Archive for October, 2023

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Oct. 24-30, 2023

Posted in amberjack, bahia, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, bahia de Los Suenso, bahia magdalena, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, baja mexico, Baja sportfishing packages, baja sur, Baja Vacations, beach, beaches, billfish, bonito, cabo san lucas, cabo tuna jackpot tournament, cabrilla, carnavale, carnival, catch-and-release, central washington sportsmans show, Cerralvo Island, cerralvo Island, Cerralvo Island Fishing, charter, charters, circle hooks, corona virus mexico covid 19, corvina, Costa Baja Resort, day trips, deep sea, diving, dog tooth snapper, dog-tooth, dorado, east cape, eco tours, ecotourism, el sargento, espirito, espirito santo island, Espirito Santo Island, Extreme Expeditions Alaska, family, family fishing, fish, fish report, fishing, fishing and hunting shows, fishing charters, fishing guides, fishing report, fishing reports, fishing tackle, fishing techniques, fishing tips, fishing tournaments, fishing trips, fishing video, fishing videos, fly fishing, fly fishing. Spearfishing, flyfishing, Fred Hall Fishing Show, fred hall fishing shows, freediving, FUBAR cocina cantina, FUBAR Cocina Cantina Restaurant, girls fishing, golden grouper, gray whales, Great Western Hunt and Conservation Expo, grey whales, grouper, guide, holiday, holidays, Hotel Perla, idaho sportsman show, IGFA, inshore, International Fish and Game, International Sportsmans Expo, International Sportsmens Expo, ISE, jack crevalle, jill roldan, jonathan roldan, kids, La Concha Beach Resort, La Paz, la paz, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, la ventana, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas, Las Arenas fishing, light tackle, live bait, los barriles, mag bay, Magdalena Bay, mahi mahi, marlin, mexican, Mexican, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico, Mexico, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, muertos bay, Muertos Bay Fishing, offshore, outfitter, outfitters, Pacific Northwest Sportsmans Show, package, packages, panga, pargo, pompano, Portland Expo Center, rainbow runner, robalo, rooster fish, roosterfish, sailfish, scuba, sea lions, sea of cortez, seabass, Shoot Straight TV, sierra, sierra mackeral, snapper, snook, snorkel, snorkeling, spearfishing, sportfishing, sportfishing packages, squid, suenos bay, swimming, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tailhunter restaurant, Tournament fishing, travel, triple tail, tuna, Tuna tournament, vacation, vacations, wahoo, Washington Sportsmans Show, Washington Sportsmens show, Western Outdoor New Tuna Jackpots, Western Outdoor News, whale sharks, whale watching, whales, whalesharks, whalewatching, women, women fishing, world record, world records, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged amberjack, bahia, baja mexico, beaches, billfish, bonito, cabo san lucas, cabrilla, cerralvo Island, charter, coronavirus in Mexico, deep sea, diving, dog-tooth, dorado, east cape, eco tours, Espirito Santo Island, family, fish, fishing, fishing report, fishing techniques, fishing tips, fishing video, fly fishing, fly fishing. Spearfishing, FUBAR cocina cantina, gray whales, grey whales, guide, holiday, IGFA, inshore, jack crevalle, jill roldan, jonathan roldan, kids, la paz, Las Arenas, light tackle, live bait, los barriles, marlin, Mexican, Mexico, muertos bay, offshore, outfitter, package, panga, pargo, pompano, rooster fish, sailfish, scuba, sea lions, sea of cortez, seabass, sierra, snorkeling, sportfishing, suenos bay, swimming, tailhunter restaurant, Tailhunter Sea Level, tuna, vacation, wahoo, whale sharks, whale watching, women, world records, yellowtail on October 31, 2023| Leave a Comment »

AND SO WE CLEAN UP AND SO DOES MOTHER NATURE!

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 24-30, 2023

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WEATHER – After taking it out on us by sending us Hurricane Norma the blast away at Baja, the subsequent weather was mild by comparison. Windy at times, but mostly sunny. Definitely cooler.

WATER – Mostly a mess. So much runoff from the heavy rains that waters looked like chocolate milk. It got a little better reluctantly each day, but water temps remained on the cooler side. One encouraging thing is the tons of debris in the water. Good habitat for dorado.

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK – Not real great, and it took awhile to even have fishable conditions, but we did hook some dorado, sailfish, tuna, bonito. Not alot and not super, but not better than expected after such a tremendous storm.

