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Archive for the ‘robalo’ Category

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Oct. 27-Nov. 4, 2013

rooster hicks 10-13 small tags

In a surprising bite the last few weeks, trophy roosterfish have shown up around the Las Arenas lighthouse which has been a real bonus to many of our anglers like Dan Hicks, our amigo from Seattle WA, who never expected to get a roosterfish this week, let alone a huge 50-60 pounder that he caught and released! Normally, we don’t see roosterfish this time of year, but lots of our anglers are finding the exotic fish lately.

caleb damon tags small 10-13

You can never start them too young and Damon Davis, is the perfect dad to show his 5-year-old son, Caleb, how to do it, since Damon runs a sportfishing boat in Orange Co. CA and his dad is our amigo, James “Hawk” Davis an avid ace fisherman who lives in La Ventana near La Paz. Damon was out fishing near Las Arenas this past week and is shown on the beach with Caleb at Bahia de Los Muertos.

Leo tags marlin small 10-13

Marlin and sailfishing has been unusually good the past few weeks and it seems we hook several a day. About 90% are getting released or busting off…not surprising since we’re often fishing wit light tackle, but they’re still great fun. Leo Green from Washington got this striper while fishing with Captain Jorge of our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. The fish couldn’t be released but the meat was donated.

dorado kids 2-proc small 10-13

Good week for kids! And a great time for the family with all the school-sized dorado around right now. Clint Throop from Rockford Michigan wit his boy…6-year-old Christian pose with this fresh dorado fishing near Las Arenas. Another great Kodak moment that I”m sure Christian will always remember . (Thanks for the photo, Hawk!)

ed and tiffany sailfish tags small 10-13

Ed Hicks and Tiffany Isaacson were on their first trip fishing with us in La Paz. Tiffany wasn’t even sure she wanted to go fishing, let alone go to Mexico, but she’s convinced now. After a week of dorado fishing, she also got this nice sailfish off Cerralvo Island. Most of the meat was donated after it was not able to be released. Tiffany and Ed are from Washington.

Miles dorado tags 10-13

From Oregon, Miles Brown, visits us every other year-or-so and always does well fishing with his dad, Rod. He shows off one of the school-sized dorado they caught off Cerralvo Island.

SOME RAIN AND WIND AS SEASONS CHANGE AND SEASON TAPERS BUT FISH STILL BITE NICELY!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 27-Nov. 3, 2014

We had another solid week of fishing with dorado again at center stage, but the biggest event would be probably be Mother Nature posting that the seasons are definitely changing.  Northern winds, at times pretty strong, pretty much blew all week.  That’s significant for several reasons.

Not only is is a harbinger of the changing seasons, but it also heralds cooler waters and a changing of the guard as far as fishing is concerned.  They are a tad earlier than normal this year, but nevertheless, as they continue to blow and cool things down, the blue water pelagic species will start to move off and we’ll see more inshore species.

Therefore, fish like marlin, sailfish, and dorado, that have been our mainstays the past several months will be replaced by more inshore species like pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle and sierra.  Part of that, is also because it will be harder to get too far out away from shore anyway.

As the winds hit from the north, it can get downright wet and bumpy.  That’s why we pretty much shut down our Tailhunter La Paz fleet mostly from December to March.  Unless you want to get soaked and have your kidneys jarred, it’s just not worth it.  It’s easier to have us shuttle you over to Bahia de Los Muertos and fish with our Las Arenas fleet where at least you’re somewhat protected and the fishing is closer.

However, this year, it looks like we’re closing down the La Paz side a bit earlier.  This past week, even in La Paz Bay, the north winds had white-caps even in the bay!  Plus we had rainstorm Raymond come through.  Extremely late for a rainstorm, but we had one really good night of good rain.  It didn’t affect the fishing and we still got out and got fish, but this is pretty late in the season to get a rainstorm although it did make for a nice cozy night to stay in and watch the rain in the bay from a seaside restaurant (At Tailhunters, we had a full load of folks watching football plus the rain outside and they enjoyed it!).

As, I said, we still got fish!

The dorado were still voracious most days with most of our pangs getting limits or near limits of fish…if that’s what they wanted.  The dorado have been so prevailant that anglers would load up on more dorado than they wanted…even catching and releasing so many…that they would try for other species instead.  So, the counts didn’t really reflect the reason some anglers didn’t get limits of dorado.  It was because the anglers weren’t fishing for dorado.

Instead, the boxes and action were filled with other species…marlin and sailfish were still out.  I’d have to say the billfish angling was good to excellent most days with, again many of the guys getting their first billfish caught and most released.   As well, rooster fish up to 60 pounds were taken.  Again, very unusual to see rooster fish this late in the season, but they’re there near the rocky and sandy areas close to shore at Las Arenas.  A great opportunity for our some of our clients to check it off the bucket list and get one of these exotic fish.

As well, the counts also showed some nice cabrilla, sierra, jack crevalle, bonito, snapper and pargo!  Some of this is because the seasons are changing, as mentioned above.  But, also because anglers were making a point to chase these species because they were tired of dorado.  Alot of the anglers simply changed to light tackle…like bass gear and had some fun catching-and-releasing dorado as fast as they could go!

Also, we had wahoo hooked almost every day.  I say “hooked” because almost every one of them hooked got off!  Just fishing!  But, obviously the speedsters are still out there.  Some of the hookups occurred while guys were fishing for dorado and the dorado where schooling around at the panga and a wahoo would zip in and pick up the bait.  On light tackle or straight mono, it’s not much of a battle when a wahoo going 50-70 mph with razor sharp teeth grabs the bait!  If the hooks isn’t set “just right” it’s a short battle!

372

WESTERN OUTDOOR NEWS TUNA JACKPOT 2013

If you’re in Cabo this week, that’s where we’re headed as well.  The first week of November is always the popular crazy Western Outdoor News Tuna Jackpot one of the largest fishing tournaments in Cabo each year.  Jill and I work the tournament which will take place from Wednesday to Saturday with the Wyndham Hotel as the anchor hotel.  It’s always a blast with big fish a big parties!  Both of us will be at registration on Wednesday and I will be working the scales while Jill is on the tournament central tent handling logistics.  Of course, we’ll also be at all the parties and banquets to meet-and-greet!  The motto of the tournamet is “FISH HARD and PARTY HARDER!”  If you’re in Cabo, come say hi and watch the festivities.

Or, better yet…sign up!  Here’s the link for all the info:  http://www.loscabostunajackpot.com/

As of this writing, there’s more than 120 international teams already entered and there’s always room for you!  C’mon down and play!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

combo signature 2-proc

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://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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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Oct. 20-27, 2013

dorado big shandi  10-13 tags

Shandi Weeks from Paso Robles CA went at it for an entire week trying to get a big fish. On her 4th day, she finally nailed it with a huge 50-pound class bull dorado…the largest in weeks…that was longer than she is tall! Shandi was fishing with live bait with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. During the battle, the fish snapped her fishing rod when it got close to the panga and sped off on another blazing run. She still got the fish!

