La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 24- July 1, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Enrique was the first big storm of the season. It started as a hurricane, but thankfully petered to a tropical storm by the time it hit La Paz.
Enrique did alot more damage to the south of us along mainland Mexico. By the time it hit La Paz it was alot milder.
By the time Enrique hit La Paz it had lost of of it’s force, but enough to bring several days of strong winds.
…and enough rain to get things wet and lose electrical power in La Paz for a few hours.
We launch our Las Arenas boats in Bahia Muertos / Suenos and this is what it normally looks like 99% of the time.
This is what Bahia Muertos looked like several days this week as a result of Enrique.
Our Utah amigo, Jason Kocherans makes a great photo of this great roosterfish caught just off the beach at Las Arenas. The Arenas lighthouse is in the distance. The fish was released.
Captain Victor with Brian Tippie with his uncle Ron Tippie who came all the way from Illinois and started their fishing week with a trio of bull dorado.
Our long-time Tailhunter amigo, Terry Biggs from northern California with a nice cabrilla to put in the fish box.
Great shot and a colorful bull dorado for Dave Martin who always seems to get a trophy fish every time he visits us from Utah.
Jason has another rooster off the surf. Great colors! The fish was released.
Dave Martin has another big boy rooster in the boat taken with live bait before the photo and release.
The week started well-enough.
We were catching fish. The marlin were still blowing up nicely to the point of being bothersome. Big roosterfish were still prowling the beach. Our pangas were coming back daily with some nice dorado mixed with pargo, cabrilla, jacks, triggers, bonito and other species.
It was going pretty well.
Until Enrique showed up on the radar down the coast. We watched it slowly make its way up the coast. Initially, it started as a Category 1 hurricane. It did a bit of battering the mainland Mexico coast to the south of us with flooding, rains, high seas and big winds.
With each day it moved closer to us from the south. Some predictions had it missing us. Others had our directly in its path. By the time it reached us mid-week, it had lost much of it’s force and had diminished to a tropical storm.
Ultimately, it wasn’t too bad. We had to cancel the fishing for 3 days as big waves, gusting winds and intermittent rain hit us. But no real damage or flooding. It was just enough to keep everyone indoors and the boats on trailers or on the beach. We were lucky. We’ve seen what big hurricanes can do over the years.
However, we don’t know what the after-effects will be. At the time of this writing, we’re just getting back on the water. Normally, it takes a few days for the waters to settle down again. It takes a few days for the water to clear up. It takes a few days for the fish to get back on track. It all depends on how much the winds and water-run-off affected the water.
We’ll just have to see. The week looks like we could still be in for a bit of wind on the backside of the storm.
By the way, not as many…in fact NONE…no marlin photos this week compared to the previous week. There’s several reasons for that. The marlin were biting pretty crazy again, but for one, pretty much all the fish got released and just no one really took photos. Or, the marlin broke off and no one took photos! But, we definitely had marlin swimming around again this week…at least before the storm came through.
PEZ GRINGO GROUP
This group of our amigos has been coming to see us for about 20 years. All the do is fish hard for roosterfish. And they DO know how to fish ’em. This year, only 3 of them made the trip. Donnie Willson, Ron Burgess and Dave Lester. All of them are from Temecula CA.
Several years ago, they caught and released one rooster that many observers theorized would have broken the 114-pound world record.
This year…
Over 4 days, they caught AND RELEASED 16 roosterfish. Three guys…
In other years, they have caught more roosters. However, as they told me, they told me they have never caught so many BIG roosterfish. Check out the photos of some of their fish. I think their smallest fish were in the 40-pound class. Their largest…maybe around the 100-pound mark.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Bahia Muertos / Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of June 16-23, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
One of several marlin hooked and either broke off or released by Bernie Cooks from Reno NV. This one was a big blue that broke off at the boat on light tackle. Dozens were hooked this week and most were either released or broke off. Very few were kept.
First-time visitor, Jim Price from the Riverside CA area with a huge bull dorado on the beach at Bahia Muertos.
Yup! Those are the first real tuna of the season taken on the backside of Cerralvo Island chasing the porpoise schools. Captain Jorge with long-time Tailhunter amigo, Steve Ritz and new amigo, Owen Cruz.
Every year, same time year-after-year, Kelly Jimenez from Loveland CO hits big fish with captain Pancho like this hefty roosterfish she caught and released out’ve Bahia Muertos.
Yea! Finally some wahoo on the deck! Chris Garden from Arizona staying a Rancho Costa shows off the speedster taken on that purple Rapala.
What a trip he had! Jaxon Adams from Utah with his dad, Jeff, had a long battle on this striped marlin while fishing with our La Paz fleet.
Matt Cooley from S. Africa really wanted to catch a roosterfish and had only one day to do it. Check out this beauty that Captain Gerardo estimated over 80 pounds. Matt struggles to heft it for the photo before releasing it.
This is a MONSTER!!! Huge bull dorado for Owen Cruz. Not just his first time to La Paz but also his first time fishing on the ocean and on his FIRST day he hits the jackpot.
Tim and Gavin Corcoran rocked this nice wahoo out’ve Bahia Muertos from Gary Wagner’s place at Rancho Costa.
Lynn Starnes is a great angler and a heckuva a professional photographer. Most of the marlin photos in this week’s report are all here fantastic shots. Here she is with a rooster of her own with Captain Jorge before a quick release.
Young Noah Stark gets help from mom, dad and Captain Rogelio on this thick marlin. He also released another one. Nicely done! The meat was donated.
Captain Jorge gives a thumbs-up for the rooster photo with Bernie Cooks cradling this nice fish. The fish was released.
Check the head on this big bull dorado! Kelly was fishing with Captain Chito when she put the wood to this trophy mahi.
Matt Brown from Philadelphia give Sean Gill from Colorado on his big striped marlin he caught fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. They donated much of the fish.
Has to be one of the best photos of the week. Early morning dorado for first timer amigo, Chuck Gibson fishing with Captain Jorge how has a great smile for the catch. This needs to be framed.
Heidn Bahr only had one day to squeeze in for fishing, but with Captain Arcangel, he put her onto this marlin that resulted in a long long battle.
First-timer and first-day luck for Jaxon Adams who gets a hand from his dad on this big-headed bull dorado.
