Archive for the ‘Cerralvo Island Fishing’ Category

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from TAILHUNTER INTERNATIONAL for Week of Sept. 26 to Oct. 2, 2010

Posted in baja fishing, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, mexico fishing, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, wahoo, yellowfin tuna on October 2, 2010| Leave a Comment »

We had a little lapse earlier in the week when the larger tuna seemed to be scarce, but by later in the week the bigger boys had returned! This is quite a catch for our amigo, Jorge Romero and his brother, Esteban, who many of you know as our van drivers and great friends. They are also excellent fishermen. They used sardines at the south end of Cerralvo Island and got these nice tuna to go on the chew, but take a look at the nice rack of barred pargo on the beach as well. Banner day!

It's going to be tough to find a prettier roosterfish picture than this one! I told John Riddell that he needs to frame it! He got this 60 pound rooster as well as tuna and dorado on a single day fishing, but the capture of this rooster on his camera might be the best part! The fish was released. John also said he was on a couple of monster tuna that he just couldn't stop! "I had 3 tuna that broke the line. One was after fighting it for at least 30 minutes. I will be back soon!"

Nick Kasheshian probably could not have had a better first-time experience fishing in La Paz. He jumped all over the tuna and dorado and also added this 40-pound wahoo to the count as well on a dark rapala near Cerralvo Island which kicked out a few wahoo finally this week.

It was a big week for dorado, but not a great week for BIG dorado! Probably 65 percent of this week's catch was dorado, but most fish were 8-15 pounders with occasional 20-25 pounders. So many tiny dorado were released. However, John Cleary, was fishing with us for the first time and got this nice bull dorado off Las Arenas.

Ron Burgess makes the trek every year all the way from Kansas to come fish with us. He had another good trip and shows off a nice trophy roosterfish of Punta Arenas that was released.

It seems we had alot of first-timers who had a GREAT week! For Dave Quan, it wasn't just his first time to La Paz...it was his FIRST time FISHING! He got tuna, dorado and this great wahoo as well!

One of the most colorful of the pargo family...the barred pargo (aka pargo mulatto) seems to be actively feeding right now...if you can get them out of their hiding spots in the rocks and reefs! Great eating table fare too. Bruce Dodge got his first one and said it was a real tussle.

Emma came all the way from New Zealand to try for a roosterfish on a flyrod! Got it! ...and released it! Yay!

Sometimes the fish gods smile...especially when it comes to wahoo. You can come for years and not get anything. Then, one day, one of the speedsters grabs your lure and you're on! It turned to to be a nice week for wahoo. Captain Pancho and Ray Miklich (his 2nd trip this year!) hold up a nice wahoo. These are reportedly the fastest fish in the ocean capable of 70 mph bursts!

Once again, we got in some great tuna fishing for our La Paz anglers. Normally, the tuna bite has been only with our Las Arenas fleet. Our good amigo, Mike Luberto brought his son, Stephen with him this time and the two pose in Balandra bay with their dorado and tuna!

Like I said...alot of 1st timers this week who got into some great fishing including Joshua Hyland with a great spread of tuna and dorado he got fishing out with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

OCTOBER BLASTS IN WITH GREAT DORADO BITE PLUS WAHOO, TUNA AND ROOSTERFISH!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 26- Oct. 2, 2010

It wasn’t a spectacular week for big fish, but judging by photos and all the ice chests that went home loaded, it was a great week for ALOT of fish! Hard to ask for more than that! As long as you weren’t trying to hit a home run and try for an exotic fish, there seemed to be just about all the dorado and tuna you could want!

If you fished a few days, you might have one day that was less than stellar…that’s fishing! But the other days more than made up for it. At the end of the trip, guys were at the freezers still realizing that with all the fish they released they their coolers were sometimes still overweight and they were giving fish away to waiters, bellman, taxi drivers and anyone who wanted fish!

We want to give a big shout-out to the Catholic Big Brothers and Big Sisters Group who made their annual Randy Lee Memorial trip with us to raise funds for the organization. We had a blast. Dr. Bruce Dodge and National President Ken Martinet put on a great event.

We sent home 30 guys with over 1000 pounds of fillets…half-a-ton…and over 800 vacuum sealed bags of fish! (And that was AFTER these guys were releasing many of their smaller fish!). Some nights we were vacuum sealing fish 4 or 5 hours with a number of our staff going full turbo trying to get them all trimmed, labeled and bagged! Congrats on another great turnout!

Like I said, not alot of BIG fish this week. There were some of those big tuna hooked, but no one stopped them. I think the largest tuna we had barely tickled 50 pounds on the scale, but we still had a super number of footballs that kept everyone happy that were in the 10-20 pound category. The most surprising thing is that the tuna bite flip-flopped!

For the past three months all the tuna have pretty much been getting caught by our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. However, starting a bit more than a week ago, our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet started to slam into limits or near limits of the tuna. Our Las Arenas fleet started to fill their boxes with mostly dorado!

This could have something to do with the fact that the giant squid, which were so prevalent these many weeks, around Las Arenas became harder to get. We have been using chunks of the big squid to chum up the tuna. Instead, we’ve had to resort to using sardines. But that almost doesn’t make senses because for our La Paz fleet that started hitting the tuna, sardines work just fine!

We did get some really nice wahoo, however. Some days you can go and go and go and…NADA! Then there’s a spot of days when the fish suddenly get with the program. The south side of Cerralvo was the better area. North Cerralvo usually holds fish as well, but everytime we went out there, freedivers/ spearfishermen were already in the water which wasn’t good for fishing in the same area. It’s a big ocean so first in the area gets the spot.

There were also some really nice roosterfish caught as well in the 50-70 pound class and all of them released.

WEEKLY VIDEO CLIP

Check out the week’s video clip on youtube. Some great stuff! Just click this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PxMVcGHD_s

That’s our story

Jonathan and Jill

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

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

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

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

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La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 18-25, 2010

Posted in baja fishing, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, mexico fishing, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, yellowfin tuna on September 25, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SHUT YO MOUF! (story below) It was a decent week of fishing despite the full moon and a bit of a storm that blew through!

There's not alot of roosters this time of year, but the ones that are around tend to be LARGER models! Our good amigo, Belmond Mann from Oregon had a banner day. He caught and released two big 50-60 pound roosters just off the area near the Las Arenas lighthouse shown just over his shoulder. He's pictured here somewhere behind the big rooster dorsal fin!

There weren't alot of big fish caught this week, but there was steady action despite the weather and full moon. Still, some anglers did get into a nicer grade of fish and were fortunate enough to hang onto them like this fat yellowfin tuna held up by Captain Archangel for Victor Acevedo on his first trip with us.

One of the best surprises of the week were nice schools of 10-25 pound yellowfin tuna for our La Paz fleet. Most of the season, the tuna have been with our Las Arenas fleet. However, this past week amigos like Bob Hartsook from Arizona with Captain Raul got limits or near limits of tuna mixed with dorado just north of the city.

It's great when the fishermen catch fish, it's even more fun when folks who don't have alot of experience or don't do alot of fishing get "lit up!" Our friends from Northern California, Jeanine and Roy Stenzil on the ends and Nancy and Zav Lerch in the center celebrate a good day of tuna fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. They also got dorado as well. Jeanine and Roy liked La Paz so much they built a house!

They say it's better to be lucky than good. John Ames from Pomona doesn't have alot of experience, but every time he comes down here to fish with us he's off the charts. There may be no marlin biting and he'll say, "Today I want to catch a marlin." He catches one. He'll fish for dorado when there aren't any...and he catches them in bundles! This particular day, he said he wanted to target wahoo. I told him there haven't been many wahoo lately. He said that was ok. He got FOUR WAHOO hooks ups! He lost two when the Rapalas broke, but still got 2 nice sized wahoo logs shown here with Captain Armando. Great fishing!

