La Paz – Las Arenas / Muertos Bay / Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 26-Dec. 3, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
The Big Picture and the Rest of the Story…
Marcus Yoo from Cupertino CA has fished with us numerous times and unfortunately picked two of the roughest days of the season to come out with his flyrod. With all the wind, that was pretty much impossible. He’s a gamer and stuck it out and at least he got some nice cabrilla and pargo to take home and had to do quite a big of fishing from the beach.
Some tasty rock fish was what we had to fish for when we could get out
Not much to tell this week. Thanksgiving week normally doesn’t produce many anglers. Mostly it’s folks in town looking for some sunshine during the holidays. Maybe, they’ll try to get in a day or two on the water fishing, snorkeling, swimming with the whalesharks in the bay or just hanging out on the beach.
The week started well. Good temps. Good water conditions and hungry dorado up to 20 pounds were pretty easy to find and catch. They were spread over a number of areas. If you found the spot, you could go crazy right there and not have to look any further to catch limits. Quite a few smaller fish were released. I heard commercial guys saw big tuna breaking at the north end of Cerralvo Island, but no one could get them to bite.
As the week went on, conditions diminished. Skies got hazy and winds gradually increased. Dorado go a bit harder to find so fishing went inshore for cabrilla, pargo, snapper, jack crevalle and sierra.
However, by the latter few days of the week, the winds were blowing strong enough from the north with gusts up to 20 mph that La Paz Bay was almost completely white water and the surge was creating rideable small waves. Consequently, for safety reasons, the port captain shut down all water activities. No fishing. No snorkeling. No diving, etc. We had to cancel a number of bookings.
It wasn’t just the winds, but add in a full moon; extremely strong currents; colder waters; and really strong tides and it was too much to overcome.
Even as the winds calmed down a bit, it was just better to advise folks to stay ashore and enjoy their vacations rather than bounce around and not have fun.
These winds are seasonal north winds that start up about now and will continue on-and-off through the winter months.
SWIMMING WITH WHALESHARKS and WHALE WATCHING TOURS – BOOK NOW!
Whalesharks are in the bay now and the season is open to swim with these gentle giants. An incredible experience in our shallow bay waters.
Also our whalewatching season in Bahia Magdalena will start up in about 6 weeks from about mid-January to mid-March as the grey whales are migrating down from the Bering Sea to spend the winter months in the warm Baja waters of Bahia Magdalena to mate and calf.
We can book your entire trip to La Paz with activities, lodging and transportation. Write me directly at tailhunterfishinglapaz@gmail.com
2021 BOOKINGS FILLING FAST
Ice chests full of fish headed to the airport!
Our bookings for 2021 are filling fast, especially from folks who had to cancel 2020 fishing trips. According to the news, Mexico is the #1 get-away destination for Americans and record numbers of folks are flying in or booking trips. In November, tourism was up 179% over what it was last year. Baja is especially easy to get to; it’s close; and it economical.
Check your calendar and get in touch with us so we make sure we get you on the books. We’re using 2020 prices until the end of the year! We’re looking forward to seeing you on the water with us.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 18-25, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY...
Former San Diego Chargers linebacker now retired high school football coach, Donnie Rea from Camarillo CA fishes yearly with us and has been our amigo for many many years. He was with Captain Blas when they hooked this baby sailfish. Captain Blas gently cradled the fish to pull the hook and was the only one to touch it and supported it completely to take a quick photo then release it. They said it swam away strongly.
Newly engaged with just one day to fish, Elijah Rush and Julianne Argent from San Diego put some quality dorado in the boat while fishing with Captain Gerardo. Check out the catch standing on the beach at Bahia Muertos.
From San Diego and here for Thanksgiving week, Mike Jaso and his son, Jacob pose with some of their dorado after a day of fishing.
Nice bull! Elijah and Captain Gerardo just off el Cardonal.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Overall, a pretty nice week. Temperatures have dropped to a very comfortable 79-82 degrees during the day with alot of sunshine. Nights are a cool 61. Interestingly, water temps are actually warmer than the air temperatures and are holding at just about 80-85 degrees which is keeping the warm water species around.
North winds are starting to blow which will eventually drop water temperatures and change the fishing to a cooler-species production like sierra, amberjack, pargo, cabrilla and snapper. Not to mention it could be getting rough and choppy.
