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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of Aug. 5-12, 2024

THE STRUGGLE IS REAL!

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 5-12, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN REPORT

WEATHER:  Cooler than normal but the humidity is way up.  Had a crazy “torito” blow in (baby hurricane) that comes out’ve nowhere and it dropped about 15 minutes of rain on us as well as some big swells.

WATER:  Crazy water.  Warm blue water patches.  Cold water patches that are dirty green and dark.  Surface temps are 85 in the blue water and in the 70’s in the green water.  Moving and changing daily!

SPECIES HOOKED THIS WEEK:  Yellowtail,  dorado, jack crevalle, bonito, rainbow runners, pompano, trevally, pargo, sailfish, marlin, roosterfish, baby tuna, amberjack, sierra

NOTE:  Very un-predicatable and unseasonable bite

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

 

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Captain Gerardo helps Steve Guidi with the gaff and a photo op wit this legit bull dorado.

Ray Cabales always has funny photos for us whenever he fishes, but this big rooster was a battle. Ray says his arms were pretty sore after the fight. Captain Pancho helps out. The fish was released.

Another weird thing for the fishing season! Gwyn Bailey wit a barracuda!! I’ve only seen barracuda caught about 3 times in 30 years. I have only seen a school of the one time while scuba diving. And never one this big! Good eating!

1..2..3…LIFT for the photo! Tony Smith hefts a gorgeous mossback yellowtail for the camera.

Good friend, Andrew Fernandez with a sailfish for a photo and release. He told me they actually had a double hook-up as his buddy Steve had a big dorado on the line at the same time. (see the first photo above!).

Mac Costas…pretty roosterfish right off the Las Arenas beach. He did release the fish. Jonathan Dille with the photobomb shaka!

Jeanne always looks like she’s ready to bite the fish back! She’s got a nice bull dorado for the camera pose!

Marcus Yoo just retired as a Lt. Colonel in the army and visits us each year. He’s in shape! But this big roosterfish was all he could handle and he could not lift it for the photo. Several estimates put this at well over 100 pounds and he needed an assist from Captain Victor to release it. He also caught and released another 30 pound class rooster.

Another strange fish we shouldn’t be catching right now. A rainbow runner related to yellowtail caught by Tom Hunt from Arizona.

Pretty shot with the blue water of La Paz Bay. John and Gwyn Bailey with a quad of yellowtail for the fish box.

 

Ray is ready for some yellowtail sashime and poke. He had some back at our Tailhunter Restaurant and I made up several good batches of rice to go along with it. He had big smiles!

YEOW!!! First day roosterfish TOAD for Jonathan Dille from Arizona!!! Definite trophy and they caught two that day and released them both.

Kind of a cute photo that I just had to include. Stephanie Worley fished with her husband James and really really worked hard for all their fish…and they know how to fish! But, got this dorado one of their days.

This is what we are SUPPOSED to be catching right now, but dorado are few and hard to come by, but Tom Hunt and Jack Sellers found these 2 pairs outside of La Paz Bay towards Espirito Santo Island

There was one day when all our boats went hunting for yellowtail and dorado and pretty much struggled all day hunting and pecking. John and Gwyn decided to head to the rocks and fish the rockfish and had a banner day on pargo, cabrilla, snapper and more!

Maybe the most frameable photo of the week. Leo Albers fishing with us for the first time with one of his big yellowtail! Normally , he’s fishing ling cod up the California coast .

Roger “Fluffy” McCracken has been a good friend over 25 years. He’s living in Portland now and always good to see him . Nice dorado, Roger!

One of the bigger dorado of the week. Mac hung this one off Las Arenas. We should be thick into these right now, but it’s been a crazy unusual season.

One of the funnest guys to be around…Chris Burgin…our friend from Texas will keep you laughing. He’s got an exceptionally large jack crevalle on is lap. Tough fighters. Basically, they are like roosterfish without the mohawk fin on their heads.

 

Andrew threw iron all day for the yellowtail but finally slammed this guy on the jig. That’s alot of work, but he enjoys the artificials.

 

OK…Is Jeanne angry at this yellowtail or does she really want a some incredibly fresh sashime? I love this lady. She cracks me up all the time. And she knows how to fish and have fun whenever she and Ray come to visit.

 

Another one of our Texas amigos. Shane Burgin fits the stereotype “good old boy” Texan to the letter! Always has something fun going on or to say. Got his biggest rooster ever with Captain Pancho for the photo and release.

__________________________________________

Where do I start?

I think I could write a book about this season.  Each week things get a little more strange.

We are still hunting and pecking for fish.  Some days some boats get fish.  Other boats, same spot, same bait, same conditions…it changes again.

It’s like the rest of the world. Mexico is not immune to the weird conditions unlike anything I have ever seen in 30 years working in La Paz.

No day  is alike.

We have hot humid days when the sun blazes and the humidity can be anywhere from 50-80%.  But we have cooler cloudy days.

Or hot cloudy days

Or chilly mornings.

Or ho days followed by chilly night.

We have days when the ocean is flat and then later that day or the next day it’s all roiled up with big waves, swells and chop.

There are days when we got baby hurricanes ( “toritos”) that last a few hours and blow boats off the water in one area but in other areas, there isn’t a cloud in the sky (Cabo got flooded), but we only got a few minutes of heavy rain.

We have spots of clear blue water and right next to it, cold dirty dark water. We have areas where this is cold water on top and warm water below and other areas where the warm water is on top and there’s colder water below.

We have days when there’s so much live bait.  The next day, we really have to scratch to find any.

We also have tons of sharks in the water.  You name it and it’s probably swimming around. Little ones.  Big ones.  Dark ones,…about the only kind we haven’t seen is the big white fella.  But that doesn’t mean he’s not around.  One day at Muertos Bay, right in the shallows where alot of little roosterfish and tiny sardines were bunched up a 12′ tiger was swimming in about 3′ of water right where our boats were pulling in.

And everything changes from day-to-day.

So, the fish are about as confused as we are.

We should be nailing dorado, tuna, wahoo, billfish…

Instead we’re having trouble finding them.  Even in the blue water at times,  fish that should be there aren’t there!   Believe it or not, there are some days when even the bonito and jack crevalle don’t bite and even (gasp!) the needlefish aren’t around.

We’re catching a few blue water fish, but literally just a smattering.  There were days last year where we caught more dorado in one day than we are catching in a whole week right now.

Instead, we’re getting pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle, snapper, pompano, rainbow runners and amberjack.  These are all cooler water fish that we catch in the spring and disappear mostly around June.

These species DID taper off.  But now they are back!

Same with roosterfish.  We usually don’t see many of those big boys after June. But (thankfully) we have big 30-100+pound fish around once again.  Where did they go and why are they back.  Some days, I am so grateful we have the roosters around because they are “bucket list fish” and when other species are hard to find, the roosters put big smiles on faces as they bend rods.

Another thing…

We just had the best yellowtail bite I have seen in 30 years.  Normally, we have a so-so yellowtail area around La Paz.  If you really want yellowtail head north to Loreto and Mulege which are famous for their yellowtail. We get a few days in the springtime here and there, but that’s kind of it.  It’s OK, but not great.  But again, these are a colder water fish.

And they are NEVER here in the summer and for sure not in August!

Well, this past week, we had 3 days when yellowtail were literally foaming on the surface and boiling on the baits.  Boats were hooking up to a dozen of these bruiser 20-40 pound fish.  Many getting lost and broken off, but the fish were slamming lines.  Then, I sent everyone there the 4th day to get in on the bite and …ZILCH!  We had 8 boats get 2 fish!

My captains said the waters and currents had changed and they also had trouble finding live bait.

The next day, the fish were back. So was the bait.  Waters had changed again!

Another strange one…little itty-bitty yellowfin tuna.  This is the right time for them, but I’ve never seen little mini-yellowfin tuna like this.  They are about 10″ long!

So, I give up trying to guess.  Come down and fish and it will be what it will be!

Captains are really pushing hard to find fish and running long distances looking for favorable conditions.  Staying out extra long sometimes as well.  Clients have been gems and also being patient and hanging with the program with smiles during the tough hunting days.

