DORADO ROOSTERFISH MARLN IN SPOTLIGHT BUT…WEIRD

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 26-July 3, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WEATHER:  Strangely it’s rather chilly some mornings and windy and can be cloudy, but then by late morning, it’s blazing sunny then just plain hot.  At least it’s not very humid.  Day time temps in the high 90s.  Nights in the 70’s and pleasant.

WATER:  Some spots now into the mid-80’s on the surface and pretty blue, but the mornings can sometimes be a tad bumpy if the wind is breezy but then it flatttens out.  I think the waters have now gotten too warm for the yellowtail bite which is pretty much over, but now blue water species showing up. Storms moving from the East Coast have not doner us any favors.  See below…

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK:  Dorado, tuna, roosterfish, striped marlin, blue marlin, white marlin, bonito, jack crevalle, yellowtail, pargo, cabrilla, snapper, pompano, trevally, shark

FISHING SCALE 1-10: 5 to 6.5 (erratic/un-predicatable)

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Bigger model dorado starting to show up! Sam Aiello had some banner days on the water with us like this big bull!

Our rooster king from Seattle, Steve Bryan, comes down every year and fishes 10-14 days for nothing but roosters. I’ve lost count of how many big roosterfish he has caught and released!

From Tennessee, Stacy Amos fished with us over a dozen years ago, but brought first-time neighbor Sam Oliver who caught his first dorado.

Maybe the last yellowtail of the season? J.T. and Joe rocked these nice forkies up against the island.

Joe Hicks is a big fella, but even he had trouble hefting this big roosterfish after battling it so he could get a photo! He caught 4 this day and released them all. Joe is from Denver. Always fun to see him.

Captain Victor with Marty and Taylor Sering from Oregon. Wow…estimated 350 pounds and a 1 hour battle. Lots of marlin in the water this week. The guys generously donated the great meat to the grateful pueblo to share.

First tuna of the season! Nice footballs for Julie and Travis. They found the school under some fast-moving dolphin and the fish came up and boiled on lures and live baits. They also got the dorado. Julie also released a sailfish. Travis released a striped marlin and Julie lost a blue marlin estimated between 300-400 pounds!

Chris Stark looks on at his son, Noah, with a tough jack crevalle near Punta Perrico.  Noah released the fish.

What a day. Travis Millspaugh with Captain Pancho…caught and released this striper. Caught and released a sailfish (photo down below). Lost a big blue marlin. Lost a white marlin. Caught a bunch of tuna and a nice dorado!

Travis with one for the cooler!

This is a big sailfish! Over the years, Julie, kept missing a sailfish. Just couldn’t keep them on. This time, she got one and it’s a large one. She released the fish which swam off strong!

Kevin Evans from Idaho last fished with Tailhunter in 2000! That’s 24 years ago! He came back and got his biggest rooster and promised he’ll be back sooner than 20 years. This fish was released. Punta Arenas beach in the background.

Lotta bull…dorado! Joey Berzins on his first trip with future-father-in-law Sam Aiello.

Another trophy rooster for Joe. Four fish on the day. All released.

Kevin plugged the boat with limits of dorado fishing north out’ve La Paz Bay with us.

Great shot of the great Gary Wagner fishing just off from his Rancho Costa on Bahia Muertos. It’s easier to sit and take a photo than try to hold one of these big guys up. The rooster was released.

Yup! That’s a trophy bull dorado on the gaff for Joey! Flat ocean too!

So great to have these two visit. Only had time for one day on the water, but Joe and Christian Bridley from San Diego have been friends for years, but their first time in La Paz. Glad they got into the last of the yellowtail!

Branson Knowles on his first trip was with his dad, Lee, and had the big dorado slam them! Lots of meat!

Captain Arcangel with the Stark Family…Steph, Noah and dad, Chris! Dorado, pargo and palometa on the cleaning board!

Three of Jason Ryan’s guys. Way fun group and got into dorado, cabrilla, palometa, snapper and pompano! Great variety!

