What the heck is going on? Wahoo in winter? Jack Steele originally from Seattle WA put this gorgeous ‘hoo on the boat fishing near Cerralvo Island late in the week. Check out the calm waters…it makes a difference!
Fat forktail! Charlie “Sticks” McGee is one of the best fishermen I know and a dynamite drummer and music teacher as well from San Diego. Our amigo stuck this thick yellowtail out in the channel north of La Paz.
When it comes to putting big fish in the boat, our amiga, Donna Thompson, from La Ventana via Long Beach CA holds a thick, fat wahoo…a personal best!
We’re smack in the middle of whale watching season and taking folks out daily to Bahia Magdalena to see the whales. Contact us for a once-in-a-lifetime experience and get close to these great animals. They normally start to leave around March so don’t delay!
Tailhunters is finally leaving the Pacific Northwest where we have been for the last month doing some outstanding shows in Puyallup WA (Seattle), Portland OR and Yakima WA! Thanks to everyone who has come by…old friends and new amigos! Lots of bookings for fishing with us in La Paz this year! But now, we leave the snow and rain and one of our favorite areas and head south all the way to the Phoenix ISE show where it’s supposed to be 80 degrees! Hope to see you there at the Cardinal football stadium! More details below!
WAHOO SET THE PACE FOR
THE WEEK IN SURPRISE BITE
La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of February 9-16, 2014
An otherwise slow week was saved by a late week chew that turned up some quality fish.
As typical, we got the usual winds, especially early in the week. That never helps with the fishing but we come to expect that during the winter. Especially northern winds. It also really jacks up our ability to get live bait. But, as the week went on, the winds diminished.
And suddenly the bite turned on.
And it was a surprise. Usually, we look for inshore fish during winter. But instead, we got some real trophy stuff. Once again, just like last week, wahoo showed up around Cerralvo Island. Normally, it’s far too cold for us to be seeing these prized fish, but the boats took the at the north and south end of the island on slow trolled baits as well as lures. The fish were good quality too with fish going 20–50 pounds which are real slammers, especially when you consider that these are known to be the “fastest fish in the world” capable of blazing line off a reel at close to 70 mph!
But, on top of that, we also picked off a few dorado. Again, not only are these warm water fish, but we shouldn’t even be seeing these until about later March or April.
In addition to the wahoo and dorado, a few more of the yellowtail also bent the rods. These fish are more typical of this time of year and we should be going full bore on these any week now. So, it was encouraging to see more of these in the counts.
As for other species, we took some small pargo and snapper, cabrilla, and lots of bonito.
It’s been a great show season and Jill and Jonathan now leave the Pacific Northwest and the Yakima WA sportsmens show and head south to the Phoenix International Sportsmens Expo.
Our next show starting this week will be in the Cardinal Football Stadium where the NFL Cardinals play! This is a super show! Lots of stuff for the whole family! Come say hi!
TAILHUNTER ROAD TOUR TAKES IT TO PHOENIX
Our 2014 Tailhunter Road Tour takes to the road again this week. After an outstanding month in the Pacific Northwest attending shows in Washington and Oregon, we now drive south and take off our rain and snow gear and put on the shorts as we go to the International Sportsmans Expo in Phoenix, Arizona. This is really a super show right on the floor of the University of Phoenix Football stadium where the NFL Cardinals play! It’s a great place for a show and there’s always great weather, plenty of parking and lots to see!
The dates are Thursday to Sunday (Feb. 20-23rd).
Come say hi and chat with us about fishing with us in 2014 in La Paz. We have amigos from all over Arizona, California, Nevada and New Mexico as well as Utah and Idaho come to visit us. Here’s more information about the show as well as how to get discount tickets: International Sports Expo – Phoenix Feb. 20-23, 2014
Fishing tailed off just a tad this past week, but yellowtail were still up to bat with some nice fish like the two-fisted catch by Carl Lange from Bakersfield. Both fish fell to live mackerel. Muertos Bay is in the background.
Our local "ace" from La Ventana James "Hawk" Davis has been sticking fish every week since this yellowtail bite started back in January. Note the flat waters behind him and the towns of La Ventana and El Sargento. Hawk holds up a thick yellowtail.
Standing on the beach at Muertos, Travis Simmons fished with us for several days and holds up his biggest yellowtail of the trip. He was fishing with Captain Jorge and dropped a big mackeral in this guys' mouth!