Yes...there are still pargo biting. These might not be the biggest, but these are still tough fish to pull out've the rocks. These pargo liso (mullet snapper) were taken by Neal and Jess Helms.

When you're 11-years-old and it's your first fish, it's the biggest and best thing in the world. Stone Urzua from Modesto just kept asking if he might get into the fishing report! I couldn't let him down. Just like he didn't want to put down his dorado so they could clean it! Good job, Stone!

If you want to get a shot at dorado, that's the bread-and-butter fish with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet. Limits or near limits most days like the 4 held here with Vic Acevedo and Craig Freeman in Balandra Bay north of La Paz.

Wally and Jeff Lee from San Francisco had a pretty good week with a great mix of tuna, dorado, pargo, snapper and cabrilla to take home after 5 days of fishing!

As mentioned above, we had some real banner days of tuna fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet as schools moved into the channel between the islands. The tuna pretty much upstaged the normally great dorado fishing we get. Warren Grande from Santa Cruz CA grins and holds up two of his limits of tuna.

This is how we often start out the morning...catching giant sqiud for bait. All the boats are packed tight and it's a workout sometimes pulling these things up from as much as 1000 feet down and they come up squirting like a firehose!

Get that thing in the boat and try not to get drenched!

Beast coming aboard! Stay away from the tentacles and beaks!

Fish and people love 'em...ready to be cut up for bait or headed toward the dinner plate!

FULL MOON AND A DAY OF STRONG WINDS DON”T DETER THE FISH…MUCH!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 18-25, 2010

We spent a good part of the week watching the weather pages on the computer as “Georgette” went from a little whirl of clouds to the south of the Baja Peninsula into a Tropical Storm. Cabo got alot of rain, but when all was said-and-done, we got enough rain to mess up the dust on the windshield of our car and make it streak. La Paz barely got a puddle although near Las Arenas, they did get a bit more rain. For our area, some spots got a bit of drizzle and others got a nice welcome rain.

However, for fishing, it was really the day AFTER the storm that affected us because of the winds. I guess we could have gone fishing, but there was no sense in being uncomfortable so we told all our clients to sleep in and told the captains they had a day off. Everyone actually seemed to welcome it so Wednesday was the first day since March that we didn’t put any boats on the water!

That being said, right up to that day and kicking in right after, we were able to keep doing some really solid fishing.

Not alot of big fish this week, but steady enough and decent enough that everyone got into them and the rods kept bending!

The biggest news was that for the first time all season, we’re getting tuna now with BOTH our La Paz and Las Arenas fleets. Football-sized yellowfin in the 10-25 pound class are being caught by our anglers working both sides. Normally, most tuna are caught only with our Las Arenas fleet and indeed, it has been a banner year so far on tuna out of Las Arenas. However, this past week, it got pretty consistent with at least half the boats one each side putting nice yellowfin tuna into the boxes.

The fish are popping up in various spots…north and south Cerralvo…Punta Perrico…Punta Arenas…the Ridge…the Dome…El Rosario…Las Cruces…off Bonanza Beach. You just never know where the schools will suddenly come ripping through the lines and get the reels screaming!

Just because most of the fish were party-sized doesn’t mean the big ones weren’t around. We just didn’t seem to get many hooked up this week. But there were a few stories from guys who hooked “freight trains” that they never saw and that hit like trucks and never stopped leaving only smoking reels and limp lines!

The rest of the catch was rounded out by limits or near limits of dorado for most boats and most days. Some days better than others and some boats would do better than others, but mostly, decent sized dorado from 10-15 pounds were the norm with the occasional 20-25 pound fish. This year, we just haven’t seen any of the monster 30-60 pound bulls we normally see in the late summer and fall. It’s been a year with lots of dorado, just not alot of BIG dorado.

Other species include some big roosters still hanging out at the shallows up to about 80 pounds; pargo liso and dog-tooth snapper in the rocks; and we also hooked some striped marlin this week as well.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

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

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

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

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La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Sept. 12-19, 2010

Posted in baja fishing, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, mexico fishing, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, yellowfin tuna on September 19, 2010| Leave a Comment »

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY! One of our best amigas comes from Oregon each year. Amy Mann is a gamer. For her birthday she had a wish list: (a) her first tuna ever and (b) a BIG tuna (c) her first marlin (d) a roosterfish. She got her first tuna then set her mind on a big one. This big 65-pound fill did the trick. She not only hooked it, but battled the fish herself for over an hour refusing any assistance or handing the rod off to her husband who kept trying to take it away! It was a good week for some of these larger models still hitting off Las Arenas with big squid chunks. Later in the week, she got two 50 pound roosterfish and a 200 pound marlin. Pretty good birthday!

Ken Brady put this fat yellowfin tuna in the panga fishing off Las Arenas where we're having one of the best yellowfin tuna bites in many years. The fish are sometimes as close as just a few yards off the beach.

Cradling it like a baby...Jorge Romero holds onto a 60-pound class yellowfin tuna. Jorge was out that one monster day when all the tuna were beasts. Jorge got 3 of these fish that day.

Folks forget that we've got quite a few flyfishers here. It's just that we don't have many photos of flyfishers. Either they release most of their fish or flyfishing being a two-handed art form...they don't take many photos! However, our Canadian amigo, Scott Olvier from Canada shows that dorado can be taken on the fly!

S. Cal resident, Gary Evens also got into that monster bite of big tuna this week. He poses here with a handful of double ahi. He also got a giant amberjack that day as well.

Al Burgess comes to visit us every year all the way from Kansas and his first day crossed paths with this nice striped marlin. Unfortunately, on 30-pound test and having a bum arm, Al got as much as he gave. He eventually won, but the fish beat him up a bit too fighting for more than 2 1/2 hours and "pulling us all over the ocean" said Al. Also shown, is his wife, Kay, and Captain Jorge.

Mike Koontz and Quentin Abramo always have a good time with us. Two of the 3 days they fished with us they had the largest fish of the group of retired firefighters.

: On his first trip to La Paz, Toby Ferner hit this 40 pound class yellowfin off the Las Arenas lighthouse.

Dr. Bob Laughlin brought his father-in-law, Ralph Banks on his first trip to La Paz fishing. Dad did well catching a nice mix of tuna and dorado over 2 days fishing.

We're seeing more and more dorado the last few weeks like the ones held up here by John Ames from Pomona CA. Most of the fish are in the 10-20 pound class and John got limits his first day out.

Wade White (right) was another amigo on his first trip to La Paz who did well with dorado and tuna right-off-the-bat. He's pictured here with his fishing amigo, Craig Yoder.

TUNA AND DORADO FISHING IN FULL SWING WITH A FEW DAYS THAT WERE OFF THE CHARTS!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 12-19, 2010

It wasn’t the best week down here, but it was a pretty darned good week of fishing and several of the days this past week might well be several of the most spectacular fishing days of the season.

For the most part, calm waters and sunny skies continued to be good to our anglers who enjoyed the consistent bite of yellowfin tuna and dorado. For our La Paz fleet, daily limits of dorado were the rule rather than the exception mixed with sailfish and marlin biters. If anything, the two drawbacks were that most of the fish were in the 10-15 pound class with a 20-30 pound mahi being a “big fish” this week. Also, many days, the bite was late.

