Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Bahia de Los Muertos’ Category

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of June 24-July 1, 2012

Posted in Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, cabrilla, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 1, 2012| Leave a Comment »

That’s a mouthful! Our friend, Rich Jones, from Hyrum Utah knows a photo opportunity when he catches one! Take a look at the great colors on this fresh giant bull dorado he took this week north of La Paz! It looks like dorado season finally hit!

Lots of first-timers visiting us this past week including Rob and Natalie Carroll who took advantage of the dorado bite that finally kick started with a nice roar. This big bull was caught near Espiritu Santo Island on live bait.

Yes, it is THAT big! It’s 89 pounds to be exact and Roger Thompson and Captain Hugo have a knack for big fish! Roger was fishing around Cerralvo Island and stuck FOUR big wahoo including this TREE! Of course, the next day everyone went to the same spot and nothing showed up! But, what a day for Roger!

Like I said, lots of first timers this past week and many went home with some great stories to tell. Like Kelly Jimenez, who’s been trying to fish with us for years and finally made it down from Loveland, Colorado. On her first day, she stuck this trophy roosterfish just south of Bahia de Los Muertos! The fish was released. It was just the start of a spectacular week of fishing and diving!

Ya gotta love this photo! Gerda Siewert from Anaheim CA gives and OK sign as she peeks out from behind Captain Blas holding two slug bull dorado taken out of La Paz. Gerda was on her first trip and over several days of fishing outfished many of the veterans!

He came a long way for this. All the way from Montana, Mike Harvey finally put the bend on a few roosters fishing out’ve Las Arenas. Mike’s coming back in September. The fish was released.

Big smiles for Diego Jimenez, retired firefighter from Colorado, fishing with Captain Chito who had a banner day on the dorado fishing north of La Paz towards Punta Mejia. “We had two and three fish on at the same time!” said Diego. “I would have been happy with 1 or 2. What a fun time!”

Utah in the house! Kip and Sue Slaugh spent the week with us and it’s always good to see them from Salt Lake City area. Check out the nice bull. After 6 days of fishing, they and their family went home with 125 pounds of fillets!

Our amigo from Sacramento, Jim Klein, got his first sailfish this week. Both sailfish and marlin showed alot more interest and we hooked and released several every day. Jim said he’s going to fire up his smoker and get the teriyaki brine ready!

Nice colors! A flat sea and a big colorful fish on the gaff for Makani Fisher from Salt Lake City. Makani and his dad fished 3 days with us.

A happy fella! Doc Norm Harris from Santa Ana CA got his first roosterfish out of Las Arenas and the smile shows! The fish was released.

Frequent visitor and fisherman with Tailhunter is actor and TV show host, Rick Kasper. Rick always does well and knows how to pose with a fish also showing off two of his bull dorado while on the beach at Balandra.

One of the few bright spots from Las Arenas this week that wasn’t a roosterfish, Tom Radoumis from Wyoming with Captain Archangel holds up a quality bull dorado to start off his fishing week.

VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK

Check out Jim Talley’s release of a fat striped marlin with an assist from Captain Adolfo with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.  Jim was fishing south of Ceerralvo Island.

JUNE SLIDES OUT WITH BEST DORADO FISHING OF THE SEASON!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 24 to July 1, 2012

With temperatures up to the low 100’s this week the fishing hit the red as well!  We just had the best dorado fishing week of the season.  Waters finally warmed up, cleared up, and shaped up and the dorado came to chew!

The first two days of the week I was a little worried.  Winds came up and the nice dorado bite that started last week seemed to waiver.  Oh no, I thought.  Not again just as we were kicking it into gear!  So, those first day days we scratched for 2-4 dorado per day with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

Then, the winds died down…and the ocean blew up on us!

That area north of La Paz around Espiritu Santo Island and then towards the north end of Cerralvo Island and around Punta Mejia , Coyotes and Las Cruces erupted in limites of dorado each day.  Guys were getteing 10-20 hookups per panga; losing many and releasing many more!  The larger fish kicked in at 20-45 pounds each with captains telling me larger bulls were lost or just humiliated some anglers after long battles.  This is finally the kind of fishing we’ve been waiting for.

As well, marlin and sailfish kicked it up a notch as well with several being hooked and either lost or released each day plus we had one day around Cerralvo where the wahoo decided to join the party.

Our pangas out’ve Las Arenas, were still scratching for fish unfortunately, but there’s roosterfish up to 60 pounds to be had and there were two small jags of tuna out on the 88 spot east of Cerralvo Island.  Not enough action to get too excited about yet, but we’ll keep an eye out for it!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate


“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

Read Full Post »

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of June 17-24, 2012

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, grouper, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 24, 2012| 1 Comment »

It’s been a long time since we had a nice dorado bite as we waited for waters to clear up and get warmer! It’s about time! Dorado finally kicked it into gear! Our buddy, Len Atkinson from the Sacramento CA area hasn’t visited us in a few seasons but good to have him back as he and Captain Marcos try not to get their shins slapped by a struggling big bull dorado!

TUNA? Yes! Mary Wehner always seems to do well. She and husband, Dave, went just east of Cerralvo Island with Captain Victor and found a couple of big dorado as well as this nice slugger yellowfin tuna! Everything just seemed to finally get better about mid-week!

Early in the week, with waters still on the chilly side, we had another run of nice yellowtail around Espirito Santo Island. Check out this trophy held by Joel Ofrancia who visited us from Washington to get some sun, fishing and diving. He caught 5 of these beauties!

Talk about a fishing vacation! Larry Watkins from Los Angeles decided to go “all in” and spend two whole weeks with us to get get ONE ROOSTERFISH! Well, he picked a good time because the roosterfish were tearing it up and he got this this colorful rooster just off Cerralvo Island. Some days the boats averaged 4-8 roosters per day in the 20-60 pound class. Almost all fish, including this one were released.

Tbis is Gerda Siewart from Anaheim CA with Captain Gerardo of our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. Gerda had never been fishing before. She was also nervous because she just had surgery last week. But she went out anyway…and had a blast! She says she’s hooked. First day 7 roosterfish. 2nd day 5 roosterfish. 3rd day big yellowtail and cabrilla. 4th day a box full of dorado. She just let the captains fish and said, “Let’s have some fun!” She’s never stopped smiling the whole time! This was the only rooster she couldn’t release.

