La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 2-9, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Back home in Denver, it was below freezing. Here in La Paz, it was 102 and after 2 slow days of fishing, John Lowdermilk and Gianni Checa finally hit the dorado schools and filled a box of fish!
By far, the best catches of a slower week, was had by our long-time amigos, Daniel and his dad, Jim Bovee from San Diego. Talk about a crazy season. Only our 2nd wahoo of the season. A big amberjack that usually is only around in the spring and two big pargo that are also usually cooler-water fish!
Eastern Washington in the house with Dan McKinley and Darrel Startin on their first trip down to visit us. They had one of the better days of fishing this past week.
Great prized catch for Don Busse who has fished with us for years and never gotten a pargo liso (mullet snapper). They are not only a difficult fish to pull from the rocks, but it’s September and these are cold-water fish we normally see in March and April. It’s a crazy year. Don is from Lakewood CA.
Firefighter Mike Welch on his first trip to visit us, shows off two of his dorado, but take a look at the box below. It was one of the better outtings this past week.
Dave Burnett with one of the tough bonito that at least provided some pulling action, even when the dorado weren’t biting.
Don Busse again with probably the biggest dorado of the week! Nice bull mahi!
The bonito north of town around Espirito Santo Island were especially tough and big fast sluggers like this one with Mike Welch hooked in between dorado.
Dave’s got another dorado in the boat. Lots of dorado did get released this week.
With the full moon, the week surprisingly started really strong! Limits of dorado for both our Tailhunter Las Arenas and our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet. Thunderstorms that were predicted, never materialized and we finally had a great combination of solid fishing action and sunny weather with fairly flat seas.
The dorado weren’t big. The largest ran maybe 20 pounds, but with the 5-10 pounders, there was alot of action and many boats often limited early then caught-and -released fish. Lots of fillets ended up at our Tailhunter Fubar Cocina Restaurant every night.
In addition, we had a bit or unexpected variety. The wahoo made a show although we only got one to the boat, but it was only the 2nd wahoo of the season, but some of the other boats got hook-ups as well.
Additionally some great inshore fishing with nice cabrilla, pargo, snapper, roosterfish, amberjack plus big bonito an jacks made for some good days of fishing.
As the week went on, amazingly, the full moon waned and so did the fishing! Our Las Arenas fleet really had to work hard to find fish, but our La Paz fleet continued to do OK. But straight up…it really got tough. Overall, the fishing action dropped off tremendously.
I have no idea why. Conditions seemed normal for the time of year. Lots of bait. The fish just went “lockjaw” and captains and anglers alike really struggled to get into a solid bite of any note. Everyone who wanted to take home fish, still took home fish, but it was spotty at best!
Hopefully, by the time you’re reading this we’ll be back up-to-speed.
Maybe the best news of the week was the re-opening of the beaches and our water-front malecon after almost 5 months or Covid-closure! It was good to see people in the water; walking along the waterfront and cruising the Malecon in the evenings. It really put people in an up-beat mood and you could feel the palpable joy in the locals as well as the tourists.
Along with that, the decrease in restrictions, also applied to the opening of churches (with protocols); gyms, the movie theaters, salons, spas and so man non-essential businesses that were shuttered.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 27-Sept. 2, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Sherry Cady from Denver CO, had a pretty good week on the dorado. This is one of the larger mahi of the week she caught fishing with Captain Raul with our La Paz fleet.
Big smiles and bucket list fish for Mateo Rangel from Atascadero CA with captain Jorge and his first roosterfish.
Rob Markarian from Camarillo CA with one of the larger dorado of the week. He and his amigo, slammed dorado all week.
One of our funnest regular amigos, John Washington started his week with a nice load of dorado. He’s from Carson City NV and planning to come back to visit next month!
Somewhere behind that mask, Gary from Florida got himself a big roosterfish outside of Bahia Muertos. Thanks to Gary Wagner from Rancho Costa for the photo.
Mike Welch and his bunch of crazy firefighter friends with just a small sample of dorado from their first day. They started with quite a bang..
More dorado! Rob Markarian and Tom Worrell found some nice schools of mahi north of La Paz near Las Cruces.
When Mateo catches a fish he’s always got the big smile!
Kevin and Tom with a nice load of dorado ready to fillet and bring back to La Paz to our FUBAR Cocina Cantina.
Good day on the flyrod! Ron and Sherry Cady with another dorado day.
Amigo Gary Wagner with yet another nice rooster for the gallery. The fish was released. Gary owns Rancho Costa there at Muertos.
Tom Worrell and his rather large variety of needlefish! That’s a beast. Espirito Santo Island in the background.
A double-fist of dorado! Ron Cady was fishing north around Las Cruces with Captain Raul and got some nice bulls.
NBA All-Star Clifford Ray was staying out at Rancho Costa for a few days and caught this colorful roosterfish as well as dorado. The rooster was released. Clifford played alot of years with the Bulls and Warriors and won and NBA championship in 1975 wit the Warriors.
Well, knock on wood, we seem to have mostly dodged a three chubascos. Two weeks ago, it was Guenevere. This week, it was Hernan and Isella. It’s that time of year.
For the storms, however, that came through…
Although they closed the port, neither did more than bring cloudy skies and a few drops of rain. Actually, the cloudy skies were kinda nice if you were on the water as it was alot cooler and more comfortable than blazing sunshine. Most of the week has been cloudy or given us sporadic sunshine.