Some boats get hot and the boat right next to them can’t buy a bite.  Hot spots go cold for fishing the next day and cold spots suddenly produce fish the next day.

Just being honest.  It is what it is right now.

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.comMexico Office: 

Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

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

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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La Paz- Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of July 28-Aug. 4, 2024

FISHING STILL DAZED and CONFUSED

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 28-Aug. 4, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WEATHER:  We were worried about some dual tropical storms this week, but they stayed well to the south,  but dropped about 5 minutes of rain sprinkles on car windshields.  It did up the intensity of the humidity with 50-70% humidity some days and continued hot daytime temps in the hi-90’s.  Nights are comfortable.  Can be breezy at times more than normal

WATER:  Had a few rough days, especially for south-facing areas like Las Arenas with had some big swells caused by the storms to the south.  Lots of cold green water still around which is problematic for fishing, but later in the week, finding more blue patches holding fish.

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK:  Yellowtail,  dorado, little tuna, marlin, sailfish, amberjack, roosterfish, pargo, cabrilla, trevally, pompano, bonito, jack crevalle, triggerfish, snapper, rainbow runner

FISHING SCALE of 1-10;  3.5 still tough going

 

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO FISHING REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE AND THE REST OF THE STORY…

 

Talk about a mix. Perfect example. It’s August and we got warm water fish (dorado) and cold water fish (yellowtail)! Nice haul from new Texas friends, Lawrence Piccagli and son Henry.

DJ Oleson has a great grin to go with a big-time roosterfish right off the rocks at Punta Perrico. He released the fish too! Check out the glassy water! DJ is from Utah.

Josh Matthews and Bruce Bliechrodt with a good start on the dorado at Bahia Muertos.

Ohio man, Brian Bleichrodt first time with us picks off a bucket-list rooster near the sands of Punta Arenas. He released the fish.

Ahhh...more good Texas in the house! Our good friend, Chris Burgin with some dorado fillets to take home along with some pargo too!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Captain Jorge with a thumb-up and helping hand for Paul Jewell from Portland. First-timer with a trophy dorado for the photo!

Maybe 80 pounds according to Captain Jorge with a sunrise pose with Darrell Oleson and his big rooster! Darrell released the fish!

Just graduated from University of Texas…first day on the water for Alex Piccagli and Billy Conn. Two nice dorado. A fat yellowtail and TWO marlin…they were able to release one of them. Good first day!

Brent Bleichrodt from Denver with his favorite, Capt. Arcangel and Brent’s biggest rooster. Catch and release!

Jake Sybesma posing with a nice bull dorado

Captain Boli helps Shelton with a big mossback yellowtail that should NOT be here in August, but they got 4 on the day!

Captain Jorge with a smiling Destany Fawcett visiting us for the first time from Texas and a colorful dorado.

First day bruiser rooster for Brent Racker from Utah. The fish was released. He had a crazy few days with us. Drove all the way down with friends from Utah. Two days down…two days back..about 3800 miles round trip!

Michael Amodeo and son Michael from the San Diego area fished with us years ago and found some dorado and some of those little pop warner football tuna.

BAM…right off the bat. Jonathan Dille from Arizona with Captain Pancho punches two big roosterfish. Both released.

Might be one of my most favorite photos of the week. Lawrence Piccagli from Dallas TX got this tough bonito on the flyrod! He looks kinda happy! 😆

Sweet Gaby Donnel from Portland having fun with Captain Pancho.

Lucas Garrett and Keeley Chamberlain got a few dorado to start the trip!

If the dorado looks smallish, don’t be fooled. Micah is about 6’6″ and plays college volleyball. It’s a good fish!

Josh with Captain Joel and a chunky yellowtail near Espirito Santo Island. Crazy to be getting these quality fish in August. These are cold water fish we see in the springtime!

Wow! It’s August, but roostefish alley there off the Punta Arenas lighthouse is still kicking out some trophy roosters! Check out the catch-and-release rooster caught by Lawrence Piccagli!

If Brent looks tired, he is. This striper busted him up and gave him quite a tussle on a very light rod that they had to keep handing off!

Roger Mc Cracken and Paul Jewell from Portland had a nice day on the dorado and a bunch of those little yellowfin tuna!

Valerie Burgin…one of the sweetest gals every time they come to visit. She has no bad days! Six dorado for the fish box!

It’s rare, but sometimes the fish make it look easy!

Henry Piccagli and Captain Victor got a hog rooster for a great photos and release. Cerralvo Island in the background .

Captain Arcangel has a great expression. Brett has another rooster and release!

Jimmy and Amanda have quite a table of fish…dorado, palometa (trevally), barred pargo, yellow snapper, amberjack and cabrilla!

Yea! That’s the right kind! Billy Conn with his first trophy rooster. Quick release followed. Billy is from Texas.

Gaby was all excited about being able to bring fresh yellowtail back to Oregon for sashime!

Alex and Captain Jorge with his famous thumb…which is a good sign for this big rooster. Alex was visiting us from Texas and released the fish!

 

____________________________________________With so many fish pictures, you would think we had a great week of fishing.  And no doubt there were some really nice catches.

But, once again, we really had to work to find biters.  Captains pushed hard and guests gritted their teeth and fished patiently.

The weird weather, water and winds that we’ve had now for over a month continued to play havoc with the fishing season .  Every day was different. Ever boat seemed different.

There were hot days.  There were cool days.  There were calm days.  There were breezy, windy and rough days.  We had two big tropical storms to the south that never made it up here, thankfully.  But they did push up a few days of some really big waves and wind and just enough rain to mess up our dusty windshields.   I think the fish are as confused as we are.

What has been the biggest issue and causing the erratic bite has been all the cold dirty water that has been pushed from the south and from deep upwellings.  The colder water is clearly visible. The trick is to find the patches of blue warmer water holding fish!  And that moves from day-to-day and hour-to-hour!  There’s no rhyme or reason.  In my 30 years down here, I’ve never seen anything like this.

Whereas we should be deep into bluewater warm-water pelagic species this time of year, we are hunting and pecking for dorado which are usually numerous.  The ones we’re getting are ones we used to throw back in previous years.  Yes, there’s the occasional 20-40 pounder, but most are the 5-10 pound schoolie dinks.

The weird thing is that here we are in August…2/3 through the summer and all of a sudden cold water fish have shown up.  These are fish we never ever see in the summer.  Fish like 20-40 pound yellowtail…amberjack…rainbow runners…pompano…trevally…pargo…cabrilla…are all cooler water fish that we catch in the winter and spring.

They kinda disappeared around June, but now they’re back!  Weird.

But, warm water marlin and sailfish are here.  So are lots of sharks.  More than I have ever seen!

Another fish that we usually never see this time of year are big roosterfish.  Yet, here they are with 30-80 pounders suddenly back and providing action.  Go figure.

Here’s the thing to think about.  Yes, there are some big fish around and yes, you have a shot at them even with this unpredictable fishing.  But, you have to be ready.  It could be a trophy marlin or roosterfish.  Or a toad yellowtail or dorado.  You might have just one shot at the big boy.  There’s usually no 2nd chance if you miss it our bounce the fish.   There have been some big dissapointments because of lost fish!

All we can do is keep looking and keep fishing.  The season has been full of surprises.  It seems to be like this all over the world with the funky weather!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.comMexico Office: 
Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

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

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of July. 12-19, 2024

STRANGE OCEAN- STRANGE BITERS

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 12-19, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WATER – Just weird and strange. Blue water mixed with cold ugly dirty green water.  And seemingly changing daily.  Hot spots become cold spots. And vice versa.  The ocean is not it’s usual self these past weeks.   Temps on the surface ranging all over from 75-85 degrees.  Colder down deep.

WEATHER –  Strange as well.  Mornings are actually cooler than normal some days.  It’s July yet not a bad idea to have a windbreaker or sweatshirt.  Then blazing hot later.  Some days very very windy and rough.  Other days, not a ripple.

