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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of July 20-27, 2014

slaiman don dorado tags small 7-14

This is the best mustache of the week! Don Slaiman and Captain Pancho from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet bust out the big smiles with two nice bull dorado on the beach.

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Chris Chang owns an organic nursery in Canada and had never fished in Mexico before, but fishing with Tailhunters got plenty of dorado and, on his last day, a huge 300 pound blue marlin north of La Paz that he fought on a Penn 6/0 reel with 60 pound test and put in the boat in only about an hour. The gut hooked fish inhaled the green and orange lure all the way down it’s gullet.  He was fishing with popular Captain Rogelio “Jolly Roger” Camacho.

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There’s a zillion good things going on in this photo of Tyler Emard from Fullerton CA. Fishing with Captain Rogelio from our Taihunter La Paz fleet, Tyler fought this dorado…his first and biggest…for 20 minutes on light tackle…no belt…all arms and shoulders! He’s headed to the University of Arizona in a few weeks! Great colors on this photo!

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The skies went from clear to this…as a wave or darkness hits the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos. There had been absolutely nothing on the advisories or radar about this. That’s why they are called “toritos.” (little bulls). These storms come out of nowhere with thunder, lightning, wind and rain and it’s almost like a baby hurricane. Ominous. The pangas had to scramble back to the beach for cover.

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Seven minutes after the first photo, here’s what the beach looked like at Bahia de Los Muertos…a malestrom! Thirty minutes later, the sun was out…

 

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Las Arenas provided some good action this week for Tailhunter clients including Steve Holguin from Los Angeles and his son, Marcos who is attending college in New York as the pair show off a set of dorado standing on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos with Captain Jorge of the Tailhunter fleet.

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Susie Waters had never fished La Paz or ocean-fished before, but broke into it big time with a couple of days on the water with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. This is just a super photo of her hanging the fish all by herself with big smiles.

Linden Zach 7-14 dorado

Long Beach fishing veteran, Zach Linden, raced down for a last-minute trip this week and a couple of days of fishing. The fish gods smiled and Zach did some great action on ultralight tackle including this pair of La Paz dorado.

dorado Rebecca Kendrick 7-14 tags

Rebecca Kendrick got into the thick of the dorado action with this nice bull mahi fishing with Captain Alfredo and deckie Blas. She had always wanted to fish Mexico and salt water and had a great first experience with a number of nice fish over several days of fishing.

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It’s got a little sand on the forehead, but a great photo of Peter Knapp and Captain Pancho on the beach at Las Arenas with this nice-sized bull.

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Grant Stark and Levi Fadoul put the wood to this thick bull dorado fishing north of La Paz last week. These two guys had too much fun all week. Always seemed to be cracking up!

 

UNPREDICTABLE EL NINO CONDITIONS AFFECT FISHING BUT DORADO DO THEIR BEST

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 20-27, 2014

With the exception of another of those surprise “torito” (little bull) storms that popped up on Thursday, it was a pretty good week of fishing for the most part.

This time of year, waters are extremely warm…actually, warmer than usual…as a result of the “el nino” situation.  This has given rise to rapidly forming storms that are not shown on weather advisories in the morning.  However, out of seemingly clear skies, huge thunderheads suddenly build and the skies grow dark within minutes.  Winds start whipping and wave emerge from calm seas turning the ocean into churning froth.  Wind-driven rain doesn’t fall so much as it shoots sideways from the gusts.  It’s time to get the heck off the water!

Several weeks ago, one of these storms turned into a huge waterspout between Cerralvo Island and El Sargento and Las Arenas.  We didn’t quite get that this week, but in the span of about 10 minutes clear skies went dark and the oceans got treacherous.  The pangas had barely been on the water, but found themselves racing back to the beach made more perilous by waves now pounding the sands where the pangas had to land.  Lighting strikes illuminated everyone scrambling around for shelter.  Cell phone and electrical power gets cut off.

As the rains hit and everyone hunkers down….that’s pretty much all you can do.  There’s a reason they call these “little bulls.”  Within an hour or two…sometimes in the span of minutes…it’s over.  The sun blazes back out.  The winds turn off.  The skies go clear and flat.  Except for puddles of water, there’s no trace.

And that’s what happened Thursday morning.

But, the rest of the week was pretty grand!

LAS ARENAS

Fishing definitely improved over the week before.  Again, dorado were center stage, but there were fewer punk 5 pound dorado and more respectable 10-20 pounders and all willing to charge pretty much water was in the water.  Some boats did better than others, but then the next day the boat that did poorly would be the big boy boat.  Consistently , ever panga we put on the water caught fish…or had opportunities to catch fish.  One of the big problems is that the baits we have tend to be large.  Hence, it takes longer than normal for the fish to really chomp the bait and get a hook down in their mouths.  Anxious anglers would often tell me they pulled the trigger too soon before the dorado could eat and they would lose the hook-set and half-a-bait would come flying back to the boat…sans dorado!

LA PAZ

Still our most consistent area.  Our La Paz boats rocked some really nice 20-40 pound fish this week as they have now since June.  The fish extend  right from La Paz Bay towards Espirito Santo Island then around the corner to about El Rosario/ Las Cruces where the larger bulls seem to have taken residence not too far from the beach.  Co-incidentally, that’s where large schools of baitfish have been seen.  We also got some roosterfish off the beaches.

The bigger news is the increased incidence of hookups with billfish including larger-than-normal sailfish and even some blue marlin.  I don’t remember seeing so many hookups on blue marlin as I have the past two or three weeks.  Most of the sails and marlin are getting released, but one fish that couldn’t be released was a hefty 300-pound blue.

WEATHER

El Nino effects keep coming.  Days can start out with bright brilliant sunshine but by afternoon, the clouds roll in and we get tropical storms that can be pretty crazy.  It can rain in one place and 100 yards away,  it’s bone dry! And the rain can last 5 minutes of an hour.  Then the sun comes blazing out.  But, there’s some predictions of more afternoon rain this week.

That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Fishing Fleet for Week of July 13-20, 2014

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Our amigo, Raul Chollet, here in La Paz just recently started fishing only about 2 years ago and has the “fishing bug”  big time! He’s since gotten his first marlin, roosterfish, sierra and here, his biggest dorado. It was a slow day but they got a few and this nice dorado with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. That day, some boats did OK and others, like Raul’s , had a bit more trouble locating the bite.

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Jeanette Carroll from New Mexico with Captain Victor just south of Bahia de Los Muertos caught and released this hefty 40-45 pound roosterfish on a live bait. It was her biggest and “bigger than my husband’s rooster!”

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Phil Matteson was on his 2nd trip to La Paz this week and told me they had winter in Montana that was 40 degrees below zero! Weather was’t so great in La Paz this week either as we got clouds and wind, but at least it was a tad warmer than Montana. First day out, Phil nailed this big boy bull dorado with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

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John Kennedy, our amigo from Auburn CA, had to postpone his yearly trip earlier in the year for an injury, but came roaring back with a great week of fishing topped off his last day with this nice sailfish caught and released, as well as a box of dorado, pargo, cabrilla and triggerfish releasing many.

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Dick Carroll and his wife came to visit us again this year from New Mexico and couldn’t have been a more fun couple. Both of them got roosterfish with our Las Arenas fleet on the same day including this one that Dick quickly released.

