Tailhunter Fish Report

Even if fishing is slow for other species, schools of voracious hard-fighting bonito like this one with Robinsion and Capt. Jorge off Punta Perrico still provide fun light tackle action.

San Diegans Kim and Bob Perry hold up a couple of nice barred pargo on the beach a Muertos Bay.

A STRANGE AND UNUSUAL WEEK

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of January. 23-30, 2011

Well, to be perfectly honest, fishing wasn’t that remarkable this week.  It was a little cold and windy some days which is typical.  Fishing was so-so.  We got some sierra, and some cabrilla and some yellowtail, a pargo or two and a couple of dorado.  Everyone we sent out caught fish and had a nice time, but it was nothing to write home about.

 That’s the truth.  One of those unusual weeks…really unusual!

 But we also tell people it can be like that this time of year.  They understrand that.  They enjoy time on the water and since many of them come from freezing places like Minnesota and Colorado and New York, they’re happy just to be fishing instead of digging out of snow.  Fishing was not stellar…so what..it beats being in a blizzard.   Fishing might have been less-than-spectacular. But, it’s also Baja and it can change just as quickly too!  Wind predictions look better for this coming week so we plan to have better reports for you in the next weekly report.

TAILHUNTER CABIN FEVER CLASSIC

For those of you who have been asking, we still have some limited spots for our 10th Annual Cabin Fever Classic.  It’s April 9-13, this year and is always a blast.  For all the details fire us an e-mail at riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com

Every year at Cabin Fever Classic we get surprises like these unusual big bull dorado that Steve and Charlie got.

 TAILHUNTER ROAD TOUR  2011

 We just wrapped up 4 days at the Washington Sportsmen’s Show at Puyallup, Washington near Seattle.  Great time and great to see so many of our amigos, many of whom booked their 2011 La Paz fishing trips.  We’re pulling up stakes and driving east again to Salt Lake City to the massive Western Hunting Conversation Show at the famous Salt Palace.  It promises to be a good one.  Every day we’ll have our booth on the convention floor and in the evenings, there are big dinners, concerts and auctions including Saturday night with Ted Nugent himself.  Come by!  The show is Wednesday to Sunday!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

 
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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We are definitely into sierra season with quite a few of these speedy sportfish around now which is great for inshore light tackle. Captain Ramiro holds up a nice one.

A fairly typical catch with our Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay anglers...decent size yellowtail and sierra...all close to shore.

Grey Whale Season is here...from January to March, the grey whales take up residence in the shallow warm waters around Bahia Magdalena. For a great family experience of a lifetime where you get up close with these great animals in the calm waters of Mag Bay. let Tailhunters set up your trip!

We've had a great time in Denver this past week at the International Sportsman's Expo. Great to have seen so many of our amigos. The Tailhunter International Road Tour 2011 heads to chilly Billings, Montana this week for the Great Rockies Sportshow. If you're in the area, come by the booth and book your 2011 trip fishing trip to La Paz.

ANGLERS WORK INSHORE FOR YELLOWTAIL,  SIERRA,  and ROCK SPECIES

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Jan. 2-9, 2011

Some cloudy skies and wind this week in between some really nice fishing weather.  Nice time to be in town.  I think most of our anglers this week have been surprised at the variety of fish.  Most of our fishing has been in the Muertos Bay area where even if the winds are a little blustery from the north, we can still be fairly protected since the fish are close and we’re on the lee side of the island. 

Species this week included pargo and sierra as well as cabrilla, but also a nice jag or two of yellowtail.  Not big fish, but the yellowtail are certainly  getting a little bigger than in the last few weeks and fun on light tackle or using the iron.  The yellowtail were about 10 pounds before, but this week some skinnier 10-15 pounders were making themselves known.

The other species readily ate live and chunked dead sardines.  “Chunking” involves tossing handfuls of mashed and whole dead sardines into the current and letting it drift down.  Anglers then pin another dead sardine to a hook and strip off handfuls of slack line which also drifts down with the rest of the “chunk.”  It’s an effective way of getting stubborn fish like pargo, snapper, and cabrilla out’ve their rocky hideouts.  Of course, once they bite, you have to turn them quick to kee’p them from heading back into the hole and cutting you off. 

 WHALE WATCHING SEASON

By the way, we’re also sending out whale watching trips now to Magdalena Bay as the grey whales have started taking up their winter residences in the shallow lagoons.  Usually, the whales are around from January to March with February being optimal for viewing with the whales and their calves often coming right up to the boats. 

