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 Fishing Report for Week of July 20-27, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Every year, Kelly Jimenez from Colorado comes down with her family to visit us for years. Every year, it’s something new and better! This year, with Captain Jorge, check out the size of this huge roosterfish she battled outsid Bahia Muertos! The fish was released.
Captain Chito and Diego Jimenez are all smiles as Diego has been fishing with us for many years from Loveland CO and always wanted a sail. After releasing several marlin this week, this sail was kept and meat donated.
They hooked 4 big roosters this morning. Gary Wagner owner of the Rancho Costa in Bahia Muertos with friend, Rush Whitmarsh from San Diego with one of those 4 hefty roosters caught and released.
Jim Stahlman was with us all week an fishing with Captain Jorge. Jim is from Boise, ID and caught roosterfish, jacks, wahoo and on this day, his personal best dorado.
Gary Wagner with one in the boat to start the day. The roosters were on the chew this week close to shore . Gary released this one and others.
Giving some “sugar” to their dorado, the Morales sisters from California, Christina, Kimberly and Ruby on the beach at Bahia Muertos. Ruby also landed a sailfish that day.
Kelly and Diego Jimenez were on a roll this week releasing several marlin, numerous roosterfish, jacks and other species. They estimated they caught almost 20 different species. They caught this marlin and sailfish the same day with Captain Chito. The fish could not be released, but meat was gifted.
He fished hard all week and got wore out! But, 11-year-old, Roman Jimenez worked it and this was his largest jack crevalle of the week which he released.
Jesus Morales and Carlos Kanemoto with two dorado out’ve their box after a day of hitting the mahi at the buoys.
Right in front of the Punta Arenas lighthouse just off the beach, Rush and Gary with another roosterfish for a quick photo and release!
Jim Bovee from San Diego…pulling hard on a light rode with a marlin at the other end! Check the series of photos. That’s Espirito Santo Island in the background just north of La Paz. More photos below.
After a long battle, Jim’s marlin is getting closer to the boat!
…and here it is! Great shot. Great battle ! Even better, Jim released the fish to fight another day!
Ruby Morales, holding the head, gets an assist from her sisters to pose with her sailfish. Ruby always does well. Last year she single-handed a huge yellowfin tuna.
Captain Pancho lends a hand to Kelly Jimenez and a fun little rooster right up in the shallows of Bahia Muertos. The fish was released. There’s alot of little jacks and roosters in the bay that are great for catch-and-release light tackle fun.
Immensely fun when you’re throwing a surface-popper like the one hanging out’ve the mouth of this jack crevalle caught by Rush Whitmore of San Diego. The fish was released.
Surely no shortage of action on these tough-fighting jack crevalle nicknamed “toros” by the Mexican fishermen which means “bull.” Diego Jimenez with the photo and fish!
Jim Stahlman from Idaho with one of two roosters caught and released just off the sands and surf at Punta Arenas.
Our Captain Gerardo stands behind Fernando Morales and pal, Jonathan Jackson and 3 of their dorado. They caught big fish limits early in the morning and were back on the beach and back to town long before anyone else!
A very good week overall. Some boats did better than others some days. Some spots were better than others. There was a little work involved in finding the fish. But for anyone who put in a couple of days on the water, you surely went home with a bunch of fish in the cooler; some to eat for dinner; and probably released alot of fish too.
I can’t believe how many species were hooked this week!
I think I counted almost 20 different species. They included dorado, tuna sailfish, marlin, roosterfish, jacks…we even hooked some sharks and (get this) salt-water catfish!
The week started out with an explosion of tuna for our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet. I mean, the ocean just blew tuna out’ve the water and onto the rods and reels. Pretty much all you could want in the shallow waters off Punta Arenas and Bahia Muertos. You could see the tuna swimming under the boat and see the bottom as well. It was THAT shallow. Fish were nice-sized 10-20 pounders too.
Next day, everyone wanted the tuna again, but for the most part, that was the tuna show for the week, even though some tuna popped up here and there.
After that, dorado…some good grade legit 20-25 pounders moved in. So did big roosterfish between 10-80 pounds along the shoreline along with their jack crevalle cousins. Add in snapper, cabbrilla, pargo, triggerfish and bonito and there was no shortage of action most days with most boats. Our Las Arenas Fleet definitely had the better action but that doesn’t mean our La Paz fleet wasn’t working it.
North of town, the water just seemed a bit cooler…a bit off-color. It’s taking awhile to come around.
