La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 18-24, 2022
THE MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Our long-time amigo from Camarillo CA has another big-head bull dorado to put in the box. Note the clouds, but flat seas.
Big smile…Raleigh Inglis fishing off Espirito Santo Island with some mahi fillets for dinner.
Idaho John Stevenson fishing just off La Ventana got an early morning dorado to put in the box.
I’m always teasing Roger that he doesn’t smile enough when he’s fishing! With Captain Rogelio in La Paz Bay.
Jeff Inglis with a fresh mahi coming over the rail!
Shiloah and Pete Wilson had a good day on the water!
Shelton Donnell looks a big disheveled after battling a tough jack crevalle, but he’s been fishing with us for decades and he’s always up for the fight. His 2nd trip this year from Portland.
It was another decent week of fishing overall except for two things that made it different. Once again, dorado were the mainstay of the bite with fish running 5 to 15 pounds on the average and conditions being mostly hot and humid.
However, the week had a few bumps in terms of the weather. We did have a couple of those little baby tropical rainstorms blow through that really kicked it up. Not that we don’t need some rain, but when it rains down here, it really rains. Flooding is not unusual.
Often, these storms are not on the weather radar. With all the heat, they suddenly just build into a big weather conditions.
Usually, it’s sporadic and isolated. For example it can rain in one spot, but 200 yards away it’s dry. It can rain for 10 minutes solid or an hour solid, then the sun comes blazing out. If it happens while you’re on the water, you need to either come back in and hunker down for a bit and let it pass or, if possible, at least drive to a spot where it’s not raining.
We had one day, when one of these storms raced up and it was big enough to chase all the boats off the water. These things are to be expected this time of year. At least (so far), none of these has been a hurricane. Just alot of wind and rain.
The other thing that happened is that there was a noticeable downtick in the number of fishermen on the water and folks in town. This is the bit of slowdown during the season when many families and fishermen are ending summer vacations. Kids are going back to school. Parents have family things to attend to like football and other school or athletic-related activities. So, while fishing remains good, the crowds are diminishing.
Although dorado are the central focus because they are numerous, we also hooked a few striped marlin plus rounded out catches with bonito, jack crevalle, small roosterfish, cabrilla and snapper.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug 10-17, 2022
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Just another good day on the water! Joni and John Stevenson from Idaho with some fish for the freezer!
Kyle Alexander, first time fishing with us and Captain Jorge, hooked two of these striped marlin and released them both. Really well done! On light tackle at that! Cerralvo Island in the background .
Jeanne Cabales from San Diego is always fun to have visit. Check out her two dorado and the rest of the catch sitting on the transom behind her .
Pete Wilson got two of these mahi on the flyrod as well as bonito and took several on bait.
The Blisses just had one day to fish and Captain Jorge put them on some nice dorado.
Long time Tailhunter amigo who has been fishing with us for about 20 years sometimes twice a year, Darrell Manginelli always gets into the fish. Another good day of dorado fishing here with some big mahi on the cleaning table. Darrell is from Camarillo CA .
Brothers Greg and Wade Gomes from Oregon and Nevada respectively have fished with us for years and got in 3 solid days on the dorado schools and topped it with their last day and a box full of bulls.
Mark Alexander from Sacramento CA was visiting us for the first time. He poses with one of his many dorado he caught over 3 days.
Kevin Ritchie from Galt CA finally got down to us and poses with a few of his dorado ready for the cleaning table.
Captain Victor with Elsie Mulcare from Pendleton OR who is pretty happy with her dorado. Looks like husband Kevin in the background might have another on the line.
Big smiles from Joni Stevenson posing on the beach at Bahia Muertos with one of her dorado.
Trophy pargo for Pete Wilson who gets a hand from his wife, Shiloah. They caught this in the channel between La Paz and Espirito Santo Island.
Favorite goofball friends…Ray and Jeanne Cabales from San Diego. Always fun having them visit.
Tough jack crevalle and a big one too! Shiloah with another great shot.
The Wilsons stacked up the dorado over 4 days of fishing with us.
Dan’s a happy fella! Good day on the water.
Nothing wrong with two nice bull dorado in hand for Wade Gomes. Good way to end 3 days of fishing with us. He had more in the fish box.
Ray…always a funny guy! Love these shots!
Going into this week, I was a bit nervous what would happen to our bite because of the big Super Moon that was predicted. It’s the 3rd and last time this will occur this year and is a larger-than-normal full moon. Indeed, especially early in the morning as I boarded our fishermen, the moon was spectacularly huge and gorgeous sitting over the dark waters in the early hours.
However, our fishing bite has been really solid the last few weeks and I was worried what such a big moon might do as it affects currents, tides, the bait situation and how the fishing schools would react…especially the dorado. Over the past 3 or 4 weeks, we have finally gotten into a more typical summer-time bite that we expected for so long and was delayed for several months by La Nina conditions which kept the water chillier than normal.
Well, after all was said-and-done, I won’t say the moon didn’t have an effect, it did. But, not as drastically as I had feared.
