La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of July. 12-19, 2024

July 20, 2024 by riplipboy

STRANGE OCEAN- STRANGE BITERS

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 12-19, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WATER – Just weird and strange. Blue water mixed with cold ugly dirty green water. And seemingly changing daily. Hot spots become cold spots. And vice versa. The ocean is not it’s usual self these past weeks. Temps on the surface ranging all over from 75-85 degrees. Colder down deep.

WEATHER – Strange as well. Mornings are actually cooler than normal some days. It’s July yet not a bad idea to have a windbreaker or sweatshirt. Then blazing hot later. Some days very very windy and rough. Other days, not a ripple.

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK – Dorado, yellowtail, rainbow runners, marlin, sailfish, roosterfish, pargo liso, snapper, dog-tooth snapper, cabrilla, triggerfish, bonito, jack crevalle

FISHING on the 1-10 SCALE: 4

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Jimmy Fontenot from San Angelo, TX, got this big trophy rooster off Las Arenas. Jimmy is a champion taxidermist and big game hunting outfitter and owns Wildlife Connections in TX. First time with us! The fish was released.

Mike and Pam Lara from S. California, I could not stop laughing whenever they were around because they always seemed to be having just the best time. They slammed dorado with us and took home a big batch of fillets! Also, first time visitors with Tailhunter.

Ahhh…Dolores Ehlers with her favorite Captain Pancho has been with us for many many years and we can’t help but call her “Mom.” She’s a treasure and she can fish too! She also makes a mean meatloaf sandwich! 😁

Weird and strange! Cold water fish like yellowtaill suddenly showed up this week! Right off the northern and southern ends of Cerralvo Island and north Espirito Santo Island as well as the Punta Arenas lighthouse! Gary and Miles Wagner with a nice pair. Gary owns the Rancho Costa at Bahia Muertos!

Bryan Gadol only had 2 days to fish with us and had quite a time. Fishing with Captain Armando check out the striped marlin. Great photo and the fish was released.

Sunrise roosterfish for Mike Frazier. One of several he caught and released! His wife claims hers was bigger! See the rest of the photos below!

Kelli Frazier made sure to let husband, Mike, know that HER roosterfish was larger than the ones he caught! Big trophy in the photo and they released all their roosters!

Love this photo and this young man! Mike Novotny with a gorgous blue bull dorado and his “deckhand” of the day, Dylan, son of our popular Captain Luis.

He wanted one and he got one! Randy Fontenot from Texas poses with his big rooster before releasing it. Brother Jimmy stands by!

My high school classmate from more than 50 years ago, Eddie Falcon, behind the mask with his super wife, Debbie and deckhand Dylan (son of Captain Luis) near Espirito Santo Island. Eddie battled this bull dorado with a bad shoulder and back and had been tussling already with several big bonito when the dorado slammed him! But, he got it and that’s what we made for dinner for them at Tailhunter that night!

Not quite sure whether Aaron or Kyle caught this nice marlin. Both of them laughed when I asked, but they said it was off the bucket list! They were with Captain Julio off Espirito Santo Island.

Richard Kraft is with us all week and has done pretty nicely each day with a variety of species and good action. I think this was his first day catch. Dorado and bonito!

Another sample of colder water moving in! Amigo, Gary Wagner, owner of Rancho Costa in Bahia Muertos with a pargo liso which we usually catch in the early spring. I’ve never seen them in July!

Cheyenne Lee on her birthday with husband Brody from Utah. First timers withus and some nice dorado to bring home. Check out Cheyenn’s bull! I believe she also hooked a marlin that day.

Gary Wagner with wife Tracy and daughter Brittany just off his place at Rancho Costa at Bahia Muertos with a dandy rooster for the quick photo and release. They got 2 nice ones on the day.

Lots of dorado meat for John Ehlers to take home to Colorado! John has been with us for almost 20 years and loves fishing with Captain Pancho.

