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Archive for October, 2024

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Oct. 10-17, 2024

WAHOO BILLFISH MAHI!

La Paz -Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 11-18, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WEATHER:  Mostly pretty comfortable. You can tell the weather is changing. Getting cooler in the mornings and evenings. Almost time for a sweatshirt!  Low 70’s to start the day and low 90’s in the day.  Very pleasant.  Starting to get breezier and the north winds start up this week which will change things completely once they start blowing consistently.

WATER:  Mostly pretty and blue.  Perfect for fishing.  Getting 81 degrees on the surface, but colder water down deeper as evidenced by some of the fish we are hooking.  Have had a few bouncy days from the winds.  Gonna get rougher if the winter winds start to kick in.

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK:  Dorado, tuna, wahoo, sailfish, blue marlin, striped marlin, amberjack, yellowtail, sierra, bonito, jack crevalle, roosterfish, trevally, pompano, cabrilla, pargo, triggerfish

FISHING ON A SCALE of 1-10:  7

THE MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

 

Not one…FOUR! Brian Spicer had himself quite a day with Captain Victor taking four big wahoo off Cerralvo Island plus he also released a striped marlin. He donated or gifted the majority of the meat!

Randy Haire and Dennis Fujii with a nice rack or dorado to bring home!

Long-time amigo, Tim Butterworth always nails something great each time he visits us. He brought son-in-law Dave Spriggs this year and their last day, Tom got another wahoo with Captain Pancho.

Caroline Cain and family friend Kayla Lespade from Idaho had themselves a banner day with a number of big dorado like this fishing outside of La Paz Bay.

Great photo of a great day. Chris and Mari Bedsaul with Captain Gerardo.

Ken Takata and Steve Hirano fished 3 good days like this with dorado, pargo and snapper and Captain Gerardo doing the photobomb in the back.

This is what Santa does in the off-season! Actually, good amigo Rusty Cain…always good to have him visiting!

Our Tailhunter office managers, Maite Palacio and Arturo Becerrril got out on the water away from work and had fun on the dorado spot!

Mike Clark with Captain Pancho decked this beautiful blue marlin outside of Bahia Muertos. Mike had quite a battle as they passed the rod back and forth. The fish could not be revived and Mike donated much of the meat.

Chris Bedsaul and Captain Gerardo with the thumbs-up!

Such a great photo of a sweet amiga of Tailhunter. Mari Bedsaul always does well when she visits us. Beautiful colors! They actually lost two marlin and a sailfish this day!

Mike Clark poses with two of his four mahi on the day.

 

Anniversary trip for Don Jossie who was visiting us for the first time and had two days fishing with Captain Rogelio.

Many of you have known Benny Salgado for years working for Tailhunter as a cook, with me in the fish packing room and also our ace guitar player . We sent him out for the day to catch some dorado…good job!

The man behind the mask is Arturo Becerril…Tailhunter’s very own. He had fun with dorado like this one!

Good to have Steve Partridge and his wife fish with us for a few days. First day with Captain Armando out’ve Las Arenas was very productive! They’re from Redondo Beach CA.

Catch and release striper for Brian Spicer with Captain Victor! It was a good week for the billfish. Most broke off or were released.

Almost as big as her! Maite with one of her large dorado on the day! Her biggest!

Don Hugo poses with some of his catch of mahi at Bahia de los Muertos.

Brian…one more wahoo on the gaff!

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You can feel it in the air.

The seasons are changing.  Daytime temps are getting cooler and breezier.  The shadows are longer.  The night times are pleasant and not a bad idea to have a light sweatshirt handy.  Waters are getting just a bit bumpier when the breeze blows.

We usually say late October to April is our off-season.  It starts getting windier and colder and once the north winds start blowing consistently,  the fishing complexion changes completely.Not only is it rougher, but colder water fish move in as the ocean cools down.

Some days, it will be too rough to fish or you’ll get blown off the water.  So, really not many folks will be fishing the next few months.  But, this is why all the windsurfers and kiteboarders descend on us from all over the world to take advantage of our world-class winds in the La Paz area.

That’s generally speaking…

Sometimes, the winds don’t show up until later.  And warm water fishing continues.

But, this year, just like clockwork, I can see in the forecast that next week strong northern winds start kicking up! Some gusts will be 12-20 knots.

