La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 12-20th, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
Apologies, amigos. I tried to hold out as long as I could, but I lost my voice this week and I just couldn’t do the video. I was already starting to feel it go on last week’s video and it just went downhill. I feel fine. Just wracked my voice! I sound like Mike Tyson right now. More tea and honey! Thanks for understanding.
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Tony Toven’s big roosterfish gets him grinning! That’s the beach at Punta Arenas behind him. The fish was released.
Orrin Grant all the way from Salt Lake City, Utah for his first saltwater fishing experience and his first fish is a big roosterfish. He caught and released several over the week and had some long battles.
One of our funnest guys who’s known us for years, Jim Newman comes down from Chicago for quick get-aways and loves his fishing. Check out the nice dog-tooth.
A good start to the fishing trip! Austin and Dan Dorati show a table-full of dorado headed to the freezer!
Finally!!! After watching his son battle a few big boys, Grant Parr from Utah, finally gets a rooster of his own. Well done and a strong release.
With football season getting postponed, Tommy Newman was able to come down a few days with his dad and get some dorado and other species with us.
Some fine fish meat for the table! Captain Gerardo and Tony Toven show off a pair of great barred pargo.
The masked fisherman is Austin Dorati with a fat roosterfish to start the day. The fish was released.
This week was a tad better than last week, but still wasn’t quite where it should be. This is turning into a funky season in more ways than one. It’s like the fish have been affected by world events or something like the rest of us.
One day, it feels like summer fishing with specias like dorado and billfish in the counts. The next day, it gets rougher and cooler and the wind pick up and the waters turn over. And we’re back to spring-time fishing catching cabrilla, pargo, amberjack, snapper, jack crevalle and other inshore fish. All very fun, but not typical this late in the year.
Thankfully, big roosterfish are still hanging out and throwing some thrill at the anglers.
Honestly, it’s been up and down. If you fish a few days, you’ll do OK. Some days some boats do better than others or one spots is hotter than another. If you only fish 1 day, you could be that one boat that just has a slack bite.
It’s just hard to get any consistency. Just when I thought we were on an upswing, Hurricane Genevieve came up mid-week and was supposed to be a big one. Just what we needed. Lots of clouds and winds came up. Everything got shut down. Cabo got flooded. Here in La Paz, we waited and waited.
And other than strong winds, there wasn’t even enough rain to clean the dust off my windshield. We actually could use a little rain. So, ho-hum.
Cooler than normal at 95 degrees during the day. There’s still bands of very cold water on the outside.
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 6-12, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Not bad for a first-try to get a roosterfish off the bucket list, but Albert Vasquez from Santa Ana CA hefted this big rooster off Las Arenas before releasing it.
Big schools of big jack crevalle are providing lots of action off the sandy beaches. Mateo Saffon from San Diego poses with a tough jack with the sands of Punta Arenas just in the background.
Great colors, great guy! Bennett Clegg fishes with us yearly and loves ultra-light tackle. Not many fish more fun on light tackle than dorado and he hit some nice jags of mahi north of La Paz and limited the box. Check the calm water!
Big smiles and a nice bull for Lorena Balanzar just learning to fish. She’s visiting from San Diego CA and was fishing from Bahia Muertos.
Bennett just takes some great photos! Here he is again with another dorado, but this one taken near Las Arenas on the day when the winds and waves really started to rip it up!
Love this photo! Murray Scott with his first roosterfish while Al Vasquez tangled with the big jack crevalle…cousin to the rooster, but without the fancy headgear. Both fish were released.
Alway fun, no matter the size, but especially if it’s one of your first fish. Lorena holds up a rooster that’s headed back into the water to grow bigger.
Dorado fishing this past week was better for our La Paz fleet as the waters were more protected from the bashing received by south-facing beaches due to Tropical Storm Christina. Al and Murray took for dorado this day and had some fresh fish for dinner cooled up in town.
