Kristen Barnard from El Segundo CA was on her first trip to Baja and went fishing with Uncle Joe Barnard from Honolulu HI when they tagged into this pair of nice dorado near the Las Arenas lighthouse.
Our amiga, Marianne Sugawara visits us about 2-3 times a year and always fishes with Captain Jorge. It usually pays off like with this nice bull dorado taken south of Bahia de los Muertos!
The Kodama Men...Dad (Curtis) with Daniel and Darin...were on their first trip to visit us in La Paz and put some nice dorado in the box after their first day.
Definitely a good week for the ladies! Kelly, Kristen and Kathy Barnard pose with some of their Las Arenas catch of dorado.
It was another great week for roosterfishing off our beaches...largest being a 60-pounder and almost all of them were released. Dr. Al Yu took this one near Punta Perrico with Captain Adolfo looking on and the fish was released.
Quite a few of our clients had a blast by going to light tackle and working the inshore structure like Jeff Sakuda and Mark Aizawa who used spinning rods and flyrods to nail cabrilla, pargo and roosterfish like these!
Steve and Shirley Erquhart live in the mountains of California's Sierra Nevada off-the-grid in a log cabin he built by hand in the forrest, but came to see us and did well after 3 days of dorado fishing showing off a trio of bulls they took fishing north of La Paz.
Fred Li, had a great mix of fishing working Espiritu Santo Island where he went to knock out some pargo and cabrilla along the rocks. He did great, but then this nice 22-pound bull dorado came swimming into the shallows and ate his sardine too!
They called it a "man-cation" this year for their La Paz trip. JR Nojadera came with his dad, Al, Jordan Richards and Dennis Cudal to swing on some fish and did well on the dorado, but probably had their best time taking out the fish along the inshore waters of Ceralvo Island with roosterfish, cabrilla, and pargo like these!
WEEKLY TAILHUNTER VIDEO CLIP
Click the link to check out the weekly video clip:
La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 7-14, 2011
There was no shortage of fish if you wanted to catch dorado. For both our La Paz and our Las Arenas fleet, the dorado were again the center of attention and made up more than 90 percent of the catch. There seem to be so many spots where the dorado are congregating some of the anglers were laughingly getting tired of finding dorado everywhere they looked.
Some days were better than others, but overall, there were limits or near limits of dorado almost every day. The only issue was whether the fish would be caught 1-by-1 over the fishing day or whether it was going to be slow all day topped off by explosion of finding a hungry school and the ensuing madness as every rod got bent!
Most of the fish were in the smaller 10 pound class, but there were a few larger in the 20-30 pound class. Larger baits usually drew the larger fish. It was good to hear that many of the anglers either dropped to lighter tackle or else catching and releasing so many of the smaller fish or realizing they had so many fish already in the freezer they released ALL their fish. A few of the guys even took the hooks off their surface lures just to watch the dorado slam the lures and take off with the lures only to let go and have another dorado pick it right up!
For other species, there were a few marlin and sails hooked and busted off. Roosterfishing could be as frantic as the dorado if you got into the school-sized fish. One group of our anglers threw Shimano wax wing lures all day-long and hooked rooster and after rooster but said with bait they could have been bent on every cast. Largest rooster of the week was a 60 pound fish taken by Tom Barnard who revived the fish and released it.
No tuna to speak of. They popped up here and there then moved off faster then we could chase ’em. No wahoo either.
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR #1 Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
Big league bull dorado for Mike Rossi of Santa Ana who got this big guy to chomp a live sardine near Las Arenas. It was a decent week for dorado fishing for both our La Paz and our Las Arenas fleet.
That's an armful! One of the largest fish of the week taken by first-timer Mike Ehrlinger, from Orange Co. CA. He took this huge bulll...his first fishing north of La Paz near Espirito Santo Island.
It's great to see first timers kick butt like Mac Oudin shown with Captain Adolfo from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. Mac go this first dorado; his first sailfish (40 miinute fight and he released it!) and this beautiful roosterfish that he also released. Great sportsmanship, Mac! Gracias!
Here's another good sport. Bill Hughes really wanted a roosterfish this trip (his 2nd to see us), and he tried repeatedly to revive this one (he wasn't even trying to catch a rooster at the time, but it bit the lure in deep water and they thought it was a sailfish! Most roosters are caught in shallow water.). They repeatedly tried to "swim" the big fish back and forth but were unable to revive it. But, a great catch and the folks on the beach gladly accepted the gift of the fish for making machaca and soup.
Alex Gragg (middle) has been chomping at the bit for years, but his dad, Ken, who comes down several times a year told him he had to wait until he was 12-years-old to come to La Paz. So, he finally made it! Shown here with older brother, Steve, and Tailhunter Capt. Boli, they pose with some of their dorado from a good day of fishing!
It seems we have alot of great roosterfish stories this week. Harlie Deckhard from Arizona had hooked up to this big roosterfish off Las Arenas when the reel seized up and was ready to snap the line. Quick-thinking Captain Pancho grabbed another rod and while holding both lines, cut the line hooked to the fish and in the heat-of-battle, quickly spliced on the 2nd rod-and-reel and the fight continued! Great story. Great fish...which Harlie released after the photo!
It wasn't a big week for yellowfin tuna, but every few days the fish popped up. Most were like these held by Mike Ehlinger, Bernard Jain and Joe Fuschetti on Las Arenas beach. Note the other fish on the sand.
That's Rick Gil del Monte goofing in the back of Dave and Paul Henke holding up a few of their dorado they caught after 3 days fishing with our Tailhutner Las Arenas fleet.
It's a long way and a big difference between Baja and the Arctic Circle, but that's where Lisa and Colby lives but came down where she got this trophy bull dorado fishing our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.
It's good to get a little help from your friends...especially when it's your birday! Mike Demple from AZ, celebrated his big day by zooming down to La Paz on a private plane with friends for a single day of fishing...just long enough to get a load of dorado like this one Mike holds with the help of Captain Boli from the Tailhunter La Paz Fleet.
This is about as good a representation of some of the many species you can catch in a single day right now. Jon Dunn, Captain Pancho, and Mike Rossi pose with a day's catch of tuna, dorado, barred pargo, triggerfish among others!
La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 1-7, 2011
It was one of those good-steady weeks of fishing down here around La Paz. Not off-the-charts, but fun solid fishing with good weather and some of the best ocean we’ve seen in awhile. Dorado were the main attraction with about 80 percent of the catch for both our Tailhunter Las Arenas and Tailhunter La Paz fleet…albeit moreso for our La Paz anglers.