“We had one fish in the box by noon and that was it. Our captain moved around a bit and then just sat in one spot for 2 hours with nothing but needlefish biting. We were getting a bit frustrated and wondering why he wouldn’t move or he was just wasting time.

All of a sudden, it seemed a breeze picked up. And the water started to move a bit. Then it went crazy! Dorado everywhere! We had 2 and three on at one time and were going over and under each other as fast as we could go! I guess the captain knew what he was doing because every day it was like that. We figured it was best to just let the captain fish! We ended up releasing so many fish!”

Another angler said, “We were pretty much feeling we were skunked. Nothing was working. Oh well. On the way back in, our captain said he wanted to try another spot again that we had already fished earlier in the day. The spot was now loaded with dorado and for the next hour it was non-stop action!”

Contrary to that, as I said, some days were really spectacular. Mid-week the fish went kamikaze on us. Every one of our La Paz boats was back on the beach between 10 and noon! Some of the guys came back and had time to eat breakfast and their hotels because the fish attacked the boats!

“My buddy and I had so many fish we were back at the hotel by 10 a.m. ! Our friends weren’t too far behind us. I’ve never seen so many dorado and it was hard to keep track of how many we were keeping and releasing!” commented one of our fishermen.

For our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet, like I said, pretty steady for football tuna between 10-20 pounds and a nice mix of dorado in the 10-15 pound class. Everyone got fish although some did better than others on any given day. Most day were at least good but we had one so-so day when it seemed the currents changed and bait was hard to get. Still, most everyone got fish although we had to work hard for it.

However, as mentioned, there was one incredibly spectacular day that might be one of the best tuna days we have ever had…

Let me put it this way…the SMALLEST fish we weighed that day was 30 pounds. The next smallest was 55 pounds! It went up from there! 60, 62, 65, 78…pounders! Other fish lost. Other fish beat guys up! One fish well over 80 pounds, but the scale wasn’t big enough and the nose of the fish was still in the sand!

“We found the spot of fish among the dolpins,” said one tired guy. “We threw chunks of squid and it seemed like tuna started erupting from under the dolphin school. I have never seen 100 pound tuna come out of the water like that! It wasn’t just awesome, it was scary! Every rod went off!”

“I would say it was 100 yards long and 50 yards wide. The whole spot was alive with big tuna. You could look under the boat and see heavy dark shapes swimming by. I couldn’t believe how close to shore we were. I normally have to go on long range trips to see stuff like this! We were bent for 3 solid hours!” said another.

“While my amigo and I were fishing fish, the captain couldn’t really do anything because both of us were bent. So the captain was laughing tossing more squid chunks overboard,” said another of our anglers. “Suddenly two huge tuna come plowing up out’ve nowhere right next to the boat….literally just two feet away in front of the captain! We all jumped. These were at least 60 pound fish. Scared the crap outta us. It was something I will never forget. There were larger fish swimming around us while we were still fighting!”

What a day…the next day…nothing…only the smaller fish and a smattering of the larger fish…one day…INCREDIBLE! If you were there, you won’t forget!

WEEKLY VIDEO CLIPS

Here some video clips from this week’s action. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKKtgntALlI

Here’s another one made by two of our clients who fished with us late last month. It’s really well done:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk8eI5CoBS8

That’s our story! Have a great week.

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

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

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

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

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

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La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Sept. 5-12, 2010

Posted in baja fishing, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, mexico fishing, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, yellowfin tuna on September 12, 2010| Leave a Comment »

When it comes down to it, this is what it's all about...THE SMILES! There's no cell phones. No interruptions. No traffic. No one yanking your chain except a big fast fish yanking your rod for all it's worth. The reel is screaming. The fish is actually towing the boat towards the horizon. It hasn't slowed down. You've already been on the fish for an hour and your rod and reel are awfully light! You're sweating and hot and you're wondering how you're gonna slow down this beast. Win or lose...you're having a blast! Tharon Ayde is a Sacramento firefighter in the busiest station in the city and couldn't be happier. He eventually got this 50 pound yellowfin tuna!

Craig Braswell just retired after a long career with the Sacramento Fire Department and has already made two trips to come fishing in La Paz since June! He holds up a big time 50 pound class tuna that ate a chunk of fresh squid dropped overboard. The tuna were so thick this particular day just off the beach that the boats were back by 11 a.m. completely full!

Pete Jensen from Orange Co. California kept trying for a big rooster each time he came to Baja. He finally got one. In fact, he got several large roosters, plus tuna, dorado and marlin fishing with Tailhunter International. This big fish was estimated in the 70-pound-class and caught on live bait. All the roosters were released. Captain Victor with the Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet lends a hand.

Captain Loreto and Jack McGuire are all smiles hoisting up another fat tuna they nailed in 5 days of fishing with both our Tailhunter Las Arenas and Tailhunter La Paz fleets. The fish started hitting for both our fleets with the bulk of the bite taking place just off the beach in shallow water near Punta Arenas.

Santa Barbara amigo, Bob Duncan goofs with a dorado carcass and his daughter Emily and Jorge Romero off Las Areans Beach after a good day of dorado fishing. More dorado were coming on strong this past week with larger fish finally starting to show.

All the way from Logan, Utah, Jerry Fickas first trip to La Paz produced numerous dorado and tuna like this one after 4 days fishing plus several fish that "couldn't be stopped" before busting off. Presumably larger tuna!

Jay Garcia fished several days with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet and several days with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. He got marlin, tuna, dorado, big roosterfish and several other species. He's holding one of the nice bull dorado he caught with our La Paz fleet which is getting about 90 percent dorado these days, but some yellowfin tuna showed up this week near Rosario.

It's that time of year when tropical storms can come up at any time. This ominous looking rainstorm showed up just off the La Paz waterfront one afternoon this week. But not even a drop hit the ground! Spectacular and even scary looking to watch as they get closer, it almost looks "nuclear." But often the rain dissipates or evaporates before it ever touches ground or you can simply walk or drive around the storms!

This is what a giant squid looks like. This is what we're using for bait right now for many of our fish...piece of it at least! They're fun to catch, but alot of work too as you might be able to tell from the face of angler Jerry Frickas. Lots of anglers are anxious to catch them until they actually go through it...then they want no more when it means pulling these things up from hundreds of feet down! Imagine starting your day drenched in sweat with aching arms even before you start REALLY fishing! Note the big squid jig held by Capt. Jorge.

FISH GO ON THE CHEW AND KEEP ANGLERS BENT TO END THE SUMMER!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 5-12, 2010

The transition from August to September was seamless in terms of fishing. The hot bite continued like it has been for most of the summer in perhaps the best tuna and dorado season in a long time. You would think that with cooler temperatures and water and with bait being more difficult to find this year that fishing would have really diminished.

On the contrary. As in the past few weeks tuna in the 10-40 pound class are around almost daily and can sometimes be caught as stone’s throw from where we launch the boats. Dorado schools fire through and calm waters suddenly blow up with flashing gold, green and blue tipped mahi going after everything in the water fighting to get at whatever bait…be it sardines…dead chunks of bonito…or chunks of dead squid faster than anglers can cast. The dorado are getting bigger too! More fish in the 20-30 pound range were getting put in the boxes to the point where finally more of the smaller 10 pounders were getting released.

“At one point, we were releasing fish as fast as we could go and still had three rods hooked up!” said one of our anglers.

“We had so many dorado around the boat,” said another, “that we started to get ticked off because the smaller dorado would grab the bait before the big guy hanging just on the edge could get the bait. I’ve never been in a bite where we were actually pulling the baits away from fish that we didn’t want!”

