La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of March 10-16, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST OF THE STORY…
Ed Moreno and his wife had just one day to get on the water and always like fishing with our Captain Victor. Despite cloudy skies and erratic seas, they took a trio of nice yellowtail.
A better view of their 3 yellowtail!
Miles Wagner has a knack for fish and took this nice yellowtail on a trolled Rapala right off the rocks at Punta Perrico near his dad’s place at Rancho Costa Resort there in Muertos .
Not much to talk about. Not many folks fishing this past week as usual because it’s off-season and windy, especially with storms hitting the U.S. there’s a direct affect on the weather in Baja. Most of the folks on the water are actually in the area windsurfing.
We did have some early week fishing when there were some gaps in the winds although conditions remained cloudy. In addition to inshore species like snapper, sierra and bonito, some jags of decent yellowtail up to about 20-25 pounds were taken outside of Bahia Muertos, up by the Punta Arenas lighthouse and, on the rare occasion of getting across the channel to Cerralvo Island on the south and east side of the island by Los Pilis.
As well, some stray spots of school-sized dorado were also hit with most fish taken running about 10-pounds. Live bait was best, when it could be found. However, winds and rough water make that prohibitive at times. Therefore frozen dead bait worked as did jigs and trolled lures. No tuna this week or wahoo although there were several hook-ups that my captains said might have been tuna or wahoo.
COULD BE THE END OF THE ROAD for TAILHUNTER TOUR!
Kicking back in the Arizona sunshine waiting to get into the show facility. Since coronavirus can’t exist in temps oer 65 degrees we’re getting “sanitized.”
Amid all the craziness of the past week, we finished the 3-day International Sportsman’s Show in Scottdale AZ just outside of Phoenix. We had a great time and thanks to everyone who took the time to come in and visit with us and especially for those who signed up to come fish with us.
It was a strange show insofar as we didn’t know from day-to-day if it would be canceled. And, like so many other vendors, none of us knew what was going to happen to other shows that were to follow. It was a matter of waiting for the other shoe to drop. With each passing day, we heard from other friends in the outdoor industry that shows in other cities were dropping and cancelling like dominos.
Redmond, Oregon…Edmonton and Toronto up in Canada…Bakersfield CA…the Houston Stock Show…and others.
Then we found out that our next show in Salt Lake City at the ISE Show was shut down by the city.
Our last show…a big fun show…the Fred Hall Fishing and Boating Show at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in San Diego…got canceled. Then, it got re-scheduled for 6 week from now…April 30-May 3rd. Regretfully, or fishing season is already on. Jill and I need to be back in La Paz by then there’s th expense of flying all the way plus our huge booth, all the materials, hotel, etc. might make it pretty impossible. We’re gonna try our best.
Maybe Jill will have to do the show by herself so I can stay in La Paz. We’ll see.
Things are kinda crazy and the world situation is very liquid and changing daily and sometimes hourly. It might have changed by the time you’re reading this.
I will tell you that we’ve had no cancelations because of the virus. In fact, we’re almost sold out and I have folks in line asking to take any spots that get canceled. We’re getting bookings from folks whose trips to Europe, Asia or on cruises got canceled. Also, we’ve been in touch daily with our captains, staff, managers, and employees back in La Paz and there’s no virus in Baja. Apparently, the virus cannot survive in temperatures over 65 degrees!
Thank you everyone! Tailhunter Nation is the best!
So, all I can say it that the season looks good and we’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, thank you to everyone who made our 2020 Tailhunter Tour such great fun and for all the hospitality. Big shout out to:
DENVER
SACRAMENTO
PUYALLUP (Seattle)
PORTLAND
SALT LAKE CITY
LONG BEACH
Thanks for making us feel so welcome and we’ll see you in La Paz! God bless you all. Now, let’s go fishing!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Feb. 24-Mar. 1, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Jay Statman from Los Angeles had one day to fish, but using live bait and yo-yo, iron still managed a great day of action taking several nice yellowtail, a big jack crevalle, a bonito and even this nice yellowtail. Plus a number of fish were lost to the rocks including several yellowtail and dorado. Jay donated all his fish to the local families.
We only get a few of these a year. Roger Thompson was trolling on the east side of Cerralvo Island when he got bit by this rainbow runner, which is cousin to the yellowtail and just about as tasty.
Tal Nazani brought some amigos to fish with Captain Arcangel this week and first day result were surprising even with the winds forcing them to fish inshore. Still, it produced 7 yellowtail; a bunch of sierra; a cabrilla and even a nice yellowtail. They have one more day on the water later this week.
The Guluarte Family from La Paz came out for a day fishing out’ve Bahia Muertos SE of La Paz and had some great action on a surprise fat wahoo as well as some feisty yellowtail. Seals got the one on the left.
Close-up shot of Sr. Guluarte’s wahoo with the rest of the family jumping in with Captain Pancho giving the thumb’s up!
Despite winds this past week, we had a few folks get out and there were some surprising results although often, the winds and rough waters kept the fishing close to shore. In fact, it was some of the best fishing of the year, even though this is technically still off-season from November to April.
