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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of May 23-June 1, 2025

BIGGER AND MORE!

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of May 23-June 1, 2025

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WEATHER:  We had a little anxiety as Tropical Storm Alvin made it’s way up the coast towards us ,but thankfully, we dodged the bullet.  A little wind.  A little drizzle and lots of humidity.  We were still able to fish.  It’s warm now for sure.  Temps in the mid-90’s during the day and don’t be a dummy…put the sunscreen on!  Had some painful lessons this week.

WATER:  Warmer and bluer, but there’s still some chilly stuff deeper below the thermocline judging by the colder water species we hooked at times.

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK:  Where to start…

Roosterfish, dorado, barred pargo, dog-tooth snapper, silver snapper, pargo liso (mullet snapper), trevally, green palometa,  black palometa, pompano, amberjack, sierra, wahoo, bonito, jack crevalle, triggerfish, cabrilla, grouper.

FISHING ON THE 1-10 SCALE:  7 plus!

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO FISHING REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Finally! Chad Schearer, our long-time amigo from Montana and host of the long-running famous “Shoot Straight” TV show got his big rooster on the flyrod! In fact, he caught and released two with Captain Moncho running the boat! If you look carefully in the background, that ripple of water is a school of roosterfish boiling!

Three years ago, we got the IGFA world record 46 pound pargo liso. When we saw Leif Dover’s big fish, we quickly ran it to the scales, but it was “only ” 42 pounds, but a heck of a fish and catch!

Our “Rooster King” Steve Bryan is back in town for 3 weeks of chasing big roosters every years . In 3 days…so far…9 roosters caught and released including this one that might push 80-100 pounds! Steve is from Seattle. Always good to have him here.

First-timer with us Rawley Thackery has a big bull dorado in hand. More dorado are showing up although not yet at full speed. They’re coming! Rawley is from Utah.

Yea..this is a dog-tooth snapper with a mouth full of choppers! Randy Choate from Boise ID has been with us for a month getting bent on all manners of fish. It was his retirement gift to himself!

The Holy Grail of fish! Doug Fowler finally got his wahoo and it’s a fatty at the south end of Cerralvo Island with Captain Hugo.

Mike Bies caught this Baja Grouper/ Golden Grouper which is really a cabrilla. We only see about 1 of these a year. Mike was first-time with us from Denver.

A prize catch no matter how you look at it. These pargo liso are the toughest, meanest and most viciously frustrating fish we have, but Lori Baydo got a trophy! Captain Victor helps with the photo!

 

Couldn’t be a sweeter lady than Marsha Schearer. She got several big roosterfish this past week. Captain Moncho is all smiles under the gator! All roosters released.

Colorado in the house! Michelle Bies with one of her roosterfish. She was fishing with us for the first time. Fish was released.

Two of new Tailhunter friends from Washington State…Gomer and Crystal Gage with a massive table of tasty black trevally/ palometa to take home.

These two were way fun! Ginger and Jeff Thorpe double hook-up on roosterfish off the island! They spent the whole week with us and kept everyone laughing.

 

Great colors on Chad’s dorado. Not getting alot of dorado, but the ones coming in are legit sizes. Give it a few weeks and it could be crazy!

Captain Joel (right) with Abbie and Dawson recently married living in N. Dakota with some dandy cabrilla!

We don’t see many silver snapper or understand why they are even called “silver snapper” but Brian O’Neil and Capt. Pancho pose with one and I hear they are great eating!

Somewhere under this massive roosterfish is Steve Bryan. Captain Jorge estimates this fish over 100 pounds and had to be lifted onto Steve’s lap for the photo as his arms were shaking and they wanted to get the fish into the water ASAP!

I have never seen so many big cabrilla as this season. Greg Baer had his family out with Captain Rogelio and put these nice cabrilla and pargo (look on the deck) in the fish box!

Texas Lawrence Piccagli with a great photo right next to the beach. Check the pretty water. You don’t have to go far for these fish. Lawrence took this rooster on his flyrod for the photo and release.

Long time Tailhunter amigos from Colorado, Paul Lubow, Al Martz, Daryl Marts and Al Lubow with some hefty amberjack , pargo and a big triggerfish for the ice chest!

Captain Chito give a thumb-up to Nico Harris for his bull dorado taken north of La Paz Bay.

 

Bear hunting guide and taxidermist from Oklahoma, Billy Bunyard fishing with us for the first time shows off a nice cabrilla.

Candy Bunyard and husband Billy (photo above) were first-timing with us but also celebrating their honeymoon! Her first rooster for a catch and release is a nice one!

Talk about a colorful cutting board! Leif Dover and Brian O’Neil have been fishing with us for years and always do well. I see trevally, a big pompano, a dog-tooth snapper, a pargo liso and a couple of silver snapper and a cabrilla in the photos. A feast in the making!

Captain Gerardo give a hand to Soon and Wade from the San Francisco area with a nice variety on a good day. Wahoo, pargo liso, cabrilla, snapper, triggerfish, amberjack on the table!

Our new Arizona friends Ernie and Lori Baydo had quite a day. he’s got a trophy cabrilla and she’s sporting a big pargo liso on the beach at Bahia Muertos!

Wyatt Schearer and Kassidy Albright…celebrating his birthday and celebrating their engagement in La Paz! Wyatt was with us as a little kid 14 years ago. This was Kassidy’s first trip and her first rooster!

There’s no doubt that these jack crevalle are well-name by locals as “toro.” (Bull). Chad fought this guy for 90 minutes and took his flyreel down to the backing and they had to chase the fish! Great battle and the fish was released.

Billy and Captain Gerardo for a quick pose with his big rooster and release. Billy is from Oklahoma and was headed to guiding bear hunts in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska when he got back from his La Paz trip.

 

Wyatt Schearer working the flyrod while fiance Kassidy and Captain Gerardo look on.

Nice bull! Captain Victor with Lori and Ernie Baydo on the beach at Bahia Muertos

 

Rawley seems pretty happy with his rooster! A quick photo and release.

Alot places folks don’t like amberjack, but ours (related to yellowtail) are pretty tasty and tough fighters growing to over 100 pounds. Soon Saelaw from San Francisco had a pretty great 3 day fishing with us and added this amberjack (pez fuerte) to his box!

Paul and Martha…just engaged were back with us again from Utah and got a double catch-and-release on these roosterfish.

Oh the joy! Brian and his buddy Leif got 16 roosters to the boat that day up to 50 pounds and lost a bigger one that might’ve gone 100 pounds.

Two dorado for Lawrence who took his fillets to Cabo to meet up with family. Lawrence is from Dallas.

 

The right kind…Paul Cowdell with a trophy for the quick photo and back to the water!

San Mateo Wade Ichimura with a prized pargo liso taken over the rocks off Cerralvo Island. The big snapper are spawning right now and fish can go over 50 pounds!

Only had two days to fish, but Trevor Cook from Reno NV got his rooster the first day right off Bahia Muertos. This was Trevor’s first visit with us.

Alex Piccagli with a thumb-up with Captain Armando and a tasty barred pargo. Lots of folks here throw the whole fish on the grill and stuff it with rice, garlic and veggies! Or just deep fry the whole thing!

It’s a beast! Most needlefish are about 2-3 feet long! But check out Paul’s monster! It’s jurassic! Captain Miko in the photo also!

Always great to have Jeff Brown come down every year from Minnesota with family. Abbie and Derrick help with the trio of dorado.

Mike Bies with one of his roosterfish on his first day! Mike visiting us from Colorado. Fish are right off the sandy beach at Punta Arenas.

Our gal, Marsha Schearer with Captain Chito and another big roosterfish for her. This one near Espirito Santo Island. All fish released.

Jeff and Ginger and a whole bunch of the crazy black trevally that showed up in massive schools. Never seen anything like it!

Yup…Soon Saelaw had a good few days with us. He even got a wahoo with Captain Gerardo!

Another of our fun Utah guests, Jeramy Lund shows off one of his roosters before releasing it strongly into the water.

 

Pesky pelican trying and succeeding in photobombing Alex and Henry Piccagli from Austin TX.

Three former Air Force officer friends…Kurt Wagner, Trevor Cook and Grant Thomas on the water.

 

Chad…another nice one on the flyrod. When a flyfisher has to balance his rod across his shoulder to take a photo, it’s a good thing! Nice job, amigo. Thank you for the visit!