“We were back on the beach by 11 a.m. because we were just tired and didn’t have any more room for more tuna. We fought some fish over an hour with two fish on at once. We released a bunch of fish all week and still don’t know what we’re going to do with all the fish!” one other angler told us!

As well, there continued to be a number of marlin hook-ups with all fish this wee either getting unbuttoned or released. Plus, the big roosters have not left! Fish in the 40-60 pound class are not uncommon in the sandy shallows and many reports of bigger fish and schools of larger fish have been reported daily.

Temperatures took a big switch this week. Most of August actually felt like Baja summer with hot humid conditions after a cooler-than-normal summer. We actually fired up the air-conditioners! Tropical storms and occasional warm drizzle and thundershowers were commonly encountered daily. But late last week it was like someone threw a switch. The temperatured dopped by 10 degrees. The humidity diminished. Cool breezes started cooling things down. It’s really comfortable again. But the waters have stayed warm the the fish are still biting!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

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

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

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

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La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Aug. 29 to Sept. 4, 2010

Posted in baja fishing, Cerralvo Island Fishing, dorado, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, flyfishing, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, marlin, mexico fishing, Muertos Bay Fishing, pargo, roosterfish, sea of cortez, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tuna, yellowfin tuna on September 4, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Tak Okamoto from Gardena CA shows off the type of football tuna that continued to rip around the waters close to shore for our Las Arenas Tailhunter fleet. The tuna have been around now for over a month with larger fish up to 100 pounds also in the mix, but clients unable to stop the fish after long battles.

Dorado for both of our fleets at Las Arenas and La Paz are here although we're still waiting for the larger bulls to show up. Normally, by this time of the year the larger 30-50 pound bulls are around, but so far, not much of a showing. Rich Schumar of Los Angeles, however, holds up on decent bull mahi caught off Punta Arenas.

Surprisingly, there are still some huge pargo running around the shallow waters and high spots despite the late season, but Craig Corda hangs one on the gaff in front of Captain Adolfo. The fish are eating chummed sardines and squid chunks.

Many are hooked...few are landed! This is one of the larger 60 pound models that we keep hooking, but so few are every landed. There are some fish that guys fight for several hours and NEVER EVER see color. And then the line breaks...or the hook pulls out. Quite a few anglers shake their heads after losing fish never realizing how powerful a tuna can pull and telling me, they only want "smaller" fish in the future. Watch what you ask for. Carlos and Captain Jorge hold the "tweener" (in between a football-sized tuna and a big toad tuna) on the beach at Las Arenas.

A good day no matter how you look at it for Chris Okamoto holding up a day's catch of tuna and dorado.

The head of a giant Humboldt squid. We're still using the big chunks for bait which has been effective on almost all our species...tuna, dorado, pargo, and cabrilla. Catching the squid has been the tough part involving pulling up the giants from as much as 1000 feet down.

It's that time of year when warm showers and tropical drizzle can show up at any time making for some great sunsets each day on the La Paz waterfront.

SOLID WEEK FOR MULTIPLE SPECIES OF FISH WHILE KEEPING AN EYE ON STORMS

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug.29 to Sept. 4, 2010

We spent a good part of the week keeping an eye on the computer wondering if a little “disturbance” about 600 miles south of La Paz was going to turn into a storm with a name. The other eye was kept on the fishing. Both turned out well!

The “storm” turned into nothing but some grey skies in the morning. The fishing turned into some of the best fishing we’ve seen. Yes, if you’ve been watching our reports this summer, you know we’ve had some stellar fishing. It actually got better this past week. Guys were getting limits of tuna so early that they spent the rest of the day releasing fish or chasing wahoo, pargo or big roosters (more on the roosters later!).

It was almost like fishing on a shopping list. You could almost pick out what kind of fish you wanted.

The tuna were nice and manageable 10-25 pounders or if you wanted to “man up” you went for the big boys that kicked your behind for 1,2 or 3 hours and generally beat you to a pulp and you lost the fish. They are still eating the chunked giant squid we’re getting or big cabllitos or cocineros or sardines.

Dorado? Lots of 10-15 pounders, but more in the 20-30 pound class that we have not been seeing most of the season. Real encouraging that we started seeing larger mahi.

Marlin? Several of our pangas caught and released multiple fish with most fish being released. Largest was about a 300 pound blue marlin caught with our La Paz fleet.

Roosterfish? Several days this week might have been the best days for BIG roosterfish we’ve ever had this year. Every panga that we had fishing Las Arenas that day hooked 2-5 roosters with the smallest being in the 30-40 pound class and the largest in the 60-70 pound class. “We had several multiple hookups!” said one of our anglers. “I’ve always wanted a rooster and that day we caught big ones but also lost several other large ones!” All roosters were released.

As long as the weather holds, we’re just coming into the high part of our season. Weather has been very very tropical the last 2 or 3 weeks. Little showers are almost a daily occurrence with some great evening lightning and incredible sunsets. So far, we’ve been lucky with no big storms All season, we’ve been talking about how the waters and weather are cooler than normal. That very phenomenon has kept the big storms away. As the storms come up from down south, they need the warm waters to keep them fueled. Instead, they are hitting the cooler waters of Baja and dissipating. Fingers crossed!

That’s our story! Have a great week!

Jonathan and Jill

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

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

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

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La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Aug. 22-29, 2010

Light tackle big roosterfish for Caryn Aizawa from Pasadena CA. Captain Pancho put her on the fish near Muertos Bay just offshore. Caryn had a great 2 days of fishing taking roosters, tuna, dorado, and other species. The big roosters are still prowling the shallow waters off the beach. The big fish was released.

He came all the way from Vermont to get into the bite, but Ed Martinez nailed some great fish this week. He shows off a 70 pounder he took fishing with Capt. Jorge just off Las Arenas. Ed got another big tuna that day about the same size and his cousin dropped another big fish, but a bad back got the best of him in the middle of the fight. Ed also got several wahoo as well. The big tuna are still prowling and fresh dead squid chunks are still working, but most big fish are lost.

Tak Okamoto is "80-something-years-old" and he looks tired. But that's because he spent almost 90 minutes in the Baja sun putting the wood to this 39-pound-yellowfin as well as several other tuna. Tak is from Gardena CA

Oh to be 10-years-old again! You remember what that was like! Alex here from Sacramento holds up his first tuna on his first-time-fishing trip where he claims he "caught all the fish!"

Ron Lopez and Captain Adolfo ("Yofo") blew up the fish over 3 days. First day, Ron spanked the tuna. 2nd day he got more tuna and wahoo. Third day, Ron fought a marlin estimated at 350 pounds for the better part of the day only to have it bust off at the boat. (He was going to release it anyway). Then on the way back to the beach he dropped back a Rapala and got this wahoo!

Some guys come for years and make numerous trips trying to catch a big pargo. Luis Cardenas from Los Angeles comes down for the first time and on his first day on the water rips this huge dog tooth snapper. I can't believe we still have these big pargo running around here. Normally, pargo season is in the spring.

Just so you know we're still getting dorado...absolutely yes! Not alot of big dorado, but yes, there's dorado to be caught. Most fish are 10-20 pounders. Jack Kruse has a gaff in a decent bull. Most of the dorado fishing has been with our La Paz fleet. Our Las Arenas fleet is getting dorado as well as tuna, roosters, wahoo and other varieties.

Dave Rose from Colorado helps out his amigo, Jack Garcia from San Bernardino CA who was on his first trip to La Paz. This dorado was caught just off the beach near Punta Perrico.