Rooster scott mckenzie tags small 10-13-proc

Our good amigo, Scott McKenzie, from Seattle WA fishes with us several times a year over many years and had never put a trophy roosterfish in the boat until this week…at a time when when we normally don’t see many roosters! Scott caught this big one off Las Arenas and released the fish after the photo op!

Bill Lee dorado small tags 10-13

Bill Lee is from the San Francisco Bay area and shows off some great colors on this bull dorado taken fishing off Las Arenas.

Michele edwards dorado posed tags 10-13

First timer, Michele Edwards, from Loma Rica CA celebrated her 25th anniversary by fishing an entire week with us and did some great action with dorado like this one as well as several billfish.

Tim roosterfish tags small 10-13

Folks come to fish with us for years and never get a shot at one of our famous roosterfish! Mi primo and his wife, Tim and Taylor Torres, were fishing with us this past week for the first time and got 2 nice roosters that they caught and released. Nearby, you can see the cliffs of Punta Perrico near Las Arenas.

dorado michele conklin 10-13 small tags-proc

Another of our great gals who came to fish with us this week, Michele Conklin, from Washington State was celebrating her retirement and fished with Captain Jorge near Las Arenas and shows off the great colors on a “tiger” bull dorado caught just off the beach.

Brian benson dorado tags 10-13 small

Double haul dorado for Brian Benson with a pair taken north of La Paz with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

dorado lisa tags 10-13

Another of our amigas from Washington in the house! Dan Hicks, her husband, fished the day before and Lisa didn’t have a chance, so Dan told her he’d watch their little boy Sammy back and the hotel so she could go fishing alone! She did well with dorado like this one! Bravo to both of them on the tag-team fishing!

Dave conklin dorado small tags 10-13

Big smile from Dave Conklin who put this fresh one in the boat fishing with Captain Jorge just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos. Dave’s from Washington state and was on his first trip with us.

rooster jan jacobs 10-13 tags small

Cradling a big trophy roosterfish, Jan Jacobs, took this big boy just off Punta Perrico and quickly released it. Great fish! We caught several of these big ones this week with pretty much all of them being released.

Tim and Taylor 10-13 small dorado tags-proc

Good day and a good start for Tim and Taylor Torres, from Las Vegas who put these nice mahi in the box to take home. First timers and first day fishing! They also released a pair of 40-50 pound roosters!

John McLucas sealion small tags 10-13-proc

Oops…one that didn’t make it. John McLucas holds up what’s left of his dorado after a sealion decided to get a free lunch.

dorado james 10-13 tags

Another bull in the box from James Edwards who was fishing off Las Arenas with us for the week. James is from northern California.

squid jeff brown tags 10-13

Parting shot…with Jeff Brown from Oregon…and a giant squid with Captain Jorge. After about 6 weeks of having the giant squid around for bait and for eating…it looks like the squid are finally gone. It was great to have them and great fun.

 

SEASON IS CHANGING BUT DORADO STILL LEADING THE CHARGE WITH ROOSTERFISH AND MARLIN!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 20-27, 2013

A great solid sunny week of fishing…just the way it’s supposed to be!

Every day…pretty much every panga got into fish with a nice variety of species with dorado leading the way.  Both our Tailhunter La Paz and Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet got into nice jags of the mahi mahi.  If I had to say, there were MORE fish with our Las Arenas fleet, and fewer but LARGER fish with our La Paz fleet.

As well, both sides were sprinkled daily with billfish hookups with marlin and sails hooked daily and most of them getting released and many of our anglers getting their first billfish.  It’s quite a treat, especially when a first timer who has never fished gets their first billfish..sometimes their first fish ever is a sailfish or marlin!  It happened several times this week!  Folks who may have only caught a trout or never even had a rod in their hand suddenly have a 150 pound freight train at the end of their lines getting towed around in a panga!

Speaking about first timers as well…we have rooster fish biting!  I don’t know what’s up with that because normally, this isn’t rooster fish time, but the last two weeks, we’ve had 150-50 pound just off the beaches slamming the rods.  Since no one has been fishing for them for awhile, it’s like these fish feel like they’ve been ignored.  They’re not there every day, but on the days they roll up on the beach, there are double and triple hookups!  Again, a big thrill for alot of our clients to get this much sought-after exotic fish.

I can tell the the fishing is changing.  Cooler winds from the north are definitely increasing.  It’s a pretty time to be here and the weather is cooler by the week.  Some days us locals, and even my captains, are all wearing sweatshirts and hoodies!  (Of course, the tourists in shorts and flip-flops think we’re crazy since it’s still 85 degrees outside!).  But the nights are definitely cooler and we’re seeing more and more cooler water fish like sierra, cabrilla and pargo in the counts.

That’s our story!

combo signature 2-proc

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://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.”

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Sept. 28-Oct. 6, 2013

dorado in sand tags Ken campbell 10-13

This is my new favorite photo! I think I am going to frame it. After the hundreds of fishing photos I have published this is one of the most creative. Ken Campbell wanted to show everyone the big dorado he LOST! Anyone can have a photo of the fish they caught but how many have a photo of the the fish they lost? Bravo, Ken! (He did catch plenty of other dorado, but this would have been the biggest and was a heartbreaker!)

marlin hosmer small nagy tags 10-13-proc

Our amigos, Rick Hosmer (tail) and John Nagy (head) always do well. It’s Rick’s 4th trip this year and John’s 3rd trip this year and they always fish with Captain Mundo. They stuck this hefty blue marlin with a live bait estimated at about 200 pounds. Attempts to release the fish were not successful. They are posing with the fish at Bahia de Los Muertos near Las Arenas. Lots of billfish this week!

roosterfish nathan sibayan 10-13 small tags

Yes! There are still roosters around! Steve Sibayan helps his son, Nathan, with this nice rooster caught near the Las Arenas lighthouse on live bait. The fish was released and the Sibayan family was on their first trip to fish with Tailhunter in La Paz (see photos below)

dorado jarrett 10-13 small tags

Our Tailhunter family! Son Jarrett Pfost and his girlfriend Diana Pleasants from San Diego spent the week with us and did well with the dorado bite at Las Arenas.

Dorado don busse tags 10-13

“Dancing Don” Busse is one of our favorite amigos who visits us each year. Don fished several day this week and poses with one of his larger fish from his first day fishing from Las Arenas. The nice dorado swallowed a chunk of chopped squid.

marlin tags 10-13 small

Devon Boatman was another new amigo who gave us a try this week for the first time. He spent an hour-and-a-half on this striped marlin…his first. He got it to the boat and figured it was about 100 pounds and could easily heft it into the panga for a photo. NOT! It was heavier than he thought! So…a quick photo and a nice strong release for the marlin! Well-done!!! Devon is from Lake Elsinore CA .

dorado Sibayan family small held high tags 10-13

I love family photos! The Sibayan family with some of their dorado catch after a great day on the water. Nathan, William and mom Victoria on the beach!