Cameron Hutcheson from Orange Co, CA is another of our clients who had a great time on their first trip…roosterfish…yellowtail…dorado! All of them were on their list they were hoping to catch. Cam holds up a big bull dorado he caught north of La Paz!

It’s a long way from Michigan to La Paz! But check out this trophy bull dorado that Jim de Boer holds on the beach at Balandra. It was great to finally see some of the larger models decide to bite and we’re happy that Jim came all this way and was able to get into quality fish. He also got his first roosterfish as well!

I gottta hand it to Mike Harvey who lives in Montana. This guy busted his butt all week trying to get a roosterfish…even fishing from the beaches at night. He finally got one on his third day. In fact, he got several plus got a nice load of dorado as well when the bite turned on mid-week. Mike’s posing with this sizeable rooster right off the lighthouse at Las Arenas.  Mike’s already got reservations to come back in September “when the fish are bigger!”

Marlin finally got a bit more active as well this week. We’ve been seeing them for week turn up their noses at us. Guy Petree and his buddy Oscar hold up a fish they got north of La Paz. They released the marlin after the photo. Guy is coming back later this week for more fishing!

The man behind the fish is Brian Hutcheson! He’s from Cote de Caza CA and on his first day popped this nice rooster off of Cerralvo Island. First time fishing with us, he had a banner 3 days of fishing.

Monster yellowtail for Dr. Norm Harris who gets a hand from Captain “Fettucine” Alfredo off Espiritu Santo Island. Great catch! Doc is from Santa Ana CA

BEST WEEK OF FISHING TO KICK INTO SUMMER!  IT’S ABOUT TIME!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 17-24, 2012

It was like night and day in the difference between fishing early compared to later in the week.  For 2 months, I kept saying that all we needed was a little kick in water temperature and the tough fishing would improve.  Well, the water temps went up by 2 degrees this week into the low 80’s.

By the same token…it was THE BEST WEEK of the SEASON on so many levels!  Still not quite up to standards, but what a difference in this week compared to the last few months!  We still need to get better, but just take a look at the variety of species in the photos!

It was like someone threw light switch!  The first day of summer…June 22nd…everything changed!

Early in the week, with waters still a bit chilly, our bite consisted of a very good roosterfish bite with fish between 20 and 60 pounds. Great fun but not very good eating.  As well we had a pretty sweet bite of 20-40 pound yellowtail off the west end of Espiritu Santo Island.  That was good for a few days  and we had some fun.

But about mid-week waters started warming.  We were seeing more marlin.  We started seeing breezing schools of dorado.  Everyone was excited.  Just one problem…they wouldn’t eat.  Not even remotely interested in biting!  So frustrating to see so many dorado and they just had no interest in biting.

Then, about Thursday the water temps kicked up a notch.  The dirty green cold water started to dissipate and BOOM!  Dorado started slamming!  It was like someone threw a swtich.  Some of the dorado were real punk squirt fish, but others were in the 20-40 pound class and larger fish were lost.  As well, marlin started to jump into the act as well as sailfish and each day we hooked, lost , caught and released several.

Not everyone caught fish everyday.  Some boats did great some days then not so good the next.  Also anglers lost a lot of fish as well.  However, for those who fished a few days, there were definitely fish to catch and opportunities to put fish in the boat compared to what it’s been lately.  All very encouraging!

Hope this is something we can finally count on.  The bite has been a long time coming after a really slow spring bite.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate


“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

Read Full Post »

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of June 11-17, 2012

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, cabrilla, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 18, 2012| 3 Comments »

A late…really late burst of fish on Sunday gave us some hope that things are turning around after what many are saying is the toughest fishing in many years in Baja…not just La Paz…IN BAJA! But on Sunday, our amigo, John McVay got two nice dorado off Las Arenas at the start of his week-long fishing!

A big high-five to Gerda Siewart! This was her FIRST DAY fishing..ever! Except for fishing off a pier. She was a bit nervous being in a panga, but on top of it all, she just had surgery last week and was ready to head for shore if things got a bit uncomfortable for her. However, on the contrary, she said she had the “best day ever!” With the help of Captain Gerardo, she put 7 roosters on the hook plus a jack crevalle and an amberjack releasing all but 3 fish. Roosters are biting! Good job, Gerda!

OK…go figure! It’s mid-June and waters are still cold enough that we’re getting yellowtail around Espiritu Santo Island. Amy Lenhart from Idaho shows off one of their many fish. It’s crazy…many days of nothing then the yellowtail start biting!

When you’re 8 and 10 years old and on your first Baja fishing trip with dad, every fish is a monster, especially when you bait your own hook; put it in the water; and reel the fish in all by yourself like 8-year-old Sean and 10-year-old A.J. Rose from Colorado.

One upside to the colder dark water and one of the reasons for the dark green water is the algea bloom going off, but that means whale sharks are back! These gentle giants are incredible creatures and one of the highlights of visiting La Paz is a swim with a “fish” that can be 10-50 feet long! Don’t worry…they eat plankton but are true members of the shark family and a highlight of any visit to get in the water with them. Thanks for Bob and Becky Solee, our Oregon, amigos who had whale sharks swimming around their fishing panga!

Nice bull for Troy Lenhart who was on his first La Paz trip with us and took this bull dorado north of La Paz where some fingers of warm water seem to have finally moved in!

The latest water temperature chart from http://www.terrafin.com shows that waters are finally getting back up there into the 80 degree range, but still unseasonably cooler than normal. We need more of the yellow and orange colors around the La Paz area, but as recently as last week, we had only cold blue colors!

