La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 25-31, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
First marlin is a blue! Dan Dorati with Captain Armando and Dan’s first marlin.
Tony Toven from Sylmar CA was fishing a live sardine when this nice wahoo bit not far off Cerralvo Island.
Double-fist roosters for Kincaid Hancock and his dad, Tommy, from San Diego. It was Kincaid’s first-time fishing on salt water. Both fish ate live sardines and both were released.
Austin Dorati puts another dorado in the box.
Patrick Busby from Louisiana battled this striped marlin on 20 pound test and a light 8-foot spinning outfit for an hour-and-a-half. He was fishing with the Tailhunter Fleet in La Paz. They were fishing light tackle in a school of dorado when the marlin bit.
Captain Rogelio gives Kincaid Hancock a hand with this dorado photo. It was Kincaid’s first salt-water trip. He’s from San Diego.
Tommy has another rooster for the camera. Catch-and-release!
One of the nicest guys to visit, great shot of Andy Lauber who fished with light tackle all week. All roosters were released.
Compared to last week, fishing was remarkably improved on so many levels . For both our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet and our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet, the bite improved the further away we got from the last week’s full moon as well as the remnants of 3 storms that brushed us, Lynda, Kevin and Marty that didn’t actually hit us, but their effects on the waves, currents and winds added to the full moon affects. Hence, I think that’s why the fishing was off.
However, this week, the roosterfish over at Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay were back on track with quite a bit of catch-and-release fish running up to about 30 pounds and the fish willing to hit live bait.
If you fished the inshore as well as the rocks and reefs, there were plenty of snapper, cabrilla, triggerfish, pargo, jack crevalle and other species to make for hours-of-action, if that’s what you wanted to do, especially on light tackle.
The most marked improvement was with the pelagic species. Still no tuna this year, but we did have some wahoo strikes. Marlin and sailfish also picked up with fish getting hooked daily. Some boats getting multiple strikes. Most fish released or breaking off.
Best of all, the dorado were much more cooperative for both of our fleets. Most fish were that fun 10-20 pound size and limits were not uncommon. Some of the dorado were biting right in the bay not far from in front of the hotels and Malecon.
Interestingly, we got some sierra and yellowtail in the counts. Those are usually colder water fish we don’t see until winter or spring.
A good part of the days of the week, we spent watching the track of Hurricane Norma. It had alot of us prepping to get hit as it came north towards Baja with winds predicted up to 90 mph. We were pretty sure we were in for several days of winds and rain. However, we were fortunate in that Nora bent easterly and veered towards the mainland instead.
We got some strong winds, but otherwise dodged a bullet.
We had to cancel fishing one day because the port captain shut things down, but we were able to get back on the water the next day. I am always worried after a storm comes through wondering how it would affect fishing. Sometimes, it takes more than a few days for the fish and waters to get back on track especially since the fishing had been pretty steady.
However, the storms didn’t do as much as anticipated and fish seemed to be willing to bite again after the storm.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 18-24, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Bob and Lisa Foster from Idaho. Bob got the dorado and Lisa battled the marlin…her first. They also released a bunch of fish as well.
Our poster-girl of the week, Taryn Mitoma, is about to start her 2nd year at UC Davis and came down with dad for a few days of fishing. Captain Alfredo lends a hand with one of her dorado.
Bob Cowan has come down several times and had billfish on the line only to lose them. This one ate a tiny sardine on light tackle and Bob had his hands full, but finally landed the sailfish. Captain Joel helps out. The fish could not be released.
We have watched 17-year-old Sean Rose from Washington grow up over the years and he’s now a high school senior then heading into the navy. He has been coming for years with his dad and shows off his first-day dorado.
Taryn and dad, Ed “Beaver” Mitoma with a couple of fun light tackle roosters caught and released.
Big smiles from Jeff Loh and Bob Cowan with a couple of fresh dorado for the box.
Not much to tell. Coupled with some big swell and winds left over from Hurricane Lynda and Kevin that barely touched us and moved outside to the south, it still pushed a tad of rain plus some erratic water conditions. Then, the full moon came up on us. Kinda of a triple whammy on the fishing.
Oh, and then were was Tropical Storm Marty that poked it’s head in as well for an afternoon.
Rain across the bay. Lightning in there too!
Everyone got fish, but we had to work hard for it and the fish themselves were picky.
Most of the bite for our Tailhunter La Paz fleet continued to be dorado up to about 20-pounds. Our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet had a smattering of dorado, but also roosterfish were more prevalent. Along the rocks, pargo and cabrilla were more than willing to chew. Also, still a good number of sailfish and marlin here and there.
Jeff Loh goofing with one of his dorado!
Interestingly, there were some sierra and yellowtail caught. Very strange since those are cooler water fish and it’s still August. Normally, sierra show up about November. Yellowtail are a winter/ spring fish! Just adds to a weird year!
Other than that, to be perfect honest, it was a bit slow. We’ve surely seen better. And things always change down here!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of Aug 10-17, 2021
The Mexican Minute Video Report
The Big Picture and the Rest of the Story…
We had a few short, but strong rainstorms blow through this past week.
