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 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 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 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 April 16-23, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY
Popular Captain Ramon “Moncho” Green went north to Espirito Santo Island and took this 80-pound yellowfin tuna and several big 20-pound class yellowtail using sardines.
Gary Wagner, who owns the Rancho Costa there in Muertos has been a bright spot in getting us photos these past few weeks since he’s able to get his own boat right off the beach and go fishing. He sure has a colorful dorado here. Thanks, Gary.
Alot of you know our great Captain Pancho. His son Carlos is growing up (heck of a guitar player too!) and looks he definitely has dad’s fishing DNA. Big tasty pompano in the boat!
Wish I could say things were better, but no one out on the water. Even the locals are having an issue with fishing for personal consumption. The ports have been closed for several weeks now to all traffic, but there’s quite a bit of confusion over whether local fishermen can fish for their families. Some think no problem and are out. But others have been stopped and told they can only be out if they have permits and apparently the paper process is lengthy and confusing in itself.
From the couple of reports that I did get from local fishermen, there’s some nice jags of 25-pound class yellowtail around both Espirito Santo Island and Cerralvo Island. Tuna up to 70-pounds also at the north end of Cerralvo with scattered schools of dorado moving in as waters warm up. Roosterfish have started showing up near the beaches as well as pargo liso started their yearly spawn. No shortage of bonito either.
Tons of bait. No fishermen.
RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES (AS OF APRIL 22)
Mexico almost has over 10,000 confirmed virus cases a jump of over 3,000 in a single week.
Coronavirus deaths are over 950 and climbing daily. Three weeks ago it was 125.
Health officials think that as many as 54,000 is a true number of cases because of so many unreported cases and very little testing.
Four Mexican states with more than 33 million residents are not reporting any statistics because they do not want to violate people’s privacy or “cause panic.”
More than 200 municipalities in 10 Mexican states have closed their roads unilaterally to prevent anyone from entering or leaving the towns.
Hospitals in Mexico City are already almost at capacity.
Baja (states of Baja Norte and Baja Sur) has almost 800 confirmed cases with 38 deaths.
Baja has the highest incidence of infection per capita in the country. Mexico City has the 2nd highest per 100,000 people.
Baja has extended the quarantine past the original April 30th In the absence of something changing, the quarantine is now extended to May 30th.
Health officials estimate that only about 60% of the population are adhering to the quarantine. Many are ignoring the mandates while law enforcement and the military continue to chase people off beaches, public areas and gathering locations.
Healthcare workers are pleading for non-existent personal protection while now themselves becoming targeted for attacks by people who say the workers are spreading the disease.
There’s no stimulus checks, unemployment or health insurance (socialized medicine). In fact 40% of the working population aren’t even on anyone’s books. They work as laborers, vendors and other “cash-only” workers.
The Mexico Undersecretary of Health has not recommended face masks because it gives people a “false sense of security.”
LA PAZ IN QUARANTINE – You Might Recognize a Few Places
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of April 6-14, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
East side of Cerralvo Island is still holding sizeable yellowtail in shallow water not far off the beach like this one that Miles Wagner took. He’s been staying at his dad’s place at Bahia Muertos now for almost a month so still has the ability to go fishing now that his school back in Colorado is shut down.
La Paz resident, Erik Holthouse was with his brother Juan were out at Bahia Muertos with Captain Moncho and found a nice school of dorado.
Gary Wagner who lives there in Bahia Muertos has thankfully kept sending me photos and has the ability to fish very easily there and has been on top of the yellowtail schools all week and for the past month.
Not much if anyone fishing at all except gringos who live in the area or locals. And even then, not much and the waters are empty. However, the few reports we got this week showed there are still slugger yellowtail around especially the rocky areas around Espirito Santo Island and Cerralvo Island on the northeast side.
More schools of dorado in the 5-15 pound class also becoming more prevalent as the waters warm. There’s a nice spawn of those big mullet snapper (pargo liso) that have shown up. If you can get one of these horses to the boat in that shallow water, they’ve been 15-20 pounders in the school.
Aguamarga on the road to Las Arenas basically says all visitors and you’re not welcome.
More Todos Santos – basically says stay at home. This is not for vacation. There is a national quarantine. Be responsible. Sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you.
Bahia Muertos is usually covered with folks during Easter Week.
