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Archive for the ‘snook’ Category

yellowtail jig tags 2-13

Once the winter winds back off, the big fish bit back hard with big fat yellowtail like this one stuck on iron off Cerralvo Island. The only thing is that the winds took their sweet time to back down and we didn’t get into fish until late in the week.

yellowtail brian oneill tags 2-13

Another fish hung on the blue and whit iron! Take a look at the quality of this 40 pound class yellowtail that Brian O’Neil hung fishing a long week with us with our Las Arenas Fleet. Brian is from Atlanta GA.

yellowtail gerardo tags 2-13

The client didn’t want their photo taken so Captain Gerardo of our Las Arenas fleet took the pose with another fat forktail taken off the island.

cougar JR edit

Thanks for the great time and great show, Boise! One of our best shows of the season! And now…here we come, LONG BEACH FRED HALL SHOW! This is the grand daddy of shows! It’s one of the largest on the west coast and kicks it off Wednesday to Sunday at the Long Beach Convention Center!

WINDS BLOW AND KEEP US OFF THE WATER UNTIL LATE IN WEEK!

La Paz / Las Arenas fishing Report for Week of Feb. 24 to March 3, 2013

Compared to the previous week, this past week was a complete disappointment for the most part.  A week ago the winds gave us a break and laid down and the yellowtail went on a major feed along with dorado, marlin and sailfish.  Well, this past week, the winds were pretty unforgiving.  It was like Mother Nature was making up for being nice to us or reminding us that this is still winter.   So, she ripped  us pretty much all week!

But…on the good side, we didn’t have many fishermen either, so let the wind blow!  No harm. No foul.

However, as the weekend came up, the winds ran out’ve some of their steam and sure enough, it was enough of a window for the fish to come back up.  Yellowtail once, more came on the chew with fish in the 20-40 pound class around Cerralvo Island and south of Bahia de Los Muertos.  Our pangas averaged 4-8 yellowtail each in the boat with others lost to the rocks or inexperience.  Additionally, there were cabrilla and smaller pargo taken as well.  The fish were eating mackerel, sardines and willing to eat the yo-yo iron as well.

We just had one of the best shows of the 2013 tour season wrapping up our show at the Idaho Sportmans Show at the Idaho Fairgrounds in Boise!  Great to see so many of our amigos and talk to all the new folks.  We booked lots of trips for this year and excited about seeing everyone . Thanks to everyone who came by to say hi.  Boise is one of our favorite stops along the way!

LAST CALL CABIN FEVER CLASSIC

Last call for our 13th Annual Cabin Fever Classic Event.  We’re gonna have it April 10-15th in La Paz and it’s the only personally escorted trip we do and it’s always great fun with super friends, great food…and even some fish!  It’s 3 days of fishing and a day of snorkeling at the island plus lots of extras.  For more information, e-mail us at riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com.  There’s just a few spots left!

WE’RE HEADED TO LONG BEACH FOR THE BIG SHOW!

But now…the Tailhunter 2013 Road Tour heads to the BIG SHOW!  The Fred Hall Fishing and Boating Show at the Long Beach Convention Center.  This is probably the biggest show on the west coast with hundreds of vendors…tons of fishing and outdoor gear…seminars by the best in the industry…boats…travel…hunting…vacations…FIVE MASSIVE DAYS of craziness!  It starts Wednesday and goest to Sunday.  Comes see us and let’s talk about fishing in La Paz!  We’ll be in our booth in our usual spot next to Izorline and Whopper Stopper Rods on the main tackle row.  See ya there!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: http://www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

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

 

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jorge dorado tags

In a surprise bite considering it’s winter, we’re still pulling in dorado! Captain Jorge holds up the kind of “warm” water fish we’re getting out of Las Arenas with fish between 10 and 20 pounds! Either we’ve still got warm water left over from last season or perhaps…water is warming faster than we think and the warm water fish are already moving in? Hard to know, but no on is too upset with these great fish!



yellowtail burns tags

More our style for this time of year…cooler water fish like Rob’s nice fat yellowtail taken out of Bahia de Los Muertos…in between strong winter winds! When the wind lies down, we’re getting fish!

whaleswdennis 407

February is still prime time for our grey whale tours at Bahia Magdalena. The whales will start moving out generally in March. Don’t miss the opportunity for this great experience to get close to these incredible animals in the shallow calm waters of Baja. Ask us about trips!