I know this cabrilla caught just off the rocks at Punta Perico (in the background) ended up as dinner ,because the fisherman, Art Flippin, took it to our Tailhunter Restaurant specifically and had us cook it up for him! Great time for Mexican cabrilla...seabass!
TOUGHER WEEK ON THE FISH AND FISHERMEN AS YELLOWTAIL CONTINUE TO POP UP!
La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of March 26 to April 1, 2012
It was hard to put a finger on the fishing this week. As usual we had a little wind some days which didn’t help, but on the days the winds laid down, the fish were certainly there! Some nice yellowtail too! Friends on the beach and commercial pangeros I spoke to during the week said sometimes the yellowtail were so thick it was like “the old days!” Fish were foaming and crashing the surface and scattering bait in such big log jams of fish that it could be seen from shore…which sometimes isn’t too far off. Imagine 25-45 pound fish blowing up en masse!
Our problem was that we didn’t have a whole lot of anglers out there although everyone did catch a few of the big boys. Also, we had some rookies and God bless ‘em they had fun! But sometimes these fish can be pretty mean and we were losing more fish than we were putting in the boat. Still…they had fun but if you think back, most of us were there at one point where you’re new and you’re not sure which end of the reel is up and which way the handle turns. Then, the biggest meanest fish of your life suddenly yanks a 50 pound rod in half and your adrenaline goes zero-to-sixty in nano-seconds and it’s chaos as everyone is talking to you and yelling at you! And then before you know what’s up…ZING POWIE! No more fish! You thought you were ready but the biggest fish you ever caught before was a rainbow trout or steelhead. You weren’t ready yet for one of our Baja big boys! And so…maybe you lose a few as you get into the learning curve and get your chops down.
The problem is…for many folks this time of year…they are one-day anglers. They’re in town and decide to do a day of fishing. They’re our snow birds who are just getting out of the cold back home. They go out and catch a few fish….or lose a few fish…and just when they’re getting the hang of it…the day is over! And they were only fishing that one day! They go home with some nice bags of cabrilla or sierra and some chunks of yellowtail, but if they had fished just one more day, it would have made a huge difference and they’d be better prepared.
Anyway…
The fish were up around Ventana Bay, South and North Cerralvo Island and our usual stomping ground at Boca de Alamo just south of Bahia de Los Muertos. Often pretty close to shore and in shallow water. Getting mackerel can sometimes be a chore as those are the preferred “candy bait” for these big sluggers.
It’s hard to really get a read on the other species we usually catch this time of year, but we did show some smaller pargo, cabrilla, sierra and jack crevalle as well as a decent bite on bonito!
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
It was a pretty good week for long drawn out battles and bent rods! Rod Brown, our Alaska amigo, and popular Captain Jorge who can only watch as the minutes start to pile up!
Typical of this week's tuna, Sed Roldan and Bob Dominguez of Hacienda Hts. CA heft up a few of their yellowfin tuna taken just south of Cerralvo Island. Most days the boats averaged 1-4 of these fish per day, but the fish were a nice-grade 25-45 pound fish that often took close to an hour to put aboard, especially since the fish preferred light line!
John McVay from Valencia CA finds his way to us each year for about 5 days of hardcore fishing. Hard to argue with a first day of 8 fat tuna. Maybe one of the best days that any of our amigos have had all year with the yelllowfin. About day 3, John actually hurt his elbow on these slugger fish and had to beg off his last day to get some therapy on his arm! John's a good angler. These fish can be pretty brutal.
The last thing a sardine sees before it goes into the pie hole of a big tuna! All the way from S. Caroline, Luke strikes a pose with his yellowfin at Muertos Bay.
Most of you reading this report will see this photo and the next and say..."What in the world is THAT?" In 16 years down here, I've rarely gotten to see a photo of one myself, but these are the much sought-after fish called the SNOOK! (ROBALO). Highly treasured gamefish and great eating, they're normally found around structure or in pilings or shallow water or in the channels, of bays or in the mangroves. They are supposedly great eating and can get up to 40 or 50 pounds. In all my years here, only a handful have been caught. Rod Brown and his brother Jeff (photo below) were fishing the island with Captain Joel and they said, all of a sudden, the school of snook came up and tore into them!
Jeff Brown from Minnesota, joined his brother, Rod (photo above) and Captain Joel and show off more of the snook they caught at the island. A remarkable catch. The fish only stayed around for a short while, but you can see how close to shore they were fishing.