If all you really wanted to do was hang some fish; have some fun; put some fillets in the ice chest, then the “no-” was to just go fish for dorado. Slow troll some sardines in an area; find some floating weeds; or look for circling birds is pretty much how to swing it, but fast trolling with feathers or slow dragging some dead bonito strips also set off the bite. Most days the boats caught dorado as small as 5 pounders and as large as 40 pounders mostly but the majority of the fish were 10-15 pound school-sized fish. The larger fish continue to be taken by our La Paz fleet.
If you wanted a bit more variety, then fishing our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet was probably better. Dorado bite was OK at best with smaller schoolies, but at least you also had the opportunity to get into some of the good roosterfish, marlin, sailfish and the occasional elusive tuna.
Oh…a sighting of wahoo…two bites this week, but for the most part, no wahoo to speak of. I think this has been one of the poorest wahoo seasons I can remember. But, prime time wahoo season is still to come possibly…October and November! We’ll keep you posted!
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR #1 Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
With a solid week of dorado fishing, it was a good spot for first timers to get either their first dorado or their biggest dorado. In some cases, it was BOTH. Jason Westra and captain Chito from the Tailhunter Fleet show off Jason's huge bull dorado taken near Espirito Santo Island. Rough seas left from missed hurricane Dora didn't slow down the dorado bite...much, but it was bumpy and windy many days.
All the way from Clovis, New Mexico, our amigo Dougie Idsinga was another of our anglers who got a personal best dorado! Check out the size. Doug's standing in Balandra Bay north of La Paz.
It wasn't a bad week for tuna, especially for our Las Arenas fishers with the bite being best at mid-week for football-sized tuna between 10-30 pounds like this one by my amigo, outdoor writer, editor and book author, Zack Thomas who came out from Arkansas. That's the tip of Cerralvo Island on the right side of the photos. Most of the tuna fishing has been taking place closer to the island now rather than running out to the 88.
Lots of amigos from all over visiting us these days. Neal Thomas all the way from New York on the left and Evan Cascio from Manhattan Beach on the right only had one day to fish with us on a quick run to La Paz, but made the most of it with a good day of dorado fishing.
This was a week when it seemed like about half the states in the U.S. were represented fishing with us...Alaska, Washington, Georgia, Texas, Utah, Arizona, California, Nevada, Idaho, Arkansas...just to name a few! Well, Miles Brown here is from Oregon and he and his dad got into some of the yellowfin tuna that bit this week for our Las Arenas fishermen.
This dorado is alot bigger than it looks because Wes Simpson from Atlanta GA, is about 6'4" tall. Wes and his amigos fished for an entire week straight hardcore.
Sam Sybesma from Long Beach CA took home a full ice chest of fillets after 3 days of fishing including this big bull dorado he's holding up after a day of fishing with our La Paz Fleet.
Another good example of the dorado bite we had this past week is Don Rea from Ventura fishing with his mom and dad for a week with us who had some banner days pulling on the dorado schools!
VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK
Click this and watch Jason Westra’s reaction to pulling in his first and biggest bull dorado:
DORADO COME ON STRONG IN AFTERMATH OF DORA’s WINDS
La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 24-31, 2011
It was a solid dorado week here in La Paz, but in all honesty, a strange strange fishing week. We dodged getting punched in the face by Hurricane Dora that came up the coast, but then veered outside with barely a cloud in the sky! But, it still left some residual effects Despite blazing hot sunshine and warm waters, it was windy enough most of the week for us to think it was spring. Winds were among the strongest we’ve seen in many a summer. It made for some unusually rough water and bouncy days not to mention uncomfortable fishing at times (mostly the winds died by noon)…but..
Thankfully the fish still bit!
For the most part, the dorado saved the week with dorado being the mainstay catch for both our Tailhunter Las Arenas and Tailhunter La Paz fleets. There were some nice-sized fish also in the 30-50 pound class that turned out to be personal bests for the successful anglers, but most of the fish were in the 10-15 pound category with the occasional 20-25 pounder in the box. The fish are scattered all over. There are a number of “hot” spots that seem to hold concentrations of dorado but there’s also free-swimmers all over. Many times, the key is finding a fish willing to bite either on a slow troll or on a high spot or weed or current line then, while that fish is still on the line, toss some chum and see what else comes up. Maybe nothing. But maybe another 3, 4 , 5 or the whole school! Then, it’s hold onto your socks!
As for tuna, again up-and-down, but this past week, it was a little more up than down. No big boys, but quite a few 10 pound footballs…maybe 3-8 tuna per panga with our Las Arenas fleet. The fish are much closer near the island and high spots without having to run out to the 88 bank. Live bait and chunked dead bait work in bringing up the schools but a few guys got the schools going by trolling cedar plugs (natura color) that either hooked up to tuna or produced a dorado.
The rest of the catch was rounded out by some marlin and sailfish (most released) and quite a few fun roosterfish in the 10-20 pound class that was a great find for our flyfishers and light tackle fishers that worked Cerralvo Island this past week. No shortage of action!
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR #1 Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
Look at the head on this bull dorado! Randy Pelcher from Bishop CA was on his first trip here and took this big guy on his first day of his trip. There's some big dorado down here right now! Randy got this on a live sardine with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.
It was another week where the ladies sometimes outfished the guys! Robin Sawaske from Carpenteria CA, was on her first trip ever and took this 40-pound class dorado fishing north of La Paz near Espirito Santo Island.
It wasn't a spectacular week for tuna but we did have some nice flurries of tuna off Cerralvo Island that kept the rods bent on fish in the 10-30 pound category. On break from med school in Virginia, Robert Jackson, Jr, mugs with goofball captain Victor holding up a couple of tuna at Las Arenas Beach.
This has probably been one of the slowest wahoo years I can remember. Only a handful so far this season although we've been seeing the occasional fish here and there. But no one has been catching any! At least until Kevin Davis from Mustang, Oklahoma and nephew of our La Paz amigo Hawk Davis got this sweet fish north of Cerralvo Island. I dunno...I think he flew in from Oklahoma with a horseshoe in his back pocket. In additon to this trophy wahoo, he also got a blue marlin and released an 80-pound class roosterfish! Talk about first-timer luck! Great trip!