Miss Ellie

Tailhunter is now leaving Yakima WA and headed to Glendale (Phoenix) Arizona for the next hunting and fishing show. We had a great time in Yakima and will be at the International Sportsmens Expo at the Phoenix University Football Stadium where the NFL Cardinals play from Thursday to Sunday. Come say hi and talk about your next La Paz fishing adventure and check out our new t-shirts like the one being modeled by our young amiga, Ellie and Jilly! Hope to see you this week!

DORADO SURPRISE ANGLERS IN WINTER BITE

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Feb. 10-17, 2013

Early week seasonal winds continued to plague the fishing, but just as well that we really didn’t have anyone wanting to go fishing, but it wouldn’t have been good anyway.  But, later in the week, we did get out and the winds cooperated.  It’s the northern winds that really give us the most problem making it difficult to fish as well as get bait.

However, crazily when we got out fishing we got some nice variety.  I say “crazily” because it’s winter and we’re catching dorado…normally warmer water fish that we don’t see until maybe April or May.  Not only did we get dorado, but some of them were really respectable-sized fish in the 10-20 pound class.  Surprisingly, these fish were in the same spots as the cooler water fish, specifically, pargo and yellowtail…fish that we normally catch this time of year…colder water fish.  This leads me to believe that there’s some crazy thermoclines right now with surface water temperatures much warmer than below the surface.  But…hey…no one is complaining!  A winter fishing day that ends up with dorado, pargo, sierra and yellowtail is a banner day no matter where and when you’re fishing!

Winds should be better this week and we’ve got folks fishing all week so we’ll hopefully have a better handle on what’s out there!

TAILHUNTER TOUR 2013

By the time you’re reading this, we’ll be on our way from Yakima WA to Phoenix AZ.  Long drive!  But we’re just wrapping up our 5th show of the season at the Central Washington Sportsmens Show in Yakima where we had a great time meeting all kinds of new amigos and now headed to the International Sportsmen’s Show in Phoenix at the University of Phoenix Stadium…the football stadium where the NFL Cardinals play.  It’s a great venue and we always have a blast.  The show starts Thursday and we’ll be in the booth through Sunday. (Feb. 21-24)  Here’s more information:  http://www.sportsexpos.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewlocation&locationnumber=6

Come see us and let’s set up your 2013 La Paz fishing trip!  See you this week!

That’s our story

Jonathan and Jill

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: http://www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

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

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Hawk Yellowtai 1-proc

Our good friend, “Hawk” Davis, was able to sqeeze out some days on the fishing grounds in between wind to get in on the yellowtail bite we got this week!

whaleswdennis 410-proc

Whale watching in Bahia Magdalena is going on full-swing right now in the bay’s shallow warm waters where the grey whales spend the winter. It’s a great experience and we’ll be running trips through March! Ask us!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

We just finished our 4th Tailhunter Show of the season at the Portland Expo Center for a great show where thouands of folks showed up for one of the largest fishing and hunting shows on the west coast! We talked to hundreds of folks each day and got great visits from so many local friends like Amy and Belmond Mann who brought the family to say hi to us! This week we head to the Yakima Sun Dome in Yakima WA for the 24th Annual Central Washington Sportsmans Show from Feb. 15-17th. Come say hi and talk to us about your 2013 La Paz fishing trip!

