IMPROVED FISHING DURING FULL MOON…(Sort of…)
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 20-27, 2024
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT
WEATHER: It’s all over the place. It’s definitely hot in the afternoons…blazing actually, but not as hot as normal. Mornings and nights can be cool or hot and humid. It’s different every day. It can also be very windy and breeze or sometimes not even a whisper of wind.
WATER: It’s like the weather. And directly related. We have warm surface water and blue clear conditions or a few yards away cold green dirty water. Waters can be flat calm and an hour later bumpy as heck. Never seen anything like this in 30 years.
FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK: Dorado, marlin, sailfish, bonito, tiny tuna, jack crevalle, yellowtail, amberjack, pompano, trevally, pargo, cabrilla, triggerfish…sharks!
THE MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE AND THE REST OF THE STORY…
Marie McClelland from Park City UT, visits us every year and has a knack for big fish, especially dorado like this one. She was out with Captain Victor.
Tom Wilkens brought his daughter, Kaitlyn with him for her first visit. They were out with Captain Gerardo for this pair of dorado.
My old high school classmate Eddie Falcon who lives up in Carson City NV area has a colorful dorado on the gaff. Check out the flat ocean!
As I recall, Tanner was out at the 88 bank when they hit a school of better dorado like this one with Captain Pancho. This was Tanner’s 2nd trip this year with Tailhunters
Braedon and Steward Pierson had themselves a ball with the spinning rods and some fun-sized schoolie dorado.
Our good amigo, Kip Slaugh, on his 2nd trip to us this year from Salt Lake City had a double marlin hook up and released both!
Jim and Brenda Bovee from San Diego have fished with us already 2 times. They got a quick limit of dorado then found of a school of litte baby yellowfin tuna…not football size…Pop Warner size!
This is a NICE dorado. Connor is about 6’1″! He was out with Captain Luis north of La Paz Bay.
Daniel Bovee with his favorite Captain, Pancho and a jack crevalle they released. Always good to see Daniel down here.
Brian and Marie McClelland with another bull for the fish box!
Matt Slaugh looks pretty happy with this striped marlin! The fish was released.
Eddie and Debbie Falcon with first-day’s catch of dorado going home to Nevada with them.
Gabe Aguilar with Captain Alfredo fought this striper for a long time finallly getting it to the boat.
Daniel Bovee and his mom, Brenda, found a patch of schoolie-dorado near Bahia Muertos.
Seeing an abnormal lot of sharks this past month of many species. My captain say it’s because there’s so much baitfish in the waters for them and it’s actually a good sign.
Tanner with another big bull! Big head on this one!
Brenda and Jim had a good day with limits of dorado releasing many.
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Well…we had a full moon this past week or so to add to our fishing issues.
That makes most folks cringe when they hear about fishing on a full moon.
But, pump the brakes! The fishing actually got a bit better during the full moon! Given how erratic and difficult the fishing had been the past month, this was great to have. Nothing great to be honest, but anything is better than what it had been!
The waters still remain weird. Cold dirty water in many spots, but then right next to warm blue water. And it changes all the time.
Got in the water on the beach and it should have been warm. Instead if was COLD! I got goose bumps. I walked down the beach about 100 yards and the water was like bathwater! That’s the way it is out fishing!
Here’s the rub…yes, we got dorado which bit a bit better this week. We actually got some limits here and there with guys releasing fish. I haven’t used the word “limits” in a few weeks.
Nothing big. Mostly school-sized 5-10 pound fish. Way off for what we SHOULD be catching, but at least they are biting. There are some larger 20-40 pounders around as well if you check the photos above. But, whereas in the last several seasons post-Covid where we had lots of big bulls swimming around, there are fewer big fish. And, if you hook one…and you lose it…well, that might be your only shot at a big boy.
That’s the warm water stuff. The rub is that we are getting COLD water fish! IN JULY!
This is unheard of in my 30 years here, but we’re getting yellowtail 10-25 pounds. We’re getting amberjack. We hooked pargo liso that we have spawning here in the springtime in April and May. I thought we were well on our way towards summertime fishing, but to be honest, this is more like spring-time fishing! It’s crazy. It’s un-predicatable.
The cold water fish just suddenly showed up again.
As well, another strange occurance…more marlin and sailfish than I have ever seen! Most are getting released, but some boats are getting multiple hook-ups on billfish…even when they are not trying and DO NOT WANT billfish.
Here’s another little funky fact…more sharks in the water than I have ever seen as well. Folks are hooking makos, blues, hammerheads, lemon sharks, thresher sharks and others…all sizes. There’s a ton of baby shark in the bay as well. Don’t worry, the sharks aren’t bothering anyone, but they’re a pain in the backside to hook them and have them tear up your line and gear after long fights or short fights then trying to unhook and release them.
My captains say that the sharks are here because there’s so much bait and feed in the water for them and this includes large schools of TINY SMALL tuna! Even smaller than bonito. Perfect munchy-size food for sharks as well as the larger apex predators like the marlin and sailfish.
So…bottom line…fishing did get better. But, nothing to blow whistles over…just yet! We can only hope and keep fishing! Our captains are working super hard and are super frustrated as well. Even staying out extra time some days to keep pushing to find fish.
Likewise, the guests are being patient and hanging with us as well. It’s strange because several boats could be on the same spot. Several boats are hanging fish and the boats right next to them can’t get a nibble. Or hot spots become cold spots and vice versa. There’s just no logic.
We just have to keep at it!
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jilly
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 