TAILHUNTER LA PAZ FLEET – The whole bay and outlying waters were a mess of debris and dirty silty water that took awhile to clear up and is still slowly improving. The big problem is that the marinas sustained serious damages and there are many boats sunk. Fortunately, we had pulled all our boats out’ve the water. However, the ramps were destroyed so we couldn’t put our boats back in the water, even if we wanted to. Oh, and no live bait to be found was no help either. And it looks like those pesky north winds are starting up.

TAILHUNTER LAS ARENAS FLEET – Like everywhere else, waters were dirty and turned over. No bait to speak of. But, we had a few exploratory trips and at first nothing more than bonito, but then thing improved. And using dead bait and chunked bonito, some of the dorado started biting again.

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO FISHING REPORT –

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Ryan Brockway is a guide and owner of several lodges up in Vancouver, but still came down to fish after the hurricane and we’re happy he got into some dorado action his last day!

Check out the huge sailfish that Sara Jenkins hooked with Captain Pancho. Son, Ryder lends a hand. Sara fought this on light tackle the whole time and then made a great release as well!

Still a few tuna hanging out. Brandon Cowhey with a great photo of a chunky YFT!

Ryder…9 years old…Love to see this. Great form! This young man loves to fish. His 2nd trip to see us!

Ryan Jenkins was able to get out a few days just before Hurricane Norma dropped in on us and was able to get into some nice dorado biters!

More than a few ended up on the beach.

Many of the owners aren’t in La Paz which complicates the clean-up. Lots of boats piled right onto the Malecon by the fierce winds and waves of Hurrican Norma.

Lots of things in La Paz got turned upside down like these beach palapas after almost 3 days of battering. Fortunately, no reports of injuries.

All the marinas are a mess of sunken and damaged watercraft and trash.

Clean-up is going to take awhile. Especially hard to clean with no running water or power.

Many volunteer groups came down to the beaches to help clear off the muck.

_______________________________________

This is going to be somewhat convoluted for a fishing report because well…it was a convoluted week.

Basically, if you hadn’t heard, Hurricane Norma slammed directly into La Paz . It was alot harder then the experts predicted. It stayed around alot longer than predicted. It hit us with alot more rain and wind than anyone expected.

By the time it hit us it was a Category 2 hurricane with winds well over 100 mph. It dropped 8-15 inches of rain on us. Worse, is that it just sat and sat and pummeled the area for about 30 hours. It’s like getting hit by a boxer over and over. At some point, things start to break.

I’ve heard that over 100 boats were sunk or damaged including some huge yachts. All the marinas sustained extensive damage. Fortunately, all our captains pulled their boats out’ve the water ahead of time, but all the ramps were damaged and there was no way to launch the boats again.

Even moreso, hotels, businesses, restaurants, and homes took it hard. The popular restaurants at Tecolote Beach that had been around for decades, were completely destroyed. The front of our own Tailhunter Restaurant blew away and received extensive other damage.

The bigger issue might have been the loss of water and power with a good portion of the city in the dark (that included cell phone and wifi of course). Many folks were without it for days. Our restaurant had no power for 5 days.

It’s pretty hard to clean up when you have no water or electricity. As of writing this, there are still lots of homes and businesses waiting for the lights to come on.

As for fishing…

We had just started to re-bound after what Hurricane Hilary and the full-moon did to us. Dorado had started to bite again . Waters had cleaned up. Tuna were showing again as were billfish and even some nice-sized roosterfish.

Then up comes Norma.

Waters have been a mess. It’s a big chocolate-colored soup of silt, mud and floating debris. It has taken and continues to take days to clear up.

We have not been able to fish out’ve La Paz. The marinas were wrecked and the ramps were all torn up. There’s no way to launch our boats, even if the conditions looked more promising. I’m just glad we pulled our boats out’ve the water before the storm. Some marinas look like a boat graveyard.

For our Las Arenas fleet, waters cleared a little bit but bait remained difficult or non-existent. Bonito bit somewhat in the begining. As waters cleared, however, the dorado started to come back. Still not bait but we were using dead bait, frozen bait and chunks of fresh bonito.

Honestly, as the season is changing and it’s getting colder and windier, we don’t have that many folks on the water so not that many folks lost any days on the water.

A SPECIAL NOTE FROM US!

To everyone who offered their good thoughts, prayer and wishes and even offered to come down to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Norma, we appreciate you all! We’re all fine. That’s the most important. No one was hurt and this is not our first rodeo. We’ll be bigger and better on the other side.