YELLOWTAIL HIGHLIGHT WEEK OF FISHING

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Feb. 3-10, 2013

Late week, winds finally settled down enough to make it comfortable to fish.  Earlier during the week, seasonal winds made it just too crazy for us to really put folks out on the water.  Many folks this time of year, aren’t hardcore anglers and are often folks just in town looking for a day on the water so it’s often best just to just keep an eye on the weather so that we can put them out when it’s calmest and they can enjoy themselves and get some action.  Honest, though, it it weren’t for the winds, it’s really pretty nice in La Paz with daytime temps in the mid-70’s and being in town is really enjoyable right now.  Oh, and carnaval started this week too so town is hopping and it goes on through next week!

Anyway, time on the water was productive with a nice variety of fish and some solid action.

The appearance of yellowtail again was the most welcome part of the bite.  These were some nice fish that ran 15-35 pounds!  Real slugger toads with maybe even some larger fish breaking off as they often head right back to structure and the rocks.  As I mentioned, many folks aren’t big time anglers, and when some of these freight trains hit, you don’t get a second chance to figure out what to do or make mistakes.

This is the same for the larger cabrilla as well as the pargo.  First thing they want to do is head for home in the rocks and that’s often not very deep.  So, there’s not much margin for error.  When a huge pargo, hits if you’re still fiddling with which way on the fishing rod is up, you’re toast!  I mean, that’s part of the fun.  But, it’s not like a tuna or dorado which might have a hundred feet or so of water beneath it to run or wants to rip off 300 yards of line on the uptake.  Yellowtail, pargo, cabrilla and other “rock fish” can often be in water that’s only 10 feet deep and dotted with reef and rocks!  So any hesitation and the fish simply busts you off!

So, often counts would be better except that fish are getting lost.

That being said, we did get some nice yellowtail mixed with smaller cabrilla, pargo, sierra along the beaches and good numbers of bonito which provide great action.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: http://www.tailhunter-international.com

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

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

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Tailhunter YouTube Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

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

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tags tim zimmer 12-12 dorado

This looks like a poster! The colors are incredible on this bull dorado that Tim Zimmer caught with Captain Jorge out of Bahia de Los Muertos with us. It was another week of surprising big dorado up to 40 pounds…the kind we normally get during warmer weather! We also had quite a variety of other fish as well.

cristina ainsworth sierra 12-12 tags

Big fat sierra! We’ve had some of the biggest sierra I’ve seen in a long time these past few weeks. Just check out this big sierra that Christine Ainsworth caught fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. The fish are schooling in the shallows right now and can be great on light tackle!

verda tags pompano 12-12

Just to show off some of the variety these past few week, we’ve gotten pargo, cabrilla, rainbow runners, jack crevalle, roosterfish, sierra and great eating fish like Verda Boyd’s Africa pompano she’s got on the gaff here with Captain Jorge.

mike ainsworth tags rooster 12-12

Posed like a professional! That’s exactly what Mike Ainsworth does! He’s a fishing guide up in Washington and knew exactly how to hold this roosterfish he got on the flyrod just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos that can be seen just behind him in the background only yards from the beach. We’re still getting roosters in varying sizes like school-sized fish all the way up to 70 and 80 pounders!

There's a reason the local name for jack crevalle is "Toro" which means "Bull" in Spanish.  These jack crevalle are among the gamest fighters in our waters.  Tim shows off one jack he got while fishing 3 days with us.

There’s a reason the local name for jack crevalle is “Toro” which means “Bull” in Spanish. These jack crevalle are among the gamest fighters in our waters. Tim shows off one jack he got while fishing 3 days with us.

SAILFISH – BIG DORADO – ROOSTERFISH SURPRISE WINTER ANGLERS!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 11-16, 201

We had some late week rains which are very unusual for this time of year when winds are usually what we have to worry about, but we had a bit of both.  As the week went on, the winds got stronger then the winds died and then the wind died and we got some crazy rains!  Nothing really strong, but enough to fall fairly steadily and get everything wet on and off for about 2 days!

