La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay / Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 11-18, 2023
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT
WEATHER: Before the storm, it was up to the mid-to-upper 90’s and humid. Has gotten just a tad cooler since the storm arrived, but humidity is higher and the air is very heavy and wet. Forecast keeps changing. Maybe 1-2 days of rain expected, but more worried about the winds from Hilary. It will be in the 20 mph range here…enough to keep us off the water, but outside, I hear it’s blowing triple digits.
WATER: The bay is calm, but outside it’s a washing machine you don’t want to be in. Had some folks in a sailboat tell me they had 20-25 foot swells.
FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK: Dorado and more dorado. One tuna hooked and lost. One billfish hooked and lost. Most likely a big striped marlin. Smaller roosterfish, jacks, bonito, rockfish inside.
LAS ARENAS FISHING: More variety of species, but not as many dorado. However, some of the larger dorado were coming up here.
LA PAZ FISHING: Dorado are as close as the tankers anchored in the bay!
NOTE: Saying it over and over. Our best part of the fishing season is also the time when we could see storms. Usually NOT a big issue, but you need to purchase trip insurance. Storms are part of fishing and there’s no refunds for weather-related cancelations, but the trip insurance will also help cover cancelled or delayed airline flight/ hotel rooms/ activities, etc.
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG (LACK OF) PICTURES and the REST of the STORY…
Hilary’s angry eye moving up!
Jimmy Williams knows how to pose with a big dorado!
Captain Armando was out with Andrew Fernandez at Bahia Muertos.
Daniel Bovee rocked a couple of nice mahi as well. Daniel visits us several times a year.
Well…the fishing continued reall good…until it wasn’t.
And it has nothing to do with the fish leaving or anything like that.
It’s THAT time of year and little storm “Hilary” turned into a Category 3 tempest with 165 mph winds, rain and big seas. The good news is that it’s NOT hitting us directly. It’s not punching us right in the nose. However, it has long arms and those arms are giving us a nice glancing shove.
It’s enough that we’re getting rain and wind and unfortunately is shutting down the fishing for anywhere from 1-3 days depending on how fast this storm moves through and whether the La Paz Port Captain allows any boats to go out.
It can’t be avoided. It’s just part of this wacky-weather that’s all over the place these days although tropical storms are not unusual down here especially this time of year. It’s our best fishing, but also the greatest chance of a storm. You just never know.
Actually Hilary appears to be headed right towards S.California which might get a taste of a real hurricane.
At time time I’m writing this, Hilary is several hundred miles to the south of us, but is already generating winds up to 140 mph and up to 20 foot seas into the Sea of Cortez. Definitely not the kind of weather we want to be out in.
But, before that, we still had that great dorado bite going on that we’ve been experiencing for the last 3 months. The best dorado fishing that I can remember in 30 years. Still lots of 5-15 pound biters with an unusual amount of bigger 30-50 pound bulls. I only hope that after this weather passes, things will be back on track.
I have to apologize because if you know me and you’ve been reading my reports these 30-something years, you know that I always have a ton of photos.
Well…I don’t know what happened, but we’ve been having power outtages down here lately and somehow the flash drive where I stored this week’s photos got ERASED! Dangit, am so sorry and there’s not enough time to round up all the photos again. Many apologies. I guess for once, you’ll just have to see the few photos this week and also take my word for it that we WERE INDEED still catching dorado before the storm hit.
We’ll just have to see what’s on the other side of Hilary!
That’s my story!
Jonathan
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing www.tailhunter.comMexico Office:
Tailhunter Sportfishing
755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
U.S. Mailing Address: Tailhunter Sportfishing
8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178 La Mesa CA 91942
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 29-Aug. 7, 2023
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT
WEATHER: No doubt hot and humid! Stay hydrated and covered up. Common sense! It’s in the high 90’s to low 100’s in the daytime…normal summer temps. Actually maybe cooler than many parts of the U.S. strangely enough. But, humidity is high as well. Thankfully, the beach is right outside!
WATER: Mostly warm and blue. Surface temps on the water are high 70’s to low 80’s. Actually and strangely COOLER than normal! But great swimming, snorkel and scuba conditions.
SPECIES HOOKED THIS WEEK: Dorado, bonito, roosterfish, wahoo (lost), marlin (lost), pargo (2 types), snapper, cabrilla, jack crevalle, palometa, pompano
TAILHUNTER LAS ARENAS FLEET: Primarily dorado. Not as many as La Paz, but more of the bigger dorado. Plus inshore species like roosters, pargo and cabrilla.
TAILHUNTER LA PAZ FLEET: More dorado than La Arenas…usually…it changes all the time, but the LARGER of the larger dorado seem to be on this side. (30-50 pounders)
IMPORTANT MESSAGES IF YOU’RE COMING DOWN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS:
It’s hot. Dress accordingly with sunglasses, big brim hats, long sleeves, sunscreen and lots of water.
Your balances are due 45 days from arrival so get in touch with us if your balances are due.
The best part of our season is also hurricane season. Usually NOT an issue, but you never know with this wacky weather around the world these days. These are the tropis. TRAVEL INSURANCE is cheap and remember, there are no refunds for weather-related cancelations. Weather is part of the sport whether it’s sunny, windy, rainy…whatever. This is prime time for fishing and we are always sold out this time of year because fishing rocks, I wish we did, but we also have no control over the weather. Even if it’s a heavy rain storm for 1 hour or 1 day, it COULD affect your fishing; airline flight;
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Frank Kunze, our long-time Colorado, amigo, has been with us twice this year. We got him to put down the conventional fishing rod one day and only use his flyrod. Here’s his first fish of the day on the flyrod. It wasn’t his last! He released all his fish!
Captain Luis give Rose Vadnais a hand with a another big bull off the east end of Espirito Santo Island. They apparently had several other big boys on the line that got away!
Daniel always gets fish! This is Daniel Bovee’s 2nd trip this year to visit us and has been doing it for years. Great colors on this bull dorado taken near Bahia Muertos!