NEXT REPORT MIGHT BE A BIT LATE…

The other thing…As you’re reading this, I’m headed for knee replacement surgery. I’m told I’m going to be out’ve it for awhile. I’ve done the weekly fishing reports basically every week for over 28 years. Please excuse me if the next report is a tad later than normal! I might be on “performing enhancing medications” according to my surgeon to alleviate the OUCH!!!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing
www.tailhunter.comMexico Office:

Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address: Tailhunter Sportfishing
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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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay / Bahia Suenos Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Oct. 14-22, 2023

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, bahia magdalena, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, baja mexico, Baja sportfishing packages, baja sur, Baja Vacations, beach, beaches, billfish, bonito, cabo san lucas, cabo tuna jackpot tournament, cabrilla, carnival, catch-and-release, Cerralvo Island, cerralvo Island, Cerralvo Island Fishing, charter, charters, circle hooks, corona virus mexico covid 19, corvina, Costa Baja Resort, day trips, deep sea, diving, dog tooth snapper, dog-tooth, dorado, east cape, eco tours, ecotourism, el sargento, espirito santo island, Espirito Santo Island, family, family fishing, fish, fish report, fishing, fishing and hunting shows, fishing charters, fishing guides, fishing report, fishing reports, fishing tackle, fishing techniques, fishing tips, fishing tournaments, fishing trips, fishing video, fishing videos, fly fishing, fly fishing. Spearfishing, flyfishing, Fred Hall Fishing Show, fred hall fishing shows, freediving, FUBAR cocina cantina, FUBAR Cocina Cantina Restaurant, girls fishing, golden grouper, gray whales, Great Western Hunt and Conservation Expo, grey whales, grouper, guide, holiday, holidays, Hotel Perla, idaho sportsman show, IGFA, inshore, International Fish and Game, International Sportsmans Expo, International Sportsmens Expo, ISE, jack crevalle, jill roldan, jonathan roldan, kids, La Concha Beach Resort, La Paz, la paz, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, la ventana, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas, Las Arenas fishing, light tackle, live bait, los barriles, mag bay, Magdalena Bay, mahi mahi, marlin, mexican, Mexican, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico, Mexico, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, muertos bay, Muertos Bay Fishing, offshore, outfitter, outfitters, Pacific Northwest Sportsmans Show, package, packages, panga, pargo, pompano, Portland Expo Center, rainbow runner, robalo, rooster fish, roosterfish, sailfish, scuba, sea lions, sea of cortez, seabass, sierra, sierra mackeral, snapper, snook, snorkel, snorkeling, spearfishing, sportfishing, sportfishing packages, squid, suenos bay, swimming, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tailhunter restaurant, Tournament fishing, travel, triple tail, tuna, Tuna tournament, Uncategorized, vacation, vacations, wahoo, Washington Sportsmans Show, Washington Sportsmens show, Western Outdoor New Tuna Jackpots, Western Outdoor News, whale sharks, whale watching, whales, whalesharks, whalewatching, women, women fishing, world record, world records, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged amberjack, bahia, baja mexico, beaches, billfish, bonito, cabo san lucas, cabrilla, cerralvo Island, charter, coronavirus in Mexico, deep sea, diving, dog-tooth, dorado, east cape, eco tours, Espirito Santo Island, family, fish, fishing, fishing report, fishing techniques, fishing tips, fishing video, fly fishing, fly fishing. Spearfishing, FUBAR cocina cantina, gray whales, grey whales, guide, holiday, hurricane norma, IGFA, inshore, jack crevalle, jill roldan, jonathan roldan, kids, la paz, Las Arenas, light tackle, live bait, los barriles, marlin, Mexican, Mexico, muertos bay, offshore, outfitter, package, panga, pargo, pompano, rooster fish, sailfish, scuba, sea lions, sea of cortez, seabass, sierra, snorkeling, sportfishing, suenos bay, swimming, tailhunter restaurant, Tailhunter Sea Level, tuna, vacation, wahoo, whale sharks, whale watching, women, world records, yellowtail on October 23, 2023| Leave a Comment »

FISHING KICKS BACK IN BUT

NORMA STOMPS US

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 14-21, 2023

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WEATHER – Things stabilized and we were back to some normal weather and sunshine, but seasons had definitely changed for the cooler. Daytime temps down to the mid-80’s and nightime to the 70’s. Pretty comfortable.

Then, Norma Hit. Much more potent and destructive than predicted. Almost 3 days of 8-15″ of rain. Huge surf and surge. 100+mph winds!

WATER – It had finally started getting blue again after the craziness two weeks ago when waters got hot and dirty (sounds like a rock song!). But, Norma has turned the ocean into a frothy looking morass that looks like whipped chocolate milk.

FISH HOOKED – Tuna, dorado, bonito, roosterfish, sailfish, sierra, pompano, trevally, and a random wahoo as well!