Table full of football tuna ready to get cleaned and a good photo with Jim Price who got in on the early tuna bite this week.
The rough windy ocean doesn’t deter Rhonda Hoyt with the big smiles for hooking this dorado north of La Paz.
Just a crazy beautiful photo! Stephanie Stark with son, Noah and Captain Pancho off the cliffs with a pretty rooster ready for release.
He always gets into the fish, Dr. Santiago Morales has an ice chest full of tuna fillets to bring home.
Scott and A.J. Dworak with Captain Armando show off some of their first-day tuna. The boys are from Colorado.
Great sample of some of the variety available right now. Kelly and Diego with dorado, triggerfish, pargo, snapper and cabrilla.
Jeff has a dorado for the camera to start the day and great colors ready to release.
In some ways the fishing this past week was not as good as it had been. There were alot fewer fish caught. But, what we lacked in quantity, was more than set off by the quality of the fish we caught. Maybe our anglers didn’t catch as many fish, but the fish they did catch were bigger.
I have to be honest, it was kind of a weird and erratic week. It wasn’t a great week. There was some great fishing. It wasn’t a bad week. But, there was some bad fishing. It was up-and-down and it was sideways. Bottom line, everyone caught fish. But, it was all over the place!
Alot had to do with winds that blew strong and cold in the mornings…and sometimes into the afternoons. Where did these winds come from? Totally unpredictable. We found ourselves wearing jackets in the morning. But, the winds really played a factor in clouding up the water and also blowing apart the big sargasso weed patches that were holding all those dorado for weeks.
All that great dorado action we’ve had for about 3 weeks dissipated somewhat. Definitely not as many dorado hit this week. However, the size and quality of the fish we hooked were some of the largest fish I have seen in decades. We had fish that were well over the 40-45 pound mark with some larger fish lost. A few of the bulls had heads that were easily 12-18 inches across and put up spectacular fights.
We even had tuna finally show up under the porpoise schools way on the outside. Football-sized fish of 10-15 pounds were running with the schools outside of Cerralvo Island, but on several days, our anglers fished them until they ran out’ve bait and the fish foaming and wanting more! This is really the first time we’ve had tuna in almost 3 years. Perhaps it also has something to do with the appearance of schools of tuna 6” squid we’re finding in the waters and in the bellies of the fish.
Roosterfish were as small as 15-20 pounds. But in many cases, especially if larger baits were used were 70-90 pounders! Almost all fish were released.
MARLIN!
The most remarkable even of the week were the marlin that finally decided to bite.
Again, I think alot of the great fishing this year had to do with the fact that Covid protocols kept all activities of the water this year so the fish had time to grow. Bait was unmolested. There was almost zero traffic on the water.
Brent Gaddis from San Diego .
So, for the first time in many years, we have had a wild billfish bite this past week. I am not kidding if I tell you that we maybe had 30-50 marlin biters this past week! Unheard of!
On several days, our pangas were hooking or getting bit by 1-5 marlin or sailfish per day! Whether they wanted a marlin or not, the marlin were literally swimming around the pangas sometimes. Folks who weren’t interested in hooking a marlin told me they drove the boat away from the spots and the marlin still followed them.
Diego Jimenez from Colorado
Marty Sering from Oregon
Others, fishing lighter tackle for dorado or other species suddenly found themselves on a long-battle…some lasting well over an hour…on these billfish. A number of first-timers got the thrill of a lifetime hooking several billfish on long struggles . On several occasions, there were double and triple hook-ups on marlin or folks would be hooked on a smaller dorado or bonito only to have a huge marlin eat the hooked fish! Exciting stuff!
FYI…probably 90% of all the billfish either broke off or were released. The photos shown in this week’s report represent only a tiny fraction of the fish hooked and in many cases, the anglers shown had already released other fish before finally running into a fish that could NOT be released. Much of the marlin meat was donated to folks that needed food.
Other species this week included, amberjack, snapper, pargo, cabrilla, bonito, skipjack, pompano and jack crevalle.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 8-15, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Maybe the biggest dorado so far of the season for our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet as the dorado are slowly making their way south. Captain Jorge with John McVay and a good-looking bull mahi on the beach at Muertos.
Captain Luis gives Denise Randall with another trophy dorado in that hot spot in the channel between Cerralvo Island and Las Cruces where the sargasso weeds have been building up.
Lucien Sanders from Idaho is our new poster kid for Tailhunter. Every time he comes down he catches the biggest fish and takes the best photos like this pretty bull with Captain Gerardo out’ve Bahia Muertos.
You can almost hear this big roosterfish roar as Sean Barnett from New Hampshire on his first trip to visit us caught and released this big fella just off the beach at Punta Arenas.
Just an incredible fish. An incredible photo. Dr. Jim Good from Denver CO with the understandable smiles.
Dean Kalmbach wanted a roosterfish for 10 years and finally got one and cradles this one for the photo before releasing it.
Elizabeth Vasquez had only one day to fish but was able to get into some of that dorado bite in the channel fishing with Captain Raul.
Our newest fun guy is Rich England who came all the way from Massachusetts. We lost count of his roosterfish catch-and-release record, but here’s a sample of one of them he hooked right in the shallows off Punta Arenas Beach.
One of our newest Tailhunter Tribe members is Cesar Garcia making the most of just squeezing in a single day of fishing with a pretty bull dorado.
Here’s a guy who loves to fish! Oh yea! Huge big smiles for the big fish for Scott Randall with Captain Armando. The big dorado was released.
No shortage of color in this photos with two colorful dorado caught by Chao and Jacob Sanders from idaho. I think that’s their daughter taking a nap next to them.
This is a great photo. Double doubles for father-son Sean and Nick Barnett who double-teamed this pair of roosterfish and posted the great photo . Both fish released. They came all the way from New Hampshire.
Jim again in the gallery with yet another dorado! He caught alot of dorado and released most of them or gave them away.
Another of our avid lady anglers, Julia Kalmbach, has a feisty jack crevalle on hand before releasing it to torment someone else at a later date. These fish can fight!
What a great photo of a fresh blue dorado posed by young Lucien Sanders.
Katie Sgro squeezed in a day of fishing on one of the days that happened to be among the roughest of the week but still managed a good box of dorado to take home for hanging in there.
