ALMOST LIKE SUMMER?
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week for June 22-29, 2026
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT
WEATHER: Cooler than normal mostly in the low-t0-mid 90’s, but later in the week it kicked up another 5-6 degrees with a hot wind feeling more like summer. Problem is that strong unseasonal winds keep kicking up too hampering the fishing.
WATER: Cooler than normal. Patches of cold water on the surface and vertically as well. Really depends on whether the winds are blowing which can also make the seas alot rougher than they should be.
FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK: Striped marlin, blue marlin, sailfish, tuna, dorado, bonito, jack crevalle, pargo, snapper, roosterfish, dog-tooth snapper, pargo, sharks
THE MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Captiain Moncho helps Andrew and dad, Charlie Mifsud after a good day with a singular marlin and two hefty bull dorado.
San Diego in the house! Maureen “Mo” Shinn had to be the happiest guest of the week. On her first visit here with her family, she had quite a week with several days of fishing . Nice dorado!
From Reno on their first visit, Sue and Brad Tucker fished for several days and on day 3, they battled this huge striped marlin. Maybe the biggest striper I have seen in years!
Steve Bryan is our “Roostefish King.” Every year, he comes down for about 3 weeks and all he fishes for is big roosters with his favorite captain Jorge Lucero. He has caught numerous big roosters. This year has been a struggle for him and everyone and and I was just about to concede that all the big roosters are gone. However, in the 9th inning of his 3 week trip, Steve finally hits a home run with this big-belly 100+ pound roosterfish! He releases all his fish!
Our long-time friends, Dave and Diane Kosnosky with grandaughter Jocelyn and Dave’s first marlin. Diane also got one that day that they were able to release. Joc lost a huge roosterfish right at the boat!
Three generations. Our long-time amigo for over 20 years, John Ehlers from Colorado brought grandson Tyler and great grandson Cooper (his first trip) to visit us! Young Cooper did not want to leave!
Andy Lauber hooked this big tuna on a light spinning rod and had a tough battle, but finally landed the slugger with Captain Pancho. Brother Jack poses along. Andy is from Louisiana. Jack is in Kansas. Great to see them each year and they bring about 2 dozen soccer balls for our charity to give to the kids!
Couldn’t be happier! Mo Shinn again. She had already battled 4 sharks when she hooked this striped marlin while fishing with Captain Armando.
There are the best times when it’s not about size or quantity, but making family memories! Damien Esparza from San Diego calls his sons “The Esparza Wolfpack” (Charlie, Augustine and Oliver) and is starting them young with big smiles and catching fish! They were with Captain Raul and had a fun day on the water!
Captain Hugo rocks again with Edwin Bird and Dave Andereson. Alot of meat…4 big yellowfin tuna and a big bull dorado!
Our favorite poster girl of the week is Jocelyn Trozelle from Washington. She always has too much fun down here and always a treat for us when she visits!
Jason Durst with his kids and one of their 2 days on the water with us. Nice catch of dorado for the freezers!
Brad Tucker gets a “hand” posing with his dorado. I think it’s Captain Armando!
While fishing with Captain Victor, Adrian Bailey and Eric Sabourin popped some hefty yellowfin tuna for the day and alot of fish cleaning for Captain Victor! Eric was celebrating his birthday with us.
Tyler Ehlers…trying to get a photos and a quick release of his roosterfish.
Mark and Jack Gentry with Captain Gerardo cradle a big pair of bull dorado!
He’s a few weeks away from starting high school and Carter Shinn was on his first visit to us from San Diego having a great time and showing off his first dorado. I think that’s Captain Armando giving him a “hand.”
Captain Pancho with Jack Lauber and a rarely seen white marlin taken off Punta Arenas!
Start ’em young! Cooper Ehlers first trip with dad and great grandpa to visit us. These are the best times forever!
Shane and Dave Woods from Santa Cruz CA with us for the first time landed this striped marlin with Captain Hugo.
Oh man…that’s alot of meat! Charlie and son Andrew Mifsud with a table full of yellowfin tuna and a couple of big bull dorado. Fishing with Captain Moncho.
Another dorado on the beach for some of Dave Wood’s guys!
Claire Shinn…just the sweetest cutest young lady to visit us ever! She told me “I’m living my best life here in La Paz!” Her first dorado! Claire lives in San Diego!
Andy and Captain Pancho with another marlin. Quickly released!