Pretty lady and pretty fish. Great shot of a fresh dorado with full colors that Julianne caught.
In the meantime, with just a bit of breeze, most days were pretty nice and the warm-water species like dorado, wahoo, smaller roosterfish, and billfish stayed productive. Most of the catch focused on the dorado which are fairly abundant once you find the right spot and limits can be the rule rather than the exception. Fish are running 10-20 pounds on the average with some larger units mixed in. Live bait has generally not been an issue.
Still no tuna, but it’s been like that all year in one of the strangest years ever down here. However, there’s a good jag of wahoo on the south end of Cerralvo Island with fish as small as 20 pounds, but as large as 50 pounds. The ticket seems to be to fish them on the right tide change and then dragging dark colored Rapalas, Yo-Zuris or similar lures .
Our amigo, Roger Thompson, has the wahoo honey-hole south of Cerralvo Island dialed in!
Honestly, not that many folks fishing these days in the lull between the end of summer vacations and the holidays, but alot of snowbirds are filtering in to enjoy the sunshine to get away from colder areas. Many flights are pretty full. Also, folks just seem to have “quarantine fatigue” and just need to get out and away.
Great news in that after being closed since March, we are finally allowed to swim with the baby whalesharks in La Paz Bay. Normally, the season run October to April, but once the Covid quarantine began, all activity was shut down at the end of March. The government has issued only a limited number of permits to escort folks to swim with the whalesharks and only certain outfitters are allowed to participate so as not to crowd or harm the animals. Our Tailhunter captains have received these permits and we’ve been taking folks for the swim.
The animals are in about 10’ of water and at times there have been over a dozen of them in the shallow water!
That’s my story! Have a safe, happy and peaceful Thanksgiving!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 3-10, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Tag-team tandem of Roger and Donna Thompson with a double hookup wahoo while trolling off the south end of Cerralvo Island.
Our own amigo, Jorge Romero pulled this 22-pound (he had a scale) barred pargo out’ve the rocks. He told me he had a big barbecue for friends and family and grilled the whole fish!
Captain Lorenzo was out with a La Paz friend and they took this nice blue marlin.
One day fishing north of town for Joe and Kristen Bettridge produced a box full of dorado like these. They also released fish as well.
Some good eating on the fish cleaning table. Mark Bronge from Los Angeles and Leif Dover from Atlanta GA have some nice barred pargo, snapper and cabrilla (seabass) ready for the freezer to take home.
Dave Hale from Northern California has a pretty typical variety of inshore fish for his efforts. I see some big triggerfish, cabrilla, snapper and pargo.
This is that time of year just before the holidays when there aren’t that many folks around that are fishing. The snowbirds are starting to arrive, but overall, town is pretty quiet and it’s a nice time to be in La Paz with sunny skies and mild temperatures in the day and comfortable temps in the evenings!
The fishing has been surprisingly good, all things considered. Some of the waters are getting cooler as we get more northerly winds that will be increasing over the next few weeks and months and transition in to cooler water fishing.
However, in the meantime, we still have some good bites taking place.
Still no tuna to talk about, but dorado from 5 to 25 pounds are relatively prevalent and are providing lots of fun for both our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet and Tailhunter La Paz Fleet. The fish are scattered over quite a few areas, but once you find a single fish, there’s often a whole pack swimming along with it ready to chew.
Sailfish and marlin including both blues, blacks and some stripers have been hooked and lost and at the south end of Cerralvo Island, that tends to be the hot spot for some big 40-60 pound wahoo.
For inshore fishing, that’s where we’re really getting the variety including pargo, cabrllla, dog-tooth snapper, triggerfish, bonito, jack crevalle and dog-tooth snapper along with sierra and amberjack.
WHALE WATCHING SEASON COMING UP – JANUARY to MARCH!
We’re booking our whalewatching season that’s coming up in just a few months. Don’t miss out on this incredible experience. Prime time is late January through March. We can arrange an entire package for you and the family!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 18-26, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Well-deserved thumbs-up from Captain Jorge and Jeff Sakuda who finally got his wahoo on his birthday! You can see the purple Rapala Xrap dangling from the wahoo’s mouth. Jeff also had a really nice week on dorado too. See photos below.