FISHING
The week started OK, but then hit a bump when Tropical Storm Christina hit southern Baja. It dump some rain on the Cabo area and forced the closure of the port there as well as on the East Cape. Up in La Paz, we didn’t get the rains or flooding, but south-facing beaches got slammed by big waves and high winds and forced everyone to come in early one day and the next day, no one could even push their boats off the beach.
However, with each day after that, waters got clearer and warmer again as the weather settled down .
Good catches of 10-20 pound dorado could be found in various scattered areas between Espirito Santo Island and Cerralvo Island. Inshore fishing for big schools of tough jack crevalle provided plenty of action along with big roosterfish in the 10-50 pound class in the same areas.
We had one wahoo that was hooked and lost so we know they’re around. Also some big pargo were lost in the rocks in the same place that produced some decent-sized cabrilla. We saw marlin again this week, but couldn’t get them to chew then the weather changed and they took a powder. Should be back this coming week.
Sportfishing slowly getting back to speed after the quarantine, but restrictions still exist for other operations which require maximum 30% occupancy and it is expected that the beaches and malecon will still be closed for another week.
TRAVEL
Here’s some observations on my traveling back home here to La Paz from the states…
The plane was half-full. Either because they weren’t sold out or because of social distancing. It looked like couples were kept together, but solo travelers seemed to be seated at least 2 seats away from each other. This was American Airlines.
Everyone on the flight wore masks. Once we were in flight, there was pretty much no interaction with the flight attendants. The days of food and drink service might be a memory. We were given a little bag that had a little bottle of water; a small bag of pretzels and a small packet of hand gel. Just as we were boarding they said any flight less than 900 miles would not have food service and we needed to purchase food and drinks before we got on the plane. Of course, they said that 5 minutes before boarding so no one could get anything.
Landed at Los Cabos Airport and it was eerie. Maybe it was just the time-of-day because it was an early flight, but there was not a single aircraft on the tarmac! There was not a single person on the tarmac. Not baggage handlers, drivers, ground crew or anyone! It was like a zombie movie.
Inside the terminal it was the smoothest I have ever seen. That’s because instead of hundreds of people trying to get through immigration, there were maybe 10 total people. It was a breeze.
Gotta tell you that everyone we ran into had the biggest sincerest smiles. They were really really happy and welcoming and wanted us there. Everyone had a squeeze of anti-bacterial gel in their hands for you as well.
I had to fill out a questionnaire asking the usual…Have I had covid? Have I been around anyone with it? Do I have any symptoms? Etc. etc. I had to sign it, but then no one collected it!
Customs was crazy easy! They just wanted us to come on in! Normally, everyone has to put every piece of luggage on the x-ray machine. You also have to press the “red light/ green light” inspection button. EVERYONE got the GREEN LIGHT and almost no one had to put anything through the x-ray machine. Everyone kept smiling at me saying, “Welcome to Mexico!” I think everyone of them would have hugged me or shook my hands if they could!
Walking out to the shuttles, everyone offers to wipe down your luggage or give you cleaning wipe or offers you some gel!
Looking at the shuttle vans lined up, you have to step in a little tray of antiseptic then onto a mat before you climb into the shuttle.
Almost after everything you touch someone seems to come up behind you and wipe it down. Even with taxi’s and shuttle vans drivers seem to be constantly wiping or spraying antiseptic in their vehicles.
Everyone wears mask and there’s very little griping. People just accept that it’s part of life right now.
Restaurants and hotels and other businesses are very careful to observe the 30% capacity rules. Businesses that don’t get shut down.
Tables are spaced and since there’s not many folks there, service is great and probably some of the best I have seen down here in all my years. They are very attentive.
Traffic is very minimal on the road. On the water, there’s almost no boats. You have the ocean to yourself!
My final word…
After almost 4 months of a quarantine that was much much more rigid than we had in the states, I think no one is taking being able to work or tourism for granted. There’s no unemployment or stimulus checks here. People want and need to work and know how important tourism is to this economy. So, the smiles and welcoming attitudes are genuinely sincere. Nothing and no one is taken for granted.
