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!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 25-Sept. 1, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Great colorful fish and photo! Captain Victor had Chris Wilber on board when he pulled on this pretty bull dorado! Dorado bites really took off this past week.
Our Kansas amigo, Adam Florence, brought another great group to see us this past week. Here he is with Captain Pancho and some of their dorado at Muertos Bay. More on the cutting table too!
That’s a PIG! Darrell “Gomer” Oleson drove all the way from Salt Lake City UT area in two days to get in some fishing with us and his last day was able to drag this huge dog-tooth snapper out’ve the rocks!
Two of the nicest new folks this week, Dan Adams and Kim Howard with a good day of dorado on the cleaning board.
Yup…the tuna picked up a little bit stronger this week as well. Chris and Mike Wilber show off two chunky YFT’s!
Now, this is a great shot! Fly guys seem to like to put their rods in their mouth, but can’t blame them when your other two hands have fish! Marie and Joe Fanelli had to cancel last year when a hurricane got in the way but were able to come down this year and spend time with us. Fun fun folks and Joe has an operation in the Amazon for peacock bass so we want to go see him! They got these dorado on the fly as well as a small tuna fishing north of La Paz!
Finally! A big roosterfish for Brent “Mountain Dew” Racker and Captain Pancho. Good shot after a good fight. The fish was released. Brent also got a huge rare milkfish and I only wish we had a better photo to post up! Brent is from Utah.
Talk about variety! This is what I mean. Take a look at Bobby and Stacy Florence’s board and you’ll see dorado, snapper, pargo, a rainbow runner and a palometa!
Captain Jorge with two of our besties! Verda Boyd from the bay area has been coming to see us sometimes 3 times a year for many years. She’s teamed up with Pam Bolles who has run the Baja Big Fish Company up in Loreto for almost 25 years and is a well-known flyfishing expert. Two great amigas of Tailhunter.
A heavy lift, but a big smile from Dan Bovee who always seems to nail a big guy on every trip. He took this big dog-tooth just outside of Bahia Muertos and is a load to lift up for the camera. Dan is from Orange Co.
Two funny guys from San Diego, Tom Rose and Doug Ladderbush with some of their first-day catch.
Doing like a boss…nice rack of dorado for Lynn. Not a bad day at all!
It’a been about 12 years since Glenn Delmendo last came to see us but he picked up right where he left off and started the trip with a nice bull dorado!
Hard to believe these big pargo liso (mullet snapper) are still around. Normally they are a cold water fish that we only catch in the early spring. Incredible tough fighters, Riley Florence, from Kansas posts up with Captain Pancho.
Good start to vacation with a hefty table of tuna, dorado and pompano for Andrew Fernandez and Tony Smith.
Two of our newest amigos, Dale and Pete got into some nice dorado as well for their first time fishing with Tailhunters. They did quite well over 3 days!
Could not have had two nicer folks visiting us this week for the first time, but Ron and Sherry Cady from Colorado pose up with some of their dorado from their first day on the water at Bahia Muertos.
Captain Armando with two of our long-time Tailhunter amigos, Terry Biggs and Rich Keogh and a nice rack of mahi.
Arizona on board with two more of our good amigos for many years, Wade Gomes and Bill Moore who fished 3 days with us and got in on the dorado bite that kicked up a notch this week! Check more fish on the fish board at the bottom of the photo.
Captain Pancho gives a well-deserved thumbs-up for Darrel Oleson and his roosterfish. Darell had quite a day on the water with a variety of fish. This one was released.
LeaEila Oleson visited us for the first time, and as you can tell, got right into it with Captain Fili and the dorado bite.
Football season started? Chris Wilber with a football-sized yellowfin tuna.
Double Gomers! Darrell Oleson and son Young Darrell on their first day on the water. First time down for the younger Gomer.
Bill Young from Northern California had to cancel his trip last year when a hurricane got in the way. But he made it back this year and poses with some dorado and a yellowfin tuna on the beach at Bahia Muertos.
Captain Pancho photo-bombing Riley and his dorado! Great shot!
Great colors! That’s Terry Biggs with Captain Armando just off the sand there at Punta Arenas! Don’t have to go far to catch fish!
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The week had a as many ups-downs and sideways as a Disneyland ride. The short version of the week was that it was the best dorado bite of the season as the fish finally seemed to hit their summer stride and the mahi finally woke up.
The week started kind of so-so. Not bad. Just not real consistent. Some of this. Some of that. Just a mix-match-hodgepodge of species.