We keep getting asked if there are roosterfish still around. Hmmmm...you think? That's Punta Perico in the back. Thanks for our buddy, Roger Thompson, for the shot of Larry Rose from Long Beach with this bad boy that they released. We actually got some nicer grade roosters at the end of the week in the 30-60 pound class.
Oh yea...this one too! Mike Wythe and Captain Hugo with another beast. (released).
Lest you think we're not catching dorado, actually yes...we're getting good numbers of dorado with our La Paz fleet. Dorado have been our bread-and-butter fish. Pretty reliable if you want to have some fun and want some fillets for the cooler! Also, for those who wonder if I still got game and get out on the water...yes I do! This is me and my dad who visited us this week.
Cute couple of the week and also first-timers with us...Lance and Kim Miles from Utah had some good days of fishing with us!
Childhood friends who now live in 3 different states, Jonathan Duc Le, Matt Trinh and Hau Pham from Texas, Colorado and New Mexico try to get together at least once a year. This year they picked us to visit and got into some good doardo and tuna fishing.
Randy Sharon and I went to law school together and it's always great to see him. Captain Armando helps out with this thick fat yellowfin tuna.
It's a long way from S. Carolina to Baja and Jerry Wansack planned the trip for 3 years to make it down...and then made it worth his while by fishing the whole week getting tuna, dorado and roosterfish for his efforts.
WEEKLY FISHING VIDEO CLIPS!
Got some GREAT stuff this week including underwater shots of tuna and dorado. It’s a bit longer than normal, but turn up the sound and check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEq_4b1gydI
FULL MOON KINDER TO US THIS TIME…FISH CHEW NICELY!
La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 9-16, 2011
It wasn’t too bad of a week of fishing, alll things considered. (Full moon…high tides…some winds left over from the hurricane!) We were surely a bit nervous as the week kicked off.
First, we were surely watching the full moon which was big as all get-out. Normally, the full moon is no biggie, but this year, I don’t know what it is. The full moon has really played games with our fishing.
Second, we were glued to our web pages and weather channels following 4 different storms to the south of us (including Hurricane Jova that ended up dumping alot of water on Puerta Vallarta) that had our phones ringing and our e-mails buzzing. “Should we cancel our trip?”
Fortunately the storms failed to materialize except for one day of strong winds that stumped the fishing and the full moon didn’t yank our chain too hard…and the fish bit!
The tuna bite off Las Arenas was hardly over-the-top, but it was a decent week for fish in the 25-45 pound shot. These were thick muscular stubborn growling fish. Most folks had a shot at 1 or 2 and that was pretty much it. No mas! Either the bite shut off or folks were done and wanted to fish for something a little more forgiving. I mean, most of these fish were close to an hour to put on the boat! That’s a long time for most people. The bite was off the south end of Cerralvo Island. Some days it started really early. As soon as baits were put in the water…WHAM! Hook up!
Other times, the bonito went crazy until about 11 or so then the tuna moved in. The one hitch in everything was the sardine situation. The sardines are smaller than your little finger. They are so small you can’t put them on a hook without impaling them and killing them so we’re fishing them dead. Just chunking and drifting big handfuls in the water and making the tuna come up for them. Except for one day when we literally got only 1 bonito per boat/day, most days it’s been 1-5 yellowfin tuna per boat/day with our Las Arenas fleet.
With our La Paz fleet, well, the dorado were off just a tad, but overall, still pretty reliable fishing for dorado in the 10-20 pound class with occasional 30 pounders in the box. Sometimes we’d hit a big school and it would be crazy as every rod goes off. Other times, it was a pick bite with 1 here…1 there…and at the end of the day, there would be a box of dorado on the boat. You could never tell. Our hot spots moved from Las Cruces off Cerralvo Island to the waters west of Espirito Santo Island.
With other species we had a nice batch of sailfish and marlin hook ups this week. No one was really fishing for them, but the billfish came up and bit. Most of the fish were lost or released, but made for some good unexpected fun. Also, good bites of pargo , cabrilla and roosterfish, some larger ones late in the week, in the shallows.
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jilly
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR #1 Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO
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
Big league bull dorado for Mike Rossi of Santa Ana who got this big guy to chomp a live sardine near Las Arenas. It was a decent week for dorado fishing for both our La Paz and our Las Arenas fleet.
That's an armful! One of the largest fish of the week taken by first-timer Mike Ehrlinger, from Orange Co. CA. He took this huge bulll...his first fishing north of La Paz near Espirito Santo Island.