There's still some variety down here, especially if you fish the rocks inshore like Joe Adler from Mammoth CA who pulled this hefty barred pargo off a reef near Punta Arenas!
It was a good week for our flyfishers, like Spencer Sawaske who had a banner day catching-and-releasing 12 roosters like this one working the rocky eastern shoreline of Cerralvo Island.
Ken Milici lives up in the Eastern Sierras and came down the mountain to fish with us for the first time and is all smiles with this nice Las Arenas yellowftin tuna. The tuna appear to have moved in closer to the island these days.
Incredible colors on this great shot of Dr. Bill Thomas and Captain Jorge with a fresh dorado on the gaff!
It's rare that we have to do much trolling, but Robert Jackson of San Diego, who has been an amigo for years, decided to troll a cedar plug and knocked down a yellowftin tuna and this monster bull dorado...which set off a run of folks looking for cedar plugs at the local La Paz tackle stores!
DODGED A HURRICANE BUT LEFT WITH SCRATCHY FISHING!
La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 17-24, 2004
I guess even bigger than the fishing was the amount of focus garnered by the approach of Hurricane Dora that came up from Central America this past week that had us all watching. Reaching Category 4 status with 150 mph winds and huge seas, early predictions had southern Baja in it’s track. So we waited and watched …and waited and watched…and it’s all everyone talked about all week. At our Tailhunter Restaurant Bar on the La Paz waterfront, we were getting the rain ponchos and sandbags ready. We were dreading the weekend since we’ve been full with clients all week and are in the prime of the season.
And then…well…gratefully NOTHING HAPPENED! We did some strong winds and chop with some big swell from the south, but it beat getting battered by Hurricane Dora. At least we got out fishing and most folks still did OK with the fishing and, although we had to work hard for fish, most folks went home with a load in the coolers.
The most consistent bite were again the dorado. More prevailant with our La Paz fleet than our Las Arenas fleet, nonetheless, most days it was limits or near limits of mahi ranging from school-sized 5-10 pounders to 20-40 pounders. There might have been some larger ones in the count, but there were some legit 40-50 pounders busted off on lighter tackle after long battles.
Again, the weed lines north of La Paz were productive areas we as were the areas around SE Espiritu Santo Island, Las Cruces, and Punta Mejia. For our La Las Arenas fleet, dorado were found at the 88 spots, the inner and outer buoys as well as marauding in the areas between Punta Arena lighthouse and South Point of Cerralvo Island.
I don’t know about Las Arenas. The whole year, the bite there has been anemic. One week great…next week so-so. One day great. Next day we have trouble getting bait. Hopefully, things will improve. Some years, La Paz is the tougher side. This year, it’s just the opposite. Las Arenas struggles.
For the tuna bite, none of the big sluggers this week, but it seemed that every -other-day for our Las Arenas anglers, the tuna would pop up and everyone would get 3-8 football-sized tuna in the 20-40 pound class. Pretty much the perfect size for most anglers. Enough of a fight without the 1-2 hour battles often ending in heartache when it gets lost. The footballs were plenty work-out for most! Some days the fish, interestingly, would eat only live or dead sardines. The next time they would only eat trolled lures like Rapalas, feathers and for some reason…Cedar Plugs (natural colored) worked nicely when they never seemed to have been very effective before except for catching bonito.
Some other notes…our flyfishermen this week did exceptionally well. Several worked the easter-side of Cerralvo Island and found the schools of 10-15 pound roosters in the shallows that were a great battle on 8-10wt flyrods. Vicki Mitchell from Carmel CA hooked one really sweet 35 pound dorado that put up a big fight and really tore it up on the flyrod for her.
As well, it’s not been a really great wahoo season, but conditions have certainly seemed good for it. However, we’ve caught very few this year. I can only think of a handful taken, but that could also be because no one has really worked the area. Well, this past week, three were hooked and one landed at the north end of Cerralvo Island.
Still quite a few billfish in the area. Sailfish up to 100 pounds and striped marlin up to about 120 were hooked and lost. Most billfish are getting released. However, there were several blues up to about 300 pounds hooked and lost as well plus one fish estimted at possibly being a “grander” (1000 pounder) was seen by some very experienced free divers in the blue water.
That’s our story
Jonathan and Jill
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR #1 Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
Wow! What an excellent photo. This is our amiga from Oregon, Debbie White, with Captain Pancho. She always seems to do well here and take great photos like this (actually, husband Don takes the shots!), but check out the colors on this big bull dorado she got fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. There's some nice bulls out there!
It was a good week for the ladies to show the guys a thing-or-two! First timer amiga from San Diego, Leanne Pleasants, fished off Espiritu Santo Island for a day and took limits of dorado with her family including this nice mahi!
That's our son, Jarrett Pfost, with a nice dorado and standing behind him is first timer and new funny amigo, Gary Pleasants from San Diego. They spent a day working the sargasso weeds north of La Paz for some limits of dorado.
Yes...there's still tuna around. Check out Don and Debbie! Debbie was actually on a fish estimated over 100 pounds for an hour and it came off right next to the boat. The tuna bite has been sporadic at best. One day there's fish and then several days of nothing but empty ocean. Fish have ranged from 25-150 pounds and are around Cerralvo Island with some schools moving closer.
It was another good week for marlin and sailfish for both of our Tailhunter Fleets. Most of the fish are breaking off or are getting released. Rick Hosmer took this underwater shot of one that ate his jig. We had two fish estimated over 300 pounds bust off and we also had our spearfisher buddy, John Peretti, who has had several spearfishing records line up and take a shot on a fish estimated over 1000 pounds...and miss. The water was so clear he unfortunately misjudged the distance and the spear shaft dropped short! He said, "I missed the fish of a liftime!" He said he saw the big blue eating big bonito beneath the surface.
Fish Brother, Ray Laney, spent an entire week with us and fished every single day! He had a spectacular week fishing with our La Paz fleet hooking 5 or 6 mariln/sailfish and numerous dorado like this big bull!
Big smiles from Diana Pleasants with her first roosterfish which was released. It was another good week for the roosters, especially around the Las Arenas area. Diana is from San Diego.
Just after Stan Andre took this photo of his buddy, Terry Hawk and his dorado, he dropped his iPhone in the water. It started working two days later and they were able to save this photo of Terry and his nice bull dorado!
For those of us who consider needlefish the curse of the ocean, take a look at this beast being held up by Captain Raul!