Then, Tuesday we got hammered by an unexpected storm that was not on the radar. We call them “Toritos” (baby bulls) because they come out’ve nowhere generated by the huge amounts of heat off the ocean and lots of water vapor in the air (humidity is easily in the 60-70% range). It hit TUESDAY morning with a fury that had thunder shaking glass window panes like being in a bass drum and so much close lighting you could easily have read a book as streak after streak ripped through the sky right overhead and some bolt even hitting the water!
Turn up the sound and listen to this…This is when it was starting to “diminish!” The flashes are lightning and I was hiding under an alcove. The lighting was so close, the static electricty had the hair on my arms standing up!
The thing is, I had several dozen people ready to climb into boats that morning and as the storm passed overhead with such turbulence the rain started to come down as well, not sure what to do except wait it out. These things usually pass fairly quickly, but while you’re in it, it feels like you should be running for cover! But, we waited and despite the nervousness of all of us and what it would do to the fishing, we got everyone out…and it turned out to be the best dorado day of the year.
And it continued pretty solid all week.
Jay taking some shots of some nice bull dorado
Some boats did better than others then things would reverse the next day, but overall, it was pretty hard NOT to catch a dorado. The fish are scattered all over and a dull day could suddenly turn into a feeding frenzy if you hit the right spot with dorado crashing all around. Some fish were literally caught within 10 yards of the beach!
Most of the fish were respectable 10-15 pounders, but some 20’s were mixed in and a few 30-pounders were taken and larger fish lost . The only thing that diminished the bite was that once the word got out, traffic on the “honey holes” sometimes had the fish running for cover and the bite would slow until the crowds drifted to other spots.
Add to the dorado a nice smattering of yellowfin tuna that ran 10-25 pounds; some 40-60 pound roosterfish and a few wahoo (lost) plus plenty of bonito and it made for a pretty decent day of action most days for most folks. For a good number of anglers, especially some of the new-comers, they lost a lot of fish until they got the hang of it so often, numbers would be down when they got to the beach, but then find out they lost a half-dozen fish or more!
We also got into big-time dog-tooth snapper (cubera snapper) that were 30-50 pounders in the shallow rocks; pargo, cabrilla, the occasional amberjack and even rainbow runners plus a surprising showing of cold-water sierra and it was hard NOT to head home with some fish in the coolers.
BAHIA MAGDALENA TRIP
We had 6 of our amigos spend 2 days with our Bahia Magdalena folks fishing inside the mangroves as well as outside on the ridge. They had two productive days with about a dozen different species of fish in the coolers including tuna, sierra, pargo, snapper, cabrilla, halibut, triggerfish, snook and corvina.
Ready for a good day fishing the mangroves of Bahia Magdalena with Captain Rigo. It was pretty misty and drizzly sometimes but the fishing was productive.
Good table of grouper, pargo, cabrilla, snapper, triggerfish and halibut for Rich, Terry, Captain Rigo, Ed and Matt.
Rich Keogh with a nice snook on the gaff.
A darned good day! 14 tuna and 14 big sierra for Jay, Ed and Matt. Lots of fish cleaning coming up!
Pop another beer, Ed! Another day and another pile of fish!
YELLOW STICKY NOTES FROM THE TACKLE BOX
PLASTIC BAN – If you’re coming down, La Paz has just enacted a plastic ban. So, if you go to the market or convenience store, be prepared to buy one of those fabric bags or bring your own or bring a box. No more plastic. That includes doggie containers from restaurants and “Red Solo” cups for drinks!
TRIP INSURANCE – Don’t forget to purchase some inexpensive trip insurance if you’re visiting us or anywhere else in Baja. It’s the best time of the year for fishing now and the busiest, but also there can be occasional unexpected storms. There’s no refunds for weather-related cancelations. It’s part of fishing. So, cheap trip insurance will help cover canceled airlines, hotels, activities or other unforseen occurances. https://www.insuremytrip.com/
BOOKINGS for 2020 – We’re getting alot of bookings for 2020 already and some dates are filing up. Folks are going home from trips this year and immediately giving us dates for next year. If you are thinking about it and especially if you have a favorite room or captain, get in touch with us. We were pretty much sold out for 2019 by March so let us know! We do still have a spot here and there for the rest of this season, but let us know! Go to the website at www.tailhunter.com Or write us directly at Jonathan@tailhunter.com
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 18-25, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
The Big Picture and the Rest of the Story…
Just a few hours of strong winds, but it was AFTER everyone was done fishing!
