La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos for Week of Oct. 26-Nov. 2, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Yup…those are yellowfin tuna! Only the 2nd batch of tuna we have seen all season in a STRANGE year! Leif Dover from Atlanta GA and Mark Bronge from Los Angeles CA went south almost to the northern east cape to find the fish as well as a nice dorado and a big triggerfish. The next day, winds came up and they weren’t able to get to the spot again.
Surprising to still find roosterfish this late in the season, but Mark caught and released his first rooster just off Punta Perrico.
Our amigo, Gary Wagner, from Colorado loves to fish the twilight bite when staying at his Rancho Costa Resort in Muertos and shows off a tasty barred pargo.
Captain Alfredo helps Alla Cazier from Arizona on her first trip to La Paz and found some nice dorado north of La Paz.
Oh yea, this is the right kind! Leif has a big dog-tooth snapper on the gaff caught the last of 6 days on the water with us.
If you find the right spot, the dorado can go nuts! First day success for Leif and Mark with some good-looking mahi on the cutting table.
Well…we can definitely tell the seasons are changing. The air temps are getting cooler with the highs this last week a really comfortable 85 on the average and really pleasant evenings.
However, with the change in temperature, we’re also getting more winds, especially the north winds that blow from about November to April that can make fishing a little bumpy and choppy. It can also hinder our ability to get to certain fishing holes and even to get to the places where we get live bait.
That’s what happened this past week. We had 2-3 days of pretty good windy conditions and whitewater on the ocean. For better-or-worse, not too many folks fishing this week which will be typical as we get closer to the holidays. More snowbirds looking for sunshine coming to town than anglers. More walk-in anglers to our offices and folks just looking for one day of fishing out on the water.
All that being said, there was still some excellent fishing to be had. Some boats did better than others. Some area were much more productive than others.
Our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet had the most variety.
We actually got into some tuna…finally…after almost an entire season with no tuna. The guys had to run really far, however. They went south almost to the north end of the East Cape. They made it one day, but then after that, it was too windy to get there on subsequent days.
Still, there were some legit 10-20 pound dorado, cabrilla, snapper, jack crevalle, bonito, several types of pargo and we even got one big dog-tooth snapper as well pulled out’ve the rocks.
For our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet, several days, it was simply too windy. All whitecaps and rough water. However, there’s dorado right in the bay around where the big tanker ships are anchored off Punta Prieta only about 5 minutes from where we launch. There’s also sierra under those big boats.
Outside, seeing more marlin although we couldn’t get any of them to bite this week.
This coming week, it’s going to be breezy again, but not as bad as last week.
END OF YEAR SPECIALS TO LA PAZ
If you’ve got a bad case of “cabin fever” after a year like this, how about a quick getaway to come see us in La Paz?
We’ll customize whatever you want to do. Trips as low as $899 per person (double occupancy). Take a look at this sample:
4 days in La Paz
3 night water-facing room
2 days panga fishing
Fishing includes: boat/ skipper/ tackle/ ice/ fish cleaning/ breakast/ lunch/ soft drinks and water/ shuttles to the boats/ all taxes
Based up availability
WHALE WATCHING SEASON COMING UP!
Don’t miss out on some “COASTAL DISTANCING!”
Our 2021 Whale Watching season is coming up soon. Prime dates are mid-January to March and spots are filling fast! We can set up daily trips from La Paz or multi-day trips to Lopez Mateos to get several days spent with these beautiful creatures! A fantastic family experience in the calm waters or Bahia Magdalena. Let us set you up with an entire package and maybe even get in some fishing too! Get in touch with us directly: tailhunterfishinglapaz@gmail.com
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 3-9, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
First day, right off the bat. Andy Hail with a thick wahoo on the beach at Bahia Muertos.
Our own Jorge Romero cradles a big roosterfish. Unusual for these big guys to still be around. Jorge released the fish. See the next photo.
Unceremoniously back you go, but it works! Roosterfish release!
Bob Larson from Washington (at the head) with his first striped marlin. Posing with Captain Armando and Billy Bigelman. The marlin could not be released and meat was donated. A big dorado also on the table.
Some great variety of good eating here! Steve Manney with the pargo. John Stendstra with the wahoo plus dorado and another big barred pargo on the cutting table.
Happy guy! The sailfish have been larger than usual this past week. That’s Billy Bigelman behind that sail. Caught on live bait
Captain Pancho poses a wahoo with Ted Hamm from Paso Robles CA and Jim Bovee from San Diego who has been down 3 times to visit us this year!
Big wahoo on the troll for Jorge Romero!
This past week presented us with another weird twist-and-turn in an already erratic and chaotic fishing season…and year.
All season, fishing has been up one week and down the next with no rhyme or reason. Fish that should be biting are scarce and the entire season has pretty much been taken up by dorado and roosterfish that should not even be around this late in the year. Frankly, we’re grateful for both because both fish have kept rods bent and people smiling.
With some additional catches of bonito, jack crevalle, pargo, cabrilla and snapper, that’s pretty much been the whole season.
Until this past week…with a full moon at that.
Fishing did not go wide-open. In all honesty, I can’t even say it was great fishing. However, numbers of fish have been replaced by quality.
Billfish started biting. We’re seeing striped marlin. We’re seeing big sailfish that are unusually larger than normal and have caught more sails in the last week than the last several years combined. The sailfish are easily in the 100 pound class or larger.
More exciting are the wahoo. Near the south end of Cerralvo Island and near Bahia Muertos, we’ve been seeing wahoo for a bit ,but they’ve been reluctant biters. This week, they went on the chew with boats often hooking (and often losing) multiple fish as the speedsters with sharp teeth tore into trolled lures. However, the fish have been legit 30-50 pound skinnies.