___________________________________

Well…last week’s report during the full moon was pretty hard to top.  I had never had such a large report in 30 years down here.  So much info…so many photos.

…until this past week!

Listen…if you were here this last week and I missed your photo and you don’t see yourself here, I really apologize!  I tried to get everyone in and probably had over 100 photos this week to try edit and squeeze in.  I try to get everyone!

MORE AND BIGGER…

Wow!  Compared to the last report… It kinda got better.  Maybe not in terms of numbers of fish, but yes more fish were caught this past week (and released), but it also seems THE FISH GOT BIGGER!

Even my captains are commenting on the size of the fish!

The first several weeks of the season, OK, we got some big fish. There are always the occasional catch that raises an eyebrow and gets a big high-five.  But after about 6 weeks into the season, it seems the fish are consistently larger than normal.  And then there are the numbers!

The roosterfish bite has been the best in all my years down here!

I mean, a good day in the past meant maybe 2-4 roosters per boat per day.  But these past 2-3 weeks, singular anglers (not per boat)…singular anglers are telling me they are getting 2-12 roosters in the 10-40 pound class.  Some boats getting up to 20 fish per day and anglers telling me “We could have sat on the school all day and caught dozens more…it was stupid fun!”  One angler told me, “I just had the finest 5 hours of fishing in my life!”

Not only are folks catching alot of roosterfish, but also landing personal best with fish ranging from 50-to possibly over 100 pounds!  (Just check the photos above).

They are telling me that once you get into the schools, the roosterfish are literally boiling.  You can see the roosterfish under the boat and they are foaming on baits as soon as the baits hit the water!

I dunno…maybe there is too much of a good thing?  It’s getting to the point where some of our guests are getting spoiled.  “We got tired of roosterish!  We wanna catch something else.”  or “Oh man, we caught roosterfish again (bored voice).”

Enjoy it while you can.  This is the kind of bite we may never see again!

MORE and BIGGER…WORLD RECORD?

The pargo liso are spawning in the shallow and these are ferocious frustrating tenacious sluggers.  Again, never seen so many or so big.  I tell folks if you get one to the boat after 5 hits, you’re doing pretty good.

Three years ago, we got the IGFA record at 46 pounds.  A beast.

Well, Captain Pancho fishing with one of our long-time anglers and amigos, Leif Dover sent me a photos from the beach which simply said, “New world record?”  I saw the photo and told them to rush it back and DO NOT CUT IT UP.  They raced back to La Paz with the fish wrapped up in wet blankets and ice.

Well, we got it on the scale and unfortunately, “only 42 pounds!”  Close, but not quite, but unquestionably and beast and trophy!

I tell you what…it took me over an hour to clean this thing and after cutting through all the armor plating, huge bones, tough scales and sharp teeth and fins using 3 different knives, a hammer, a saw, a wire cutter and industrial sheers and a small hatchet…this 42 pound fish yielded only 12 pounds of meat!  It was a tank!

MORE and BIGGER…

Every year at this time, we catch alot of cabrilla (seabass).  Tasty fun fish.  Most are about 12-18 inches long.  But this year holy cow…they are grouper sized fish!  They must’ve been eating steroids in the off-season because they yoked out.  We’re catching 24-36 inch long fish!

…and we are losing probably even bigger fish in the rocks!

MORE and BIGGER…

Other species this week…overall, I think I counted 21 different species!

Wahoo are getting cuaght finally off the south end of Cerralvo Island.  Not many.  I think 8 were hooked and 3 got to the boats.  All caught on deep-running Rapalas and Nomads, but we’re also losing some big boys . The largest this week went about 50 pounds.

More dorado are coming in.  We’re far from WFO on the mahi and only getting about 3-5 per day now for my whole fleet, but they are legit sized 10-30 pounders and I saw one fish that scaled at 49 pounds!  As the waters get warmer we anticipate more coming in.  Give it another 2 weeks or so.  North of the city, the sargasso weed starting to bunch up and forming into paddies and that will get the dorado schooling up.

Other remarkable stuff…so many pompano and trevally this past week.  I have never seen black trevally in 30 years here, but we had whole schools tearing it up like piranhas!  Most fish about 5 pounds, but easy limits and these are great eating.

We also caught big jack crevalle that are probably 50% larger than normal.  They are really beating folks up and giving folks more than a run for their money!

Add in bonito, barred pargo, dog-tooth snapper, rainbow runners, sierra, amberjack and more.  It was a full full week of fun.  Just look at the photos!

We did dodge Tropical Storm Alvin that had as a bit nervous as it marched up the Pacific towards Baja that promised high winds and rain.  But fortunately, it petered out and gave us a few days of clouds, humidity and just enough of a sprinkle to mess up the dust on my car windshield.

That’s my story!

Jonathan & Jilly

Our regular weekly fishing video report for La Paz
from Tailhunter Sportfishing
Full-service fishing outfitters, charters and complete vacation packages
since 1995

La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

http://www.tailhunter.com

“Let us handle your whole vacation to come fishing with us in Mexico. We can take care of the fishing, lodging, transportation, scuba, snorkeling, kayaking and more! Experienced or little experience, you’ll love this style of fishing. Calm waters…close to shore…live and dead bait fishing…no long days of trolling and dozens of possible species to catch. Families, buddies, kids, corporate groups…all welcome!”

We’re looking forward to having you come visit us!

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing
http://www.tailhunter.com

Mexico Office:
Tailhunter Sportfishing
755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address: Tailhunter Sportfishing
8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178 La Mesa CA 91942

Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

 

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of April 1-8, 2025

GREAT VARIETY SHOWING UP AS CONDITIONS IMPROVE

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of April 1-8, 2025

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WEATHER: Mostly sunny mid-80’s to low 90’s in the day, but drops to high 50’s at night. Fewer windy days, but still some very windy gusty bouts here and there.

WATER:  If the winds are blowing, can be rough and bumpy.  The less wind the calmer the waters.  Getting bluer and clearer.  Waters warming and sargasso building up so maybe warm water fish like dorado will start moving in.

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK:  Yellowtail, dorado, dog-tooth snapper,  barred pargo, pargo liso, yellow snapper, roosterfish, bonito, jack crevalle, golden trevally, triggerfish, sierra,

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ  VIDEO FISHING REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

A good day! Long-time Tailhunter friends of ours, Henry Vuong and Marline Casillas with a nice table of snapper, pargo, cabrilla, a sierra and a hefty yellowtail that Marline caught!

Brian Pierce just had one day to squeeze in for fishing and had a nice day with plenty of action including sierra, triggerfish, cabrilla and pargo. All great eating.

Finally some larger roosters starting to show up. Darrell got this one on a live sardine for a quick photo and release. Hopefully, bigger ones are around the corner!

Jeff and Marianne Sakuda have fished with us and Captain Jorge over 20 years! Some great catch and eat with the table full of sierra!

A tough day! Actually, hard to get better than this for Darrell Manginelli with a big yellowtail, a big trophy cabrilla, a triggerfish, a pargo, a sierra and Captain Pancho holds up two tasty golden trevally!

_____________________________________________

No doubt, conditions are changing.  Maybe too fast!   But, it is what it is!

The weather, especially the winter winds are calming down.  Not so many windy days and the windy days aren’t as bad as they had been.  So more days are open to fish.  But we still had a couple of blustery days.  We were able to get boats out to wet lines, but winds prevented us from getting to some of the spots holding larger or better quality fish.

Still, we had a good week of action with plenty of variety!

With daytime temps now hitting the low 90’s with not much humidity, it’s a pleasant time in town.  Evenings and mornings can still be chilly down to the high 50’s so a good idea to keep a sweatshirt or windbreaker handy that can be taken off later.

Of course, the focus has been on the yellowtail bite. Still getting some quality fish around Cerralvo and Espirito Santo Island with fish up to 30  pounds, but most hovering around 10-20 and willing to eat live sardines, mackerel a swell as cast or tossed jigs.

Many of the same area are holding amberjack, pargo and cabrilla as well.

The “problem” if you want to call it that is that the waters are warming faster than normal.  That means that the yellowtail and other cold-water species will likely start moving off.  In fact, it seems there were fewer yellowtail already around the islands.