Yes! There are still roosters around. Maybe not the big pig slug roosters, but some fun 5-10 pounders can be lots of fun like this one that Darrell Manginelli hooked and released after fishing for dorado.
This is Sam Sybesma’s biggest doado every and he’s been fishing with us for years! Sam is about 6’3″ so you KNOW this fish is legit!
Always great to have Lee Carlson here with us. He got lots of fish on the conventional rod and reel, but took our his flyrod for this beauty. He released or donated all ths dorado this day.
Some good eating barred pargo that Daniel is holding. Winds came up, but still able to fish for a number of inshore species.
I lost count of how many big bull dorado Darrell Manginelli caught last week!
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It’s been an unbelievable dorado season now for more than two months. After almost 30 years down here, I’d have to call it “historic” and hope I’m not jinxing the whole ball-o’-wax and shutting it off because our fisherfolk are having a ball.
They catching either the most fish ever. Or they are catching the biggest fish ever. Or they are catching maybe their first fish ever. Or they are catching their limits of fish faster than ever.
Either way, the dorao are sure checking alot of the boxes!
Most of the fish are running 5-15 pounds. Fun legit fish. Lots of those are so voracious that they are crashing the boats which are ending up with some fast easy limits. Many many of these fish are getting thankfully released.
But, wait…there’s also the big Mo’s out there as well. The pigs. The hogs. These bull dorado are all business and when you have a 20-60 pound fish pulling line and jumping and charging the boat, it’s more than most folks can handle and alot of fun. But, we’re also losing alot of these fish which is just part of the sport! You just never know when that next fish will or might be the fish of a lifetime.
But, the dorado continue to be the big story for our fishing.
That’s not saying there are no other species. We’ve got shots at billfish, wahoo, roosterfish, bonito, jack crevalle, pompano, snapper, pargo and cabrilla. The problem is that everyone is having way too much fun with the dorado and don’t care to invest the time or change tactics to chase the other species. Which is just fine as well! Go have fun!
We did get a little rain over the weekend and some jags of southern winds made it a tad bumpy for a few afternoons, but otherwise, there were always fish to be caught and places to find fish less windy.
That’s my story!
Jonathan
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing www.tailhunter.comMexico Office:
Tailhunter Sportfishing
755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
U.S. Mailing Address: Tailhunter Sportfishing
8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178 La Mesa CA 91942
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 19-26, 2023
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN REPORT
WEATHER – Someone flipped a switch about 2 weeks ago and we went from cool to blazing hot. Even the winds are hot. Definitely shorts and lots of sunscreen with the biggest hat you can bring. It’s in the mid-90’s which doesn’t seem too hot, but the humidity is running 50-70% which makes the air feel really heavy.
WATER – Mostly blue although surprisingly not as warm as it should be. Water temps on the surface are only about 72 which should be closer to 80. However, mostly really calm and flat except when the winds kick up creating chop. Finding fish means finding the warmer blue water .
WIND– No more chilly gusts for sure. But, now it’s been replaced by a hot breeze. Usually the breeze cools things down, but not the ones we’re getting right now. We did have one day when the northwest winds jacked up for a few hours and the water got bumpy. Then, it disappeared in a snap and there wasn’t a ripple on the ocean.
FISH SPECIES HOOKED THIS WEEK: Dorado and more dorado. Then more dorado. Roosterfish, jack crevalle, bonito, amberjack, marlin, trevally, pompano, cabrilla, triggerfish, rainbow runners, pargo lisa, pargo mulatto, snapper.
LAS ARENAS REPORT – Most of the week’s bigger model dorado were caught fishing with our Las Arenas fleet. Fish well into the 40-pound class. More species caught on this side as well. Pretty much everything in the list above.
LA PAZ REPORT – Not as many species, but if you wanted to load up on school-sized dorado and easy limits, this was the spot. Often fast easy action and dorado madness. Some nice cabrilla and snapper caught and some schools of small to medium roosters fun on light tackle.
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Three days of big dorado for Doug and Penny Nuffer, our amigos from Utah. Penny fought one dorado well over an hour estimated at over 50 pounds that broke off at the boat.
I love this photo! Al Hed and Mike Jennings from Washington wanted big roosters so they figured they would get an “edge” if Mike wore a chicken head. They insist it’s a rooster head, but I think it looks more like a chicken! It worked. They got a number of our larger roosters this week.
Incredible colors. Chris Bedsaul with Captain Jorge got a fish to match his shirt! Nice dorado and always fun to have Chris visit us.
First-time visitors, Warren Stewart and his wife Krisele with son Austin display 3 of their big bulls.
…and then there’s Mari, Bedsaul. This lady can fish and always takes great photos. Nice little rooster fish for a CPR (Catch…Photo…Release).
First day out was a good one for Allan and Cheryl Herman. That’s quite a haul of dorado on the table!
Some of our funnest first-timers from Colorado had to cancel their trip last year, but Kindra and Brian McGregor roared back with a full week of good dorado fishing and some big bulls like this one posed by Kindra.
Joe Morse from San Diego, brought his group of 7 amigos down and their first day was a good one on the dorado spot.
Captain Joel give Lisa Leduc a hand with this good-looking bull caught north out’ve La Paz Bay.
Wow! That’s a great triple for Captain Pancho flanked by Mike Jennings and Al Hed.
Terry and Stepanie Martell with Captain Armando on the beach at Bahia Muertos posing with 3 of their dorado catch.
Captain Jorge with Mari’s barred pargo. Tasty fish for the fish box!
Andy Lauber from Louisiana went to town on the light tackle one day off Cerralvo Island on these palometas (trevally) landing about a half-dozen
Marcus Yoo is a major in the U.S. Army and in between deployments he usually finds time to pay us a visit and, you can tell, he’s kind of a fun guy to have around! He spent two days fishing and one day diving.
Randy Rimple and Brian Hyland with a nice double shot pair of big dorado. They’re from the Sacramento area.