All hotels are still closed until at least April 30th. Police and military are enforcing the closure of the malecon and all beaches, especially during Holy Week/ Easter Week which has traditionally been a big beach week for Mexico with many people still ignoring the shelter-in-place laws.
Authorities are now posting signs, but the local population has also started unilaterally blocking entrances into their areas for tourists, visitors and even some of their own residents, if the residents have been out’ve the area. In an attempt to block the spread of the virus, Mulege, Loreto, San Xavier, Todos Santos, Pescadero, Cedros Island and others have all blocked their roads.
Around La Paz, the road to Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay with entrances to the pueblitos where many of the fishermen and their families live including, Aguamarga, San Pedro, Bahia Muertos, Punta Arenas and Los Alamos have blocked their roads. They’re asking everyone to please stay away and if you leave, they might not let you back in.
HEADLINES FROM MEXICO
Please remember this is a changing situation so anything you read here might have changed by the time you’re reading it.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING, MEXICO’S VIRUS CASES HAVE MORE THAN DOUBLED IN THE LAST WEEK.
MEXICO REPORTS MORE THAN 5000 CASES WITH OVER 300 DEATHS. HEALTH OFFICIALS THINK THE UNOFFICIAL COUNT IS PROBABLY OVER 20,000 CASES SINCE NOT MUCH TESTING OR OFFICIAL REPORTING IS GOING ON.
IN THE SPAN OF A WEEK, BAJA HAS BECOME THE #1 HIGHEST RATE OF VIRUS INCIDENT (PER CAPITA) THAN ANY OTHER PLACE IN MEXICO BEHIND ONLY MEXICO CITY. BAJA HAS ABOUT 500 CASES AND HAS SEEN 20 DEATHS.
IT WAS A VERY SLOW EASTER WEEK WHICH IS TRADITIONALLY PACKED WITH LOCAL AND FOREIGN TOURISTS.
DESPITE THE QUARANTINE LAW ENFORCEMENT AND MILITARY HAD TO STILL CHASE MANY PEOPLE OFF THE BEACHES
ONE BEACH IN OAXACA THAT IS USUALLY COVERED WITH BATHERS IS NOW FULL OF CROCODILES THAT HAVE RETURNED AFTER DECADES OF ABSENCE.
WITH NO COORDINATED QUARANTINE PLAN MANY PEOPLE ARE STILL IGNORING THE RESTRICTIONS. THOUSANDS PACKED SHOULDER-TO-SHOULDER AT THE MEXICO CITY FISH MARKET TO PURCHASE FISH FOR GOOD FRIDAY
MUCH TO THE DISTRESS OF RETAIL GROCERY STORES, MANY VENDORS HAVE TURNED TO SELLNG PRODUCE, MEAT AND OTHER ITEMS FROM THE SIDE-OF-THE-ROAD AT PRICES HUGELY BELOW RETAIL
HEALTH CARE WORKERS ARE REFUSING TO WORK BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF MEDICAL EQUIPMENT SUPPLIES AND EQUIPMENT FOR THEIR OWN SAFETY
SADLY, HEALTH CARE WORKERS ARE ALSO BEING ATTACKED IN SOME CITIES BECAUSE PEOPLE THINK THE HEALTH CARE WORKERS WILL CARRY THE DISEASE INTO THE COMMUNITY.
SANITATION STATIONS FOR HAND WASHING HAVE BEEN SET UP IN VARIOUS CITIES. HOWEVER, PEOPLE HAVE BEEN STEALING THE SANITATION STATIONS.
MANY CITIES AHVE ENACTED “DRY LAWS” PROHIBITING LIQUOR SALES OF ANY KIND. CABO SAN LUCAS INITIALLY WAS PART OF THAT GROUP, BUT HAS SINCE CHANGED THE RULE ONLY RESTRICTING THE HOURS FOR ALCOHOL SALES. “PEOPLE NEED ALCOHOL TO STAY CALM DURING THE STRESS.”
BREWERIES LIKE CORONA/MODELO WERE SHUT DOWN TWO WEEKS AGO DEEMED “NON-ESSENTIAL” BUSINESS. THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE ALLOWED THEM TO RE-OPEN LAST WEEK…FOR ONE DAY…THEN THE SECRETARY OF HEALTH OVER-RODE THE EDICT AND SHUT THE BREWERIES DOWN AGAIN.
