La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Jan. 12-19, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Some good eating sierra on board for Robert Boyd from Colorado.
Gary Wagner, our amigo, who owns the Rancho Costa Resort in Muertos has himself a handful or winter dorado.
All the way from Alaska, winter is a little different in Baja! Mic Ward shows off one of her sierra.
It’s been COLD in La Paz this past week along with some windy weather. The winds are expected this time of year, but it’s been colder than normal…at least by La Paz standards with us locals bundling up and even the tourists donning the occasional sweatshirt or windbreaker. Although most look at us kinda strange as they walk around in shorts and flip-flops.
Lots of snowbirds in town and although the temps are in the 60’s and 70’s with the wind, it’s still a lot warmer than where they live back in places like Minnesota, Wyoming and Alaska!
The climate, of course, affects the ability to be out there fishing. It’s been hard to put anyone out there and there’s not that many folks wanting to fish anyway. Or, folks that want to fish understandably get discouraged when they see the winds. Best to just hang out drinking a margarita by the pool!
When folks have been fishing, the better fishing has been tucked in close to shore, especially in areas where you can find some protection from wind and waves. Therefore, the majority of the fish have been inshore specias like cabrilla, snapper, triggerfish, pargo, jack crevalle and sierra. All fun and good eating fish.
Sierra have a moutful of choppers! Best to use wire when you fish them!
When there are window’s of calm, there’s still some dorado around running to about 10 or 15 pounds plus some good action on 5-pound bonito. The larger issue has been finding live bait in which case lures are the most productive way to catch fish. With rough waters it’s tough to get into the areas where the live bait is holding along the shores and rocks.
I’ve heard a few stories about commercial guys finding some yellowtail as well as some private boaters. We’ll keep an eye on that!
TAILHUNTER ROAD TOUR 2020 !
We finished the Denver Sportsmans Show two weeks ago then just wrapped up another fantastic show at the California Expo Fairgrounds in Sacramento CA.
That drive from Denver to Sacramento was incredible! In almost 3 decades driving to and from these shows, this was some of the craziest driving we ever had, especially through Wyoming, Utah and Nevada. We went through several blizzards where it was white-out conditions and almost zero visibility! Plus winds blowing 60-70 mph. All kinds of trucks and cars spinning off the road and flipping over. Check out this video:
Packed to the gills, Jonathan, Jill and Catlyn (the Mexican Pocket Panther)
Jill “Mustang Sally” after a long long drive through the snow and ice!
So, by the time you’re reading this, we’ll be on the highway again going north from Sacramento towards Seattle. We’ll be at the Washington State Fairgrounds in Puyallup WA for the Washington Sportsmans Show which starts Wednesday and goes to Sunday. Lots to see and do for the entire family! Come see us. We’ll be in our Tailhunter booth for all 5 days. We’ll get you set up on your 2020 La Paz fishing vacation!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 8-15, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Not too different even in Mexico! Christmas scenes like this one with kids lining up for visits with Santa and their favorite cartoon characters downtown La Paz.
Manger scenes for Christmas in La Paz
Town is kinda quiet right now! It’s that lull between the holidays and not many folks in town right now except for some snowbirds and kiteboarders and windsurfers taking advantage of the winter breezes. Not really many folks on the water as this is off-season for fishing, but even then, most folks in town are just enjoying the sunshine and getting ready for Christmas. Definitely seems like you can already smell the tamales cooking on the streets! But, lights are up and folks are doing Christmas shopping and that’s kind of it.
Some action for fishing has mostly been inshore. There’s a decent bite over the rocky spots of cabrilla up to about 5 pounds plus snapper and pargo. All great eating fish. The hard-pullers include some nice jack-crevalle running up to about 10 pounds plus good activity on bonito. Really hard to get a complete fishing picture when not many folks are fishing. It was too bad because this past week was one of the better weeks for weather and minimal winds.
I’m sure town is gonna start getting more crowded in the next few days as we get closer to Christmas.
BOOKING FOR 2020
It’s not too early to check on getting your dates together for next year which hits us in just a few weeks already! Reservations are already coming in steadily and some dates are filling fast and a few are already sold out. Don’t wait to see at at one of the sport shows. Last year, by March, we were largely all booked up. Get in touch with us today. Check out the website at http://www.tailhunter.com or e-mail me directly at Jonathan@tailhunter.com and let’s get you set up to fish with us in La Paz in 2020!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 1-8, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
The Big Picture and the Rest of the Story…
Amigo, Roger Thompson made it out to the south end of Cerralvo Island between bouts of wind and trolled up this nice wahoo.
