FEELING EFFECTS OF SUPER EL NINO
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 16-24, 2026
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT
WEATHER: Incredibly erratic. Changes day-to-day and even hour-to-hour. Totally unpredictable except to say it’s really HOT. It is really HUMID. And it rains a little bit almost every day, then the sun bust out, but the storms can be violent even for a few minutes.
WATER: Have never seen water like this in 31 years. It’s 91-94 degrees on the surface. Maybe too hot for the fish because of lack of oxygen. And if it’s storming, or windy, you don’t want to be out on the water if the skies start getting dark!
FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK: Dorado, bonito, jack crevalle, roosterfish, triggerfish, pargo, cabrilla
THE MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
John Bailey was here a month ago with his son. This time he came with Gwyn his wife. Not a bad day out with Captain Victor. First day dorado.
Jacquelyn Hoff just had one day to squeeze in some fishing during her honeymoon and had some fun with dorado fishing with our La Paz fleet with Captain Boli.
Surprised to see some larger roosterfish still around this late in the season, but John and Gwyn pose with this big boy off the sand at Punta Arenas. The fish was released.
Brandon does a good job trying to pose with this nice bull dorado while it’s probably slapping him. They brought some over to our Tailhunter Restaurant to have it cooked up.
John Bailey with one of the nicer dorado of the week. Not too many big ones lately.
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It’s been that kind of a fishing season. Expect the unexpected. I’m not even sure where to start.
Once again, the weather has had a serious effect on the fishing. This Super El Nino year they said would be one for the record books. They were right.
Everything is unlike anything I have ever seen here in over 30 years.
For one…the heat! Blistering hot. Not normal Mexico summer hot. This is blazing.
The other day the temperature read about 112 degrees . However ,with the humidity, the heat index read 137 degrees!!!! How is that possible? We were sweating in the shade. Even the “ocean breeze” felt like a blast furnace.
One morning, putting out the boats at 4:30 a.m…humidity was 80% and the heat index already read at 110 degrees. It got to 128 later that day.
So, the sun is out for sure…but not every day and not all the time! The weather changes from day-to-day and hour-to-hour.
We have gotten some really heavy storms seemingly every other day. Most of them hit in the afternoons. The heat causes massive evaporation over the ocean. Huge black clouds build up and then unleash on us. The result is flooding. Lost electricity. Mudslides. Heavy winds. Thunder and lightning…
Then, it leaves just as quickly. Then the sun comes out again and it steams up!
Then, maybe an hour later, it hits again. A 20 minute deluge! Then, it stops. And it can rain heavily in one spots but a mile away it’s dry. It can rain on a spot on the ocean, but on the beach nothing.
We had one night where a baby hurricane hit the city and basically smashed into the entire southern part of the state from Cabo to Loreto. There was nothing on the forecast. It never got a “name”, but we had heavy rain and winds up to 110 mph. For two hours, the thunder and lightning tore into town. Powerlines came down. Roofs were blown off. Rockslides blocked roads. Flooding and downed trees clogged the roads. Boat were sunk in the marina!
Then, just like that, it was gone…WHOOSH!
Some folks were without power for 2 days. This has been further complicated because with the tremendous heat, everyone is using their air-conditioning. It’s overloading the power grid. So, there have been rolling blackouts!
This is all affecting the fishing.
Not only are the storms turning over the water, but the water itself has become a huge factor. In all my years here, I have never seen waters that are 90-94 degrees! That’s a good 8-10 degrees above normal!
I don’t want to say the fish have disappeared, but it’s been tough fishing.
Everyone is catching fish! No mistake!
But the downside is that 90% of the fish are dorado and they are 12-18 inch fish! We’re catching loads of baby dorado. Releasing most, but a 5-10 pound dorado has suddenly become a rarity and those 30-50 pounders we had earlier in the season have disappeared. A 20 pound fish right now is a trophy!
But, the tuna have disappeared. The wahoo have disappeared. There are a few roosterfish around and some billfish, but I think only because the billfish are feeding on the baby dorado.
My theory is that the waters are too hot! There’s no oxygen in the waters so the big fish have gone deep to cooler waters which are more oxygenated. I know freshwater fish do it so maybe there’s some credibility to the theory. The smaller fish just don’t need as much oxygen.
It has affected all the species. A month ago, we had a dozen or more species biting. Now, mostly baby dorado and that’s about it. No shortage of them.
If the waters stay warm, I’m gonna make a bold statement that we’re gonna keep seeing the same things until these waters chill a bit. We’re going to see more erratic weather and fishing. We’re going to get more tropical storms and I would not be surprised if we catch a really big storm coming soon.
Buy that travel insurance!
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
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