We don’t stop fishing, but not many reservations now on the books.  We’re usually running 10-20 boats per day from late March until October.  For the next few months, there will be almost no one.  And, if someone wants to fish, I make sure they know about the weather situation so they can make an informed decision.  Many of the fisherfolks that I do get in the coming months are regulars who know what to expect.  Or, they keep their schedules flexible so I can tell them which days will be worse than others so they can find the best day.

But, if this is our last “official” week of the season, we sure went out like gangbusters!

Dorado remained a solid mainstay of the catch.

It would be a crazy day if you didn’t come back with dorado in the box.  Our boats have been taking 4-8 dorado on the average and many tell me they lost fish or released a whole bunch.  Most fish have been in the 10-15 pound class but some of the larger bulls have hit the 20-40 pound size.

Ever day is different.  Some days it’s an early bite. Some days it’s a later bite.  Some days, you pick up one fish here…then 2 fish there…then nothing for a bit…then another fish…etc etc.  End of the day you’ve got some decent fish in the box.

Biggest surprise…the wahoo!!!

I can’t remember when we’ve had a run of wahoo like this in my 30 years down here.  Our boats were hitting 1,2, 3, 4 and 5 wahoo on the day fro 20-60 pounders.  More getting lost or busting off.  It was crazy.  An early morning bite for the most part and 90% taken trolling Marauders, Rapalas and Nomads.

Anglers come down and fish for years trying to get just one of these incredible fish.  And yet we had a few days when they suddenly just turned on like a light switch.  The best spots were the north and south ends of Cerralvo Island.

As well, the billfish didn’t want to get left out either.  After several weeks of non-existent biters, we had a number of billfish including sailfish, striped marlin and even the highly prized blue marlin.  Most fish were lost and most that were caught were released whenever possible.  But a real bonus catch!

With the weather changing, we’re seeing a few more colder water fishing starting to show up in the catches:  sierra, amberjack, pompano, trevally and small yellowtail.

There’s still some smaller roosterfish still hanging out as well!

________

ON A  PERSONAL NOTE:

A big shout out and thank you to our Tailhunter Nation for a great 30th season.  Whether you were able to visit us this year or not, Jilly and I appreciate all the love, support and friendship for all these years, but especially this year which has been especially challenging.  The prayers have been the best!

As many of you know, Jilly has been dealing with some serious medical issues and has not been able to be down here in La Paz for most of the year.  She’s been the ultimate trooper back in Texas dealing with the situation, while I’ve been here in La Paz alone trying to keep the Tailhunter Fleets, Restaurant and Transportation companies running and everyone smiling.

Even down here alone, Jilly has kept things rolling from up there so that I could keep things running as smoothly as possible down here.   She is still my best teammate.

So, I’ve pretty much been going 7 days a week since April.  I’m finally heading north to be able to see and spend time with my Jilly so we can figure some things out.  I have a few medical issues of my own to iron out!  (Nothing serious…just 30 years of wear-and-tear down here!).

I’ve done the fishing reports pretty religiously every week for over 28 years.  But, given we’re about at the end of the season, I’m going to take a few weeks off.  So, if you don’t see a report in a week, I just wanted you to know the reason.  I’m fine! We’re fine.

It’s just that when my reports are late, I start getting e-mails from so many thoughtful folks!

Just wishing ya’ll grateful blessings always!  Thanks for all the smiles and prayers!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

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

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Oct. 2-9, 2024

DORADO KEEPS RODS BENT!

La Paz- Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 2-9, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WATER:   Mostly nice and blue the way we like it with surface temps still in the low to mid-80’s. However, judging from some of the species we are hooking some cooler water starting to move in down deeper and along some of the coastal areas. 

WEATHER:   Warm and sunny. Highs in the mid 90’s in the day time. Can be a tad breezy in the mornings, but overall, nothing to complain about. Evenings are comfortable. I would still keep a light windbreaker handy. 

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK:   Dorado, tuna, wahoo, sailfish, marlin, sierra, jack crevalle, bonito, snapper, cabrilla, snapper, amberjack, rainbow runner, pompano, trevally, roosterfish

FISHING SCALE 1-10:  Solid 7

MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Ray Millman from Palos Verdes CA (middle) was on his 2nd trip of 2024 with us and brought his friend, Marc Bacon, with him this time. Captain Hugo found them a nice spot of bigger golden schoolie.

Captain Armando is a big favorite every year with Fernando and Nina Delmendo. Some nice mahi meat there on the table!

Stan Andre from San Francisco has been visiting us for years. He got onto this fatty yellowfin near Punta Pescadero on an early bite!

 

Love having first timers with us. Nick and Katelyn Hill from Utah had a couple of days on the water with us and took home a nice batch of dorado.