Shelton Donnell, our long-time amigo, is always good to see in La Paz. He’s from Portland and had a nice few days and took home a nice chest of dorado.
There’s still nice roosterfish around . Paul Di Gaudio and his amigo caught and released 6 roosters on this particular day. Paul is from Corona CA.
It’s like fishing in an aquarium if you go for the reefs and rocks holding snapper, cabrilla, pargo and others. All great eating. Captain Joel in the middle with Jeffrey and Miles Brown from Oregon who hit the rocks with light tackle north of La Paz.
Smiles say it all. We’ve watched these two grow up for many years! Cortez and Sierra Sanchez came to see us from Colorado, but have been fishing Baja since they could walk! Nice dorado to take home to mom and dad.
Beto Chavez on his first trip to visit us shows off one of his several dorado. He says he’s coming back soon!
Mike O’Connell had a kick fishing with us for the first time and shows off his largest dorado of a 3-day trip.
Oh just too much fun for Gaby Donnell with another dorado for the box! She’s way fun!
A long way from Wisconsin, but he visits us every year and always does well. Jeff Brown with one of his dorado. Check those rain clouds in the back.
It was kind of an unremarkable in a good way this past week. The fish bit and everyone had fun!
The only issue was really the weather. We had tropical storms Kevin and Linda…and Linda turned into a Category 3 hurricane. However, they were far far outside and to the south and never threatened anything. However, both did send over some afternoon thundershowers that kept us on our toes wondering how it would affect the fishing.
Some of the thundershowers were torrential and caused widespread flooding even though the rain storm might have only been for 15 minutes to an hour. And, as often happens with our rain, it can rain really hard in one spot, but down the highway or across the bay, they are dry and in sunshine. Or you can be out on the water in sunny weather, but you can see columns of rain in the distance. Sometimes, it’s so hot, you actually want to drive the boat through the rain to cool off.
The good thing about the rain storms was that there wasn’t alot of wind. In fact, the seas stayed flat. So, even if it was raining or drizzling, we could still fish and actually it was quite comfortable.
Fishing-wise…our Las Arenas Tailhunter fleet still kept kicking out roosterfish between 10 and 50 pounds. Plus cabrilla, pargo, jack crevalle, snapper and bonito.
We SHOULD be finding tuna about now and also there should be more wahoo in the counts, but neither has materialized so far. Could start anytime. We hope!
For our Tailhunter La Paz fleet…well, dorado are 90% of the catch. Fun-sized fish running about 10-15 pounds mostly with some bigger bulls mixed in. Plus there’s still a far amount of billfish…striped marlin and sailfish getting hooked. All the fish this week were released or broke off as they were all larger fish on lighter tackle.
PASSPORT ISSUES
If you’re waiting for a passport renewal or a new passport for someone, it would be a good idea to check on it ASAP if you’ve got a pending trip. Just like last year, it appears the U.S. passport office is slowing processing so even if you expedite things, chances are it’s gonna take alot longer than anticipated. Don’t wait until the last minute to find out your passport won’t arrive on time!
Yes…even Spiderman needs to get his passport renewed.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 25-Aug.1, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
NOTE: MARLIN and SAILFISH PHOTOS! Folks…before you send me e-mails or post up hate messages, please take notice that there are ALOT of billfish photos in this report. These represent perhaps 5% of the billfish that our fishing fleet hooked this past week. There are THAT many billfish out there. Some days, the waters are thick with billfish. Many times our anglers are NOT trying to catch billfish. But the billfish are biting. The vast majority of the fish that we hook are released by our anglers or (being big fish), they break off or get unhooked). In many cases, the billfish you see here were unable to be released or, after the photo was taken, the fish were indeed returned to the water. In many cases, when the fish was not or could not be released, the meat was donated to local folks who were very grateful for the meat. But, that being said, anglers are entitled to keep a billfish if they did want to keep one and we are very stringent about never exceeding the billfish limits.
Marius came all the way from South Africa to spend two weeks fishing with us every-other-day. He was so impressed, he purchased property in La Paz! He caught lots of dorado and on this particular day hooked, landed and released four billfish all on light tackle including this striper.
Jeanne Cabales had to cancel her yearly trip last year, but is always fun to have visit. She’s pretty excited about these nice dorado. Jeanne is from San Diego.
Not too many funnier guys to have visit us each year than Sal Lopez with another dorado in the boat with our La Paz fleet.
Young Jacob Radloff from northern California…first day…fishing in the rocks in shallow water hooks his first marlin! You don’t have to go a zillion miles out to find big sportfish!
Bo Henke has been fishing with us for a generation every year. He always does well. Here with his son Gio and two of his box of dorado for the day. Loves fishing with Captain Chito.
Jose Mohler from Carlsbad CA had just one day to squeeze in for fishing and had a pretty good day of it with one of several dorado in the photo.
Captain Raul took Luis Arandia out for several days. One of them produced this striper. They took a number of dorado as well. Luis has been fishing with us for years and owns his own high end clothing line. Most of this marlin was donated.