Steve Seeley gets the best beard-of-the-week award as he takes a photo with one of several roosterfish he was able to catch-and-release.
Another fish on the deck for Nino. On one of the roughest days in a long time, Nino stayed out and the day produced some good fish.
When the fish are on the chew, it can be lots of fun for the whole family.
Denise with another fish to add to the totals although this rooster was released. Captain Armando helps with the photo.
Emily and her dad Jason had a fun day on the water.
It was another good week of solid fishing with lots of action for the most part. . Until it wasn’t so good. There were a couple bumps here and there where maybe one panga did poorly or an area just didn’t produce.
There were also two days late in the week where we had a freak wind storm with winds from the south AND the west crashing and we actually were unable to launch any boats at all. The subsequent days, the water remained somewhat turbid and green from the winds and it took a bit to get the fishing back on track with some really slow days for awhile.
Also, some folks swung for the fences and spent their day chasing more elusive species like tuna, marlin or wahoo that didn’t show up.
However, everyone who chased what was there going on, got plenty of fish. Mostly. Most of the time. It was a bit of a weird week. Frankly, most of the fishing photos you see in this week’s gallery were caught earlier in the week.
Straight up, our La Paz fishing was far better. If you wanted to load up the ice chest, the dorado continue to be more than accommodating. You just have to find the right spot. There’s alot of floating sargasso out there (kelp paddies), but not every spot is holding fish.
The sargasso attracts sardines and other baitfish, especially flying fish that are laying their eggs and for the dorado, it’s like a floating buffet. If you hit the right spot, it can be non-stop action. Some of the “paddies” hold the younger 5-10 pound fish. Many anglers are tossing them back. But other paddies hold 15-30 pound and larger dorado that are really putting the wood to some of the anglers and a good many large fish are getting lost, but still lots of fun.
Our Las Arenas fishing is finally starting to see a few dorado as the sargasso moves south but mostly the bite for our fleet there has been a variety of fish including jack crevalle, snapper, pargo, cabrilla, bonito, amberjack, yellowtail, pompano, yellow jacks. Some days have been better than others. Roosterfish between 10 and 50 pound are still prowling the beaches with some larger. !
We have also had a couple of big striped and blue marlin come up on the lines that I’m told were 150-400 pound fish that hit baits, but the hooks didn’t stick. As the week progressed, we saw more and more marlin cruising the surface or half-heartedly attaching baits and lures. They’re in that sleepy state when they’re just getting acclimated to the warmer water and not really feeding to the frustration of many anglers. However, within the next week or two, I would bet the billfish start going off.
FLIGHTS!
Don’t forget that there are now direct flights on American Airlines for the first time in a decade direct from the U.S. to La Paz from Phoenix and from Dallas on selected days of the week! This will last through summer. Hopefully, longer if it stays popular. Many of our clients have booked on these flights. They’re great and saves that 3 hour drive from Cabo! Don’t miss out!
Get in touch with us and we’ll put together a complete hotel/ fishing package for you! Lots of dates are filled or filling fast! We’re looking forward to seeing you this year!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report Week of May 23-31, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Troy Kuzminsky really wanted a roosterfish! Just off the rocks he pulled this beauty. The fish was released! Troy is from Washington!
First-timer Dave Bundy fishing with our Arizona amigo, Rick Kasper found the dorado schools north of La Paz around Punta Coyote.
Maybe a new IGFA World Record for Gama Morales! Officially weighed on a certified scale at Tailhunter at 46-pounds besting the current 2007 record of 45 pounds. See more information below! Taken in the same area…south end of Cerralvo Island.
Lots of “beasty” fish, lately! Wow. This hog dog-tooth snapper was caught by Clayton Cersonsky from Austin TX on live bait outside of Bahia Muertos. That’s Gary Wagner owner of Rancho Costa there in the bay.
A pretty picture! Colorado in the house with a pair of legit dorado caught north of La Paz. That’s Dr. Giani Checa and his amigo Dan Le.
I’m sure he can think of some great things to do with this nice cabrilla! Professional chef Preston Hix was visiting us for the first time from Florida.
You won’t find much dorado in Montana! Ken Miller has a beauty for this picture. Great photo, Ken!
Celebrating his graduation from Texas A & M in Wildlife, Quinn Mattson was with us 4 years ago after graduating from high school. Nice rack of fish with Captain Arcangel…pargo, cabrilla, snapper and pompano!
Fire Captain Mark Ferreira took some days off for his first visit to La Paz and shows off his first roosterfish caught and released near Punta Arenas.
This gal can fish! Always has big fish! Taylor Murphey from Lakewood CA has a nice early season wahoo. Cerralvo Island in the background!
This is Ted! He’s a funny guy and caught a bunch of roosterfish on spinning gear and had a blast. All fish released.
First day variety for Ricky Bacon and Pat Talbott at Bahia Muertos.
The right kind! They’re still around…the tough pargo liso! Duane Mattson from Texas with a big grin over a big fish!
We got so many good folks from Montana like Chuck Hinkle here who took this pretty bull dorado off Espirito Santo Island.
Lorena always has a great smile with her fish! Just off the rocks south of Bahia Muertos. Catch-and-release roosterfish!
One of the prettiest photos of the week. Our good amigo, Mike Schoder from Alaska…on the flyrod! His last day fishing and down to only 4 baits to chum got this awesome bull to take his fly! They ate a bunch of it at our Tailhunter Restaurant that night!
Captain Rogelio strains to lift the marlin on the gaff caught by Ron Baughman even though wife, Valerie gets in the photo! Great Colorado folks who had a spectacular fishing week (see more below). This fish was hooked on 30 pound test and swallowed the hook.
I’m gonna make William our new poster-child for Tailhunter. He never fails to take great photos with his fish like this rooster he hooked just off the surfline near Punta Arenas (in the background). The fish was released.
Great colors and big smile form Kyndall Hinkle who got in a few days fishing with us from Montana while Captain Raul looks on!
Flat waters and hungry fish like this bull dorado make for a great day. John Hamilton had alot of fun over 3 days. I think that’s Captain Boli’s hands…lending a hand for the good photo.