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK – Dorado, yellowtail, rainbow runners, marlin, sailfish, roosterfish, pargo liso, snapper, dog-tooth snapper,  cabrilla, triggerfish, bonito, jack crevalle

FISHING on the 1-10 SCALE:  4

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Jimmy Fontenot from San Angelo, TX, got this big trophy rooster off Las Arenas. Jimmy is a champion taxidermist and big game hunting outfitter and owns Wildlife Connections in TX. First time with us! The fish was released.

Mike and Pam Lara from S. California, I could not stop laughing whenever they were around because they always seemed to be having just the best time. They slammed dorado with us and took home a big batch of fillets! Also, first time visitors with Tailhunter.

Ahhh…Dolores Ehlers with her favorite Captain Pancho has been with us for many many years and we can’t help but call her “Mom.” She’s a treasure and she can fish too! She also makes a mean meatloaf sandwich! 😁

Weird and strange! Cold water fish like yellowtaill suddenly showed up this week! Right off the northern and southern ends of Cerralvo Island and north Espirito Santo Island as well as the Punta Arenas lighthouse! Gary and Miles Wagner with a nice pair. Gary owns the Rancho Costa at Bahia Muertos!

Bryan Gadol only had 2 days to fish with us and had quite a time. Fishing with Captain Armando check out the striped marlin. Great photo and the fish was released.

Sunrise roosterfish for Mike Frazier. One of several he caught and released! His wife claims hers was bigger! See the rest of the photos below!

Kelli Frazier made sure to let husband, Mike, know that HER roosterfish was larger than the ones he caught! Big trophy in the photo and they released all their roosters!

Love this photo and this young man! Mike Novotny with a gorgous blue bull dorado and his “deckhand” of the day, Dylan, son of our popular Captain Luis.

He wanted one and he got one! Randy Fontenot from Texas poses with his big rooster before releasing it. Brother Jimmy stands by!

My high school classmate from more than 50 years ago, Eddie Falcon, behind the mask with his super wife, Debbie and deckhand Dylan (son of Captain Luis) near Espirito Santo Island. Eddie battled this bull dorado with a bad shoulder and back and had been tussling already with several big bonito when the dorado slammed him! But, he got it and that’s what we made for dinner for them at Tailhunter that night!

Not quite sure whether Aaron or Kyle caught this nice marlin. Both of them laughed when I asked, but they said it was off the bucket list! They were with Captain Julio off Espirito Santo Island.

 

 

Richard Kraft is with us all week and has done pretty nicely each day with a variety of species and good action. I think this was his first day catch. Dorado and bonito!

Another sample of colder water moving in! Amigo, Gary Wagner, owner of Rancho Costa in Bahia Muertos with a pargo liso which we usually catch in the early spring. I’ve never seen them in July!

Cheyenne Lee on her birthday with husband Brody from Utah. First timers withus and some nice dorado to bring home. Check out Cheyenn’s bull! I believe she also hooked a marlin that day.

Gary Wagner with wife Tracy and daughter Brittany just off his place at Rancho Costa at Bahia Muertos with a dandy rooster for the quick photo and release. They got 2 nice ones on the day.

Lots of dorado meat for John Ehlers to take home to Colorado! John has been with us for almost 20 years and loves fishing with Captain Pancho.

Might be the best photo of the week! Nancy Novotny with Captain Gerardo and her big striper! It was a big time battle and Nancy released the fish swimming away strong!

Again, I’m not sure if Aaron or Kyle caught this big dorado, but either way, it’s a great fish and the meat went home to the same house!

Louisiana boys, Steve Dupuis and Scott Sebastien. Double marlin and both released!

First rooster for Brody to start the morning! Quick photo and release!

Pancho and John Ehlers with a big striper. John tried to release the fish, but was unable to revive it. He generously donated the meat!

Great shot and colors for Jim Lipkowski with his morning dorado fishing with Captain Armando.

In addition to a trophy rooster, Randy really wanted a trophy dorado as well. I think this one fit the bill nicely!

Steve’s got his rooster for a fast photo and get him back in the water for a great release!

Bryan Gadol off Espirito Santo Island poses with another one for the box!

Birthday rooster fishing trip for Cheyenne! Right in the shallows off the island. She released the fish too!

Marlin and her daughter, Priscilla were sure fun to have visiting with us. Nice batch of dorado. Marline has been with us before, but Priscilla was on her first trip!

The ladies had fun this week. Mike Frazier helps Kelli with a feisty jack crevalle!

 

______________________________________________

In four words…THE STRUGGLE IS REAL!

In 30 years down here, I can’t remember ever running into these kinds of conditions!

I dunno.  Like the rest of the world I can’t imagine we are immune from all the funky weird weather changes the rest of the world seems to be experiencing.  However, what I’ve seen the last 3 weeks or so has been perplexing to say the least.

Let me cut to the chase.

  • Yes, we are finding fish.
  • Yes, we are catching big fish.
  • Yes, everyone is catching fish.

 

So, let’s get that out’ve the way right off the top.

But, the erratic conditions and un-predictable bite is driving us all crazy.  Or maybe we’re just spoiled.  We’re just so used to being red hot on fire fishing this time of the year!

A spot that’s hot one day is ice cold the next.  Patches of blue clear water are right next to ugly green cold water.

Mornings can be cool and needing a sweatshirt.  Or they can already be blazing warm with out a breeze.  And yes, we have been having some unseasonably windy and rough days that should NOT be here and then calm flat days when we pray for a breeze on the water as respite from the oven-like heat of the day.

Somedays are humid.  Some days are incredibly pleasant.

Earlier this week, thousands of baitfish washed up on the beaches of La Paz Bay.  Attributed to the rapid heat of the water which caused an algae bloom which depleted the oxygen.  BECAUSE the WATERS WERE TOO WARM.

Yet right outside the bay, the waters were TOO COLD and had turned green and dirty!

Go further out and you find 85 degree blue water.

The fish are as mixed up as we are.  Nothing is for certain except our captains are working hard and ranging far and wide looking for the biters.  Our guests are hanging tough and patient  as well.

Dorado could bite one day. The next day same spot nothing.  Or we suddenly are catching cold-water fish like pargo and yellowtail that NEVER bite in the summer in spots where they should not be!

Marlin are being pests or a great find everywhere depending on your viewpoint.  We sure are hooking a lot and for all the photos you see above 95% are getting released or broken off.

More sharks in the water than I have ever seen too.

There are schools of dorado in the 5 pound (mini mahi) that are around, but they aren’t consistent but then there are big free swimming 20-40 pounders here and there as well.

One boat is all over the fish. The boat 20 yards away can’t buy a fish bite.  Some days Las Arenas is hot.  Next day it’s cold.  Same with La Paz.  It runs different every day with no rhyme or reason.

One of our captains that has been red hot hitting home runs all season suddenly goes several days without hits.

Go figure .

All I can say is look at the photos.  Come fishing.  Most of our guests fish several days and you might have an off-day, but you will probably make up for it on another day.  For sure, if you don’t have a line in the water you’re definitely NOT going to catch anything.

But, despite all the wackiness in the ocean, everyone is catching fish!  Just don’t ask me what you’ll be catching!

Steve andn Scott!

 

Oh wait…we also have a full moon this week too!  We’ll let you know next week how that impacts all the other variables right now!

That’s my story!

 

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.com

Mexico Office: 

Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

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

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of July 4-11, 2024

FISH GOT PICKY -WHAT CHANGED? 

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 4-11, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WATER:  Several weeks of southern winds and waves caused by those storms on the Eastern Coast of Mexico really turned our waters from blue to cold, cloudy and green in many areas. Directly affecting the fishing.

WEATHER:  Cool mornings.  HOT HOT HOT afternoons.  Strange for July weather.

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK: Dorado, marlin, sailfish, tuna, yellowtail, bonito, jack crevalle, cubera snapper, yellowsnapper, triggerfish, roosterfish, cabrilla, pargo

FISHING ON  1-10 SCALE:  3 😳😳😳🥲

MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Captain Luis gives first-timer Jessica Lister from Oregon a hand with a huge bull dorado that’s about as tall as she is!