For those few who could make it across the channel to Cerralvo Island, yellowtail, cabrilla and some wahoo were hooked. The wahoo were kind of a surprise since we normally don’t see these speedsters until about May or so.
Most of the times, we had to fish closer to shore, but sometimes that’s the best fishing in the area. We usually don’t have to go far anyway. However, given the time of the year, the action was much better than expected.
Live bait is always an issue this time of the year because rough water makes it difficult to catch the bait. However, using trolled lures like Rapalas, yo-yo jigs and frozen bait, produced more yellowtail, pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle, sierra, bonito and even the occasional yellowtail. That’s quite a mixture for the time of year with a lot of fish busting off because of the shallow waters and rocks and reefs not too far below the boats. But, still great action!
Even for our whale-watching folks that we’re taking out to the Pacific at Bahia Magdalena, it was one of the better weeks after some tough weeks of winds hindering the ability to find the whales in the shallow waters. Get in touch with us if you’d like to check this out!
Hopefully, the winds will stay down and the whale-watching usually goes until mid-March or so. However, some strong unseasonable winter storms, chill and winds are predicted for this coming week so we’ll just have to see.
The lines are long and huge to get in each day so come early…especially to get the best deals to purchase tackle and gear! It’s a full day of activities, information and fun Wednesday to Sunday!
THE BIG SHOW is THIS WEEK! We leave the great sportsmans show in Boise, Idaho and drive to the Long Beach Convention Center for the Fred Hall Fishing and Boating Show this week. This is the largest outdoor show on the West Coast and goes from Wed. to Sunday. It promises to be crazy! Come check it…hunting, fishing, boat, camping…everything outdoor!
The aisles get pretty packed! It’s both buildings of the Long Beach Convention Center plus more outside! Easily spend several days at this show.
This is it! It’s the BIG SHOW! It’s the 76th Annual Fred Hall Fishing and Boating Show at the Long Beach Convention Center. This is the largest saltwater fishing show in the world but there’s so much to see including freshwater, hunting, travel, boating, outdoor products, gear, equipment, seminars and more! Stuff for the whole family! People plan all year to visit this show and often spend several days in the event checking everything out and still not seeing it all!
FRED HALL FISHING & BOATING SHOW
LONG BEACH CONVENTION CENTER
WEDNESDAY to SUNDAY (Mar. 4-8)
Our booth gets pretty packed and crowded with friend and amigos at the Fred Hall Show! We’re ready!
Jill and Jonathan will be in the booth all 4 days. This is our 6th show of the season and we’re ready for you to visit the booth. Our booth often has a crowd around it so look carefully! We want to say hi to you! We’ve got a brand new 24-page brochure and we’re ready to set you up to come fish with us in 2020…our 25th year in La Paz. Don’t wait. We’re filling up fast!
Also, don’t forget…for the first time, we’ll have our new Tailhunter Fishing Hats that Jilly had made up for us. There’s several great styles and we’ve been selling them out at all the shows.
For more info about the Fred Hall Long Beach Show as well as the Fred Hall Del Mar Show (San Diego) later this month, click the link below:
JOE JOST TAILHUNTER BEER PARTY in LONG BEACH – TUESDAY NIGHT 7:00 p.m. (Jonathan’s Birthday)
The night before the Fred Hall Show on Wednesday, we will have our annual Tailhunter Get-Together at Joe Josts Bar in Long Beach. Nothing formal. Nothing fancy. Just Tailhunter Friends and Family for a few beers at this iconic bar that has been there since 1924 and is the oldest bar west of the Mississippi and considered one of the best dive bars in the western U.S.
No liquor, but they serve their beer at 29 degrees. No fancy food. They have sausage sandwiches (the Joe Jost’s Special), pickled eggs, salami sandwiches, liverwurst sandwiches, salami sandwiches, peanuts and pretzels .
We’ll just be there a few hours because alot of us will be folks from the fishing industry and have to be at the show the next day early.
But, it’s also my birthday, so come over for a few hours and hang out! We’ll be there about 7:00 p.m. Here’s a link:
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Feb. 16-23, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Our amiga, Donna Thompson, who aced some nice yellowtail using live mackerel on the east side of Cerralvo Island.
Winter winds and chilly breezes pretty much domininated the past week. Although not really much of anyone fishing during the winter months, we had a few folks scheduled to go out this week fishing as well as whale watching over on the Pacific side all set and ready to go. However, we had to either cancel because it was too rough or re-schedule.
Had to cancel trips this week because of the winds!
Most were folks in town for a few days and not hardcore anglers. They were just looking for a day on the water and wanted to give fishing a try. Not many were too upset about staying onshore rather than braving the waves or else they had other days to re-schedule.
A few anglers did find a few small windows of opportunity to fish between bouts of wind. If you had mackerel or got lucky on a trolled Rapala, the eastern side of Cerralvo Island was holding some nice forktail yellows. These yellowtail ran about 10-25 pounds, but that can be a long run over there and you gotta scoot really fast if the winds kick up.
Also, a few schoolie-side dorado were hit here-and-there which could produce some nice surface action with fish about 10 pounds or so. As well, a few snapper and pargo pretty much round out the scant moments of fishing.
