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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of July. 12-19, 2024

STRANGE OCEAN- STRANGE BITERS

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 12-19, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WATER – Just weird and strange. Blue water mixed with cold ugly dirty green water.  And seemingly changing daily.  Hot spots become cold spots. And vice versa.  The ocean is not it’s usual self these past weeks.   Temps on the surface ranging all over from 75-85 degrees.  Colder down deep.

WEATHER –  Strange as well.  Mornings are actually cooler than normal some days.  It’s July yet not a bad idea to have a windbreaker or sweatshirt.  Then blazing hot later.  Some days very very windy and rough.  Other days, not a ripple.

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK – Dorado, yellowtail, rainbow runners, marlin, sailfish, roosterfish, pargo liso, snapper, dog-tooth snapper,  cabrilla, triggerfish, bonito, jack crevalle

FISHING on the 1-10 SCALE:  4

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Jimmy Fontenot from San Angelo, TX, got this big trophy rooster off Las Arenas. Jimmy is a champion taxidermist and big game hunting outfitter and owns Wildlife Connections in TX. First time with us! The fish was released.

Mike and Pam Lara from S. California, I could not stop laughing whenever they were around because they always seemed to be having just the best time. They slammed dorado with us and took home a big batch of fillets! Also, first time visitors with Tailhunter.

Ahhh…Dolores Ehlers with her favorite Captain Pancho has been with us for many many years and we can’t help but call her “Mom.” She’s a treasure and she can fish too! She also makes a mean meatloaf sandwich! 😁

Weird and strange! Cold water fish like yellowtaill suddenly showed up this week! Right off the northern and southern ends of Cerralvo Island and north Espirito Santo Island as well as the Punta Arenas lighthouse! Gary and Miles Wagner with a nice pair. Gary owns the Rancho Costa at Bahia Muertos!

Bryan Gadol only had 2 days to fish with us and had quite a time. Fishing with Captain Armando check out the striped marlin. Great photo and the fish was released.

Sunrise roosterfish for Mike Frazier. One of several he caught and released! His wife claims hers was bigger! See the rest of the photos below!

Kelli Frazier made sure to let husband, Mike, know that HER roosterfish was larger than the ones he caught! Big trophy in the photo and they released all their roosters!

Love this photo and this young man! Mike Novotny with a gorgous blue bull dorado and his “deckhand” of the day, Dylan, son of our popular Captain Luis.

He wanted one and he got one! Randy Fontenot from Texas poses with his big rooster before releasing it. Brother Jimmy stands by!

My high school classmate from more than 50 years ago, Eddie Falcon, behind the mask with his super wife, Debbie and deckhand Dylan (son of Captain Luis) near Espirito Santo Island. Eddie battled this bull dorado with a bad shoulder and back and had been tussling already with several big bonito when the dorado slammed him! But, he got it and that’s what we made for dinner for them at Tailhunter that night!

Not quite sure whether Aaron or Kyle caught this nice marlin. Both of them laughed when I asked, but they said it was off the bucket list! They were with Captain Julio off Espirito Santo Island.

 

 

Richard Kraft is with us all week and has done pretty nicely each day with a variety of species and good action. I think this was his first day catch. Dorado and bonito!

Another sample of colder water moving in! Amigo, Gary Wagner, owner of Rancho Costa in Bahia Muertos with a pargo liso which we usually catch in the early spring. I’ve never seen them in July!

Cheyenne Lee on her birthday with husband Brody from Utah. First timers withus and some nice dorado to bring home. Check out Cheyenn’s bull! I believe she also hooked a marlin that day.

Gary Wagner with wife Tracy and daughter Brittany just off his place at Rancho Costa at Bahia Muertos with a dandy rooster for the quick photo and release. They got 2 nice ones on the day.

Lots of dorado meat for John Ehlers to take home to Colorado! John has been with us for almost 20 years and loves fishing with Captain Pancho.

Might be the best photo of the week! Nancy Novotny with Captain Gerardo and her big striper! It was a big time battle and Nancy released the fish swimming away strong!

Again, I’m not sure if Aaron or Kyle caught this big dorado, but either way, it’s a great fish and the meat went home to the same house!

Louisiana boys, Steve Dupuis and Scott Sebastien. Double marlin and both released!

First rooster for Brody to start the morning! Quick photo and release!

Pancho and John Ehlers with a big striper. John tried to release the fish, but was unable to revive it. He generously donated the meat!

Great shot and colors for Jim Lipkowski with his morning dorado fishing with Captain Armando.

In addition to a trophy rooster, Randy really wanted a trophy dorado as well. I think this one fit the bill nicely!

Steve’s got his rooster for a fast photo and get him back in the water for a great release!

Bryan Gadol off Espirito Santo Island poses with another one for the box!

Birthday rooster fishing trip for Cheyenne! Right in the shallows off the island. She released the fish too!

Marlin and her daughter, Priscilla were sure fun to have visiting with us. Nice batch of dorado. Marline has been with us before, but Priscilla was on her first trip!

The ladies had fun this week. Mike Frazier helps Kelli with a feisty jack crevalle!

 

______________________________________________

In four words…THE STRUGGLE IS REAL!

In 30 years down here, I can’t remember ever running into these kinds of conditions!

I dunno.  Like the rest of the world I can’t imagine we are immune from all the funky weird weather changes the rest of the world seems to be experiencing.  However, what I’ve seen the last 3 weeks or so has been perplexing to say the least.

Let me cut to the chase.

  • Yes, we are finding fish.
  • Yes, we are catching big fish.
  • Yes, everyone is catching fish.

 

So, let’s get that out’ve the way right off the top.

But, the erratic conditions and un-predictable bite is driving us all crazy.  Or maybe we’re just spoiled.  We’re just so used to being red hot on fire fishing this time of the year!

A spot that’s hot one day is ice cold the next.  Patches of blue clear water are right next to ugly green cold water.

Mornings can be cool and needing a sweatshirt.  Or they can already be blazing warm with out a breeze.  And yes, we have been having some unseasonably windy and rough days that should NOT be here and then calm flat days when we pray for a breeze on the water as respite from the oven-like heat of the day.

Somedays are humid.  Some days are incredibly pleasant.

Earlier this week, thousands of baitfish washed up on the beaches of La Paz Bay.  Attributed to the rapid heat of the water which caused an algae bloom which depleted the oxygen.  BECAUSE the WATERS WERE TOO WARM.

Yet right outside the bay, the waters were TOO COLD and had turned green and dirty!

Go further out and you find 85 degree blue water.

The fish are as mixed up as we are.  Nothing is for certain except our captains are working hard and ranging far and wide looking for the biters.  Our guests are hanging tough and patient  as well.

Dorado could bite one day. The next day same spot nothing.  Or we suddenly are catching cold-water fish like pargo and yellowtail that NEVER bite in the summer in spots where they should not be!

Marlin are being pests or a great find everywhere depending on your viewpoint.  We sure are hooking a lot and for all the photos you see above 95% are getting released or broken off.

More sharks in the water than I have ever seen too.

There are schools of dorado in the 5 pound (mini mahi) that are around, but they aren’t consistent but then there are big free swimming 20-40 pounders here and there as well.

One boat is all over the fish. The boat 20 yards away can’t buy a fish bite.  Some days Las Arenas is hot.  Next day it’s cold.  Same with La Paz.  It runs different every day with no rhyme or reason.

One of our captains that has been red hot hitting home runs all season suddenly goes several days without hits.

Go figure .

All I can say is look at the photos.  Come fishing.  Most of our guests fish several days and you might have an off-day, but you will probably make up for it on another day.  For sure, if you don’t have a line in the water you’re definitely NOT going to catch anything.

But, despite all the wackiness in the ocean, everyone is catching fish!  Just don’t ask me what you’ll be catching!

Steve andn Scott!

 

Oh wait…we also have a full moon this week too!  We’ll let you know next week how that impacts all the other variables right now!

That’s my story!

 

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.com

Mexico Office: 

Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

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

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of July 4-11, 2024

FISH GOT PICKY -WHAT CHANGED? 

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 4-11, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WATER:  Several weeks of southern winds and waves caused by those storms on the Eastern Coast of Mexico really turned our waters from blue to cold, cloudy and green in many areas. Directly affecting the fishing.

WEATHER:  Cool mornings.  HOT HOT HOT afternoons.  Strange for July weather.