FISHING AND HUNTING SHOWS

If you’re going to be in the area of Billings, Montana, the Tailhunter International 2011 Road Tour will be moving from Denver to Billings this week.  Come by and pick up our new brochures and DVD’s and book your next La Paz fishing trip.  After that in two weeks, we head to the International Sportsman’s Expo in Sacramento CA at the State Fairgrounds.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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As Darrell George and Matt Collins from Colorado said, "It was pretty good fishing for December!" Actually, pretty good fishing any time of the year, but this shows the mix that was possible this last week with smaller yellowtail, dorado, pargo and sierra on the beach at Muertos Bay fishing with Captain Victor.

The 2011 Tailhunter Road Show has started! We'll be in our booth from Wednesday to Sunday this week at the downtown Denver Convention Center for the International Sportsmen's Expo. Come say hi and book your 2011 La Paz fishing trip!

GREAT MIX OF SPECIES TO END ONE YEAR AND START THE NEW ONE!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 26 to Jan 2, 2011

It’s been a real “chop suey” week of fishing here!  It’s like everything was all mixed up with both warm and cold water fish all in the same spots!  Literally, we must’ve had about 10 different species biting and some anglers got almost all 10 species fishing the same spot on the same day.  Small yellowtail have now moved in that are in the 10 pound class but we also got some amberjack up to 30 pounds as well as jack crevalle, pargo, snapper, cabrilla, bonito, and sierra.  But those same boats are still getting a smattering of dorado also…clearly a warm-water fish! 

It just makes for some fun fishing when you get this kind of variety and all the fish are close to shore too eating live bait. 

 WE’LL BE IN DENVER!

We’re on the road finally and will be in Denver starting Wednesday to Sunday at the International Sportsmens Expo at the downtown Denver Convention Center.  It’s always a great show and we’re looking forward to seeing all our amigos!  Our booth will be in the same location as always.  It’s freezing.  As I’m writing this, it’s 2 degrees above zero.  Definitely NOT La Paz weather and our van already broke down once in the snow!  But it’s always a great trip into the Rockies and we look forward to the tour every year.

This is the start of our road tour for the year.  Over the next 11 weeks we’ll be in 11 states doing all the major fishing/hunting shows so we’ll see you down the road.  Next week, we’ll be in Billings, Montana.  Then Sacramento CA.

 That’s our story!  Happy New Year everyone!

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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We had a nice jag of smaller yellowtail and rainbow runners...close cousin to yellowtail...this week like the one held here by our amigo, Leonard Bishop. The fish are great on light tackle and great eating. Hopefully, some of the larger yellowtail will pop up soon!

Emily Duncan from Santa Barbara usually outfishes dad when she comes to visit and shows off the type of sierra we were getting this week. Pretty typical for this time of year. The sharp-toothed speedsters can come in packs!

SMALL YELLOWTAIL MAKE FIRST SHOWING OF THE SEASON

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 19-26, 2010

A crazy mixed week of weather and fishing down here.  Some days windy and other days nice, flat and sunny.  Thankfully, the wet stuff that hit the West Coast of the U.S. this week didn’t make it down, but we still got winds.

Talk about a crazy week of fishing, we got warm water species like dorado, bonito and even had a marlin hookup, but at the same time…same days…and sometimes even the same panga, we got pargo, snapper, cabrilla (seabass) and even some smaller yellowtail and rainbow runners…all coldwater fish. 

That’s kind of encouraging to hear about the yellowtail and rainbow runners.  I’ve been getting alot of inquiries asking when the yellowtail will show up.  I wish I had a crystal ball, but it really all just depends on the water temperatures.  The best time is usually about Feb. or March to start and then through May.  Again, it just depends on the water.  The big jacks are cooler water fish so don’t count on catching yellowtail at the same time as dorado and tuna.  It’s not impossible, just not real likely!  But yellowtail are brutes when they come on strong!  We’ll keep you posted. 

 Not many anglers down right now so you get the whole honey hole all to yourself.  Live sardines are working best.  Highs in the upper 70’s to low 80’s in the day time and a pleasant mid-60’s at night.  A great time to be down!

 SIDE NOTES

Unfortunately, for those of you who belong to the Bloody Decks message boards, we’re no longer able  post our fishing reports there but you can still find us on other great sites such as www.senortuna.com ; www.getbentsportfishing.com and www.allcoastsportfishing.com and many others . We’ll miss our Bloody Decks amigos!  We enjoyed it and they were always great to us!