Happy Birthday to me! Cory Mahan celebrated his 45th with us with some snorkeling and fishing and started things out with a pair of nice bulls on the first day of fishing!
Dion Hyland cradles an early morning bull to kick off the day of fishing.
Captain Armando give Terry and Stephanie Martell help posing with a couple of their first-day catch of dorado. They added more over the next 4 days!
First time visitors Vicki and Scott Shaw were great to have visit. On the beach with Captain Arcangel and more dorado on the table in the foreground too!
Captain Armando has alot of fish cleaning ahead of him, but doesn’t mind after a day like this with Randy Rimple and Brian Hyland and a table full of dorado.
Big jack crevalle in the hands of Big Mike Jennings! These are tough-fighting fish!
Just another day of big dorado for Doug and Penny! They had 3 days of this kind of fishing!
Big smile under that hoodie from Brian McGregor who hit the dorado schools big time with Captain Rogelio all week. Brian is from Colorado and stayed the whole week. First-time visitor!
It’s Mari again with another great catch. Captain Jorge hold the gaff and the dorado.
Captain Jorge, Steve Martin and Dion Hyland with a nice triple!
Whoa!!! This dorado stretches from one side of the panga to the other! Mike and Al with the pose and smiles!
Taller than him? Al Hed holds it up while Mike watches.
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OK…I guess you can figure out what’s been going on this last week-or-so just by looking at the photos!
We have dorado…and we have more dorado. The the surprising part is the amount of dorado and the sheer SIZE of some of these dorado. I’ve seen alot of big dorado down here in 30 years, but I cannot remember a time when we had such a concentration of BIG dorado. Fish running 20-40 pounds have not been uncommon and larger ones have been lost.
Take a look at the photos. These are the ones that were photo’d. For every one in the fish box, clients have told me there are some days when they are catching-and-releasing smaller ones as fast as they can get a hook into the water.
Some boats are finding huge schools of these smaller 5-10 pound fish and it can go crazy.
And then there are the larger ones cruising on the periphery of the school-sized fish or free-swimming solo or in small groups. These are powerful, crafty and acrobatic fish and folks are having alot of fun…and frustration catching them!
Some days folks are actually complaining because “We’re only catching small ones!” or “We only caught two larger ones!” I guess we’re getting a bit spoiled. All fun stuff.
I have no idea how long this will last, but we’ll ride it as long as it goes. There’s some big bunches of sargasso weeds building north and east of the city which continues to hold many of these schools plus the dorado are also gathering around the commercial shark buoys as well.
So….I’d say 95% of the catch has been dorado.
But that’s not the only fish around. There are alot of other species. It’s just that the dorado have been so prevalent and so dynamic, that folks are having too much fun and it’s too easy. There’s that old saying…”Don’t leave fish to find fish.”
So, that’s not to say there are no other fish biting. The roosterfish are still around. There’s pargo, cabrilla, snapper, trevally, pompano, bonito, jack crevalle and even a few billfish. However, most of these have been incidental catches. The focus is on these dorado schools right now!
I think alot has to do with the temperature. We went from cool and breezy weather that was actually cold straight to hot and humid summer weather. It’s like we skipped springtime weather. Temps are in the mid-90’s now and I think we’re in for a warm summer like much of North America.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 3-10, 2023
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT
OVERALL RATING (Scale of 1-10) : 7
WEATHER – It’s been a beautiful week with mostly sunny skies and great beach weather in the high 80’s and low 90’s. However, the mornings are still a big nippy or downright cold with windy conditions worthy of a sweatshirt or light jacket you can take off when the sun comes up.
WATER – Waters are still colder than normal. But, they are a bit warmer every week with more blue water showing up. Water temps in La Paz Bay is only about 68 on the surface, but outside the bay up to about 73 degrees. It’s still cooler than it should be.
SPECIES CAUGHT THIS WEEK – dorado, roosterfish, pargo, snapper, cabrilla, marlin, tuna, pompano, trevally, bonito, jack crevalle, amberjack, rainbow runner, yellowtail
LAS ARENAS FISHING – More variety in the fish catch. No fish predominant, but you have a good chance of getting some of everything. In fact, most of the fish in the list above might be caught.
LA PAZ FISHING – Much more dorado with schools of school-sized fish north of he city and in the channel between the peninsula and Cerralvo Island/ Espirito Santo Island. If you hit the right spot, it can be crazy wild. Some larger fish also being found up to the 40-pound class.
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT –
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Maybe one of the most stunning dorado many of us have ever seen. This completely irredescent blue bull dorado caught off Espirito Santo Island by Hunter Burkhart from Tennessee while fishing with Captain Rogelio is simply incredible and rare.
First-time amigos from the Sacramento area, Mario and Tony Lerma with their buddy Mike Wilson who started out their week on the tuna school east of Cerralvo Island. Said this week was the “best fishing trip they ever had.”
Steve Bryan our amigo from Seattle WA rightfully earns the title of “Roosterfish King. ” Each year he comes down for about 2 weeks and fishes about 8-10 days only for our bigger roosterfish. This year, he caught 8 of these giants and released all of them like the one pictured here. Most of his fish are in the rest of this week’s report.
There are some bigger model dorado around these days like Robby Scale’s big bull he landed off Las Arenas in the channel between Cerralvo Island. Robby was on his 2nd trip with us from Colorado.
Our Wyoming amigo, Brandon McGarr with a large striped marlin while fishing with Captain Pancho. The marlin was released. He also had a big blue marlin on as well as a big bull that all broke lines close to the boat after long battles.
Texas in the house with Brett and Paula Watts and a great variety of good eating cabrilla and snapper and a big triggerfish headed to the freezer.
I love these folks and the photos they take every year. Never ever boring! This is Jeanne and Ray Cabales from San Diego with a pair of dorado and looking like they need some lunch!
Brett and Paula again with a different day and a completely different catch with a cleaning table full of yellowfin tuna.
