La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 1-8, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
The Big Picture and the Rest of the Story…
Amigo, Roger Thompson made it out to the south end of Cerralvo Island between bouts of wind and trolled up this nice wahoo.
Roger was pulling a dark Rapala looking for wahoo when this hefty yellowfin tuna ripped his line.
Typical catch right now…some inshore reef fish like the cabrilla and trigger fish; mix in some bonito and a bonus dorado. All close to shore.
Not too many folks fishing these days in the gap between Thanksgiving and Christmas and town almost seemed deserted this week, but the crowds will eventually come.
The city is nicely moving into Christmas mode!
Winds were a little milder than normal so some folks were able to get out fishing. Most of the fishing was inshore for jack crevalle, snapper, and cabrilla, although some larger pargo were reportedly lost. Bonito schools can be problematic or a lot of fun depending on your point of view.
There are still some small schools of dorado running around with most fish in the 10-15 pound class.
When winds are down, there’s some good action with bait on light tackle for some nicer grade of tuna in the 40-80 pound range that can be tough battles on the smaller line that get them to bite. Rapalas like the darker deep-runners also kicked up some wahoo.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 24-Dec. 1, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Yea…there was alot of rain this past week when heavy rains hit for almost 3 days and caused some crazy flooding. This is downtown La Paz.
Kevin Shiotani from Thousand Oaks, CA makes the most of a quick day on the water before storms hit the La Paz area to put a load of dorado in the box while fishing out of Bahia Muertos southeast of La Paz.
Decent bull dorado still hanging out late in the season. Captain Moncho running the boat handlng gaff duties.
Our own Esteban Romero got out as the clouds built up for a little dorado fishing of his own out’ve Bahia Muertos.
We hope you had a great Thanksgiving!
Well…
Pretty hard to do a fishing report when a good part of the week was filled with storms! In a late season deluge where it rained for 2-3 days at times torrentially, there was lots of unseasonable flooding which put a damper on a lot of snowbird vacationers who usually don’t see this kind of storms this time of year.
Sometimes it was drizzle. Other times, it came in buckets.
Normally the bottom of the La Paz sign on the beach is 4 feet above the water.
Alot of this all over the city.
Deep waters ahead.
After the storm, winds came up on the backside making for rough seas and waters were filled with muddy runoff and were really turned-over to be very conducive to fishing.
However, before the storm hit, there was a small window of opportunity for some anglers to get out even with cloudy ominous skies. Surprisingly some decent dorado were on the chew ranging from 10-20 pounders mostly indicative of lingering warm waters in the area.
Inshore, still decent action on bonito, smaller pargo, snapper and cabrilla as well as jack crevalle. Live bait is sometimes problematic if winds and waves are whipping the shallow areas where the live bait is caught.
The coming week shows no rain but a possibility of winds.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 17-24, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
He makes several trips a year to La Paz and Kevin Shiotani from Thousand Oaks always does well. He’s on the beach at Bahia Muertos near La Paz with this big tuna estimated at 90 pounds that he took near Cerralvo Island on light tackle. He also put some dorado in the panga as well. Over the years, Kevin has caught some of the largest fish we’ve seen.
Dana Hohn was visiting La Paz from Texas and staying with relatives in La Ventana but got out several days near Cerralvo Island and put several wahoo like this one in the boat trolling Rapalas.
Behind that fish is Kevin Hohn. Visiting from Texas with his wife, they hooked 11 wahoo over 3 days.
Not many anglers in town as we approach the holidays and the week started out stormy and windy and tailed off at the end-of-the-week with windy and stormy weather. The kiteboarders and windsurfers are enjoying this for a reason, but not such great weather for fishing.
There were a few days mid-week that gave us a few windows of opportunity. The better fishing has been out’ve Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay which is at least a little more protected from the northern winds and bigger water that’s common this time of year.
As mentioned, not many anglers out, but those few who got out found some surprisingly nice wahoo fishing by Cerralvo Island with 20-40 pound fish willing to hit those dark-colored Rapalas and Yo-Zuri Magnums. Multiple hook-ups were not uncommon. The same area also produced some hefty tuna bites wit 50-100 pound class ahi, although most fish were lost because they would only bite light line resulting in some long drawn-out battles that usually favored the fish and beat up the angler!
When we couldn’t get to the island, fishing concentrated inshore for some decent dorado, cabrilla, snapper, bonito and jack crevalle.
Looks like a bit more rain and wind in the forecast.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 27-Nov. 3, 2019
Mexican Minute Video Fishing Report
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
First day out he hits the home run! With Captain Gerardo, Jeff Wedekind who owns the Chinook Shore Lodge in Ketchican, Alaska locked up this big wahoo.
Nice tuna for Rich Choate from Idaho. One of the few YFT’s hooked this week.
Amigo, Roger Thompson, was soaking a dead mackerel down deep off the Punta Arenas lighthouse when he got slammed by this toad yellowtail.
Maybe one of the largest dorado of the season, Jeff hooked this one out’ve Bahia Muertos.
Barbara Choate always has a great smile no matter what and she’s got a reason with his pretty blue dorado.
Colorful shot! Roger Sauvegeau from Boise, Idaho, had just one day to fish, but got himself a nice load of dorado like this one fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.
Captain Armando with Randy and Barbara Choate and a nice batch of dorado.
Celebrating her honeymoon, Coral Ogden Hart has been our amigo since she was a little girl. She got this unusual rainbow runner off Bahia Muertos. These are cousin to the yellowtail.
Our good amigos from the Imperial Valley of California, Craig and Cathy Corda posing with a little Bahia Muertos yellowtail they released.