I’ve known Emily Duncan since she was about 4 years old! She’s now happily married living in Santa Barbara and still loves to fish. She apparently battled this tough jack crevalle for almost 20 minutes! It’s why the Mexican name for them is “toro.” (bull)
With us for the first time, Andy Vasquez was with Captain Victor and landed two dorado and this striper .
Jack Lauber with a pretty rooster…a photo…and then the release!
Matt Baranowski was here from Santa Barbara and poses with a colorful dorado while fishing off Cerralvo Island. Those aren’t mountains with snow in the background. They are a bank of clouds!
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Before I start a couple of caveats:
- You’re gonna see alot of billfish photos. More than ever! These are just a fraction of the billfish we hooked this week. 90% of the fish either break off or the guests release them. When they decide to take them or can’t be released more-often-than-not the guests donate most or all of the fish to needy locals.
- We are still releasing all of the roosterish
- What you don’t see in the photos are all the sharks that were caught! The outside waters are full of more sharks than I have ever seen and our anglers are hookin up to a dozen a day. Some of the sharks have taken bites out’ve hooked marlin and dorado
So…let’s get started…
If you’ve been following the fishing reports for this season that I’ve been putting out every week or so, you know it’s been (pick one or more):
(a) Bad
(b) Weird
(c) Unpredictable
(d) Erratic
(e) All of the above
If you picked “e”, you would be correct. Did it get any better since the last report? I would say maybe yes. But I won’t fully commit to it. Read on and you decide.
On the downside…
We had some slow days. We had some windy days. We had some days when it was rough.
On the upside, we had some good fishing days. We had calm seas and blue water.
The problem is that there was no consistency. We had rough windy days when the fish bit . We had flat calm days when the fishing should have been good and the fish lock-jawed.
Some boats got fish and the boat right next to it got nothing. Not a nibble. Not a bonito. Not a needlefish. Not even a seagull or pelican. Every day there were boats that did well and others that struggled. I warn everyone that arrives that if you’re fishing with us several days, YOU COULD BE ONE OF THE BOATS that gets skunked one day. You COULD BE THE FISHERMAN that gets nothing!
On the other side, however, the next day you could very well catch the fish of a lifetime. Bottom line is that at the end of the trip, everyone catches fish. At the end of the trip, everyone who wants to bring fish home has fish to bring home.
Unlike normal years when there are alot of fish to catch, now, you might only catch one or two, but they could very well be huge. They could very well be trophies. They could well be the biggest fish you will ever catch in your life or something close to a world record!
If you have an off-day, it doesn’t mean you’re a bad fisherman. It doesn’t mean my captain was slacking or doesn’t know what he’s doing. It was just an off-day . Simple as that. Hang in there. Hold onto your shorts. You’ll be OK.
But, if you do get hooked up…hold on and strap in. Could be a lifetime fish!
This past week, just when I thought the big roosterfish had left, we had a few great jags of the big bruisers. Roosters running 40 to over 100 pounds apparently are still close up on the beach .
Dorado, are also of the larger variety with a typical bull going into the 40-pound range although more schoolie-sized fish are starting to show up finally especially north of La Paz and around the islands.
Tuna have been shifty, but when they show up, especially outside of Cerralvo Island they are beating folks up! The fish have gone 40-80 pounds and many larger ones are getting lost. We saw some fish that would’ve gone 100-150 pounds and there have been battles up to 2 hours just to fight and land the “smaller” tuna.
Additionally, in more than 30 years down here, I have never seen so many marlin, sailfish and sharks in the water. Some days, every boat is hooking 1-6 of some or each of these species and getting released or breaking off. For sure, we release all the sharks or quickly cut the lines, but in some cases, we have sharks take bites out’ve hooked marlin and dorado!
I had one day this past week where the guests came back with long faces telling me it was a “bad day fishing.” When I asked what happened, they told me all they could hook were marlin…1-3 per boat. But, because they released them all and didn’t have anything to put in the ice chest it was a “bad day” fishing! 😳
No wahoo to speak of this week although wahoo were seen and hooked.
Bottom line right now is that if you have a line in the water, I can’t tell you what you’ll catch. We hooked one marlin about 50 yards from the beach. A sailfish was hooked in 10′ of water. A wahoo was hooked (but lost) fishing in the rocks near shore! Roosterfish are in 10′ of water!
BTW…Live bait is still an issue buying or catching it but you have to put in the time to get the bait or it’s going to be hard to catch fish!
That’s my story!
Jonathan
755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
U.S. Mailing Address: Tailhunter Sportfishing
8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178 La Mesa CA 91942
Tailhunter Fish Report 