During this time, the dorado bite that has sustained us had dropped by 50%. Either it’s because the dorado just aren’t biting or folks are spending more time chasing the home run fish like the billfish and wahoo.
Hopefully, we’ll finally see some tuna which are way overdue!
BAJA LIFTS MORE RESTRICTIONS
In case you hadn’t heard, last Monday (Oct. 5), the government of Southern Baja (including the areas of La Paz, Cabo San Lucas, San Jose del Cabo, Todos Santos and the East Cape/ Los Barriles areas) eased up on more Covid Restrictions!
The danger level has gone from Red…to Orange…and now YELLOW (level 3). More beaches are open. Increased occupancy in hotels and restaurants, live music in clubs and restaurants and more! All good news.
2021 BOOKING FILLING UP
Many of the folks who had to cancel their trips this year are already booking for next year and many dates are filled or filling. Don’t wait to get your reservations in, especially if you have a certain hotel or captain that you want. It doesn’t look like many of the sportsmans shows are being canceled so we probably won’t be on the road doing our fishing/hunting shows like we normally do. So, get in touch with us.
We are also booking fishing for January to March plus whalewatching trips and fishing at Bahia Magdalena for 2021 as well. Hope to see you!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 20-27, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Every year, Kelly Jimenez from Colorado comes down with her family to visit us for years. Every year, it’s something new and better! This year, with Captain Jorge, check out the size of this huge roosterfish she battled outsid Bahia Muertos! The fish was released.
Captain Chito and Diego Jimenez are all smiles as Diego has been fishing with us for many years from Loveland CO and always wanted a sail. After releasing several marlin this week, this sail was kept and meat donated.
They hooked 4 big roosters this morning. Gary Wagner owner of the Rancho Costa in Bahia Muertos with friend, Rush Whitmarsh from San Diego with one of those 4 hefty roosters caught and released.
Jim Stahlman was with us all week an fishing with Captain Jorge. Jim is from Boise, ID and caught roosterfish, jacks, wahoo and on this day, his personal best dorado.
Gary Wagner with one in the boat to start the day. The roosters were on the chew this week close to shore . Gary released this one and others.
Giving some “sugar” to their dorado, the Morales sisters from California, Christina, Kimberly and Ruby on the beach at Bahia Muertos. Ruby also landed a sailfish that day.
Kelly and Diego Jimenez were on a roll this week releasing several marlin, numerous roosterfish, jacks and other species. They estimated they caught almost 20 different species. They caught this marlin and sailfish the same day with Captain Chito. The fish could not be released, but meat was gifted.
He fished hard all week and got wore out! But, 11-year-old, Roman Jimenez worked it and this was his largest jack crevalle of the week which he released.
Jesus Morales and Carlos Kanemoto with two dorado out’ve their box after a day of hitting the mahi at the buoys.
Right in front of the Punta Arenas lighthouse just off the beach, Rush and Gary with another roosterfish for a quick photo and release!
Jim Bovee from San Diego…pulling hard on a light rode with a marlin at the other end! Check the series of photos. That’s Espirito Santo Island in the background just north of La Paz. More photos below.
After a long battle, Jim’s marlin is getting closer to the boat!
…and here it is! Great shot. Great battle ! Even better, Jim released the fish to fight another day!
Ruby Morales, holding the head, gets an assist from her sisters to pose with her sailfish. Ruby always does well. Last year she single-handed a huge yellowfin tuna.
Captain Pancho lends a hand to Kelly Jimenez and a fun little rooster right up in the shallows of Bahia Muertos. The fish was released. There’s alot of little jacks and roosters in the bay that are great for catch-and-release light tackle fun.
Immensely fun when you’re throwing a surface-popper like the one hanging out’ve the mouth of this jack crevalle caught by Rush Whitmore of San Diego. The fish was released.
Surely no shortage of action on these tough-fighting jack crevalle nicknamed “toros” by the Mexican fishermen which means “bull.” Diego Jimenez with the photo and fish!
Jim Stahlman from Idaho with one of two roosters caught and released just off the sands and surf at Punta Arenas.
Our Captain Gerardo stands behind Fernando Morales and pal, Jonathan Jackson and 3 of their dorado. They caught big fish limits early in the morning and were back on the beach and back to town long before anyone else!
A very good week overall. Some boats did better than others some days. Some spots were better than others. There was a little work involved in finding the fish. But for anyone who put in a couple of days on the water, you surely went home with a bunch of fish in the cooler; some to eat for dinner; and probably released alot of fish too.
I can’t believe how many species were hooked this week!
I think I counted almost 20 different species. They included dorado, tuna sailfish, marlin, roosterfish, jacks…we even hooked some sharks and (get this) salt-water catfish!
The week started out with an explosion of tuna for our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. I mean, the ocean just blew tuna out’ve the water and onto the rods and reels. Pretty much all you could want in the shallow waters off Punta Arenas and Bahia Muertos. You could see the tuna swimming under the boat and see the bottom as well. It was THAT shallow. Fish were nice-sized 10-20 pounders too.
Next day, everyone wanted the tuna again, but for the most part, that was the tuna show for the week, even though some tuna popped up here and there.
After that, dorado…some good grade legit 20-25 pounders moved in. So did big roosterfish between 10-80 pounds along the shoreline along with their jack crevalle cousins. Add in snapper, cabbrilla, pargo, triggerfish and bonito and there was no shortage of action most days with most boats. Our Las Arenas Fleet definitely had the better action but that doesn’t mean our La Paz fleet wasn’t working it.
North of town, the water just seemed a bit cooler…a bit off-color. It’s taking awhile to come around.