Another set of our fun friends from Idaho, Teri and Mac Christopherson hold up a double-hooke-up of dorado.
They always keep me laughing. Tom and Claire Ames posing on the beach at Bahia Muertos.
Captain Pancho took Dan Friedman from San Diego out for one day and he got this nice dorado as well as a wahoo on his first try!
You can tell waters are getting colder when rainbow runners like this one by Rick Choate, show up.
A good day in November! Teri and Mac Christopherson.
Paul Octavio had himself a good week on the flyrod like with his fun roosterfish hooked and released. He had a blue marlin on the flyrod one day.
Clair McPherson took 20 minutes on this nice bull dorado giving Captain Victor and her a big reason to smile when they finally got the pretty fish in the boat.
Cheers! Rick Choate with a mess of good eating cabrilla, snapper and a trigger.
On the good side, the sun was out all week and the snowbirds from Canada, Alaska, Europe and colder areas are filtering into town. On the downside, it wasn’t the best for fishing.
Northern winds ramped up and it’s just the start. This is what happens during the colder months. Two days we couldn’t even go out because the Port Captain shut down the port to all boat traffic and there were several other days when it would have been better if we had just not gone out at all.
The strong winds have the waters stirred up and dirty. It brings in coolder greener waters as well. Additionally, the currents and waves are up so makes for a less-than-comfortable day of fishing. Plus, if the waves are crashing the shallow areas, it makes it hard to get bait.
However, kudos to our anglers and captains for hanging in there. They braved the rougher seas with tight grins and still caught some fish.
There weren’t a lot of fish caught unless you’re counting bonito, jack crevalle and needlefish. However, some of the largest dorado of the season were hooked as well as a few wahoo and tuna. We even had several marlin hook ups as well (fish were lost).
The better fishing was with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet where it’s a bit more protected. I imagine as the winds increase and become more frequent, we’ll be doing most of our fishing from that area.
2020 RESERVATIONS
Bookings are already coming in pretty fast and heavy for 2020. Some dates are already filled or filling and popular captains are getting reserved as well. In 2019, we were sold out by March and 2020 looks even busier. Don’t wait . Check your calendars so we make sure we get you locked in.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 13-20, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Alot of meat! Marlene Kikuchi from Los Angeles had a live mackerel pinned to her line not far from Punta Arenas with Captain Pancho when she hooked this massive wahoo not far from the shoreline. The big fish was weighed on a scale and measured 56-pounds!
It’s been over 10 years since Mark Rubin came to visit us so it was good to see him. He was out fishing with Captain Arcangel and got this colorful dorado up for a great photo!
On her first day out and first-time in La Paz, Kathy Parker was with Captain Luis and deckie Miguel in the channel between the city and Espirito Santo Island in an area where big 50-150 pound tuna had been sighted. On her first bait in the water, this big yellowfin inhaled her little sardine and the fight was on! With her sister, Sherry (see photo below), trading the rod-back-and-forth for 4 long hours, the ladies finally got this big boy to the boat!
Holly Kunzler’s big dorado of the week was caught while fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet. Holly’s first trip to Baja and she was with us for the better part of the week visiting from Utah.
Our long-time amigos with their favorite Captain Jorge, Marianne and Jeff Sakuda enjoying Jeff’s retirement vacation after 30 years as a pilot for United, they kicked off things with a nice rack of bull dorado.
Double tag-team! Sherry Cady was on her 2nd visit to us this year and this time brought her sister, Kathy Parker (see photo above) when they hung this big yellowfin tuna with deckhand Miguel and Captain Luis and battled the fat fish for 4 hours!
Montana Dewey and Leslie Spafford guide trips in Arizona and came to visit this week and go into some dorado and cabrilla their first day at Las Arenas.
First-timer and happy fisherman, George Misner, started his trip with a nice bull dorado just south of Bahia Muertos.
Popular Captain Chito hung two of those big tuna that were boiling north of La Paz for a few days. Unfortunately, photos of the clients didn’t come out!
Hi Craig! Always good to have Craig Corda back with us . He’s been our amigo for over 20 years and never has a bad day.
Al Chaves lives outside of Phoenix and was out with Captain Jorge when he got this dorado. He had a big tuna on briefly.
Jarat Bagwell from Arizona got the jackpot with his buddies when he caught the most fish for the day including dorado, cabrilla and snapper.
Texas in the house! Cody Timberlake is a professional cowboy and former bullrider and lives in Banderas TX. First trip with us and a dorado with Captain Alfredo.
Monte Aldridge shows off a bull dorado he picked up fishing off Espirito Santo Island. He’s from Richfield UT and always good to have him visit.
Eric Gunnells and Steve Bayer picked up these dorado on their one day out’ve Bahia Muertos.
Barbara Burnett and her husband Jerry have their own great salmon operation in Juneau AK, but came to visit us and started off with a day of dorado.
These are great eating triggerfish! Best ceviche and fish tacos! Captain Jorge with or friends, Jeff and Marianne Sakuda.
Captain Fili is hidden behind a dorado, but no hiding Zach Arnold and Trent Baysinger and a couple of nice mahi.
Good to see Captain Arcangel smiling. Nice dorado in the box again for Mark.
Things have fallen off rapidly with cooler temperature, stronger winds and currents and rougher water the last week-and-a-half. Fishing has also dropped off dramatically. The warm water season ended sooner than expected and I think things will continue to change as warm water species like the dorado, tuna, wahoo, and billfish move out and are replaced by more inshore cooler water species.