TOUGH WEEK OF FISHING PUNCTUATED BY  A PROMISING TURNAROUND SUNDAY!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Week of June 11-17, 2012

Not much to tell you about.  It wasn’t that great a week of fishing.  Honest.   Early in the week we still had that nice snap of yellowtail of solid 20-50 pound fish off Espiritu Santo Island.  But the cold waters that seemed to have brought the fish in then started getting warm like it should be in the first place.  That colder water was replaced by warmer water and well…there went the yellowtail replaced by sporadic dorado, roosterfish, marlin and cabrilla fishing.  But it was hard scratchy fishing for both our La Paz and Las Arenas fleet.  You gotta work at it.  You have to have your “A” game or be pretty lucky and if you do run into fish, you might not get a second chance if you miss the fish!  That’s the way it was this last week.  It might help also, if folks come to fish for what’s here rather than fishing for what’s not biting.  But, everyone is trying so many different things, it’s just such a crazy non-bite! Hopefully, as we get away from the big full moon and other things, fishing will kick in again.

BUT WAIT!!!

I’m writing this SUNDAY evening.  AND WE HAD A PRETTY DECENT DAY TODAY!  It wasn’t all-out-nuts, but maybe the best bite in over a week!  Our Las Arenas pangas ran into some scattered decent dorado, roosterfish, marlin and amberjack!  Our La Paz guys…wow…bigger dorado up to 40 pounds, marlin plus…(get this) yellowtail up to 25 pounds!

Captains that were struggling to get nibbles were grinning today.  Are things changing?  I sure hope so.  Best dorado day of the year so far!  Fingers crossed that by the time you’re reading this we’ll be on the upswing!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate


“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

Read Full Post »

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of June 3-10, 2012

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, cabrilla, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, grouper, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sierra mackeral, snook, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »

This is the kind of bite we see in March and April…maybe not even THIS good! But with water temps dropping low, the yellowtail came roaring back near Espiritu Santo Island north of La Paz. 17-year-old, Emiily Duncan poses on the beach at Balandra with the catch taken by herself, her dad and friend Jorge. They were back on the beach by 10 a.m. this morning!

From Pocatello, Idaho, on his first trip to La Paz, Troy Lenhart takes a knee on the beach in front of La Concha Beach Resort with just a portion of his catch for the day. The fish were 20-50 pound slugs and they put 11 of them in the box, and lost several others. Their captain said, “We could have had 20 fish easy!” They were done by 10:45 in the morning.

Our first official wahoo of the season…FINALLY! Also turns out to be Dave Rose’s first wahoo as well. Dave DROVE all the way down from Colorado as he does several times a year. Dave initially had one wahoo come off, but came back and gave it another shot and put this nice one in the boat just south of Cerralvo Island on a dark Rapala CD 18.

It’s always nice to put a “check mark” next to an item on the bucket list. Ed Hoffman lives just north of us in Loreto and came down specifically to catch a trophy rooster and got this beauty just of the Las Arenas lighthouse first thing in the morning! Just what he ordered! The fish was released.

First timer from Idaho, Amy Lenhart, was on her first day fishing and just off the beach at Las Arenas put the wood to this super nice grouper! The fat guy was put in the boat by Captain Victor who poses with Amy. She also got her first roosterfish as well the same day.

Our amigo, Jorge Romero, does the gaff honors with Bob Duncan of Santa Barbara on a day that they put 11 of these nice fish in the panga west of Espiritu Santo Island. Daughter, Emily, fights another fish in the stern. This week, waters were again green and dirty but for some reason, the yellowtail came roarding back!

Our buddy, retired fireman, Craig Braswell, grunts to lift up two of their limits of yellowtail as he stand in the shallows of Balandra Beach.

Sacramento amigo, Dave Frausto, should be happy about the 10 yellowtail they landed! But here he hoists two of the nice yellows they put in the box one of the banner days this week that the yellowtail went crazy.

A look at the Terrafin sea temperature satelite maps (www.terrafin.com) show some encouraging signs. Much of the water near Las Arenas is inching up into the high 70’s and low 80’s. A vast improvement over the past several weeks when the waters were in the 60’s and showing blue/green on the satellite maps. Hopefully, the warmer waters will burn off all the cloudiness in the water and also bring back the sardines as well.

YELLOWTAIL in JUNE? CRAZY BITE MARKS WEEK OF FISHING!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 3-10, 2012

Who could have imagined.  It’s June. Last time I checked, it’s summertime on most people’s calendars.  In southern Baja and here in La Paz this is the time when we should be sticking dorado like crazy as well as marlin, sailfish, tuna, wahoo and other warm water species.  However, on the contrary, water temperatures in the Sea of Cortez and around the southern Baja fishing “hot” spots that are traditionally on fire this time of year have fallen off the charts!  In a bad way.  Instead of 80 degree water temperatures, anglers have been facing cold, green, dirty, cloudy waters down in the 60’s!  On top of it, getting bait has been like finding a needle in a haystack!

Needless to say, like many areas, the fishing around La Paz has been less than stellar.  In fact, it’s been really difficult. Using lures, larger baits like live and dead mullet, mackerel and other species, we’ve been able to scratch up roosterfish, some jacks, the occasional dorado and a few other species.  And that’s been it.  Lots of disappointment. But what are you gonna do?

You’re gonna keep fishing!

And then things kinda took a little upswing this week! Earlier in the week, for our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet, we got into some nice jags of wahoo at the south end of Cerralvo Island.  We also got some great quality roosterfish up to about 50 pounds plus got into some pretty decent pargo and cabrilla. We also hooked a few striped marlin as well.  Still not up to snuff, but surely way better than what we had been doing most of May and early June.

And, with waters still cold, green and cloudy…when we were giving up on warm water species…a surprise.  No warm water fish, but instead, we had a late week eruption of 20-50 pound yellowtail!  This is crazy!  Yellowtail season is March and April. We haven’t seen yellowtail in over a month.  But this week for our Tailhunter La Paz fleet, they not only got into yellowtail, they had some of the best snaps of yellowtail we have ever seen!

Boats were coming back by 10 or 11 a.m. with limits of 10 big slugger yellowtail.  They would tell me they lost 4, 5, 6…8 other fish to the rocks.  Captains would tell me they could easily have taken 20 or more yellowtail.  The fish were eating in about 40 feet of water and taking the larger cocineros and live mackerel we were catching in La Paz Bay.  Folks didn’t know what to do with so much fish.   When you have 10 fish that are 40 pounders…you suddenly find yourself with about 150 pounds of fillet!   Kind of a good problem…especially when many of our anglers were geared to really having to scratch for any fish at all and finding that by 10 a.m. they were too tired to pull on another fish!