Steve “Roosterfish King” Bryan from Seattle spends 2 weeks with us each year and only targets big roosterfish. He was in last week’s report and he’s got more fish for this week. All released!

David Jones from Oklahoma with a beast bull dorado!

Always too fun with Taylor Sering from Oregon and Captain Luis. Finally landed his sailfish! Fish could not be released.

Wonderful first-timer with us from Bakersfield CA, Dennis Slater had a good week on dorado and roosterfish.

Sal Lopez has been fishing with us for a couple of decades, but he finally landed (and released) his first roosterfish and it was a gem. He was pretty excited!

The Henke Brothers, David and Bo, our long time, amigos were with Captain Chito and landed a really colorful bull mahi!

Lots of great action on the jack crevalle that sure put up big fights. Austin Lister with a big smile and a jack!

All the way from Indianapolis, Brian Bauer with his wife, Rita, could not have been more excited with this big striper he battled on light tackle for a few hours! His first. Fish could not be released.

Great to have Kevin Lister come spend vacation time with us for his first-time La Paz trip. Got himself a nice jack on the gaff!

Fresh color on Austin’s dorado! Great shot!

Kim Sebastian from Louisiana scooted out and almost didn’t make it down because of Hurricane Beryl. He’s been fishing all over the continents for years trying to get ONE roosterfish and never even got a nibble. His wife said he could have one more trip and one more try. First day with us and Captain Pancho, he racked this 80-pound class rooster! His wife was more excited than he was! Fish was released!

Steve Bryan with yet another nice roosterfish…caught and released!

These two characters are funny as heck. Steve Dupuis and Vance Robichaux from Louisiana caught and released 3 big roosters on the day!

After several years absence, it was great to have Craig Corda from Calexico back with us and he’s got a big smile and dorado fishing with Captain Pancho.

Young Owen Fujita is a very good angler and comes fishing with us every year with his dad, Corey. Don’t be fooled, Owen can fish and his dad always rocks as well. Nice rooster caught and released and great photo!

Steve and Kim with Captain Pancho…double D’s! Two big dorado on the day!

One of the best fishermen down here…Kevin Shiotani…big tuna off Cerralvo Island. Maybe 100 pounder. The photo doesn’t do justice to how thick this fish really is!

Cathy and Randy Corda only had 2 days to fish with us, but took home some good dorado fillets fishing with Captain Pancho.

Brian posing with one of his dorado before it hits the fillet table!

It’s legit! Taylor and Captain Luis with a bull that might not fit in the fish box!

Our own Tailhunter Jorge Romero slipped out for a day off driving everyone all over to go out with Captain Chito. Fishing was tough, but they got this big dorado just off the rocks in shallow water!

Gilberto is somewhere behind the mask, but I’m sure was pretty happy with this big gallo for the photo then release!

Always fun…jack crevalle on the end of a line! Craig with the photo and smile! Fish was released.

That big heavy powerful tail was about to smack Steve in the face when this photo was taken, but he got the feisty rooster back in the water!

__________________________________

I’ll cut right to the chase.

It wasn’t a very good week of fishing.  Despite everyone’s best efforts, we struggled.

In the fishing biz, even down here, you have the occasional off day.  Or maybe one or two boats just have bad luck.  It happens.  It’s called fishing. Other days make up for it or,  if the fishing is off, it recovers pretty quickly, especially down here.

But, about 2 weeks ago fishing got pretty erratic and un-predictable.

It’s gotten worse since then!

It was hard to put a finger on it, but I think it’s a combination of factors.

One is those huge storms on the eastern side of Mexico the last 2-3 weeks that pushed across into Mexico affected our weather patterns here on the Pacific side.  We have strong southern winds, big waves and stronger than usual currents.

Waters have gotten turned over.  We have warm blue 85 degree water in some places, but then you run into big patches of colder off-color waters that are cloudy and dirty.  That usually means cooler water from down deep has pushed to the surface.

On top of that, we cut open the stomachs of some of the caught fish and found their bellies full of little red shrimp!  So, they are also full.  No reason to eat more.  Plenty of food elsewhere.

It has all really affected the bite.  Normally we should be in full-turbo right now.

Instead, we’re struggling to find a handful or decent dorado or dorado bigger than 18″ or better action than bonito, jack crevalle and needlefish.  It’s fun at first, but after that, pretty frustrating.

The dorado we have been seeing are some nicer grade 20-30 pound class fish, but not like it should be.

Marlin and sailfish are crazier than I have ever seen them.  A good example was that the other day, I had 14 pangas out with about 30 anglers.  Ten boats hooked at least one marlin or sailfish even though they were not trying.  The billfish just happened to be feeding.  All the billfish either broke off or were released.  A few didn’t revive and most meat was donated.

Funny thing is that the few times where our guest specifically targeted billfish, they mostly caught zero!  The boats that had no intention of catching billfish hooked billfish accidentally!

Thankfully, the roosterfish have hung around.   Still some big hogs in the area including trophy-fish running 40-100 pounds!  Larger ones have been lost.  Still pretty thrilling to hook one of these on light tackle.

Our anglers have been great and patient and hung in there.  Captains have worked extra hard.  We can only keep pushing on.  Hopefully, things will turn.  If we don’t have lines in the water we definitely won’t catch anything.  We’re still having fun!

ADIOS y VAYA CON DIOS OLD FRIEND

Cheers and Godspeed to Pops Henke our dear long-time Tailhunter friend. We’ll see you again, amigo!

THANK YOU AND KEEP THEM COMING

For all of you sending prayers and good thoughts for Jilly, thank you beyond words.  She’s hanging in there and we appreciate you all!  One day-at-a-time.  Small victories.  We’ll take them and each day is a gift and blessing! 😁👍🙏🙏🙏🙏

That’s my story

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.comMexico Office: 
Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

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

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

 

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of June 18-25, 2024

DORADO FINALLY START SHOWING UP

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 18-25, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WATER and WEATHER:  No question, it gets hot during the day, but things are mixed.  Some mornings can still be cool and blustery. Waters are generally blue and clear and getting wamer, but that big storm that his the southern U.S. last week moved over to Mexico then to our area bringing strong winds and some big waves.  It clouded up the water and 1 day we were not able to fish.  We even had a little rain one morning as well.  Oh…and there has been real honest-to-goodness fog along the coast and up the mountains!

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK:  Dorado, yellowtail, roosterfish, marlin, sailfish, jack crevalle, rainbow runners, triggerfish, bonito, barred pargo, yellow snapper, cabrilla, sierra, pompano, trevally and amberjack

FISHING ON A SCALE of 1-10:  6.5

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO FISHING REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Jim Stahlman has been fishing with us for many years, but said he had one of his best days ever landing a number of large dorado and yellowtail north of La Paz Bay.

 

Gerry Eichhorn from Edmonton Canada had a banner week with almost a dozen large roosters caught and released with Captain Victor.

Kyle Hoogervorst on his first visit to us got into the yellowtail very nicely while fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

Love the cigar look! Steve Hoogervorst is funny as heck and poses here with a tough jack crevalle right off the sand at Punta Arenas. The fish was released.

Lou Salatich has a legit bull dorado here with Captain Armando. They also caught and released 2 marlin.

Vern Eichhorn with another rooster to add to the scorebox of fish released over the week! Vern is from Canada on his first trip with us.

Tino DiLeon and Bryan Hyland with big smiles and a full table of dorado and rainblow runners! I also see a cabrilla as well.

Our long-time amigo, Bob Sayre from Chicago has his hands (and mouth) full of bull dorado!

Jeremy Hart and Chase with a nice marlin in the boat. Marlin have gotten more active the last 2 weeks.

Art Torrez and Rich Sevaly with first-day dorado for the cooler and eating at Tailhunter for dinner!

Still some chunky yellowtail to be had. Jim Stahlman with another forkie for the ice chest!

Paul and Phil with a pair of tasty mahi on the beach at Muertos!

Gary Wagner at his place the Rancho Costa at Bahia Muertos with son Miles and an amigo with dinner…snapper, cabrilla and yellowtail!

Captain Armando give Lou Salatich a hand with his striper. The fish was released!