Ernie Correa from S.California was also lucky enough to stick it to a big dog-tooth this week where first-timers outdid the veterans when it came to pulling on pargo. These fish are in really shallow waters right and willing to crash the surface when chummed with either live bait or dead bait.

On the flyrod! Mark Aizawa has come several times trying to get at least one dorado on his flyrod and finally succeeded on getting this one to hit his pattern and was kept for dinner. I get asked often how come I don't post up more flyfishing photos. It's not that we don't get flyfishers. It's that most of the catch gets released so unless the shot is taken on the panga, there's no fish to photograph on the beach! I personally rarely get on one of our pangas with flyfishers since with all the gear and all the lines shooting all over the place, there's no room for two flyfishers, me and the captain without me getting in the way. Plus, I'm a real hack on the flyrod anway. I stink. I play golf better than I flyfish! It's a real art.

For dorado fishing, ninety percent of our catch with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet has been on dorado. Karen Kruse from Sacramento poses at Balandra Beach for photos and fish cleaning with two of her limits of dorado.

This is the whacked fish story of the week. Take a look at this 45 pound fish and our Captain Armando. . For several weeks we've been telling people how close the big fish are to shore. No one believes us. Captain Armando was running his panga up onto the sand, he was trailing a chunk of big squid. Now...a bunch of clients saw this...suddenly a big tuna comes greyhounding out of the water chasing after the panga! The big fish was so intent on getting the squid and so hungry, the crazy thing charged right up onto the sand where a bunch of captains and clients tackled it like a fumbled football at the Super Bowl. Here's Captain Armando with the proof. Everyone was talking about the crazy tuna! This tuna was only about 20 yards off the beach when it got fired up and turned on the jets! That's Cerralvo Island in the background. Flat as a lake out here! As I heard the story again from several sources, some of the guys thought they saw a big marlin just off shore that appeared to be feading so maybe this tuna was just trying to get out of the feeding zone!

HURRICANE FRANK PETERS AFFECTS FISHING WITH WAVES AND WIND BUT NO RAIN AND MOSTLY A FAIRLY SOLID WEEK OF FISHING!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 22-29, 2010

It’s the end of summer and town is almost empty as folks head back to school and higher humidity even keeps the locals indoors until late at night when the sun goes down and the breezes cool things down. However, there’s still alot of fishermen coming down and except for a few day when Hurricane Frank threatened, it was a pretty good week of fishing. Some guys had spectacular weeks of fishing. For others it was little scratchy depending on what you wanted to catch.

The hurricane popped up about mid-week about 600 km south of La Paz and kept us all glued to the news and our computers. It eventually petered out, but not before disrupting the fishing for a day or two with large swells and winds. We still caught fish but it was far off the kind of fishing we’d been having.

Except for that glitch, it was pretty good fishing. Wahoo continued to be a bonus at the north and south ends of Cerralvo Island. Using big chunks of giant squid, tuna between 10 and 80 pounds could be caught within yards of the beach. Marauding schools of free-swimming dorado could pop up at any time or be found in the current lines or around the buoys in a number of spots. Big roosters were in the surf and trophy pargo kept boiling. Great variety!

Live bait is still an issue for our Las Arenas fleet, but relatively speaking the fresh giant squid we’re using works just fine! Chunking the squid has produced almost all the fish you see here in the report with no complaints! The only part that’s a pain-in-the-crack, is catching the darned things. These critters can be up to 70 pounds and catching them 1000 feet down. It’s not exactly like pulling up a dead weight…these things will fight all the way up and it’s crazy starting your day dripping sweat in the Baja sun…I mean it’s fun…but this is just to catch bait! If someone offers to sell it to you…jump on it!

About the only things that aren’t eating the sqiud are the wahoo. Several days the wahoo were thick enough on the surface that guys said they were freeswimming around the pangas, but wouldn’t take any baits. Wahoo are a bit like cats. If you have a ball just sitting on the carpet, the cat isn’t interested. If you ROLL the ball past the cat, it attacks. Wahoo seem to be the same way.

It’s that time of year when tropical rain storms can come up at any time. Nothing big. But, it’s not unusual to get a few minutes of rain a day or enough to mess up your windshield of your car. It’s warm and usually doesn’t affect the fishing. But, we keep an eye on it every day.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

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

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

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

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La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 15-22, 2010

Posted in baja fishing, Cerralvo Island Fishing, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, mexico fishing, Muertos Bay Fishing, sea of cortez, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tagged baja fishing, baja mexico, cerralvo island fishing, darren hanson, jonathan roldan, La Paz fishing, la ventana fishing, las arenas fishing, light tackle fishing, mexico fishing, mexico fishing report, muertos bay, panga fishing, southern baja fishing, sportfishing packages, tailhunter international on August 22, 2010| Leave a Comment »

It's like they were just waiting and feeling ignored. The last few weeks everyone was so excited about the tuna and dorado fishing that no one went to chase the wahoo. Then, about 2 weeks ago, a few of our guys took a shot and scored big time. Since then, we're getting daily hits at both the north and south end of Cerralvo Island with fish between 20 and 50 pounds coming up on dark Rapalas and other trolled wahoo rigs. Paul Nagata had a spectacular week with tuna, dorado, pargo, roosterfish and his first wahoo shown here.

Al Cutler from Whitter CA holds up his "new best friend" a big yellowfin tuna cradled in his arm. Great shot! They had some of the "best tuna fishing ever" over three days fishing with our two fleets. The tuna varying in sizes from 5 pound peanuts to fish over 100 pounds continue to roll through our area.

Steve Uretsky and Moise Hendeles from Los Angeles made a last-minute spur-of-the-moment trip to see us and show off their first day catch of tuna and dorado at Las Arenas.

Dave Rose powered all the way down in his truck driving from Denver in two days to get in a some fishing with us when he heard the tuna were biting and was rewarded with some great yellowfin action including this thick YFT taken near the Arenas lighthouse on chunks of squid.

Just a great shot. Young Alex Kruse came fishing for the first time and got out with his family including dad, Tim. Alex struggles to lift one of his dorado he caught fishing north of La Paz with dad and in two days, "I caught all the fish!" he says.

Surprising for this time of year but big pargo have been ripping up tackle and anglers. Normally, we get most of our pargo fishing in during the spring time months, but cooler-than-normal water temps have kept fish like this pargo liso held by Randy Lyons and Captain Pancho as well as yellowtail and cabrilla on the feed in shallow waters.

Pargo and yellowtail in August? You bet! Not very typical, but John Pastorello holds up the proof.

Headed for the sashime plate! Fresh one for Paul Nagata from San Francisco holding one of several nice tuna he took during the week. This one filled up the cooler all by itself. Chunks of fresh giant squid continues to be the hot bait.

Jack Garcia almost canceled his trip when he got a new job back in San Bernardin CA, but was able to put it off as this would be his first trip to La Paz. It paid off. He shows off a nice bull dorado with fresh colors.

Oh-oh...it's that time of year again. It's feeling tropical with occasional showers now and then. Dark ominous clouds looking north off Las Arenas Beach towards Cerralvo Island. While our boats were out, a quick little storm hit that forced all the fleets to pull their boats back to the beach. We figured the storm would pass. All the other fleets called it a day and left the beach. We kept our folks waiting in the vans. In an hour the sun came back out blazing and we shoved off again to find the fishing grounds completely deserted...except for us! We blew up the fish that day! The tuna came hungry and often! Some of the anglers spent the downtime shore fishing or swimming in the warm downpour.