Honestly, with all this variety and the windy days we’re still getting, this is very much like spring-time fishing . Maybe May or June-style fishing. Plus, it’s not really as hot as I would expect for this time of year. The waters are still getting to the right spot . Even when fish weren’t biting, we were definitely seeing the fish…schools of them, but they weren’t necessarily on the chew. This was especially true of the dorado.
However, billfish really stepped up this week. Not all of them wanted to bite but we hooked more striped marlin and more sailfish this week than any week I can remember. We lost alot of them too because folks would be fishing for dorado or some other smaller species and instead a billfish would take a bite instead and well…off to the races. Usually the fish would win, but a couple of folks got their fish to the boats and most were released.
But, then again, there were marlin sometimes just sitting on the surface sunning. Not interested in feeding at tall. And that is very characteristic of spring-time behavior.
Hopefully, more and better coming up!
CORONAVIRUS UPDATES
Everything pretty much open or getting there! Still holding at “Orange Level 5” which means no more than 30% occupancy and masks are required. Lots of sanitation protocols in place everywhere. Town not very full, but more fishermen coming all the time. Beaches are still mostly closed, but plans to re-open maybe this week. Social distancing required, but there’s not enough people around to make it an issue.
All water activities like scuba, snorkeling, booze cruises, kayaking, etc. were re-opened this week.
FUBAR COCINA CANTINA
As many of you know, we regretfully had to close our famous Tailhunter Restaurant Bar permanently when the quarantine was first imposed back in early April. However, these past few weeks we’ve been diligently painting, spackling and re-modeling our downtairs FUBAR cafe to include a full bar…outdoor seating…an expanded menu with many of your favorite items from upstairs…plus the Sirena Mini-Super Market next door. We can’t wait to be open again watching sports, playing live music and enjoying our many friends from around the world!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of May 23-June 1, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Popular Captain Pancho got out to fish close-in for some cabrilla and pargo for the family and said there’s alot of roosterfish along the shoreline like this one he caught and released.
Dennis is a Canadian amigo who lives in San Pedro near Muertos Bay and was out trying to catch some food. He ran into this hefty jack crevalle.
With no fishing allowed, the fish have no pressure! Check this crazy video of jack crevalle on a feeding frenzy in the Cabo Marina. Turn up the sound. Thanks for the Pisces Fleet in Cabo for the footage!
___________________
Looks like La Paz will slowly be opening after June 15th.
Although Covid is raging in many parts of Mexico, La Paz has been designated as the safest tourist city by Mexican Health authorities and will have a gradual re-opening mid-month. Authorities are saying, it would still probably take 10-14 days for businesses to resurrect themselves plus establish the safety and sanitation protocols that are being required to re-open. Some, but not all airlines are also re-establishing routes and services.
As I’ve stated before, just because everyone gets the green light on June 16th to open, that doesn’t mean automatically everyone suddenly opens! Like the U.S. many businesses suddenly just turned the keys and had to walk out. Some will take time to re-open. Others may never open again.
As of right now, I have no idea who plans to be open and when!!!!
Businesses are required to pass a health certification inspection. New sanitary protocols have to be put in place. Employees have to be found…and re-trained. Everything has to be cleaned extensively after being vacant for almost 3 months. Hotel rooms need to be sanitized from the ground up. So do restaurants. Even sportfishing boats need to be sanitized.
And then what? How will folks eat in restaurants? How many people in the shuttle from the airport? Can hotel rooms be located next to each other? How do you clean the rooms after a guest leaves? So many moving parts!
TAILHUNTER SPORTISHING
The bottom line for us is that we will be back in La Paz June 23rd. We finally found a flight home! But, that also gives hotels, etc. a chance to get going and establish new routines, etc. We lost our Tailhunter Restaurant permanently in the early days of the quarantine so we don’t have much to prep. We are READY to fish!
But, we don’t (and can’t ) have you down if we don’t even know if the hotels will be ready! Some still aren’t answering phones or e-mails because no one is in the offices. Even if you have reservations, there might not yet flights…so many airlines seem to be making adjustments daily!
I’ve sent e-mails to everyone who had reservations for the month of June to contact us. For all practicality, I think we’ll be up and going July 1st. I hope.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Feb. 9-16, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Just a great photo! They got blown off the first day but hung in there and went out despite waves and strong winds (check out Jan’s hair and Art’s hoodie). However, first-timer Jan Paisley and Art Flippin from Colorado went out dragging a Rapala hoping something would bite and this big 70-pound yellowfin tuna chomped the line! They were just off Punta Arenas with Cerralvo Island in the background. Surprise catch for this time of year!
Our good amigos, Donna and Roger Thompson from La Ventana found some mackerel on the east side of Cerralvo Island and hung some nice yellowtail before the macks disappeared and the winds came back up.
Colorful dorado just outside Punta Perrico for Jan. The fish was taken to our Tailhunter Restaurant to be cooked up!
Escaping -30 degree weather up in Alberta, Canada, Sheri Maitland found sunshine and a school of dorado like this one just inside La Paz Bay on one of the calmer days.
Unusual fish for this time of year because dorado are warm water fish, Brad Bowdon got this bull fishing out’ve La Paz. Brad’s from Canada.
That’s a tasty barred pargo for first-timer, Jan Paisley from Colorado with a big smile!
It looks a bit choppy out there and chilly, but Stu Maitland has a firm gaff in this nice dorado.
It was a weird unusual, but not unusual week, if that makes sense. Yes, it was typically windy as if often the case this time of year and “cold” on top of it (by Mexico standards!). Locals were bundled up while tourists visiting La Paz for sunshine were walking around in shorts and t-shirts.