Margo Salatich and Captain Armando with another bull for day!

Tanner Pierson and son Braedon with Jim Bovee, our friends from San Diego with yellowtail and dorado fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

Gerry and Vern with yet another big roosterfish for a quick photo and release!

Ryan’s first dorado fishing with grandma Margo and Captain Gerardo!

_____________________________________

Well…it was a good fishing week, but a weird weather week.

Yes, it’s summer, but that big storm that hit the southern coast of the U.S like Texas slammed there.  Then, it was big enough to move across mainland Mexico where it made its presence felt then was strong enough to come all the way over to the Pacific side and affect things in Baja.

It produced some windy blustery days and some big swells and waves coming from the south.  It even brought a bit of rain.  The southern blow and swell made fishing a big difficult for our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet since we launch at Bahia Muertos which faces south.  One day it even shut down the fishing.

Get this…we’ve even had FOG!  Yup…fog.  Real FOG!  Go figure.  Up on the hills and along the coast.  Crazy crazy weather.

But overall, still a pretty OK fishing week.

No bones about it, this is a cooler time of year than normal.  Although it can get blazing hot in the day, this isn’t our typical weather.  Mornings can be cool.  The surface temperature of the ocean is warm, but down deep the waters are still on the chilly side.

The result is that on top, the warming waters are finally bringin in the blue water species like dorado, marlin, sailfish and even a few tuna.  However, we’re still seeing colder water fish like yellowtail, amberjack, rainbow runners and sierra.

Overall,  still a crazy mix of fish that seems unpredictable from one day to the next.

Our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet are still finding some nice grade yellowtail up into the 30 pound class mixed in with some nicer 20-pound class dorado or larger.  Plus the occasional billfish.

Our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet is where we’re getting the big mix of dorado, billfish, pargo, cabrilla, bonito, jack crevalle, roosterfish and more.  However, getting live bait has been an issue as we’re having to run all the way over to the backside of Cerralvo Island to get live bait befoe we can even begin to start fishing.

Roosterfish are still around from 5 to about 60 pounds along the sandy and rocky areas for those of you coming in the next few weeks looking for that rooster on your bucket list.

Also, strangely, there’s a ton of sharks in the water!  Never seen so many reports of sharks on the fishing grounds biting lines and chasing hooked fish!  Crazy.  But, there’s a whole bunch of little tiny tuna swimming around.  They are smaller than bonito and the captains think that’s what’s bringing in the sharks!

Will keep you posted!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.comMexico Office: 
Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

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

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of June 10-17, 2024

WARM WATER FISH WAKING UP!

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 10-17, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

Weather: No doubt summer is here!  It’s WARM and HOT in the daytimes.  High 90’s to low 100’s, but not as much humidity as I might expect.  Mornings surprisingly can be cool. I had to wear a sweatshirt some morning when putting folks on boats.  Evenings are in the mid-70’s.  Bring a light windbreaker or sweatshirt!

Water:  Mostly blue and warming.  Got some surface temps in the low 80’s now, but about 20-30′ down there’s a cooler thermocline and that’s why I think we’re getting fish like yellowtail and amberjack and other cold water species still hanging around.

Fish Hooked This Week:  Roosterfish (up to 90+ pounds), jack crevalle, yellowtail (20-25 pounds), marlin, sailfish, amberjack, bonito, dorado, pargo, trevally, pompano, sierra, cabrilla,  needlefish, triggerfish,  rainbow runners.

Scale of 1-10: 6.5 to 7

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Somewhere back there is Gerry Eichhorn! He and his brother Vern came down all the way from Edmonton Canada and fished 6 straight days for big roosters! They caught and released 11 with Captain Victor!

Kelly Jimenez from Aurora Co, can fish! She and her husband have been fishing with us over 20 years. She always rocks it. Check outh the big yellowtail. They caught 10 of these hog ‘tails and others were lost in a crazy bite.

First-time visitor, Eric Granados with his first roosterfish not far off the sand at Punta Arenas. Fish was released.

From Ontario CA, Bruce Sakamoto was also visiting us for the first time and got quite a variety of fish like this slugger yellowtail.

Baltazar Sakamoto battled this striped marlin on light tackle for THREE hours! Jorge Soto helps out. They were not able to release the fish and hooked many other species as well.

 

One more for the camera! Vern Eichhorn and his brother, Gerry, from Canada hooked and released 11 of these brute roosterfish over 6 days with Captain Victor.

Behind that rooster dorsal fin is a happy fella named Keith Mitchell who really wanted to catch a big rooster this trip! He caught and released TWO! Keith is from Texas.

These guys worked like crazy over 3 days with their flyrods! Roy Yoshida and Norm Fujimoto with a couple of tough jack crevalle on the flyrods near Punta Arenas.

Nice pair! Jorge from Texas and Bruce from California got these fishing near Espirito Santo Island.

What a pretty photo and fish! Chris Sommer with Captain Jorge and a fresh bull dorado.

Travis Moore had just one day to fish and really wanted a rooster! BINGO! An armful of roosterfish. The fish was released!

Can’t find nicer or funner folks than John and Arla Washington from Reno who fish with us numerous times. Nice rack of fish including dorado, cabrilla and snapper!

From Miami after meeting us at the Nashville Safari Club Show, Roberto and Cathy Padron were a joy to have visit us for the first time. Nice table of dorado headed to the freezers!

First time fishing and first time fish! Tino Dileon got himself a nice bull fishing with Captain Chito!

DiChiarro boys from Texas all came down and got into dorado and roosterfish with us!

More happy Texas boys with the DiChiarro family and more nice dorado to take home!

Chris and Jan Sommer with Captain Jorge and a colorful bull mahi.

Diego Jimenez was a bit tired after he and his wife Kellly got into a wild bite of yellowtail near Punta Coyote. Check out the lineup!

Captain Luis and Captain Chito give Kelly a hand with another hefty yellowtail!

Al Hed from Oregon gets a laugh from Mike Jennings. These guys always crack me up. Al has TWO striped marlin on two rods. Mike has another! They hooked FIVE marlin on the day and were able to release 4 of them. One didn’t make it, but they donated the meat. The photos below are two of the marlin.  They were with Captain Pancho.

ANOTHER ONE? Yes, that’s Captain Victor with Vern Eichhorn and yet another big rooster for a quick catch…photo…and release!

From Wyoming to visit us for the first time, Stacey Sanger and Chad Beers had a nice day on the water!

After you battle a fish and your arms are shaking, it’s hard to hold it up for a photo. Enter Captain Victor to give Gerry an assist with this beast roosterfish before they released it.

Keith got TWO of these the same day and was ecstatically happy. All fish were released.

Vern Eichhorn with another roosterfish. 11 of them on the week caught and released with Captain Victor.

A good day on the dorado for Diego and Kelly, our long-time amigos from Colorado.

Baltazar and his dad, Bruce, with quite a variety at Bahia Muertos including snapper, cabrilla, trevally and dorado.

 

______________________________________

It was another good solid week of fishing down here.

I won’t say it was good all the time for everyone.  There were some ups-and-downs, but overall pretty good.  Maybe some boats did better than others or there was an off -day or so.  However, since most of our guests fish multiple days, at the end everyone had fish.  It might not be the exact species they were hunting, but the bite was definitely there.

Plus, once again, we had so much variety, you really never knew what was going to end up in the fish box.  It was a buffet of species again:

Marlin, sailfish, yellowtail, dorado, roosterfish, amberjack, sierra, wahoo, pargo liso, barred pargo, cubera snapper, bonito, jack crevalle, cabrilla, pompano, trevally, rainbow runners and triggerfish.

Boats right next to each other could have completely different days!

Also, although the waters are getting warmer…up to about 80 degrees…there’s a thermocline about 20-30 feet down where the waters are a good 5 -10 degrees colder.   That’s why we’re still catching yellowtail, amberjack and some of the other cold water species.

Each week, I think the yellowtail bite is over, they come back!  So, we’re still getting 20-40 pound forkies!  Not sure how much longer they will be around, but they are real horses!  I can’t believe they are still here this late in the season!

But, it’s evident that the summer bite is getting stronger.

