La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 30, 2018-Jan. 6, 2019
Mexican Minute Video Report
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN WEEK AT A GLANCE
Weather – Started a bit rough and windy but got better as the week went on. Mostly sunny with daytime temps in the 70’s. Some isolated showers. Coming week almost a duplicate.
Waters – Seem to be getting cooler and cloudier, but there’s still some warm patches holding warm water species like dorado and tuna.
Fishing – Quite a surprise. As the weather got better, so did the fishing. Ended up with some really great inshore action with quite a variety of unusual catches with both warm and cold water species!
Fish Caught this week: (cold water species) yellowtail, cabrilla, pargo, snapper, sierra. (Warm water species) dorado, tuna (hooked), wahoo (hooked), roosterfish, bonito, jack crevalle, triggerfish
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
All the way from Alaska, Mic Ward boats one of the first yellowtail of the season that bit a trolled Rapala. Mic was staying at Bahia Muertos near La Paz at Rancho Costa Resort.
Dorado in January right off the Punta Perrico rocks! That’s amigo, Gary Wagner who owns the Giggling Marlin Bar in Cabo and Rancho Costa Resort.
Lew Cox from San Diego just wanted to get away for some sunshine and had one day to fish and got a bit of variety for the fish box including sierra, dorado and bonito.
Steve Green has himself a dandy cabrilla caught just outside of Bahia Muertos. Steve is from chilly Wyoming and was staying at the Rancho Costa Resort.
Great shot. Great fish! First yellowtail bite of the season! Gary got this forkie trolling a Rapala X-Rap 40 deep diver.
Windier weather at the beginning of the week (and the year) put fishing on the slow side, but as the week went on, conditions improved and a nice variety of fish showed up especially for our anglers fishing in and around Muertos Bay.
In fact, the bite was surprising for the incredible mixed bag of both warm and cold water species.
Warm water species included dorado and smaller roosterfish as well as bonito and jack crevalle. Cold water fish, more common to this type of year included our first yellowtail of the season plus cabrilla, snapper, pargo, and sierra. Live bait is a bit difficult, but the fish showed no hesitation biting jigs, lures and trolled Rapalas.
None of the fish were far offshore…often within casting distance of the beach or rocks.
Nothing really big, but for many folks just down to find some sunshine and not really caring too much about what was biting, it was great action. Often you just never knew what was going to bite and at times the bite was full-speed. Anglers working light tackle really had a hoot.
Gray whales are starting to show up and the vanguard of the migration are moving in. Whale watching season should be good and we’ll start running trips in about 2 weeks.
The whales have been more than cooperative to come visit with the boaters!
TAILHUNTER 2019 ROAD TOUR
Here we go! Jill and Jonathan are on the road again! For over 2 decades we spend the first 3 months of the year in the gypsy caravan covering over 15,000 miles and all the big fishing and hunting shows in the Western U.S. It’s a great opportunity to see old friends and meet new amigos!
This week, Jill and I will be in our booth at the Denver Convention Center for the International Sportsmens Expo! It runs from Thursday to Sunday (January 10-13th) and it’s an incredible fun event for the whole family!
There will be hundreds of fishing and hunting outfitters from Canada, Alaska, Mexico, Africa and just about every other location on the globe. Tons of gear and new equipment. RV’s and camping. Off-road and boating. It’s all there.
We’ll be in our booth for the entire 4 days. Come by and say hi and let’s talk about fishing in La Paz . Dates are filling so let’s get you set up!
Enough stuff for 3 months on the road! Me, Jilly and Catlyn! Driving through Texas on our way to Denver this week!
God bless TEXAS!
Here’s more info plus how to get tickets. Click this link!
La Paz-Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Dec 23-30, 2018
Mexican Minute Video Fishing Report
Short Attention Span – Week at a Glance
Weather – Sunny to partially cloudy all week . Highs mid-70’s. Lows down to a chilly high 40’s. Had quite a bit of wind this past week. One day the port captain shut down the port from all boat traffic in-or-out because of the rough waters.
Fishing – Not bad considering the weather and time of year. It could be rough, but both warm and cold water species caught.
Fish Caught This Week: Dorado, pargo, cabrilla, snapper, tuna, white bonito, Pacific bonito, jack crevalle.
The Big Picture and Rest of the Story…
Billy Wong from Colorado Springs was staying at Muertos Bay at the Rancho Costa Resort and earlier in the week found the tuna as well as dorado and bonito.
Nice mix of fish for Dave Perkins who had one day later in the week under cloudy skies and put dorado, cabrilla and two kinds of bonito in the ice chest.
Billy Wong with a chunky bonito that provided some good rod-bending all week.
It was a bit of a windy, cold and cloudy week for the Christmas holidays, especially as the week went on. However, being off-season, there weren’t that many folks out anyway or wanting to fish, specifically because of the winds and rough seas. There was even one day where it was so rough the La Paz port captain closed to port prohibiting all boat traffic in, our, or on the water.
For the sturdier folks that did go out and braved it, the fishing was about as erratic as the weather, but they found some fish. And it was a nice mix. Fortunately, it was all close to shore too which offered more protection.