As the week closed out, the yellowtail got a bit more elusive.  One day on and next day off.  But, I stopped trying to guess where and when.  We were just glad they showed up!

Don’t know if this will hold or it’s just a blip on the radar, but it surely saved a crazy week!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate


“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

Read Full Post »

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International La Paz for Week of May 27 to June 3, 2012

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, cabrilla, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, grouper, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sierra mackeral, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 3, 2012| Leave a Comment »

One little flurry of fast-moving tuna looked promising but turned out to be a fluke and didn’t develop into much, but the fish were quality slugs like this one that Carlos has! But that was it…gone like ghosts!

Roosterfish were surely the highlight of the week either because that’s what everyone focused on or because that’s all that was biting. But for many folks, getting a rooster is a unique thrill and a much sought-after trophy fish like this beautiful fish held by Joe Jacobs caught near Espiritu Santo Island and released.

Some of the roosters we’re getting have been quality fish. The photo great, but we don’t have many photos mainly because most of the fish are released. They don’t taste very good either so lucky for them! Captain Archangel with our Tailhunter Fleet at Las Arenas hefts a nice one before letting the big fish swim off.

This is the satellite view from the http://www.terrafin.com. It shows the water temperature surface gradients around La Paz which could explain alot of things. Every week the water seems to change from warm to cold and back to warm then cold again. The fish might just be shocked. However check out the reading from June. 2. The green and blue colors are cold waters in the 70 degree range. The orange and redder colors are the warmer waters. A week ago, almost all the waters around La Paz were in the 80 degree range! Now, if you’re on a boat, the waters are cold and green.

ROOSTERFISH  MARLIN HIGHLIGHT OTHERWISE SLOW SLOW WEEK OF FISHING

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 27 to June 3, 2012

A tough scratchy week of fishing here.  None of us can get a “read” on this.  It’s maybe the most inconsistent season I have ever seen.  Water temps rise and fall by 10 degrees warm…cold…warm…cold.  Winds are dead then howl…then die again.  As I write this the palm trees are bending over from strong northwesterlies and it looks like the port captain will shut down the port.  This after a week of relatively calm waters.  The bait situation is fluid.  Our La Paz boats have bait, but the water temperatures are so varied that the fish are lockjawed.  Marlin and dorado ignore the baits and lures and we have to scratch out any kind of a bite.  On the Las Arenas side, our fleets have no sardines or they are very tiny. So, the guys have resorted to using frozen ballyhoo, or jigging up pilot fish or cocineros or liso (mullet).  It’s hard to chum if you don’t have sardines.  I’m recommending guys bring fresh frozen squid or mackerel right now.  Not the kind you buy at the bait store.  Fresh frozen is the kind you buy in the market that’s for human consumption.  It could make a big difference.

On the bright side of things…

The marlin finally seem to have woken up.  For weeks the marlin have been lethargicly sunning themselves on the surface.  No interested in anything.  Well, each day now, the marlin seem more active. We seem to get a hookup or two each day and sometimes more.  Credit to the anglers and captains for releasing all fish.  Most of the fish have been about 120 pound stripers although we had one that one of my captains estimated close to 200 pounds that busted the line during the fight.

Also, if you want a roosterfish…we got those running around.  Most days each of our Las Arenas boats is getting 1-4 of them up to about 40 pounds.  All on bait.  Really tough on the flyfishermen with no chum to speak of right now.  But using mullet and cocineros, the conventional fishermen are getting the roosters.  We’re also getting a few dorado now and then up to about 25 pounds, the occasional snapper or pargo as well as cabrilla.  But nothing to get too excited about.  Hope it turns around.

NEW TAILHUNTER WEBSITE IS LIVE

After 7 months, we’ve finally got the new website up and live.  Check it out  www.tailhunter-international.com

With increasing frequency, folks have been having problems with viewing the website as more folks use browswers other than Microsoft Explorer.  Many folks are increasing using Google and Yahoo browsers and we wanted to keep ahead of the curve to reduce future problems and bring you up-t0-date information.  Hope you find the new site enjoyable and informative.  Thanks to our master IT guru Bil Pulford for the great job and patience.

Have a great week!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate


“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

Read Full Post »

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of May 20-27, 2012

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, cabrilla, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, grouper, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sierra mackeral, snook, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 27, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Ryan O’Connor holds up one of the big tuna that showed up off the south end of Cerralvo Island and surprised us all late in the week. Ryan is from Miami. This fish was close to 100 pounds and he and his dad put 4 nice fish in the boat!

I was as surprised as any when Chuck Eaves and Captain Jorge pulled this huge slugger out’ve the fish box on the panga! WHOA!!! Close to 100 pounds and not only the first tuna of the season, but the largest as well. Great way to start! The fish initially were found running with porpoise. More video of Chuck below this weeks’ photos!

Good start for their first day of fishing for Curt Weiss and Henry Hernandez from Florida who pose with 4 of their big yellowfin tuna in the shallows at Punta Arenas. These fish were the first tuna run of the season we had seen!

Ben and Kendra Gillette usually spend their anniversary in Hawaii, but opted for La Paz this time. Ben had wanted to use his flyrod, but when these big tuna showed up he wisely put down his flyrod and grabbed the bigger conventional guns! Big smiles to go along with their nice fish!

Rick Walker from Washington, has had better trips to see us but ran into some of that tough fishing early in the week. However, he did put the largest dorado of the week aboard one of our pangas. The dorado are here, but the bite has been scattered. One day on…next day off!

Nelson Kwok was spearfishing on the north end of Cerralvo Island when he stuck this monster amberjack which was scaled at 87 pounds. This beast is a cousin to the yellowtail and makes great eating. Water temperatures around the island are about 83 degrees right now. North Cerralvo has traditionally been a hot spot for finding amberjack. (Thanks for the photo, Hawk!)

Again…thanks Hawk for all the photos you get me! He got me another photo of Nelson Kwok from N. Cal with one of the yellowtail he got go go along with the big amberjack (shown above). We thought the yellowtail had left us over a month ago, but with water temperatures all over the place, yellowtail are showing up in the cooler waters.