It's great to see first timers kick butt like Mac Oudin shown with Captain Adolfo from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. Mac go this first dorado; his first sailfish (40 miinute fight and he released it!) and this beautiful roosterfish that he also released. Great sportsmanship, Mac! Gracias!
Here's another good sport. Bill Hughes really wanted a roosterfish this trip (his 2nd to see us), and he tried repeatedly to revive this one (he wasn't even trying to catch a rooster at the time, but it bit the lure in deep water and they thought it was a sailfish! Most roosters are caught in shallow water.). They repeatedly tried to "swim" the big fish back and forth but were unable to revive it. But, a great catch and the folks on the beach gladly accepted the gift of the fish for making machaca and soup.
Alex Gragg (middle) has been chomping at the bit for years, but his dad, Ken, who comes down several times a year told him he had to wait until he was 12-years-old to come to La Paz. So, he finally made it! Shown here with older brother, Steve, and Tailhunter Capt. Boli, they pose with some of their dorado from a good day of fishing!
It seems we have alot of great roosterfish stories this week. Harlie Deckhard from Arizona had hooked up to this big roosterfish off Las Arenas when the reel seized up and was ready to snap the line. Quick-thinking Captain Pancho grabbed another rod and while holding both lines, cut the line hooked to the fish and in the heat-of-battle, quickly spliced on the 2nd rod-and-reel and the fight continued! Great story. Great fish...which Harlie released after the photo!
It wasn't a big week for yellowfin tuna, but every few days the fish popped up. Most were like these held by Mike Ehlinger, Bernard Jain and Joe Fuschetti on Las Arenas beach. Note the other fish on the sand.
That's Rick Gil del Monte goofing in the back of Dave and Paul Henke holding up a few of their dorado they caught after 3 days fishing with our Tailhutner Las Arenas fleet.
It's a long way and a big difference between Baja and the Arctic Circle, but that's where Lisa and Colby lives but came down where she got this trophy bull dorado fishing our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.
It's good to get a little help from your friends...especially when it's your birday! Mike Demple from AZ, celebrated his big day by zooming down to La Paz on a private plane with friends for a single day of fishing...just long enough to get a load of dorado like this one Mike holds with the help of Captain Boli from the Tailhunter La Paz Fleet.
This is about as good a representation of some of the many species you can catch in a single day right now. Jon Dunn, Captain Pancho, and Mike Rossi pose with a day's catch of tuna, dorado, barred pargo, triggerfish among others!
La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 1-7, 2011
It was one of those good-steady weeks of fishing down here around La Paz. Not off-the-charts, but fun solid fishing with good weather and some of the best ocean we’ve seen in awhile. Dorado were the main attraction with about 80 percent of the catch for both our Tailhunter Las Arenas and Tailhunter La Paz fleet…albeit moreso for our La Paz anglers.
If all you really wanted to do was hang some fish; have some fun; put some fillets in the ice chest, then the “no-” was to just go fish for dorado. Slow troll some sardines in an area; find some floating weeds; or look for circling birds is pretty much how to swing it, but fast trolling with feathers or slow dragging some dead bonito strips also set off the bite. Most days the boats caught dorado as small as 5 pounders and as large as 40 pounders mostly but the majority of the fish were 10-15 pound school-sized fish. The larger fish continue to be taken by our La Paz fleet.
If you wanted a bit more variety, then fishing our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet was probably better. Dorado bite was OK at best with smaller schoolies, but at least you also had the opportunity to get into some of the good roosterfish, marlin, sailfish and the occasional elusive tuna.
Oh…a sighting of wahoo…two bites this week, but for the most part, no wahoo to speak of. I think this has been one of the poorest wahoo seasons I can remember. But, prime time wahoo season is still to come possibly…October and November! We’ll keep you posted!
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR #1 Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
Kurt Shipley from Oklahoma spent all week on the 88 spot for a shot at one of the big tuna and on his last day got his wish! This fish could only be estimated at about 175 pounds and took two hours. The fishing on the 88 spot near Cerralvo was sporadic to spectacular all week. Some days there were no fish. Other days there were only "smaller" 40 pounders. The next day the fish were all beasts over 100 pounds! Some days there were very few boats and other days, it was a freeway! It has been a long time since we've seen this kind of quality.
