La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 3-9, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
First day, right off the bat. Andy Hail with a thick wahoo on the beach at Bahia Muertos.
Our own Jorge Romero cradles a big roosterfish. Unusual for these big guys to still be around. Jorge released the fish. See the next photo.
Unceremoniously back you go, but it works! Roosterfish release!
Bob Larson from Washington (at the head) with his first striped marlin. Posing with Captain Armando and Billy Bigelman. The marlin could not be released and meat was donated. A big dorado also on the table.
Some great variety of good eating here! Steve Manney with the pargo. John Stendstra with the wahoo plus dorado and another big barred pargo on the cutting table.
Happy guy! The sailfish have been larger than usual this past week. That’s Billy Bigelman behind that sail. Caught on live bait
Captain Pancho poses a wahoo with Ted Hamm from Paso Robles CA and Jim Bovee from San Diego who has been down 3 times to visit us this year!
Big wahoo on the troll for Jorge Romero!
This past week presented us with another weird twist-and-turn in an already erratic and chaotic fishing season…and year.
All season, fishing has been up one week and down the next with no rhyme or reason. Fish that should be biting are scarce and the entire season has pretty much been taken up by dorado and roosterfish that should not even be around this late in the year. Frankly, we’re grateful for both because both fish have kept rods bent and people smiling.
With some additional catches of bonito, jack crevalle, pargo, cabrilla and snapper, that’s pretty much been the whole season.
Until this past week…with a full moon at that.
Fishing did not go wide-open. In all honesty, I can’t even say it was great fishing. However, numbers of fish have been replaced by quality.
Billfish started biting. We’re seeing striped marlin. We’re seeing big sailfish that are unusually larger than normal and have caught more sails in the last week than the last several years combined. The sailfish are easily in the 100 pound class or larger.
More exciting are the wahoo. Near the south end of Cerralvo Island and near Bahia Muertos, we’ve been seeing wahoo for a bit ,but they’ve been reluctant biters. This week, they went on the chew with boats often hooking (and often losing) multiple fish as the speedsters with sharp teeth tore into trolled lures. However, the fish have been legit 30-50 pound skinnies.
During this time, the dorado bite that has sustained us had dropped by 50%. Either it’s because the dorado just aren’t biting or folks are spending more time chasing the home run fish like the billfish and wahoo.
Hopefully, we’ll finally see some tuna which are way overdue!
BAJA LIFTS MORE RESTRICTIONS
In case you hadn’t heard, last Monday (Oct. 5), the government of Southern Baja (including the areas of La Paz, Cabo San Lucas, San Jose del Cabo, Todos Santos and the East Cape/ Los Barriles areas) eased up on more Covid Restrictions!
The danger level has gone from Red…to Orange…and now YELLOW (level 3). More beaches are open. Increased occupancy in hotels and restaurants, live music in clubs and restaurants and more! All good news.
2021 BOOKING FILLING UP
Many of the folks who had to cancel their trips this year are already booking for next year and many dates are filled or filling. Don’t wait to get your reservations in, especially if you have a certain hotel or captain that you want. It doesn’t look like many of the sportsmans shows are being canceled so we probably won’t be on the road doing our fishing/hunting shows like we normally do. So, get in touch with us.
We are also booking fishing for January to March plus whalewatching trips and fishing at Bahia Magdalena for 2021 as well. Hope to see you!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 25-Oct. 2, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
An exciting day for Rich Davidsmeier from Boise, idaho with our Captain Joel with this larger-than-normal sailflsh caught north of La Paz on light tackle . The fish estimated at 120-130 pounds (hard to see, but he’s really thick) was caught on 40 pound test while fishing for dorado. The fish could not be released, but Rich donated the meat. The trip was especially remarkable because Rich was celebrating his retirement, his birthday AND his anniversary!
The big fish legend, Roger Thompson popped three of these big dog-tooth south of Bahia Muertos on slab bonito. Scroll down for a photo of one of his other big slugger fish!
Hugo gives a thumbs-up on 6 wahoo boated at South Cerralvo Island on Rapalas! First real wahoo of the season!