However, as far as the wind was concerned, it blew hard some areas some days and less so in other areas. And, of course, it affected the fishing. Some folks fishing one area pretty much got blown off the water or had to cancel trips. Others found some decent windows to get lines wet, even if only temporarily before winds shifted and the waves just got too rough and choppy.
Fortunately, this time of the year, there aren’t that many folks fishing.
However, for the few folks out that were able to get on the water…even for a short time, there were some decent catches.
For our anglers fishing the Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Cerralvo Island areas, there were the occasispeonal dorado and we even got a surprising chunky tuna that ran about 70 pounds taken on a trolled Rapala. On the East side of Cerralvo Island, there was a quick jag of yellowtail that ran 15-25 pounds, especially if you got into the live mackerel that temporarily schooled up.
Inshore, pargo, cabrilla and jack crevalle provided some fun entertainment.
For our anglers that were able to get out of the Bay and head north towards Espirito Santo Island, some yellowtail were also found, but it was pretty rough getting out there. Fortunately, there were some school-sized dorado just inside the bay that could be caught with most fish going about 10 pounds. But, it was stil pretty rough out there.
And more…BAHIA MAGDALENA!
A table full of great fillets coming up including pargo, snapper, corvina and grouper for our amiga Verda Boyd after her first day fishing the mangroves.
Another nice pargo in the boat caught by Natalie Nazareno. You can see the mangroves in the background.
We sent some anglers out with our Bahia Magdalena outfit. It was also too windy to fish outside the bay and work the ridge for yellowtail and grouper. However, inshore among the mangroves in the shallows, the fishing was spectacular. They got almost a dozen species! These included grouper, several species of pargo, snapper and seabass as well as corvina all on light tackle.
Jorge Romero, sporting his Santa beard, pulled this grouper out’ve the tangle of mangrove roots.
Tim Zimmer with a hard fighting pargo that ate a hooked shrimp.
All by herself! Bella Nazareno hooked and fought all of her fish by herself including this fat pargo!
One day…lots of variety!
Captain Rigo poses with Verda and another pargo for the cooler!
Also, the whales have been late arrivals for the whalewatching season, but more whales are finally showing up in Bahia Magdalena not far from where we’re fishing these days. Let us. know and we can set you up with a great whalewatching trip.
ROAD TOUR TAILHUNTER 2020 – THANK YOU SALT LAKE CITY!
Just finished the Western Hunt and Conservation Show at the Salt Palace Convention Center in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. It was 4 crazy days of madness and fun! We just wanted to give a shout-out to all our Utah folks for the great hospitality and all the Tailhunter Nation members who came out to see us! We had some of the best days of any of the 5 shows we’ve done this year. Reservations to come fish with us in 2020 were off-the-charts and we’re looking forward to all the visits! Thanks to everyone!
Next up…the grand-daddy show of the West Coast… It’s the 74th Annual Fred Hall Fishing and Boating Show at the Long Beach Convention Center March 4-8! Come see us. Click the link below!
If you’re headed to La Paz, don’t forget that Carnival starts Feb. 21 and goes through the 26th with lots of parades, fireworks, food and major partying! The Tailhunter Restaurant on the Malecon is a great place to catch all the parades!
That’s our story! Hope you had a super Valentine’s Day!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 8-15, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Not too different even in Mexico! Christmas scenes like this one with kids lining up for visits with Santa and their favorite cartoon characters downtown La Paz.
Manger scenes for Christmas in La Paz
Town is kinda quiet right now! It’s that lull between the holidays and not many folks in town right now except for some snowbirds and kiteboarders and windsurfers taking advantage of the winter breezes. Not really many folks on the water as this is off-season for fishing, but even then, most folks in town are just enjoying the sunshine and getting ready for Christmas. Definitely seems like you can already smell the tamales cooking on the streets! But, lights are up and folks are doing Christmas shopping and that’s kind of it.
Some action for fishing has mostly been inshore. There’s a decent bite over the rocky spots of cabrilla up to about 5 pounds plus snapper and pargo. All great eating fish. The hard-pullers include some nice jack-crevalle running up to about 10 pounds plus good activity on bonito. Really hard to get a complete fishing picture when not many folks are fishing. It was too bad because this past week was one of the better weeks for weather and minimal winds.
I’m sure town is gonna start getting more crowded in the next few days as we get closer to Christmas.
BOOKING FOR 2020
It’s not too early to check on getting your dates together for next year which hits us in just a few weeks already! Reservations are already coming in steadily and some dates are filling fast and a few are already sold out. Don’t wait to see at at one of the sport shows. Last year, by March, we were largely all booked up. Get in touch with us today. Check out the website at http://www.tailhunter.com or e-mail me directly at Jonathan@tailhunter.com and let’s get you set up to fish with us in La Paz in 2020!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 14-21, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Not a bad start! Leif Dover (right) celebrating his bachelor party with Brian O’Neil kicked off their trip with a load of dorado and snapper out’ve Las Arenas. Both guys are long-time Tailhunter amigos and are from Atlanta GA.
Crazy to be catching these big mullet snapper (pargo liso) so late in the year, but Diana Hernandez and Mark Buchanan from San Diego pulled several of these tough fish out’ve the rocks.
They were done fishing early with limits of dorado. Kennedy Dixon poses with fish on the beach at Bahia Muertos.
Don has big smiles and a big rooster ready to photo and release just off the rocks at Punta Perrico.
Captain Rogelio with a great photo and tasty pargo mulato with Grayson Richmond from Colorado near the cliffs off Espirito Santo Island.
Jim Looney has a nice bull dorado just outside of Bahia Muertos.
Her biggest rooster after so many trips with us, Angela Farrell from Oceanside CA, with her favorite captain Moncho. Estimated size was 60 pounds and Angela released the fish.