She refused any assistance and put this 110-pound monster in the boat all by herself! Mary Wehner poses with Captain Pancho and her big fish that she took on a mini-3-foot Whopper Stopper rod on the 88 spot. Mary is always doing stuff like that every time she visits. Last year, it was a big blue marlin!
Norm Whittlesey is tough-as-nails. He grew up on a dairy farm. Worked in a coal mine and was part of the 101'st Airborne Divison then went back to school to become a college professor! He still has time to tend 60 acres in Washington and after every day of fishing, he would actually go work out for an hour at the hotel gym! He rocks and had a fantastic week of fishing including some of the largest dorado of the week fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet then some of the huge tuna with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.
Another massive beast on the beach. Scott Burmeister from New Mexico isn't sure he wanted to do anymore tuna fishing after this fish estimated at over 150 pounds tore into his rig off Cerralvo Island. Anglers were battling these fish from 1-4 hours with the fish winning more often than not. Some days, the fish would only eat light line so anglers were already at a disadvantage!
Some great stories this week! Johan Coetzee took three days to travel from South Africa where he is a university professor so that he and his friend could spend 10 days spearfishing with us. He had hoped to get a roosterfish in those 10 days but on his very first day, shot this trophy rooster off Las Arenas. Up to the day of me writing this report, they had also gotten amberjack, big cabrilla, yellowtail and snapper. They commented that they are amazed at how strong our Baja fish are! One 20 pound amberjack bent the steel shaft of his spear. Another rooster larger than this could not be stopped even with the spearshaft firmly embedded! (Spearfishing in Mexico is done without tanks and these guys are incredible atheletes able to hold their breaths and dive to great depths to hunt on a single lungful of air!)
Like I said...a week of great (and often funny!) stories....If you're been following the reports all week, the big tuna went "on the chew" off Cerralvo Island this week with fish up to 200 pounds tearing up anglers and lots of gear. The problem is that some of these big fish would ONLY eat 40 pound test! Some of the battles lasted 1, 2, 3 or more hours with the fish usually winning over the exhausted anglers. So...take a look at this picture of our good buddies Darrell George (holding the rod) and Bo Herrera (trying to hang onto an exhausted Darrell). These guys took alot of flack for this photo they were showing around the restaurant last night and was snapped by a laughing Captain Victor! I guess you could write your own funny caption! However, the truth is that they had a fish of about 100 pounds on the line and only 40 pound test. It was whupping them when the force of the fish broke the handle off the reel! Bo stepped right up (what are buddies for?) to help hold onto Darrell and they tag-teamed to hand-line in the big fish! (The guys are great sports about the funny picture not realizing that Captain Victor was taking photos with THEIR camera!). They just went back to New Mexico today with over 250 pounds of dorado, snapper and tuna fillets after a great week!
Steve's got a nice pargo liso! Many anglers aren't out here looking for pargo this time of year as they're interested in the pelagic species like tuna, dorado, wahoo and billfish. But that makes this an ideal time to chase pargo since there's not much pressure on the fish! It doesn't make them any easier to catch. They'll bite, but then they go quickly back to the rocks and cut you off! Check out this nice pargo liso (mullet snapper).
I almost forgot...we got at least one or two marlin or sailfish biters every day this week. Most of the fish were released. This is Dan Bernardo's first marlin and they were unable to release it after it swallowed the hook. Dan is from Washington State and had a banner week with tuna, dorado and his first marlin. Most of the billfish were found in the channel between Cerralvo and Espirito Santo Islands.
Phil Okamoto from Los Angeles gets and assist from Captain Pancho on his first pargo. Phil also got his first marlin and some big dorado this week.
High school football coach Randy Strange got a mess of dorado after a good week of dorado fishing with out Tailhunter La Paz fleet including this decent-sized bull. Randy is from the Ventura CA area.
Troy Coffey keeps coming down to fish and NEVER got in the fish report! Well, this time YOU MADE IT TROY! Good job! Troy got into that dorado bite we've had out've La Paz. He had a few rough days, but finally got into the bite. The fish are scattered but if you find the spot, it can be rodeo on you.
Like I said...lots of funny stories this week. Coach Don Rea from Ventura is the BRAVEST MAN I KNOW! He has been coming to see us for years...several times a year. He is a huge fan of catching dorado and racing so he spent the week chasing mahi mahi and taking a day to watch the popular Coyote 300 off -road race here in La Paz. This man is fearless. In order to be here, he skipped his 43rd wedding anniversary; 2 birthdays; 1 graduation and Father's Day! His photos has been in our fishing report so often I thought he's enjoy seeing his photo at the race instead! Note the carefully placed "hover hands!" In all honesty, Don's wife, Cathie is a great sport and avid fishermen herself and let him come down with his buddy. But he is bringing Cathie to La Paz next month.