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK: Dorado, marlin, sailfish, tuna, yellowtail, bonito, jack crevalle, cubera snapper, yellowsnapper, triggerfish, roosterfish, cabrilla, pargo

FISHING ON  1-10 SCALE:  3 😳😳😳🥲

MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Captain Luis gives first-timer Jessica Lister from Oregon a hand with a huge bull dorado that’s about as tall as she is!

Steve “Roosterfish King” Bryan from Seattle spends 2 weeks with us each year and only targets big roosterfish. He was in last week’s report and he’s got more fish for this week. All released!

David Jones from Oklahoma with a beast bull dorado!

Always too fun with Taylor Sering from Oregon and Captain Luis. Finally landed his sailfish! Fish could not be released.

Wonderful first-timer with us from Bakersfield CA, Dennis Slater had a good week on dorado and roosterfish.

Sal Lopez has been fishing with us for a couple of decades, but he finally landed (and released) his first roosterfish and it was a gem. He was pretty excited!

The Henke Brothers, David and Bo, our long time, amigos were with Captain Chito and landed a really colorful bull mahi!

Lots of great action on the jack crevalle that sure put up big fights. Austin Lister with a big smile and a jack!

All the way from Indianapolis, Brian Bauer with his wife, Rita, could not have been more excited with this big striper he battled on light tackle for a few hours! His first. Fish could not be released.

Great to have Kevin Lister come spend vacation time with us for his first-time La Paz trip. Got himself a nice jack on the gaff!

Fresh color on Austin’s dorado! Great shot!

Kim Sebastian from Louisiana scooted out and almost didn’t make it down because of Hurricane Beryl. He’s been fishing all over the continents for years trying to get ONE roosterfish and never even got a nibble. His wife said he could have one more trip and one more try. First day with us and Captain Pancho, he racked this 80-pound class rooster! His wife was more excited than he was! Fish was released!

Steve Bryan with yet another nice roosterfish…caught and released!

These two characters are funny as heck. Steve Dupuis and Vance Robichaux from Louisiana caught and released 3 big roosters on the day!

After several years absence, it was great to have Craig Corda from Calexico back with us and he’s got a big smile and dorado fishing with Captain Pancho.

Young Owen Fujita is a very good angler and comes fishing with us every year with his dad, Corey. Don’t be fooled, Owen can fish and his dad always rocks as well. Nice rooster caught and released and great photo!

Steve and Kim with Captain Pancho…double D’s! Two big dorado on the day!

One of the best fishermen down here…Kevin Shiotani…big tuna off Cerralvo Island. Maybe 100 pounder. The photo doesn’t do justice to how thick this fish really is!

Cathy and Randy Corda only had 2 days to fish with us, but took home some good dorado fillets fishing with Captain Pancho.

Brian posing with one of his dorado before it hits the fillet table!

It’s legit! Taylor and Captain Luis with a bull that might not fit in the fish box!

Our own Tailhunter Jorge Romero slipped out for a day off driving everyone all over to go out with Captain Chito. Fishing was tough, but they got this big dorado just off the rocks in shallow water!

Gilberto is somewhere behind the mask, but I’m sure was pretty happy with this big gallo for the photo then release!

Always fun…jack crevalle on the end of a line! Craig with the photo and smile! Fish was released.

That big heavy powerful tail was about to smack Steve in the face when this photo was taken, but he got the feisty rooster back in the water!

__________________________________

I’ll cut right to the chase.

It wasn’t a very good week of fishing.  Despite everyone’s best efforts, we struggled.

In the fishing biz, even down here, you have the occasional off day.  Or maybe one or two boats just have bad luck.  It happens.  It’s called fishing. Other days make up for it or,  if the fishing is off, it recovers pretty quickly, especially down here.

But, about 2 weeks ago fishing got pretty erratic and un-predictable.

It’s gotten worse since then!

It was hard to put a finger on it, but I think it’s a combination of factors.

One is those huge storms on the eastern side of Mexico the last 2-3 weeks that pushed across into Mexico affected our weather patterns here on the Pacific side.  We have strong southern winds, big waves and stronger than usual currents.

Waters have gotten turned over.  We have warm blue 85 degree water in some places, but then you run into big patches of colder off-color waters that are cloudy and dirty.  That usually means cooler water from down deep has pushed to the surface.

On top of that, we cut open the stomachs of some of the caught fish and found their bellies full of little red shrimp!  So, they are also full.  No reason to eat more.  Plenty of food elsewhere.

It has all really affected the bite.  Normally we should be in full-turbo right now.

Instead, we’re struggling to find a handful or decent dorado or dorado bigger than 18″ or better action than bonito, jack crevalle and needlefish.  It’s fun at first, but after that, pretty frustrating.

The dorado we have been seeing are some nicer grade 20-30 pound class fish, but not like it should be.

Marlin and sailfish are crazier than I have ever seen them.  A good example was that the other day, I had 14 pangas out with about 30 anglers.  Ten boats hooked at least one marlin or sailfish even though they were not trying.  The billfish just happened to be feeding.  All the billfish either broke off or were released.  A few didn’t revive and most meat was donated.

Funny thing is that the few times where our guest specifically targeted billfish, they mostly caught zero!  The boats that had no intention of catching billfish hooked billfish accidentally!

Thankfully, the roosterfish have hung around.   Still some big hogs in the area including trophy-fish running 40-100 pounds!  Larger ones have been lost.  Still pretty thrilling to hook one of these on light tackle.

Our anglers have been great and patient and hung in there.  Captains have worked extra hard.  We can only keep pushing on.  Hopefully, things will turn.  If we don’t have lines in the water we definitely won’t catch anything.  We’re still having fun!

ADIOS y VAYA CON DIOS OLD FRIEND

Cheers and Godspeed to Pops Henke our dear long-time Tailhunter friend. We’ll see you again, amigo!

THANK YOU AND KEEP THEM COMING

For all of you sending prayers and good thoughts for Jilly, thank you beyond words.  She’s hanging in there and we appreciate you all!  One day-at-a-time.  Small victories.  We’ll take them and each day is a gift and blessing! 😁👍🙏🙏🙏🙏

That’s my story

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.comMexico Office: 
Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

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

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

 

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of June 26-July 3, 2024

DORADO ROOSTERFISH MARLN IN SPOTLIGHT BUT…WEIRD

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 26-July 3, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WEATHER:  Strangely it’s rather chilly some mornings and windy and can be cloudy, but then by late morning, it’s blazing sunny then just plain hot.  At least it’s not very humid.  Day time temps in the high 90s.  Nights in the 70’s and pleasant.

WATER:  Some spots now into the mid-80’s on the surface and pretty blue, but the mornings can sometimes be a tad bumpy if the wind is breezy but then it flatttens out.  I think the waters have now gotten too warm for the yellowtail bite which is pretty much over, but now blue water species showing up. Storms moving from the East Coast have not doner us any favors.  See below…

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK:  Dorado, tuna, roosterfish, striped marlin, blue marlin, white marlin, bonito, jack crevalle, yellowtail, pargo, cabrilla, snapper, pompano, trevally, shark

FISHING SCALE 1-10: 5 to 6.5 (erratic/un-predicatable)

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Bigger model dorado starting to show up! Sam Aiello had some banner days on the water with us like this big bull!

Our rooster king from Seattle, Steve Bryan, comes down every year and fishes 10-14 days for nothing but roosters. I’ve lost count of how many big roosterfish he has caught and released!

From Tennessee, Stacy Amos fished with us over a dozen years ago, but brought first-time neighbor Sam Oliver who caught his first dorado.

Maybe the last yellowtail of the season? J.T. and Joe rocked these nice forkies up against the island.

Joe Hicks is a big fella, but even he had trouble hefting this big roosterfish after battling it so he could get a photo! He caught 4 this day and released them all. Joe is from Denver. Always fun to see him.

Captain Victor with Marty and Taylor Sering from Oregon. Wow…estimated 350 pounds and a 1 hour battle. Lots of marlin in the water this week. The guys generously donated the great meat to the grateful pueblo to share.

First tuna of the season! Nice footballs for Julie and Travis. They found the school under some fast-moving dolphin and the fish came up and boiled on lures and live baits. They also got the dorado. Julie also released a sailfish. Travis released a striped marlin and Julie lost a blue marlin estimated between 300-400 pounds!

