UNUSUAL CRAZY GOOD WINTER FISHING?

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Dec. 12-22, 2023

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WEATHER:  Mostly mild.  Some clouds, but the key, as far as fishing has been the wind.  Earlier, it was really gusty, but then the last week (Christmas week) some of the calmest winter weather we’ve seen in…forever.

WATER:  When the winds blew, the water was junk and uncomfortable.  But, when the wind didn’t blow, the water was almost glassy blue and flat!

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK: Crazy dorado fishing…hard to believe this is “off-season.”  School-sized dorado of about 10 pound size.  But, larger 20-40 pound fish still running around as well.   Then, late in the period…sailfish?  Yup!  Inshore, sierra, bonito, jacks and cabrilla and a few yellowtail also showed up in the boxes. 

BAIT:  Bait stocks have been good when the wind isn’t blowing.  Nice sardines for live bait. 

OUTLOOK: Winds will be coming back, but there’s a few windows here and there.

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Francisco and Ramiro were out at Bahia Muertos to catch a few filets for the freezer! Wow…never expected a box full of dorado as well as the nice sailfish like this and surely not in December! They tried to release the sailfish but were unsuccessful.

Celebrating his birthday in La Paz, Greg Earles was deternined to get in a day of two of fishing! He had some banner fishing like this nice bull. Amigo, John Davis lends a hand!

Our La Paz amigo, Jimmy Williams with a trophy sail. It almost looks like a fiberglass mount with great colors. Check out the flat ocean. Looks like a lake! Jimmy released the fish, but also caught dorado.

Captain Pancho with Norm Busch. Take a look at the big bull that Pancho is holding up for the photo. It’s a beast! Nice rack of mahi meat!

Another local, amigo, Phil always gets into good fish. Bull dorado like this are NOT typical winter fish. Great catch!

Even the guys who fished north of La Paz where it’s usually windy got into a nice jag of dorado!

Happy Birthday to Greg! Starting the day off right!

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WOW! WOW! WOW!

Hard to believe some of the fishing right now…in December!

I know the fishing report is a little later than usual.  I really do try to get them out on a weekly basis now going on almost 30 years.   But, as you’ve often heard me say, November to April is off-season.   Barely anyone fishing because it’s usually extremely windy and rough!

So, I was waiting a few extra days for something to happen so I could have something a bit meatier to write you about. Even I get bored talking about the same old thing!

I also knew I had some local friends going fishing plus a small group of guys who were going to brave it and go fishing for a day or two.  Additionally, some of my friends who are local commercial fishermen were supposed to give me a better report.

Also, well, it’s the holidays.  I’m still recovering my my knee replacement surgery even though it has now been about 6 weeks and on top of it…everyone (me included) has gotten the cold/flu bug!  It’s that time of year.

So, apologies that it’s a little late, but it was worth it!

Check it out…

Earlier in the period it was typical windy, rough, choppy…blah blah blah.  But then, Christmas week, I don’t know what happened.

The winds diminished.  The waters calmed down.  The waters turned blue!  It was like someone threw a switch!

Dorado between 5 and 20 pound schoolies bit like it was summer!  Both Las Arenas and La Paz fleets produced some good catches and there were even larger fish up to the 40-50 pound class bulls!  Pretty much unheard of.

With plentiful supplies of bait including live sardines, the dorado were ready to chew.  Still not much of anyone fishing, but everyone who was out got fish.

As well, inshore fish like cabrilla, pargo, snapper, jack crevalle, sierra and yellowtail more typical of this time of year were also hooked.

The biggest surprise probably were the sailfish that showed up.  And these were some nice-sized legit sails running 90 to maybe 140 pounds.  Much larger than normal. Most of the fish were released, but especially because many were hooked on lighter tackle, there were some epic battles.

Not sure if this will continue, but the key is the wind and finding the windows when the winds aren’t blasting folks off the water!   A great Christmas week of fishing!

LATE BREAK REPORT –  Just as I was about to publish…tuna and wahoo biting now!

BLESSINGS TO YOU!

Hard to believe that Christmas has come again so soon, but always a special time.  Wherever you are or whatever you’re doing, please…from Jill and I and our Tailhunter family and team in La Paz…we wish you a special peace and happy holidays and Christmas and many blessings for the new year.  We hope to have you visit us in 2024!

Cheers and best fishes always!

Jonathan and Jilly