La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug 5-12, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
A good start on the first day for Frank Kunze and Lee Carlson, our long-time amigos who came back to the beach with some dorado and a pompano that ended up on the grill at our Fubar Cocina Cantina.
Captain Geraldo stands behind Matt Cirillo as he poses with a big long roosterfish just off the beach at Punta Arenas. The fish was released.
Lorraine McDonald from Utah is all smiles with Captain Armando and her dorado.
Our buddy, Kip Slaugh, from Salt Lake City, holds up a huge roosterfish caught in the surf off Punta Arenas on live bait. Kip released the big slugger.
Dave from Dutch John, Utah, has a sailfish to his day! The fish was released.
Thumbs-up from Captain Jorge with Sommer Adams from San Diego on her first trip to visit us. Nice rack of dorado to start the week for her!
That’s a big one! Another rooster for a quick photo and release!
Elena Galvan and Steve Ortega visited us for the first time and put some dorado into the box. Standing on the beach at Bahia Muertos.
Sue Slaugh has been with us for many years from Salt Lake City and has herself a dorado on the gaff headed for the grill!
From the Los Angeles area on a first-time visit, Daniel Ahman and Jimmy Stathis pose with Captain Victor and a nice batch. of dorado on the cleaning table.
Kip with another dorado from the blue waters at Bahia Muertos!
It was an OK week. Honestly, nothing spectacular. That’s the bottom line. Not much more to say about it.
Dorado were surely the focus of attention with 90% of the catch being mahi mahi between 5-20 pounds. But, it was a weird week. For all of you out there that think the full-moon is a terrible time to fish…last week’s full-moon fishing was far better than this week!
The week started out fairly OK. Dorado, pargo, snapper, cabrilla. Even some billfish. Thankfully, the big roosterfish picked up some of the slack. However, no wahoo. No tuna. No dog-tooth.
But, then as the week went on, the last several days, it just kind of shut off. Even the dorado took a powder and got lockjaw. We had one day of very strong winds that bounced everyone and turned the waters over and even after the waters flattened the subsequent days really didn’t produce much and captains and anglers really had to work hard for their fish. Las Arenas was definitely better than fishing out’ve La Paz and although summer-like conditions are only now just starting to hit, the waters are remarkably cooler than normal. Hopefully, the fish get with the program again real quick.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 27-Aug. 5, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Full moon bull! Lynn Crooks from Sparks, NV, battled this big bull “until her arms fell off” but with the help of Captain Joel, got it to the boat! Fillets were eaten here in town that night, but she donated the rest of the meat to local folks.
Grins and smiles from Roger Meyer (head) and Joe Duryea (tail) from Phoenix, AZ. Roger caught this slugger of a roosterfish just off the point at Punta Arenas with the Tailhunter Fleet using live bait. It was his biggest and was released.
Some good eating pompano in the hands of Jake Oosterman. Members of the jack family related to yellowtail, roosterfish, jack crevalle and amberjack.
You do not have to go very far to get big fish. With the rocks of Punta Perrico just over his shoulder, Dave Roos, from Escalon CA, is pretty happy with this dandy roosterfish. It’s alot bigger than it looks as Dave is NFL lineman sized 6’3”. He released the rooster.
Personal best roosterfish for our amigo, Bernie Crooks visiting us from Sparks, NV with Captain Moncho. That’s the beach at Punta Arenas behind them. Bernie released the big rooster.
Mauricio made the trip up from Cabo to visit Rancho Costa at Bahia Muertos and was out with Gary Wagner when he put this dorado on the deck.
…and here’s Gary at his place there in Bahia Muertos with a tuna he told me ended up as ceviche at Rancho Costa.
Darrell Manginelli visits us once or twice a year from Camarillo CA and started his trip out finding a nice school or dorado.
It was a good week for big roosters! Lynn back on the board with Captain Moncho and her own big rooster for a quick photo and release.
Nothing prettier than a lit up dorado in the water!
Like everything else in the world, this definitely is not typical summer-time fishing. For sure, this isn’t typical August fishing. Temperatures are cooler with day time highs in the low 90’s. Humidity is down. It can be breezy. So, it’s been rather more pleasant as far as being in town. But, waters are also cooler. That’s not to say fishing is bad. There’s definitely action to be had. It’s just very different.
Oh…and although I’m not a big “full moon” believer, combined with other variables like temperatures, winds and water clarity, can make a big difference so that surely had some bearing on this week’s past bite.