Our friends from Henderson NV, Gary and Lois Tsunoda had a great week on dorado and pose for one-day’s catch on the beach at Bahia Muertos. The fish were definitely larger this week.
In 25 years in La Paz, I’ve only seen maybe one other white marlin caught. Captain Pancho and Leif Dover caught and released this one near Las Arenas. They also caught a mess of dorado and released many of them as well.
John Washington is another of our favorite Nevada amigos. In fact, he and his wife have visited us twice in the last 6 weeks! John got himself a nice late-season roosterfish here that he released. More of their photos below. I think they must have caught about 8 different species.
Now that’s color for you! A fresh bull dorado with Marianne Sugawara and her favorite Captain Jorge.
They didn’t catch ALOT of any one species, but Captain Gerardo got Arla and John Washington on a bunch of different species. On the table, I see dorado, jack crevale, triggerfish, snapper, cabrilla and bonito.
Nothing like those first bites early in the morning on your first day fishing, right-off-the-bat. Nice legit bull dorado in the boat for Jeff and Captain Jorge.
Dorado are incredibly colorful sportfish. Lois Tsunoda has another one to put in the box! She went home with alot of bags of fish!
Some tasty cabrilla headed for the dinner table at his resort in Muertos, Gary Wagner owner of the Rancho Costa.
A good first day on the water for Leif (from Atlanta GA) and Mark (from California)
Alex Grant lives in San Francisco, but stopped in La Paz on his way to go fishing in Florida so we got him on the water for one day and he ran into the dorado schools as well.
A “decent” day of fishing! Jeff and Marianne Sakuda with Captain Jorge on their first of 3 days of fishing showing dorado, pargo and cabrilla!
Despite a few bumps during the week like a bit of drizzle; some wind days; and some bumpy oceans…most of the week was pretty good and for fishing turned into one of the better fishing weeks of the season.
With water temps running about 85 degrees and air temperatures about 95, the dorado really came on strongly. Limits of not unusual.
For our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet, limits were not only unusual, but often folks caught and then had to release so many dorado, they sometimes were back to the beach before lunch. Most of the fish were school-sized 5 to 15 pounders, but lots of fun, especially on light tackle or for first-timers. About half the fish hooked were released either because boxes were already full or folks were only keeping the larger fish.
For our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet, there weren’t as many dorado, but the dorado were some of the largest of the season. No big monsters, but fish were 10-25 pounders…a size we hadn’t seen in many months. Areas included the buoys, Punta Perrico and south towards Los Alamos. But, the schools could honesty show up anywhere. There were a few days when it was bumpy and windy and our anglers had to fish inshore for pargo, snapper and cabrilla, but overall, most folks fish several days with us and they made of for the slow days on their other days when they stacked up the larger dorado.
Additionally, there was always the chance of wahoo as well. Not many wahoo caught, but the fish were definitely there. Maybe one panga per day got a wahoo on the average. The dark Rapalas and dark Nomads were the best lures. The downside was that if you went trolling for wahoo and they didn’t bite, it was often too late to go chase anything else so you stood the chance of missing out on something else to put in the box.
There’s still some 5-20 pound roosterfish around plus a few marlin biters that we haven’t seen in a bit…and there are always rockfish to chase as well.
Just a heads-up that as typical this time of year, the winds are getting strong and from the north. Once these get pretty consistent, waters can start to cool; get rougher; and change the complexion of the fishing. Looking at the forecast for the coming week, several days this week will have strong north winds. It is definitely cooler. Fall is in the air.
2021 FILLING FAST – STILL OPENINGS FOR 2020 WHILE FISH BITE!
Our 2021 bookings are filling fast so check your calendars and don’t wait. We will NOT be attending any of the sportsmans shows this year, as far as we know. It could change, but most have been canceled. So, don’t wait to see us at a show! Get in touch with us. Some dates are already sold out. We still have spots open for this year so how about a quick get-away before the holidays? Write me directly: Jonathan@tailhunter.com!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 10-17, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY
Not a bad way to start the fishing week for Tim Butterworth (behind the big wahoo) and Paul Machado with the the dorado. The wahoo was caught trolling a Nomad lure just outside Bahia Muertos. They went on to get several wahoo and some larger dorado (see more photos below).