Roger was pulling a dark Rapala looking for wahoo when this hefty yellowfin tuna ripped his line.
Typical catch right now…some inshore reef fish like the cabrilla and trigger fish; mix in some bonito and a bonus dorado. All close to shore.
Not too many folks fishing these days in the gap between Thanksgiving and Christmas and town almost seemed deserted this week, but the crowds will eventually come.
The city is nicely moving into Christmas mode!
Winds were a little milder than normal so some folks were able to get out fishing. Most of the fishing was inshore for jack crevalle, snapper, and cabrilla, although some larger pargo were reportedly lost. Bonito schools can be problematic or a lot of fun depending on your point of view.
There are still some small schools of dorado running around with most fish in the 10-15 pound class.
When winds are down, there’s some good action with bait on light tackle for some nicer grade of tuna in the 40-80 pound range that can be tough battles on the smaller line that get them to bite. Rapalas like the darker deep-runners also kicked up some wahoo.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 17-24, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
He makes several trips a year to La Paz and Kevin Shiotani from Thousand Oaks always does well. He’s on the beach at Bahia Muertos near La Paz with this big tuna estimated at 90 pounds that he took near Cerralvo Island on light tackle. He also put some dorado in the panga as well. Over the years, Kevin has caught some of the largest fish we’ve seen.
Dana Hohn was visiting La Paz from Texas and staying with relatives in La Ventana but got out several days near Cerralvo Island and put several wahoo like this one in the boat trolling Rapalas.
Behind that fish is Kevin Hohn. Visiting from Texas with his wife, they hooked 11 wahoo over 3 days.
Not many anglers in town as we approach the holidays and the week started out stormy and windy and tailed off at the end-of-the-week with windy and stormy weather. The kiteboarders and windsurfers are enjoying this for a reason, but not such great weather for fishing.
There were a few days mid-week that gave us a few windows of opportunity. The better fishing has been out’ve Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay which is at least a little more protected from the northern winds and bigger water that’s common this time of year.
As mentioned, not many anglers out, but those few who got out found some surprisingly nice wahoo fishing by Cerralvo Island with 20-40 pound fish willing to hit those dark-colored Rapalas and Yo-Zuri Magnums. Multiple hook-ups were not uncommon. The same area also produced some hefty tuna bites wit 50-100 pound class ahi, although most fish were lost because they would only bite light line resulting in some long drawn-out battles that usually favored the fish and beat up the angler!
When we couldn’t get to the island, fishing concentrated inshore for some decent dorado, cabrilla, snapper, bonito and jack crevalle.
Looks like a bit more rain and wind in the forecast.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 3-10, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Gary Wagner has caught lots of big fish, but knew he had a battle on his hand when he switched down to 25-pound test fluorocarbon and this big yellowfin tuna bit the lines. He was on the fish for more than 3 ½ hours! Gary owns the Giggling Marlin Bar in Cabo San Lucas but was staying at his Rancho Costa in Muertos Bay near Las Arenas.
Don Fee was in town from Florida and we got him out on the water for one day for his first time and he said he had bites all day producing some dorado, cabrilla, bonito and even some small roosterfish.
He said he was embarrassed to admit this fish took about 4 hours to put in the boat, but Roger Thompson has caught bigger tuna, but few that were this scrappy and he had to do it on 40 pound test. “It pulled the panga,” he told us. Roger was fishing the south side of Cerralvo Island across from Las Arenas.
Efrain and Patrick hold up a couple of their dorado with Captain Jorge.
Don caught and released a couple of these fiesty little roosterfish in Bahia Muertos. He let them grow so they’ll be the big 60-pounders in the spring-time!
Great eating pargo! Gary said he could have caught these all day long on light tackle just south of Bahia Muertos towards Boca de Alamo.
Three dorado! Dinner for Don to pack up and bring back to La Paz.
There were some blustery days that it was good no one was fishing, but there were some nice days too. The problem was…no one was fishing! Snow birds have started to descend on La Paz to enjoy the sunshine and our new Malecon, but the off-season has started and not much of anyone fishing these days because the winds are unpredictable.