John kennedy dorado tags small 10-13

From the mountains near Sacramento, John Kennedy, fished with us pretty much the whole week and had great outtings on the big dorado bite that’s been going on about 2 weeks now.

Al Basye Ehab tags dorado pargo 10-13

Al Basye and his future son-in-law-to-be Ehab Abufaire from Orange Co. CA fished 3 days this past week and got a bit of variety in the catch with dorado plus the nice barred pargo.

sailfish gary bryson tags small 10-13

Gary Bryson from northern California gets a hand with his first-ever billfish taken near Espirito Santo Island north of La Paz by Kevin Hale, son Eric Bryson and Jeremy Lord. The fish was hooked on a live bait and could not be released. It was a great day. In addition to the sail, they also got a box of dorado; caught and released a hammerhead shark. They also saw a huge whaleshark and jumped into the water to swim with it. Quite a day!

Dorothy and Terry Humphrey dorado tags small 10-13

From Aloha, Oregon (love that name!), Dorothy and Terry Humphreys were visiting us for the first time and came to spend Dorothy’s birthday in La Paz. Although they live in Oregon, she had not fished in 30 years even though she loved fishing. So, they came to visit! And they did great on dorado!

dorado angelo small tags 10-13

Angela Olivero is another of our first-timers this week. He’s from Murrietta CA and with Captain Pancho running the panga poses with his largest dorado of the day. That’s Bahia de los Muertos in the background.

held high dorado tags small 10-13

Great shot. Fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet, three dorado grab air from Eric Bryson, Kevin Hale and Jeremy Todd while on the beach in Balandra Bay after a day of fishing.

Calimari Fleet tags 10-13

Amigo, John Kennedy, took this great photo of the fishermen mixed up with the commercial fishermen at dawn’s first light all fishing for giant squid near Las Arenas. This is how we start the day catching these big squid for bait. The dorado have been eating these like crazy!

squid calamar Jeremy Frieze 10-13 tags

Jeremy Frieze holds up one of the big squid that we catch in the morning and use for bait. It’s actually alot of fun and harder than most people think to pull one of these huge cephalopods up from the deep.

DORADO STILL THE MAIN PLAYERS AS SCHOOLIES SWARM THE PANGAS!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 28 to Oct. 6, 2013

I’m not sure how to explain this, but fishing “slowed down” this week…compared to last week!  But it wasn’t bad!

Last week, our Tailhunter anglers were catching triple and quadruple limits of dorado as fast as they could bait hooks so the bar had been set pretty high!  This week started like that but, as the week went on it “tapered” to only single and double limits.  So, there was some disappointment.  But hey…still catching and releasing 10 or 15 dorado a day is NOT a bad day on the water!

Not sure what happened.  The waters didn’t change . The temperatures didn’t change.  I didn’t see any noticeable differences in the winds or other variables, but no doubt the fishing dialed-down just a notch or two.  Most noticeably, this was for fishing out’ve La Paz where the pangas had to work a little harder to find and catch fish.

For Las Arenas, for the most part, limits were still the rule rather than the exception with some fast action most times and for most pangas although there were some blips here and there.

Still, it’s alot of fun, especially on light tackle to get into a voracious school of 10-15 pound dorado.  Guys would tell me that they could see bigger bulls on the periphery of the marauding schools, but the younger bucks would zoom in so fast that the bigger fish had no chance at the hooks!  But, we still did manange to get a few 20-40 pound fish every day.

For Las Arenas, there is still no live bait to be had.  But, that has not slowed the bite. What we’re doing is jumping into the squid holes in the morning and hauling up some of those giant squid.  Using cut up squid for bait works just fine.  The dorado don’t slow down at all.

For La Paz, we’re still getting some mackerel and caballitos for bait since we go out earlier than some of the other fleets.  So, we hook a few dozen of them.  Then we go buy some sardines from the bait guys.  After that, go jig up some bonito to use for cut-bait.  That gives us 2–4 different varieties of bait to offer once we’re at the fishing grounds.

For other species, the biggest comment is more for what we are NOT catching.  Tuna just have not come to the party this year.  That’s what most guys are asking since this is traditionally tuna time.  We’re getting some wahoo and every day a few billfish are hooked and released most of the time.  Many of the billfish are hooked while anglers are in the middle of a dorado frenzy and the marlin and sailfish show up to join the party by eating the chummed squid as well as feeding on the dorado themselves!

Roosterfish are still along the beaches although no one much has been fishing for them since they’re not good eating and the dorado are so rampant.  We’re also seeing a few more pargo and sierra as the waters are now starting to cool down.

That’s our story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://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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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Sept. 15-22, 2013

marlin larry wilson tags 9-13 small

Big striped marlin for Larry Wilson from Montana. It was Larry’s first time fishing Mexico and first time fishing with Tailhunter International in La Paz. Larry caught numerous dorado on light tackle releasing many then he hooked onto this striped marlin also on light tackle. With the assist of Captain Pancho, he battled the fish to the boat…took a quick photo…and released the fish which swam off strongly!  Larry was fishing south of Cerralvo Island.

dorado big john virgin tags 9-13 small

John Virgin struggles to hold this big boy bull dorado for the photo! He got several of these fishing this past week with Tailhunters. This particular beauty with the great colors was taken just north of La Paz.

Adam Young Craig Wilfrey tags dorado small 9-13-proc

From Sacramento CA, Adam Wilfley and Craig Young pose with a few of their catch from Las Arenas while standing on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos. Both guys got in on one of the days this week when the schoolie-dorade went crazy with fast easy limits!

Sharon Virgin sailfish tags 9-13 small

This was a good birthday! Sharon Virgin gets a hand from husband John posing with her first sailfish. She also caught and released a hammerhead shark and several large dorado and bonito. They weren’t able to release the sailfish. She had several banner days of fishing with Tailhunters.

Jon Holtby tags dorado 9-13

Jon Holtby won the “pot” from his fishing amigos with this big bull dorado while fishing north of La Paz with Captain Joel of the Tailhunter Fleet. The big fish was taken on bait near Espirto Santo Island just before the storm arrived. (It never really did!)

dorado sharon 9-13 small tags

Check out the colors on Sharon’s fish! It seemed all the larger fish were taken this past week with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet while our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet put up more numbers. Sharon took several big fish after a week with us here in La Paz.

Deana Wilson squid small tags 9-13-proc

If you fish with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet, this is often how the day starts! With a vigorous work-out catching giant squid for bait! Dean Wilson puts the wood to another big squid that fight surprisingly hard (see photo below). Husband Larry looks on.

giant squid pancho tags small 9-13-proc

Great bait and great eating, the giant squid have been with us now for several weeks although this is really one of the “little guys.” Some of them have been upward to 50 pounders and they get much larger! Captain Pancho is about to heave one over the gunwale of the panga. Note the other pangas all doing the same thing in the early morning hours.

dorado underwater tags small

We had several days this week at Las Arenas where the 10-pound dorado were as thick as…DORADO! They swarmed the pangas and limits came fast and easy with pangas releasing fish as fast as they could shake them off. Great undewater shot by John Virgin. Light tackle and flyfishers had a ball.

lonely panga tags

This is “Hurricane Manuel.” We surely dodged a bullet when the big storm veered away and left us with some wind…a little rain…and just some hazy skies!