It’s been that kind of year, however. Both air and water temps are cooler and it’s made fishing, a bit different than normal.
Even with the cloudy skies, fishing actually seemed to improve. Fortunately, the storms didn’t push alot of wind when they came through so waters stayed pretty flat and the fish seemed to wake up a bit from what they were doing previously.
Big roosterfish are still around off Las Arenas, but it was the dorado schools that seemed to turn on.
Nothing spectacular, but alot of fun 5-20 pound dorado for both our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet and our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. Especially, this past week, we had alot of first-timers and couples so having some great dorado fishing plus add in pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle, bonito and triggerfish and there could be some really fun action.
Live bait was best and included sardines, cocineros and mackerel.
Not every boat did great every day. There’s still some areas of off-color cold water and without as many boats as normal for all the fishing fleets, it’s hard to cover all the spots every day. However, if they were fishing several days, everyone went home with fish and it definitely was better fishing than the week before.
Still no tuna or wahoo showing which is unusual for this time of year, but I hear there’s some biters to the south of us so hopefully, the schools will come north.
BAHIA MAGDALENA
A couple of our regular good amigos from San Diego, Daniel Bovee and his dad, Jim…who’s already fished with us once this year, took a few days to head out to our Bahia Magdalena operation on the Pacific about 4 hours from La Paz. First day they fished inside the mangroves for cabrilla, pargo, snook and other inshore species, but the next day went outside to the ridge and really jumped some nice fatty dorado and legit dorado!
A table full of good fillets coming up…tuna and dorado!
THE BIG WHOOP!
We’re pretty excited here with the news this week that many of the covid restrictions are being eased. For many of us, it’s been 5 months of closures and strict protocols.
Initially, back in late March we were in pretty much full closure at RED LEVEL 6.
June 15th, we dropped to ORANGE LEVEL 5. Better, but still meant only 30% occupancy of hotels, restaurants and businesses. Beaches and the waterfront Malecon were closed. Masks still required. Social distancing maintained at 6 feet.
Well…this past week, the governor reduced us to LEVEL 4 which is great news.
Masks are still required, but that means social distancing was cut in half. Our waterfront Malecon is now open until 11 p.m. at night. Restaurants do not have to serve food in order to serve drinks. That means bars can open.
Hotels, restaurants and other businesses can observe 40% occupancy instead of 30%.
Gyms, churches, spas, salons and other “non-essential” businesses can open with some restrictions. Many have been closed for 5 months.
With restrictions, some of the beaches are now being opened!
The town is pretty elated. People have to work and eat and it’s nice to have a little more space and places to go! We just can’t abuse it. The government warns that they could still reverse things if folks don’t respect the rules. However, they’re optimistic that soon we could be dropped to Level 3 YELLOW.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 20-27, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
The BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Almost looks like a poster! Hard to find a better photo than Mark Bonsack and his 66-pound roosterfish. He had it on a scale before releasing it. He got 3 this day.
Orrin Grant has some nice fillets to take home to Utah.
Big smiles from Brad. He caught and released 3 roosterfish. Cerralvo Island in the background.
They are big and they’re not in very deep water. Roosterfish almost to the boat. Great shot by Mark Bonsack.
Start of 3 days fishing wasn’t too bad. Tom Worrell and Rob Markarian with 4 bull dorado at Bahia Muertos. Next day they slammed ’em.
If Brad looks a little gassed, this was his 3rd roosterfish of the day. Caught and released.
You may not recognize him, but that’s NBA Hall or Famer Rick Barry who won the NBA championship in 1975 and has himself a dandy bull dorado. He was staying at Rancho Costa at Gary Wagner’s place.
Gary at Rancho Costa with another NBA All-star Clifford Ray who played center when Rick Barry was with the Golden State Warriors.
Another one for the photo gallery! Brad with another rooster before releasing it.
Mark with another monster roosterfish that hit the 60 pound mark on a scale before Mark released it.
Pretty cool underwater shots of Pancho and Brad and a seriously bent rod and a roosterfish at color.
Almost to the boat!
We sure don’t see many amberjack in August. These are normally cold-waterfish but great eating. Mark Bonsack is taking this one home!
I guess in a weird way, I’m glad we didn’t have many fishermen this week. About 1/2 the week we had weather issues with Hurricane Guenievere that came up the Pacific Coast. Inititial forecasts predicted as much as a category 3 or 4 blast. It wasn’t supposed to make landfall, but brush into Cabo then veer up the Pacific side of Baja with 3-4 inches of rain.
By the time it hit it had been downgraded to a category 1 and didn’t slam as hard as predicted, but down in Cabo there was extensive flooding and for the rest of us, alot of wind and waves that kept us off the water for a few days and had the city of La Paz locked down pretty tightly. As it was, here in the city, it didn’t even rain hard enough to clean the dust off my car windshield, but it probably wasn’t very comfortable to be out fishing.
So, about 1/2 the week was pointless.
The rest of the week gave us sporadic cloudiness and sunshine and a mix of dorado and inshore fish that surprisingly included cool water fish like amberjack and sierra mixed with jack crevalle, bonito, cabrilla, snapper and pargo. Decent action, but nothing spectacular to be honest, as the waters settled back down.