More marlin and sailfish are getting hooked, but the best indicator is the increased presence of dorado.  More dorado are showing up in the counts.

Roosterfish still here too!  Some big 50-100 pounders are still bending rods!

BAHIA MAGDALENA

Our long-time friend, Jim Stahlman, has fished with us for years.  He just retired and decided to drive his new RV down from Idaho down the Baja and fish along the way.  He wet lines at Bahia de Los Angeles as well as Loreto.

He finally spent 4 days fishing with our good friends Judith and Rigo in Bahia Magdalena.  Check out the photos from fishing 3 days inside the mangroves in the bay and 1 day outside on the high spots.  Jim said he probably caught 10 different species.  Lost count of how many fish they released where it was non-stop action and broke off on some huge beasts that took him deep!

Snapper, grouper and halibut!

big smiles. Tasty grouper!

Double corvina in hand!

Jim’s wife is gonna love what he brings home. These grouper are great and she loves the head and collars…the whole fish if possible!

Captain Rigo with Jim. Yea, these guys have toothy choppers!

Day 1 – 14 grouper and numerous releases.

Hook up!

That’s my story.  Again, this fishing report is dedicated to Jilly.

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.comMexico Office: 
Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

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

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of May 23-30, 2024

FULL MOON FEVER?

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of May 23-30, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN REPORT

WEATHER:  Getting hotter finally. Humidity hasn’t really hit yet so that’s a good thing.  Daytime temps now in the high 90’s or low 100’s.

WATER:  Getting bluer and warmer, but there is an apparent thermocline about 20-30′ down.  So surface temps are 75-79 degrees, but 5-10 degrees cooler below the thermocline which is why we’re still getting the cooler water species like the yellowtail.

FISH HOOKED:  yellowtail, amberjack, sierra, barred pargo, dog-tooth snapper, yellow snapper, marlin, sailfish, wahoo, bonito, cabrilla, jack crevalle pompano, trevally, dorado

FISHING SCALE of 1-10: 7

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Toad-sized hog yellowtail for Matt Correia from San Diego with the mackerel bait still hanging from it’s mouth. I recall they hooked 7 that day north of La Paz!

First time in La Paz, Emma Hart, with her first roosterfish too! She’s visiting us from San Diego.

So much variety this week. Casey Petersen off Cerralvo Island with a palometa (trevally). Good eating!

Finally seeing some of the big boy roosters! Paul Cowdell from Utah has been talking to us for years and finally came down. His first day he got the better of this big rooster estimated of about 100 pounds. Paul also released the fish and caught several others he released as well.

Mark Bonsack from Cle Elum WA fishes with us several times a year for almost 20 years now . He always get into the fish like this rare banqueta grouper caught down deep.

The ladies were rocking it this week! Another first timer, Myra Schmonsky all the way from Green Bay WI with one of several roosters on the day. All released.

Visting us from Austin TX, JD Durst said this jack crevalle battled him long and hard off Punta Perrico.

Always great to have Johnny Stone visit us from San Diego. He never disappoints getting onto the fish like this big mossback yellowtail. They hooked 7 that day.

Blaine Larsen and Capt. Julio with our first boated marlin of the year not able to release. It was Blaine’s first and they had another one hooked the next day that threw the hook! Much of the meat was donated.

Great colors on Jim Schmonsky’s dorado. Look how close to shore he is…those are the rocks of Punta Perrico about 20 yards away. Don’t have to go far to find blue water fish!

Our long-time amigo, Brad Sleder from S. Carolina with another unusual banqueta grouper. These are great eating!

Always great to get big smiles from first-timers like Casey and Emma with their first day fishing when they hooked and released 5 roosters!

Whoa! Victor strains to help Myra with her hefty first roosterfish estimated at 60+ pounds. Myra released the fish.

Nice rack of fish! All tasty amberjack at Bahia Muertos for Jason Correia and son, Matt, from San Diego.

My poster-shot of the week! This could be a magazine cover of Paul Cowdell and one of his big roosterfish right off the Punta Arenas lighthouse beach. Fish was realeased!

Jason with another big yellowtail headed to the fish box and more fillets for San Diego!

Jim Schmonsky and Captain Boli posing with another mossback ‘tail and some dinner fillets at Tailhunter Restaurant!

She was so much fun to have visit. Martha Cowdell from Utah in the calm waters off Punta Arenas with a jack crevalle (released). Tough fish when hooked!

Double armfulls of yellowtail to heft up…John Stone and Jeff Correia coming back from Punta Coyote!

From Alaska on the flyrod. This ain’t no salmon. The Mexican name is “toro” (jack crevalle) which means “bull.” Damon Harvey had some fun with these sluggers on the flyrod .

Myra sure had fun in their one-week fishing trip with us. Dorado…just one more species to add to the different species she caught all week!

Lots of fun jack crevalle all week. Not real good eating so they all get released mostly, but difficult to battle and a tough fish on rod and reel. Captain Alfredo and Jason Correia.

_________________________________

I won’t say it was the greatest fishing ever, but it sure was a solid week for sure and the best week of fishing so far this season with lots of variety; big fish and some species we’ve been waiting for!

And all on a full moon too!  ( I usually don’t put much stock into the full moon/ bad fishing theory down here.  Maybe other places I have fished, but not so much down here!)

We got our first marlin.

First sailfish.

The first big boy 50-100 pound roosterfish.

We got wahoo.

Big big yellowtail (and lots of them!),

We got some dorado finally too!

But, then add in barred pargo, pargo liso, cubera snapper, yellow snapper, sierra, amberjack, jack crevalle, bonito, pompano, trevally, amberjack, triggerfish…and more!

Let me tell you, we were busy every afternoon in our Tailhunter fish packing room!

Huge slabs of yellowtail fillet…FROM JUST ONE BOAT! We were commercial vacuum packing several hundred bags a day of fish!

Plus, we were whipping up lots of cooked fish every night at our Tailhunter Restaurant to cook up the fish that our fishermen brought in!

But, like I said, a good solid week.

The yellowtail north of town were as good as I have ever seen it.  The fish are a healthy 15-40 pound mossback forkies.  Some biting live mackerel deep and others up on the surface. Boats were coming back usually with 2-8 yellowtail and telling me stories of losing just as many of the fish to broken lines or pulled hooks or some fish they just could not stop!

Fishing with our La Paz fleet that’s pretty much the highlight.

If you wanted the variety of all the other dozen or so species, fishing with our Las Arenas Fleet was were we had you go out.  Honestly, if you had a bait in the water, you never knew what you were going to hook.

Fishing for roosterfish, you might also hook jack crevalle, dorado, trevally or pompano or one of the larger 50-100 pound roosterfish that finally showed up.

If you fished over the rocks, we were hooking big mullet snapper (pargo lis0), barred pargo (pargo mulato) and dog-tooth snapper (pargo rojo/ pargo perro/ cubera snapper) as well as cabrilla, yellow snapper, palometas and others.

Not sure how much longer we’ll be getting this kind of variety.

As things warm up, we’ll usually start seeing more dorado, billfish, wahoo and hopefully some tuna and fewer of the cooler water species.

The air temps are definitely on the upswing as many parts of Mexico have been in a heatwave.  We’re getting sunny hot temps now in the high 90’s and low 100’s.  Nice thing, however,  is that the humidity still hasn’t escalated.

The water temps are 75-78 on the surface which is typical, but it appears there’s a thermocline 20-30 feet down where waters are 5-8 degrees cooler and that’s why we’re still getting so many cold water species.

No doubt, it’s hot.  Bring the sunscreen and wide-brimmed hats and cover up!  And do not forget to stay hydrated or you’ll get sick down here real fast.

OH…and ONE MORE THING DANGIT…

Because of the national, regional, state and local elections on SUNDAY, all alcohol sales in La Paz are prohibited from 6 p.m. Saturday night until Monday morning!   Some special areas in Cabo and some other cities got exemptions and in the past, we’ve gotten an exemption as well as some hotels.

But, not THIS YEAR!  In La Paz, restaurants (like ours), hotels, cantinas, grocery stores…cannot sell alcohol.  Just poke me with a fork…

We’ll keep you posted.