Town has been packed for Carnaval which runs from Feb. 20-26th with pretty much a good portion of the waterfront closed down with booths, rides, fireworks, parades and huge concert stages every single day. So, it’s pretty lively in town this week.
Parades every day! Food, fireworks, concerts and more!
Best place to watch the parade on the waterfront is from our 3 story Tailhunter Restaurant.!
Thanks to Jay Statman for this video clip of one of the parades!
TAILHUNTER CALENDAR
Our next show will be the 76th Annual Fred Hall Fishing and Boating Show at the Long Beach Convention Center Mar. 4-8. This is the BIG ONE! 5 days of madness and fun! Here’s a link for more info:
The night before the Fred Hall Show in Long Beach we have a get together on Tuesday Night Mar. 4th to celebrate my birthday! It’s at the iconic Joe Jost’s Bar in Long Beach that’s been there since 1924! Come have a beer; eat a sausage sandwich, a pickled egg, an egg-salad sandwich and lots of peanuts! Nothing formal. Just friends and some fun!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay / Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Jan 19-26, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Scott Bryant from Colorado has himself some good eating cabrilla for dinner while staying at Rancho Costa.
Jigging with yo-yo iron, Dr. Santiago Gamaliel hung this nice yellowtail and had two other break off.
From Alaska, Mic Ward came down to enjoy a few days of sunshine at Rancho Costa at Bahia de los Muertos south of La Paz and landed a double-hand of cabrilla.
Not much of anyone out fishing this past week with mostly windy rough days outside. Most of the fishing was confined to inshore species as anglers hugged the coastal areas seeking calmer water and protection from the north winds and choppy ocean.
Using Rapalas, stripped bait, squid and live bait (when it could be found), produced a mixed bag of pargo, snapper, triggerfish and cabrilla as well as some bonito, sierra and jack crevalle. Slowly dragging smaller dark Rapalas over the rocky spots were especially productive for a variety of species. Some yellowtail popped up as well and hopefully, this is the vanguard of our yellowtail
Despite the winds, it’s been sunny with highs in the mid to upper 70’s and nights down to the mid-50’s, but it looks like more wind will hit later this week.
DOWN THE ROAD WE GO!
Jill and I are just wrapping up here at the Washington State Fairgrounds where we spent the last 5 days in our booth at the Washington Sportsman’s Show! It was the best show we’ve ever had here in almost 2 decades at this show. Welcome to all our new amigos to the Tailhunter Nation and to see so many old friends and faces. Also had alot of folks sign up to come down to see us as well and made reservations to fish with us in 2020. We’re excited to have you down to visit!
Thanks for all the hospitality Washington! (And rain too…loved it! We don’t get much rain in Baja!)
So, here we go…next stop down the road south to Portland for the Pacific Northwest Sportsmans Show at the Portland Expo Center. This is one of the largest outdoor shows in the Western U.S. and if you’re in the area, you gotta check it out! Here’s details. Click the link:
Next stop…OREGON at the Portland Expo Center Feb. 5-9! Come see us!
WHALE WATCHING SEASON UNDERWAY AT BAHIA MAGDALENA
Although there might not be lots of folks fishing right now, the 2002 whale watching season is just getting underway. Whales should just about starting to show up.
It’s not too late to book a trip with us to head on over to experience an incredible day with these gentle creatures that migrate all the way from the Bering Sea year-after-year to spend the early months in the warm shallow waters of Bahia Magdalena. Just write to me directly at: Jonathan@tailhunter.com
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 8-15, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Not too different even in Mexico! Christmas scenes like this one with kids lining up for visits with Santa and their favorite cartoon characters downtown La Paz.
Manger scenes for Christmas in La Paz
Town is kinda quiet right now! It’s that lull between the holidays and not many folks in town right now except for some snowbirds and kiteboarders and windsurfers taking advantage of the winter breezes. Not really many folks on the water as this is off-season for fishing, but even then, most folks in town are just enjoying the sunshine and getting ready for Christmas. Definitely seems like you can already smell the tamales cooking on the streets! But, lights are up and folks are doing Christmas shopping and that’s kind of it.
Some action for fishing has mostly been inshore. There’s a decent bite over the rocky spots of cabrilla up to about 5 pounds plus snapper and pargo. All great eating fish. The hard-pullers include some nice jack-crevalle running up to about 10 pounds plus good activity on bonito. Really hard to get a complete fishing picture when not many folks are fishing. It was too bad because this past week was one of the better weeks for weather and minimal winds.
I’m sure town is gonna start getting more crowded in the next few days as we get closer to Christmas.
BOOKING FOR 2020
It’s not too early to check on getting your dates together for next year which hits us in just a few weeks already! Reservations are already coming in steadily and some dates are filling fast and a few are already sold out. Don’t wait to see at at one of the sport shows. Last year, by March, we were largely all booked up. Get in touch with us today. Check out the website at http://www.tailhunter.com or e-mail me directly at Jonathan@tailhunter.com and let’s get you set up to fish with us in La Paz in 2020!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 27-Nov. 3, 2019
Mexican Minute Video Fishing Report
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
First day out he hits the home run! With Captain Gerardo, Jeff Wedekind who owns the Chinook Shore Lodge in Ketchican, Alaska locked up this big wahoo.