So…
Instead of mostly pelagic species typical of this time of year like dorado, tuna, wahoo and billfish…the blue water species…of a normal year, catches have been marked by a variety of fish more characteristic of later spring fishing.
Sure, we’re getting some good bites of dorado there’s some billfish mixed with the occasional tuna and wahoo, but anglers are also still getting big roosterfish up to about 70 pounds these past weeks. At the end of the day, I’m seeing fish boxes with species such as dog-tooth snapper (pargo perro), mullet snapper (pargo list), barred pargo and cabrilla. As well, this past week, there were catches of jack crevalle, yellow snapper, bonito, big triggerfish, pompano and even sierra…a fish we see between November and March when waters are colder.
Bait such as sardines and mackerel and ballyhoo are pretty good this year and it will be interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out.
ALMOST THERE!
Regretfully, back in March when the quarantine hit La Paz, we had to close our fun and famous Tailhunter Restaurant. It was a sad moment after 12 years of great memories.
However, after almost 2 months of re-model and crazy work with our team, we’ll finally be opening up our FUBAR COCINA CANTINA. It’s not the Tailhunter Restaurant but the closest thing to it…it’s our first floor right on the Malecon waterfront. We’ll have a new expanded street-side dining menu plus full bar featuring our new Bloody Mary Bar.
We’ll have many of your favorites that we had upstairs:
Huge burgers
Street hot dogs
Fish and Chips
Shrimp, Fish and Carne Asada Tacos
Fubar Fries and Loaded Nachos
Your Fish Preparations
…and more!
Hopefully, live music again too!
We’ll also be opening our Sirena Mini-Super Market with beer, sodas, munchies, souveniers plus beach gear as well. Of course, we still have our fish processing plant as well.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 29-July 6, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Nice looking bunch of fish for the day from Ismael Hernandez and Paul Rodriguez holding with two bull dorado apiece while fishing out of Bahia Muertos south of La Paz. Both anglers live in La Paz.
Captain Pancho took two of his friends Omar and Chema from La Paz out fishing from Bahia Muertos. They hooked 3 marlin and released 2 of them. This one could not be released but the meat was welcomed by the three families.
One of the marlin released by Captain Pancho and his friends.
There are some good numbers of sizable roosterfish prowling the La Paz beaches right now. Big ones like this one caught by the Barta Family from Colorado was hooked near Punta Arenas while they were staying at Rancho Costa resort. The fish was released.
Captain Ramon ( “Moncho”) with the Tailhunter Fleet took out the son of one of his friends. Young Paul Rodriguez, Jr. from La Paz poses with his great looking bull dorado.
Another local, Erick was out and poses with one of his dorado. Great colors!
More pretty colors and a healthy roosterfish caught and released by Jovani who lives in La Paz.
Alisha Clegg and husband Bennett have fished with us many years and always do well. They started fishing this week just a bit south of us on the East Cape and Palmas de Cortez. They’ll be fishing with us later this week in La Paz. They caught and released 3 striped marlin.
Bennett Clegg in on the action too with another caught and released striper to start the day.
The Cleggs also put some fat football tuna in the box as well. Hopefully, the tuna will follow the Cleggs to La Paz this week.
I could sum it all up in 3 sentences. Fishing is pretty great. Weather is pretty hot. Tourism is slow but getting a little better.
Warm water species typical of this time of year are getting on on the action although truthfully, there’s not really that many folks in town and even fewer that are fishing. Mostly, it’s our captains and friends or locals taking themselves out. The city, like the rest of Baja Sur, has only been open for about 3 weeks now and the wheels are taking a bit to get up-to-speed.
Normally, this would be prime time, but many businesses are still cleaning and sanitizing as well as implementing the health protocols required by the government. Like everywhere else that has opened up their economies, Baja is watching it’s covid infections surge as well. The government says it was not unexpected although they are certainly worried about new spikes, just like in the U.S.
Baja is currently in Level 5 Orange.
Initially, many locals ignored the restrictions about masks and social distancing as well as only 30% maximum occupancy of hotels, restaurants, businesses and beaches. Consequently, this past week, the government has shut down the beaches once again, although they indicated this may only be for a week or two. This pretty much includes all of the beaches from Mulege all the way down the Peninsula. The only exception are the beaches in Cabo San Lucas which remain open. However, in Cabo, they shut down all watersports business like kayaks, booze cruises, parasailing and scuba, but kept sportfishing open.
