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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishng for Week of Aug. 19-26, 2023

WHEW!…THAT’S MORE LIKE IT!

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 19-26, 2023

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WEATHER:  Hurricane Hilary has come and gone.  It’s back to hot, sunny and humid.  Day temps are in the high 90’s.

WATER:  It took a few days for the waters to clean themselves back up after the storm, but not it’s mostly back to blue and perfect fishing conditions.

SPECIES CAUGHT THIS WEEK:  Dorado, bonito, skipjack, pargo, cabrilla, snapper, roosterfish, jack crevalle .

LAS ARENAS FLEET:  It seemed that generally, there were fewer fish caught here, but more of the monster dorado were caught here.

LA PAZ:  Seems that there are more dorado on this side and more action than Las Arenas, but not as many trophy fish.

MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Ralph Lopez used a gift certificate from his wife to fish with us all week and started the trip with some nice dorado like this one fishing with Captain Jorge.

Beast Mode!!! Captain Luis gives Dennis Cameron from Orange Co, CA a hand with this huge bull dorado. Dennis said he saw it swim by the transom. He flipped a bait on it and it turned…SLAMMED…then peeled off more than 100 yards of line in the first run!

Brian Chu brought the family of 4 down for a few days and started of the week with a nice load of dorado, here posing with just a few of their fish!

Bob Cowan and Jeff Loh have fished with us many times and always good to see them A good start at Bahia Muertos!

Craig Braswell is one of our Sacramento firefighters that has been visiting us for about 20 years. Great to have him down now that he’s retired and he cam with Dave Smith who is still with the department. Captain Pancho got them into a nice bite. “The Braz” is still able to fish even with bad gout (just had to toss that in there, Braz!) 😛

This is one of my new favorite first-timers! From Idaho, Ryder Lee had such a great time with us and us with him. He just graduated from 8th grade and poses with a hefty bull dorado with Captain Luis.

Cecilia Berumen says the bar is now set pretty high after 3 good days right after Hurricane Hilary. She did great on the dorado like this one!

The man behind the mask is Angel Navarro. First-time visitor with and gets to check a roosterfish off his bucket list. He released the fish as well! Good job.

Captain Armando poses with Tom Lelevich who got some nice filets to take home after 3 days fishing with his wife, Donna, celebrating their 30th anniversary with us!

Stefani and Steve Fries from Idaho are too much fun whenever they fish with us. They decided to take one day and fish the rocks and came back with quite a variety including, dorado, pargo, snapper and cabrilla. Oh and a bonito!

Captain Licho hoists this big-headed bull that Mike Zech (left) fought for the better part of an hour until his hands started cramping and he handed the rod to his buddy, Ryan, to finish off. In all Mike’s years fishing with us, this was his biggest.

It’s not always the size…it’s the moment. A lifetime smile from Ryder Lee and his first roosterfish. Caught and released!

We love having youngsters with us and there’s no denying that Hunter Lee is having a good time. Here posing on the beach at La Concha with one of his fish.

Ralph Burnett with Captain Jorge and a nice rack of fish to start the week!

After a good day of fishing, there’s nothing quite like that first icy cold one. Roy Trejo has the right idea.

Excellent eating variety on the cutting table! Cabrilla, pargo and dorado for Bobby Hira and Daryl Chang.

Yessir!!! Two pig dorado. Albert Leung and John Pak!

Shea and Nick Brown had a fun time with Captain Gerardo their first of 3 days on the water.

First-timer rocks it with Daryl Chang from Los Angeles with two of his dorado right after the storm.

Might be one of my favorite photos of the week! Just the sheer joy! Cecilia puts another one on the deck.

Good to have our 3 amigos back to visit us from Portland. Wes Perkins; Dennis McCleod and Roger Hall were with us all week and topped off their fishing with some massive dorado!

You know it’s a good fish when even Captain Boli smiles. Using his scale, Craig Braswell said they weighed this bull in at 38 pounds. The angle of the photo doesn’t do justice!

We had so much fun with Trisha Clark on her first rodeo with Tailhunter. She’s promising to come back!

Not a bad day at all! Steve Rons started the week with some medium bulls topped by this big boy toad dorado bull.

Ralph and Jorge!

___________________

Well, Hurricane Hilary moved off without too much fuss after a few days and gratefully it wasn’t that big of a deal.  Some heavy rain and wind a times, but fairly “lightweight” as far as hurricanes go.  We’re very fortunate.  The biggest drawback was that we had a few days of not being able to fish.

After a storm like that leaves, you just never know how long it will take for things to bounce back. Fortunately, it didn’t take that long.  We were back on the water as soon as the storm moved of and although it started somewhat slow, within another day, it was full-speed again witht the fishing.

Once again, just as it had been before the storm, the dorado were stacked and limits were the rule rather the exception. Most fish were in the 5-15 pound class and many many fish were released.

The exciting part is that there’s still some massive fish that were hitting this week.  A good many were lost (that’s why their big). And the ones that were boated were easily 30, 40 and even 50-pound fish.

Live bait continues to be the best way to get bit.

Not much else in species mainly because the dorado are so prevalent, but we dig also catch pargo, snapper, cabrilla, jack crevalle, bonito and even some off-season roosterfish.

IMPORTANT NOTES

BUGS – The weather is back to being hot and humid and any time after we get any rain we have a big hatch of bugs.  Everything from butterflies to mosquitos for about 2 weeks is out. Normally no bug problem.  Good idea to bring some repellent.  Wear long sleeves.  Keep doors and windows closed.

 

BAJA 1000 – Will return again in November to La Paz.  Every room in La Paz is already sold out.  However, we have a 3 BR beach condo with 4 baths available for Nov. 13-19.  If you’re interested e-mail me:  Jonathan@tailhunter.com

COME GET YOUR STUFF – For almost 15 years, we’ve been storing fishing gear for our folks that come down so you don’t have to hassle dragging it on planes as well as the high cost.  However, we can no longer afford to store so much gear.  Some folks haven’t been down for years.  This is our last year we’ll be able to do it then anything left over we’ll donate.

GET YOUR BALANCES PAID – If you got a booking with us this year, don’t forget your balances are due 45 days from arrival.

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/ Bahia Muertos / Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of July 29-Aug. 7, 2023

BEST DORADO SEASON EVER?

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 29-Aug. 7, 2023

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WEATHER:  No doubt hot and humid!  Stay hydrated and covered up.  Common sense!  It’s in the high 90’s to low 100’s in the daytime…normal summer temps.  Actually maybe cooler than many parts of the U.S. strangely enough.  But, humidity is high as well.  Thankfully, the beach is right outside!

WATER:  Mostly warm and blue.  Surface temps on the water are high 70’s to low 80’s. Actually and strangely COOLER than normal!  But great swimming, snorkel and scuba conditions.

SPECIES HOOKED THIS WEEK:  Dorado, bonito, roosterfish, wahoo (lost), marlin (lost), pargo (2 types), snapper, cabrilla, jack crevalle, palometa, pompano

TAILHUNTER LAS ARENAS FLEET:  Primarily dorado.  Not as many as La Paz, but more of the bigger dorado.  Plus inshore species like roosters, pargo and cabrilla.

