There’s dorado around, but we should be plugging the boats full of dorado this time of year. We really have to hunt for them these days.
The marlin bite that was so good earlier in the summer has tapered off, but there’s still billfish if you can find the blue water.
Our good amigos, Daniel and his dad, Jim Bovee with Captain Pancho come several times a year and know fishing in our waters as well as anyone. They spent 3 days and had to work hard for their fish and ran as much as 20 miles out trying to find the blue water.
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I DID NOT FORGET YOU! And YES, we’re OK!
Thanks to everyone who checked up on us and many apologies that it’s been about 2 1/2 weeks since the last report.
I’ve been diligently doing the fishing reports for almost 30 years…the videos for almost 20 years and regretfully, some personal and medical issues came up that were unavoidable and needed attention.
Then, a double whammy…I was ready to get out a report, but…
Not many photos since fishing hasn’t been that great and no one needs to see photos of 12″ tuna and 4 pound dorado
I accidentally pressed “DELETE” and the few photos I had ready for the report vanished! Just like that. My bad. My fault.
So, that’s what happened. I know alot of you folks kinda rely on getting the weekly report and thanks to everyone who checked in on me. We’re good to go!
Honestly, you haven’t missed much since the last report. In fact, not much has changed.
Fishing remains erratically perplexing.
Full discloser honesty without the sugar coating…
It’s August. Almost September. We should be knee deep in blue water pelagic species like dorado, billfish, tuna and such. It’s not like that.
Waters are still cooler/ colder than normal and very off-color and dirty instead of the pretty blue waters we should be enjoying. It’s also been a bit rougher than normal as southern winds keep bumping into us and nothing is as it should be.
We’re having to hunt hard to find the blue water and favorable condition. The captains are working hard chasing the right stuff and guests are being patient. The problem is that every day is different. The locations change. The water changes. What worked yesterday doesn’t necessarily work today. One boat finds fish. The boat next to it can’t get a bite. One boat catches dorado. The other boat only gets cold water species like snapper and triggerfish and cabrilla.
So, I think the fish are as confused as we are. The fishing results are mixed and the species we are finding are mixed. I can’t tell you if you go fishing if you have a better chance at dorado, marlin or needlefish. It’s just that kind of year.
Got alot of folks coming to visit in the next few week so hopefully things will get better. Just gotta hang in there. We’re doing all we can and wish I had a crystal ball or magic wand. In my 30 years this has been the most frustrating of seasons. But, if you don’t put a line in the water, you definitely won’t catch anything. I just can’t tell you what you’re gonna hook!
That’s my story!
Jonathan
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing www.tailhunter.comMexico Office:
Tailhunter Sportfishing
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
“Keep the circus going inside you, keep it going, don’t take anything too seriously, it’ll all work out in the end.”
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 5-12, 2024
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN REPORT
WEATHER: Cooler than normal but the humidity is way up. Had a crazy “torito” blow in (baby hurricane) that comes out’ve nowhere and it dropped about 15 minutes of rain on us as well as some big swells.
WATER: Crazy water. Warm blue water patches. Cold water patches that are dirty green and dark. Surface temps are 85 in the blue water and in the 70’s in the green water. Moving and changing daily!
SPECIES HOOKED THIS WEEK: Yellowtail, dorado, jack crevalle, bonito, rainbow runners, pompano, trevally, pargo, sailfish, marlin, roosterfish, baby tuna, amberjack, sierra
NOTE: Very un-predicatable and unseasonable bite
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Captain Gerardo helps Steve Guidi with the gaff and a photo op wit this legit bull dorado.
Ray Cabales always has funny photos for us whenever he fishes, but this big rooster was a battle. Ray says his arms were pretty sore after the fight. Captain Pancho helps out. The fish was released.
Another weird thing for the fishing season! Gwyn Bailey wit a barracuda!! I’ve only seen barracuda caught about 3 times in 30 years. I have only seen a school of the one time while scuba diving. And never one this big! Good eating!
1..2..3…LIFT for the photo! Tony Smith hefts a gorgeous mossback yellowtail for the camera.
Good friend, Andrew Fernandez with a sailfish for a photo and release. He told me they actually had a double hook-up as his buddy Steve had a big dorado on the line at the same time. (see the first photo above!).
Mac Costas…pretty roosterfish right off the Las Arenas beach. He did release the fish. Jonathan Dille with the photobomb shaka!
Jeanne always looks like she’s ready to bite the fish back! She’s got a nice bull dorado for the camera pose!