To me, it seems they are going above-and-beyond and taking extra measures in health and sanitation in regards to tourism here in Baja Sur.
Whether you believe that masks, social distancing, anti-bacterial gels and controlled occupancy does one bit of good, the folks down here want YOU, the traveller and guest that THEY are doing everything they can to assure you that they have as many bases covered as possible. No business is even allowed to re-open unless it passes a rigid sanitation inspection and certfication process…not just that it’s clean, but also so that protocols are in place to maintain that standard including re-training all staff members.
The other side is that they also want to protect themselves from outsiders, especially visitors from the U.S. where Covid-19 is much much more rampant than here in Mexico.
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 for June 19-29, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Dennis Gaetz lives there near Bahia Muertos and is able to get out and jump on some of the roosterfish that have shown up along the beaches. This hefty fella was caught on live bait and released.
Bryan lives there in Todos Santos and was out fishing from Bahia Muertos when he got this colorful bull dorado.
Still not many fishermen around yet, but our captains are rocking it to catch food to eat or taking out neighbors and friends. Our Tailhunter Captain Luis (Chito’s nephew / Raul’s Grandson) stuck 4 of these big dog-tooth at the island! I’m sure someone took that head to make a big pot of soup!
Our captain Pancho took out a doctor friend of the family and got one of the roosterfish showing up along Punta Arenas. The fish was released.
Early in the year for such nice dorado, but Captain Blas and Captain Alfredo (his dad) took their neighbor out from La Paz Bay and stuck this sweet dorado near Espirito Santo Island.
Beautiful colors…the water…the fish…a good day for Yohan and this roosterfish that he released.
Mostly alot of locals like our captains out fishing with friends and neighbors and yea…dorado showing up! Our popular Captain Moncho’s son, Ramon Jr. , was out with a friend from Todos Santos.
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La Paz is still figuring it’s way through the “new normal” after restrictions started to lift on June 16th and the government especially tries to find a balance between health and a struggling economy. Currently, restrictions include only 30% occupancy for all activities and locations including restaurants, hotels, businesses and even beaches. Facemarks are also a requirement.
It was hoped that restrictions might be further loosened, but like many places, folks have been taking advantage of the eased restrictions and ignoring prohibitions, so the government has extended the current restrictions and is threatening to revert back to full lockdown. So, for the time-being things remain at ORANGE LEVEL 5.
In the meantime, Covid infections are unabated much like many places in the world that open up. The government says this was to be expected and the levels are acceptable, but in places like Cabo, they have already shut down water-based activities again, such as water tours, kayaking, paddle boards, wakeboard operations, snorkeling, diving, booze cruises and others. Sportfishing has remained open but with restrictions.
The government says restrictions will remain at Orange Level 5 for now.
It’s important also that U.S. and Mexico extended the border closure until July 22, but it does NOTapply to travel by air, water or rail.
For fishing in La Paz, not many sport fishermen out yet since hotels are still struggling to get open by early July and training their staffs and airlines are scrambling to re-open and re-schedule routes.
However, locals, including our captains have been fishing and doing pretty well.
Our Las Arenas captains that have gone out’ve Bahia Muertos, are finding lots of live bait and good spots of rooster fish between 20-80 pounds. Lots of jacks, bonito are also around as well as decent action over structure for barred pargo, dog-tooth snapper, red and yellow snapper and big mullet snapper and cabrilla. Some small spots of dorado between 5 and 30 pounds also starting to show up.
For our La Paz captains working north from la Paz Bay, yellowtail, pargo and amberjack have been bending rods over the reefs and more dorado are being found including some legit-sized bulls as sargasso weed starts to build up in the current lines.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of May 23-June 1, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Popular Captain Pancho got out to fish close-in for some cabrilla and pargo for the family and said there’s alot of roosterfish along the shoreline like this one he caught and released.
Dennis is a Canadian amigo who lives in San Pedro near Muertos Bay and was out trying to catch some food. He ran into this hefty jack crevalle.