Maybe one of the prettiest photos of the week. Captain Pancho and Robby Scales just outside of Bahia Muertos with a big boy roosterfish. Catch and release!
A very happy Cecilia Casias from Los Angeles with a beautiful dorado on the gaff. More unusual is a photo of our captain Arcangel who has been with us almost 30 years and rarely ever smiles in photos!
Tanya McGarr from Wyoming looks a little tapped out because this monster rooster is the 3rd big rooster of the day. She never handed off the rod or asked for help and battled all 3 fish to the boat by herself before releasing them!
This is our popular Captain Gerardo. This massive rooster was actually caught by Bill Raddock, but Bill was so tired after 3 big fish he could not lift this big beast. Even Gerardo who is about 6’2″ and maybe 230 pounds has issues lifting it up. He says it’s the largest rooster ever on his boat. The fish was released.
Behind the mask, that’s John Vondrak (I think!) with another rooster in the boat for a quick photo and release.
First-time visitor, Tony Lerma from Sacramento with a big boy bull dorado he caught and landed not far from Las Cruces north of La Paz.
It’s those people again…Jeanne and Ray Cabales celebrating on the beach with another good day catch of rainbow runner, pargo, snapper, cabrilla and triggerfish.
That’s gonna make some tasty sashime or seared steaks. Yellowfin tuna caught by Paula and Brett Watts from San Antonio TX.
Henry Vuong has been fishing with us for years and brought his girlfriend Cecilia fishing and, of course, she lands the most and biggest fishes. Henry always fishes with Captain Arcangel and is coming back for a 2nd trip in September.
Love the face that Bill Raddock is making here! He really wanted a big roosterfish and caught three right off the bat one day and released them all. Bill is from Kentucky.
Drew Reesor from Tennessee is a hunting guide from Tennessee, but made his first trip to visit us in La Paz. Fishing with Captain Rogelio produced a number of dorado including this big macho bull dorado.
We all remember this special days when dad took us fishing! It’s hard to tell, but I believe this is young Hudson Cileu from San Diego who gets a hand from Captain Rogelio on his dorado.
Captain Pancho posing with Tanya McGarr and another yellowfin tuna. There were 2-3 days when we had a nice healthy bite of tuna off Cerralvo Island.
More new friends from Texas, this is Randy and Linda Stolte with an incredible variety of fish on the table including dorado, snapper, pargo, rainbow runner, yellowtail, cabrilla and triggerfish. They donated all of their catch except for some they brought back to our Tailhunter Restaurant to cook up!
Jason Cileu from San Diego had just one day to fish with his young sons and they got a mess of dorado and Jason also got this nice little roosterfish as a bonus. He let it go after the quick photo.
I lose track of all the big roosterfish Steve Bryan catches every year when he visits us. I think this is number 7 or 8. He gets so many big fish everyone calls him “Rooster King” and tease him that he’s catching the same fish over and over because he sportingly releases all his fish.
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I suppose this is just another week where you can just look at all the photos and know we’ve been catching fish! And let me tell you this is just a fraction of the photos I wish I had more room to post.
For all the “full moon” talk, we had a huge big moon this week, but if it had any effect, I can only imagine what the fishing might have been if it was not so full. Who really cares? Fishing was pretty solid!
We’re still not at full speed. However, with each week, we’re edging forward and overall, it sure seems to be getting better. Lots of smiles and folks that want to take fish home are taking fish home. They might not necessarily catch the particular species that targeted like “giant roosterfish” or a “wahoo.” But that’s why these are trophy fish! They are harder to find and definitely fight harder!
But, whatever might get missed, other species seem to fill the gap.
And we are still catching a whole pallet of species. Dorado schools are becoming more prevailant with school-sized 5-10 pound fish bunching up, especially north of La Paz. Larger free-swimming fish up to the 40-pound class have also been making their presence known with some very large fish getting lost.
We’re seeing more billfish with some big striped marlin getting hooked and released and some larger blue and black marlin well over the 300-pound class breaking lines and hearts!
Also, while folks are having fun with the smaller roosterfish that can be a real kick on light tackle, we caught some of the largest roosterfish of the season this past week. There were easily fish running 40-60 pounds and some arguably up to 80+ pounds. It’s hard to know exact weights since we’re releasing all the roosters and can only estimate these massive fish sizes!
We’ve also had several nice jags of tuna show up. They’ll pop up for a day or two then disappear, but we’ve already caught more tuna this year so far than all of last season combined! The size of the fish varies from little 5-8 pound “footballs” up to 30 and 40-pound class sluggers.
If you wanted to stay inshore you have have fun in the “aquarium” fishing for snapper, cabrilla, triggerish, pargo, jacks, pompano and more!
SHE SAID “YES!” (Catch of the Week!)
Yvonne, Gerry and Captain Armando. And some nice tuna!
Quick shout-out to Gerry Hermosillo who proposed to his lady Yvonne Sockyma over dinner while here this week! He proposed to her at the same waterfront table where they had one of their first dates. Congratulations to them both! Oh…and they also caught fish this week too!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fshing Report for Week of May 19-25, 2023
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN REPORT
WEEKLY RATING – (scale of 1-10). I give it a 6. It was about a 3-4 for weeks!
WIND – Finally gave us a break from those gusty cold winds we’ve had for months!
WATER – As winds have diminished, water temps have risen. Water has also gotten clearer and less cloudy.
TEMPS – High 60’s / Low 70’s at night to High 80’s and Los 90’s in the day time.
BAIT – Sardines, mackerel, bullitos, caballitos, strips and chunks or fresh bonito
LAS ARENAS FISHING
Still lots of species, but increasingly more of the warm-water species as the temps rose and winds cut back. Still getting pargo, snapper, cabrilla and others, but more and larger roosterfish, dorado and wahoo now.
LA PAZ FISHING
Waters stayed largely colder than Las Arenas most of the week, but late in the week temps rose a bit more and we’ve gone from rockfish to more dorado action.