Great fun fish…rooster poses with Pat Talbott for a photos before getting returned to the water.
Matt Talbott is a tall fella and this dorado he caught outside La Paz Bay is almost as long!
Here we go…dorado make for some great colorful shots! Duane Mattson and Quinn Matson found the schools!
Another one on the flyrod! Another long-time Alaska amigo, John Daley rocked this rooster on the fly before releasing it.
I count five different species on the cutting table including pompano, a rainbow runner, cabrilla, snapper and pargo! Chuck Hinkle from Montana with son Jed who is actually a Montana State Senator!
Thumbs-up from Captain Joel with Steve Dietrich who make a last minute trip with friends when one of the party didn’t have a current passport.
Dr. Giani Checa has all the right colors and outfit for fishing roosterfish with Captain Jorge. Giani wins the best-dressed for the week! It’s a good look to go with a good roosterfish!
Jerry Hill…fun amigo! He’s got another dorado for the box! Really enjoyed him and his amigo, Johnny Hamilton. On their first trips to visit with us!
It was a good solid week on so many levels.
There continues to be an incredible amount of variety of species being caught as more warm water species move in like dorado, marlin, wahoo and tuna however, cooler water species like yellowtail, amberjack, pompano, and sierra continue to linger and are willing to bite.
I believe I counted 18 different species of fish caught this week.
Just as I think the waters have sufficiently warmed and we shouldn’t be catching the cooler water fish, species like the yellowtail, sierra, pompano and pargo continue to pop up. However, the clearest indication of the warming season is the big uptick in the dorado.
The bite started to kick in about mid-May. The fish had been in the area, but just weren’t quite ready to bite. This week, the area around Espirito Santo Island and in the channel between the north end of Cerralvo Island and Las Cruces/ Punta Gorda were filled with sargasso weed floating around. This produced excellent cover for baitfish like the flying fish and drew in hungry schools of dorado.
Using live bait, the dorado are normally smallish this time of year with a 10-pounder being typical. However, like so many other species we are finding in 2021, the dorado this year are healthy legit 15-25 pound fish with some larger 30-pound class fix mixed in . It has been a long time since we’ve seen this kind of abundance and size to our dorado. I think , like many other fish we are seeing, keeping everyone off the water last year because of Covid, really had an effect on letting these fish grow!
In addition, other warm water species also made their presence known. We got our first tuna this week of about 25 pounds and other fish were seen in the area but not quite ready to bite. We got our first marlin around Espirito Santo Island this week plus our first wahoo of the season all are warm-water indicators.
There’s still plenty of roosterfish around, but the size has diminished from the 80-100 pound bruisers we have been seeing. Most are in the 10-30 pound class right now. Alot of that has to do with their food source changing. The big fish like the large 12-18” ladyfish (sabalo), but the sabalo seems to have moved on and taken the larger sluggers with them, so we’re using the smaller sardines and that likely has much to do with the smaller fish.
The eclipse and full moon were a bit strange. Normally, a full moon doesn’t seem to affect us too badly. I was really worried about the lunar eclipse which was really something to see at 5 a.m. in the morning when we were launching our boats in the dark!
The eclipse had zero affect on the bite from what I could tell.
Not so the full moon which was a “blood full moon” and one of the largest of the year. The big luna really had a dramatic effect on the tides and currents and for about two days the fish just didn’t want to bite. We really had to work hard for the fish. However, as the moon diminished, the bite seemed to jump right back to where it had been.
One very remarkable note:
We might have a new IGFA all-tackle record!
Gama Morales with his big boy pargo liso (mullet snapper) that hit 46 pounds…one better than the current IGFA record of 45 pounds in 2007. Both caught at the south end of Cerralvo Island.
Gama Morales was trolling at the south end of Cerralvo Island near La Paz with a live caballito through a school of feeding bonito in about 60’ of water when he hung a huge pargo liso (mullet snapper). We brought the fish to our certified IGFA scale at Tailhunter and the fish weighed in at 46-pounds!
Yup! Our Tailhunter certified scale reads it right…46 POUNDS!!!!
We had to figure a place to hang and weigh such a big fish. So, we did it right in front of our taco window on the sidewalk at our Tailhunte Restaurant on the La Paz Malecon. It drew quite a crowd.
We needed help to lift it up, but now that all the official stuff is done and the crowds have left, Gama needs help to take it down! He said it would feed alot of folks!
The current record was set in 2007 again at Cerralvo Island with a fish that weighed 45-pounds. We will be submitting an application to the IGFA for a new all-tackle record. We’re pretty excited.
AND YES WE ALSO FISHED MAGDALENA BAY!
Captain Rigo took Valerie and Ron Baughman from Colorado for 2 days to fish the mangroves inside the bay for some shallow water light tackle action and they caught and released numerous species and fish. The grouper fishing was especially productive!
Leaving the docks in the morning.
First day!!! Wow…grouper, pargo, cabrilla, halibut!
Ron has a pargo for the fish box.
Tasty hard-fighting grouper pulled out from the mangrove roots and bushes (background) in the shallow waters of Mag Bay.
La Paz- Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of May 7-14, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
The BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Nice 1 day catch that doesn’t include all the roosterfish and jack crevalle they released, but left to right holding pompano, yellow trevally, snapper and pargo are Sy Thomas (Thousand Oaks CA), Brian and Kelly Bowman (Payson AZ) and Rick Kasper (Arizona/ Wyoming/ Texas/ California).
Yes, this is a massive pargo liso! See more about this fish below. Scroll down!
Another incredible week for these beautiful pompano. Maybe the best pompano bite I can remember! Just off the Punta Arenas lighthouse sands, Roger Thompson holds up a whopper!
Jordan Curet right off the rocks, she and her husband caught and released 6 roosterfish in a single day.
Todd Hembry was fishing north of La Paz around Espirito Santo Island with Captain Boli when this huge cabrilla bent his rod!
Roger again…wahoo again! Finally, the wahoo started biting this week. That’s Cerralvo Island in the backgroun and Roger has a knack for these speedsters!
Bryce Gordon with one of several nice roosterfish he caught and released this particular day just outside of Bahia Muertos.
Captain Jorge with Sy Thomas and Rick Kasper and a trio of tasty pompano.