Honestly, with all this variety and the windy days we’re still getting, this is very much like spring-time fishing . Maybe May or June-style fishing. Plus, it’s not really as hot as I would expect for this time of year. The waters are still getting to the right spot . Even when fish weren’t biting, we were definitely seeing the fish…schools of them, but they weren’t necessarily on the chew. This was especially true of the dorado.
However, billfish really stepped up this week. Not all of them wanted to bite but we hooked more striped marlin and more sailfish this week than any week I can remember. We lost alot of them too because folks would be fishing for dorado or some other smaller species and instead a billfish would take a bite instead and well…off to the races. Usually the fish would win, but a couple of folks got their fish to the boats and most were released.
But, then again, there were marlin sometimes just sitting on the surface sunning. Not interested in feeding at tall. And that is very characteristic of spring-time behavior.
Hopefully, more and better coming up!
CORONAVIRUS UPDATES
Everything pretty much open or getting there! Still holding at “Orange Level 5” which means no more than 30% occupancy and masks are required. Lots of sanitation protocols in place everywhere. Town not very full, but more fishermen coming all the time. Beaches are still mostly closed, but plans to re-open maybe this week. Social distancing required, but there’s not enough people around to make it an issue.
All water activities like scuba, snorkeling, booze cruises, kayaking, etc. were re-opened this week.
FUBAR COCINA CANTINA
As many of you know, we regretfully had to close our famous Tailhunter Restaurant Bar permanently when the quarantine was first imposed back in early April. However, these past few weeks we’ve been diligently painting, spackling and re-modeling our downtairs FUBAR cafe to include a full bar…outdoor seating…an expanded menu with many of your favorite items from upstairs…plus the Sirena Mini-Super Market next door. We can’t wait to be open again watching sports, playing live music and enjoying our many friends from around the world!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 12-20, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…(Part 1)
Suitable for framing with great colors and a great ocean! Our amiga, Alicia Clegg with a fresh mahi for the camera!
Behind the mask, Jess, Sean and Adam with a striped marlin at Bahia Muertos. The fish hit a bait then snagged on the side making it extremely difficult to reel and a tough fight for over an hour which exhausted the fish. The guys donated a majority of the meat as good sports.
It’s a keeper! Quality over quantity! He didn’t get many, but Al Vasquez from Santa Ana with a beautiful bull dorado caught outside La Paz Bay.
There’s a some nice bull mahi running around. Early in the week, there weren’t many dorado around or you could find them, but they weren’t interested, but some that were caught like this one by Santiago were gems!
They’re not much for eating, but they’ll put of an incredible battle just off the sandy beaches like this jack crevalle that Jesse is cradling for the photo! The fish was released.
It’s just what he wanted! First wahoo for Jim Stahlman and first wahoo of the season for us. The fish ate a blue Rapala.
Martin Santiago with family members, Tony and and Sergio hold a fat roosterfish they released.
Alicia again with double fisted mahi.
The week started out kinda slow and picky. After Tropical Storm Christine moved through the winds on the backend left us with some blustery days that really made fishing tough and we had to work hard for bites. Captains really pushed hard trying to find fish, but the winds not only made it choppy, but pushed cold waters up from the deep resulting in off-color green water more reminiscent of spring-time seas instead of July water.
Either fish weren’t showing up and were lock-jaw or we saw schools and they just weren’t interested in chewing.
Consequently, the first few days of the week resulted in a mixed bag of school-sized dorado, bonito, and not much else, although there was lot of inshore action on small roosterfish and tough jack crevalle which provided some great action for our folks using light tackle. Some smaller cabrilla and pargo and triggerfish also wound up on the lines. Lots of fish tossed back.
As the week went on, waters cleared and consequently fishing improved…somewhat!
More dorado came through with some fish up to 30 pounds. Several marlin were hooked, lost and/or released. We got our first wahoo of the season as well, some larger roosterfish came back. Everyone who wanted fish, got fish, but not as much as expected and we had to push a little harder than normal for this time of year. However, with waters turning blue again, we’re looking forward to a better week. Got our first wahoo of the year too so that might be a good sign!
BUT WAIT!!!!! (Fishing Report Part 2)
Just as I was about to publish all this…the ocean exploded!
“Wow! And we still have 4 more days to fish. Plus we got dorado too!” Captain Pancho put Kelly and Diego Jimenez and grandson Roman from Loveland, Colorado on the first tuna of the season!