Birthday boy, Bob Layko with a big wahoo, Captain Armando and Craig Brown with the dorado. Craig brings his cousin Bob down to see us every year as a birthday present. Craig is from Vancouver and Bob is a merchant seaman based in Portland, Oregon. This is their 8th year with us.
First timers score dorado! Our captain Jorge with Rick Lopez and Sean Price from Seattle who visited us for the first time and fished 3 days and took home a nice load of dorado.
Always great to see Craig and Kathy Sanford from Phoenix who have visited us for years. Fishing with Captain Jorge, they found some dorado and a big triggerfish.
Tim got his the first day, Paul Machado tore up this big wahoo on their 2nd day! Tim has the dorado and sierra this time.
With the purple Rapala sticking out’ve it’s mouth, Edgar Gutierrez poses with his early morning wahoo. He only had one day to fish and stuck it! Captain Gerardo gives the thumbs-up!
No down time! It’s a fishing vacation. Even when he’s not in the panga, Scott Herman from Redondo Beach CA grabs a kayak and paddles out behind the hotel. He’s got a nice little barred pargo he took back to the hotel for dinner!
Ashley Sanford has fished with us many times, but this year, brought her boyfriend Nate for his first time. With Captain Victor, they started the trip off with some nice dorado for the cooler!
Iovanni and Ivan had a good day on the dorado as well. Both are from La Paz. Those are tasty white bonito on the cutting table with the mahi.
Great colors for the afternoon. Fishing with our La Paz fleet, Scott Herman and Brent Skaff put dorado in the box for 3 days!
These guys again! Our amigos, Tim and Paul. No wahoo this time, but some of the larger dorado of the week. Always good to have them visit. Tim has been with us since the days I worked at Hotel Las Arenas.
There’s some good eats here…nice barred pargo for Steve Manney and Captain Gerardo. These are tough fish to pull out’ve the rocks, but some of the best eating!
Bahia Muertos in the background, Paul Machado is pretty happy with this nice bull mahi mahi!
After last week’s slow fishing we were ready for a come-back and we were happy to get it. The fishing has been up, down and sideways all season so it was good to see more smiles than frowns this week.
Despite some light rains early in the week and some post-storm chop that made it rough, we were able to get out every day. Not every boat did well. Not every day was great. But overall, compared to previous weeks, the fishing took a definitive upturn as dorado finally decided to blow back into the picture.
The better fishing was with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet where easy fast limits were the rule rather than the exception with fish somewhat larger than previous weeks where most fish were 5-10 pounders. This week 10-15 and even 20 pounders were found. Many times our boats got into the schools and came back early or, simply stayed out and released fish for the rest of the day.
Our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet made up for the quantity of fish found outside of La Paz Bay, but turning in quality fish. So…fewer fish and you had to work hard to find them, but the fish were larger. They included some nice-sized 30-50 pound wahoo that bit on dark Rapalas and Nomad lures trolled just outside Bahia Muertos or on the south side of Cerralvo Island. Many times the fish were found in shallow water and about 1/2 the fish hooked were lost.
Even if the wahoo weren’t forthcoming the dorado that bit tended to be larger and thicker fish between 10 and 20 pounds.
No roosterfish or tuna this week, but catches were supplemented with jack crevalle, white bonito, skipjack, pargo, snapper, triggerfish and cabrilla.
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER SPECIALS
If you’re looking for some get-away time and have Cabin-Fever from too much downtime like the rest of us, we’ve got some fall specials for some great deals:
4 days in La Paz 3 nights water-front hotel 2 days panga fishing (includes: boat/ skipper/ tackle/ ice/ fish cleaning/ breakfast/ lunch/ soft drinks/ water/ shuttles to the boat/ all taxes) As low as $859 per person (double occupancy)
We can customize pretty much any package! Just tell us what you want to do! We also have suites and condos as well!
2021 BOOKINGS
With so many cancelations in 2020, lots of folks are giving us new dates for 2021 and our calendar is booking up pretty heavily. Some dates are already sold out or close to selling out. Don’t wait.