HURRICANE MANUEL GIVES A SCARE BUT ONLY SPITS AND LEAVES THE FISHING ALONE!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of September 15-22, 2013

We had a great bite going all week on dorado but then had to contend with the sudden approach of “Manual” that started as a little blip on the weather radar that became a “Tropical Depression” then reached hurricane status in a very short time.

It didn’t look good.  It was on a collision course with Southern Baja and was surely going to slam into La Paz.  Captains were pulling boats out of the water.  Others from outside came running into the bay to seek shelter.  Folks were in the markets buying water and flashlight batteries and bottles of tequila and cases of beer!

It looked like we were going to have to cancel fishing the rest of the week and I was preparing to contact anglers coming down on their vacations to try to postpone their trips.

Then suddenly, the strangest thing happened.  The storm veered 90 degrees east…like it turned a corner.  All we got was about an hour of hard rain in the evening and some strong winds for a day.  That was it!!!  Saved!

We ended up keeping right on fishing!  It was a little bumpy leading in and leading out of the storm, but the fish didn’t stop biting.  Dorado madness, especially after the storm moved off.  In fact, I had not seen that kind of frenzy all season.  We had some of our pangas run into entire hungry schools of 10-15 pounders where each boat caught and released 15-25 dorado each!

It wasn’t like that for everyone,  but there were surely large chunks of mahi schools out there and most boats got limits or near limits or, lost alot of fish and “should have” had limits!  (I saw some thumbs with blisters on them!) .  As well, there were some larger fish ranging around as well with 25-35 pounders in the mix.

It was also a pretty good week on a few other species.  We hooked a few wahoo around Cerralvo Island and also just outside La Paz Bay although all the fish either bit through or got off.  We also got into some nice grade striped marlin and sailfish as well.

We have a mix of bait although it’s hard to tell what we’ll have from one day to the next.  However, everything seems to have a place and works well.  We’re still catching giant squid at Las Arenas which makes for great bait (plus good eating!) plus using some sardines, mackerel and caballitos plus using small bonito strips for larger dorado.

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://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.”

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Sept. 8-15, 2013

Panga sunrise braswell group 9-13 tags-proc

We could not have asked for better weather and fishing conditions this week with the end result being solid fishing action for both our Tailhunter Las Arenas and our Tailhunter La Paz fleets. Nothing quite like a beautiful sunrise on the Sea of Cortez and getting ready to head out for fishing at Las Arenas.

 

dorado ed small  tags 8-13

Photos just don’t do justice to the magnificence of our dorado. With incredible colors and acrobatic battles, they’re hard to beat as a sportfish! Ed Vander Veer, from Washington, has already made two trips to visit us this year and loves fishing ultra light tackle taking great fish like this one off Cerralvo Island.

 

dorado big kurt small tags 8-13

It’s always great to have first-timers and getting them into the fish. Kurt Dittig, from Sacramento, was on his first trip to visit us in La Paz and spent 3 days ripping on the dorado including this 30-pound class bull taken north of La Paz.

 

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It’s a long way from Wisconsin, but Dan Brown, was another of our first-timers this past week and shows off a fresh bull dorado while standing in our panga. He’s just outside the mouth of Bahia de Los Muertos.

 

dorado mary small tags 9-13

She always does so well. Our amiga, Mary Heilman Vander Veer, never fails to put fish in the boat and she usually does it with light tackle. This big bull was no exception. Mary was with us for a whole week and poses with the fish on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

 

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Big smiles from Mike McArthur who came in from Los Angeles to squeeze in two quick days of fishing getting into the dorado fishing and added this bull to the rack from Las Arenas.

 

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I”m getting lots of questions about the giant squid. Yes, we’re still getting them. They’ve been around for about 4 weeks and we catch them early in the morning as we head out. They’re fighters! But, they do make great bait, but also, folks forget that giant squid is the same as calamari! So, often they bring it back to our Tailhunter Restaurant to have us fix it up. This one is headed for some marinated calamari salad and some fried calamari plates. I’ve photographed it next to a soda can and my kitchen knife. It’s important to treat the squid meat correctly or it will come out tasting bitter.

DORADO CHARGE THE PANGAS ALL WEEK!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 8-15, 2013

Overall, we probably could not have asked for better conditions this past week.  We had a few showers like the previous weeks, but nothing to keep folks off the waters and generally, the winds were kind to us as well with just some early morning and late afternoon breezes.

The good conditions made for some really excellent dorado fishing for both our Tailhunter Las Arenas as well as our Tailhunter La Paz fleets.  Here and there an occasional boat might have had an off-day, but mostly speaking, most of our amigos fish several days and one slow day was usually compensated by 1 or 2 outstanding days where the fish attacked the pangas and guys more than made up for the off-day and in some cases were catching and releasing as fast as they could go.

No really big big fish this week, but our larger fish were in the 30-pound class with some occasional 40’s and, of course, large fish have a tendency to bust off too!  That’s part of fishing and that’s why they’re bigger fish!  But, lots of medium 10-25 pounders all week.   Let me put it this way.  Everyone who wanted a cooler of fish to take home or a day of bending rods got it!

The really cool thing the past few weeks is that we have had so many first timers…couples…wives…girlfriends…kids…and watching them get into these fish and then listening to the animated stories are just the best!  But, in addition, they’re also experiencing stuff like whales and dolphin and sea turtles and manta rays as well plus just the overall experience of being in Baja and La Paz for the first time!  Many of them bring their catches to our restaurant as well so they’re getting to enjoy their fish twice in the same day!

As for other species, there’s still marlin and sailfish around and we’re getting a hook-up or two a day.  Most fish are getting busted off or released.   I’d say we’re probably releasing about 90% of the billfish that make it to the boat.  There’s also still a few rooster fish around, plus big jack crevalle and huge arm-tiring bonito that are beating up on the anglers.  As well, we are still hooking a few wahoo but not many are making it to the boats before they get busted off!

Plus, there’s still giant squid to start the day also.  Many anglers are using part of them for bait and eating the rest!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://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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La Paz – La Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Aug. 25-Sept. 1, 2013

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All Sax Endo could say after battling this big dorado was, “My arms are so sore!” he said with a big smile. Sax is from Pasadena CA and took this trophy dorado while fishing with Captain Pancho and the Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet off Punta Arenas.

Incredible colors on this beautiful dorado caught by Billy Chung from San Jose CA.  Billy said he fought the fish for about 20 minutes on his last day of fishing. Captain Armando helps out!