More great first timers! Aly Serafin and Shawn Mahan from Wyoming got to enjoy 2 days of fishing and some sunshine. They did pretty well on the fishing! Fun folks!

Biggest gold of the week? Wiley Randolph was with Capt. Jorge when he put the wood to this big bull! His personal best and always good to have Wiley down here!

Every year, Craig Brown and cousin, Bob Layko come down from Washington/Oregon and fish with Capt. Armando. Bob battled this 80 pound tuna on 40 pound test for over 2 hours and needed some help from cousin, Craig. But, the got it in!

Tom Maher had just one day to squeeze in some fishing and made the most of it hitting a nice spot of dorado!

Tim Campbell has been fishing with me over 20-something years. He finally brought son-in-law David Spriggs to fish down here and it was fun watching David get his first dorado. They fished the whole week.

Always great when Tim Nishimura from Sacramento comes down with son, Kenny. They have been here for years with us and love fishing with Captain Gerardo. Great guys!

Captain Armando put Steve Haeseker and Dan Schroeder on a jag of dorado for their first time down here with us. Good to have met new Tailhunter friends!

Greg Saubolle has been one of our friends for years, but this time he brought his lady Tracy Gray and got her onto her first gold...actually a lot more than one! Good folks!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 

Paul Nagata! Over the many years, our friend has been a poster-boy for Tailhunter with all his big fish and great photos. He was at it again this past week.

Lyle Huffaker with his first day big golden bull! Lyle is from Idaho.

Cody and Lucas Huffaker met me years ago in Idaho and have always wanted to come down! Finally made it and took home a bunch of great dorado and had some fun too!

Eric Pennington and Wiley Randolph got some great quality gold on the cutting table there!

Two of my all-time bestest fish brothers, Kenny Campbell and Johnny Gibbs fishing with Captain Armando.

So great to have Fred and Lisa Cruz from Washington come visit us again! With their favorite Captain Gerardo, I see dorado, pompano, cabrilla and snapper on the table!

It’s been many years since Shayne Grove came fishing with us. Great to have him back on the water!

Angelo Oliverio and Joe Malone give a couple thumbs-up on their first day fishing. Angelo…special shout-out to you on making it back after the medical incident! Blessings!

Johnny Terbu and Shayne Grove! Fishing buddies for years from Utah, good to see them on our water again. They started fishing with us almost 20 years ago!

Joe Malone has some colorful blue gold on the day’s catch!

Another view of that big tuna Bob Layko hooked and fought over 2 hours, but needed help from cousin Craig Brown here holding the fish with Captain Armando.

Dave again! Happy guy with more gold!

Rusty Cain has been fishing with us for years and loves fishing with Captain Armando. He was out with family friend, Kayla Lespade from Idaho to watch her tangle with dorado for the first time!

Terry Hawk makes it a point every year to fish with us and his favorite Captain Pancho. Obviously, he does pretty well. He’s had some great catches over the years!

Paul and Captain Pancho again!

Fred and Lisa again…different day…same result…MORE FISH!

________________________________________________

I was thinking that this time last year we were getting slammed by 3-days of Hurricane Norma.  Nothing like that so far this year, but sending our thoughts and prayers to all our Tailhunter Tribe and Nation and everyone on the Eastern and Southern areas hit by storms two weeks ago and currently getting wracked again.

We had another good solid week of fishing.  Lots of fun.  Lots of smiles.  Lots of folks catching their first…or their biggest…or the most fish!

This should really be a very short short fishing report.  Just let all the photos do the talking!

It’s almost boring!  We caught alot of dorado. There!  That’s the report!

Both of our fleets did pretty well.  Not alot of big bulls but just fun school-sized 5-15 pounders everyday.  No matter, it’s a vast improvement over how the rest of the summer/fall has been with such erratic fishing. It’s good to be able to tell folks,”Have fun today.  I’m pretty sure you’re gonna catch fish!”

I would say on the average, our boats have been bringing back 6-8 dorado per day.  Really hard to tell because fish are getting released. Also, fish are getting lost! That’s just the way fishing is.

The bite can be pick…pick…pick all day and at the end of the day you have a nice box of fish.  Or it can be agonizingly slow then all of a sudden…BAM!  You hit a frantic school and all heck busts loose in a frenzy!

In addition to the dorado, we got a little jag of 50-80 pound tuna that hit us for 2 days then disappeared.  You had to get on thise fish early in the morning before they went down

Also a few wahoo biters but nothing to get too exited about. Got a few billfish…all released.