Thankfully, again, there were the big roosterfish. Not good eating, but the beasts still slugged it out with fish in the 20-65 pound class along the Muertos/ Las Arenas beaches. All fish were released.
Heads-up! There’s a couple of weather disturbances to the south of us. They’re not fully-formed yet and are not hurricanes or tropical storms, but we’re keeping an eye on them. Right now, they look like they might bounce west out to the Pacific, but might still bring some afternoon thundershowers over us by the end of the week.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug 5-12, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
A good start on the first day for Frank Kunze and Lee Carlson, our long-time amigos who came back to the beach with some dorado and a pompano that ended up on the grill at our Fubar Cocina Cantina.
Captain Geraldo stands behind Matt Cirillo as he poses with a big long roosterfish just off the beach at Punta Arenas. The fish was released.
Lorraine McDonald from Utah is all smiles with Captain Armando and her dorado.
Our buddy, Kip Slaugh, from Salt Lake City, holds up a huge roosterfish caught in the surf off Punta Arenas on live bait. Kip released the big slugger.
Dave from Dutch John, Utah, has a sailfish to his day! The fish was released.
Thumbs-up from Captain Jorge with Sommer Adams from San Diego on her first trip to visit us. Nice rack of dorado to start the week for her!
That’s a big one! Another rooster for a quick photo and release!
Elena Galvan and Steve Ortega visited us for the first time and put some dorado into the box. Standing on the beach at Bahia Muertos.
Sue Slaugh has been with us for many years from Salt Lake City and has herself a dorado on the gaff headed for the grill!
From the Los Angeles area on a first-time visit, Daniel Ahman and Jimmy Stathis pose with Captain Victor and a nice batch. of dorado on the cleaning table.
Kip with another dorado from the blue waters at Bahia Muertos!
It was an OK week. Honestly, nothing spectacular. That’s the bottom line. Not much more to say about it.
Dorado were surely the focus of attention with 90% of the catch being mahi mahi between 5-20 pounds. But, it was a weird week. For all of you out there that think the full-moon is a terrible time to fish…last week’s full-moon fishing was far better than this week!
The week started out fairly OK. Dorado, pargo, snapper, cabrilla. Even some billfish. Thankfully, the big roosterfish picked up some of the slack. However, no wahoo. No tuna. No dog-tooth.
But, then as the week went on, the last several days, it just kind of shut off. Even the dorado took a powder and got lockjaw. We had one day of very strong winds that bounced everyone and turned the waters over and even after the waters flattened the subsequent days really didn’t produce much and captains and anglers really had to work hard for their fish. Las Arenas was definitely better than fishing out’ve La Paz and although summer-like conditions are only now just starting to hit, the waters are remarkably cooler than normal. Hopefully, the fish get with the program again real quick.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 20-27, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Every year, Kelly Jimenez from Colorado comes down with her family to visit us for years. Every year, it’s something new and better! This year, with Captain Jorge, check out the size of this huge roosterfish she battled outsid Bahia Muertos! The fish was released.
Captain Chito and Diego Jimenez are all smiles as Diego has been fishing with us for many years from Loveland CO and always wanted a sail. After releasing several marlin this week, this sail was kept and meat donated.
They hooked 4 big roosters this morning. Gary Wagner owner of the Rancho Costa in Bahia Muertos with friend, Rush Whitmarsh from San Diego with one of those 4 hefty roosters caught and released.
Jim Stahlman was with us all week an fishing with Captain Jorge. Jim is from Boise, ID and caught roosterfish, jacks, wahoo and on this day, his personal best dorado.
Gary Wagner with one in the boat to start the day. The roosters were on the chew this week close to shore . Gary released this one and others.
Giving some “sugar” to their dorado, the Morales sisters from California, Christina, Kimberly and Ruby on the beach at Bahia Muertos. Ruby also landed a sailfish that day.
Kelly and Diego Jimenez were on a roll this week releasing several marlin, numerous roosterfish, jacks and other species. They estimated they caught almost 20 different species. They caught this marlin and sailfish the same day with Captain Chito. The fish could not be released, but meat was gifted.
He fished hard all week and got wore out! But, 11-year-old, Roman Jimenez worked it and this was his largest jack crevalle of the week which he released.
Jesus Morales and Carlos Kanemoto with two dorado out’ve their box after a day of hitting the mahi at the buoys.
Right in front of the Punta Arenas lighthouse just off the beach, Rush and Gary with another roosterfish for a quick photo and release!
Jim Bovee from San Diego…pulling hard on a light rode with a marlin at the other end! Check the series of photos. That’s Espirito Santo Island in the background just north of La Paz. More photos below.
After a long battle, Jim’s marlin is getting closer to the boat!
…and here it is! Great shot. Great battle ! Even better, Jim released the fish to fight another day!
Ruby Morales, holding the head, gets an assist from her sisters to pose with her sailfish. Ruby always does well. Last year she single-handed a huge yellowfin tuna.
Captain Pancho lends a hand to Kelly Jimenez and a fun little rooster right up in the shallows of Bahia Muertos. The fish was released. There’s alot of little jacks and roosters in the bay that are great for catch-and-release light tackle fun.
Immensely fun when you’re throwing a surface-popper like the one hanging out’ve the mouth of this jack crevalle caught by Rush Whitmore of San Diego. The fish was released.
Surely no shortage of action on these tough-fighting jack crevalle nicknamed “toros” by the Mexican fishermen which means “bull.” Diego Jimenez with the photo and fish!