Sportfishing is not affected in La Paz even with the beaches closed. Hoewever…The La Paz Malecon is also closed except for vehicles and bikes. Likewise, alcohol sales have been limited to 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
One other thing is the the border between the U.S. and Mexico is still closed through the latter part of July. However, this does NOT apply to travel by plane, rail or boat. That being said, I know lots of folks who seem to have crossed the border going both way via car without any real problem.
Empty beaches once again.
However, the fishing has been fairly solid although things change from day-to-day and place to place. It’s difficult to get a good read on anything since there’s just not the usual boat traffic on the water.
However, blue water species like marlin, tuna and dorado have come in, pretty much marking the summer season as waters get warmer.
Some boats are hooking (and releasing) multiple marlin which are mostly stripers in the 90-120 pound range. One huge black marlin of about 400 pounds was landed by some commercial fishermen in a panga when the massive fish got tangle in the grapples of their anchor and anchor line.
Dorado numbers are increasing as well with quality fish up to about 30 pounds which we normally don’t see this early. With lots of bait along the beaches, roosterfish and other jacks such as pompano and jack crevalle are providing great inshore action. Some of the roosterfish are running between 50 and 70 pounds and most getting released.
Bottom fishing on the reefs is producing pargo, snapper, cabrilla and triggerfish.
CRAZY STORY
Commercial fishermen were out in a panga when this huge black marlin estimated at maybe 400 pounds got tangled in their anchor lines and snagged itself on the grapple hooks of the anchor. Check out the photo and the two videos! In the photo, you can see the anchor!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of April 30-May 6, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Although no one is allowed to be Sportfishing, if there’s a bright side to the quarantine which is set through May 30th, is that we’re witnessing Mother Nature on the rebound. As we have seen throughout many places in the world, the absence of a human presence has demonstrated a remarkable change in wildlife and the environment.
Local waters and skies have been among the clearest that many people can remember. Trash on the beaches has disappeared.
There are reports of baitfish and sportfish showing up in numbers, locations and sizes that we haven’t seen in a long time. The variety has been incredible. Inshore rock and reef fish like pargo, yellowtail and amberjack are crashing shallow water baits like sardines, ballyhoo and mackerel. Yellowtail have even been seen in the marinas. Big roosterfish are cruising the beaches, but also schools of the roosters are right on the malecon where normally thousands of people are walking and driving every day. Dorado schools with fish up to 30 and 40 pounds are wondering where everyone went. Tuna over 100 pounds are at the islands. Add in jack crevalle, sierra, bonito, cabrilla and others and it’s great to see.
I can only say that when we finally kick off the season, things should be super hopefully with big hungry fish!
Among so many complaints we are hearing these days is that there’s NO BEER! Although there aren’t any real shortages of mechandise in the markets, one noticeable space on the shelves is the beer aisle. Because breweries like Modelo (makers of Corona and many other brands) as well as Tecate (which also brews and distributes a number of brands), were labeled as non-essential businesses, they were shut down.
So, like toilet paper in the U.S., beer has become a crisis item. People hoarded it at the beginning. Now, if any shows up on the shelves, it quickly disappears. Markets are jacking the prices up to 300% of normal retail. As well, an illegal closet industry of people selling beer from their homes, online like Facebook, or out’ve the trunks of their cars has sprung up.
Because so many people were ignoring the quarantine, the governor has changed the curfew from 10 p.m. to 8 p.m. No one out after that hour. No more food sales allowed. Any businesses that defy the rules (as many were) are subject to 17,000 pesos fines.
ONE OF OUR OWN!
Our Don Hugo! Good friend and gentleman is in the hospital.
Although La Paz has relatively few cases of the virus among more than 150,000 residents one of our Tailhunter Team members is now hospitalized.
If you’ve gone to fish with our Tailhunter Fleet at Bahia Muertos/ Las Arenas you were probably driven in our van by Hugo. He’s a great fun guy and a big favorite of our fishermen and their families. Always smiling and he’s been an incredible part of our team.
Since the shutdown, Hugo has been working picking up odd-jobs as a carpenter which was his trade when he lived in the U.S. He started to show symptoms about 2 weeks ago and is now hospitalized in serious condition with the virus.
