No doubt dorado…like this nice bull take between Cerralvo Island and the peninsula are around. Not in great numbers, but it’s surprising that we’re getting big bulls of this quality so early.
Two legends go fishing. On the left, Hall of Fame NBA player Rick Barry poses next to legendary owner of the Giggling Marlin Restaurant in Cabo Lucas, Gary Wagner in front of Gary’s place at Bahia de Los Muertos.
The north side of Cerralvo Island turned out to be one of the more productive places in an otherwise slow week of fishing as huge amberjack, big cousins to yellowtail, put on a bite. The largest of these three amberjack weighed out at 87 pounds!
I usually don’t post up many marlin photos over the years for several reasons. First we encourage catch and release so a majority of our hooked marlin get let go and secondly, well, many marlin bust off! We had several hooked up this week that are still swimming after breaking off. More marlin seem to be showing up, but not all are willing to take a bait or lure just yet. This striper ate a trolled jig.
Even when fishing is slow, often our fallback are the feisty tough bonito that can really chew up tackle. Captain Yofo of our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet took a shot on a flyrod and found himself in about a 15 minute battle on a 10wt fly rod. The fish was released.
SPOTTY FISHING AT BEST DURING DARK MOON AND SOLAR ECLIPSE
La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 13-20, 2012
In a few words, fishing this week around La Paz was…”WEIRD…SCRATCHY…SPOTTY.” Things are definitely changing and we’re going through that transition right now between the cooler waters and spring and the warmer summer waters. The fish are going through it too and so they’re adjusting. It’s a bit like when you bring a goldfish home from the church carnival in the little plastic bag. At home, it takes awhile for them to get acclimated to their new surroundings in the home aquarium with temperatures and oxygen levels different.
I think that’s what happened this week. Every day was different. Some days the fish bit. Some days they did not and it was like pulling teeth. One day one species would be the hot species and the next day a completely different species would take center stage and the fish that were hot the day before, were nowhere to be found!
The other thing was that bait got scarce! Sardine schools, the foundation of our fishing…just vanished. We got a little, but it was like pulling teeth to find enough to fish. Even the bait guys had problems finding it or found only a handful to sell or, it took the better part of the morning looking for bait to start fishing. So, of course, that also reflected on the fishing numbers. But, I’m not sure that would have made that much of a difference either because some folks went to trolling lures in the absence of bait…and they didn’t exactly light the world on fire either!
AND THIS WAS NOT A FULL MOON! AND THERE WAS NOT MUCH WIND EITHER! So, all you folks that think the fish bite better ALL the time during a dark moon, don’t say I never told you so!
This was bad all over. I hear on the East Cape and down in Cabo, the bite just dropped off the charts all of a sudden as well. Hopefully, it’s just the little dark before the big fish explosion!
So, what did we catch?
Well a little of this and a little of that…roosterfish along the shores were still active. Pargo and cabrilla also bit, but that always works better when you have bait! We had some really exciting catches on big amberjack and some very nice dorado were picked up as well as a few marlin. Here’s one example of crazy fishing. The awesome yellowtail bite we had going for 3 months fell apart about 3 weeks ago. Waters are just too warm. We’re gearing up for the bluewater species like dorado and tuna. One of our pangas went out for dorado and came back with…two nice yellowtail! Go figure!
The guys fishing conventionally, did better since they had more to work with. I really felt badly for the flyfishers. With no bait, it’s hard to chum fish up and get them interested. Fortunately, we didn’t have any flyfishers this week, but I know other friends who were out there doing their best in a difficult situation. They resorted to trolling or else using hookless lures to tease fish within casting range.
As for what’s coming up? The conditions look ripe. The waters look good. They are already up into the low to mid-80’s on the surface. Air temperatures in in the mid-90’s. I continue to think we’re right on the cusp of some really good fishing!
That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jilly
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm
Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate
“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”
Tailhunter Fish Report 