Jim Stahlman from Idaho with one of two roosters caught and released just off the sands and surf at Punta Arenas.
Our Captain Gerardo stands behind Fernando Morales and pal, Jonathan Jackson and 3 of their dorado. They caught big fish limits early in the morning and were back on the beach and back to town long before anyone else!
A very good week overall. Some boats did better than others some days. Some spots were better than others. There was a little work involved in finding the fish. But for anyone who put in a couple of days on the water, you surely went home with a bunch of fish in the cooler; some to eat for dinner; and probably released alot of fish too.
I can’t believe how many species were hooked this week!
I think I counted almost 20 different species. They included dorado, tuna sailfish, marlin, roosterfish, jacks…we even hooked some sharks and (get this) salt-water catfish!
The week started out with an explosion of tuna for our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. I mean, the ocean just blew tuna out’ve the water and onto the rods and reels. Pretty much all you could want in the shallow waters off Punta Arenas and Bahia Muertos. You could see the tuna swimming under the boat and see the bottom as well. It was THAT shallow. Fish were nice-sized 10-20 pounders too.
Next day, everyone wanted the tuna again, but for the most part, that was the tuna show for the week, even though some tuna popped up here and there.
After that, dorado…some good grade legit 20-25 pounders moved in. So did big roosterfish between 10-80 pounds along the shoreline along with their jack crevalle cousins. Add in snapper, cabbrilla, pargo, triggerfish and bonito and there was no shortage of action most days with most boats. Our Las Arenas Fleet definitely had the better action but that doesn’t mean our La Paz fleet wasn’t working it.
North of town, the water just seemed a bit cooler…a bit off-color. It’s taking awhile to come around.
Honestly, with all this variety and the windy days we’re still getting, this is very much like spring-time fishing . Maybe May or June-style fishing. Plus, it’s not really as hot as I would expect for this time of year. The waters are still getting to the right spot . Even when fish weren’t biting, we were definitely seeing the fish…schools of them, but they weren’t necessarily on the chew. This was especially true of the dorado.
However, billfish really stepped up this week. Not all of them wanted to bite but we hooked more striped marlin and more sailfish this week than any week I can remember. We lost alot of them too because folks would be fishing for dorado or some other smaller species and instead a billfish would take a bite instead and well…off to the races. Usually the fish would win, but a couple of folks got their fish to the boats and most were released.
But, then again, there were marlin sometimes just sitting on the surface sunning. Not interested in feeding at tall. And that is very characteristic of spring-time behavior.
Hopefully, more and better coming up!
CORONAVIRUS UPDATES
Everything pretty much open or getting there! Still holding at “Orange Level 5” which means no more than 30% occupancy and masks are required. Lots of sanitation protocols in place everywhere. Town not very full, but more fishermen coming all the time. Beaches are still mostly closed, but plans to re-open maybe this week. Social distancing required, but there’s not enough people around to make it an issue.
All water activities like scuba, snorkeling, booze cruises, kayaking, etc. were re-opened this week.
FUBAR COCINA CANTINA
As many of you know, we regretfully had to close our famous Tailhunter Restaurant Bar permanently when the quarantine was first imposed back in early April. However, these past few weeks we’ve been diligently painting, spackling and re-modeling our downtairs FUBAR cafe to include a full bar…outdoor seating…an expanded menu with many of your favorite items from upstairs…plus the Sirena Mini-Super Market next door. We can’t wait to be open again watching sports, playing live music and enjoying our many friends from around the world!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 12-20, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…(Part 1)
Suitable for framing with great colors and a great ocean! Our amiga, Alicia Clegg with a fresh mahi for the camera!
Behind the mask, Jess, Sean and Adam with a striped marlin at Bahia Muertos. The fish hit a bait then snagged on the side making it extremely difficult to reel and a tough fight for over an hour which exhausted the fish. The guys donated a majority of the meat as good sports.
It’s a keeper! Quality over quantity! He didn’t get many, but Al Vasquez from Santa Ana with a beautiful bull dorado caught outside La Paz Bay.
There’s a some nice bull mahi running around. Early in the week, there weren’t many dorado around or you could find them, but they weren’t interested, but some that were caught like this one by Santiago were gems!
They’re not much for eating, but they’ll put of an incredible battle just off the sandy beaches like this jack crevalle that Jesse is cradling for the photo! The fish was released.
It’s just what he wanted! First wahoo for Jim Stahlman and first wahoo of the season for us. The fish ate a blue Rapala.
Martin Santiago with family members, Tony and and Sergio hold a fat roosterfish they released.
Alicia again with double fisted mahi.
The week started out kinda slow and picky. After Tropical Storm Christine moved through the winds on the backend left us with some blustery days that really made fishing tough and we had to work hard for bites. Captains really pushed hard trying to find fish, but the winds not only made it choppy, but pushed cold waters up from the deep resulting in off-color green water more reminiscent of spring-time seas instead of July water.
Either fish weren’t showing up and were lock-jaw or we saw schools and they just weren’t interested in chewing.
Consequently, the first few days of the week resulted in a mixed bag of school-sized dorado, bonito, and not much else, although there was lot of inshore action on small roosterfish and tough jack crevalle which provided some great action for our folks using light tackle. Some smaller cabrilla and pargo and triggerfish also wound up on the lines. Lots of fish tossed back.