My San Diego “bruddah” from Hawaii has never taken a straight-faced fishing photo in all the years he’s fished with us. This pargo is headed home in the box.
Molly and Travis came all the way from Texas with just one day to fish. They wanted to do some inshore fishing and had alot of action with cabrilla, snapper and triggerfish.
One of our long-standing amigos for so many years came back to see us and got a load of dorado over two days. Hector Chacon from Arcadia CA came down with his dad. Always good to see him.
Dan Sayin and son Aidan squeezed in a day of fishing at the end of their vacation and found a productive day on the dorado schools. Both are from Carlsbad CA.
Daniel Acosta on his first trip to fish with us for 3 days took this striper. Most of the meat was donated.
With the full moon earlier in the week, the fish counts took a tiny bit of a dip, but overall, it was just a nice solid summer week of fishing. It was hot, humid and sunny. Waters were blue and warm and mostly it was pleasant vacation style fishing which is perfect for most folks that are here right now. Lots of couples and families. Lots of first-timers experiencing Mexico and salt-water fishing for the first time. Quite a few kids. So the kind of fishing we had was pretty much just-right!
Dorado made up the mainstay of the catch, especially for our Tailhunter fleets that fish out’ve La Paz. Most of the fish were perfect fun-sized 10-20 pounders with the occasional larger fish. Schools were scattered over a wide area and could provide crazy action if the right school was found.
Sometimes a boat didn’t do as well as other boats, but the next could could be the exact opposite or the boat that didn’t bring back much fish might be because they tied into the other pre-dominant species we had this week…billfish.
Once again, as has been the case for the last two months, we’re seeing more marlin and sailfish than we have ever seen in many seasons. Often, whether you wanted one or not, it was not unusual to hook a billfish…or two…or three!
Many times the anglers are trying to catch a dorado or some keeper fish and along come the marlin and bites and they are in the middle of dorado or bonito or other species. The billfish comes along eating the bonito or the dorado and even the little sardine bait on the tiny hook and light line! Then, the angler is in for a crazy long battle or the fish gets off. It makes for some fun fishing and there is always the unexpected anxiety of not knowing just what is going to bite if you have a line in the water.
Most of the billfish were released or broke off. For all the photos, it represents only a fraction of the billfish that were hooked. If a fish could not be released, more-often-than-not the anglers donated the meat.
Other than dorado and billfish, the rest of the catch included roosterfish which are surprisingly still around with fish up to 40 or 50 pounds as well as jack crevalle, bonito, snapper, pargo and a few other random species. No shortage of action, especially if you’re fishing several days.
Like I said, you could have an off-day here or there, but if you’re fishing several days, the other days might well make up for it.
By the way, beaches have been re-opened and alcohol sales in restaurants and markets are now back to 11 p.m. instead of the 8 p.m. cut off. 😁👍
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 18-24, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Hector Chacon from Arcadia CA used to visit us every year for many years, but missed the last 5. He finally made it back to us and started out with a nice catch-and-release roosterfish fishing with Captain Jorge.
Tannier Pierson from San Diego was a billfish magnet for a few days. I think I heard he hooked one or two billfish a day including this one with Captain Pancho. All were released or broke off.
Smiles say it all. Megan Graves from San Diego while staying at Rancho Costa in Bahia Muertos poses with a fresh bull mahi.
One of the nicest all-time amigos, Rafael Rios fishing every year with us and hails from Corpus Christi TX. Good way to start the say with an early morning bull mahi! Pretty shot. We cooked up a bunch of it at our Tailhunter Sea Level Restaurant.
He said it was his best fishing day ever. Captain Raul lends a hand. They also caught dorado.
Catching a marlin is quite a feat. Catching one on a flyrod is incredible, but that’s what Greg Wetherbee from Colorado did with this pretty fish and Captain Rogelio. Greg Released the fish and over 5 days with his flyrod also caught numerous roosterfish, jacks, bonito, dorado and others. All released.
Just one day to squeeze in a day of fishing with us, Howie Cohen, had some fun with 4 droado plus snapper and cabrilla. Howie is from Alpine CA. He was fishing around Espirito Santo Island with Captain Raul.
Dan Jenkins staying at Rancho Costa Resort at Bahia Muertos looks pretty happy with his roosterfish! The fish was released.
Captain Gerardo with Wally Graves (the one smiling) and a nice marlin for the photos before a good release. Nice photo!
Hector says his dad, Richard Chacon, caught all the fish! Nice rack…dorado, snapper and huge triggerfish!
YEOW! This looks like a mutant! I wish Tim Dumler had a scale to put this fish on. What a dorado!
Greg has another one on the flyrod. This one a colorful dorado and then the meat donated.
It wasn’t a spectacular week of fishing by any means, but it was a good solid fun summer week fishing. Even with a full moon. Just fun! No real surprises. Everyone who wanted fish caught fish. Everyone who wanted to bring home fish, brought home fish. Everyone who wanted to bring some fish to have cooked up back on shore, had fish to cook up.
Some folks caught the bucket list they always wanted. For some, it was a billfish like a marlin or a sailfish. For others it was that first roosterfish. For others, they targeted dorado. If it wasn’t their bucket list fish, for some, it was the biggest fish they had every caught.