Overall, at the end of the day, everyone caught fish. Everyone that wanted to bring home fish brought home fish. Maybe not quite as abundantly as the week before the full moon, but the fishing days were sold, if not spectacular.
Perhaps the fish were a tad smaller. Maybe not as many of those huge trophy bull dorado. And the schools seemed a little more scattered over a wider area and had dispersed along the warmer water currents. However, many days our anglers were back on the beach early with limits.
Most fish were 5-15 pounds. Lots of fish released. Some larger fish in the 20-30 pound class. Overall, lots of action that varied from day-to-day and boat-to-boat. A hot boat one day could find it a little slower the next. And vice versa. Or a cold spot one day could be the hot spot the next.
Fortunately, most of our anglers fish multiple days so slower days for dorado were off-set by better days and everyone went home with fish.
In addition to the dorado, we had a few nice biters or striped marlin. A few scattered roosterfish between 10 and 30 pounds are still hanging out and some of our light-tackle anglers are having a blast catching-and-releasing all the little 2 and 3 pound dink roosters along the shore.
As well, there’s still some horse bonito, jack crevalle, pargo and cabrilla rounding out the mix.
One last thing, no doubt this is summer. It’s very tropical. Very humid! Every day, we get a little rain shower or some intermittent thundershowers that can last 5 minutes to an hour. It can be a drizzle or a downpour. Then, it’s over. Sun comes blazing out again.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Bahia Muertos/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 2-9, 2022
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Captain Gerardo gives gives a big smile and thumbs-up to Shiloah Wilson’s bull dorado caught south of Cerralvo Island. Pretty fish on live bait. She’s from Meridian ID.
Two of our long-time friends from Portland OR, Roger McCracken and Shelton Donnell started off their trip with a table full of dorado.
First fish of the day is a nice one for Wayne Small with Captain Jorge.
Elsie Mulcare from Pendleton OR was out with Captain Victor and had a fun time for her first time fishing our area.
John and Joni Stevenson pose on the beach at Bahia Muertos with a rack full of sizeable dorado for the cooler. Fun folks from Idaho.
This is a big wahoo! Sheldon with Captain Pancho were into the wahoo until a sudden rainstorm pushed the brakes and boats had to run for the beach.
Nashville in the house. Josh Robert was with us the first time and had a good day with Captain Joel fishing outside of La Paz Bay.
Beast wahoo for amigo, Joe Treves, who was dragging the purple Rapala still hanging from the fish’s mouth when this big wahoo crushed it! Captain Gerardo with the gaff and happy face.
A fish you cannot discount for it’s tenacious fighting ability, but taken and released by Julia Robert from Tennessee. Big fish!
Corpus Christi, TX representing! Our long-time amigo, Raphael Rios stuck this gorgeous bull dorado off the beach at Bahia Muertos.
More dorado for the ice chest. Wayne Small and Kevin Cunanan pose with a good day’s catch.
Josh got his marlin to the boat.
From Sacramento CA, Kyle and Mark Alexander finally made it down and we got them on the water for their first day with Captain Jorge and some great dorado action!
First time fun family from Pendleton OR, the Mulcare trio of Elsie, Kevin and Robert on their first day out.
The rain clouds were just about to bust open, but not before Roger finally got his first wahoo after so many years fishing with us. He insists that he’s smiling!
Pancho and Paolo teamed up for this huge bull dorado.
Yup…there’s still a few around! Josh finally got his roosterfish and Captain Gerardo pumps his fist in the air! The fish was released.
Except for an unexpected bump in the weather at the end of the week, it was pretty solid week of fishing. Sunny hot temperatures mixed with some good to excellent fishing.
I guess if there was a downside to things, there wasn’t alot of variety. Compared to earlier in the summer when we had 8, 10, 14 different varieties of fish when the water was unseasonably cool, there’s no doubt that our summer bite is firmly in place. I say that because probably 95% of the catch this past week was dorado.
…and more dorado!
OH yea! Great way to start the day with sunrise just popping up. Pete Wilson kicks it off with a legit bull dorado! Pete is from Idaho.
Our Tailhunter La Paz fleet needed to run as far as San Juan de la Costa to find the schools, but then in an hour or less, some boats were nailing limits of 10-15 pound fish then catching-and-releasing sometimes as many as they could.
As one of our anglers said, “The dorado schools were like an aquarium. As soon as a hook hit the water, the dorado seemed to fight to grab the bait. “ Some larger fish in the 20-25 pound class were in the mix, but often, the smaller fish were so much more voracious and fast that the larger ones in the school or cruising the perimeter never got a chance. I didn’t hear many complaints as our boats came back with alot of worn-out anglers most of the time.
For our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet, the dorado bite wasn’t quite so good. It could be a bit sticky at times and we had to work harder to find the fish. However, for what the bite lacked in numbers, the dorado we caught were usually larger with some fish hitting the 30-40 pound class.
The big news as the appearance of wahoo near the south end of Cerralvo Island. We had some fat 30-50 pound “skinny” ‘ hoo taken, but some of our other anglers reported that they got bit off clean through their lines or the wahoo shook off or bit through the wire of their trolled Rapalas. Dark-rapalas seemed to be the most productive.