Nice spread of dorado. Smaller ones got released.
Long-time amigo, John McVay and Captain Jorge finally finding some quality tuna! John fought the larger fish for 45 minutes and said he didn’t get bit until he dropped down to 30-pound test line. Note the pending clouds!
No shortage of jack crevalle to keep rods bent and folks smiling! All the way from Russia to fish one day!
Fat bonito are still keeping the action going in between dorado bites and other species.
John has 3 more ready to be filleted.
It’s almost the end of summer and for once, it felt like summer and fished like summer here in La Paz. Air temps in the high 90’s with lots of humidity. Waters blue with a surface temp of about 84 degrees. We even dodged our first real storm of the season.
It’s chubasco weather and we had storm system IVO to the south and offshore to keep an eye on, but fortunately, it went outside and up the coast on the Pacific side. However, it did leave us with quite a few cloudy days and, at the end of the week really strong winds and wave with wave surge for south-facing beaches. Some rain fell as well, but localized.
We almost had to cancel some trips, but luckily things blew out quickly or they were days when the fish bit early.
This is storm season and, while we may or may not get a hurricane, this time of year is subject to occasional strong storms that may affect your fishing although it’s the prime time fishing season during the fall.
You never know when one of these builds up looking pretty ominous, but they blow in and then blow out.
Fishing-wise, dorado were the main target. Typical summertime bite. The fish are scattered all over and can be found pretty much anywhere. Close-to-shore…off-shore…under buoys or floating debris…under seaweed…under the birds. Once you find the spot, it can get pretty crazy. Or, you pick at a few all day long.
The fish are decent-sized from 8-20 pounds mostly with some larger up to about 25 or 30 pounds. First-timers are having a lot of fun, but also losing a lot of fish until they get the hang-of-it. Same areas are producing bonito and jack crevalle and marlin have been seen cruising through the schools feeding as well.
The ticket to increasing the odds on getting tuna bit is to use the lighter line. Drop down to 20-30 pound test or use light flurocarbon leaders. These fish are line shy!
More exciting are the tuna that pop-up and drop out…then pop up again. It’s hit or miss, but the fish seem like they’re here. Sometimes moving too fast to get on them. Sometimes, just staying too deep. But when they come up, they’re quality 20-40 pounders this past week. Most of the tuna are on the Cerralvo side of things near Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay. The same areas saw an increase in wahoo…finally! They’ve been scarce since early spring so hopefully, they’re coming back in time for the fall bite!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 4-11, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Retired firefighter Craig Braswell strains to hold up a hefty roosterfish estimated at 60 pounds that hit Craig’s little sardine right close to the rocks as they were fishing for shallow water pargo and cabrilla. The fish battled and pulled the panga around on light tackle for almost an hour which is why Craig says, “I could barely lift the fish!” The fish was released. Craig is from Chico C and our buddy is a long-time Tailhunter friend!
Denni Chin from Salt Lake City UT has a laugh with Captain Victor from the Tailhunter Fleet in La Paz on the beach at Bahia Muertos. It was Denni’s first La Paz trip and he took a number of fish off his bucket list including a striped marlin; several big roosterfish (released) as well as dorado and this yellowtail and tuna!
A crazy mix of fish for Trevor Akiyoshi and Ryan Vorisek hold up some of their catch that included a strange mix of fish for August. The catch included dorado (summer fish) , pompano (spring fish) and pargo liso (mullet snapper…a winter fish). Dad Mike Akiyoshi with the photobomb. They are from Upland CA. They were fishing with the Tailhunter Fleet in La Paz.
Amazing fish! Our biggest dorado of the season. It’s huge. Adam Jones is about 6′ tall and the head of the fish is turned away from the camera. He and cousin, Steve Braithwaite (photo below) tag-teamed the big fish over 40 minutes!
Another shot of the big bull dorado. Steve Braithwaite posing for this shot! Both guys are pretty tall and the photo doesn’t do justice to the size and girth of the fish.
Our long-time amigo, Kip Slaugh, hoisted this big roosterfish on a bit of a choppy day outside of Bahia de los Muertos. The fish was released.
Yup!!! Yellowtail in August? Check the photo! Phil and dad, Larry Braithwaite from Salt Lake City UT with captain Pancho on the beach at Bahia Muertos. Dorado are warm water fish. Yellowtail are cold water fish!