There were a few nice yellowfin tuna hooked. Surprisingly, also some scattered dorado as well. A bit unusual to have warm water species like these hanging out this late in the year. Add in some snapper, cabrilla and pargo fishing over the rocks and reefs plus nice numbers of bonito that are always good for action and it wasn’t too bad.
The coming week looks like about the same with some strong bouts of wind with partially cloudy skies and temps in the high-70’s and at night in the mid-to-high-60’s.
FISHING IN 2019
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We are coming off one of the best fishing seasons in the more than 24 years we started Tailhunter Sportfishing. We’re a full-service outfitter and can customize your perfect fishing vacation. We’ll set up lodging, airport transfers, fishing, SCUBA, kayaking, snorkeling, whale-watching and so many other activities. Ask us about one of our packages.
Dates are filling up and reservations are coming in daily with so many folk wanting to get in on the fishing action and lots of regulars and repeat anglers! Let us know what we can do so you don’t miss out!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 16-23, 2018
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN WEEK AT A GLANCE
Weather – Some of the best in a long time. Minimal winds. Flat seas. Sunny skies in the high 70’s and low 80’s
Fishing: Too bad not many folks fishing! The fish were biting close to shore.
Fish Caught: Tuna, wahoo, dorado, snapper, bonito, pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle
Forecast: Winds come up later in the week might be a bit rocky to fish late next week
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Amigo Gary Graham of Colorado Springs CO and also the Rancho Costa Resort used a Cedar Plug to get tuna like this as well as other species this week.
Happy guy! Mauricio Villanueva wit a chunky yellowfin just outside of Bahia de los Muertos.
Good news…bad news…good news.
We had one of the better weeks for weather than we’ve had in a long time. Some breezes, but mostly just nice sunny weather in the high 70’s to low 80’s which is perfect for the snowbirds now visiting La Paz. Compared to some of the blustery windy days we normally have, it was pretty good winter fishing weather.
The bad news is no one is really fishing or wanted to go out. We had some walk-in fishermen…the ones who are here on vacation then just want to go out for a day, but those are rare. We had others who booked reservations ahead of time like normal. But, when they got to La Paz, they decided to just chill and kick-back on the beaches with family and friends. I get it. Oh well. That’s why this is a nice place to hang out for the winter in Baja.
The other good news is that for those who did go out this week, the weather contributed to good fishing conditions and even if the wind was breezy, we didn’t have to go out more than a hundred yards or so to get into some nicer grade tuna; schoolie dorado; and even a few wahoo biters. The tuna were surprising 20-30 pound fun-sized yellowfin. Dorado, were smallish with most hovering around 10-pounds but nice fish for the fishermen just looking for some action, especially if they were first timers. Plus a good number of tough bonito to bend rods.
Inshore, the usual species of snapper, jack crevalle, sierra plus an occasional big cabrilla rounded out the boxes.
This coming week, the earlier part of the week looks like it will remain fairly decent weather-wise for Christmas, but then picking up again later in the week when it might not be so comfortable for fishing.
CHRISTMAS SHOUT OUT
From us to you…all of us on the Tailhunter Team in La Paz, we wish you a safe, happy and peaceful Christmas and holidays. Wherever you are and whatever you’re doing this week, God bless!
In two weeks, we’ll be hitting the road for our annual Tailhunter Road Tour for 2019. We’ll be on the road, as usual for 3 months and will hopefully see you along the way. Our first stop will be at the Denver Sportmens’ Show at the Denver Convention Center Jan. 10-13 (Thursday to Sunday). Jilly and I will be in the booth ready to chat about fishing with us in 2019 and would love to see you!
Don’t forget out 2019 Whalewatching season will kick off in a few weeks! The whales are usually with us from mid-January to late March! Ask us about setting up a great family experience in the waters of Bahia Magdalena for you. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get close to these great creatures! E-mail: Jonathan@tailhunter.com
La Paz- Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 9-16, 2018
THE MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN WEEK AT A GLANCE
Weather – Pleasant week for the most part. Low in the 60’s and highs in the high 70’s. Mostly sunny. Winds gave us a break earlier in the week but got stronger (and colder) as the week went on.
Water – Choppier and rougher later in the week
Fishing – More blue water species early in the week when the winds were down and it was calmer. More inshore and rock fish as weather got rougher and we had to fish closer in.
Species Caught This Week: dorado, tuna, cabrilla, seabass, bonito, snapper, jack crevalle
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Gary Wagner, owner of Rancho Costa there at Muertos, hooked 4 dorado and got 2 to the boat. He had a wahoo come off and he had a tuna on for over an hour before it came unbuttoned. Looks cold!
Laura Hernandez from San Diego got out a few days earlier in the week and got into the dorado. Later, as conditions changed, some huge sierra.
Not too bad a week, for the weather. It was just cold (by our La Paz standards!). Tourists were still running around in shorts while locals donned long pants and jackets! Likewise, earlier in the week, winds laid down long enough to get boats out and fortunately for our type of fishing, no one really had to go out very far.
There’s still some schools of dorado around with some nicer 15-20 pounders mixed in. Very surprising given the time of year. Along with the dorado, some tuna were also hooked and a wahoo did bite one of the lines but came unbuttoned which is an encouraging sign (that it bit, not that it came off!). Plus, add in the usual bonito and way too many needlefish. All-in-all, not too bad.