Marcus Yoo just retired as a Lt. Colonel in the army and visits us each year. He’s in shape! But this big roosterfish was all he could handle and he could not lift it for the photo. Several estimates put this at well over 100 pounds and he needed an assist from Captain Victor to release it. He also caught and released another 30 pound class rooster.
Another strange fish we shouldn’t be catching right now. A rainbow runner related to yellowtail caught by Tom Hunt from Arizona.
Pretty shot with the blue water of La Paz Bay. John and Gwyn Bailey with a quad of yellowtail for the fish box.
Ray is ready for some yellowtail sashime and poke. He had some back at our Tailhunter Restaurant and I made up several good batches of rice to go along with it. He had big smiles!
YEOW!!! First day roosterfish TOAD for Jonathan Dille from Arizona!!! Definite trophy and they caught two that day and released them both.
Kind of a cute photo that I just had to include. Stephanie Worley fished with her husband James and really really worked hard for all their fish…and they know how to fish! But, got this dorado one of their days.
This is what we are SUPPOSED to be catching right now, but dorado are few and hard to come by, but Tom Hunt and Jack Sellers found these 2 pairs outside of La Paz Bay towards Espirito Santo Island
There was one day when all our boats went hunting for yellowtail and dorado and pretty much struggled all day hunting and pecking. John and Gwyn decided to head to the rocks and fish the rockfish and had a banner day on pargo, cabrilla, snapper and more!
Maybe the most frameable photo of the week. Leo Albers fishing with us for the first time with one of his big yellowtail! Normally , he’s fishing ling cod up the California coast .
Roger “Fluffy” McCracken has been a good friend over 25 years. He’s living in Portland now and always good to see him . Nice dorado, Roger!
One of the bigger dorado of the week. Mac hung this one off Las Arenas. We should be thick into these right now, but it’s been a crazy unusual season.
One of the funnest guys to be around…Chris Burgin…our friend from Texas will keep you laughing. He’s got an exceptionally large jack crevalle on is lap. Tough fighters. Basically, they are like roosterfish without the mohawk fin on their heads.
Andrew threw iron all day for the yellowtail but finally slammed this guy on the jig. That’s alot of work, but he enjoys the artificials.
OK…Is Jeanne angry at this yellowtail or does she really want a some incredibly fresh sashime? I love this lady. She cracks me up all the time. And she knows how to fish and have fun whenever she and Ray come to visit.
Another one of our Texas amigos. Shane Burgin fits the stereotype “good old boy” Texan to the letter! Always has something fun going on or to say. Got his biggest rooster ever with Captain Pancho for the photo and release.
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Where do I start?
I think I could write a book about this season. Each week things get a little more strange.
We are still hunting and pecking for fish. Some days some boats get fish. Other boats, same spot, same bait, same conditions…it changes again.
It’s like the rest of the world. Mexico is not immune to the weird conditions unlike anything I have ever seen in 30 years working in La Paz.
No day is alike.
We have hot humid days when the sun blazes and the humidity can be anywhere from 50-80%. But we have cooler cloudy days.
Or hot cloudy days
Or chilly mornings.
Or ho days followed by chilly night.
We have days when the ocean is flat and then later that day or the next day it’s all roiled up with big waves, swells and chop.
There are days when we got baby hurricanes ( “toritos”) that last a few hours and blow boats off the water in one area but in other areas, there isn’t a cloud in the sky (Cabo got flooded), but we only got a few minutes of heavy rain.
We have spots of clear blue water and right next to it, cold dirty dark water. We have areas where this is cold water on top and warm water below and other areas where the warm water is on top and there’s colder water below.
We have days when there’s so much live bait. The next day, we really have to scratch to find any.
We also have tons of sharks in the water. You name it and it’s probably swimming around. Little ones. Big ones. Dark ones,…about the only kind we haven’t seen is the big white fella. But that doesn’t mean he’s not around. One day at Muertos Bay, right in the shallows where alot of little roosterfish and tiny sardines were bunched up a 12′ tiger was swimming in about 3′ of water right where our boats were pulling in.
And everything changes from day-to-day.
So, the fish are about as confused as we are.
We should be nailing dorado, tuna, wahoo, billfish…
Instead we’re having trouble finding them. Even in the blue water at times, fish that should be there aren’t there! Believe it or not, there are some days when even the bonito and jack crevalle don’t bite and even (gasp!) the needlefish aren’t around.
We’re catching a few blue water fish, but literally just a smattering. There were days last year where we caught more dorado in one day than we are catching in a whole week right now.