Colorado in the house! Louie Sanchez rocked this big roosterfish while fishing near Las Arenas on live bait and released it. It’s his personal best!
Just an incredible shot of a dorado jumping at sunrise! Captured by pro photographer amiga, Lynn Crooks from Reno NV who was fishing with her husband, Bernie.
Hard not to love our buddy, Denny Gallegos, who mugs for this shot. He’s always doing stuff like this over the years! With his buddy, Grant Parr, holding a big pargo perro.
The gent behind the mask with Captain Monch and the trophy roosterfish is Bernie Crooks who got several nice roosterfish and released them all. Our amigo, Bernie, is from Reno, Nevada.
All of a sudden, these big dog-tooth also started chewing this week! With Cerralvo Island in the background, Kip Slaugh, lifts the thick fish on the gaff for the money shot! Great eating!
Just a wonderful shot by this young lady! Oh the joy! Chloe Crum from San Antonio, Texas makes the shot with this dorado and captain Alfredo helping from off-camera!
Love the kid shots! We’ve known Sierra Sanchez since she was smaller than this dorado and it’s fun watching her grow up every year and enjoy the fishing with her family and Captain Rogelio. Dorado…right off the rocks in shallow water!
Victor Gil Delmonte comes to visit us every year and told me this fish “really hurt me!” You can see it on his face and Captain Archangel had to give Vic a hand! He gamely battled the fish then released the pretty fish too!
Yes, you CAN have too much fun! Pete Natividad from Los Angeles with Captain Alfredo, was on his first trip to see us and had only one day to fish, but caught about 6 different species including this amberjack.
Dr. Marc Crum came to visit us for the first time from Texas and was able to put this nice roosterfish aboard for the photoshot before letting it go to fight another day.
Talk about variety! Lynn Crooks has about 6 different species on the transom after a good day on the water fishing north of La Paz.
Just incredible colors in this photo to go along with Gaby Donnell’s pretty smile. Gaby is from Oregon and took the colorful bull dorado just outside of Las Arenas.
Our buddy, Roger “Fluffy” McCracken battled this feisty jack crevalle south of Espirito Santo Island. These are tough fighters!
Doing it like a boss! Gavin Carroll has himself a dorado in the boat with Captain Armando!
Dorado started biting better late in the week. Adam Jones and Steve Braithwaite.
Not normally something we recommend or target, but we DO occasionally hook sharks. It usually never lasts long before the shark busts the line nor do we recommend putting any shark in the boat. But, Jeff Slater is one of our long-time anglers and very very experienced and fought this hammerhead estimated at 300 pounds. Actually very good eating and he donated much of the meat as well.
This is frameable! Hard to get a better photo or smile than Cortez Sanchez with his bull dorado on the beach at Muertos.
Good way to greet a sunrise! Captain Rogelio and our first-timer Nick Arandia started the morning with a fine catch-and-release roosterfish near La Paz.
One of our all-time favorite families (Team Penguino). Louie, Sierra and Cortez Sanchez with some of their La Paz catch. Clouds building in the background. They were able to get two nice days of fishing in with us this year!
Not sure what’s more colorful. Louie Mogabgab’s sunglasses or the dorado! Both are admittedly almost a match! Captain Victor adds to the photo too!
When it’s your first time fishing and your first fish, it’s a great moment. Imelda Natividad got herself a fat triggerfish for ceviche with Captain Alfredo.
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There is no doubt that this has been an incredibly crazy year for weather as well as fishing! It seemed that winter took forever to leave and summer to take hold and given the types of fish we’re catching, summer is still reluctant even though we’re now half into August.
The week started somewhat sluggish and got better as the week progressed. Lots of cloudy days (similar to San Diego grey skies of summer) kept things cooler which was appreciated by many of the anglers. We even had about a 30 minute downpour one afternoon like a mini tropical hurricane that caused a lot of flooding and winds then quickly blew out.
Here it comes! Good thing everyone is off the water already.
Early in the week, we had the usual smattering of dorado mostly in the 10-20 pound class. But we continued to show up with unusual cold-water fish like pargo liso (mullet snapper), giant dog-tooth snapper, cabrilla, pompano, amberjack, jack crevalle and even sierra.
Yup! Amberjack in August. Louie Mogabgab.
Wish we could see his photo, but Captain Moncho give Bernie Crooks (I think that’s Bernie in there!) a hand with his jack crevalle which was released right there off the beach.