However, this means that warm water species like dorado might start showing up early as well as possibly tuna, wahoo and billfish.  In fact, the winds have been blowing big patches of sargasso into bunches north of town which is perfect habitat for baitfish and brings in the dorado.

Also, for the first time in many many years, some of the giant squid are showing up.  They come up from the deep trenches.  Not only are they fun and a handful to catch and make tasty eating, but in the past often the tuna follow the squid out of the deep trenches!  We’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime, no shortage of inshore action on the aforementioned cabrilla and pargo, snapper, triggerfish, sierra, pompano and trevally among others.

One exciting aspect is the big pargo liso are now spawning in the shallows.  Real brutes when hooked on rod and reel and difficult to bring to the boat and one of the most frustrating fish in our waters.  With sharp teeth and scales and powerful bodies, they school over the rocks and reefs and broken lines are the norm.  They look like giant red carp!

Lastly, some nice model roosterfish are also showing up finally as well.  Previously, small fun 5-pounders were around, but we’re now seeing some 10-25 pound grade fish.  Hopefully, the big truck roosterfish will be around soon!

A FEW SPOTS TO FILL TO COME FISHING IN LA PAZ

Reservations are coming in daily and, after 30 years at this, we have so many great regulars who visit us year-after-year!  Many dates are filled or filling pretty fast.

However, we have some limited spots here and there with some space just for you!  Also, don’t forget that Alaska Air is now flying direct to La Paz.  It’s the first time we’ve had direct flights in 12 years!

Check out these specials.

Spaces are limited and some restrictions apply, but contact me directly so we can get you set up!

tailhunterfishinglapaz@gmail.com

Hope to see you in La Paz!

 

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.comMexico Office: 
Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter Sportfishing
8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178 La Mesa CA  91942

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Feb. 2-18, 2025

WINDY BUT BEAST YELLOWTAIL CHEW!

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Feb. 2-18, 2025

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WATER:  Kinda crazy . There’s warm water and cold water spots all over the ocean.  Water down deep is definitely cooler. If it’s windy, it can be pretty rough. But there have been a few really nice flat days.

WEATHER:  Variable.  Some days sunny.  Some days hazy.  Some days cloudy.   Temperatures rising but a big thermometer with daytime temps in the low-to-mid-80’s but night time dropping all the way to the high 50’s. Winds can be variable as well.  Some days not a whisper but others blowing up to 20 mph.

SPECIES HOOKED THIS WEEK:  Yellowtail, amberjack, pargo, cabrilla, sierra, bonito, jack crevalle, dorado.

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

The struggle was real! Phil Desautels was at the north end of Cerralvo Island when they got slammed by yellowtail. Phil has alot of experience, but even he admitted that it was a struggle to get fish into the boat as the big sluggers tore them up and busted alot of lines.

Sierra are on the bite which is very typical of this time of year. Great eating and fun on light tackle, Zach Reinig and John Draminsky put a 1/2 dozen into the boat. Makes great ceviche.

Our amigo, Gary Wagner, had his family out at his place at Rancho Costa visiting from Colorado Springs. They like to fish the late afternoon and early evening there at his place at Bahia Muertos and it looks like it paid off with a nice catch of dorado and a pargo liso (Gary’s fish).

 

Thick-bodied yellowtail around Cerralvo took one of Jimmy William’s baits in. a rare calm day, but Jimmy told me they lost more than they caught as the fish were even busting heavy leader.

_______________________________

There are some days recently, where it sure seems like there’s a bit of spring in the air.  We’re not out’ve winter yet and every few days it kinda roars back with the heavy north winds, but there were some nice windows of calm days here and there since the last report.

Temperatures are surely starting to edge up.  Highs are now in the low 80’s, but nights are cool.  Temps can be as low as the mid-50’s so not a bad idea to have a sweatshirt or windbreaker handy and especially if you’re planning ot go fishing or any water activity.

As far as the catch, it remains mixed.

However, the highlight has been the jag of nice yellowtail that have shown up.  They have actually probably been around for a bit, but with the winds and rough seas, it was simply difficult to get onto the fish spots with any consistency.

With the calmer conditions, however, there were some nice bites of the big forktails found around both Cerralvo and Espirito Santo Islands with the fish eating live mackerel, sardines as well as casted and trolled jigs over the high spots.

These have been slugger fish with catches ranging from 15-30 pounds or more and many fish lots to broken lines and rocks.

Other notables like sierra seem to have moved into the areas along the shores near the dropoffs.  These toothy members are like baby wahoo and are a hoot on light tackle.  Good idea to fish them with wire leaders as their sharp teeth will shred mono, but these are great eating and a prized catch for making ceviche!

Other biters have been the usual species found during the winter.  Especially inshore and along the rocky areas, we’re getting several species of pargo, including some spawning pargo liso, snapper, smaller dog-tooth, amberjack, bonito and jack crevalle.

There must also still be some warmer waters around as a few dorado are getting picke up and I heard that a striped marlin was also caught by a commercial angler.

OFF TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NOW

We’ve been on the road now for over a month and our Tailhunter Tour 2025 has taken us to some great shows and expos in Reno, Nevada (Wild Sheep Foundation); Nashville, Tennessee (Safari Club International) and most recently we had a crazy great show in Salt Lake City, UT for the Western Hunt and Conservation Show.

I think it has been our best show.  Jill and I were in the booth 4 straight days and it was 9 hours-a-day non-stop talking and enjoying meeting new and old friends.  We signed up a ton of new reservations to come see us in La Paz in 2025 as well.   Thank you to everyone who came by and spent some time with us and for all the Utah hospitality.

So now…

Jilly and I are taking the long car haul to S.California for the Pacific Coast Sportfishing Show.  It’s the largest fishing show on the West Coast and pretty much takes over the entire Orange Co. Fairgrounds!

Showtimes are March 6-9 and we’ll be in the booth all four days (Thursday to Sunday).  There’s a ton to see and do for fishing, adventure travel, outdoors, boating and more.  Bring the whole family and we’ll see you there!

That’s our story!

Jonathan & Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.comMexico Office: 
Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter Sportfishing
8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178 La Mesa CA  91942

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Dec. 23-30, 2025

UP-DOWN CHRISTMAS WEEK FISHING

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 23-30, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WEATHER – Nice week to be in town for all the snowbirds.  Mostly sunny.   Daytime highs 78-82 degrees and night dropping as low as the low 50’s so quite a thermometer!  Bring a windbreaker or sweatshirt.  Quite windy at times with northern winds running 10-30 mph.

WATER – If the winds are blowing,  it’s rough and the winds are usually blowing anywhere outside the bay.  Check your forecasts before going out.  However, surprisingly  there are still warm blue patches of water holding pelagic species.  Usually all the waters are cold and off-color this time of year.

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK:  Dorado / pargo/ amberjack/ snapper/ cabrilla/ roosterfish/ bonito/ jack crevalle/ sierra

MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

 

We DO provide lunches and breakfasts on our trips, but Greg Earles from Michigan takes a nibble off one of his dorado! Greg has been fishing on-and-off for 2 weeks with us.

Richard is a commercial walleye fisherman up in the Great Lakes area and was out with Captain Gerardo and did a banner day with nice dorado, bomitoand an amberjack.

So unusual to have warm water species like dorado in the waters in December. He’s a schoolie breezer!

Greg and our popular Jorge with a batch of dorado and white bonito.

Another day…another dorado for Greg!

Good inshore action on snapper, pargo and cabrilla. Great eating feast on the cutting table!

Happy New Year Everyone!  Hope the holidays are going well and you had a great Christmas day.

Christmas week as another hit-or-miss fishing week in La Paz.

Again, the winds were pretty blustery so had to cancel a few potential bookings for fishing and snorkelng  and warn folks away from rough weather.  We did get a few boats out, but that was also before winds kicked up later.

As I often mention, not much of anyone really on the water during the winter months except the windsurfers.  Winds were up to 20-30 mph gusts at times this past week.

Town, however, was pretty busy with visitors as is usually the case during the holidays.  If you’re not on the water, it’s a nice time to be in the area.  Daytime temps were as high as 82 and the nights are a cooler, but pleasant 55 degrees or so.   It beats being in chillier parts of the continent this time of year!

