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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of June 16-22, 2014

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From Ontario, Oregon, Bob Chadwick was able to tick “roosterfish” off his bucket list with this outstanding rooster caught on a live ladyfish and released just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos with Captain Armando.

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Florida in the house! Captain Victor gives Beth Nichols a hand with another nice bull dorado. Cerralvo Island in the background.

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Amy Kasper by way of Wyoming hits a pose after another good day of fishing with her husband, Rick and Captain Jorge at Las Arenas. They got nice limits of dorado.

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When she’s not vacationing, Katie Nichols from Florida actually skippers a commercial fishing boat in Florida for her family getting lobster and crab! She’s pretty good with roosterfish too!  She caught and released this fish near Punta Perrico.

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The ladies were on fire this week with the fishing! Patti Buffington lives up in California wine country and had a nice day on the water with her husband and Captain Adolfo catching and releasing a trophy rooster.

CRAZY WEEK OF FISHING – 2014 PANGA SLAM EVENT FINDS BIGGER DORADO

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Jun3 16-22, 2014

Good fish to be caught, but overall, an erratic week of fishing.  It was hard to describe this week.  There were definitely some great fish to be caught and good fishing to be had, but the “what…where…why…and how” aspects of the fishing equation threw so many variables into the mix that there’s no way to completely get a fix on what happened.

Let’s get right to it…everyone caught fish!  No one who wanted fish went home empty-handed so let’s put that to rest right now!  But, let me break it down for you by our two areas of fishing:

TAILHUNTER LAS ARENAS FLEET:

Tougher fishing this past week and I attribute it to several things.  The lack of live bait doesn’t make it easy.  There is “some” live bait, but mostly, we were using a combination of some live bait with a bigger mix of dead frozen ballyhoo, chunked and stripped bonito as well as caballitos.  They all worked, but not as well as live bait.

The bait situation is a bit dire to begin with, as I have often described.  All of the Baja is hurting.  Much of it is due to the cyclical “El Nino” situations we’re experiencing with extremely warm waters hurting the bait stocks.

Secondly, I don’t know what it was this week, but I can’t remember when I’ve ever seen so many pangas on the water.  We had several vans of our own full of fishermen each day , but it was just an incredibly busy week out there.  Our competitors also had a van or two.  Visiting guide services also had a van or two.  There were alot of independent fishermen in their own boats.   There were scores of commercial fishermen.  There were alot of free diving spear fishermen in the water as well (not exactly the best mix when there are fishermen in the same areas as the divers!).  It looked like a freeway out there!

Everyone needs bait.  So, that meant that the bait was truly depleted.  Additionally, so much traffic on the water didn’t do the fishing any favors.

We only had a few wahoo hook-ups this week.  The billfish bite wasn’t as hearty although there were a few stripers hooked and one blue estimated at over 400 pounds .  The rooster fish were a bit more scarce as well.  About the only thing really going on were the tons of 3-5 pound “mini-dorado” all over the place.  But that gets pretty old after awhile hooking trout-sized dorado!

So, maybe this upcoming week will be lighter and things will turn around.  There were a few cabrilla and pargo in the mix and some large bonito.

TAILHUNTER LA PAZ FLEET

We fared much better with our La Paz fleet this week. And the big difference…LIVE BAIT!  We had caballitos, big sardines and, and mackerel.  And that makes all the difference in the world.

Working the island as well as around the corner around El Rosario, Las Cruces and Punta Gorda some nice quietly 20-40 pound dorado were common.  There weren’t many of them, but each panga was getting 4-6 of the nicer sized ones and throwing back many smaller.  The big ticket is letting the fish “eat” the bait and waiting until it really has the bait down it’s throat.  The baits are bigger than we normally have so give the fish time to really chew-down on the bait before setting the hook.  So many fish were lost because anxious anglers pulled the trigger too fast and the bait right out’ve the fish’s mouths!

Sidebar:  Some nice roosters along the beaches…amberjack…cabrilla and pargo.

2014 PANGA SLAM – FISHING AND PARTY FUN!

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The “Rogues Gallery” group portrait day 3 Panga Slam 2014 at Balandra Bay with some of the catch of big dorado! Great time and great way to end the event!

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Money shot for Angela! This fish was worth about 500 bucks to Angela Farrell from Oceanside CA who has fished with us many times and always does well. This 20-pound-bill was big enough to take first place on the 2nd day of fishing at the Panga Slam!  She almost won the 3rd day as well with a fish that was barely  one pound lighter than the winner!

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One the 3rd and last day, the fish got bigger with many fish between 20 and 25 pounds! However, the big winner was this 30.5 pound bull dorado for Christian Regan who took the fish on a live caballito!

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Shaking it loose on the Tailhunter dance floor!

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The gang gives a shout-out from the 2nd floor terrace at Tailhunter Restaurant!

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Kudos to Tim Farrell who tagged two roosterfish for the Roosterfish Foundation and released them swimming strongly. One of the fish might have potential as an IGFA world-record release fish!

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Benny wails and make his guitar talk! Gary and Michele party up on the dance floor!

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Show me the money! Christian Regan shows off his winnings for the 3rd day of fishing. Dad Randy is gonna hit him up to pay off the beer tab!

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Always in the fish! Verda Boyd and her guy…Captain Jorge…fishing just off El Sargento/ La Ventana found one of the larger bull dorado cruising the area the last few days. She and husband Tim, always hit the fish! Nice flat water too!

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Jilly and Michele funning on the Tailhunter 3rd floor! Pat in the back showing the size of the fish that got away!

 

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Tim Zimmer, our recently -retired amigo from the Bay Area of California put this colorful bull dorado in the boat after the 3rd day of fishing out’ve La Paz.

Our first annual 2014 Panga Slam co-hosted by Western Outdoor News and sponsored by Costa Sunglasses, Tro-kar Hooks, Suffix Line, Okuma Reels and Turners Outdoors,  was a grand success with lots of old and new friends and even a few nice fish thrown in!

Everyone got right into it after checking into their rooms at La Concha Beach Resort.  Margaritas and cold beers quickly hit the tables and master of ceremonies Pat McDonell kicked things off and photographer and famous outdoor author Gary Graham was taking photos and a huge buffet dinner on the beach was served by the hotel with lots of great giveaways from our sponsors.

First day was a non-tournament day but everyone headed to Bahia de Los Muertos for the initial day.  Lots of small dorado…a few medium ones…some jacks and bonito and a marlin were all tallied for the day then we all retreated back to La Paz for an all-you-can-eat taco feed at Tailhunter Restaurant and live reggae music from the Stamina band and some good dancing on the 2nd and 3rd floor!

