BIG TUNA CRASH PARTY!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Bahia Muertos Fishing Report for Week of July 8-16, 2026
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN REPORT
WEATHER – Hot! It’s officially summer. Sunny most days, but even when the clouds cover up, the sun burns through and the humidity makes it like walking through steam. Stay hydrated!
WATER – It’s warm and blue mostly. Some days incredibly flat and in the afternoons when the winds start blowing in to cool off, it kicks up some whitewater chop.
FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK – Tuna, dorado, roosterfish, sailfish, blue marlin, striped marlin, pargo, cabrilla, dog-tooth snapper, bonito, jack crevalle, cabrilla, trevally, pompano, rainbow runner
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Hard to balance a big tuna on the cutting table! Don Vargo from Ohio had his big tuna scale at 87 pounds. The others are legit as well. John Doan helps with the pose. They were with Captain Pancho.

Captain Armando put Scott and Jeanne Tunnicliffe on a pair. She says her dorado is longer. Scott counter by claiming his fish is heavier! Really great folks!

Jake Sybesma has been fishing with us for alot of years. He’s 21 now and did a number on this bull dorado.

Rex Smith from Arizona has been fishing with us for 20 years. Good day with a big bull dorado and a hefty yellowfin tuna.

Cash Sheikh…first time with us and first day on the water with Greg Goldner took this big blue marlin! He generously donated much of the meat!

Kendall Millspaugh was visiting with 3-year-old Weston. They went out ON THEIR OWN with Captain Victor like rock stars and she landed 2 big yellowfin tuna and 2 dorado! Pretty amazing feat! We’ve known Kendall since she was probably in high school back in Washington.

My grandson, Nolan Reid from Texas with his uncle Jarrett had a grand day with Captain Rogelio and Licho fishing the rocks around Espirito Santo Island pulling up pargo, cabrilla and triggerfish “all day long” according to Nolan! He told me he also “caught the most!” 😁👍

Britt Wagner and Tyler Witmarsh caught and released 5 of these 50-pound-class roosters while staying out at Rancho Costa at Bahia Muertos.

Adam Carr first time…first tuna…2 hours. From Texas. Tough fish! He tag-teamed with Al Reid to get the fish to gaff.

Good to have Len Weaverling back and he started things right with Captain Victor and Victor’s grandson, Christian. Check out the 2 big tuna and 2 bull dorado.

Our daughter, Diana Pfost, from San Diego, always such a joy to have her visit shows off one of her tasty pargo the put in the box off Espirito Santo Island.

Our own Brian Reid back fishing with us from Texas caught and released this rooster right off the beach near the Punta Arenas lighthouse. Brian released the fish.

The Wagner clan and friends on a fish harvest day while staying at Gary Wagner’s place at Rancho Costa there at Bahia Muertos.

Captain Victor and grandson Christian help pose with Curtiss Kodama and Mike Navarro and their tuna and 2 dorado on the beach at Bahia Muertos.

Young Braedon Pierson from San Diego has fished with us since he was about the size of a big bonito, but now at 11, he’s pulling his own fish! Check out the big bull he landed all by himself and the fish even snapped his fishing rod so they had to handline it in!

Julie Reid from Texas and dad, Al from New York were with Captain Boli when they got limits of dorado plus lots of action from the bonito!

Just a great shot suitable for framing! Miles Wagner and his dad, Gary. This is a big dorado. I think Miles stands about 6’5″.
Mike Lu straining to battle a big tuna…turn up the sound! The agony is real!

Before he started fishing, the last thing Darrell Manginelli said before fishing was, “I do NOT want big tuna. I have caught them before and they kill you!” Check out his big tuna with amigo, Alex Mount! They were with Captain Pancho.

Mark Liebrecht, somewhere behind the dorsal fins, finally caught his roosterfish! Mark released the fish.

Captain Gerardo photo bombs John Bailey and his son (also John) and their load of yellowfin. That’s alot of meat to take home! It didn’t all fit in their coolers so John left about 20 pounds since he’s coming back to fish in about 3 weeks!