From Utah, Bryan Richardson brought his boys, Cole and Cameron down and hit it just right on their first day on the water with a load of fish to take home!
…and yes…they also caught dorado in addition to all that tuna. They say they released and lost way more fish than they caught!
Uh yea…not who’s gonna clean all of those? Everyone disappears when it’s time to clean the fish!
.
I was in the process of posting the report. Everything was ready. The video was set up. The photos were edited and ready and was about to press send and all of a sudden…WHAM!
The fishing blew up at Las Arenas…off the charts…off the hook!
“We could have put 50 fish in the boat! We kept 9 but released and lost almost as many. We could have stayed there all day. We ran outta bait and had to go buy more!”
“The fish were in shallow water and we could see the tuna swimming under the panga!”
“We got tuna, then went over to the buoys and the dorado went nuts! I don’t remember how many we lost and released. I had my GoPro camera under water filming it all!”
There were already plenty of tuna and dorado in the box and decided to go for roosterfish and pargo and those went crazy too. We released so many fish!
My…how things turned around. Best day of the year so far! Will it continue? I have no idea. We can only hope this is the start of good things! We’ll keep you posted!
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 June 12-19, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT & UPDATE
The BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Luis lives in La Paz and got out with his neighbor for a day of fishing and put up this nice brace of pargo liso (mullet snapper)..
Nothing wrong with this fat pargo that probably ended up getting cooked up whole! Omar lives in La Paz. Locals were permitted to fish during the quarantine which ended earlier this week.
Our own captain Pancho with a barred pargo for the family. Cerralvo Island in the background. He says there’s roosterfish along the beaches!
LOTS OF IMPORTANT INFO…
La Paz has been downgraded to Level 5
The State of Baja Sur, which includes, La Paz, Cabo San Lucas, the East Cape, Loreto and Mulege has been re-opened! Finally. But it’s with some precautions!
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IF YOU HAVE RESERVATIONS – Send us an e-mail to let us know you’re still coming!
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO MAKE RESERVATIONS – We can set up everything from fishing, hotels, scuba, snorkel, day tours, airport shuttles and more. Write to us! We’re still pretty full, but have some choice spots, but now that Baja is open, reservations are coming in pretty fast!
Like everything else these days, this is gonna take some getting used to.
As you’re reading this, Baja is slowly re-opening after some 3 months of lockdown. This is happening, despite the fact that Covid-19 still seems to be raging right along.
But that depends on who’s statistics you’re looking at and who you’re listening to. Not too different from the U.S. actually.
Be that as it may, as of June 16th, Baja Sur begins it’s emergence into a new and unexplored era. But, it’s not like they’re throwing the gates wide open.
Baja remains in a cautionary state and there are still restrictions.
For instance, restaurants, hotels , beaches and other locales must grapple with the requirement that occupancy will not exceed 30%. This is further, complicated by the mandate of 4 square meters per person.
I was never good in math, but I think that’s 43 square feet per person? Either way, that’s A LOT of social distancing.
There’s a lot that goes into opening up for tourism. Everything has to be sanitized to-to-bottom. Businesses must obtain a certification of health as well.
Staff needs to be re-trained.
Imagine a 100-room hotel or a restaurant. Every piece of bedspread; matress; curtains and surface must be cleaned after 3 months of being closed. But, it also has to be sanitized as well. Every air duct. Every air-conditioner. Every nozzle has to be cleaned.
Most hotels also have restaurants and bars.
In all fairness, it’s a work-in-progress. There’s no blueprint for this and it’s gonna take some time and tweaking.
However, if you’re planning to come down, here’s what you should be expecting and how you can make things go smoother.
Bring a bunch of masks. You’re going to have to use them on the plane and you will probably want to use them at the airport. You will definitely need them once you land.
Just like you’ve learned already, keep your hands clean. Wash often. Bring sanitizer along. Restaurants and hotels will put supplies in rooms and other public areas. But, bring your own.
Check with your airlines. Some airlines are allowing larger bottles of sanitizer on the plane these days.
Bring wipes!
Airlines are going hardcore on their sanitation processes, but you know thay can’t get every little spot on and around your seat. No telling who the last person was in your seat.
So wipe-wipe-wipe. Tray tables, latches, switches, the entertainment console or any knobs need to be touched up.
We may have seen the last of in-flight food and drink services. Check with your airlines.
Once you’re at your destination, it won’t hurt to hit up your room before you do anything else. You have no idea about that last guest. Or how long it has been since the room was occupied or how well it was cleaned.