Day two had us all heading back out to Las Arenas for more small dorado action…some nice roosterfish and a jackpot dorado from Angela “The Poster Girl” Zapien who nailed it with a 20 pound bull that put $550 dollars in her pocket from the pot. That night, it was a free night but a big group of us went for clams, shrimp and lobster to Pichilingue restaurant on the beach. Toes-in-the-sand and cold beers under a palapa roof to watch the sunset.

Our 3rd and last day, we changed tactics and had everyone got out to fish at La Paz north out’ve the bay.   Big difference!  Big fish showed up with every boat taking 18-30 pound big bulls!  It was a great way to top out the 3 days and the day’s jackpot going to Christian Regan who edged out some other big fish with a 30.5 pound big bull dorado. That night, a big awards dinner and more party time at Tailhunters where we hosted an all-you-can-eat Hawaiian rib dinner and more dancing on the 3rd deck to the classic rock of “Benny and the Sons of the Beaches.” All-in-all, just a great time with so many good friends!  Thanks to all, but especially, Pat McDonell and Western Outdoor News and their staff and Gary Graham for above-and-beyond being a good-guy to us.

That’s our story!

combo signature 2-proc

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://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.”

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Fleet for Week of June 8-15, 2014

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WHOAAA!!!!   That’s a big fat rooster! Captain Jorge helps out Robert Rost who was fishing with us for his first time from Boise, Idaho! Robert had super week topped by this huge rooster they caught and released near Punta Arenas!

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That’s a big wahoo for Ty Mitchell from Washington on his 2nd trip with us. He got this trophy off Cerralvo Island fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet!

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Captain  “Fettucine” Alfredo from our Tailhunter La Paz fleet photobombs deckhand Blas posing with our amigos from Colorado Doc Art Flippin and son-in-law Mike Shepherd!

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Tiffany FLOYD could NOT have been a more fun person to come down to fish! I don’t think she ever stopped laughing or smiling and this big sailfish with Captain Joel put a big smile on her face. She was down celebrating her anniversary and she caught this just outside La Paz Bay!

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OH the joy! This is just pure ecstasy! Mike Shepherd had a great week with us, but a big dorado eluded him all week. But at the last hour with almost his last bait on the last day, he finally put the wood to this nice bull dorado! Great facial expression, Mike! CLASSIC!

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I think this should be their new 2014 Christmas card photo! The Nichols family run a big time fishing operation out’ve Florida and came down for a few days to visit. They all got and released their first roosterfish plus some nice dorado including this trophy bull that ended up for dinner at Tailhunter Restaurant!

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Dennis Cudal knew this one was headed to the grill when he stuck this nice big barred pargo around Espirito Santo Island.

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Check this off the bucket list! Nothing like an exotic roosterfish on the line! Jeff FLOYD from Idaho, was fishing with Captain Pancho literally just a few yards from the beach at Las Arenas and caught and released this big time rooster!

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An extended Father’s Day Week plus graduation present for Craig and Ashley Sanford from the Phoenix AZ area where they show off quite a variety of fish they caught with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet including cabrilla, bonito, triggerfish and dorado!

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Great story. Mike Shepherd was trolling a big bait in the shallow waters near Punta Perrico when his rod went off and all heck broke loose. He started yelling, “MARLIN! MARLIN!” Captain Jorge was tying up some lines and not looking and said, “There’s no marlin here!” Until he looked up! MIke had on a fish estimated at well over 200 pounds! Unfortunately, only 30 pound test so they hung on as best as they could while wife, Candi snapped photos! Folks ask all the time for “bigger boats” so they can go out further and catch “bigger fish!” Well, as you can see, we don’t have to go far and our pangas do just fine!

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Our good amigo, Don Busse, always does well and he put this big pargo on board at Las Arenas and ended up bringing it to our Tailhunter Restaurant for dinner!

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It was a good week for big barred pargo! Al Nojadera has been fishing with us for alot of years and shows off one of his big pargo.

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Gary Pilkington is from Northern Cal and fished with Captain Pancho. Gary was on his 2nd visit with us and wanted to get a rooster! Mission accomplished with this caught-and-released trophy!

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Luke Appel from Malibu took a nice picture and a great photo of this barred pargo in full raging colors! These are tough tough fish when hooked and fight like beasts!

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This is our rockstar, Rick Kasper, who always gets fish with us. Rick has a place our there near La Paz now and spends several weeks hanging out and fishing!

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Captain Adolfo and Megan Kennedy with another colorful rooster onboard and flat blue waters behind! The fish was caught and released. Megan was on her first trip and came down with dad.

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This is just a super fun photo! One on board and another on the rod for Tiffany and Jeff Floyd celebrating their 19th anniversary with a trip to La Paz!

 

ROOSTERS DORADO LIGHT IT UP WITH THE FULL MOON…AND ANOTHER MISSED HURRICANE!

 

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 8-15 2014

 

 

Another fairly solid week of fishing even with the full moon…even with another hurricane missing us and blowing out to sea (Christina!)… but the difference between our anglers who fished with our Las Arenas fleet and those who fished with our La Paz fleet was like night and day…in a good way!  Fortunately, for us, our clients get to fish both sides if they so choose!

For Las Arenas, at times, the winds plus the big swell generated by hurricane Cristina far to the south had to be contended with and made for some bouncy days, especially towards the end of the week.   The hurricane was up to a category 4 with winds up to 170 mph, but thankfully banked out to the west before it got up to the Baja.

However, it still pushed residual winds and waves our way and up the Sea of Cortez.  The surfers at Land’s End by Cabo and also around Todos Santos were loving the big waves with the thick lips!

But, at Las Arenas, we continued with swarms of little dorado.  So many that some of the anglers are calling it “the nursery” where it was not uncommon to hook and release a dozen or more dorado in short order of fish no bigger than 3-5 pounds!  Great light tackle action, but very few fish larger than that.  The good thing is that the way dorado grow, in just a few months, these fish will be 15-20 pounders!  So, it’s good that many are getting released.

The better action was on the wahoo, especially earlier in the week when that area south of Cerralvo Island kicked out another nice jag of 20-40 pound speedsters on trolled lures like the Rapala X-Raps and Yo-Zuri Magnums.  For every fish taken, at least 2 more were lost so there’s some fish out there.