They get to be the “wahoo kings” of the week. Roger McCracken and Shelton Donnell had a few others bite off. Then, it started to rain and they had to fun for shore
I think we would have caught even more if not for a surprise storm that came rolling through late in the week that was never on anyone’s radar. Strong wind and rains chased the boats off the water while the bite was still going strong causing pangas to race for shore.
We call these storms “toritos” (little bulls) because the heat from the ocean suddenly rears up an unexpected lashing of rain like a little hurricane. It lasts 10 minutes to an hour or so then blows out. But, you definitely don’t want to be out there in the middle of one so heading for shore is the more prudent thing to do and wait-it-out until is dissipates. Then go back out.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 25-Aug. 1, 2022
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Oh yea! What a haul of big dorado for Jim and Daniel Bovee from San Diego out with Captain Pancho.
Captain Rogelio looks on as Seth Crowder from Oregon hefts a bull dorado into the boat. Seth was visiting us for the first time from Oregon.
Texas smile in the house! First time fishing with us and Valerie Burgin puts a roosterfish in the photo. The fish was released.
Captain Jorge give Oscar Alba with his big bull dorado. Not only was this his first time fishing in La Paz, but this was Oscar’s first-ever dorado and it turned out to be a trophy fish! He wanted the head for soup and it weighed 18 pounds all by itself and we had trouble vacuum sealing it for him!
The fun Kraushaar Family in a super pose after a day on the water with some cooperative dorado. It’s Tanner, Ashley (mom), Tallen and Jason (dad). This could easily turn into their Christmas card photo!
Hero move by Chase Willis from Kentucky staying at Bahia Muertos at Rancho Costa who boated this pretty striped marlin then released it!
One of the nicest guys you could possibly meet or fish with, this is Chris Burgin from Texas who got to cross roosterfish off his bucket list on his first try. He also released his catch!
Julia and Josh Robert from Nashville were also some of our first-timers this week and had a great time each day on the water . Here’s a picture of the with their first day catch of dorado, rainbow runner and triggerfish. Great folks!
Captain Pancho estimated that Jim’s big dorado weighed somewhere around 60 pounds! That’s just a beast! Everyone thinks their fish weighs a huge amount, but when the captain says “60 pounds” that’s alot of cred. Jim fought this fish on light tackle for over an hour!
When this happened earlier in the week, I wanted to get really excited when Daniel and Jim Bovee and some of our other boats ran into. school of football tuna busting the water. This is about as many tuna as we caught all last year. But, I didn’t want to jinx things because I figured the tuna were just breezing through. Sure enough, it was a one-day hit-and-run.
Tallen has a nice tasty cabrilla for dinner. Captain Rogelio helps out. Espirito Santo Island in the background.
Yes! Valerie wil tell you she caught largest dorado on her boat that day! Captain Rogelio would not disagree.
Long-time Tailhunter amigo, George Bonner brought is grandsons Dan and Jack down to fish with us and experience La Paz. First day out with Captain Jorge, a striped marlin and a bunch of dorado. Dan fought the marlin on a spinning reel for over an hour.
Captain Pancho with Shane, Valerie and Chris Burgin and a nice load of fish headed to the freezers.
Big smile from Jason Kraushaar and help from a mystery hand in posing with his dorado.
Tanner Kraushaar is headed back in a few weeks for his senior year as QB for his high school football team, but is getting in some summer fishing first!
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We had one of our most consistent weeks of fishing this past week. That’s not saying everyone caught fish every day or the every boat always caught fish, but given that most of our folks fish 2-6 days, most everyone had lots of action and probably better fishing than they thought and everyone went home with a load of fish that wanted a load of fish.
With weather in the high 90’s, there’s no doubt it’s summertime. Water temps are in the mid to upper 70’s now which is a good sign . We waiting some extra months for this to happen.
The dorado were more than cooperative. Both our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet and Tailhunter La Paz Fleet had steady to spectacular bites on the mahi. For sheer numbers, our Tailhunter La Paz fleet was the place to fish. Pretty much sure fire action on 5 to 10 pound fish with some larger fish around as well .
For quality, our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet finally got into the game after being surprisingly slow for several weeks with bigger dorado in the 10-30 pound class not uncommon and some beasts in the 40-50 pound range taken every day (captains’ estimates on the sizes!). In addition, we had one day where the tuna erupted and produced footballs in the 10-15 pound class.
I got really excited about the tuna, but had to temper my enthusiasm as the tuna are anemic and I didn’t want everyone to get excited. Sure enough that was the one day that the tuna blew up.
However, it’s been a pretty good week of striped marlin. It was probably the best marlin week we’ve had all season with several getting hooked every day. Most lost or break off. Most of the ones that got to the boats were released. Size ranged up to about 120 pounds .
Still some roosterfish around up to about 40 pounds and surprisingly some cold water fish like rainbow runners and pargo liso were still being caught.
Tailhunter Fish Report 