TAILHUNTER LA PAZ FLEET:  More dorado than La Arenas…usually…it changes all the time, but the LARGER of the larger dorado seem to be on this side.  (30-50 pounders)

IMPORTANT MESSAGES IF YOU’RE COMING DOWN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS:

  • It’s hot.  Dress accordingly with sunglasses, big brim hats, long sleeves, sunscreen and lots of water.
  • Your balances are due 45 days from arrival so get in touch with us if your balances are due.
  • The best part of our season is also hurricane season.  Usually NOT an issue, but you never know with this wacky weather around the world these days.  These are the tropis. TRAVEL INSURANCE is cheap and remember, there are no refunds for weather-related cancelations.   Weather is part of the sport whether it’s sunny, windy, rainy…whatever.  This is prime time for fishing and we are always sold out this time of year because fishing rocks,  I wish we did, but we also have no control over the weather.  Even if it’s a heavy rain storm for 1 hour or 1 day, it  COULD  affect your fishing; airline flight;

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Frank Kunze, our long-time Colorado, amigo, has been with us twice this year. We got him to put down the conventional fishing rod one day and only use his flyrod. Here’s his first fish of the day on the flyrod. It wasn’t his last! He released all his fish!

Captain Luis give Rose Vadnais a hand with a another big bull off the east end of Espirito Santo Island. They apparently had several other big boys on the line that got away!

Daniel always gets fish! This is Daniel Bovee’s 2nd trip this year to visit us and has been doing it for years. Great colors on this bull dorado taken near Bahia Muertos!

Yes! There are still roosters around. Maybe not the big pig slug roosters, but some fun 5-10 pounders can be lots of fun like this one that Darrell Manginelli hooked and released after fishing for dorado.

This is Sam Sybesma’s biggest doado every and he’s been fishing with us for years! Sam is about 6’3″ so you KNOW this fish is legit!

Always great to have Lee Carlson here with us. He got lots of fish on the conventional rod and reel, but took our his flyrod for this beauty. He released or donated all ths dorado this day.

Some good eating barred pargo that Daniel is holding. Winds came up, but still able to fish for a number of inshore species.

I lost count of how many big bull dorado Darrell Manginelli caught last week!

___________________________________

It’s been an unbelievable dorado season now for more than two months.  After almost 30 years down here, I’d have to call it “historic” and hope I’m not jinxing the whole ball-o’-wax and shutting it off because our fisherfolk are having a ball.

They catching either the most fish ever.  Or they are catching the biggest fish ever.  Or they are catching maybe their first fish ever.  Or they are catching their limits of fish faster than ever.

Either way, the dorao are sure checking alot of the boxes!

Most of the fish are running 5-15 pounds.  Fun legit fish.  Lots of those are so voracious that they are crashing the boats which are ending up with some fast easy limits.  Many many of these fish are getting thankfully released.

But, wait…there’s also the big Mo’s out there as well.  The pigs. The hogs.  These bull dorado are all business and when you have a 20-60 pound fish pulling line and jumping and charging the boat, it’s more than most folks can handle and alot of fun.  But, we’re also losing alot of these fish which is just part of the sport!   You just never know when that next fish will or might be the fish of a lifetime.

But, the dorado continue to be the big story for our fishing.

That’s not saying there are no other species.  We’ve got shots at billfish, wahoo, roosterfish, bonito, jack crevalle, pompano, snapper, pargo and cabrilla.  The problem is that everyone is having way too much fun with the dorado and don’t care to invest the time or change tactics to chase the other species. Which is just fine as well!  Go have fun!

We did get a little rain over the weekend and some jags of southern winds made it a tad bumpy for a few afternoons, but otherwise, there were always fish to be caught and places to find fish less windy.

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 13-20, 2023

DORADO STILL HUGGING SPOTLIGHT!

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 13-20, 2023

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WEATHER :  Like seemingly the rest of the world, it’s HOT.  But the funny thing is that people come to Mexico to “get warm and enjoy some sunshine.”  We’re probably cooler than most places in the U.S. right now!  We’re 90’s to low 100’s.

WATER:  After that little weather blow we had over a week ago, things have cleared up and flattened out.  Waters are mostly blue and warm.  Surface temps in the high 70’s to low 80’s now.

FISH CAUGHT THIS WEEK:  Dorado are still 90% of the catch because it seems like they are everywhere. Can’t get away from them, but they are alot of fun.  Also got bonito, pargo, snapper, cabrilla, jack crevalle, roosters, pompany, trevally and triggerfish.  Commercial guys say there’s some tuna outside.

LAS ARENAS:  Dorado.  Most are medium-sized in the 8-12 pound class.  Larger ones are easily in the 30 pound class or larger.

LA PAZ:  Dorado too!  More school-sized fish, but this past week the larger ones came from here with 40-pound class fish, but larger ones lost!

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY….

Our long-time Utah amigo, Kip Slaugh, on the scoreboard with his own big bull dorado for the fish box!

First day on the water turned out to be a good one for Rob and Randy Gray with some nice bull dorado to start the vacation!

First-timer with us, Johnny Torres from Riverside CA area came inshore for his first roosterfish. Caught and released. Pretty photo too!

Captain Gerardo with Marie McClelland who had quite a week with us on big dorado. Scroll down to see more!

Always good to have Brett Bleichrodt visit us from Colorado. First day out he scores his big bull.

OH WOW! Captain Raul gives Becky Fry a hand posing with this beautiful bull dorado catch north of La Paz.

Flat water and another fish brought to gaff. This one on the troll. Brett got some big fish this week, but also a few got the best of him as well!

Our San Diego cousin, Andy Enright, kicked it off his first day with a legit dorado beast. He tells of another fish even larger that he fought and lost at color next to the boat.

We had a fun week with these two in the house. Bruce Bleichrodt and Johny Prexta with a nice rack of dorado for the freezer to take home.

Fresh one! I think Rich Hirasuna is trying not to get whacked as Captain Rogelio holds up a fresh-caught dorado that is still thrashing!

Taking a well-deserved break after their first year in law school up in Oregon, Lauryn Keller and Dawson Enright pose with the catch of dorado from their first day.

Two really sweet folks to have come down for their first-ever visit, Brian and Tami Clark are spending the week with us!

Marizol Torres arrived and asked me, I’ve never fished. Do you think I will catch a fish this week?” Captain Raul helps her with a bull dorado she fought for 45 minutes! Well-done!

Ed Haynes and Brian Forward pose on the beach with Captain Jorge.

Fun shot. Our newest family friends Rich and Cherie Hirasuna started their trip with alot of dorado fillets!

Call this a good day fishing! Captain Pancho poses with Jen and Andy Enright on the beach at Bahia Muertos with a solid day of dorado fishing.

___________________________________

As of this past week…well the mad dorado bite is still on! Some boats doing better than others, but with most folks fishing at least several days with us, there’s no shortage of fish for sure!  If you hit that sweet spot in the ocean, you could limit on dorado in very short order with what some anglers are calling a “dorado aquarium” and “so many fish in the water” After that it’s catch-and-release as fast as you want to go!  Or…

  • Go searching for only bigger dorado
  • Go searching for different species like roosters and rockfish or marlin
  • Go back to the beach early and have lunch and a siesta!

Most of the fish in the schools have been voracious 5-12 pounders that are literally attacking anything thrown in the water!  This has been great fun on the lighter tackle we use with live bait and especially for many of the kids, families and couples we have this time of year who aren’t necessarily hard-core anglers. The fish will bend rods…run…leap…shake a hook…and are sp

ectacularly colorful. On the perimeters of the schools or swimming in more solitary packs are the larger beast dorado that can be anywhere from 20 to over 50 pounds!  I’ve never seen such a concentration of large fish like we’ve had for the last month-and-a-half.  It’s been a great time to tangle with a trophy fish.  Every day I hear stories from anglers who had a big fish on the beat them up and finally broke off or came un-buttoned.   That’s why they are big fish.  They are stronger and much more powerful and you just never know what’s going to hit your line. The biggest problem is that often you can see the larger fish, but the smaller fish are just so much faster to grab your bait that you don’t get the opportunity to hook-up the bigger boys! Still, it’s nice to hear that many anglers are releasing smaller fish and also females!