As the week went on, winds came up again and the waters changed resulting in more restricted fishing with colder-water species like sierra, jack crevalle, cabrilla and snapper biting. Hard to know when not that many folks are fishing. Most of the visitors to town are snowbirds just looking for sunshine and an escape from even colder places. Locals are all getting ready for Christmas.
WHALES ON THE WAY!
Our annual whale-watching season is almost upon us. Migrating yearly from the Bering Sea by Alaska, the whales are on their way to Baja to mate, give birth and hang out in the warm lagoons of the Pacific. We have daily and overnight trips booking fast. Contact us for more details for a great family trip!
SPREADING THE CHEER
Many of you know that my wife, Jilly, has had a program for five years whereby Tailhunter Outreach program collects clothes, toys, sporting goods, school supplies, medical supplies and more for needy folks and communities in and around La Paz. It was originally started after Hurricane Odile crashed into us in 2014, but the program just kept growing. To date, our Tailhunter amigos and brought down over 3 tons of good that we distribute throughout the year! Jill also has a scholarship program to keep kids in school as well.
Everyone’s favorite guy…Jorge Romero
This past week our own, Jorge and Sandra Romero donated almost 200 pounds of toys to the kids of Los
Planes (near Muertos Bay where many of our captains and their families live). With the assistance of Gary Wagner and his crew at Rancho Costa, all these kids got something for Christmas! Thanks, Jorge and Sandra!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 2-9, 2018
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN WEEK at a GLANCE
Weather – Yuk. Not only windier and rougher, but two days of the week we had rain and it was pretty hard at times. But, not really anyone fishing those days anyway.
Fishing – Whoever went out at least, they got fish! Some nice cabrilla, pargo and snapper. Bonito always make for fun and some random dorado still around
Forecast – Later ths coming week might get pretty windy around Thursday and Friday. Mostly cloudy. Highs in the mid-70’s. Nights in the low 60’s.
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Bonito and snapper in the box. Fun fishing. Snapper are excellent eating.
Not much to report this week. There’s a number of things to point at.
First, it’s off-season. Just not many folks fishing between November and April. It can be windy and rough. And indeed, that’s the 2nd reason there’s not much to report.
It was not only cold and windy this week, but it rained. In fact, it rained pretty hard at times. That winter storm “Diego” that dropped show and rain in California; flash flooding in Texas and is now slamming into the East Coast started down in Baja! So, that’s not exactly conducive to fishing.
Finally, tack on the fact that this is the “lull” between the holidays. There’s just not that many folks in town. Some snowbirds mostly or folks just looking for a little sunshine compared to where they’re from. And they’re not really in town to do much or any fishing.
All that being said, there was some spotty to OK fishing taking place. Inshore species like snapper and cabrilla…sometimes large cabrila provided action. For a lot of first-timers, bonito are always fun too. Some good eating sierra were taken and here and there’s schools of dorado running 5-15 pounds were about the only blue-water species around, but a hoot for a lot of these snowbirds.
WHALE WATCHING SEASON COMING UP SOON!
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Don’t forget! January to March is our prime-time whale watching season over at Magdalena Bay. Ask us about more details for this great family adventure. It’s the largest migration on earth and a fantastic experience to get so close to those incredible animals.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Nov. 11-25, 2018
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Town is kinda quiet these days. Nice time to be down here to enjoy some sunshine! You have the beaches to yourself!
When you can only squeeze in one day to fish in between bouts of wind and you make a great day out’ve it…Elijah Rush from El Cajon, CA got a handful of dorado, a tuna and some pargo (not pictured) for the ice chest!
Typical catch right now. Some snapper. Some pargo. Maybe some dorado.
As far as conditions, it wasn’t as bad as it has been when it’s been windy and rough with port closures. Actually, it was pretty nice overall. Sun’s out and a nice time to be in town with day time temps like a postcard in the high-70’s to low-80’s and night time temps in the high-60’s. Breezes kicking up to about 15 mph, but mostly later.
You can see why lots of snowbirds are “escaping” into town right now and we’re getting inquiries from Minnesota, Canada, Montana and North Dakota! No matter how “bad” our weather is, the only snow you’ll find is in a margarita glass.
But, by the same token, not many folks fishing. Almost no-one as a matter of fact. The folks coming to town are looking for sunshine and putting their toes in the sand.
The waters are still rougher than normal. In fact, last week several days the port was closed to all boat traffic coming or going. So, even if it’s calm in the bay, it can be crazy outside. Even, inside the bay it can be churning.
Two weeks ago, an independent dive boat overloaded with more than 2 dozen divers ignored the closures and went out. It got swamped and sank! Fortunately, everyone was picked up from what we heard.
However, we did get a few folks out. On the days it was really windy, we couldn’t go.
If it was moderately windy we were still able to fish inshore for some cabrilla, snapper, bonito and jacks. Weather permitting, if we could get just a little outside, there’s some dorado and tuna still hanging out.
Live bait has been an issue because of the rougher weather pounding the shallow bait areas so we’re using mostly dead bait or lures lately.