A good day for John Ehlers and Captain Pancho with a table-full of dorado plus a nice barred pargo! John has been visiting us for years, sometimes more than once-a-year from Denver.
Two of our newest amigos! Rick and Beth Farrar with a pretty bull dorado. Rick and Beth spent the week from us and own the gorgeous Eagle’s Wings Wilderness Retreat in Alaska and came down to enjoy some sunshine!
Always fun to have John Stone and Jason Correia down to fish with us from San Diego. Some nice meat on hand with some fat cabrilla and tasty triggerfish that ended up at our Tailhunter Restaurant as ceviche!
A happy Neil Preston with his sailfish. Thanks to Gary Wagner from the Rancho Costa at Bahia Muertos.
One of the three big dog-tooth snapper caught by Roger Thompson. You can see why they’re called “dog-tooth!”
Manny Lucero with a speedy thick wahoo! Taken on the troll from Bahia Muertos. Thanks for the photo, Gary!
One of the sweetest ladies ever! Captain Pancho helps on a dorado for Dolores Ehlers who caught several of these mahi on a light tackle spinning rod.
I promised Julio Cornejo from West Covina CA that I’d put his big pargo in this week’s report!
Another sailfish ready for release! It was a good week for sailfish!
John Ehlers know he’s got some good eating on the gaff with this barred pargo.
It’s been that kind of year where so much is unpredictable. We have a good week. Then we have an so-so week. Then a good week again. No changes in temps. No changes in the water. No changes in any of the variables.
…and this was a “so-so” week at best. So, if you’re coming next week, we’re on schedule for a good week of fishing!
But this past week, we really struggled and our captains and clients worked hard to find fish.
…and when we did find fish, it was 99% dorado. That’s it. We should be deep in tuna, billfish, wahoo and others. And they are NOWHERE to be found. Sure, the occasional biter, but nothing worth mentioning. And the dorado are fun, but 5-20 pounders is the typical fish. Don’t get me wrong. Everyone who wants fish is getting fish, but this past week we could have used a bit more quantity as well as quality. (more and bigger). But that’s fishing.
We’re still getting some nice roosterfish up to about 50 pounds. All fish are getting released.
Add in a few bonito, jacks, pargo, cabrilla, triggerfish, snapper and way too many needlefish and that was pretty much our whole week. So, next week we’re gonna get geared-up for a big comeback!
For sure, there could be bubbling up. Late in the week, for the first time all season, we started landing some nice wahoo and sailfish also started showing up. Where have these been all year?
We got a full-moon on the rise, but our last full-moon turned out to be one of the best weeks of the month!
2021 BOOKINGS ALREADY FILLING!
Lots of dates for next year are already starting to fill, especially with amigos that had to cancel 2020 fishing trips. Don’t miss out! We’ve still got spots so contact us soon to get your favorite captains and hotel rooms! Also, if you’re waiting to see us at the sportsman’s shows like usual during the early part of the year, it looks like all the sportsman’s shows are being canceled as of right now. So, we won’t be hitting the road. Check us out at: http://www.tailhunter.com. Or write me directly at: tailhunterfishinglapaz@gmail.com
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 2-9, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Back home in Denver, it was below freezing. Here in La Paz, it was 102 and after 2 slow days of fishing, John Lowdermilk and Gianni Checa finally hit the dorado schools and filled a box of fish!
By far, the best catches of a slower week, was had by our long-time amigos, Daniel and his dad, Jim Bovee from San Diego. Talk about a crazy season. Only our 2nd wahoo of the season. A big amberjack that usually is only around in the spring and two big pargo that are also usually cooler-water fish!
Eastern Washington in the house with Dan McKinley and Darrel Startin on their first trip down to visit us. They had one of the better days of fishing this past week.
Great prized catch for Don Busse who has fished with us for years and never gotten a pargo liso (mullet snapper). They are not only a difficult fish to pull from the rocks, but it’s September and these are cold-water fish we normally see in March and April. It’s a crazy year. Don is from Lakewood CA.