Once again this week, captains and clients worked hard to find picky fish. Bait was harder to come by in the rougher waters and there were times with there were some uncharacteristically big swells, chop and gusty winds making it more difficult to fish. The winds will only get stronger as normally calm La Paz Bay even got some big wind-generated rollers that smashed waves onto the waterfront areas.
There were still some dorado around although the schools are diminishing. Most days boats scratched out a catch of 1-5 dorado per day with most about 10 pounds or so. Smaller ones were released. Lots of bonito, fortunately usually kept rods bent.
More inshore fish like triggerfish, snapper, pargo and cabrilla as well as sierra and jack crevalle and pompano increased in the counts as waters cooled and it became more incumbent to fish closer to the beaches and rocks.
There are, however, some great catches still waiting!
We had a few nice wahoo this week including a whopper 56-pounder by Marlene Kikuchi from Los Angeles. As well, there’s still the occasional 30-50 pound roosterfish.
The biggest surprise was the appearance of some pig yellowfin tuna that were in the 50-150 pound class between Punta Tecolote and Espirito Santo Island in the channel. These fish were toads that tore into anglers for 1-4 hour battles, when they would bite. Sometimes, they were just a tease boiling around the pangas, but not interested in eating a hooked bait. But, when they did bite, they were beasts! Normally, we don’t see tuna around La Paz as we catch them mainly around Las Arenas so this was a nice surprise!
BOOKING FOR 2020 STARTING TO FILL
Ice chests full of fish headed to the airport!
Our reservations are coming in faster than normal and many dates in 2020 are getting filled. Calls and e-mails are coming in daily. Some dates are already sold out. In 2019 we were filled by March.
We don’t want to miss you. If you have a favorite captain, hotel or date in mind, don’t wait. Especially, don’t wait until we do our fishing and hunting show tour in the winter. We want to be sure we have you down and covered so we can have you visit next year!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 6-13, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Firefighters Tim Nishimura and Scott Johnson from the Sacramento CA area have been coming for years to fish around La Paz and have caught almost every fish in the area. However, the wahoo have been elusive until this week when they were out with their favorite Captain Gerardo of the Tailhunter Fleet and they each finally got their wahoo as well as a 3rd ‘hoo as well while trolling Rapalas.
John Kennedy from Auburn, California tries to make a yearly trip to La Paz to fish with the Tailhunter Fleet and his favorite Captain Victor. He was with Victor when they caught a bonito and Victor quickly grabbed it; put it on a heavier rig; and went over to shallow water where they hooked and landed this whopper dog-tooth snapper. John said they lost several others that they couldn’t stop.
Beautiful photo and beautiful dorado for Don Vegter from Redondo Beach CA with Captain Gerardo goofing off behind the shot. The fish was Don’s personal best dorado and caught on live bait near Punta Arenas.
There’s a zillion reasons to love this photo of Roger Thompson and this big ‘hoo! He said it was almost an instant biter upon dropping the lures back. He was fishing with Captain Hugo.
There are good days fishing and then there are REALLY good days fishing! Their first vacation in 25 years, Kimberlee and Kurt Cochran run a commercial fishing operation in Homer, Alaska. Their first day out was with Captain Moncho. They got their first marlin but look at the table in front…a huge wahoo…dorado…cabrilla…triggerfish too.
Our long time friends from Sacramento, Dennis Fujii and Wayne Kurahara start off with some good-sized dorado.
Making his 2nd trip in 2019 to see us, Chad McConnell from Arizona hung this colorful bull mahi fishing on Captain Alfredo’s boat.
I don’t know if this is his first or his 2nd wahoo, but Andy had never fished before and he takes down TWO wahoo! Awesome!
There were a few tuna here and there like the one Captain Jorge is holding and some nice bit of dorado to take home for Lon Tsukamoto and Walt Menda.
Great shot of Andy McIntyre and his wahoo . Note…there’s another on the cleaning table behind him!
This is a pig of a tuna! Dave Lindell from Pendleton OR has fished with us for many years and caught lots of fish, but this one was a bruiser and estimated between 70-80 pounds. Captain Armando gives a hand . Dave fought the fish almost 90 minutes!
First time with us from Denver, Jaren Jackson and Mike Miller got themselves a pair of fast-moving wahoo trophies.
Just a pretty shot in the channel in front of Cerralvo Island with Laurie Reynolds from Lake Havasu, AZ.
Captain Jorge with a couple of our newest and nicest visitors, Darren Robinson and Traci Kidman.
Tom Mullican from Dallas TX visits us twice a year and always does well, especially with Captain Pancho. Nice tuna and big pargo!
Gary Okamoto and Captain Jorge got themselves a wahoo!
From Washington, Bill Bigelman, wanted to make sure he finaly got in the fishing report!
Captain Gerardo with our amiga, Chelsea Roos, celebrating her engagement to Don Vegter with a couple day of fishing and here with a sleep wahoo.
It looks a bit bumpy and rough out there, but Candace and Captain Raul got this dorado under control just east of Espirito Santo Island.
Oh wow…John Stone might have one of the most colorful shots of the week with this dorado! John’s 2nd trip to year to visit us.
Now, this beats starting your day on the freeway any day! Don Vegter got his first wahoo at daybreak outside Bahia Muertos.
Captain Gerardo was on fire this week. Another wahoo, this time with Joe Cameron.
Bob McPhee came down with 6 of his buddies to celebrate their 50th birthday…all of them! And catch some dorado too!
Bobbi Kennedy from Denver with her two great kids, Erin and Raphael and a day of dorado . Bobbi never stops smiling. Great to have them visit!
Again…Andy’s first time ever..and he catches two wahoo. This might be the 2nd wahoo.