Video Clip:  A short video clip of Chuck Eaves’ big tuna being pulled from the panga.  My video camera went on the fritz right after this or I would have had more video footage of all the tuna we got!

FLURRY OF NICE TUNA HIGHLIGHT OTHERWISE  UNUSUALLY SLOW WEEK!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 20-27, 2012

This past week was perhaps the strangest week of the season.  Maybe it was a continuation of last week. In word, maybe “strange” wasn’t strong enough…it stunk!   We have jokingly been blaming the eclipse and big waves generated from the hurricane hundreds of miles to the south, but nothing adds up.  More likely, it’s been a combination of a number of factors. 

 

It would seem the conditions are all good.  Water temps are in the low to mid 80’s and air temperatures have been in the mid-80’s to mid-90’s.  Perfect vacation weather!  But you really have to look closer at what the satellite readings are telling us about the surface temperatures.

 

Around our Las Arenas/ Cerralvo Island areas, the surface water temps are in the 80’s.  Good warm water for species like dorado, wahoo, billfish, etc.  But north of La Paz around Espiritu Santo Island, the water temperatures are around the mid-70’s!  Those are more like cooler spring-time temperatures that produce yellowtail, pargo, cabrilla, sierra, and more inshore fishing.  But…75-80 degree difference… That’s quite a change.  Plus there are fingers of warm water in the cold areas and fingers of cold water in the warm areas.  I can only speculate what it’s like UNDER the surface!

 

So, I think the fish are all messed up!  I think they are ready to take off and go, but we’re just going through a really rough transition time between our spring and summer conditions. Add to that the fact that there’s a huge bank of cold water down as cold as the mid-60’s hovering off Cabo San Lucas and the East Cape to our south that’s really hurting those areas AND threatening to move up into our area and we end up with a real “chop suey” of conditions!

 

So, not only are the fish confused, but moreso, it has affected our bait situation.  Some days bait is almost impossible to get.  This is mostly with our Las Arenas fleet which has resorted to using frozen ballyhoo, cut squid, live pilot fish, caballito jacks and liso (mullet).  It’s pretty hard to chum with these species and I especially feel badly for many of the flyfishers who come to La Paz this time of year when normally we have tons of sardines to chum up the fish for them. 

 

For our La Paz fleet, the bait has been a little easier, but still tougher than normal.  We’re getting some sardines but supplementing that with mackerel and caballitos. 

 

Bottom line is that there’s not many bullets for the guns!

 

But, we are getting some fish…

 

For our La Paz fleet, we have been surprised by the re-emergence of yellowtail again.  We had a great bite going for 3 months that just simply fell off the boards about a month ago.  Then, with the re-emergence of cold water, we suddenly have yellowtail biting again as well as pargo, cabrilla and little flurries of dorado and marlin in the warmer areas.

 

For our Las Arenas fleet, with even tougher bait stocks, the fishing was reduced to some bonito, some roosters and the occasional pargo and cabrilla.  I mean, “STINK” doesn’t even begin to describe it!  There were some nice amberjack at the north end of Cerralvo but then that was it!  Guys were really working hard and our captains were even staying extra hours on the water to do their best to get fish for the clients!  (But hat’s off to the fishermen who really put in the time and kept up the good attitudes and kept smiling through it all without a whole lot of whining.  Good sports!  Honestly, many of our clients the past week or so are regulars so they know how goood the fishing can be and are as perplexed as we are about the lack of bite!)

 

But then the highlight of the week, on Friday off the south end of Cerralvo Island…

… a big school of moving dolphin came through.  A few of our boats chased them and got immediate hook ups on slugger-sized yellowfin tuna.  Other boats joined in.  Instead of moving off with the dolphin, the tuna stayed…and bit!  And for a few great hours guys had bent rods on 40-100 pound yellowfin that just spanked the guys!  All our pangas got 1-4 fish each but all of them lost 2-5 other nice tuna as well.  They were pretty tired at the end of the day but these were feisty hard-charging fish.

 

The next day, most of the guys didn’t want to chase tuna as they were pretty beat up so it’s hard to know if the tuna stayed around, but inshore, the guys found roosters between 10 and 70 pounds as well as some small dorado and a few marlin and sailfish hookups that were either lost or released.  All roosters were also released.

 

So…I don’t know where that leaves us, but I’m encouraged by what we saw at the end of the week and hope things settle down!

Happy Memorial Day week and weekend everyone!  God bless all you vets for your service!

 

 

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

 

Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter International Website: www.tailhunter-international.com U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745 Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico Phones:  from USA : 626-638-3383 from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm Tailhunter YouTube Videos:  http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

 

Read Full Post »

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of May 13-20, 2012

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, cabrilla, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, grouper, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 21, 2012| Leave a Comment »

No doubt dorado…like this nice bull take between Cerralvo Island and the peninsula are around. Not in great numbers, but it’s surprising that we’re getting big bulls of this quality so early.

Two legends go fishing. On the left, Hall of Fame NBA player Rick Barry poses next to legendary owner of the Giggling Marlin Restaurant in Cabo Lucas, Gary Wagner in front of Gary’s place at Bahia de Los Muertos.

The north side of Cerralvo Island turned out to be one of the more productive places in an otherwise slow week of fishing as huge amberjack, big cousins to yellowtail, put on a bite. The largest of these three amberjack weighed out at 87 pounds!

I usually don’t post up many marlin photos over the years for several reasons. First we encourage catch and release so a majority of our hooked marlin get let go and secondly, well, many marlin bust off! We had several hooked up this week that are still swimming after breaking off. More marlin seem to be showing up, but not all are willing to take a bait or lure just yet. This striper ate a trolled jig.

Even when fishing is slow, often our fallback are the feisty tough bonito that can really chew up tackle. Captain Yofo of our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet took a shot on a flyrod and found himself in about a 15 minute battle on a 10wt fly rod.  The fish was released.