PARTING SHOT! Everyone tries to take photos of leaping fish, but it's harder than it looks. First to take the photo. Second to make it look good! These fish are moving faster then it looks! Rick Hosmer caught this one perfectly in mid-flight!
VIDEO CLIP OF THE WEEK
Click the link to see some of the video and still images from the week:
Video 1: Debbie White struggles with a 100-pound tuna!
Video 2: Some summary shots and clips of the week
SLIGHTLY OFF-WEEK AS FULL MOON HITS BUT DORADO STAY STRONG WITH OTHER SPECIES FILLING IN!
La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 10-17, 2011
Maybe it was the full moon coming up on us, but it was an up-and-down week with the fishing here. It wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t exactly off-the-charts either. Weather was hot and muggy and very tropical and we had some little showers here and there ,but overall pretty nice weather, but the fishing was good some days and so-so on other days.
Like previous weeks, dorado led the way and were the predominant catch. Our La Paz fleet continued to do the best. There’s quite a bit of sargasso formed up along the current lines and you just have to find the right spots. The general pattern seemed to indicate that fish were all over under the weeds, but the best bite was usually late. A common comment from many of our anglers was that they were “bored” or “almost giving up on the day” as captains tried to get the reluctant fish to bite. All of a sudden somewhere between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. fish would start hitting. Maybe it was 1 at-a-time. Maybe it would be a whole slam school that hit the boat and all craziness would break out. But, at the end of the day, folks would look in the fix box and go “Hmmmm…I guess we DID get some fish!” and grin. Most of the fish were not big fish but there was alot of action and there were some spots where we hooked into some 30-40 pounders. We also lost quite a few fish as well for whatever reasons!
For our Las Arenas fleet, the elusive tuna continued to be the bug-a-boo for anglers. One day, they’d hit the 88 spot that has been producing tuna for several week and nothing would even sniff. Not a fish…not a bird…no porpoise schools…NOTHING! Next day, guys would go out there and 20-150 pounders would be all over the place! Go figure. So, it was either hit or miss with the tuna. There’s definitely some big boys still out there. We had several larger models get away and one fish straightened a hook on an angler of ours.
If the tuna weren’t working there were scattered dorado schools to be hunted out at the buoys just offshore from Las Arenas and pangas will leap-frog each other trying to find some fish that will bite. There’s also ALOT of billfish activity working all areas as well. A number of smaller striped marlin and sailfish were hooked and released this week and several blue marlin in the 300-pound category were also hooked and lost.
As well, if you want a roosterfish, those have been our saving species on days when other stuff just wasn’t biting. Find some sandy areas of beach or some drop offs and it’s been a good season for roosterfish, especially for the school-sized fish in the 5-40 pound class.
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR #1 Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
It was pretty much a candy store out there this past week if you wanted to catch a dorado. Most days, it was pretty hard not to catch one. Some days were better than others, but no question that dorado season is in full swing with fish ranging from 5-50 pounds. Sacramento amigo, Jim Klein poses on Las Arenas beach near the lighthouse ith a nice female he caught his first day fishing.
I don't have any photos of big tuna to show you this week but this pair of yellowfin were "big enough" for first time La Paz visitors Anna and Shaun Ramirez from Oregon. The tuna were sporadic all week, but they were closer to Cerralvo Island than having to head all the way out to the 88 spot. We seemed to scratch out a few every day with most fish in the 15-30 pound class.
This was probably the best week for marlin and sailfish of the season . Justin Whisler got this one just off Cerralvo Island. Every day we hooked a few and some days, the fish were so voracious and pesky that the guys complained that the fish were literally following them from one spot to another. The problem also was that the guys would be fishing for dorado on light tackle using sardines and all of a sudden a striped marlin or sail would grab the bait and swallow it...FISH ON! But, it's hard to release fish that swallow the whole bait and get gut hooked. Fortunately, most of the billfish all week were released which is why I don't have more photos and also because we encourage catch-and-release. This one nice sail is one of those that could not be released and looks ilke a perfect wall mount just taken off the wall for this picture. Cerralvo Island is in the background.
The week started out a tad shaky for our La Paz fleet, but once it got going, it was pretty much no-brainer limits most days if you headed north from the city and put a line in the water. Dorado were on fire. Arizona amigos, Shaun Preston and Rex Smith show off a pair of good mahi. The got limits almost every day fishing 4 days with Tailhunter International.
Every year, Mike Sontag makes it down to visit us from the Phoenix area and this year brought first-timer Dan Baldwin standing here at Las Arenas beach with two of the nicer-grade yellowfin tuna we picked up this week. Fish were closer this week.
From Monterey CA, Ear Lawson gets an assist on a big bull dorado from Captain Joel. They were fishing north from La Paz towards Espirito Santo Island.
That's alot of bull...dorado! We got quite a number of sizeable fish this past week with both our La Paz and Las Arenas fleets. Jeff Huff from Washington poses with his largest bull of the week which was estimated in the 45-pound class.
San Diego in the house...Dave Garibay on the right. Chas Wilson on the left with three of their yellowfin tuna they ended up bringing back to our Tailhunter Restuarant for a big dinner for their respective families.
La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 3-10, 2011
No question, it’s summer down here with temperature firmly
in the upper 90’s every day now and feeling very tropical with occasionally
short strong showers here and there breaking way to blazing sunshine.
And, if it’s summer, it must be dorado season because that’s what lead the
charge all week. For both our La Paz and our Las Arenas fleets, the
majority of the fish were dorado. Some really nice fish too. There
were fewer of the small schoolies and more legit 10-20 pounders coming up but
also some great bulls in the 25-40 pound class.
Fish are spread out. For our Las Arenas fleet, the
fish could pop up everywhere, but the most targeted areas were the commercial
buoys not far offshore where our pangas play leapfrog over each other checking
out buoy-after-buoy as one boat would get ahead of another. But, more
often than not, if one buoy didn’t play our or was occupied by a panga or two,
the next would be “available” and could hold 1, 2 or perhaps a school
of hungry mahi. Just throw a few baits! If they come up, throw more
with hooks in them. If not, move onto the next one. Not every day
was productive and not every boat did as well as others, but if you fished
several days, no question you’d have a good load of dorado to take home.
Actually, the biggest problem was getting live sardines. Some
days were easier than others to get.
For our La Paz fleet, no problem with the baits and the
dorado schools were swarming most days with most of the larger fish being taken
north of town and around the eastern corner between Punta Mejia and Las Cruces.