ANGLERS BEND RODS ON TUNA NOW SHOWING UP FOR BOTH LAS ARENAS AND TAILHUNTER FLEETS!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 15-22, 2010

Other than a ripping little thundershower one day that chased everyone off the water for about an hour (and then we all went right back out to catch fish), we had some great catches and another solid week of fishing. Again, waters are cooler than normal for the season so it’s providing us with an incredible variety of fish.

Our normal warm water species are around such as dorado, billfish, wahoo, roosters and tuna, but it’s also providing some outstanding and surprising catches of amberjack, pargo, cabrilla and even yellowtail.

Tuna continue to be centerstage for most of our Las Arenas anglers who are seeing some of the best tuna fishing we’ve had all year and maybe in a long time. Smaller football-class tuna from 10-25 pounds are close to shore near the lighthouse and south towards Muertos Bay in waters that are incredibly shallow. As one angler said, “It was crazy. I got hit by a 40 pound fish and instead of going down like a normal tuna, the thing zinged off about 100 yards of line straight out. Then I realized we were only in about 20 feet of water! I could see the bottom. The tuna had nowhere to go!”

Indeed limits or near limits of the football tuna were available most days. But the big boys are still around and providing the most drama.

Again, we don’t have much in the way of live sardines, but we’re catching and also buying chunks of live squid and chumming the waters The tuna are coming to feed and when some of them show up, it’s even scaring some of the anglers.

“We were at the south end of Cerralvo Island on the high spot and were tired of fishing for the smaller tuna close to shore,” said one of our anglers. “We started tossing chunks of squid into the current and suddenly there were swirls that were half-the-size of the panga! Then big splashes and the back of a yellowfin about 150 pounds came right up next to the boat and inhaled a piece of squid. You could look down and see fish that looked even bigger! Out-of-the water, backs of big tuna were rising with that big sickle yellowfin sticking out. We’re not stupid. I knew we were not up to fish like that. We went back to look for dorado!”

Quite a number of anglers tangled with the larger models with battles lasting 1, 2, and even 3 hours and most of the fish breaking the lines and hearts! Most of the fish actually making it to the beach were the 50-80 pound fish.

“We fought one fish for 3 hours and passed the rod between 4 anglers and two different pangas. The 60 pound line just snapped!” One disappointed fisherman said. That was their whole day and they came back with only 2 small dorado for the day.

Dorado have been evening out the catches. However, not many big mahi. A “large” dorado right now would only be about 20 pounds. I don’t know where the big bull are, but there’s plenty of 10-15 pounders running around right now in various spots. They are also eating squid and chunks of bonito.

For our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet, dorado have been 90 percent of the catch. The fish are holding in various places but the bite has normally been later in the morning or early afternoon so fishermen need to be a bit patient. If you can find a big patch of floating weeds all the better. Something to keep an eye on is that in the channel later in the week, 20 pound-class yellowfin tuna showed up which was a nice topper for a day of dorado fishing.

Other species we’re watching:

Yellowtail – every other day someone hooks a hog…20-40 pound fish only about 30-40 feet down near the reefs.

Roosterfish – big beasts can be seen prowling the sandy beaches. Several large fish were hooked and lost this week. One captain estimated one fish at about 80 pounds hooked in about 5 feet of water

Wahoo – No one had been fishing for them until about a week or so ago because everyone was concentrating on tuna. Then at both the north and south end of Cerralvo Island, trolled lures started hooking wahoo between 20 and 50 pounds. One angler hooked 4 and two came unbuttoned, but the fish have definitely been there. Dark trolling sub-surface lures are best that run deep.

That’s our story. Have a great week!

Jonathan and Jill

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

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

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

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La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Aug. 8-15, 2010

We haven't caught wahoo for several weeks, but that was because everyone was focused on the tuna and dorado! Randy Lyons took one day off from fishing the other species to troll around the south end of Cerralvo Island and came up with 3 'hoo! All were taken on dark rapalas. Randy, from Elk Grove CA and his amigo, Dick Winslow, had a stellar week with some of the best catches of the week. See the other photos of them below.

Yes...there are still some nice-sized tuna around playing among the 15 pound footballs. Many anglers are either getting beat up or busting off their fish or simply getting spooled by beasts they never see except for a smoke trail from their reels. This 60-pound class tuna by Cathy Corda didn't get away. She's trying to lift it on the beach at Las Arenas. The big tuna re readily eating chunked squid.

I believe that I will have to revise my predictions about the best time to fish for pargo. In the past few weeks, we've had some of the BEST and LARGEST pargo fishing that I can remember. Captain Pancho really tore it up this week with Dick Winslow who got his first tuna (sea below) as well as his first pargo which included several like this one in the 30-40 pound class. This one is a pargo liso (mullet snapper). The fish were boiling on chummed squid.

James Henning (blue shirt) brought 10 of his Denver amigos and kneels amid some of their catch of tuna and dorado. Over three days the guys limited or near limited on tuna, dorado, pargo, cabrilla and snapper.

There were some really nice fish caught this week and some surprising catches even for old-time returning amigos like Joey Fuschetti from Orange Co. CA who holds up a 50-pound amberjack. Joey has an unusual method of fishing that he swears by. He chops up bits of papaya when he fishes and chums with it first. We all think he's nuts. The captains just shake their heads. However, it's hard to argue with success. Joey always catches fish and often some of the largest fish of the day.

Like I said, above, it's been a crazy season for pargo and some of the biggest have been caught the last few weeks. Here's our good, amigo, Randy Lyons again with a big dog-tooth snapper taken near Cerralvo Island. Randy had several large ones during the week and said there was one that literally dragged him with from one end of the boat to the other with his heels dug into the deck and the drag completely buttoned down on a 2-speed reel and the fish was still moving! It eventually broke off in the rocks on 50 pound test. He said that chunks of squid tossed into the water got the fish boiling to the surface except once when spearfishers dove right into their spot and chased the fish away.

Blue water and fresh tuna for Tom Moon and Tony Toven off Las Arenas beach! The two caught tuna ranging from 10 pounders up to 63 pounds. Both are from the Los Angeles area.

This is what it looks like to have been on a fish for 4 hours...a 250 pound marlin on light tackle for Craig Corda. Check out the story below!

Initially, Dick Winslow didn't have any wire on his Rapala that morning, but Captain Pancho suggested putting some light wire leader on just-in-case. It did the trick. Dick got this wahoo and the sharp teeth of the wahoo shredded the lure plus the plastic sheath protecting the wire leaving the fish barely on by a thread. Straight mono would never have held.

Our La Paz fleet continues to consistently kick out dorado...about 90 percent of the catch for our fleet on the side with fish ranging from 5-20 pounds on the average. We're waiting for the larger bulls to show. Much of the time, the bite seems later in the day so we caution anglers to be patient and give the captain time to get the fish going. Our boats have been staying out extra long...sometimes not coming back until after 4 p.m. to find the fish. Joey and Bob hold up a couple of typical La Paz dorado.

WAHOO TUNA DORADO AND BIG PARGO RIP ANGLERS!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 8-15, 2010

A pretty good week here. What did you want to catch? It seemed like there were opportunities for everything from marlin to roostefish and from pargo to tuna and dorado! Such a great variety.

For our La Paz boats, the dorado bite continued fairly solidly. Perhaps there were too few big fish compared to last week, but limits or near limits were the rule rather than the exception for our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet. Most of the fish were 5-15 pounds. A larger La Paz dorado might go maybe 20 pounds. But there were also some jags of pargo, cabrilla and sailfish and marlin.

The most variety were for our anglers fishing out of Las Arenas. Our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet had it’s share of dorado up to 30 pounds. However, it was the other species that poked their heads up that continued to keep rods bent and anglers fired up!