That’s a big mahi for Lon. Don’t see many female dorado that big . Great catch.
Tom Mullican again in the gallery this time with a nice load of dorado and a fat barred pargo too!
A last minute trip and they made good with a stack of dorado for Fionne and his dad, Bill Dingwell from Chandler AZ. They also squeezed in a day of diving as well.
Captain Jorge took this photo for me of the beach at Punta Arenas as the storm approached us Sunday and why we figured it was a good day to cancel the boats and not take any chances.
It was a pretty solid week of fishing mostly with fairly good conditions and cooperative fish until the end of the week when heavy rains arrived and put a damper on the bite and fishermen’s spirits.
Dorado continued to be the mainstay and if you wanted a dorado, they were 80% of the catch and found in a wide area by both our Tailhunter Las Arenas and our Tailhunter La Paz fleets. La Paz seemed to have more fish most days, but Las Arenas had the larger fish. Some days were better than others. Some boats did better than others. Some days, La Paz had the better bite but the next day, Las Arenas would have the hot honey holes.
Most fish were 10-20 pounders. Lots of little dorado were released.
The true highlight of the week was the heightened action on the wahoo. This time of year is historically good for wahoo, but until this past week or so, the wahoo weren’t showing much interest in biting.
However, each day wahoo were hooked and lost by our anglers fishing around Cerralvo Island as well as Punta Perrico and in the channel between the island and Punta Arenas. Fish were between 20-and 50 pounders and most were caught trolling with dark-colored Rapalas or Yo-Zuri Magnums. Quite a few fish were lost and there were a few days when several of our pangas boated multiple wahoo.
Other catches this week included hook-ups and both blue marlin and striped marlin and a sprinkling of yellowfin tuna. Most were large footballs but one 50 pounder and another in the 70-80 pound class. We also got a few of the big dog-tooth snapper, as well as cabrilla, pargo, triggerfish, some sierra, amberjack and lots of bonito!
It was all going well until it started to rain later Saturday afternoon. And rained…and rained. Through Sunday forcing us to cancel trips. It wasn’t a strong rain. Just a steady rain. Not a hurricane, but interestingly, more rain fell from this “rainstorm” than Hurricane “Lorena” several weeks ago. We experienced power outtages and some areas had big areas of flooding. Hopefully, by the time you are reading this, we’ll be back on the water.
MAGDALENA BAY REPORT
John Kennedy has been a long-time Tailhunter amigo and he waited 2 years to do one of our light tackle trips to fish the mangroves in Bahia Magdalena. In just 1 day of fishing, Tom estimated he caught at least 10 different species including, corvina, pargo, dog-tooth snapper, grouper, cabrilla, sheephead, grunt, triggerfish and more.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 20-29, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Big dorado of the week by a long-shot, Jon Eide came to see us again from Minnesota and got this big bull north of La Paz.
Mike Murray and Danny Lewis from Lancaster CA tag-teamed this blue marlin estimated at about 250 pounds on their panga just north of La Paz fishing with the Tailhunter Fleet. The fish ate a live sardine on 50-pound test and was not able to be released after a long fight.
Herkko Miettinen came all the way from Finland and was fishing with Captain Pancho of the Tailhunter Fleet in La Paz and his friend Kris Honkola when he hooked and landed this pretty dog-tooth snapper on a chunk of bonito in the shallows outside of Bahia Muertos.
Nice first roosterfish for Toni Brown from Salt Lake City who was fishing for dorado near Punta Arenas when the big fish bit just off the rocky area. She was fishing with the Tailhunter La Paz fleet and was able to release the fish.
Another of our fun amigos from Finland, Jussi Nassi poses with his first striped marlin that fed alot of folks that night for dinner at Tailhunter Restaurant.
Thumbs-up day for Greg and Larry Chastain to start their week with a nice rack of dorado from Las Arenas.
Captain Lorenzo with the Tailhunter Fleet in La Paz hoists up a big dog-tooth snapper for Jim Ginther who came to enjoy some sunshine all the way from Minnesota.
Oregon boys on the beach, Brad Bennett and Jon Barnard had themselves a full week with lots of species of fish including these dorado plus a big barred pargo.
Captain Gerardo gets in the photo with first-timers Merit Olmstead and Mike Dangler who kicked off their first day with an excellent rack of dorado plus pompano and barred pargo . Great eating!
Nice shot! Nice fish. Great colors! Kirk Shandrew is the amigo behind the mask with the barred pargo . Kirk is from Elko, NV.
Captain Armando and Gary Okizaki from Cypress, CA and his big dorado of the day.
Doesn’t get much prettier than these colors on Mark Brown’s dorado as he’s given a hand by Captain Gerardo. Mark is from Salt Lake City UT
You always remember that first one…Kirk Shandrew rocked this striper north of La Paz his first day.
Pound-for-pound, there aren’t too many fish that fight harder than these jack crevalle (“toro”). Bruce Luscombe took this one on the flyrod making it doubly tough!
Big smiles from Justin West who stuck this nice barred pargo. It was a pretty good week for these fish which is unusual this time of year. Great fighters and great eating too! Trophy size!
That’s a nice mix of reefish there including yellow snapper, triggerfish and palometas for John Vondrak, Joe Eide and Bruce Luscombe with Captain Victor.
Another good day on the water and another dorado for the box for Toni Brown.
Two new friends from Idaho who started their trip with a box full of dorado fishing with our La Paz fleet, Peggy and Joe Manning.
Here’s a pair! Bill Schroeder and Tom Lathrop with double dorado for the camera.