But the fish could pop up anywhere or anytime. Often, the key might be
finding a patch of weeds; a current line; or keeping your eyes peeled for 2 or
3 birds dogging a fish or two that might be pushing bait to the surface.
All it takes is finding one and often others would also be in the area.
Not much in the way of tuna, but we did get into a few off
Cerralvo Island. We didn’t have to go all out to the 88 spot to find
them. Most of the fish were closer into the island and in the 20-30 pound
class. Everyday we seemed to get a few, but it’s hard to pinpoint exactly
where they would show up or if larger schools were moving through the
area. Sometimes live smaller sardines worked. Sometimes slow
trolled feathers produced a bit. Other times, chunking dead sardines in
an area or chopping up bits of bonito produced hookups.
The biggest surprise, might have been the billfish bite this
past week. It got to the point where several clients were getting a bit
frustrated with hooking so many sailfish or marlin while trying to catch
dorado! Some boats hooked 2 or 3 a day and were getting tired of fighting
the fish and having to deal with trying not to harm the billfish so they could
be released and sometimes it wasn’t possible. Not to mention burning up
time fighting a billfish on light tackle using up time when the guys wanted to
be targeting other species. But, the marlin would often follow the pangas
around. They’d sweep in and grab any bait tossed in the water (like
sealions!) or grab the smallest feather or hootchie trolled behind the
boat! None of the fish were especially large. Most were in the
80-120 pound class, but fortunately we were able to release most.
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jill
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR #1 Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
Lead off picture of the week was a "no miss!" What a great shot and great colors on this dorado taken by 18-year-old Jess Miller who was here as a graduation present with his grandfather. Captain Jorge adds and extra smile. There weren't alot of big ones this week, but there was enough activity with the dorado to keep folks happy. Jess caught this fish with our Las Arenas fleet.
Amy Sawaske from Bakersfield is our poster girl of the week. She told everyone (husband and father-in-law) that she was going to "kick everyone's backside with more and bigger fish". She talked up the smack big time. And...she backed it up! She actually did have a great week. Even when dad and hubby were getting queasy, she was still standing up and pulling on fish. Take a look a the collage we did of Amy below in the other pictures. Here she's got a decent dorado she caught north of La Paz. Fairly typical of the fish this week. There were some bigger dorado out there including some 30-50 pounders hooked...but not landed. Most tended to be school-sized fish in the 10-15 pound class which were great fun when they swarmed the boats!
This tuna held up by Captain Victor of our Las Arenas fleet and caught by Earl "Butch" Lawson might be the biggest fish of the week for us for reasons that have nothing to do with the size of the fish! About 20 months ago, Butch was on life support in a Las Vegas hospital and the doctors basically telling the family they were going to do a 6-way-by-pass but to say good-bye because he probably would NOT survive the surgery. His son, Earl had this to say, "He was in surgery all day and received a 6-way bypass. Sometime the next day he was starting to come around so I decided to try to lift his spirits. I held out a couple fingers and told him to grab my fingers with his left hand. I told him to pull them toward him, then (when he did) I said, "Reel! Reel! Yeah, you're gonna be okay." The smile on his face was priceless. Getting back to La Paz has been his goal during his recovery." So, this trip was his "coming out" party and he was all smiles! Congratulations, Butch. Gracias a Dios!
During the winter, our good amigo, Jim Newman from Chicago sends me pictures of frozen Chicago and frozen Lake Superior! I love the way he fishes...light tackle...inshore...and throwing lures! He gets hammered by fish like this huge jack crevalle that's one of the toughest fighters around. And he releases almost all his fish too! He got this badboy fishing with our Las Arenas fleet.
Mike Crisp from San Antonio, TX was one of the lucky guys who put one of the big-boy tuna into the boat. He got this nice fish near Cerralvo Island.
After you've fought a few of these big tuna, it's alot easier to just lie down next to them for the photo op then trying to pick them up when someone wants a photo! Will Long from San Francisco area got two nice tuna out by Cerralvo Island.
As I said above, Amy Sawaske from Bakersfield CA "walked the walk" and "talked the talk" when she came for the first time this week with her husband and father in law. She smack-talked them all week about catching more and bigger fish than them. Check the photos. Not bad for a first-timer! The rooster WAS released as were ALL the roosters she caught (I think about 8 of them). And truth be told, her family could not have been happier that she outfished them. She's surely this week's poster-gal!
After 9 days of diving over 100 feet and holding his breath up to an incredible 5-minutes each time and 6-8 hours in the water, Johan Jacobs from S. Africa shot these two pargo near the north end of Cerralvo Island. He said he has the "bug" for pargo now and said he saw so many fish down there hiding in caves and under ledges that he did not shoot or were impossible to shoot. Many days he did not shoot any fish. But says he is hooked on chasing the elusive pargo and cabrilla.
TUNA ELUSIVE BUT DORADO PICK UP THE SLACK!
La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 27-July 3, 2011
Let’s put it this way. Everyone is catching
fish. But, there’s just no consistency to the fishing right now. If
you walked up to me this past week and asked whether to fish Las Arenas or La
Paz or what you might catch, I would have to shrug my shoulders.
Ask me about the wind or the weather and you’d get the same
response. The fishing and the weather has been all over the boards
this past week. But…everyone caught fish…as long as they fished more
than one day. If they only fished one day…there’s a chance that
it could be one of those off-days. At least if you fished several days,
you had a good chance of getting into fish!
Compared to last week, we surely did not get into the big cow
tuna out of Las Arenas from the 88 spot or along the buoys. In fact,
nothing over 100 pounds this week. But then again, we didn’t really work
the area very hard because many days it was just too windy! Several times
when we did go out there, it was just too rough to hang or else the drift
was so strong. So, it was hard to give the area it’s proper
workout. Still, we did manage up some decent tuna in the 5-45 pound
class. Quite a range. It was funny because one boat would get the 5
pounders and the next boat would be hanging the 40 pounders.
For our Las Arenas fleet, if the 88 spot wasn’t happening,
there were some decent dorado at the buoys. Of course, you had to wade
through the “dink dorado” that were about the size of big trout, but
the larger fish in the 15-30 pound category were out there.
Inshore, roosterfish continued to put on a good show. Our largest fish
released this week was estimated at 50 pounds, but lots of little 5-10 pounders
caught and let go.