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Mark Martis from Redondo Beach CA has been fishing with us at Tailhunter since the early days in the mid-90’s. Under grey skies he still put the wood to this nice big bull dorado near Espirto Santo Island.

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Air Dorado taking off! Great shot taken by Phil Matteson of a 40-pound bull dorado ripping off line and grabbing air. As anyone knows who has tried to take one of these shots, it’s a difficult shot to take. The dorado are moving up to 30 mph!

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Happy Gal! Becky Munos from Arizona on her first day fishing and first time to La Paz just could not get enough of the fishing and beaches of La Paz. Fishing just off the beach at La Ventana, she put this nice little bull in the box. They released or donated all the the fish they caught!

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Josh Matteson on his first time ever salt water fishing is from Cascade, Montana. His first cast, he nails a 40 pound dorado….among others. The next day he battles this nice striped marlin and released it after taking this great photo with Captain Pancho. They were fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.

 

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He’s just about to “heave-ho” this roostefish over the side to release it, but a good fish just-the-same, for amigo Jack Young from Arizona on his first trip with Tailhunters. He had a good week of fishing with both our La Paz and Las Arenas fleet. The roosterfish was caught his first day just off El Sargento.

 

 

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Wayne Moss, has been my Canadian amigo for many many years and is a commercial pilot in the Maldive Islands. He’s also one of the better fishermen I know. I love the look on his face here wondering if this big bull dorado is gonna make one more attempt to get back in the water! Great colors. Nice fish!

 

 

DIFFICULT WEEK STILL HAD SOME GOOD HIGHLIGHTS

La   Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 14-20

 

 

It was a hard week to put my finger on.  With the exception of flyfishermen, everyone got fish, but where you fished and how you fished made a huge difference. If you took our advice and did what we or the captains told you to do, you got fish and there were some nice ones to be had!   Overall, I would have to say this week was slower.  Last week we had the huge full moon and fishing was much better.  Last week we had rainy weather and fishing was better.   This week the moon was better and the weather was generally better and fishing was a bit more complicated.

Here’s the breakdown:

LAS ARENAS

The week started OK.  We got some roosters.  There were small to medium dorado around.  There were some billfish, pargo and cabrilla.  Not spectacular fishing, but it was OK.  We even had bait.  But, as the week went on, we had some of the worst fishing we’ve seen all season with our Las Arenas fleet.

On the surface, I could say it was the lack of baits.  That includes ballyhoo, sardines and mackerel that we usually use for most of the gamefish.  But, the sabalo…the big ladyfish…that we use for the bigger roosters also got hard to find.  So, naturally, lack of bait had something to do with it.

Likewise, later in the week we had some tropical storm cells pass through.  This made for some rougher and windier waters.  It got choppy.  The skies were gray.  There were little flurries of rain here and there locally.  We almost had another water spout form up one afternoon near Cerralvo Island prompting the panga fleets to head for the beach.

So, all that would have or could have affected fishing.  I’ve seen similar situations where we had all those conditions and we still got fish.

But beyond that, there were some other variables as well which, contributed to the lack of scores on the fish.

Later in the week we had folks specifically going for “home run” fish.  Those are fish that you either get ‘em…or you don’t. Instead of going for “action” they went for the top-shelf bad boys.   They are trophy fish for a reason.  For instance, going for wahoo.  You either get-em..or you don’t.  You can be the king of, if nothing is there, then you have a good shot of not coming back with any fish at all because you have to concentrate on the wahoo.

Same for the rooster fish.  First, you have to spend the time trying to catch the better live bait…mullet or ladyfish.  That can take time.  If the baits aren’t there or are hard to come by…that’s a whole lot of time spent.  Then, actually chasing the roosters takes time as well.  Again, there’s alot of focus and energy on them.  If they aren’t there or not biting, then you stand a good chance of getting goose-egged.  That’s what happened quite often towards the end of the week.

Frustrated anglers who came back with nothing.  But that’s what happens when you swing for the fences!  I applaud the effort.  It’s awesome.  I like that kind of fishing myself.  But, sometimes the big hitters strike out.  Part of fishing.  Part of the game. You have to be ready for disappointment.  And there were some disappointed anglers this week. Who got no fish!

About the flyfishing…Frankly, it’s been tough.  I’ve been singing that tune all season.

  No one in Baja seems to have bait for chum for the flyfishermen.  This El Nino has not been good to the flyfishers.  Normally, we have sardines to toss out and get the fish going.  The sardines are non-existent.

We have larger baits…caballito and mackerel, but you can’t chum with that.

The flyfishers who have been coming down and willing to be flexible and do some conventional fishing are all getting fish.  Everyone is catching fish.  The ones who are strictly flyfishing are not doing well.  The operators here in La Paz that are strictly flyfishers have had a terrible year because they have no other avenues to catch fish.  They are strictly flyfishing.  I did have 4 guys who just left this morning that were strictly flyfishing.

  I kept offering to switch them to fish with my La Paz fleet where we are catching fish, but they insisted on staying with my Las Arenas fleet where they has been no bait…they caught pretty much zero fish for 3 days and left pretty frustrated and angry with us.  They could have switched to bait or at least fished with my La Paz fleet and done quite well…even had a shot on the flyrod, but they were stubborn.  I wish I could have gotten them some fish.  See below…we did find some roosters.  The bonito were huge and would have been awesome on the flyrod.  They could have gotten the dorado going on the bait then tossed a flyrod into the boils.   These were all good guys and experienced fishermen, but I was as frustrated as them.They left for Loreto where I hear it’s been tough as well, but I hope they do better.

I feel for all the flyfishers I’ve seen here this year…lots of them fishing with our competitors.  I meet alot of them at our restaurant and hear the stories.   That’s fishing this year.  As I said at the beginning…it depends on where you fish and how you fish.

LA PAZ

La Paz, while not as good as last week, was still very productive.  There were some slow spots…but everyone got fish every day.  Some of our pangas would do really well one day and others not so good, but the next day the panga that did poorly would find fish and the other would have a slower day.  But the dorado were very cooperative with fish in the 5-40 pound class and some HUGE 12-15 pound dynamite bonito that put some guys on light tackle on their knees!  As well, we had several marlin and sailfish hooked up and either lost or released…even a few rooster fish…plus some nice pargo and cabrilla.

The difference is that we had more live bait…caballitos and mackerel.  Still a bit big to chum, but the baits brought the fish to the boat.  You could even catch a bonito and then chop it up and use it for chum and then that would bring even more fish to the boat.

The one drawback with the larger caballito and mackerel is that they are well…large!  One big mistake is that anglers would think they had a hookup and swing to early.  There’s alot of smaller fish out there or larger fish that eat slowly!  Swinging too early and  the bait would literally get yanked out of the fish’s mouths or resulted in alot of short bites too where the gamefish only bit off the back half of the big bait.  We missed alot of fish that way.  Some of the more experienced anglers increased their hook-up to catch ratio by tying trailer/ trap hooks onto the main rig so that there would be a second hook dangling at the back-end of the baits.

But, overall, the La Paz fishing took care of everyone and got fish in the boat!

One of the nice thing about having our two fleets is that as Las Arenas fishing got slower or more frustrating, or the weather got more unpredictable, we could offer to have our folks fish with our La Paz fleet and get into the fish.  That made all the difference between big smiles or frowns!