LAS ARENAS – Started to kick out a few tuna and the dorado came back pretty nicely. But live bait was non-existent. However, dead and frozen bait still produced.

LA PAZ – Definitely dorado-land! The fish were way way outside, but each day got closer. Until the storm messed it all up.

THE MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Now, it’s Pacifico time! Carlos Sanabria, Dave Shaw and Juan Araya had a good opening day!

For many years, Judy Reber’s dad fished with us and his favorite Captain Victor before he passed. She came back with husband Mike and the three of them got a great run of dorado!

Just a great photo! First thing in the morning, Juan has a yellowfin on the gaff.

Mike Shaw with Captain Luis found the blue water and a good bite on the dorado like this one.

Dennis Gayman catches a wahoo right off the bat. We’ve only caught about 5 or 6 the whole season! Plus he caught this on live bait with no wire. A perfect hookset!

Rusty and Donny! Rusty has already been down to visit us earlier in the year and brought Donny down who had not fished with us for quite awhile.

A good first day for Mitch Gaymen and Ron Sierzaga.

A great way to spend a 14th birthday for Jackson Toeniskoetter with his Uncle Al fishing north of La Paz towards Espirito Santo Island.

Robert Hoffman and his son, Craig, with two legit yellowfin tuna, a trio of dorado and a trevally for the ice chest!

You love them until you don’t, but these big bonito like the one Mike has can be a handful and after hooking several, they can really beat you up. Lots of fun and their meat makes great bait for dorado although most get released.

Our first-time Arizona amigos Barrett and Dana Weinberger had some fun with Captain Jorge.

Mike Kloepfer and Steve Adams rocked a couple of hefty slug tuna their first day out fishing with our Las Arenas fleet.

Craig Hoffman with one of the larger bull dorado of the week!

Rob Hoffman with Captain Pancho. Rob battled this tuna for almost an hour on light tackle!

Big smile from Carlos and a great shot of his colorful dorado with Captain Luis!

Our long time friends, Bob Layko and Craig Brown, come to see us almost every year and they’re great fun. They love fishing with Captain Armando.

Love John Cain’s fishing shorts! Oh…and a nice tuna to go with them!

Good start to the day. Craig Hoffman with a tuna on the gaff!

Judy and Mike took back a nice load of dorado meat after fishing with Captain Victor for 2 days!

__________________________________

This was like two completely different weeks.

We started out well. Coming off that horrible 10 days around the last full moon when we had some of the worst fishing of the year, things had started to really get back up to speed.

Waters started to clear and get bluer. The weather mellowed out.

Most importantly, the fish started to bite again. Our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet started to find those great schools of dorado again. Additionally, instead of running way far to get the blue water, the schools started getting closer to town again and they were fine 10-20 pound fun fish. Even caught a random wahoo one day (on bait with no wire!)

Our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet still had trouble finding any live bait, however, using dead and frozen bait as well as tiny tiny live sardines, the fish came to bite! Every day a few tuna were hooked. Most boat got limits or near limits of schoolie dorado. We even hooked a few sailfish (all released) as well as pompano, sierra, bonito, trevally and a few surprising roosterfish.

Things were really looking up as we headed into the last part of the season.

Until…

HURRICANE NORMA

Initially, “Norma” was just going to be another tropical storm. We figured maybe a few hour of rain. No biggie.

But, offshore and to the south, it gained considerable power growing to a Cat 4 Hurricane that barrelled into Baja. It lost a little steam, but still hit us with Category 1 forces. In fact, it pretty much rammed into Cabo then barrelled directly over La Paz.

@cabolife

Hurricane 🌀 Norma did some damange to Cabo, Medano Beach took a pretty bad hit. Time to clean-up! #hurricanenorma #cabosanlucas #huracan #playamedano #medanobeach

♬ Fall October Halloween horror classic(177261) – rareNote

Norma rolled over us and it turned into one of the worst storms I’ve seen in almost 30 years down here. I’ve been through 16 hurricanes now. Some back home in Hawaii, but most while living here in Baja.

Most storms hit and move on after a few hours. Norma sat on us for almost 3 non-stop days and it was the constant hammer blows by 100 + mph winds plus 8-15″ of constant rain that just took it’s toll. She was violent, ferocious and nasty.

Turn up the sound!

Roofs flew. Walls tumbled. Trees were ripped by the roots. Extensive flooding. Airports closed. Sinkholes developed. I’ve never seen waves hit the Malecon that were splashing as high as the palm trees and throwing water and debris completely across the street.

Many of us lost all power and water. For us about 12 hours but some areas of the city for 24-36 hours.

We lost the front palapa of our Tailhunter Restaurant. Just ripped completely out of the concrete. It probalby weighed close to 1000 pounds.