The other part of Las Arenas were the big roosters that seemed to pop up again with a vengeance.  We had several days mid-week when, as one angler said, “Every bait thrown in the water generated an immediate hammer from a big rooster!”  The fish this week were as “small” as 35-40 pounds, but we had some larger estimated in the 60-85 pound class (by the captains!).

For La Paz anglers, it was a completely different story altogether!  The dorado were bigger.  They were more abundant and they really bent rods and went 15-40 pounds with some larger ones lost.  The bonus was the many of the best bites were literally right in La Paz Bay or just outside without having to go very far.  As well, where the smaller dorado were found, marlin and sailfish were in the same areas either eating the same baits or else feeding on the small dorado themselves.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

combo signature 2-proc

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://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.”

 

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Fishing Fleet for Week of June 1-8, 2014

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All hail the “Wahoo King!” Mike Guest from Phoenix Arizona has been coming to fish with Tailhunters in La Paz for years and never got a wahoo despite great efforts. This past week after only two days he got three wahoo and lost two other, but did get this one huge beast estimated at 60-70 pounds near Cerralvo Island. Amigo, Esteban Romero, gives a hand!

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Cole Chavira from Solana Beach CA always smokes the fish here in La Paz since he was little kid. He’s now in high school and nothing changes. He put the wood to this big cabrilla on a deep jigged yo-yo iron!

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He came all the way from Lisbon, North Dakota, but Joe Nelson told us, “It’s been as cold as 30 degrees below zero back home” and he wanted some sunshine and his first rooster fish! He got both including this fat rooster off the rocks at Punta Perico with Captain Archangel of the Tailhunter fleet.

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Al Rodriguez has fished in La Paz and Baja but NEVER got a dorado so he really focused on one this past week. He did that…and MORE! Well done, Al. He nailed this nice bull just outside of La Paz Bay.

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Malibu in the house! Luke Appel dropped the hammer on this sweet amberjack off Isla Espirito Santo on a heavy jig north of La Paz.

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Captain Adolfo from the Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet helps Megan Kennedy from Washington with the smiles and a big roosterfish just off the rocks outside of Bahia de Los Muertos! The fish was released!

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Gabe Rodriguez was in town with his dad and to celebrate his 40th birthday doing some fishing. He and dad both got into the dorado with Captain Rogelio of our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. Feliz cumpleanos!

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Happy Honeymoon! Pat Snyder from Orangevale CA said this fish “beat him up” for 30 minutes while fishing with Captain Armando. He was here on his first trip to La Paz and to celebrate his first week of marriage! Congrats to him and Kathy!

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A well-deserved “thumbs-up” from Captain Jorge to pose with Kevin Kennedy and his big roosterfish that he caught and released not too far off the little cliffs at Punta Perrico. Our amigo, Kevin, is from Washington.

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Colin Reed from San Diego with a speedy wahoo he caught off Cerralvo Island where the wahoo bite has been pretty steady for several weeks!

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Pretty good for a first day fishing and first time to La Paz for brothers Andew and Ian Vale Cruz from San Diego. They got a variety of fish including these two trophys. Andrew holds up a big dog-tooth snapper and Ian has his first wahoo. Captain Pancho fails the photo bomb!

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Everyone was in on the dorado bite including amiga, Nina Duc Le and son, Will, from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Over 3 days fishing they got marlin, dorado, bonito, and others!

 

THAT’S MORE LIKE IT!  FISH BITE!  RODS BEND!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 1-8, 2014

 

 

Good solid fishing this week for both of our Tailhunter Fleets for once.  Usually, either the La Paz fleet is doing better than our Las Arenas fleet or vice versa!

However, this week, I would have to say that for once, we had alot more consistency which made for some good catches and action for our anglers although here and there, some anemia still persisted.  Basically, some boats did better than others on a given day.  But, overall, everyone got fish.

For our Las Arenas anglers, the big news continues to be the wahoo bite around Cerralvo Island with some bruiser wahoo literally hammering the Yo-Zuri and especially the Rapala X-Rap lures which seem to be the season’s new-found “hot lure”.  Run ‘em deep and they get bit!

I gotta say, there’s gotta be some big time wahoo underwater because even with wire, some of the lures are still getting bit off.  And…get this…we’ve had some lures literally getting CRUSHED!  I mean, how often do you ever hear of a hard-bodied lure like a Rapala getting broken or even smashed by the teeth!  Or the treble hooks getting straightened out!  That’s a big mean fish that can do that!  We had several fish this week tickle the 50-pound mark and even one estimated at 70 pounds!

The other benefit of these deep running X-raps that can run 30’ down is that we’re actually getting some huge pargo on them!  (By the way, I am NOT a rep for Rapala!  Prior to this, I actually liked the Yo-Zuris better because the older metal-lipped Rapalas got “out of tune” too easily after a bonito slammed them.  But the new ones have acrylic lips that dive deep and don’t get all screwy!).

The other big star at Las Arenas has been the rooster fish.  Not as many “big fish” this week compared to other weeks when we had 50-90 pound roosters, but 30-45 pounders this week are nothing to sneeze at if you’ve ever gotten bent on one!  For many, this is an opportunity to finally get a rooster checked-off the bucket list and, also for many, they’ve never had a fish this big to contend with.  As one of our anglers told me later, “I don’t know what I was thinking asking for a 100-pound fish!  Prior to this, I had only caught a 40-pound salmon.  After 15 minutes on a 30 pound rooster, I was ready to pass off the rod to my friend and sit down with a beer!  These fish don’t give up!”

For dorado at Las Arenas there were polar opposites.  There’s a spot we’re starting to call the “nursery.”  There are so many 3 to 8 pound dorado there that you can hook a dozen quite easily and the flyfishers and light tackle anglers are having a blast.

Beyond that, there’s very little in between.  The dorado then jump up into the 25-30 pound class!  There’s a few out there and bigger ones as well.

For our La Paz fleet, dorado are the name of the game.  Limits or near limits of 15-40 pound fish are just inside La Paz Bay and some of our boats actually quit early and came back with anglers saying “no mas!”  Full fish boxes and ice chests after a few hours fishing were not uncommon.  Other anglers not doing as well, still had opportunities with quite a few fish lost to either inexperience or simply tough luck…but still plenty of action!

On a final note…alot more marlin and sailfish hooks ups this week with more billfish entering th area.  By my count, our two fleets hooked perhaps a dozen billfish of varying sizes including one blue marlin and the rest being 100 pound stripers and sailfish.  One fish brought in and the others either got un-bottoned or released.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

combo signature 2-proc

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://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.”

