La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 18-25, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Jason and Gina MIller visiting us for the first time got in one day of fishing and found a few dorado willing to bite! They’re from Shiner TX.
Tracy Patek and Captain Armando have a dorado and some nice smiles on the beach!
NIck Jordan admires a double-handful or La Paz dorado!
Honestly, not alot going on for fishing this past week. Most of the focus was on the huge Baja 1000 off-road race that hit town for the first time in several years. Town was packed with teams, fans, international travelers and lots and lots of off-road vehicles of every description. Good luck finding hotel rooms, restaurants seats and even parking spaces were at a premium. By all accounts, it was a huge success for the event and for the economy of La Paz still recovering from the last 2 years.
As for fishing, there were a few here and there. Weather was mostly sunny, but some days were quite windy and rough so just-as-well that we didn’t have many folks on the water.
Most of our anglers were just one-time folks looking for a singular day on the water. Some were related to the race teams or fans. Most were folks in town for one-reason-or-another. It’s off-season right now and, unlike our regular season when we’re packed with fishermen, most folks aren’t in town for fishing as their primary reason.
So, it was somewhat hit-or-miss on the fishing.
When there aren’t many folks on the water, it’s hard to know where the fish are located since there aren’t several dozen boats scattered around the ocean fishing different areas. Also, since it can be windy and rough, it’s often difficult to find live bait and to get to certain fishing spots.
That being said, we still ran into a few dorado here and there. Most were about the 10-pound class. There’s some big bonito willing to pull lines as well as pargo, snapper, cabrilla and thankfully a few days when the sierra bit really nicely. Some boats did better than others. Just the way it is this time of year.
Looks like most of this coming week will be extremely windy with even a possibility chance of rain. We’ll see. Things change rapidly. By the time you are reading this, it may have changed again!
Hope you are having a very special and blessed Thanksgiving holidays!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 11-17, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
The BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Randy Shue brought his group from Montclair for two days of fishing and did pretty well on a variety of fish but surprisingly well on the dorado this late in the season.
Go figure. I guess there’s still some billfish around. Haven’t seen any in a few weekd, but Christian Espinoza was with Captain Pancho and hooked this striper.
It’s been more than a decade since John Jordan fished with us (left) but had a terrific day with the dorado and pal Milo Crowley.
…and yes a wahoo the same day for Christian! A fat one! One of the rare ones this year.
Nick Jordan on his first time on the ocean and first time in La Paz came down with our long-time amigo…and his dad…Richard and got into some nice dorado!
And a dorado too! Almost as colorful as his shorts.
Dorado up-close-and-personal. A bunch of it ended up on the table at our Tailhunter Sea Level Restaurant for dinner.
More dorado and this time some great – eating cabrilla (seabass)
Contrary to what I’ve been saying the last week or two, maybe the warm-water season isn’t quite over yet! The strong cold northern winds that had started to plague us for several weeks making for rough waters and difficult fishing, gave us a reprieve for a few days and made for some decent fishing and catching!
It was still a bit breezy, but while fishing wasn’t spectacular, it was a whole lot better than we expected or what I had predicted. Surprisingly good numbers of 10-15 pound dorado were willing to bite and apparently have not yet left the area. Live bait was the best bet and having the weather calm-down allowed the bait guys to get sardines. Most boats got 2-5 dorado each with other fish lost.
Additionally, there were even a few marlin, wahoo and the occasional tuna around. These are all fish I would have told you two weeks ago, have left the area. Especially tuna which never really even showed up this year.
In addition to the aforementioned species, the inshore areas continued to be productive for snapper, pargo, cabrilla, triggerfish, several species of bonito and jack crevalle as well as amberjack and palometas. It made for some good action. Overall, just a nice week to have been on the water. Some boats did better than others, but usually it could change the next day depending on conditions.
WHALESHARK SEASON FINALLY OPENED
After almost 6 weeks of waiting, authorities finally opened up the whaleshark season. Normally, the season run October 1 thought the end of April, but Covid restrictions curtailed the season the last 2 years. The gentle animals have been there in the shallow waters of the bay. It’s just that it was prohibited to swim with them.
As it is, captains of watercraft taking folks out to the animals, must have special permits and attend special classes in order to obtain those permits. Guide services and captains have been chomping at the bit to get folks in the water. Understandably, it’s a popular activity and folks come from all over the world to have the opportunity to participate.
This past week, there were anywhere from 5 to over a dozen of these “baby” whalesharks up to about 15′ long. The problem, at times is that too many folks want to get in the water with too few animals. Only 5 persons are allowed in the water per whaleshark so as not to intrude too much on the animals while they feed on plankton.
Therefore, swimmers often have to wait for time slots in order to get in the water which sometimes can take several hours. Plus, there’s no tellng how many animals will be present on any given day or how long they will stay around or show up. So, there’s no guarantees.
Still, it’s quite an experience to get in the water with these gentle babies. Their parents can grow to over 50′ long! Hopefully the season wil remain open as usual.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 3-7, 2021
The Mexican Minute Video Report
The Big Picture and the Rest of the Story…
When you only have one day to fish and you do pretty well…John Fergione with dad (John) and son (John)! Doardo and others posing on the beach at Muertos!
Great shot of first-timer Hysby Rodriguez from Glendale CA with a smiling Captain Arcangel and another of her dorado for the fish box.
Taky and Marlene Kikuchi had a few nice days on the water before the winds came up.
Not much to crow about lately. Things can be summed up pretty easily.
Winds are up. Waves are bigger. Air temps cooling. Fishermen are down and snowbirds increasing.