Lastly…hope everyone had an outstanding Christmas!  Let’s continue on…Jill and I and all of our Tailhunter Crew and Tribal Members wish all our fish brothers and fish sisters and your families a fantastic New Year for 2011 and we hope to see you in La Paz!

 That’s our story!
Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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From both Jill and I and all of our Tailhunter family here in La Paz from our captains to our drivers and managers as well as our our great folks at our Tailhunter Restaurant, we want to wish you and your family the very best for a peaceful and safe holidays and Christmas. Thanks for being part of our fun adventure and we hope the new year brings all things good! God bless!

There's alot of sierra like this beauty that have moved into all kinds of shallow areas around La Paz and especially along the shoals just inside the bay. You definitely don't need to go out far to get into a great bite. Besides using bait, these toothy guys will readily hit flashy, shiny splashy lures like shiny feathers, trolled crank baits and shiny spoons. Thanks to William Boyd for this shot of his fish.

No promises during this time of the year, but sure...there's still dorado around. In fact, earlier in the week we had a pretty decent dorado bite that gave way when the winds picked up. But, there are still warm fingers of water around holding these great fish like the one being held by William Boyd.

DORADO STILL HOLDING BUT WINDS LATE IN WEEK KEEP ANGLERS CLOSE TO SHORE!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of December 12-19, 2010

For once, this past week was more typical of December fishing.  Beautiful sunny weather puntuated some days by some extremely high winds then other days that are completely calm.  Just no telling which days will be breezy and which days will be flat…so you just go out and do what you’re gonna do.  It’s still going to beat mowing the lawn or sitting in traffic.

By the same token, fishing reflected the weather  Earlier in the week when the winds were down everyone was surprised by dorado which bit nicely.  They were a nice grade of fish as well and not too far from shore with fish up to about 18 pounds.  For winter, that’s a decent fish and some of the anglers we had early in the week were fishing with light tackle or with flyrods.  So, we had alot of happy folks with tired arms. 

Later in the week, winds came up and the conditions dicated more inshore fishing.  Accordingly our catches reflected more sierra, jack crevalle, bonito, snapper and cabrilla.

Everything is biting live bait right now so sardines and a good hook are pretty much all you need…except with sierra.  Their sharp teeth are best thwarted with a bit of wire leader.

That’s our story!  Merry Christmas y Feliz Navidad everyone!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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Sherriff's Officer and good friend from the San Francisco Bay area, Verda Boyd always makes it down for her birthday at the beginning of December and does well. She's holding a trophy-sized sierra here and got limits of the toothy fish...cousins to wahoo...while fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.

We try not to get anyone's expectations too high when it comes to the kind of fish they might catch right now especially with the winds blowing, but when the winds are down, there's still some good blue water fishing here as shown by Ed Runyon who poked up some quality dorado fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet.

Captain Tim Zimmer is a fishing veteran so he knows all the tricks...like holding his sierra close to the camera to make it look bigger. (The giant hands are the giveaway) Nice try, Tim!

DORADO and SIERRA KEEP WINTER FISHING INTERESTING

La Paz/ Las Aernas Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 7-12, 2010

This week was more typical of December fishing in La Paz.  Seasonal winds are the biggest variable right now in where we fish ; how we fish and what we catch.  But, this is not unusual for winter.

If the winds are not blowing,  we can fish both our La Paz and our Las Arenas fleets.  But, that’s not usually the case and since my crystal ball doesn’t predict winds, we do about ninety percent of our fishing with our Las Arenas fleet.  Not only is the fishing closer, but if the winds do kick up, at least we’re not far and generally more protected. 

Likewise, if the winds aren’t blowing , the waters are still warm enough to fish for pelagic species like dorado, some tuna, wahoo and billfish.   They’re not abundant, but there are still scattered blue-water fish around with dorado being the most prevalent.  The nice thing about dorado is that they will come close to shore so even if it’s windy, the possibility of nailing a dorado or two while fishing close to shore is not out-of the-question. 

But, if it’s windy, well…that changes the gameboard.  I’d say right now about 3-5 days of the week are blustery.  So, we’re fishing inshore for lots of sierra, pargo, snapper, bonito, cabrilla and other species of rock fish.  There’s an occasional roosterfish as well.  These are not necessarily small fish either.  Some of the sierra are 5-8 pounds.  Pargo and snapper can be up to 20 pounds.  Bonito are…well, bonito…they act about 3 times bigger than they are! 