Another good day with meat for the ice chest, Brian O’Neil and Leif Dover showing dorado, snapper, pargo liso and cabrilla. Quite a variety! They said they lost some huge pargo in the rocks and just couldn’t get the big fish headed up.
Pargo liso for Diana. Good eating members of the snapper family, they usually spawn and school up in the spring. Unusual for us to be catching them in the summer.
Beautiful beach shot of Don and his jack crevalle off Punta Arenas. The fish was released and are members of the jack family. Same as the roosterfish without the mohawk fin.
Family day, Captain Pancho’s family out for the day (Carlos y Marisol), nailed the dorado and a big fat pargo. You better catch fish when it’s your own family!
Our Colorado, buddy Bill Richmond, with some inshore light tackle pargo in flat seas.
Big jack crevalle for Brian. Fish was released.
It’s finally feeling more like summer-time with both the weather (hot); the waters (warmer and bluer) and the fishing (almost there!). We still had some flurries of crazy winds, but overall, it’s seemingly more typical overall. It’s just that it seems like this fishing season, it’s taking it’s sweet time getting up to speed.
Dorado AND pargo? One is decidedly a warm water fish. The latter is a cold water fish! And catching them the same day? Sometimes in the same spot? Crazy!
Surely, the dorado are the best indication since these are the hallmark of our warmer months. We’ve had them on-and-off with out La Paz fishing fleets, but strangely, it’s not been quite so good with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet until about a week or so ago when the dorado seemed to have finally got into the game.
This past week, some boats were limiting on the dorado by mid-morning with most fish in the 10-25 pound class. Catches were rounded out with bonito, skipjack, jack crevalle, and rockfish like cabrilla and snapper. Or, in a few cases, the folks just figured they had a good day and came back to shore early to have lunch and lay by the pool or beach! Either way, a good day.
However, just a note that there must still be some cold water around and lingering wisps of springtime insofar as we’re still hanging some big dog-tooth and mullet snapper that normally, we stop seeing about April and are usually spawning in schools during the springtime. It’s rare to have them this deep into the summer. But, anglers were still catching them or at least hooking these powerful fish and getting broken off in the rocks.
No wahoo to speak of this week. We had a few tuna hooked up, but lost and billfish as well. Most folks were concentrating on the easier dorado bite. Only a few roosterfish as well, but again, that’s probably a function of the fact that the dorado are taking over everyone’s focus.
It’s feeling really tropical lately. Humidity is way up and some sporadic brief rainshowers, especially, in the afternoons are not uncommon . Time to get the trashbag and cut out some holes for your arms and head!
TAILHUNTER COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Because we’ve been filled with so many fishing photos, I’ve been slacking on something even more important in the big scheme of things. Every year our Tailhunter Tribe member bring hundreds and hundreds of pound of donations to us for distribution in the community.
It’s a program that my wife, Jilly, started and it’s been incredibly successful because of our amigos like you. The need is real and so are the smiles. These are just some of the big-hearted folks who have brought stuff to us (I’m sorry I don’t have everyone’s photos), but the gratitude is huge.
Justin and dad, Adam, Larson.
The Toeniskoetter Family
Brian brings down several full suitcases every year stuff with clothes and other needed items.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 30, 2018-Jan. 6, 2019
Mexican Minute Video Report
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN WEEK AT A GLANCE
Weather – Started a bit rough and windy but got better as the week went on. Mostly sunny with daytime temps in the 70’s. Some isolated showers. Coming week almost a duplicate.
Waters – Seem to be getting cooler and cloudier, but there’s still some warm patches holding warm water species like dorado and tuna.
Fishing – Quite a surprise. As the weather got better, so did the fishing. Ended up with some really great inshore action with quite a variety of unusual catches with both warm and cold water species!
Fish Caught this week: (cold water species) yellowtail, cabrilla, pargo, snapper, sierra. (Warm water species) dorado, tuna (hooked), wahoo (hooked), roosterfish, bonito, jack crevalle, triggerfish
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
All the way from Alaska, Mic Ward boats one of the first yellowtail of the season that bit a trolled Rapala. Mic was staying at Bahia Muertos near La Paz at Rancho Costa Resort.
Dorado in January right off the Punta Perrico rocks! That’s amigo, Gary Wagner who owns the Giggling Marlin Bar in Cabo and Rancho Costa Resort.
Lew Cox from San Diego just wanted to get away for some sunshine and had one day to fish and got a bit of variety for the fish box including sierra, dorado and bonito.
Steve Green has himself a dandy cabrilla caught just outside of Bahia Muertos. Steve is from chilly Wyoming and was staying at the Rancho Costa Resort.
Great shot. Great fish! First yellowtail bite of the season! Gary got this forkie trolling a Rapala X-Rap 40 deep diver.
Windier weather at the beginning of the week (and the year) put fishing on the slow side, but as the week went on, conditions improved and a nice variety of fish showed up especially for our anglers fishing in and around Muertos Bay.
In fact, the bite was surprising for the incredible mixed bag of both warm and cold water species.
Warm water species included dorado and smaller roosterfish as well as bonito and jack crevalle. Cold water fish, more common to this type of year included our first yellowtail of the season plus cabrilla, snapper, pargo, and sierra. Live bait is a bit difficult, but the fish showed no hesitation biting jigs, lures and trolled Rapalas.
None of the fish were far offshore…often within casting distance of the beach or rocks.
Nothing really big, but for many folks just down to find some sunshine and not really caring too much about what was biting, it was great action. Often you just never knew what was going to bite and at times the bite was full-speed. Anglers working light tackle really had a hoot.
Gray whales are starting to show up and the vanguard of the migration are moving in. Whale watching season should be good and we’ll start running trips in about 2 weeks.