That’s kind of it in a nutshell. Not many folks fishing or even on the water this past week as winter winds grow stronger from the north and cool things down. It’s still nice to be out on the beach or hang at the pool with lots of sunshine, exactly what the snowbirds are here for. The thermometer is pretty long with daytime temps in the mid to high 80’s and night time temps drop to a cool (for us) 63 degrees. However, other than that, it hasn’t been a great time to be fishing.
There are still some nice days to be out. You just have to pick your spots.
The few fishermen we’ve had out found the catch to be erratic at best. Some boats dinked around for a scratch of dorado or rockfish at best. Others hit a few spots and did better with a variety of mostly inshore species like pargo, pompano, palometa, sierra, cabrilla and roosterfish. If lucky, maybe even few holdover dorado. It’s quite a mixed bag as we transition to cooler-water fishing.
Alot, of course, depends on the live bait situation. If the winds are waves are big, then it’s hard for the bait guys to get into the shallows to get live bait. Also, with the diminished number of anglers, economically, it makes no sense for the bait guys to go out at night or the mornings when they know there won’t be any or many fishermen to buy bait come sun up.
LATE BREAK NEWS…
Just as I was posting this up, some tuna have shown up of Punta Perrico. Not many, but a small jag of them!
BUSY TOWN FOR BAJA 1000
After a hiatus, the Baja 1000 is back and will concluded in La Paz this year. The dates are Nov. 15-20th and town is already filling up with teams and cars. Honest. If you didn’t get a hotel rooms months ago, you could easily be sleeping on the beach or in your rental car!
The internationally famous race starts up in Ensenada cars will roll through some of the most challenging terrain on the planet. Hopefully, in one piece in La Paz. Lots of cars don’t make it! Just finishing is a challenge.
Folks will line the dirt course throughout La Paz and town will be full with lots of parties and roaring cars. Good to have them back!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 24-Nov. 2, 2021
THE MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Long-time friends of Tailhunter from Oregon, Bob and Fran Handegard spent a few days fishing with us and really did well. Take a look at the rack of dorado, palometa and pargo!
Crazy tuna! We’ve literally caught almost zero tuna this year, but Tak and Marlene Kikuchi from Los Angeles were with Captain Pancho trolling Rapalas trying to catch a bonito for bait (since there was no live bait that day) in the shallows in front of Boca de Alamo when they got slammed by these two 40-pound class yellowfin. Pretty good on the dorado as well!
Yes, amazingly, there are still some roosterfish hanging out, Big smiles from Catherine Bennett who caught this pretty fish just outside of Muertos Bay. The fish was released. Catherine is from Washington.
First-timer luck? Hysby Ramirez did pretty darned good with big dorado, snapper, pargo, cabrilla and big triggerfish!
Birthday dorado! Bill Smith from Santa Cruz CA spent his birthday with us in La Paz visiting us for the first time and put this nice bull in the boat just north of La Paz.
Armando gives Grant Nakagawa a hand for the dorado photo.
Quite a variety for Marlene and husband Taky of great eating fish including lots of pargo, cabrilla, snapper, palometa and dorado!
Ron gives Dan and Keith, both first timers with their dorado. Good to have the guys visiting. They were lots of fun.
From Washington, J.D. Fouts got his first roosterfish just off Punta Perrico with live bait. J.D. was able to release the fish after the photo.
Captain Armando with Juli and Grant before putting the fillets on ice with a nice variety for the day .
Good to see long-time amigo, John McVay from Lake Havasu AZ with his favorite Captain Jorge.
There are always feisty bonito to tear up the lines for some fun! Jennifer and J.S. show off a couple of these tough fighters .
More fish for the freezer! A good day for Henry and Hysby. Henry took some of the snapper home whole for some great eating. Both live in Glendale CA. Henry has been with us many times over the years, but it was Hysby’s first time and Henry says she outfished him!
It was an up-and-down week for fishing in La Paz. At best.
Some boats do better than others. Some days are better than other days. Live bait is getting harder to find.
It’s clear that the season has definitely changed and we’ve moved into the transition towards cooler temperatures, windier days and nights and rougher seas. It’s a trend that will continue into the winter months.
We are definitely seeing fewer fishermen understandably and we consider November to April our off-season when there honestly are very few people on the water due to the erratic water and weather conditions. For instance, there are days this coming week when I’m glad we do not have any fishermen scheduled as the winds will be blowing up to 20 knots from the north.
No question, the sun is out and it’s very pleasant to be in town. Crowds are down as we approach the holidays, but the visitors now are mostly snowbirds escaping from colder climates.
However for fishing, it’s changing with the season. There are still warm water species around. In fact, some legit-sized 20-30 pound class dorado can still be caught as well as some stray sailfish and marlin. We even hooked a few rare tuna this weekend that were 40 pound sluggers. We haven’t seen much tuna or wahoo at all this year which is unusual and I pretty much wrote off both species this season. However, it’s been a great year for dorado, billfish and yes…even roosterfish are still around as well.
But these fish are getting harder to find so the bite on the warm water species is diminishing rapidly.
With the changing water, more focus is on the inshore and cooler water species like pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle, snapper, triggerfish and grouper. We did hook a few of those big dog-tooth snapper in the rocks, but all the fish broke off. You know that any fish that can eat a whole bonito has to be huge! But, stopping them is another story.
Bonito and jacks rounded out the catch this week. With rougher water, live bait is getting more difficult to obtain and that’s a big key to where and how we fish and ultimately what we catch as well.
2022 BOOKINGS STARTING TO FILL
Dates for 2022 already filling!
It’s only November, but many of our 2022 dates are starting to fill up. In fact, some dates are already sold out with reservations coming in daily. Don’t wait. Get in touch with me so we can get you set up. My direct e-mail is Jonathan@tailhunter.com. Especially if you want certain captains or hotel rooms, get in touch with me! We don’t want to miss you or disappoint you!
Tailhunter Fish Report 