BOUNCING BACK FROM HURRICANE LORENA
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 20-29, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Big dorado of the week by a long-shot, Jon Eide came to see us again from Minnesota and got this big bull north of La Paz.
Mike Murray and Danny Lewis from Lancaster CA tag-teamed this blue marlin estimated at about 250 pounds on their panga just north of La Paz fishing with the Tailhunter Fleet. The fish ate a live sardine on 50-pound test and was not able to be released after a long fight.
Herkko Miettinen came all the way from Finland and was fishing with Captain Pancho of the Tailhunter Fleet in La Paz and his friend Kris Honkola when he hooked and landed this pretty dog-tooth snapper on a chunk of bonito in the shallows outside of Bahia Muertos.
Nice first roosterfish for Toni Brown from Salt Lake City who was fishing for dorado near Punta Arenas when the big fish bit just off the rocky area. She was fishing with the Tailhunter La Paz fleet and was able to release the fish.
Another of our fun amigos from Finland, Jussi Nassi poses with his first striped marlin that fed alot of folks that night for dinner at Tailhunter Restaurant.
Thumbs-up day for Greg and Larry Chastain to start their week with a nice rack of dorado from Las Arenas.
Captain Lorenzo with the Tailhunter Fleet in La Paz hoists up a big dog-tooth snapper for Jim Ginther who came to enjoy some sunshine all the way from Minnesota.
Oregon boys on the beach, Brad Bennett and Jon Barnard had themselves a full week with lots of species of fish including these dorado plus a big barred pargo.
Captain Gerardo gets in the photo with first-timers Merit Olmstead and Mike Dangler who kicked off their first day with an excellent rack of dorado plus pompano and barred pargo . Great eating!
Nice shot! Nice fish. Great colors! Kirk Shandrew is the amigo behind the mask with the barred pargo . Kirk is from Elko, NV.
Captain Armando and Gary Okizaki from Cypress, CA and his big dorado of the day.
Doesn’t get much prettier than these colors on Mark Brown’s dorado as he’s given a hand by Captain Gerardo. Mark is from Salt Lake City UT
You always remember that first one…Kirk Shandrew rocked this striper north of La Paz his first day.
Pound-for-pound, there aren’t too many fish that fight harder than these jack crevalle (“toro”). Bruce Luscombe took this one on the flyrod making it doubly tough!
Big smiles from Justin West who stuck this nice barred pargo. It was a pretty good week for these fish which is unusual this time of year. Great fighters and great eating too! Trophy size!
That’s a nice mix of reefish there including yellow snapper, triggerfish and palometas for John Vondrak, Joe Eide and Bruce Luscombe with Captain Victor.
Another good day on the water and another dorado for the box for Toni Brown.
Two new friends from Idaho who started their trip with a box full of dorado fishing with our La Paz fleet, Peggy and Joe Manning.
Here’s a pair! Bill Schroeder and Tom Lathrop with double dorado for the camera.
Captain Luis poses with Mike Kingsmore who took this dorado near Espirito Santo Island.
Adding to the variety! Bryan and his dad Steve Smith with a palometa and dorado. Bryan’s first trip. Steve visits us every year.
Kirk Shandrew and another tough jack crevalle caught, battled and released!
Hurricane Lorena reached category 1 status last weekend and came directly over La Paz instead of veering off as had been originally predicted. Fortunately, other than some heavy flooding, a few roads washing out and felling some trees and power poles, no one was injured and property damage was relatively minimal compared to other hurricanes that have blown through. The most damage appears to have occurred out towards Las Arenas/ Bahia Muertos/ La Ventana and El Sargento over the hill from La Paz.
The biggest issue for us were all the anglers who got stuck for several days. With the beaches getting battered; the seas in a cauldron and the port captain shutting down all boat traffic, there wasn’t much to do for the several dozen visitors we had who were suddenly locked in.
Others were trying to get home and to the airport. Many more were trying to fly in. However, with flights canceled and the Cabo Airport closed, folks either had to stay extra days in La Paz or conversely, lost days of vacation because they couldn’t fly down.
Although the storm itself was relatively minor as hurricanes go, the after-effects have been tremendous.
In terms of climate, post-Lorena, air temperatures have dropped dramatically from the high 90’s and low 100’s to the low 90’s. Almost a 10 degree drop across the board. Additionally, humidity has fallen from the muggy 70-80% steambath to a very comfortable 50% these following days. Accompanied by stronger winds reminiscent of later October, it’s actually been quite comfortable causing many of us to remark that we suddenly lost summer. Fall dropped in like someone had thrown a switch.
The bite, as well, was heavily affected.
Right after Lorena moved north, it cause tropical storm Mario, holding off the Pacific Coast to move into the vacuum. So, early in the week brought continued cloudiness, rough seas and occasional rainstorms.
All of this caused the bite to take it’s time getting back up to speed.
Prior to the storm, we had the best dorado bite of the season going. We had the best marlin bite I have ever seen in over 2 decades. After Lorena, it took awhile to gain momentum again.
The week started pretty scratchy ,but with each progressive day, the waters cleared up and the fish started to bite again. It wasn’t as full-turbo as the week before, but fairly decent action kept improving with mostly dorado biting for both our Tailhunter La Paz and our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleets.
Most of the dorado were respectable 10-20 pound fish. There were a few larger. Many smaller fish were released.
Additionally, both blue and striped marlin improved as well with a number of fish hooked each day while anglers were trying to catch dorado. Consequently, many fish were hooked (and quite a few lost) on light tackle! Most hooked fish were released.
Still no tuna or wahoo to speak of although this should be prime-time for both species. Occasionally, one or two tuna get picked up, but the schools are either moving too fast or pop up and boil, then quickly go back down. On several occasions, the fish were boiling but refused to take baits. Checking the stomachs of several hooked tuna, we found their bellies full of small squid which could account for their unwillingness to take a hooked bait.
As for other species, the change in weather seems to have a dramatic effect on other species as well. It’s almost as if we are fishing in June conditions again. We’re getting pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle, the occasional yellowtail and amberjack, pompano and even some sierra plus those big dog-tooth snapper again.
It’s been a weird crazy season.
That’s my story
Jonathan
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website:
www.tailhunter-international.com
Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
U.S. Mailing Address: Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA 91942
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
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Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report: https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/
Tailhunter YouTube Video Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBLvdHL_p4-OAu3HfiVzW0g
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