Captain Luis poses with Mike Kingsmore who took this dorado near Espirito Santo Island.
Adding to the variety! Bryan and his dad Steve Smith with a palometa and dorado. Bryan’s first trip. Steve visits us every year.
Kirk Shandrew and another tough jack crevalle caught, battled and released!
Hurricane Lorena reached category 1 status last weekend and came directly over La Paz instead of veering off as had been originally predicted. Fortunately, other than some heavy flooding, a few roads washing out and felling some trees and power poles, no one was injured and property damage was relatively minimal compared to other hurricanes that have blown through. The most damage appears to have occurred out towards Las Arenas/ Bahia Muertos/ La Ventana and El Sargento over the hill from La Paz.
The biggest issue for us were all the anglers who got stuck for several days. With the beaches getting battered; the seas in a cauldron and the port captain shutting down all boat traffic, there wasn’t much to do for the several dozen visitors we had who were suddenly locked in.
Others were trying to get home and to the airport. Many more were trying to fly in. However, with flights canceled and the Cabo Airport closed, folks either had to stay extra days in La Paz or conversely, lost days of vacation because they couldn’t fly down.
Although the storm itself was relatively minor as hurricanes go, the after-effects have been tremendous.
In terms of climate, post-Lorena, air temperatures have dropped dramatically from the high 90’s and low 100’s to the low 90’s. Almost a 10 degree drop across the board. Additionally, humidity has fallen from the muggy 70-80% steambath to a very comfortable 50% these following days. Accompanied by stronger winds reminiscent of later October, it’s actually been quite comfortable causing many of us to remark that we suddenly lost summer. Fall dropped in like someone had thrown a switch.
The bite, as well, was heavily affected.
Right after Lorena moved north, it cause tropical storm Mario, holding off the Pacific Coast to move into the vacuum. So, early in the week brought continued cloudiness, rough seas and occasional rainstorms.
All of this caused the bite to take it’s time getting back up to speed.
Prior to the storm, we had the best dorado bite of the season going. We had the best marlin bite I have ever seen in over 2 decades. After Lorena, it took awhile to gain momentum again.
The week started pretty scratchy ,but with each progressive day, the waters cleared up and the fish started to bite again. It wasn’t as full-turbo as the week before, but fairly decent action kept improving with mostly dorado biting for both our Tailhunter La Paz and our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleets.
Most of the dorado were respectable 10-20 pound fish. There were a few larger. Many smaller fish were released.
Additionally, both blue and striped marlin improved as well with a number of fish hooked each day while anglers were trying to catch dorado. Consequently, many fish were hooked (and quite a few lost) on light tackle! Most hooked fish were released.
Still no tuna or wahoo to speak of although this should be prime-time for both species. Occasionally, one or two tuna get picked up, but the schools are either moving too fast or pop up and boil, then quickly go back down. On several occasions, the fish were boiling but refused to take baits. Checking the stomachs of several hooked tuna, we found their bellies full of small squid which could account for their unwillingness to take a hooked bait.
As for other species, the change in weather seems to have a dramatic effect on other species as well. It’s almost as if we are fishing in June conditions again. We’re getting pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle, the occasional yellowtail and amberjack, pompano and even some sierra plus those big dog-tooth snapper again.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 1-8, 2019
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN WEEK-AT-A-GLANCE
Weather – Days high 90’s with lots of humidity. Nights, high 70’s to low 80 with a breeze. Subject to afternoon thundershowers. Very tropical
Waters – Mostly blue and clear. Surface temps in the 80’s
Fishing (Scale of 1-10) – Solid 6 or 7. Lots of dorado. Lots of action with bonito, skippies and other species. Sorry about the needlefish. Not alot of trophy fish, but lots of fun fish. Not included the big dog-tooth snapper we started catching.
Species Caught or Hooked This Week: dorado (mahi-mahi), tuna, bonito, jack crevalle, dog-tooth snapper, pargo, roosterfish, sierra, cabrilla, rainbow runner, pompano, snapper, palometa, amberjack and several billfish hooked and lostl
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Captain Pancho helped Troy Anderson of Denver, Colorado with this monster cubera snapper that is apparently just a few pounds short of the World Record. On a scale, the fish bottomed it at 68-pounds and was caught on a needlefish off Punta Perrico near Bahia Muertos in shallow water.
Two of our long-time amigos, Glenn Delmendo and Don Mariano, with a couple of nicer model dorado.
From Salt Lake City, Utah, Dave Mullholland was in the shallow high spot off Punta Arenas and fishing with Captain Armando with a whole bonito when he hung this big-boy dog-tooth/ cubera snapper.
JIm Bovee always does well and visits us 2-3 times a year from San Diego. Nice bull and flat waters to start the morning!
Ari Caldevilla from Redondo Beach CA is a tall guy and that helps put the size of his roosterfish in perspective. It’s legit! Captain Ramiro with the photobomb and the nearby rocksof Punta Perrico in the background. The fish was released.
One of the few tuna this week with Tony Jones and Captain Arcangel. Hefty football!
Big smiles from Linda Tomaselli posing with husband, Mike, and Captain Armando with the results of a nice foray to the dorado grounds.
The Prikazskys came all the way from upstate New York and strike a nice pose with a table full of doardo headed back east with them.
That’s alot of MEAT!!! Captain Nando lifts another one of those big cubera/ dog-tooth snapper (check the teeth). Shallow water too…that’s the waves on the beach at Punta Arenas right behind him.
Love this shot! Scott Herman was staying with us at La Concha Beach Resort and took out one of the kayaks just behind the hotel and caught a number of species including this barred pargo.