Nice tuna for Rich Choate from Idaho. One of the few YFT’s hooked this week.
Amigo, Roger Thompson, was soaking a dead mackerel down deep off the Punta Arenas lighthouse when he got slammed by this toad yellowtail.
Maybe one of the largest dorado of the season, Jeff hooked this one out’ve Bahia Muertos.
Barbara Choate always has a great smile no matter what and she’s got a reason with his pretty blue dorado.
Colorful shot! Roger Sauvegeau from Boise, Idaho, had just one day to fish, but got himself a nice load of dorado like this one fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.
Captain Armando with Randy and Barbara Choate and a nice batch of dorado.
Celebrating her honeymoon, Coral Ogden Hart has been our amigo since she was a little girl. She got this unusual rainbow runner off Bahia Muertos. These are cousin to the yellowtail.
Our good amigos from the Imperial Valley of California, Craig and Cathy Corda posing with a little Bahia Muertos yellowtail they released.
Another set of our fun friends from Idaho, Teri and Mac Christopherson hold up a double-hooke-up of dorado.
They always keep me laughing. Tom and Claire Ames posing on the beach at Bahia Muertos.
Captain Pancho took Dan Friedman from San Diego out for one day and he got this nice dorado as well as a wahoo on his first try!
You can tell waters are getting colder when rainbow runners like this one by Rick Choate, show up.
A good day in November! Teri and Mac Christopherson.
Paul Octavio had himself a good week on the flyrod like with his fun roosterfish hooked and released. He had a blue marlin on the flyrod one day.
Clair McPherson took 20 minutes on this nice bull dorado giving Captain Victor and her a big reason to smile when they finally got the pretty fish in the boat.
Cheers! Rick Choate with a mess of good eating cabrilla, snapper and a trigger.
On the good side, the sun was out all week and the snowbirds from Canada, Alaska, Europe and colder areas are filtering into town. On the downside, it wasn’t the best for fishing.
Northern winds ramped up and it’s just the start. This is what happens during the colder months. Two days we couldn’t even go out because the Port Captain shut down the port to all boat traffic and there were several other days when it would have been better if we had just not gone out at all.
The strong winds have the waters stirred up and dirty. It brings in coolder greener waters as well. Additionally, the currents and waves are up so makes for a less-than-comfortable day of fishing. Plus, if the waves are crashing the shallow areas, it makes it hard to get bait.
However, kudos to our anglers and captains for hanging in there. They braved the rougher seas with tight grins and still caught some fish.
There weren’t a lot of fish caught unless you’re counting bonito, jack crevalle and needlefish. However, some of the largest dorado of the season were hooked as well as a few wahoo and tuna. We even had several marlin hook ups as well (fish were lost).
The better fishing was with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet where it’s a bit more protected. I imagine as the winds increase and become more frequent, we’ll be doing most of our fishing from that area.
2020 RESERVATIONS
Bookings are already coming in pretty fast and heavy for 2020. Some dates are already filled or filling and popular captains are getting reserved as well. In 2019, we were sold out by March and 2020 looks even busier. Don’t wait . Check your calendars so we make sure we get you locked in.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 13-20, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Alot of meat! Marlene Kikuchi from Los Angeles had a live mackerel pinned to her line not far from Punta Arenas with Captain Pancho when she hooked this massive wahoo not far from the shoreline. The big fish was weighed on a scale and measured 56-pounds!
It’s been over 10 years since Mark Rubin came to visit us so it was good to see him. He was out fishing with Captain Arcangel and got this colorful dorado up for a great photo!
On her first day out and first-time in La Paz, Kathy Parker was with Captain Luis and deckie Miguel in the channel between the city and Espirito Santo Island in an area where big 50-150 pound tuna had been sighted. On her first bait in the water, this big yellowfin inhaled her little sardine and the fight was on! With her sister, Sherry (see photo below), trading the rod-back-and-forth for 4 long hours, the ladies finally got this big boy to the boat!
Holly Kunzler’s big dorado of the week was caught while fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet. Holly’s first trip to Baja and she was with us for the better part of the week visiting from Utah.
Our long-time amigos with their favorite Captain Jorge, Marianne and Jeff Sakuda enjoying Jeff’s retirement vacation after 30 years as a pilot for United, they kicked off things with a nice rack of bull dorado.
Double tag-team! Sherry Cady was on her 2nd visit to us this year and this time brought her sister, Kathy Parker (see photo above) when they hung this big yellowfin tuna with deckhand Miguel and Captain Luis and battled the fat fish for 4 hours!
Montana Dewey and Leslie Spafford guide trips in Arizona and came to visit this week and go into some dorado and cabrilla their first day at Las Arenas.
First-timer and happy fisherman, George Misner, started his trip with a nice bull dorado just south of Bahia Muertos.
Popular Captain Chito hung two of those big tuna that were boiling north of La Paz for a few days. Unfortunately, photos of the clients didn’t come out!
Hi Craig! Always good to have Craig Corda back with us . He’s been our amigo for over 20 years and never has a bad day.
Al Chaves lives outside of Phoenix and was out with Captain Jorge when he got this dorado. He had a big tuna on briefly.