But, then the kicker showed up late in the week. Not only did 20-100 pound tuna show up (most fish lost after long battles on light tackle) but we started getting YELLOWTAIL!
None of us can ever remember yellowtail so late in the season. In my 25 years here we have never seen yellowtail in August. Mostly by May, these cold-water fish are long gone!
Never ever ever ever seen yellowtail caught in August. It’s like getting a snowstorm in the summer. It just doesn’t happen!
I’ve given up telling folks what they’re gonna catch these days! Oh, and the fish got bigger as the week went on.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of
July 1-7 ,2019
WEEK at a GLANCE
Water – Calming down and getting bluer and warmer. Surface temp about 80 degrees. Colder thermocline 30-60 feet down drops another 5-15 degrees. Still choppy some days especially in the mornings.
Weather – Consistently highs in the mid-90’s and nighttime cools to mid-70’s. Feels warmer some days, but then the afternoon breeze cools things down. Very tropical
Wind – Mostly better than other weeks. Calming down hopefully. Did have one day at Las Arenas/ Muertos where a baby storm went through and made it tough to go out for about an hour or so, but then it blew out and the folks got out on the water. We just waited it out.
Fishing – Lots of variety, but more of the warm water-water fish like dorado becoming more prominent. No wahoo, but fish caught this week included lots of big roosterfish (Las Arenas); dorado (La Paz); pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle, skipjack, bonito, amberjack, pompano, yellowtail, palometa, snapper, baja grouper, marlin, sailfish.
Fish Scale of 1-10: A solid 6
MEXICAN MINUTE WEEKLY VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE AND THE REST of the STORY…
Captain Gerardo gives Erik Foraker from Washington a hand with a big roosterfish caught and released off Punta Arenas. The fish was released and 3 were caught that day off the panga.
Mike and Jacquiline Aguilar caught 3 big roosterfish including this beast on a single day. All fish were released.
Miles and Sydney Wagner with big-time bull dorado there at Bahia Muertos staying at their dad, Gary’s place at Rancho Costa.
One of my favorite photos of the week. Captain Jorge gives a thumbs-up to Will’s big roosterfish. Will is from Denver and released the fish.
That’s alot of fish for an 11-year-old, but Levi Moore from Encinitas CA did the job on this big roosterfish then took the photo and let it go to swim strong!
Our buddy who never stops smiling! Rick Kasper has a handful if dorado for the camera then the grill. Rick is a hunting guide and TV personality in Wyoming and Arizona.
Just off the beach, Anabel, holds up a pretty roosterfish for the camera before letting it go.
And another roosterfish for Erik and captain Gerardo doing the great photo-bomb for the camera!
Deno and Mark Buchanan with the big tuna of the week hooked off Cerralvo Island.
Beautiful and rarely caught Baja Grouper or Golden Grouper taken by Vern Marschall who spent the week with us and fished two days . He caught this one off Espirito Santo Island.
The roosterfish is almost bigger than Jacqueline!
Colorful shot and another rooster on deck for Eric Ryan who released the fish.
Headed back to the hotel grill with two legit dorado, Jason Wagner took these fish working that area just outside of Bahia Muertos.
Big smile for Nick Gatelein with his first roosterfish at dawn off Las Arenas. Good way to start your day!
Incredible colors on this big dorado caught by Anabel not far off the rocks at Punta Perrico.
The tired satisfaction of besting a big fish is evident on our buddy, Ed Mitoma, who finally got his big roosterfish then realeased it . He also had another one on the line that got away. Punta Arenas in the background.
Another one for the camera! Levi Moore was on a roll with another roosterfish caught-and-released.
All the way from Kansas, Lilly Korbach, has a pretty smile for a pretty jack crevalle. She was staying at Rancho Costa there in Bahia Muertos.
1..2..3…LIFT! It’s a handful for 14-year-old Seth Moore and his big rooster almost as long as he is tall! Despite it’s looks, the fish swam off strongly upon release.
From Paso Robles, CA and on his first venture with Tailhunter Sportfishing, Scott McGuire put quite a few dorado like this on the hook.
Kris Korbach poses another big one for the camera shot then quickly released the big roosterfish.
That is one giant needlefish! Andy Lauber from New Orleans took this beast.
Weather was a little more agreeable this past week although we had one bit of a bump. We caught a lot of different species again as well including: snapper, pargo, jack crevalle, pompano, marlin, sailfish, several types of bonito, yellowtail, tuna and others. However, the hotshots this week all came down pretty much to two species: Dorado and roosterfish.