It doesn’t look like the sportsman’s shows will be happening next year so we won’t be on the road to visit many of our favorite areas to take bookings. So, get in touch with us as soon as you can, especially if we’re holding your deposit credits from 2020. We want to make sure we have you covered and you get the dates, hotels and captains you want!
Also, don’t forget whale-watching season from January to March is fast approaching. These trips sell out fast as well so check your calendar and come join us! Daily and overnight trips are available as well as packages to also fish Bahia Magdalena in the mangroves and La Paz fishing as well!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 3-9, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
First day, right off the bat. Andy Hail with a thick wahoo on the beach at Bahia Muertos.
Our own Jorge Romero cradles a big roosterfish. Unusual for these big guys to still be around. Jorge released the fish. See the next photo.
Unceremoniously back you go, but it works! Roosterfish release!
Bob Larson from Washington (at the head) with his first striped marlin. Posing with Captain Armando and Billy Bigelman. The marlin could not be released and meat was donated. A big dorado also on the table.
Some great variety of good eating here! Steve Manney with the pargo. John Stendstra with the wahoo plus dorado and another big barred pargo on the cutting table.
Happy guy! The sailfish have been larger than usual this past week. That’s Billy Bigelman behind that sail. Caught on live bait
Captain Pancho poses a wahoo with Ted Hamm from Paso Robles CA and Jim Bovee from San Diego who has been down 3 times to visit us this year!
Big wahoo on the troll for Jorge Romero!
This past week presented us with another weird twist-and-turn in an already erratic and chaotic fishing season…and year.
All season, fishing has been up one week and down the next with no rhyme or reason. Fish that should be biting are scarce and the entire season has pretty much been taken up by dorado and roosterfish that should not even be around this late in the year. Frankly, we’re grateful for both because both fish have kept rods bent and people smiling.
With some additional catches of bonito, jack crevalle, pargo, cabrilla and snapper, that’s pretty much been the whole season.
Until this past week…with a full moon at that.
Fishing did not go wide-open. In all honesty, I can’t even say it was great fishing. However, numbers of fish have been replaced by quality.
Billfish started biting. We’re seeing striped marlin. We’re seeing big sailfish that are unusually larger than normal and have caught more sails in the last week than the last several years combined. The sailfish are easily in the 100 pound class or larger.
More exciting are the wahoo. Near the south end of Cerralvo Island and near Bahia Muertos, we’ve been seeing wahoo for a bit ,but they’ve been reluctant biters. This week, they went on the chew with boats often hooking (and often losing) multiple fish as the speedsters with sharp teeth tore into trolled lures. However, the fish have been legit 30-50 pound skinnies.
During this time, the dorado bite that has sustained us had dropped by 50%. Either it’s because the dorado just aren’t biting or folks are spending more time chasing the home run fish like the billfish and wahoo.
Hopefully, we’ll finally see some tuna which are way overdue!
BAJA LIFTS MORE RESTRICTIONS
In case you hadn’t heard, last Monday (Oct. 5), the government of Southern Baja (including the areas of La Paz, Cabo San Lucas, San Jose del Cabo, Todos Santos and the East Cape/ Los Barriles areas) eased up on more Covid Restrictions!
The danger level has gone from Red…to Orange…and now YELLOW (level 3). More beaches are open. Increased occupancy in hotels and restaurants, live music in clubs and restaurants and more! All good news.
2021 BOOKING FILLING UP
Many of the folks who had to cancel their trips this year are already booking for next year and many dates are filled or filling. Don’t wait to get your reservations in, especially if you have a certain hotel or captain that you want. It doesn’t look like many of the sportsmans shows are being canceled so we probably won’t be on the road doing our fishing/hunting shows like we normally do. So, get in touch with us.
We are also booking fishing for January to March plus whalewatching trips and fishing at Bahia Magdalena for 2021 as well. Hope to see you!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 17-24, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Happy Trio! Jim Stahlman from Idaho on his 2nd trip with us this year; Jim Morelli from Oregon and Captain Jorge show off some of their dorado catch on the beach at Muertos Bay.
Mark Whisler with his first-ever billfish…actually our first sailfish of the year. Caught north of La Paz with Captain Luis. The fish could not be released and meat was donated. Mark is from the Carmel area of California on his first trip with us.