There were landslides and from the cliffs. Trees fell on cars. Many of the boats in the marina were sunk or washed aground with extensive damage.

And of course, lots and lots of flooding. Jill and I spent two full night doing bucket, towel and mop brigade work as the massive force of the winds literally forced water through every window crack, cranny and door space and our floors (and others ) were covered in inches of water.

As you read this, we’re digging out. The winds are still blowing, but it looks like the sun is gonna be out all week. Not sure when we’ll be able to fish just yet. The port captain still has the port closed to boat traffic and the ocean looks like muddy chocolate froth and waves.

Thank you everyone who wished Jill and I well. Everyone is fine. Just alot of clean-up to do. Things to fix. Electricity to figure out. We got this. Still blessed!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing
www.tailhunter.comMexico Office:

Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address: Tailhunter Sportfishing
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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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Oct. 6-13, 2023

Posted in amberjack, bahia, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, bahia de Los Suenso, bahia magdalena, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, baja mexico, Baja sportfishing packages, baja sur, Baja Vacations, beach, beaches, billfish, bonito, cabo san lucas, cabo tuna jackpot tournament, cabrilla, carnival, catch-and-release, central washington sportsmans show, Cerralvo Island, cerralvo Island, Cerralvo Island Fishing, charter, charters, circle hooks, corona virus mexico covid 19, corvina, Costa Baja Resort, day trips, deep sea, diving, dog tooth snapper, dog-tooth, dorado, east cape, eco tours, ecotourism, el sargento, espirito santo island, Espirito Santo Island, family, family fishing, fish, fish report, fishing, fishing and hunting shows, fishing charters, fishing guides, fishing report, fishing reports, fishing tackle, fishing techniques, fishing tips, fishing tournaments, fishing trips, fishing video, fishing videos, fly fishing, fly fishing. Spearfishing, flyfishing, Fred Hall Fishing Show, fred hall fishing shows, freediving, FUBAR cocina cantina, FUBAR Cocina Cantina Restaurant, girls fishing, golden grouper, gray whales, Great Western Hunt and Conservation Expo, grey whales, grouper, guide, holiday, holidays, Hotel Perla, idaho sportsman show, IGFA, inshore, International Fish and Game, International Sportsmans Expo, International Sportsmens Expo, ISE, jack crevalle, jill roldan, jonathan roldan, kids, La Concha Beach Resort, La Paz, la paz, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, la ventana, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas, Las Arenas fishing, light tackle, live bait, los barriles, mag bay, Magdalena Bay, mahi mahi, marlin, mexican, Mexican, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico, Mexico, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, muertos bay, Muertos Bay Fishing, offshore, outfitter, outfitters, Pacific Northwest Sportsmans Show, package, packages, panga, pargo, pompano, Portland Expo Center, rainbow runner, robalo, rooster fish, roosterfish, sailfish, scuba, sea lions, sea of cortez, seabass, Shoot Straight TV, sierra, sierra mackeral, snapper, snook, snorkel, snorkeling, spearfishing, sportfishing, sportfishing packages, squid, suenos bay, swimming, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tailhunter restaurant, Tournament fishing, travel, triple tail, tuna, Tuna tournament, vacation, vacations, wahoo, Washington Sportsmans Show, Washington Sportsmens show, Western Outdoor New Tuna Jackpots, Western Outdoor News, whale sharks, whale watching, whales, whalesharks, whalewatching, women, women fishing, world record, world records, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged amberjack, bahia, baja mexico, beaches, billfish, bonito, cabo san lucas, cabrilla, cerralvo Island, charter, coronavirus in Mexico, deep sea, diving, dog-tooth, dorado, east cape, eco tours, Espirito Santo Island, family, fish, fishing, fishing report, fishing techniques, fishing tips, fishing video, fly fishing, fly fishing. Spearfishing, FUBAR cocina cantina, gray whales, grey whales, guide, holiday, IGFA, inshore, jack crevalle, jill roldan, jonathan roldan, kids, la paz, Las Arenas, light tackle, live bait, los barriles, marlin, Mexican, Mexico, muertos bay, offshore, outfitter, package, panga, pargo, pompano, rooster fish, sailfish, scuba, sea lions, sea of cortez, seabass, sierra, snorkeling, sportfishing, suenos bay, swimming, tailhunter restaurant, Tailhunter Sea Level, tuna, vacation, wahoo, whale sharks, whale watching, women, world records, yellowtail on October 14, 2023| Leave a Comment »

WARM WATER FISHING AND SEASON COOLING OFF

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 6-13, 2023

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WEATHER: It has been erratic to say the least. Definitely cooling down a bit. Mostly now in the high 80’s during the day but feels hotter because of the humidity. Hurricane Lidia didn’t hit us, but it did send some torrential rain one afternoon with big floods. Winds and even waterspouts showed up this week. Cooler? Yes…I’m wearing a sweatshirt as I write this!

