiting for the first time, David Marin and Kristin Robles from El Monte CA pose with a hefty rooster for a quick photo and release.
With clouds from Hurricane Olaf bearing down on them in the background, Garry Coles from Washington put this nice bull dorado on the deck before a mad dash back to the marina!
Duane Marlatt told me his arm was sore after more than an hour battling his first marlin just north of the city. Duane is from Colorado on his first visit to us.
Our first big dog-tooth snapper in awhile in the hands of another of our first time new amigos, Jeremiah Page from Oregon. Great eating!
In almost 30 years working for us, Captain Arkangel is rarely seen smiling in a photo, but he’s got a good one for Tim Larson and his marlin. Great shot. Several other billfish were released that day.
One of the best anglers to visit us SEVERAL times a year, Mark Bonsack from Washington got one of the few wahoo we’ve seen this year on a Rapala.
Art Flippin has been fishing with us for years, but made a last-minute trip down and started off with several dorado like this one out’ve Bahia Muertos with Captain Armando.
Captain Pancho lends a hand with a big rooster that Brad Bennett caught who came to visit us from Montana. The rooster was released.
Al and Jeanne Jones from Idaho with one of their favorite captains, Rogelio Camacho and a day of dorado headed for the fillet table.
Brett Bleichrodt from Denver was able to squeeze in one last day of fishing and put the wood to this nice roosterfish before releasing it. Those are storm clouds from Hurricane Olaf darkening the background sky. Shortly after, they were running for the beach.
Captain Pancho is trying to help Claire Olson with his marlin and strike an unusual pose! Claire’s first fishing trip with us and good to have him down. They released two billfish that day.
First time visiting us and first time fishing on salt water, Nicole gets an assist from Captain Pancho on a legit roosterfish before letting it swim away. Nice job!
Only one day to fish, but Tim and Adam stacked the cooler with some of the best eating fish including big cabrila, snapper, and several species of pargo.
Captain Victor and Jermey and Deanna Page with a big sailfish he caught as well as a dorado. The Page’s came to see us from Oregon and it was their first time in La Paz.
Two of the fun and funniest folks whenever they visit. Eric has a fish on the line while Starr Jenkins is trying to pose with one on the gaff. The Jenkins are from Temecula CA. They also released several billfish while fishing with us.
Check out the flat calm waters one day AFTER Hurricane Olaf! John Holty and Captain Jorge with a quick photo of a striped marlin before releasing it.
A great photo of a larger bull dorado! David Marin hooked this good-looking mahi just outside of Bahia Muertos.
MIch Nekota with his first marlin with Greg Saubolle while fishing with Captain Victor. They also released another billfish. They donated a majority of the fish to the community.
These guys had too much fun the week they were with us. Brandon Mauch and Garry Coles spent one day just light tackle fishing in the rocks. They caught and released 17 roosterfish!
Great shot! From Lincoln City, Oregon, Joe Barnard has another roosterfish for the camera before a quick release.
Noah Lauby and Dennis Gayman tag-teamed this marlin with Captain Armando off Las Arenas. Most of the meat was donated.
All the way from Australia via South Africa, Andrew MacKay is a professional hunting guide in 5 countries, but got in a quick last-minute visit to us to jump on some dorado with Captain Armando.
Ben Daniels fishing inshore got his first roosterfish for a fast photo then release before Hurricane Olaf barreled in and they had to dash for the beach. Clouds looming in the background. Ben is from Colorado.
I lost count how many roosters Mark and Nicole released, but he always takes great photos! That’s the sand of Las Arenas Point just behind them. Check the flat waters one day after the hurricane!
Amberjack in September? Also big triggerfish, pargo, snapper and cabrilla headed for the ice chest for Garry and Brandon who work together doing cancer research.
Our bite was really doing well. Dorado had picked up noticeably with more and bigger fish for both our Tailhunter Las Arenas and Tailhunter La Paz fleet. In fact, it was some of the best bite we had seen in weeks. Marlin and sailfish continued to surprise many of our anglers, especially on light tackle who were fishing for dorado or other smaller species then suddenly find themselves fighting a billfish!
A few tuna and wahoo even popped up and inshore fishing for huge triggerfish, as well as pargo, cabrilla, snapper, jack crevalle, and of course, big bonito kept everyone bent.
Then, out’ve nowhere, Hurricane Olaf came roaring in.
We had been watching it for several days come north towards us, but all of the computer models showed it barely brushing the Baja Peninsula then taking a sharp left and heading out to sea. It’s what many storms do at this time. Maybe some wind. Maybe a tad bit of rain. We can usually expect some larger swells or waves. Overall pretty benign. It’s what Nora, Marty and Kevin did last month. Not really anything big.
Olaf was expected to do the same.
The morning of Sept. 9, we sent out our boats and fishermen like normal. Seas were calm. It was dark but the skies were clear and stars were easily visible. A beautiful morning!
About 8 a.m., all of that changed.
Olaf made a strange right turn and instead of going out, it made a missile path right over Baja and right over La Paz!
Beautifully scary. Olaf made a surprising turn into Baja.
Time to bring all the boats back to shore FAST!
Literally without warning, huge black (not dark) clouds rolled in with giant cracks of thunder and lighting and it was like someone started dumping buckets of water on La Paz. There was no drizzle ahead of time. The skies just started opening up. I’m not kidding when I tell you that people were suddenly running like crazy for shelter. Joggers and bikers were suddenly dashing to find cover. Construction workers were jumping off scaffolds to escape the downpour. Cars were swerving trying to dodge the people and boats in the bay were full throttle to get back to the port or beach.
No one was prepared for what hit us.
Here comes Olaf!
Olaf turned into a pretty furious Category 2 hurricane with winds up to 90 mph and gusts to 150 mph. 12-15 inches of rain in less than a day.
It took about a day and one night to blow through and left huge floods; swirling arroyos and broken trees and signs everywhere. Many were left without electricity, water and phones for 1-3 days. Fortunately, no injuries were reported.
Lots of flooded streets!
12-15 inches of rain and gusts of wind over 100 mph.
Normally, this is a street!
Airports had no power so were closed. Most flights got cancelled so folks got stuck unable to leave. On the other end, folks trying to fly down to us couldn’t get on their flights to fly in.
Obviously no fishing to the disappointment of many who watched Olaf’s craziness from indoors.
Adios Olaf!
Then, just like that…OLAF was gone. Sun came out. Wind disappeared. Seas turned to glass. Usually, after a storm it takes several days for things to clean up.
And the fishing bounced back pretty nicely right away. We sent out lots of fishermen immediately and I was surprised by the action. Marlin…sailfish…dorado…seemed just as willing as the anxious fishermen! The next few days will give us a better reading. At this time, we’ll need a few more days to make a better assessment, but all indications are that things cleared up pretty fast!
Tailhunter Fish Report 
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