Early season dorado and one of the first of the year for us with Todd Hembry caught just outside of La Paz Bay.
Bryce and Jordan Gorgon with a double double of nice pompano.
No shortage of action when the jack crevalle schools move into the shallow. Our amigo, Gary Wagner from Rancho Costa.
The man in the mask, Bryce Gordon, with another rooster for a quick photo and release.
No doubt, I can officially say the seasons are changing. Generally warmer sunnier weather with gentler kinder winds (most of the time!) herald that we’re finally moving out from the colder harsher winter conditions to an actual spring-time season.
The best indication of that are the water conditions understandably coupled with a change in the complexion of the fishing.
Although we still got occasional days of brutal winds, for the most part now, they are the anomaly rather than the norm. Waters are warming and in many areas changing from the cloudier-colder greenish gray to clearer blue waters.
After maybe the most spectacular yellowtail season in decades, colder water fish like the yellowtail are diminishing along with other cooler-water species like sierra and amberjack, although there’s still no shortage of a host of other winter-ish species like snapper, pargo-liso, barred pargo and some huge cabrilla/ grouper. If you like shallow-water fishing you can bend rods all day over the rocks fishing for these great fun fish.
However, more and bigger roosterfish have moved in. Fish in the 20-60 pound class can now be found along the shallow sandy beaches as well as near the rocky drop-offs near cliffs and around both Espirito Santo Island and Cerralvo Island. We had one day where 3 of our pangas totaled 18 roosters caught and released on a single day.
However, other members of that same jack-family like the roosterfish have been abundant as well to add to the species list. Big schools of slugger jack crevalle are cruising the inshore channels with fish up to 15 pounds but the biggest surprise has been the huge African pompano that have shown up.
This past week, we had more pompano catches than I have ever seen. Usually, the fish are 5-9 pounders, but the past several weeks has produced fish up between 10-15 pounds with multiple hook-ups on some pangas. Mixed in are giant yellow trevally (palometa) as well which are also members of the jack family and also great eating.
Related to the warming waters, we’re also finally hooking up some wahoo and some schools of dorado have moved into the fishing counts as well. Hopefully more of both in the coming weeks as conditions improve!
WOULDA COULDA SHOULDA (WORLD RECORD?)
This past week, we had a pretty exciting catch. Popular Captain Pancho with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet was out with Dr. Jesus Velarde when this huge pargo liso (mullet snapper) bit his sardine. Now, MOST pargo we see are 5-10 pounders and they are TOUGH TOUGH fish to pull out’ve the rocks!
However, this fish was estimated by Pancho to be about 50 pounds!
After checking the photo, I went to the IGFA website to check the official world record. It turns out to have been Rolla Cornell’s big 45 pounder caught in 2007 in our area with our friend David Jones’ Fisherman’s Fleet. Take a look at the two fish and see if Pancho’s is larger. They’re pretty close!
Rolla Cornell’s 2007 world record mullet snapper of 45 pounds caught in our waters fishing with David Jones’ Fisherman’s Fleet.
Dr. Velarde’s fish…maybe not as long as the Cornell fish, but most folks seem to think it’s much thicker!
It’s too bad, but still an incredible catch. There have been so many records and near records taken out’ve our La Paz waters over the years. The world record roosterfish of 114 pounds is still in the books and personally, we’ve had 2 world records set by our anglers and maybe another 6 that would have been world records except we cut them up into fillets and then checked the photos and record books later! We DO have an IGFA scale at our offices.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of April 29-May 6, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Roosterfish are in and they’re BIG! Captain Gerardo is about 6’1″ so you can see how big the fish is by comparison. He was out with Joel Jirales and the fish was released.
Her first dorado is our first dorado! Tracy Chung from Oregon with Captain Armando caught her first dorado and it’s a a big one! It’s also our first dorado of the season as well indicating that warmer waters have started moving into the area.
Our good amigo, Ed Buchanan from San Diego, always has fish and a good fish pose too! Yellowtail on the gaff and Cerralvo Island in the background.
Marcus Yoo had 3 blown out days in a row with winds. His final day he made up for it with pargo, cabrilla, snapper, bonito, roosterfish, pompano and even this small blue marlin that ate a live bait and could not be released. Marcus donated the meat to the local folks.
Now THIS is alot of meat! A big fat cabrilla caught by John Chung near Espirito Santo Island is a tough fish to pull out of the rocks and a real trophy not to mention great eating!
An incredible week for big pompano. Check out this big boy caught by Marcus just outside of Bahia Muertos.
John Gillespie from Havasu City AZ is all smiles with this big roosterfish he caught just off the shallows near Punta Arenas. The fish was released.
Donna Thompson with her favorite Captain Hugo and another pompano taken off the south end of Cerralvo Island where they also hooked yellowtail and other species.
First day and first-time visitors Marilou and Todd Hembry with Captain Adolfo and a nice mix of cabrilla and a pargo liso held up by Captain Adolfo.
Lorena with a highly-prized huachinango snapper headed for the fillet table. We had lots of variety this week on the days when the wind let us out on the water.
Tracy Chung and Patty Killian took the day with Captain Armando to compete against their husbands and winning with a nice rack of snapper, cabrilla, big bonito and a hefty yellowtail.
Oh the pain! William Balazar from San Diego has a smiling grimace trying to pose with this big fat bonito.
Lots of variety for John Chung and Jeff Killian (thumbs up) with Captain Jorge with cabrilla, bonito snapper and pargo on the fish board!
Laurie Reynolds poses with a colorful barred pargo and a big smile of her own.
Marcus with another huge pompano just off the rocks.
Talk about a haul! Captain Gerardo has alot of cleaning to do! Check out all the pompano on his cleaning table!
It wasn’t bad fishing this week. There was almost NO fishing for a good part of the week!
We not only had a full moon with strong currents, but the winter winds came roaring back after giving us a few weeks of break. The wind didn’t just make it tough to be on the water. It was impossible to even get in the boats and onto the water early in the week. Even after winds cut back a little, our fishermen still didn’t want to go out. Couldn’t blame them!
It was THAT rough!
So, we pretty much had to cancel half the week because no one could get out. After the first few days, the wind dropped back “a little” but then, like I said, no one wanted to go out…understandably.
It was not only wind, but COLD!