Check out the La Paz Christmas Parade on the Malecon Waterfront that came by our Tailhunter Restaurant.   With 3 levels, it was a great place to watch the parade:

Once, again very surprising to find dorado still in the area.  Dorado are a warm water species that we usually see in numbers from about late May to October.  It’s rare to see any in the winter so that leads me to believe that there’s still warm water patches of ocean around.  Normally, waters are not only rough, but cold and green this time of year.

The dorado are a fun-sized 10-15 pound class mahi right now.

Commercial guys are reporting some tuna and wahoo around Cerralvo Island, but attempts to get across the channel were too difficult because of the winds and waves so there was no way to verify the stories.  Commercial fishermen are working for a living so they go where the fish are no matter the conditions!  They’re not out on the ocean for fun!

Inshore, there’s a good variety and action.

Surprisingly, small roosterfish around 5 pounds continue to be caught around Bahia Muertos and Punta Arenas.  Normally, this is another species we don’t see in the winter.

As well, the colder water fish like pargo, cabrilla, snapper, sierra and amberjack are also being hooked.  Live bait and jigs are working well.  Big bonito are also in the mix.

Looking at the extended forecast, the first few days of the new year look like strong winds again!

TAILHUNTER SHOWTIME

We’ve been hitting the road for our show tour now for over 30 years.  Our schedule and logistics are only allowing us to do 4 shows this year, but all are huge fun shows.

Time to hit the road!

Hope you can come out to see us.  We’ll be in the booth every day!

RENO – Wild Sheep Foundation at the Reno Convention Center (Jan. 16-18)

NASHVILLE – Safari Club International at the Nashville Convention Center (Jan. 22-25)

SALT LAKE CITY – Western Hunt and Conservation Show at the Salt Palace (Feb. 13-16)

ORANGE CO. – Pacific Coast Sportfishing Show at the Orange Co. Fairgrounds (Mar. 6-9)

Bookings for 2025 are coming in daily and many dates are filling up pretty fast.  Don’t wait until showtime if you’re interested in visiting us in La Paz this year!  Write me directly:

tailhunterfishinglapaz@gmail.com

We’ll get you set up to come fishing!

THANKS EVERYONE!

To all our Tailhunter family and tribe that continually send me requests for updates and get-well wishes, Jilly and I really appreciate it.  After foot surgery in mid-October, I was in a lower leg cast for 8 weeks.  I am now in a pressure boot for another 4 weeks which is great to be able to get out’ve the wheelchair, crutches and walker!  (Jill loves it too as she has been really patient with me!).

I have a bionic left knee and now a bionic right foot. Going through airport scanners is going to be fun!

Still can’t drive as it’s my right foot, but they say in 3 more weeks, I should be able to hobble around on two legs again in time for the shows and for sure by the time the season starts!

That’s my story!  Cheers and best fishes to ya’ll!

Jonathan & Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.comMexico Office: 
Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter Sportfishing
8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178 La Mesa CA  91942

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

“We sell smiles.  Have a free one.  It looks good on you!”

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La Paz – Las Arenas- Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Dec. 5-21, 2024

FISHING DURING THE HOLIDAYS

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Dec. 5-21, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

Weather:  Mostly nice and sunny and really pleasant with temps ranging from the 60’s to 80’s. However, winds from the north continue to be problematic with gusts between 10 and 30 mph

Water: Getting cooler, but there’s some nice patches of surprising blue/warmer water here and there. Can be extremely rough if the winds are blowing

Species Hooked This Week:   Dorado, sierra, small yellowtail, triggerfish, snapper, snapper, bonito, jack crevalle, roosterfish, marlin, amberjack,

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO FISHING REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST OF THE STORY…

Our friends, Bob Sayre from Chicago and his friend Jim Fanscher weren’t able to get outside the bay because of winds but still found a dorado and a sierra…a warm water fish and cold water fish as well as a big bonito.

Enjoying some sunshine escaping from Minnesota, Greg Earles had a great star with 4 dorado, a big sierra and some white bonito plus released a bunch of small roosterfish.

Beto is going to make some great ceviche with this saw!

Our La Paz friend, Jimmy Williams always does well. Nice barred snapper!

Greg caught and released about a half-dozen of these fun little roosterfish right in Bahia Muertos on live sardines.

Some good eating on the table for Jimmy and Phil with several types of snapper plus triggers and a saw.

 

Once again, apologies for the late response.

With the increasing northern winter winds, I was really waiting for something to happen so that I’ve have some “meat” to the report rather than just continuously telling you that the winds are blowing and not much of anyone fishing during the winter months.

But, honestly, in the last 3 weeks, some days the winds have been kicking 10-30 mph and not a great time to be out on the water unless you’re a windsurfer. I’ve had a number of folks wanting to go out and I’ve had to flat out tell them, “I’d love the booking and money, but the reality is that you’re going to get blown off the water or seasick !”

These aren’t hardcore fishermen. They’re just in town for vacations and decide they want to try fishing for a day. Often they have youngsters with them and I would just rather be honest and transparent about expectations and the weather.

I’ve also had to cancel a few trips for fishing and snorkeling as well.  It’s a great time to be in town as the weather is really pleasant and sunny with temps into the 60’s -80’s but just not a great time to be on the water.

However, we did actually get a few folks out whenwe found some windows when the winds backed off a bit. Also, we had some of our local friends get out fishing and got me some reliable reports.  Other than that, most of the reports are coming from friends who are commercial fishermen who don’t have a choice.  They’re not fishing for fun or sport.  They’re out on the water no matter what trying to make a living.

Waters are getting cooler and rougher, but there are surprisingly still some warm patches of blue water holding dorado.  Crazy to see dorado in December but there are some school-sized 5-15 pound fish still in the area plus some larger 20 pound class free swimmers.   Live bait is difficult to come by because of the rough waters so frozen dead ballyhoo or striped bonito slow trolled has worked most effectively.

The warm waters have also been cited as the reason that there are still some billfish like striped marlin, sporadic tuna and wahoo have been hooked.  Again, it’s very unusual to see these species in the winter and likewise, to get to some of the spots, it has to be calm enough on the ocean.

Inshore, is where the majority of the action has been found, especially if you can’t get across the channels to the islands.  Big bonito, sierra, some smaller yellowtail, pargo, cabrilla, amberjacks and jack crevalle have provided decent action.

Another surprise, however, is that we’re seeing roosterfish!  Not very common this time of the year, but smaller 5-10 pounders have been hooked (and released) along the shallow sandy beaches and some of the bigger 50-100 pounders have been seen cruising the drop offs.  We usually don’t see those for another 3 or 4 months!

TAILHUNTER SHOW SEASON COMING UP!

We’re getting ready to hit the road again for our 30th year.  We’ll be doing 4 shows this year and they’re all big ones.  We had hoped to do more shows, but so many are on conflicting dates and it was hard to pick and choose:

RENO – Wild Sheep Foundation at the Reno Convention Center (Jan. 16-18)

NASHVILLE – Safari Club International at the Nashville Convention Center (Jan. 22-25)

SALT LAKE CITY – Western Hunt and Conservation Show at the Salt Palace  (Feb. 13-16)

ORANGE CO. – Pacific Coast Sportfishing Show at the Orange Co. Fairgrounds (Mar. 6-9)

We’ll be there and we’re looking forward to seeing you and getting you set up to see us in La Paz in 2025.

However, don’t wait!  Dates are filling up pretty fast and reservations are coming in daily.  You can write me directly:  tailhunterfishinglapaz@gmail.com

We don’t want to miss you, especially if you have a favorite captains or hotel!

That’s our story!

Wishing you many blessings for the holidays, Christmas and the New Year!

Jonathan & Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.com Mexico Office: 
Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

US Mailing Address:   Tailhunter Sportfishing
8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178 La Mesa CA 91942

Phones: 
from USA: 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Oct. 10-17, 2024

WAHOO BILLFISH MAHI!

La Paz -Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 11-18, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WEATHER:  Mostly pretty comfortable. You can tell the weather is changing. Getting cooler in the mornings and evenings. Almost time for a sweatshirt!  Low 70’s to start the day and low 90’s in the day.  Very pleasant.  Starting to get breezier and the north winds start up this week which will change things completely once they start blowing consistently.

WATER:  Mostly pretty and blue.  Perfect for fishing.  Getting 81 degrees on the surface, but colder water down deeper as evidenced by some of the fish we are hooking.  Have had a few bouncy days from the winds.  Gonna get rougher if the winter winds start to kick in.