If I ever need a good photo with a big fish, it’s Roger Thompson who hooked one of the rare wahoo of the season. Fishing with his Captain Hugo.
New Tailhunter friends! First time visitors from Arizona with us, Frank and Jadwiga Francuzik had a nice week of dorado fishing. Here with Captain Adolfo and some nice bulls.
From Cambell CA, Rob “Leon Chilibean” Martinez holds up one of several roosterfish he caught and released out’ve Bahia Muertos.
Long time, Tailhunter amigos, we have watched Sean Rose coming here with his dad, Dave for many many years and always good to see them. The Rose’s are from Washington.
Brandon McGarr had a banner day on the roosterfish catching and releasing 3 big fish like this one! Brandon is from Rock Springs, Wyoming. (Thanks again for the jalapeno pickles, Tanya!)
If you look really carefully, you’ll see Greg Saubolle giving a thumbs-up with a big bandaged thumb! Nice catch of dorado and triggerfish for the day.
If you only have one day to fish together, this isn’t bad for Dan Millikan and Mari Benson who fished with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet and Captain Alfredo who put them into a school of dorado.
Our San Francisco amigos, Mich Nekota and Paul Nagata added more dorado to their fish box.
These guys are always goofing. Andrew Harrison and Jon Eide with Captain Gerardo.
Greg has some nice variety for the day including a few dorado, some triggerfish, snapper and cabrilla. All great eating!
It’s been a pretty good week of fish and weather down here. Everyone who wanted fish, caught fish! Everyone who wanted to bring home fish, brought home fish! Whoever wanted to jump in the ocean or play on the beach; dive or snorkel; dine at a La Paz restaurant was pretty much covered and went home with smiles!
I guess I could end the report. That says it all!
Air temps were in the low 90’s in the day and night temps were in the high 70’s. Both unseasonably cooler than normal, but made life much more pleasant than normal too with less humidity as well. We did have some afternoon thunderstorms pass through that were very tropical, but they blew through quickly and were generally after the fishermen were already back from being on the water.
The fishing was steady-to-good! Again, dorado were the main catch with fish scattered all over wherever the warmer water was located. It could be a pick day with a fish-or-two here and there and at the end of the day you had a good box of fish. Or, anglers could run into a nice school and it would be crazy pandemonium with fish slashing all over and quick limits.
Surprisingly, roosterfish up to about 50 or 60 pounds are still here as well. Most of the fish are around Las Arenas and all our fish were released. But normally, these fish are long gone for the most part. It could have something to do with the cooler temperatures.
Other species included the random (and rare) wahoo that must be hanging out with the tuna that still have not shown up. Plus, inshore species like pargo, cabrilla, snapper, bonito, jack crevalle, cabrilla and even “cold water” sierra.
We did get our first sailfish of the season. Normally, by now we are usually smack in the middle of billfish season, but there have been very few all year. Same with tuna. Just haven’t been around this year…yet!
Honestly, with all the variables, this seems more like late June/ early July fishing. Crazy year.
Surprisingly, some of those species like dorado are right here in La Paz Bay only a few hundred yards off the beach and within minutes of leaving the beach.
HUGE NEWS…DIRECT FLIGHTS STARTING TO LA PAZ!
For the first time in almost a decade air service will be coming directly from the U.S. to La Paz! American Airlines has announced flights beginning this December through April. Then again for the summer. This is huge big news!
For almost 10 years, we have had most of our folks having to fly to Cabo San Lucas then have us shuttle you all up 100 miles to La Paz and a 3-4 hour van ride! Also, if you don’t have to drive that route and can fly directly, that’s a huge savings (more beer and fishing money available!)
At this time, flights are only from Dallas to La Paz. However, American is huge and this hopefully, will mean that other airlines will follow-up or American will add routes from other U.S. cities.
BOOKING FOR 2021 – CHECK YOUR CALENDARS!
Dates for 2021 already filling!
With many folks having to cancel their trips in 2020 because of you-know-what…many have already given us new dates for 2021. Many dates are already filling up. So, give some thought to your calendar, especially if you want a certain date…hotel…or your favorite captain!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 2-9, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Back home in Denver, it was below freezing. Here in La Paz, it was 102 and after 2 slow days of fishing, John Lowdermilk and Gianni Checa finally hit the dorado schools and filled a box of fish!