SPOTTY FISHING AT BEST DURING DARK MOON AND SOLAR ECLIPSE

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 13-20, 2012

In a few words, fishing this week around La Paz was…”WEIRD…SCRATCHY…SPOTTY.”  Things are definitely changing and we’re going through that transition right now between the cooler waters and spring and the warmer summer waters.  The fish are going through it too and so they’re adjusting. It’s a bit like when you bring a goldfish home from the church carnival in the little plastic bag.  At home, it takes awhile for them to get acclimated to their new surroundings in the home aquarium with temperatures and oxygen levels different.

I think that’s what happened this week.  Every day was different.  Some days the fish bit.  Some days they did not and it was like pulling teeth.   One day one species would be the hot species and the next day a completely different species would take center stage and the fish that were hot the day before, were nowhere to be found!

The other thing was that bait got scarce!  Sardine schools, the foundation of our fishing…just vanished.  We got a little, but it was like pulling teeth to find enough to fish.  Even the bait guys had problems finding it or found only a handful to sell or, it took the better part of the morning looking for bait to start fishing.  So, of course, that also reflected on the fishing numbers.  But, I’m not sure that would have made that much of a difference either because some folks went to trolling lures in the absence of bait…and they didn’t exactly light the world on fire either!

AND THIS WAS NOT A FULL MOON!  AND THERE WAS NOT MUCH WIND EITHER!  So, all you folks that think the fish bite better ALL the time during a dark moon, don’t say I never told you so!

This was bad all over.  I hear on the East Cape and down in Cabo, the bite just dropped off the charts all of a sudden as well.  Hopefully, it’s just the little dark before the big fish explosion!

So, what did we catch?

Well a little of this and a little of that…roosterfish along the shores were still active.  Pargo and cabrilla also bit, but that always works better when you have bait!  We had some really exciting catches on big amberjack and some very nice dorado were picked up as well as a few marlin. Here’s one example of crazy fishing.  The awesome yellowtail bite we had going for 3 months fell apart about 3 weeks ago.  Waters are just too warm. We’re gearing up for the bluewater species like dorado and tuna.  One of our pangas went out for dorado and came back with…two nice yellowtail!  Go figure!

The guys fishing conventionally, did better since they had more to work with.  I really felt badly for the flyfishers.  With no bait, it’s hard to chum fish up and get them interested.  Fortunately, we didn’t have any flyfishers this week, but I know other friends who were out there doing their best in a difficult situation. They resorted to trolling or else using hookless lures to tease fish within casting range.

As for what’s coming up?  The conditions look ripe.  The waters look good. They are already up into the low to mid-80’s on the surface. Air temperatures in in the mid-90’s.   I continue to think we’re right on the cusp of some really good fishing!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate


“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

Read Full Post »

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of May 6-13, 2012

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, cabrilla, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, grouper, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sierra mackeral, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 13, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Our amigo, Chris Cribbs, who visits us twice a year is the man behind the fish…a big rooster…one of the largest of the week when the roosters seemed to be all over. That’s the sand of Las Arenas Beach behind Chris. The rooster was released.

Despite the fact that Fabio has mastered the ability to hold the fish closer to the camera to make it larger, this is still a MONSTER cabrilla! Late in the week we had trouble finding sardines for bait so Fabio dragged a big rapala over the rocks and locked into this gorgeous beast of a seabass. (Thanks for the Hawk shot!)

Maybe it was the lucky shirt! If it’s his lucky shirt, I want one! Althought it says “Colorado”…. Actually, Art lives and works above the Arctic Circle as a medic where it’s often 70 degrees below zero! Enjoying the sunshine for the 2nd time this year already, Art really got into the pargo near Espirtu Santo Island having a banner day on the rockfish…maybe the best of anyone so far this year!

We love father-son trips and when the kids outfish dad, it’s even better. Tim Stoklosa poses with his son, Sam, who blew up this huge dog-tooth snapper north of La Paz fishing with Captain Raul. It’s quite a feat to get one of these out’ve the rocks. Over two days, the guys also got some nice roosterfish as well.

On her first trip to La Paz and first time ocean-fishing, Debbie Devine got herself a nice roosterfish on the water with Captain Pancho near the Las Arenas lighthouse. The fish was released after the photo and Debbie lives in Colorado.

Mark Diehl had time for only one day of fishing on a visit from the Portland OR area and made the most of it with this trophy roosterfish that he photo’d and released. Punta Arenas in the background which was the scene of great rooster fishing all week.

The sheer cliffs of northern Cerralvo Island are the backdrop for Gonzo Rodriguez showing off one of his big mullet snapper (pargo liso) fishing with Jim “Hawk” Davis.

Love it when the youngsters are all smiles like Olivia here with Captain Victor and her first roosterfish!

ROOSTERFISH AND PARGO GO OFF BIG TIME!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 6-13, 2012

Roosterfish and pargo really kicked it into a higher gear this past week.  As air and water temperatures ratchet up bit by bit and everyone is anticipating the incoming warm-water species,  some days it seems like the roosters and pargo just dog-piled onto each other!

With temps in the high 80’s and into the 90’s, the roosterfish were especially voracious. I guess there’s a reason that they call this area the “Roosterfish Capital of the World.”  We didn’t get any monsters, but fish in the 5-40 pound class were pretty common.  Live sardines slow trolled or drifted were good as were Rapalas and other crank baits.

The roosters were in their normal spots along the sandy areas literally terrorizing schools of bait right up to and onto the sand!  However, we were also getting them around the rocky areas of the islands as well as over reefs and high spots where we were fishing for pargo and cabrilla!  The faster and more mobile roosters often hit the baits before the pargo or cabrilla could get to them and some of the roosters would blow up in spectacular fashion of of the water.  We were even hooking some roosters just offshore in deeper water!

It’s a great time for light tackle, spinning gear and the flyrods as well.

As for the pargo, they are mixing it up with the big cabrilla (seabass) and smaller grouper…that we can stop! Remember that these fish are often in extremely shallow waters and the rocks are almost right below the boats.  As soon as you hook up, you have to turn these fish or you’re done…right into the rocks and there’s just no way to win.  The cabrilla and pargo we are able to stop are in the 5-20 pound class, but much much bigger fish get away with a hook in their  jaws and a length of shredded line trailing behind them!