This is not to say there aren’t other fish in our ocean! We’ve got bonito, roosterfish, jack crevalle, pompano, trevally, cabrilla, triggerfish, snappers and several species of pargo.  It’s just that folks are having so much fun with the dorado that they’re not chasing the other species.  But, they ARE there.  Plus there’s been billfish around that have been hooked “accidentally” but nothing ever stuck. Don’t know how much longer this dorado bite will last, but we’re enjoying it for now!

Not a fish picture this time, but the prospects of a fishing day and an amazing flat Sea of Cortez full of fish and the start of another great day! It’s like glass! (Thanks for the shot, Jennifer Enright!) People ask us all the time if we think they will get seasick or will it be too rough! #jonathanroldan

 

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
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 5-12, 2023

DORADO ROOSTERFISH STILL

CENTERSTAGE!

La Paz – Las Arenas / Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 7-12, 2023

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN REPORT

WEATHER – Mostly very hot and humid.  Stay hydrated.  It’s in the high 90’s and hot.  We did have the one day storm Sunday the 9th of July that roared into here with high winds 20-30 mph and big waves.  No rain per se, but it stirred things up.

WATER – See above.  Mostly in the mid to upper 70’s now, but still some cooler water down deeper.  The storm last Sunday turned the water over quite a bit, but each day away from the storm, the waters are settling.

SPECIES CAUGHT THIS WEEK – Dorado, marlin (hooked), roosterfish, rainbow runners, amberjack, bonito, cabrilla, pargo, dog-tooth (cubera) snapper, pompano, trevally, triggerfish.

LAS ARENAS – Larger dorado coming from this area, but also the most variety of fish.

LA PAZ – Mostly school-sized dorado, but you can blow up really fast with crazy action.  Some larger fish around further out and there’s smaller roosterfish along the beaches.

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Jim Stahlman, our amigo from Idaho, visits us every year and enjoys fishing with his favorite Captain Jorge. Trolling a ballyhoo produced this incredibly colored bull dorado!

New friends from Texas, Andrew and Yssa DeWoody, fished with us 5 days and show off one of their big dorado.

Yeow! Captain Pancho estimated this rooster to be about 90 pounds and was alot of fish to heft for Smiley Wooten who caught this big one on a live cocinero of Bahia Muertos.  The fish was released.

Captain Victor gives Jim and Jan Sibert a help posing this big bull dorado. Nice batch of fish for the filet table. Jim and Jan are from New Mexico.

Just a great shot of Clay Taylor from Pecos, Texas with his roosterfish. Clay was able to release this rooster strong!

Our first big dog-tooth of the season caught by our amigo, Jim Bovee from San Diego with Captain Pancho. Jim said he was almost pulled out’ve the panga when Pancho gunned the motor to try to yank the big snapper out’ve the rocks.

One of the best shots of the week! Captain Victor with 6-year-old Asher Pierson and his roosterfish. Caught and released!

Great colors on this big bull caught by Raymond King. That’s La Ventana in the background. Nice flat seas!

Two of our very fun first-timers, Richard and Piper Kelm with one of their dorado ready to put in the fish box.

It’s been a few years since Rex Smith has been able to visit us, but always good to see him. Here he is with Captain Gerardo and another big bull. Rex is from Arizona.

Corey Fujita and his son Owen with one of the best photos of the week and a big dorado to start the morning.

There must still be some cooler water down deeper. This is Gary Wagner, owner of Rancho Costa who caught this rainbow runner (cousin to the yellowtail) not far from his place in Bahia Muertos.

How can you not appreciate this awesome photo of 8 year-old Braedon Pierson with two-thumbs up!

More of our new Texas friends, Bridget Oliphant and her fiance Chris Chopelas who had a full week of nice fish including this big bull dorado to top the day’s catch.

Jan Sibert with some great-eating pompano, barred pargo and triggerfish. Fish tacos coming up!

Folks can’t believe the incredible colors of our dorado (means “golden one”) but this photo of Clay Taylor is one of the best examples. It almost looks like a mount the colors are so brilliant!

Andrew with a big smile for this roosterfish catch-and-release!

Brittany Pierson and Captain Victor with big smiles and dorado and flat seas to start the morning!

Great shot! This is 6-year-old Owen Fujita with Captain Joel and a nice cabrilla. Owen is turning into quite a prolific fisherman each year he comes to visit!

One of those rare all-blue dorado we seem to see more of this year than ever before. I think this is our 3rd of the season! Jim Stahlman with the nice catch and photo.

This is a double handful for Mika Diaz visisting us for the first time and fishing with mom and dad.

 

Andrew and Yssa with another photo of another day’s catch!

Captain Armando, Cathie and Dave Boos and their first-day catch of dorado. Always good to see them and have them visit us.

Smiley Wooten has himself another bull for the fish box!

Tanner and Kevry Pierson fished the day after the big storm and were fortunate to find some blue water and some dorado to start the week.

Owen with Grandpa Robert Fujita and Owen’s dorado!

Wow! Bridget Oliphant again with 2 more big bull dorado on her scorecard for the week! This lady loves to fish! She did 5 straight days on the water.

______________________________

We had a little “bump” in the weather over this past weekend (more about that “bump” below), but overall it was good summertime fishing typical of this time of year with sunny hot weather and some better than expected fishing!  Hard to complain about that!

Once again, as it has been for about 2 months now, the focus has been on the nice dorado bite we’ve been having.  Lots of school-sized 5-10 pound fish most days where you can knock out a quick and frenzied limit of fish in an hour or so if you hit the right school.  After that, it’s catch-and-release as long as it goes on or go chase larger fish or other species.

Indeed, there are some real “beast mode” dorado in our waters.

We always get some big dorado down here, but in my 30 years, I don’t remember seeing such a concentration of bigger fish like we’ve had maybe the last 5 weeks or so.

These are fish between 20 and 50 pounds roaming the waters.  Many of them getting lost after slugging-it-out with fishermen but that’s why these are larger and stronger fish!  But, easily more big dorado than I’ve ever seen.

Also, if you had asked me 2 or 3 weeks ago about larger roosterfish, I would have told you the bigger boys had moved off because we’re seeing fewer caught.

However, now I’m thinking that there are still at least some of the bigger roosterfish still hanging out.  It’s just that the dorado bite has been so prevailant and so much fun, especially for many of the families, first-timers, and kids that we’ve had, that everyone is focused on the dorado .

Sure, there’s the fun smaller-sized 5-10 pound roosters around, but the larger ones require alot more commitment.

First, you have to catch the larger baits that they like.  That would be lady fish or cocineros.  You have to put in that time.  Then, you need to slow troll those baits along the the rocks and beaches where the big roosters hang out.  Again, another commitment of time!

But, in a few cases where I’ve had an angler really wanting to go for the larger roosterfish, they’ve connected about 50% of the time resulting in 50-90 pound class fish!  Not sure how long they will stick around, but at least for this past week or so, they are still here.

As for other species, lots of fun on bonito and there’s some big schools of larger-than-normal jack crevalle that will yank anyone out’ve their socks…or flip-flops.  But, we’ve also had biters on cabrilla, pargo, a big dog-tooth snapper, a few marlin (all lost) plus trevally, pompano, triggerfish and even some amberjack and rainbow runners which tells me there might still be some cold water down a bit deeper.  Go figure.  It’s mid-July!

About that “bump” I talked about. . .

A BIT OF WEATHER: 

Last Sunday, pretty much out’ve nowhere we did have a “weather situation. ” It wasn’t really a storm per se.  But we got hit with big winds up to 30 mph from the south as well as huge waves that were described to me as “big as a house.”

We regretfully had to cancel all the fishing trips that day and I’m glad we did.