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK:  Dorado, tuna, wahoo, sailfish, blue marlin, striped marlin, amberjack, yellowtail, sierra, bonito, jack crevalle, roosterfish, trevally, pompano, cabrilla, pargo, triggerfish

FISHING ON A SCALE of 1-10:  7

THE MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

 

Not one…FOUR! Brian Spicer had himself quite a day with Captain Victor taking four big wahoo off Cerralvo Island plus he also released a striped marlin. He donated or gifted the majority of the meat!

Randy Haire and Dennis Fujii with a nice rack or dorado to bring home!

Long-time amigo, Tim Butterworth always nails something great each time he visits us. He brought son-in-law Dave Spriggs this year and their last day, Tom got another wahoo with Captain Pancho.

Caroline Cain and family friend Kayla Lespade from Idaho had themselves a banner day with a number of big dorado like this fishing outside of La Paz Bay.

Great photo of a great day. Chris and Mari Bedsaul with Captain Gerardo.

Ken Takata and Steve Hirano fished 3 good days like this with dorado, pargo and snapper and Captain Gerardo doing the photobomb in the back.

This is what Santa does in the off-season! Actually, good amigo Rusty Cain…always good to have him visiting!

Our Tailhunter office managers, Maite Palacio and Arturo Becerrril got out on the water away from work and had fun on the dorado spot!

Mike Clark with Captain Pancho decked this beautiful blue marlin outside of Bahia Muertos. Mike had quite a battle as they passed the rod back and forth. The fish could not be revived and Mike donated much of the meat.

Chris Bedsaul and Captain Gerardo with the thumbs-up!

Such a great photo of a sweet amiga of Tailhunter. Mari Bedsaul always does well when she visits us. Beautiful colors! They actually lost two marlin and a sailfish this day!

Mike Clark poses with two of his four mahi on the day.

 

Anniversary trip for Don Jossie who was visiting us for the first time and had two days fishing with Captain Rogelio.

Many of you have known Benny Salgado for years working for Tailhunter as a cook, with me in the fish packing room and also our ace guitar player . We sent him out for the day to catch some dorado…good job!

The man behind the mask is Arturo Becerril…Tailhunter’s very own. He had fun with dorado like this one!

Good to have Steve Partridge and his wife fish with us for a few days. First day with Captain Armando out’ve Las Arenas was very productive! They’re from Redondo Beach CA.

Catch and release striper for Brian Spicer with Captain Victor! It was a good week for the billfish. Most broke off or were released.

Almost as big as her! Maite with one of her large dorado on the day! Her biggest!

Don Hugo poses with some of his catch of mahi at Bahia de los Muertos.

Brian…one more wahoo on the gaff!

_________________________________________

You can feel it in the air.

The seasons are changing.  Daytime temps are getting cooler and breezier.  The shadows are longer.  The night times are pleasant and not a bad idea to have a light sweatshirt handy.  Waters are getting just a bit bumpier when the breeze blows.

We usually say late October to April is our off-season.  It starts getting windier and colder and once the north winds start blowing consistently,  the fishing complexion changes completely.Not only is it rougher, but colder water fish move in as the ocean cools down.

Some days, it will be too rough to fish or you’ll get blown off the water.  So, really not many folks will be fishing the next few months.  But, this is why all the windsurfers and kiteboarders descend on us from all over the world to take advantage of our world-class winds in the La Paz area.

That’s generally speaking…

Sometimes, the winds don’t show up until later.  And warm water fishing continues.

But, this year, just like clockwork, I can see in the forecast that next week strong northern winds start kicking up! Some gusts will be 12-20 knots.

We don’t stop fishing, but not many reservations now on the books.  We’re usually running 10-20 boats per day from late March until October.  For the next few months, there will be almost no one.  And, if someone wants to fish, I make sure they know about the weather situation so they can make an informed decision.  Many of the fisherfolks that I do get in the coming months are regulars who know what to expect.  Or, they keep their schedules flexible so I can tell them which days will be worse than others so they can find the best day.

But, if this is our last “official” week of the season, we sure went out like gangbusters!

Dorado remained a solid mainstay of the catch.

It would be a crazy day if you didn’t come back with dorado in the box.  Our boats have been taking 4-8 dorado on the average and many tell me they lost fish or released a whole bunch.  Most fish have been in the 10-15 pound class but some of the larger bulls have hit the 20-40 pound size.

Ever day is different.  Some days it’s an early bite. Some days it’s a later bite.  Some days, you pick up one fish here…then 2 fish there…then nothing for a bit…then another fish…etc etc.  End of the day you’ve got some decent fish in the box.

Biggest surprise…the wahoo!!!

I can’t remember when we’ve had a run of wahoo like this in my 30 years down here.  Our boats were hitting 1,2, 3, 4 and 5 wahoo on the day fro 20-60 pounders.  More getting lost or busting off.  It was crazy.  An early morning bite for the most part and 90% taken trolling Marauders, Rapalas and Nomads.

Anglers come down and fish for years trying to get just one of these incredible fish.  And yet we had a few days when they suddenly just turned on like a light switch.  The best spots were the north and south ends of Cerralvo Island.

As well, the billfish didn’t want to get left out either.  After several weeks of non-existent biters, we had a number of billfish including sailfish, striped marlin and even the highly prized blue marlin.  Most fish were lost and most that were caught were released whenever possible.  But a real bonus catch!

With the weather changing, we’re seeing a few more colder water fishing starting to show up in the catches:  sierra, amberjack, pompano, trevally and small yellowtail.

There’s still some smaller roosterfish still hanging out as well!

________

ON A  PERSONAL NOTE:

A big shout out and thank you to our Tailhunter Nation for a great 30th season.  Whether you were able to visit us this year or not, Jilly and I appreciate all the love, support and friendship for all these years, but especially this year which has been especially challenging.  The prayers have been the best!

As many of you know, Jilly has been dealing with some serious medical issues and has not been able to be down here in La Paz for most of the year.  She’s been the ultimate trooper back in Texas dealing with the situation, while I’ve been here in La Paz alone trying to keep the Tailhunter Fleets, Restaurant and Transportation companies running and everyone smiling.

Even down here alone, Jilly has kept things rolling from up there so that I could keep things running as smoothly as possible down here.   She is still my best teammate.

So, I’ve pretty much been going 7 days a week since April.  I’m finally heading north to be able to see and spend time with my Jilly so we can figure some things out.  I have a few medical issues of my own to iron out!  (Nothing serious…just 30 years of wear-and-tear down here!).

I’ve done the fishing reports pretty religiously every week for over 28 years.  But, given we’re about at the end of the season, I’m going to take a few weeks off.  So, if you don’t see a report in a week, I just wanted you to know the reason.  I’m fine! We’re fine.

It’s just that when my reports are late, I start getting e-mails from so many thoughtful folks!

Just wishing ya’ll grateful blessings always!  Thanks for all the smiles and prayers!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.comMexico Office: 
Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter Sportfishing
8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178 La Mesa CA  91942

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Oct. 2-9, 2024

DORADO KEEPS RODS BENT!

La Paz- Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 2-9, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WATER:   Mostly nice and blue the way we like it with surface temps still in the low to mid-80’s. However, judging from some of the species we are hooking some cooler water starting to move in down deeper and along some of the coastal areas. 

WEATHER:   Warm and sunny. Highs in the mid 90’s in the day time. Can be a tad breezy in the mornings, but overall, nothing to complain about. Evenings are comfortable. I would still keep a light windbreaker handy. 

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK:   Dorado, tuna, wahoo, sailfish, marlin, sierra, jack crevalle, bonito, snapper, cabrilla, snapper, amberjack, rainbow runner, pompano, trevally, roosterfish

FISHING SCALE 1-10:  Solid 7

MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Ray Millman from Palos Verdes CA (middle) was on his 2nd trip of 2024 with us and brought his friend, Marc Bacon, with him this time. Captain Hugo found them a nice spot of bigger golden schoolie.

Captain Armando is a big favorite every year with Fernando and Nina Delmendo. Some nice mahi meat there on the table!

Stan Andre from San Francisco has been visiting us for years. He got onto this fatty yellowfin near Punta Pescadero on an early bite!

 

Love having first timers with us. Nick and Katelyn Hill from Utah had a couple of days on the water with us and took home a nice batch of dorado.