WEATHER

Normally, this time of year, there’s not much to say about the weather.  The sun comes up.  The sun goes down.  It’s hot and sunny.  End of story.

However, this year, with El Nino, we’re seeing alot of variations.  Not only is the water warmer, but the tropical humidity and conditions are tangible.  The air is generally heavier and muggier.  We’re seeing afternoon tropical rain showers come through and sometimes drop considerable rain for a few minutes then move on and the ground steams dry.  We see electrical heat storms and lightning in the afternoons, evening and early morning hours when it’s still dark.   This is more like September and October weather.    Other days, there’s no rain, but it’s cloudy most days.  Almost like the “June gloom” seen along Southern California beaches where a marine layer moves in and everything is grey until the sun burns through in the afternoons.  Crazy.  That being said, it’s still 95-100 degrees every day with cooler evenings in the 70’s.

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 That’s our story!

combo-signature-black letters

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

 

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of June 22-29, 2014

kasper marlin dorado tags 6-14 small

Long time amigo, Rick Kasper, went fishing with his son, Kasey and friend Mario from Texas and had a pretty good day with some nice dorado and a striped marlin they were unable to release after it swallowed the lure. Both marlin, sailfish and dorado were good bets this past week.

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From Arizona, Jolly Jaeger and husband Dwight came down this week and took some of the nice bull dorado that have been showing up recently.

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Johnny Enright brought grandson Dawson down for 3 days of fishing and show off a trophy dorado and some others on the rack. However, check out the big pompano also on the rack. It’s our first of the season!

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Every year, Don and Debbie White from Oregon come spend a few weeks with us and always catch fish! This particular day, they not only got dorado you see here, but also caught and released a blue marlin estimated at about 120 pounds.

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Three years ago when he was 9 years-old, Garrett Santana came down to fish with us and got into some nice dorado. He came to visit us again this past week and not only caught a mess of dorado, but also put the wood to this huge sailfish all by himself and refused any help! Captain Raul helps out. Nicely done, youngster!

Rex Smith tags small pargo 6-14

Rex Smith from Phoenix, Arizona has been visiting us for years. As usual, he caught lots of dorado, but over the years had never caught a pargo…until this past week! He took this tasty pargo mulato (barred pargo) fishing withour Tailhunter La Paz Fleet.

Chuck and Claudo Fiola tags small dorado 6-14

Our wine-making friends from Yakima, Washington, Chuck and Claudia Fiola had fun with the dorado and fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet last week.

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Big smile from our Captain Victor as he hoists up Jolly Jaeger’s bull dorado. Check out the video below of her pulling in the fish. Well done!

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Our Captain Boli has a funny face for the camera, but it’s all smiles for Carson Vincent who had never gotten a dorado before and was brought down by dad to give it a go! Dad got some video of Carson pulling in the nice fish below. Check it out. Well done, Carson!

DORADO KEEP RODS BENT FOR THE WEEK RAIN ON THE WAY?

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 22-29, 2014

 

It wasn’t a bad week of fishing.  It was a “mixed” week of fishing.   Dorado surely did their part and kept everyone smiling, but things seemed to change from Las Arenas to La Paz and from day-to-day and indeed from one pangs-to-the-next!

TAILHUNTER LAS ARENAS FLEET

We sort of re-bounded from last week when fishing was sluggish and all we had were some more of those pesky mosquito-size dorado everywhere.  It might have been a combination of lack of bait coupled with the fact that last week there were SOOOO many boats out there on the fishing grounds the fish just got lock jawed!

This week was much better.  The biggest news was a splash of tuna…yes 15-40 pound yellowfin tuna that made their first appearance off Cerralvo Island and several boats got into them.  Usually, these fish are moving too fast and no one can get into them, but we also had a school of 50 pounders that went crashing by some shocked fishermen at the north end of the island as well.  So, the fish are around and hopefully, we’ll see more of them because in subsequent days, our recon trips to look for the school went for nothing.

However, the dorado were surely more cooperative.  Some larger fish in the 20-40 pound class were taken, plus more billfish including some blue marlin we hooked and either lost or released.

Other species:  cabrilla, jack crevalle, bonito, pargo, pompano…we had several wahoo bite off, but no fish boated

TAILHUNTER LA PAZ FLEET

Much better for quality and quantity this week for dorado.  Fish ran 10-40 pounds and limits were common with many fish lost and many released.  We do have live bait in the form of caballitos and mackerel, but a big error with the fishermen is not letting the dorado really chomp down on the baits and giving the dorado enough time to get the hooks in their mouths.  These dorado are so voracious that even small dorado will charge baits that areas big as them making you wonder how they even get an 8 inch bait into their little mouths.  But, they will hit it so you just have to be patient before pulling the trigger and setting the hooks.

The fish are around Espirito Santo Island and as close as right in La Paz Bay, but the larger fish are all the way around the corner around Las Cruces, El Rosario and Punta Gorda.  It takes while to get there, but it’s worth it and the fish can be as close as just a few yards off the beach in the calm protected waters near those areas.

We are also getting some good bites on sailfish and marlin as well in the same areas.

OTHER SPECIES:  Since everyone is concentrating on the blue water species like dorado, we’ve found some spots holding some BIG cabrilla and pargo that are willing to bite, but getting these beasts out’ve the rocks once you hook them is the trick and the fish usually wins!

WEATHER

Usually not much to say.  It’s sunny today.  It was sunny yesterday.  It will be sunny tomorrow. Water about 84 degrees. Nights about 72.  Yawn…

Seriously, it’s been a tad humid and in the mid 90’s, but this week the forecast is showing some afternoon thundershowers coming our way.  Very tropical.  I don’t think it will affect our fishermen very much and, as of the time of this writing, these are not hurricanes, but merely some rain cells moving our way.  We’ll keep an eye out!  Might actually be very refreshing!

 That’s our story!

combo signature 2-proc

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

 

 

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of June 16-22, 2014

Chadwick Bob 6-14 small tags

From Ontario, Oregon, Bob Chadwick was able to tick “roosterfish” off his bucket list with this outstanding rooster caught on a live ladyfish and released just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos with Captain Armando.

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Florida in the house! Captain Victor gives Beth Nichols a hand with another nice bull dorado. Cerralvo Island in the background.

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Amy Kasper by way of Wyoming hits a pose after another good day of fishing with her husband, Rick and Captain Jorge at Las Arenas. They got nice limits of dorado.

Katie Nichols 6-14 tags small rooster

When she’s not vacationing, Katie Nichols from Florida actually skippers a commercial fishing boat in Florida for her family getting lobster and crab! She’s pretty good with roosterfish too!  She caught and released this fish near Punta Perrico.

rooster patti small tags 6-14

The ladies were on fire this week with the fishing! Patti Buffington lives up in California wine country and had a nice day on the water with her husband and Captain Adolfo catching and releasing a trophy rooster.

CRAZY WEEK OF FISHING – 2014 PANGA SLAM EVENT FINDS BIGGER DORADO

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Jun3 16-22, 2014

Good fish to be caught, but overall, an erratic week of fishing.  It was hard to describe this week.  There were definitely some great fish to be caught and good fishing to be had, but the “what…where…why…and how” aspects of the fishing equation threw so many variables into the mix that there’s no way to completely get a fix on what happened.