Hopefully, the last vestige of winter before things start being more “spring-like.”
I thought we were well on our way. But this week gave us a dose of reality again.
However, at the end of the week, winds laid back down. The warm sun came out and the dirty blown-out waters settled down and the fishing kicked back into gear with LOTS of variety. This included barred pargo, pargo liso (mullet snapper), big sierra, snapper, some huge cabrilla (seabass), as well as some of the biggest bonito we’ve seen all season.
We also had a super bite of big pompano up to 15-18 pounds with boats catching multiple fish. They were mixed in with the jack crevalle and big bonito.
In addition, we still pulled on some 15-20 pound yellowtail and a number were lost. However, as the waters are warming up, the yellowtail bite is diminishing. Plus roosterfish running 30-60 pounds were biting off the beaches.
On top of that, we got our first marlin and dorado of the season which are indicative that hopefully spring conditions are finally emerging.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of March 21-27, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
The BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Great say to spend Spring Break…fishing! Miles Wagner from Colorado Springs CO, put this big mossback yellowtail in the boat off the back side of Cerralvo Island.
A great start for our long-time amigo, Darrell Manginelli, who started his 3 days of fishing with a spectacular day of 5 big yellowtail and a huge cabrilla. one yellowtail was caught on a sardine, but other fish fell for butterfly jigs.
Checking out a trophy catch! Campbell Grage has his hands full with a big-time barred pargo taken off the reef in shallow water. Check how calm the ocean is!
These two characters always get fish! Our Tailhunter amigo, Jimmy Williams and Bill McCarthy came back with 3 yellowtail and a big snapper using bait at the north end of Cerralvo Island, but Jimmy told me the fish were thick and so many of the powerful fish they could not stop on 60-pound-test!
Great to see Mike O’Neill on the water. Our amigo was jigging with light tackle for yellowtail and snagged this 140-pound striped marlin instead! Game on! Mike battled the fish for over and hour on the light rig. You can see the jig attached to the reel. First marlin of the season. The fish was not able to be released and meat was donated.
Speaking of “characters” most of you know our awesome drivers, Jorge and Esteban Romero looking like twins now that Esteban has grown a beard! They got in on the yellowtail bite as well this week and took two big forkies plus a nice dog-tooth snapper, a fat cabrilla and a huachinango (not pictured) that I think they gave to Captain Armando.
Great photo of a smiling Captain Pancho with amigo, Gary Wagner, owner of the El Rancho Resort holding the gaff on this slug yellowtail.
What a great week! Simple as that.
The winds cut us some slack. We had anglers on the water. The fish bit. All the planets lined up and what a week it was!
With general calm waters most of the week, we had probably the best week of fishing in many months.
It was also the best week of yellowtail fishing of the season.
On top of that, I’d have to say this is the best yellowtail season we have had in many many years.
That’s alot of meat! Yellowtail and pargo for dinner right after a quick beach photo.
Straight up, I’ll tell you that La Paz is NOT a big-time yellowtail spot. Areas way north of us such as Loreto and Mulege are traditionally the hot spots for yellowtail further up the Sea of Cortez. We’re known more for tuna, dorado, roosterfish and marlin.
But, what to make of these last 3 months? Yellowtail in numbers we have not seen in many years! I mean, we get our share, but nothing like what we’re seeing these days! I have no idea how long it will last. It could be over by the time you read this. Maybe the full-moon coming up will blow it apart. But, we’re sure enjoying it RIGHT NOW!
With fish scattered in a number of hot spots, yellowtail from 10-40 pounds were schooling up and chomping live bait, trolled lures and yo-yo/ stick jigs. Fish were stacked up at the north end of Cerralvo Island. They were at the south end of Cerralvo Island. They were caught as close as the rocks right outside of Bahia Muertos between Punta Perrico and the Punta Arenas lighthouse. On top of that they also came up to foam around Espirito Santo Island for the first time this year.
The fish were generally around structure, but about half of the fish were breaking off either from sheer power or from taking lines back into the rocks. One angler told us, that even with 60-pound-test, he had trouble stopping a number of fish.
One more day to go! Darrell had 3 days of fishing. Day 1 produced 5 yellowtail and 1 cabrilla. This is day 2…with three yellowtail and limits of cabrilla for him and Captain Pancho. All caught trolling Rapalas.
On top of that, we had big cabrilla also in the area and taking the jigs, the live bait and the trolled Rapalas. Dog tooth snapper up to about 20 pounds were also bending rods plus big schools of tasty white hard-fighting bonito, jack crevalle and even the occasional dorado.
Matt, Gary, Campbell with some chunky bonito.
We also got our first marlin of the season when one of our amigos was jigging for yellowtail and snagged about a 140-pound striped marlin he ended up fighting over an hour on crazy light tackle.
All-in-all a solid week and maybe the start of a great fishing season.
YELLOWTAIL LURES
Darrell got this mossback yellowtail to swallow a lively sardine.
Just a head’s up on what these yellowtail have been eating. No telling how long this bite will last, but wanted to pass along some info. There are 3 main ways to catch them. Live bait such as sardines always get the fish to bite.
However, slow trolling diving lures over the rocky areas is also very effective for these yellows as well as pargo, cabrilla and even wahoo. Lures such as this purple/black Rapala Xrap 20 is an example but other companies make similar lures such as Yo-Zuri and others. The numbers such as “20” represent an approximation of how deep these lures will “dive” when trolled or retrieved. So, the example below will get down to about 20′. They also make an Xrap 10, 30, and 40.
Another deadly method involves using “yo-yo iron” or “yo-yo technique. ”
Lip-hook on a jig with a powerful yellowtail and Jorge Romero on the jig rod.
One of the most exciting moments in fishing big sportfish is having one take your jig and slam it right in the jaw! It’s an electrifying strike!
This requires using heavy lures and casting or free-spooling them to the bottom. Then rapidly winding them back towards the boat. But, then stopping. Letting the lure flutter back down. Then rapidly retrieving again in a “Z” type pattern back to the boat. It can be tiring, but incredibly effective as all kinds of sportfish will often viciously slam the lure as it flutters down or as soon as the retrieve takes place.