More great first timers! Aly Serafin and Shawn Mahan from Wyoming got to enjoy 2 days of fishing and some sunshine. They did pretty well on the fishing! Fun folks!

Biggest gold of the week? Wiley Randolph was with Capt. Jorge when he put the wood to this big bull! His personal best and always good to have Wiley down here!

Every year, Craig Brown and cousin, Bob Layko come down from Washington/Oregon and fish with Capt. Armando. Bob battled this 80 pound tuna on 40 pound test for over 2 hours and needed some help from cousin, Craig. But, the got it in!

Tom Maher had just one day to squeeze in some fishing and made the most of it hitting a nice spot of dorado!

Tim Campbell has been fishing with me over 20-something years. He finally brought son-in-law David Spriggs to fish down here and it was fun watching David get his first dorado. They fished the whole week.

Always great when Tim Nishimura from Sacramento comes down with son, Kenny. They have been here for years with us and love fishing with Captain Gerardo. Great guys!

Captain Armando put Steve Haeseker and Dan Schroeder on a jag of dorado for their first time down here with us. Good to have met new Tailhunter friends!

Greg Saubolle has been one of our friends for years, but this time he brought his lady Tracy Gray and got her onto her first gold...actually a lot more than one! Good folks!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 

Paul Nagata! Over the many years, our friend has been a poster-boy for Tailhunter with all his big fish and great photos. He was at it again this past week.

Lyle Huffaker with his first day big golden bull! Lyle is from Idaho.

Cody and Lucas Huffaker met me years ago in Idaho and have always wanted to come down! Finally made it and took home a bunch of great dorado and had some fun too!

Eric Pennington and Wiley Randolph got some great quality gold on the cutting table there!

Two of my all-time bestest fish brothers, Kenny Campbell and Johnny Gibbs fishing with Captain Armando.

So great to have Fred and Lisa Cruz from Washington come visit us again! With their favorite Captain Gerardo, I see dorado, pompano, cabrilla and snapper on the table!

It’s been many years since Shayne Grove came fishing with us. Great to have him back on the water!

Angelo Oliverio and Joe Malone give a couple thumbs-up on their first day fishing. Angelo…special shout-out to you on making it back after the medical incident! Blessings!

Johnny Terbu and Shayne Grove! Fishing buddies for years from Utah, good to see them on our water again. They started fishing with us almost 20 years ago!

Joe Malone has some colorful blue gold on the day’s catch!

Another view of that big tuna Bob Layko hooked and fought over 2 hours, but needed help from cousin Craig Brown here holding the fish with Captain Armando.

Dave again! Happy guy with more gold!

Rusty Cain has been fishing with us for years and loves fishing with Captain Armando. He was out with family friend, Kayla Lespade from Idaho to watch her tangle with dorado for the first time!

Terry Hawk makes it a point every year to fish with us and his favorite Captain Pancho. Obviously, he does pretty well. He’s had some great catches over the years!

Paul and Captain Pancho again!

Fred and Lisa again…different day…same result…MORE FISH!

________________________________________________

I was thinking that this time last year we were getting slammed by 3-days of Hurricane Norma.  Nothing like that so far this year, but sending our thoughts and prayers to all our Tailhunter Tribe and Nation and everyone on the Eastern and Southern areas hit by storms two weeks ago and currently getting wracked again.

We had another good solid week of fishing.  Lots of fun.  Lots of smiles.  Lots of folks catching their first…or their biggest…or the most fish!

This should really be a very short short fishing report.  Just let all the photos do the talking!

It’s almost boring!  We caught alot of dorado. There!  That’s the report!

Both of our fleets did pretty well.  Not alot of big bulls but just fun school-sized 5-15 pounders everyday.  No matter, it’s a vast improvement over how the rest of the summer/fall has been with such erratic fishing. It’s good to be able to tell folks,”Have fun today.  I’m pretty sure you’re gonna catch fish!”

I would say on the average, our boats have been bringing back 6-8 dorado per day.  Really hard to tell because fish are getting released. Also, fish are getting lost! That’s just the way fishing is.

The bite can be pick…pick…pick all day and at the end of the day you have a nice box of fish.  Or it can be agonizingly slow then all of a sudden…BAM!  You hit a frantic school and all heck busts loose in a frenzy!

In addition to the dorado, we got a little jag of 50-80 pound tuna that hit us for 2 days then disappeared.  You had to get on thise fish early in the morning before they went down

Also a few wahoo biters but nothing to get too exited about. Got a few billfish…all released.

Inshore, pargo, cabrilla, some roosterfish, but also seeing some cooler-water fish moving in like sierra, amberjack, pompano, trevaly and rainbow runners!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.comMexico Office: 
Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter Sportfishing
8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178 La Mesa CA  91942

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Sept .14-21, 2024

POST TROPICAL STORM ILEANA

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 14-21, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN REPORT

WEATHER: Had Tropical Storm Ileana came and crashed into S.Baja bringing rain and big seas except to La Paz where we had some drizzle and dark clouds (thankfully that’s all), but it was enough for the port captain to shut down all fishing for 2 days. Since then, it’s been sunny, but cool and breezy.

WATER:  Water was not as bad as usual after a storm. Readings of 83-86 on the surface and mostly good patches of blue.

SPECIES HOOKED THIS WEEK:   Dorado, prickly pear, bonito, jack crevalle, snapper, cabrilla, sailfish, striped marlin, blue marlin, amberjack, wahoo, rainbow runner, snapper, sierra

FISHING SCALE 1-10:   Was 4 and got to a 6

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

 

There sure haven’t been many wahoo this year, but Jim Bailey from San Diego with Captain Pancho boated this fatty at the south end of Cerralvo Island. They also had another biter, but it straightened the hook on the Rapala!

Richard Smith and Ron Gray hooked this striper on light tackle and tag-teamed it to the boat for almost 2 hours. The fish could not be released.

A great start for Mike Ingster and Glenn Tochibana with a table full of dorado and some of the first tuna we’ve seen all season.

Scott and Darin Stromberg from Utah had a successful day (and week) fishing out’ve Bahia Muertos. Dorado and football tuna!

Steve poses with his striper on the beach at Bahia Muertos. They released a sailfish, but this one could not be released.

Shane Nielsen and Gary Sears took home a nice load of dorado over several days fishing with us.

Two of the sweetest folks ever! From Texas, Debbie and Randy Moe get a hand from Captain Jorge with some dorado from their first day on the water.

Darrell Chang and Bobby Hara squeezed two days of fishing in with us and always good to see them down here. 2nd day they rocked the dorado school plus a couple of pompano.

This is more like it! Brothers-in-law, Jim Bailey and Adam Florence found a better grade of prickly pear at the north end of Cerralvo Island.

Debbie will tell everyone within earshot that she caught all the dorado even tho’ she was fishing with husband Randy!

Voronika Sharikova and Amanda Davies visiting us from home in Yosemite put some dorado fillets in the cooler to go with their other fish.

_______________________________________

Tropical Storm Ileana bumped into Baja earlier in the week and created all kinds of havoc. It never developed into a full-blown hurricane, but it was enough.

Many areas got flooded. There were mudslides and road closures. The airports got shut down and flights got cancelled.

In La Paz, the government had the National Guard ready. They had the Red Cross ready to go. they had the. CFE power company trucks ready to handle power outages.

Then…nothing happened!

Clouds got dark. Seas got a bit stormy. But, there wasn’t even enough rain to get the ground wet! It was a complete non-event. A huge inconvenience for some but a disaster for fishing, only insofar as the Port Captain shut down La Paz Bay to all boat traffic in and out. So for two days as we waited for the storm to actually smack into us, NO ONE COULD GET OUT FISHING!

Understandably, it could have been worse. We’re grateful that it wasn’t worse. We get it that out’ve caution, boating gets shut down. People lose their lives out there on the water and just because it looks calm inside the bay…outside it could be a washing machine!

But, it’s just hard to justify to fishermen why we couldn’t go out when it wasn’t really raining and from inside the bay it didn’t look that rough.

So, Ileana came and went and regretfully, some guys lost days of fishing. That’s why I constantly warn our guests to purchase trip insurance.

After the storm passed on, it’s always difficult to tell how the fishing will be. Prior to Ileana, we had some of the best fishing of the season. Not great, but compared to the rest of the summer, fishing was pretty darned good.

But after a storm, waters could be colder. Waters could be dirtier. It could be rough. There are lots of variables.