Inshore, pargo, cabrilla, some roosterfish, but also seeing some cooler-water fish moving in like sierra, amberjack, pompano, trevaly and rainbow runners!

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

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Sept. 22-29, 2024

FOR ONCE FISHING PRETTY SOLID – DORADO LIGHT IT UP!

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 22-30, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WEATHER:   Cooler than normal for this time of year. But, weather is still erratic. Mostly sunny, but some days cooler than others and some days more humid than others. Would still suggest you bring a light windbreaker or similar along. Mostly daytime temps in the low 90’s. Had one day where big waves and strong winds came from the south and we had to cancel fishing at Las Arenas. Next day it was fine.

WATER:   Mostly clear and blue. Just the way we like it. Surface temps are a nice 80-84 degrees, but cooler water moving in as some cold water species are already starting to show.

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK:   Dorado, tuna, wahoo, roostefish, sailfish, striped marlin, blue marlin, snapper, cabrilla, snapper, sierra, amberjack rainbow runner, pompano, trevally, bonito, triggerfish, wahoo.

SCALE of 1-10:  Fishing was a 7 most of this week. Had one day that was about a 3. (Best of the year)

MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

David Paganucci…first time fishing with us. First day on the water he catches the holy grail of fish. Nice wahoo!

Nat Hargett and Pete Walker from Washington. Always great to have them visiting. Good rack of fish to start your week!

The Okizaki Brothers from Orange Co. Danny and Gary caught FOUR wahoo in two days and thought it was “no big” and why all the fuss? They didn’t know how prized the wahoo are. They also caught dorado and prickly pear as well during the week.

Oh yea! Check the size of this golden bull heard. Captain Alfredo and Mike Ingster with the thumbs-up!

Michael Novotny had himself quite a fun week. He got his first wahoo among several other species! Just south of Cerralvo Island.

Good first day for Dave Lindell from Pendlton OR and son, Ben from Portland. Four dorado and 3 tuna is a good start. Dave also hooked and released a sailfish!

 

 

 

Another first for Michael Novotny’s week…a roosterfish! Not supposed to be around this time of year, but this fish didn’t know that. Michael took the quick photo and released it!

Kim Stuart, Ken Cereghino and Tom Tews with Captain Hugo (blue shirt) and a good day of dorado out’ve Las Arenas!

Dan Lewis, Brian Linn and Michael Murray with a heck of a load of fish! I see prickly pear, dorado and a big amberjack in Dan’s hand! Great day!

Captain Victor helps Mike Broadbend and Ryan Gonzalez with their catch wahoo, tuna and dorado. Again, two first timers hit a wahoo home run!

Captain Gerardo photosbombs, Fred Cowan and his wahoo. Once again, a first timer gets a wahoo. A big smile for the camera!

A solid first day for sure! Frank Cheng and Larry Lundberg have some tuna and dorado that needs to get cleaned and into the freezers!

Mark Bonsack from Washington fishes 2-3 times a year with us and never fails to hook some kind of beast! This past week he and his buddy Brad hooked 4 of these on live whole bonito, but only got one big dog-tooth snapper to the boat. These are tough tough fish!

One of their four wahoo in two days!

Brendan Gann and Fred Cowan with Captain Jorge. Nice day of golden and prickly pear.

MIke Ingster is all smiles with his wahoo!

That’s the way! Bill Bigelman has some dordo fillets to bring home!

Captain Jorge with Steve Carroll and Dave Massey (I hope!) Hard to tell with everyone wearing sunglasses! But, nice rack of fish!

High school chums, Dave Massey and Scott Hall with some mahi to take home.

Bill Dixon from Tampa Bay, FLA and Bob Dixon from Washington had a good first day on the dorado schools!

Mike Shaw and Carlos Sanabria with Captain Moncho. This was Carlos’ 2nd trip this year with us.

I don’t remember if this is Jim Bovee’s 3rd or 4th visit to us this year, but always great to have him and he loves fishing with Captains Boli and Pancho. Boli put Jim on this nice bull outside La Paz Bay.

Steve Manney and Howard Bellows from Washington State posing with their catch of dorado.

Love my Washington friends…Andy Hall and Dana Murray (well, he’s also in Arizona these days) with Captan Armando. I think that’s a yellowtail on the table as well

Brad Gann has a good looking golden bull caught off Espirito Santo Island.

Captain Pancho with Jim Bailey from San Diego and our old friend, Adam Florence from…everywhere…he’s retired now and travels around the country in his RV!