Indeed, roosterfish, marlin and dorado were the three pre-dominant species of the week. But the action was rounded out with good rod-bending on jack crevalle, bonito, triggerfish, cabrilla, pargo and snapper. Bait was not an issue.
Lots of smiles and good action. Can’t ask for more!
If anything, the biggest issue we had was mid-week when a hurricane way way way down south and headed out to Hawaii sent some big swells up the Sea of Cortez making it more than a bit bump and rough for our boats fishing out of La Arenas and damping down the bite. Conversely, the more protected waters north of La Paz produced better fishing during those days. When the seas calmed down so did the bite and right back to normal.
It’s really HOT and humid these days. Anyone coming down is advised to stay hydrated! Not kidding. Easy to get sick if you’re not drinking lots of water. Unfortunately, beer and margaritas don’t count!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of July 11-17, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Bennett Clegg always does well on the light tackle. This pretty bull dorado he caught while fishing with Captain Joel is no exception.
Ken Smith had just one day to squeeze in to try to catch his bucket-list rooster. He and Captain Armando rocked this big one and several others. All released.
That’s some good eating! Scott Pitts put this nice cabrilla in the fish box.
With Captain Rogelio our first-timer Utah amigos, Morgan Robinson and her dad, Cody just off Espirito Santo Island.
Tim Weaver is usually wearing black robes and has a gavel in his hand as a judge from Arkansas. This time he’s got himself a nice roosterfish. One of several all released.
I love this photo and we love this amiga…sheer joy! Toni Brown and Captain Alfredo with a fresh dorado on the gaff!
She’s been with us for years and always does well with her favorite Captain Pancho. Dolores Ehlers with another roosterfish. Photo and release!
Scott Dull squeezed in a quick drive down from Loreto to fish one day with us and ended with a sucessful catch of pargo, cabrilla and triggerfish to drive back up north.
Morgan Robinson with her first roosterfish off Bahia Muertos. Photo and release.
I THINK this is Greg Wetherbee behind the mask! He worked his flyrod for five days and caught a number of species including this slugger jack crevalle.
Pro fishing guide, John Daly, was a first-time visitor with us and shows off his first roosterfish outside of Suenos for a photo and release.
Now, here’s a nice photo! Colorful bull dorado caught by young Drake Rowland from Texas.
Ben Rodriguez, another of our first-timers this week, shows off a first-day catch off the reef with triggers cabrilla, big pargo and snapper .Ben is from San Diego.
Tim had himself a pretty active week with lots of species including this dog-tooth snapper. He did release alot of fish too!
Always a pleasure to have Mark Brown visit us. Last year, they had to cancel, but he was back this week and fished with Captain Alfredo taking this fat roosterfish north of La Paz. The fish was released .
I’ve known Ray Laney for years and he brought his son, Daniel, down for his high school graduation. They had to work hard for their fish, but the last day finally turned on with some nice dorado. Ray is from Oxnard CA
Dave Elliott and Bill Cogdall are two more of our new amigos who had to cancel last year, but came back this year for 3 days on the water with us. Great guys and glad to have them finally make it. They did pretty good on the dorado!
Cindy Weaver with her first rooster! Captain Armando lends a hand and helps with the release afterwards.
This photo is just too special. John Carser and his wife, Carol from Huntington Beach CA brought grandson Patrick to La Paz. Patrick is from Rhode Island and spending the summer with grandma and grandpa. This was his first time saltwater fishing and this was his first dorado! He did it! But, check the great facial expression! Grandpa John is all smiles.
His first marlin plus on live bait…on light tackle…and from a panga in shallow water! Tim Weave with his first striper…caught and released.
Hard to tell, but I think this is Mark Buddy behind the mask showing off one of several roosterfish he took on the fly while fishing the whole week with us . He got a number of species on the flyrod. All fish were released.
One of the best guys around…long time amigo from Denver, John Ehlers with his favorite Captain Pancho. John’s got another rooster to put back in the water as soon as he takes the photo.
Alicia Clegg from the East Bay of San Francisco can fish! She does so well every year. She’s got another dorado for the box!
Captain Rogelio poses with one of our new Utah friends, Stephanie Robinson and a nice dorado on the gaff.
Sam Sybesma from Bellflower is another of our good amigos who has been fishing with us for years. He brought down his son, Micah, this year. I think Micah caught bigger fish than dad!
Lots of first-timer roosterfish. Captain Armando with Teal Smith and her first gallo!
Late season rainbow runner caught by Crystal Bernhart outside of Bahia Muertos. Great eating fish we usually catch in the springtime months.
When you’re hot, you’re hot. Tim with another rooster for a photo and release!
Dan Hibma was visiting us for the first time from S. California and it looks like he’s got a nice dorado ready for the box.
It wasn’t a spectacular week of fishing to be honest. There weren’t alot of big trophy fish caught.
But, it was good steady summer fun fishing! Except for a few slack times, overall, everyone caught fish. There was plenty of action to go around.