For our La Paz fleet, about the only consistent thing to say
was that if it was windy, the fishing was tough. If the winds laid down,
then we found dorado. Again, lots of punk fish, but we also had some good
20-40 pound bulls as well as a few marlin hookups as well. Some of
the rocky areas are really holding some nice pargo and fat cabrilla. But,
the dorado bite did do much better as the week went on as we found schools
north of town near Espiritu Santo and around the Las Cruces and Punta Mejia
areas. Finding floating structure as
well as the temperature breaks were key.
As I write this, we’re keeping an eye on the weather. There’s thunderstorms predicted the next few
days that could mean nothing or some short quick showers. I know we’ve seen some great lightning shows
in the morning (no rain) as the sun comes up.
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jilly
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR #1 Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
Kurt Shipley from Oklahoma spent all week on the 88 spot for a shot at one of the big tuna and on his last day got his wish! This fish could only be estimated at about 175 pounds and took two hours. The fishing on the 88 spot near Cerralvo was sporadic to spectacular all week. Some days there were no fish. Other days there were only "smaller" 40 pounders. The next day the fish were all beasts over 100 pounds! Some days there were very few boats and other days, it was a freeway! It has been a long time since we've seen this kind of quality.
She refused any assistance and put this 110-pound monster in the boat all by herself! Mary Wehner poses with Captain Pancho and her big fish that she took on a mini-3-foot Whopper Stopper rod on the 88 spot. Mary is always doing stuff like that every time she visits. Last year, it was a big blue marlin!
Norm Whittlesey is tough-as-nails. He grew up on a dairy farm. Worked in a coal mine and was part of the 101'st Airborne Divison then went back to school to become a college professor! He still has time to tend 60 acres in Washington and after every day of fishing, he would actually go work out for an hour at the hotel gym! He rocks and had a fantastic week of fishing including some of the largest dorado of the week fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet then some of the huge tuna with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.
Another massive beast on the beach. Scott Burmeister from New Mexico isn't sure he wanted to do anymore tuna fishing after this fish estimated at over 150 pounds tore into his rig off Cerralvo Island. Anglers were battling these fish from 1-4 hours with the fish winning more often than not. Some days, the fish would only eat light line so anglers were already at a disadvantage!
Some great stories this week! Johan Coetzee took three days to travel from South Africa where he is a university professor so that he and his friend could spend 10 days spearfishing with us. He had hoped to get a roosterfish in those 10 days but on his very first day, shot this trophy rooster off Las Arenas. Up to the day of me writing this report, they had also gotten amberjack, big cabrilla, yellowtail and snapper. They commented that they are amazed at how strong our Baja fish are! One 20 pound amberjack bent the steel shaft of his spear. Another rooster larger than this could not be stopped even with the spearshaft firmly embedded! (Spearfishing in Mexico is done without tanks and these guys are incredible atheletes able to hold their breaths and dive to great depths to hunt on a single lungful of air!)
Like I said...a week of great (and often funny!) stories....If you're been following the reports all week, the big tuna went "on the chew" off Cerralvo Island this week with fish up to 200 pounds tearing up anglers and lots of gear. The problem is that some of these big fish would ONLY eat 40 pound test! Some of the battles lasted 1, 2, 3 or more hours with the fish usually winning over the exhausted anglers. So...take a look at this picture of our good buddies Darrell George (holding the rod) and Bo Herrera (trying to hang onto an exhausted Darrell). These guys took alot of flack for this photo they were showing around the restaurant last night and was snapped by a laughing Captain Victor! I guess you could write your own funny caption! However, the truth is that they had a fish of about 100 pounds on the line and only 40 pound test. It was whupping them when the force of the fish broke the handle off the reel! Bo stepped right up (what are buddies for?) to help hold onto Darrell and they tag-teamed to hand-line in the big fish! (The guys are great sports about the funny picture not realizing that Captain Victor was taking photos with THEIR camera!). They just went back to New Mexico today with over 250 pounds of dorado, snapper and tuna fillets after a great week!
Steve's got a nice pargo liso! Many anglers aren't out here looking for pargo this time of year as they're interested in the pelagic species like tuna, dorado, wahoo and billfish. But that makes this an ideal time to chase pargo since there's not much pressure on the fish! It doesn't make them any easier to catch. They'll bite, but then they go quickly back to the rocks and cut you off! Check out this nice pargo liso (mullet snapper).
I almost forgot...we got at least one or two marlin or sailfish biters every day this week. Most of the fish were released. This is Dan Bernardo's first marlin and they were unable to release it after it swallowed the hook. Dan is from Washington State and had a banner week with tuna, dorado and his first marlin. Most of the billfish were found in the channel between Cerralvo and Espirito Santo Islands.
Phil Okamoto from Los Angeles gets and assist from Captain Pancho on his first pargo. Phil also got his first marlin and some big dorado this week.
High school football coach Randy Strange got a mess of dorado after a good week of dorado fishing with out Tailhunter La Paz fleet including this decent-sized bull. Randy is from the Ventura CA area.
Troy Coffey keeps coming down to fish and NEVER got in the fish report! Well, this time YOU MADE IT TROY! Good job! Troy got into that dorado bite we've had out've La Paz. He had a few rough days, but finally got into the bite. The fish are scattered but if you find the spot, it can be rodeo on you.
Like I said...lots of funny stories this week. Coach Don Rea from Ventura is the BRAVEST MAN I KNOW! He has been coming to see us for years...several times a year. He is a huge fan of catching dorado and racing so he spent the week chasing mahi mahi and taking a day to watch the popular Coyote 300 off -road race here in La Paz. This man is fearless. In order to be here, he skipped his 43rd wedding anniversary; 2 birthdays; 1 graduation and Father's Day! His photos has been in our fishing report so often I thought he's enjoy seeing his photo at the race instead! Note the carefully placed "hover hands!" In all honesty, Don's wife, Cathie is a great sport and avid fishermen herself and let him come down with his buddy. But he is bringing Cathie to La Paz next month.
The Week in Review Tailhunter Video Clip:
Got some great stuff this week. Check it out. Click the link!
BIG TUNA STORM BACK DORADO STEADY BUT NOT ALL DAYS GOOD IN ALL PLACES!
La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 19-26, 2011
It’s hard to put a finger on this last week of
fishing. I sort of depended where you fished and what day you
fished. Fortunately, almost everyone was fishing the whole week so even
if there was an off-day, the next day seemed to make up for it. Or, at the
end of 3, 4 or 5 days on the water, they still had a chest full of fillets to
bring home. The bottom line is that it required being at the right place
at the right time! For some, they got some of the biggest fish of their
lives! For others, they LOST the biggest fish of their lives…whether a
big tuna or a big dorado or marlin!
For our Las Arenas fleet, the focus is either the big tuna
and free-swimmer bull dorado outside Cerralvo Island at the 88 spot or
inshore for the roosters, pargo and smaller dorado. At the “tuna
honey hole” earlier in the week it was rough and the fishing was less than
steller. A few fish taken, but mostly in the 30-50 pound range. A
nice grade of fish but if you lost your fish or didn’t even get bit, it was a
long way to run. Later in the week the spot blew up again and produced
the century slugger 100-pounders to 200 pound “cows.” We lost a few, but took more than we
lost. As one of our anglers put it, “I always wanted one of those
big fish, but when you’re fighting it after an hour-or-so in the sun, you start
to regret what you asked for and torture yourself about the knot you tied and
the type of hook you used and all the little variables!”
Another of our guys said, “It was like a disease
wanting a big tuna. Now that I got one…been there…done that. I
don’t need that kind of pain ever again!” (I know he’ll be back
again!). Some of the problem was that these fish were picky. One day they ate live bait. The next day the fish were hooked on
slow-trolled Rapalas! One day they would
eat line the size of rope. The next, you
were using 30 and 40 pound test to get bit!
(That’s a bit like being a one-legged man at a butt-kicking
contest…you’re already at a serious disadvantage.)
Some of these battles
raged 1, 2, 3 or more hours and the longer the battle the greater the chance
you’re gonna get spanked badly and lose the fish…or even if you get the fish,
you’ll feel like you went 10 rounds in the ring with the champ. I kid you not. Some of the anglers came back from “the
zone” very quiet. Exhausted. Shuffling their feet. Unable to lift their arms. Coated in salt, sweat and fish scum. Glassy-eyed and de-hydrated! Be careful what you ask for!
If you’re coming out to try for the tuna (not sure how long
they will be here)…one day the fish bite on live bait (sardines). The
next day it’s feathers or Rapalas so be prepared. We did get a few
billfish hooked and released this week that bit Rapalas and Yo-Zuri’s that were
being trolled for tuna. Even got an amberjack on one as well. I
didn’t think they swam fast enough to catch a trolled Rapala!
Inshore at Las Arenas, the nice roosterfish are still
cruising the beaches. Our largest fish of the week were in that 40-60
pound range, but there’s also schoolie-sized pez gallos in the 5-10 pound class
that are fun on the light tackle and spinning or fly rods. As well,
there’s schools of smaller dorado shallow near the drop-offs close to the
beaches and larger dorado models if you go hopping around the buoys outside.
Another little tip…bring some sabiki-style bait rigs to catch some caballito,
mackerel or pilot fish that make great bigger live baits!
For our La Paz fleet, the week started slower than normal as
we were hampered by wind and swells left over from Hurricane Beatriz that
passed far to the south of us. However, as the week went on, we fell back
into the swing of it with nice catches of 5-15 pound schooling dorado and
larger 20-40 pound bulls. They’re in several spots. You just have
to find them, but multiple hook-ups are not unusual. Live sardines or
caballitos or mackerel work well as does slow trolling big strips of fresh
bonito or skipjack. If you have a temp guage on your boat, there’s
pockets of warm water and lines of temperature currents. Find some floating
sargasso weeds or debri and fish the warmer side of the line for a better shot
at finding the dorado. Just keep an eye
on the wind. Some days are really breezy
and rough. Others go completely flat.
Every day is different!
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jilly
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR #1 Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
Yes, there are still some big tuna out at the 88 bank east of Cerralvo Island. Not alot. Not often but you might just be one of the hot boats that particular day! Steve McGavern calls San Diego and Loreto "home" but ran down to us for a quick shot at the tuna and got two nice fat chunks!
Dad Mike Akiyoshi brought sons Trevor (left) and Kevin (right) down for a few days fishing and got a mess of dorado the first day then put in some serious rail time two days at the 88 getting some 45 pound class yellowfin that ended up back at our Tailhunter Restaurant as sashime, Hawaiian poke and barbecued collars and bellies with garlic! Drove us all crazy with how good it tasted!
With all the tuna pictures this week, one would be inclined to think we had a great tuna bite going on, when in fact it was the dorado that really did the best although it wasn't until later in the week when we got into the groove. Early in the week the bite was stingy at best with fish all around, but not willing to chew. As we passed the full moon, the fish came to party. Mark Gillespie from Huntington Beach CA was on his first trip to La Paz with his buddy "El Al" Schneider and shows off some of their catch.
Putting the "wood" to his first big tuna of the day, Trevor Akiyoshi from Upland CA is rewarded with the nice tuna in the inset photo. When someone is on a big fish, there's not much the captain can do except look on like Captain Jorge with his hands on his hip! Smile Trev!
Not every fish can be a giant, but a first-time fish on a flyrod is what Chrs Daniels from Sacramento wanted. And a smile is a smile! She's holding a nice little dog-tooth snapper.
Rhonda McGavern from San Diego was another fortunate angler who got into the larger tuna this past week at the 88 spot east of Cerralvo Island.
SOLID DORADO AND SPORADIC BIG TUNA HIGHLIGHT THE FISHING WEEK
La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 12-19, 2011
The week started slowly with a combination of the full moon
and temperature spikes on the water. It seemed there were fish all over
breaking but they just didn’t want to eat. We’d toss baits at them.
Run lures over and around them…literally run over them with the boats and we
couldn’t get them to bite. Then, gradually as the week went on things got
back in the groove.
The good dorado bite out’ve La Paz got back on track.
Lots of little fish to be had, but there’s still some nice bull dorado ranging
from 20-50 pounds. The fish are in a fairly broad range and it helps to
know where to go. Best is to find some of the weed patches floating out
in the channels. Not all the weeds have fish. You can hop patch
after patch and not find anything. But, then one patch will blow up when you
throw a few baits at it and it’s one-stop-shopping as dorado come
crashing. Or, the alternative is that you pick up a fish here and a fish
there. At the end, you realize you’ve put a nice batch of fish in the
box. Another way is to slow troll an area with live or dead bait or fast
troll more water with lures and hope for a hookup. When you get that fish
to the boat, toss baits and try to get the school to follow the hooked fish to
the boat. The problem is that if you lose that hooked fish, often, it
will take the school with it so it’s a good idea to get that first fish to the
boat. If it’s small or you plan to release it, keep it close to the boat
until you get the 2nd hookup.
As for the big tuna bite, it’s still on-again-off-again on
the 88 bank east of Cerralvo. There’s still some fish there exceeding 100
pounds, but there’s been alot of boat traffic out there and either the fish are
up and interested or not around at all. Or, they’re boiling all around
but not interested in jumping your lines. Most of the fish that are
caught are in the 30-60 pound class, but given the number of boats out there
compared to how many are actually hooking fish, some days, it’s just not worth
running that far. But, then again, one of the days you run out there
happens to be one of the days that the fish come to the party!
There’s still a good roosterfish bite going on and the
roosters have been a fun fall-back species if nothing else is going on.
They’re not especially good eating so most are released, but it’s alot of fun
hooking these 30-80 pound exotics. Quite a few of the fish are over
80 pounds. There’s some nice marlin hanging out. Interestingly,
for the ones getting brought in, their bellies are full of little dorado!
That’s what they’re eating so if you’re trolling for billfish, dorado colored
feathers would certainly be in my trolling pattern!
That’s our story! God bless all you dads and Happy Fathers’ Day everyone!
Jonathan and Jill
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR #1 Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
Look carefully at the size of these bulls! The larger dorado are estimated to be in the 50-pound class! We're seeing some incredibly big dorado early this season certainly a bit too big to lift up for the camera for Dwight Jaeger from Arizon and his 10-year-old grandson, Garrett Santana, from Simi Valley CA. The dorado bite all week for our Tailhunter La Paz fleet has been very very good!
Los Angeles angler, Jodi Marston always seems to do well when she visits and she got into a great day of dorado fishing with her husband, Jeff working that red hot dorado area north of La Paz.
We're having a stellar year on the roosters, especially around Las Arenas with more big fish still getting caught. Marty Davis gets a hand from Captain Raymundo before releasing this big guy.
Rich Santana from Simi Valley CA had a pretty good few days for his first time to La Paz with lots of big dorado like these fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.
When you catch a big fish, it's gonna be a great show-and-tell when you get home! Little Caleb Davis doesn't want to let go of his big sierra! Not only is this a big sierra but highly unusual to be catching sierra this late in the season. Sierra are normally cooler water fish.
It's always great to be a part of the action when a youngster gets their first fish and the youngsters had a great week, especially on dorado. Ten-year-old Garrett Santana holds his first dorado but later got into alot more including a 45-pound class bruiser bull he handled all by himself (see the video below).
They definitely don't have dog-tooth-snapper in Oklahoma, but that's where Mike Ballesteros is from and he took this great eating doggie fishing out've Las Arenas.
Oh, the joy! Chris Daniels from the Sacramento CA area wanted just one day to try fishing with the flyrod and she succeeded in getting a nice-sized rooster to the boat catch-and-release! It's been another great week for the roosterfish!
It beats working! Jeff Marston made a quick run down from L.A. for a fast get-away but it was enough to fill an ice chest full of dorado fillets like these he got outside of La Paz Bay after a day of fishing.
DORADO BITE TAKES CENTER STAGE ! BIG TUNA OFF and ON (again) !
La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 5-12, 2011
It was a good solid week of fishing here in La Paz
especially for dorado. I would have to say that it was also possibly the
first week that wind was not an issue. Breezy at times, but nothing like
the stuff we’ve had to contend with over the last two months. I’m sure
that had alot to do with the good bite!
We kept most of our folks who wanted to nail dorado and put
fillet in the ice chest fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. It was
a no-brainer. There’s lines of sargasso weeds out in the channel.
There’s schools of sardines and flying fish out there. We’re also
getting macks and caballitos by the buoys in the bay as well as under the two trawlers
anchored about 1/2 a mile in front of the city in the bay. Then, out to
the grounds where it can be explosive. I’d say that in the last 2 weeks
of fishing, we’ve already caught more BIG dorado than all of last year.
Last year, a “BIG” dorado was 20-25 pounds.
Very unusual for our area. We had alot of dorado, but just not many big ones.
This year already, I’ve seen good numbers of 30, 40 and even 50 pound bulls in
our catches with some larger fish getting away! There’s alot of little
small punk 5 pound fish too and it’s good to see so many of the anglers
releasing the little guys. Most fish, are in the 10 pound class with the
big ones mixed in. A good variety. As well, marlin and sailfish are
out there also naturally feeding on the small dorado as well as the schools of
bonito and skipjack also feeding on all the bait.
For our Las Arenas fleet, it was a little pickier, but
certainly not bad at all!
We had flurries ofthose big big big tuna between
100-200 pounds throughout the week out at the 88 spots east of Cerralvo
Island. The thing about that is it’s a long run in the pangas.
Often, there was alot of pressure from so many boats out there and the fish
were down. Only a few or no hookups. One of our guys said there’s 20-60 boats out there and it’s guerilla fishing with everyone chasing boiling fish or the porpoise schools crisscrossing each other in races to the fish or running over each other’s lines and chum lines.
The fish themselves would be there one day then gone again a day later. So many stories of fish being lost of rods
broken! Everyone wants a big tuna until they finally feel the power and
are sweating under the strain and the Baja sun for 1, 2 or 3 hours! And
then lose the fish! You don’t get many chances! The other thing is
that if the fish are not biting, you’re probably out too far by then and you’re
pretty late to go after anything else except troll around and cross your
fingers. So, it’s a gamble, but like all gambles, you’re a hero if it
pays off!
_________________________________
However FLASH…just as I’m putting up this report the BIG TUNA CAME CRASHING AGAIN AT THE 88 SPOT! Lots of big fish. Maybe by the time you are reading this the fish are going full turbo or…got lockjaw again. However, the reports coming in at this very moment as I am typing this are tuna in the 50-150 pound class! Pictures as soon as I get them!
_________________________
Back to the regular report…
Inshore, Las Arenas has produced some nice dorado by the
buoys and the roosterfish bite continues to prove this a banner year for big
fish with roosters in the 30-80 pound class not unusual. As well, we’re
still getting both barred pargo and dog-tooth pargo which is a bit unusual
given how warm the waters are.
Video Clip of the Week
I only had a few seconds to work with this week, but watch young Garrett and his big dorado. Take a look at the leaps. It’s short, but you get the idea! Enjoy!
Tailhunter Fish Report 