 

 

 

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Sportfishing for Week of May 24-31, 2014

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Not only first time fishing in Mexico…BUT FIRST TIME FISHING IN SALT WATER! Rich Pomeroy from the Sacramento CA area had a spectacular week with a variety of fish including his first marlin, dorado, pargo and this cherry wahoo!

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Nice way to kick it on your bachelor party! Rich Drehsen from Camarillo CA was on his bachelor party here in La Paz and spent a few day on the water with us and shows off a trophy bull dorado just off the beach near Boca de Alamo near Bahia de Los Muertos.

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No doubt a trophy! But, this is one of the larger cabrilla we’ve seen so far this year and Rick Pope dropped the hammer on this bad boy near Espirito Santo Island north of La Paz! We cooked up a bunch of it at our Tailhunter Restaurant! Rick was on a roll this week. He was even catching sizeable pargo on the docks behind La Concha Beach Resort at night!

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Stan Yung and Captain Archangel had a productive day! Take a look at the nice wahoo and dorado while on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos!

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The quality of the dorado definitely improved this week with some nice bulls in the box like this brightly colored bull caught by our amigo from Diamond Bar CA Bill Hsu!

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He’s shy! But Randy from Canada is hiding somewhere behind the comb of this 40 pound roosterfish taken off the rocks near Punta Perrico with Captain Pancho! The fish was released and Randy is smiling back there…somewhere!

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A colorful lineup rogues gallery! Rich, Chris, Ron and Ed did a nice number on dorado and pose on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos! All are from Camarillo CA on Rich’s bachelor party!

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Big smiles as Captain Rogelio with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet helps Ken Errair from Oxnard CA who came down with his son, Cody, to spend a few days fishing and scuba diving with us.

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Arroyo Grande CA in the house! Mike Davis has been with us many times, but this is the first time he’s joined by his wife, Colleen who turned into quite a trooper and holds up some of their dorado catch with Captain Archangel.

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Roy Stenzel from the mountain area near Auburn CA caught and released this nice roosterfish with Captain Pancho during the week! Roosters are still here, although the emergence of dorado took some of the pressure off the roosterfish!

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Rick Pope and Rich Pomeroy with two of the many fish and species they caught while fishing 4 days with us!

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No arguing over the quality of these mahi mahi! Captain Jorge and Ed Drehsen hold a nice pair on the beach.

 

DORADO FINALLY FIRE IT UP AS WATERS WARM UP TOO!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 24-31, 2014

 

Maybe one of our best week’s of the young season!  Here we go…

Well, we seem to have dodged a major bullet this week.  Hurricane Amanda that formed up way south of us was watched intently all week.  Not only would it have been the first “named” storm f of the year, but more importantly, it would have been a doozy.

The weather folks say it would have been the strongest recorded hurricane ever for form up this early in the year.  The Category 5 blaster registered winds of up to 170 miles per hour and regular winds over 150 mph!  If it had made landfall, it would have torn up some real estate!

Fortunately, Amanda spun out and went off west into the Pacific Ocean and left us only with some cloudy skies…a few big rain drops…and actually very flat calm seas that didn’t even have a ripple on them!

Not sure how much it had to do with the fishing, but we sure had a pretty nice week of fishing!

Early in the week, we again had some sweet big rooster fish around our Las Arenas areas.  Las Arenas also produced some regular wahoo up to 45 pounds, pargo, cabrilla, sierra as well as jack crevalle and some huge big bonito.

But, the more remarkable thing was that the dorado roared to life for our La Paz anglers and pangas.  Towards the end of the week we were getting limits or near limits of fish up to 35 or 40 pounds and I would have to admit that the numbers were deceiving because our captains were coming back telling us that the clients lost more fish than they caught!  For example a panga might come back with 3 fish, but I would find out from the clients or our captain that they “farmed” 4, 5, 7, even 10 fish”   Every day was different.  Some better than others, but overall, it was a marked difference from previous weeks.

But, that’s all fun!  Lots of action is a good thing!

Even the flyfishers are having a better time of it.  They’ve had a tough time because of a lack of bait during the early season, but they even got into the dorado this week as well although roosters on the fly have proved to be a bit more difficult.  We had one amigo who got  25 dorado caught-and-released on the flyrod on a single day.

Also remarkable was the fact that we’ve been lamenting the lack of bait all season.  However, this week there stacks upon stacks of bait around La Paz beaches…mackerel…caballitos…huge sardines…ballyhoo!   The bait was thick!

In fact, there was so much bait in the bay for several days that we had dorado swimming in the shallows inside the marina and harbor areas within casting distance of the hotels.  We also have clients who were beach fishing in the late afternoons hooking some big pargo and cabrilla and several marlin were seen inside the bay as well!

Not sure if this will last or we’re finally kicking into summer, but I will tell you that the water temps edged up a few degrees this week and alot of the green plankton water burned of leaving us with some gorgeous blue water like the kind you see in postcards!

We even got out to the islands to sneak away for a few hours of scuba diving, paddle-boarding and kayaking!  Jill got to put a few more dives under her belt with her new certification!

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Jill kicking along about 40 feet down in 82 degree water at Isolotes north of La Concha!

CHECK OUT THE VIDEOS FROM THE ISLAND…JILL DIVING…PLAYFUL SEALIONS…BAJA TORQUOISE BAY!

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The Beach at Ensenada Grande on Espirito Santo Island run by our amigos at Fun Baja and a great place to kick it for the afternoon after diving and snorkeling. With kayaks, paddle boards, palapas, lounges and a great little lunch kitchen, it’s hard to beat!

 That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

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Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://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.”

 

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Sportfishing for Week of May 18-25, 2014

rooster brian davis 5-14 small tags

Another week of big big big roosters! Leading the way is Brian Davis with a fish estimated by Captain Pancho as 85-95 pounds and caught on live bait off Las Arenas. This beauty was released…as were all roosters this week. Brian brought a great gang of amigos with most of them from Louisiana.

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This i s just a pretty photo! I might just frame it. First-timer, amigo, Boyd Loveless from Utah brings aboard a nice dorado with a hand from Captain Raul. Check out that flat water! Water temps are almost 85 degrees now!

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Captain Armando and Kacie Ellis from Portland are all smiles as they get ready to put this big roosterfish back in the water. Kacie is from the Portland area and she was at our Tailhunter Restaurant almost every night to watch her Portland Trailblazers on our TV!

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Biggest wahoo of the week and winner of $100 best from his amigos, Eddie Flanigen posted up this nice fish he hooked off the south end of Cerralvo Island on his first day of fishing. Ed is from Louisiana and is holding his fish on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

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From Utah, Shirl Loveless just seemed to be the “hot stick” no matter where he fished or who he fished with all week! Check out the bad boy rooster he caught and released with Captain Pancho just a few yards off the sand at Punta Arenas.