Sometimes when it’s all big fish, especially for families, kids or first timers, big fish can be a tough fight. And often a big disappointment when they break off. With the fish we had this week, it was just pretty good steady fun fishing.
There might be the occasion off day, but most of our anglers fish several days. The good days usually made up for the slower days and the bite produced a good mix of dorado, billfish, lots of small to medium roosterfish, jack crevalle, big bonito, pargo, snapper, cabrilla and even some late season amberjack and rainbow runners.
The dorado have definitely slowed from the wild bite of a few weeks ago, but fish are still out there holding especially under the sargasso paddies. There were two days when there were lots of fish all around, but they just wouldn’t bite. It was frustrating. We figured it was just because the tides were especially slack and the fish simply weren’t feeding. That applied to the dorado as well as other species. The currents picked up and they fish started biting again.
Marlin have tapered as well. I think that has alot to do with the current, but also there has been so much traffic on the fishing grounds that the marlin have gotten lock-jawed. The marlin have been so thick over the last month that everyone and their brother, especially locals have been pounding the waters for the billfish. Hopefully, the bite comes back.
If you’re coming down, it’s been warm! High 90’s to low 100’s with humidity.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Bahia Muertos / Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of June 16-23, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
One of several marlin hooked and either broke off or released by Bernie Cooks from Reno NV. This one was a big blue that broke off at the boat on light tackle. Dozens were hooked this week and most were either released or broke off. Very few were kept.
First-time visitor, Jim Price from the Riverside CA area with a huge bull dorado on the beach at Bahia Muertos.
Yup! Those are the first real tuna of the season taken on the backside of Cerralvo Island chasing the porpoise schools. Captain Jorge with long-time Tailhunter amigo, Steve Ritz and new amigo, Owen Cruz.
Every year, same time year-after-year, Kelly Jimenez from Loveland CO hits big fish with captain Pancho like this hefty roosterfish she caught and released out’ve Bahia Muertos.
Yea! Finally some wahoo on the deck! Chris Garden from Arizona staying a Rancho Costa shows off the speedster taken on that purple Rapala.
What a trip he had! Jaxon Adams from Utah with his dad, Jeff, had a long battle on this striped marlin while fishing with our La Paz fleet.
Matt Cooley from S. Africa really wanted to catch a roosterfish and had only one day to do it. Check out this beauty that Captain Gerardo estimated over 80 pounds. Matt struggles to heft it for the photo before releasing it.
This is a MONSTER!!! Huge bull dorado for Owen Cruz. Not just his first time to La Paz but also his first time fishing on the ocean and on his FIRST day he hits the jackpot.
Tim and Gavin Corcoran rocked this nice wahoo out’ve Bahia Muertos from Gary Wagner’s place at Rancho Costa.
Lynn Starnes is a great angler and a heckuva a professional photographer. Most of the marlin photos in this week’s report are all here fantastic shots. Here she is with a rooster of her own with Captain Jorge before a quick release.
Young Noah Stark gets help from mom, dad and Captain Rogelio on this thick marlin. He also released another one. Nicely done! The meat was donated.
Captain Jorge gives a thumbs-up for the rooster photo with Bernie Cooks cradling this nice fish. The fish was released.
Check the head on this big bull dorado! Kelly was fishing with Captain Chito when she put the wood to this trophy mahi.
Matt Brown from Philadelphia give Sean Gill from Colorado on his big striped marlin he caught fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. They donated much of the fish.
Has to be one of the best photos of the week. Early morning dorado for first timer amigo, Chuck Gibson fishing with Captain Jorge how has a great smile for the catch. This needs to be framed.
Heidn Bahr only had one day to squeeze in for fishing, but with Captain Arcangel, he put her onto this marlin that resulted in a long long battle.
First-timer and first-day luck for Jaxon Adams who gets a hand from his dad on this big-headed bull dorado.
Table full of football tuna ready to get cleaned and a good photo with Jim Price who got in on the early tuna bite this week.
The rough windy ocean doesn’t deter Rhonda Hoyt with the big smiles for hooking this dorado north of La Paz.
Just a crazy beautiful photo! Stephanie Stark with son, Noah and Captain Pancho off the cliffs with a pretty rooster ready for release.
He always gets into the fish, Dr. Santiago Morales has an ice chest full of tuna fillets to bring home.
Scott and A.J. Dworak with Captain Armando show off some of their first-day tuna. The boys are from Colorado.
Great sample of some of the variety available right now. Kelly and Diego with dorado, triggerfish, pargo, snapper and cabrilla.
Jeff has a dorado for the camera to start the day and great colors ready to release.
In some ways the fishing this past week was not as good as it had been. There were alot fewer fish caught. But, what we lacked in quantity, was more than set off by the quality of the fish we caught. Maybe our anglers didn’t catch as many fish, but the fish they did catch were bigger.
I have to be honest, it was kind of a weird and erratic week. It wasn’t a great week. There was some great fishing. It wasn’t a bad week. But, there was some bad fishing. It was up-and-down and it was sideways. Bottom line, everyone caught fish. But, it was all over the place!