With no fishing allowed, the fish have no pressure! Check this crazy video of jack crevalle on a feeding frenzy in the Cabo Marina. Turn up the sound. Thanks for the Pisces Fleet in Cabo for the footage!
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Looks like La Paz will slowly be opening after June 15th.
Although Covid is raging in many parts of Mexico, La Paz has been designated as the safest tourist city by Mexican Health authorities and will have a gradual re-opening mid-month. Authorities are saying, it would still probably take 10-14 days for businesses to resurrect themselves plus establish the safety and sanitation protocols that are being required to re-open. Some, but not all airlines are also re-establishing routes and services.
As I’ve stated before, just because everyone gets the green light on June 16th to open, that doesn’t mean automatically everyone suddenly opens! Like the U.S. many businesses suddenly just turned the keys and had to walk out. Some will take time to re-open. Others may never open again.
As of right now, I have no idea who plans to be open and when!!!!
Businesses are required to pass a health certification inspection. New sanitary protocols have to be put in place. Employees have to be found…and re-trained. Everything has to be cleaned extensively after being vacant for almost 3 months. Hotel rooms need to be sanitized from the ground up. So do restaurants. Even sportfishing boats need to be sanitized.
And then what? How will folks eat in restaurants? How many people in the shuttle from the airport? Can hotel rooms be located next to each other? How do you clean the rooms after a guest leaves? So many moving parts!
TAILHUNTER SPORTISHING
The bottom line for us is that we will be back in La Paz June 23rd. We finally found a flight home! But, that also gives hotels, etc. a chance to get going and establish new routines, etc. We lost our Tailhunter Restaurant permanently in the early days of the quarantine so we don’t have much to prep. We are READY to fish!
But, we don’t (and can’t ) have you down if we don’t even know if the hotels will be ready! Some still aren’t answering phones or e-mails because no one is in the offices. Even if you have reservations, there might not yet flights…so many airlines seem to be making adjustments daily!
I’ve sent e-mails to everyone who had reservations for the month of June to contact us. For all practicality, I think we’ll be up and going July 1st. I hope.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of April 22-29, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
Please remember that anything I say, might have already changed between the time I recorded this, produced it and when you are actually seeing this!
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Our Tailhunter Captain Luis has been a hotshot the last two seasons and has been rocking some big fish during the downtime. He’s got the DNA for it! His uncle is popular Captain Chito and his grandfather is Raul who have both fished for us for several decades. Luis is our youngest captain and already in big demand. He was out at El Bajo this week and took this big tuna on THIRTY POUND test with 50-pound leader after a 3 hour battle. The fish is estimated at 160-170 pounds.
Only commercial fishermen or locals fishing for sustenance can fish right now. Here’s a smattering of species caught by one of the local guys to feed his family for the week that includes triggerfish, pargo, snapper and cabrilla.
The only folks fishing are locals and folks who have homes there and are staying in place. And, even then, not many. Most are sheltering-in-place. The quarantine in Baja Sur was extended through May 30th and more stringent restrictions have been mandated because too many people were ignoring the quarantine.
CHASING CAMPERS OFF THE BEACH
Therefore, the non-essential businesses remain closed like all hotels, restaurants, stores (not markets) as well as beaches, public areas, etc. However, with the new restrictions, there is also a 10 p.m. curfew now. Facemarks are required by everyone. Only 1 person from a family or group may enter a market now and only 1 person in a car at a time. Plus no alcohol sales after 6 p.m. The governor or Baja addressed the state and said that penalties would include fines, jail time and/or public service.
YOU NEED A GOOD REASON TO BE DRIVING AFTER 10 P.M. ONLY 1 PERSON IN THE CAR AT A TIME
Maybe it’s paying off. Maybe it’s too early to tell.
With almost 800,000 residents in the state of Baja Sur (including Loreto, Mulege, La Paz and Cabo San Lucas), has less than 200 cases with only about a dozen fatalities. 230 have recovered.