There was a big fishing tournament in town that day with over 150 teams.  They ran smack into the teeth of the rough weather.  A number of boats had to come back early.  Several boats sank or had to be towed in that were swamped by the big waves and several others came close!  Fortunately, as far as I know, everyone was accounted for.

This is what Muertos Bay where we launch looks like most days.

This is what it looked like last Sunday.  Thanks Gary Wagner for taking the video from his place at Rancho Costa.

Looks like big rain coming across La Paz Bay, but it dissipated before hitting the metro. But big winds and waves preceded it.

Dramatic footage of one of the boats that went down with guys clinging to the bow (not wearing the one lone lifevest) and another in the water.

 

I was pretty worried about what a “storm” like that would do once we got back on the water.   I was also worried that over 150 teams criss-crossing the ocean would scatter the fish as well.

However, we were able to get back on the water the next day and things had calmed down although it was still a tad bumpy and the waters were turned over.  But, we did find fish in patches of blue water and it seemed that each day further away from the storm over the weekend, things continued to settle down.

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing
www.tailhunter.com



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

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La Paz-Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of June 19-26, 2023

BIG MAHI LIKE I HAVE NEVER SEEN

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 19-26, 2023

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN REPORT

WEATHER – Someone flipped a switch about 2 weeks ago and we went from cool to blazing hot.  Even the winds are hot.  Definitely shorts and lots of sunscreen with the biggest hat you can bring.  It’s in the mid-90’s which doesn’t seem too hot, but the humidity is running 50-70% which makes the air feel really heavy.

WATER – Mostly blue although surprisingly not as warm as it should be.  Water temps on the surface are only about 72 which should be closer to 80.  However, mostly really calm and flat except when the winds kick up creating chop.  Finding fish means finding the warmer blue water .

WIND– No more chilly gusts for sure.  But, now it’s been replaced by a hot breeze.  Usually the breeze cools things down, but not the ones we’re getting right now.  We did have one day when the northwest winds jacked up for a few hours and the water got bumpy.  Then, it disappeared in a snap and there wasn’t a ripple on the ocean.

FISH SPECIES HOOKED THIS WEEK:  Dorado and more dorado.  Then more dorado.  Roosterfish, jack crevalle, bonito, amberjack, marlin, trevally, pompano, cabrilla, triggerfish, rainbow runners, pargo lisa, pargo mulatto, snapper.

LAS ARENAS REPORT – Most of the week’s bigger model dorado were caught fishing with our Las Arenas fleet.  Fish well into the 40-pound class. More species caught on this side as well.  Pretty much everything in the list above.

LA PAZ REPORT – Not as many species, but if you wanted to load up on school-sized dorado and easy limits, this was the spot. Often fast easy action and dorado madness.  Some nice cabrilla and snapper caught and some schools of small to medium roosters fun on light tackle.

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Three days of big dorado for Doug and Penny Nuffer, our amigos from Utah. Penny fought one dorado well over an hour estimated at over 50 pounds that broke off at the boat.

I love this photo! Al Hed and Mike Jennings from Washington wanted big roosters so they figured they would get an “edge” if Mike wore a chicken head. They insist it’s a rooster head, but I think it looks more like a chicken! It worked. They got a number of our larger roosters this week.

Incredible colors. Chris Bedsaul with Captain Jorge got a fish to match his shirt! Nice dorado and always fun to have Chris visit us.

First-time visitors, Warren Stewart and his wife Krisele with son Austin display 3 of their big bulls.

…and then there’s Mari, Bedsaul. This lady can fish and always takes great photos. Nice little rooster fish for a CPR (Catch…Photo…Release).

First day out was a good one for Allan and Cheryl Herman. That’s quite a haul of dorado on the table!

Some of our funnest first-timers from Colorado had to cancel their trip last year, but Kindra and Brian McGregor roared back with a full week of good dorado fishing and some big bulls like this one posed by Kindra.

Joe Morse from San Diego, brought his group of 7 amigos down and their first day was a good one on the dorado spot.

Captain Joel give Lisa Leduc a hand with this good-looking bull caught north out’ve La Paz Bay.

Wow! That’s a great triple for Captain Pancho flanked by Mike Jennings and Al Hed.

Terry and Stepanie Martell with Captain Armando on the beach at Bahia Muertos posing with 3 of their dorado catch.

Captain Jorge with Mari’s barred pargo. Tasty fish for the fish box!

Andy Lauber from Louisiana went to town on the light tackle one day off Cerralvo Island on these palometas (trevally) landing about a half-dozen

Marcus Yoo is a major in the U.S. Army and in between deployments he usually finds time to pay us a visit and, you can tell, he’s kind of a fun guy to have around! He spent two days fishing and one day diving.

Randy Rimple and Brian Hyland with a nice double shot pair of big dorado. They’re from the Sacramento area.

Happy Birthday to me! Cory Mahan celebrated his 45th with us with some snorkeling and fishing and started things out with a pair of nice bulls on the first day of fishing!

Dion Hyland cradles an early morning bull to kick off the day of fishing.

Captain Armando give Terry and Stephanie Martell help posing with a couple of their first-day catch of dorado. They added more over the next 4 days!

First time visitors Vicki and Scott Shaw were great to have visit. On the beach with Captain Arcangel and more dorado on the table in the foreground too!

Captain Armando has alot of fish cleaning ahead of him, but doesn’t mind after a day like this with Randy Rimple and Brian Hyland and a table full of dorado.

Big jack crevalle in the hands of Big Mike Jennings! These are tough-fighting fish!

Just another day of big dorado for Doug and Penny! They had 3 days of this kind of fishing!

Big smile under that hoodie from Brian McGregor who hit the dorado schools big time with Captain Rogelio all week. Brian is from Colorado and stayed the whole week. First-time visitor!

It’s Mari again with another great catch. Captain Jorge hold the gaff and the dorado.

Captain Jorge, Steve Martin and Dion Hyland with a nice triple!

Whoa!!! This dorado stretches from one side of the panga to the other! Mike and Al with the pose and smiles!

Taller than him? Al Hed holds it up while Mike watches.

________________________________

OK…I guess you can figure out what’s been going on this last week-or-so just by looking at the photos!

We have dorado…and we have more dorado.  The the surprising part is the amount of dorado and the sheer SIZE of some of these dorado.  I’ve seen alot of big dorado down here in 30 years, but I cannot remember a time when we had such a concentration of BIG dorado.   Fish running 20-40 pounds have not been uncommon and larger ones have been lost.

Take a look at the photos.  These are the ones that were photo’d.  For every one in the fish box, clients have told me there are some days when they are catching-and-releasing smaller ones as fast as they can get a hook into the water.

Some boats are finding huge schools of these smaller 5-10 pound fish and it can go crazy.

And then there are the larger ones cruising on the periphery of the school-sized fish or free-swimming solo or in small groups.  These are powerful, crafty and acrobatic fish and folks are having alot of fun…and frustration catching them!

Some days folks are actually complaining because “We’re only catching small ones!” or “We only caught two larger ones!”  I guess we’re getting a bit spoiled.  All fun stuff.

I have no idea how long this will last, but we’ll ride it as long as it goes.  There’s some big bunches of sargasso weeds building north and east of the city which continues to hold many of these schools plus the dorado are also gathering around the commercial shark buoys as well.

So….I’d say 95% of the catch has been dorado.

But that’s not the only fish around.  There are alot of other species.  It’s just that the dorado have been so prevalent and so dynamic, that folks are having too much fun and it’s too easy.  There’s that old saying…”Don’t leave fish to find fish.”