Chris Stark looks on at his son, Noah, with a tough jack crevalle near Punta Perrico.  Noah released the fish.

What a day. Travis Millspaugh with Captain Pancho…caught and released this striper. Caught and released a sailfish (photo down below). Lost a big blue marlin. Lost a white marlin. Caught a bunch of tuna and a nice dorado!

Travis with one for the cooler!

This is a big sailfish! Over the years, Julie, kept missing a sailfish. Just couldn’t keep them on. This time, she got one and it’s a large one. She released the fish which swam off strong!

Kevin Evans from Idaho last fished with Tailhunter in 2000! That’s 24 years ago! He came back and got his biggest rooster and promised he’ll be back sooner than 20 years. This fish was released. Punta Arenas beach in the background.

Lotta bull…dorado! Joey Berzins on his first trip with future-father-in-law Sam Aiello.

Another trophy rooster for Joe. Four fish on the day. All released.

Kevin plugged the boat with limits of dorado fishing north out’ve La Paz Bay with us.

Great shot of the great Gary Wagner fishing just off from his Rancho Costa on Bahia Muertos. It’s easier to sit and take a photo than try to hold one of these big guys up. The rooster was released.

Yup! That’s a trophy bull dorado on the gaff for Joey! Flat ocean too!

So great to have these two visit. Only had time for one day on the water, but Joe and Christian Bridley from San Diego have been friends for years, but their first time in La Paz. Glad they got into the last of the yellowtail!

Branson Knowles on his first trip was with his dad, Lee, and had the big dorado slam them! Lots of meat!

Captain Arcangel with the Stark Family…Steph, Noah and dad, Chris! Dorado, pargo and palometa on the cleaning board!

Three of Jason Ryan’s guys. Way fun group and got into dorado, cabrilla, palometa, snapper and pompano! Great variety!

Colorado Springs CO in the house! Miles Wagner staying at his dad’s place at Rancho Costa got himself a toad roosterfish as well this week. Quick photo then back into the water!

On the beach for photos! Tyler and Ryan had just one day to squeeze in for fishing!

Joey with another bull dorado. It’s about time the quality dorado showed up!

David Jones visiting us from Arkansas got this marlin fishing with Captain Javier. The fish could not be released. Light tackle!

Another first for Joey. First roosterfish! Also a sweet release!

 

Great shot! Bobby Feliciano is pretty happy!

Incredible colors on Sam’s fish! Fresh one!

The Wagner family has dinner set up!

Steve Bryan with yet another roosterfish to his credit. He releases them all so he can catch them next year!

____________________________________

First things first…Happy 4th of July everyone!  Hope it’s a safe and happy holiday for ya”ll. It sas always one of my favorite holidays.  It’s summertime Happy Birthday USA!  Unfortunately, being down here, and it being the height of the fishing season, I’ve dearly missed it for 30 years now.  So watch some fireworks and have a hot dog, fried chicken and some potato salad for me!

As for the fishing…

Well…I’m gonna be brutally honest.  We caught alot of great fish since the last report.  In fact, some spectacular fish were hooked.  But, I can’t say it was great fishing.  Straight up.

Waters are warmer.  Yes, there were some big fish hooked, but fishing was erratic.

The weather patterns are just plain weird.  It’s warm, but cooler than normal.  The waters have stayed colder than normal although finally hitting the mid-80’s on the surface which is why we’re getting more blue water species.

But, morning have often been chilly and windy.  We had that big storm Alberto that crushed into the southern coast of Texas barrell across mainland Mexico then drift into the Pacific south of us that pushed strong southern winds, bigger swells and waves and some colder upwellings up to us.  It made for some mixed fishing.   Even the fish are confused.

At the time I’m writing this. Hurricane Beryl is chugging across the Caribbean and into the southern parts of Mexico and Central America and it’s so powerful that once again, just as fishing was starting to get better, big crashing waves have hit the southern facing beaches and waters have gotten cooler and dirtier.

That has changed the normal currents.  It has made it difficult to get to some of the fishing spots.  It has made it harder to get bait.

The result is the fishing has changed from day-to-day.  It has changed from boat-to-boat.  One day good.  Next day so-so.  Next day good.  Next day really slow.  Very un-predictable fishing!

And, as I’m writing this at 4:30 a.m. in the morning, the winds were blowing as I sent folks out onto the boats and the predictions this week show more strong winds from the south.

Weird…weird…weird.

But the fishing, here’s the scoop…

I think the great yellowtail season we had is finally over.  There’s still a few fish holding down deep, but the waters have consistently warmed that the forkies have moved off.  The cold water held the yellowtail here probably 2 months longer than normal but I think we’ve seen the last of them.

On the other hand, the warmer waters have finally brought in more dorado. It’s not full-speed yet, but school-sized fish in the 5-10 pound class are more abundant and we hooked some really nice bulls…the largest of the season…that are easily in the 30-40 pound class.

We also got our first yellowfin tuna of the season with our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet.  The fish were found pretty far out…past Cerralvo Island at the 88 spot and beyond, but the football fish running about 15-20 pounds were running with the dolphin and came up on lures and live bait.  It’s a run and it’s hit or miss, but give the captain extra gas money and let us know and we’ll give it a shot!

Also, I’ve not seen the marlin so active like this in several seasons.  We had several blue marlin between 300-400 pounds hooked this past week.  Also a white marlin was lost and several striped marlin were hooked, lost or released.  Actually, most of the billfish are getting released.  Also got into some sailfish this week as well.  All released.  It’s pretty exciting to hook and fight a billfish from a panga!

Roosterfish from 10-100 pounds are still hanging out as well although I’m not sure how much longer they will be here.  Smaller ones should still linger, but the bigger ones are about time to move off.  I can only hope they’ll stick around awhile longer.

Jack crevalle, big bonito, cabrilla, pargo, snapper, pompano and trevally  are providing action as well.

That’s my story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.comMexico Office: 
Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

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

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of June 18-25, 2024

DORADO FINALLY START SHOWING UP

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 18-25, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WATER and WEATHER:  No question, it gets hot during the day, but things are mixed.  Some mornings can still be cool and blustery. Waters are generally blue and clear and getting wamer, but that big storm that his the southern U.S. last week moved over to Mexico then to our area bringing strong winds and some big waves.  It clouded up the water and 1 day we were not able to fish.  We even had a little rain one morning as well.  Oh…and there has been real honest-to-goodness fog along the coast and up the mountains!

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK:  Dorado, yellowtail, roosterfish, marlin, sailfish, jack crevalle, rainbow runners, triggerfish, bonito, barred pargo, yellow snapper, cabrilla, sierra, pompano, trevally and amberjack

FISHING ON A SCALE of 1-10:  6.5

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO FISHING REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Jim Stahlman has been fishing with us for many years, but said he had one of his best days ever landing a number of large dorado and yellowtail north of La Paz Bay.

 

Gerry Eichhorn from Edmonton Canada had a banner week with almost a dozen large roosters caught and released with Captain Victor.

Kyle Hoogervorst on his first visit to us got into the yellowtail very nicely while fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

Love the cigar look! Steve Hoogervorst is funny as heck and poses here with a tough jack crevalle right off the sand at Punta Arenas. The fish was released.

Lou Salatich has a legit bull dorado here with Captain Armando. They also caught and released 2 marlin.

Vern Eichhorn with another rooster to add to the scorebox of fish released over the week! Vern is from Canada on his first trip with us.

Tino DiLeon and Bryan Hyland with big smiles and a full table of dorado and rainblow runners! I also see a cabrilla as well.

Our long-time amigo, Bob Sayre from Chicago has his hands (and mouth) full of bull dorado!

Jeremy Hart and Chase with a nice marlin in the boat. Marlin have gotten more active the last 2 weeks.

Art Torrez and Rich Sevaly with first-day dorado for the cooler and eating at Tailhunter for dinner!

Still some chunky yellowtail to be had. Jim Stahlman with another forkie for the ice chest!

Paul and Phil with a pair of tasty mahi on the beach at Muertos!

Gary Wagner at his place the Rancho Costa at Bahia Muertos with son Miles and an amigo with dinner…snapper, cabrilla and yellowtail!

Captain Armando give Lou Salatich a hand with his striper. The fish was released!

Margo Salatich and Captain Armando with another bull for day!