The Week in Review Tailhunter Video Clip:
Got some great stuff this week. Check it out. Click the link!
BIG TUNA STORM BACK DORADO STEADY BUT NOT ALL DAYS GOOD IN ALL PLACES!
La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 19-26, 2011
It’s hard to put a finger on this last week of
fishing. I sort of depended where you fished and what day you
fished. Fortunately, almost everyone was fishing the whole week so even
if there was an off-day, the next day seemed to make up for it. Or, at the
end of 3, 4 or 5 days on the water, they still had a chest full of fillets to
bring home. The bottom line is that it required being at the right place
at the right time! For some, they got some of the biggest fish of their
lives! For others, they LOST the biggest fish of their lives…whether a
big tuna or a big dorado or marlin!
For our Las Arenas fleet, the focus is either the big tuna
and free-swimmer bull dorado outside Cerralvo Island at the 88 spot or
inshore for the roosters, pargo and smaller dorado. At the “tuna
honey hole” earlier in the week it was rough and the fishing was less than
steller. A few fish taken, but mostly in the 30-50 pound range. A
nice grade of fish but if you lost your fish or didn’t even get bit, it was a
long way to run. Later in the week the spot blew up again and produced
the century slugger 100-pounders to 200 pound “cows.” We lost a few, but took more than we
lost. As one of our anglers put it, “I always wanted one of those
big fish, but when you’re fighting it after an hour-or-so in the sun, you start
to regret what you asked for and torture yourself about the knot you tied and
the type of hook you used and all the little variables!”
Another of our guys said, “It was like a disease
wanting a big tuna. Now that I got one…been there…done that. I
don’t need that kind of pain ever again!” (I know he’ll be back
again!). Some of the problem was that these fish were picky. One day they ate live bait. The next day the fish were hooked on
slow-trolled Rapalas! One day they would
eat line the size of rope. The next, you
were using 30 and 40 pound test to get bit!
(That’s a bit like being a one-legged man at a butt-kicking
contest…you’re already at a serious disadvantage.)
Some of these battles
raged 1, 2, 3 or more hours and the longer the battle the greater the chance
you’re gonna get spanked badly and lose the fish…or even if you get the fish,
you’ll feel like you went 10 rounds in the ring with the champ. I kid you not. Some of the anglers came back from “the
zone” very quiet. Exhausted. Shuffling their feet. Unable to lift their arms. Coated in salt, sweat and fish scum. Glassy-eyed and de-hydrated! Be careful what you ask for!
If you’re coming out to try for the tuna (not sure how long
they will be here)…one day the fish bite on live bait (sardines). The
next day it’s feathers or Rapalas so be prepared. We did get a few
billfish hooked and released this week that bit Rapalas and Yo-Zuri’s that were
being trolled for tuna. Even got an amberjack on one as well. I
didn’t think they swam fast enough to catch a trolled Rapala!
Inshore at Las Arenas, the nice roosterfish are still
cruising the beaches. Our largest fish of the week were in that 40-60
pound range, but there’s also schoolie-sized pez gallos in the 5-10 pound class
that are fun on the light tackle and spinning or fly rods. As well,
there’s schools of smaller dorado shallow near the drop-offs close to the
beaches and larger dorado models if you go hopping around the buoys outside.
Another little tip…bring some sabiki-style bait rigs to catch some caballito,
mackerel or pilot fish that make great bigger live baits!
For our La Paz fleet, the week started slower than normal as
we were hampered by wind and swells left over from Hurricane Beatriz that
passed far to the south of us. However, as the week went on, we fell back
into the swing of it with nice catches of 5-15 pound schooling dorado and
larger 20-40 pound bulls. They’re in several spots. You just have
to find them, but multiple hook-ups are not unusual. Live sardines or
caballitos or mackerel work well as does slow trolling big strips of fresh
bonito or skipjack. If you have a temp guage on your boat, there’s
pockets of warm water and lines of temperature currents. Find some floating
sargasso weeds or debri and fish the warmer side of the line for a better shot
at finding the dorado. Just keep an eye
on the wind. Some days are really breezy
and rough. Others go completely flat.
Every day is different!
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jilly
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR #1 Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
Tailhunter Fish Report 