Compared to the state of Baja Norte (including Ensenada, Tijuana, Rosarito, Mexicali and San Felipe) as well as mainland Mexico, Baja Sur (so far) is weathering things better than most.
Assuming there are no drastic changes, major hotels are talking about opening up in June.
Several Airlines will resume flights including Delta, Aero Mexico, United, Alaska, Spirit and others.
Restaurants are gearing up to re-open.
They are telling students be prepared to get back to school on July 1. (Just learned…Now June 1)
No idea yet about the ports and marinas which would allow sportfishing boats to get out, but that would be additional good news.
FISH…
We know there’s fish around. A few of our captains and their families are finding yellowtail, dorado and tuna in various spots, but again, barely anyone is fishing. Some have commercial licenses and are using them to get out. However… If you don’t have alot of gas, you can’t go too far, but inshore fishing has been good for amberjack, pargo, cabrilla, triggerfish and snapper. But, again, most of the fish caught is for personal consumption.
However, as in many other parts of the world where human traffic has diminished significantly, there are some interesting reports.
It’s hard to go fishing when there’s no work or money to buy gasoline for the boat.
The waters in the marinas have cleared up. Big gamefish such as yellowtail and roosterfish are being seen close to shore in schools and numbers that haven’t been seen in awhile. Pargo schools at the islands are crashing the rocky areas. Even diving areas such as Cabo Pulmo and around Espirito Santo Island are seeing more and larger sealife that hasn’t been around in awhile.
Mother Nature recovering! Hope we can all say the same very soon as well.
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 April 6-14, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
East side of Cerralvo Island is still holding sizeable yellowtail in shallow water not far off the beach like this one that Miles Wagner took. He’s been staying at his dad’s place at Bahia Muertos now for almost a month so still has the ability to go fishing now that his school back in Colorado is shut down.
La Paz resident, Erik Holthouse was with his brother Juan were out at Bahia Muertos with Captain Moncho and found a nice school of dorado.
Gary Wagner who lives there in Bahia Muertos has thankfully kept sending me photos and has the ability to fish very easily there and has been on top of the yellowtail schools all week and for the past month.
Not much if anyone fishing at all except gringos who live in the area or locals. And even then, not much and the waters are empty. However, the few reports we got this week showed there are still slugger yellowtail around especially the rocky areas around Espirito Santo Island and Cerralvo Island on the northeast side.
More schools of dorado in the 5-15 pound class also becoming more prevalent as the waters warm. There’s a nice spawn of those big mullet snapper (pargo liso) that have shown up. If you can get one of these horses to the boat in that shallow water, they’ve been 15-20 pounders in the school.
Aguamarga on the road to Las Arenas basically says all visitors and you’re not welcome.
More Todos Santos – basically says stay at home. This is not for vacation. There is a national quarantine. Be responsible. Sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you.
Bahia Muertos is usually covered with folks during Easter Week.
All hotels are still closed until at least April 30th. Police and military are enforcing the closure of the malecon and all beaches, especially during Holy Week/ Easter Week which has traditionally been a big beach week for Mexico with many people still ignoring the shelter-in-place laws.
Authorities are now posting signs, but the local population has also started unilaterally blocking entrances into their areas for tourists, visitors and even some of their own residents, if the residents have been out’ve the area. In an attempt to block the spread of the virus, Mulege, Loreto, San Xavier, Todos Santos, Pescadero, Cedros Island and others have all blocked their roads.
Around La Paz, the road to Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay with entrances to the pueblitos where many of the fishermen and their families live including, Aguamarga, San Pedro, Bahia Muertos, Punta Arenas and Los Alamos have blocked their roads. They’re asking everyone to please stay away and if you leave, they might not let you back in.
HEADLINES FROM MEXICO
Please remember this is a changing situation so anything you read here might have changed by the time you’re reading it.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING, MEXICO’S VIRUS CASES HAVE MORE THAN DOUBLED IN THE LAST WEEK.