SCOTT BEHNKEN pulls in a nice bull dorado!  PLAY THE VIDEO ABOVE!

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All the way from Indiana, Scott Behnken, pulled this nice bull dorado up north of La Paz. Check out the video in the photo above.

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He really wanted to get one and he stuck this trophy roosterfish near Punta Arenas. Mike Ellis from Oregon did a nice job catching-and-releasing this fish!

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The three amigos…they are funny as heck when they get together… Joey Stolarczyk, Walt Topping and Ziggy Haspod, found some nice spots of dorado just inside of La Paz Bay and put some nice fish in the box and lost other larger fish!

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Great big bull dorado for Shawn Silk from San Mateo CA. Shawn was on his first trip with us and nailed this nice fish north of La Paz just outside of La Paz Bay north of town.

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Jeff Jiles looks a bit surprised, but no doubt he’s got a trophy roosterfish with Captain Jorge just south of Bahia de Los Muetos. Jeff came to visit from Utah.

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Maybe one of the happiest guys of the week. Great fun to have Felipe Yanez with us fishing all week. He holds up a paid of dorado caught with our Las Arenas fleet.

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Ziggy and Walt…in danger of a bit of sunburn, but happy with another dorado on the gaff! Always good to have them visit!

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Not a bad day of fishing for the Loveless family. Russ Loveless…Jeff and Shirleen Jiles…Tony Loveless and dad (Shirl) in the hat with a batch of nice dorado on the beach in front of La Concha Beach Resort. Great fun family.

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Tony Loveless in on the roosterfish bite with another nice fish! Punta Perico in the background!

 

ROOSTERFISH BEASTS and SUMMERTIME DORADO!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of May 18-25, 2014

 

It’s actually been one of the hotter and more humid weeks of the year with temps every day just over 100.  It’s only May, but if felt like July. Waters were also noticeably warmer as well.  But, the good-side of that is much of the green plankton-colored water burned off and we’ve got some pretty blue stuff finally here!

Overall, another up-and-down week.  One day our Las Arenas fleet would be top-dog for fish and action.  Next day, Las Arenas would be tough and our La Paz fleet would be rocking the fishing.   Similarly, two pangas next to each other would be fishing and doing the exact same thing or working the same beach or patch of water.  One would hook up left-and-right.  The other would have guys scratching their heads wondering if they had unlucky bananas aboard.  There was just no predicting from day-to-day or from location to location.

The two biggest stars that came through were our dorado, especially for our La Paz anglers, with fish up to 40 pounds, but so so so many fish lost!  It made the counts very deceiving!  Our fishermen would come in with some sad stories and only 2 or 3 fish.  Then, I would check with our captain and he would say, “But they had lots of opportunities!  They LOST 7 fish!”  Well…that’s a big difference!

But, then on at least two days this week, our captains and anglers said, “We saw fish everywhere…dorado…roosters…jack crevalle…And they wouldn’t bite!  They would swim right by the baits uninterested!”

The best news as again, the rooster fish.  The roosters around Las Arenas have been doing really well. Again, we got some real horse-sized pez gallos.  Fish were generally 20-50 pounds which are nothing to sneeze at, but we also got some fish in the 60-70 pound class and even one estimated at 80-90 pounds!  All fish were released.

We also saw more marlin this week and are hearing stories of tuna moving into our area from the south.

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://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.”

 

 

 

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Sportfishing for Week of May 11-18, 2014

Rick rooster 5-14 tags

This is the “beast of the week.” With a rooster estimated by Captain Jorge and others as in the “80-85 pound class,” our amigo, Rick Kasper, who has caught lots of big fish with us, shows off his biggest and best with this huge rooster that he caught and released just off the beach at Las Arenas.

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Nice way to celebrate a honeymoon! All the way from Argentina, Mauricio Ohashi, nailed this gigantic roosterfish on a live ladyfish near Punta Arenas with an assist from Captain Gerardo who helps hoist the big fish. Mauricio caught and released two of these giants on this particular day.

Felix Williams dorado tags small 5-14

First timer with us, Felix Williams from Ladera Heights, CA near Los Angeles fished a few days with us and got into a nice jag of dorado one day when the dorado went off outside of Bahia de Los Muertos.

rooster don swenson 5-14 small tags

Don Swenson from Washington State really wanted a roostefish and had one day to take a shot at it. He set him up to go out on one of our Tailhunter pangas and they hooked up 6 roosters and got 3 roosters to the panga that were all released. Here’s one of the nice ones!

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Scott Behnken is all smiles with Captain Jorge hidden behind the comb of Scott’s biggest roosterfish caught off the beach at Las Arenas. He was using live bait to get the fish. That’s Cerralvo Island in the background.

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Ron Lawver from Phoenix AZ hung in there during a tough week of fishing and never ever stopped laughing and smiling. He caught and released this rooster just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos.

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He finally got one! From Washington, Todd Olson hefts a big fat roosterfish that’s as thick as it is long! It’s the fish he came to get and it turned out to be a trophy!

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Yes…there’s other fish around! Captain Victor poses with a huge pompano, related to roosterfish, jack crevalle, yellowtail and amberjack caught by clients just off the beach at Bahia de los Muertos.

 

ROOSTERFISH HAVE STRONG SHOWING PICK UP FISHING SLACK

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 11-18, 2014

 

I can’t say fishing is great or even good, but by the same token, I wouldn’t say it’s bad either.  It’s just “different.”  Quite a few happy anglers but the catch just isn’t what we usually see right now.

I will say one thing, that even with the gigantic full moon this week, it was better than I expected.

If you’re confused…

The rooster fish bit solidly all week and they were some spectacular fish.  Every day we got 30-60 pounders and many were lost and happily all of the fish were released swimming away strongly!  For many of our folks, it was their first rooster or, their biggest rooster, or in some situations, they weren’t even expecting anything big and, as luck would have it, they tied into some trophy roosters!

As well, we had some better action on dorado with some of the larger fish we’ve seen this early in the season and some legit 25-35 pound bulls taken at both our La Paz and Las Arenas fleet.  I will say this.  Toward the end of the week water temperatures jumped.  The plankton that has been coloring the waters green burned off.  Waters turned blue and cleared up in so many places.  And with it…the dorado bite surely seemed to get stronger.  We’ll keep an eye on it and hopefully this is a sign of continuing better fishing!