Firefighter Mike Welch on his first trip to visit us, shows off two of his dorado, but take a look at the box below. It was one of the better outtings this past week.
Dave Burnett with one of the tough bonito that at least provided some pulling action, even when the dorado weren’t biting.
Don Busse again with probably the biggest dorado of the week! Nice bull mahi!
The bonito north of town around Espirito Santo Island were especially tough and big fast sluggers like this one with Mike Welch hooked in between dorado.
Dave’s got another dorado in the boat. Lots of dorado did get released this week.
With the full moon, the week surprisingly started really strong! Limits of dorado for both our Tailhunter Las Arenas and our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet. Thunderstorms that were predicted, never materialized and we finally had a great combination of solid fishing action and sunny weather with fairly flat seas.
The dorado weren’t big. The largest ran maybe 20 pounds, but with the 5-10 pounders, there was alot of action and many boats often limited early then caught-and -released fish. Lots of fillets ended up at our Tailhunter Fubar Cocina Restaurant every night.
In addition, we had a bit or unexpected variety. The wahoo made a show although we only got one to the boat, but it was only the 2nd wahoo of the season, but some of the other boats got hook-ups as well.
Additionally some great inshore fishing with nice cabrilla, pargo, snapper, roosterfish, amberjack plus big bonito an jacks made for some good days of fishing.
As the week went on, amazingly, the full moon waned and so did the fishing! Our Las Arenas fleet really had to work hard to find fish, but our La Paz fleet continued to do OK. But straight up…it really got tough. Overall, the fishing action dropped off tremendously.
I have no idea why. Conditions seemed normal for the time of year. Lots of bait. The fish just went “lockjaw” and captains and anglers alike really struggled to get into a solid bite of any note. Everyone who wanted to take home fish, still took home fish, but it was spotty at best!
Hopefully, by the time you’re reading this we’ll be back up-to-speed.
Maybe the best news of the week was the re-opening of the beaches and our water-front malecon after almost 5 months or Covid-closure! It was good to see people in the water; walking along the waterfront and cruising the Malecon in the evenings. It really put people in an up-beat mood and you could feel the palpable joy in the locals as well as the tourists.
Along with that, the decrease in restrictions, also applied to the opening of churches (with protocols); gyms, the movie theaters, salons, spas and so man non-essential businesses that were shuttered.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 27-Sept. 2, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Sherry Cady from Denver CO, had a pretty good week on the dorado. This is one of the larger mahi of the week she caught fishing with Captain Raul with our La Paz fleet.
Big smiles and bucket list fish for Mateo Rangel from Atascadero CA with captain Jorge and his first roosterfish.
Rob Markarian from Camarillo CA with one of the larger dorado of the week. He and his amigo, slammed dorado all week.
One of our funnest regular amigos, John Washington started his week with a nice load of dorado. He’s from Carson City NV and planning to come back to visit next month!
Somewhere behind that mask, Gary from Florida got himself a big roosterfish outside of Bahia Muertos. Thanks to Gary Wagner from Rancho Costa for the photo.
Mike Welch and his bunch of crazy firefighter friends with just a small sample of dorado from their first day. They started with quite a bang..
More dorado! Rob Markarian and Tom Worrell found some nice schools of mahi north of La Paz near Las Cruces.
When Mateo catches a fish he’s always got the big smile!
Kevin and Tom with a nice load of dorado ready to fillet and bring back to La Paz to our FUBAR Cocina Cantina.
Good day on the flyrod! Ron and Sherry Cady with another dorado day.
Amigo Gary Wagner with yet another nice rooster for the gallery. The fish was released. Gary owns Rancho Costa there at Muertos.
Tom Worrell and his rather large variety of needlefish! That’s a beast. Espirito Santo Island in the background.
A double-fist of dorado! Ron Cady was fishing north around Las Cruces with Captain Raul and got some nice bulls.
NBA All-Star Clifford Ray was staying out at Rancho Costa for a few days and caught this colorful roosterfish as well as dorado. The rooster was released. Clifford played alot of years with the Bulls and Warriors and won and NBA championship in 1975 wit the Warriors.