MEXICO REPORTS MORE THAN 5000 CASES WITH OVER 300 DEATHS. HEALTH OFFICIALS THINK THE UNOFFICIAL COUNT IS PROBABLY OVER 20,000 CASES SINCE NOT MUCH TESTING OR OFFICIAL REPORTING IS GOING ON.
IN THE SPAN OF A WEEK, BAJA HAS BECOME THE #1 HIGHEST RATE OF VIRUS INCIDENT (PER CAPITA) THAN ANY OTHER PLACE IN MEXICO BEHIND ONLY MEXICO CITY. BAJA HAS ABOUT 500 CASES AND HAS SEEN 20 DEATHS.
IT WAS A VERY SLOW EASTER WEEK WHICH IS TRADITIONALLY PACKED WITH LOCAL AND FOREIGN TOURISTS.
DESPITE THE QUARANTINE LAW ENFORCEMENT AND MILITARY HAD TO STILL CHASE MANY PEOPLE OFF THE BEACHES
ONE BEACH IN OAXACA THAT IS USUALLY COVERED WITH BATHERS IS NOW FULL OF CROCODILES THAT HAVE RETURNED AFTER DECADES OF ABSENCE.
WITH NO COORDINATED QUARANTINE PLAN MANY PEOPLE ARE STILL IGNORING THE RESTRICTIONS. THOUSANDS PACKED SHOULDER-TO-SHOULDER AT THE MEXICO CITY FISH MARKET TO PURCHASE FISH FOR GOOD FRIDAY
MUCH TO THE DISTRESS OF RETAIL GROCERY STORES, MANY VENDORS HAVE TURNED TO SELLNG PRODUCE, MEAT AND OTHER ITEMS FROM THE SIDE-OF-THE-ROAD AT PRICES HUGELY BELOW RETAIL
HEALTH CARE WORKERS ARE REFUSING TO WORK BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF MEDICAL EQUIPMENT SUPPLIES AND EQUIPMENT FOR THEIR OWN SAFETY
SADLY, HEALTH CARE WORKERS ARE ALSO BEING ATTACKED IN SOME CITIES BECAUSE PEOPLE THINK THE HEALTH CARE WORKERS WILL CARRY THE DISEASE INTO THE COMMUNITY.
SANITATION STATIONS FOR HAND WASHING HAVE BEEN SET UP IN VARIOUS CITIES. HOWEVER, PEOPLE HAVE BEEN STEALING THE SANITATION STATIONS.
MANY CITIES AHVE ENACTED “DRY LAWS” PROHIBITING LIQUOR SALES OF ANY KIND. CABO SAN LUCAS INITIALLY WAS PART OF THAT GROUP, BUT HAS SINCE CHANGED THE RULE ONLY RESTRICTING THE HOURS FOR ALCOHOL SALES. “PEOPLE NEED ALCOHOL TO STAY CALM DURING THE STRESS.”
BREWERIES LIKE CORONA/MODELO WERE SHUT DOWN TWO WEEKS AGO DEEMED “NON-ESSENTIAL” BUSINESS. THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE ALLOWED THEM TO RE-OPEN LAST WEEK…FOR ONE DAY…THEN THE SECRETARY OF HEALTH OVER-RODE THE EDICT AND SHUT THE BREWERIES DOWN AGAIN.
Hope you all had a good, safe, and healthy Easter all things considered. Jill and I are still stuck in the states. There’s no flights from where we have our house and there’s nothing to go back to at the moment in La Paz. No fishermen. No fishing. Our restaurant is closed. The hotel we live at is closed. So, we’re staying put like so many of you and still grateful and blessed to have a roof and food and yes…even toilet paper and paper towels!
After almost a month of staying away from family, we finally had a little get together with our two kids and two grandkids Easter Sunday for a little chicken on the barbecue. Nothing spectacular. Just good to see them after so long and not be talking on Facetime. It was Jill’s birthday this past weekend and we were all supposed to be in Hawaii for the weekend, but that understandably got canceled.