However, we did have some folks out and on the days it wasn’t bumpy and windy, there were some fish to be caught.
Most suprising were the big tuna hung on the south side of Cerralvo Island. Go figure. Everyone leaves and all the fishermen are pretty much gone and the big tuna show up.
These were pretty beastly animals. The ranged from 60-100 pounds and there weren’t many of them, but the ones that did bite would only eat light line which is incredibly problematic when you are using 25-40 pound line and a powerful tuna crunches your bait. These fish required 3-4 hours of backbreaking battles to get them to the boats!
For other species, there’s still some decent dorado around running 10-15 pounds or so. Not a lot, but enough to keep it interesting. Mix in some bonito, jack crevalle, a few pargo and snapper and the occasional little roosterfish and it could be a fun day.
That’s our story!
Hope you have a great Veteran’s Day Weekend and thank you all who have served!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 27-Nov. 3, 2019
Mexican Minute Video Fishing Report
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
First day out he hits the home run! With Captain Gerardo, Jeff Wedekind who owns the Chinook Shore Lodge in Ketchican, Alaska locked up this big wahoo.
Nice tuna for Rich Choate from Idaho. One of the few YFT’s hooked this week.
Amigo, Roger Thompson, was soaking a dead mackerel down deep off the Punta Arenas lighthouse when he got slammed by this toad yellowtail.
Maybe one of the largest dorado of the season, Jeff hooked this one out’ve Bahia Muertos.
Barbara Choate always has a great smile no matter what and she’s got a reason with his pretty blue dorado.
Colorful shot! Roger Sauvegeau from Boise, Idaho, had just one day to fish, but got himself a nice load of dorado like this one fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.
Captain Armando with Randy and Barbara Choate and a nice batch of dorado.
Celebrating her honeymoon, Coral Ogden Hart has been our amigo since she was a little girl. She got this unusual rainbow runner off Bahia Muertos. These are cousin to the yellowtail.
Our good amigos from the Imperial Valley of California, Craig and Cathy Corda posing with a little Bahia Muertos yellowtail they released.
Another set of our fun friends from Idaho, Teri and Mac Christopherson hold up a double-hooke-up of dorado.
They always keep me laughing. Tom and Claire Ames posing on the beach at Bahia Muertos.
Captain Pancho took Dan Friedman from San Diego out for one day and he got this nice dorado as well as a wahoo on his first try!
You can tell waters are getting colder when rainbow runners like this one by Rick Choate, show up.
A good day in November! Teri and Mac Christopherson.
Paul Octavio had himself a good week on the flyrod like with his fun roosterfish hooked and released. He had a blue marlin on the flyrod one day.
Clair McPherson took 20 minutes on this nice bull dorado giving Captain Victor and her a big reason to smile when they finally got the pretty fish in the boat.
Cheers! Rick Choate with a mess of good eating cabrilla, snapper and a trigger.
On the good side, the sun was out all week and the snowbirds from Canada, Alaska, Europe and colder areas are filtering into town. On the downside, it wasn’t the best for fishing.
Northern winds ramped up and it’s just the start. This is what happens during the colder months. Two days we couldn’t even go out because the Port Captain shut down the port to all boat traffic and there were several other days when it would have been better if we had just not gone out at all.
The strong winds have the waters stirred up and dirty. It brings in coolder greener waters as well. Additionally, the currents and waves are up so makes for a less-than-comfortable day of fishing. Plus, if the waves are crashing the shallow areas, it makes it hard to get bait.
However, kudos to our anglers and captains for hanging in there. They braved the rougher seas with tight grins and still caught some fish.
There weren’t a lot of fish caught unless you’re counting bonito, jack crevalle and needlefish. However, some of the largest dorado of the season were hooked as well as a few wahoo and tuna. We even had several marlin hook ups as well (fish were lost).
The better fishing was with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet where it’s a bit more protected. I imagine as the winds increase and become more frequent, we’ll be doing most of our fishing from that area.
2020 RESERVATIONS
Bookings are already coming in pretty fast and heavy for 2020. Some dates are already filled or filling and popular captains are getting reserved as well. In 2019, we were sold out by March and 2020 looks even busier. Don’t wait . Check your calendars so we make sure we get you locked in.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 29-Oct. 6, 2019
Mexican Minute Video Report
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
You never forget the first. Especially, when you have been trying for years like John Gibbs and Wiley Randolph who visit us every year and finally nailed their first wahoo…on the same day…on the same panga with Captain Pancho.