As the week went on, waters cleared and consequently fishing improved…somewhat!
More dorado came through with some fish up to 30 pounds. Several marlin were hooked, lost and/or released. We got our first wahoo of the season as well, some larger roosterfish came back. Everyone who wanted fish, got fish, but not as much as expected and we had to push a little harder than normal for this time of year. However, with waters turning blue again, we’re looking forward to a better week. Got our first wahoo of the year too so that might be a good sign!
BUT WAIT!!!!! (Fishing Report Part 2)
Just as I was about to publish all this…the ocean exploded!
“Wow! And we still have 4 more days to fish. Plus we got dorado too!” Captain Pancho put Kelly and Diego Jimenez and grandson Roman from Loveland, Colorado on the first tuna of the season!
From Utah, Bryan Richardson brought his boys, Cole and Cameron down and hit it just right on their first day on the water with a load of fish to take home!
…and yes…they also caught dorado in addition to all that tuna. They say they released and lost way more fish than they caught!
Uh yea…not who’s gonna clean all of those? Everyone disappears when it’s time to clean the fish!
.
I was in the process of posting the report. Everything was ready. The video was set up. The photos were edited and ready and was about to press send and all of a sudden…WHAM!
The fishing blew up at Las Arenas…off the charts…off the hook!
“We could have put 50 fish in the boat! We kept 9 but released and lost almost as many. We could have stayed there all day. We ran outta bait and had to go buy more!”
“The fish were in shallow water and we could see the tuna swimming under the panga!”
“We got tuna, then went over to the buoys and the dorado went nuts! I don’t remember how many we lost and released. I had my GoPro camera under water filming it all!”
There were already plenty of tuna and dorado in the box and decided to go for roosterfish and pargo and those went crazy too. We released so many fish!
My…how things turned around. Best day of the year so far! Will it continue? I have no idea. We can only hope this is the start of good things! We’ll keep you posted!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 29-July 6, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Nice looking bunch of fish for the day from Ismael Hernandez and Paul Rodriguez holding with two bull dorado apiece while fishing out of Bahia Muertos south of La Paz. Both anglers live in La Paz.
Captain Pancho took two of his friends Omar and Chema from La Paz out fishing from Bahia Muertos. They hooked 3 marlin and released 2 of them. This one could not be released but the meat was welcomed by the three families.
One of the marlin released by Captain Pancho and his friends.
There are some good numbers of sizable roosterfish prowling the La Paz beaches right now. Big ones like this one caught by the Barta Family from Colorado was hooked near Punta Arenas while they were staying at Rancho Costa resort. The fish was released.
Captain Ramon ( “Moncho”) with the Tailhunter Fleet took out the son of one of his friends. Young Paul Rodriguez, Jr. from La Paz poses with his great looking bull dorado.
Another local, Erick was out and poses with one of his dorado. Great colors!
More pretty colors and a healthy roosterfish caught and released by Jovani who lives in La Paz.
Alisha Clegg and husband Bennett have fished with us many years and always do well. They started fishing this week just a bit south of us on the East Cape and Palmas de Cortez. They’ll be fishing with us later this week in La Paz. They caught and released 3 striped marlin.
Bennett Clegg in on the action too with another caught and released striper to start the day.
The Cleggs also put some fat football tuna in the box as well. Hopefully, the tuna will follow the Cleggs to La Paz this week.
I could sum it all up in 3 sentences. Fishing is pretty great. Weather is pretty hot. Tourism is slow but getting a little better.
Warm water species typical of this time of year are getting on on the action although truthfully, there’s not really that many folks in town and even fewer that are fishing. Mostly, it’s our captains and friends or locals taking themselves out. The city, like the rest of Baja Sur, has only been open for about 3 weeks now and the wheels are taking a bit to get up-to-speed.
Normally, this would be prime time, but many businesses are still cleaning and sanitizing as well as implementing the health protocols required by the government. Like everywhere else that has opened up their economies, Baja is watching it’s covid infections surge as well. The government says it was not unexpected although they are certainly worried about new spikes, just like in the U.S.
Baja is currently in Level 5 Orange.
Initially, many locals ignored the restrictions about masks and social distancing as well as only 30% maximum occupancy of hotels, restaurants, businesses and beaches. Consequently, this past week, the government has shut down the beaches once again, although they indicated this may only be for a week or two. This pretty much includes all of the beaches from Mulege all the way down the Peninsula. The only exception are the beaches in Cabo San Lucas which remain open. However, in Cabo, they shut down all watersports business like kayaks, booze cruises, parasailing and scuba, but kept sportfishing open.
Sportfishing is not affected in La Paz even with the beaches closed. Hoewever…The La Paz Malecon is also closed except for vehicles and bikes. Likewise, alcohol sales have been limited to 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
One other thing is the the border between the U.S. and Mexico is still closed through the latter part of July. However, this does NOT apply to travel by plane, rail or boat. That being said, I know lots of folks who seem to have crossed the border going both way via car without any real problem.
Empty beaches once again.
However, the fishing has been fairly solid although things change from day-to-day and place to place. It’s difficult to get a good read on anything since there’s just not the usual boat traffic on the water.
However, blue water species like marlin, tuna and dorado have come in, pretty much marking the summer season as waters get warmer.