Let’s get right to it…everyone caught fish!  No one who wanted fish went home empty-handed so let’s put that to rest right now!  But, let me break it down for you by our two areas of fishing:

TAILHUNTER LAS ARENAS FLEET:

Tougher fishing this past week and I attribute it to several things.  The lack of live bait doesn’t make it easy.  There is “some” live bait, but mostly, we were using a combination of some live bait with a bigger mix of dead frozen ballyhoo, chunked and stripped bonito as well as caballitos.  They all worked, but not as well as live bait.

The bait situation is a bit dire to begin with, as I have often described.  All of the Baja is hurting.  Much of it is due to the cyclical “El Nino” situations we’re experiencing with extremely warm waters hurting the bait stocks.

Secondly, I don’t know what it was this week, but I can’t remember when I’ve ever seen so many pangas on the water.  We had several vans of our own full of fishermen each day , but it was just an incredibly busy week out there.  Our competitors also had a van or two.  Visiting guide services also had a van or two.  There were alot of independent fishermen in their own boats.   There were scores of commercial fishermen.  There were alot of free diving spear fishermen in the water as well (not exactly the best mix when there are fishermen in the same areas as the divers!).  It looked like a freeway out there!

Everyone needs bait.  So, that meant that the bait was truly depleted.  Additionally, so much traffic on the water didn’t do the fishing any favors.

We only had a few wahoo hook-ups this week.  The billfish bite wasn’t as hearty although there were a few stripers hooked and one blue estimated at over 400 pounds .  The rooster fish were a bit more scarce as well.  About the only thing really going on were the tons of 3-5 pound “mini-dorado” all over the place.  But that gets pretty old after awhile hooking trout-sized dorado!

So, maybe this upcoming week will be lighter and things will turn around.  There were a few cabrilla and pargo in the mix and some large bonito.

TAILHUNTER LA PAZ FLEET

We fared much better with our La Paz fleet this week. And the big difference…LIVE BAIT!  We had caballitos, big sardines and, and mackerel.  And that makes all the difference in the world.

Working the island as well as around the corner around El Rosario, Las Cruces and Punta Gorda some nice quietly 20-40 pound dorado were common.  There weren’t many of them, but each panga was getting 4-6 of the nicer sized ones and throwing back many smaller.  The big ticket is letting the fish “eat” the bait and waiting until it really has the bait down it’s throat.  The baits are bigger than we normally have so give the fish time to really chew-down on the bait before setting the hook.  So many fish were lost because anxious anglers pulled the trigger too fast and the bait right out’ve the fish’s mouths!

Sidebar:  Some nice roosters along the beaches…amberjack…cabrilla and pargo.

2014 PANGA SLAM – FISHING AND PARTY FUN!

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The “Rogues Gallery” group portrait day 3 Panga Slam 2014 at Balandra Bay with some of the catch of big dorado! Great time and great way to end the event!

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Money shot for Angela! This fish was worth about 500 bucks to Angela Farrell from Oceanside CA who has fished with us many times and always does well. This 20-pound-bill was big enough to take first place on the 2nd day of fishing at the Panga Slam!  She almost won the 3rd day as well with a fish that was barely  one pound lighter than the winner!

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One the 3rd and last day, the fish got bigger with many fish between 20 and 25 pounds! However, the big winner was this 30.5 pound bull dorado for Christian Regan who took the fish on a live caballito!

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Shaking it loose on the Tailhunter dance floor!

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The gang gives a shout-out from the 2nd floor terrace at Tailhunter Restaurant!

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Kudos to Tim Farrell who tagged two roosterfish for the Roosterfish Foundation and released them swimming strongly. One of the fish might have potential as an IGFA world-record release fish!

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Benny wails and make his guitar talk! Gary and Michele party up on the dance floor!

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Show me the money! Christian Regan shows off his winnings for the 3rd day of fishing. Dad Randy is gonna hit him up to pay off the beer tab!

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Always in the fish! Verda Boyd and her guy…Captain Jorge…fishing just off El Sargento/ La Ventana found one of the larger bull dorado cruising the area the last few days. She and husband Tim, always hit the fish! Nice flat water too!

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Jilly and Michele funning on the Tailhunter 3rd floor! Pat in the back showing the size of the fish that got away!

 

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Tim Zimmer, our recently -retired amigo from the Bay Area of California put this colorful bull dorado in the boat after the 3rd day of fishing out’ve La Paz.

Our first annual 2014 Panga Slam co-hosted by Western Outdoor News and sponsored by Costa Sunglasses, Tro-kar Hooks, Suffix Line, Okuma Reels and Turners Outdoors,  was a grand success with lots of old and new friends and even a few nice fish thrown in!

Everyone got right into it after checking into their rooms at La Concha Beach Resort.  Margaritas and cold beers quickly hit the tables and master of ceremonies Pat McDonell kicked things off and photographer and famous outdoor author Gary Graham was taking photos and a huge buffet dinner on the beach was served by the hotel with lots of great giveaways from our sponsors.

First day was a non-tournament day but everyone headed to Bahia de Los Muertos for the initial day.  Lots of small dorado…a few medium ones…some jacks and bonito and a marlin were all tallied for the day then we all retreated back to La Paz for an all-you-can-eat taco feed at Tailhunter Restaurant and live reggae music from the Stamina band and some good dancing on the 2nd and 3rd floor!

Day two had us all heading back out to Las Arenas for more small dorado action…some nice roosterfish and a jackpot dorado from Angela “The Poster Girl” Zapien who nailed it with a 20 pound bull that put $550 dollars in her pocket from the pot. That night, it was a free night but a big group of us went for clams, shrimp and lobster to Pichilingue restaurant on the beach. Toes-in-the-sand and cold beers under a palapa roof to watch the sunset.

Our 3rd and last day, we changed tactics and had everyone got out to fish at La Paz north out’ve the bay.   Big difference!  Big fish showed up with every boat taking 18-30 pound big bulls!  It was a great way to top out the 3 days and the day’s jackpot going to Christian Regan who edged out some other big fish with a 30.5 pound big bull dorado. That night, a big awards dinner and more party time at Tailhunters where we hosted an all-you-can-eat Hawaiian rib dinner and more dancing on the 3rd deck to the classic rock of “Benny and the Sons of the Beaches.” All-in-all, just a great time with so many good friends!  Thanks to all, but especially, Pat McDonell and Western Outdoor News and their staff and Gary Graham for above-and-beyond being a good-guy to us.

That’s our story!

combo signature 2-proc

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Fleet for Week of June 8-15, 2014

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WHOAAA!!!!   That’s a big fat rooster! Captain Jorge helps out Robert Rost who was fishing with us for his first time from Boise, Idaho! Robert had super week topped by this huge rooster they caught and released near Punta Arenas!

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That’s a big wahoo for Ty Mitchell from Washington on his 2nd trip with us. He got this trophy off Cerralvo Island fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet!

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Captain  “Fettucine” Alfredo from our Tailhunter La Paz fleet photobombs deckhand Blas posing with our amigos from Colorado Doc Art Flippin and son-in-law Mike Shepherd!