Here’s some samples:
A number of companies make similar lures like Salas, UFO, Sea Strike, Daiwa, Diamond Jigs, Raider Lures and so many others. My favorite colors include blue and white; chrome combinations; scrambled egg; zuchino or dorado color; all white.
Some of the jigs in my tackle box. Looking busted up because they’ve been beat up and eaten by fish many times!
These are all Shimano lures, but so many other companies make similar lures. I’m not paid by Shimano or Rapala or any other company and am only using these as an example.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Covering March 1-9, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Kristina Ainsworth took this slug yellowtail on a sprinning rod just off Cerralvo Island in shallow water on some live bait.
This lady can outfish almost anyone! Donna Thompson can pull on fish all day long like this fat yellowtail that fell for a trolled Rapala.
Tadeo Arreola and Esteban Romero, Jr. live in La Paz and came out for a day that produced a fun mix of cabrilla, white bonito and even a dorado (Esteban!)
Oh yea…a legit pig yellowtail caught by Mike Ainsworth from Washington who dropped a butterfly jig (hanging from the fish mouth) on it. Mike is an experienced angler and fishing guide from Washington and owns First Light Guide Service. Check out his operation: https://firstlightguideservice.com/
Our own Esteban Romero who is one of our popular drivers and brother to Jorge Romero poses with a yellowtail off the Punta Perrico shoreline rocks.
Great photo of Hunter Ainsworth and Captain Pancho and a colorful dorado that got added to the box.
If you wanna see kids have some fun, turn ’em loose on some bonito. Hector Esteban on the beach at Muertos had a blast. Both live in La Paz.
Nothing like a big yellowtail to start the day for Hunter and his dad! Check out the crazy flat water!
Although it was generally pretty and sunny for visitors this week, the winds did come back up and knocked the bite and boaters off the water for a good part of the week. Everyone had been jumping on the great yellowtail bite the previous two weeks that had also produced a smattering of dorado, tuna and wahoo surprisingly.
However, with the winds came rougher seas and fewer boats. Hence, the counts were way down. Also, with the rougher weather, it was difficult to get to the backside of Cerralvo Island to the hotspot at Los Pilis because of trying to get across the channel. It also made it harder to get live bait with waves crashing in the shallows.
However, in those few days when the winds cut back…the fish bit…and when they bit, they bit hard!
That’s alot of meat to take home for the Ainsworth Family!
Anglers might not have been able to get to the backside of Cerralvo, but the south side of the island kicked out some really nice yellowtail. Some boats limited or broke off fish in the 20-30 pound class. Live bait like sardines or jigging with butterfly jigs were extremely effective, but absent that, the yellows also fell for trolling the big Rapalas.
Beautiful shot of Pancho ready to gaff another one!
When the yellowtail aren’t biting the inshore fish will usually chew. Dr. Rafa Santiago has a nice rack of cabrilla and snapper he pulled off the reefs.
For other species, especially closer to shore when the winds blew, there were sizeable cabrilla, medium pargo and snapper plus a really nice jag of white bonito.
La Paz Waters No So Good…
We sent out our first boat to fish out’ve La Paz this week. I generally advise against fishing this area during the winter because winds are just too problematic. Many of you know Captain Joel and he took the clients all around Espirito Santo Island. They worked bait…they worked jig…and nothing really came up except a few small cabrilla. According to Joel, alot of the water is still somewhat cold and off-color green. So, I think I’ll keep recommending that the few folks we have during this time of the year stay fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet.
COVID RESTRICTIONS EASED
In case you didn’t know, the authorities lowered the Covid restrictions from level 4 (orange) to 3 (yellow) this past week. That opened up many more businesses plus the all-important Malecon waterfront with fewer protocols and raised occupancy rates in restaurants and hotels to 50%. However, they decided to close the beaches during Easter Week from March 28-Sept. 3.
That didn’t go over so well so now they say the beaches will openwith 50% capacity, but no camping will be allowed. Everyone has to be off the sand by 7 p.m.
The Malecon (waterfront) has also been opened now, although with restricted hours.
MORE DIRECT FLIGHTS TO LA PAZ ADDED THIS SUMMER!
Until last December, La Paz did not have any direct flights from the U.S. That’s when American Air started doing flights from Phoenix and Dallas experimentally thought March to see how it would work out.
Apparently, it’s been good enough that they will fly into La Paz this summer!
From Dallas they will fly Saturdays to Saturdays beginning June 5 through Sept. 4
From Phoenix 3 days a week on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday beginning June 5 through Sept. 7
Great news! Let’s get you down this year to come fish with us!
La Paz/ Las Arenas/ Bahia Muertos Fishing Report for Feb. 18-27, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST OF THE STORY…
Jim and his buddy live in Los Barriles and came all the way up to get in on the yellowtail bite. Fishing with Captain Moncho they got a great load of yellowtail, cabrilla and even some surprise dorado.
Fishing with Captain Pancho, Dr. Santiago is a physician in La Paz and he and Pancho stuffed the fish box with some legit yellowtail on the backside of Cerralvo Island.
Our own popular Captain “Fettucini” Alfredo Gaxiola got out with his wife to fish around Cerralvo Island on one of the calmer days and he nailed this horse of a trophy cabrilla.
Lots of boats were on the hot spots at the backside of Cerralvo Island taking yellowtail like Dr. Santiago’s fish.
Our own Tailhunter amigos and popular favorite van drivers, Jorge and Esteban Romero took the spinning rods out to Bahia Muertos with the plastic jigs and took home a cooler full of tasty snapper and cabrilla. All fishing from the beach and rocks.
Relatively speaking the winds cut us some slack again this past week and we probably had the best week of fishing in the last 2 or so months. While the United States was largely wrapped in ice and snow, things were reversed in La Paz which is normally windy and generally quite windy this time of year making it difficult to fish.
With temps in the high 70’s to low 80’s, sunny skies and mostly moderate seas, anglers were able to get in on that hot yellowtail bite that’s been going on for the better part of two weeks. There aren’t many tourist anglers as this is off-season, but captains, their families and locals from La Paz and as far as Los Barriles (the East Cape) far to the south were jumping on boats to get on top of these fish. Last weekend on Saturday, as many as 80 pangas and other assorted vessels were sitting on the honey-holes taking limits. On Sunday fewer fish with about half the boats counted. But, that’s to be expected when there’s that much traffic on the water. However…
It’s maybe one of the best yellowtail bite we’ve see in years with fish running 10-25 pounds and taking a variety of jigs including yo-yo and knife jigs plus sardines when around. Some reported larger fish are also being lost as these fish are generally in heavy structure and the waters are not especially deep. Therefore, if you can’t turn their heads, these bruising fish are busting anglers off in the rocks.