Some boats are hooking (and releasing) multiple marlin which are mostly stripers in the 90-120 pound range. One huge black marlin of about 400 pounds was landed by some commercial fishermen in a panga when the massive fish got tangle in the grapples of their anchor and anchor line.
Dorado numbers are increasing as well with quality fish up to about 30 pounds which we normally don’t see this early. With lots of bait along the beaches, roosterfish and other jacks such as pompano and jack crevalle are providing great inshore action. Some of the roosterfish are running between 50 and 70 pounds and most getting released.
Bottom fishing on the reefs is producing pargo, snapper, cabrilla and triggerfish.
CRAZY STORY
Commercial fishermen were out in a panga when this huge black marlin estimated at maybe 400 pounds got tangled in their anchor lines and snagged itself on the grapple hooks of the anchor. Check out the photo and the two videos! In the photo, you can see the anchor!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay for June 19-29, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Dennis Gaetz lives there near Bahia Muertos and is able to get out and jump on some of the roosterfish that have shown up along the beaches. This hefty fella was caught on live bait and released.
Bryan lives there in Todos Santos and was out fishing from Bahia Muertos when he got this colorful bull dorado.
Still not many fishermen around yet, but our captains are rocking it to catch food to eat or taking out neighbors and friends. Our Tailhunter Captain Luis (Chito’s nephew / Raul’s Grandson) stuck 4 of these big dog-tooth at the island! I’m sure someone took that head to make a big pot of soup!
Our captain Pancho took out a doctor friend of the family and got one of the roosterfish showing up along Punta Arenas. The fish was released.
Early in the year for such nice dorado, but Captain Blas and Captain Alfredo (his dad) took their neighbor out from La Paz Bay and stuck this sweet dorado near Espirito Santo Island.
Beautiful colors…the water…the fish…a good day for Yohan and this roosterfish that he released.
Mostly alot of locals like our captains out fishing with friends and neighbors and yea…dorado showing up! Our popular Captain Moncho’s son, Ramon Jr. , was out with a friend from Todos Santos.
___________________________________________
La Paz is still figuring it’s way through the “new normal” after restrictions started to lift on June 16th and the government especially tries to find a balance between health and a struggling economy. Currently, restrictions include only 30% occupancy for all activities and locations including restaurants, hotels, businesses and even beaches. Facemarks are also a requirement.
It was hoped that restrictions might be further loosened, but like many places, folks have been taking advantage of the eased restrictions and ignoring prohibitions, so the government has extended the current restrictions and is threatening to revert back to full lockdown. So, for the time-being things remain at ORANGE LEVEL 5.
In the meantime, Covid infections are unabated much like many places in the world that open up. The government says this was to be expected and the levels are acceptable, but in places like Cabo, they have already shut down water-based activities again, such as water tours, kayaking, paddle boards, wakeboard operations, snorkeling, diving, booze cruises and others. Sportfishing has remained open but with restrictions.
The government says restrictions will remain at Orange Level 5 for now.
It’s important also that U.S. and Mexico extended the border closure until July 22, but it does NOTapply to travel by air, water or rail.
For fishing in La Paz, not many sport fishermen out yet since hotels are still struggling to get open by early July and training their staffs and airlines are scrambling to re-open and re-schedule routes.
However, locals, including our captains have been fishing and doing pretty well.
Our Las Arenas captains that have gone out’ve Bahia Muertos, are finding lots of live bait and good spots of rooster fish between 20-80 pounds. Lots of jacks, bonito are also around as well as decent action over structure for barred pargo, dog-tooth snapper, red and yellow snapper and big mullet snapper and cabrilla. Some small spots of dorado between 5 and 30 pounds also starting to show up.
For our La Paz captains working north from la Paz Bay, yellowtail, pargo and amberjack have been bending rods over the reefs and more dorado are being found including some legit-sized bulls as sargasso weed starts to build up in the current lines.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 12-19, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT & UPDATE
The BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Luis lives in La Paz and got out with his neighbor for a day of fishing and put up this nice brace of pargo liso (mullet snapper)..
Nothing wrong with this fat pargo that probably ended up getting cooked up whole! Omar lives in La Paz. Locals were permitted to fish during the quarantine which ended earlier this week.
Our own captain Pancho with a barred pargo for the family. Cerralvo Island in the background. He says there’s roosterfish along the beaches!
LOTS OF IMPORTANT INFO…
La Paz has been downgraded to Level 5
The State of Baja Sur, which includes, La Paz, Cabo San Lucas, the East Cape, Loreto and Mulege has been re-opened! Finally. But it’s with some precautions!
_______________________________
IF YOU HAVE RESERVATIONS – Send us an e-mail to let us know you’re still coming!
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO MAKE RESERVATIONS – We can set up everything from fishing, hotels, scuba, snorkel, day tours, airport shuttles and more. Write to us! We’re still pretty full, but have some choice spots, but now that Baja is open, reservations are coming in pretty fast!
Like everything else these days, this is gonna take some getting used to.
As you’re reading this, Baja is slowly re-opening after some 3 months of lockdown. This is happening, despite the fact that Covid-19 still seems to be raging right along.
But that depends on who’s statistics you’re looking at and who you’re listening to. Not too different from the U.S. actually.
Be that as it may, as of June 16th, Baja Sur begins it’s emergence into a new and unexplored era. But, it’s not like they’re throwing the gates wide open.
Baja remains in a cautionary state and there are still restrictions.