So, that’s not to say there are no other fish biting.  The roosterfish are still around.  There’s pargo, cabrilla, snapper, trevally, pompano, bonito, jack crevalle and even a few billfish.  However, most of these have been incidental catches.  The focus is on these dorado schools right now!

I think alot has to do with the temperature.  We went from cool and breezy weather that was actually cold straight to hot and humid summer weather.  It’s like we skipped springtime weather.  Temps are in the mid-90’s now and I think we’re in for a warm summer like much of North America.

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing
www.tailhunter.com



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

 

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of June 3-10, 2023

GETTING BETTER EVERY WEEK! (What full moon?)

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 3-10, 2023

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

OVERALL RATING (Scale of 1-10) :  7

WEATHER – It’s been a beautiful week with mostly sunny skies and great beach weather in the high 80’s and low 90’s.  However, the mornings are still a big nippy or downright cold with windy conditions worthy of a sweatshirt or light jacket you can take off when the sun comes up.

WATER – Waters are still colder than normal.  But, they are a bit warmer every week with more blue water showing up.  Water temps in La Paz Bay is only about 68 on the surface, but outside the bay up to about 73 degrees.  It’s still cooler than it should be.

SPECIES CAUGHT THIS WEEK – dorado, roosterfish, pargo, snapper, cabrilla, marlin, tuna, pompano, trevally, bonito, jack crevalle, amberjack,  rainbow runner, yellowtail

LAS ARENAS FISHING – More variety in the fish catch.  No fish predominant, but you have a good chance of getting some of everything.  In fact, most of the fish in the list above might be caught.

LA PAZ FISHING – Much more dorado with schools of school-sized fish north of he city and in the channel between the peninsula and Cerralvo Island/ Espirito Santo Island.  If you hit the right spot, it can be crazy wild.  Some larger fish also being found up to the 40-pound class.

 

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT –

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

 

Maybe one of the most stunning dorado many of us have ever seen. This completely irredescent blue bull dorado caught off Espirito Santo Island by Hunter Burkhart from Tennessee while fishing with Captain Rogelio is simply incredible and rare.

First-time amigos from the Sacramento area, Mario and Tony Lerma with their buddy Mike Wilson who started out their week on the tuna school east of Cerralvo Island. Said this week was the “best fishing trip they ever had.”

Steve Bryan our amigo from Seattle WA rightfully earns the title of “Roosterfish King. ” Each year he comes down for about 2 weeks and fishes about 8-10 days only for our bigger roosterfish. This year, he caught 8 of these giants and released all of them like the one pictured here. Most of his fish are in the rest of this week’s report.

There are some bigger model dorado around these days like Robby Scale’s big bull he landed off Las Arenas in the channel between Cerralvo Island. Robby was on his 2nd trip with us from Colorado.

Our Wyoming amigo, Brandon McGarr with a large striped marlin while fishing with Captain Pancho. The marlin was released. He also had a big blue marlin on as well as a big bull that all broke lines close to the boat after long battles.

Texas in the house with Brett and Paula Watts and a great variety of good eating cabrilla and snapper and a big triggerfish headed to the freezer.

I love these folks and the photos they take every year. Never ever boring! This is Jeanne and Ray Cabales from San Diego with a pair of dorado and looking like they need some lunch!

Brett and Paula again with a different day and a completely different catch with a cleaning table full of yellowfin tuna.

Maybe one of the prettiest photos of the week. Captain Pancho and Robby Scales just outside of Bahia Muertos with a big boy roosterfish. Catch and release!

 

A very happy Cecilia Casias from Los Angeles with a beautiful dorado on the gaff. More unusual is a photo of our captain Arcangel who has been with us almost 30 years and rarely ever smiles in photos!

Tanya McGarr from Wyoming looks a little tapped out because this monster rooster is the 3rd big rooster of the day. She never handed off the rod or asked for help and battled all 3 fish to the boat by herself before releasing them!

This is our popular Captain Gerardo. This massive rooster was actually caught by Bill Raddock, but Bill was so tired after 3 big fish he could not lift this big beast. Even Gerardo who is about 6’2″ and maybe 230 pounds has issues lifting it up. He says it’s the largest rooster ever on his boat. The fish was released.

 

Behind the mask, that’s John Vondrak (I think!) with another rooster in the boat for a quick photo and release.

First-time visitor, Tony Lerma from Sacramento with a big boy bull dorado he caught and landed not far from Las Cruces north of La Paz.

It’s those people again…Jeanne and Ray Cabales celebrating on the beach with another good day catch of rainbow runner, pargo, snapper, cabrilla and triggerfish.

That’s gonna make some tasty sashime or seared steaks. Yellowfin tuna caught by Paula and Brett Watts from San Antonio TX.

Henry Vuong has been fishing with us for years and brought his girlfriend Cecilia fishing and, of course, she lands the most and biggest fishes. Henry always fishes with Captain Arcangel and is coming back for a 2nd trip in September.

Love the face that Bill Raddock is making here! He really wanted a big roosterfish and caught three right off the bat one day and released them all. Bill is from Kentucky.

Drew Reesor from Tennessee is a hunting guide from Tennessee, but made his first trip to visit us in La Paz. Fishing with Captain Rogelio produced a number of dorado including this big macho bull dorado.

We all remember this special days when dad took us fishing! It’s hard to tell, but I believe this is young Hudson Cileu from San Diego who gets a hand from Captain Rogelio on his dorado.

Captain Pancho posing with Tanya McGarr and another yellowfin tuna. There were 2-3 days when we had a nice healthy bite of tuna off Cerralvo Island.

More new friends from Texas, this is Randy and Linda Stolte with an incredible variety of fish on the table including dorado, snapper, pargo, rainbow runner, yellowtail, cabrilla and triggerfish. They donated all of their catch except for some they brought back to our Tailhunter Restaurant to cook up!

Jason Cileu from San Diego had just one day to fish with his young sons and they got a mess of dorado and Jason also got this nice little roosterfish as a bonus. He let it go after the quick photo.

I lose track of all the big roosterfish Steve Bryan catches every year when he visits us. I think this is number 7 or 8. He gets so many big fish everyone calls him “Rooster King” and tease him that he’s catching the same fish over and over because he sportingly releases all his fish.

________________________________

I suppose this is just another week where you can just look at all the photos and know we’ve been catching fish!  And let me tell you this is just a fraction of the photos I wish I had more room to post.

For all the “full moon” talk, we had a huge big moon this week, but if it had any effect, I can only imagine what the fishing might have been if it was not so full.  Who really cares?  Fishing was pretty solid!

We’re still not at full speed.  However, with each week, we’re edging forward and overall, it sure seems to be getting better.  Lots of smiles and folks that want to take fish home are taking fish home.  They might not necessarily catch the particular species that targeted like “giant roosterfish” or a “wahoo.”  But that’s why these are trophy fish!  They are harder to find and definitely fight harder!

But, whatever might get missed, other species seem to fill the gap.

And we are still catching a whole pallet of species.  Dorado schools are becoming more prevailant with school-sized 5-10 pound fish bunching up, especially north of La Paz.  Larger free-swimming fish up to the 40-pound class have also been making their presence known with some very large fish getting lost.

We’re seeing more billfish with some big striped marlin getting hooked and released and some larger blue and black marlin well over the 300-pound class breaking lines and hearts!

Also, while folks are having fun with the smaller roosterfish that can be a real kick on light tackle, we caught some of the largest roosterfish of the season this past week.  There were easily fish running 40-60 pounds and some arguably up to 80+ pounds. It’s hard to know exact weights since we’re releasing all the roosters and can only estimate these massive fish sizes!

We’ve also had several nice jags of tuna show up.  They’ll pop up for a day or two then disappear, but we’ve already caught more tuna this year so far than all of last season combined!  The size of the fish varies from little 5-8 pound “footballs” up to 30 and 40-pound class sluggers.