Alot had to do with winds that blew strong and cold in the mornings…and sometimes into the afternoons. Where did these winds come from? Totally unpredictable. We found ourselves wearing jackets in the morning. But, the winds really played a factor in clouding up the water and also blowing apart the big sargasso weed patches that were holding all those dorado for weeks.
All that great dorado action we’ve had for about 3 weeks dissipated somewhat. Definitely not as many dorado hit this week. However, the size and quality of the fish we hooked were some of the largest fish I have seen in decades. We had fish that were well over the 40-45 pound mark with some larger fish lost. A few of the bulls had heads that were easily 12-18 inches across and put up spectacular fights.
We even had tuna finally show up under the porpoise schools way on the outside. Football-sized fish of 10-15 pounds were running with the schools outside of Cerralvo Island, but on several days, our anglers fished them until they ran out’ve bait and the fish foaming and wanting more! This is really the first time we’ve had tuna in almost 3 years. Perhaps it also has something to do with the appearance of schools of tuna 6” squid we’re finding in the waters and in the bellies of the fish.
Roosterfish were as small as 15-20 pounds. But in many cases, especially if larger baits were used were 70-90 pounders! Almost all fish were released.
MARLIN!
The most remarkable even of the week were the marlin that finally decided to bite.
Again, I think alot of the great fishing this year had to do with the fact that Covid protocols kept all activities of the water this year so the fish had time to grow. Bait was unmolested. There was almost zero traffic on the water.
Brent Gaddis from San Diego .
So, for the first time in many years, we have had a wild billfish bite this past week. I am not kidding if I tell you that we maybe had 30-50 marlin biters this past week! Unheard of!
On several days, our pangas were hooking or getting bit by 1-5 marlin or sailfish per day! Whether they wanted a marlin or not, the marlin were literally swimming around the pangas sometimes. Folks who weren’t interested in hooking a marlin told me they drove the boat away from the spots and the marlin still followed them.
Diego Jimenez from Colorado
Marty Sering from Oregon
Others, fishing lighter tackle for dorado or other species suddenly found themselves on a long-battle…some lasting well over an hour…on these billfish. A number of first-timers got the thrill of a lifetime hooking several billfish on long struggles . On several occasions, there were double and triple hook-ups on marlin or folks would be hooked on a smaller dorado or bonito only to have a huge marlin eat the hooked fish! Exciting stuff!
FYI…probably 90% of all the billfish either broke off or were released. The photos shown in this week’s report represent only a tiny fraction of the fish hooked and in many cases, the anglers shown had already released other fish before finally running into a fish that could NOT be released. Much of the marlin meat was donated to folks that needed food.
Other species this week included, amberjack, snapper, pargo, cabrilla, bonito, skipjack, pompano and jack crevalle.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 1-7, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Dave Lindell has visited us many times over the years and always finds a good fish or two, like this nice roosterfish he caught and released with Captain Armando outside of Bahia Muertos. Dave is from Pendleton, Oregon.
Just a great shot! Big bulls in the hands of our San Diego amigos. Ryan Brock, John Stone and Jeff Correia ran into a nice school of dorado north of La Paz. There were more fish in the box.
Coral Hart always insists she catches more and bigger fish than husband, Jeremy.
We still have some nice grade pompano hanging out in our waters. John Stone is taking this one home.
Captain Jorge has a thumbs-up for Darren Robinson’s snapper that’s going to get added to the fish box for the day.
Dr. James Good from Denver just has too much fun! This particular day he hooked over 20 dorado and released most of them, but this huge bull is coming back to the freezer.
This is as good a photo as it gets. This is Baja. Just a pretty shot of our amigo from Denver, John Lowdermilk and his roosterfish. Fish was released.
Her biggest fish, gets a hand from Captain Alfredo for the photo. Tricia Kidman from Salt Lake City is all smiles.
Pound-for-pound maybe the toughest fighting fish we have down here, especially when they are horse-sized like this bonito caught by Darren Robinson.
One lonely tuna caught at the south end of Cerralvo Island got us all excited. Other fish were seen, but weren’t interested. Frankly, I think the fish was attracted to Bill Johnson’ great fishing shirt! Bill is another of our amigos from Denver.
A graduation trip after he just finished up at Texas A & M and starts work this summer, Quinn Mattson has double fisted dorado in hand .
Yes, marlin have started to show up finally. Tim Dummler with a pretty catch-and-release of this billfish.
Visiting us for the first time from Florida where he’s a professional chef, Preston Hix got into the dorado bite north of La Paz.
Another of our new Tailhunter amigos visiting for the first time, Brent Wischnack had a great few days with us and gets a quick photo with Captain Joel and a pair of nice dorado.
All the way from Massachusetts, Rich England’s day produced alot of action including several catch-and-release roosterfish like this one!
Alway fun. He never has a bad day, Rick Kasper (right) with amigo, Steve Shaolin, pose with 4 of their dorado headed to the freezers.
David Mkrtychev got his first roosterfish this trip fishing just outside of Bahia Muertos. The fish was released.
A tough fish to pull out’ve the rocks, John Stone adds this nice pargo to the fish box.