Well, knock on wood, we seem to have mostly dodged a three chubascos. Two weeks ago, it was Guenevere. This week, it was Hernan and Isella. It’s that time of year.
For the storms, however, that came through…
Although they closed the port, neither did more than bring cloudy skies and a few drops of rain. Actually, the cloudy skies were kinda nice if you were on the water as it was alot cooler and more comfortable than blazing sunshine. Most of the week has been cloudy or given us sporadic sunshine.
It’s been that kind of year, however. Both air and water temps are cooler and it’s made fishing, a bit different than normal.
Even with the cloudy skies, fishing actually seemed to improve. Fortunately, the storms didn’t push alot of wind when they came through so waters stayed pretty flat and the fish seemed to wake up a bit from what they were doing previously.
Big roosterfish are still around off Las Arenas, but it was the dorado schools that seemed to turn on.
Nothing spectacular, but alot of fun 5-20 pound dorado for both our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet and our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. Especially, this past week, we had alot of first-timers and couples so having some great dorado fishing plus add in pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle, bonito and triggerfish and there could be some really fun action.
Live bait was best and included sardines, cocineros and mackerel.
Not every boat did great every day. There’s still some areas of off-color cold water and without as many boats as normal for all the fishing fleets, it’s hard to cover all the spots every day. However, if they were fishing several days, everyone went home with fish and it definitely was better fishing than the week before.
Still no tuna or wahoo showing which is unusual for this time of year, but I hear there’s some biters to the south of us so hopefully, the schools will come north.
BAHIA MAGDALENA
A couple of our regular good amigos from San Diego, Daniel Bovee and his dad, Jim…who’s already fished with us once this year, took a few days to head out to our Bahia Magdalena operation on the Pacific about 4 hours from La Paz. First day they fished inside the mangroves for cabrilla, pargo, snook and other inshore species, but the next day went outside to the ridge and really jumped some nice fatty dorado and legit dorado!
A table full of good fillets coming up…tuna and dorado!
THE BIG WHOOP!
We’re pretty excited here with the news this week that many of the covid restrictions are being eased. For many of us, it’s been 5 months of closures and strict protocols.
Initially, back in late March we were in pretty much full closure at RED LEVEL 6.
June 15th, we dropped to ORANGE LEVEL 5. Better, but still meant only 30% occupancy of hotels, restaurants and businesses. Beaches and the waterfront Malecon were closed. Masks still required. Social distancing maintained at 6 feet.
Well…this past week, the governor reduced us to LEVEL 4 which is great news.
Masks are still required, but that means social distancing was cut in half. Our waterfront Malecon is now open until 11 p.m. at night. Restaurants do not have to serve food in order to serve drinks. That means bars can open.
Hotels, restaurants and other businesses can observe 40% occupancy instead of 30%.
Gyms, churches, spas, salons and other “non-essential” businesses can open with some restrictions. Many have been closed for 5 months.
With restrictions, some of the beaches are now being opened!
The town is pretty elated. People have to work and eat and it’s nice to have a little more space and places to go! We just can’t abuse it. The government warns that they could still reverse things if folks don’t respect the rules. However, they’re optimistic that soon we could be dropped to Level 3 YELLOW.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 20-27, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
The BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Almost looks like a poster! Hard to find a better photo than Mark Bonsack and his 66-pound roosterfish. He had it on a scale before releasing it. He got 3 this day.
Orrin Grant has some nice fillets to take home to Utah.
Big smiles from Brad. He caught and released 3 roosterfish. Cerralvo Island in the background.
They are big and they’re not in very deep water. Roosterfish almost to the boat. Great shot by Mark Bonsack.
Start of 3 days fishing wasn’t too bad. Tom Worrell and Rob Markarian with 4 bull dorado at Bahia Muertos. Next day they slammed ’em.
If Brad looks a little gassed, this was his 3rd roosterfish of the day. Caught and released.
You may not recognize him, but that’s NBA Hall or Famer Rick Barry who won the NBA championship in 1975 and has himself a dandy bull dorado. He was staying at Rancho Costa at Gary Wagner’s place.