By far, the best catches of a slower week, was had by our long-time amigos, Daniel and his dad, Jim Bovee from San Diego. Talk about a crazy season. Only our 2nd wahoo of the season. A big amberjack that usually is only around in the spring and two big pargo that are also usually cooler-water fish!
Eastern Washington in the house with Dan McKinley and Darrel Startin on their first trip down to visit us. They had one of the better days of fishing this past week.
Great prized catch for Don Busse who has fished with us for years and never gotten a pargo liso (mullet snapper). They are not only a difficult fish to pull from the rocks, but it’s September and these are cold-water fish we normally see in March and April. It’s a crazy year. Don is from Lakewood CA.
Firefighter Mike Welch on his first trip to visit us, shows off two of his dorado, but take a look at the box below. It was one of the better outtings this past week.
Dave Burnett with one of the tough bonito that at least provided some pulling action, even when the dorado weren’t biting.
Don Busse again with probably the biggest dorado of the week! Nice bull mahi!
The bonito north of town around Espirito Santo Island were especially tough and big fast sluggers like this one with Mike Welch hooked in between dorado.
Dave’s got another dorado in the boat. Lots of dorado did get released this week.
With the full moon, the week surprisingly started really strong! Limits of dorado for both our Tailhunter Las Arenas and our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet. Thunderstorms that were predicted, never materialized and we finally had a great combination of solid fishing action and sunny weather with fairly flat seas.
The dorado weren’t big. The largest ran maybe 20 pounds, but with the 5-10 pounders, there was alot of action and many boats often limited early then caught-and -released fish. Lots of fillets ended up at our Tailhunter Fubar Cocina Restaurant every night.
In addition, we had a bit or unexpected variety. The wahoo made a show although we only got one to the boat, but it was only the 2nd wahoo of the season, but some of the other boats got hook-ups as well.
Additionally some great inshore fishing with nice cabrilla, pargo, snapper, roosterfish, amberjack plus big bonito an jacks made for some good days of fishing.
As the week went on, amazingly, the full moon waned and so did the fishing! Our Las Arenas fleet really had to work hard to find fish, but our La Paz fleet continued to do OK. But straight up…it really got tough. Overall, the fishing action dropped off tremendously.
I have no idea why. Conditions seemed normal for the time of year. Lots of bait. The fish just went “lockjaw” and captains and anglers alike really struggled to get into a solid bite of any note. Everyone who wanted to take home fish, still took home fish, but it was spotty at best!
Hopefully, by the time you’re reading this we’ll be back up-to-speed.
Maybe the best news of the week was the re-opening of the beaches and our water-front malecon after almost 5 months or Covid-closure! It was good to see people in the water; walking along the waterfront and cruising the Malecon in the evenings. It really put people in an up-beat mood and you could feel the palpable joy in the locals as well as the tourists.
Along with that, the decrease in restrictions, also applied to the opening of churches (with protocols); gyms, the movie theaters, salons, spas and so man non-essential businesses that were shuttered.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 20-27, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
The BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Almost looks like a poster! Hard to find a better photo than Mark Bonsack and his 66-pound roosterfish. He had it on a scale before releasing it. He got 3 this day.
Orrin Grant has some nice fillets to take home to Utah.
Big smiles from Brad. He caught and released 3 roosterfish. Cerralvo Island in the background.
They are big and they’re not in very deep water. Roosterfish almost to the boat. Great shot by Mark Bonsack.
Start of 3 days fishing wasn’t too bad. Tom Worrell and Rob Markarian with 4 bull dorado at Bahia Muertos. Next day they slammed ’em.
If Brad looks a little gassed, this was his 3rd roosterfish of the day. Caught and released.
You may not recognize him, but that’s NBA Hall or Famer Rick Barry who won the NBA championship in 1975 and has himself a dandy bull dorado. He was staying at Rancho Costa at Gary Wagner’s place.
Gary at Rancho Costa with another NBA All-star Clifford Ray who played center when Rick Barry was with the Golden State Warriors.
Another one for the photo gallery! Brad with another rooster before releasing it.
Mark with another monster roosterfish that hit the 60 pound mark on a scale before Mark released it.
Pretty cool underwater shots of Pancho and Brad and a seriously bent rod and a roosterfish at color.