The whales have been more than cooperative to come visit with the boaters!
TAILHUNTER 2019 ROAD TOUR
Here we go! Jill and Jonathan are on the road again! For over 2 decades we spend the first 3 months of the year in the gypsy caravan covering over 15,000 miles and all the big fishing and hunting shows in the Western U.S. It’s a great opportunity to see old friends and meet new amigos!
This week, Jill and I will be in our booth at the Denver Convention Center for the International Sportsmens Expo! It runs from Thursday to Sunday (January 10-13th) and it’s an incredible fun event for the whole family!
There will be hundreds of fishing and hunting outfitters from Canada, Alaska, Mexico, Africa and just about every other location on the globe. Tons of gear and new equipment. RV’s and camping. Off-road and boating. It’s all there.
We’ll be in our booth for the entire 4 days. Come by and say hi and let’s talk about fishing in La Paz . Dates are filling so let’s get you set up!
Enough stuff for 3 months on the road! Me, Jilly and Catlyn! Driving through Texas on our way to Denver this week!
God bless TEXAS!
Here’s more info plus how to get tickets. Click this link!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 21-28, 2018
Mexican Minute Video Fishing Report
Short Attention Span Week-At-A-Glance
Weather – No shortage of sunshine. It’s really pleasant to be in town right now . Daytime temps in the mid-80’s with a breeze. Nights in the low 70’s. However, not always great to be on the water as Hurricane Willa (hundreds of miles to the south) didn’t mess with us, it did send up some huge swells and strong wind that caused us to shut down our Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing for 2 days. Then, increasing northern winds have made it difficult at time fishing out’ve La Paz. (Also makes it tough to find bait!). The seasons are changing.
Water – The increasing winds are lowering the water temperatures and the water is getting more green although there’s still some great blue water around . It’s all in transition.
Fishing – Maybe it was a combination of variables. Erratic winds. A full moon. Big swells. All of it contributed to a tougher week of fishing. I’ve seen worse. But I have also seen better. We had to work hard to get fish sometimes. Moreso than normal. More cooler water species showing up. Fewer blue-water fish around. Also, the ability to find and catch bait is affected by the weather. Harder to catch bait means harder to catch fish.
Caught This Week – tuna, wahoo, dorado, jack crevalle, lots of bonito, needlefish, roosterfish, pargo liso, cabrilla, triggerfish, dog-tooth snapper, pompano, palometa.
Outlook for Coming Week – Probably alot more of the same. Off-season imminent.
The Big Picture and the Rest of the Story…
Our Montana friend, Darrel Zauner, hooked into a few of these beasts, but finally got a big dog-tooth to the boat!
Gary Pilkington has been visiting us for years and it was good to see him finally get his first wahoo!
Lots of “firsts” this week like this good-looking roosterfish caught by Mike Hanson from Grants’ Pass, Oregon while fishing with Captain Gerardo. The fish is alot bigger than it looks. Both Mike and Captain Gerardo are abut 6’3″ tall! The fish was released.
Outdoor writer, lecturer, author and TV show host, Scott Haugen finally came to visit us from his home in Oregon and put the hurt on this sizeable wahoo using a purple Rapala.
Some good eats here! Two different kinds of pargo caught by Tanner Millspaugh and his dad, Travis, from Washington state.
Two of our new favorite amigos, Debbie Arvin and Lynn Murphy from Colorado, with Captain Armando and some pretty yellowfin tuna.
Great colors on Chris Aiellos, dorado that he caught fishing with our La Paz fleet
A solid day to sea-the-least! Mike and dad Gary Pilkington with a rack of tuna, a dorado plus a wahoo! Grand slam!
First-time visitor from Colorado, in rough water, Don Vanzo got a legit bull dorado on the gaff.
That’s the right kind! John Morgenstern all the way from South Dakota got another tuna into the panga and a great photo!
HI Paula! Well done, amiga! Nice bull dorado!
Alaska in the house! John Daley with Captain Moncho and alot of tuna meat headed to the freezers.
Just too pretty of a photo. This is Jae Shin from Alaska with a roosterfish on the flyrod in Bahia Muertos.
Here’s Jae’s roosterfish caught on the flyrod . Great fun on such light tackle! The rooster was released. That’s Bahia Muertos water.
She’s an author and lecturer and teaches classes in outdoor cooking! Tiffany Haugen poses great with a wahoo in the blue waters near Punta Arenas.
Robbie Boyd and his dad, Bill, and Captain Jorge display a pretty pargo liso an a couple of yellowfin tuna on the beach at Muertos Bay.
He looks grim, but Brian is actually a nice guy with two handfuls of dorado and tuna caught with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.
You’re kidding! Greg Garrison and Nic Huff sport THREE big wahoo from a day of fishing right off the rocks at Punta Arenas.
Celebrating Lollie Milano’s retirement, Dana Milano came down for the week and got themselves some nice yellowfin going on ice.
Stan Andre gives a little kiss to his dorado he got while fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.
Brian’s got another dorado to add to the box! Despite some slow spots, he and his amigos took a nice load of fish home!
Gary Wagner loves light tackle and took this feisty rooster in the shallows in front of his place at Bahia Muertos. The fish was released.
Scott Haugen knows how to pose with a fish…like this colorful dorado.
Nic had never fished before but scored a number of highly covered wahoo!
I think that’s Brian behind the mask with another dorado.
Tough fish to pull out’ve the rocks, but Scott Haugen did the trick after 5 of them got the best of him and broke him off.
Table full ‘o’ tuna for Mike and Kirsten Hanson from Oregon!
Great shot of Mike Pilkington’s first wahoo. Caught with Captain Pancho driving the rig. Nice fish, Mike!