If you wanted to stay inshore you have have fun in the “aquarium” fishing for snapper, cabrilla, triggerish, pargo, jacks, pompano and more!

SHE SAID “YES!” (Catch of the Week!)

Yvonne, Gerry and Captain Armando. And some nice tuna!

Quick shout-out to Gerry Hermosillo who proposed to his lady Yvonne Sockyma over dinner while here this week!  He proposed to her at the same waterfront table where they had one of their first dates.  Congratulations to them both!  Oh…and they also caught fish this week too!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing
www.tailhunter.com



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

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of May 19-25, 2023

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A WEEK MAKES!

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fshing Report for Week of May 19-25, 2023

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN REPORT

WEEKLY RATING – (scale of 1-10).  I give it a 6.  It was about a 3-4 for weeks!

WIND – Finally gave us a break from those gusty cold winds we’ve had for months!

WATER – As winds have diminished, water temps have risen. Water has also gotten clearer and less cloudy.

TEMPS – High 60’s / Low 70’s at night to High 80’s and Los 90’s in the day time.

BAIT – Sardines, mackerel, bullitos, caballitos, strips and chunks or fresh bonito

LAS ARENAS FISHING

Still lots of species, but increasingly more of the warm-water species as the temps rose and winds cut back.  Still getting pargo, snapper, cabrilla and others, but more and larger roosterfish, dorado and wahoo now.

LA PAZ FISHING

Waters stayed largely colder than Las Arenas most of the week, but late in the week temps rose a bit more and we’ve gone from rockfish to more dorado action.

FISH CAUGHT THIS WEEK:

Dorado, marlin, tuna, wahoo, pargo, snapper, grouper, bonito (3 kinds), jack crevalle, amberjack, yellowtail, sierra, rainbow runners, barracuda, cabrilla, triggerfish, roosterfish.

AMIGOS VISITING FROM:  Utah, Kansas, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Oregon, Texas, Washington, Montana, Colorado, South Carolina,  California,  Honduras, Michigan, Wisconsin. We had a full-house!

 

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO FISHING REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Finally, some of the larger roosterfish started to show with Captain Gerardo and Ron Woita from Oregon who spent the better part of a week chasing the roosters. Each day they seemed to get a little bigger. Here’s one of the larger models with lots of smiles! All roosters were released all week.

Captain Pancho gives Nancy Enright from San Diego a hand with a good-looking bull dorado!

Technically, our first marlin of the season caught by our long-time amigo, Art Flippin from Colorado who was on his 2nd visit to us. He was here in April as well. The marlin was deep hooked and unable to be released.

Now THIS is a healthy legit big-boy cabrilla! David Noble was on his first trip with us and took this guy just off Espirito Santo Island where we’ve found a number of these larger fish.

All the way from S. Carolina, Dr. Bob Garrison hooked this tasty barred pargo just off the shallow beach near Punta Arenas.

The right kind! It was a good week for the wahoo to finally show up. Lora Burke pulled this ‘hoo off near Cerralvo Island.

Armando with Karl Davis and Don Markus the day the dorado finally started to chew near Las Arenas! They were a little late this year, but finally arrived. Hopefully to stay around a bit!

Marie Wirtz just had the one day to squeeze in a day of fishing and boated a number of species like this roosterfish she photo’d and released!

Somewhere behind the gaff Sue Stanley from San Diego is smiling as she tries to lift her big cabrilla with help from Captain Alfredo.

Yup! We even had some football tuna show up of Cerralvo Island. That’s Ryan and his dad Bruce Bonsack from the Seattle area.

Here’s Ed Aguilar and Kent Markus with a nice variety for their first day on the water including dorado, snapper, cabrilla, pompano and trevally!

Talk about a banner day! On 2 pangas, they caught Mark, Ryan and Bruce Bonsack from Washington caught 5 wahoo and several more were lost!

Texas in the house! Good amigo Allen Cazier with Captain Licho holding the gaff on another of those large cabrilla off Espirito Santo Island.

That’s alot of good looking fish meat on the cleaning table! Matt Shipley from Texas and Kelly Kartchner from Utah have trevally, pargo and dorado ready to get into the ice chests!

First timers Michael and Louise McMichael always had the best smiles. They were on the water that day the dead whale was found floating offshore holding all the dorado anyone could want like these!

I can see Captain Gerardo with a big small and I think that’s Sam Woita from Kansas behind the mask and dorsals of another big roosterfish. (released!)

Bob Stanley from San Diego with a good-looking cabrilla for the fish box with Captain Alfredo lending a hand!

Marie Wirtz and our Captain Victor with a lengthy colorful dorado. She’s from Bend, Oregon.

The story I got is that Denise Peters hooked the fish and fought it, but finally it got the best of her and she handed it to my long-time amigo, Don Peters, who finished off the big dorado. They came to visit us from Oklahoma.

John Pooley and Billy Harrison with some nice variety after their first day on the water with pargo, snapper, cabrilla and triggerfish.

Of course, Lori Thorpe caught the “big one” a nice dorado with Captain Arcangel. Husband Jeff helps the pose. Other species on the cutting table.

Captain Victor and Arthur Wirtz and another rooster for a photos and release.

 

Diane Kosnosky knows how to fish and always puts fish in the box whenever she visits like this solid cabrilla. Diane is from Washington.

 

Ed Aguilar was fun to have visit this week and he nailed this trophy dorado out’ve Bahia Muertos.

 

On the flyrod! Dave Noble with a cute little roosterfish for the photo and release.

Guy Markus and Steve Wright on their 2nd trip visiting us in La Paz started their fishing week with a pargo liso (mullet snapper); a rare barracuda; 2 rainbow runners and a triggerfish.

Jim Elrod from Bakersfield was visiting us for the first time and gets a hand with this dandy bull dorado from his amigo, Luis, to get the great photo.

 

Lots of fine eating and a day full of action for Don, Karl and Captain Armando who has his work cut out for him cleaning all these cabrilla and pargo!

 

We finally strarted to see dorado with our La Paz fleet and around Espirito Santo Island. Asa has one for the fish box and dinner back at Tailhunter Restaurant.

You can’t see her, but Lora Burke is back there helping hold up her striped marlin. They couldn’t release the fish.

_____________________________________

Let’s start by saying that the fishing still is NOT up to where it should be at this time of year.

However, compared to what it’s been like for the past month, it’s a zillion-times waaaaay better!

Here’s the deal.  Just like the winter which was harsh down here, we continued with chilly weather, strong winds, cloudy overturned water and a chillier-than-normal ocean.  That meant really scratch fishing pretty much all of April and May when we should have been getting bit pretty nicely.

Well, this past week the sun got warmer.  The winds gave us a break.  The ocean turned bluer.  The rough current settled down.  And not surprisingly it made all the difference.

If you just look at all the photos or compare them to the previous reports, anyone could tell our fishing was markedly improved.

No doubt there’s still cooler waters down below the surface which produced cold-water species like yellowtail, rainbow runners, amberjack, several species of pargo, sierra, cabrilla (some huge ones!) plus the usual bonito and jack crevalle.

However, with the warmer water, we got more pompano, palometa (trevally), the larger roosterfish, but also the much-desired warm-water pelagic species like some wahoo,;our first few marlin of the season; and finally some dorado!

In fact, one day there was a dead whale near Cerralvo Island. According to one of our anglers, there were “hundreds” of dorado everywhere flashing through the waters and as many as 20 pangas were out there with everyone completely bent and dorado flying everywhere.  Everyone nailed limits of 10-pound class schoolie-sized dorado.

Then, as the week went on, the dorado got bigger with more 20-30 pound fish in the counts!