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.com

Mexico Office: 

Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

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

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

“Keep the circus going inside you, keep it going, don’t take anything too seriously, it’ll all work out in the end.”

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of May 15-22, 2024

NO WAY TO KNOW WHAT YOU MIGHT HOOK RIGHT NOW!

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of May 15-22, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WEATHER:  Sunny and getting warmer.  Nights are in the 70’s and day time in the high 90’s but still very comfortable because the humidity isn’t here yet.  Plus, if you get hot, jump in the ocean!

WATER:  Getting bluer, but not as warm as I would expect as shown by all the yellowtail and other cold water species we’re getting. But you can tell it’s getting warmer by more warm-water species showing up.

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK:  Quite a lineup!

Dorado, yellowtail, amberjack, rainbow runners, marlin, tuna, wahoo, roosterfish, yellow snapper, pargo liso, pargo mulato, cabrilla, white bonito, skipjack, sierra, triggerfish

Note:  More variety fishing with our Las Arenas fleet.  Mostly nice yellowtail and a few dorado with our La Paz fleet.

FISHING ON A SCALE of 1-10 – 6 1/2. (pretty good!)

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Sanford Slack from Washington State had just one day to fish with us and knocked it out’ve the ballpark with two wahoo (see photos below), big cabrilla and two big yellowtail!

Julia Mitchell on her first trip to visit us is all smiles with her first roosterfish. She had quite a week down here. The rooster was released.

Captain Rogelio estimated this thick yellowtail caught by John Pechous to be about 40 pounds! John was a first-time visitor and came to us from Arizona.

Gary Wagner at his place at Rancho Costa has one of the best eating fish, a hefty cabrilla (seabass).

Ray Millman from Rancho Palos Verdes with a nice dorado and Captain Victor doing a photobomb. Ray rocked the week and went home and booked another trip with us in September!

Yes…bigger roosters have moved in! Mauricio Levy from Monterey CA has an armful of rooster! The fish was released.

We had a nice little jag of wahoo at the south end of Cerralvo Island this week. Sanford popped two of the speedy ‘hoos with Captain Hugo.

Julia’s yellowtail is bigger than her dad’s yellowtail, she claims! Captain Alfredo looks on. They were fishing around Punta Coyote.

Gary Wagner at Rancho Costa in Bahia Muertos with quite a rack of fishi. I can see yellowtail, dorado, barred pargo, yellow snapper and cabrlla. I’m sure they had a great dinner there that night.

Willy Moers is always fun when he comes down from Colorado! Quite a day here…cabrilla, yellow snapper, dorado and rainbow runner.

Bill Mitchell was one of my first Tailhunter clients almost 30 years ago. Good to have him back and here’s another yellowtail for the box. He and his daughter put 7 on the deck this particular day.

Tough-fighting pargo liso are still schooling in the shallows. Julia has another one!

That’a alot of sweet fillet meat for Sanford with a trophy cabrilla in the pose.

Julia and Captain Alfredo with another yellowtail.

_________________________________________

Just another good solid week of fishing down here.

Everyone got fish.  Everyone ate fish.  Everyone took fish home!  That kinda says it all.

The “problem” is that I couldn’t pinpoint what kinds of fish were biting.  Every day and every boat things changed.  We caught so many different species of fish once again as the waters change from cooler to warmer and both cooler water species and warm water species mix things up.

Boats came back with different catches every day.  Even if they fished the same spots.  Boats next to each other caught different fish.  One day fish were small.  Next day all the fish were trophy.

It really made it fun.  If you went out…if you had a bait in the water…you just never knew what you were going to catch.

It was quite a list:

Dorado…yellowtail…jack crevalle…bonito…skipjack…tuna…wahoo…cabrilla…sierra…amberjack…rainbow runners…pargo liso (mullet snapper)…barred pargo (pargo mulato)…dog tooth snapper (cubera)…yellow snapper…marlin…roosterfish…milkfish…triggerfish

I probably missed one or two!  There were that many species!

I think as things get warmer, we’ll be narrowing down to dorado, tuna, billfish, wahoo and roosterfish among a few others.  I don’t know how long the waters will stay cool enough to hold this kind of variety, but for now, it’s alot of fun.

Things are definitely getting warmer.  Night temps are in the mid-70’s.  Day time temp are in the mid-to-high 90’s.  However, the humidity really hasn’t hit yet so it’s still very pleasant sunshine days with mostly flat warm 75 degree waters on the surface, but a cooler thermocline 20-30 feet below.

That’s my story!

Jonathan

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.com

Mexico Office: 

Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

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

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of May 6-14, 2024

SOLID WEEK OF VARIETY

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of May 6-14, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WEATHER:  Brrrr…the mornings can sure be chilly and blustery, but then giving way to warm and mostly sunny days in the high 80’s to low 90’s.  Getting a big more humid but overall pretty pleasant.  The evenings are great.

WATER:  Slowly getting warmer, but there’s more cooler water than warm water.  The cooler water is keeping species like yellowtail, amberjack and sierra around.  If you find the warmer  water, that’s where the occasional dorado will be.  Surface temps are in the 70’s, but key is that you hit a chilly thermocline about 20-3o feet down that drops the water into the 60’s.   Visbility is about 20-30′ underwater.

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK:  yellowtail, roosterfish, rainbow runners, barred pargo, pargo liso, yellow snapper, tuna, cabrilla, sierra, skipjack, bonito, jack crevalle, sheephead, triggerfish, wahoo

LAS ARENAS FISHING:  This is where we are seeing the most variety of the fish listed above.  If you want a chance at a whole bunch of different species, this is where to fish.

LA PAZ FISHING:  Mostly yellowtail (although bigger fish) and some dorado and smaller roosterfish.

FISHING SCALE of 1-10:  5

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Ray Millman is all smiles after a good day of yellowtail fishing near Espiritu Santo Island. They caught six this day. Ray is one of our first-time amigos!

Captain Armando put Davin Smith and his friend on a big pargo and dorado and other action. The fish ended up back at our Tailhunter Restaurant for dinner!

Bill Malone with a big palometo. His first time with us and his first palometa which is related to pompano and trevally. Bill is from Torrance CA

From Minnesota with Captain Joel, Cole and Jadin Bauman with a nice bunch of yellowtail in the box!

Whoa! Finally, some of the larger roosters starting to show up! Ray with Captain Victor. They caught a number of fish between 40 and 80 pounds. All released!

Shaka sign from Justin Orr and his yellowtail with captain Armando. A good bunch of this fish ended up as ceviche at our Tailhunter Restaurant.

Rich Ambrosini was another of our first-time visitors this week and poses with Captain Gerardo and a rooster Gerardo estimated at about 50 pounds. The fish was released.

Trophy barred pargo caught in shallow water near Punta Arenas by Ray Millman. Great eating!

Nice batch of fish on the cleaning table with lots of variety for Rich Ambrosini and Gary Orr with Captain Gerardo. I see snapper, cabrilla, triggerfish and a big barred pargo.

__________________________________

Not a bad week at all.  Everyone got fish and everyone who wanted to take home fish took home fish!  Mornings are a bit chilly, but daytimes are warm and sunny and humidity is starting to come in too.

Overall just a good week on all levels.

Just sorry that I don’t have that many photos this week.  I just didn’t get as many from our anglers or, as one amigo told me, “We were too busy catching fish to take photos! Our hands were full!”

Good reason!  LOL

Not every boat did good every day.  To be honest.  But, if one boat was slow one days, they surely made up for it on other days.  Most folks fortunately fish with us for several days.

“Bad fishing” is also relative.

Someone might come back and tell me it was slow or bad.  I then talk to the captain who tells me they lost about 5 or 6 nice fish.   That’s good fishing, but bad catching.  And understandably, some of these fish are not only big, but tough and if you’re not used to it, or the conditions, fish will beat you up.