For instance, restaurants, hotels , beaches and other locales must grapple with the requirement that occupancy will not exceed 30%. This is further, complicated by the mandate of 4 square meters per person.
I was never good in math, but I think that’s 43 square feet per person? Either way, that’s A LOT of social distancing.
There’s a lot that goes into opening up for tourism. Everything has to be sanitized to-to-bottom. Businesses must obtain a certification of health as well.
Staff needs to be re-trained.
Imagine a 100-room hotel or a restaurant. Every piece of bedspread; matress; curtains and surface must be cleaned after 3 months of being closed. But, it also has to be sanitized as well. Every air duct. Every air-conditioner. Every nozzle has to be cleaned.
Most hotels also have restaurants and bars.
In all fairness, it’s a work-in-progress. There’s no blueprint for this and it’s gonna take some time and tweaking.
However, if you’re planning to come down, here’s what you should be expecting and how you can make things go smoother.
Bring a bunch of masks. You’re going to have to use them on the plane and you will probably want to use them at the airport. You will definitely need them once you land.
Just like you’ve learned already, keep your hands clean. Wash often. Bring sanitizer along. Restaurants and hotels will put supplies in rooms and other public areas. But, bring your own.
Check with your airlines. Some airlines are allowing larger bottles of sanitizer on the plane these days.
Bring wipes!
Airlines are going hardcore on their sanitation processes, but you know thay can’t get every little spot on and around your seat. No telling who the last person was in your seat.
So wipe-wipe-wipe. Tray tables, latches, switches, the entertainment console or any knobs need to be touched up.
We may have seen the last of in-flight food and drink services. Check with your airlines.
Once you’re at your destination, it won’t hurt to hit up your room before you do anything else. You have no idea about that last guest. Or how long it has been since the room was occupied or how well it was cleaned.
Wipe down phones, TV’s, remotes, faucet handles, table and sink tops as well as light switches. Unfortunately, don’t count on there being a stocked hospitality refrigerator any longer.
Don’t forget to wipe down any luggage. You don’t know who’s hands have been on it. Baggage handlers; drivers; bellmen have probably all touched it.
What about restaurants? Eating out is at least half-the-fun when travelling. But, remember in the new “normal” no more than 30% occupancy and 4 square meters allowed per person.
So, it’s probably good to have reservations. Be prepared to wait for a table during the busiest times.
Each table must be disinfected after someone leaves.
The table will probably not be “set.”
Linens, utensils, adornments will be set up in front of the new patrons when the guests are seated. We’ll also have less interaction with your waiter and don’t be surprised if there is no menu.
Menus will be digital or perhaps on a blackboard. Food comes out of the kitchen with foil or some kind of cover. I guess the days of the buffet are gone as well unless someone is directly serving it to the customer.
Beaches? I have no idea how they will calculate 30% occupancy. As of this moment, no groups allowed larger than 5 are allowed. Groups are required to stay a 1 ½ meters apart from each other. Beaches will also only be open during specific hours.
No mention about whether masks must be worn on the beaches.
For sportfishing, scuba, snorkeling or other water sports, your guess is as good a mine about how to manage social distancing on a vessel. But, I guess once the boat is off the beach or out’ve the marina, it’s going to be hard for anyone to check.
Knowledge is power. And, in these times, knowledge is safety, no matter if you’re travelling or staying home.
Everything is a work in progress.
BORDER CLOSURE EXTENDED
The closing of the border has been extended through July because of the infections along the border. The closure DOES NOT apply to travel by plane, water or rail!
OTHER NOTES
Smaller hotels and boutique hotels are open or opening
Larger hotels like La Concha Beach Resort and Hotel Perla will be open at the beginning of July
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for June 1-12, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Dennis Gaetz lives in San Pedro near Bahia Muertos where we usually launch our pangas and got out for a day with his wife. He shows off a tasty pompano.
Debbie Gaetz with a jack crevalle she caught while fishing with her husband (photo above). Too bad the jacks aren’t real good eating. Although sportfishing is prohibited right now, locals are permitted to subsistence fish. Apparently there’s alot of bait and they saw alot of roosterfish, but the roosters wouldn’t bite.
Our folks in Bahia Magdalena who work with us were out catching some food. Captain Saul was out with family and has a nice pargo on the line.
Some really good eats! From the Bahia Magdalena shallows in the mangroves an ice chest with some fat grouper.
It looked like there was a ray of hope there for a bit regarding opening Baja for tourism again. Indeed, there was a bright spot as June 16th was repeatedly bandied about as the day the quarantine and lockdown would be lifted.
Health inspections were taking place. Businesses were sending employees to classes to learn about new health protocols. Hotels and restaurants were digging themselves out from almost 3 months of dusty Baja darkness.
It seemed there was a green light in the distance and everyone was moving towards it.
But wait. Not just yet.
That green light still sits at the end of the tunnel, but it’s gotten a bit dimmer. Or perhaps it’s because it has moved further away.
I waited to post this latest update and report because I knew that last Wednesday, Governor Carlos Mendoza Davis, the governor of Baja Sur, was going to post a new state address about the re-opening. He was going to give a more definitive word about what was going to happen after June 15th.
Well, last Wednesday, the governor broadcast the message and all it did was leave alot of us scratching our heads; others pulling their hair out; and others just laughing at the ambiguity of the message. I sort of get it. I’m glad I’m not a politician right now.