It’s easy to see why these guys are fun. With Captain Jorge, James Ekern, Corey Sowers and George Aun from Utah and a bunch of dorado.
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First day and first time fishing with us, Steve Salbeck, rocked this big dog-tooth snapper with Captain Moncho. That’s alot of meat for the ice chest.
Eric Sanchez gives buddy Adam Nystuen with a nice wahoo they took off Bahia Muertos.
Scott Milligan and Dave Sedeno posing with their first day catch with quite a variety including, dorado, pompano and snapper .
Funny shot with Dana Murray our amigo from Washington who has a tuckered tongue out hefting this 50-pound class tuna to pose with Captain Armando.
A sweet-looking bull dorado and blue water! Brian Schwalbe gets some grins with Captain Luis who caught this with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.
Captain Fili with another pompano and Rich Sisk and Scott Pepper hold up some of their first-day catch on the beach at Bahia Muertos.
Enjoying some Baja sunshine from Montana where it was snowing 30″ this week, Pepper Paul Hamlin has a couple of nice bull dorado and a great shirt!
Brothers who fish together, the Suzumoto brothers, Thomas, Luke and John with Captain Jorge. Couldn’t find nicer guys. With us for the first time.
This trio is trouble and always having fun catching a big rack of dorado to match their shirts, Nino Bonfiglio, Captain Victor and Jim Gatti.
Mark Self just had one day to fish and got one of the largest dorado of the week.
Wiley’s biggest dorado ever despite many trips to fish with us here in La Paz! He was fishing north of La Paz near Espirito Santo Island.
Brian had himself a nice week of fishing with this marlin his largest of the week and he shared the meat with his group.
Check out Al Jones and the variety of fish on the cutting board. He’s got dorado, white bonito, cabrilla, triggerfish and yellow snapper.
Our newly retired forestry amigos from Carson City NV, on their 2nd trip with us got a pile of dorado, triggerfish, pompano and jack crevalle.
A solid trophy barred pargo on the gaff for Chris Aiello. Great eating.
Kim Bell fought this nice plug yellowfin tuna for 45 minutes all by herself as it pulled the panga around. Good job!
Too cool from Colorado, Dave Van Steenkiste and Randall Sullivan got themselves a good batch of dorado for the day.
Great colors. Ken has another mahi for the box.
Gerardo gets into the photo with Bob Larson and Bill Bigelman who have a big pompano to go along with their dorado.
We finally got some wahoo in the boat! Wiley Randolph and Captain Pancho got the gaff in this big boy.
Early morning mahi! John Gibbs starts the day with a bull in the boat. Incredible colors.
Eric from Phoenix and Kendall from Denver on the beach at Bahia Muertos.
The man behind the mask with the huge bull is Brian Schwalbe.
Bob Manney is all smiles with his day’s fishing results. Bob is from Washington and visits us each year.
Captain Arcangel has been on our team for almost 25 years and is popular with many of our Tailhunter anglers. Take a look at the baby wahoo in his left hand. They thought it was a needlefish at first!
Tim Bell is all grins with Captain Jorge. Tuna and dorado headed to the fillet table.
Three of the best folks in the world…Captain Joel…Emily Duncan from Santa Barbara…our own Jorge Romero.
The Zuckerman brothers, Mike and Dave with a load of pompano, a barred pargo and a dorado. Lots of variety this past week.
Scott and Alfred after their first day with dorado, pompano, jack crevalle.
This is just funny…it’s not every day that the police inspector on the beach let’s loose and poses with the fishermen, but Angelo Oliverio, Captain Armando and Ken Campbell get a thumbs-up from the big man!
We probably could not have asked for a better week. The seasons are changing and to go along with mild sunny temperatures and cool tropical breezes, the fish were on their game finally!
Whether you fished with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet or our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet, there was no shortage of action. Occasionally, one boat might be off-target, but for the most part, it was all the dorado you could possibly stand!
Limits or near limits of mahi were common with lots more released for being too small or over-limits. We had some boat on some days back on the beach by 10 or 11 a.m. with happy anglers ready to hit the pool, nice lunch and a siesta!