Tanner Pierson and son Braedon with Jim Bovee, our friends from San Diego with yellowtail and dorado fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.

Gerry and Vern with yet another big roosterfish for a quick photo and release!

Ryan’s first dorado fishing with grandma Margo and Captain Gerardo!

_____________________________________

Well…it was a good fishing week, but a weird weather week.

Yes, it’s summer, but that big storm that hit the southern coast of the U.S like Texas slammed there.  Then, it was big enough to move across mainland Mexico where it made its presence felt then was strong enough to come all the way over to the Pacific side and affect things in Baja.

It produced some windy blustery days and some big swells and waves coming from the south.  It even brought a bit of rain.  The southern blow and swell made fishing a big difficult for our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet since we launch at Bahia Muertos which faces south.  One day it even shut down the fishing.

Get this…we’ve even had FOG!  Yup…fog.  Real FOG!  Go figure.  Up on the hills and along the coast.  Crazy crazy weather.

But overall, still a pretty OK fishing week.

No bones about it, this is a cooler time of year than normal.  Although it can get blazing hot in the day, this isn’t our typical weather.  Mornings can be cool.  The surface temperature of the ocean is warm, but down deep the waters are still on the chilly side.

The result is that on top, the warming waters are finally bringin in the blue water species like dorado, marlin, sailfish and even a few tuna.  However, we’re still seeing colder water fish like yellowtail, amberjack, rainbow runners and sierra.

Overall,  still a crazy mix of fish that seems unpredictable from one day to the next.

Our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet are still finding some nice grade yellowtail up into the 30 pound class mixed in with some nicer 20-pound class dorado or larger.  Plus the occasional billfish.

Our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet is where we’re getting the big mix of dorado, billfish, pargo, cabrilla, bonito, jack crevalle, roosterfish and more.  However, getting live bait has been an issue as we’re having to run all the way over to the backside of Cerralvo Island to get live bait befoe we can even begin to start fishing.

Roosterfish are still around from 5 to about 60 pounds along the sandy and rocky areas for those of you coming in the next few weeks looking for that rooster on your bucket list.

Also, strangely, there’s a ton of sharks in the water!  Never seen so many reports of sharks on the fishing grounds biting lines and chasing hooked fish!  Crazy.  But, there’s a whole bunch of little tiny tuna swimming around.  They are smaller than bonito and the captains think that’s what’s bringing in the sharks!

Will keep you posted!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.comMexico Office: 
Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

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

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of June 10-17, 2024

WARM WATER FISH WAKING UP!

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 10-17, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

Weather: No doubt summer is here!  It’s WARM and HOT in the daytimes.  High 90’s to low 100’s, but not as much humidity as I might expect.  Mornings surprisingly can be cool. I had to wear a sweatshirt some morning when putting folks on boats.  Evenings are in the mid-70’s.  Bring a light windbreaker or sweatshirt!

Water:  Mostly blue and warming.  Got some surface temps in the low 80’s now, but about 20-30′ down there’s a cooler thermocline and that’s why I think we’re getting fish like yellowtail and amberjack and other cold water species still hanging around.

Fish Hooked This Week:  Roosterfish (up to 90+ pounds), jack crevalle, yellowtail (20-25 pounds), marlin, sailfish, amberjack, bonito, dorado, pargo, trevally, pompano, sierra, cabrilla,  needlefish, triggerfish,  rainbow runners.

Scale of 1-10: 6.5 to 7

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Somewhere back there is Gerry Eichhorn! He and his brother Vern came down all the way from Edmonton Canada and fished 6 straight days for big roosters! They caught and released 11 with Captain Victor!

Kelly Jimenez from Aurora Co, can fish! She and her husband have been fishing with us over 20 years. She always rocks it. Check outh the big yellowtail. They caught 10 of these hog ‘tails and others were lost in a crazy bite.

First-time visitor, Eric Granados with his first roosterfish not far off the sand at Punta Arenas. Fish was released.

From Ontario CA, Bruce Sakamoto was also visiting us for the first time and got quite a variety of fish like this slugger yellowtail.

Baltazar Sakamoto battled this striped marlin on light tackle for THREE hours! Jorge Soto helps out. They were not able to release the fish and hooked many other species as well.

 

One more for the camera! Vern Eichhorn and his brother, Gerry, from Canada hooked and released 11 of these brute roosterfish over 6 days with Captain Victor.

Behind that rooster dorsal fin is a happy fella named Keith Mitchell who really wanted to catch a big rooster this trip! He caught and released TWO! Keith is from Texas.

These guys worked like crazy over 3 days with their flyrods! Roy Yoshida and Norm Fujimoto with a couple of tough jack crevalle on the flyrods near Punta Arenas.

Nice pair! Jorge from Texas and Bruce from California got these fishing near Espirito Santo Island.

What a pretty photo and fish! Chris Sommer with Captain Jorge and a fresh bull dorado.

Travis Moore had just one day to fish and really wanted a rooster! BINGO! An armful of roosterfish. The fish was released!

Can’t find nicer or funner folks than John and Arla Washington from Reno who fish with us numerous times. Nice rack of fish including dorado, cabrilla and snapper!

From Miami after meeting us at the Nashville Safari Club Show, Roberto and Cathy Padron were a joy to have visit us for the first time. Nice table of dorado headed to the freezers!

First time fishing and first time fish! Tino Dileon got himself a nice bull fishing with Captain Chito!

DiChiarro boys from Texas all came down and got into dorado and roosterfish with us!

More happy Texas boys with the DiChiarro family and more nice dorado to take home!

Chris and Jan Sommer with Captain Jorge and a colorful bull mahi.

Diego Jimenez was a bit tired after he and his wife Kellly got into a wild bite of yellowtail near Punta Coyote. Check out the lineup!

Captain Luis and Captain Chito give Kelly a hand with another hefty yellowtail!

Al Hed from Oregon gets a laugh from Mike Jennings. These guys always crack me up. Al has TWO striped marlin on two rods. Mike has another! They hooked FIVE marlin on the day and were able to release 4 of them. One didn’t make it, but they donated the meat. The photos below are two of the marlin.  They were with Captain Pancho.

ANOTHER ONE? Yes, that’s Captain Victor with Vern Eichhorn and yet another big rooster for a quick catch…photo…and release!

From Wyoming to visit us for the first time, Stacey Sanger and Chad Beers had a nice day on the water!

After you battle a fish and your arms are shaking, it’s hard to hold it up for a photo. Enter Captain Victor to give Gerry an assist with this beast roosterfish before they released it.

Keith got TWO of these the same day and was ecstatically happy. All fish were released.

Vern Eichhorn with another roosterfish. 11 of them on the week caught and released with Captain Victor.

A good day on the dorado for Diego and Kelly, our long-time amigos from Colorado.

Baltazar and his dad, Bruce, with quite a variety at Bahia Muertos including snapper, cabrilla, trevally and dorado.

 

______________________________________

It was another good solid week of fishing down here.

I won’t say it was good all the time for everyone.  There were some ups-and-downs, but overall pretty good.  Maybe some boats did better than others or there was an off -day or so.  However, since most of our guests fish multiple days, at the end everyone had fish.  It might not be the exact species they were hunting, but the bite was definitely there.

Plus, once again, we had so much variety, you really never knew what was going to end up in the fish box.  It was a buffet of species again:

Marlin, sailfish, yellowtail, dorado, roosterfish, amberjack, sierra, wahoo, pargo liso, barred pargo, cubera snapper, bonito, jack crevalle, cabrilla, pompano, trevally, rainbow runners and triggerfish.

Boats right next to each other could have completely different days!

Also, although the waters are getting warmer…up to about 80 degrees…there’s a thermocline about 20-30 feet down where the waters are a good 5 -10 degrees colder.   That’s why we’re still catching yellowtail, amberjack and some of the other cold water species.

Each week, I think the yellowtail bite is over, they come back!  So, we’re still getting 20-40 pound forkies!  Not sure how much longer they will be around, but they are real horses!  I can’t believe they are still here this late in the season!

But, it’s evident that the summer bite is getting stronger.

More marlin and sailfish are getting hooked, but the best indicator is the increased presence of dorado.  More dorado are showing up in the counts.

Roosterfish still here too!  Some big 50-100 pounders are still bending rods!