Incredible colors on this beautiful dorado caught by Billy Chung from San Jose CA. Billy said he fought the fish for about 20 minutes on his last day of fishing. Captain Armando helps out!

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Yes! Wahoo are still around. Caryn Aizawa, was dragging a dark rapala off the south end of Cerralvo Island this past week when this speedy wahoo slammed the line. It was a pretty good week for wahoo!

Another amigo on his first time fishing with Tailhunter in La Paz, Mike Council  from Ventura CA put the hurt on this trophy dorado fishing his 2nd day north of La Paz.

Another amigo on his first time fishing with Tailhunter in La Paz, Mike Council from Ventura CA put the hurt on this trophy dorado fishing his 2nd day north of La Paz.

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Darrell “Gomer” Oleson, our amigo from Utah, came down this past week and had a banner 3 days catching dorado with both our Las Arenas and our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. Here, he stands on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos with a big bull.

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Jeff Sakuda from Montebello CA has now visited us twice this year and has another trip set for October in between being a commercial pilot. Our amigo took a break from hanging dorado and stuck this thick wahoo near Cerralvo Island.

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Big smiles from another of our Oregon amigos! Captain Victor lends a hand to Jim Oakes who was on his first trip ever to fish in La Paz. This massive big-headed bull dorado was an early morning catch at sunrise to start the day.

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The ladies had a great week fishing with us and Teila Robnett visiting us for the first time from Colorado spent 3 days pulling limits of dorado like this one while on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

dorado tags 8-13 John OReilly

John O’Reilly shows off one of his big fish from his first-day fishing at Las Arenas. Our amigo, John, from Ventura CA was on his first trip visiting us in La Paz and had 2 great days of fishing with both our fleets.

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Nothing wrong with this day! A good start for Gary Carpenter and Jim Oakes who went home with full ice chests after a week of fishing with us.

ANOTHER TROPICAL STORM PASSES THROUGH BUT DORADO NOT AFFECTED!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Aug. 25-Sept. 1, 2013

We had our 2nd tropical storm (“Juliette”) in as many weeks, and although some parts of southern Baja took it in the nose, La Paz  gratefully only got some strong winds, lots of clouds and some gentle rain and drizzle which muddied the roads and watered the plants.

Still, I always worry how the fishing will be affected anytime there’s a big change in the weather. Prior to the storm, dorado fishing had been spectacular.  As good as can be!

Both our Tailhunter Las Arenas and our Tailhunter La Paz fleet had been deep into dorado ranging from 10-40 pounds with some days showing fast and easy limits with the voracious fish hammering the anglers.

As well, there were also good hookups (and all released) of sailfish, striped marlin and even on blue marlin estimated at over 300 pounds hooked on 30 pound test that (understandably) broke off after searing a few runs!  Plus, for our Las Arenas fleet, wahoo showed up again for the early-morning folks who wanted to drag the big lures around after catching some of the giant squid.

So, once the storm passed, there was a bit of trepidation.

As it turned out, the dorado stayed hungry and came to chew!  Fishing picked up right where it left off with fish showing up in a wide variety of areas and ranging from just a few yards offshore near the bean to several miles in the channel.    One of the cool things about storms is that they often wash a bunch of stuff out into the water.   I’m talking about brush, trees, trash…all kinds of stuff.  After the waters settle the debris is out there floating either by itself or along current lines.

These become great fish attractors and working these current lines and floating debris can produce incredible results so, even if there are storms, there’s often a silver lining.  Last year, we had a very wet fall season with rain almost every day for 5 weeks.  We had more rain in 5 weeks than we had in the previous 10 years!  Mostly it was just a few minutes and no more than an hour a day, but not only did it turn the hills green, but produced all kinds of “fish habitat” out there on the water.

This year, we’ve had 3 little tropical storms blow through already so we’re always keeping an eye out for that.  Hopefully, no hurricanes!  But fishing is good and September and October are traditionally our busiest and best months for fishing.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://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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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Aug. 18-25, 2013

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Happy guy…Johnny Gilbertson from the Sacramento CA area gets a hoist from Captain Chito from our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. Once again, dorado were the centerpiece of our bite that produced a great week until the late week storm arrived.

dorado kevin big tags 8-13

Kevin Shiotani has a habit of tangling with beasts! Several months ago, he caught a 135-pound estimated amberjack that might have rivaled a world record. He ripped again this week with this huge 57-pound dorado. He trolled completely around Cerralvo Island on a long day and was just about to go back to the beach when he stuck this beast dorado with his last bait of the day!

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Eric Legaspi and Steve Chun got in on the big dorado bite this week showing off some of their catch of mahi. Both are from the Sacramento area. These fish were caught off Las Arenas.

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It was another pretty good week for billfish with striped marlin and sailfish getting hooked every day and most getting released or breaking off. This pretty fish was taken by Rick Hosmer, our amigo from Manhattan Beach CA, who took the photos and then released the fish while fishing near Las Arenas.

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Yes! At least before the storm hit, we were still catching the giant squid near Punta Arenas and areas south. Grayson Richmond has a big smile for the camera after he wrenched up this big cephlapod from the deep. Captain Adolfo helps out. The squid are great for bait, but also some brought back to be cooked up!

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Debbie White from Oregon, often visits us 2 times a year here in La Paz and always does great with a habit for big fish like this beautiful dorado she caught near Cerralvo Island.

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Two of our funnest recent visitors, Diane and Frank Kunze from Colorado, pose with some of their catch from Las Arenas. Fishing 3 days, they took home limits of dorado!

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Check out the colors on this dorado…clearly, one of the most colorful fish in our waters with golds, yellows, greens and a myriad of other colors including this shimmering blue. Wade Gomes fishes with us every year with a great bunch of amigos and had a great several days of us.  Our amigo is standing on the beach at Balandra north of La Paz.

don dorado 8-13 small tags

Easy to see why these fish are so photogenic. Our Oregon, amigo, Don White was on his 2nd trip to us this year in La Paz and targets big fish. He’s usually pretty successful. He got this nice mahi off Cerralvo Island.

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Sailfish were willing to bite again this week with all of them getting released. This great shot of Don Lemieux’s sail was taken just before he released it.

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This 30-pound class fish by Rudy Soto from Carlsbad CA was stuck while he was fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet and he said, “It gave me a sore arm!”

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The had several days of limits of dorado fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet where fish got closer to the bay this past week. Dean Sims (right) and Johnny Gilbert (left) hold up some of their catch.

FULL MOON AND WINDS DON’T HURT BITE…until the storm hit!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Aug .18-25, 2013

You would think that with some windy days…a full moon…AND a week-ending Tropical Storm named “Ivo” we’d have an off-week of fishing!

On the contrary, if you were looking for dorado and loading up on the fillets, it was a great week to be here in La Paz with Tailhunters and a rod and reel in your hands.  In all honesty, there weren’t alot of BIG fish, but it made up for it in quantity and furiousness!   Especially for our anglers who fished with our La Paz fleet, there were great stories of double…triple…even quadruple hook-ups with fish as fast as a line could be thrown in the water or catching-and-releasing as fast as they could go!