Our prayers and best wishes are with our amigo. If there’s a bright spot, it’s that we’re glad he’s in La Paz which has some of the best medical care in the state and the best facilities for handling the disease.
Hugo getting clowned by Captain Gerardo.
When will this end? When can we start fishing? Alot of hotels and restaurants are gearing up to open as soon as the quarantine in Baja ends on May 30th. Airlines are saying they will start flying again in June as well. Assuming there are no drastic changes that hit the country, we can only be optimistic!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of April 16-23, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY
Popular Captain Ramon “Moncho” Green went north to Espirito Santo Island and took this 80-pound yellowfin tuna and several big 20-pound class yellowtail using sardines.
Gary Wagner, who owns the Rancho Costa there in Muertos has been a bright spot in getting us photos these past few weeks since he’s able to get his own boat right off the beach and go fishing. He sure has a colorful dorado here. Thanks, Gary.
Alot of you know our great Captain Pancho. His son Carlos is growing up (heck of a guitar player too!) and looks he definitely has dad’s fishing DNA. Big tasty pompano in the boat!
Wish I could say things were better, but no one out on the water. Even the locals are having an issue with fishing for personal consumption. The ports have been closed for several weeks now to all traffic, but there’s quite a bit of confusion over whether local fishermen can fish for their families. Some think no problem and are out. But others have been stopped and told they can only be out if they have permits and apparently the paper process is lengthy and confusing in itself.
From the couple of reports that I did get from local fishermen, there’s some nice jags of 25-pound class yellowtail around both Espirito Santo Island and Cerralvo Island. Tuna up to 70-pounds also at the north end of Cerralvo with scattered schools of dorado moving in as waters warm up. Roosterfish have started showing up near the beaches as well as pargo liso started their yearly spawn. No shortage of bonito either.
Tons of bait. No fishermen.
RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES (AS OF APRIL 22)
Mexico almost has over 10,000 confirmed virus cases a jump of over 3,000 in a single week.
Coronavirus deaths are over 950 and climbing daily. Three weeks ago it was 125.
Health officials think that as many as 54,000 is a true number of cases because of so many unreported cases and very little testing.
Four Mexican states with more than 33 million residents are not reporting any statistics because they do not want to violate people’s privacy or “cause panic.”
More than 200 municipalities in 10 Mexican states have closed their roads unilaterally to prevent anyone from entering or leaving the towns.
Hospitals in Mexico City are already almost at capacity.
Baja (states of Baja Norte and Baja Sur) has almost 800 confirmed cases with 38 deaths.
Baja has the highest incidence of infection per capita in the country. Mexico City has the 2nd highest per 100,000 people.
Baja has extended the quarantine past the original April 30th In the absence of something changing, the quarantine is now extended to May 30th.
Health officials estimate that only about 60% of the population are adhering to the quarantine. Many are ignoring the mandates while law enforcement and the military continue to chase people off beaches, public areas and gathering locations.
Healthcare workers are pleading for non-existent personal protection while now themselves becoming targeted for attacks by people who say the workers are spreading the disease.
There’s no stimulus checks, unemployment or health insurance (socialized medicine). In fact 40% of the working population aren’t even on anyone’s books. They work as laborers, vendors and other “cash-only” workers.
The Mexico Undersecretary of Health has not recommended face masks because it gives people a “false sense of security.”
LA PAZ IN QUARANTINE – You Might Recognize a Few Places
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Feb. 9-16, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Just a great photo! They got blown off the first day but hung in there and went out despite waves and strong winds (check out Jan’s hair and Art’s hoodie). However, first-timer Jan Paisley and Art Flippin from Colorado went out dragging a Rapala hoping something would bite and this big 70-pound yellowfin tuna chomped the line! They were just off Punta Arenas with Cerralvo Island in the background. Surprise catch for this time of year!
Our good amigos, Donna and Roger Thompson from La Ventana found some mackerel on the east side of Cerralvo Island and hung some nice yellowtail before the macks disappeared and the winds came back up.
Colorful dorado just outside Punta Perrico for Jan. The fish was taken to our Tailhunter Restaurant to be cooked up!
Escaping -30 degree weather up in Alberta, Canada, Sheri Maitland found sunshine and a school of dorado like this one just inside La Paz Bay on one of the calmer days.
Unusual fish for this time of year because dorado are warm water fish, Brad Bowdon got this bull fishing out’ve La Paz. Brad’s from Canada.