WATER: Overall, definitely rougher. More wind. Waters are hotter than normal and very very off-color requiring we find blue water to be able to fish. As the week went on however, each day got a little bit better as the waters cleared up.

SPECIES HOOKED THIS WEEK: Dorado, bonito, sailfish, jack crevalle, roosterfish, pompano, snapper

LAS ARENAS FLEET: It’s been the toughest two weeks I have ever seen. Waters are cloudy and hot. I think there’s very little oxygen in the upper layers and the fish have gone deep. Plus hurricane Lidia to the south of us pushed up waves and winds and more crazy water. Very little bait. Hope this changes soon. I’ve never had days where there were literally no fish. Just before this report, however, we started getting clearer water and the bite improved.

LA PAZ FLEET: Once we found the blue water way way up past Espirito Santo Island, we also hit the dorado again.

MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Even Captain Boli gets a smile over Kenny Nishimura’s dorado caught near Espirito Santo Island. After the slow-down two weeks ago, fishing started to rebound for the dorado.

Two of our long-time Tailhunter Fish Brothers…Brad Baker and newly retired Jim Adair.

Two of our besties! John and Arla Washington from Reno come to visit us each year for their anniversary.

Alan Paonessa and his sister, Dru Toeniskoetter take a nice pose with a pair of dorado on Bahia Muertos Beach.

Kenny Campbell and Angelo Oliverio have visited us for years. The retired firefighters got a nice bull on the gaff among others! Ken’s in Arizona now and Angelo is in S.Cal.

Jim Bovee our San Diego, amigo, loves dorado fishing and this is his 4th trip this year to see us. Despite the rough weather, he still managed a nice rack of fish.

First-timing with us, Matt Malone, had a banner 3 days of fishing and went home with a nice batch of dorado fillets like this one with Captain Pancho.

Julie and Travis Millspaugh from Washington bring their extended families to visit us almost every year. Even with the tough fishing, they never lost the smiles.

Captain Hugo with David Wakabayashi and Gary Okamoto from the Sacramento CA area have visited us many times over the years and found a couple of dorado and a slug tuna even with the fishing being a bit sticky.

Crazy for it to be October, but we’re catching quite a few pompano which are usually caught in the spring like this one that Kenny Nishimura caught. The waters are cooling off.

The big bonito we have right now are either a super prize or a big PITA! They are vicious fighters that can beat the heck out’ve any angler. Brad Baker has a sample.

You’ve heard of “air guitar?” Colby Harris with his mom, Brenda takes a pose with “air dorado.” He just applied for college. They’re from Arizona.

Our amigo, Dana Milano, was out with Captai Raul and found a good jag of dorado north of La Paz near Espirito Santo Island.

Angelo and Kenny again. Kenny has one of those pretty all-blue dorado that we’ve caught a few times this season.

The Harris family had just one day to squeeze in some fishing. Sienna, Colby, Brenda and Neil did a line up with some of their dorado. Each boat got a nice limit.

__________________________________

I’m not even sure where to start this week.

This fishing report will be all over the board and possibly as difficult to understand as the weather and fishing the past week or two…

I will say this. We’re hopefully emerging from some of the worst/ strangest fishing and conditions that I have ever encountered in some 30 years down here.

The genesis of this was about 2 weeks ago. We had a tremendous full moon which, in and of itself, is usually not a big deal. But this one created huge current and tide swings. Coupled with increasing winds as the seasons changed had a big effect.

Moreover, we had several big tropical storms…short but powerful coupled with big waves and a huge up-welling of tremendously warm water. Surface temps were unbelievably in the high 80’s!

What happened was that the waters turned murky and dirty. A huge plankton bloom went off. Apparently this chased to fish to other areas and also depleted the oxygen supply in the upper layers of the water columns. Fish went deep or just refused to eat. Live bait disappeared.

It was like the ocean had turned into a barren aqua desert!

I’ve never had so many boats coming back with zero fish! ZERO FISH! Think about that.

Sure, every now and then a boat has an off day. It happens. It’s fishing. But, they’ll tell me they caught some bonito or jacks or had a day of needlefish.

But we actually had boats coming back without even a single bite! Plus we had to resort to using dead bait, frozen bait or chopped bonito or squid to even make it through the day.