For the latter part of the week, the amazing thing was that several schools of 10-15 pound fish were found right IN LA PAZ bay!  Literally just near the mouth of the bay by Balandra Beach.  That’s only about 3 minutes from where we launch our pangas.

The guys would spend about an hour getting bait but then get on the fish schools and on several occasions be BACK on the BEACH and eating breakfast at the hotel by 10 or 11 p.m.!   They’d get all the wanted.  Throw back others.  And tell the captain, “No mas!” and head back in.

Others would wind it up and go out towards the island to troll a little or look for other species where we encountered wahoo, billfish, sharks and even some pargo.   (all billfish released…all wahoo lost…all sharks broken off!)

Even for our Las Arenas fleet, we had a better than normal week with dorado, sailfish, marlin and those big giant squid come up.  What it lacked in quality like La Paz, Las Arenas has the larger fish this week with a few toads that were 30-60 pounds.  One fish could fill an ice chest!

At the end of the week, Tropical Storm Ivo came up the coast and went outside into the Pacific dropping rain on Southern Baja.  By Sunday it was gone.  There was some flooding.   We did have to cancel a day of fishing because the port captain closed the port and there were 30 knot winds outside the bay.  At Las Arenas the southern swell was too big and we would not have been able to push off the beach.  But the storm passed through quickly and I’m just sorry for some of the disappointed anglers, but fortunately, most of them had been fishing earlier in the week and were able to get into the fish earlier.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://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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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of Aug. 11-18, 2014

Deb big tuna 8-13  small tags

Yes…some big tuna showed up but few taken! The fish were 50-100 pounders, but after long battles, there wasn’t much to show for it as the grumpy fish bent rods and backs. However, our good amiga, Debbie White from Oregon, who fishes with us every year and often puts the guys to shame stuck this plug yellowfin tuna estimated at 60 pounds. She did it in 30 minutes on 30 pound test with some good skippering by Captain Pancho with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. The fish are pretty far outside of Cerralvo Island.

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Another one who put the big boys to shame this week was 8-year-old Grayson (“G-man”) Richmond from Colorado. Over 4 days fishing he put a couple of dozen dorado and other species in the boat WITHOUT HELP and he did it on conventional tackle…light 15 pound spinning gear…and on the flyrod! With his big smile, he impressed everyone from our captains to our drivers and us as well. About the only help he needed all week was to hold up the fish for photos like this one with dad Bill Richmond.

big dorado russ and rogelio  small tags 8-13-proc

No, Captain Rogelio from our Tailhunter La Paz fleet is not trying to eat this hefty bull dorado! He and angler Russ Blount were wrestling with the big fish trying to keep it still for the photo as it had already smacked them several times! Russ had a great week with us and is from Oregon.

dorado shawn 8-13 small tags

She likes pickle juice with her tequila shots and fishing in warm waters! Shawn Kirk from Denver, Colorado was on her first visit to us in La Paz and shows off one of several nice dorado she caught north of La Paz.

dorado bill flyrod beach  tags small 8-13-proc

“Bonefish” Bill Richmond spent 4 days whacking dorado with us, but on this particular day after climbing off the panga, he was casting his flyrod from shore and caught and released this nice dorado JUST A FEW YARDS OFF THE BEACH! People can never believe when we tell them we don’t have to go far for our fish! This is a great catch….even moreso on the flyrod!

diane kunze dorado big 8-13 tags

The ladies really put on a show this week! Another of our first-timers…Diane Kunze came with husband Frank who fished with us last year who just retired. The two of the were with us for the week and Diane had fun with dorado like this one and Captain Adolfo from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.

marlin don 8-13 small tags

There’s good number of marlin and sailfish right now and the fact that we’re using big baits most days entices more bites than normal. Fortunately, most fish are getting released. Don White from Oregon visits us several times a year here at Tailhunters and always does well. He tangled with several blue marlin that broke lines and caught and released this hefty striper off Cerralvo Island on light tackle. Captain Pancho with all the smiles.

dorado joey 1 small tags 8-13

Coach Joey Fuschetti has been fishing with Tailhunter since the beginning…almost 18 years. Joey has a knack for lots of fish and big fish. He also has few “secrets” that he swears by like chumming with fresh papaya! (Yes…he does!) It seems to work. He had chunks of papaya out there when this big colorful bull hit!

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Just had to post up another photo of our new favorite poster kid…Grayson “G-Man” Richmond smiling big time with Captain Rogelio after putting another big dorado in the boat on light tackle!

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First-time visitor to La Paz, Ben Kirk had some banner fishing with us all the way from Denver. Here, he stands on the beach at Balandra posing with 2 of several nice bull dorado he caught or La Paz near Espirito Santo Island.

DORADO HOLD CENTER STAGE FOR ANGLERS

La Paz- Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 11-18, 2013

No doubt this is dorado season in full-color and full-turbo right now and we’re grateful because the mahi provide  all the things you want out’ve a sportfish…eager to bite…swarming schools…great colorful action…can be big and mean…and taste great on the table!

Although our Tailhunter La Paz fleet had the better and most solid catches all week of dorado, our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet also provided steady action.  Both sides had fish that were generally schoolie-sized in the 10-15 pound class, with some larger bulls in the 25-30 pound class and the largest fish of the week around 40-ish pounds.

The bigger issue has been the bait situation that seems to change from week-to-week.  Las Arenas is having another year with a scarcity of sardines so we’re doing well with caballitos, mackerel, zebra fish, ballyhoo and, chunks of giant squid that we started catching about 2 weeks ago (that also make great eating as well!).

One of the good things about the bite at Las Arenas is that the fish are closer now.  In previous weeks the schools have ranged pretty far (relatively speaking for us!)  for what we are used to.  The last week or so the fish are inshore or as close as the nearby commercial buoy lines.

Even for our La Paz fleet, there were schools of dorado as far out as the channel to San Francisquito as well as the Charo Bank, but as close as even finding some schools of dorado right in the bay…right outside Balandra which is a stone’s throw north of town better know for a place to go swimming than for fishing!  However, breaking schools of dorado were located under bait balls right there just outside Balandra.

As for the La Paz bait, the situation has been a bit better than with Las Arenas.  Most days we have sardines to purchase from the bait guys.  Plus going out as early as we do with our fleet, we’re often able to jig up some mackerel and caballitos before the sun comes up. Then, after getting some sardines some quick trolling for bonito enables us to hit the fishing spots with 2 or 3 or 4 different kinds of bait for the day!

In terms of other species, we got a steady number of sailfish and striped marlin hookups with both our fleets with all fish either being busted off or released (bravo!).  There’s still a few big roosterfish around but it’s late in the season for them, but the largest was in the 50-pound class.  No wahoo this week, but didn’t really have too many of our anglers devoting time to the wahoo and the few that did, came up with nothing.