However, because we didn’t get much rain, the waters didn’t get hit too hard. Fishing started slow, but with each progressive day, it seemed to get a little better.

It has been windy and cool, however. In fact, we’re all commenting this is the coldest September any of us can remember. In fact, instead of the beginning of fall, it feels like the beginning of winter down here. We have all been wearing jackets in the mornings!

But, the fishing did improve progressively.

Dorado came back nicely. Some 5-10 pound schoolie fish mostly, with some occasional fish in the 20 pound class. Some days they were here and there. Other times, anglers got into a school and it was one-stop shopping!

Additionally, we got some surprises.

Tuna showed up! We haven’t had much prickly pear in 2 or 3 seasons. Definitely we got more tuna this week than any time of the year. Nothing spectacular, but football-sized 5-10 pounders came up around Cerralvo Island and south towards Punta Pescadero. It seemed like a morning bite then the fish were gone so you had to jump on it pretty early. Some of the larger fish went 20 pounds or so.

As well, we kinda got our first wahoo of the season after nothing all year. Fish running 20-30 pounds were hit at the south end of Cerralvo with out half the fish getting off or biting through lines and lures.

Add in lots of bonito, needlefish, jack crevalle and even some marlin and sailfish and it was a surprisingly good end of the week those last few days!

Some roosterfish are still around and we’re getting some cold-water species as well as amberjack, sierra, rainbow runners, pompano and trevally.

This whole year has been unpredictable, but we hope it continues to get better before the northern winds start up!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.com Mexico Office: 
Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

US Mailing Address:   Tailhunter Sportfishing
8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178 La Mesa CA 91942

Phones: 
from USA: 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Aug. 5-12, 2024

THE STRUGGLE IS REAL!

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 5-12, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN REPORT

WEATHER:  Cooler than normal but the humidity is way up.  Had a crazy “torito” blow in (baby hurricane) that comes out’ve nowhere and it dropped about 15 minutes of rain on us as well as some big swells.

WATER:  Crazy water.  Warm blue water patches.  Cold water patches that are dirty green and dark.  Surface temps are 85 in the blue water and in the 70’s in the green water.  Moving and changing daily!

SPECIES HOOKED THIS WEEK:  Yellowtail,  dorado, jack crevalle, bonito, rainbow runners, pompano, trevally, pargo, sailfish, marlin, roosterfish, baby tuna, amberjack, sierra

NOTE:  Very un-predicatable and unseasonable bite

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

 

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Captain Gerardo helps Steve Guidi with the gaff and a photo op wit this legit bull dorado.

Ray Cabales always has funny photos for us whenever he fishes, but this big rooster was a battle. Ray says his arms were pretty sore after the fight. Captain Pancho helps out. The fish was released.

Another weird thing for the fishing season! Gwyn Bailey wit a barracuda!! I’ve only seen barracuda caught about 3 times in 30 years. I have only seen a school of the one time while scuba diving. And never one this big! Good eating!

1..2..3…LIFT for the photo! Tony Smith hefts a gorgeous mossback yellowtail for the camera.

Good friend, Andrew Fernandez with a sailfish for a photo and release. He told me they actually had a double hook-up as his buddy Steve had a big dorado on the line at the same time. (see the first photo above!).

Mac Costas…pretty roosterfish right off the Las Arenas beach. He did release the fish. Jonathan Dille with the photobomb shaka!

Jeanne always looks like she’s ready to bite the fish back! She’s got a nice bull dorado for the camera pose!

Marcus Yoo just retired as a Lt. Colonel in the army and visits us each year. He’s in shape! But this big roosterfish was all he could handle and he could not lift it for the photo. Several estimates put this at well over 100 pounds and he needed an assist from Captain Victor to release it. He also caught and released another 30 pound class rooster.

Another strange fish we shouldn’t be catching right now. A rainbow runner related to yellowtail caught by Tom Hunt from Arizona.

Pretty shot with the blue water of La Paz Bay. John and Gwyn Bailey with a quad of yellowtail for the fish box.

 

Ray is ready for some yellowtail sashime and poke. He had some back at our Tailhunter Restaurant and I made up several good batches of rice to go along with it. He had big smiles!

YEOW!!! First day roosterfish TOAD for Jonathan Dille from Arizona!!! Definite trophy and they caught two that day and released them both.

Kind of a cute photo that I just had to include. Stephanie Worley fished with her husband James and really really worked hard for all their fish…and they know how to fish! But, got this dorado one of their days.

This is what we are SUPPOSED to be catching right now, but dorado are few and hard to come by, but Tom Hunt and Jack Sellers found these 2 pairs outside of La Paz Bay towards Espirito Santo Island

There was one day when all our boats went hunting for yellowtail and dorado and pretty much struggled all day hunting and pecking. John and Gwyn decided to head to the rocks and fish the rockfish and had a banner day on pargo, cabrilla, snapper and more!

Maybe the most frameable photo of the week. Leo Albers fishing with us for the first time with one of his big yellowtail! Normally , he’s fishing ling cod up the California coast .

Roger “Fluffy” McCracken has been a good friend over 25 years. He’s living in Portland now and always good to see him . Nice dorado, Roger!

One of the bigger dorado of the week. Mac hung this one off Las Arenas. We should be thick into these right now, but it’s been a crazy unusual season.

One of the funnest guys to be around…Chris Burgin…our friend from Texas will keep you laughing. He’s got an exceptionally large jack crevalle on is lap. Tough fighters. Basically, they are like roosterfish without the mohawk fin on their heads.

 

Andrew threw iron all day for the yellowtail but finally slammed this guy on the jig. That’s alot of work, but he enjoys the artificials.

 

OK…Is Jeanne angry at this yellowtail or does she really want a some incredibly fresh sashime? I love this lady. She cracks me up all the time. And she knows how to fish and have fun whenever she and Ray come to visit.

 

Another one of our Texas amigos. Shane Burgin fits the stereotype “good old boy” Texan to the letter! Always has something fun going on or to say. Got his biggest rooster ever with Captain Pancho for the photo and release.

__________________________________________

Where do I start?

I think I could write a book about this season.  Each week things get a little more strange.

We are still hunting and pecking for fish.  Some days some boats get fish.  Other boats, same spot, same bait, same conditions…it changes again.

It’s like the rest of the world. Mexico is not immune to the weird conditions unlike anything I have ever seen in 30 years working in La Paz.

No day  is alike.

We have hot humid days when the sun blazes and the humidity can be anywhere from 50-80%.  But we have cooler cloudy days.

Or hot cloudy days

Or chilly mornings.

Or ho days followed by chilly night.

We have days when the ocean is flat and then later that day or the next day it’s all roiled up with big waves, swells and chop.

There are days when we got baby hurricanes ( “toritos”) that last a few hours and blow boats off the water in one area but in other areas, there isn’t a cloud in the sky (Cabo got flooded), but we only got a few minutes of heavy rain.

We have spots of clear blue water and right next to it, cold dirty dark water. We have areas where this is cold water on top and warm water below and other areas where the warm water is on top and there’s colder water below.

We have days when there’s so much live bait.  The next day, we really have to scratch to find any.

We also have tons of sharks in the water.  You name it and it’s probably swimming around. Little ones.  Big ones.  Dark ones,…about the only kind we haven’t seen is the big white fella.  But that doesn’t mean he’s not around.  One day at Muertos Bay, right in the shallows where alot of little roosterfish and tiny sardines were bunched up a 12′ tiger was swimming in about 3′ of water right where our boats were pulling in.

And everything changes from day-to-day.

So, the fish are about as confused as we are.

We should be nailing dorado, tuna, wahoo, billfish…

Instead we’re having trouble finding them.  Even in the blue water at times,  fish that should be there aren’t there!   Believe it or not, there are some days when even the bonito and jack crevalle don’t bite and even (gasp!) the needlefish aren’t around.

We’re catching a few blue water fish, but literally just a smattering.  There were days last year where we caught more dorado in one day than we are catching in a whole week right now.

Instead, we’re getting pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle, snapper, pompano, rainbow runners and amberjack.  These are all cooler water fish that we catch in the spring and disappear mostly around June.

These species DID taper off.  But now they are back!