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Tiffany FLOYD could NOT have been a more fun person to come down to fish! I don’t think she ever stopped laughing or smiling and this big sailfish with Captain Joel put a big smile on her face. She was down celebrating her anniversary and she caught this just outside La Paz Bay!

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OH the joy! This is just pure ecstasy! Mike Shepherd had a great week with us, but a big dorado eluded him all week. But at the last hour with almost his last bait on the last day, he finally put the wood to this nice bull dorado! Great facial expression, Mike! CLASSIC!

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I think this should be their new 2014 Christmas card photo! The Nichols family run a big time fishing operation out’ve Florida and came down for a few days to visit. They all got and released their first roosterfish plus some nice dorado including this trophy bull that ended up for dinner at Tailhunter Restaurant!

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Dennis Cudal knew this one was headed to the grill when he stuck this nice big barred pargo around Espirito Santo Island.

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Check this off the bucket list! Nothing like an exotic roosterfish on the line! Jeff FLOYD from Idaho, was fishing with Captain Pancho literally just a few yards from the beach at Las Arenas and caught and released this big time rooster!

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An extended Father’s Day Week plus graduation present for Craig and Ashley Sanford from the Phoenix AZ area where they show off quite a variety of fish they caught with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet including cabrilla, bonito, triggerfish and dorado!

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Great story. Mike Shepherd was trolling a big bait in the shallow waters near Punta Perrico when his rod went off and all heck broke loose. He started yelling, “MARLIN! MARLIN!” Captain Jorge was tying up some lines and not looking and said, “There’s no marlin here!” Until he looked up! MIke had on a fish estimated at well over 200 pounds! Unfortunately, only 30 pound test so they hung on as best as they could while wife, Candi snapped photos! Folks ask all the time for “bigger boats” so they can go out further and catch “bigger fish!” Well, as you can see, we don’t have to go far and our pangas do just fine!

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Our good amigo, Don Busse, always does well and he put this big pargo on board at Las Arenas and ended up bringing it to our Tailhunter Restaurant for dinner!

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It was a good week for big barred pargo! Al Nojadera has been fishing with us for alot of years and shows off one of his big pargo.

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Gary Pilkington is from Northern Cal and fished with Captain Pancho. Gary was on his 2nd visit with us and wanted to get a rooster! Mission accomplished with this caught-and-released trophy!

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Luke Appel from Malibu took a nice picture and a great photo of this barred pargo in full raging colors! These are tough tough fish when hooked and fight like beasts!

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This is our rockstar, Rick Kasper, who always gets fish with us. Rick has a place our there near La Paz now and spends several weeks hanging out and fishing!

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Captain Adolfo and Megan Kennedy with another colorful rooster onboard and flat blue waters behind! The fish was caught and released. Megan was on her first trip and came down with dad.

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This is just a super fun photo! One on board and another on the rod for Tiffany and Jeff Floyd celebrating their 19th anniversary with a trip to La Paz!

 

ROOSTERS DORADO LIGHT IT UP WITH THE FULL MOON…AND ANOTHER MISSED HURRICANE!

 

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 8-15 2014

 

 

Another fairly solid week of fishing even with the full moon…even with another hurricane missing us and blowing out to sea (Christina!)… but the difference between our anglers who fished with our Las Arenas fleet and those who fished with our La Paz fleet was like night and day…in a good way!  Fortunately, for us, our clients get to fish both sides if they so choose!

For Las Arenas, at times, the winds plus the big swell generated by hurricane Cristina far to the south had to be contended with and made for some bouncy days, especially towards the end of the week.   The hurricane was up to a category 4 with winds up to 170 mph, but thankfully banked out to the west before it got up to the Baja.

However, it still pushed residual winds and waves our way and up the Sea of Cortez.  The surfers at Land’s End by Cabo and also around Todos Santos were loving the big waves with the thick lips!

But, at Las Arenas, we continued with swarms of little dorado.  So many that some of the anglers are calling it “the nursery” where it was not uncommon to hook and release a dozen or more dorado in short order of fish no bigger than 3-5 pounds!  Great light tackle action, but very few fish larger than that.  The good thing is that the way dorado grow, in just a few months, these fish will be 15-20 pounders!  So, it’s good that many are getting released.

The better action was on the wahoo, especially earlier in the week when that area south of Cerralvo Island kicked out another nice jag of 20-40 pound speedsters on trolled lures like the Rapala X-Raps and Yo-Zuri Magnums.  For every fish taken, at least 2 more were lost so there’s some fish out there.

The other part of Las Arenas were the big roosters that seemed to pop up again with a vengeance.  We had several days mid-week when, as one angler said, “Every bait thrown in the water generated an immediate hammer from a big rooster!”  The fish this week were as “small” as 35-40 pounds, but we had some larger estimated in the 60-85 pound class (by the captains!).

For La Paz anglers, it was a completely different story altogether!  The dorado were bigger.  They were more abundant and they really bent rods and went 15-40 pounds with some larger ones lost.  The bonus was the many of the best bites were literally right in La Paz Bay or just outside without having to go very far.  As well, where the smaller dorado were found, marlin and sailfish were in the same areas either eating the same baits or else feeding on the small dorado themselves.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

combo signature 2-proc

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

 

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Fishing Fleet for Week of June 1-8, 2014

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All hail the “Wahoo King!” Mike Guest from Phoenix Arizona has been coming to fish with Tailhunters in La Paz for years and never got a wahoo despite great efforts. This past week after only two days he got three wahoo and lost two other, but did get this one huge beast estimated at 60-70 pounds near Cerralvo Island. Amigo, Esteban Romero, gives a hand!

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Cole Chavira from Solana Beach CA always smokes the fish here in La Paz since he was little kid. He’s now in high school and nothing changes. He put the wood to this big cabrilla on a deep jigged yo-yo iron!

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He came all the way from Lisbon, North Dakota, but Joe Nelson told us, “It’s been as cold as 30 degrees below zero back home” and he wanted some sunshine and his first rooster fish! He got both including this fat rooster off the rocks at Punta Perico with Captain Archangel of the Tailhunter fleet.

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Al Rodriguez has fished in La Paz and Baja but NEVER got a dorado so he really focused on one this past week. He did that…and MORE! Well done, Al. He nailed this nice bull just outside of La Paz Bay.

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Malibu in the house! Luke Appel dropped the hammer on this sweet amberjack off Isla Espirito Santo on a heavy jig north of La Paz.

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Captain Adolfo from the Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet helps Megan Kennedy from Washington with the smiles and a big roosterfish just off the rocks outside of Bahia de Los Muertos! The fish was released!

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Gabe Rodriguez was in town with his dad and to celebrate his 40th birthday doing some fishing. He and dad both got into the dorado with Captain Rogelio of our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. Feliz cumpleanos!

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Happy Honeymoon! Pat Snyder from Orangevale CA said this fish “beat him up” for 30 minutes while fishing with Captain Armando. He was here on his first trip to La Paz and to celebrate his first week of marriage! Congrats to him and Kathy!

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A well-deserved “thumbs-up” from Captain Jorge to pose with Kevin Kennedy and his big roosterfish that he caught and released not too far off the little cliffs at Punta Perrico. Our amigo, Kevin, is from Washington.

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Colin Reed from San Diego with a speedy wahoo he caught off Cerralvo Island where the wahoo bite has been pretty steady for several weeks!