However, we did hook some nice tuna.  Everyone wants a big tuna!  But you have to be careful for what you ask for.  Out’ve Las Arenas, there’s been a rise of the giant squid that I had mentioned before.  When the squid come up from the deep trenches, often the tuna come up as well.  Sure enough, we had some of the bigger tuna with some muscle show up.

Like I said, everyone wants a tuna, but a 40 or 60 pound tuna isn’t 2 or 3 times stronger than a 20 pound tuna!  Guys battled some big models between 40 and 100 pounds this week for an hour or more and came back saying, “Never ever ever again do I want a big tuna!”  There were stories of handing the rods back and forth between anglers and guys having their backs seize up on them as well as shaky-arm syndrome in the heat!  And then BLINK!….losing the fish!!!  It’s a long way and a long fight to lose a fish.  Great experience, but we warn ’em that it’s a home run hit and you better pull your socks up tight and high.  Tuna show no quarter.  The few fish we did get in were 50’s and 60 pounders…but very few compared to the number of hookups.

Weather wise…geeze…the air is heavy!!!  I can’t believe some guys are fishing in long pants!  Bring a big hat.  The sun beats down and this week it was also humid with some quick summer showers that were refreshingly welcome.  But sunscreen…t-shirt…shorts…flip-flops is the uniform of the day!

STILL NO FISHING LICENSES TO SELL so you have to purchase them online until the Mexican Government can print more up for the whole country.  Ask us if you need assistance!  But here is the link:  https://www2.ebajacalifornia.gob.mx/Pesca/

Just remember to click the American flag to get English and also that the amounts are in PESOS!  So don’t have a panic attack when you see the amounts.  Just divide by 11 or 12 and you’ll see the prices in reasonable dollars.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://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.”

Read Full Post »

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Tailhunter International for Week of Aug. 4-11, 2013

dorado joey kent 4 small tags 8-13

Joey Fuschetti and Kent Hawkins from Orange Co. California had a great 2 days fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. They got big racks of dorado, plus sailfish and pargo as well. They’re on the sand here in Balandra Bay. Joey has been fishing with Tailhunters now for 18 years!  Joey has been in the fishing report for many years but says he has NEVER been the first picture!  So…here you go, Joey!  Thanks , guys!

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From Ogden UT, Marcus Yoo, only had time to come down and squeeze in two quick days of fishing but made the most of it with 2 big days of dorado fishing and big bulls like this one…his personal best…that he caught off Las Arenas.

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Finally had the big squid show up this week and there’s nothing like starting the day out pulling these bad boys up from the deep to use for bait (or saving for eating!). The dorado and tuna both love them. Big grin from Russ Blount visiting us from Oregon holding up another big beast. The squid are just off Las Arenas.

dorado maricris bugatan 8-13 tags

First time in Mexico. First time fishing. First fish ever…a trophy bull dorado! The smile says it all. Maricris Bugutan gets a hand from Captain Adolfo from our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet in posing with her trophy bull dorado.

craig corda dorado 8-13 tags

Our good amigo, Craig Corda, has visited us many times from his farm in the Imperial Valley CA and always seems to do well. He shows off one of his dorado with the classic pose and grin on the panga fishing off Las Arenas.

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This is a big fish and you can tell because Russ Blount is also a big guy! This bull dorado was one of several he caught along with a marlin his first day fishing with us this week.

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Not sure she wants to touch it! Maricris laughs at another big squid hauled aboard! This one ended up cooked up with garlic at our Tailhunter Restaurant that night for dinner!

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Captain Chito poses with my long-time friend and fishing buddy, Bob “Tio” Horton from Palm Springs CA The fish were caught around Espirito Santo Island and Las Cruces on a late-day bite.

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Yes…I still get out! (Thanks, Jilly) I’m showing off this bull mahi on the beach at Balandra Bay after a great day of dorado fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet We got limits that day.

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One of the best highlights of the week! Paul and Mike Zech from Sacramento CA like the street-cart hot dogs we serve at our Tailhunter Restaurant and showed up with these funny shirts! Just had to take a photo!

DORADO HELP WEEK FINISH FAST!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of August 4-11, 2013

The fishing week started out OK, then got kinda picky but everyone still got fish.  It was just one of those weeks where a boat would get 1 or 2 fish and the next boat got 4 or 5 fish for no rhyme or reason or you would go fishing and put 1 in the boat…then an hour later another fish…two hours later 2 fish….2 hours later 1 fish…and the day would go on like that.   And you would think, “Geeze…fishing is slow!”  Then you would look in the fish box or get back on the beach and realize you had nearly a limit of fish!

It might have had something to do with some strange cooler and greener water that just shows up mid-week. We didn’t have any storms.  There was no strong winds.  There was nothing that would tip-the-hand to show why patches of great blue water suddenly went dry on us!  Conditions were otherwise great…flat glassy seas…brilliant Baja sunshine…decent bait…patches of sargasso…but strangely very reluctant or absent fish.  You really had to work it hard to find them.

I made it out one day and we got a limit of nice dorado, but we must’ve put 50 miles on the panga going up, back out, in, around…we covered a lot of water.  By 1 p.m. we had only 3 fish in the box.  But, as our captains often do, our fleet hung out there and at 3 p.m.-4 p.m. the fish started feeding!  And we put another 5 nice-sized dorado in the box that topped out the day.

That is one big difference for us…especially for our La Paz fleet.  We’re out on the water at 6 a.m. and getting live bait.  We see some of the other fleets…some of them…not even getting out on the water until 7 or 8 a.m. when the sun is already up blazing and you can’t get bait that late.  Then, they’re back on the beach at 1 or 2 a.m. when our guys are still out there pushing to keep finding fish.  It really makes a difference when the fishing is picky.  And it often means the difference between 1 or 2 fish and a limit of fish…having live bait and staying out the extra time!

But, the nice thing too is that as the week went on, we got a great charge of fish at the end of the week.

Our La Paz fleet started finding better spots of dorado in the 10-20 pound class with some larger bulls to 30 pounds.  Using the bait we catch…caballitos, mackerel…then some sardines as well as fresh-caught bonito, we have several options most days for offering different baits to the fish.  The larger baits, I think, also are the reason we get more sailfish and marlin hook ups as we did this week with all fish being released.

For our Las Arenas fleet, it was also scratchy early-on with just a few dorado per boat, but pretty much all of them decent to monster bulls.  So, what we lacked in quality, we made up for in quantity.  However, later in the week the fish turned it up a notch and we not only got into dorado, but also had some wahoo hookups, some billfish hook ups and even a big 60 pound tuna found way outside.