Gary at Rancho Costa with another NBA All-star Clifford Ray who played center when Rick Barry was with the Golden State Warriors.
Another one for the photo gallery! Brad with another rooster before releasing it.
Mark with another monster roosterfish that hit the 60 pound mark on a scale before Mark released it.
Pretty cool underwater shots of Pancho and Brad and a seriously bent rod and a roosterfish at color.
Almost to the boat!
We sure don’t see many amberjack in August. These are normally cold-waterfish but great eating. Mark Bonsack is taking this one home!
I guess in a weird way, I’m glad we didn’t have many fishermen this week. About 1/2 the week we had weather issues with Hurricane Guenievere that came up the Pacific Coast. Inititial forecasts predicted as much as a category 3 or 4 blast. It wasn’t supposed to make landfall, but brush into Cabo then veer up the Pacific side of Baja with 3-4 inches of rain.
By the time it hit it had been downgraded to a category 1 and didn’t slam as hard as predicted, but down in Cabo there was extensive flooding and for the rest of us, alot of wind and waves that kept us off the water for a few days and had the city of La Paz locked down pretty tightly. As it was, here in the city, it didn’t even rain hard enough to clean the dust off my car windshield, but it probably wasn’t very comfortable to be out fishing.
So, about 1/2 the week was pointless.
The rest of the week gave us sporadic cloudiness and sunshine and a mix of dorado and inshore fish that surprisingly included cool water fish like amberjack and sierra mixed with jack crevalle, bonito, cabrilla, snapper and pargo. Decent action, but nothing spectacular to be honest, as the waters settled back down.
Thankfully, again, there were the big roosterfish. Not good eating, but the beasts still slugged it out with fish in the 20-65 pound class along the Muertos/ Las Arenas beaches. All fish were released.
Heads-up! There’s a couple of weather disturbances to the south of us. They’re not fully-formed yet and are not hurricanes or tropical storms, but we’re keeping an eye on them. Right now, they look like they might bounce west out to the Pacific, but might still bring some afternoon thundershowers over us by the end of the week.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 12-20th, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
Apologies, amigos. I tried to hold out as long as I could, but I lost my voice this week and I just couldn’t do the video. I was already starting to feel it go on last week’s video and it just went downhill. I feel fine. Just wracked my voice! I sound like Mike Tyson right now. More tea and honey! Thanks for understanding.
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Tony Toven’s big roosterfish gets him grinning! That’s the beach at Punta Arenas behind him. The fish was released.
Orrin Grant all the way from Salt Lake City, Utah for his first saltwater fishing experience and his first fish is a big roosterfish. He caught and released several over the week and had some long battles.
One of our funnest guys who’s known us for years, Jim Newman comes down from Chicago for quick get-aways and loves his fishing. Check out the nice dog-tooth.
A good start to the fishing trip! Austin and Dan Dorati show a table-full of dorado headed to the freezer!
Finally!!! After watching his son battle a few big boys, Grant Parr from Utah, finally gets a rooster of his own. Well done and a strong release.
With football season getting postponed, Tommy Newman was able to come down a few days with his dad and get some dorado and other species with us.
Some fine fish meat for the table! Captain Gerardo and Tony Toven show off a pair of great barred pargo.
The masked fisherman is Austin Dorati with a fat roosterfish to start the day. The fish was released.
This week was a tad better than last week, but still wasn’t quite where it should be. This is turning into a funky season in more ways than one. It’s like the fish have been affected by world events or something like the rest of us.
One day, it feels like summer fishing with specias like dorado and billfish in the counts. The next day, it gets rougher and cooler and the wind pick up and the waters turn over. And we’re back to spring-time fishing catching cabrilla, pargo, amberjack, snapper, jack crevalle and other inshore fish. All very fun, but not typical this late in the year.
Thankfully, big roosterfish are still hanging out and throwing some thrill at the anglers.
Honestly, it’s been up and down. If you fish a few days, you’ll do OK. Some days some boats do better than others or one spots is hotter than another. If you only fish 1 day, you could be that one boat that just has a slack bite.