WHALE WATCHING SEASON COMING UP
Don’t forget our annual Whale Watching Season at Bahia Magdalena runs from January to March. Contact us for more info about a great family event and the opportunity to see these magnificent animals up close like you’ve never imagined!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 27-Nov. 4, 2018
Mexican Minute Video Report
Short Attention Span Week at a Glance
Weather – Beautiful sunny days, but winds are definitely up. Erratically so. Sometimes in the morning. Sometimes in the afternoon. Comes from different directions and sometimes several changes during the same day. So, it can be bumpy and rough some days…some places…but not others. Otherwise, it’s a really pretty time to be in town. Snowbirds starting to filter back to the city. Daytime temps low to mid-80’s.
Water – Winds are causing water temps to drop. Also, less blue water and water getting turned over now. The agitated water is also making it harder to get bait…very important in fishing production.
Fishing – Up and down. So many variables now. More wind. Cooler waters. More difficult to find bait. Big moon. By themselves not a big deal, but combined fishing very much affected. Fish are moving around. Different species biting. Still some tuna and dorado around. Still some of those big pargo. More cooler water fish inshore. Had a good wahoo week. Also, surprisingly strong for big roosterfish this past week.
Outlook – As the wind continue, things will continue to change towards the cooler, rougher water. We’re not fishing much out’ve La Paz anymore with more focus fishing from Muertos/ Las Arenas where it’s a little more protected.
The Big Picture and the Rest of the Story…
Sorry we couldn’t get Marcus his marlin although he tried really hard at it, but he finally got his roosterfish as he and Captain Victor struggle to get a photo and get the big fish released. Punta Perico in the near background.
Captain Pancho with our fun Montana friends who had a super day. Darrel Zauner and daughter, Marni got two wahoo and a tuna and had a big dog-tooth on the line too!
Smiles from George Shaw who finally hit the fish on their 3rd day.
Fat tuna in the hands of Darcie…her first tuna and she rocked it like a boss.
Good week for wahoo. Came up from the East Cape to find the skinnies.
Hi Renee! Fun week with Renee and her husband who hung in there during a scratchy week and finally got into the fish.
Johnny from Rancho Costa got himself a wahoo for dinner too!
Captain Victor watched Marcus hoist his catch from Bahia Muertos.
We had an up-and-down week here. We had some of the prettiest postcard days, but also some days when the sun was out but the winter winds were blowing making it tough to fish. Oh, and a full moon as well!
I will officially now say we have passed from the warm water season into the cooler off-season. Winds are starting to blow erratically now. Some from the north, some from the south. It changes from day-to-day and can even change several times during the same day.
The result is that the waters have cooled or are getting mucked up. Bait is getting increasingly harder to find and the bait guys either can’t find it or you have to wait until they get enough to sell. Folks get impatient, but what you gonna do? Go fish without bait? That’s the way it is this time of year.
We pretty much aren’t doing much fishing with our La Paz fleet the last week-and-a-half or so. The outside waters are just too unpredictable; fish are scattering now; and bait has become an issue.
So, most of our fishing is with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet.
On the days when we could get bait, there’s still some stray 10-25 pound tuna hanging out. A few dorado here and there. Still some of those nice big pargo liso and big dog-snapper in the rocks, although we didn’t get any to the boat this week and lost all of them in the rocks on busted lines.
However, wahoo are still around. Dark Rapalas are still the best option to get them. We got some 20-40 pounders hooked up this week. Also, I was really surprised that we got so many and so many LARGE roosterfish as well. Really not a very prominent time for roosterfish, but I guess they’re still there. Pretty much any of our anglers this week who wanted to get one hooked up at least one and all of them were respectable legit fish.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 21-28, 2018
Mexican Minute Video Fishing Report
Short Attention Span Week-At-A-Glance
Weather – No shortage of sunshine. It’s really pleasant to be in town right now . Daytime temps in the mid-80’s with a breeze. Nights in the low 70’s. However, not always great to be on the water as Hurricane Willa (hundreds of miles to the south) didn’t mess with us, it did send up some huge swells and strong wind that caused us to shut down our Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Fishing for 2 days. Then, increasing northern winds have made it difficult at time fishing out’ve La Paz. (Also makes it tough to find bait!). The seasons are changing.
Water – The increasing winds are lowering the water temperatures and the water is getting more green although there’s still some great blue water around . It’s all in transition.
Fishing – Maybe it was a combination of variables. Erratic winds. A full moon. Big swells. All of it contributed to a tougher week of fishing. I’ve seen worse. But I have also seen better. We had to work hard to get fish sometimes. Moreso than normal. More cooler water species showing up. Fewer blue-water fish around. Also, the ability to find and catch bait is affected by the weather. Harder to catch bait means harder to catch fish.
Caught This Week – tuna, wahoo, dorado, jack crevalle, lots of bonito, needlefish, roosterfish, pargo liso, cabrilla, triggerfish, dog-tooth snapper, pompano, palometa.
Outlook for Coming Week – Probably alot more of the same. Off-season imminent.
The Big Picture and the Rest of the Story…
Our Montana friend, Darrel Zauner, hooked into a few of these beasts, but finally got a big dog-tooth to the boat!
Gary Pilkington has been visiting us for years and it was good to see him finally get his first wahoo!