For instance, there were good numbers of football tuna running 5-20 pounds, but every day or so, some guys tangled with the big gorillas that either beat the anglers or busted up the gear! No giant giant fish put in the boat, but several 40-70 pound yellowfin tuna were landed. As well, we saw several 20-40 pound yellowtail…that’s right YELLOWTAIL (in August) make it into the fish boxes.

As well, roosterfish and some huge pargo were also landed. Just like the yellowtail, we normally don’t see these big monster pargo this time of year, but it’s a screwy year. We’re seeing some of the best and largest pargo fishing of the year the last few weeks. The funny thing is that like the yellowfin tuna and the yellowtail, we’re catching these guys on big chunks of fresh giant squid! We’ve not had much live bait so we’re catching or buying giant squid in the morning and then chunking for the big fish! And they’re eating it!

Also, for several weeks no one has caught any wahoo. It’s not because they’re not here. It’s because no one has been fishing for them. The tuna bite has been so good that no one wants to veer off and take a shot. Well, several guys went after them and it was like the wahoo were just waiting and feeling ignored. The fish were on the usual spots at the south end of Cerralvo Island and jumped all over the dark Rapalas.

FIRST PERSON STORY

CATCH & RELEASE Marlin by Cathy and Craig Corda…sorry no photos…Cathy almost got pulled overboard!

“Another wild time at Las Arenas beach – while fishing for tuna at the sweet spot in front of the beach houses, south of El Faro ~ my wife Cathy, our guide Aldolfo and myself unexpectedly hooked up to a marlin- WHAM! the battle was on, taking out line very fast, about a 1/2 hr. into it we had the marlin close to the panga. WOW bigger then we expected ~ 250 lb. blue, on a 40 lb. line, with a Penn Senator reel.

As Aldolfo put the gaff into its back it woke up and off it went with Aldolfo hanging on for all he had and the marlin was splashing everything and everyone, Aldolfo’s feet left the pangas deck, I caught his shirt tale and pulled him back in before he went for a swim.

Marlin takes off with our only gaff in its back, for about another 1/2 hr. we kept the marlin on the side of the panga, calling for anyone to come with another gaff. Finally, we got the bait guys to come over, all they had was a harpoon, so they pulled up next to us with the marlin between both pangas and tried to harpoon it a few times but this only pissed the marlin off more, finally it turned and burned, broke the line. I was really relieved to get back to fishing for tuna, dorado and pargo all which were ranging in the 30 to 60 lb. range.
So this was a true “Catch and Release”. Side note ~ Aldolfo’s gaff floated to the surface and he got it back.”

VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK

Here’s some video footage from the week taken on the beach. Click this…some good stuff!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llNsWm7xNLs

SOME WEEKLY FISHING HUMOR

I get sent all kinds of funny stories and video clips. This week, there were two that were excellent and I just wanted to share then with you.

The first is called “Adolph’s Bad Day.” For those of you who own boats, this will be especially good…

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/81057766/

This one is all about fish leaping in the boat! The cameraman laughing is the best part!

http://www.purplepug.com/Videos/Asian-Carp-Wabash-River-August/13187983_T9fdj#957217611_fEWWb

Have a great week. That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

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

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

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

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La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Aug. 1-7, 2010

Posted in baja fishing, Cerralvo Island Fishing, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, mexico fishing, Muertos Bay Fishing, sea of cortez, sportfishing packages, tagged jonathan roldan, la paz, La Paz fishing, la ventana fishing, las arenas fishing, light tackle fishing, mexico fishing, muertos bay, panga fishing, sea of cortez, tailhunter, tailhunter international on August 7, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Tony Toven from Los Angeles had gotten enough "football tuna" and asked Captain Pancho to try for one of the bigger models. He hooked up on a big chunk of fresh squid over the trench off Las Arenas and was in for a big fight. By the time they got it to gaff, the fish had towed the panga into shallow water (see the photo below). The fish weighed in at 63 pounds (on a scale). Tuna continued to crash this past week for our anglers!

This is what a 63 pound tuna looks like at gaff next to the panga. Note the color of the water. The fish had towed the panga all the way back to shore into water that was only a few feet deep!

If you ever wanted to see what a world-class roosterfish looks like, Dave Lester from Temecula and Captain Jorge hold up a beast pez gallo just off the beach. These are the types of fish that made the Las Arenas famous. This 70 -pound class fish was one of several that he took on a special trap-hook setup using a big live bait slow trolled in the shallow water. This is the same area where the world-record 114 pound roostefish was caught...twice the size of this trophy. Dave released every one of his roosters!

Northern Cal residents Dave Tyree and Steve Artis did some serious damage to the fish population over 5 days of fishing using light rods and tackle. Here's a load of yellowfin tuna like the kind that kept crashing all week in various spots. Most fish have been in the 10-25 pound class but other larger fish continue to prowl and frustrate anglers after long battles.

Big smiles and a big fish for 12-year-old Jared Esquival from Hacienda Heights CA on his first trip with his family to fish our area. The dorado are getting bigger every month and are schooling up in various areas eating live bait, slow trolled stripped bait and chunked fresh bait.

Hard to believe, but yes, we're getting yellowtail in August. That just means there's gotta be some cold water down there mixing it up. Yellowtai are normally around for us in February to May...sometimes into June, but it's I can't remember ever catching yellowtail this deep into the summer. Joe Bishop put the hurt on this big hamachi fork-tail using a big piece of dead sqiud.

Family shot! Love this photo...From left Flower, Jorge Sr., little Mia and Jorge, Jr. Grijalva...then Vicki and her son Jared Esquival all on a family vacation and standing at Las Arenas beach. They plugged two boats with tuna and dorado over two days and had a marlin get away as well.

It was a good week for the larger roosters. Dave Wilson caught and released this fish just off the Punta Perrico rocks.

Back in the sunshine! Amigo Ron Burgess recently re-located from Brianshead Utah where he ran a ski resort back to S.California closer to his Baja fishing and shows off a nice barred pargo.

SUMMERTIME BLAST CONTINUES WITH TUNA AND DORADO BENDING RODS!

Las Arenas/ La Paz Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 1-7, 2010

It was almost like the “old days” around here this past week. It was like the days you read about in the magazines. Lots of guys didn’t know what to do with all the fish they caught.

Their biggest “problem” was realizing that even after giving away fish and releasing fish when it came time to fly home, their ice chests were WAY too heavy! It was a good problem and one that most just laughed about and chatted about having to have a quick weekend barbecue to get rid of all the excess fish that wouldn’t fit in the home freezers.

Honestly, for both our Tailhunter La Paz and our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet, that bite that started during the full moon just flared bigger!

Our Tailhunter La Paz fleet keep rolling up on the dorado schools. Most of the fish continue to be about 10-15 pounds, but there were many other fish into the 20-30 pound class and a few larger too that were lost. Fish were found in a scattered area, but often the bite would be slower until later then big schools would be located and it would blow into a dorado rodeo.

“We trolled and drifted for hours without much except big bonito and needlefish. Then, all of a sudden, we found the biggest line of sargasso weed and even before we got there, you could tell it was alive! There were flying fish around it and birds diving on it and a sea turtle swimming through it and all kinds of nervous water!” said one of our anglers. “We threw some sardines and chunked bonito at it and the whole thing exploded with dorado! We had triple instant hookups that went on for a good hour until we said no more. We released at least half the fish we hooked.”

That was pretty typical for many of our La Paz anglers. One boat decided they had enough dorado and asked our captain to head for the rocks to look for other species and got a box load of pargo, cabrilla, roosters and jacks as well.