AMIGOS VISITING FROM: Utah, Kansas, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Oregon, Texas, Washington, Montana, Colorado, South Carolina, California, Honduras, Michigan, Wisconsin. We had a full-house!
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Finally, some of the larger roosterfish started to show with Captain Gerardo and Ron Woita from Oregon who spent the better part of a week chasing the roosters. Each day they seemed to get a little bigger. Here’s one of the larger models with lots of smiles! All roosters were released all week.
Captain Pancho gives Nancy Enright from San Diego a hand with a good-looking bull dorado!
Technically, our first marlin of the season caught by our long-time amigo, Art Flippin from Colorado who was on his 2nd visit to us. He was here in April as well. The marlin was deep hooked and unable to be released.
Now THIS is a healthy legit big-boy cabrilla! David Noble was on his first trip with us and took this guy just off Espirito Santo Island where we’ve found a number of these larger fish.
All the way from S. Carolina, Dr. Bob Garrison hooked this tasty barred pargo just off the shallow beach near Punta Arenas.
The right kind! It was a good week for the wahoo to finally show up. Lora Burke pulled this ‘hoo off near Cerralvo Island.
Armando with Karl Davis and Don Markus the day the dorado finally started to chew near Las Arenas! They were a little late this year, but finally arrived. Hopefully to stay around a bit!
Marie Wirtz just had the one day to squeeze in a day of fishing and boated a number of species like this roosterfish she photo’d and released!
Somewhere behind the gaff Sue Stanley from San Diego is smiling as she tries to lift her big cabrilla with help from Captain Alfredo.
Yup! We even had some football tuna show up of Cerralvo Island. That’s Ryan and his dad Bruce Bonsack from the Seattle area.
Here’s Ed Aguilar and Kent Markus with a nice variety for their first day on the water including dorado, snapper, cabrilla, pompano and trevally!
Talk about a banner day! On 2 pangas, they caught Mark, Ryan and Bruce Bonsack from Washington caught 5 wahoo and several more were lost!
Texas in the house! Good amigo Allen Cazier with Captain Licho holding the gaff on another of those large cabrilla off Espirito Santo Island.
That’s alot of good looking fish meat on the cleaning table! Matt Shipley from Texas and Kelly Kartchner from Utah have trevally, pargo and dorado ready to get into the ice chests!
First timers Michael and Louise McMichael always had the best smiles. They were on the water that day the dead whale was found floating offshore holding all the dorado anyone could want like these!
I can see Captain Gerardo with a big small and I think that’s Sam Woita from Kansas behind the mask and dorsals of another big roosterfish. (released!)
Bob Stanley from San Diego with a good-looking cabrilla for the fish box with Captain Alfredo lending a hand!
Marie Wirtz and our Captain Victor with a lengthy colorful dorado. She’s from Bend, Oregon.
The story I got is that Denise Peters hooked the fish and fought it, but finally it got the best of her and she handed it to my long-time amigo, Don Peters, who finished off the big dorado. They came to visit us from Oklahoma.
John Pooley and Billy Harrison with some nice variety after their first day on the water with pargo, snapper, cabrilla and triggerfish.
Of course, Lori Thorpe caught the “big one” a nice dorado with Captain Arcangel. Husband Jeff helps the pose. Other species on the cutting table.
Captain Victor and Arthur Wirtz and another rooster for a photos and release.
Diane Kosnosky knows how to fish and always puts fish in the box whenever she visits like this solid cabrilla. Diane is from Washington.
Ed Aguilar was fun to have visit this week and he nailed this trophy dorado out’ve Bahia Muertos.
On the flyrod! Dave Noble with a cute little roosterfish for the photo and release.
Guy Markus and Steve Wright on their 2nd trip visiting us in La Paz started their fishing week with a pargo liso (mullet snapper); a rare barracuda; 2 rainbow runners and a triggerfish.
Jim Elrod from Bakersfield was visiting us for the first time and gets a hand with this dandy bull dorado from his amigo, Luis, to get the great photo.
Lots of fine eating and a day full of action for Don, Karl and Captain Armando who has his work cut out for him cleaning all these cabrilla and pargo!
We finally strarted to see dorado with our La Paz fleet and around Espirito Santo Island. Asa has one for the fish box and dinner back at Tailhunter Restaurant.
You can’t see her, but Lora Burke is back there helping hold up her striped marlin. They couldn’t release the fish.
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Let’s start by saying that the fishing still is NOT up to where it should be at this time of year.
However, compared to what it’s been like for the past month, it’s a zillion-times waaaaay better!
Here’s the deal. Just like the winter which was harsh down here, we continued with chilly weather, strong winds, cloudy overturned water and a chillier-than-normal ocean. That meant really scratch fishing pretty much all of April and May when we should have been getting bit pretty nicely.
Well, this past week the sun got warmer. The winds gave us a break. The ocean turned bluer. The rough current settled down. And not surprisingly it made all the difference.
If you just look at all the photos or compare them to the previous reports, anyone could tell our fishing was markedly improved.
No doubt there’s still cooler waters down below the surface which produced cold-water species like yellowtail, rainbow runners, amberjack, several species of pargo, sierra, cabrilla (some huge ones!) plus the usual bonito and jack crevalle.
However, with the warmer water, we got more pompano, palometa (trevally), the larger roosterfish, but also the much-desired warm-water pelagic species like some wahoo,;our first few marlin of the season; and finally some dorado!
In fact, one day there was a dead whale near Cerralvo Island. According to one of our anglers, there were “hundreds” of dorado everywhere flashing through the waters and as many as 20 pangas were out there with everyone completely bent and dorado flying everywhere. Everyone nailed limits of 10-pound class schoolie-sized dorado.
Then, as the week went on, the dorado got bigger with more 20-30 pound fish in the counts!