Ari was also out behind Hotel La Concha and launched a kayak there in the shallows and got a fun little roosterfish on light tackle that he photo’d and released.
Andy Fernandez was with us earlier in the year and cane back for another round of fishing. Another dorado in the box too!
It’s been about 10 years since Steve Bryan visited us last. He started out his fishing week hanging a big dog-tooth with Captain Armando who had the hot hand/ rod this week.
Great colors all around! Scott Herman and Brent Skaff with two of their dorado.
First timers, Mike and Linda Williamson were fishing with Tailhunter Sportfishing and had enough dorado in the box when Captain Armando Lucero put them over the rocks with live bait and they ended up with two hefty cubera snapper/ pargo perro. Mike and Linda are from Discovery Bay, California. Fun couple!
Good start to the fishing trip with Captain Archangel and Linda and Mike Butler visiting us from Idaho for the first time.
Another rooster for Jim Bovee. Catch-and-release off the rocks near Bahia Muertos.
One of the better dorado of the week, Duane Shoemake holds it up on the beach at Bahia Muertos . He got a number of species fishing with us during the week.
Captain Arcangel got into alot of fish this week…and alot of photos! Glenn and Don again with another good day of fishing the dorado.
Two of our newest fun folks to visit us for the first time, Mike and Melanie Genanatti with a couple of handfuls of their dorado fishing with Captain Victor.
Two of our long time BFF’s from Denver, you won’t find nicer folks than Frank and Diane Kunze. They are darned good anglers too!
It’s great to have first timers with us like Marie Fanelli and Kathy Young who get a hand from Captain Rogelio fishing north of La Paz.
Captain Fili had a super day with Victor Baines who brought 3 other amigos down for 3 days of fishing and they ran into some nice days of dorado.
Dave Owens came last year with his wife, but she couldn’t make it and Mike Kirkpatrick came along for 3 days of fishing. The amigos are from the Phoenix area.
Jack Hornbeck came to celebrate his 60th birthday with us and had some great dorado fishing days and almost had a marlin too!
Bill Young waited two years to fish with us after a hurricane last year canceled his trip, But he was back and fishing with Captain Rogelio had some nice dorado fishing right in the bay.
Paul Roberts came with Charlie Finster to celebrate Paul’s birthday and he had a good time among some pretty good fishing!
It was a pretty solid week of fishing, expecially if you wanted to catch dorado. It was pretty hard not to hook one, unless you were targeting other species. Typical of this time of year, the dorado could be found in numerous spots around Cerralvo Island, Espirito Santo Island, Punta Perrico, Punta Mejia, and Bahia Muertos as well as localized spots like the floating buoys and other areas.
The fish are mostly that 10-15 pound class with lots of smaller ones getting released. Some larger fish up to 25-30 pounds also hooked. Fishing can be a daily pick-pick-pick with a fish-or-two here and there.
Or, it might be pandemonium of you hit a schools and the school crashes the boat with every rod getting bent simultaneously in a wild melee of jumping and fighting fish!
Not much in the way of tuna this week, but that could also be because the dorado are so easy to find and the tuna are either fast moving or take full focus to chase them down or find a spot (especially when the boats around you are getting bent on dorado!).
Of greater interest are the big dog-tooth/ cubera snapper that have shown up in the shallows outside of Bahia Muertos. Using whole bonito or needlefish, these toothy armored beasts have been biting almost every day although it takes a Herculean effort and a lot of luck to pull one out’ve their rocky hiding places and maybe only 1 per day is getting back to the beach for the big photo session.
These fish have been 40-50 pounds or more and we got one that was 68 -pounds (we had a scale on the beach) and apparently is just a few pounds short of the IGFA world record!
Additional species this week included roosterfish, jack crevalle, big bonito, sierra, pargo, snapper, pompano, amberjack and rainbow runners.
AND MORE!
We have been here in La Paz and even many of our long-time amigos don’t know that we offer many other activities besides fishing. One of our most popular is snorkeling and scuba-diving trips to Espirito Santo Island. Waters right now are a blue 85 degrees and I wanted to share some of the photos taken this week by some of our folks! Thanks to Ryan Netherton for a majority of these great shots!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 29-Aug. 4, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST OF THE STORY…
His first roosterfish was a dandy. Dave Payan visited from Roy, Utah and was out with us and right-off-the-bat hooked this big roosterfish not far from the Las Arenas lighthouse. The fish was released.
Joe Treves from Los Angeles gets a hand from son, Matt, and Captain Gerardo of the Tailhunter Fleet in La Paz with an 80-pound tuna he wrestled off Cerralvo Island just east of Bahia Muertos that ate a live sardine on light tackle.
Marco and Steve Holguin have been visiting us for years and always good to see them. Their first day started with a nice rack of dorado from Las Arenas.
San Diego in the house with Rick Carlton and Bruce Husson with a rare white marlin! I think I have only seen 3 the whole 25 years I have been here. The guys released it to swim strongly away! Cerralvo Island in the background.
Ryan Sallee and Shelby Pope via San Diego first-time fishing with us got a ice variety of great eating pargo, snapper and a dorado!
What a pig of a fish! Largest dog-tooth snapper of the year hooked by Shelly Donnell from Beaverton OR with a happy Captain Pancho trying to hoist it up on the gaff.
Another nice one in the boat and this time a nice huachinago on the gaff for Utah amigo, Dave Payan.
Couldn’t resist the smile of Allie Tutino from San Diego with her only dorado, but there’s a couple of nice pargo on the table in front of her!