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Pretty good for a first day fishing and first time to La Paz for brothers Andew and Ian Vale Cruz from San Diego. They got a variety of fish including these two trophys. Andrew holds up a big dog-tooth snapper and Ian has his first wahoo. Captain Pancho fails the photo bomb!

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Everyone was in on the dorado bite including amiga, Nina Duc Le and son, Will, from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Over 3 days fishing they got marlin, dorado, bonito, and others!

 

THAT’S MORE LIKE IT!  FISH BITE!  RODS BEND!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 1-8, 2014

 

 

Good solid fishing this week for both of our Tailhunter Fleets for once.  Usually, either the La Paz fleet is doing better than our Las Arenas fleet or vice versa!

However, this week, I would have to say that for once, we had alot more consistency which made for some good catches and action for our anglers although here and there, some anemia still persisted.  Basically, some boats did better than others on a given day.  But, overall, everyone got fish.

For our Las Arenas anglers, the big news continues to be the wahoo bite around Cerralvo Island with some bruiser wahoo literally hammering the Yo-Zuri and especially the Rapala X-Rap lures which seem to be the season’s new-found “hot lure”.  Run ‘em deep and they get bit!

I gotta say, there’s gotta be some big time wahoo underwater because even with wire, some of the lures are still getting bit off.  And…get this…we’ve had some lures literally getting CRUSHED!  I mean, how often do you ever hear of a hard-bodied lure like a Rapala getting broken or even smashed by the teeth!  Or the treble hooks getting straightened out!  That’s a big mean fish that can do that!  We had several fish this week tickle the 50-pound mark and even one estimated at 70 pounds!

The other benefit of these deep running X-raps that can run 30’ down is that we’re actually getting some huge pargo on them!  (By the way, I am NOT a rep for Rapala!  Prior to this, I actually liked the Yo-Zuris better because the older metal-lipped Rapalas got “out of tune” too easily after a bonito slammed them.  But the new ones have acrylic lips that dive deep and don’t get all screwy!).

The other big star at Las Arenas has been the rooster fish.  Not as many “big fish” this week compared to other weeks when we had 50-90 pound roosters, but 30-45 pounders this week are nothing to sneeze at if you’ve ever gotten bent on one!  For many, this is an opportunity to finally get a rooster checked-off the bucket list and, also for many, they’ve never had a fish this big to contend with.  As one of our anglers told me later, “I don’t know what I was thinking asking for a 100-pound fish!  Prior to this, I had only caught a 40-pound salmon.  After 15 minutes on a 30 pound rooster, I was ready to pass off the rod to my friend and sit down with a beer!  These fish don’t give up!”

For dorado at Las Arenas there were polar opposites.  There’s a spot we’re starting to call the “nursery.”  There are so many 3 to 8 pound dorado there that you can hook a dozen quite easily and the flyfishers and light tackle anglers are having a blast.

Beyond that, there’s very little in between.  The dorado then jump up into the 25-30 pound class!  There’s a few out there and bigger ones as well.

For our La Paz fleet, dorado are the name of the game.  Limits or near limits of 15-40 pound fish are just inside La Paz Bay and some of our boats actually quit early and came back with anglers saying “no mas!”  Full fish boxes and ice chests after a few hours fishing were not uncommon.  Other anglers not doing as well, still had opportunities with quite a few fish lost to either inexperience or simply tough luck…but still plenty of action!

On a final note…alot more marlin and sailfish hooks ups this week with more billfish entering th area.  By my count, our two fleets hooked perhaps a dozen billfish of varying sizes including one blue marlin and the rest being 100 pound stripers and sailfish.  One fish brought in and the others either got un-bottoned or released.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

combo signature 2-proc

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

 

 

 

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Sportfishing for Week of May 24-31, 2014

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Not only first time fishing in Mexico…BUT FIRST TIME FISHING IN SALT WATER! Rich Pomeroy from the Sacramento CA area had a spectacular week with a variety of fish including his first marlin, dorado, pargo and this cherry wahoo!

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Nice way to kick it on your bachelor party! Rich Drehsen from Camarillo CA was on his bachelor party here in La Paz and spent a few day on the water with us and shows off a trophy bull dorado just off the beach near Boca de Alamo near Bahia de Los Muertos.

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No doubt a trophy! But, this is one of the larger cabrilla we’ve seen so far this year and Rick Pope dropped the hammer on this bad boy near Espirito Santo Island north of La Paz! We cooked up a bunch of it at our Tailhunter Restaurant! Rick was on a roll this week. He was even catching sizeable pargo on the docks behind La Concha Beach Resort at night!

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Stan Yung and Captain Archangel had a productive day! Take a look at the nice wahoo and dorado while on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos!

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The quality of the dorado definitely improved this week with some nice bulls in the box like this brightly colored bull caught by our amigo from Diamond Bar CA Bill Hsu!

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He’s shy! But Randy from Canada is hiding somewhere behind the comb of this 40 pound roosterfish taken off the rocks near Punta Perrico with Captain Pancho! The fish was released and Randy is smiling back there…somewhere!

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A colorful lineup rogues gallery! Rich, Chris, Ron and Ed did a nice number on dorado and pose on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos! All are from Camarillo CA on Rich’s bachelor party!

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Big smiles as Captain Rogelio with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet helps Ken Errair from Oxnard CA who came down with his son, Cody, to spend a few days fishing and scuba diving with us.

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Arroyo Grande CA in the house! Mike Davis has been with us many times, but this is the first time he’s joined by his wife, Colleen who turned into quite a trooper and holds up some of their dorado catch with Captain Archangel.

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Roy Stenzel from the mountain area near Auburn CA caught and released this nice roosterfish with Captain Pancho during the week! Roosters are still here, although the emergence of dorado took some of the pressure off the roosterfish!

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Rick Pope and Rich Pomeroy with two of the many fish and species they caught while fishing 4 days with us!

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No arguing over the quality of these mahi mahi! Captain Jorge and Ed Drehsen hold a nice pair on the beach.

 

DORADO FINALLY FIRE IT UP AS WATERS WARM UP TOO!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 24-31, 2014

 

Maybe one of our best week’s of the young season!  Here we go…

Well, we seem to have dodged a major bullet this week.  Hurricane Amanda that formed up way south of us was watched intently all week.  Not only would it have been the first “named” storm f of the year, but more importantly, it would have been a doozy.

The weather folks say it would have been the strongest recorded hurricane ever for form up this early in the year.  The Category 5 blaster registered winds of up to 170 miles per hour and regular winds over 150 mph!  If it had made landfall, it would have torn up some real estate!

Fortunately, Amanda spun out and went off west into the Pacific Ocean and left us only with some cloudy skies…a few big rain drops…and actually very flat calm seas that didn’t even have a ripple on them!

Not sure how much it had to do with the fishing, but we sure had a pretty nice week of fishing!

Early in the week, we again had some sweet big rooster fish around our Las Arenas areas.  Las Arenas also produced some regular wahoo up to 45 pounds, pargo, cabrilla, sierra as well as jack crevalle and some huge big bonito.