Wipe down phones, TV’s, remotes, faucet handles, table and sink tops as well as light switches. Unfortunately, don’t count on there being a stocked hospitality refrigerator any longer.
Don’t forget to wipe down any luggage. You don’t know who’s hands have been on it. Baggage handlers; drivers; bellmen have probably all touched it.
What about restaurants? Eating out is at least half-the-fun when travelling. But, remember in the new “normal” no more than 30% occupancy and 4 square meters allowed per person.
So, it’s probably good to have reservations. Be prepared to wait for a table during the busiest times.
Each table must be disinfected after someone leaves.
The table will probably not be “set.”
Linens, utensils, adornments will be set up in front of the new patrons when the guests are seated. We’ll also have less interaction with your waiter and don’t be surprised if there is no menu.
Menus will be digital or perhaps on a blackboard. Food comes out of the kitchen with foil or some kind of cover. I guess the days of the buffet are gone as well unless someone is directly serving it to the customer.
Beaches? I have no idea how they will calculate 30% occupancy. As of this moment, no groups allowed larger than 5 are allowed. Groups are required to stay a 1 ½ meters apart from each other. Beaches will also only be open during specific hours.
No mention about whether masks must be worn on the beaches.
For sportfishing, scuba, snorkeling or other water sports, your guess is as good a mine about how to manage social distancing on a vessel. But, I guess once the boat is off the beach or out’ve the marina, it’s going to be hard for anyone to check.
Knowledge is power. And, in these times, knowledge is safety, no matter if you’re travelling or staying home.
Everything is a work in progress.
BORDER CLOSURE EXTENDED
The closing of the border has been extended through July because of the infections along the border. The closure DOES NOT apply to travel by plane, water or rail!
OTHER NOTES
Smaller hotels and boutique hotels are open or opening
Larger hotels like La Concha Beach Resort and Hotel Perla will be open at the beginning of July
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for June 1-12, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Dennis Gaetz lives in San Pedro near Bahia Muertos where we usually launch our pangas and got out for a day with his wife. He shows off a tasty pompano.
Debbie Gaetz with a jack crevalle she caught while fishing with her husband (photo above). Too bad the jacks aren’t real good eating. Although sportfishing is prohibited right now, locals are permitted to subsistence fish. Apparently there’s alot of bait and they saw alot of roosterfish, but the roosters wouldn’t bite.
Our folks in Bahia Magdalena who work with us were out catching some food. Captain Saul was out with family and has a nice pargo on the line.
Some really good eats! From the Bahia Magdalena shallows in the mangroves an ice chest with some fat grouper.
It looked like there was a ray of hope there for a bit regarding opening Baja for tourism again. Indeed, there was a bright spot as June 16th was repeatedly bandied about as the day the quarantine and lockdown would be lifted.
Health inspections were taking place. Businesses were sending employees to classes to learn about new health protocols. Hotels and restaurants were digging themselves out from almost 3 months of dusty Baja darkness.
It seemed there was a green light in the distance and everyone was moving towards it.
But wait. Not just yet.
That green light still sits at the end of the tunnel, but it’s gotten a bit dimmer. Or perhaps it’s because it has moved further away.
I waited to post this latest update and report because I knew that last Wednesday, Governor Carlos Mendoza Davis, the governor of Baja Sur, was going to post a new state address about the re-opening. He was going to give a more definitive word about what was going to happen after June 15th.
Well, last Wednesday, the governor broadcast the message and all it did was leave alot of us scratching our heads; others pulling their hair out; and others just laughing at the ambiguity of the message. I sort of get it. I’m glad I’m not a politician right now.
In a nutshell the government has broken down re-opening into six “traffic light” segments based on how bad they think the infection situation is. Here’s the chart. See if it makes sense:
The governor’s new “traffic light” chart. Every business will get assigned a color which will be announced after June 15th. The chart tells you what a business can and cannot do.
Every business or entity will be judged by and given a “light.” That will determine if they can open and then, in what capacity they can operate. All of this, of course, is also based on how badly the pandemic is doing at that particular time. And, just because you have a certain “color” designation does not pre-clude that your color can be changed at any time. Kinda like a kid’s game board…up…back…sideways. Do not pass “Go.” Skip ahead 2 spaces…etc.
Shutting down again is not out of the question…just like the rest of the world.
However…Governor Mendoza Davis is not going to tell anyone their color UNTIL JUNE 15th…NEXT MONDAY!
It begs the question…how is anyone going to monitor this?
That hotel gets a green. The one next to it is a yellow. One restaurant is red. The other is an orange. Who is counting the number of people on the beaches or parks to make sure that only a certain percentage are on the beach or park at a given time? Who is measuring the distance between tables in a restaurant?
And this is based on so many conflicting reports. Just in the last few days here’s what I pulled from Mexican news sources. Many contradict their own stories:
Some World Tourism Organization declared Cabo to be the first “safe” destination on Baja’s Pacific Coast (but no one has heard of this organization)
But…Health officials say the virus is spiking again and thing are opening too soon
Many businesses have received their official “health certification.”
But…Health officials say the the peak of infections has not yet hit and Baja Sur is one of the new hot spots in Mexico
Some tourists are already filtering back into Cabo
But…most hotels cannot yet open
The government says the curve has flattened according to the statistics
But…other groups says the numbers are skewed and falsely reported in order to get the businesses open again
The severe lockdown is still in place for locals and non-essential businesses
But…many people are ignoring it. Businesses found in violation are simply given a warning. People in violation are told to go home.
And on and on…
The lifting of the Baja quarantine was predicated upon the diminishing number of infections in the area. Compared to the rest of the country, Baja, as a whole, was doing pretty good. Only a handful of cases compared to other areas.
However, in the past week or so, there has been a steady up-surge in Covid infections attributable possibly to a number of variables.
For one, about 2 weeks ago, local residents largely ignored social-distancing and came out in numbers for parties related to Mothers’ Day as well as Childrens Day. Police busted hundreds of secret parties. Numerous groups where chased off the beaches.
Add to that the fact that locals have just been antsy. Police can’t stop everyone. They can’t be everywhere.
So, out everyone went. Social distancing be damned and folks just started getting out. Vendors started selling. People were out shopping. Folks were eating out. As soon as police cleared one beach, folks just drifted off to other beaches or other areas. Social media was used to warn each other about areas to avoid where police might be checking. A big game.
And to some degree, the police either stopped caring or realized the futility of too few resources for too big a job.
And, so up go the numbers.
Many businesses that had planned to open after mid-June are now saying that they will wait for an “official” word to re-open. Others have not even started to open. Others don’t care. They have to work and so they open and hope not to get caught. Most stay closed.
As one business owner told me, “I can’t afford to bring back all our staff and pay them to clean up and sanitize our place and take health classes. Then, they will only have to sit around waiting for a real opening date. Or I send them home again. I can’t afford to do that nor do I want to do that to my employees.”
So, he will just wait.
In fact, Baja’s government is now being accused by health administrators of covering up their true infection numbers so that they could jumpstart the economy.
In the rest of the country, the virus appears to be raging, especially in urban areas where social distancing is difficult and medical attention is already inundated.
The government says the worst is over. The curve is flattening. Health officials scratch their heads and say, Mexico is just heading into the worst of it as bodies stack up in hospital storage rooms and morgues still not officially reported Crematoriums can’t keep up.
The entire country…all the Mexican states…have been painted red by the health ministers. Red as in “Code Red.”
However, the individual states are being left to decide for themselves whether and when they will make their moves to re-open. Like everywhere, it’s a precarious decision.
For now, as far as I can discern from the numerous new reports that emanate daily, Baja is on hold. Wait-and-see. Until after June 15th.
Ports and marinas are slated to be open by June 16th. The border closing is supposed to terminate (driving only) by June 22. Beaches are supposed to be open June 30th. But wait-and-see.
International Terminal 2 at the Cabo Airport, maybe not until July.
But, if there’s no hotels, airlines, restaurants or other services open, it’s going to be very difficult to ramp up the tourism machine…just yet.
Head towards that green light in the distance, but pump the breaks and slow it down a bit. We finally have tickets to fly home June 23rd. But, that may change if we have no place to live and hotels aren’t open yet.
Personally, I think things won’t be back until July. I can guarantee one thing. Probably everything you just read and saw on this report will change by the time you’re seeing this.
IN OTHER NEWS...
Social distancing? What’s that? Beer is flowing again!
Breweries have been re-opened and have been deemed “essential” to business and are now trucking out cases as fast-as-they-can to re-fill shelves and refrigerators after many weeks of no beer sales! Yes…even THAT beer with the unlucky name of a certain virus is back on the shelves too!
YES! It is indeed essential!
No matter what…please take care of each other and be good to each other! These are trying times indeed.
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!
___________________
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 