Same with roosterfish.  We usually don’t see many of those big boys after June. But (thankfully) we have big 30-100+pound fish around once again.  Where did they go and why are they back.  Some days, I am so grateful we have the roosters around because they are “bucket list fish” and when other species are hard to find, the roosters put big smiles on faces as they bend rods.

Another thing…

We just had the best yellowtail bite I have seen in 30 years.  Normally, we have a so-so yellowtail area around La Paz.  If you really want yellowtail head north to Loreto and Mulege which are famous for their yellowtail. We get a few days in the springtime here and there, but that’s kind of it.  It’s OK, but not great.  But again, these are a colder water fish.

And they are NEVER here in the summer and for sure not in August!

Well, this past week, we had 3 days when yellowtail were literally foaming on the surface and boiling on the baits.  Boats were hooking up to a dozen of these bruiser 20-40 pound fish.  Many getting lost and broken off, but the fish were slamming lines.  Then, I sent everyone there the 4th day to get in on the bite and …ZILCH!  We had 8 boats get 2 fish!

My captains said the waters and currents had changed and they also had trouble finding live bait.

The next day, the fish were back. So was the bait.  Waters had changed again!

Another strange one…little itty-bitty yellowfin tuna.  This is the right time for them, but I’ve never seen little mini-yellowfin tuna like this.  They are about 10″ long!

So, I give up trying to guess.  Come down and fish and it will be what it will be!

Captains are really pushing hard to find fish and running long distances looking for favorable conditions.  Staying out extra long sometimes as well.  Clients have been gems and also being patient and hanging with the program with smiles during the tough hunting days.

Some boats get hot and the boat right next to them can’t buy a bite.  Hot spots go cold for fishing the next day and cold spots suddenly produce fish the next day.

Just being honest.  It is what it is right now.

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.comMexico Office: 

Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter Sportfishing
8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178 La Mesa CA  91942

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of July 4-11, 2024

FISH GOT PICKY -WHAT CHANGED? 

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 4-11, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WATER:  Several weeks of southern winds and waves caused by those storms on the Eastern Coast of Mexico really turned our waters from blue to cold, cloudy and green in many areas. Directly affecting the fishing.

WEATHER:  Cool mornings.  HOT HOT HOT afternoons.  Strange for July weather.

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK: Dorado, marlin, sailfish, tuna, yellowtail, bonito, jack crevalle, cubera snapper, yellowsnapper, triggerfish, roosterfish, cabrilla, pargo

FISHING ON  1-10 SCALE:  3 😳😳😳🥲

MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Captain Luis gives first-timer Jessica Lister from Oregon a hand with a huge bull dorado that’s about as tall as she is!

Steve “Roosterfish King” Bryan from Seattle spends 2 weeks with us each year and only targets big roosterfish. He was in last week’s report and he’s got more fish for this week. All released!

David Jones from Oklahoma with a beast bull dorado!

Always too fun with Taylor Sering from Oregon and Captain Luis. Finally landed his sailfish! Fish could not be released.

Wonderful first-timer with us from Bakersfield CA, Dennis Slater had a good week on dorado and roosterfish.

Sal Lopez has been fishing with us for a couple of decades, but he finally landed (and released) his first roosterfish and it was a gem. He was pretty excited!

The Henke Brothers, David and Bo, our long time, amigos were with Captain Chito and landed a really colorful bull mahi!

Lots of great action on the jack crevalle that sure put up big fights. Austin Lister with a big smile and a jack!

All the way from Indianapolis, Brian Bauer with his wife, Rita, could not have been more excited with this big striper he battled on light tackle for a few hours! His first. Fish could not be released.

Great to have Kevin Lister come spend vacation time with us for his first-time La Paz trip. Got himself a nice jack on the gaff!

Fresh color on Austin’s dorado! Great shot!

Kim Sebastian from Louisiana scooted out and almost didn’t make it down because of Hurricane Beryl. He’s been fishing all over the continents for years trying to get ONE roosterfish and never even got a nibble. His wife said he could have one more trip and one more try. First day with us and Captain Pancho, he racked this 80-pound class rooster! His wife was more excited than he was! Fish was released!

Steve Bryan with yet another nice roosterfish…caught and released!

These two characters are funny as heck. Steve Dupuis and Vance Robichaux from Louisiana caught and released 3 big roosters on the day!

After several years absence, it was great to have Craig Corda from Calexico back with us and he’s got a big smile and dorado fishing with Captain Pancho.

Young Owen Fujita is a very good angler and comes fishing with us every year with his dad, Corey. Don’t be fooled, Owen can fish and his dad always rocks as well. Nice rooster caught and released and great photo!

Steve and Kim with Captain Pancho…double D’s! Two big dorado on the day!

One of the best fishermen down here…Kevin Shiotani…big tuna off Cerralvo Island. Maybe 100 pounder. The photo doesn’t do justice to how thick this fish really is!

Cathy and Randy Corda only had 2 days to fish with us, but took home some good dorado fillets fishing with Captain Pancho.

Brian posing with one of his dorado before it hits the fillet table!

It’s legit! Taylor and Captain Luis with a bull that might not fit in the fish box!

Our own Tailhunter Jorge Romero slipped out for a day off driving everyone all over to go out with Captain Chito. Fishing was tough, but they got this big dorado just off the rocks in shallow water!

Gilberto is somewhere behind the mask, but I’m sure was pretty happy with this big gallo for the photo then release!

Always fun…jack crevalle on the end of a line! Craig with the photo and smile! Fish was released.

That big heavy powerful tail was about to smack Steve in the face when this photo was taken, but he got the feisty rooster back in the water!

__________________________________

I’ll cut right to the chase.

It wasn’t a very good week of fishing.  Despite everyone’s best efforts, we struggled.

In the fishing biz, even down here, you have the occasional off day.  Or maybe one or two boats just have bad luck.  It happens.  It’s called fishing. Other days make up for it or,  if the fishing is off, it recovers pretty quickly, especially down here.

But, about 2 weeks ago fishing got pretty erratic and un-predictable.

It’s gotten worse since then!

It was hard to put a finger on it, but I think it’s a combination of factors.

One is those huge storms on the eastern side of Mexico the last 2-3 weeks that pushed across into Mexico affected our weather patterns here on the Pacific side.  We have strong southern winds, big waves and stronger than usual currents.

Waters have gotten turned over.  We have warm blue 85 degree water in some places, but then you run into big patches of colder off-color waters that are cloudy and dirty.  That usually means cooler water from down deep has pushed to the surface.

On top of that, we cut open the stomachs of some of the caught fish and found their bellies full of little red shrimp!  So, they are also full.  No reason to eat more.  Plenty of food elsewhere.

It has all really affected the bite.  Normally we should be in full-turbo right now.

Instead, we’re struggling to find a handful or decent dorado or dorado bigger than 18″ or better action than bonito, jack crevalle and needlefish.  It’s fun at first, but after that, pretty frustrating.

The dorado we have been seeing are some nicer grade 20-30 pound class fish, but not like it should be.

Marlin and sailfish are crazier than I have ever seen them.  A good example was that the other day, I had 14 pangas out with about 30 anglers.  Ten boats hooked at least one marlin or sailfish even though they were not trying.  The billfish just happened to be feeding.  All the billfish either broke off or were released.  A few didn’t revive and most meat was donated.

Funny thing is that the few times where our guest specifically targeted billfish, they mostly caught zero!  The boats that had no intention of catching billfish hooked billfish accidentally!

Thankfully, the roosterfish have hung around.   Still some big hogs in the area including trophy-fish running 40-100 pounds!  Larger ones have been lost.  Still pretty thrilling to hook one of these on light tackle.

Our anglers have been great and patient and hung in there.  Captains have worked extra hard.  We can only keep pushing on.  Hopefully, things will turn.  If we don’t have lines in the water we definitely won’t catch anything.  We’re still having fun!

ADIOS y VAYA CON DIOS OLD FRIEND

Cheers and Godspeed to Pops Henke our dear long-time Tailhunter friend. We’ll see you again, amigo!

THANK YOU AND KEEP THEM COMING

For all of you sending prayers and good thoughts for Jilly, thank you beyond words.  She’s hanging in there and we appreciate you all!  One day-at-a-time.  Small victories.  We’ll take them and each day is a gift and blessing! 😁👍🙏🙏🙏🙏

That’s my story

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.comMexico Office: 
Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter Sportfishing
8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178 La Mesa CA  91942

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

 

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