Then, there were the wahoo. We knew they were there, but they sure were reluctant to bite. Well, they finally came to the party. One day we had 5 back to the beach and another 4-5 lost! Some of these wahoo were conservatively estimated 50-60 pound fish or larger.
One day, we even had football-sized tuna show up as well.
Additionally, with the bigger ladyfish baits finally swimming along the shallows, not surprisingly the larger roosterfish in the 40-70 pound class also started biting. We’ve been waiting for several weeks! But, even without them, there were good numbers of 5-15 pound roosters to have fun.
If the weather continues to improve, I expect the fishing will also improve.
Additionally, the unusual fish arrivals continued! A few weeks ago, we got rare totuava in the counts. Illegal to keep so they were released, but those fish are usually found way up 1000 miles north in the Sea of Cortez and I’ve never seen totuava down here.
Then, we got a few more species that I’ve never seen down here in 30 years:
Captain Pancho with a red-bearded-brotula (brotula a la lengua).
A star-studded grouper caught by Mark Bonsack
Lora with another grouper also called a baqueta by locals.
All-in-all an interesting and much better week. What a difference a week makes!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of April 17-24, 2023
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
The pargo or schooling and spawning in the shallow and exciting to see but real horses to try to pull out’ve the rocks. However, Mike Luna from Utah got this big guy out while fishing with Captain Victor! They are often willing to bite ,but most are lost because of sharp teeth and scales and they head back to the rocks! Nice catch!
We’ve know Cole Chavira since he was about 3 feet tall. He’s from the San Diego area and an excellent angler who has been in La Paz a zillion times. He picked up this roosterfish on the east side of Espirito Santo Island. Nice to see the roosters start to move in. The fish was released.
Our amigo, Doctor Art Flippin, had just one day to fish and was drifting the shallows over the rocks fishing for cabrilla and pargo and got surprised by this nice bull dorado. Art looks kinda happy! He did also get pargo, jacks, cabrilla and rainbow runner as well. Art lives in Colorado.
Big smile from Sophia with a tasty barred pargo ready for the fish box. Tough fighting fish, but great eating!
Captain Victor has a smile as he tries to help Rita Luna with her rainbow runner. Cousins to yellowtail, the fish are schooling up over the shallow areas right now and make great sashime and cooked up as well.
Our long-time amigo, Mark Bonsack from Washington comes down several times a year and is an excellent angler. He had just one day to fish, but rocked it with two hefty pargo liso. Tough to pull out’ve the rocks and most fish are lost. As a matter of fact, Mark says they broke off 4 others!
I think I’m coming over for fish tacos. Our amigo, Jimmy Williams was with Phil Desautels and Phil Perrone and I see dorado, ca brilla, pargo and yellow snapper on the table. They got hit by the winds, but these guys have experience and were able to hide in a cove and found a honey hole of fish!
East side of Cerralvo Island is a light tackle mecca. Art Flippin has a slugger jack crevalle he caught and released. The jacks are cousins to the roosterfish and fight just as hard, but don’t have the “mohawk” dorsal fin.
Mike Luna with Captain Victor on the beach. Check out the two nice pargo liso and the rainbow runner on the table, but the HUGE palometa (trevally) on the table is also a trophy fish!
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It’s all about the wind. It’s been that way all winter.
But finally, after a horrendous few months, the winds seem to be diminishing somewhat. Fortunately, during those crazy rough months, I warn folks about the winds so we don’t have too many anglers. But this week, the season started to kick in just in time as the winds cut back back on us a bit to allow for some decent fishing.
Early in the week, we got into quite a variety of fish.
It looks like the big pargo have come inshore to spawn. These tough fish are schooling over the rocks and are difficult fighters but great sport. Even the smaller 5-10 pounders can be brutally frustrating with their sharp teeth and scales plus their ability to get back into the rocks. We did get some larger 15-25 pounders, however, and many were lost to the rocks.
The same areas also held rainbow runners, barred pargo, snapper, smaller yellowtail, amberjack, cabrilla as well as bonito and jack crevalle making for some excellent fulls-speed action. As well, we’re starting to see some roosterfish in the area up to about 20 pounds plus a few free-swimming dorado moving into the area which keeps it promising.
Later in the week, the winds kicked in again and the only folks out on the water enjoying were the kiteboarders and windsurfers.
Check out this video of the channel in front of Cerralvo Island (turn up your volume)!
It was blowing even stronger before this video was taken.
It should get calmer with each passing week. Fingers crossed!
That’s my story!
Jonathan
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing www.tailhunter.comMexico Office:
Tailhunter Sportfishing
755 Paseo Obregon
La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
U.S. Mailing Address:
Tailhunter Sportfishing
P.O. Box 159
Hewitt TX. 76643Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Bahia Muertos/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Mar. 28-April 6, 2023
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT
A bit longer than normal because there was alot to catch up on, but hope you find it interesting!
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
These barred pargo can be awfully tough to pull out’ve the rocks and are great fighters, but super tasty on the table, especially cooked up whole. Russ Osterstein was staying at Gary Wagner’s Rancho Costa at Bahia Muertos when he got this pair.
Katie Delsaso and her amiga have big smiles posing with this legit pair of spring-time yellowtail while at Rancho Costa.
John Saggese had only one day to squeeze in for fishing and hit one of the least windy days when he was out with Captain Armando from the Tailhunter Fleet in La Paz. The day paid off with this legit yellowtail.
Debbie Jackson got her crew of amigos out with us on one of those lucky days when the winds gave us a little brake and resulted in a nice variety of yellowtail, sierra, bonito and dorado.
Some great eating as this nice sierra ended up as fish tacos in La Paz. It was caught by Sara McCarthy fishing with the Tailhunter Fleet in La Paz just off Punta Arenas.
Sorry this one is once again later than usual!
For almost 30 years, I’ve tried to do these every week, but as many of you know, we’ve been on the road now for almost 4 months doing the fishing and hunting shows and just finished our more recent show in Long Beach CA at the Bart Hall Fishing & Boating Show. The reports are hard to do after 4 or 5 days talking in the booth for 10 hours or so and coming back to a hotel room or driving several hundred miles a day.