Jarat Bagwell from Arizona got the jackpot with his buddies when he caught the most fish for the day including dorado, cabrilla and snapper.
Texas in the house! Cody Timberlake is a professional cowboy and former bullrider and lives in Banderas TX. First trip with us and a dorado with Captain Alfredo.
Monte Aldridge shows off a bull dorado he picked up fishing off Espirito Santo Island. He’s from Richfield UT and always good to have him visit.
Eric Gunnells and Steve Bayer picked up these dorado on their one day out’ve Bahia Muertos.
Barbara Burnett and her husband Jerry have their own great salmon operation in Juneau AK, but came to visit us and started off with a day of dorado.
These are great eating triggerfish! Best ceviche and fish tacos! Captain Jorge with or friends, Jeff and Marianne Sakuda.
Captain Fili is hidden behind a dorado, but no hiding Zach Arnold and Trent Baysinger and a couple of nice mahi.
Good to see Captain Arcangel smiling. Nice dorado in the box again for Mark.
Things have fallen off rapidly with cooler temperature, stronger winds and currents and rougher water the last week-and-a-half. Fishing has also dropped off dramatically. The warm water season ended sooner than expected and I think things will continue to change as warm water species like the dorado, tuna, wahoo, and billfish move out and are replaced by more inshore cooler water species.
Once again this week, captains and clients worked hard to find picky fish. Bait was harder to come by in the rougher waters and there were times with there were some uncharacteristically big swells, chop and gusty winds making it more difficult to fish. The winds will only get stronger as normally calm La Paz Bay even got some big wind-generated rollers that smashed waves onto the waterfront areas.
There were still some dorado around although the schools are diminishing. Most days boats scratched out a catch of 1-5 dorado per day with most about 10 pounds or so. Smaller ones were released. Lots of bonito, fortunately usually kept rods bent.
More inshore fish like triggerfish, snapper, pargo and cabrilla as well as sierra and jack crevalle and pompano increased in the counts as waters cooled and it became more incumbent to fish closer to the beaches and rocks.
There are, however, some great catches still waiting!
We had a few nice wahoo this week including a whopper 56-pounder by Marlene Kikuchi from Los Angeles. As well, there’s still the occasional 30-50 pound roosterfish.
The biggest surprise was the appearance of some pig yellowfin tuna that were in the 50-150 pound class between Punta Tecolote and Espirito Santo Island in the channel. These fish were toads that tore into anglers for 1-4 hour battles, when they would bite. Sometimes, they were just a tease boiling around the pangas, but not interested in eating a hooked bait. But, when they did bite, they were beasts! Normally, we don’t see tuna around La Paz as we catch them mainly around Las Arenas so this was a nice surprise!
BOOKING FOR 2020 STARTING TO FILL
Ice chests full of fish headed to the airport!
Our reservations are coming in faster than normal and many dates in 2020 are getting filled. Calls and e-mails are coming in daily. Some dates are already sold out. In 2019 we were filled by March.
We don’t want to miss you. If you have a favorite captain, hotel or date in mind, don’t wait. Especially, don’t wait until we do our fishing and hunting show tour in the winter. We want to be sure we have you down and covered so we can have you visit next year!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muerto Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 13-20, 2019
Mexican Minute Video Fishing Report
The BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
“Birthday Bob” Layko always visits us each year on his birthday with cousin Craig Brown. Got himself a wahoo and some dorado too with Captain Armando.
A two-hour battle for Eric Gunnels from Phoenix, produced this 70 pound tuna. It doesn’t look like it from the angle, but we put it on a certified scale. Captain Chito give the thumbs-up. Big tuna made an appearane between La Paz and Espirito Santo Island.
First-timer Steve Kunzler from Utah found dorado fishing to his liking.
Kyle Muir is from Beaverton OR, but skippers for Vonnie’s Fishing Charters up in Sitka, Alaska. He’s got a pair of bulls in hand.
From Denver, Bobby Hart had never fished in salt water before let alone been to Mexico, but his very first day hooked this trophy roosterfish off Punta Arenas. The fish was released.
Our good amiga from Richfield, UT, Marlene Aldridge, has a big smile and 3 nice doardo on the cutting board.
On their way in from fishing out’ve La Paz, Dale and Daryl Martz from Colorado and Alan Martz from Boston hold up some of their catch.
Ten-year-old Carter Hart hooked this bull dorado north of La Paz. On just 30-pound-test the youngster battled the fish for 20 minutes refusing offers of help and got it to the boat all by himself.
A good day on the water for Larry Huey posing on the beach with a couple of dorado, some cabrilla, triggerfish and snapper.
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Funny shot of the week with Monty Aldridge and his baby roosterfish. A cute one! Monty released the fish there in Bahia Muertos.
Holly Kunzler repeatedly claims to have outfished husband, Steve and says she caught most of these dorado.
The Brasier Brothers, Bill and Scott have alot of fish for their captain to clean! Dorado, pargo, snapper, triggerfish and cabrilla as well as jack crevalle on the cleaning table.
Best shot of the week. Carter and Brooke Hart from Denver got some pargo liso out’ve the rocks and pose on the beach.