Braedon and grandpa Jim Bovee each wth a bull dorado fishing with Captain Boli while going out’ve La Paz Bay.

The man…the legend…Gary Wagner at his place at Rancho Costa at Bahia Suenos with a hefty barred pargo.

Good to see Mike Hanson from Oregon down here again. MIke got 2 sailfish released but kept this fat yellowfin.

Great shot. Great fish! Miles has had a good week. Check the fish and all the colors. Makes for a great photo and some great eating!

Sam and Jake Sybesma sneak down each summer for 2 days of fishing. This was their 2nd day…pretty good haul!

John Doan (front) gets a hand from Don Vargo with John’s first ever sailfish. The guys are from Ohio.

Curtis Kodama has an avocado orchard in S.California and for sure took some nice chunks or dorado home!

First time…great time! We’ve been trying to get Julie Reid lured from Texas to come visit us! She rocked it for several days of fishing like this big dorado!
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OK…yes, I know this is late…again. It’s been about 10 days since the last report instead of the usual week. However, as I tried t explain in the vide above, there are just so many photos to edit. I get about 200 photos a week and I want to make sure everyone who wants to get into the report with their great catches gets in!
There’s only so much space as well plus it takes about 2-3 days to put the report together and new photos keep showing up each day. Only takes 10 minutes to do the video, but that also has to be edited and oh…yea…I’ve got 10-20 guests fishing a day plus divers, snorkelers, families, etc. so my apologies that this report is later than usual!
But darnit…look at the photos!
We’ve had some good solid days of fishing since the last report. Maybe one of the better periods of the season. It’s a very different season.
The weather continues to be erratic. Still a bit unpredictable, but this past period, it was at least more consistent. In a few words…hot…humid…calmer bluer waters. Some cloudy days and a few days when the afternoon winds made it rougher than we would have liked and even some rain in the mountains and in the afternoons, but all of that being said, it was some of the most consistent conditions we’ve had all season.
FYI…it’s only going to continue to be warm , hot and humid. We’ll also start getting more rains in the afternoons and maybe even some small storms. Fingers crossed that we don’t get a hurricane this year or two. We can only hope!
But, fishing wise…lots of slugger slab yellowfin tuna were the highlight. Most of the fish ranged from. 40-80 pounds. These are tough fish. Many were 1-2 hour battles. Many fish were lost. There were other fish over 100 pounds that broke off after long battles. There were other tuna that were never even seen…just a battle until it broke off. Estimated 100-200 pound fish. In a few cases, sharks took the embattled fish after long fights and just bit off a chunk or took the whole fish! (There’s alot of sharks these days for some reason)
Big dorado up to about 40 pounds are still here as well although funner school-sized patches of smaller dorado have shown up. Likewise, still quite a few striped and blue marlin here and just when I thought the big roosterfish were gone, we hooked and released some 40-70 pounders.
In all honesty, the photos above represent the highlights. These are the fish that were CAUGHT. It obviously does not show the fish that were lost! And probably half the fish that were hooked were lost. These are big and powerful fish for a reason!
Again, without sugar-coating, every day there are boats that are not hooking anything even if they are in the middle of other boats getting hooked. Every day some boats come back with nothing. Either they never got bit or they hooked a big fish and lost it after a long battle. That’s just fishing.
Or, your buddy might hook a fish and fight it for a long time, but you can’t do anything but watch and cheer. By the time the fight is over, the school has already moved on. So, there might just be that one chance!
In most cases, I hear the anglers passing the rod back and forth between themselves and the captain!
But, I will say that if you’re fishing several days with us like most of our guests, you might have an off-day, but you’ll make up for it another day. Everyone who wants fish is going home with fish.
The season is about 1/2 way done now. If you’d like to come down, get in touch with us! We’ll put your whole vacation package together.
That’s my story!
Jonathan and and Jilly
755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
U.S. Mailing Address: Tailhunter Sportfishing
8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178 La Mesa CA 91942






























































































































































































































