The difference at Las Arenas, I believe, were the giant squid that finally came up out’ve the deep trenches.  We started catching these beasts, which not only make for great eating, but cut up in chunks are good for chumming up dorado around the buoys and chunking for tuna.  Hopefully, they’ll stick around.  Historically, when the big squid come up from the deep, the tuna often follow them up as well!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://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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La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report from Tailhunter International for Week of July 28 to Aug. 4, 2013

dorado ziggy 7-13 tags

Yes, Ziggy! You finally made the first photo in the fishing report! Our amigo, Ziggy Haspod from Santa Barbara spanked the nice dorado all week fishing with Captain Boli and our La Paz fleet with limits every day including this sweet bull dorado.

wahoo tags Pietak 2 7-13

Best wahoo season in my memory in years! There’s still wahoo on the high spots around Cerralvo Island. Darryl and Kathy Pietek pose with Captain Armando and one of 2 skinnies they hooked. They lost another one that busted the Rapala off. The Pieteks are from Loma Rica CA.

marlin mario salazar tags 8-13

Sometimes, when you don’t try so hard, good things come to you! Mario Salazar from the Los Angeles area was on a billfish frenzy the 3 days he fished with our Las Arenas fleet. I think the final count was 8 marlin and sailfish in 3 days. I lost count. He was fishing with our Captain Archangel with our Tailhunter Fleet. This was a release so you get the great photo of him fighting the fish! Most of the billfish we’re hooking these days are all getting released.

richard sellers dorado tags 7-13

Richard Sellers came to visit us all the way from Australia to do some freediving and spearfishing. It started slow but by his last day he said, he had dorado and marlin swimming around him like he had never seen before. He did get this nice bull dorado and also another “mystery fish” none of us had ever seen before. Scroll down to the last photo in the report!

Steven with Dorado tags 7-13

Big smile from Steve Heune from Modesto CA was on his first fishing trip with us. As per my report this week, his first day, he fished with our Las Arenas fleet and they ran into one of those days when the fish were lockjawed. We switched them for their 2nd day to fish with our La Paz fleet and they stuffed the fish box with a limit of dorado!

Dane full pulling on marlin tags 7-13

Might be my favorite photo of the week. It’s all about smiles. Dane Fuller pulling on his first marlin ever. Dane’s from Childress, Texas and was on his first trip to La Paz where he got his first marlin, and first dorado…and biggest dorado. Just a great Kodak moment in Baja. It’s not about fish in the box, it’s about smiles on the face and good times with amigos.

Dorado coach rea 7-13 tags

One of our favorites guys…Donnie “Coach” Rea from Ventura CA always does well fishing with us. He’s showing off another big bull he got this week fishing with our Captain Marcos and our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

DCIM100GOPRO

That’s alot of mahi! A thirty-pound-class dorado for Mike Figley from Arizona that he caught north of La Paz. There’s some nice big bulls around right now.

Lance with Dorado tags 7-13

Lance Heune from Modesto CA holds the gaff on a day when he put a nice limit of dorado on the boat in short order fishing north of La Paz around Espirito Santo Island.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Late breaking news…just as I was putting together the fishing report Sunday night, our pangas hit giant Humboldt squid off Las Arenas. They made great bait for the dorado (and great eating!) and usually means that if they stay around, often the tuna rise up out’ve the trenches and follow them up! Hope they stick around. Captain Archangel hangs one of the big squirmers here!

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Our Australian amigo, Richard Sellers (photo above with the dorado) shot this while spearfishing. He called it a “triple tail” but none of my captains or anyone we knew had ever seen one. In almost 30 years fishing and diving here in Baja, I’d never seen one or heard of one so we ran to the books and internet. There are very few mentions of photos of them in Baja but folks from the Atlantic and Caribbean know all about them where they are much more common and, in Australia, of course! At first, I thought I knew what it is. But, it looked like a cross mutant between a pargo and cabrilla! The triple tail was good eating!

 

LAS ARENAS FISHING PICKY BUT OUR LA PAZ BOATS FIND GOOD ACTION ALL WEEK!

La  Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of July 28 to Aug. 4, 2013

It was a pretty decent week of fishing. Not the greatest, but not bad either.  Let me explain…

I have to say that I’m thankful we have our two fleets with one of them in La Paz and one of them at Las Arenas.  It gives our clients some choices about where to fish and we can also move them if necessary to get them the best conditions or to find fish.

As sometimes happens, weather or fishing dictates that sometimes one side will be better than the other.  It happens.  Normally, this time of year both our fleets are bendo and deep into all manners of fish.

However this past week, Las Arenas really sorta dropped off the fishing map.  Not one was it rougher from some long distance storms to the south that brought in some chop and swell, but there was a lack of bait.  Additionally, the better fishing was either outside at the buoys or all the way out at the 88 spot.

One the good side, the buoys held some decent dorado and the 88 produced more of those monster bull dorado and a number of hooks ups on striped marlin, sailfish and even a few big blues (all billfish either released or broke off).  But that’s a long way to run and if it was one of those bumpy days and you were one of the pangas that scratched, it’s a long long day.

Las Arenas just wasn’t happening.  The captains worked hard and busted humps looking for fish or trolling, but it was just one of those weeks.

But, like I said, thankfully, we had our La Paz fleet.  So, folks would try a day or two at Las Arenas then we’d have them switch over to our La Paz fleet.

And everyone got fish!  Limits or near limits of dorado from punk-sized schoolies to 30-plus pound bull mahi as well as some stripers and sailfish and even a few sharks hooked up.  The fish were well north so it was a bit of a ride and the bite was often late…well past 1 p.m. So, often I had to tell our clients, just be patient and let the captain fish.  Don’t jump the gun.  Sure enough…the late bite came in and there would be the feeding frenzy!

Sometimes our pangas weren’t coming back until 4 or 5 p.m., but that’s because our captains were working it hard.  We go out at 6 a.m. often several hours before the other fleets and my guys are willing to stay the extra hours to wait for the bite when other fleets are coming back at 1:30 or 2 p.m.  It made a difference and all of our clients this week still went home with full ice chests!

Bait as tough for our La Paz fleet as well, but going out extra early, we’re able to jig up some mackerel and caballitos then go look for some sardines.  Then go hook a few small bonito.  By the time you hit the fishing grounds, you’ve got 2 or 3 different types of bait aboard and gives you an edge.  Add in some trolling and now you’re cooking with gas!   But, as I said, we just had to tell folks “be patient.”  Our captains are all working hard to find the fish.  And we found them.  It was just later than normal!

MORE ON MEXICAN FISHING LICENSES

A few weeks ago, we started telling you about the big SNAFU with Mexico not printing out enough fishing licenses for the whole country.  Big Oops!  They’re trying to find a KINKO’s to handle it, but in the meantime, everyone is scrambling.

Baja still does not have any printed fishing licenses to sell.  They keep telling us “in a few weeks” but we’ve been hearing that for awhile.  In the meantime, the only way to have fishing licenses is still to purchase them online or find a tackle store there in the U.S. that sells them over-the-counter or online (some will mail them to you).  However, for southern Baja, they now have their own website to sell them that works pretty well.  Here’s the link:

http://apps.bcs.gob.mx/finanzas/finaweb/fonmar/

Just remember that the amounts are in pesos so divide the number by about 11 or 12 and you won’t have a heart attack!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://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.”

Read Full Post »

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