Almost to the boat!
We sure don’t see many amberjack in August. These are normally cold-waterfish but great eating. Mark Bonsack is taking this one home!
I guess in a weird way, I’m glad we didn’t have many fishermen this week. About 1/2 the week we had weather issues with Hurricane Guenievere that came up the Pacific Coast. Inititial forecasts predicted as much as a category 3 or 4 blast. It wasn’t supposed to make landfall, but brush into Cabo then veer up the Pacific side of Baja with 3-4 inches of rain.
By the time it hit it had been downgraded to a category 1 and didn’t slam as hard as predicted, but down in Cabo there was extensive flooding and for the rest of us, alot of wind and waves that kept us off the water for a few days and had the city of La Paz locked down pretty tightly. As it was, here in the city, it didn’t even rain hard enough to clean the dust off my car windshield, but it probably wasn’t very comfortable to be out fishing.
So, about 1/2 the week was pointless.
The rest of the week gave us sporadic cloudiness and sunshine and a mix of dorado and inshore fish that surprisingly included cool water fish like amberjack and sierra mixed with jack crevalle, bonito, cabrilla, snapper and pargo. Decent action, but nothing spectacular to be honest, as the waters settled back down.
Thankfully, again, there were the big roosterfish. Not good eating, but the beasts still slugged it out with fish in the 20-65 pound class along the Muertos/ Las Arenas beaches. All fish were released.
Heads-up! There’s a couple of weather disturbances to the south of us. They’re not fully-formed yet and are not hurricanes or tropical storms, but we’re keeping an eye on them. Right now, they look like they might bounce west out to the Pacific, but might still bring some afternoon thundershowers over us by the end of the week.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 12-20th, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
Apologies, amigos. I tried to hold out as long as I could, but I lost my voice this week and I just couldn’t do the video. I was already starting to feel it go on last week’s video and it just went downhill. I feel fine. Just wracked my voice! I sound like Mike Tyson right now. More tea and honey! Thanks for understanding.
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Tony Toven’s big roosterfish gets him grinning! That’s the beach at Punta Arenas behind him. The fish was released.
Orrin Grant all the way from Salt Lake City, Utah for his first saltwater fishing experience and his first fish is a big roosterfish. He caught and released several over the week and had some long battles.
One of our funnest guys who’s known us for years, Jim Newman comes down from Chicago for quick get-aways and loves his fishing. Check out the nice dog-tooth.
A good start to the fishing trip! Austin and Dan Dorati show a table-full of dorado headed to the freezer!
Finally!!! After watching his son battle a few big boys, Grant Parr from Utah, finally gets a rooster of his own. Well done and a strong release.
With football season getting postponed, Tommy Newman was able to come down a few days with his dad and get some dorado and other species with us.
Some fine fish meat for the table! Captain Gerardo and Tony Toven show off a pair of great barred pargo.
The masked fisherman is Austin Dorati with a fat roosterfish to start the day. The fish was released.
This week was a tad better than last week, but still wasn’t quite where it should be. This is turning into a funky season in more ways than one. It’s like the fish have been affected by world events or something like the rest of us.
One day, it feels like summer fishing with specias like dorado and billfish in the counts. The next day, it gets rougher and cooler and the wind pick up and the waters turn over. And we’re back to spring-time fishing catching cabrilla, pargo, amberjack, snapper, jack crevalle and other inshore fish. All very fun, but not typical this late in the year.
Thankfully, big roosterfish are still hanging out and throwing some thrill at the anglers.
Honestly, it’s been up and down. If you fish a few days, you’ll do OK. Some days some boats do better than others or one spots is hotter than another. If you only fish 1 day, you could be that one boat that just has a slack bite.
It’s just hard to get any consistency. Just when I thought we were on an upswing, Hurricane Genevieve came up mid-week and was supposed to be a big one. Just what we needed. Lots of clouds and winds came up. Everything got shut down. Cabo got flooded. Here in La Paz, we waited and waited.
And other than strong winds, there wasn’t even enough rain to clean the dust off my windshield. We actually could use a little rain. So, ho-hum.
Cooler than normal at 95 degrees during the day. There’s still bands of very cold water on the outside.
Tailhunter Fish Report 