That’s a tasty barred pargo for first-timer, Jan Paisley from Colorado with a big smile!
It looks a bit choppy out there and chilly, but Stu Maitland has a firm gaff in this nice dorado.
It was a weird unusual, but not unusual week, if that makes sense. Yes, it was typically windy as if often the case this time of year and “cold” on top of it (by Mexico standards!). Locals were bundled up while tourists visiting La Paz for sunshine were walking around in shorts and t-shirts.
However, as far as the wind was concerned, it blew hard some areas some days and less so in other areas. And, of course, it affected the fishing. Some folks fishing one area pretty much got blown off the water or had to cancel trips. Others found some decent windows to get lines wet, even if only temporarily before winds shifted and the waves just got too rough and choppy.
Fortunately, this time of the year, there aren’t that many folks fishing.
However, for the few folks out that were able to get on the water…even for a short time, there were some decent catches.
For our anglers fishing the Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Cerralvo Island areas, there were the occasispeonal dorado and we even got a surprising chunky tuna that ran about 70 pounds taken on a trolled Rapala. On the East side of Cerralvo Island, there was a quick jag of yellowtail that ran 15-25 pounds, especially if you got into the live mackerel that temporarily schooled up.
Inshore, pargo, cabrilla and jack crevalle provided some fun entertainment.
For our anglers that were able to get out of the Bay and head north towards Espirito Santo Island, some yellowtail were also found, but it was pretty rough getting out there. Fortunately, there were some school-sized dorado just inside the bay that could be caught with most fish going about 10 pounds. But, it was stil pretty rough out there.
And more…BAHIA MAGDALENA!
A table full of great fillets coming up including pargo, snapper, corvina and grouper for our amiga Verda Boyd after her first day fishing the mangroves.
Another nice pargo in the boat caught by Natalie Nazareno. You can see the mangroves in the background.
We sent some anglers out with our Bahia Magdalena outfit. It was also too windy to fish outside the bay and work the ridge for yellowtail and grouper. However, inshore among the mangroves in the shallows, the fishing was spectacular. They got almost a dozen species! These included grouper, several species of pargo, snapper and seabass as well as corvina all on light tackle.
Jorge Romero, sporting his Santa beard, pulled this grouper out’ve the tangle of mangrove roots.
Tim Zimmer with a hard fighting pargo that ate a hooked shrimp.
All by herself! Bella Nazareno hooked and fought all of her fish by herself including this fat pargo!
One day…lots of variety!
Captain Rigo poses with Verda and another pargo for the cooler!
Also, the whales have been late arrivals for the whalewatching season, but more whales are finally showing up in Bahia Magdalena not far from where we’re fishing these days. Let us. know and we can set you up with a great whalewatching trip.
ROAD TOUR TAILHUNTER 2020 – THANK YOU SALT LAKE CITY!
Just finished the Western Hunt and Conservation Show at the Salt Palace Convention Center in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. It was 4 crazy days of madness and fun! We just wanted to give a shout-out to all our Utah folks for the great hospitality and all the Tailhunter Nation members who came out to see us! We had some of the best days of any of the 5 shows we’ve done this year. Reservations to come fish with us in 2020 were off-the-charts and we’re looking forward to all the visits! Thanks to everyone!
Next up…the grand-daddy show of the West Coast… It’s the 74th Annual Fred Hall Fishing and Boating Show at the Long Beach Convention Center March 4-8! Come see us. Click the link below!
If you’re headed to La Paz, don’t forget that Carnival starts Feb. 21 and goes through the 26th with lots of parades, fireworks, food and major partying! The Tailhunter Restaurant on the Malecon is a great place to catch all the parades!
That’s our story! Hope you had a super Valentine’s Day!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Jan. 12-19, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Some good eating sierra on board for Robert Boyd from Colorado.
Gary Wagner, our amigo, who owns the Rancho Costa Resort in Muertos has himself a handful or winter dorado.
All the way from Alaska, winter is a little different in Baja! Mic Ward shows off one of her sierra.
It’s been COLD in La Paz this past week along with some windy weather. The winds are expected this time of year, but it’s been colder than normal…at least by La Paz standards with us locals bundling up and even the tourists donning the occasional sweatshirt or windbreaker. Although most look at us kinda strange as they walk around in shorts and flip-flops.
Lots of snowbirds in town and although the temps are in the 60’s and 70’s with the wind, it’s still a lot warmer than where they live back in places like Minnesota, Wyoming and Alaska!