Instead, we’re getting pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle, snapper, pompano, rainbow runners and amberjack. These are all cooler water fish that we catch in the spring and disappear mostly around June.
These species DID taper off. But now they are back!
Same with roosterfish. We usually don’t see many of those big boys after June. But (thankfully) we have big 30-100+pound fish around once again. Where did they go and why are they back. Some days, I am so grateful we have the roosters around because they are “bucket list fish” and when other species are hard to find, the roosters put big smiles on faces as they bend rods.
Another thing…
We just had the best yellowtail bite I have seen in 30 years. Normally, we have a so-so yellowtail area around La Paz. If you really want yellowtail head north to Loreto and Mulege which are famous for their yellowtail. We get a few days in the springtime here and there, but that’s kind of it. It’s OK, but not great. But again, these are a colder water fish.
And they are NEVER here in the summer and for sure not in August!
Well, this past week, we had 3 days when yellowtail were literally foaming on the surface and boiling on the baits. Boats were hooking up to a dozen of these bruiser 20-40 pound fish. Many getting lost and broken off, but the fish were slamming lines. Then, I sent everyone there the 4th day to get in on the bite and …ZILCH! We had 8 boats get 2 fish!
My captains said the waters and currents had changed and they also had trouble finding live bait.
The next day, the fish were back. So was the bait. Waters had changed again!
Another strange one…little itty-bitty yellowfin tuna. This is the right time for them, but I’ve never seen little mini-yellowfin tuna like this. They are about 10″ long!
So, I give up trying to guess. Come down and fish and it will be what it will be!
Captains are really pushing hard to find fish and running long distances looking for favorable conditions. Staying out extra long sometimes as well. Clients have been gems and also being patient and hanging with the program with smiles during the tough hunting days.
Some boats get hot and the boat right next to them can’t buy a bite. Hot spots go cold for fishing the next day and cold spots suddenly produce fish the next day.
Just being honest. It is what it is right now.
That’s my story!
Jonathan
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing www.tailhunter.comMexico Office:
Tailhunter Sportfishing
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
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 28-Aug. 4, 2024
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT
WEATHER: We were worried about some dual tropical storms this week, but they stayed well to the south, but dropped about 5 minutes of rain sprinkles on car windshields. It did up the intensity of the humidity with 50-70% humidity some days and continued hot daytime temps in the hi-90’s. Nights are comfortable. Can be breezy at times more than normal
WATER: Had a few rough days, especially for south-facing areas like Las Arenas with had some big swells caused by the storms to the south. Lots of cold green water still around which is problematic for fishing, but later in the week, finding more blue patches holding fish.
FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK: Yellowtail, dorado, little tuna, marlin, sailfish, amberjack, roosterfish, pargo, cabrilla, trevally, pompano, bonito, jack crevalle, triggerfish, snapper, rainbow runner
FISHING SCALE of 1-10; 3.5 still tough going
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE AND THE REST OF THE STORY…
Talk about a mix. Perfect example. It’s August and we got warm water fish (dorado) and cold water fish (yellowtail)! Nice haul from new Texas friends, Lawrence Piccagli and son Henry.
DJ Oleson has a great grin to go with a big-time roosterfish right off the rocks at Punta Perrico. He released the fish too! Check out the glassy water! DJ is from Utah.
Josh Matthews and Bruce Bliechrodt with a good start on the dorado at Bahia Muertos.
Ohio man, Brian Bleichrodt first time with us picks off a bucket-list rooster near the sands of Punta Arenas. He released the fish.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Captain Jorge with a thumb-up and helping hand for Paul Jewell from Portland. First-timer with a trophy dorado for the photo!
Maybe 80 pounds according to Captain Jorge with a sunrise pose with Darrell Oleson and his big rooster! Darrell released the fish!
Just graduated from University of Texas…first day on the water for Alex Piccagli and Billy Conn. Two nice dorado. A fat yellowtail and TWO marlin…they were able to release one of them. Good first day!
Brent Bleichrodt from Denver with his favorite, Capt. Arcangel and Brent’s biggest rooster. Catch and release!
Jake Sybesma posing with a nice bull dorado
Captain Boli helps Shelton with a big mossback yellowtail that should NOT be here in August, but they got 4 on the day!
Captain Jorge with a smiling Destany Fawcett visiting us for the first time from Texas and a colorful dorado.
First day bruiser rooster for Brent Racker from Utah. The fish was released. He had a crazy few days with us. Drove all the way down with friends from Utah. Two days down…two days back..about 3800 miles round trip!