They don’t have many mahi mahi in S. Dakota which is where John Morgenstern will be taking these fillets!
First dorado for Ms. Tiffany. She is such a gamer!
It was a hit-or-miss week of fishing as the warm water season winds down and cooler conditions move in. We often had to work a lot harder for our fish this past week than we’ve been used to during the season but everyone got fish. It just wasn’t as easy or as plentiful in some cases.
It was erratic. One boat would find fish and a boat next to them would struggle. We’d look for tuna and only find dorado. We’d chase dorado and get dog-tooth snapper. A boat trying to pargo or cabrilla would hook a wahoo! Just no rhyme or reason. One day our Las Arenas fleet would be hot and the next day our La Paz fleet would have the hot bite!
A lot of it had to do with the weather. Winds are blowing stronger and coming from all directions at different times of the day. It’s cooling off the water temps. It’s clouding up the water. It’s making bait harder and harder to find as waves crash into the shallow areas disturbing the bait schools.
The big hurricane Willa that hammered far south of us, did not do us any damage. The sun burned brightly every day. But it did throw up some big wave and southerly winds that forced us to cancel two days of fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. As the winds increase from the north, I imagine there will be more days that are tough to fish as the season diminishes.
However, there was a good jag of wahoo this week. Some boats got multiple strikes and landed several.
The tuna were a little more scarce, but little spots of tuna popped up if you could jump on them fast enough. The schools were very often busting water, but were hesitant to eat or would only eat quickly and move on so you only had a small window to get in on the bite. The full moon might have had something to do with that.
Again, we had unusually huge dog-tooth snapper and pargo liso come up off the shallows busting rods (really!) and 150-pound test. We got about 1 out’ve every 8 or 9 hook-ups on these tough fish.
Dorado are still around. Mostly in the 10-15 pound class.
ON a PERSONAL NOTE…
This is been an emotional roller-coaster week. Earlier in the week, my dad passed away. He was 91-years-young.
Many of you knew him. He loved to fish. He loved reading this fishing report. Thankfully to Jill, she jammed a ticket back to Los Angeles in my hand on a “gut feeling” and told me to get back to see him NOW and she kicked me outta La Paz.
I got to spend a few hours with him and hold him for a bit and after spending most of the night with him told him I’d be back in the morning to have breakfast with him. Little did I know that would be the last. The next morning, he took a breath and let go and slipped quietly and peacefully away.
I had to get back to La Paz and three days later…talk about the circle of life, we welcomed Hannah James Reid our 2nd grandchild to our daughter Jessie Reid and Brian Reid. Whoo-hoooo!!!
The circle of life keeps rolling!
Just wanted to reach out to thank the hundreds of you that sent condolences to both Jill and I and also all of you sending congratulations. We do not pass through life alone. Glad to be on the path with so many of you. God bless!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 1-7, 2018
The Mexican Minute Video Fishing Report
Short Attention Span Week at a Glance
Weather – Definitely cooler although water still warm. In the mornings, the water at 86 or 87 degrees is warmer than the air! Daytime temps down to about 92 now. Humidity has thankfully dropped. Quite comfortable. However, more winds and breezes especially from the north which is indicative of the changing season and coming winter…perhaps earlier than we would like. Winds make it harder to fish. We even had a little mini-hurricane by Cerralvo Island that we call “toritos” (little bull) that popped up and then left complete with waterspouts, wind, waves, thunder and lightning.
Water – Still warm and blue but the presence of so many cool-water species like the pargo, pompano, palometa are indicative of cooler water moving in.
Fishing – Incredible numbers of species for this time of year. Normally, it’s dominated by the warm water species like tuna, dorado, wahoo and billfish. But, right now, in addition to those we also have cabrilla, pompano, several types of pargo, jack crevalle, several species of bonito and more.
Outlook for Coming Week – Continued cooler. Might get a spot of rain. Winds increasing
The Big Picture and the Rest of the Story…
Our amigo, Rob Chambers, had himself quite a day doing the hat trick at Las Arenas with 3 exotic species. He started the day nailing this wahoo on a purple rapala (still hanging from the mouth); then he nailed a nice bull dorado (photo below) the caught and released a roosterfish off the Punta Perico rocks! Scroll down for the rest of the photos!
Walt Menda from Sacramento comes down every year and always hangs the big fish fish. This one was with Captain Jorge and he and the fish battled for 2 long hours on light tackle.
Taking a quick week off from Germany where he serves in the U.S. Army, Marcus Yoo was just outside of Bahia Muertos when he took this colorful bull dorado.
That’s alot of meat! Ira Stephens from Washington and Mike Purcell from New York with Captain Jorge show off some nice tuna plus a bonus HUGE pargo liso (mullet snapper)
First-timer, Bryan Loh, from Newport Beach with Captain Gerardo put the hurt on this pretty wahoo using a dark X-Rap Rapala.
Hector and “Aguachile” Henry do it again with a couple of fat La Paz Bay yellowfin tuna.
Our La Paz Fleet really kicked out some nice catches this week. Check out the deck spread of tuna and dorado caught by Curt and Debbie Keller from Utah. First-visit to us!
Two funny guys! Captain Armando with our bud, John Gibbs and a colorful barred pargo.
Now that’s some variety! Marcus with yellowfin tuna, barred pargo, cubera snapper (pargo perro) and triggerfish . Great eating!
Mark Bonsack and Brad Sleder slipped in a quick two-day trip that produced this wahoo.
There was no shortage of tuna for our La Paz Fleet this week which usually relies on the dorado bite! But Captain Chito and Dave Wakabayashi rolled up some nice yellowfin off Espirito Santo Island.
Alex Dombrowski from Washington started off his fishing week with a bang…dorado, barred pargo and pompano for the fish box.