ON A SADDER NOTE

Our condolences to the Van Wormer family.  Earlier this week, Bobby Van Wormer, the Baja icon who came down when Baja was just a desert smudge as an engineer to fix boat motors and went on to build the East Cape empire that includes Hotel Palmas de Cortez, Playa de Sol and Punta Colorado passed away earlier this week.  He had been battling cancer and respiratory problems.  Bobby was a giant which is what it takes to survive down here and turn patches of desert into an oasis in the days when there weren’t even roads and electricity.  He was a pioneer and one of the first to promote environmental conservation of the fisheries as well.  And, for me, he always had a smile and I was privileged to have broken bread with him a time or two.   Sadly the end of an era.

That’s our story!  Stay warm!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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No matter what time of year, it's a good day when we can get dorado like this beauty taken by Ed Runyon. He and his 10-year-old, son Blake were fishing with our Captain Archangel. There's some great video Ed sent us. Check it out below.

What a great combination. A honeymoon and catching dorado for Jessica Henry from Alaska. Dorado are still biting, but it's getting cooler and windier these days.

Captain Jorge of our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet poses with Ryan Orr and Ben Darling after a day of fishing out've Muertos Bay. Both anglers are from Canada. Almost all of our fishing right now is out've Muertos Bay to protect from the northern winds that are becoming more predominant.

Darren Henry gets up-close-and-intimate with a bull dorado he caught fishing off Punta Perrico with live bait.

It's been an incredible year for swimming with the whalesharks in the bay! I don't think I've ever seen so many in the bay for a good part of the year or we've had so many days when they were just "hanging out!" It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience to get in the water with these gentle giants that can reach 40 or more feet long and are true sharks, but are plankton eaters. That's Don Busse snorkeling in about 10 feet of water in this photo. La Concha Beach Resort is in the background. There's some cool video later on in the fishing report below.

Sometimes, it's not just about catching a fish. Sometimes it's a cold drink in one hand and a rod in the other on an empty warm ocean! Town isn't very busy right now but more snowbirds are in town escaping colder areas to enjoy some sunshine and get in some beach or watertime. Great time to visit between the holidays.

QUIET TIME BETWEEN THE HOLIDAYS BRINGS WARM SUNSHINE AND DORADO!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 28 to Dec. 5, 2010

It’s been a quiet week around here after two massive weeks that included the Baja 1000, an Independence weekend celebration and Thanksgiving.  I think town is just re-charging and this is that lull before the holiday crowds and more snow-birds descend.  It was like that for fishing too.  Not many anglers in town.  Not much of anyone in town really!  It’s a great time to be here.  You have everything all to yourself.

It was extremely windy earlier in the week.  It wasn’t unfishable, but not exactly comfortable.  In fact, I told clients who had extra empty days to just hang out around the pool or go shopping and enjoy the sunshine and fish later in the week when winds calmed down.  As I said, it wasn’t unfishable, but why get bounced around if you don’t have to?

Anyway, much more sierra in the counts which shows that waters are surely cooling.  The fish are close and in shallows so you can get into some really nice schools and have yourself a blast.  But, as far as bluewater species, there are still fingers of warm water here and there holding dorado and an occasional marlin or wahoo.  I’m hoping they linger for a bit.  Not sure how far the waters will cool or how fast.  But, for now, no one complains about a nice dorado on the end of their lines with fish up to 20 pounds.

On days when it’s too bumpy to be out, the inshore fishing is a great fallback.  In addition to the sierra, there’s smaller roosterfish, plus pargo, cabrilla, snapper and jack crevalle.  Maybe we’ll start getting some yellowtail and amberjack if the waters go colder.

WEEKLY VIDEO CLIPS

Ed Runyon was good enough to take some great video clips this week.  This first one is his son, Blake…10 years old battling his first dorado.  You can see they’re just inside of Bahia de Los Muertos.  Thanks Ed and congrats to Blake!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_Nugd34CFY&hd=1

Ed also took this other great clip of his family out to swim with the whalesharks in La Paz Bay.  Check out the size of this “baby” whaleshark…ONLY 18 feet long and watch the underwater footage!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqD9SmOFueQ&feature=related

That’s our story!  Have a great week everyone!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

 
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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