We went from having one of the best fishing seasons ever to a non-existent fishing season almost over night. On top of that, it was evident that the seasons started to turn. Normally, things start to cool down about the end of October or the beginning of November. But, it’s hard to deny that the northern winds are already starting to blow hard. It’s hard not to notice that the air temperatures and humidity are dropping. It’s hard to ignore that we have started to catch cooler water fish species now like sierra and pompano.

So, everything was pretty much dead in the water…no pun intended.

Oh, I almost forgot. We had Hurricane Lidia. It started to head out to the Pacific. It then made a crazy right turn right towards Mexico. It ramped up to a Cat 3 tempest and fortunately did not hit Baja directly. Instead it went to and crashed into Nayarit.

Still…some of those hurricane arms came over us and dropped some heavy rains and crazy weather on us. We got some big-time flooding.

Amazing how many people try to drive through the floodwaters.

Uh yea…30 minutes of torrential rain and wind do a number on our waterfront. Then the sun pops out again!

We had sunshine that would suddenly turn bleak and ominous.

The view from Bahia Muertos where we launch is looking kinda foreboding.

We even got some dangerous-looking waterspouts that had boats running in the opposite directions understandably. Then, it would disappear the and sun would pop out again.

Yeow! 6 waterspouts were seen this day.

However, little-by-little we started getting some breaks. The captains worked hard. The fishermen hung in there and kept their smiles and patience. And little patches of blue water started to emerge.

With the blue water, there were some decent biters or dorado again. Even a few tuna popped up as well. Still not up-to-speed, but at least boats started to find fish and some fish were making it into the fish boxes.

So, as of this writing, it looks like every day there’s a little improvement. We can only hope. There’s still a few weeks left of the formal fishing season before the big winds and big seas crash into us so I can only hope that it holds off for a little while longer. It all showed up several weeks too soon!

But, bottom line…I’ve never seen so many variables collide at one time affect the fishing so adversely.

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing
www.tailhunter.comMexico Office:

Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address: Tailhunter Sportfishing
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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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Sept. 29-Oct. 5, 2023

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WHAAAT? BITE GRINDS TO A VIRTUAL HALT!

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 29-Oct. 5, 2023

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WEATHER: Noticeably cooler. Less humidity. Lower temps. MORE WIND. I’m afraid that the season changed on us about a month earlier than normal. The northern winds of winter have started too soon. Not to mention, a HUGE FULL MOON that wouldn’t go away. Hope it was just the full moon.

WATER: It was like someone switched things off. Waters went from blue to incredibly green and murky overnight. Usually, it’s because the waters got colder. but this is weird because the waters got WARMER! It’s almost like we had a secondary plankton bloom. The fish decided not to bite. Waters are HOT…86 degrees!

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK: Dorado (fewer). Sailfish (fewer). Tuna (fewer). Pompano. Bonito. Cabrilla. Snapper. Some roosters. Tough pickings!

TAILHUNTER LAS ARENAS FLEET: Like night and day. It virtually shut off. Bait disappeared. Green dirty water that was so warm that it seemed like the fish all went deep and stayed there or decided not to bite. Caught a few pompano, a few dorado, bonito. A tuna or two and pargo.

TAILHUNTER LA PAZ FLEET: Went from super great to having boats coming back with almost nothing a few days. Not even a bonito or needlefish. Started to pick up again as the full moon waned and our captains found some rare patches of blue water. But now northern winds are increasing making it tough to fish.

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

This lady can fish! Lisa Hicks from Washington has been visiting us for years and despite tough fishing managed several nice dorado like this one fishing with Captain Victor, her favorite.

Wow! Another good-sized rooster caught when they SHOULD NOT BE HERE! Roosters are spring-time fish our long-time amigo, Jeff Sakuda with his favorite Captain Jorge got this beauty right off Punta Perrico. Jeff released the fish as well!

Our Denver amigo, Joe Hicks always bring his two boys, Hudson and Marco down as well as family friends. On the beach at Bahia Muertos with some of their catch. Joe is the one without the shirt!

There could not be a happier character than 88-year-old Raymond Ahner who lives in Yosemite. Love this gent and he said he wants to keep coming back until he has the record of being our oldest fisherman ever!

Tuna were few and far between this week, but Bob Pair got one. He’s been with us for many years!

Tammy Cousins from Oregon just wanted to catch “One dorado please!” She did better than that with Captain Luis, but this is a photo of her FIRST dorado!

Brothers-in-law, Adam Florence (Topeka KS) and Jim Bailey (San Diego CA) got some nice variety on the table including a barred pargo and dorado and a slug 68-pound yellowfin tuna that Jim battled dogggedly for over 90 minutes before getting it to the gaff!