If there was any difference between our two fleets, the dorado seemed larger for our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet and for our La Paz Fleet, there were a lot more fish. .. but they tended to be smaller. Most fish ran 10-15 pounds with occasional 20-35 pounders and larger fish lost.
In between the dorado, add a smattering of hard-fighting bonito, jack crevalle, a pargo or cabrilla and too many pesky needlefish and it was usually a fully day of bent rods and grinning clients!
The highlights of the week were surely the jags of yellowfin tuna that finally popped up and landed in the boats. Best spots were with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet using live bait with the fish as small as footballs but as large as 50-pounders. I wouldn’t go so far as saying we have a “tuna bite” starting up, but it’s encouraging to finally see some tuna in the boxes.
Even better was that we finally hit some wahoo as well. We’ve been getting teased by biters for that last week or two, but none of the fish stuck and it’s been months since one was landed. We lost a few more this week, but at least we also got some onto the gaffs and onto the fish cleaning tables. They were nice 20-45 pound ‘hoos!
Waters are cooling down. Air temps are very moderate with minimal humidity. Breezes are coming more from the north so the season is changing. It’s really really pleasant here right now.
ALERT for 2020 FISHING WITH TAILHUNTERS!
Just a heads-up for all our Tailhunter amigos…we are really booking up fast for 2020! This year 2019 we were largely sold out by MARCH!!! Some dates for next year are already sold out.
If you have some favorites dates, rooms hotels AND CAPTAINS, don’t hesitate. Do not wait until we come to your town at one of the sportsman’s shows. We are even getting bookings for 2021 and we want to make sure we have you covered for fishing and visiting us next year!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 20-29, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Big dorado of the week by a long-shot, Jon Eide came to see us again from Minnesota and got this big bull north of La Paz.
Mike Murray and Danny Lewis from Lancaster CA tag-teamed this blue marlin estimated at about 250 pounds on their panga just north of La Paz fishing with the Tailhunter Fleet. The fish ate a live sardine on 50-pound test and was not able to be released after a long fight.
Herkko Miettinen came all the way from Finland and was fishing with Captain Pancho of the Tailhunter Fleet in La Paz and his friend Kris Honkola when he hooked and landed this pretty dog-tooth snapper on a chunk of bonito in the shallows outside of Bahia Muertos.
Nice first roosterfish for Toni Brown from Salt Lake City who was fishing for dorado near Punta Arenas when the big fish bit just off the rocky area. She was fishing with the Tailhunter La Paz fleet and was able to release the fish.
Another of our fun amigos from Finland, Jussi Nassi poses with his first striped marlin that fed alot of folks that night for dinner at Tailhunter Restaurant.
Thumbs-up day for Greg and Larry Chastain to start their week with a nice rack of dorado from Las Arenas.
Captain Lorenzo with the Tailhunter Fleet in La Paz hoists up a big dog-tooth snapper for Jim Ginther who came to enjoy some sunshine all the way from Minnesota.
Oregon boys on the beach, Brad Bennett and Jon Barnard had themselves a full week with lots of species of fish including these dorado plus a big barred pargo.
Captain Gerardo gets in the photo with first-timers Merit Olmstead and Mike Dangler who kicked off their first day with an excellent rack of dorado plus pompano and barred pargo . Great eating!
Nice shot! Nice fish. Great colors! Kirk Shandrew is the amigo behind the mask with the barred pargo . Kirk is from Elko, NV.
Captain Armando and Gary Okizaki from Cypress, CA and his big dorado of the day.
Doesn’t get much prettier than these colors on Mark Brown’s dorado as he’s given a hand by Captain Gerardo. Mark is from Salt Lake City UT
You always remember that first one…Kirk Shandrew rocked this striper north of La Paz his first day.
Pound-for-pound, there aren’t too many fish that fight harder than these jack crevalle (“toro”). Bruce Luscombe took this one on the flyrod making it doubly tough!
Big smiles from Justin West who stuck this nice barred pargo. It was a pretty good week for these fish which is unusual this time of year. Great fighters and great eating too! Trophy size!
That’s a nice mix of reefish there including yellow snapper, triggerfish and palometas for John Vondrak, Joe Eide and Bruce Luscombe with Captain Victor.
Another good day on the water and another dorado for the box for Toni Brown.
Two new friends from Idaho who started their trip with a box full of dorado fishing with our La Paz fleet, Peggy and Joe Manning.