Hope you all had a good, safe, and healthy Easter all things considered. Jill and I are still stuck in the states. There’s no flights from where we have our house and there’s nothing to go back to at the moment in La Paz. No fishermen. No fishing. Our restaurant is closed. The hotel we live at is closed. So, we’re staying put like so many of you and still grateful and blessed to have a roof and food and yes…even toilet paper and paper towels!
After almost a month of staying away from family, we finally had a little get together with our two kids and two grandkids Easter Sunday for a little chicken on the barbecue. Nothing spectacular. Just good to see them after so long and not be talking on Facetime. It was Jill’s birthday this past weekend and we were all supposed to be in Hawaii for the weekend, but that understandably got canceled.
We are eating too much, watching more TV than ever, catching up on reading and I’m getting more sleep than ever in my life. Usually, by this time of year, we’re getting 3-4 hours of sleep a night and now, there’s no alarm jolting me awake at 4 a.m. to put the fishermen out. But, we’re still working hard trying to keep everyone abreast of what’s happening and/or calming folks down who don’t know what’s going on. Hopefully, we’ll get to the other side of this sooner rather than later.
Thank you to everyone who writes to us.
I can tell alot of you are at home and on your cellphones or computers. I must get about 100 jokes, memes and videos every day. I just can’t watch them all or respond to them all but thanks for thinking of us!
In the meantime, please be well, stay well, stay healthy!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of March 30-April 6, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Scott McClure was fishing with local friends before the shutdown and caught our first rooster fish of the season near Cerralvo Island. The fish was released. Captain Beto from La Ventana was running the panga.
When you’re staying at your dad’s place at Bahia Muertos, it’s easier to get in a little early evening fishing. Miles Wagner’s dad owns the Rancho Costa resort in Bahia Muertos near La Paz and got out to fish the nearby rocks where the big pargo have shown up. They lost quite a few of the tough fish even with their drags buttoned down, but Miles put this big pargo liso (mullet snapper) in the boat. Miles normally lives in Colorado Springs CO, but with school closed down, he’s spending the off-time fishing in Baja.
Phil Perrone from Oregon was out with our La Paz amigo, Keith Wiliams, where they worked that area on the east side of Cerralvo Island and boated a few nice yellowtail like this one.
He’s always into fish! Keith Williams moved to La Paz a couple of years ago and is able to spend a fair amount of time fishing. He took some friends out before the lockdown last week and added this schoolie dorado to the fish box.
Gary Wagner sits in a sweet spot at his place in Muertos Bay, Rancho Costa and he’s on prime waters. He got this rare hawkfish (china maru) just down the beach off the rocks fro his place.
Roger and Captain Hugo both wore masks while fishing but took his off for this pose with his yellowtail.
Hard to believe that dorado this big are running around in April, but Tailhunter Captain, Luis Martinez took this big bull north of La Paz.
Like everywhere else, the world has changed drastically in Baja which finally jumped in to full-lockdown this past week.
Good news is that the fish are biting and there’s alot of variety. Some of the best fishing of the season.
The bad news is that the only ones fishing are locals or folks who have their own boats. All commercial and Sportfishing activities have been banned. By national decree, all the beaches and public beaches are shut down. All hotels have closed as of April 5 until 30th (but maybe longer). Any one hanging out, we evicted.
All restaurants are closed. The La Paz Malecon is closed. All the ports have closed. In Cabo, and a number of other cities all alcohol sales of any kind have been prohibited. In some cities, even drinking alcohol is now being stopped. La Paz is probably not far behind.
On land and water, sadly, it’s a ghost town and the military and police are enforcing the restrictions. Many people are expecting a curfew soon.
But, on the water, the fish haven’t been on lockdown. It’s like Murphy’s Law.
We’re seeing our first roosterfish of the season. The big mullet snapper (pargo liso) have started to spawn and are showing up in the shallows. Dorado between 10 and 30 pounds are cruising through the warmer currents. Closer inshore, cabrilla, snapper and sierra are holding. There are also all the bonito you could want and yellowtail up to about 25 pounds can be found around structure, banks and reefs. And, there’s live bait too! Oh, and the weather has been pretty good too with temps in the low to mid-80’s although some very strong winds are predicted for this week.
RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES (always wanted to say that)…
Just to give you a quick nutshell of what’s going on in Mexico, here’s some bullet points of information. Just please keep in mind that things are changing daily and rapidly. Anything you read here might and probably will have changed by the time you are reading this:
The Mexican government is finally asking folks to stay home although President Obrador continues to go out meeting and hugging people and shaking hands ignoring his own edicts. His own health officials say it’s too little to late.
The government this week has officially closed all beaches, public areas and non-essential businesses.All hotels in the nation will be closed from April 5-30th. Anyone trying to stay has/ will be evicted. Staffs have been sent home. Administrators are trying to work from home. So, all La Paz hotels are now shuttered.
The government shut down the beaches and public areas because when schools and businesses were closed last week, many people decided it was “vacation” time and thousands headed to the beach.Mexico does not have many outbreaks…so far…and less than 100 fatalities. However, experts do not find the statistics reliable because Mexico does not have the means to test many people.
The La Paz Malecon has been shut down. Army and police are enforcing the lockdown.
All restaurants have closed.
Mexico has 133 million people, but only 400 ICE beds. High obesity, diabetes and heart disease are rampant in the population which is between 10 and 15% of the population.
Many places are ignoring the requirements for social distancing. About 60% of the working population are from the “unofficial economic sector” and work day-to-day and hand-to-mouth existence as vendors, laborers, street works. If they stop work, they don’t eat.As many as
10 million Mexicans do not have access to water so “washing hands” is pretty much out’ve the question.
A growing number of cities, including Cabo San Lucas have banned all alcohol sales completely. The fear is that with so many people locked-down, violence from drinking will increase.
A number of breweries such as Corona/Modelo have or are shutting down since there are no distributions points any longer. Some of the breweries are converting to manufacturing anti-bacterial gel.
Panic buying has already started. But, it is not toilet paper. People are starting to go crazy buying cartloads of beer and hoarding.
Some Mexican cities are blocking the roads so no outsiders may enter. The government says it is illegal but locals are putting up roadblocks.
Airports are generally open, but there are very very few flights with many airlines canceling services.
There is a growing interest to close the borders of Mexico to Americans so they don’t bring down more infections.
Mexico is asking Americans to please stay home.A group of 70 University of Texas students flew a charter to Cabo San Lucas on spring break. When they came back 44 of them tested positive for the virus.
Many Americans were shooting across the border from California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to shop in Mexico which has not had the depletions of goods in grocery stores. That being said, places like Costco have huge lines and are now limiting customers.The U.S. State Department is telling all Americans to come home immediately or be prepared to stay in Mexico for an indefinite period of time.
SADLY ADIOS TO OUR TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT AFTER 13 YEARS…
LOTS OF FUN TIMES!
It’s been a difficult several weeks trying to keep Tailhunter Restaurant open. Jilly worked tirelessly trying to make it go using only “take out” but more importantly to save everyone’s jobs. Many of our employees have been with us for many great years.
With the national closing of ALL restaurants, there were not many options.
We resolved it to the best of our capabilities. Cantina is officially closed indefinitely.
The nation has closed all restaurants until April 30th. Then, they think this will all go away. We know better. Mexico hasn’t even begun to get sick yet.
Closing was the in the best interests of our staff and economically better for us than keep going 30 days…then another 30 days…ad infinitum bleeding money because we would still have the same costs plus having to pay everyone their full salaries. We were not allowed to lay anyone off during the pandemic.
However, by completely closing the restaurant, we are best able to take care of the employees so they do not have to worry. They have money and we continued their health insurance. It’s not like they have other places to find work right now with everything closed.
Consequently…
We paid all employees three full months generous salaries, with full benefits, all earned and accrued vacations and bonuses. They can go home and sit this out safely and not have to wait for the other shoe to drop and should have a buffer to find work on the other side. They are all highly skilled, trained and prized food and beverage industry workers. The best we could do for them…
When the dust settles on this Covid mess, we will then turn all attention, time and talent to getting the fishing company up and running full steam asap. 60 more families of captains, drivers, caterers and managers are counting on us, not even to mention the resorts and their staff, taxi drivers etc…..
We are tremendously touched by the outpouring of sentiments via e-mails, phone calls and social media from around the world as well as our La Paz community. Tailhunter Nation is the best!
Let’s get on the other side of this as soon as possible! In the meantime please be well and stay well. Take care of each other.
Tailhunter Fish Report 