Michael Amodeo and son Michael from the San Diego area fished with us years ago and found some dorado and some of those little pop warner football tuna.
BAM…right off the bat. Jonathan Dille from Arizona with Captain Pancho punches two big roosterfish. Both released.
Might be one of my most favorite photos of the week. Lawrence Piccagli from Dallas TX got this tough bonito on the flyrod! He looks kinda happy! 😆
Sweet Gaby Donnel from Portland having fun with Captain Pancho.
Lucas Garrett and Keeley Chamberlain got a few dorado to start the trip!
If the dorado looks smallish, don’t be fooled. Micah is about 6’6″ and plays college volleyball. It’s a good fish!
Josh with Captain Joel and a chunky yellowtail near Espirito Santo Island. Crazy to be getting these quality fish in August. These are cold water fish we see in the springtime!
Wow! It’s August, but roostefish alley there off the Punta Arenas lighthouse is still kicking out some trophy roosters! Check out the catch-and-release rooster caught by Lawrence Piccagli!
If Brent looks tired, he is. This striper busted him up and gave him quite a tussle on a very light rod that they had to keep handing off!
Roger Mc Cracken and Paul Jewell from Portland had a nice day on the dorado and a bunch of those little yellowfin tuna!
Valerie Burgin…one of the sweetest gals every time they come to visit. She has no bad days! Six dorado for the fish box!
It’s rare, but sometimes the fish make it look easy!
Henry Piccagli and Captain Victor got a hog rooster for a great photos and release. Cerralvo Island in the background .
Captain Arcangel has a great expression. Brett has another rooster and release!
Jimmy and Amanda have quite a table of fish…dorado, palometa (trevally), barred pargo, yellow snapper, amberjack and cabrilla!
Yea! That’s the right kind! Billy Conn with his first trophy rooster. Quick release followed. Billy is from Texas.
Gaby was all excited about being able to bring fresh yellowtail back to Oregon for sashime!
Alex and Captain Jorge with his famous thumb…which is a good sign for this big rooster. Alex was visiting us from Texas and released the fish!
____________________________________________With so many fish pictures, you would think we had a great week of fishing. And no doubt there were some really nice catches.
But, once again, we really had to work to find biters. Captains pushed hard and guests gritted their teeth and fished patiently.
The weird weather, water and winds that we’ve had now for over a month continued to play havoc with the fishing season . Every day was different. Ever boat seemed different.
There were hot days. There were cool days. There were calm days. There were breezy, windy and rough days. We had two big tropical storms to the south that never made it up here, thankfully. But they did push up a few days of some really big waves and wind and just enough rain to mess up our dusty windshields. I think the fish are as confused as we are.
What has been the biggest issue and causing the erratic bite has been all the cold dirty water that has been pushed from the south and from deep upwellings. The colder water is clearly visible. The trick is to find the patches of blue warmer water holding fish! And that moves from day-to-day and hour-to-hour! There’s no rhyme or reason. In my 30 years down here, I’ve never seen anything like this.
Whereas we should be deep into bluewater warm-water pelagic species this time of year, we are hunting and pecking for dorado which are usually numerous. The ones we’re getting are ones we used to throw back in previous years. Yes, there’s the occasional 20-40 pounder, but most are the 5-10 pound schoolie dinks.
The weird thing is that here we are in August…2/3 through the summer and all of a sudden cold water fish have shown up. These are fish we never ever see in the summer. Fish like 20-40 pound yellowtail…amberjack…rainbow runners…pompano…trevally…pargo…cabrilla…are all cooler water fish that we catch in the winter and spring.
They kinda disappeared around June, but now they’re back! Weird.
But, warm water marlin and sailfish are here. So are lots of sharks. More than I have ever seen!
Another fish that we usually never see this time of year are big roosterfish. Yet, here they are with 30-80 pounders suddenly back and providing action. Go figure.
Here’s the thing to think about. Yes, there are some big fish around and yes, you have a shot at them even with this unpredictable fishing. But, you have to be ready. It could be a trophy marlin or roosterfish. Or a toad yellowtail or dorado. You might have just one shot at the big boy. There’s usually no 2nd chance if you miss it our bounce the fish. There have been some big dissapointments because of lost fish!
All we can do is keep looking and keep fishing. The season has been full of surprises. It seems to be like this all over the world with the funky weather!
That’s my story!
Jonathan
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing www.tailhunter.comMexico Office:
Tailhunter Sportfishing
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 