The climate, of course, affects the ability to be out there fishing. It’s been hard to put anyone out there and there’s not that many folks wanting to fish anyway. Or, folks that want to fish understandably get discouraged when they see the winds. Best to just hang out drinking a margarita by the pool!
When folks have been fishing, the better fishing has been tucked in close to shore, especially in areas where you can find some protection from wind and waves. Therefore, the majority of the fish have been inshore specias like cabrilla, snapper, triggerfish, pargo, jack crevalle and sierra. All fun and good eating fish.
Sierra have a moutful of choppers! Best to use wire when you fish them!
When there are window’s of calm, there’s still some dorado around running to about 10 or 15 pounds plus some good action on 5-pound bonito. The larger issue has been finding live bait in which case lures are the most productive way to catch fish. With rough waters it’s tough to get into the areas where the live bait is holding along the shores and rocks.
I’ve heard a few stories about commercial guys finding some yellowtail as well as some private boaters. We’ll keep an eye on that!
TAILHUNTER ROAD TOUR 2020 !
We finished the Denver Sportsmans Show two weeks ago then just wrapped up another fantastic show at the California Expo Fairgrounds in Sacramento CA.
That drive from Denver to Sacramento was incredible! In almost 3 decades driving to and from these shows, this was some of the craziest driving we ever had, especially through Wyoming, Utah and Nevada. We went through several blizzards where it was white-out conditions and almost zero visibility! Plus winds blowing 60-70 mph. All kinds of trucks and cars spinning off the road and flipping over. Check out this video:
Packed to the gills, Jonathan, Jill and Catlyn (the Mexican Pocket Panther)
Jill “Mustang Sally” after a long long drive through the snow and ice!
So, by the time you’re reading this, we’ll be on the highway again going north from Sacramento towards Seattle. We’ll be at the Washington State Fairgrounds in Puyallup WA for the Washington Sportsmans Show which starts Wednesday and goes to Sunday. Lots to see and do for the entire family! Come see us. We’ll be in our Tailhunter booth for all 5 days. We’ll get you set up on your 2020 La Paz fishing vacation!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Dec. 15-29, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Typical winter rack of fish. Bonito, snapper, pargo and some nice cabrilla for the ice chest!
The rocks are holding some nice cabrilla right now…if you can pull them from their hiding spots! They’re feisty fish when hooked.
Mostly a quiet Christmas and holiday week in La Paz. Sun’s out. Occasionally some showers and breezy. Most folks in town aren’t here to fish or hit the water. Those that are in town for watersports are windsurfers and kiteboarder taking advantage of the strong winter winds. Or they’re here to swim with the whalesharks in the bay.
The few that are out fishing are mostly finding action inshore along the rocks and beaches.
It’s not bad fishing at all. There’s been a decent bite on some nice cabrilla up to about 10 pounds with most in the 2-5 pound range and lots of little ones getting released. Snapper were also on the chew. All good fish for the table. The biggest issue is getting live bait. If waters are rough and winds are blowing, getting live bait in the shallow areas where the bait school-up can be problematic. If bait is an issue, slow trolling small crankbaits like Rapalas, Rebels, Yo-Zuri, Mirolures or similar can still be very productive and fun.
Moving slightly offshore, bonito are still there for some harder battles as well as jack crevalle. There’s a chance of an occasional dorado as well. I’m surprised we aren’t getting into more sierra as this is the time of year we should be getting them, but perhaps we’ll see more as the waters get cooler.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 13-20, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Alot of meat! Marlene Kikuchi from Los Angeles had a live mackerel pinned to her line not far from Punta Arenas with Captain Pancho when she hooked this massive wahoo not far from the shoreline. The big fish was weighed on a scale and measured 56-pounds!
It’s been over 10 years since Mark Rubin came to visit us so it was good to see him. He was out fishing with Captain Arcangel and got this colorful dorado up for a great photo!
On her first day out and first-time in La Paz, Kathy Parker was with Captain Luis and deckie Miguel in the channel between the city and Espirito Santo Island in an area where big 50-150 pound tuna had been sighted. On her first bait in the water, this big yellowfin inhaled her little sardine and the fight was on! With her sister, Sherry (see photo below), trading the rod-back-and-forth for 4 long hours, the ladies finally got this big boy to the boat!