It’s just hard to get any consistency. Just when I thought we were on an upswing, Hurricane Genevieve came up mid-week and was supposed to be a big one. Just what we needed. Lots of clouds and winds came up. Everything got shut down. Cabo got flooded. Here in La Paz, we waited and waited.
And other than strong winds, there wasn’t even enough rain to clean the dust off my windshield. We actually could use a little rain. So, ho-hum.
Cooler than normal at 95 degrees during the day. There’s still bands of very cold water on the outside.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug 5-12, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
A good start on the first day for Frank Kunze and Lee Carlson, our long-time amigos who came back to the beach with some dorado and a pompano that ended up on the grill at our Fubar Cocina Cantina.
Captain Geraldo stands behind Matt Cirillo as he poses with a big long roosterfish just off the beach at Punta Arenas. The fish was released.
Lorraine McDonald from Utah is all smiles with Captain Armando and her dorado.
Our buddy, Kip Slaugh, from Salt Lake City, holds up a huge roosterfish caught in the surf off Punta Arenas on live bait. Kip released the big slugger.
Dave from Dutch John, Utah, has a sailfish to his day! The fish was released.
Thumbs-up from Captain Jorge with Sommer Adams from San Diego on her first trip to visit us. Nice rack of dorado to start the week for her!
That’s a big one! Another rooster for a quick photo and release!
Elena Galvan and Steve Ortega visited us for the first time and put some dorado into the box. Standing on the beach at Bahia Muertos.
Sue Slaugh has been with us for many years from Salt Lake City and has herself a dorado on the gaff headed for the grill!
From the Los Angeles area on a first-time visit, Daniel Ahman and Jimmy Stathis pose with Captain Victor and a nice batch. of dorado on the cleaning table.
Kip with another dorado from the blue waters at Bahia Muertos!
It was an OK week. Honestly, nothing spectacular. That’s the bottom line. Not much more to say about it.
Dorado were surely the focus of attention with 90% of the catch being mahi mahi between 5-20 pounds. But, it was a weird week. For all of you out there that think the full-moon is a terrible time to fish…last week’s full-moon fishing was far better than this week!
The week started out fairly OK. Dorado, pargo, snapper, cabrilla. Even some billfish. Thankfully, the big roosterfish picked up some of the slack. However, no wahoo. No tuna. No dog-tooth.
But, then as the week went on, the last several days, it just kind of shut off. Even the dorado took a powder and got lockjaw. We had one day of very strong winds that bounced everyone and turned the waters over and even after the waters flattened the subsequent days really didn’t produce much and captains and anglers really had to work hard for their fish. Las Arenas was definitely better than fishing out’ve La Paz and although summer-like conditions are only now just starting to hit, the waters are remarkably cooler than normal. Hopefully, the fish get with the program again real quick.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 27-Aug. 5, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Full moon bull! Lynn Crooks from Sparks, NV, battled this big bull “until her arms fell off” but with the help of Captain Joel, got it to the boat! Fillets were eaten here in town that night, but she donated the rest of the meat to local folks.
Grins and smiles from Roger Meyer (head) and Joe Duryea (tail) from Phoenix, AZ. Roger caught this slugger of a roosterfish just off the point at Punta Arenas with the Tailhunter Fleet using live bait. It was his biggest and was released.
Some good eating pompano in the hands of Jake Oosterman. Members of the jack family related to yellowtail, roosterfish, jack crevalle and amberjack.
You do not have to go very far to get big fish. With the rocks of Punta Perrico just over his shoulder, Dave Roos, from Escalon CA, is pretty happy with this dandy roosterfish. It’s alot bigger than it looks as Dave is NFL lineman sized 6’3”. He released the rooster.
Personal best roosterfish for our amigo, Bernie Crooks visiting us from Sparks, NV with Captain Moncho. That’s the beach at Punta Arenas behind them. Bernie released the big rooster.
Mauricio made the trip up from Cabo to visit Rancho Costa at Bahia Muertos and was out with Gary Wagner when he put this dorado on the deck.