Then, there were the wahoo.  We knew they were there, but they sure were reluctant to bite.   Well, they finally came to the party.  One day we had 5 back to the beach and another 4-5 lost!  Some of these wahoo were conservatively estimated 50-60 pound fish or larger.

One day, we even had football-sized tuna show up as well.

Additionally, with the bigger ladyfish baits finally swimming along the shallows, not surprisingly the larger roosterfish in the 40-70 pound class also started biting.  We’ve been waiting for several weeks!  But, even without them, there were good numbers of 5-15 pound roosters to have fun.

If the weather continues to improve, I expect the fishing will also improve.

Additionally, the unusual fish arrivals continued!  A few weeks ago, we got rare totuava in the counts.  Illegal to keep so they were released, but those fish are usually found way up 1000 miles north in the Sea of Cortez and I’ve never seen totuava down here.

Then, we got a few more species that I’ve never seen down here in 30 years:

Captain Pancho with a red-bearded-brotula (brotula a la lengua).

A star-studded grouper caught by Mark Bonsack

Lora with another grouper also called a baqueta by locals.

All-in-all an interesting and much better week.  What a difference a week makes!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 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

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

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of May 11-18, 2023

THE STRUGGLE IS REAL – Crazy Fishing!

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of May 11-18, 2023

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO FISHING REPORT

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN REPORT

OVERALL FISHING (Scale of 10) – 3

WEATHER – Big thermometer.  50’s to 80’s.  Really chilly mornings and unseasonably windy.  Bring a sweatshirt or light jacket you can take off

WATER – Because of the erratic winds, water temps are all over.  Water is also cloudier and greener than usual because of it. Gotta hunt around . There’s warm blue water mixed with the turbid waters.

BAIT – Mostly no problem getting live bait of sardines, mackerel, caballitos, cocineros

FISHING – Really up-and-down.  Different from day-t0-day and boat -to-boat.  Lots of variety, but really gotta work for the fish and find a spot where they are biting.

SPECIES CAUGHT THIS WEEK – pargo mulatto, rainbow runner, yellowtail, amberjack, sierra, bonito, jack crevalle, pompano, trevally, cabrilla, palometa, tuna, dorado, totuava, roosterfish

 

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

 

Just when I thought the waters had warmed and the yellowtail were gone, Troy Kuzminsky came back with this double haul from the island.

Some dorado starting to move in. Captain Jorge has a thumbs-up for our good amigo, Johnny Chung, from Oregon!

Daniel Bovee comes down every year and does well. He put the first wahoo into the boat for the season off Cerralvo Island.

Just way too cute of a photo. Summer Kuzminsky’s first rooster! She also released the fish!

It’s all about the smiles and good times! Megan Nay from Colorado with her first-ever fish!

Neil Kanemoto from Hawaii on his first trip with us hung ths nice trevally off the rocks with Captain Rogelio.

Captain Armando with two of our funnest amigas from Oregon, Tracy Chung and Patty Killian with quite a variety of rock and reef fish. Alot of it ended up for dinner at our Tailhunter Restaurant.

The “Cabrilla Master.” Glen Adkins hadn’t had a bite all day but right at the end, Captain Edgar put him over a rock pile that produced a half-dozen of these trophy cabrilla. Gorgeous and great eating fish!

Marie Wirtz from Bend OR had just one day to squeeze in for fishing and got this pretty dorado fishing with Captain Victor.

Off Espirito Santo Island, Tom Worley from Colorado got one of the nicer roosterfish of the week for a photo and release.

A slug tuna! Troy was dropping a jig off Espirto Santo Island for yellowtail when he got hammered by this 50-60 pound tuna. He said never ever fought as hard!

Dean Sensui is the TV of of the show long running “Hawaii Goes Fishing” back in Hawaii and shows off a nice little rooster for the camera before putting it back in the water.

Another of our Hawaii brothers who visited us, Mark Mitsuyasu with a taste barred pargo.

Big smile from Crystal Kuzminsky and her roosterfish. We’re starting to see more coming in finally. Crystal released her fish.

Damon Donovan from Reno and dad, Jim Donovan, from Connecticut on the beach with a little yellowtail and amberjack.

Johnny with a fat bonito and Captain Jorge. The bonito have been big fat and feisty this week.

Captain Armando helps Nate Abe get a quick photo of a nice jack crevalle.

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If you’ve been reading our other fishing reports these past weeks, you can tell that it was probably a better fishing week than before just by the increasing number photos.

That’s true to some degree.

Overall, last week was so slow with the full moon and wind that any improvement had to be better and indeed, in terms of numbers, quantity and quality it was an up-tick.

However, we still had to work hard for the fish.

For one, these winds are really chilling things off.  These aren’t the northern winds that blow us off the water every winter.  These winds are from the south and usually warmer, but this whole past month, it’s been darned cold, especially in the mornings.

I’m wearing a heavy sweatshirt and long pants.  Captains have heavy jackets.  Clients are scrambling to Walmart and Sears to buy sweatshirts.  I’m not kidding.  If you’re coming down, it wouldn’t hurt to throw something into the suitcase that you can wear and take off later, because later in the day it turns into sunshine and 85 degree weather.

But the winds have been blowing from the south…then switching to the west…back to the south…now from the north.  It’s all over and un-predictable!

The winds have made it rougher than we normally have it this time of year plus the winds have stirred up the waters so that they are cloudier and definitely colder than usual.

To that end, the fishing has been well…less than stellar.  Being perfectly honest.

No problem getting live bait like sardines, mackerel, cocineros and caballitos.  But, the fishing has been all over the place.  It’s hard to know what will bite or where they will bite. Every day is different.  Every spot is different.  Our captains are busting their chops and burning engine gass working hard to find fish our folks.

Some boats struggle to get a bite.  The boat right next to them is hooking fish in the same spot.  One hot spot turns cold the next day.  We go looking for one species of fish and something totally different shows up.  Some boats struggle all day.  Their friends come back talking about a fun day of action!  Go figure.

On the good side…

This our Art’s 2nd time down this month! He’s been a long-time Tailhunter amigo from Colorado and has a pig of a bonito in this photo.

We’re getting alot of different species.  That is typical of this time of year.  You can just tell by looking at the the photos!   And it’s good to be getting more roosterfish although not yet seeing those big hog roosters.   I think when the larger sabalo (ladyfish) move into the shallows, the bigger roosters will show up as the sabalo are a favorite food for the big gallos.

We also got our first wahoo of the season as well.  We’ve seen them around for several weeks, but haven’t gotten any to stick.  Also, there’s obviously some tuna in the area and billfish as well hopefully ready to go-off soon  Nice to see more dorado as well, which means the waters are warming a bit.

We are also seeing billfish sunning themselves on the surface waiting for the ocean to get a big warmer and hopefully, they get ready to bite!

UNUSUAL CATCH

Daniel Bovee’s totuava!

In the mid 1900’s  you could catch 100-200 pound totuava way up 1000 miles in the northern Sea of Cortez.  San Felipe was well known for these huge fish which are related to the smaller white seabass many southern California ocean fishermen are familiar with.  These fish were massive.  And delicious often described and “buttery” in flavor.  Parts of the fish were also popular on the Asian market as well.

Unfortunately they were also popular sportfish and commercial fish.  Unregulated fishing back then depleted the fish population almost to extinction and hence fishing for them was banned.  It’s now illegal to catch them.  The ones sometimes found on menus are supposedly “farm raised” fish.

However, this past week we caught TWO of them!

Not the massive ones, but still legit 20-pound-class fish.  In my 30 years here in La Paz, I’ve never seen even one of these.  Mostly these fish are relegated far up the Sea of Cortez in cooler waters.  So it was quite a surprise.  Both fish were released.