On other fronts… wahoo season has been rocking along nicely.  Normally, we don’t see many wahoo until about this time of the year, but we’ve had a steady wahoo bite around Cerralvo Island now for 2 or 3 months!  There’s some quality 20-50 pound fish out there and other “grandes” that never made it to the boat.

Air temps are in the low 90’s with some Santa Ana style warm breezes blowing.  Several days the winds were pretty strong affecting fishing.  Water is a bit off color either because of the winds or because of plankton in the water but as mentioned above, clarity and visibilty  have improved rapidly .  A few more degrees warmer and it’ll all burn off.

That’s our story

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://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.”

 

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of May 4-11, 2014

Matt Garrett wahoo 5-14 small tags

Nice “skinny” for Matt Garrett from Washington who pulled up this nice wahoo that ran about 30 pounds just off Cerralvo Island. This was Matt’s first trip to La Paz. The wahoo have been pretty consistent now the last few weeks. We’re taking a few every day.

droado tags small Vince Bussio pettit group 4-14-proc

This is the kind of dorado we like to see! Big bull dorado on the beach caught by Vince Bussio from Utah! There’s a few other dorado tails down by his feet as well.

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Great photo, smile and colors as Sandy Davis poses with a fresh wahoo off the south end of Cerralvo Island. Sandy is the sister of our good amiga, Donna Thompson who rocks the fishing grounds and lives in La Ventana. (Thanks for the photo!)

Marion Lawver pargo small tags 5-14

Kansas City  in the house! Marion Lawver  pulled this nice dog-tooth snapper (pargo perro / dog-tooth snapper) out’ve the rocks. Tough tough fish that is all teeth, sharp gills and scales and lots of power. But they taste great! Nicely done!

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Some nice mahi on the beach as Don Henderson and Bill Cook from Idaho hold up a couple of dorado they caught with our Tailhunter Fleet and Captain Victor.

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Rick Rieken from Las Vegas has his hands full with a nice dorado and a nice wahoo! Some fish packing is in order. Muertos Bay in the background.

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It’s late in the season, but whalesharks are still in our La Paz Bay. Early this week, Jill and I took a few hours to snorkel with the hoping to find maybe 1 whale. Instead we ended up in the water with 8 of the gentle creatures! This one glides by the panga and is about 20 feet long! A baby…they grow over 50 feet long!

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With water only between 10 and 15 feet deep and incredibly warm, the big “babies” are feeding on plankton near the surface and often gulp their meals by opening their mouths and letting the food flow in! One of them seems to be giving Jill a big smile as it came next to our panga. We were snorkeling with our good friends at Fun Baja.

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It’s a great experience to get in the water with huge creatures and we had EIGHT of the “baby” whalesharks around us while we snorkeled for a few hours in water that was only 10-15 feet deep. Schools of foraging bait fish accompany the big whalesharks and feed off the leftovers! This big guy waited very patiently while I took his photo.

 

FISHING STILL ERRATIC BUT SOME QUALITY FILLS THE GAPS

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 4-11, 2014

 

Winds continue to be a problems…some days.  Others it’s barely breezy.  But this type of weather is consistent to this transitional time of year when it’s not quite spring and still not quite summer although air and water temps are relatively warm.  So, some days, it can be pretty bouncy out there limiting our range and style of fishing while other days, it’s like a pond!

Fishing is reflective of those conditions as well.  If it’s windy, we’re somewhat confined to inshore fishing, although that can be quite good for cabrilla, snapper, pargo, jack crevalle, small to large rooster fish and even some late-season sierra.  On the days that we’re able to range a bit further (fortunately, we never have to THAT far for our fishing!), we add to that list the larger dorado and wahoo which bit pretty well this week, especially off the north and south end of Cerralvo Island.   The wahoo were most aggressive in the early morning hours around sunrise and mid-morning and ranged from 20-40 pound fish.  Trolling with dark-colored Rapalas and Yo Zuri’s worked best.

The rooster fish saved us quite often with fish right up near the beaches and rocks going 25-50 pounds.

Summarily, it was spotty action.  Straight on…

It’s hard to explain.  You can do OK one day and, even tho’ conditions had not changed much, you can really struggle the next day.  Different boats do differently each day.  There can be long stretches of little action suddenly punctuated by the zing of a line going off or jetting jerked outta your socks by a fish slamming the bait or lure.

Bait continues to be a problem.  From what I’m hearing, the el nino has been plaguing the entire Baja.  I’m getting communications from the East Cape as well as Cabo asking if we have bait to sell or send.  I heard from friends in Loreto that they are also having trouble with live bait as well.   We’re making do with what nature gives us these days.  We’re using larger baits like stripped bonito as well as mackerel and caballitos…that all make excellent bait, but it’s not like you can throw handfuls of larger baits into the ocean for chum like we’re used to doing with sardines.  We are also using live ballyhoo as well.

One note of optimism is that I’m getting reports that out at the 88 bank outside of Cerralvo Island there’s lots of small mackerel and caballitos and small bonito balling up.  These are palm-sized fish that are super on the hook and we’re looking hopefully that in the week or two that area could blow up on us.  Last year, in the summer, the 88 turned into dorado and marlin candy land with dorado all going 40-50 pounds and marlin cruising the area in great numbers as well.

We’ll keep you updated!

Happy Mother’s Day to you and yours!   Hope it’s a good one!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://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.”

 

 

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Sportfishing for Week of April 27-May 4, 2014

Tom Worley cabrilla grande tags smalll 4-14-proc

Not bad for a first time out with us! From Evergreen, Colorado, Tom Worley pulled this trophy pig cabrilla (Mexican seabass) out’ve the rocks near Cerralvo Island. He was working a live bait early in the week.

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Many of you know Esteban Romero, one of our favorite amigos and who drives for us. Even he got into the wahoo action with this speedster while trolling a Rapala outside of Bahia de Los Muertos near Cerralvo Island.

dorado wahoo small pettit group McKell Condie 4-14

Another first-timer with us had an incredible two days of fishing getting and releasing his first roosterfish of about 40 pounds then sticking a wahoo and a dorado for the grand slam. McKell Condie was visiting us from Utah. Oh…and he also jumped in the water to swim with a whaleshark too!

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Big smile and a two-handed batch of dorado for everyone’s amigo, Jorge Romero, who also took some time this week to check out the fishing. He got a total of 4 dorado for the day.

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Always with a good day of fishing, Taylor Murphey, from Lakewood CA poses with a fresh colorful dorado she took fishing with grandpa Roger Thompson who kindly sent us the photo. That’s the beach near Muertos Bay in the background.