Might be the best photo of the week! Nancy Novotny with Captain Gerardo and her big striper! It was a big time battle and Nancy released the fish swimming away strong!

Again, I’m not sure if Aaron or Kyle caught this big dorado, but either way, it’s a great fish and the meat went home to the same house!

Louisiana boys, Steve Dupuis and Scott Sebastien. Double marlin and both released!

First rooster for Brody to start the morning! Quick photo and release!

Pancho and John Ehlers with a big striper. John tried to release the fish, but was unable to revive it. He generously donated the meat!

Great shot and colors for Jim Lipkowski with his morning dorado fishing with Captain Armando.

In addition to a trophy rooster, Randy really wanted a trophy dorado as well. I think this one fit the bill nicely!

Steve’s got his rooster for a fast photo and get him back in the water for a great release!

Bryan Gadol off Espirito Santo Island poses with another one for the box!

Birthday rooster fishing trip for Cheyenne! Right in the shallows off the island. She released the fish too!

Marlin and her daughter, Priscilla were sure fun to have visiting with us. Nice batch of dorado. Marline has been with us before, but Priscilla was on her first trip!

The ladies had fun this week. Mike Frazier helps Kelli with a feisty jack crevalle!

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In four words…THE STRUGGLE IS REAL!

In 30 years down here, I can’t remember ever running into these kinds of conditions!

I dunno. Like the rest of the world I can’t imagine we are immune from all the funky weird weather changes the rest of the world seems to be experiencing. However, what I’ve seen the last 3 weeks or so has been perplexing to say the least.

Let me cut to the chase.

Yes, we are finding fish.
Yes, we are catching big fish.
Yes, everyone is catching fish.

So, let’s get that out’ve the way right off the top.

But, the erratic conditions and un-predictable bite is driving us all crazy. Or maybe we’re just spoiled. We’re just so used to being red hot on fire fishing this time of the year!

A spot that’s hot one day is ice cold the next. Patches of blue clear water are right next to ugly green cold water.

Mornings can be cool and needing a sweatshirt. Or they can already be blazing warm with out a breeze. And yes, we have been having some unseasonably windy and rough days that should NOT be here and then calm flat days when we pray for a breeze on the water as respite from the oven-like heat of the day.

Somedays are humid. Some days are incredibly pleasant.

Earlier this week, thousands of baitfish washed up on the beaches of La Paz Bay. Attributed to the rapid heat of the water which caused an algae bloom which depleted the oxygen. BECAUSE the WATERS WERE TOO WARM.

Yet right outside the bay, the waters were TOO COLD and had turned green and dirty!

Go further out and you find 85 degree blue water.

The fish are as mixed up as we are. Nothing is for certain except our captains are working hard and ranging far and wide looking for the biters. Our guests are hanging tough and patient as well.

Dorado could bite one day. The next day same spot nothing. Or we suddenly are catching cold-water fish like pargo and yellowtail that NEVER bite in the summer in spots where they should not be!

Marlin are being pests or a great find everywhere depending on your viewpoint. We sure are hooking a lot and for all the photos you see above 95% are getting released or broken off.

More sharks in the water than I have ever seen too.

There are schools of dorado in the 5 pound (mini mahi) that are around, but they aren’t consistent but then there are big free swimming 20-40 pounders here and there as well.

One boat is all over the fish. The boat 20 yards away can’t buy a fish bite. Some days Las Arenas is hot. Next day it’s cold. Same with La Paz. It runs different every day with no rhyme or reason.

One of our captains that has been red hot hitting home runs all season suddenly goes several days without hits.

Go figure .

All I can say is look at the photos. Come fishing. Most of our guests fish several days and you might have an off-day, but you will probably make up for it on another day. For sure, if you don’t have a line in the water you’re definitely NOT going to catch anything.

But, despite all the wackiness in the ocean, everyone is catching fish! Just don’t ask me what you’ll be catching!