Alex Golubev has two more dorado to bring back to shore after fishing in the channel between Las Cruces and Cerralvo Island.
Steve Seeley’s first day and first trip to see us produced 5 roosterfish. All were released.
Gary Wagner has a knack for hitting big cabrilla out’ve the rocks and reefs around his place at Rancho Costa in Bahia Muertos.
Texas in the house! Duane and Quinn Mattson have some meat to take home!
Overall, the fishing just got one week better than last week and that week was one of the best period of fishing we have had in a long time. With great sunny weather and water’s continuing to warm and clear up, the schools of dorado around Espirito Santo Island and in the channel between the peninsula and the northern part of Cerralvo Island continued to be the main focus.
The dorado bite is producing some of the biggest and most plentiful dorado we have seen in years. Alot of that probably has much to do with the lack of fishing all last year during the pandemic. Fish this time of year are normally averaging about 10 pounds. This year, most fish are 20-40 pounders.
Sometimes, the bite starts slow and it takes a bit to find the right spot or right school. Some boats might do better than others on any given day. However, overall, limits or near limits of dorado are typical.
In addition to the dorado, numerous other species continue to help bed rods and produce alot of variety. Most encouraging are the marlin that we’re starting to see in our waters plus a smattering of tuna and wahoo.
Onto that, add in roosterfish between 10 and 50 pounds near the shores (all released); some huge bonito; jack crevalle, pargo, amberjack, the occasional yellowtail and sierra, pompano, trevally, rainbow runner, grouper and snapper and folks are getting plenty of action.
This week, American Airlines initiated the first direct flights into La Paz from the U.S from Dallas and Phoenix. These flights will continue until the beginning of September. This is the first time in almost a decade that we have direct flights from the U.S. to La Paz.
Note: Michael Wilson, if you read this, please e-mail me: Jonathan@tailhunter.com. Send me your e-mail address.
La Paz- Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of May 7-14, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
The BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Nice 1 day catch that doesn’t include all the roosterfish and jack crevalle they released, but left to right holding pompano, yellow trevally, snapper and pargo are Sy Thomas (Thousand Oaks CA), Brian and Kelly Bowman (Payson AZ) and Rick Kasper (Arizona/ Wyoming/ Texas/ California).
Yes, this is a massive pargo liso! See more about this fish below. Scroll down!
Another incredible week for these beautiful pompano. Maybe the best pompano bite I can remember! Just off the Punta Arenas lighthouse sands, Roger Thompson holds up a whopper!
Jordan Curet right off the rocks, she and her husband caught and released 6 roosterfish in a single day.
Todd Hembry was fishing north of La Paz around Espirito Santo Island with Captain Boli when this huge cabrilla bent his rod!
Roger again…wahoo again! Finally, the wahoo started biting this week. That’s Cerralvo Island in the backgroun and Roger has a knack for these speedsters!
Bryce Gordon with one of several nice roosterfish he caught and released this particular day just outside of Bahia Muertos.
Captain Jorge with Sy Thomas and Rick Kasper and a trio of tasty pompano.
Early season dorado and one of the first of the year for us with Todd Hembry caught just outside of La Paz Bay.
Bryce and Jordan Gorgon with a double double of nice pompano.
No shortage of action when the jack crevalle schools move into the shallow. Our amigo, Gary Wagner from Rancho Costa.
The man in the mask, Bryce Gordon, with another rooster for a quick photo and release.
No doubt, I can officially say the seasons are changing. Generally warmer sunnier weather with gentler kinder winds (most of the time!) herald that we’re finally moving out from the colder harsher winter conditions to an actual spring-time season.
The best indication of that are the water conditions understandably coupled with a change in the complexion of the fishing.
Although we still got occasional days of brutal winds, for the most part now, they are the anomaly rather than the norm. Waters are warming and in many areas changing from the cloudier-colder greenish gray to clearer blue waters.
After maybe the most spectacular yellowtail season in decades, colder water fish like the yellowtail are diminishing along with other cooler-water species like sierra and amberjack, although there’s still no shortage of a host of other winter-ish species like snapper, pargo-liso, barred pargo and some huge cabrilla/ grouper. If you like shallow-water fishing you can bend rods all day over the rocks fishing for these great fun fish.
However, more and bigger roosterfish have moved in. Fish in the 20-60 pound class can now be found along the shallow sandy beaches as well as near the rocky drop-offs near cliffs and around both Espirito Santo Island and Cerralvo Island. We had one day where 3 of our pangas totaled 18 roosters caught and released on a single day.
However, other members of that same jack-family like the roosterfish have been abundant as well to add to the species list. Big schools of slugger jack crevalle are cruising the inshore channels with fish up to 15 pounds but the biggest surprise has been the huge African pompano that have shown up.
This past week, we had more pompano catches than I have ever seen. Usually, the fish are 5-9 pounders, but the past several weeks has produced fish up between 10-15 pounds with multiple hook-ups on some pangas. Mixed in are giant yellow trevally (palometa) as well which are also members of the jack family and also great eating.
Related to the warming waters, we’re also finally hooking up some wahoo and some schools of dorado have moved into the fishing counts as well. Hopefully more of both in the coming weeks as conditions improve!