Lots of “firsts” this week like this good-looking roosterfish caught by Mike Hanson from Grants’ Pass, Oregon while fishing with Captain Gerardo. The fish is alot bigger than it looks. Both Mike and Captain Gerardo are abut 6’3″ tall! The fish was released.
Outdoor writer, lecturer, author and TV show host, Scott Haugen finally came to visit us from his home in Oregon and put the hurt on this sizeable wahoo using a purple Rapala.
Some good eats here! Two different kinds of pargo caught by Tanner Millspaugh and his dad, Travis, from Washington state.
Two of our new favorite amigos, Debbie Arvin and Lynn Murphy from Colorado, with Captain Armando and some pretty yellowfin tuna.
Great colors on Chris Aiellos, dorado that he caught fishing with our La Paz fleet
A solid day to sea-the-least! Mike and dad Gary Pilkington with a rack of tuna, a dorado plus a wahoo! Grand slam!
First-time visitor from Colorado, in rough water, Don Vanzo got a legit bull dorado on the gaff.
That’s the right kind! John Morgenstern all the way from South Dakota got another tuna into the panga and a great photo!
HI Paula! Well done, amiga! Nice bull dorado!
Alaska in the house! John Daley with Captain Moncho and alot of tuna meat headed to the freezers.
Just too pretty of a photo. This is Jae Shin from Alaska with a roosterfish on the flyrod in Bahia Muertos.
Here’s Jae’s roosterfish caught on the flyrod . Great fun on such light tackle! The rooster was released. That’s Bahia Muertos water.
She’s an author and lecturer and teaches classes in outdoor cooking! Tiffany Haugen poses great with a wahoo in the blue waters near Punta Arenas.
Robbie Boyd and his dad, Bill, and Captain Jorge display a pretty pargo liso an a couple of yellowfin tuna on the beach at Muertos Bay.
He looks grim, but Brian is actually a nice guy with two handfuls of dorado and tuna caught with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.
You’re kidding! Greg Garrison and Nic Huff sport THREE big wahoo from a day of fishing right off the rocks at Punta Arenas.
Celebrating Lollie Milano’s retirement, Dana Milano came down for the week and got themselves some nice yellowfin going on ice.
Stan Andre gives a little kiss to his dorado he got while fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.
Brian’s got another dorado to add to the box! Despite some slow spots, he and his amigos took a nice load of fish home!
Gary Wagner loves light tackle and took this feisty rooster in the shallows in front of his place at Bahia Muertos. The fish was released.
Scott Haugen knows how to pose with a fish…like this colorful dorado.
Nic had never fished before but scored a number of highly covered wahoo!
I think that’s Brian behind the mask with another dorado.
Tough fish to pull out’ve the rocks, but Scott Haugen did the trick after 5 of them got the best of him and broke him off.
Table full ‘o’ tuna for Mike and Kirsten Hanson from Oregon!
Great shot of Mike Pilkington’s first wahoo. Caught with Captain Pancho driving the rig. Nice fish, Mike!
They don’t have many mahi mahi in S. Dakota which is where John Morgenstern will be taking these fillets!
First dorado for Ms. Tiffany. She is such a gamer!
It was a hit-or-miss week of fishing as the warm water season winds down and cooler conditions move in. We often had to work a lot harder for our fish this past week than we’ve been used to during the season but everyone got fish. It just wasn’t as easy or as plentiful in some cases.
It was erratic. One boat would find fish and a boat next to them would struggle. We’d look for tuna and only find dorado. We’d chase dorado and get dog-tooth snapper. A boat trying to pargo or cabrilla would hook a wahoo! Just no rhyme or reason. One day our Las Arenas fleet would be hot and the next day our La Paz fleet would have the hot bite!
A lot of it had to do with the weather. Winds are blowing stronger and coming from all directions at different times of the day. It’s cooling off the water temps. It’s clouding up the water. It’s making bait harder and harder to find as waves crash into the shallow areas disturbing the bait schools.
The big hurricane Willa that hammered far south of us, did not do us any damage. The sun burned brightly every day. But it did throw up some big wave and southerly winds that forced us to cancel two days of fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. As the winds increase from the north, I imagine there will be more days that are tough to fish as the season diminishes.
However, there was a good jag of wahoo this week. Some boats got multiple strikes and landed several.
The tuna were a little more scarce, but little spots of tuna popped up if you could jump on them fast enough. The schools were very often busting water, but were hesitant to eat or would only eat quickly and move on so you only had a small window to get in on the bite. The full moon might have had something to do with that.
Again, we had unusually huge dog-tooth snapper and pargo liso come up off the shallows busting rods (really!) and 150-pound test. We got about 1 out’ve every 8 or 9 hook-ups on these tough fish.
Dorado are still around. Mostly in the 10-15 pound class.
ON a PERSONAL NOTE…
This is been an emotional roller-coaster week. Earlier in the week, my dad passed away. He was 91-years-young.
Many of you knew him. He loved to fish. He loved reading this fishing report. Thankfully to Jill, she jammed a ticket back to Los Angeles in my hand on a “gut feeling” and told me to get back to see him NOW and she kicked me outta La Paz.