Two in hand and one on the table for Hugo with Captain Gerardo goofing off behind.
From Lake Havasu, AZ, Laurie Reynolds and John Gillespie got some nice dorado to show.
Armando, Craig and Bob in the gallery again with quite a variety of fish!
Young Carter on the gaff! Like a boss.
Bob Sayre was battling a bonito when a big wahoo came swimming around the panga. Just like that…in one bite..the wahoo scissored the back-half-of his bonito with it’s sharp teeth and swam away. Eat-and-run!
We have definitely had better weeks of fishing this season. Overall, it was probably the most disappointing and difficult fishing of the year and the captains and clients really had to work hard for their fish.
It started with a combination of several factors and it took quite awhile to recover and it’s taking a long time to get back up to speed.
However, kicking off the week with the tail end of that huge 30-hour rainstorm and subsequent sporadic rains in the following days not only required that we cancel a day of fishing; but the rain sent lots of run-off into the ocean, muddying the waters. Winds that persisted all week, including strong northern winds that are the vanguard indicator that the season is coming to an end, not only made it bumpy and rough to fish, but also cooled down surface water temperatures. Add in a full moon and choppy waters and it was a round-house kick to the head.
Any singular variable or even two of those things would not have impeded the bite much…if at all…but that combination of wind, waves, rain and a full moon put the hex on things.
It has been taking it’s time recovering, if at all. With the continued north winds, that means we’re heading into the off-season and it might probably be getting rougher and more difficult to fish. That being said, the fishing did improve little-by-little every day although still relatively slow compared to what it had been before the storms.
Dorado were the mainstay action with fish mostly 10-20 pounds. Bonito were mostly plentiful to the point of being a nuisance, but together with jack crevalle, small roosterfish, pargo, cabrilla and snapper at least kept rods bent most of the time.
Most exciting were the boiling tuna that showed up between La Paz and Espirito Santo Island. Fish between 50 and 150 pounds came up several times and really rocked a few of our anglers who battled fish up to 4 hours. All except ome fish…about a 70-pounder…were lost. The angler on the 70 pounder battled for 2 hours to get the fish aboard.
Other species included pompano, sierra, amberjack and triggerfish.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 15-20, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
I shot this earlier than normal…two days before the end of the week as Hurricane Lorena was about to hit us and I did not know at the time if we would lose electricity and internet. Plus, I had a feeling that the rest of week we’d have to cancel fishing for a day or two. So, it’s a little longer than normal as well because there was alot to chat about!
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Hurricane Lorena was supposed to have veered off, but at the last minute came straight for us. It could have been alot worse as it dropped rain and wind on us for about 12 hours before moving on. The biggest issue was that we had to cancel fishing and diving and lots of folks got stuck when the airlines shut down or the airport got closed.
What an incredible marlin bite we had! For several days mid-week we had the best marlin fishing we have ever seen where almost every panga each day hooked 1-4 marlin like the Lauby Brothers…Justin and Noah…who hooked for marlin in 2 days. Most fish over the week were released and much meat was donated.
One of our newest funnest Tailhunter tribe members, Mari Bedsaul had some fun with us and got into some of that fun dorado fishing with Captain Alfredo.
Captain Arcangel looks like he’s checking the teeth of this big roosterfish…or looking for the hook so they can release it! But nice first rooster for Jon Sparks! And yes…they were able to release it!
The biggest tuna of the week and her first ever for Kasey Dewey from Washington. Tough fish, especially for a first-timer and she did great!
April Perry, husband Ryan and brother Taylor Sering got this blue marlin in that great marlin bite this week tag-teaming the rod on light tackle! One of the few blues that was caught. Most of the fish were able to be released and much meat was donated.
Dave Sowards has been visiting us for several years and always seems to do well. He got this striper with Captain Chito and had several others on as well.
Love this shot!!! Big smiles from Taylor Sering and Captain Luis plus a nice bull dorado as well.
That’s quite a table of fish for Larry Axtell and Clint Lowe from Idaho with Captain Fili including dorado, triggers and jack crevalle.
First marlin for firefighter Kallie Stahley who came down with her dad and were at the start of the marlin and dorado bite this week.
Not many tuna this week, but Greg Walter poses with a couple of nice footballs!
What a great shot and a super fish! Fishing wit Captain Jorge right off Punta Perico, Mari Bledsaul started her fishing week with a hefty roosterfish caught…photo’d…and released! Nicely done!
Great color and one of our newest amigas at Tailhunter, April Perry, from easter Washington poses with a fresh dorado.
Two funny guys and their tuna! Lou Torres and Frank Marshall! Tuna were hard to come by this week just when I thought they’d turn on!
Hard to find too many nicer guys than Chris Bedsaul showing off his first roosterfish. The fish was released!
Yes, there’s still lots of big hard-charging jack crevalle around to bend rods like this bad boy caught by Stefan Zeltvay. Cousin to the roosterfish, the Mexican name for them is “toro” (bull) for good reason. They are roosterfish without the headgear!
First day on the water with a sweet bit of tuna and dorado fillets for Randy and Kasey Dewey with Captain Gerardo peeking from behind.