Hot spots included the areas around Bahia Muertos (Suenos) up to Punta Perrico and then to the areas just around the Las Arenas lighthouse at Castilla. Another spot that has been on fire is Los Pilis which up the backside of Cerralvo Island about 2/3 of the way up the island. One of our Tailhunter captains counted “at least” 40 boats there one day.
But, the travel has been worth it. Boats are landing limits or near limits of the feisty fork tails. I saw photos of the parking lot at Muertos and you would think there was a rock concert going on. There were no parking spaces with all the trucks, cars, boat trailers and vans parked there.
Additionally, there have been white bonito (tasty) plus jack crevalle, cabrilla, snapper, Sierra and pargo mixed in as well.
The biggest surprise was that a few respectable tuna have mixed in and some wahoo and dorado also showed up this week. These are normally warmer water fish and we don’t see these until later in the year unless these are hold-over fish from last season.
At the time of this writing, winds were already starting to ramp up again so hopefully the return of the winds doesn’t knock the bite back down. We know the fish are surely there!
SHALLOW WATER…LIGHT TACKLE…Great results!
Not much going on right now for driving so everyone’s favorite guy and driver, Jorge Romero went out a 2nd day later in the week. In the photos above, he was just out walking the beach with his brother, Esteban. This time he got out on one of the pangas. Still recovering from neck surgery he had at the end of last season, he didn’t want to try tangling with a big yellowtail, tuna or dorado…doctor’s orders! However…
He got in a quick 4 hour trip. It was late in the afternoon. There was not even live bait available. But using dead bait and poppers on light line and light tackle, he had a pretty epic day. All in shallow water close to shore in and over the rocks. A big pompano and lots of feisty tasty cabrilla in the box!
Trophy pompano for Jorge. We usually don’t see these guys until later spring, but I guess some warm water has moved in. These are fun fighters and make great table fare…especially sashime!
This is an epic day on light tackle in shallow water! The cabrilla heads are especially prized for soup and the meat is tender white and highly prized.
Cabrilla that fell to a surface popper.
GOOD NEWS ON COVID FRONT
This past week, the authorities lowered the covid restrictions from orange (level 4) to yellow (level 3).
This allows all work activities again with occupancy increased from 40% to 50% for places like hotels, restaurants and other businesses. The La Paz Malecon has been re-opened with restricted hours that will be monitored.
Also, since the CDC implemented the new rules requiring all international travellers entering or returning to the U.S. (like American tourists coming home from Mexico) to show evidence of a negative covid test within 72 hours of travel, Mexico has really ramped up it’s efforts to construct facilities at hotels, airports, and around the various cities, especially those that see a large influx of international travel.
After one month, Cabo San Lucas (where most folks fly to get to us) has had more than 60,000 international travelers. Of that, only 50 persons tested positive and none of them ended up exhibiting symptoms.
They were not allowed to fly, but hotels now have special discounted rooms, dining and services for those that get detained. They are given a new covid test every 2 days and as soon as they test negative, they are allowed to leave!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Jan. 26-Feb. 8, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Five for the cooler ready to be filleted! Drs. Beltran and Santiago took some time from their offices in La Paz to fish with us and caught these working the waters with yo-yo iron for these yellowtail.
Not a bad morning. Raul Chollet from La Ventana was out fishing with us and nailed these thick yellowtail just off Punta Perrico.
Mostly locals fishing right now and a great catch is to get into a school of tasty sierra. If you hit a spot, you can load up pretty fast! This one fell to the blue Rapala still stuck in the mouth.
Trophy fish on a dark purple Rapala trolled over th rocks. Raul with a big cabrilla and knowing Raul, every bit of this fish is gonna be part of dinner!
It was chilly and cold again this week but there were finally some opportunities to fish which has been rare the past weeks with lots of gusty winds. However, this past week, the winds let up for about 3 days or, at least didn’t start blowing until late. Since we’re really not having to go very far to get to fish right now, it at least allowed anglers to get in a few productive hours of fishing early before the winds kicked in.
Not many fishermen at all this time of the year. It’s mostly locals or captains fishing for their families.
However, literally within 20-50 years of the beach, there’s a good jag of yellowtail that have shown up near Punta Arenas near Punta Perrico where the old Hotel Las Arenas used to be. The fish are a nice hefty grade of 18-25 pound fish that are taking alot of guys into the rocks.
Sardines are working when you can get them, but it’s often difficult getting live bait because of the winds and the bait guys can’t get to the rocky or sandy areas where the bait usually holds out. Waves either scatter the bait or make it hard for the bait guys to get into the rocky areas which are treacherous.
When, there’s no sardines, the guys are using the yo-yo iron. It’s tiring work, but productive dropping the iron and lifting and reeling back to the boat. Alternatively, trolling lures like Rapalas and Yo-Zuris are also working and producing other species like sierra, jacks, cabrilla and barred pargo.
CDC and COVID TESTING
In case you hadn’t heard, as of Jan. 26th, the CDC has mandated that anyone traveling by plane into the U.S. must show they have had a negative Covid test within 72 hours of their trip. This only applies to air travel. You are NOT required to quarantine once you get into the U.S. although it has been suggested.
Nevertheless, the new rules sent everyone in the tourism industry from airlines to hotels and folks like us into a mad scramble. We were all just on the verge of rebounding after a difficult 2020.
However, the government and tourism boards made rapid adjustments.
Testing facilities have been set up at all international airports including Cabo, La Paz and Tijuana as well as others around the country. According to the Cabo Board of Tourism, all hotels and timeshare operations in Cabo San Lucas now offer testing services and more laboratories and testing facilities are popping up all over.
The test only takes 15 minutes and costs between $20-25 dollars. Results are returned within an hour and you receive either a printed result or get them online to show before you board your flights.
Tailhunter Fish Report 