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Palm Springs in the house with his first wahoo…Ken Huskey photos-up with Captain Archangel on the beach with Ken’s wahoo. He also got a number of dorado as well.

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First rooster for Sy Thomas with Captain Victor posing behind him. This nice fish was caught and released just off the sand near the Las Arenas lighthouse. Check out the video below!  Just click the “start” arrow.  Thanks to Rick Kasper for the voice-over and video work!

 

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Amigo, Paul Nagata, from San Francisco, usually visits us several times a year and got away this week for a quick few days with his favorite captain Jorge. This particular day, Paul jumped all over the dorado, but the previous day he hooked a massive wahoo that straightened the hook near the south-end of Cerralvo Island.

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These two guys cracked me up! Left is Bob Martz and on the right is Jordan McMasters from Victoria, Canada. They show off a few of their dorado on the beach, but Jordan also caught and released a 50 pound roosterfish.

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From Mexico City, Carlos Westerman was able to get out one day with us at La Arenas and our Captain Archangel. The action wasn’t great, but he made the most of it and took this nice-sized wahoo and dorado.

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Captain Victor from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet isn’t short! Angler, Jay is just tall and Victor gives him a hand taking a photo of one of their bull dorado.

 

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Don Henderson from Idaho grips his wahoo near the water’s edge at Bahia de Los Muertos. Taken near Cerralvo Island. Don got a batch of dorado as well.

FRUSTRATING FISHING BUT SOME NICE HIGHLIGHTS ON A TOUGH WEEK

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of April 27-May 4, 2014

It was somewhat of a frustrating week of fishing.  It started well.  It ended fairly well.  But in between, it was a bit rugged.

We had some promise going into the week but then strong winds and some really high tidal surges and waves seemed to have not only stirred up the waters, but also chased away the bits of live bait spots we had as well as brought up cooler waters and some rougher waves.  Not exactly the best conditions or situations for fishing.  Just being honest.

There were some highlights, however.  What we lacked in quantity and action we tended to make up for it in some nice quality fishing.  There were some good-sized rooster fish taken that ran 30-60 pounds and some larger ones broken off.  All of them released.

There were also some larger dorado in the area as well that helped out as well.  Some of the pangas got limits or near limits some days.  Not everyone, but several boats a day would do well.  It just depended on the the spot as well as the luck and skill of the anglers.

But, truth be told, there were days this week when boats came back with nothing…either because of simple bad luck or losing fish or choosing to chase a fish that was “hot”one day, but cooled off the next.   I especially felt badly for a pair of flyfishing anglers we had that fished hard and hardcore like troopers for the entire week and pretty much came up goose-egged.  It wasn’t a good week for flyfishing…and tough for the conventional fishing as well.  Despite some nice catches, it might have been one of the more frustrating weeks of the young season.

The highlight would had to have been the wahoo that went on the bite again.  Every day, we took a few and lost even more to the speedy toothy fish.  But, for many of our anglers, it was their first wahoo with some decent 20-35 pound ‘hoos brought into the boat.  South end of Cerralvo Island was our hot spot trolling Rapala and YoZuri lures.

 

 That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://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.”

 

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International Sportfishing La Paz for Week of April 20-27, 2014

Taylor Murphey wahoo small 4-14

We got into some wahoo this week and we’re not surprised that young Taylor Murphy fishing with grandpa Roger Thompson got one of them. She always does well. A purple Rapala off the south end of Cerralvo Island did the trick.

Karyn Jennings fish on beach 4-14-proc

Birthday girl! Karyn Jennings was fishing with her husband Greg and had a good birthday week with us in La Paz. Here she shows off a day’s catch with a great mix of dorado, cabrilla and wahoo fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. A good bunch of fillets was cooked up at our Tailhunter Restaurant! Karyn is from Colorado.

Dorado Steve Bradley small tags 4-14

First timer, Steve Bradley who lives in Northern California on the Smith River was out with Tailhunter Captain Pancho and got his first dorado just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos. He also got his first rooster, a 30 pounder that was released and lost a larger fish as well.

Wahoo john nagy 4-14 tags

John Nagy from Marina del Ray CA slips quietly in and out’ve La Paz and just nails the fish! I think he got our largest wahoo of the week with this 4- pounder off the south side of Cerralvo Island on a blue and white Rapala. He was fisihing with our Tailhunter driver, Esteban and they also got one other wahoo,  2 pargo, and released a marlin. Nicely done!

 

yellowtail Jenny Raul tags 4-14 small

Yup…still a few lingering yellowtail around in the cooler water. Jenny celebrates with Captain Raul from our Tailhunter La Paz fleet and shows off this big slugger forktail caught near Espirito Santo Island. Jenny is from Colorado.

KLING Ron dorado small tags 4-14

Captain Victor “El Jefe” from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet poses with first-timer, Ron Kling from Byers, Colorado who came down to catch his first roosterfish. On this particular day, he got 5 roosters between 40 and 50 pounds which he released! And he kept this nice dorado for dinner!

Greg Jennings 4-14 tags

Guys come for years trying to get a sniff from a wahoo fishing our area. Greg Jennings nailed one his first try fishing with our Taihunter Las Arenas fleet just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos.




 

FISHING SLOWLY GETS BETTER WITH WARMER TEMPS

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of April 20-27, 2014

 

There were good and there were bad things about this past week of fishing.  Let’s start with the bad.

There were some really windy days.  Some cooler water temps.  But those things are to be expected this time of year when things are in transition between the warm and colder seasons.  Still, it didn’t always make for the best fishing conditions nor, did it help with getting bait.  Basically, it’s almost like a chart…the higher the wind, the poorer the fishing.  The lower the wind, the better the fishing.   Overall, I’d give this week a so-so rating in terms of fishing.  It’s been worse.  But, normally, it’s a whole lot better.

But, let’s focus on some of the positives.

Take a look at some of this week’s photos.  Yup…wahoo made a nice surprising reappearance this week.  Around the north and sound end of Cerralvo Island, the speedy skinnies were around and willing to eat slow trolled Rapalas and bait.  Sizes ranged from pinky 15 pounders up to about 40 pounds.

Additionally, we had a really great week on the roosters for our Las Arenas anglers.  I think just about everyone who really wanted to check “rooster fish” off the bucket list got at least one.  I don’t have any photos this week because, with much appreciation, all the roosters were released!  But, there were some nice quality fish taken off the sandy beach areas with fish in the 20-45 pound size and some larger that were lost.