BAHIA MAGDALENA

Our long-time friend, Jim Stahlman, has fished with us for years.  He just retired and decided to drive his new RV down from Idaho down the Baja and fish along the way.  He wet lines at Bahia de Los Angeles as well as Loreto.

He finally spent 4 days fishing with our good friends Judith and Rigo in Bahia Magdalena.  Check out the photos from fishing 3 days inside the mangroves in the bay and 1 day outside on the high spots.  Jim said he probably caught 10 different species.  Lost count of how many fish they released where it was non-stop action and broke off on some huge beasts that took him deep!

Snapper, grouper and halibut!

big smiles. Tasty grouper!

Double corvina in hand!

Jim’s wife is gonna love what he brings home. These grouper are great and she loves the head and collars…the whole fish if possible!

Captain Rigo with Jim. Yea, these guys have toothy choppers!

Day 1 – 14 grouper and numerous releases.

Hook up!

That’s my story.  Again, this fishing report is dedicated to Jilly.

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.comMexico Office: 
Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

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

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of May 31-June 9, 2024

WARMING WATERS YIELD MIXED FISH BAGS!

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for May 31-June 9, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WEATHER:  Mostly 79-99 degrees, but we had some cool breezy mornings surprisingly.  To me they were COLD!  But it warmed quickly.  Wouldn’t hurt to have a light sweatshirt or light windbreaker you can take off later.  Day times are pretty warm.

WATER:  Getting bluer, but still some cold spots down deeper holding the yellowtail and other cool water species.  The days it was really windy was alot rougher than normal for this time of year.

SPECIES HOOKED THIS WEEK:  Yellowtail/ pargo mulato/ dog tooth snapper (cubera snapper)/ pargo liso/ cabrilla/ amberjack/ sierra/ bonito/ jack crevalle/ sailfish/ marlin/ dorado/ wahoo/ sierra/ grouper/ pompano/ trevally/ roosterdfish

NOTES:

Lots of variety.  Some days better than others. Some boats doing better than others.  But most folks fish several days and other days make up for it usually.  Big issue with having to run pretty far for bait for our Las Arenas boats.  All the way to the east side of Cerralvo.  Takes a bit.  PITA!  The flyfishers take about 3-4 times the amount of bait as the conventional fishers.

FISHING SCALE 1-10:  6.5

THE MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…(biggest fishing gallery ever!)

Whoa!!! Just sheer joy and a boat tipping to one side with the weight of this huge roosterfish caught by Eric Stowe and a thumb’s up from Captain Jorge. The fish was released and was one of 2 caught by Eric that day!

Captain Boli helps my old classmate and business buddy John Benson from Virginia with 2 of his 4 yellowtail on the day. Pretty shot!

The man behind the mask is our amigo, Dwight Ortmann, with his first rooster for a quick photo and release.

Captain Pancho is all smiles with Mike Jennings from Washington who took 5 chunky roosterfish caught and released on the day!

Ahhh…always a pleasure to have Ms. Sue Cross visits us. No matter what, she’s always smiling and having run. Here’s a dorado for the fish box!

First timer and new amigo, Kelly Moore added one more day of fishing because everyone else in his group had caught a rooster except him! It paid off! He caught and released several!

Two of our newest Tailhunter amigos! Emma Hart and Casey Petersen from San Diego took several nice yellowtail with our La Paz fleet like these. Casey admits that Emma outfished him!

Diego Jimenez has been visiting us for about 20 years now! Always fun and making sure everyone has fun. Captain Jorge always enjoys fishing with Diego…especially when they catch fish!

Barred pargo ready for the chiller and a tasty dinner for Sue!

San Diego Eric Riggs had to cancel his trip last October when a hurricane hit us but came back this past week with his family and took home some yellowtail fillets back to S.Cal.

Gene Simon from Fallbrook CA has been hanging with us for about 2 weeks now and has taken a variety of species like this barred pargo of Cerralvo Island.

Captain Julio put Bill Stuart on a day of dorado like this nice mahi. Bill came to visit us all the way from Georgia!

Another happy Utah amigo, Blaine Larsen hoists a chunky yellowtail for the camera!

Big mossback yellowtail! North of La Paz, the bite has been strong. Just ask Damon Harvey from Alaska. Always great to have him down to visit. He had quite a week!

Another of our Alaska Tailhunter Tribe members! Jeff Pralle is one of the best hunting guides and bush pilots up there (he’ll take you hunting big giant bears) but he’s also a super flyfisher. He had a spectacular week on numerous species including lots of roosterfish and jacks like this right off the beach.  All released.

Scott and son, Jack Stuart from Georgia with an ice fish table of trevally and snapper headed for the freezer!

Tough tough fish, but Emma Hart put the wood to it and got this yellowtail aboard with Captain Boli. One of 4 on the day.

Happy gal, Laurie Moore from Utah with a fat yellowtail posed for the camera!

One of our better dorado for the early season in the hands of Mark Stuart from San Diego who found a nice jag of mahi north of the city near Espirito Santo Island.

Jack has his first roosterfish off Bahia Muertos! The fish was released!

Eric Stowe with another first this week. Captain Jorge put him on a nice bull dorado.

Kevin and Michelle Stratton from Utah got quite a variety for the fish box. I see yello snapper, cabrilla, rainbow runner, barred pargo, trevally and triggerfish. All great tasty eating!

Laurie Moore has herself a quick photo with her rooster and Captain Jorge before releasing the fish!

From Pennsylvania, Jeff Norman on his first trip to La Paz with a legit yellowtail north of La Paz.

I believe, Jeff got about 8 of these on the flyrod. Another pretty fish and all released!

First yellowtail for Sue! She admitted that yellowtail did NOT pull like northern California rockfish. Yellowtail pull ALOT harder. She had fun!

Big smile, blue water and a tough jack crevalle right off the beach in the hands of April Leviere visiting us from Pittsburgh PA. The fish was released.

Another hog rooster catch-and-release for Eric Stowe! Not bad for a first day and first trip! Captain Jorge ducks!

April and Jeff…a pretty good first day on the dorado off Bahia Muertos!

Al “chicken ” Hed…with Mike Jennings. These guys swear it’s a rooster head that they wear for luck when fishing for roosterfish! But, I think it’s a chicken head and they caught and released 5 big roosters!

We had a good week on trevally (palometa) which are great eating members of the jack family. Michelle Stratton with one in the shallows off Punta Arenas.

Maybe the biggest dorado of the week and a big smile from Al Hed.

This is is ALOT bigger than it looks and Damon battled this stud roosterfish on a fly rod! The fish was released.

Casey Petersen used to play pro baseball for the Mexican national team. He should frame this photo of him and the roosterfish. The fish was released.

Jeff got himself a rooster too! Quick photo then back in the water!

Just off the cliffs of Punta Perico, Bill Stuart got himself a rooster too! it smacked a live sardine and was released.

Another flyrod roosterfish and a great photo with Jeff Pralle! Quickly back in the water too!

Gene Simon and Captain Hugo with Gene’s first rooster also released off Punta Arenas.

Love this lady…Edie Ortmann is always fun to have visit us and she enjoys fishing with Captain Alfredo. Nice tough jack crevalle. Espirito Santo Island in the background.

The marlin bite is a little late, but starting to heat up. John Benson and Captain Gerardo with a fat striper that John battled for almost an hour. He donated the meat and was not able to release it.

Captain Armando got the Smith boys off to a great first day with jacks, dorado, a barred pargo and snapper.

Newest Idaho friends…Robbyn and Greg Browne with an Espirito Santo yellowtail.

Back in town! Jan Sommer fishing with Captain Armando. CPR on a pretty rooster! Fast photo. and release off Cerralvo Island.

Good fish, photo and smile from Chris Sommer. The rooster was released.

Michelle’s first rooster too! Strong release after the photo.

Jed Atherley visiting us for the first time with a tasty trevally.

______________________________________

FORWARD:

Just a little note to ya’ll.  Am dedicating this fish report to my wife, Jilly.  Most of you know her or have known her for many many years.  You all see me, but she’s the motor that keeps things running and allows me to be out front all the time with everyone A little favor if you could keep her in your thoughts and prayers.  Will fill you in later.  Thanks so much!

So…here we go now…

THE FISHING REPORT

Just by looking at the biggest fishing gallery I have ever done, you’d think it’s been pretty spectacular since the last report!  To be honest, I have MORE photos this week, but just could not fit them all in!!!  I think there’s almost 50 photos this week!