But, the more remarkable thing was that the dorado roared to life for our La Paz anglers and pangas.  Towards the end of the week we were getting limits or near limits of fish up to 35 or 40 pounds and I would have to admit that the numbers were deceiving because our captains were coming back telling us that the clients lost more fish than they caught!  For example a panga might come back with 3 fish, but I would find out from the clients or our captain that they “farmed” 4, 5, 7, even 10 fish”   Every day was different.  Some better than others, but overall, it was a marked difference from previous weeks.

But, that’s all fun!  Lots of action is a good thing!

Even the flyfishers are having a better time of it.  They’ve had a tough time because of a lack of bait during the early season, but they even got into the dorado this week as well although roosters on the fly have proved to be a bit more difficult.  We had one amigo who got  25 dorado caught-and-released on the flyrod on a single day.

Also remarkable was the fact that we’ve been lamenting the lack of bait all season.  However, this week there stacks upon stacks of bait around La Paz beaches…mackerel…caballitos…huge sardines…ballyhoo!   The bait was thick!

In fact, there was so much bait in the bay for several days that we had dorado swimming in the shallows inside the marina and harbor areas within casting distance of the hotels.  We also have clients who were beach fishing in the late afternoons hooking some big pargo and cabrilla and several marlin were seen inside the bay as well!

Not sure if this will last or we’re finally kicking into summer, but I will tell you that the water temps edged up a few degrees this week and alot of the green plankton water burned of leaving us with some gorgeous blue water like the kind you see in postcards!

We even got out to the islands to sneak away for a few hours of scuba diving, paddle-boarding and kayaking!  Jill got to put a few more dives under her belt with her new certification!

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Jill kicking along about 40 feet down in 82 degree water at Isolotes north of La Concha!

CHECK OUT THE VIDEOS FROM THE ISLAND…JILL DIVING…PLAYFUL SEALIONS…BAJA TORQUOISE BAY!

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The Beach at Ensenada Grande on Espirito Santo Island run by our amigos at Fun Baja and a great place to kick it for the afternoon after diving and snorkeling. With kayaks, paddle boards, palapas, lounges and a great little lunch kitchen, it’s hard to beat!

 That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

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Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

 

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Sportfishing for Week of May 11-18, 2014

Rick rooster 5-14 tags

This is the “beast of the week.” With a rooster estimated by Captain Jorge and others as in the “80-85 pound class,” our amigo, Rick Kasper, who has caught lots of big fish with us, shows off his biggest and best with this huge rooster that he caught and released just off the beach at Las Arenas.

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Nice way to celebrate a honeymoon! All the way from Argentina, Mauricio Ohashi, nailed this gigantic roosterfish on a live ladyfish near Punta Arenas with an assist from Captain Gerardo who helps hoist the big fish. Mauricio caught and released two of these giants on this particular day.

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First timer with us, Felix Williams from Ladera Heights, CA near Los Angeles fished a few days with us and got into a nice jag of dorado one day when the dorado went off outside of Bahia de Los Muertos.

rooster don swenson 5-14 small tags

Don Swenson from Washington State really wanted a roostefish and had one day to take a shot at it. He set him up to go out on one of our Tailhunter pangas and they hooked up 6 roosters and got 3 roosters to the panga that were all released. Here’s one of the nice ones!

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Scott Behnken is all smiles with Captain Jorge hidden behind the comb of Scott’s biggest roosterfish caught off the beach at Las Arenas. He was using live bait to get the fish. That’s Cerralvo Island in the background.

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Ron Lawver from Phoenix AZ hung in there during a tough week of fishing and never ever stopped laughing and smiling. He caught and released this rooster just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos.

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He finally got one! From Washington, Todd Olson hefts a big fat roosterfish that’s as thick as it is long! It’s the fish he came to get and it turned out to be a trophy!

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Yes…there’s other fish around! Captain Victor poses with a huge pompano, related to roosterfish, jack crevalle, yellowtail and amberjack caught by clients just off the beach at Bahia de los Muertos.

 

ROOSTERFISH HAVE STRONG SHOWING PICK UP FISHING SLACK

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 11-18, 2014

 

I can’t say fishing is great or even good, but by the same token, I wouldn’t say it’s bad either.  It’s just “different.”  Quite a few happy anglers but the catch just isn’t what we usually see right now.

I will say one thing, that even with the gigantic full moon this week, it was better than I expected.

If you’re confused…

The rooster fish bit solidly all week and they were some spectacular fish.  Every day we got 30-60 pounders and many were lost and happily all of the fish were released swimming away strongly!  For many of our folks, it was their first rooster or, their biggest rooster, or in some situations, they weren’t even expecting anything big and, as luck would have it, they tied into some trophy roosters!

As well, we had some better action on dorado with some of the larger fish we’ve seen this early in the season and some legit 25-35 pound bulls taken at both our La Paz and Las Arenas fleet.  I will say this.  Toward the end of the week water temperatures jumped.  The plankton that has been coloring the waters green burned off.  Waters turned blue and cleared up in so many places.  And with it…the dorado bite surely seemed to get stronger.  We’ll keep an eye on it and hopefully this is a sign of continuing better fishing!

On other fronts… wahoo season has been rocking along nicely.  Normally, we don’t see many wahoo until about this time of the year, but we’ve had a steady wahoo bite around Cerralvo Island now for 2 or 3 months!  There’s some quality 20-50 pound fish out there and other “grandes” that never made it to the boat.

Air temps are in the low 90’s with some Santa Ana style warm breezes blowing.  Several days the winds were pretty strong affecting fishing.  Water is a bit off color either because of the winds or because of plankton in the water but as mentioned above, clarity and visibilty  have improved rapidly .  A few more degrees warmer and it’ll all burn off.

That’s our story

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

 

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of May 4-11, 2014

Matt Garrett wahoo 5-14 small tags

Nice “skinny” for Matt Garrett from Washington who pulled up this nice wahoo that ran about 30 pounds just off Cerralvo Island. This was Matt’s first trip to La Paz. The wahoo have been pretty consistent now the last few weeks. We’re taking a few every day.

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This is the kind of dorado we like to see! Big bull dorado on the beach caught by Vince Bussio from Utah! There’s a few other dorado tails down by his feet as well.

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Great photo, smile and colors as Sandy Davis poses with a fresh wahoo off the south end of Cerralvo Island. Sandy is the sister of our good amiga, Donna Thompson who rocks the fishing grounds and lives in La Ventana. (Thanks for the photo!)

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Kansas City  in the house! Marion Lawver  pulled this nice dog-tooth snapper (pargo perro / dog-tooth snapper) out’ve the rocks. Tough tough fish that is all teeth, sharp gills and scales and lots of power. But they taste great! Nicely done!

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Some nice mahi on the beach as Don Henderson and Bill Cook from Idaho hold up a couple of dorado they caught with our Tailhunter Fleet and Captain Victor.

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Rick Rieken from Las Vegas has his hands full with a nice dorado and a nice wahoo! Some fish packing is in order. Muertos Bay in the background.

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It’s late in the season, but whalesharks are still in our La Paz Bay. Early this week, Jill and I took a few hours to snorkel with the hoping to find maybe 1 whale. Instead we ended up in the water with 8 of the gentle creatures! This one glides by the panga and is about 20 feet long! A baby…they grow over 50 feet long!