Most of the anticipation comes from the other condtions we’re seeing.  As I said last week, everything just looks primed to blow up any day.  Signs of roosters are just one indication, but there’s a ton of sargasso out there floating around and flurries of dorado have been seen under them.  As well, schools of fast moving tuna have eluded the pangas and marlin are just starting to wake up and we had several hook ups and break offs this week or, more often, the marlin are just sitting on the surface and not much interested in anything you throw at them, short of running over them with the panga.

Sometimes you are running the panga and hit  a “bump bump” and the panga takes a little hop and then there’s a marlin greyhounding away as you realize you just ran over him!

WEEKLY VIDEO

Got some video clips this week.  Sorry they’ve been scarce lately, but thought you’d like to see some of our La Paz pangas coming back into Balandra Bay with some nice pargo and cabrilla.  Click the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pNnSpS0KcM&list=UUSN0xdz-El64xBXmMhl_yvg&index=1&feature=plcp

We have over 100 video clips on YOUTUBE so feel free to subscribe so you get all the video updates.

Also, we’re on Facebook as well under Tailhunter International Sportfishing if you’d like to see our daily updates!

Hope you all had a great Mother’s Day and have a great week!

That’s our story

Jonathan and Jilly

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate


“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

Read Full Post »

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of April 29 to May 5, 2012

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, Shoot Straight TV, sierra mackeral, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 6, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Not much left of the massive yellowtail bite we had going on for 3 months, but we still found a few. First time angler with us from Florida Joe Hussin hefts up one of several they found fishing the west side of Espirito Santo Island.

In the past few weeks, roosterfish have really taken off. None of the big boys that La Paz has historically been known for but fun school-sized 20-40 pounders have not been uncommon. Captain Victor here helps our buddy Bob Solee of B & B Fishing Rods in Portland OR to hold up a nice pez gallo before releasing it. That’s the rocks of Punta Perico in the background about 50 yards back.

Although he’s not smiling, Belmond Mann and his wife Amy love fishing with Captain Archange at Las Arenas and on this particular day, Bel surprisingly outfished Amy putting this nice pargo liso in the boat. Over two days they got a variety of pargo, cabrilla and snapper. Typical of the weekly bite.

Charlie Gibson fished with us for a while week. Charlie just had his right hand (reeling hand) surgically repaired so when the yellowtail bit off Espiritu Santo Island, he struggled mightily to get the fish to the boat! But, he gritted it out and got 3 ‘tails.

Yes, marlin have started to show and, although they’re not quite in the feeding mode, it could happen any day. The three Rodriguez brothers hooked this one which was not able to be released. It was caught off Cerralvo Island. Reports say that the high spot at the 88 has stripers sitting all over it just waiting for the water temps to go up a tad!

Don and Deb White from Oregon come to see us several times a year and always do well. All week, Don was the “King of Cabrilla” taking big seabass after big seabass. Here, he and Debbie show off two huge cabrilla, a snapper and a barred pargo.

Every now and then they even let me out on the water! I wanted to stay out’ve the way our other pangas so I grabbed a flyrod and we went out to the bonito ground to experience the “pain” of pulling on 10-15 pound horse bonito on a whippy 10wt flyrod…just for fun! OUCH! I still have bruises on my knuckles and forearm. None of these fish took less than 15 minutes to put in the boat! You veteran flyfishers can attest to this! Tough tough fish! We released all of them!

Just had to share this amazing photo with you. Joe Hussin from FLA was fishing with us this week and were in Capt. Archangel’s panga and just about 200 yards of Punta Perico a huge humpback kept breaching around them to the point where they were getting sprayed and splashed. The last one was no more than 30 feet in front of the panga. At that point Capt. Archangel said, “We’re outta here!” Joe caught this amazing shot during on of the jumps…just right…with his iPad!!! It’s poster quality! The waters are full of life right now…porpoise, turtles, whales, birds…an amazing place to be this time of year!

MIXED WEATHER AND MIXED FISHING ADDS VARIETY!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of April 29-May 5, 2012

It was a mixed week on all levels this week.  We had hot muggy sunshine to wind to rain to flat seas and bouncy rolling chop.  Sometimes the fish bit better when it was rough.  Sometimes they bit better when it was flat as glass.  No rhyme or reason.  One day , they would all chase baits.  The next day the fish would turn their noses up at the bait and only want slow trolled slices of dead fish.  Or they wanted only dead sardinas.  As one of our clients said ,who fished with us all week, “It was like the fish were picky kids never knowing what they wanted!”  The game of the week was trying to figure out where they would be….what they would want…and what they would eat.

It would help that there are so many different conditions on top of the fact that there were so many different species of fish as we hit that “transitional period” when the waters are getting warmer, but there’s some areas of cold and some areas of warmer waters.  These differences in water temperatures could be horizontal where you would be in green cooler water in one spot, but move 100 yards to the side and the waters would be warm clear blue.  Or, the thermoclines could be vertical.  On the surface it could be 75.  A few feet down it could drop 10 degrees or, the temp change might not occur for 40 feet.

I was scuba diving last week and I ran into thermoclines on many levels and saw different fish depending on the water temperatures and feeding in different thermoclines.  For instance, I found 69 degree water at 25 feet down, but at 40 feet down, I found 72 degree water…it was actually warmer the further I went down.  I found pargo in the cooler water swimming but bonito and jacks swimming in the warmer water further down.

Anyway, the bite reflected all the change.  I gotta tell ya…the ocean is really full of life, even if you’re not fishing.  But the conditions are such that all of us are saying that it just looks like it’s gonna bust open.

There’s so much variety out there.  Cooler water fish like yellowtail and big amberjack are sporadically still around. Pargo and big cabrilla are feeding in the rocks and shallows.  Along the beaches, the roosterfish are getting livelier as well as the jack crevalle and occasional pompano.  Where the water is cooler in the shallows, there are still sierra to be caught as well.

Offshore, sargasso weed is building up and literally strewn across the ocean.  Schools of dorado are starting to show although not necessarily ready to eat just yet.  Same with the marlin. The big guys are sitting on the surface just sunning.  Give another few degrees in water temperature and they’ll start to chew.  Just a matter of time.  A few were hooked!  Flurries of fast moving tuna have also been spotted as well.