…and here’s Gary at his place there in Bahia Muertos with a tuna he told me ended up as ceviche at Rancho Costa.
Darrell Manginelli visits us once or twice a year from Camarillo CA and started his trip out finding a nice school or dorado.
It was a good week for big roosters! Lynn back on the board with Captain Moncho and her own big rooster for a quick photo and release.
Nothing prettier than a lit up dorado in the water!
Like everything else in the world, this definitely is not typical summer-time fishing. For sure, this isn’t typical August fishing. Temperatures are cooler with day time highs in the low 90’s. Humidity is down. It can be breezy. So, it’s been rather more pleasant as far as being in town. But, waters are also cooler. That’s not to say fishing is bad. There’s definitely action to be had. It’s just very different.
Oh…and although I’m not a big “full moon” believer, combined with other variables like temperatures, winds and water clarity, can make a big difference so that surely had some bearing on this week’s past bite.
So…
Instead of mostly pelagic species typical of this time of year like dorado, tuna, wahoo and billfish…the blue water species…of a normal year, catches have been marked by a variety of fish more characteristic of later spring fishing.
Sure, we’re getting some good bites of dorado there’s some billfish mixed with the occasional tuna and wahoo, but anglers are also still getting big roosterfish up to about 70 pounds these past weeks. At the end of the day, I’m seeing fish boxes with species such as dog-tooth snapper (pargo perro), mullet snapper (pargo list), barred pargo and cabrilla. As well, this past week, there were catches of jack crevalle, yellow snapper, bonito, big triggerfish, pompano and even sierra…a fish we see between November and March when waters are colder.
Bait such as sardines and mackerel and ballyhoo are pretty good this year and it will be interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out.
ALMOST THERE!
Regretfully, back in March when the quarantine hit La Paz, we had to close our fun and famous Tailhunter Restaurant. It was a sad moment after 12 years of great memories.
However, after almost 2 months of re-model and crazy work with our team, we’ll finally be opening up our FUBAR COCINA CANTINA. It’s not the Tailhunter Restaurant but the closest thing to it…it’s our first floor right on the Malecon waterfront. We’ll have a new expanded street-side dining menu plus full bar featuring our new Bloody Mary Bar.
We’ll have many of your favorites that we had upstairs:
Huge burgers
Street hot dogs
Fish and Chips
Shrimp, Fish and Carne Asada Tacos
Fubar Fries and Loaded Nachos
Your Fish Preparations
…and more!
Hopefully, live music again too!
We’ll also be opening our Sirena Mini-Super Market with beer, sodas, munchies, souveniers plus beach gear as well. Of course, we still have our fish processing plant as well.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay for June 19-29, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Dennis Gaetz lives there near Bahia Muertos and is able to get out and jump on some of the roosterfish that have shown up along the beaches. This hefty fella was caught on live bait and released.
Bryan lives there in Todos Santos and was out fishing from Bahia Muertos when he got this colorful bull dorado.
Still not many fishermen around yet, but our captains are rocking it to catch food to eat or taking out neighbors and friends. Our Tailhunter Captain Luis (Chito’s nephew / Raul’s Grandson) stuck 4 of these big dog-tooth at the island! I’m sure someone took that head to make a big pot of soup!
Our captain Pancho took out a doctor friend of the family and got one of the roosterfish showing up along Punta Arenas. The fish was released.
Early in the year for such nice dorado, but Captain Blas and Captain Alfredo (his dad) took their neighbor out from La Paz Bay and stuck this sweet dorado near Espirito Santo Island.
Beautiful colors…the water…the fish…a good day for Yohan and this roosterfish that he released.
Mostly alot of locals like our captains out fishing with friends and neighbors and yea…dorado showing up! Our popular Captain Moncho’s son, Ramon Jr. , was out with a friend from Todos Santos.
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La Paz is still figuring it’s way through the “new normal” after restrictions started to lift on June 16th and the government especially tries to find a balance between health and a struggling economy. Currently, restrictions include only 30% occupancy for all activities and locations including restaurants, hotels, businesses and even beaches. Facemarks are also a requirement.
It was hoped that restrictions might be further loosened, but like many places, folks have been taking advantage of the eased restrictions and ignoring prohibitions, so the government has extended the current restrictions and is threatening to revert back to full lockdown. So, for the time-being things remain at ORANGE LEVEL 5.
In the meantime, Covid infections are unabated much like many places in the world that open up. The government says this was to be expected and the levels are acceptable, but in places like Cabo, they have already shut down water-based activities again, such as water tours, kayaking, paddle boards, wakeboard operations, snorkeling, diving, booze cruises and others. Sportfishing has remained open but with restrictions.
The government says restrictions will remain at Orange Level 5 for now.
It’s important also that U.S. and Mexico extended the border closure until July 22, but it does NOTapply to travel by air, water or rail.
For fishing in La Paz, not many sport fishermen out yet since hotels are still struggling to get open by early July and training their staffs and airlines are scrambling to re-open and re-schedule routes.
However, locals, including our captains have been fishing and doing pretty well.
Our Las Arenas captains that have gone out’ve Bahia Muertos, are finding lots of live bait and good spots of rooster fish between 20-80 pounds. Lots of jacks, bonito are also around as well as decent action over structure for barred pargo, dog-tooth snapper, red and yellow snapper and big mullet snapper and cabrilla. Some small spots of dorado between 5 and 30 pounds also starting to show up.
For our La Paz captains working north from la Paz Bay, yellowtail, pargo and amberjack have been bending rods over the reefs and more dorado are being found including some legit-sized bulls as sargasso weed starts to build up in the current lines.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of May 23-June 1, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Popular Captain Pancho got out to fish close-in for some cabrilla and pargo for the family and said there’s alot of roosterfish along the shoreline like this one he caught and released.
Dennis is a Canadian amigo who lives in San Pedro near Muertos Bay and was out trying to catch some food. He ran into this hefty jack crevalle.
With no fishing allowed, the fish have no pressure! Check this crazy video of jack crevalle on a feeding frenzy in the Cabo Marina. Turn up the sound. Thanks for the Pisces Fleet in Cabo for the footage!
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Looks like La Paz will slowly be opening after June 15th.
Although Covid is raging in many parts of Mexico, La Paz has been designated as the safest tourist city by Mexican Health authorities and will have a gradual re-opening mid-month. Authorities are saying, it would still probably take 10-14 days for businesses to resurrect themselves plus establish the safety and sanitation protocols that are being required to re-open. Some, but not all airlines are also re-establishing routes and services.
As I’ve stated before, just because everyone gets the green light on June 16th to open, that doesn’t mean automatically everyone suddenly opens! Like the U.S. many businesses suddenly just turned the keys and had to walk out. Some will take time to re-open. Others may never open again.
As of right now, I have no idea who plans to be open and when!!!!
Businesses are required to pass a health certification inspection. New sanitary protocols have to be put in place. Employees have to be found…and re-trained. Everything has to be cleaned extensively after being vacant for almost 3 months. Hotel rooms need to be sanitized from the ground up. So do restaurants. Even sportfishing boats need to be sanitized.
And then what? How will folks eat in restaurants? How many people in the shuttle from the airport? Can hotel rooms be located next to each other? How do you clean the rooms after a guest leaves? So many moving parts!
TAILHUNTER SPORTISHING
The bottom line for us is that we will be back in La Paz June 23rd. We finally found a flight home! But, that also gives hotels, etc. a chance to get going and establish new routines, etc. We lost our Tailhunter Restaurant permanently in the early days of the quarantine so we don’t have much to prep. We are READY to fish!
But, we don’t (and can’t ) have you down if we don’t even know if the hotels will be ready! Some still aren’t answering phones or e-mails because no one is in the offices. Even if you have reservations, there might not yet flights…so many airlines seem to be making adjustments daily!
I’ve sent e-mails to everyone who had reservations for the month of June to contact us. For all practicality, I think we’ll be up and going July 1st. I hope.
Tailhunter Fish Report 