Holly Kunzler’s big dorado of the week was caught while fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet. Holly’s first trip to Baja and she was with us for the better part of the week visiting from Utah.
Our long-time amigos with their favorite Captain Jorge, Marianne and Jeff Sakuda enjoying Jeff’s retirement vacation after 30 years as a pilot for United, they kicked off things with a nice rack of bull dorado.
Double tag-team! Sherry Cady was on her 2nd visit to us this year and this time brought her sister, Kathy Parker (see photo above) when they hung this big yellowfin tuna with deckhand Miguel and Captain Luis and battled the fat fish for 4 hours!
Montana Dewey and Leslie Spafford guide trips in Arizona and came to visit this week and go into some dorado and cabrilla their first day at Las Arenas.
First-timer and happy fisherman, George Misner, started his trip with a nice bull dorado just south of Bahia Muertos.
Popular Captain Chito hung two of those big tuna that were boiling north of La Paz for a few days. Unfortunately, photos of the clients didn’t come out!
Hi Craig! Always good to have Craig Corda back with us . He’s been our amigo for over 20 years and never has a bad day.
Al Chaves lives outside of Phoenix and was out with Captain Jorge when he got this dorado. He had a big tuna on briefly.
Jarat Bagwell from Arizona got the jackpot with his buddies when he caught the most fish for the day including dorado, cabrilla and snapper.
Texas in the house! Cody Timberlake is a professional cowboy and former bullrider and lives in Banderas TX. First trip with us and a dorado with Captain Alfredo.
Monte Aldridge shows off a bull dorado he picked up fishing off Espirito Santo Island. He’s from Richfield UT and always good to have him visit.
Eric Gunnells and Steve Bayer picked up these dorado on their one day out’ve Bahia Muertos.
Barbara Burnett and her husband Jerry have their own great salmon operation in Juneau AK, but came to visit us and started off with a day of dorado.
These are great eating triggerfish! Best ceviche and fish tacos! Captain Jorge with or friends, Jeff and Marianne Sakuda.
Captain Fili is hidden behind a dorado, but no hiding Zach Arnold and Trent Baysinger and a couple of nice mahi.
Good to see Captain Arcangel smiling. Nice dorado in the box again for Mark.
Things have fallen off rapidly with cooler temperature, stronger winds and currents and rougher water the last week-and-a-half. Fishing has also dropped off dramatically. The warm water season ended sooner than expected and I think things will continue to change as warm water species like the dorado, tuna, wahoo, and billfish move out and are replaced by more inshore cooler water species.
Once again this week, captains and clients worked hard to find picky fish. Bait was harder to come by in the rougher waters and there were times with there were some uncharacteristically big swells, chop and gusty winds making it more difficult to fish. The winds will only get stronger as normally calm La Paz Bay even got some big wind-generated rollers that smashed waves onto the waterfront areas.
There were still some dorado around although the schools are diminishing. Most days boats scratched out a catch of 1-5 dorado per day with most about 10 pounds or so. Smaller ones were released. Lots of bonito, fortunately usually kept rods bent.
More inshore fish like triggerfish, snapper, pargo and cabrilla as well as sierra and jack crevalle and pompano increased in the counts as waters cooled and it became more incumbent to fish closer to the beaches and rocks.
There are, however, some great catches still waiting!
We had a few nice wahoo this week including a whopper 56-pounder by Marlene Kikuchi from Los Angeles. As well, there’s still the occasional 30-50 pound roosterfish.
The biggest surprise was the appearance of some pig yellowfin tuna that were in the 50-150 pound class between Punta Tecolote and Espirito Santo Island in the channel. These fish were toads that tore into anglers for 1-4 hour battles, when they would bite. Sometimes, they were just a tease boiling around the pangas, but not interested in eating a hooked bait. But, when they did bite, they were beasts! Normally, we don’t see tuna around La Paz as we catch them mainly around Las Arenas so this was a nice surprise!
BOOKING FOR 2020 STARTING TO FILL
Ice chests full of fish headed to the airport!
Our reservations are coming in faster than normal and many dates in 2020 are getting filled. Calls and e-mails are coming in daily. Some dates are already sold out. In 2019 we were filled by March.
We don’t want to miss you. If you have a favorite captain, hotel or date in mind, don’t wait. Especially, don’t wait until we do our fishing and hunting show tour in the winter. We want to be sure we have you down and covered so we can have you visit next year!
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.
Tailhunter Fish Report 