Captain Victor gives Dave Lindell a hand with his sailfish! Dave is from Pendleton OR and this sail is larger than normal! They released the fish too! Well done!

Staying at Dad’s place at Bahia Muertos Rancho Costa, Miles and Delanie got nice dorado in the boat. It’s deceptively a lot larger than it looks because Miles is about 6’7″ these days!

There’s some meat! Fred Cruz back in town with us and Captain Alfredo hoist a couple of trophy bull mahi!

Greg Garrisons from San Diego with his wahoo and flanked by Miles and Gary Wagner staying at Rancho Costa in Bahia Muertos.

Pat Sylvers from Sammamish WA with Scott Hall from N. Cal with a first day catch of dorado and even snuck in a snapper and I think I see a pompano back there too!

Thumbs-up from Captain Gerardo posing with Glenn Tochiban and a healthy load of dorado and yellowfin tuna!

Tom Tews (middle) from Colorado battled this bull mahi for 35 minutes on light tackle fishing with Captain Joel out’ve La Paz. Ken Cereghino and Kim Stuart lend a hand!

Brothers Gann…Brad and Roger…have some fillets to bring home after 1 day fishing! Tuna and dorado on the cleaning board!

Our friend and owner of Rancho Costa in Bahia Muertos has a knack for big snapper like this one. Probably ended up on the dinner table for guests that night. Great eating!

Whoa! Dorado and big snapper for Bill Bigelman and John Stendara! Captain Hugo has some fish cleaning to do!

Howard Bellows (can never get him to smile in the photos!) and Andy Hall who is always smiling with more gold to add to the freezers!

Fred and Lisa Cruz…first day back on the water produces some quality dorado outside La Paz Bay!

Fernando and Nina Delmendo with their favorite Captain Armando after their first day with a load of dorado!

___________________________________

I’m torn and conflicted!

Part of me wants to bang drums and blow trumpets and fill this report with superlatives about the fishing. After the pretty terrible year we’ve had so far…the worst and weirdest season in my 30 years down here…the fishing really turned around the last 3 weeks or so. It’s NOT 100%, but compared to what it’s been, I feel like having a parade!

On the other hand…

The other side of me wants to keep this on the QT downlow. I don’t wanna harp and scream too much. I don’t wanna jinx things. I don’t wanna tick off the fish gods and ruin everything!!!

I think you might understand how I feel. I’m a bit superstitious about stuff like this.

So, let me just lay the facts on you and tell you to look at all the photos above. It’s the LARGEST gallery of the season. It’s the most colorful gallery of the season. The photos tell the story and you can draw your own conclusions! LOL. I am just the messenger!

But, good or bad…this is the best fishing we have had all year.

We had one day of panic when strong winds and waves from the south blew us off the water and we had to cancel our Las Arenas boats, but it turned out to be a one-off. Fishing picked up right where it left off.

In short, it’s been a long time since I’ve used the word “limits.”

But, the dorado bite has been pretty darned solid. Fun-fish in the school-sized 5-15 pound class are sometimes bending rods and providing limits by early morning! Anglers are releasing a lot of fish! Plus there are some larger 20-40 pounders also getting hooked. The dorado has been great fun, especially for many of our first-timers, kids and families.

However, you add in lots of bonito, some snapper, cabrilla, jack crevalle, an occasional roosterfish, marlin or sailfish and there have been more grins and smiles than frowns every day.

Plus, we have caught more wahoo in the last 2 weeks than the lat 2 years combined. Not alot. And not everyday. They remain elusive. However, we’ve hooked about a dozen or so with a good number breaking off or biting through lines but maybe about 8 or 9 making it into the boats! Fish have been 15-40 pounders.

Tuna also showed up as well. Nothing big, but football-sized yellowfin in the 5-12 pound category have been fun. The only glitch is that they bite early and it’s been a little run to Punta Pescadero to jump on them quickly. Then, the fish stop chewing and you have to run all the way back to get into the dorado zones.

Bottom line, it’s not off-the-charts.  Everyday some boats do better than others, but it all evens out by the end of the trip over several days.  It’s still  pretty darned nice compared to before and everyone is catching fish!

I also want to apologize that this week’s report is a bit late. I was already set and ready to publish a few days ago, but then that little storm popped up and changed the complexion of things. I wanted to wait and see what it would do to the bite so that I could give you the most accurate version of what’s happening!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.com Mexico Office: 
Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

US 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

 

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