La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 3-10, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Gary Wagner has caught lots of big fish, but knew he had a battle on his hand when he switched down to 25-pound test fluorocarbon and this big yellowfin tuna bit the lines. He was on the fish for more than 3 ½ hours! Gary owns the Giggling Marlin Bar in Cabo San Lucas but was staying at his Rancho Costa in Muertos Bay near Las Arenas.
Don Fee was in town from Florida and we got him out on the water for one day for his first time and he said he had bites all day producing some dorado, cabrilla, bonito and even some small roosterfish.
He said he was embarrassed to admit this fish took about 4 hours to put in the boat, but Roger Thompson has caught bigger tuna, but few that were this scrappy and he had to do it on 40 pound test. “It pulled the panga,” he told us. Roger was fishing the south side of Cerralvo Island across from Las Arenas.
Efrain and Patrick hold up a couple of their dorado with Captain Jorge.
Don caught and released a couple of these fiesty little roosterfish in Bahia Muertos. He let them grow so they’ll be the big 60-pounders in the spring-time!
Great eating pargo! Gary said he could have caught these all day long on light tackle just south of Bahia Muertos towards Boca de Alamo.
Three dorado! Dinner for Don to pack up and bring back to La Paz.
There were some blustery days that it was good no one was fishing, but there were some nice days too. The problem was…no one was fishing! Snow birds have started to descend on La Paz to enjoy the sunshine and our new Malecon, but the off-season has started and not much of anyone fishing these days because the winds are unpredictable.
However, we did have some folks out and on the days it wasn’t bumpy and windy, there were some fish to be caught.
Most suprising were the big tuna hung on the south side of Cerralvo Island. Go figure. Everyone leaves and all the fishermen are pretty much gone and the big tuna show up.
These were pretty beastly animals. The ranged from 60-100 pounds and there weren’t many of them, but the ones that did bite would only eat light line which is incredibly problematic when you are using 25-40 pound line and a powerful tuna crunches your bait. These fish required 3-4 hours of backbreaking battles to get them to the boats!
For other species, there’s still some decent dorado around running 10-15 pounds or so. Not a lot, but enough to keep it interesting. Mix in some bonito, jack crevalle, a few pargo and snapper and the occasional little roosterfish and it could be a fun day.
That’s our story!
Hope you have a great Veteran’s Day Weekend and thank you all who have served!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 27-Nov. 3, 2019
Mexican Minute Video Fishing Report
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
First day out he hits the home run! With Captain Gerardo, Jeff Wedekind who owns the Chinook Shore Lodge in Ketchican, Alaska locked up this big wahoo.
Nice tuna for Rich Choate from Idaho. One of the few YFT’s hooked this week.
Amigo, Roger Thompson, was soaking a dead mackerel down deep off the Punta Arenas lighthouse when he got slammed by this toad yellowtail.
Maybe one of the largest dorado of the season, Jeff hooked this one out’ve Bahia Muertos.
Barbara Choate always has a great smile no matter what and she’s got a reason with his pretty blue dorado.
Colorful shot! Roger Sauvegeau from Boise, Idaho, had just one day to fish, but got himself a nice load of dorado like this one fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.
Captain Armando with Randy and Barbara Choate and a nice batch of dorado.
Celebrating her honeymoon, Coral Ogden Hart has been our amigo since she was a little girl. She got this unusual rainbow runner off Bahia Muertos. These are cousin to the yellowtail.
Our good amigos from the Imperial Valley of California, Craig and Cathy Corda posing with a little Bahia Muertos yellowtail they released.
Another set of our fun friends from Idaho, Teri and Mac Christopherson hold up a double-hooke-up of dorado.
They always keep me laughing. Tom and Claire Ames posing on the beach at Bahia Muertos.
Captain Pancho took Dan Friedman from San Diego out for one day and he got this nice dorado as well as a wahoo on his first try!
You can tell waters are getting colder when rainbow runners like this one by Rick Choate, show up.
A good day in November! Teri and Mac Christopherson.
Paul Octavio had himself a good week on the flyrod like with his fun roosterfish hooked and released. He had a blue marlin on the flyrod one day.
Clair McPherson took 20 minutes on this nice bull dorado giving Captain Victor and her a big reason to smile when they finally got the pretty fish in the boat.
Cheers! Rick Choate with a mess of good eating cabrilla, snapper and a trigger.
On the good side, the sun was out all week and the snowbirds from Canada, Alaska, Europe and colder areas are filtering into town. On the downside, it wasn’t the best for fishing.
Northern winds ramped up and it’s just the start. This is what happens during the colder months. Two days we couldn’t even go out because the Port Captain shut down the port to all boat traffic and there were several other days when it would have been better if we had just not gone out at all.
The strong winds have the waters stirred up and dirty. It brings in coolder greener waters as well. Additionally, the currents and waves are up so makes for a less-than-comfortable day of fishing. Plus, if the waves are crashing the shallow areas, it makes it hard to get bait.
However, kudos to our anglers and captains for hanging in there. They braved the rougher seas with tight grins and still caught some fish.
There weren’t a lot of fish caught unless you’re counting bonito, jack crevalle and needlefish. However, some of the largest dorado of the season were hooked as well as a few wahoo and tuna. We even had several marlin hook ups as well (fish were lost).
The better fishing was with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet where it’s a bit more protected. I imagine as the winds increase and become more frequent, we’ll be doing most of our fishing from that area.
2020 RESERVATIONS
Bookings are already coming in pretty fast and heavy for 2020. Some dates are already filled or filling and popular captains are getting reserved as well. In 2019, we were sold out by March and 2020 looks even busier. Don’t wait . Check your calendars so we make sure we get you locked in.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 13-20, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Alot of meat! Marlene Kikuchi from Los Angeles had a live mackerel pinned to her line not far from Punta Arenas with Captain Pancho when she hooked this massive wahoo not far from the shoreline. The big fish was weighed on a scale and measured 56-pounds!
It’s been over 10 years since Mark Rubin came to visit us so it was good to see him. He was out fishing with Captain Arcangel and got this colorful dorado up for a great photo!
On her first day out and first-time in La Paz, Kathy Parker was with Captain Luis and deckie Miguel in the channel between the city and Espirito Santo Island in an area where big 50-150 pound tuna had been sighted. On her first bait in the water, this big yellowfin inhaled her little sardine and the fight was on! With her sister, Sherry (see photo below), trading the rod-back-and-forth for 4 long hours, the ladies finally got this big boy to the boat!
Holly Kunzler’s big dorado of the week was caught while fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet. Holly’s first trip to Baja and she was with us for the better part of the week visiting from Utah.
Our long-time amigos with their favorite Captain Jorge, Marianne and Jeff Sakuda enjoying Jeff’s retirement vacation after 30 years as a pilot for United, they kicked off things with a nice rack of bull dorado.