Now THAT’s alot of sashime, but these guys know how to fish! Long-time amigos who come several times a year got these hefty yellowfin tuna at the south end of Espirito Santo Island where a number of these horse fish have broken rods and hearts! Kevin SHIOTANI (sorry about that brain fart, Kevin…I kneel in apology! But at least I didn’t write CACA VERDE!) and Rick Hosmer doing it like a boss!
Nice bull dorado for our first-time visitor to La Paz Marco Martinez posing on the sand for us at Bahia los Muertos.
Three generations of the Mammott Family…Jeff…Jesse…Christy and Paden with some of their dorado.
Just another day on the water for amigo, Shelly Donnell and sister Gaby, both from Oregon with dorado and pargo ready for the fillet table.
Might be my favorite photo of the week! My two friends, Roger McCracken and Joe Treves goofing with their big “sardines.”
Dorado can be voracious feeders! But here’s the rule when a dorado picks up BOTH baits! Whoever’s hook is deepest in the mouth gets the fish! I think Gaby’s hook is deeper than her brother’s hook! But Sheldon will argue the point!
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Still crazy trying to figure out our fishing. It seems we move two steps forward then one step back each week. Get get excited about jags of fish like dorado, or marlin or tuna. And just when we’re all fired up, things change again!
Every day, you can take your pick of words to describe the fishing…everyone has a different adjective for the day and it runs the full gamut from awesome and fun to erratic, anemic, or crummy! And the boats can be right next to each other and you’ll get completely different results from boat-to-boat; location to location and from day-to-day.
Everyone arrives and says, “How’s the fishing?” And all I can give them is a shrug of the shoulders. Bottom line, everyone is catching fish. But not everyone is catching fish ALL the time!
Here it is August, and it’s still more like late May or June fishing. It’s deceiving because the waters are blue; the days are hot and humid; it feels really tropical…I mean it looks like summer. It feels like summer. But the fishing isn’t summer. It’s more like springtime fishing.
Just check out the variety of fish. We should be catching mostly bluewater/ warmwater fish like dorado, tuna and billfish. And indeed, the dorado are probably 60% of the catch. But, it’s hardly wide-open on the chew. Dorado are scattered and we’re picking them up here and there.
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Good start of the fishing grip for Louie Mogabgab with some nice bull dorado and an amberjack to show for it!
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However, we’re still getting cold water fish like the big mullet snapper (pargo liso); sierra (winter fish); snapper, cabrilla, amberjack and even an occasional yellowtail.
Captain Pancho helps pose a pargo liso for Gaby Donnell
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Mix in the occasional billfish plus bonito, jack crevalle and even the sporadic beast tuna of 50-100 pounds and there’s action to be held…most days…most boats. Here’s the deal…if you’re only coming down and fishing 1 day…you could have a great time or be that boat that just misses it. If you’re fishing 2, 3 or 4 days, you’ll have an off-day or two, but you’ll be going home with fish!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of
July 1-7 ,2019
WEEK at a GLANCE
Water – Calming down and getting bluer and warmer. Surface temp about 80 degrees. Colder thermocline 30-60 feet down drops another 5-15 degrees. Still choppy some days especially in the mornings.
Weather – Consistently highs in the mid-90’s and nighttime cools to mid-70’s. Feels warmer some days, but then the afternoon breeze cools things down. Very tropical
Wind – Mostly better than other weeks. Calming down hopefully. Did have one day at Las Arenas/ Muertos where a baby storm went through and made it tough to go out for about an hour or so, but then it blew out and the folks got out on the water. We just waited it out.
Fishing – Lots of variety, but more of the warm water-water fish like dorado becoming more prominent. No wahoo, but fish caught this week included lots of big roosterfish (Las Arenas); dorado (La Paz); pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle, skipjack, bonito, amberjack, pompano, yellowtail, palometa, snapper, baja grouper, marlin, sailfish.
Fish Scale of 1-10: A solid 6
MEXICAN MINUTE WEEKLY VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE AND THE REST of the STORY…
Captain Gerardo gives Erik Foraker from Washington a hand with a big roosterfish caught and released off Punta Arenas. The fish was released and 3 were caught that day off the panga.
Mike and Jacquiline Aguilar caught 3 big roosterfish including this beast on a single day. All fish were released.
Miles and Sydney Wagner with big-time bull dorado there at Bahia Muertos staying at their dad, Gary’s place at Rancho Costa.
One of my favorite photos of the week. Captain Jorge gives a thumbs-up to Will’s big roosterfish. Will is from Denver and released the fish.
That’s alot of fish for an 11-year-old, but Levi Moore from Encinitas CA did the job on this big roosterfish then took the photo and let it go to swim strong!
Our buddy who never stops smiling! Rick Kasper has a handful if dorado for the camera then the grill. Rick is a hunting guide and TV personality in Wyoming and Arizona.
Just off the beach, Anabel, holds up a pretty roosterfish for the camera before letting it go.
And another roosterfish for Erik and captain Gerardo doing the great photo-bomb for the camera!
Deno and Mark Buchanan with the big tuna of the week hooked off Cerralvo Island.
Beautiful and rarely caught Baja Grouper or Golden Grouper taken by Vern Marschall who spent the week with us and fished two days . He caught this one off Espirito Santo Island.
The roosterfish is almost bigger than Jacqueline!
Colorful shot and another rooster on deck for Eric Ryan who released the fish.
Headed back to the hotel grill with two legit dorado, Jason Wagner took these fish working that area just outside of Bahia Muertos.
Big smile for Nick Gatelein with his first roosterfish at dawn off Las Arenas. Good way to start your day!