I got to spend a few hours with him and hold him for a bit and after spending most of the night with him told him I’d be back in the morning to have breakfast with him. Little did I know that would be the last. The next morning, he took a breath and let go and slipped quietly and peacefully away.
I had to get back to La Paz and three days later…talk about the circle of life, we welcomed Hannah James Reid our 2nd grandchild to our daughter Jessie Reid and Brian Reid. Whoo-hoooo!!!
The circle of life keeps rolling!
Just wanted to reach out to thank the hundreds of you that sent condolences to both Jill and I and also all of you sending congratulations. We do not pass through life alone. Glad to be on the path with so many of you. God bless!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 1-7, 2018
The Mexican Minute Video Fishing Report
Short Attention Span Week at a Glance
Weather – Definitely cooler although water still warm. In the mornings, the water at 86 or 87 degrees is warmer than the air! Daytime temps down to about 92 now. Humidity has thankfully dropped. Quite comfortable. However, more winds and breezes especially from the north which is indicative of the changing season and coming winter…perhaps earlier than we would like. Winds make it harder to fish. We even had a little mini-hurricane by Cerralvo Island that we call “toritos” (little bull) that popped up and then left complete with waterspouts, wind, waves, thunder and lightning.
Water – Still warm and blue but the presence of so many cool-water species like the pargo, pompano, palometa are indicative of cooler water moving in.
Fishing – Incredible numbers of species for this time of year. Normally, it’s dominated by the warm water species like tuna, dorado, wahoo and billfish. But, right now, in addition to those we also have cabrilla, pompano, several types of pargo, jack crevalle, several species of bonito and more.
Outlook for Coming Week – Continued cooler. Might get a spot of rain. Winds increasing
The Big Picture and the Rest of the Story…
Our amigo, Rob Chambers, had himself quite a day doing the hat trick at Las Arenas with 3 exotic species. He started the day nailing this wahoo on a purple rapala (still hanging from the mouth); then he nailed a nice bull dorado (photo below) the caught and released a roosterfish off the Punta Perico rocks! Scroll down for the rest of the photos!
Walt Menda from Sacramento comes down every year and always hangs the big fish fish. This one was with Captain Jorge and he and the fish battled for 2 long hours on light tackle.
Taking a quick week off from Germany where he serves in the U.S. Army, Marcus Yoo was just outside of Bahia Muertos when he took this colorful bull dorado.
That’s alot of meat! Ira Stephens from Washington and Mike Purcell from New York with Captain Jorge show off some nice tuna plus a bonus HUGE pargo liso (mullet snapper)
First-timer, Bryan Loh, from Newport Beach with Captain Gerardo put the hurt on this pretty wahoo using a dark X-Rap Rapala.
Hector and “Aguachile” Henry do it again with a couple of fat La Paz Bay yellowfin tuna.
Our La Paz Fleet really kicked out some nice catches this week. Check out the deck spread of tuna and dorado caught by Curt and Debbie Keller from Utah. First-visit to us!
Two funny guys! Captain Armando with our bud, John Gibbs and a colorful barred pargo.
Now that’s some variety! Marcus with yellowfin tuna, barred pargo, cubera snapper (pargo perro) and triggerfish . Great eating!
Mark Bonsack and Brad Sleder slipped in a quick two-day trip that produced this wahoo.
There was no shortage of tuna for our La Paz Fleet this week which usually relies on the dorado bite! But Captain Chito and Dave Wakabayashi rolled up some nice yellowfin off Espirito Santo Island.
Alex Dombrowski from Washington started off his fishing week with a bang…dorado, barred pargo and pompano for the fish box.
Wow…that’s alot of meat! A big pargo liso to go with tuna and a mess of pompano for Walt Menda and Lloyd Okimura from Sacramento!
Our best amigo, Jorge Romero, took a day off from driving all over Baja and took the biggest tuna of the day!
We had fun with these two! Great visit for the first time from Travis Woodard and Craig Wood and their wahoo.
Another of many trips in the book over the years from Delando Pegan who fished with our La Paz fleet and poses with tuna and dorado (more fish on the stern!). He owns Relik Winery in Oregon and is opening up his new B & B as well.
Jerry Kvaternik from Washington finally made it down to see us after many years! That’s a yellowfin tuna he’s goofing with!
Hard to believe all the pompano we caught this week. I don’t recall ever seeing this many caught. Normally a spring-time fish. Even then we never caught this many! John Gibbs does the honors. Great eating!
1-2-3…LIFT!!! That’s Curt Keller, trying to take a photo with his big roosterfish so he could released it. Captain Victor tries to help!
Nice shot. Powerful fish! Yellowfin tuna for Marcus.
Love that grin, Mike Jacobson! First-time visit with us, he got into the tuna and dorado!
Jae Park and Mike Kingsmore with Captain Ramiro and a nice wahoo. They also caught tuna and dorado over the 3 days of fishing.
Worth the smile after a good day fishing for Bill Bigelman from Washington with wahoo, cabrilla, tuna and dorado on the cutting table!
As good a picture as you might find. Nice bull dorado, Rob Chambers!
Lots of palometa this week which is highly unusual! Great eating fish related to jack crevalle, pompano, roosterfish and yellowtai.
That’s gonna be on a sashime plate! Andrew Bowman back for another year going home with tuna and dorado.