Double tag-team! Sherry Cady was on her 2nd visit to us this year and this time brought her sister, Kathy Parker (see photo above) when they hung this big yellowfin tuna with deckhand Miguel and Captain Luis and battled the fat fish for 4 hours!
Montana Dewey and Leslie Spafford guide trips in Arizona and came to visit this week and go into some dorado and cabrilla their first day at Las Arenas.
First-timer and happy fisherman, George Misner, started his trip with a nice bull dorado just south of Bahia Muertos.
Popular Captain Chito hung two of those big tuna that were boiling north of La Paz for a few days. Unfortunately, photos of the clients didn’t come out!
Hi Craig! Always good to have Craig Corda back with us . He’s been our amigo for over 20 years and never has a bad day.
Al Chaves lives outside of Phoenix and was out with Captain Jorge when he got this dorado. He had a big tuna on briefly.
Jarat Bagwell from Arizona got the jackpot with his buddies when he caught the most fish for the day including dorado, cabrilla and snapper.
Texas in the house! Cody Timberlake is a professional cowboy and former bullrider and lives in Banderas TX. First trip with us and a dorado with Captain Alfredo.
Monte Aldridge shows off a bull dorado he picked up fishing off Espirito Santo Island. He’s from Richfield UT and always good to have him visit.
Eric Gunnells and Steve Bayer picked up these dorado on their one day out’ve Bahia Muertos.
Barbara Burnett and her husband Jerry have their own great salmon operation in Juneau AK, but came to visit us and started off with a day of dorado.
These are great eating triggerfish! Best ceviche and fish tacos! Captain Jorge with or friends, Jeff and Marianne Sakuda.
Captain Fili is hidden behind a dorado, but no hiding Zach Arnold and Trent Baysinger and a couple of nice mahi.
Good to see Captain Arcangel smiling. Nice dorado in the box again for Mark.
Things have fallen off rapidly with cooler temperature, stronger winds and currents and rougher water the last week-and-a-half. Fishing has also dropped off dramatically. The warm water season ended sooner than expected and I think things will continue to change as warm water species like the dorado, tuna, wahoo, and billfish move out and are replaced by more inshore cooler water species.
Once again this week, captains and clients worked hard to find picky fish. Bait was harder to come by in the rougher waters and there were times with there were some uncharacteristically big swells, chop and gusty winds making it more difficult to fish. The winds will only get stronger as normally calm La Paz Bay even got some big wind-generated rollers that smashed waves onto the waterfront areas.
There were still some dorado around although the schools are diminishing. Most days boats scratched out a catch of 1-5 dorado per day with most about 10 pounds or so. Smaller ones were released. Lots of bonito, fortunately usually kept rods bent.
More inshore fish like triggerfish, snapper, pargo and cabrilla as well as sierra and jack crevalle and pompano increased in the counts as waters cooled and it became more incumbent to fish closer to the beaches and rocks.
There are, however, some great catches still waiting!
We had a few nice wahoo this week including a whopper 56-pounder by Marlene Kikuchi from Los Angeles. As well, there’s still the occasional 30-50 pound roosterfish.
The biggest surprise was the appearance of some pig yellowfin tuna that were in the 50-150 pound class between Punta Tecolote and Espirito Santo Island in the channel. These fish were toads that tore into anglers for 1-4 hour battles, when they would bite. Sometimes, they were just a tease boiling around the pangas, but not interested in eating a hooked bait. But, when they did bite, they were beasts! Normally, we don’t see tuna around La Paz as we catch them mainly around Las Arenas so this was a nice surprise!
BOOKING FOR 2020 STARTING TO FILL
Ice chests full of fish headed to the airport!
Our reservations are coming in faster than normal and many dates in 2020 are getting filled. Calls and e-mails are coming in daily. Some dates are already sold out. In 2019 we were filled by March.
We don’t want to miss you. If you have a favorite captain, hotel or date in mind, don’t wait. Especially, don’t wait until we do our fishing and hunting show tour in the winter. We want to be sure we have you down and covered so we can have you visit next year!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muerto Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 13-20, 2019
Mexican Minute Video Fishing Report
The BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
“Birthday Bob” Layko always visits us each year on his birthday with cousin Craig Brown. Got himself a wahoo and some dorado too with Captain Armando.
A two-hour battle for Eric Gunnels from Phoenix, produced this 70 pound tuna. It doesn’t look like it from the angle, but we put it on a certified scale. Captain Chito give the thumbs-up. Big tuna made an appearane between La Paz and Espirito Santo Island.
First-timer Steve Kunzler from Utah found dorado fishing to his liking.
Kyle Muir is from Beaverton OR, but skippers for Vonnie’s Fishing Charters up in Sitka, Alaska. He’s got a pair of bulls in hand.
From Denver, Bobby Hart had never fished in salt water before let alone been to Mexico, but his very first day hooked this trophy roosterfish off Punta Arenas. The fish was released.
Our good amiga from Richfield, UT, Marlene Aldridge, has a big smile and 3 nice doardo on the cutting board.
On their way in from fishing out’ve La Paz, Dale and Daryl Martz from Colorado and Alan Martz from Boston hold up some of their catch.
Ten-year-old Carter Hart hooked this bull dorado north of La Paz. On just 30-pound-test the youngster battled the fish for 20 minutes refusing offers of help and got it to the boat all by himself.
A good day on the water for Larry Huey posing on the beach with a couple of dorado, some cabrilla, triggerfish and snapper.
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Funny shot of the week with Monty Aldridge and his baby roosterfish. A cute one! Monty released the fish there in Bahia Muertos.
Holly Kunzler repeatedly claims to have outfished husband, Steve and says she caught most of these dorado.
The Brasier Brothers, Bill and Scott have alot of fish for their captain to clean! Dorado, pargo, snapper, triggerfish and cabrilla as well as jack crevalle on the cleaning table.
Best shot of the week. Carter and Brooke Hart from Denver got some pargo liso out’ve the rocks and pose on the beach.
Two in hand and one on the table for Hugo with Captain Gerardo goofing off behind.
From Lake Havasu, AZ, Laurie Reynolds and John Gillespie got some nice dorado to show.
Armando, Craig and Bob in the gallery again with quite a variety of fish!
Young Carter on the gaff! Like a boss.
Bob Sayre was battling a bonito when a big wahoo came swimming around the panga. Just like that…in one bite..the wahoo scissored the back-half-of his bonito with it’s sharp teeth and swam away. Eat-and-run!
We have definitely had better weeks of fishing this season. Overall, it was probably the most disappointing and difficult fishing of the year and the captains and clients really had to work hard for their fish.
It started with a combination of several factors and it took quite awhile to recover and it’s taking a long time to get back up to speed.
However, kicking off the week with the tail end of that huge 30-hour rainstorm and subsequent sporadic rains in the following days not only required that we cancel a day of fishing; but the rain sent lots of run-off into the ocean, muddying the waters. Winds that persisted all week, including strong northern winds that are the vanguard indicator that the season is coming to an end, not only made it bumpy and rough to fish, but also cooled down surface water temperatures. Add in a full moon and choppy waters and it was a round-house kick to the head.
Any singular variable or even two of those things would not have impeded the bite much…if at all…but that combination of wind, waves, rain and a full moon put the hex on things.
It has been taking it’s time recovering, if at all. With the continued north winds, that means we’re heading into the off-season and it might probably be getting rougher and more difficult to fish. That being said, the fishing did improve little-by-little every day although still relatively slow compared to what it had been before the storms.
Dorado were the mainstay action with fish mostly 10-20 pounds. Bonito were mostly plentiful to the point of being a nuisance, but together with jack crevalle, small roosterfish, pargo, cabrilla and snapper at least kept rods bent most of the time.
Most exciting were the boiling tuna that showed up between La Paz and Espirito Santo Island. Fish between 50 and 150 pounds came up several times and really rocked a few of our anglers who battled fish up to 4 hours. All except ome fish…about a 70-pounder…were lost. The angler on the 70 pounder battled for 2 hours to get the fish aboard.
Other species included pompano, sierra, amberjack and triggerfish.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 6-13, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Firefighters Tim Nishimura and Scott Johnson from the Sacramento CA area have been coming for years to fish around La Paz and have caught almost every fish in the area. However, the wahoo have been elusive until this week when they were out with their favorite Captain Gerardo of the Tailhunter Fleet and they each finally got their wahoo as well as a 3rd ‘hoo as well while trolling Rapalas.
John Kennedy from Auburn, California tries to make a yearly trip to La Paz to fish with the Tailhunter Fleet and his favorite Captain Victor. He was with Victor when they caught a bonito and Victor quickly grabbed it; put it on a heavier rig; and went over to shallow water where they hooked and landed this whopper dog-tooth snapper. John said they lost several others that they couldn’t stop.
Beautiful photo and beautiful dorado for Don Vegter from Redondo Beach CA with Captain Gerardo goofing off behind the shot. The fish was Don’s personal best dorado and caught on live bait near Punta Arenas.
There’s a zillion reasons to love this photo of Roger Thompson and this big ‘hoo! He said it was almost an instant biter upon dropping the lures back. He was fishing with Captain Hugo.
There are good days fishing and then there are REALLY good days fishing! Their first vacation in 25 years, Kimberlee and Kurt Cochran run a commercial fishing operation in Homer, Alaska. Their first day out was with Captain Moncho. They got their first marlin but look at the table in front…a huge wahoo…dorado…cabrilla…triggerfish too.
Our long time friends from Sacramento, Dennis Fujii and Wayne Kurahara start off with some good-sized dorado.
Making his 2nd trip in 2019 to see us, Chad McConnell from Arizona hung this colorful bull mahi fishing on Captain Alfredo’s boat.
I don’t know if this is his first or his 2nd wahoo, but Andy had never fished before and he takes down TWO wahoo! Awesome!
There were a few tuna here and there like the one Captain Jorge is holding and some nice bit of dorado to take home for Lon Tsukamoto and Walt Menda.
Great shot of Andy McIntyre and his wahoo . Note…there’s another on the cleaning table behind him!
This is a pig of a tuna! Dave Lindell from Pendleton OR has fished with us for many years and caught lots of fish, but this one was a bruiser and estimated between 70-80 pounds. Captain Armando gives a hand . Dave fought the fish almost 90 minutes!
First time with us from Denver, Jaren Jackson and Mike Miller got themselves a pair of fast-moving wahoo trophies.
Just a pretty shot in the channel in front of Cerralvo Island with Laurie Reynolds from Lake Havasu, AZ.
Captain Jorge with a couple of our newest and nicest visitors, Darren Robinson and Traci Kidman.
Tom Mullican from Dallas TX visits us twice a year and always does well, especially with Captain Pancho. Nice tuna and big pargo!
Gary Okamoto and Captain Jorge got themselves a wahoo!
From Washington, Bill Bigelman, wanted to make sure he finaly got in the fishing report!
Captain Gerardo with our amiga, Chelsea Roos, celebrating her engagement to Don Vegter with a couple day of fishing and here with a sleep wahoo.
It looks a bit bumpy and rough out there, but Candace and Captain Raul got this dorado under control just east of Espirito Santo Island.
Oh wow…John Stone might have one of the most colorful shots of the week with this dorado! John’s 2nd trip to year to visit us.
Now, this beats starting your day on the freeway any day! Don Vegter got his first wahoo at daybreak outside Bahia Muertos.
Captain Gerardo was on fire this week. Another wahoo, this time with Joe Cameron.
Bob McPhee came down with 6 of his buddies to celebrate their 50th birthday…all of them! And catch some dorado too!
Bobbi Kennedy from Denver with her two great kids, Erin and Raphael and a day of dorado . Bobbi never stops smiling. Great to have them visit!
Again…Andy’s first time ever..and he catches two wahoo. This might be the 2nd wahoo.
That’s a big mahi for Lon. Don’t see many female dorado that big . Great catch.
Tom Mullican again in the gallery this time with a nice load of dorado and a fat barred pargo too!
A last minute trip and they made good with a stack of dorado for Fionne and his dad, Bill Dingwell from Chandler AZ. They also squeezed in a day of diving as well.
Captain Jorge took this photo for me of the beach at Punta Arenas as the storm approached us Sunday and why we figured it was a good day to cancel the boats and not take any chances.
It was a pretty solid week of fishing mostly with fairly good conditions and cooperative fish until the end of the week when heavy rains arrived and put a damper on the bite and fishermen’s spirits.
Dorado continued to be the mainstay and if you wanted a dorado, they were 80% of the catch and found in a wide area by both our Tailhunter Las Arenas and our Tailhunter La Paz fleets. La Paz seemed to have more fish most days, but Las Arenas had the larger fish. Some days were better than others. Some boats did better than others. Some days, La Paz had the better bite but the next day, Las Arenas would have the hot honey holes.
Most fish were 10-20 pounders. Lots of little dorado were released.
The true highlight of the week was the heightened action on the wahoo. This time of year is historically good for wahoo, but until this past week or so, the wahoo weren’t showing much interest in biting.
However, each day wahoo were hooked and lost by our anglers fishing around Cerralvo Island as well as Punta Perrico and in the channel between the island and Punta Arenas. Fish were between 20-and 50 pounders and most were caught trolling with dark-colored Rapalas or Yo-Zuri Magnums. Quite a few fish were lost and there were a few days when several of our pangas boated multiple wahoo.
Other catches this week included hook-ups and both blue marlin and striped marlin and a sprinkling of yellowfin tuna. Most were large footballs but one 50 pounder and another in the 70-80 pound class. We also got a few of the big dog-tooth snapper, as well as cabrilla, pargo, triggerfish, some sierra, amberjack and lots of bonito!
It was all going well until it started to rain later Saturday afternoon. And rained…and rained. Through Sunday forcing us to cancel trips. It wasn’t a strong rain. Just a steady rain. Not a hurricane, but interestingly, more rain fell from this “rainstorm” than Hurricane “Lorena” several weeks ago. We experienced power outtages and some areas had big areas of flooding. Hopefully, by the time you are reading this, we’ll be back on the water.
MAGDALENA BAY REPORT
John Kennedy has been a long-time Tailhunter amigo and he waited 2 years to do one of our light tackle trips to fish the mangroves in Bahia Magdalena. In just 1 day of fishing, Tom estimated he caught at least 10 different species including, corvina, pargo, dog-tooth snapper, grouper, cabrilla, sheephead, grunt, triggerfish and more.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 8-15, 2019
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN WEEK-AT-A-GLANCE
Weather – hot and humid. Very tropical. Afternoon and occasional thunderstorms and flash flooding but otherwise sunny and in the mid to high 90’s. Evenings low 80’s with a breeze.
Water – blue bathwater overall, but still come cold patches. Might start getting colder soon. Feels a bit like fall already. A short summer.
Fishing (Scale of 1-10) – Maybe a high 6. Still not where we should be this time of year although there’s solid dorado fishing mostly. This is what it should be in July.
Fish Caught – 90% dorado mainly because that’s what 90% are fishing for! But we’ve had some jags of tuna. We’ve lost marlin and wahoo. Roosterfish are still around but not many folks fishing for them. Dorado are easy and fun. Seeing more of those big dog-tooth, snapper, cabrilla, sierra, pargo, bonito, jack crevalle, pompano, needlefish.
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Just a great frameable shot with awesome colors! Lee Hazelquist with a big grin!
Another joyous ecstasy photo! Steve Avery with us for the first time put this beast dog-tooth snapper in the boat and he has every reason to be happy about this trophy!
Oh yea! About time! Joe Duffy who runs a charter operation up in the Bay Area with his dad, Noel (who came all the way from Ireland) and a nice yellowfin tuna just off Punta Perrico!
My funny buddy, Brian Buchanan, had a good week of dorado fishing with us. Brian is from the Salt Lake City area.
These two great guys had a fun week of fishing. First timers with Tailhunter Paul Marshall and Steve Avery.
For almost 20 years, our buddy retired firefighter Mac Treasure from Reno NV brings a great bunch of guys to visit us. This week, Mac stuck himself this big fat dog-tooth fishing with Captain Pancho.
They got Captain Arcangel to smile! Rob Markarian and Tom Worrel with a load of fish to start their trip.
Everyone’s favorite guy and hard working amigo, Jorge Romero, finally took a day off and got out to fish! Nice dorado Jorge!
The right kind! It’s about time! Captain Jorge gives a thumbs up for Jaimy Stolberg’s hefty tuna she battled just outside of Muertos Bay!
Great shot! Captain Armando helps out Geoff Merker from San Diego with a nice dorado off Punta Perico. Check the flat waters!
Dale and Dean Dzwonierek with Captain Jorge and a bunch of dorado on the fish cleaning table.
Nyle Miyamoto from Washington with a colorful bull.
First rooster for Jon Gallant from San Diego just off Punta Perico. Fish was released. Roosters are still around but with so much attention on dorado no one is really fishing for them.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a nicer dorado photo than this one with John Birtwistle from Woodland CA. Great shot and good fish, JB!
Two of our nicest friends for many years from Oregon, Dorothy and Steve Murata started their vacation with some dorado and a couple of yellowfin tuna fishing with Captain Gerardo.
Trudy Grove with another dorado! She had a super week with the mahi and has been visiting us from Salt Lake City for many many seasons. Always good to have her down to see us!
Joaquin Perea from Woodland CA never has a bad day and always a pleasure to have him down. Another nice dorado for the cooler!
Denver in the house! Bill Johnson put a double pair on the cleaning table his first day.
A big fish dinner in their future! Fishing with Captain Jorge (in the background) Clint and Jaimy Stolberg pose with a good day’s production of dorado and tuna!
I told Tim Larson if he took a good photo, I would finally get him in the fishing report! Nicely done, Tim! You’re on!!! It’s a great shot. We told him no hat. No sunglasses. Good lighting. No blood!
You can always tell a flyfishing guy. They always put their rods in their mouths! They need one extra hand! Well-done, Joaquin! He got several fish on his flyrod.
Stephen Chalbourg and his amigo, Bo, came all the way from Minnesota to fish and got these two lengthy females.
Another of our great Washington amigos, Jim Lundeen shows off one of his mahi.
Funniest guy of the week…Billy Baker! You’re on the fishing report, Billy! Good to have you here and thanks for all the laughs!
Two of our retired firefighters, Bernie Smith and Brian Rubino with Captain Adolfo.
Just another good day for Captain Gerardo as he checks out the dorado catch of Les Lovell and Terry Daniels.
Visting us for the 2nd year-in-a-row. Good to have you down, Fish Brother! Ryan Netherton who also got in a day of SCUBA diving as well! Ryan is from San Diego.
Joaquin Perea and Paul Marshall having some fun on the beach after another solid day on the water.
That’s a legit fish! John Birtwistle and a shiny dorado. Cerralvo Island in the background.
Paul and Steve with more dorado fillets coming up!
Despite the full-moon, another pretty solid week of dorado fishing overall with fish scattered over a wide-range of ocean both inshore and offshore. It’s pretty hard NOT to catch a dorado right now if you have a bait, lure or jig in the water. It’s probably 90% of the catch!
There’s lots of other species around, but when the fun-fighting, easily caught and tasty dorado around, folks don’t usually spend much time chasing the other species! This is especially true for a lot of our first-timers or less-experienced anglers.
Not every boat does great every single day. There’s always the 1 or 2 boats that only get a few dorado or really have to work at it on a given day, and I hate it when maybe those folks are only fishing single day. But, if you’re fishing multiple days, it’s difficult to keep the dorado off your hook and you’ll go home with some great meat for the dinner plate and freezer.
But, there are other species around.
We had some marlin hook-ups and breakoffs.
We had at least 1 or 2 wahoo bites that got unbuttoned per day.
If you wanted a roosterfish, yes ,the 30-60 pounders are still around.
Inshore, there’s cabrilla, pargo and those big-dog-tooth snapper are willing to bite if you are into putting in the time and are up to the frustration of nearly getting yanked out’ve your socks only to have the fish bust you off in the shallow rocks.
More excitingly, late in the week, we had some jags of 20-40 pound yellowfin tuna pop up. These fish have been absent for about 2 months and this is the time we should be seeing them, but have been conspicuously absent the latter part of this week. I don’t wanna jinx it and say the tuna season has started, but hopefully, this is the start of some better tuna fishing.
SHOUT OUT THANK YOU
Our community outreach program is still rolling full turbo. Just sent a huge load of goods out to Los Planes to the kids and the community out there! We also collected enough money this last week to sponsor two more kids for a whole year of school (books, food, uniforms, transportation…and they in turn have to keep up their grades and mentor another student).
No sooner did that load go out, then even more started coming in! I was not able to get everyone’s photos, but some are below. But a special shout-out to Tim Schlander who’s guys brought in numerous ice chests packed full of clothes, school clothes, hygiene items and more!! Thanks for the big hearts to them and all of you who keep bringing both adult and childrens items and have helped us deliver several TONS of needed items over the last few years!
Justin and Noah Lauby with lot of great adult clothes! (Everyone targets the kids so great to get some adult stuff!)
From Bakersfield, nice smiles and great school supplies from Don and Gwen Parnell.
Our Utah Tailhunter Tribe…Brian Buchanan, Trudy Grove, Kathy and John Terbu with a whole table full of great stuff!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 4-11, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Retired firefighter Craig Braswell strains to hold up a hefty roosterfish estimated at 60 pounds that hit Craig’s little sardine right close to the rocks as they were fishing for shallow water pargo and cabrilla. The fish battled and pulled the panga around on light tackle for almost an hour which is why Craig says, “I could barely lift the fish!” The fish was released. Craig is from Chico C and our buddy is a long-time Tailhunter friend!
Denni Chin from Salt Lake City UT has a laugh with Captain Victor from the Tailhunter Fleet in La Paz on the beach at Bahia Muertos. It was Denni’s first La Paz trip and he took a number of fish off his bucket list including a striped marlin; several big roosterfish (released) as well as dorado and this yellowtail and tuna!
A crazy mix of fish for Trevor Akiyoshi and Ryan Vorisek hold up some of their catch that included a strange mix of fish for August. The catch included dorado (summer fish) , pompano (spring fish) and pargo liso (mullet snapper…a winter fish). Dad Mike Akiyoshi with the photobomb. They are from Upland CA. They were fishing with the Tailhunter Fleet in La Paz.
Amazing fish! Our biggest dorado of the season. It’s huge. Adam Jones is about 6′ tall and the head of the fish is turned away from the camera. He and cousin, Steve Braithwaite (photo below) tag-teamed the big fish over 40 minutes!
Another shot of the big bull dorado. Steve Braithwaite posing for this shot! Both guys are pretty tall and the photo doesn’t do justice to the size and girth of the fish.
Our long-time amigo, Kip Slaugh, hoisted this big roosterfish on a bit of a choppy day outside of Bahia de los Muertos. The fish was released.
Yup!!! Yellowtail in August? Check the photo! Phil and dad, Larry Braithwaite from Salt Lake City UT with captain Pancho on the beach at Bahia Muertos. Dorado are warm water fish. Yellowtail are cold water fish!
Colorado in the house! Louie Sanchez rocked this big roosterfish while fishing near Las Arenas on live bait and released it. It’s his personal best!
Just an incredible shot of a dorado jumping at sunrise! Captured by pro photographer amiga, Lynn Crooks from Reno NV who was fishing with her husband, Bernie.
Hard not to love our buddy, Denny Gallegos, who mugs for this shot. He’s always doing stuff like this over the years! With his buddy, Grant Parr, holding a big pargo perro.
The gent behind the mask with Captain Monch and the trophy roosterfish is Bernie Crooks who got several nice roosterfish and released them all. Our amigo, Bernie, is from Reno, Nevada.
All of a sudden, these big dog-tooth also started chewing this week! With Cerralvo Island in the background, Kip Slaugh, lifts the thick fish on the gaff for the money shot! Great eating!
Just a wonderful shot by this young lady! Oh the joy! Chloe Crum from San Antonio, Texas makes the shot with this dorado and captain Alfredo helping from off-camera!
Love the kid shots! We’ve known Sierra Sanchez since she was smaller than this dorado and it’s fun watching her grow up every year and enjoy the fishing with her family and Captain Rogelio. Dorado…right off the rocks in shallow water!
Victor Gil Delmonte comes to visit us every year and told me this fish “really hurt me!” You can see it on his face and Captain Archangel had to give Vic a hand! He gamely battled the fish then released the pretty fish too!
Yes, you CAN have too much fun! Pete Natividad from Los Angeles with Captain Alfredo, was on his first trip to see us and had only one day to fish, but caught about 6 different species including this amberjack.
Dr. Marc Crum came to visit us for the first time from Texas and was able to put this nice roosterfish aboard for the photoshot before letting it go to fight another day.
Talk about variety! Lynn Crooks has about 6 different species on the transom after a good day on the water fishing north of La Paz.
Just incredible colors in this photo to go along with Gaby Donnell’s pretty smile. Gaby is from Oregon and took the colorful bull dorado just outside of Las Arenas.
Our buddy, Roger “Fluffy” McCracken battled this feisty jack crevalle south of Espirito Santo Island. These are tough fighters!
Doing it like a boss! Gavin Carroll has himself a dorado in the boat with Captain Armando!
Dorado started biting better late in the week. Adam Jones and Steve Braithwaite.
Not normally something we recommend or target, but we DO occasionally hook sharks. It usually never lasts long before the shark busts the line nor do we recommend putting any shark in the boat. But, Jeff Slater is one of our long-time anglers and very very experienced and fought this hammerhead estimated at 300 pounds. Actually very good eating and he donated much of the meat as well.
This is frameable! Hard to get a better photo or smile than Cortez Sanchez with his bull dorado on the beach at Muertos.
Good way to greet a sunrise! Captain Rogelio and our first-timer Nick Arandia started the morning with a fine catch-and-release roosterfish near La Paz.
One of our all-time favorite families (Team Penguino). Louie, Sierra and Cortez Sanchez with some of their La Paz catch. Clouds building in the background. They were able to get two nice days of fishing in with us this year!
Not sure what’s more colorful. Louie Mogabgab’s sunglasses or the dorado! Both are admittedly almost a match! Captain Victor adds to the photo too!
When it’s your first time fishing and your first fish, it’s a great moment. Imelda Natividad got herself a fat triggerfish for ceviche with Captain Alfredo.
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There is no doubt that this has been an incredibly crazy year for weather as well as fishing! It seemed that winter took forever to leave and summer to take hold and given the types of fish we’re catching, summer is still reluctant even though we’re now half into August.
The week started somewhat sluggish and got better as the week progressed. Lots of cloudy days (similar to San Diego grey skies of summer) kept things cooler which was appreciated by many of the anglers. We even had about a 30 minute downpour one afternoon like a mini tropical hurricane that caused a lot of flooding and winds then quickly blew out.
Here it comes! Good thing everyone is off the water already.
Early in the week, we had the usual smattering of dorado mostly in the 10-20 pound class. But we continued to show up with unusual cold-water fish like pargo liso (mullet snapper), giant dog-tooth snapper, cabrilla, pompano, amberjack, jack crevalle and even sierra.
Yup! Amberjack in August. Louie Mogabgab.
Wish we could see his photo, but Captain Moncho give Bernie Crooks (I think that’s Bernie in there!) a hand with his jack crevalle which was released right there off the beach.
But, then the kicker showed up late in the week. Not only did 20-100 pound tuna show up (most fish lost after long battles on light tackle) but we started getting YELLOWTAIL!
None of us can ever remember yellowtail so late in the season. In my 25 years here we have never seen yellowtail in August. Mostly by May, these cold-water fish are long gone!
Never ever ever ever seen yellowtail caught in August. It’s like getting a snowstorm in the summer. It just doesn’t happen!
I’ve given up telling folks what they’re gonna catch these days! Oh, and the fish got bigger as the week went on.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 29-Aug. 4, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST OF THE STORY…
His first roosterfish was a dandy. Dave Payan visited from Roy, Utah and was out with us and right-off-the-bat hooked this big roosterfish not far from the Las Arenas lighthouse. The fish was released.
Joe Treves from Los Angeles gets a hand from son, Matt, and Captain Gerardo of the Tailhunter Fleet in La Paz with an 80-pound tuna he wrestled off Cerralvo Island just east of Bahia Muertos that ate a live sardine on light tackle.
Marco and Steve Holguin have been visiting us for years and always good to see them. Their first day started with a nice rack of dorado from Las Arenas.
San Diego in the house with Rick Carlton and Bruce Husson with a rare white marlin! I think I have only seen 3 the whole 25 years I have been here. The guys released it to swim strongly away! Cerralvo Island in the background.
Ryan Sallee and Shelby Pope via San Diego first-time fishing with us got a ice variety of great eating pargo, snapper and a dorado!
What a pig of a fish! Largest dog-tooth snapper of the year hooked by Shelly Donnell from Beaverton OR with a happy Captain Pancho trying to hoist it up on the gaff.
Another nice one in the boat and this time a nice huachinago on the gaff for Utah amigo, Dave Payan.
Couldn’t resist the smile of Allie Tutino from San Diego with her only dorado, but there’s a couple of nice pargo on the table in front of her!
Now THAT’s alot of sashime, but these guys know how to fish! Long-time amigos who come several times a year got these hefty yellowfin tuna at the south end of Espirito Santo Island where a number of these horse fish have broken rods and hearts! Kevin SHIOTANI (sorry about that brain fart, Kevin…I kneel in apology! But at least I didn’t write CACA VERDE!) and Rick Hosmer doing it like a boss!
Nice bull dorado for our first-time visitor to La Paz Marco Martinez posing on the sand for us at Bahia los Muertos.
Three generations of the Mammott Family…Jeff…Jesse…Christy and Paden with some of their dorado.
Just another day on the water for amigo, Shelly Donnell and sister Gaby, both from Oregon with dorado and pargo ready for the fillet table.
Might be my favorite photo of the week! My two friends, Roger McCracken and Joe Treves goofing with their big “sardines.”
Dorado can be voracious feeders! But here’s the rule when a dorado picks up BOTH baits! Whoever’s hook is deepest in the mouth gets the fish! I think Gaby’s hook is deeper than her brother’s hook! But Sheldon will argue the point!
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Still crazy trying to figure out our fishing. It seems we move two steps forward then one step back each week. Get get excited about jags of fish like dorado, or marlin or tuna. And just when we’re all fired up, things change again!
Every day, you can take your pick of words to describe the fishing…everyone has a different adjective for the day and it runs the full gamut from awesome and fun to erratic, anemic, or crummy! And the boats can be right next to each other and you’ll get completely different results from boat-to-boat; location to location and from day-to-day.
Everyone arrives and says, “How’s the fishing?” And all I can give them is a shrug of the shoulders. Bottom line, everyone is catching fish. But not everyone is catching fish ALL the time!
Here it is August, and it’s still more like late May or June fishing. It’s deceiving because the waters are blue; the days are hot and humid; it feels really tropical…I mean it looks like summer. It feels like summer. But the fishing isn’t summer. It’s more like springtime fishing.
Just check out the variety of fish. We should be catching mostly bluewater/ warmwater fish like dorado, tuna and billfish. And indeed, the dorado are probably 60% of the catch. But, it’s hardly wide-open on the chew. Dorado are scattered and we’re picking them up here and there.
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Good start of the fishing grip for Louie Mogabgab with some nice bull dorado and an amberjack to show for it!
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However, we’re still getting cold water fish like the big mullet snapper (pargo liso); sierra (winter fish); snapper, cabrilla, amberjack and even an occasional yellowtail.
Captain Pancho helps pose a pargo liso for Gaby Donnell
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Mix in the occasional billfish plus bonito, jack crevalle and even the sporadic beast tuna of 50-100 pounds and there’s action to be held…most days…most boats. Here’s the deal…if you’re only coming down and fishing 1 day…you could have a great time or be that boat that just misses it. If you’re fishing 2, 3 or 4 days, you’ll have an off-day or two, but you’ll be going home with fish!
LaPaz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 7-14, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Our amigo, Ken Chaplin from Washington, has fished and hunted all over the world and always does well with us at Tailhunter. His first day on the water with us he got into some big roosters including tangling with this beast just outside of Bahia Muertos. The fish was released.
While fishing close to the rocky shallows of Espirito Santo Island for rockfish like cabrilla and pargo and snapper, Mike Garcia said he let his “sardine swim the wrong way away from the rocks and wasn’t paying attention” when his line took off and he found himself hooked on this big-headed bull dorado. The fish was brought to gaff after a long fight. Mike is from Houston TX and was fishing with Captain Rogelio with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet .
A couple of nice great-eating rock fish including a pargo liso and yellow snapper for our amigo, Steve Kechichian, currently living in Seattle.
Mike Garcia from Houston was fishing with his dad, Eddie who lives in Boston and on their first trip to La Paz fishing with Tailhunter Sportfishing. They were in shallow water close to shore fishing for dorado and roosters, when this big striped marlin hit his sardine on light 30-pound test line. Mike battled the fish for over 2 hours and finally got it on board for a quick photos and released the fish swimming away strong . Love the facial expression! Yea, Mike!
That’s a pig of a roosterfish! Captain Victor gives Jean Edwards a hand with this giant roosterfish so she can get the photo and get it released. Early in the week, they were all big roosters and have been for several weeks.
Another cold-water fish, but no one is complaining are these giant pompano that have shown up in the shallows. Scott Miller got this guy out’ve Bahia Muertos. Scott is from Washington and this was his first trip with Tailhunter.
He’s now 14-years-old and we’ve known Grayson Richmond from Colorado since he was a youngster and he’s always been quite a fisherman. With Captain Moncho, he got into this nice jack crevalle.
It’s a pretty smile for a pretty dorado. Great colors! Captain Archangel and Ron Kellogg help out wife, Leona with the photo. More dorado showing weekly.
That’s alot of bull! (dorado). Nicole Balbas holds up the lighter end of her bull dorado with a smiling Captain Gerardo.
I love this photo of Kathy Wong as her pargo looks like it’s trying to biter her in the ear as Captain Armando holds onto the gaff.
Matt Brown from Cupertino CA came to La Paz fishing for a 2nd time and got his first roosterfish. He ended up hooking and releasing 3 nice roosterfish like this one just off the beach at Punta Arenas.
Eddie Garcia came all the way out from Boston to fish with us for the first time and I’m only sorry he’s a little blocked by the tail of his dorado held up by Captain Jorge . Eddies is holding onto the pargo liso. Good to have Eddie with us this week. Really enjoyed his visit.
Nice cabrilla for Ed Mitoma with Captain Alfredo looking on. Big cabrilla like this trophy have been a great bite lately.
Double pair of barred pargo for Mike Fisher and Chuck Williams from Washington on their first visit to La Paz with us.
First day…first big dorado in hand and in the photo for Jim Looney.
Nothing like your first rooster and the roosters have been feisty lately. Scott Miller gives a grin before releasing the fish.
Love this guy! Bill Richmond has visited us many times of the years and is always a welcome friend . He worked hard this week when the fishing was scratchy but ended up with alot of species to take home including this tasty pompano. Punta Arenas in the background.
What a mix of fish. Exactly what I’ve been referring to. We’ve got warm and cold water fish all mixing it up these days like the dorado, cabrilla, triggerfish, snapper and pargo on the cleaning table at Bahia Muertos.
Hidden by the dorsal fin of this big rooster is Captain Arcangel helping Mike Fisher photo his fish before letting it go.
Big roosters can hurt strong men! The bend on the rod and braced agains the gunwale and deckchair, Ken Chaplin battles a big roosterfish.
On the flyrod! G-man (Grayson Richmond) released this tough jack crevalle .
Again…such a variety of fish on the table. Nicole and Ed Balbas with Captain Gerardo hold onto a yellowtail plus yellow snapper and pompano on the beach at Muertos.
Once again, the fishing remains unseasonably crazy. It’s mid-July, but the fishing still hasn’t quite caught up with the calendar. It’s still more like April-May fishing…than summertime fishing.
Normally, we should be thick into the bluewater species that inhabit the warm waters and warmer seasons. Our fishing reports should be full of dorado, tuna, wahoo, billfish and the like. We should be talking about hot sunny weather and flat balmy Baja seas.
But, it’s not like that and Mother Nature is only grudgingly moving to where it should be. She’s not going easy. For instance, we still have erratic un-predictable winds that pop up from nowhere and tear up the sea. A few miles away, it’s flat. We have blistering sunny weather one day that feel like a tropical sauna. By afternoon, it’s raining. Or we have days when it’s overcast and heavily clouded.
One day waters are blue. Next day, or even later in the day, the waters turn green, cold and turbid with strong currents. Or, one day dorado bite and the next day, we see all kinds of dorado, but they could not care less about biting a bait or jig!
Sure, we’re seeing more dorado and bigger dorado. And that is a good sign. And a few billfish mixed in. Plus assorted large and small roosterfish, bonito, and jack crevalle. But, we are still catching crazy cold-water fish like spawning pargo, cabrilla, amberjack and even fish like sierra and yellowtail, the latter two being definite cold-water species.
That just tells me that there’s warm surface water, but below that, there’s a strong layer of colder water holding these other species.
Everyone is catching fish. It’s just that the bite is unpredictable and varied.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 23-30, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY….
Dave Lester from Temecula CA with another beast roosterfish for the camera before putting it back in the water. Dave and his 3 buddies estimate they hooked and released 31 roosterfish over 4 days.
What beast is this? DJ Bovee from San Diego fishes with us several times a year and hooked this massive bull dorado, the likes of which we have not seen in years!
Enzo Moreno is just 11-years-old from San Antonio, Texas. He caught and fought a marlin all by himself; he caught numerous other species including dorado and put this hefty yellowtail in the box as well.
Zach Smith had an eventful 2 days of fishing with us. His first day he hooked this pretty striped marlin. The fish could not be released and Zach donated all the meat to the local folks who welcomed the fresh fish
Our fun amigos for many years who always do well, Tim and Angela Farrell from Oceanside, CA with their favorite Captain Moncho and a handful of tough-fighting pargo liso and yellow snapper!
Pretty as could be. Joe has another pretty roosterfish to the boat to photo and release. The roosters were sure thick this week.
This might be my favorite photo of the week. Nina Moreno and Captain Rogelio mug for the camera with Espirito Santo island right behind them just a stone’s throw away.
Big fish…big mouth! The kind that can inhale a 12-inch-long bait! Ron Burgess gets a hand from Captain Moncho. Fish was released.
That’s a handful of pargo liso for Dave Gee from San Francisco who grimaces to hold the stout fish for the camera. Great eating meat!
From Florida, our long-time amigo, Al Burgess needs to take a seat after battling this 100 + pound yellowfin tuna off Cerralvo Island for almost 2 hours!
Kim Hunt and Gabe Lao are doing their best to subdue this feisty rooster so they can take a photo and release it, but the rooster is having none of that and smacks them all over the place. Great effort by Kim and Gabe who caught 4 roosters this day.
Shaka sign from Captain Luis and Cathy Boos from Washington posing with one of her La Paz dorado.
Tom Hoey and Terry Hawk with the right kind of dorado! They hooked this legit pair off Muertos Bay. Some of the largest dorado of the season!
This is a great photo. It’s not often over the 2 decades that we’ve gotten Captain Arcangel to smile, but we got him here with Jonah Voigstberger from Bakersfield and her first rooster. Caught and released.
No shortage of fun and crazy fishing when the schools of jack crevalle move in like this one caught by Alise Ferguson from Colorado Springs CO. Las Arenas Beach and lighthouse nearby.
Victor with some tasty pargo lisos.
Nothing like starting off your day with a trophy catch of a roosterfish right off the bat for Joe and quickly released.
Zach Smith and Captain Fili give Nick Tovar (right) a hand posing with his sailfish on the beach at Bahia Muertos. Nick was not able to release the fish and donated all the meat to local families.
These fish might not look big, but hit and fight like freight trains. Kent holds up a colorful pargo liso he managed to pull from the rocks.
An incredible shot! Off Cerralvo Island, Captain Moncho poses with one roosterfish while Ron Burgess already has another big rooster on the line!
Alot of good eating and variety on the fish cleaning table including big triggerfish, pargo, yellow snapper and cabrilla (seabass) for Jonah and John Voigtsberger.
Captain Gerardo with the thumbs-up photo bomb of Dave Boos and his roosterfish.
From Kentucky, Chase Wallis staying at Bahia Muertos in the Rancho Costa Resort got himself and big striped marlin after a good battle. He donated all of the meat to the local families when the fish could not be revived.
I love photos that are different and kooky like Nick and his big amberjack while he sports the cool beard and mustache face garb!
Fishing with us for years, Terry Hawk, has caught and released quite a few roosterfish with us.
Two great guys. Dave “Splash” Lopez and nephew Nick Gatelein from Los Angeles wit two pretty dog-tooth snapper.
Yes, pompano are still biting and yes, they are the largest I have ever seen down here in our waters in 25 years. Zach Smith has this one under control and released it.
Good amigo and owner of Rancho Costa Resort in Bahia Suenos, Gary Wagner with his son, Jason took this long roosterfish just outside of the bay. The fish was released.
The parade of weird and unusual fish continues. We’ve had milkfish…blue treval;y and now an island trevally. Another member of the diverse jack family. In 25 years, I’ve never seen one down here and neither had any of our captains.
I want to say it was really a great week of fishing. But, I can’t. So many times, I thought we were right on the verge of it, but then it got crazy again. For sure, we had some spectacular fishing and maybe one of the best if not the best fishing of the season.
However, the fishing is still all mixed up and unpredictable. Many folks caught the fish of a lifetime; or their largest; or their first or the most they have ever caught and that was great.
Gabe Lao, Elk Grove CA Roosterfish off the beach. Released.
But, there was just no getting a handle on what was biting . One day the bite was in one spot and the next, it was shut down. Clear blue water one day become green dirty water with current the next day. One panga rips up the fish and the boat next to it can’t get a bite. It was that kind of week.
I’m not sure where to start so let me break it out with our two different fleets. The fact that we have two fleets fishing two different areas often made the difference between having a good day or a so-so day!
For our La Paz Tailhunter Fleet
The week started well. This is where we’ve been getting yellowtail, amberjack, pargo and cabrilla and snapper. Plus lots of great eating white bonito. Really weird because these are all coldwater fish, except for the bonito! And it’s already 100 degrees and the end of June and beginning of July. For example yellowtail are a fish we usually don’t see much of after April or so!
However ,yellowtail between 15-25 pounds have been biting now for almost 3 weeks. By far our La Paz fishing north of town has been the most solid fishing most of the month.
If you wanted to just have a solid day of fun and action, this is where I had you fish. I could really depend on it doing well and everyone having fun.
Espirito Santo Island. Sy’s first dorado experience was a good one.
No, that’s not Richard Branson, but Rick Kasper has been on many TV shows and had his own hunting show for many years. He’s an old hand at fishing with us down here.
The weird thing, however, is that almost in the same spots where we were hooking the cold water fish, we were also hooking dorado which are warm water fish! The dorado ran 10-25 pounds and these are the kinds of fish we should be hooking this time of year. But with the presence of both fish, this means there’s a thermocline in the water column with warm waters about 81 degrees at the surface, but below that is a very chilly thermocline holding colder waters. This was confirmed by our scuba divers who ran into the colder water about 20-40 feet down.
Very unusual! But, like I said, everyone catching fish.
Until about mid-week. The fishing really died down. My captains told me cold green water with lots of current and strong winds kicked the bite to the curb. However, as the week went on…the bite came back little by little as temperatures rose again (we set a record 107 degrees Saturday) and waters calmed with dorado and other species once again getting active.
Nina hooks another one!
For our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet…
The week was mostly slow. But let me clarify.
Jack crevalle “Toro” Captain Fili and Zach Smith
There were fish biting! No doubt. There were lots of those cool white bonito. And pargo, jack crevalle, cabrilla and amberjack and (Needlefish…yuk).
Dave and a pretty and big yellow snapper.
But, the big pargo liso were schooling! These huge mullet snapper are 10-30 pounds and are really difficult fish in the shallow waters, but these fish are normally schooling in these big groups in the colder waters of March and April.
Among the toughest and most difficult fish in our waters, pargo liso frustrate many an angler and frustrate strong men. However, Tim and Angela Farrell with Captain Moncho yanked these bad boys out’ve the rocks.
All of a sudden, here they are. The thing with them is that they are tough tough tough to catch. I have often told folks that if you get 10 hookups and get 2 or 3 to the boat, it’s about par.
So, folks were coming back saying what a tough day they had. Then, I’d find out they really hooked 6, 8, 10 pargo but busted them all off! That’s GOOD fishing…but bad CATCHING!
Pargo liso for Joe! Great eating.
Similarly, we had some tuna biting…and these were all 100+ pound beasts! 1 and 2 hour battles ended up with broken lines. In one case, our guys had the fish right next to the boat ready to stick the gaff after an epic battle and suddenly a huge shark rolls up and in two bites completely wipes out the fish!
Striped marlin waiting to be carted off to local homes.
Oh…and marlin and sailfish caught too finally although a couple of nice fish broke off. Best billfish bite of the season!
But the best part of the week…(drumroll)…ROOSTERFEST!!!
Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay is known as the “Roosterfish Capital of the World.” World record roosterfish up to 150 pounds have been caught on this beach area.
Well, this week, I’ve never seen the roosters go off like they did. I estimate almost 100 roosters were hooked and released between 5 and 70 pounders!
Captain Armando and Dave Lester in the Baja sunrise with an early big roosterfish released.
On a single day alone, our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet had 8 pangas on the water and got 35 roosterfish! That’s unheard of! One of our boats caught and released at least 10 fish. This doesn’t even include the fish that were lost or broke off!
From Denver, Adam Tarowoski got his first roosterfish this week. Fish was released.
Then, at the end of the week, another surprise. We have not had many dorado caught this year around the Las Arenas area. Most of the fish have been around La Paz. Other than an occasional dink fish, not much to speak of.
Wow!! That’s huge bull dorado! Whoa…Jen Wilson from Colorado Springs CO with one of the largest dorado of the season.
Well, all of a sudden we have bit 20-45 pound bull dorado in the water! Where’d they come from? We haven’t seen dorado of that size in 3 years.
It’s a strange strange season! Oh…and we broke heat records this week too. 107 degrees over the weekend.
Tailhunter Fish Report 