Incredible colors on this big dorado caught by Anabel not far off the rocks at Punta Perrico.
The tired satisfaction of besting a big fish is evident on our buddy, Ed Mitoma, who finally got his big roosterfish then realeased it . He also had another one on the line that got away. Punta Arenas in the background.
Another one for the camera! Levi Moore was on a roll with another roosterfish caught-and-released.
All the way from Kansas, Lilly Korbach, has a pretty smile for a pretty jack crevalle. She was staying at Rancho Costa there in Bahia Muertos.
1..2..3…LIFT! It’s a handful for 14-year-old Seth Moore and his big rooster almost as long as he is tall! Despite it’s looks, the fish swam off strongly upon release.
From Paso Robles, CA and on his first venture with Tailhunter Sportfishing, Scott McGuire put quite a few dorado like this on the hook.
Kris Korbach poses another big one for the camera shot then quickly released the big roosterfish.
That is one giant needlefish! Andy Lauber from New Orleans took this beast.
Weather was a little more agreeable this past week although we had one bit of a bump. We caught a lot of different species again as well including: snapper, pargo, jack crevalle, pompano, marlin, sailfish, several types of bonito, yellowtail, tuna and others. However, the hotshots this week all came down pretty much to two species: Dorado and roosterfish.
Pompano still biting. Jacqueline Aguilar does the honors.
First day out…first day on the water…first marlin! Andrew Tawaroski from Florida with Captain Gerardo . Andrew released the pretty fish.
Jules caught this football tuna off Bahia Muertos.
DORADO
For the most part, this is the time of year when we should be swarming with dorado. However, this year started pretty sluggishly with these warm-water species as waters have been taking their time getting warmer and no thanks to the pestering cool winds that have plagued us for months.
But, it seems like the fishing is finding it’s stride.
There are still patches of cold green water. There are still erratic currents that push the bite and the baits off the mark. But, this past week it was a lot more consistent although still not fully up-to-speed. Nevertheless we saw more and larger dorado in the counts, especially for our Tailhunter La Paz fleet that fishes north from the city towards Espirito Santo Island and around Punta Coyote and Punta Mejia.
Those areas not only produced some great shallow-water fishing for the pargo, cabrilla, amberjack and snapper, but the shallows also produced dorado without having to go too far off or venturing to some of the other high spots or finding floating sargasso weed the dorado could also be found.
What a great shot and check the colors of Lauren and her dorado off Espirito Santo Island. Great smile too!
It wasn’t full turbo and not every panga caught fish every day, but over-all pretty consistent on the dorado. It could be a day of picking off a fish here-and-there all day. It could be a day where one panga found the dorado and the boat next to it couldn’t buy a bite. It could be a day where it was slow for hours then all heck-breaks-loose in a frenzy of action…then it dies. Just no way to tell.
That’s the right kind! Bull dorado headed for the fish box for Andy Lauber from New Orleans. Check out the flat ocean behind him! Like glass.
You could run into a school of firecracker-sized dinks or a group of larger bigger fish. Or, it could be one big fish of the day. But, the dorado are definitely around.
You don’t have to go far for bluewater sportfishing here! Eric Ryan caught this pretty dorado right off the rocky cliffs of Espirito Santo Island in shallow water.
ROOSTERFISH
The bigger story continues to be the roosterfish.
As one of our guys told me,
“I’ve never seen so many roosterfish in one spot. We were hooked on two of them but others that looked like giants were boiling right next to the panga. We could have caught all we wanted all day long if our arms held out!
Firs roosterfish for Taryn Mitoma! Punta Arenas beach in the background. Taryn did a great job in releasing the fish.
In all my years here, I have never seen this kind of rooster season. We are catching and releasing as many fish in one week as we might catch in several months of fishing.
One more rooster! Seth and Levi Moore!
Fish are running 10-70 pounds and actually schooling in big groups and boiling on the surface in feeding frenzies! Anglers coming down to just catch one fish for the bucket list end up hanging 2 or 3 in a single day and losing others.
“I fought two roosterfish for almost an hour each and that was it! It was still early and I wanted to back to the beach. If we never caught another fish the rest of the week, those two fish made my trip. Seeing them swim away was awesome!”
Will from Denver holds up another one for the camera.
He’ll grow up to be a monster! Nick Gatelein on deck at sunrise .
Pretty much all the fish are getting released and they’re really close to shore in shallow water. Using mostly the large 12-inch ladyfish for bait, some of the battles are lasting well near an hour-or-more and exhausting anglers, especially first-timers having fun, but not used to the strain these big fish can put on arms, backs, legs and fingers!
“I finally got the roosterfish off my bucket list. But, I paid the price. A big blister on my finger and sore arms. Never thought a fish could be so strong. Great time!”
Mike Aguilar has another!
Right on top of the rocks! Vern holds up his rooster.
Almost all of these fish are being caught by our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet and the fish are scattered from the Punta Arenas lighthouse down to Boca de Alamo then also around Espirito Santo Island.
Of note, at the beginning of the week we did have a “torito” (small bull) hit around our Las Arenas area. While La Paz stayed flat calm, when our boats at Muertos Bay were ready to go out, suddenly the torito hit which is essentially a small localized wind/rainstorm almost like a baby hurricane. They come out’ve nowhere with no warning. It whips the winds and waves and no one could get off the beach.
But, they can blow over quickly. We kept everyone in the vans and decided to wait it out rather tha come back to town. Surely enough, about 90 minutes later the winds died and, although the waters remained choppy, our anglers finally got out on the water. Fishing was less than stellar, but fortunately, the big roosterfish stuck around!
Tailhunter Fish Report 