Double dorado on the beach for April Sering. Some of it headed to our Tailhunter Restaurant for dinner
Another dorado for Mari north of La Paz.
Wow…what a week!
Initially with the full moon, I was wondering if the lunar phase would affect the nice dorado bite we had been having. I’m not a big believer in how the moon affects our fishing down here, but you just never know!
So, the week kicked off with no big change in the dorado bite. In fact, it got better and the fish got bigger! Especially for our Tailhunter La Paz fleet, it was pretty typical to get limits of 10-20 or 25 pound dorado and then catch and release many many more. Lots of fun!
How can you beat this photo! Dorado underwater! Thanks, Chris Bedsaul!
But, then the craziest thing happened…
The marlin went crazy nut insane! In 25 years here, I have never seen anything like it. For 4 days, almost all our pangas were hooking 1-4 marlin per boat per day! Stripers up to 120 pounds! Blue Marlin in the 150-250 pound range! We even had a 600 pound marlin at one point.
Here’s what some of our folks said:
“We had two marlin on the line and another one came up and bit a 3rd rod the captain had in the water. He was trying to figure out which marlin to chase after with the boat!”
“We hooked and released two marlin and tried to get away from them and moved the boat. Two marlin swam after the boat like they wanted to be fed!”
“Our panga was in the middle of the dorado school and we had two fish one and I happened to look down and saw a marlin just kinda hanging under the boat. Then, I felt a bump and realized there was another marlin bumping the boat!”
“Pretty exciting stuff. In 3 days, we hooked and released 5 marlin on light tackle including 4 stripers and 1 blue. My wife says she loves fishing now! Our last fish we were on our way in and had one rod out with a little feather and a striper bit it!”
The big issue was that so many of these fish showed up while guys were going full-turbo in the dorado schools. Consequently, they were fishing with light 30 and 40 pound test…small hooks and small baits when the marlin bit. Many of the marlin were not only eating the baits, but also eating the dorado.
On light tackle, the fights were long and epic.
Dave again!
The bad thing was that many folks tried to release fish but the fish were exhausted. We released the majority of the fish, but some were not able to be released but many of our anglers donated meat to needy folks here in town. Also, because of the small hooks and lines, the marlin were swallowing the hooks all the way down and that also made it difficult to release fish!
The other aspect is that as long as some fights were…others were short and some of the larger fish, especially, the blue marlin were lost! By day 3, many of our captains were putting some heavier gear aboard!
Then…Hurricane Lorena showed up!
Relatively small compared to many others, but it started heading towards Baja and really didn’t look like much other than maybe a little wind and rain. Then, the “Hurricane Watch” became Hurricane “Warning.” It was definitely headed up to Baja! However, the initial advisories indicated it would veer off to the Pacific and La Paz would only get the edge of the storm.
However, as sometimes happens, late Friday, the storm turned and put us right in the crosshairs on a direct collision. So…
C’mon man…you said you weren’t going to hit us!
Airports closed…flights got canceled…the port closed and no boats were allowed out…folks started getting ready with water, candles, flashlights and extra beer. A lot of our anglers got stuck for an extra night or two unable to leave. Others trying to get in couldn’t fly down because of canceled flights or the closed Cabo Airport.
When the storm finally hit, it was a lot weaker than so many storms we’ve had, but enough to drop wind and rain on us for about 12 hours and keep everyone pinned indoors all night watching the storm. Fortunately, other than some flooding and downed trees, no one was hurt and very little property damage. It was just a big wet “inconvenient” pain-in-the-butt!
Frankly, many of our clients partied and rolled with it and were very patient with us and the circumstances. However, I felt badly for those that lost fishing days or got stuck one way-or-the-other.
As of Saturday morning the airports opened and normalcy started returning as we dried out and dug out.
Not sure how this will affect the fishing but we’ll keep you posted!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 1-8, 2019
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN WEEK-AT-A-GLANCE
Weather – Days high 90’s with lots of humidity. Nights, high 70’s to low 80 with a breeze. Subject to afternoon thundershowers. Very tropical
Waters – Mostly blue and clear. Surface temps in the 80’s
Fishing (Scale of 1-10) – Solid 6 or 7. Lots of dorado. Lots of action with bonito, skippies and other species. Sorry about the needlefish. Not alot of trophy fish, but lots of fun fish. Not included the big dog-tooth snapper we started catching.
Species Caught or Hooked This Week: dorado (mahi-mahi), tuna, bonito, jack crevalle, dog-tooth snapper, pargo, roosterfish, sierra, cabrilla, rainbow runner, pompano, snapper, palometa, amberjack and several billfish hooked and lostl
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Captain Pancho helped Troy Anderson of Denver, Colorado with this monster cubera snapper that is apparently just a few pounds short of the World Record. On a scale, the fish bottomed it at 68-pounds and was caught on a needlefish off Punta Perrico near Bahia Muertos in shallow water.
Two of our long-time amigos, Glenn Delmendo and Don Mariano, with a couple of nicer model dorado.
From Salt Lake City, Utah, Dave Mullholland was in the shallow high spot off Punta Arenas and fishing with Captain Armando with a whole bonito when he hung this big-boy dog-tooth/ cubera snapper.