We are eating too much, watching more TV than ever, catching up on reading and I’m getting more sleep than ever in my life. Usually, by this time of year, we’re getting 3-4 hours of sleep a night and now, there’s no alarm jolting me awake at 4 a.m. to put the fishermen out. But, we’re still working hard trying to keep everyone abreast of what’s happening and/or calming folks down who don’t know what’s going on. Hopefully, we’ll get to the other side of this sooner rather than later.
Thank you to everyone who writes to us.
I can tell alot of you are at home and on your cellphones or computers. I must get about 100 jokes, memes and videos every day. I just can’t watch them all or respond to them all but thanks for thinking of us!
In the meantime, please be well, stay well, stay healthy!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of March 30-April 6, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Scott McClure was fishing with local friends before the shutdown and caught our first rooster fish of the season near Cerralvo Island. The fish was released. Captain Beto from La Ventana was running the panga.
When you’re staying at your dad’s place at Bahia Muertos, it’s easier to get in a little early evening fishing. Miles Wagner’s dad owns the Rancho Costa resort in Bahia Muertos near La Paz and got out to fish the nearby rocks where the big pargo have shown up. They lost quite a few of the tough fish even with their drags buttoned down, but Miles put this big pargo liso (mullet snapper) in the boat. Miles normally lives in Colorado Springs CO, but with school closed down, he’s spending the off-time fishing in Baja.
Phil Perrone from Oregon was out with our La Paz amigo, Keith Wiliams, where they worked that area on the east side of Cerralvo Island and boated a few nice yellowtail like this one.
He’s always into fish! Keith Williams moved to La Paz a couple of years ago and is able to spend a fair amount of time fishing. He took some friends out before the lockdown last week and added this schoolie dorado to the fish box.
Gary Wagner sits in a sweet spot at his place in Muertos Bay, Rancho Costa and he’s on prime waters. He got this rare hawkfish (china maru) just down the beach off the rocks fro his place.
Roger and Captain Hugo both wore masks while fishing but took his off for this pose with his yellowtail.
Hard to believe that dorado this big are running around in April, but Tailhunter Captain, Luis Martinez took this big bull north of La Paz.
Like everywhere else, the world has changed drastically in Baja which finally jumped in to full-lockdown this past week.
Good news is that the fish are biting and there’s alot of variety. Some of the best fishing of the season.
The bad news is that the only ones fishing are locals or folks who have their own boats. All commercial and Sportfishing activities have been banned. By national decree, all the beaches and public beaches are shut down. All hotels have closed as of April 5 until 30th (but maybe longer). Any one hanging out, we evicted.
All restaurants are closed. The La Paz Malecon is closed. All the ports have closed. In Cabo, and a number of other cities all alcohol sales of any kind have been prohibited. In some cities, even drinking alcohol is now being stopped. La Paz is probably not far behind.
On land and water, sadly, it’s a ghost town and the military and police are enforcing the restrictions. Many people are expecting a curfew soon.
But, on the water, the fish haven’t been on lockdown. It’s like Murphy’s Law.
We’re seeing our first roosterfish of the season. The big mullet snapper (pargo liso) have started to spawn and are showing up in the shallows. Dorado between 10 and 30 pounds are cruising through the warmer currents. Closer inshore, cabrilla, snapper and sierra are holding. There are also all the bonito you could want and yellowtail up to about 25 pounds can be found around structure, banks and reefs. And, there’s live bait too! Oh, and the weather has been pretty good too with temps in the low to mid-80’s although some very strong winds are predicted for this week.
RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES (always wanted to say that)…
Just to give you a quick nutshell of what’s going on in Mexico, here’s some bullet points of information. Just please keep in mind that things are changing daily and rapidly. Anything you read here might and probably will have changed by the time you are reading this:
The Mexican government is finally asking folks to stay home although President Obrador continues to go out meeting and hugging people and shaking hands ignoring his own edicts. His own health officials say it’s too little to late.