Colorado Springs CO in the house! Miles Wagner staying at his dad’s place at Rancho Costa got himself a toad roosterfish as well this week. Quick photo then back into the water!

On the beach for photos! Tyler and Ryan had just one day to squeeze in for fishing!

Joey with another bull dorado. It’s about time the quality dorado showed up!

David Jones visiting us from Arkansas got this marlin fishing with Captain Javier. The fish could not be released. Light tackle!

Another first for Joey. First roosterfish! Also a sweet release!

Great shot! Bobby Feliciano is pretty happy!

Incredible colors on Sam’s fish! Fresh one!

The Wagner family has dinner set up!

Steve Bryan with yet another roosterfish to his credit. He releases them all so he can catch them next year!

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First things first…Happy 4th of July everyone!  Hope it’s a safe and happy holiday for ya”ll. It sas always one of my favorite holidays.  It’s summertime Happy Birthday USA!  Unfortunately, being down here, and it being the height of the fishing season, I’ve dearly missed it for 30 years now.  So watch some fireworks and have a hot dog, fried chicken and some potato salad for me!

As for the fishing…

Well…I’m gonna be brutally honest.  We caught alot of great fish since the last report.  In fact, some spectacular fish were hooked.  But, I can’t say it was great fishing.  Straight up.

Waters are warmer.  Yes, there were some big fish hooked, but fishing was erratic.

The weather patterns are just plain weird.  It’s warm, but cooler than normal.  The waters have stayed colder than normal although finally hitting the mid-80’s on the surface which is why we’re getting more blue water species.

But, morning have often been chilly and windy.  We had that big storm Alberto that crushed into the southern coast of Texas barrell across mainland Mexico then drift into the Pacific south of us that pushed strong southern winds, bigger swells and waves and some colder upwellings up to us.  It made for some mixed fishing.   Even the fish are confused.

At the time I’m writing this. Hurricane Beryl is chugging across the Caribbean and into the southern parts of Mexico and Central America and it’s so powerful that once again, just as fishing was starting to get better, big crashing waves have hit the southern facing beaches and waters have gotten cooler and dirtier.

That has changed the normal currents.  It has made it difficult to get to some of the fishing spots.  It has made it harder to get bait.

The result is the fishing has changed from day-to-day.  It has changed from boat-to-boat.  One day good.  Next day so-so.  Next day good.  Next day really slow.  Very un-predictable fishing!

And, as I’m writing this at 4:30 a.m. in the morning, the winds were blowing as I sent folks out onto the boats and the predictions this week show more strong winds from the south.

Weird…weird…weird.

But the fishing, here’s the scoop…

I think the great yellowtail season we had is finally over.  There’s still a few fish holding down deep, but the waters have consistently warmed that the forkies have moved off.  The cold water held the yellowtail here probably 2 months longer than normal but I think we’ve seen the last of them.

On the other hand, the warmer waters have finally brought in more dorado. It’s not full-speed yet, but school-sized fish in the 5-10 pound class are more abundant and we hooked some really nice bulls…the largest of the season…that are easily in the 30-40 pound class.

We also got our first yellowfin tuna of the season with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet.  The fish were found pretty far out…past Cerralvo Island at the 88 spot and beyond, but the football fish running about 15-20 pounds were running with the dolphin and came up on lures and live bait.  It’s a run and it’s hit or miss, but give the captain extra gas money and let us know and we’ll give it a shot!

Also, I’ve not seen the marlin so active like this in several seasons.  We had several blue marlin between 300-400 pounds hooked this past week.  Also a white marlin was lost and several striped marlin were hooked, lost or released.  Actually, most of the billfish are getting released.  Also got into some sailfish this week as well.  All released.  It’s pretty exciting to hook and fight a billfish from a panga!

Roosterfish from 10-100 pounds are still hanging out as well although I’m not sure how much longer they will be here.  Smaller ones should still linger, but the bigger ones are about time to move off.  I can only hope they’ll stick around awhile longer.

Jack crevalle, big bonito, cabrilla, pargo, snapper, pompano and trevally  are providing action as well.

That’s my story!

Jonathan and Jilly