JIm Bovee always does well and visits us 2-3 times a year from San Diego. Nice bull and flat waters to start the morning!
Ari Caldevilla from Redondo Beach CA is a tall guy and that helps put the size of his roosterfish in perspective. It’s legit! Captain Ramiro with the photobomb and the nearby rocksof Punta Perrico in the background. The fish was released.
One of the few tuna this week with Tony Jones and Captain Arcangel. Hefty football!
Big smiles from Linda Tomaselli posing with husband, Mike, and Captain Armando with the results of a nice foray to the dorado grounds.
The Prikazskys came all the way from upstate New York and strike a nice pose with a table full of doardo headed back east with them.
That’s alot of MEAT!!! Captain Nando lifts another one of those big cubera/ dog-tooth snapper (check the teeth). Shallow water too…that’s the waves on the beach at Punta Arenas right behind him.
Love this shot! Scott Herman was staying with us at La Concha Beach Resort and took out one of the kayaks just behind the hotel and caught a number of species including this barred pargo.
Ari was also out behind Hotel La Concha and launched a kayak there in the shallows and got a fun little roosterfish on light tackle that he photo’d and released.
Andy Fernandez was with us earlier in the year and cane back for another round of fishing. Another dorado in the box too!
It’s been about 10 years since Steve Bryan visited us last. He started out his fishing week hanging a big dog-tooth with Captain Armando who had the hot hand/ rod this week.
Great colors all around! Scott Herman and Brent Skaff with two of their dorado.
First timers, Mike and Linda Williamson were fishing with Tailhunter Sportfishing and had enough dorado in the box when Captain Armando Lucero put them over the rocks with live bait and they ended up with two hefty cubera snapper/ pargo perro. Mike and Linda are from Discovery Bay, California. Fun couple!
Good start to the fishing trip with Captain Archangel and Linda and Mike Butler visiting us from Idaho for the first time.
Another rooster for Jim Bovee. Catch-and-release off the rocks near Bahia Muertos.
One of the better dorado of the week, Duane Shoemake holds it up on the beach at Bahia Muertos . He got a number of species fishing with us during the week.
Captain Arcangel got into alot of fish this week…and alot of photos! Glenn and Don again with another good day of fishing the dorado.
Two of our newest fun folks to visit us for the first time, Mike and Melanie Genanatti with a couple of handfuls of their dorado fishing with Captain Victor.
Two of our long time BFF’s from Denver, you won’t find nicer folks than Frank and Diane Kunze. They are darned good anglers too!
It’s great to have first timers with us like Marie Fanelli and Kathy Young who get a hand from Captain Rogelio fishing north of La Paz.
Captain Fili had a super day with Victor Baines who brought 3 other amigos down for 3 days of fishing and they ran into some nice days of dorado.
Dave Owens came last year with his wife, but she couldn’t make it and Mike Kirkpatrick came along for 3 days of fishing. The amigos are from the Phoenix area.
Jack Hornbeck came to celebrate his 60th birthday with us and had some great dorado fishing days and almost had a marlin too!
Bill Young waited two years to fish with us after a hurricane last year canceled his trip, But he was back and fishing with Captain Rogelio had some nice dorado fishing right in the bay.
Paul Roberts came with Charlie Finster to celebrate Paul’s birthday and he had a good time among some pretty good fishing!
It was a pretty solid week of fishing, expecially if you wanted to catch dorado. It was pretty hard not to hook one, unless you were targeting other species. Typical of this time of year, the dorado could be found in numerous spots around Cerralvo Island, Espirito Santo Island, Punta Perrico, Punta Mejia, and Bahia Muertos as well as localized spots like the floating buoys and other areas.
The fish are mostly that 10-15 pound class with lots of smaller ones getting released. Some larger fish up to 25-30 pounds also hooked. Fishing can be a daily pick-pick-pick with a fish-or-two here and there.
Or, it might be pandemonium of you hit a schools and the school crashes the boat with every rod getting bent simultaneously in a wild melee of jumping and fighting fish!
Not much in the way of tuna this week, but that could also be because the dorado are so easy to find and the tuna are either fast moving or take full focus to chase them down or find a spot (especially when the boats around you are getting bent on dorado!).
Of greater interest are the big dog-tooth/ cubera snapper that have shown up in the shallows outside of Bahia Muertos. Using whole bonito or needlefish, these toothy armored beasts have been biting almost every day although it takes a Herculean effort and a lot of luck to pull one out’ve their rocky hiding places and maybe only 1 per day is getting back to the beach for the big photo session.
These fish have been 40-50 pounds or more and we got one that was 68 -pounds (we had a scale on the beach) and apparently is just a few pounds short of the IGFA world record!
Additional species this week included roosterfish, jack crevalle, big bonito, sierra, pargo, snapper, pompano, amberjack and rainbow runners.
AND MORE!
We have been here in La Paz and even many of our long-time amigos don’t know that we offer many other activities besides fishing. One of our most popular is snorkeling and scuba-diving trips to Espirito Santo Island. Waters right now are a blue 85 degrees and I wanted to share some of the photos taken this week by some of our folks! Thanks to Ryan Netherton for a majority of these great shots!