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With water only between 10 and 15 feet deep and incredibly warm, the big “babies” are feeding on plankton near the surface and often gulp their meals by opening their mouths and letting the food flow in! One of them seems to be giving Jill a big smile as it came next to our panga. We were snorkeling with our good friends at Fun Baja.

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It’s a great experience to get in the water with huge creatures and we had EIGHT of the “baby” whalesharks around us while we snorkeled for a few hours in water that was only 10-15 feet deep. Schools of foraging bait fish accompany the big whalesharks and feed off the leftovers! This big guy waited very patiently while I took his photo.

 

FISHING STILL ERRATIC BUT SOME QUALITY FILLS THE GAPS

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 4-11, 2014

 

Winds continue to be a problems…some days.  Others it’s barely breezy.  But this type of weather is consistent to this transitional time of year when it’s not quite spring and still not quite summer although air and water temps are relatively warm.  So, some days, it can be pretty bouncy out there limiting our range and style of fishing while other days, it’s like a pond!

Fishing is reflective of those conditions as well.  If it’s windy, we’re somewhat confined to inshore fishing, although that can be quite good for cabrilla, snapper, pargo, jack crevalle, small to large rooster fish and even some late-season sierra.  On the days that we’re able to range a bit further (fortunately, we never have to THAT far for our fishing!), we add to that list the larger dorado and wahoo which bit pretty well this week, especially off the north and south end of Cerralvo Island.   The wahoo were most aggressive in the early morning hours around sunrise and mid-morning and ranged from 20-40 pound fish.  Trolling with dark-colored Rapalas and Yo Zuri’s worked best.

The rooster fish saved us quite often with fish right up near the beaches and rocks going 25-50 pounds.

Summarily, it was spotty action.  Straight on…

It’s hard to explain.  You can do OK one day and, even tho’ conditions had not changed much, you can really struggle the next day.  Different boats do differently each day.  There can be long stretches of little action suddenly punctuated by the zing of a line going off or jetting jerked outta your socks by a fish slamming the bait or lure.

Bait continues to be a problem.  From what I’m hearing, the el nino has been plaguing the entire Baja.  I’m getting communications from the East Cape as well as Cabo asking if we have bait to sell or send.  I heard from friends in Loreto that they are also having trouble with live bait as well.   We’re making do with what nature gives us these days.  We’re using larger baits like stripped bonito as well as mackerel and caballitos…that all make excellent bait, but it’s not like you can throw handfuls of larger baits into the ocean for chum like we’re used to doing with sardines.  We are also using live ballyhoo as well.

One note of optimism is that I’m getting reports that out at the 88 bank outside of Cerralvo Island there’s lots of small mackerel and caballitos and small bonito balling up.  These are palm-sized fish that are super on the hook and we’re looking hopefully that in the week or two that area could blow up on us.  Last year, in the summer, the 88 turned into dorado and marlin candy land with dorado all going 40-50 pounds and marlin cruising the area in great numbers as well.

We’ll keep you updated!

Happy Mother’s Day to you and yours!   Hope it’s a good one!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

 

 

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Sportfishing for Week of April 27-May 4, 2014

Tom Worley cabrilla grande tags smalll 4-14-proc

Not bad for a first time out with us! From Evergreen, Colorado, Tom Worley pulled this trophy pig cabrilla (Mexican seabass) out’ve the rocks near Cerralvo Island. He was working a live bait early in the week.

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Many of you know Esteban Romero, one of our favorite amigos and who drives for us. Even he got into the wahoo action with this speedster while trolling a Rapala outside of Bahia de Los Muertos near Cerralvo Island.

dorado wahoo small pettit group McKell Condie 4-14

Another first-timer with us had an incredible two days of fishing getting and releasing his first roosterfish of about 40 pounds then sticking a wahoo and a dorado for the grand slam. McKell Condie was visiting us from Utah. Oh…and he also jumped in the water to swim with a whaleshark too!

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Big smile and a two-handed batch of dorado for everyone’s amigo, Jorge Romero, who also took some time this week to check out the fishing. He got a total of 4 dorado for the day.

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Always with a good day of fishing, Taylor Murphey, from Lakewood CA poses with a fresh colorful dorado she took fishing with grandpa Roger Thompson who kindly sent us the photo. That’s the beach near Muertos Bay in the background.

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Palm Springs in the house with his first wahoo…Ken Huskey photos-up with Captain Archangel on the beach with Ken’s wahoo. He also got a number of dorado as well.

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First rooster for Sy Thomas with Captain Victor posing behind him. This nice fish was caught and released just off the sand near the Las Arenas lighthouse. Check out the video below!  Just click the “start” arrow.  Thanks to Rick Kasper for the voice-over and video work!

 

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Amigo, Paul Nagata, from San Francisco, usually visits us several times a year and got away this week for a quick few days with his favorite captain Jorge. This particular day, Paul jumped all over the dorado, but the previous day he hooked a massive wahoo that straightened the hook near the south-end of Cerralvo Island.

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These two guys cracked me up! Left is Bob Martz and on the right is Jordan McMasters from Victoria, Canada. They show off a few of their dorado on the beach, but Jordan also caught and released a 50 pound roosterfish.

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From Mexico City, Carlos Westerman was able to get out one day with us at La Arenas and our Captain Archangel. The action wasn’t great, but he made the most of it and took this nice-sized wahoo and dorado.

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Captain Victor from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet isn’t short! Angler, Jay is just tall and Victor gives him a hand taking a photo of one of their bull dorado.

 

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Don Henderson from Idaho grips his wahoo near the water’s edge at Bahia de Los Muertos. Taken near Cerralvo Island. Don got a batch of dorado as well.

FRUSTRATING FISHING BUT SOME NICE HIGHLIGHTS ON A TOUGH WEEK

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of April 27-May 4, 2014

It was somewhat of a frustrating week of fishing.  It started well.  It ended fairly well.  But in between, it was a bit rugged.

We had some promise going into the week but then strong winds and some really high tidal surges and waves seemed to have not only stirred up the waters, but also chased away the bits of live bait spots we had as well as brought up cooler waters and some rougher waves.  Not exactly the best conditions or situations for fishing.  Just being honest.

There were some highlights, however.  What we lacked in quantity and action we tended to make up for it in some nice quality fishing.  There were some good-sized rooster fish taken that ran 30-60 pounds and some larger ones broken off.  All of them released.

There were also some larger dorado in the area as well that helped out as well.  Some of the pangas got limits or near limits some days.  Not everyone, but several boats a day would do well.  It just depended on the the spot as well as the luck and skill of the anglers.

But, truth be told, there were days this week when boats came back with nothing…either because of simple bad luck or losing fish or choosing to chase a fish that was “hot”one day, but cooled off the next.   I especially felt badly for a pair of flyfishing anglers we had that fished hard and hardcore like troopers for the entire week and pretty much came up goose-egged.  It wasn’t a good week for flyfishing…and tough for the conventional fishing as well.  Despite some nice catches, it might have been one of the more frustrating weeks of the young season.

The highlight would had to have been the wahoo that went on the bite again.  Every day, we took a few and lost even more to the speedy toothy fish.  But, for many of our anglers, it was their first wahoo with some decent 20-35 pound ‘hoos brought into the boat.  South end of Cerralvo Island was our hot spot trolling Rapala and YoZuri lures.

 

 That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

 

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