Well, I lost my voice about a month ago at the Pacific Coast Sportsmans Show…I still haven’t gotten it back fully and then came down with a case of bronchitis, a low-grade fever and several other crazy ailments from just a little too much wear-and-tear from all those road miles and shows.
On top of all that, well…
Even I get tired of saying there’s really been no fishing because it’s been windy and rough plus, I wanted to wait a tad until I at least had something to report.
So, that’s my excuse. And I’m sticking to it. We have one more show to do (more on that below) and plus the weather is getting better and the fishing season will soon kick in full-speed so we’ll get back to our regular schedule.
Plus…I’m headed home to La Paz finally! Gotta get fishing!
In a nutshell…Fishing is still up-and-down relative and dictated by how much wind is blowing and how rough the seas happen to be. Not much of anyone out fishing which is few and far between trying to figure out which days will be the least windy and even then fishing can be difficult or, in extreme cases, simply having to cancel the trips completely. More wind on the way.
However, in most years, as we get closer to May, the winds calm down. Right now, the trick is figuring which days the wind won’t blow because there are definitely some fish to be caught and if the winds finally abate, would not be surprised if fishing blows up nicely!
For now…Catches have been mostly inshore to include sierra, jacks, bonito, snapper and some larger yellowtail from 10-30 pounds. Some dorado also thrown in here and there.
Oh…one exciting piece of news. Got our first roosterfish of the season!
Young Mr. Meadows had a bit of thrill with this roosterfish which he released.
LAST SHOW FOR THE TAILHUNTER 2023 ROAD TOUR
What a great time we had at the Long Beach Convention Center last week at the Bart Hall Fishing & Boating Show. After a 3 year-hiatus, the show was great fun and thank you to so many of our friends who came by to say hi and book with us to visit in 2023!
Now…our last show of the year is something really different.
We’re headed to the NRA (National Rifle Assoc.) Meeting and Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana this week for a 3 day show April 14-16 (Friday/ Saturday/ Sunday). It seems like a short show and awfully far from any ocean, especially us in Mexico. However, they are expecting some 90,000 visitors from ALL OVER THE WORLD at the show. YEOW! So, this should be interesting.
If you’re in the area or even if you’re not, come check out this huge show and all the interesting exhibits!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 3-9, 2022
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Our very own, Jorge Romero who managers Tailhunter’s Tecolote Transportation Company took a day off to get out on the water and by all counts, he sure had a nice day on the dorado schools. He said not much of anyone else was on the water.
Eduardo Gomez, who works for Mattel Toys in Mexico, came out with his wife and caught a limit of dorado. All on live bait.
Since it’s off-season and not much of anyone fishing, Jorge took another day off to get out on the water and racked this pretty bull dorado just south of Bahia Muertos. Jorge also said he had two wahoo bite him off and briefly had a marlin on the line as well.
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Another typical windy rough week on the water, but that’s to be expected this time of the year. Town is surprisingly quiet as well. Normally, alot more tourists and snowbirds are around, but I’m hearing and seeing around the city and from businesses that it’s amazingly sedate this year. Certainly alot fewer than expected or normal for the holiday season.
Fishermen are few or non-existent as this time of year can be particularly rough and difficult to be on the water. About the only ones fishing are locals who have the luxury of being able to pick-and-choose the calmer days to give fishing a try. Even then, some of them are telling me it can get pretty rough even though the sun is out.
However, there are fish to be caught. Friends have caught good numbers of cold-water fish like sierra and small amberjack and yellowtail along with reef fish like pargo, snapper and cabrilla.
Nevertheless, there’s an unusual number of dorado still hanging out if you can find the warm patches of water. I’ve even heard of an occasional wahoo or marlin getting hooked. Crazy that they are still around with the waters cooling off and turning greener. These are warm water fish and normally, we would have seen the last of them back in November.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Bay for Week of Oct. 30-Nov. 6, 2022
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST OF THE STORY…
Not the best time to be out on the water in a panga! (turn up the sound)
Brent Ritchie has a big smile for his early morning dorado hook-up.
Our own, Brian Reid from Hewitt, Texas hit a school or dorado right out in front of the city where the big tankers sit at anchor and had a limit in about 45 minutes.
Sal Pamiza, first-timer with us from S. Carolina is our good family amigo and gets a hand from Captain Pancho with one of his first-ever fish!
Tom Brewer was able to squeeze in 3 days of fishing over a week by picking out days when the winds were down and scored good fishing for several species during his days on the water.
I wish I could say there’s alot going on and alot to tell you about, but the straight-up honest report is that as I’m writing this report, the port has been closed now for two days shutting down all boat traffic because of the fierce winds. It will probably be shut down tomorrow as well for the better part of the day.
These are the northern winds that start up about this time of year and will blow erratically now through April or May. That’s why we say that November to April is our off-season and there’s honestly not many folks on the water except windsurfers and kite-boarders who love these crazy northern winds.
In the past 2 weeks, in fact, we’ve had 2-3 days each week where the winds blew us off the water or we had to cancel the few fishing trips we still had booked. Most of our regulars understand that it’s pretty much the end of the season so we don’t have that many anglers anyway.
You can probably tell by the fact that I don’t have many fish photos to post!
Fortunately for the few we’ve had and could get out, we are still finding some dorado around with most fish in the 10-pound range but also many more cooler-water species as the ocean temperatures start to drop off. That includes sierra, jacks, pompano, trevally, rainbow runners and even a few yellowtail. But, I think we are about the end of the blue water/ warm water species for the season.
Thankfully, for the dorado, even when it’s been blustery outside and tough to go too far from shore, dorado have been close. In La Paz Bay, in fact, there’s been a nice jag of schoolie-sized dorado right under the big tankers anchored in the bay. I was able to get out one day this week and we caught a limit in about 45 minutes which was great as the winds came up later.