Also, if someone comes back and they were chasing tuna or wahoo all day, well, honestly ,that’s a gamble.  You’re not gonna catch them if you don’t try, but it’s also swinging for the fences with ha home run.  The fish are there and biting or they aren’t.  And it just wasn’t your lucky day.  The other boats that went after the more prevalent fish like yellowtail, pargo, cabrilla, etc. did way better because that’s what is actually biting and there are alot more of those fish than the bigger blue water species right now.

All-in-all, there was alot of variety once again.

Maybe over a dozen different species hooked including: yellowtail, roosterfish, rainbow runners, barred pargo, pargo liso, yellow snapper, tuna (big), cabrilla, sierra, skipjack, bonito, jack crevalle, sheephead, triggerfish and even a few wahoo.

But that’s what makes it fun.  You really never know what’s going to bite right now if you put a bait in the water.

The highlights included some good-grade yellowtail up to about 30 pounds.  Some dorado in the 15-20 pound class as well as some trophy-sized pargo showed up.  Really encouraging were the larger roosterfish that finally showed up in the 50-80 pound class.  About time!

The dorado are scattered right now and you need to fine the warmer water.  The yellowtail are on the surface around Espirito Santo Island.  Best deal is to catch live mackerel under the big oil tankers in the bay then head out and drop a mackie into the current!

The tuna and wahoo were hooked at the south end of Cerralvo Island and the bigger roosters were caught near Punta Arenas in roosterfish alley, but there are lost of the smaller 5-10 pounders along many beaches right now.

Mornings are chilly.  Bring a light windbreaker or sweatshirt that you can take off when the sun comes blazing later on!

It’s a nice time to be in town!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

 

 

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.comMexico Office: 
Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

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

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of April 28-May 5, 2024

MUCH IMPROVED!

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of April 28-May 5, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WEATHER:  Getting warmer and mostly all sunny days.  Can be breezy and cool at night and in the mornings with temps in the high 50’s to low 60’s.  Daytime temps in the high 80’s to low 90’s.  Shorts and flip-flop weather!

WATER: Bluer and warmer.  There are warm spots and cold spots holding corresponding fish.  Closer to shore, it’s warmer. Waters average 70-70 degrees.  Visibility about 30′ down deeper

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK:  Yellowtail, pargo, grouper, amberjack sierra, rainbow runners, bonito, jack crevalle, tuna, wahoo, roosterfish, snapper, cabrilla, milkfish, dorado, triggerfish

BAIT:  La Paz side – mackerel and sardines.  Las Arenas side – mostly sardines, but having to go to the island to get them and also cocineros.

FISHING ON A SCALE of 1-10:  6

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

It was his camouflaged shirt! Mac Christofferson with Captain Armando and the matching colorful bull dorado!

First time with us, Keely Lauber from Louisiana got her first roosterfish also. (released too!)

Our long-time amigo from Boise Idaho on his way to retirement was out with Captain Victor and took a nice cabrilla.

The Thompson Family…always into the good fish with a rack of wahoo and big cabrilla! Fishing with Captain Hugo!

Allison and Johnny Hogan had themselves quite a week. Check out Allison’s big dog-tooth snapper to go along with Johnny’s dorado. They had a bunch of other fish as well.

 

We’ve known Tom Ames for a long time and he’s letting his Santa Beard fill out nicely! Good yellowtail caught north of La Paz near Espirito Santo Island.

I think Darrell Manginelli from Ventura CA must have caught about 10 species on his recent visit with some firsts for him like this palometa!

Captain Alfredo with Randy Choate and a nice dorado for the fish box!

WHOA! A trophy grouper? A giant cabrilla? Allison visiting us from Oklahoma tied into this big boy and landed it with big smiles!

First-time Houston visitor, Howard Bonhomme also got his first roosterfish (released).

Just a great photo of Keely Lauber and her bull dorado she fought on 20 pound test and refused to give up the rod! Well-deserved smile!

Somewhere behind that rooster dorsal fin is Barbara Choate posing with Captain Victor with a smile. Fish was released.

First time and first fish is a bull dorado for Captian Jorge with Mike from Bakersfield CA

No question, but Donna Thompson knows how to fish. She always has a knack for big cabrilla also. Fishing with Captain Hugo.

Our newest amigo from New Jersey, Eugene Wowk spent the week with us and caught a variety of fish like this dorado.

Tough tough fish to pull out’ve the rocks, but Darrell managed this one just off Punta Perrico where the pargo are spawning right now.

Pretty photo of Mac with his yellowtail on Captain Rogelio’s boat.

Johnny Hogan and that big cabrilla!

Another species for Darrell. Roosterfish was released.

Another catch and release rooster for Randy near the island!

Tom Ames and Captain Armando with another dorado for the box headed to dinner at Tailhunter Restaurant.

The “Mad Hatter” Konrad Knoeferl has visited us several times and always great to see him here. Day one…roosterfish on the line! (released). He also got some rainbow runners.

These are fighters…jack crevalle. Kinda like roosterfish without the headgear! Keely with Captain Pancho. Caught and released.

I think this is a good day? Captain Gerardo was out with Allison and Johnny with yellowtail, amberjack, dorado and a big cubera snapper!

_________________________________________________________

It was a much more consistent week and more typical of this time of year.  Basically spring-time fishing.  Honestly, it’s a beautiful time to be down here.

The daytime temps are a sunny high 80’s to low 90’s, but the humidity has not shown up yet.  The evenings are cool and comfortable down to the high 50’s or lower 60’s.  A windbreaker or lights sweatshirt is a good thing to pack along especially in the cool mornings.

Waters are getting warmer and bluer as well.

The number of species we caught this past week was pretty incredible.  But, it’s not uncommon for this time of year where we get such a mix of cooler water and warmer water fish.  Cooler water fish like the pargo, yellowtail, sierra and amberjack are still hanging out, but giving way to warmer water fish like the dorado, tuna and wahoo.

Plus you have the fish that are specific usually to the spring-time bite like pompano, trevally, roosterfish and jacks.

I think overall, we hooked close to 2 dozen different species this week.  Not much of any one species to load up on, but just a great variety…one of these…two of those…3 of these…1 of those,  etc.  And every day was different.  Every fishing hole could change.

Honestly, you really never knew what you might hook if you had a bait in the water.  And that makes it kinda fun!  I never knew what the fish report would be from one day to the next.

But, everyone caught fish:  yellowtail, tuna, wahoo, dorado, roosterfish, cabrilla, grouper, dog-tooth snapper, barred pargo,  pargo liso, snapper, pompano, jack crevalle, bonito, skipjack, rainbow runners, trigger fish, milkfish, palometa…about the only thing I didn’t see this week were billfish.

More specifically, the more prominent fish were yellowtail running 10-30 pounds with the larger ones being caught fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. The fish are biting jigs and live bait.

Yes, there are tuna…50-100 pounders!  We hooked one and lost it, but some of the commercial guys have been able to land some of these larger fish.

Wahoo have shown up around Cerralvo Island if you get out early and fish the jigs and the dorado have been 10-18 pound school-sized fish with a few larger ones.  They key is finding the warmer areas and temperature breaks.

Also, yes, roosterfish have shown up.  Mostly fishing in the usual spots with my Las Arenas fleet.  Seemingly lots of fish in the 5-10 pound class.  There are a few in the 40-50 pound size showing up and hopefully more as the waters get warmer.

Live bait is moving around so sometimes you gotta chase to where the bait guys are catching the sardines so some days that takes a little longer than usual.

Overall, everyone is catching fish and everyone wanting to bring fish home or have some cooked up at our Tailhunter Restaurant have not had an issue.

By, the way, after 4 years (since Covid) we are in the process of re-opening those upper 2nd and 3rd floors of our Tailhunter Restaurant whic are going through a full-remodel including the upstairs bar and kitchen!

We’re really excited and it this is the 15th year anniversary of the restaurant.  We’re pretty excited and hope to have things ready by next month!  Jilly has the workers hopping all over!   Plus we’re finally expanding our menu and bringing back some of our old favorites now that the upstairs kitchen will be open again!  Stay tuned!

Don’t forget, if you’re coming down that your balances are due 30 days out.  No stress.  Just a reminder!  We’ll see you down here!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.comMexico Office: 
Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

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

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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