When Al Jones comes down each year from his ranch in Idaho he’s always way fun. He wanted at least one tuna and got it fishing with Captain Gerardo.

Crazy to be catching pompano this time of year, but Hudson Hicks got this one. He’s headed off to college next year and has been visting us with his dad for several years.

Robert Peterson and a doardo on the gaff. Just a great photo . Suitable for framing! Great smile!

Whoa! When I first saw Robby Peterson’s fish it was so big, I thought it was a giant trevally (GT!). But it turns out to be a massive pompano! Great eating!

Andy Hall…our firefighter amigo who gets called to emergencies around the country visits us each year got himself one of the rare yellowfin tuna this week!

Pretty bull dorado for Marlene! She always fishes with Captain Pancho and had to work hard this week to even get this dorado. But, she never stopped smiling and fishing!

Marianne Sugawara has been fishing with Captain Jorge since…well…since before I had hair! LOL. Nice dorado, Ms. M! She filled the empty space in the chest this time with tamales to take home!

This is a super photo! Brian Guetz caught this good-looking roosterfish not far off Punta Arenas. Catch and release!

It’s our own photogenic Lisa Hicks showing off her barred pargo!

Neil Gansebom was with us this year and had a good day finding some blue water and dorado like this one north of La Paz outside the bay.

Jeff and Captain Jorge! Great shot and nice fat barred pargo for the ice chest!

______________________________________

It was one of the strangest periods of weather and fishing that I can remember in almost 30 years down here. It was also one of the ugliest.

In the span of a day, things changed from one of the best fishing seasons ever…to suddenly fish zombie-land…ZERO FISH!

I’ve never seen this happen. My captains tell me they’ve never seen this happen. The ocean turned into a liquid desert. No birds. No fish. No bait.

Every now and then sure, a boat comes back and had a slow day. Maybe they missed the bite. Maybe they were just that one unlucky boat. It happens. But, usually, they tell me they still caught bonito or needlefish or a pelican or SOMETHING!

I actually had boats and anglers coming back telling me they didn’t catch or hook a thing!

It wasn’t like things just tapered off a bit or diminished. It was like someone threw a switch!

What happened?

Well, almost overnight, waters went from blue to green and cloudy. Usually that happens because the waters get cold. This time the waters got HOT! Waters were up to 86 degrees on the surface!

It was almost like there was a secondary plankton bloom. Or maybe the waters were so hot there was a lack of oxygen. There might be some creedence that. When there was no fish on the surface, some of the captains tied on sinkers and hit dorado 200-300 feet .

Let me say that again…DORADO at 200-300′ down! None of us have ever heard of that. Dorado are surface fish and we don’t do deep water fishing like that anyway.

The other issue…a big one…the live bait disappeared! If you got a handful of live bait, you were lucky. We resorted to dead bait, frozen bait and even squid.

OH…by the way, we also have the biggest crazy full moon…ever! And it stuck around the WHOLE week. Did the full moon cause all this or is all of this because of the full moon?

All we can do is wait and see how fishing is once the full moon disappears. I will say that things seemed to pick up a bit as the full moon dissipated. I hope it continues because we still have a few more weeks to go of the regular season.

And that’s the other thing. Usually, we can count on the weather to hold until at least the end of October or the beginning of November. That’s when the northern winds start to blow.

And they usually keep blowing until April or May. We stay off the water. Only the windsurfers and kite boarders love it. But that doesn’t usually start for a few more weeks.

Well…I gotta tell you…the northern winds seem like they already started. Waters are getting rougher already.

Again, a big effect on the fishing. Just a huge combination of alot of things:

Big full moon
Dirty water
Hot water
No bait
Northern winds
Rougher water

That was just too many punches in the nose for our fishing.

So, we got a few dorado. Some roosters. Pompano and jacks and some bonito and pargo and not a whole lot more. We can only hope that by the time you’re reading this we get back on track to some degree.

A big shout out to all our clients and friends and our captains who were on the water and visited us this week. It was really tough fishing. Our captains worked hard to find whatever they could find. Our anglers all hung in there and also worked hard and stayed patient. Not a single person complained or lost their smiles. We were awfully grateful for that. Cheers to all of you and hung tough!

Sorry this isn’t the usual glowing report, but gotta be honest.

Captain Luis turned a slow day into an outstanding day. He had his son, Dylan, with him and took the guys out to one of our deserted beach. He took some of their dorado and made sashime and ceviche then dove for some fresh clams to have with the guys as well! No bad days!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing
www.tailhunter.comMexico Office:

Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address: Tailhunter Sportfishing
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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