The government this week has officially closed all beaches, public areas and non-essential businesses.All hotels in the nation will be closed from April 5-30th. Anyone trying to stay has/ will be evicted. Staffs have been sent home. Administrators are trying to work from home. So, all La Paz hotels are now shuttered.
The government shut down the beaches and public areas because when schools and businesses were closed last week, many people decided it was “vacation” time and thousands headed to the beach.Mexico does not have many outbreaks…so far…and less than 100 fatalities. However, experts do not find the statistics reliable because Mexico does not have the means to test many people.
The La Paz Malecon has been shut down. Army and police are enforcing the lockdown.
All restaurants have closed.
Mexico has 133 million people, but only 400 ICE beds. High obesity, diabetes and heart disease are rampant in the population which is between 10 and 15% of the population.
Many places are ignoring the requirements for social distancing. About 60% of the working population are from the “unofficial economic sector” and work day-to-day and hand-to-mouth existence as vendors, laborers, street works. If they stop work, they don’t eat.As many as
10 million Mexicans do not have access to water so “washing hands” is pretty much out’ve the question.
A growing number of cities, including Cabo San Lucas have banned all alcohol sales completely. The fear is that with so many people locked-down, violence from drinking will increase.
A number of breweries such as Corona/Modelo have or are shutting down since there are no distributions points any longer. Some of the breweries are converting to manufacturing anti-bacterial gel.
Panic buying has already started. But, it is not toilet paper. People are starting to go crazy buying cartloads of beer and hoarding.
Some Mexican cities are blocking the roads so no outsiders may enter. The government says it is illegal but locals are putting up roadblocks.
Airports are generally open, but there are very very few flights with many airlines canceling services.
There is a growing interest to close the borders of Mexico to Americans so they don’t bring down more infections.
Mexico is asking Americans to please stay home.A group of 70 University of Texas students flew a charter to Cabo San Lucas on spring break. When they came back 44 of them tested positive for the virus.
Many Americans were shooting across the border from California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to shop in Mexico which has not had the depletions of goods in grocery stores. That being said, places like Costco have huge lines and are now limiting customers.The U.S. State Department is telling all Americans to come home immediately or be prepared to stay in Mexico for an indefinite period of time.
SADLY ADIOS TO OUR TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT AFTER 13 YEARS…
LOTS OF FUN TIMES!
It’s been a difficult several weeks trying to keep Tailhunter Restaurant open. Jilly worked tirelessly trying to make it go using only “take out” but more importantly to save everyone’s jobs. Many of our employees have been with us for many great years.
With the national closing of ALL restaurants, there were not many options.
We resolved it to the best of our capabilities. Cantina is officially closed indefinitely.
The nation has closed all restaurants until April 30th. Then, they think this will all go away. We know better. Mexico hasn’t even begun to get sick yet.
Closing was the in the best interests of our staff and economically better for us than keep going 30 days…then another 30 days…ad infinitum bleeding money because we would still have the same costs plus having to pay everyone their full salaries. We were not allowed to lay anyone off during the pandemic.
However, by completely closing the restaurant, we are best able to take care of the employees so they do not have to worry. They have money and we continued their health insurance. It’s not like they have other places to find work right now with everything closed.
Consequently…
We paid all employees three full months generous salaries, with full benefits, all earned and accrued vacations and bonuses. They can go home and sit this out safely and not have to wait for the other shoe to drop and should have a buffer to find work on the other side. They are all highly skilled, trained and prized food and beverage industry workers. The best we could do for them…
When the dust settles on this Covid mess, we will then turn all attention, time and talent to getting the fishing company up and running full steam asap. 60 more families of captains, drivers, caterers and managers are counting on us, not even to mention the resorts and their staff, taxi drivers etc…..
We are tremendously touched by the outpouring of sentiments via e-mails, phone calls and social media from around the world as well as our La Paz community. Tailhunter Nation is the best!
Let’s get on the other side of this as soon as possible! In the meantime please be well and stay well. Take care of each other.
Tailhunter Fish Report 