WOULDA COULDA SHOULDA (WORLD RECORD?)
This past week, we had a pretty exciting catch. Popular Captain Pancho with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet was out with Dr. Jesus Velarde when this huge pargo liso (mullet snapper) bit his sardine. Now, MOST pargo we see are 5-10 pounders and they are TOUGH TOUGH fish to pull out’ve the rocks!
However, this fish was estimated by Pancho to be about 50 pounds!
After checking the photo, I went to the IGFA website to check the official world record. It turns out to have been Rolla Cornell’s big 45 pounder caught in 2007 in our area with our friend David Jones’ Fisherman’s Fleet. Take a look at the two fish and see if Pancho’s is larger. They’re pretty close!
Rolla Cornell’s 2007 world record mullet snapper of 45 pounds caught in our waters fishing with David Jones’ Fisherman’s Fleet.
Dr. Velarde’s fish…maybe not as long as the Cornell fish, but most folks seem to think it’s much thicker!
It’s too bad, but still an incredible catch. There have been so many records and near records taken out’ve our La Paz waters over the years. The world record roosterfish of 114 pounds is still in the books and personally, we’ve had 2 world records set by our anglers and maybe another 6 that would have been world records except we cut them up into fillets and then checked the photos and record books later! We DO have an IGFA scale at our offices.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of April 29-May 6, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Roosterfish are in and they’re BIG! Captain Gerardo is about 6’1″ so you can see how big the fish is by comparison. He was out with Joel Jirales and the fish was released.
Her first dorado is our first dorado! Tracy Chung from Oregon with Captain Armando caught her first dorado and it’s a a big one! It’s also our first dorado of the season as well indicating that warmer waters have started moving into the area.
Our good amigo, Ed Buchanan from San Diego, always has fish and a good fish pose too! Yellowtail on the gaff and Cerralvo Island in the background.
Marcus Yoo had 3 blown out days in a row with winds. His final day he made up for it with pargo, cabrilla, snapper, bonito, roosterfish, pompano and even this small blue marlin that ate a live bait and could not be released. Marcus donated the meat to the local folks.
Now THIS is alot of meat! A big fat cabrilla caught by John Chung near Espirito Santo Island is a tough fish to pull out of the rocks and a real trophy not to mention great eating!
An incredible week for big pompano. Check out this big boy caught by Marcus just outside of Bahia Muertos.
John Gillespie from Havasu City AZ is all smiles with this big roosterfish he caught just off the shallows near Punta Arenas. The fish was released.
Donna Thompson with her favorite Captain Hugo and another pompano taken off the south end of Cerralvo Island where they also hooked yellowtail and other species.
First day and first-time visitors Marilou and Todd Hembry with Captain Adolfo and a nice mix of cabrilla and a pargo liso held up by Captain Adolfo.
Lorena with a highly-prized huachinango snapper headed for the fillet table. We had lots of variety this week on the days when the wind let us out on the water.
Tracy Chung and Patty Killian took the day with Captain Armando to compete against their husbands and winning with a nice rack of snapper, cabrilla, big bonito and a hefty yellowtail.
Oh the pain! William Balazar from San Diego has a smiling grimace trying to pose with this big fat bonito.
Lots of variety for John Chung and Jeff Killian (thumbs up) with Captain Jorge with cabrilla, bonito snapper and pargo on the fish board!
Laurie Reynolds poses with a colorful barred pargo and a big smile of her own.
Marcus with another huge pompano just off the rocks.
Talk about a haul! Captain Gerardo has alot of cleaning to do! Check out all the pompano on his cleaning table!
It wasn’t bad fishing this week. There was almost NO fishing for a good part of the week!
We not only had a full moon with strong currents, but the winter winds came roaring back after giving us a few weeks of break. The wind didn’t just make it tough to be on the water. It was impossible to even get in the boats and onto the water early in the week. Even after winds cut back a little, our fishermen still didn’t want to go out. Couldn’t blame them!
It was THAT rough!
So, we pretty much had to cancel half the week because no one could get out. After the first few days, the wind dropped back “a little” but then, like I said, no one wanted to go out…understandably.
It was not only wind, but COLD!
Hopefully, the last vestige of winter before things start being more “spring-like.”
I thought we were well on our way. But this week gave us a dose of reality again.
However, at the end of the week, winds laid back down. The warm sun came out and the dirty blown-out waters settled down and the fishing kicked back into gear with LOTS of variety. This included barred pargo, pargo liso (mullet snapper), big sierra, snapper, some huge cabrilla (seabass), as well as some of the biggest bonito we’ve seen all season.
We also had a super bite of big pompano up to 15-18 pounds with boats catching multiple fish. They were mixed in with the jack crevalle and big bonito.
In addition, we still pulled on some 15-20 pound yellowtail and a number were lost. However, as the waters are warming up, the yellowtail bite is diminishing. Plus roosterfish running 30-60 pounds were biting off the beaches.
On top of that, we got our first marlin and dorado of the season which are indicative that hopefully spring conditions are finally emerging.
Tailhunter Fish Report 