Pompano still biting. Jacqueline Aguilar does the honors.
First day out…first day on the water…first marlin! Andrew Tawaroski from Florida with Captain Gerardo . Andrew released the pretty fish.
Jules caught this football tuna off Bahia Muertos.
DORADO
For the most part, this is the time of year when we should be swarming with dorado. However, this year started pretty sluggishly with these warm-water species as waters have been taking their time getting warmer and no thanks to the pestering cool winds that have plagued us for months.
But, it seems like the fishing is finding it’s stride.
There are still patches of cold green water. There are still erratic currents that push the bite and the baits off the mark. But, this past week it was a lot more consistent although still not fully up-to-speed. Nevertheless we saw more and larger dorado in the counts, especially for our Tailhunter La Paz fleet that fishes north from the city towards Espirito Santo Island and around Punta Coyote and Punta Mejia.
Those areas not only produced some great shallow-water fishing for the pargo, cabrilla, amberjack and snapper, but the shallows also produced dorado without having to go too far off or venturing to some of the other high spots or finding floating sargasso weed the dorado could also be found.
What a great shot and check the colors of Lauren and her dorado off Espirito Santo Island. Great smile too!
It wasn’t full turbo and not every panga caught fish every day, but over-all pretty consistent on the dorado. It could be a day of picking off a fish here-and-there all day. It could be a day where one panga found the dorado and the boat next to it couldn’t buy a bite. It could be a day where it was slow for hours then all heck-breaks-loose in a frenzy of action…then it dies. Just no way to tell.
That’s the right kind! Bull dorado headed for the fish box for Andy Lauber from New Orleans. Check out the flat ocean behind him! Like glass.
You could run into a school of firecracker-sized dinks or a group of larger bigger fish. Or, it could be one big fish of the day. But, the dorado are definitely around.
You don’t have to go far for bluewater sportfishing here! Eric Ryan caught this pretty dorado right off the rocky cliffs of Espirito Santo Island in shallow water.
ROOSTERFISH
The bigger story continues to be the roosterfish.
As one of our guys told me,
“I’ve never seen so many roosterfish in one spot. We were hooked on two of them but others that looked like giants were boiling right next to the panga. We could have caught all we wanted all day long if our arms held out!
Firs roosterfish for Taryn Mitoma! Punta Arenas beach in the background. Taryn did a great job in releasing the fish.
In all my years here, I have never seen this kind of rooster season. We are catching and releasing as many fish in one week as we might catch in several months of fishing.
One more rooster! Seth and Levi Moore!
Fish are running 10-70 pounds and actually schooling in big groups and boiling on the surface in feeding frenzies! Anglers coming down to just catch one fish for the bucket list end up hanging 2 or 3 in a single day and losing others.
“I fought two roosterfish for almost an hour each and that was it! It was still early and I wanted to back to the beach. If we never caught another fish the rest of the week, those two fish made my trip. Seeing them swim away was awesome!”
Will from Denver holds up another one for the camera.
He’ll grow up to be a monster! Nick Gatelein on deck at sunrise .
Pretty much all the fish are getting released and they’re really close to shore in shallow water. Using mostly the large 12-inch ladyfish for bait, some of the battles are lasting well near an hour-or-more and exhausting anglers, especially first-timers having fun, but not used to the strain these big fish can put on arms, backs, legs and fingers!
“I finally got the roosterfish off my bucket list. But, I paid the price. A big blister on my finger and sore arms. Never thought a fish could be so strong. Great time!”
Mike Aguilar has another!
Right on top of the rocks! Vern holds up his rooster.
Almost all of these fish are being caught by our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet and the fish are scattered from the Punta Arenas lighthouse down to Boca de Alamo then also around Espirito Santo Island.
Of note, at the beginning of the week we did have a “torito” (small bull) hit around our Las Arenas area. While La Paz stayed flat calm, when our boats at Muertos Bay were ready to go out, suddenly the torito hit which is essentially a small localized wind/rainstorm almost like a baby hurricane. They come out’ve nowhere with no warning. It whips the winds and waves and no one could get off the beach.
But, they can blow over quickly. We kept everyone in the vans and decided to wait it out rather tha come back to town. Surely enough, about 90 minutes later the winds died and, although the waters remained choppy, our anglers finally got out on the water. Fishing was less than stellar, but fortunately, the big roosterfish stuck around!
Tailhunter Fish Report 