With the winds, it’s also getting more difficult to get live bait with waves crashing the shallow areas where the bait guys usually net the sardines.
2023 BOOKINGS FILLING UP FAST
We’re getting heavy bookings already for 2023 and some dates are already filled or filling pretty fast. Don’t miss out on the upcoming season! We don’t want to miss you either! Here’s a sample package just for our fishing report readers for May and June next year:
Sample Special Package: 5 days/ 4 nights ocean-front hotel / 3 days panga fishing
Ocean-front rooms (2 per room)
Panga (2 per panga)
Skipper
Tackle
Ice
Fish cleaning
Breakfast, lunches, soft drinks and water on fishing days
All taxes
Does not include: tips, alcohol, other meals, bait (from the baitman), licenses (available online: http://www.sportfishingbcs.gob.mx/), commercial fish packing (available from our store)
Rates: Starting at $1399 per person x 2 (double occupancy)
Deposits: Min. $300 pre-payment per person non-refundable/ non-transferable
Balance: Due no later than 45 days prior to arrival
Payments: Cash or check / credit cards or payment apps 4% processing fee
Also available: / Scuba/ snorkeling/ whale sharks / more nights/ more fishing/ day trips / airport ground transfers
Based on availability and cannot be attached to any other specials or discounts
Deposits are non-refundable and non-transferable
Applies to Hotel La Concha (beach outside of town) or Hotel Waterfront (at the marina)
Upgrades to rooms and options for other hotels are available
Package price is good only if made before the end of the year
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 15-22, 2022
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
That’s a good look! Kenji Yamada from Juneau, Alaska with another nice bull for the box. Mom, Jackie is on another fish. They own the Shelter Lodge operation up there in Juneau and always great to have them visit!
Ed Mitoma with a beautiful bull to match his shirt! Ed has been coming to visit us for years and only had two quick days to squeeze in a fishing vacation and hit this mahi his last day.
Oh man! Where have these tuna been? Leif Dover from Atlanta, GA and Kevin Todd who lives near Austin TX with Captain Gerardo and a trio of fat tuna plus a dorado and cabrilla on the cleaning deck.
Captain Victor poses with Doug Dickerson from Kentucky who brought his son down for two days of fishing and started out on the right track with a table of dorado.
As the waters cool off, we’re seeing more and more rainbow runners back in the count. These cousin to yellowtail are tasty eaters. Angela Ventura is all smiles.
Surprising to have roosterfish in the counts this time of year, but there are still some around. Richard Yamada, owner of Shelter Lodge up in Juneau, Alaska with a nice one off Punta Perrico that he caught and released.
Captain Jorge with two of our favorite folks from Henderson NV, Lois and Gary Tsunoda started 3 days of fishing with some dorado to put in the cooler.
First time, amigos from Utah, Colton Francis and his dad, Kent with Captain Jorge and one of several dorado on the day . Good to have them visit!
Adam Staible and Tony Riley with a colorful shot of dorado on the beach at Ensenada Muertos.
I neglected to post this last week, but Greg Saubolle from N. California has come to see us twice this year and was out with Captain Arcangel when he got this big dorado as well as a bunch of others and I also see a sizeable barred pargo on the cleaning board as well!
Just another good day on the water. Keith, Leif and Kevin with a good harvest of dorado and tuna.
Roy is pretty happy.
Ron Byrd with John and Nancy Quiring got on top of the tuna when they came up. Nice dorado and pargo too!
The right kind! Mike Jennings from Washington came back to see us on a last-minute trip and hit the dorado schools for 3 days including this nice bull mahi.
Cross a roosterfish off the bucket list for Joey Nawa. Caught and released!
Another sign of cooler waters. Eric has himself a little trevally!
One of the nicests and sweetest of our amigas, Jackie Yamada brought her crew from Shelter Lodge in Juneau AK for 3 days of fishing and gets a hand here from Captain Pancho on another bull mahi.
Two double fists of dorado for Dave and Candi Staigle on a first-time visit with us here in La Paz.
Captain Jorge with a thumbs-up for Brian and Chris from Atlanta who fished 6 days with us. Dorado, rainbow runner and a snapper on the cutting board.
Leif and Chris…another good day!
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It was another fairly good week of fishing, but there’s no doubt that the seasons are changing and our top-water warm-season fishing is tapering off.
Winds are getting stronger and breezier, especially from the north. It’s getting choppier and waters are starting to cool off. The result is a gradual change in the species of fish as more colder water fish start showing up. There are some areas where it is starting to get too rough and we will not be able to fish those spots any longer.
Not co-incidentally, fewer fishermen as it not only gets cooler and rougher but we get closer to the holidays. As we get fewer fishermen, we’ll start to see more snow-birds hit town who are just here to get some sunshine and not particularly here for fishing plus windsurfers from around the world as the winds increase.
That being said, the dorado are still biting with most fish in the 5-15 pound class and larger fish up to about 30 pounds. Both our Tailhunter Las Arenas and our Tailhunter La Paz fleets are finding the schools which range in a wide area. I would say there are more fish around La Paz and as close as the tankers anchored in the bay, however, the larger fish are found around Las Arenas and Cerralvo Island.
Oh yea! Wayne Vanzandt with Captain Jorge, did a “bait dump” on the way back into the beach at the end of the day and tossing all their live and dead bait into the water at the same time and the waters blew up with dorado including this big bull.
We did have a little jag or two of legit quality 25-40 pound tuna on-and-off. Nothing to denote a full “tuna bite.” However, a few fish showed up in the counts mostly from south of Bahia Suenos.
We still have some marlin and sailfish taking baits and lures plus inshore pargo, cabrilla, snapper, jack crevalle and lots of bonito some days. However, the presence of sierra, rainbow runners, pompano and trevally are all indicative of cooler colder waters that have moved in corresponding to the changing seasons.
Bottom line…our official 2023 season is just about tapering off. It’s been a helluva season!
Tailhunter Fish Report 