Nothing wrong with Bob Larson’s catch on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos! Tuna and dorado for ready to fillet!
Henry and Hector again! Barred pargo and an upside-down tuna!
Gary Okimoto on his first trip to La Paz with Lloyd Okimura who comes every year! Gary had a good time! Check out the first-day catch of tuna from Muertos Bay!
Armando and Choo…posing with their tuna. Big boy yellowfin!
Good form! Marcus Yoo on the stick has another La Paz tuna!
Jerry has another yellowfin! Washington in the house this week.
Good day for Rob Chambers! Just off the rocks at Punta Perico with a pretty roosterfish. Caught and released. Rob’s first trip to visit us.
Mike Kingsmore and Jae Park with another fat tuna on the beach.
The seasons are noticeably changing. This past week temperatures seemed to have come down a good 5 degrees with daytime temps now in the low 90’s and the humidity has thankfully also eased up a bit. But the surest indicator is that the north winds that blow during out winter off-season months have started to pick up which will surely continue the cooling trend.
The fishing, not so co-incidentally, also seemed to take a bit of a change as well.
Yellowfin tuna that we’ve had all year, but especially the last 2 months took a bit of a slow-down. They’re still here and we caught quite a few, but not as many. Most were in the 10-30 pound class with a few 40-60 pounders. There were some 100+ pounders hooked at the south end of Cerralvo Island, but all of those fish were lost. Still, we had to work a lot harder to find the tuna this past week whereas in other weeks, the tuna were voracious. Some days, some pangas did not get any tuna at all which have been our bread-and-butter fish most of the season…at least for our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet.
However, remarkably, the bite was far better for our Tailhunter La Paz fleet which usually relies on a stead dorado bite to bend rods and fill fish boxes. However, this past week, the tuna bite was actually much more solid and dependable with 25-40 pound yellowfin taking up perhaps 50% of the catch. Whereas in normal years, we see only a handful of tuna for the La Paz fleet, this past week, our pangas were getting 2-10 yellowfin per panga per day!
Another indicator of the changing season is the variety of fish we’ve been catching the last two weeks.
Usually, this time of year warm water species like tuna and dorado dominate the fish counts.
However, in the last two weeks, we’ve gotten more wahoo which are normally late October fish. Also, some of those big dog-tooth / cubera snapper and mullet snapper/ pargo lisos that we normally only see in the cooler spring-time months of March through May. In addition a lot of palometa and pompano were also caught which are also spring-time fish .
We’ll have to keep an eye out for it and see if this is an on-going trend. Or just a slight anomaly. You would have thought with the dark moon this past week the fishing would have been a little stronger. Some boats some days actually really struggled while pangas right next to them were bent all day. Then, it would reverse the next day. But, overall, everyone got fish to bring home.
BIG HEARTS!
Jim Gatti arranged with the Sacramento Chapter of Safari Club International to have his 5 couples bring down a huge load of school supplies, sports equipment and hygiene items this past week. On top of it all, they donated money to our scholarship fund and brought enough to send 2 kids to school for two years with breakfast, books, uniforms and transportation!
Long-time Tailhunter amigos, Brad Baker and Jim Adair hauled down school supplies and tooth brushes.
Over the years, these guys have brought us not only lots of laughs and grins, but lots of donations for our Outreach Program. This week they hauled down several ice chests of new shoes, school supplies, clothes, hygiene products, and sports equipment.
As our season winds down to the last few weeks we need to give a shout-out to all of our Tailhunter Tribe who brought down thousand of pounds of donation items to our Tailhunter Outreach Program which over the past decade has distributed several tons of items to a local orphanage, a Womens Shelter, a Senior Citizen home and an under-served local neighborhood.
This past week even more great items were brought down and we appreciate everyone who found a little extra space in their ice chests and suitcases to stuff some stuff in there for our La Paz amigos. Regretfully, we don’t have photos of everyone who brought donations, but you know who you are and we’re grateful. This stuff changes lives!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 23-30, 2018
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
SHORT ATTENTION SPAN WEEK-AT-A-GLANCE
Weather – We expected some rain all week according to the forecasts especially with Hurricane Rosa not too far off in the Pacific, but other than some clouds and thunderheads, it thankfully never materialized. Mostly 95-99 in the daytimes, but can be very humid…80-90% humidity! Stay hydrated!
Water – Still showing mid-80’s on th surface which is where the blue-water species are hanging out, but the fact that we’re getting many species we only see in the springtime like pargo and pompano makes me think there’s cooler water down deeper.
Fishing – Pretty solid! Can’t believe all the different species that shows up this week. Highly unusual! We had tuna, wahoo, dorado, dog tooth (cubera) snapper, pargo liso (mullet snapper), barred pargo, jack crevalle, marlin, bonito, cabrilla, roosterfish and more! Have never seen so many big dog-tooth snapper this week. Plus tuna bit for our Tailhunter Las Arenas AND our Tailhunter La Paz fleets . We usually only get tuna around Las Arenas and more dorado out’ve La Paz. Wahoo showed up this week too!
Catching – Lost several marlin and some big roosterfish not to mention some big wahoo and tuna. But, everyone caught fish!