From what I found out later, there’s a totuava fish farm somewhere in the bay and they have a big fast hole in the net and fish have been escaping.  So this might not be the last totuava we see!

That’s my 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
P.O. Box 159
Hewitt TX. 76643Phones:
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 May 3-10, 2023

ERRATIC FISHING FUELED BY CHANGING WIND AND FULL MOON

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of May 3-10, 2023

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN WEEK AT A GLANCE

Weather – Big thermometer.  Down into the chilly 50’s (again) up to the high 80’s and low 90’s.

Water – strong winds keeping the waters murky and disturbed.

Fishing – I’d give it at best a 3 on a scale of 10.  One day Las Arenas would be better.  The next La Paz would be better.  Very un predictable.

Species Caught this week:  Pargo mulato, pargo liso, cabrilla, sierra, jack crevalle, bonito, amberjack, yellowtail, tuna (just 1), dorado, snapper, rainbow runner, pompano, trevally

MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Our Wyoming amigo, Will Dolinar caught and released this pretty rooster just outside of Bahia Muertos. Roosters finally making their way into us. Will was able to releas the fish!

Good guy, Jimmy Williams was at Cerralvo Island just hoping to catch a few pargo and cabrilla for dinner, but saw a bunch of boiling fish and tossed a live sardine into the crashing fish and it ended up being this slug yellowfin tuna. Good thing Jimmy is a good fisherman because he ended up fighting this fish for 2 hours on 30 pound test!

Chuck Toeniskoetter gets photo-punked by his favorite Captain Victor as the show off some nice pargo liso, a trevally and some sierra. Chuck gave all the fish to Victor and the family.

Jimmy also surprisingly pulled this bull dorado off the island as well. There’s a few starting to swim around. Definitely, the largest of the week. Hopefully, more to come!

Definitely a good day. Stan Andre and Terry Hawk have been fishing with us for years and had a banner day on the tough pargo liso plus a trio of snapper. They donated all the fish.

Nice smiles and cold beers in hand from Donna and Will with a nice rack of yellowtail, amberjack, cabrilla, snapper, pargo and triggerfish. Pretty much a great catch of reef fish that they brought over to our Tailhunter Restaurant to have prepared for dinner.  Many thanks to them as well for bringing me some fresh real butter from the U.S.  Totally gold down here!

______________________

Just when I thought things were starting to take off for our fishing season, we hit a bump in the road.  It was like we had taken the proverbial “two steps forward and one step back.”

But, there’s no controlling nature.

It was combination of things that hampered fishing.  I don’t want to sugarcoat things.

First, the winds came back.  Not those crazy northern winter winds that blew us all around for 5 months.  But, erratic winds that seemed to blow from different directions all during the days.  Sometimes from the south.  Sometimes from the west.  It might be a morning wind or an afternoon northern for a few hours that turns the water into white caps.   Totally unpredictable.

And some days there was no wind…

However, the windy effect not only dropped the ambient air temperatures (it got chilly and nippy again) but moreso, really turned over the waters and clouded them up again.

On top of it, we had a massive full moon this week.  Normally, I don’t worry too much about full moons, but in combination of the winds, we got a double whammy as it produced some strong tides and currents.

The overall effect was a mixed and unpredictable bag of fish.

I’ll be honest, some days were incredibly slow and picky with the fish simply refusing to chew.  Other times, a regular hot-spot would go cold.  Or one boat would find fish and the boat right next to it would struggle mightily.

The catch seemed different from day-to-day.  We got cabrilla, snapper, sierra, bonito, jack crevalle, amberjack, rainbow runner, pompano, trevally and triggerfish.  There were a few smallish yellowtail here and there, but overall, I think the waters have warmed and the yellowtail have moved off.  There were also a few dorado and one tuna hooked, but nothing to get too excited about with no further hook-ups.

Those big pargo liso that were schooling were biting earlier in the week then disappeared.  We’re seeing a few billish on the surface, but not yet willing to bite.  Hopefully, soon!

Roosterfish in the 5-20 pound class have moved in.

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
P.O. Box 159
Hewitt TX. 76643Phones:
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 25-May 2, 2023

BIG SPAWNING PARGO BENDING RODS IN SHALLOW WATER 

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of April 25-May 2, 2023

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN REPORT AT A GLANCE:

___________________________

WEATHER – 65 to 85 degrees.  Cold windy mornings

FISHING – (Scale of 1-10) – 4  but getting better.  Lots of variety.  Las Arenas has been better than La Paz

WIND – Still being a pain, but it’s now coming from the south instead of the north which are the real problematic winds.  South is manageable.  But it’s keeping the waters cool and somewhat cloudier than we would like.

TYPES of FISH CAUGHT THIS WEEK:

Yellowtail, amberjack, pargo liso, pargo mulato, dog tooth snapper, cabrilla, rainbow runner, triggerfish, bonito, jack crevalle, roosterfish, parrotfish, sierra.

_______________________________

MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Fresh one in the boat! Stan Andre has been with us numerous times over the years and he’s hooked ’em, but never able to land one of these tough pargo. He got several this week to break the jinx!

Oh the sheer joy! Great photo of Jan’s first fish with a photo assist from Captain Pancho.

Love these guys! Been coming for years. Steve Halgrimson and Chuck Toeniskoetter got quite a variety on the table of pompano, snapper, pargo and trevally! Threw back a bunch too!

Dan Shay always does well on his spinning rod. He chummed up some yellowtail at the island and cast his jig into the middle of the boils and had this nice forkie blow up on his lure!

These are horses! (The fish…not the guys!). Terry Hawk and Stan Andre with two more legit pargo liso in the boat!

Jan and Art…fished with us a week ago and came back to catch more pargo. Art made the mistake of trying to fish the pargo with light line and missed several other fish in the rocks!

I suppose the biggest news is that it’s still windy!

But this is different.  It’s not those dastardly northern winds that blew us around all winter and kept everyone off the water. These are southern winds that are alot more manageable.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that the winds are making for some crazy chilly mornings even though it warms up to the mid-80’s the rest of the day.  All of us are wearing jackets and sweatshirts in the mornings.  I kid you not!  If you’re coming down soon, it wouldn’t hurt to bring something you can take off later!

What the winds are doing is keeping the waters on the cool side and making the ocean alot murkier than we would prefer.  That’s the part that’s affecting the bite.

That’s not to say we’re not catching fish.

We’re catching quite a variety of species!  However, where and when you fish has alot to do with the results.  This past week, the fishing out’ve La Paz was so-so at best.  The yellowtail largely got lock-jaw and wouldn’t bite which I think had alot to do with the winds and erratic seas.  So, most of the catch was a smattering of rock and reef fish.

On the other hand, our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet did remarkably better with a super variety of species that included jack crevalle, bonito, smaller roosterfish, sierra, amberjack, yellowtail, cabrilla, rainbow runner and several species of pargo including the big pargo liso (mullet snapper) that school up in the shallows this time of year and can give anglers fits.

In the photos, some of them might not look that big, but they can pull as big as fish 3x their size and are equipped with sharp teeth; sharp scales and gill plates plus quickly pull you into the rocks because these powerfish fish are in the shallows.  They also have a really bad attitude!  I often tell our anglers, if you hook 5 or 6 of them and get one to the boat, you’re doing pretty good!

This wasn’t from this week, but this is about a “medium” sized one just to give you an idea. This is the kind that can leave you in tears!

A few dorado swimming around.  A few tuna noticed by the commercial anglers and we’re seeing our first billfish of the season starting to sun themselves on the surface but not yet quite ready to chew!

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
P.O. Box 159
Hewitt TX. 76643Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

Read Full Post »

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