A good problem to have!

By all stretches, it looks like a super week.  There were some indeed some increcredible catches, but there were also some surprising down days too.  There were some boats each day that didn’t do as well as others.

It’s fishing, right?

Fortunately, most of our folks fish numerous days, and if there was a slow day here or there, other days made up for it.  But, to be honest, it’s like sports.  Not every play was a touchdown or homerun!

Once again, there were so many species hooked and every day seemed different and each boat could have completely different catches.

For our La Paz Tailhunter Fleet, the spotlight was mostly on the big yellowtail with some occasional jags of dorado.  It seemed that for every fish caught, there were two or three fish lost to break-offs…either to bigger yellowtail, big amberjack or even grouper!

For variety, our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet was the run to the buffet table…

Just look at the photos from this week above!

Yellowtail…pargo liso…barred pargo…cubera snapper…rainbow runner…dorado…yellowtail…amberjack…pompano…trevally…jack crevalle…bonito…roosterfish (5-100 pounders!)…some wahoo…and increasing biters on sailfish and marlin!

The big issues this week were the winds that came up from the south a few days.  Made it not only cold and chilly, but also made for a bumpy ocean.

For our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet, live sardines are available, but it’s a long run to the east side of Cerralvo Island to find the bait to use for fishing, but you gotta do what you gotta do.  But, to be up-front, it can be an hour or more to get the live sardines from the bait guys.

PARTING SHOT

Fishing is about having fun.  Mike Jennings called Al “chicken” Hed is a “180-pound catch-and-release! ” Can’t take this stuff too seriously!  If you can’t goof off; talk smack; laugh at yourself, you’re not doing it right!

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old.  We grow old because we stop playing!”

 

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.comMexico Office: 
Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

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

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of May 23-30, 2024

FULL MOON FEVER?

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of May 23-30, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN REPORT

WEATHER:  Getting hotter finally. Humidity hasn’t really hit yet so that’s a good thing.  Daytime temps now in the high 90’s or low 100’s.

WATER:  Getting bluer and warmer, but there is an apparent thermocline about 20-30′ down.  So surface temps are 75-79 degrees, but 5-10 degrees cooler below the thermocline which is why we’re still getting the cooler water species like the yellowtail.

FISH HOOKED:  yellowtail, amberjack, sierra, barred pargo, dog-tooth snapper, yellow snapper, marlin, sailfish, wahoo, bonito, cabrilla, jack crevalle pompano, trevally, dorado

FISHING SCALE of 1-10: 7

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Toad-sized hog yellowtail for Matt Correia from San Diego with the mackerel bait still hanging from it’s mouth. I recall they hooked 7 that day north of La Paz!

First time in La Paz, Emma Hart, with her first roosterfish too! She’s visiting us from San Diego.

So much variety this week. Casey Petersen off Cerralvo Island with a palometa (trevally). Good eating!

Finally seeing some of the big boy roosters! Paul Cowdell from Utah has been talking to us for years and finally came down. His first day he got the better of this big rooster estimated of about 100 pounds. Paul also released the fish and caught several others he released as well.

Mark Bonsack from Cle Elum WA fishes with us several times a year for almost 20 years now . He always get into the fish like this rare banqueta grouper caught down deep.

The ladies were rocking it this week! Another first timer, Myra Schmonsky all the way from Green Bay WI with one of several roosters on the day. All released.

Visting us from Austin TX, JD Durst said this jack crevalle battled him long and hard off Punta Perrico.

Always great to have Johnny Stone visit us from San Diego. He never disappoints getting onto the fish like this big mossback yellowtail. They hooked 7 that day.

Blaine Larsen and Capt. Julio with our first boated marlin of the year not able to release. It was Blaine’s first and they had another one hooked the next day that threw the hook! Much of the meat was donated.

Great colors on Jim Schmonsky’s dorado. Look how close to shore he is…those are the rocks of Punta Perrico about 20 yards away. Don’t have to go far to find blue water fish!

Our long-time amigo, Brad Sleder from S. Carolina with another unusual banqueta grouper. These are great eating!

Always great to get big smiles from first-timers like Casey and Emma with their first day fishing when they hooked and released 5 roosters!

Whoa! Victor strains to help Myra with her hefty first roosterfish estimated at 60+ pounds. Myra released the fish.

Nice rack of fish! All tasty amberjack at Bahia Muertos for Jason Correia and son, Matt, from San Diego.

My poster-shot of the week! This could be a magazine cover of Paul Cowdell and one of his big roosterfish right off the Punta Arenas lighthouse beach. Fish was realeased!

Jason with another big yellowtail headed to the fish box and more fillets for San Diego!

Jim Schmonsky and Captain Boli posing with another mossback ‘tail and some dinner fillets at Tailhunter Restaurant!

She was so much fun to have visit. Martha Cowdell from Utah in the calm waters off Punta Arenas with a jack crevalle (released). Tough fish when hooked!

Double armfulls of yellowtail to heft up…John Stone and Jeff Correia coming back from Punta Coyote!

From Alaska on the flyrod. This ain’t no salmon. The Mexican name is “toro” (jack crevalle) which means “bull.” Damon Harvey had some fun with these sluggers on the flyrod .

Myra sure had fun in their one-week fishing trip with us. Dorado…just one more species to add to the different species she caught all week!

Lots of fun jack crevalle all week. Not real good eating so they all get released mostly, but difficult to battle and a tough fish on rod and reel. Captain Alfredo and Jason Correia.

_________________________________

I won’t say it was the greatest fishing ever, but it sure was a solid week for sure and the best week of fishing so far this season with lots of variety; big fish and some species we’ve been waiting for!

And all on a full moon too!  ( I usually don’t put much stock into the full moon/ bad fishing theory down here.  Maybe other places I have fished, but not so much down here!)

We got our first marlin.

First sailfish.

The first big boy 50-100 pound roosterfish.

We got wahoo.

Big big yellowtail (and lots of them!),

We got some dorado finally too!

But, then add in barred pargo, pargo liso, cubera snapper, yellow snapper, sierra, amberjack, jack crevalle, bonito, pompano, trevally, amberjack, triggerfish…and more!

Let me tell you, we were busy every afternoon in our Tailhunter fish packing room!

Huge slabs of yellowtail fillet…FROM JUST ONE BOAT! We were commercial vacuum packing several hundred bags a day of fish!

Plus, we were whipping up lots of cooked fish every night at our Tailhunter Restaurant to cook up the fish that our fishermen brought in!

But, like I said, a good solid week.

The yellowtail north of town were as good as I have ever seen it.  The fish are a healthy 15-40 pound mossback forkies.  Some biting live mackerel deep and others up on the surface. Boats were coming back usually with 2-8 yellowtail and telling me stories of losing just as many of the fish to broken lines or pulled hooks or some fish they just could not stop!

Fishing with our La Paz fleet that’s pretty much the highlight.

If you wanted the variety of all the other dozen or so species, fishing with our Las Arenas Fleet was were we had you go out.  Honestly, if you had a bait in the water, you never knew what you were going to hook.

Fishing for roosterfish, you might also hook jack crevalle, dorado, trevally or pompano or one of the larger 50-100 pound roosterfish that finally showed up.

If you fished over the rocks, we were hooking big mullet snapper (pargo lis0), barred pargo (pargo mulato) and dog-tooth snapper (pargo rojo/ pargo perro/ cubera snapper) as well as cabrilla, yellow snapper, palometas and others.

Not sure how much longer we’ll be getting this kind of variety.

As things warm up, we’ll usually start seeing more dorado, billfish, wahoo and hopefully some tuna and fewer of the cooler water species.

The air temps are definitely on the upswing as many parts of Mexico have been in a heatwave.  We’re getting sunny hot temps now in the high 90’s and low 100’s.  Nice thing, however,  is that the humidity still hasn’t escalated.

The water temps are 75-78 on the surface which is typical, but it appears there’s a thermocline 20-30 feet down where waters are 5-8 degrees cooler and that’s why we’re still getting so many cold water species.

No doubt, it’s hot.  Bring the sunscreen and wide-brimmed hats and cover up!  And do not forget to stay hydrated or you’ll get sick down here real fast.

OH…and ONE MORE THING DANGIT…

Because of the national, regional, state and local elections on SUNDAY, all alcohol sales in La Paz are prohibited from 6 p.m. Saturday night until Monday morning!   Some special areas in Cabo and some other cities got exemptions and in the past, we’ve gotten an exemption as well as some hotels.

But, not THIS YEAR!  In La Paz, restaurants (like ours), hotels, cantinas, grocery stores…cannot sell alcohol.  Just poke me with a fork…

We’ll keep you posted.

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.com

Mexico Office: 

Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

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

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

“Keep the circus going inside you, keep it going, don’t take anything too seriously, it’ll all work out in the end.”

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of May 15-22, 2024

NO WAY TO KNOW WHAT YOU MIGHT HOOK RIGHT NOW!

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of May 15-22, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WEATHER:  Sunny and getting warmer.  Nights are in the 70’s and day time in the high 90’s but still very comfortable because the humidity isn’t here yet.  Plus, if you get hot, jump in the ocean!

WATER:  Getting bluer, but not as warm as I would expect as shown by all the yellowtail and other cold water species we’re getting. But you can tell it’s getting warmer by more warm-water species showing up.

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK:  Quite a lineup!

Dorado, yellowtail, amberjack, rainbow runners, marlin, tuna, wahoo, roosterfish, yellow snapper, pargo liso, pargo mulato, cabrilla, white bonito, skipjack, sierra, triggerfish

Note:  More variety fishing with our Las Arenas fleet.  Mostly nice yellowtail and a few dorado with our La Paz fleet.

FISHING ON A SCALE of 1-10 – 6 1/2. (pretty good!)

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Sanford Slack from Washington State had just one day to fish with us and knocked it out’ve the ballpark with two wahoo (see photos below), big cabrilla and two big yellowtail!

Julia Mitchell on her first trip to visit us is all smiles with her first roosterfish. She had quite a week down here. The rooster was released.

Captain Rogelio estimated this thick yellowtail caught by John Pechous to be about 40 pounds! John was a first-time visitor and came to us from Arizona.

Gary Wagner at his place at Rancho Costa has one of the best eating fish, a hefty cabrilla (seabass).

Ray Millman from Rancho Palos Verdes with a nice dorado and Captain Victor doing a photobomb. Ray rocked the week and went home and booked another trip with us in September!

Yes…bigger roosters have moved in! Mauricio Levy from Monterey CA has an armful of rooster! The fish was released.

We had a nice little jag of wahoo at the south end of Cerralvo Island this week. Sanford popped two of the speedy ‘hoos with Captain Hugo.

Julia’s yellowtail is bigger than her dad’s yellowtail, she claims! Captain Alfredo looks on. They were fishing around Punta Coyote.

Gary Wagner at Rancho Costa in Bahia Muertos with quite a rack of fishi. I can see yellowtail, dorado, barred pargo, yellow snapper and cabrlla. I’m sure they had a great dinner there that night.

Willy Moers is always fun when he comes down from Colorado! Quite a day here…cabrilla, yellow snapper, dorado and rainbow runner.

Bill Mitchell was one of my first Tailhunter clients almost 30 years ago. Good to have him back and here’s another yellowtail for the box. He and his daughter put 7 on the deck this particular day.

Tough-fighting pargo liso are still schooling in the shallows. Julia has another one!

That’a alot of sweet fillet meat for Sanford with a trophy cabrilla in the pose.

Julia and Captain Alfredo with another yellowtail.

_________________________________________

Just another good solid week of fishing down here.

Everyone got fish.  Everyone ate fish.  Everyone took fish home!  That kinda says it all.

The “problem” is that I couldn’t pinpoint what kinds of fish were biting.  Every day and every boat things changed.  We caught so many different species of fish once again as the waters change from cooler to warmer and both cooler water species and warm water species mix things up.

Boats came back with different catches every day.  Even if they fished the same spots.  Boats next to each other caught different fish.  One day fish were small.  Next day all the fish were trophy.

It really made it fun.  If you went out…if you had a bait in the water…you just never knew what you were going to catch.

It was quite a list:

Dorado…yellowtail…jack crevalle…bonito…skipjack…tuna…wahoo…cabrilla…sierra…amberjack…rainbow runners…pargo liso (mullet snapper)…barred pargo (pargo mulato)…dog tooth snapper (cubera)…yellow snapper…marlin…roosterfish…milkfish…triggerfish

I probably missed one or two!  There were that many species!

I think as things get warmer, we’ll be narrowing down to dorado, tuna, billfish, wahoo and roosterfish among a few others.  I don’t know how long the waters will stay cool enough to hold this kind of variety, but for now, it’s alot of fun.

Things are definitely getting warmer.  Night temps are in the mid-70’s.  Day time temp are in the mid-to-high 90’s.  However, the humidity really hasn’t hit yet so it’s still very pleasant sunshine days with mostly flat warm 75 degree waters on the surface, but a cooler thermocline 20-30 feet below.

That’s my story!

Jonathan

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.com

Mexico Office: 

Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

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

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of May 6-14, 2024

SOLID WEEK OF VARIETY

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of May 6-14, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WEATHER:  Brrrr…the mornings can sure be chilly and blustery, but then giving way to warm and mostly sunny days in the high 80’s to low 90’s.  Getting a big more humid but overall pretty pleasant.  The evenings are great.

WATER:  Slowly getting warmer, but there’s more cooler water than warm water.  The cooler water is keeping species like yellowtail, amberjack and sierra around.  If you find the warmer  water, that’s where the occasional dorado will be.  Surface temps are in the 70’s, but key is that you hit a chilly thermocline about 20-3o feet down that drops the water into the 60’s.   Visbility is about 20-30′ underwater.

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK:  yellowtail, roosterfish, rainbow runners, barred pargo, pargo liso, yellow snapper, tuna, cabrilla, sierra, skipjack, bonito, jack crevalle, sheephead, triggerfish, wahoo

LAS ARENAS FISHING:  This is where we are seeing the most variety of the fish listed above.  If you want a chance at a whole bunch of different species, this is where to fish.

LA PAZ FISHING:  Mostly yellowtail (although bigger fish) and some dorado and smaller roosterfish.

FISHING SCALE of 1-10:  5

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

Ray Millman is all smiles after a good day of yellowtail fishing near Espiritu Santo Island. They caught six this day. Ray is one of our first-time amigos!

Captain Armando put Davin Smith and his friend on a big pargo and dorado and other action. The fish ended up back at our Tailhunter Restaurant for dinner!

Bill Malone with a big palometo. His first time with us and his first palometa which is related to pompano and trevally. Bill is from Torrance CA

From Minnesota with Captain Joel, Cole and Jadin Bauman with a nice bunch of yellowtail in the box!

Whoa! Finally, some of the larger roosters starting to show up! Ray with Captain Victor. They caught a number of fish between 40 and 80 pounds. All released!

Shaka sign from Justin Orr and his yellowtail with captain Armando. A good bunch of this fish ended up as ceviche at our Tailhunter Restaurant.

Rich Ambrosini was another of our first-time visitors this week and poses with Captain Gerardo and a rooster Gerardo estimated at about 50 pounds. The fish was released.

Trophy barred pargo caught in shallow water near Punta Arenas by Ray Millman. Great eating!

Nice batch of fish on the cleaning table with lots of variety for Rich Ambrosini and Gary Orr with Captain Gerardo. I see snapper, cabrilla, triggerfish and a big barred pargo.

__________________________________

Not a bad week at all.  Everyone got fish and everyone who wanted to take home fish took home fish!  Mornings are a bit chilly, but daytimes are warm and sunny and humidity is starting to come in too.

Overall just a good week on all levels.

Just sorry that I don’t have that many photos this week.  I just didn’t get as many from our anglers or, as one amigo told me, “We were too busy catching fish to take photos! Our hands were full!”

Good reason!  LOL

Not every boat did good every day.  To be honest.  But, if one boat was slow one days, they surely made up for it on other days.  Most folks fortunately fish with us for several days.

“Bad fishing” is also relative.

Someone might come back and tell me it was slow or bad.  I then talk to the captain who tells me they lost about 5 or 6 nice fish.   That’s good fishing, but bad catching.  And understandably, some of these fish are not only big, but tough and if you’re not used to it, or the conditions, fish will beat you up.

Also, if someone comes back and they were chasing tuna or wahoo all day, well, honestly ,that’s a gamble.  You’re not gonna catch them if you don’t try, but it’s also swinging for the fences with ha home run.  The fish are there and biting or they aren’t.  And it just wasn’t your lucky day.  The other boats that went after the more prevalent fish like yellowtail, pargo, cabrilla, etc. did way better because that’s what is actually biting and there are alot more of those fish than the bigger blue water species right now.

All-in-all, there was alot of variety once again.

Maybe over a dozen different species hooked including: yellowtail, roosterfish, rainbow runners, barred pargo, pargo liso, yellow snapper, tuna (big), cabrilla, sierra, skipjack, bonito, jack crevalle, sheephead, triggerfish and even a few wahoo.

But that’s what makes it fun.  You really never know what’s going to bite right now if you put a bait in the water.

The highlights included some good-grade yellowtail up to about 30 pounds.  Some dorado in the 15-20 pound class as well as some trophy-sized pargo showed up.  Really encouraging were the larger roosterfish that finally showed up in the 50-80 pound class.  About time!

The dorado are scattered right now and you need to fine the warmer water.  The yellowtail are on the surface around Espirito Santo Island.  Best deal is to catch live mackerel under the big oil tankers in the bay then head out and drop a mackie into the current!

The tuna and wahoo were hooked at the south end of Cerralvo Island and the bigger roosters were caught near Punta Arenas in roosterfish alley, but there are lost of the smaller 5-10 pounders along many beaches right now.

Mornings are chilly.  Bring a light windbreaker or sweatshirt that you can take off when the sun comes blazing later on!

It’s a nice time to be in town!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

 

 

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.comMexico Office: 
Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

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

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of April 28-May 5, 2024

MUCH IMPROVED!

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of April 28-May 5, 2024

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FISHING REPORT

WEATHER:  Getting warmer and mostly all sunny days.  Can be breezy and cool at night and in the mornings with temps in the high 50’s to low 60’s.  Daytime temps in the high 80’s to low 90’s.  Shorts and flip-flop weather!

WATER: Bluer and warmer.  There are warm spots and cold spots holding corresponding fish.  Closer to shore, it’s warmer. Waters average 70-70 degrees.  Visibility about 30′ down deeper

FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK:  Yellowtail, pargo, grouper, amberjack sierra, rainbow runners, bonito, jack crevalle, tuna, wahoo, roosterfish, snapper, cabrilla, milkfish, dorado, triggerfish

BAIT:  La Paz side – mackerel and sardines.  Las Arenas side – mostly sardines, but having to go to the island to get them and also cocineros.

FISHING ON A SCALE of 1-10:  6

MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

It was his camouflaged shirt! Mac Christofferson with Captain Armando and the matching colorful bull dorado!

First time with us, Keely Lauber from Louisiana got her first roosterfish also. (released too!)

Our long-time amigo from Boise Idaho on his way to retirement was out with Captain Victor and took a nice cabrilla.

The Thompson Family…always into the good fish with a rack of wahoo and big cabrilla! Fishing with Captain Hugo!

Allison and Johnny Hogan had themselves quite a week. Check out Allison’s big dog-tooth snapper to go along with Johnny’s dorado. They had a bunch of other fish as well.

 

We’ve known Tom Ames for a long time and he’s letting his Santa Beard fill out nicely! Good yellowtail caught north of La Paz near Espirito Santo Island.

I think Darrell Manginelli from Ventura CA must have caught about 10 species on his recent visit with some firsts for him like this palometa!

Captain Alfredo with Randy Choate and a nice dorado for the fish box!

WHOA! A trophy grouper? A giant cabrilla? Allison visiting us from Oklahoma tied into this big boy and landed it with big smiles!

First-time Houston visitor, Howard Bonhomme also got his first roosterfish (released).

Just a great photo of Keely Lauber and her bull dorado she fought on 20 pound test and refused to give up the rod! Well-deserved smile!

Somewhere behind that rooster dorsal fin is Barbara Choate posing with Captain Victor with a smile. Fish was released.

First time and first fish is a bull dorado for Captian Jorge with Mike from Bakersfield CA

No question, but Donna Thompson knows how to fish. She always has a knack for big cabrilla also. Fishing with Captain Hugo.

Our newest amigo from New Jersey, Eugene Wowk spent the week with us and caught a variety of fish like this dorado.

Tough tough fish to pull out’ve the rocks, but Darrell managed this one just off Punta Perrico where the pargo are spawning right now.

Pretty photo of Mac with his yellowtail on Captain Rogelio’s boat.

Johnny Hogan and that big cabrilla!

Another species for Darrell. Roosterfish was released.

Another catch and release rooster for Randy near the island!

Tom Ames and Captain Armando with another dorado for the box headed to dinner at Tailhunter Restaurant.

The “Mad Hatter” Konrad Knoeferl has visited us several times and always great to see him here. Day one…roosterfish on the line! (released). He also got some rainbow runners.

These are fighters…jack crevalle. Kinda like roosterfish without the headgear! Keely with Captain Pancho. Caught and released.

I think this is a good day? Captain Gerardo was out with Allison and Johnny with yellowtail, amberjack, dorado and a big cubera snapper!

_________________________________________________________

It was a much more consistent week and more typical of this time of year.  Basically spring-time fishing.  Honestly, it’s a beautiful time to be down here.

The daytime temps are a sunny high 80’s to low 90’s, but the humidity has not shown up yet.  The evenings are cool and comfortable down to the high 50’s or lower 60’s.  A windbreaker or lights sweatshirt is a good thing to pack along especially in the cool mornings.

Waters are getting warmer and bluer as well.

The number of species we caught this past week was pretty incredible.  But, it’s not uncommon for this time of year where we get such a mix of cooler water and warmer water fish.  Cooler water fish like the pargo, yellowtail, sierra and amberjack are still hanging out, but giving way to warmer water fish like the dorado, tuna and wahoo.

Plus you have the fish that are specific usually to the spring-time bite like pompano, trevally, roosterfish and jacks.

I think overall, we hooked close to 2 dozen different species this week.  Not much of any one species to load up on, but just a great variety…one of these…two of those…3 of these…1 of those,  etc.  And every day was different.  Every fishing hole could change.

Honestly, you really never knew what you might hook if you had a bait in the water.  And that makes it kinda fun!  I never knew what the fish report would be from one day to the next.

But, everyone caught fish:  yellowtail, tuna, wahoo, dorado, roosterfish, cabrilla, grouper, dog-tooth snapper, barred pargo,  pargo liso, snapper, pompano, jack crevalle, bonito, skipjack, rainbow runners, trigger fish, milkfish, palometa…about the only thing I didn’t see this week were billfish.

More specifically, the more prominent fish were yellowtail running 10-30 pounds with the larger ones being caught fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. The fish are biting jigs and live bait.

Yes, there are tuna…50-100 pounders!  We hooked one and lost it, but some of the commercial guys have been able to land some of these larger fish.

Wahoo have shown up around Cerralvo Island if you get out early and fish the jigs and the dorado have been 10-18 pound school-sized fish with a few larger ones.  They key is finding the warmer areas and temperature breaks.

Also, yes, roosterfish have shown up.  Mostly fishing in the usual spots with my Las Arenas fleet.  Seemingly lots of fish in the 5-10 pound class.  There are a few in the 40-50 pound size showing up and hopefully more as the waters get warmer.

Live bait is moving around so sometimes you gotta chase to where the bait guys are catching the sardines so some days that takes a little longer than usual.

Overall, everyone is catching fish and everyone wanting to bring fish home or have some cooked up at our Tailhunter Restaurant have not had an issue.

By, the way, after 4 years (since Covid) we are in the process of re-opening those upper 2nd and 3rd floors of our Tailhunter Restaurant whic are going through a full-remodel including the upstairs bar and kitchen!

We’re really excited and it this is the 15th year anniversary of the restaurant.  We’re pretty excited and hope to have things ready by next month!  Jilly has the workers hopping all over!   Plus we’re finally expanding our menu and bringing back some of our old favorites now that the upstairs kitchen will be open again!  Stay tuned!

Don’t forget, if you’re coming down that your balances are due 30 days out.  No stress.  Just a reminder!  We’ll see you down here!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter Sportfishing

www.tailhunter.comMexico Office: 
Tailhunter Sportfishing

755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

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

Phones: 
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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