Here’s a pair! Bill Schroeder and Tom Lathrop with double dorado for the camera.
Captain Luis poses with Mike Kingsmore who took this dorado near Espirito Santo Island.
Adding to the variety! Bryan and his dad Steve Smith with a palometa and dorado. Bryan’s first trip. Steve visits us every year.
Kirk Shandrew and another tough jack crevalle caught, battled and released!
Hurricane Lorena reached category 1 status last weekend and came directly over La Paz instead of veering off as had been originally predicted. Fortunately, other than some heavy flooding, a few roads washing out and felling some trees and power poles, no one was injured and property damage was relatively minimal compared to other hurricanes that have blown through. The most damage appears to have occurred out towards Las Arenas/ Bahia Muertos/ La Ventana and El Sargento over the hill from La Paz.
The biggest issue for us were all the anglers who got stuck for several days. With the beaches getting battered; the seas in a cauldron and the port captain shutting down all boat traffic, there wasn’t much to do for the several dozen visitors we had who were suddenly locked in.
Others were trying to get home and to the airport. Many more were trying to fly in. However, with flights canceled and the Cabo Airport closed, folks either had to stay extra days in La Paz or conversely, lost days of vacation because they couldn’t fly down.
Although the storm itself was relatively minor as hurricanes go, the after-effects have been tremendous.
In terms of climate, post-Lorena, air temperatures have dropped dramatically from the high 90’s and low 100’s to the low 90’s. Almost a 10 degree drop across the board. Additionally, humidity has fallen from the muggy 70-80% steambath to a very comfortable 50% these following days. Accompanied by stronger winds reminiscent of later October, it’s actually been quite comfortable causing many of us to remark that we suddenly lost summer. Fall dropped in like someone had thrown a switch.
The bite, as well, was heavily affected.
Right after Lorena moved north, it cause tropical storm Mario, holding off the Pacific Coast to move into the vacuum. So, early in the week brought continued cloudiness, rough seas and occasional rainstorms.
All of this caused the bite to take it’s time getting back up to speed.
Prior to the storm, we had the best dorado bite of the season going. We had the best marlin bite I have ever seen in over 2 decades. After Lorena, it took awhile to gain momentum again.
The week started pretty scratchy ,but with each progressive day, the waters cleared up and the fish started to bite again. It wasn’t as full-turbo as the week before, but fairly decent action kept improving with mostly dorado biting for both our Tailhunter La Paz and our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleets.
Most of the dorado were respectable 10-20 pound fish. There were a few larger. Many smaller fish were released.
Additionally, both blue and striped marlin improved as well with a number of fish hooked each day while anglers were trying to catch dorado. Consequently, many fish were hooked (and quite a few lost) on light tackle! Most hooked fish were released.
Still no tuna or wahoo to speak of although this should be prime-time for both species. Occasionally, one or two tuna get picked up, but the schools are either moving too fast or pop up and boil, then quickly go back down. On several occasions, the fish were boiling but refused to take baits. Checking the stomachs of several hooked tuna, we found their bellies full of small squid which could account for their unwillingness to take a hooked bait.
As for other species, the change in weather seems to have a dramatic effect on other species as well. It’s almost as if we are fishing in June conditions again. We’re getting pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle, the occasional yellowtail and amberjack, pompano and even some sierra plus those big dog-tooth snapper again.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 8-15, 2019
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN WEEK-AT-A-GLANCE
Weather – hot and humid. Very tropical. Afternoon and occasional thunderstorms and flash flooding but otherwise sunny and in the mid to high 90’s. Evenings low 80’s with a breeze.
Water – blue bathwater overall, but still come cold patches. Might start getting colder soon. Feels a bit like fall already. A short summer.
Fishing (Scale of 1-10) – Maybe a high 6. Still not where we should be this time of year although there’s solid dorado fishing mostly. This is what it should be in July.
Fish Caught – 90% dorado mainly because that’s what 90% are fishing for! But we’ve had some jags of tuna. We’ve lost marlin and wahoo. Roosterfish are still around but not many folks fishing for them. Dorado are easy and fun. Seeing more of those big dog-tooth, snapper, cabrilla, sierra, pargo, bonito, jack crevalle, pompano, needlefish.
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Just a great frameable shot with awesome colors! Lee Hazelquist with a big grin!
Another joyous ecstasy photo! Steve Avery with us for the first time put this beast dog-tooth snapper in the boat and he has every reason to be happy about this trophy!
Oh yea! About time! Joe Duffy who runs a charter operation up in the Bay Area with his dad, Noel (who came all the way from Ireland) and a nice yellowfin tuna just off Punta Perrico!
My funny buddy, Brian Buchanan, had a good week of dorado fishing with us. Brian is from the Salt Lake City area.
These two great guys had a fun week of fishing. First timers with Tailhunter Paul Marshall and Steve Avery.
For almost 20 years, our buddy retired firefighter Mac Treasure from Reno NV brings a great bunch of guys to visit us. This week, Mac stuck himself this big fat dog-tooth fishing with Captain Pancho.
They got Captain Arcangel to smile! Rob Markarian and Tom Worrel with a load of fish to start their trip.
Everyone’s favorite guy and hard working amigo, Jorge Romero, finally took a day off and got out to fish! Nice dorado Jorge!
The right kind! It’s about time! Captain Jorge gives a thumbs up for Jaimy Stolberg’s hefty tuna she battled just outside of Muertos Bay!
Great shot! Captain Armando helps out Geoff Merker from San Diego with a nice dorado off Punta Perico. Check the flat waters!
Dale and Dean Dzwonierek with Captain Jorge and a bunch of dorado on the fish cleaning table.
Nyle Miyamoto from Washington with a colorful bull.
First rooster for Jon Gallant from San Diego just off Punta Perico. Fish was released. Roosters are still around but with so much attention on dorado no one is really fishing for them.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a nicer dorado photo than this one with John Birtwistle from Woodland CA. Great shot and good fish, JB!
Two of our nicest friends for many years from Oregon, Dorothy and Steve Murata started their vacation with some dorado and a couple of yellowfin tuna fishing with Captain Gerardo.
Trudy Grove with another dorado! She had a super week with the mahi and has been visiting us from Salt Lake City for many many seasons. Always good to have her down to see us!
Joaquin Perea from Woodland CA never has a bad day and always a pleasure to have him down. Another nice dorado for the cooler!
Denver in the house! Bill Johnson put a double pair on the cleaning table his first day.
A big fish dinner in their future! Fishing with Captain Jorge (in the background) Clint and Jaimy Stolberg pose with a good day’s production of dorado and tuna!
I told Tim Larson if he took a good photo, I would finally get him in the fishing report! Nicely done, Tim! You’re on!!! It’s a great shot. We told him no hat. No sunglasses. Good lighting. No blood!
You can always tell a flyfishing guy. They always put their rods in their mouths! They need one extra hand! Well-done, Joaquin! He got several fish on his flyrod.
Stephen Chalbourg and his amigo, Bo, came all the way from Minnesota to fish and got these two lengthy females.
Another of our great Washington amigos, Jim Lundeen shows off one of his mahi.
Funniest guy of the week…Billy Baker! You’re on the fishing report, Billy! Good to have you here and thanks for all the laughs!
Two of our retired firefighters, Bernie Smith and Brian Rubino with Captain Adolfo.
Just another good day for Captain Gerardo as he checks out the dorado catch of Les Lovell and Terry Daniels.
Visting us for the 2nd year-in-a-row. Good to have you down, Fish Brother! Ryan Netherton who also got in a day of SCUBA diving as well! Ryan is from San Diego.
Joaquin Perea and Paul Marshall having some fun on the beach after another solid day on the water.
That’s a legit fish! John Birtwistle and a shiny dorado. Cerralvo Island in the background.
Paul and Steve with more dorado fillets coming up!
Despite the full-moon, another pretty solid week of dorado fishing overall with fish scattered over a wide-range of ocean both inshore and offshore. It’s pretty hard NOT to catch a dorado right now if you have a bait, lure or jig in the water. It’s probably 90% of the catch!
There’s lots of other species around, but when the fun-fighting, easily caught and tasty dorado around, folks don’t usually spend much time chasing the other species! This is especially true for a lot of our first-timers or less-experienced anglers.
Not every boat does great every single day. There’s always the 1 or 2 boats that only get a few dorado or really have to work at it on a given day, and I hate it when maybe those folks are only fishing single day. But, if you’re fishing multiple days, it’s difficult to keep the dorado off your hook and you’ll go home with some great meat for the dinner plate and freezer.
But, there are other species around.
We had some marlin hook-ups and breakoffs.
We had at least 1 or 2 wahoo bites that got unbuttoned per day.
If you wanted a roosterfish, yes ,the 30-60 pounders are still around.
Inshore, there’s cabrilla, pargo and those big-dog-tooth snapper are willing to bite if you are into putting in the time and are up to the frustration of nearly getting yanked out’ve your socks only to have the fish bust you off in the shallow rocks.
More excitingly, late in the week, we had some jags of 20-40 pound yellowfin tuna pop up. These fish have been absent for about 2 months and this is the time we should be seeing them, but have been conspicuously absent the latter part of this week. I don’t wanna jinx it and say the tuna season has started, but hopefully, this is the start of some better tuna fishing.
SHOUT OUT THANK YOU
Our community outreach program is still rolling full turbo. Just sent a huge load of goods out to Los Planes to the kids and the community out there! We also collected enough money this last week to sponsor two more kids for a whole year of school (books, food, uniforms, transportation…and they in turn have to keep up their grades and mentor another student).
No sooner did that load go out, then even more started coming in! I was not able to get everyone’s photos, but some are below. But a special shout-out to Tim Schlander who’s guys brought in numerous ice chests packed full of clothes, school clothes, hygiene items and more!! Thanks for the big hearts to them and all of you who keep bringing both adult and childrens items and have helped us deliver several TONS of needed items over the last few years!
Justin and Noah Lauby with lot of great adult clothes! (Everyone targets the kids so great to get some adult stuff!)
From Bakersfield, nice smiles and great school supplies from Don and Gwen Parnell.
Our Utah Tailhunter Tribe…Brian Buchanan, Trudy Grove, Kathy and John Terbu with a whole table full of great stuff!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 18-25, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
The Big Picture and the Rest of the Story…
Just a few hours of strong winds, but it was AFTER everyone was done fishing!
Nice spread of dorado. Smaller ones got released.
Long-time amigo, John McVay and Captain Jorge finally finding some quality tuna! John fought the larger fish for 45 minutes and said he didn’t get bit until he dropped down to 30-pound test line. Note the pending clouds!
No shortage of jack crevalle to keep rods bent and folks smiling! All the way from Russia to fish one day!
Fat bonito are still keeping the action going in between dorado bites and other species.
John has 3 more ready to be filleted.
It’s almost the end of summer and for once, it felt like summer and fished like summer here in La Paz. Air temps in the high 90’s with lots of humidity. Waters blue with a surface temp of about 84 degrees. We even dodged our first real storm of the season.
It’s chubasco weather and we had storm system IVO to the south and offshore to keep an eye on, but fortunately, it went outside and up the coast on the Pacific side. However, it did leave us with quite a few cloudy days and, at the end of the week really strong winds and wave with wave surge for south-facing beaches. Some rain fell as well, but localized.
We almost had to cancel some trips, but luckily things blew out quickly or they were days when the fish bit early.
This is storm season and, while we may or may not get a hurricane, this time of year is subject to occasional strong storms that may affect your fishing although it’s the prime time fishing season during the fall.
You never know when one of these builds up looking pretty ominous, but they blow in and then blow out.
Fishing-wise, dorado were the main target. Typical summertime bite. The fish are scattered all over and can be found pretty much anywhere. Close-to-shore…off-shore…under buoys or floating debris…under seaweed…under the birds. Once you find the spot, it can get pretty crazy. Or, you pick at a few all day long.
The fish are decent-sized from 8-20 pounds mostly with some larger up to about 25 or 30 pounds. First-timers are having a lot of fun, but also losing a lot of fish until they get the hang-of-it. Same areas are producing bonito and jack crevalle and marlin have been seen cruising through the schools feeding as well.
The ticket to increasing the odds on getting tuna bit is to use the lighter line. Drop down to 20-30 pound test or use light flurocarbon leaders. These fish are line shy!
More exciting are the tuna that pop-up and drop out…then pop up again. It’s hit or miss, but the fish seem like they’re here. Sometimes moving too fast to get on them. Sometimes, just staying too deep. But when they come up, they’re quality 20-40 pounders this past week. Most of the tuna are on the Cerralvo side of things near Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay. The same areas saw an increase in wahoo…finally! They’ve been scarce since early spring so hopefully, they’re coming back in time for the fall bite!
Tailhunter Fish Report 