Wow…that’s alot of meat! A big pargo liso to go with tuna and a mess of pompano for Walt Menda and Lloyd Okimura from Sacramento!
Our best amigo, Jorge Romero, took a day off from driving all over Baja and took the biggest tuna of the day!
We had fun with these two! Great visit for the first time from Travis Woodard and Craig Wood and their wahoo.
Another of many trips in the book over the years from Delando Pegan who fished with our La Paz fleet and poses with tuna and dorado (more fish on the stern!). He owns Relik Winery in Oregon and is opening up his new B & B as well.
Jerry Kvaternik from Washington finally made it down to see us after many years! That’s a yellowfin tuna he’s goofing with!
Hard to believe all the pompano we caught this week. I don’t recall ever seeing this many caught. Normally a spring-time fish. Even then we never caught this many! John Gibbs does the honors. Great eating!
1-2-3…LIFT!!! That’s Curt Keller, trying to take a photo with his big roosterfish so he could released it. Captain Victor tries to help!
Nice shot. Powerful fish! Yellowfin tuna for Marcus.
Love that grin, Mike Jacobson! First-time visit with us, he got into the tuna and dorado!
Jae Park and Mike Kingsmore with Captain Ramiro and a nice wahoo. They also caught tuna and dorado over the 3 days of fishing.
Worth the smile after a good day fishing for Bill Bigelman from Washington with wahoo, cabrilla, tuna and dorado on the cutting table!
As good a picture as you might find. Nice bull dorado, Rob Chambers!
Lots of palometa this week which is highly unusual! Great eating fish related to jack crevalle, pompano, roosterfish and yellowtai.
That’s gonna be on a sashime plate! Andrew Bowman back for another year going home with tuna and dorado.
Nothing wrong with Bob Larson’s catch on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos! Tuna and dorado for ready to fillet!
Henry and Hector again! Barred pargo and an upside-down tuna!
Gary Okimoto on his first trip to La Paz with Lloyd Okimura who comes every year! Gary had a good time! Check out the first-day catch of tuna from Muertos Bay!
Armando and Choo…posing with their tuna. Big boy yellowfin!
Good form! Marcus Yoo on the stick has another La Paz tuna!
Jerry has another yellowfin! Washington in the house this week.
Good day for Rob Chambers! Just off the rocks at Punta Perico with a pretty roosterfish. Caught and released. Rob’s first trip to visit us.
Mike Kingsmore and Jae Park with another fat tuna on the beach.
The seasons are noticeably changing. This past week temperatures seemed to have come down a good 5 degrees with daytime temps now in the low 90’s and the humidity has thankfully also eased up a bit. But the surest indicator is that the north winds that blow during out winter off-season months have started to pick up which will surely continue the cooling trend.
The fishing, not so co-incidentally, also seemed to take a bit of a change as well.
Yellowfin tuna that we’ve had all year, but especially the last 2 months took a bit of a slow-down. They’re still here and we caught quite a few, but not as many. Most were in the 10-30 pound class with a few 40-60 pounders. There were some 100+ pounders hooked at the south end of Cerralvo Island, but all of those fish were lost. Still, we had to work a lot harder to find the tuna this past week whereas in other weeks, the tuna were voracious. Some days, some pangas did not get any tuna at all which have been our bread-and-butter fish most of the season…at least for our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet.
However, remarkably, the bite was far better for our Tailhunter La Paz fleet which usually relies on a stead dorado bite to bend rods and fill fish boxes. However, this past week, the tuna bite was actually much more solid and dependable with 25-40 pound yellowfin taking up perhaps 50% of the catch. Whereas in normal years, we see only a handful of tuna for the La Paz fleet, this past week, our pangas were getting 2-10 yellowfin per panga per day!
Another indicator of the changing season is the variety of fish we’ve been catching the last two weeks.
Usually, this time of year warm water species like tuna and dorado dominate the fish counts.
However, in the last two weeks, we’ve gotten more wahoo which are normally late October fish. Also, some of those big dog-tooth / cubera snapper and mullet snapper/ pargo lisos that we normally only see in the cooler spring-time months of March through May. In addition a lot of palometa and pompano were also caught which are also spring-time fish .
We’ll have to keep an eye out for it and see if this is an on-going trend. Or just a slight anomaly. You would have thought with the dark moon this past week the fishing would have been a little stronger. Some boats some days actually really struggled while pangas right next to them were bent all day. Then, it would reverse the next day. But, overall, everyone got fish to bring home.
BIG HEARTS!
Jim Gatti arranged with the Sacramento Chapter of Safari Club International to have his 5 couples bring down a huge load of school supplies, sports equipment and hygiene items this past week. On top of it all, they donated money to our scholarship fund and brought enough to send 2 kids to school for two years with breakfast, books, uniforms and transportation!
Long-time Tailhunter amigos, Brad Baker and Jim Adair hauled down school supplies and tooth brushes.
Over the years, these guys have brought us not only lots of laughs and grins, but lots of donations for our Outreach Program. This week they hauled down several ice chests of new shoes, school supplies, clothes, hygiene products, and sports equipment.
As our season winds down to the last few weeks we need to give a shout-out to all of our Tailhunter Tribe who brought down thousand of pounds of donation items to our Tailhunter Outreach Program which over the past decade has distributed several tons of items to a local orphanage, a Womens Shelter, a Senior Citizen home and an under-served local neighborhood.
This past week even more great items were brought down and we appreciate everyone who found a little extra space in their ice chests and suitcases to stuff some stuff in there for our La Paz amigos. Regretfully, we don’t have photos of everyone who brought donations, but you know who you are and we’re grateful. This stuff changes lives!