In a nutshell the government has broken down re-opening into six “traffic light” segments based on how bad they think the infection situation is. Here’s the chart. See if it makes sense:
The governor’s new “traffic light” chart. Every business will get assigned a color which will be announced after June 15th. The chart tells you what a business can and cannot do.
Every business or entity will be judged by and given a “light.” That will determine if they can open and then, in what capacity they can operate. All of this, of course, is also based on how badly the pandemic is doing at that particular time. And, just because you have a certain “color” designation does not pre-clude that your color can be changed at any time. Kinda like a kid’s game board…up…back…sideways. Do not pass “Go.” Skip ahead 2 spaces…etc.
Shutting down again is not out of the question…just like the rest of the world.
However…Governor Mendoza Davis is not going to tell anyone their color UNTIL JUNE 15th…NEXT MONDAY!
It begs the question…how is anyone going to monitor this?
That hotel gets a green. The one next to it is a yellow. One restaurant is red. The other is an orange. Who is counting the number of people on the beaches or parks to make sure that only a certain percentage are on the beach or park at a given time? Who is measuring the distance between tables in a restaurant?
And this is based on so many conflicting reports. Just in the last few days here’s what I pulled from Mexican news sources. Many contradict their own stories:
Some World Tourism Organization declared Cabo to be the first “safe” destination on Baja’s Pacific Coast (but no one has heard of this organization)
But…Health officials say the virus is spiking again and thing are opening too soon
Many businesses have received their official “health certification.”
But…Health officials say the the peak of infections has not yet hit and Baja Sur is one of the new hot spots in Mexico
Some tourists are already filtering back into Cabo
But…most hotels cannot yet open
The government says the curve has flattened according to the statistics
But…other groups says the numbers are skewed and falsely reported in order to get the businesses open again
The severe lockdown is still in place for locals and non-essential businesses
But…many people are ignoring it. Businesses found in violation are simply given a warning. People in violation are told to go home.
And on and on…
The lifting of the Baja quarantine was predicated upon the diminishing number of infections in the area. Compared to the rest of the country, Baja, as a whole, was doing pretty good. Only a handful of cases compared to other areas.
However, in the past week or so, there has been a steady up-surge in Covid infections attributable possibly to a number of variables.
For one, about 2 weeks ago, local residents largely ignored social-distancing and came out in numbers for parties related to Mothers’ Day as well as Childrens Day. Police busted hundreds of secret parties. Numerous groups where chased off the beaches.
Add to that the fact that locals have just been antsy. Police can’t stop everyone. They can’t be everywhere.
So, out everyone went. Social distancing be damned and folks just started getting out. Vendors started selling. People were out shopping. Folks were eating out. As soon as police cleared one beach, folks just drifted off to other beaches or other areas. Social media was used to warn each other about areas to avoid where police might be checking. A big game.
And to some degree, the police either stopped caring or realized the futility of too few resources for too big a job.
And, so up go the numbers.
Many businesses that had planned to open after mid-June are now saying that they will wait for an “official” word to re-open. Others have not even started to open. Others don’t care. They have to work and so they open and hope not to get caught. Most stay closed.
As one business owner told me, “I can’t afford to bring back all our staff and pay them to clean up and sanitize our place and take health classes. Then, they will only have to sit around waiting for a real opening date. Or I send them home again. I can’t afford to do that nor do I want to do that to my employees.”
So, he will just wait.
In fact, Baja’s government is now being accused by health administrators of covering up their true infection numbers so that they could jumpstart the economy.
In the rest of the country, the virus appears to be raging, especially in urban areas where social distancing is difficult and medical attention is already inundated.
The government says the worst is over. The curve is flattening. Health officials scratch their heads and say, Mexico is just heading into the worst of it as bodies stack up in hospital storage rooms and morgues still not officially reported Crematoriums can’t keep up.
The entire country…all the Mexican states…have been painted red by the health ministers. Red as in “Code Red.”
However, the individual states are being left to decide for themselves whether and when they will make their moves to re-open. Like everywhere, it’s a precarious decision.
For now, as far as I can discern from the numerous new reports that emanate daily, Baja is on hold. Wait-and-see. Until after June 15th.
Ports and marinas are slated to be open by June 16th. The border closing is supposed to terminate (driving only) by June 22. Beaches are supposed to be open June 30th. But wait-and-see.
International Terminal 2 at the Cabo Airport, maybe not until July.
But, if there’s no hotels, airlines, restaurants or other services open, it’s going to be very difficult to ramp up the tourism machine…just yet.
Head towards that green light in the distance, but pump the breaks and slow it down a bit. We finally have tickets to fly home June 23rd. But, that may change if we have no place to live and hotels aren’t open yet.
Personally, I think things won’t be back until July. I can guarantee one thing. Probably everything you just read and saw on this report will change by the time you’re seeing this.
IN OTHER NEWS...
Social distancing? What’s that? Beer is flowing again!
Breweries have been re-opened and have been deemed “essential” to business and are now trucking out cases as fast-as-they-can to re-fill shelves and refrigerators after many weeks of no beer sales! Yes…even THAT beer with the unlucky name of a certain virus is back on the shelves too!
YES! It is indeed essential!
No matter what…please take care of each other and be good to each other! These are trying times indeed.
Tailhunter Fish Report 