We’ll just have to see!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate


“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

Read Full Post »

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of April 22-29, 2012

Posted in amberjack, Bahia de Los Muertos, Bahia de los Suenos, Bahia de los Suenos fishing, Baja, baja fishing, Baja fishing reports, Baja sportfishing packages, Baja Vacations, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Paz Vacations, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, Mexican sportfishing outfitters, Mexican sportfishing packages, mexico fishing, Mexico vacations, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, robalo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sierra mackeral, snook, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 30, 2012| Leave a Comment »

That's ALOT of fish! Oregonian Don White had a knack for big cabrilla and other rockies this week including this hefty pair shown here with our Captain Alfredo. Don was fishing north of La Paz around Espirito Santo Island.

Bob Solee, come down several times a year to see us here in La Paz and seems to always get a personal best or something unusual. Yellowtail were on his "bucket list" and as luck would have it, he took one of the few yellowtail of the week fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. Bob is from the Portland Oregon area and is a custom fishing rod maker specializing in 3-pc. travel rods.

Yes, I do get out now and then and we had our 11th Annual Cabin Fever Classic here in La Paz and it was a blast. This dorado turns out to be the first of the season and quite a big boy for so early in the year! But it was swimming through a school of bonito when we spotted it and threw a live bait and it! A great catch. I'm standing on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

Easy to see why this is called a dog-tooth snapper. We call 'em pargo. John "JD" Drucker from Arizona is one of our La Paz regulars and comes several times a year. He had other fish that they never moved out've the rocks!

First timer from Oregon, Sheila Maloney, had a big smile for this cubera snapper and a bunch of others she picked up working the east side of Espiritu Santo Island using a combination of sardines and live mackerel.

It was another good week for roosterfish as the fish seem to be coming on stronger. Dave Swanson and Captain Joel pose with a nice pez gallo before setting it free. We would have more rooster photos, but most fish fortunately are let go so we don't get many photos! Dave got this near Espirito Santo Island.

Matt Gesler has to be one of the funniest and happiest guys we can remember. Always laughing. For a first-timer he slammed fish for 3 days including these nice cabrilla.

Rod Brown really wanted to catch a yellowtail and finally got one on the last day of the last hour of fishing. Rod hails from Alaska and makes 2 trips a year to visit us.

She's the pargo queen! Carol Darby put 7 of these barred pargo in the panga compared to just one for her husband who said "She was on fire!" These are tough fish and this is quite an accomplishment. She stands here on the beach at Muertos Bay.

We had a blast this week with our 12th Annual Cabin Fever Classic. It was a bit smaller than usual, but no less fun as we had 3 days of fishing...one day of snorkeling at the island...and lots of great dinners and good times. Thanks everyone! It was a blast! (Where's Mike?)

INSHORE SPECIES DRAW MOST ATTENTION WITH BIG CABRILLA AND PARGO ROCKING ANGLERS

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of April 22-29, 2012

An interesting week of fishing down here in La Paz.  I think our yellowtail bite is officially over although we’re getting a few punky firecracker yellows that aren’t any bigger than 5-10 pounds. And…every now and then, especially north of La Paz, a nice little jag of the bigger fish jumps up and goes on a chew.  But, for all intents and purposes, things are changing and it’s best not to lament what’s NOT biting and concentrate on what IS biting!

 

Basically, it’s turning into your typical spring smorgasborg of fish species.  Frankly, it’s a lot of fun because from day-to-day, you’re never sure what’s going to hit. Sometimes it changes within the hour.  I believe this past week alone we got over a dozen keepable species of fish! 

 

This included our first dorado of the season, a nice 25 pound class mahi picked up on live bait right in the middle of swarming bonito schools.  This also included some really nice action on roosterfish that are hitting in numerous spots around the La Paz fishing area.  As well, cabrilla, grouper, sierra, amberjack, jack crevalle and all three members of the pargo family (barred pargo / pargo liso/ dog tooth-snapper) were all taken this week usualy in the areas around underwater structure.

I gotta tell you…take a look at some of the photos from this week.  Don’t blow off fishing for cabrilla or pargo.  Some of these fish are HUGE! Try stopping some of these bad boys before they get to the rocks.  I was on the water a number of times this past week and I would guess that about 2 nice pargo or cabrilla were caught for ever 10 hook ups.  Imagine a fish that can swallow a whole mackerel or a whole small needlefish that we’re using for bait.  That is a BIG fish with a BIG mouth!  One day, I personally lost at least 8 and only putting 3 aboard…and then again ONLY after amping up my gear from 40 pound test to 60…then to 80 pound test and basically my trolling sticks!

It sounds silly, but if you can’t turn their big heads of these guys, you might as well just throw bait in the water and watch them blow up on the surface and tear it up and forget fishing.  You’re just feeding the fish!  But, it’s incredibly exciting when you’re slow trolling a bait through blue clear waters and you can see the bottom just a few feet below.  You start chumming baits and out of nowhere, 20, 30 and 40 pound fish start going ballistic behind the boat…and then your line screams!  

The biggest factor this week was the darned wind!  I tell you…one day we had barely wind and had a great day.  Next day, the winds ripped us apart and we could not even get bait.  The best we could do all day was troll Rapalas all day for less-than-happy results.  When we went after yellowtail north of La Paz, it took us two hours in heavy winds and seas trying to catch a dozen mackerel for bait.  After getting enough bait, we hit the yellowtail spot and it was like fishing in a washing machine. The current was so strong we couldn’t even get the mackerel down deep enough to the fish because the pangas were getting blown off the spots.

Hopefully, usually the winds keep diminishing but it’s not over until it’s over.   I’m really excited about seeing so much sargasso weed floating around out there!  Given that we got that first nice dorado, if we get a little more water temperature, schools of dorado can’t be far behind.  Some commercial guys are seeing them as well as marlin sitting on the surface just sunning and not quite ready to go on the chew.  Give it just a tad more temperature and the big boys should come flying!

 

 

That’s our story!

 

Jonathan and Jilly

 

Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter International

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745

Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

Phones:  from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:  http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

.


Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »