La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 15-22, 2023
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
This past week was pretty typical late fall type conditions. Lots of sunshine for the snowbirds with temps in the low 80’s to high 70’s and cool evening conditions in the mid-60’s. Some days really nice and others blustery and windy. Seems like each week the air temps are getting a tad cooler and the waters are getting just a bit greener as they cool off as well.
Honestly, not many folks in town as this is the lull before the holidays. I expect that to change this coming week with Thanksgiving coming up. So, not many tourists in town. It’s actually a very peaceful time.
There are even fewer folks interested in fishing. Just a few walk-in’s now and then. Not in town specifically to fish, but just looking for a day on the water. Unfortunately, the couple of bookings we had, were cancelled due to windy conditions on those particular days. Some folks don’t have very flexible schedules so we warn folks if the particular day they want to go out doesn’t look good. Or looks like it might get blown out.
Captain Armando got out with Miguel Campos and found a nice bit of dorado that wanted to chew on one of the least windy days. Miguel is from Puerto Vallarta.
On the other hand, the few days that conditions were amenable, there are still fish biting, although it’s mostly locals from La Paz in the boats.
There’s a few dorado here and there. As well, there were a few hookups on wahoo and billfish. However, most of the catch is turning towards cooler water species with cabrilla, snapper, rainbow runners, sierra and jacks. Most of this is inshore fishing. We even found small yellowtail under the tankers anchored in the bay.
Sydney Wagner with big smiles and a big cabrilla that I’m sure went to the dinner table at her dad, Gary Wagner’s place there at Bahia Muertos at Rancho Costa just south of La Paz.
With the rougher waters, it’s getting more difficult to find live bait, but that’s one of the variables with fishing this time of year. The coming week for Thanksgiving is looking like there will be strong winds from the north pretty much all week.
WINTER WHALE WATCHING NOW BOOKING
The annual migration of the gray whales to Bahia Magdalena will be coming soon and prime time to see them is mid- February to late March. This is the largest migration of animals in the world and this is a great opportunity to get about as close as you can imagine for a trip of a lifetime.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 7-14, 2022
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST OF THE STORY…
More and more of these rainbow runners showing up in the counts as waters get cooler. These are cousin to the yellowtail and Sidney Wagner caught this one just off Punta Perrico around from her dad’s place at Bahia Muertos.
Finally got a chance to get out with Jilly for just a few hours and we found some nice dorado under a couple of buoys in the channel in front of Cerralvo Island. You can tell the waters are getting colder and greener.
These four guys rocked it! Captain Gaby from Las Cruces was out with Marshall Hydorn, John Clayton and Carter Mack at the north end of Las Cruces dragging some Marauders and hit the hat trick of wahoo…3 nice ones on board. Gaby with the bonito!
JIlly with Captain Joel got the biggest dorado of the day on a live sardine. She totaled up 4 dorado and 3 cabrilla on the day.
Gary Wagner at his place at Rancho Costa in Bahia Muertos was able to get out one day and took this late season bull dorado!
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This is that big lull before the holidays. Town is pretty quiet. The folks that are here are mostly tourists and snowbirds looking for some sunshine. Not much of anyone here that is specifically here to fish.
If someone does want to fish, they are usually walk-in folks just looking for a day on the water. Nothing hard-core. Most of the savvy fisher-folk have left as the 2022 fishing season winds down.
The winter winds have started blowing from the north making a fish trip an exercise in trying to figure out which days the winds won’t blow you off the water. Two weeks ago, we had three days of the week that were too blustery. This past week, there were two days. As I write this, it appears that maybe 5 days will be quite windy.
Some of those days, you can probably get out and we would fish you in some of the more protected in-shore areas. But, if the wind is really howling, there’s a good chance the port captain will shut down all boat traffic departing or arriving.
There are still some dorado around. Most of the are the fun smaller 5-12 pounders with some occasional big toad bulls still lurking. One thing nice is that you could just go to the big tankers anchored in La Paz Bay and find some schools without having to go out too far.
There’s some wahoo at the north end of Cerralvo Island, but for the most part, the weather is cooling and so are the waters with blue waters starting to turn green and cloudy. Consequently, more cooler-water species are moving in.
This includes, sierra, rainbow runners, pargo, cabrilla, jacks and even a few amberjack and yellowtail. These will become more predominant as the waters continue to cool off.
Mostly, live bait (sardines) and cut bait (stripped bonito) have been the most effective attractants, but as waters get rougher, it’s harder to find the sardines. Also, the bait guys will be more reluctant to go find bait to sell if there aren’t many folks fishing.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Bahia Muertos/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 28-Oct. 5, 2022
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Another big-headed beast! Captain Pancho holds up the tail end of a huge bull dorado caught by Marlene Kikuchi!
Show me the meat! Good amigo, Dana Murray from Idaho, has a thumbs-up for 3 nice yellowfin tuna and a few dorado for the fillet table!
Honeymoon marlin for Terry Sandmeier and his wife Caroline with an assist from Captain Gerardo. The day before, Terry had a marlin on and it popped off. He want back the 2nd day and this time he rocked it. The fish was not able to be released. The Sandmeiers are from Colorado on their first visit to us in La Paz.
Yes! We finally found some tuna. Funny guys Nat Hargett and Steve Manney hung some nice yellowfin to go along with their dorado. The guys are from Washington and come visit us each year.
Paul Nagata has become a regular poster-boy over the years with all the great fish he has caught . Check out this pretty bull mahi! Paul is from San Francisco.
We finally got a visit from Stan Andre and Terry Hawk who fish with us each year until Covid got in the way two years ago then had to cancel again last year and earlier this year. However, they made up for it. They donated all of this dorado meat to the Captain Pancho and the pueblo.
First timer with us Ken Fritz battled this marlin on light tackle while fishing outside of La Paz Bay. He also put some dorado in the box as well. The marlin could not be released.
First timer who had never been to Mexico, Jim Gibson, was fun to have visit us. Nice day of dorado fishing on the sand at Balandra Bay.
Just a great photo that’s worth framing! Grant Nakagawa and Captain Armando with a legit bull.
Whoa!!! That’s some quality mahi. Wesley Peterson (middle) needs some assistance posing with his big bull dorado.
Jim Barlow from San Juan Capistrano with son-in-law Riley had 3 good days on the water like this one with a cleaning table full of dorado. Jim used to fish La Paz many years ago but hadn’t been down for years until giving us a try.
The hat-trick for Nat! A dorado…a tuna…and a marlin that he shared with his amigos. A good day!
Dale Ringer and Andy Hall pose with Captain Jorge and some of their dorado catch.
Double tuna. Double dorado! Terry and Stan…fishing buddies with us for many years.
First-timer from Oklahoma, John Grigsby had fun with his first time fishing for dorado . That’s Espiritu Santo Island in the background.
Big smiles for the honeymoon couple . Terry and Caroline Sandmeier took home alot of fish after spending a week with us scuba diving and fishing.
Ken Fritz with another bull for the fish box.
Les Bek from Oregon was with us for the first time this week and had some good fishing in the dorado schools.
Captain Armando with Dave Eady and Tom Fausnight after a day fishing out’ve Bahia Muertos.
Pete Walker from Washington got into the tuna that first day they showed up!
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Long story short…Dorado everywhere!
Although we nervously watched the approach of Hurricane Orlene, it veered off and went inland hundreds of miles to the south leaving us with excellent conditions all week and solid fishing with voracious dorado biting all week. Both our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet and Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet hit the mahi every day with easy limits most days and limits hit early that most of our anglers released more fish than they kept.
It seemed there were more but smaller 5-15 pound fish with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet scattered from San Juan de la Costa to Espiritu Santo Island to the channel between the islands. It can be a pick-pick all day to fill the fish box or BAM…hit the spot and it’s madness for an hour or pandemonium with fish everywhere like a trout pond hitting anything that hits the water.
That included sardines, strips of bonito, jigs and feathers and casting iron.
For our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet, fewer, but bigger fish. Good amount of school-sized fish, but larger 25-50 pound bulls were also evident with some of the best big mahi fishing of the year. Many of our anglers caught their largest fish ever.
As well, we had a nice bite of marlin and sailfish with the bills often swimming and feeding in the middle of the dorado schools or, in some cases, feeding on the smaller dorado and bonito. Several “small” blue marlin in the 100-200 pound class were hooked and lost, but several striped marlin and sails were hooked, landed and released. There were a few long long battles on light tackle!
The big surprise was the show of tuna with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. Fish up to 30 pounds hit baits for the first time all year! No idea if they’ll stick around, but it was alot of fun or a year when the tuna have been scarce. Mostly, it was an early quick bite south of Bahia Muertos. The fish would stick around until all the traffic showed but, but it has been a nice grade of fish.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 18-27, 2022
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Our amigo, Tim Larson, has been visiting us for years, but this past week landed his personal best largest dorado. Great shot and a pretty bull mahi!
Captain Alfredo gives Steve Ritz a hand with this big-headed bull. Steve has been with us for years and usually makes two trips a year. He tangled with this dorado on light tackle and fought it for over an hour! Steve is 86-years-young!
First day meat day! Brian Rubino and Mike Martins stacked the dorado on their first day of fishing big time!
Love this photo and this lady! Lisa Hicks from Washington has big smiles with her favorite Captain Victor out’ve Bahia Muertos. We’ve know Lisa for almost 20 years of visits to Tailhunter.
Oh yea! Josh Robert was just here about a month ago from Nashville. He had so much fun he came back and had his way with several big bull dorado like this one.
Two of our long-time favorite characters. Jess Franco from Prescott AZ and Mac Treasure from Reno NV. Both retired fire captains.
Oh my! No, Josh did not catch this. He’s just helping with the photo. Actually, Julia his wife, caught this beast on 30-pound test and battled it for over an hour. She refused to give up the rod even tho’ she said her hands were cramping and her arms were shaking! Well-done!
Captain Victor with Tim Larson and Paul Jordan with a good start to 3 days of fishing.
Vonnie McGonigal is the owner of the famous Vonnie’s Fishing Fleet in Sitka, Alaska. At the end of the season, she treats her crew and lodge workers to a big trip and this year brought them down to see us! Sandy Cromley works in the fish packing area of their lodge and the two ladies cranked out some fun dorado fishing!
Dan and Sammy Hicks! Sammy is 12 now and Dan has been fishing with us even before Sammy was born. Great fun family from Washington and one of our favorites. Lots of meat on the table!
It’s been a few years, but Patricia and Phil Andreason came to visit us after several postponed efforts because of Covid. They made up for lost time with Captain Armando.
The start of 3 days fishing for Grant and Julie Nakagawa who are always fun every year. They’ve already given dates for next year with their favorite Captain Armando.
Love this shot! Gerry Hermosillo from L.A. is feeling pretty powerful after his day of fishing! LOL
Two of our newest Tailhunter Tribe amigos…Bruce and Tanner Robert came down to celebrate Tanner becoming a dentist. Check out the size of Tanner’s bull! Whoa!!!
Captain Jorge with another of our new amigos! Terry Suminski came to visit from Sitka Alaska for some warm-water style fishing.
Our Utah amigos, Bick Lessor has been with us before, but brought first-timer Scott Bowes to come fish with Captain Gerardo. I have no idea how that little pompano ended up getting caught with this good mess o’ dorado!
Two more of our great retired firefighters, Jimmy Andrews and Gary Bowie with Captain Armando got a cleaning table full of dorado.
Fishing with their favorite Captain Pancho, Marlene and Taky Kikuchi hooked up on a good batch of dorado plus a tasty barred pargo.
Josh…with another big bull in the fish box! He had a banner trip on the dorado.
Jon Eide has been fishing with us for years from Minnesota, but never ever got a roosterfish until this past week! It’s even more remarkable since this is not usually roosterfish season! Jon released the fish post photo!
Jeff Sakuda has been with us about 20 years and loves fishing with Captain Jorge! Jeff is from Cypress CA and a retired pilot for United and comes down twice-a-year.
Captain Alfredo approves of Wade White’s dorado he caught just outside of La Paz Bay.
Lee Hazelquist with his first sailfish! The fish ate a live sardine and Lee battled it on light tackle. The fish could not be released.
Rapid City, S. Dakota is a long way from the ocean, but it was fun to have Dick and Lucy Mahlendorf come visit us for the first time. They sure took home alot of dorado fillets to share with neighbors!
Two of the best! On their 2nd visit this year, Steve Ritz and Larry Chastain. The got into a swarm of dorado by the looks of it with their favorite Captain Gerardo.
Two more of our newest Tailhunter amigos who were out with Captain Jorge, Vicky and Mark Sherwood from Washington had a good day on the dorado schools.
Pretty photo and great colors! Juli has another dorado!
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We had a little “tickle” of a storm that was supposed to pass through that had us all watching nervously as it bounced outside to the Pacific and didn’t affect us as we had feared like other storms these past few weeks.
But, other than that and a few cloudy days, it was a wonderfully boring week for weather finally with just super conditions and it left us with some terrifically solid fishing. In fact, it was one of the better fishing weeks of the season.
Not much variety to speak of, but that’s because the dorado were so numerous and voracious! They weren’t giving any other species a chance, but no one was complaining. Some boats were done by 9 or 10 a.m. with full limits of mahi and had released even more fish than they had caught.
The fish were generally legit 10-20 pound fish with some in to the 30 and 40 pound class. Many anglers laughingly complained that they had dorado all around them feeding “like a fish pond” and would see some big dorado on the perimeter, but the “smaller” fish were so aggressive that the big ones never had time to grab a bait.
Still, everyone had fun. Everyone who wanted dorado or had never caught a dorado got into fish!
We also have some decent billfish hook-ups on sailfish and marlin as well, this week with about 80% of the fis lost or released. One big blue marlin actually snapped the rod in half!
Other species included cabrilla, rainbow runners, triggerfish, snapper and lots of tough bonito!
BOOKING FOR 2023 STARTING TO FILL UP!
Just a heads-up that we’re already starting to fill up early for our 2023 fishing season! We’re getting reservations daily and we don’t want to miss you!
In order to accommodate growing tastes we’ve broadened our hotel offerings once again. Lots of different choices depending on where to stay…
OUR OLD FAVORITE LA CONCHA BEACH RESORT – ON THE BEACH ROOMS
HOTEL GAVIOTAS – WATERFRONT BAY VIEW CONDOS ON THE MALECON
HOTEL MORO – OLD STYLE MEXICAN OASIS ON THE MALECON
CASA AL MAR – BOUTIQUE CONDOS ON THE MALECON WATERFRONT
MARINE WATERFRONT HOTEL (Formerly Hotel Marina) – Modern Vacationing
COSTA BAJA RESORT COMPLEX- 5 STAR LUXURY ROOMS VILLAS CONDOS
RANCHO COSTA – BAHIA MUERTOS REMOTE LUXURY
Get in touch with us and we’ll customize a fishing package just for you! If you’re already part of the Tailhunter nation and you want specific rooms or your favorite captain, don’t wait. We’re booking fast!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 10-17, 2022
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST OF THE STORY…
Dan McKinley from Washington was with us last week with his family. He was having so much fun, he stayed to fish an extra two days, but sent the rest of the family home, including son, Ryan. Nice dorado too!
Larry Barnard with his favorite Captain Victor has fished with us many years, but this was his “personal best” dorado. He foul-hooked it on the side which made the battle triple-tough, but he got the big bull to gaff!
Captain Jorge poses with Andy LeVeque from Washington and his Tecate to finish off a good first day on the water at Bahia Muertos.
Clark Torres, Mike and Melissa LeVeque with some big-boy legit bull dorado. Check out all that meat! They had 3 solid days of fishing and brought the family of 10 to visit us for the week.
John Waters and Erin Martin started their week off with a nice box of dorado!
This is the way to start the morning with a brilliant sunrise and a big wahoo that bit John Vondrak’s “banana red” Rapala with Captain Gerardo. It was the first of 2 wahoo this day. (scroll down for the 2nd photo)
From Montana, Lee and Renee Leveque with Captain Victor and a nice day of dorado and a striped marlin. It could not be released and meat was donated.
Kim Spicer is telling husband Brian that she caught more dorado than he did! Fun couple visiting us for the first time and they did well over 3 days fishing.
Jess Keller fortunately was able to get in only one day fishing after the storms because the other days got cancelled, but he did well with nice rack of dorado headed for the freezers.
Ted Tamborski with Captain Edgar was another victim of Hurricane Kay that got several days fishing cancelled, but was able to get out 3 days and hung this sailfish north of La Paz.
Yea…tackle busting big bonito kept rod bent and folk smiling. Darrel had a kick on his light tackle rigs.
This isn’t roosterfish season, but there are some little fellas still hanging out here and there. Wes Miles put this on on the boat off Punta Perico for a quick photo and release.
Dan and Lisa Hicks from Washington with their son Sammy have been fishing with us almost 20 year, even before Sammy came along. Always good to have them visit. They started their week with some great mahi action.
Gary Piekaar and Chris Biggs came down for a quick 2-day trip and went home with some good dorado meat. It was their first time with us at Tailhunter.
Konrad “Mad Hatter” Knoeferl has had to keep postponing his trip for several seasons, but it was good to finally get him down with Pal Chris Lucas posing with some of their dorado they caught fishing out’ve La Paz Bay.
Dan, Ryan and Wes…nice day of dorado, guys! All from Washington visiting us for the week.
Mike Guest from Arizon has fished with us many times over the years and told me he was coming down for a wahoo even though I told him there weren’t many wahoo around this year. I’m glad he proved me wrong!
Captain Jorge gives Brian Spicer the “thumbs-up” after catching this rooster just outside of Bahia Muertos. The fish was released.
Don McKinley is a former missionary and 93-year-young and still going strong! Grandson Ryan helps with the photo, but 3 days of fishing and Don didn’t need any help reeling fish! Great to have him visit us .
John’s 2nd wahoo of the day on his funky yellow Rapala with Captain Gerardo. This one’s a fatter ‘hoo!
Double D! Darrel and Don from Washington. Some huge bulls on the table there in front to them.
Captain Armando having some fun with amigos, John Eide from Minnesota and Joe Vondrak on the beach at Bahia Muertos.
First-timer Lori Worthington from Oregon sadly lost 2 days fishing to the storms, but got in one day with Captain Gerardo and made the best of things with a fun dorado day.
Captain Gerardo with Andrew Harrison and John Vondrak. Quite a variety…dorado…wahoo…rainbow runner…pompano and snapper!
Andrew with the big smile for another dorado.
Carrie “Sparkle” McKinley is just a joy to have visit us from Washington. She can fish too!
John Eide with another fish for the box.
Beautiful morning shot of Kim Spicer with Captain Jorge just outside of La Ventana across from Cerralvo Island
I have no idea who’d behind the fish, but I do know that Captain Ramiro got him a huge bull dorado.
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After stormy weather, you just never know what the fishing is going to be like. We had a tropical storm…followed by a 3 days hurricane…followed by a full moon last week. It was a triple whammy-punch-in-the-nose kinda week with lots of cancelled fishing trips and disappointed anglers.
After a storm it could take days for the water to clear and settle down. You just never know and after all the run-off from the rain, I figured it was gonna take awhile. A full moon was not going to do us any favors either!
But, right off the bat it seemed the fish were as eager to eat as we were anxious to go fishing and catch them. It just seemed to get better the further we got away from the stormy days. At times, it seemed like there were so many dorado in the water it was like hand-feeding fish in a pond. Turn up the sound and check out this video and look at all the dorado in the water!
There were some days where the boats were done by 9 or 10 a.m. and the anglers were tired and headed back to shore with full fish boxes!
It didn’t happen every day and it wasn’t like this for every boat, but overall, it’s been the best dorado fishing in several weeks. Our Tailhunter La Paz fleet seemed to catch more fish, but they were smaller. Our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet got fewer fish but they were definitely larger models.
The nice surprise were the wahoo that finally started biting. We picked up a few between Cerralvo Island and Bahia Muertos boating some nice 20-40 pounders and losing others. We haven’t hooked many wahoo this season so it was a nice bonus.
In addition to the wahoo, also hooked some marlin and sailfish and the catch was rounded out with some big bonito, pompano , trevally, cabrilla, snapper, pargo and even a few out-of-season roosterfish! All-in-all a pretty solid fishing week
Parting shot. Pelicans can be a pain in the B stealing your bait all the time, but Andrew seems to have made a new bestie!
TAILHUNTER ADDS MORE HOTELS TO OUR ROSTER
Many of you have stayed with us for decades at our beach favorite, La Concha Beach Resort or had us set you up at Costa Baja Resort/ Marina or Casa al Mar on the Malecon. We love all those spots!
However, we’re pleased to announce that we’ve added several new locations in order to give our anglers more choices and more variety. Over the new few weeks, we’ll show you some of our new additions.
This week, we wanted to show off a real gem and a hidden special spot for us…Gaviotas Beach Resort. It’s right on the Malecon so you can walk to everything. These are 2 BR/ 2 Bath condos so you get lots of space and a full kitchen, not to mention spectacular views of the bay and waterfront from your huge waterfront patio. Spa services available as well!
GAVIOTAS BEACH RESORT
Unmatched view of the La Paz Bay.
The beach is steps away. There’s a great seafood restaurant next door and a baby Starbuck gourmet coffee shop on the other side. Our Tailhunter Restaurant is a stone’s throw away as well. There’s a sundeck. Barbecue. Netflix and Wi-fi. And washer/dryer on the premises plus bicycles! For fishing or other activities, we’ll pick you up right out front.
If you’re interested, don’t hesitate to let us know and we’ll put together a complete package for you. jonathan@tailhunter.com
Two huge master bedrooms
Cool off in the pool or grab some rays on the upper sundeck
Full living room with wifi and Netflix overlooking the water.
Lots of space to relax!
Wake up to this every morning!
Happy hour in the pool!
Full-sized kitchen and frig!
S. CAL FRED HALL SHOWS ARE BACK!
In case you hadn’t heard, after a two year hiatus, the Hall Shows are back after a 76-year-run. The dates will be a little different than in the past with the San Diego/ Del Mar Show being the first and Long Beach is now the 2nd show. Jill and I will be there along with all your favorites! Make your plans!
Turn up the sound and click the lower right “square” square to watch full-screen.
We got in a little fishing. We even got a little fish.
But, the whole story was the two storms that hit us this past week. Up to then, the fishing had been pretty decent. Dorado biting steadily if not full turbo. Everyone catching at least something ever day if not more. Dorado running maybe 5-15 pounds on the average. Some larger. A few marlin hooked. A few wahoo hooked. Lots of bonito and a smattering of inshore fish like cabrilla, snapper, pargo, trevally and sierra.
Then, Tropical Storm Javier popped up on us. Lots of strong rain. Had to cancel fishing for a day.
We got boats out the next day, but I wasn’t very hopeful about the fishing. Often after a strong rain, the waters can be dirty from the runoff. Waters can still be rough. Bait is scattered or difficult.
But, surprise, the boats actually came back with about a limit of dorado each. Much better than expected.
The next few days, we were able to fish again. It was not as good as we would have liked and not as good as it had been before the storm as it took awhile for the waters to normalize. However, there were dorado biting. If not very strong, at least somewhat and mixed with some other species, at least there was some action .
Tony has one for the fish box!
Then we started hearing about “INVEST 12E” another storm building down the coast. We watched it building. It got ominous when it got upgraded to “TROPICAL STORM KAY.”
Within a day, it was re-named HURRICANE KAY with predictions of it being a Category 2 or 3. We warned everyone flying down. We warned everyone that we had here. We had to pull boats out’ve the water as the port captain shut down all boat traffic.
And the wind and rain started up again.
Here’s the deal. We’ve had hurricanes in the past. Very strong hurricanes including Hurricane Odile in 2014 that was the strongest hurricane in Mexican history that hit Category 4 levels and wrecked homes, businesses, and boats. Power outtages for weeks. Chaos.
But, in all the hurricanes I’ve experienced, most storms blow over in a day. Hurricane Odile was over in about 8 hours. They move fast.
Hurricane Kay was a lightweight. And it was slow. It sat on La Paz for 3 days. Not strong at all. Wind…some drizzle…wind…rain. Calm. drizzle…rain…more wind.
Just enough to keep everyone stuck in their hotel rooms and our boats tied up. No fishing. No doubt it would have been dangerous to be on the water and the port captain had things locked up, but Kay just stuck around and stuck around!
Thankfully, no damage. No real flooding. No one hurt.
(Much different in other areas and along the Pacific Coast)
However, it locked down our fishing for 3 days and our anglers shut down as well. Some guys never got to ever get on the water before going home. Others lost several days of their fishing days. Jill and I and the rest of our team felt really badly. In our 30 years down here, I’ve never had a storm that kept folks off the water for so long and we appreciated that most of our anglers kept their patience with us and with the weather and a situation we couldn’t control nor was it expected.
The fall is our busiest and best fishing time, but now and then, yea…a storm comes through.
As I write this, we did finally get a few boats out. For some of our anglers, it’s the ONLY day they will be able to fish before they head home. I’m not real hopeful as the water are still rough and murky and I’m not sure they’ll find bait. But everyone is just happy to get out.
OH…and since it’s been cloudy the last 4 days, I never noticed…IT’S A FULL MOON! Can’t catch a break.
That’s my story! Hoping for a better report next week!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Bahia Muertos/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 2-9, 2022
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Captain Gerardo gives gives a big smile and thumbs-up to Shiloah Wilson’s bull dorado caught south of Cerralvo Island. Pretty fish on live bait. She’s from Meridian ID.
Two of our long-time friends from Portland OR, Roger McCracken and Shelton Donnell started off their trip with a table full of dorado.
First fish of the day is a nice one for Wayne Small with Captain Jorge.
Elsie Mulcare from Pendleton OR was out with Captain Victor and had a fun time for her first time fishing our area.
John and Joni Stevenson pose on the beach at Bahia Muertos with a rack full of sizeable dorado for the cooler. Fun folks from Idaho.
This is a big wahoo! Sheldon with Captain Pancho were into the wahoo until a sudden rainstorm pushed the brakes and boats had to run for the beach.
Nashville in the house. Josh Robert was with us the first time and had a good day with Captain Joel fishing outside of La Paz Bay.
Beast wahoo for amigo, Joe Treves, who was dragging the purple Rapala still hanging from the fish’s mouth when this big wahoo crushed it! Captain Gerardo with the gaff and happy face.
A fish you cannot discount for it’s tenacious fighting ability, but taken and released by Julia Robert from Tennessee. Big fish!
Corpus Christi, TX representing! Our long-time amigo, Raphael Rios stuck this gorgeous bull dorado off the beach at Bahia Muertos.
More dorado for the ice chest. Wayne Small and Kevin Cunanan pose with a good day’s catch.
Josh got his marlin to the boat.
From Sacramento CA, Kyle and Mark Alexander finally made it down and we got them on the water for their first day with Captain Jorge and some great dorado action!
First time fun family from Pendleton OR, the Mulcare trio of Elsie, Kevin and Robert on their first day out.
The rain clouds were just about to bust open, but not before Roger finally got his first wahoo after so many years fishing with us. He insists that he’s smiling!
Pancho and Paolo teamed up for this huge bull dorado.
Yup…there’s still a few around! Josh finally got his roosterfish and Captain Gerardo pumps his fist in the air! The fish was released.
Except for an unexpected bump in the weather at the end of the week, it was pretty solid week of fishing. Sunny hot temperatures mixed with some good to excellent fishing.
I guess if there was a downside to things, there wasn’t alot of variety. Compared to earlier in the summer when we had 8, 10, 14 different varieties of fish when the water was unseasonably cool, there’s no doubt that our summer bite is firmly in place. I say that because probably 95% of the catch this past week was dorado.
…and more dorado!
OH yea! Great way to start the day with sunrise just popping up. Pete Wilson kicks it off with a legit bull dorado! Pete is from Idaho.
Our Tailhunter La Paz fleet needed to run as far as San Juan de la Costa to find the schools, but then in an hour or less, some boats were nailing limits of 10-15 pound fish then catching-and-releasing sometimes as many as they could.
As one of our anglers said, “The dorado schools were like an aquarium. As soon as a hook hit the water, the dorado seemed to fight to grab the bait. “ Some larger fish in the 20-25 pound class were in the mix, but often, the smaller fish were so much more voracious and fast that the larger ones in the school or cruising the perimeter never got a chance. I didn’t hear many complaints as our boats came back with alot of worn-out anglers most of the time.
For our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet, the dorado bite wasn’t quite so good. It could be a bit sticky at times and we had to work harder to find the fish. However, for what the bite lacked in numbers, the dorado we caught were usually larger with some fish hitting the 30-40 pound class.
The big news as the appearance of wahoo near the south end of Cerralvo Island. We had some fat 30-50 pound “skinny” ‘ hoo taken, but some of our other anglers reported that they got bit off clean through their lines or the wahoo shook off or bit through the wire of their trolled Rapalas. Dark-rapalas seemed to be the most productive.
They get to be the “wahoo kings” of the week. Roger McCracken and Shelton Donnell had a few others bite off. Then, it started to rain and they had to fun for shore
I think we would have caught even more if not for a surprise storm that came rolling through late in the week that was never on anyone’s radar. Strong wind and rains chased the boats off the water while the bite was still going strong causing pangas to race for shore.
We call these storms “toritos” (little bulls) because the heat from the ocean suddenly rears up an unexpected lashing of rain like a little hurricane. It lasts 10 minutes to an hour or so then blows out. But, you definitely don’t want to be out there in the middle of one so heading for shore is the more prudent thing to do and wait-it-out until is dissipates. Then go back out.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Bahia Muertos / Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 2-8, 2022
THE MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Dave Lopez (middle) has been fishing with us for a few decades. He gets a hand with his big dorado for the photo! Some big bulls showed up this past week!
From Washington on his first trip with us, Walt La Boda put the hurt on this beautiful dorado north of La Paz. Great colors and a super fish!
Not bad for a first timer! Kevin Lister was fishing with us for the first time from Oregon and right-off-the-bat hooks this striper. The fish was not able to be released and Kevin donated all the meat to the pueblo.
One of our roosterfish kings! Bennett Clegg has so many big fish every time he visits Baja and us in La Paz. Another catch-and-release rooster for the photo.
Maybe with waters now worming, these might be the last few yellowtail we see for the best yellowtail season I can remember. The yellowtail are definitely being found in deeper colder water when we do find them. Nice shot with Robert, Robert Jr. and Karel!
Super shot and a great day for Taylor Sering and Jakelyn Enriquez on the dorado spot. Tay has been with us several fun times. For Jakelyn, it was not only her first time to visit us, it was her first time EVER to even go fishing! She did great!
I’ve known James Kikkawa from Rosemead CA since he was in high school about 30 years ago. I’ve been trying to get him to visit us in La Paz. Well, he finally visited ,but only had 1 day to fish and got his bucket list big yellowtail with captain Arcangel. The fish was released!
One of the first indications that the dorado had moved in was Justin Jenks hooking this beast bull dorado early on! After that, the dorado bite just got better for the next few days. Justin was visiting us for the first time and is from Washington.
Oh geeze…what a fish! Jennifer Meyer is a professor at Utah Tech University and was out with Captain Rogelio when she stuck this incredible bull dorado.
What a great shot! Mike Meyer with Captain Gerardo and a pretty roosterfish. Mike is from Michigan and was able to release the fish.
There are no boring times around this fella! Marty Sering always has us laughing every time he visit. Nice dorado right in the shallow waters near the rocks. You can see the bottom. No need to go a zillion miles off-shore!
April and Ryan Perry with a double handful of bull dorado from the channel north of La Paz. They got a fish box full of these in short order and were back on the beach early.
Nice rack of rainbow runner and pargo for Spencer on the beach at Las Arenas.
First timer, Gayana Kikkawa, wasn’t sure she wanted to go fishing, but check out the big roosterfish she caught and released with the help of Captain Arcangel.
So many years! Finally, Taylor gets his roosterfish…even if it’s a small guy! Captain Fili thinks he needs some help! All fun. The fish was released.
We call these “tiger dorado.” One of the most colorful fish in our waters. Mike and Captan Rogelio with one on the gaff.
A masked Captain Licho helps Kevin with a bull dorado that looks to be about 5 1/2 feet long! Wow. Kevin had a good couple of days with us!
All smiles. Jakelyn Enriquez with a smiling Captain Fili and a Las Arenas roosterfish for the camera. The fish was released.
Young Kale Jenks had quite a week with a marlin, a sailfish and yellowtail among others! Kale was visiting us from Washington with his dad.
She’s a regular poster-girl for us down here. Always in the big fish and she’s especially good on the roosterfish, but Alicia Clegg got her biggest rooster this past week.
Walt La Boda had himself a blast tossing baits and lures into the shallows on light tackle hooking fish like these snapper, pargo and cabrilla!
One of the toughest fish you could hook into down here pound-for-pound. The Mexican name for them is “TORO” which means “Bull.” Jennifer with a big jack crevalle just off the sand at Punta Arenas.
Another yellowtail for the cooler for Justin! Some good eating to take home to Washington.
A good day on the water is off to a good start when the dorado are biting early. Spencer Sering as the sun comes up!
Well, Mother Nature gave us a tease again.
We’ve been locked in this cold-water La Nina condition now for months. Waters are cooler. Air temps are cooler. Water is cold and green and cloudy. Consequently, fishing has been pretty erratic, unpredictable and frankly confined to mostly cold-water species.
We’ve been catching species that we normally catch in the winter and early spring instead of the warm-water species that should have been biting 2 months ago.
That’s not to say fishing is bad. It’s just well..ABNORMAL!
We’ve had probably the best yellowtail season in memory. Big 20-40 pound yellowtail have been our bread-and-butter fish now most of the season. But, these are cold-water fish that are usually gone by April!
We’ve also had a great catch of rainbow runner, cabrilla, pargo, snapper, pompano, trevally, jack crevalle and white bonito. All fun fish and we’re indeed still putting alot of these into the box.
However, most of these fish, like the yellowtail should be long gone!
Fortunately, we’ve still got big roosterfish running around and these pigs are still 20 to 60 pound fish.
But…
Where are the tuna, wahoo, billfish and dorado? We’ve had little teasers, but nothing has broken loose. Just need the waters to warm up!
Well, this week, it finally seems like things blew open in a big way. We had several days where our anglers fishing straight out’ve La Paz just hammered all the dorado they could handle. I mean, dozens of fish everywhere. Catching and releasing so many and coming back to the beach with fish boxes completely plugged! Big bulls in the 20-40 pound class were not uncommon. It was crazy good dorado fishing like we have not seen in ages.
Then, just when we got all fired up…
There’s a hurricane far to the south of us. It never reached us, but the arms of the storm were enough to blow cold water and winds up our way again. Our waters got cold and green. Bait got harder to find. The fishing tanked!
A few dorado showed up here and there. Some billfish were hooked. But, we were back to inshore rock fishing again!
We just need things to settle down. In some respects, the fact that our waters are cooler kept the hurricane away from as these storms track the warm water. On the other hand, it still blew waves, winds and cold water back up our way.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of May 19-25, 2022
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IN A NUTSHELL:
Fishing on a Scale of 1-10 (10 being best): 6
Temps: Weirdly cold. Mid 50’s at night to high 80’s in the day (bring a sweatshirt)
Las Arenas: Lots of variety but mostly coldwater species. A few tuna, dorado, wahoo. But great roosterfish to 50+ pounds. Pargo, cabrilla, snapper, pompano, trevally, palometa, sierra, jack crevalle, dog-tooth, amberjack, yellowtail, bonito. Have to go to the island to find bait.
La Paz: Mostly big yellowtail 10-40 pounds. Some cabrilla and rockfish. Rougher waters in the mornings and cold! Catching mackerel for bait to catch the big yellowtail.
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MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Right up in the surf near the Punta Arenas lighthouse, Troy Kuzminsky from Washington found a big rooster and was able to release it!
I lost count of how many roosterfish Guy Markus from Utah caught and released over 2 days. Maybe 6 of them, but here’s one of the big ones!
Paul Markowitz (right) brought his amigo Rick Willis with him to fish with us in La Paz and these were Rick’s first ever salt-water fish. It included cabrilla, triggerfish, white bonito and a yellowfin tuna.
Yeow! Captain Pancho was out with Dave Kosnosky from Washington when this huge roosterfish…estimated at over 80 pounds…pounced on Dave’s 22″ ladyfish bait. Dave said the fish blew up and actually tail-walked across the water like a marlin! They were able to release the fish unharmed.
Captain Jorge and Troy Clovis with one of the few dorado caught this past week. We should be catching alot more normally this time of year, but waters remain on the cool side.
Trolling a Rapala xRap in the shallows, Dave nailed this big cabrilla.
Alot of good-eating variety here! Mike Lubliner and Pat Boyle have cabrilla, rainbow runners, mullet snapper, yellow snapper and dog-tooth snapper on the cleaning board with Captain Jorge
Bob Kuzminsky’s rooster was taken on a live bait just yards from shore near Punta Arenas. They released the fish.
Enjoying his new retirement, Ruben Cornejo picked up then released this roosterfish just off the beach. This is “Roosterfish Alley.”
If Steve Wright looks a little tired, it’s because his arms are probably a little worn from fighting several big roosterfish like this one! Steve released all his fish.
Yellowfin tuna, yellow snapper, dog tooth snapper and a big pargo liso made for a great day of action!
Another big rooster for Steve. He rocked several big roosters and was able to release them all.
Big smiles from Bob Kuzminsky and another roosterfish!
It was an up-and-down week, to be honest. What’s going on??? CRAZY!
This is more like late March or April weather and fishing!
Winds, waves and colder weather…even fog were issues that affected the fishing and had us working harder for the fish. Bait was sometimes an issue as well because it was also affected by conditions and some days were just plain rough. These cooler conditions are lingering alot longer than normal when we should be into almost summer climates by this time. It’s a long thermometer to be sure. Nights are in the low to mid 50’s (cold) and then jumping into the high 80’s by daytime.
Roosterfish running 10-50 pounds (and larger) have truly been a highlight as the fish are now prowling the shores and beaches around Las Arenas and Bahia Muertos. Our anglers are catching them on sardines, but the larger ones are falling for the bigger ladyfish (sabalo) baits slow trolled behind our pangas. Those same areas are holding jack crevalle, pargo, snapper, cabrilla, sierra and amberjack. Schools of white bonito have added to the action. Occasionally someone hooks a dorado. Billfish are swimming around, but not quite ready to bite. We are getting more pompano and trevally than I have ever seen. Same with rainbow runners…baby cousin to yellowtail.
Surprisingly, yellowtail up to 40 pounds should be long gone, but they’re still on the area north of La Paz and feeding on mackerel. I think as long as the waters stay some what cooler than normal and the mackerel stick around, so will the yellowtail. No doubt this has been the best yellowtail season in my memory after 30 years down here, but I wish the dorado would show up finally.
Football season starting? Football-sized tuna here and there! Troy got one!
Keeping an eye out…we’ve had little teasers of tuna and wahoo lately. Trying not to get too excited then get disappointed, but it’s encouraging that they are around! We’ll keep you posted.
Captai Armando put Matt Harringer and his guys onto a couple of nice little fun yellowfin tuna as well.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of Mar. 26-April 2, 2022
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
That’s ALOT of quality meat on the table! Jim Molinari and Kip Slaugh our long-time friends from Salt Lake City started their week with alot of filets for the ice chest! I see big cabrilla, pargo, amberjack, a big yellowtail, sierra and snapper!
Jim Bovee and Pancho are always a good team. Jim ran into some of the winds, but still picked up this good-looking yellowtail on a pink yo zuri. Jim was staying at Rancho Costa this time there at Bahia Muertos.
First-timers from Santa Barbara who only had one day to fish, Jack and son Lucas Bohnet have some terrific fish to take home with this yellowtail and big trophy cabrilla.
Another amigo with only one day to squeeze in, Chris Anthony put this yellowtail in the box, but also battled a big hammerhead shark as well fishing off Espirito Santo Island.
First-time friends from Utah, Kyle and Nancy Skibsted were out with Captain Armando and caught the only dorado of the week as well as some white bonito on the table and a tasty sierra! They also threw back a bunch of hard-charging skipjack.
Here you go!!! On day and BOOM! Captain Gerardo put Mike Gollick and his wife onto a sweet bite of hefty yellowtail plus bonito and sierra.
Bucket list for San Diego angler Jonathan Vilchez. Tough day fishing, but they did get one yellowtail fishing with captain Rogelio and Licho, but Jonathan put the hurt on his first roosterfish and one of our first of the season as well. The fish was released!
No big thing! Jim and Kip again with another good day on the water. Check out the size of these yellowtail plus the nice amberjack as well. I see a triggerfish and cabrilla peeking out as well.
YEOW! Craig Wong and Martin Aguilera have some pig yellowtail in hand there in Bahia Muertos!
This is a trophy cabrilla that Captain Pancho is lipping for Jim Bovee! Jim took it on a spinning rod and trolling a big lip Rapala. Nicely done, guys!
All indications are that with each passing week, the conditions are warming and improving. We’re not completely done yet with the strong northern winds of winter that often blow us off the water from November to April, but we had one one of the better fishing weeks, all things considered.
Still not many folks fishing, but overall the area has become much more fishable with only about 3 days that were gusty. We still had daytime temps in the low 80’s and nighttime temps in the high 60’s.
Fishing success was just really determined by where you fish and what day you picked. If it was one of the windier days, then it was more difficult. Also, if it’s windy, it’s hard to get live bait. Either because the winds make it difficult for the bait guys to catch the bait under the rough conditions or because there simply aren’t that many fishermen out right now, it’s not economic for them to go out if there aren’t enough anglers to purchase the bait. So, that means using alot more lures than normal. Also, alot of it is luck. On any given day, some boats just did better than others.
Two things especially stand out. First, the yellowtail are still around and biting nicely. Not sure how long they’ll stay around, but some nice healthy 20-35 pound fish are being hung on the high spots around Cerralvo and Espirito Santo Island as well as some of the inshore shallower rock reefs. The fish are eating jigs, lures and live bait. Hopefully, these fish will hang out a bit longer, but as the waters get warmer, these fish will move off to deeper water and replaced by warmer water species like the dorado of which we caught a few this week. In the same areas as the yellowtail, we also rocked some nice amberjack which are the cousins of the yellowtail and also pretty tasty on the table.
The big surprise were the big cabrilla (seabass) caught this week. Trophy-sized 5-12 pounders that looked like baby grouper were not uncommon and found in many of the rocky places where we were also hitting the yellowtail and amberjack .
In addition, action was also pretty good on several species of bonito and skipjack, snapper, pargo, sierra and jack crevalle.
Tailhunter Fish Report 