FULL MOON FEVER?
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of May 23-30, 2024
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN REPORT
WEATHER: Getting hotter finally. Humidity hasn’t really hit yet so that’s a good thing. Daytime temps now in the high 90’s or low 100’s.
WATER: Getting bluer and warmer, but there is an apparent thermocline about 20-30′ down. So surface temps are 75-79 degrees, but 5-10 degrees cooler below the thermocline which is why we’re still getting the cooler water species like the yellowtail.
FISH HOOKED: yellowtail, amberjack, sierra, barred pargo, dog-tooth snapper, yellow snapper, marlin, sailfish, wahoo, bonito, cabrilla, jack crevalle pompano, trevally, dorado
FISHING SCALE of 1-10: 7
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Toad-sized hog yellowtail for Matt Correia from San Diego with the mackerel bait still hanging from it’s mouth. I recall they hooked 7 that day north of La Paz!
First time in La Paz, Emma Hart, with her first roosterfish too! She’s visiting us from San Diego.
So much variety this week. Casey Petersen off Cerralvo Island with a palometa (trevally). Good eating!
Finally seeing some of the big boy roosters! Paul Cowdell from Utah has been talking to us for years and finally came down. His first day he got the better of this big rooster estimated of about 100 pounds. Paul also released the fish and caught several others he released as well.
Mark Bonsack from Cle Elum WA fishes with us several times a year for almost 20 years now . He always get into the fish like this rare banqueta grouper caught down deep.
The ladies were rocking it this week! Another first timer, Myra Schmonsky all the way from Green Bay WI with one of several roosters on the day. All released.
Visting us from Austin TX, JD Durst said this jack crevalle battled him long and hard off Punta Perrico.
Always great to have Johnny Stone visit us from San Diego. He never disappoints getting onto the fish like this big mossback yellowtail. They hooked 7 that day.
Blaine Larsen and Capt. Julio with our first boated marlin of the year not able to release. It was Blaine’s first and they had another one hooked the next day that threw the hook! Much of the meat was donated.
Great colors on Jim Schmonsky’s dorado. Look how close to shore he is…those are the rocks of Punta Perrico about 20 yards away. Don’t have to go far to find blue water fish!
Our long-time amigo, Brad Sleder from S. Carolina with another unusual banqueta grouper. These are great eating!
Always great to get big smiles from first-timers like Casey and Emma with their first day fishing when they hooked and released 5 roosters!
Whoa! Victor strains to help Myra with her hefty first roosterfish estimated at 60+ pounds. Myra released the fish.
Nice rack of fish! All tasty amberjack at Bahia Muertos for Jason Correia and son, Matt, from San Diego.
My poster-shot of the week! This could be a magazine cover of Paul Cowdell and one of his big roosterfish right off the Punta Arenas lighthouse beach. Fish was realeased!
Jason with another big yellowtail headed to the fish box and more fillets for San Diego!
Jim Schmonsky and Captain Boli posing with another mossback ‘tail and some dinner fillets at Tailhunter Restaurant!
She was so much fun to have visit. Martha Cowdell from Utah in the calm waters off Punta Arenas with a jack crevalle (released). Tough fish when hooked!
Double armfulls of yellowtail to heft up…John Stone and Jeff Correia coming back from Punta Coyote!
From Alaska on the flyrod. This ain’t no salmon. The Mexican name is “toro” (jack crevalle) which means “bull.” Damon Harvey had some fun with these sluggers on the flyrod .
Myra sure had fun in their one-week fishing trip with us. Dorado…just one more species to add to the different species she caught all week!
Lots of fun jack crevalle all week. Not real good eating so they all get released mostly, but difficult to battle and a tough fish on rod and reel. Captain Alfredo and Jason Correia.
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I won’t say it was the greatest fishing ever, but it sure was a solid week for sure and the best week of fishing so far this season with lots of variety; big fish and some species we’ve been waiting for!
And all on a full moon too! ( I usually don’t put much stock into the full moon/ bad fishing theory down here. Maybe other places I have fished, but not so much down here!)
We got our first marlin.
First sailfish.
The first big boy 50-100 pound roosterfish.
We got wahoo.
Big big yellowtail (and lots of them!),
We got some dorado finally too!
But, then add in barred pargo, pargo liso, cubera snapper, yellow snapper, sierra, amberjack, jack crevalle, bonito, pompano, trevally, amberjack, triggerfish…and more!
Let me tell you, we were busy every afternoon in our Tailhunter fish packing room!
Huge slabs of yellowtail fillet…FROM JUST ONE BOAT! We were commercial vacuum packing several hundred bags a day of fish!
Plus, we were whipping up lots of cooked fish every night at our Tailhunter Restaurant to cook up the fish that our fishermen brought in!
But, like I said, a good solid week.
The yellowtail north of town were as good as I have ever seen it. The fish are a healthy 15-40 pound mossback forkies. Some biting live mackerel deep and others up on the surface. Boats were coming back usually with 2-8 yellowtail and telling me stories of losing just as many of the fish to broken lines or pulled hooks or some fish they just could not stop!
Fishing with our La Paz fleet that’s pretty much the highlight.
If you wanted the variety of all the other dozen or so species, fishing with our Las Arenas Fleet was were we had you go out. Honestly, if you had a bait in the water, you never knew what you were going to hook.
Fishing for roosterfish, you might also hook jack crevalle, dorado, trevally or pompano or one of the larger 50-100 pound roosterfish that finally showed up.
If you fished over the rocks, we were hooking big mullet snapper (pargo lis0), barred pargo (pargo mulato) and dog-tooth snapper (pargo rojo/ pargo perro/ cubera snapper) as well as cabrilla, yellow snapper, palometas and others.
Not sure how much longer we’ll be getting this kind of variety.
As things warm up, we’ll usually start seeing more dorado, billfish, wahoo and hopefully some tuna and fewer of the cooler water species.
The air temps are definitely on the upswing as many parts of Mexico have been in a heatwave. We’re getting sunny hot temps now in the high 90’s and low 100’s. Nice thing, however, is that the humidity still hasn’t escalated.
The water temps are 75-78 on the surface which is typical, but it appears there’s a thermocline 20-30 feet down where waters are 5-8 degrees cooler and that’s why we’re still getting so many cold water species.
No doubt, it’s hot. Bring the sunscreen and wide-brimmed hats and cover up! And do not forget to stay hydrated or you’ll get sick down here real fast.
OH…and ONE MORE THING DANGIT…
Because of the national, regional, state and local elections on SUNDAY, all alcohol sales in La Paz are prohibited from 6 p.m. Saturday night until Monday morning! Some special areas in Cabo and some other cities got exemptions and in the past, we’ve gotten an exemption as well as some hotels.
But, not THIS YEAR! In La Paz, restaurants (like ours), hotels, cantinas, grocery stores…cannot sell alcohol. Just poke me with a fork…
We’ll keep you posted.
That’s my story!
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
Tailhunter Fish Report 