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST OF THE STORY…
With no wire on his Rapalas, Dave Lindell, our long-time amigo from Pendleton, Oregon hooked 5 of these wahoo in two days with Captain Armando. Three got off (understandably) but he was the only one getting bit and landed two big ones like this!
It’s not as big as it looks, but this is still a monster dog-tooth (cubera) snapper. Laura Hernandez of San Diego had a scale aboard and it was surprisingly only 37 pounds, but a stunning shallow-water catch. She was just off Punta Perico near Las Arenas when she hooked it in the shallows. She and her husband actually got two of these big pargo.
Cousins Ron and Steve Stocking started their first day of fishing with a nice rack of yellowfin and you can see a nice pargo at their feet too!
Whoa! Yea, it was an incredible week for these big doggie cubera snapper! Paddy Christopoulo and Roger Thompson were with Captain Hugo. For the day… Caught 6 tunas, 2 pargo and a 6-pound yellowtail.
Great shot of Clint Carey from Washington and Captain Jorge with a nice roosterfish. The fish was released.
Steve Corn from Newhall CA with dad, Ron, put the hurt on a nice batch of assorted-sized yellowfin tuna off Las Arenas!
We usually only see these during the spring-time, but Kevin Shields from San Diego got this pargo liso (mullet snapper) out’ve the rocks at Muertos Bay.
Two of our newest first-time, amigos…John and Angelica Waggy from Sacramento CA were celebrating her birthday and started off with some nice fat yellowfin.
Color!!! Nice little bull dorado on the gaff for Dan Lewis who caught this off Espirito Santo Island north of La Paz.
Nothing wrong with this model! Nathan Smith battled this yellowfin tuna on light tackle fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet when the tuna unexpectedly popped up and started bending rods early in the week.
Rich Shepherd nailed this huge mullet snapper (pargo liso), but this our our Tailhunter Captain Ramiro posing with it on the beach at Bahia Muertos.
Happy guy…Jerry Kvaternik from Washington had a grand first day with alot of meat! Nice yellowfin tuna plus some trophy barred pargo!
Captain Armando was on fire with the wahoo this week. Gino Fronti and Don Goettling pose with a fat tuna and a speedy wahoo!
From Yorba Linda, CA, Hector Arroyo holds up a hugs dog-tooth for the camera. Hector’s first time with us!
Mark Buchanan from San Diego hooked a beauty of a dog-tooth snapper just off the rocks near the old Hotel Las Arenas using live bait. The fish weight 22 pounds on his hand-scale. They also caught some nice yellowfin tuna all right off the beach .
All the way from Wyoming, Barbara and Marlin Kendall have some great -eating pargo fillets to bring home!
“King” Gama Flores fishes with us twice a year and has a knack for pargo. He’s got some nice tuna on the table and a big pargo mulatto in hand that ended up as soup at our Tailhunter Restaurant for him!
Montana in the house and pompano on the beach for Lee LeVeque. These great-eating fish showed up in numbers this week and are related to the jack family of roosterfish, jack crevalle and yellowtail.
Paddy shows off the teeth of his pargo and why they’re called “dog-tooth” snapper . What a week of snapper fishing!
Nice load of fish headed for the coolers…barred pargo and tuna for Anjelica and John Waggy.
Laura Hernandez can fish! Another colorful yellowfin in the boat and into the fish box.
Steve Harrison looks out over a day’s catch while on the beach at Muertos. Tuna and barred pargo for the cooler! Steve’s from Washington.
Knock wahoo off their bucket list . Kevin Shields and Sean Rose from San Diego with Captain Jorge and their first wahoo.
Mark Buchanan saw a bunch of football tuna breaking so he grabbed his light spinning rod and flipped a bait. Of course, a 40 pound yellowfin grabs it instead and the fight was on . But Mark eventually won. The nearby rocks of Punta Perico in the background.
Another wahoo for Captain Armando and Oregon amigo, Dave Lindell who had a spectacular week of wahoo, tuna and dorado!
This is gonna be short…let the photos do the talking!
Crazy week of fishing!
In more than 20 years down here in La Paz, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much variety in the catches during this time of the year. From day-to-day this week, and even from one panga to the next, I never knew what our anglers were going to be bringing in!
We had yellowfin tuna between 10 and 60 pounds.
There were schoolie-dorado up to 20 pounds
The wahoo at Las Arenas, Punta Perico and S. Cerralvo Island decided to slam Rapalas and the largest were 50 pounders.
We hooked several striped marlin and got a blue marlin.
Roosterfish between 30 and 70 pounds were caught and released!
And the inshore fishing is more like springtime. Huge dog-tooth (cubera) snapper/ pargo were caught up to 50 pounds in shallow water as well as the big mullet snapper (pargo liso) that we normally don’t see until the cooler waters of springtime. I have never seen so many big pargo come up like we had this past week. Plus an incredible number of delicious big pompano and cabrilla.
Add in bonito…jack crevalle…snapper and 3 or 4 other odds and end fish and it was a buffet of catches!
Occasionally one or another boat wouldn’t do well, but then just made up for it the next day. Everyone caught fish! And almost all the fish were pretty close to shore. And most were on live bait.
Tailhunter Fish Report 