To the good stuff, add in a few marlin coming alive and taking some hits, but all of them coming off plus the dorado were still around although not in big numbers as previous weeks.  I still consider the dorado to be our bread-and-butter fish at the moment.  Both our Las Arenas and La Paz fleet had dorado as their predominant go-to fish.  Some decent 20 pounders in the mix, but some larger fish lost to pilot error!

Hope the winds slow down and the bait gets better!  Should all improve as we move closer to summer!

That’s our story!

combo signature 2-proc

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://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.”

 

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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Repor from Tailhunter International Fleet for Week of April 13-20, 2014

BLOOD MOON 2014

Hope you got to see it! It was pretty amazing to watch the moon go dark…then go red! It was already a HUGE full moon this week ,but extremely amazing to watch the “BLOOD MOON” eclipse! Unfortunately, combined with other factors, it might have had an affect on the fishing this past week…dangit.

 

yellowtail peter koschnitzke small tags 4-14

Captain Boli from our Tailhunter La Paz fleet helps out young Peter Koschnitzke from snowy Colorado who earned himself a cigar and a beer from dad for nailing this slugger-sized yellowtail near Espirito Santo Island. I was told it tasted great with manga salsa!

 

Pargo Tim Butterworth tags 4-14

Pargo were a good bet this week, but putting these tough good-eaters in the boat required some luck and skill as some of our anglers will tell you as they head straight back into the rockpiles! Tim Butterworth hung this fat hog north of La Paz on live bait.

striper in water tags 4-14

With the warmer waters, we’re already seeing some billfish around Cerralvo Island and Las Arenas. Nothing full turbo yet, by any means, but promising! This hundred-pounder was hooked and released out by the buoys east of Bahia de los Muertos.

 

terrafin 4-20-14

The latest satellite shot from http://www.terrafin.com shows the heavy bodies of warm water around Cerralvo Island while cooler waters still hold north of La Paz city.

BLOOD MOON WHAMMY?  TOUGH WEEK OF FISHING

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of April 13-20, 2014

 

Hope everyone had a safe and happy Easter week and weekend!

Well…

Not the best of weeks down here.  Kinda wacky actually.

It’s really hard to put a finger on what happened.  It was sort of a convergence of a lot of things that could have affected the fishing…a variable here and a variable there could have made the difference.

But, fishing was really down! It doesn’t happen often.  The track record here…like any other fishing destination that has a reputation…is that sure…you get the down day now and again.  But it usually bounces back pretty fast.

Well, this week we had several days that were either bad or at best…ho-hum…

But, here’s how the planets lined up that could have made a difference.  Any single one or two of these items usually makes no difference, but perhaps all of them converging at the same time?  I dunno.  Take a look.  All I know is that fishing was off.

1.  Stronger than normal winds…even for this time of year when it can get breezy.  This week we had some white-cap days!

2.  Waters got a little cooler…not warmer as has been the trend.  Maybe caused by the stronger winds!  Fish get lock-jawed when water temps change drastically…especially for the cooler.

3.  Strong winds make it harder to get bait as the shallow areas where we get bait are spanked with waves and the bait scatters or we can’t get up close to the rocks to throw nets.

4.  Combination of #2 and #1 meant clouded green and off-color waters…again affecting fish activity and feeding

5.  THE MOON!  I hardly ever blame things on a full-moon, but in combination with the other factors PLUS it was not only full, but did you see the RED MOON ECLIPSE???  The moon was not only larger than normal, but it eclipsed to dark…then went almost dirty red!  Here in La Paz everyone was out taking photos with their cell phones in the dark. It was pretty funny to see “photos flashes” going off!  (Oh sure…that flash reaches up to the moon!).  But, maybe…just maybe the fish freaked out too!

Anyway, by the time you’re reading this, the full moon will have waned and hopefully the rest of these things will have settled back to normal. Either way, a weird week.

That being said, it was still sunny most days…although we had some weird cloudy days when I thought it would rain.  But day temps are usually in the high 80’s to low 90’s and pretty pleasant.

And, we still managed a few fish here and there.  For our La Paz anglers, yellowtail up to about 30 pounds were found around Espirito Santo Island as well as some sizable barred pargo and some dorado in the 20 pound class.

For our Las Arenas anglers, it was picky.  Some dorado up to about 15 pounds.  Some big bonito.  Some snapper and pargo and a few rooster fish (released) plus some sierra along the beaches.

Still better than working, but the fishing honestly could have been better and hopefully is back on track by the time you’re reading this!

SPOTS STILL OPEN FOR JUNE “SUMMER PANGA SLAM” WITH TAILHUNTER and WESTERN OUTDOOR NEWS

dorado Lily Chung 8-13 tags

We still have a few spots open for our 2013 Western Outdoor News/ Tailhunter Sportfishing PANGA SLAM!

The dates are June 17-21 and promises to be great fun, and it’s really GROWING!  It was going to be a fun low-key tournament and fun get-together, but word got out!  Now, it’s gotten some legs and it’s gonna be a special blast!

  • Sponsors aboard now include:  Okuma Reels, Costa Sunglasses, Yo-Zuri, Sufix, Turners Outdoors and Lazer Trokar Hooks!
  • Three full days of panga fishing at Las Arenas  (gear, breakfast and lunches included) 
  • 4 nights La Concha Beach Resort in ocean-facing room
  • Welcome dinner and Awards Dinner
  • Taco feed night and live music at famous Tailhunter Restaurant
  • Two days jackpot tournament (cash entry $100 in La Paz per team) 
  • Event t-shirts
  • Cabo San Lucas Airport Shuttles 

 

Additionally,  Tailhunter Sportfishing is now an IGFA weigh center with certified scales and will also have the new release measuring devices for the new IGFA “release categories.”  As members of the Roosterfish Foundation, we will also have devices to tag and release roosterfish in the first sanctioned roosterfish release event of it’s kind and a great opportunity to posssibly get a world record in an area that has produced arguably more world records than few other places in the fishing world.  IGFA record holder, representative, author and journalist, Gary Graham, will also be on hand.

We are limiting this to just 40 persons on 20 panga “teams.”  Couples are welcome!  Cost is $1350 per person!  For more info, contact Mike Flynn at Western Outdoor News at Flynn@wonews.com or call him at 949-366-0030 extension 30.  Or Western Outdoor News Editor, Pat McDonell at 949-366-0030 extension 33 or pat@wonews.com.

Gonna be a real kick!

That’s our story!  Happy Easter to you and your family!

combo signature 2-proc

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://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.”

 

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