For our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet, it was crazy as ever. The bad news was that there was very little live bait in the way of sardines so the guys laughingly had to start each day pulling up giant squid from deep deep down. It’s quite a chore and in no time guys are drenched in sweat!

The good news however, was that EVERYTHING was eating the squid…tuna, big yellowtail, pargo, dorado and even marlin were all hooked on squid chunks this week.

The tuna bite changed, but no one complained. The previous weeks BIG BIG tuna were not uncommon, but some of the fish were so big that many anglers would come back blanked after fighting the sluggers for up to 3 hours. After awhile, that stops being fun.

Instead this week, much more manageable football tuna between 10 and 25 pounders were the norm and many anglers got daily limits of tuna to mix up with dorado and other species such as pargo and roosterfish. We had a number of kids fishing with us this week and this size of tuna was ideal for the youngsters to get into.

One of the largest fish of the week was a 40 pound beast of a yellowtail taken by 10-year-old Jorge Grijalva of Hacienda Heights. It was Jorge’s first time fishing and he took the fish on 30 pound test. Unfortunately, he also busted dad’s custom-wrapped Calstar rod on the fish! Dad was still pretty proud.

If you check out the photos above, you’ll also see photos of a big time tuna and roosterfish. No telling how long this bite will last. I’m growing to expect the “unexpected” the way this season has been!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

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

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

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

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La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of July 24 to Aug. 1, 2010

Posted in baja fishing, Cerralvo Island Fishing, fish report, fishing charters, fishing tackle, fishing videos, jonathan roldan, la paz baja sur, la paz fishing, La Ventana Fishing, Las Arenas fishing, mexico fishing, Muertos Bay Fishing, sea of cortez, sportfishing packages, tailhunter, tailhunter international, tagged baja fishing, darren hanson, Dave Castanon, Doug idsinga, jonathan roldan, La Paz fishing, light tackle fishing, Marcos Holguin, Mark Holguin, panga fishing, sea of cortez, tailhunter, tailhunter international on August 1, 2010| Leave a Comment »

FULL MOON GRAND SLAM for 17-year-old Marcos Holguin and 13-year-old Ricardo Gil del Montes, Jr. from Los Angeles. Captain Jorge helps out with the nice pargo (dog tooth snapper), yellowfin tuna and nice yellowtail caught while fishing with with chunked squid and our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. It was a good week for the opportunity to catch multiple high-grade sport species despite fears of the full moon. Highly unusual to find big pargo and yellowtail in these warmer months!

It's incredible that we are getting yellowtail of this quality in July. Normally, we only get these in the cooler months of February to May, but LAPD detective Mark Holguin holds a nice pair. Note the two other tails at his feet! The fish are in shallow water near shore and have averaged 15-35 pounds this week.

Even better than a grand slam (3 sport species) is a Grand Slam plus One! Northern Cal residents, Dave Tyree and Steve Artis hold up a yellowfin tuna, a yellowtail, a dorado and a barred pargo...all prized catches. They fished 5 days and encountered similar results each day.

Some of those bruiser yellowfin tuna are still around! New Mexico angler Darren Hanson holds the gaff on a fatty taken off Las Arenas. The fish were in-close most days and showed an affinity for chunks of giant squid which meant starting the day pulling up 50 pound squid from 1200 feet down...a workout!

S.Cal resident Gina Fowlkes and husband Mitch brought the family for a week of fishing and shows off a days catch with a nice mix of dorado and yellowfin tuna

Yellowtail trio on the beach for Victor, Ricardo Jr, and Ricardo Sr. Gil de Montes. Keeping it in the family.

Mahi for the coolers! Long time amigo, Dave Castanon and son Brent from La Verne CA is and fire captain and is often chasing brushfires this time of year, but got down for a quick week of fishing and started off with two good-sized dorado!

Juan Martinez says he catches all the fish...all the time! He holds up one of the yellowfin tuna caught this week near Punta Arenas.

Mean slugger tuna up to 60 pounds like this one held by Dougie Idsinga continued to battle and frustrate our anglers often taking up to 2 hours to boat them. Many larger fish were lost. That's Cerralvo Island in the background. Some of the fish were hooked within casting distance of shore or could be seen swimming in the shallows.

Marcos Holguin's dog-tooth snapper is the first picture in the report, but a solo shot was worth posting again because it's such a great fish! Surprisingly, we've got a good pargo bite going on with dog-tooth snapper, mullet snapper and barred pargo all biting!

Ernie (on the left) had some reservations fishing with newbie rookie Rick (on the left) and joking told him so. But, as you can see from the two mugging for the camera, they did just fine.

Despite all the other "glamour" species showing up these days, our bread-and-butter fish for both our La Paz and our Las Arenas Fleets continues to be the dorado which are scattered over a wide area with more sargasso weeds stacking up in the channel. Steve Artis holds up a nice bull.

NO FULL MOON BLUES! FISH BITE STRONG!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 24 to Aug. 1, 2010

In all my years here, I can remember very few times when it was possible to catch a “grand slam” of fish and where there was so much quality in the water. So much for the full moon! I was worried, but as it turns out, this has been one of the better fishing weeks of the season in terms of variety as well as quality.

When we speak of a “grand slam” it’s the fishing equivalent of taking at least three sportfishing species the same day. This week on several occasions, we had anglers nail big tuna, big yellowtail plus a marlin or a big dorado or big pargo or roosterfish all in the same day…sometimes in the same hour!

The weirdest thing is that we’re well into the thick of summer. Tuna, dorado and marlin are typical this time of year, but we’re having one of the best runs of yellowtail…a fish we normally catch in the COLDER water months of February to May…slamming baits right now!

The fish are a nice grade too. Tuna in the 40-60 pound class are not uncommon and there have been fish much much larger lost. Yellowtail are 20-40 pounds. Pargo are 10-40 pounds. Roosters up to 70 pounds were caught this week!

The best shot at this variety was with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. The fish are not very far either.

One of the guys said, “We’re so close to shore we’re fishing for rooster fish one moment then the next just a few more yards out…we’re fishing for tuna!:

One big tuna bit just offshore and they fought it for two hours. By the time they got the fish to the boat, the boat was literally on the beach as the fish had towed the boat around and was now only in about 10 feet of water!

Las Arenas has been quite the surprise!

The bad news is that live bait has been very difficult to get for our pangas there. Sardines are not very plentiful. The good news is that there has been giant squid and chunks of giant squid have worked solidly all week. As long as they are around, certainly, the tuna seem to keep hanging out. But some days there are no squid!

The other problem with the giant squid is that…well…they’re giant! As one angler put it…”By 8 a.m. I’ve pulled 4 of these 50 pound squid up from as deep as 1200 feet! I’m covered in sweat. I need a beer. I just want to sit down. Instead, the captain takes a 3 pound chunk and sends it back down and I’m now bit by a 50 pound tuna that kicks my butt for another hour!” Another angler laughingly said, “I offered our captain an extra 20 bucks to do all the work to catch the squid for me! That’s too much work! The captain laughed and said I had to do it myself!”

Chunking the big squid and dropping bits in the water to drift then pinning a big slab on a huge hook has been the ticket. Or, a small weight and a strip of squid sent down nails the big pargo or yellowtail. Slow-trolled strips have been great on the dorado.

Our Tailhunter La Paz fleet has not been encountering as much variety, but there’s been no shortage of fish either. Dorado between 10 and 20 pounds have been the main target as patches of sargasso weeds normally found in the late spring are now popping up and holding fish. There have also been some jags of wahoo at the north end of Cerralvo Island as well.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

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

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

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

Read Full Post »

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