However, earlier in the week, we really had some excellent fishing.  Once again the dorado were truly a surprise.  Hard to believe it’s winter when 20-40 pound dorado are ripping up the anglers and putting some big smiles on faces.  But, that’s the kind of fishing we were getting.  Limits or near limits of dorado with the larger fish and bigger schools east of Cerralvo Island.  On top of it, even-to-some-degree when the weather was a bit sour, we had sailfish and smaller striped marlin in the count! 

Closer to shore, smaller schoolie-sized dorado, but add in some solid sierra fishing plus pargo, cabrilla, a smattering of jack crevalle and pompano and bonito and it makes for some great unexpected action! Even bigger surprise, we got hammered by some really unexpected catches of roosterfish…and not just the smaller school-size fish either.  We got some 60-80 pound bruisers just off Punta Perico and the lighthouse as well as some of the roosters on the flyrod.

Hope your holidays are going well!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

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

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

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

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

 

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It was a good week for dorado fishing and this nice bull with the great colors was put in the boat by Nash Johnson from Washington with Captain Adolfo. Dorado were hot for both of our Tailhunter fleets this week.

Our La Paz fleet and our Las Arenas fleet were into dorado all week, with excellent weather most of the time. Our amiga, Donna Drucker, who visits us every year was with husband, John, and Captain Joel when she took this nice bull north of the city.

He’s usually running road construction operations in Boise, ID, but Steve Walker got down to see us on his first La Paz trip and had a tussle with this feisty jack crevalle (“toro”).

Long time Tailhunter amigos, Byron Shovlain and George Bonner, spent 3 days fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet and Capt. Archangel and filled the box with some nice dorado like these!

Alaska amigo, Rod Brown, extended 3 extra days and it paid off in extra days of fishing and this fat wahoo he got on a purple Yo-Zuri.

Two of the nicest folks…Stephanie and Kelly Mizuno…always spend time with us each year from Sacramento CA. They also got into some great dorado fishing with both of our fleets. “She outfished me 5 – to -1, ” said Kelly!

From S. Dakota, Deneen and Mark Clausen, were on their first trip and grand-slammed some great variety one day with dorado, roosterfish, cabrilla, pargo,  giant squid and bonito. Captain Jorge helps with the photo.

Captain Jorge again…poses with a nice roosterfish off Bahia de Los Muertos. The fish was released. This is typical of the rooster sizes we were hitting this week.

Steve Snead from Boise, ID, started slow but finished in full turbo mode with the dorado fishing after spending the whole week with us. Great shot of a bull dorado taken north of La Paz.

Seems like we get more and more great folks from the state of Idaho! Paul Wakagawa and Mark Echeverria (sorry  ’bout that, Mark!)  were a hoot on their first visit and show off a pair of their dorado on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos.

Nate and dad, Erick Johnson, show off a great day fishing. Check out the dorado, but also the cool “mini-wahoo!”

Utah in the house! From Salt Lake City, Lee and Jeanette Gillman pose with one of their roosterfish caught off Punta Perico. They released the fish.

Captain Rogelio tries to photo bomb Bobby Sherling holding her dorado she caught with our La Paz fleet north of town and shown here on the beach at Balandra.

Although it’s not going to hit us directly, we’re keeping an eye on Tropical Storm Paul which is going to still bring some thunder showers and strong winds Monday/ Tuesday/ Wednesday. Just when I thought all the rain was done for the year…

DORADO CRASH THE BITE AS FISH PILE UP IN THE BOXES!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Oct. 7-14, 2012

With almost perfect weather and a perfect moon, the week still started so-so, but gradually got better and better as the week went along with both our Las Arenas and our La Paz fleets pretty much firing on all cylinders and the dorado bending rods on both sides.

Not much to say!  The photos tell it all.  It was a pretty solid good week for fishing!

Our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet really hit it’s stride with some of the most consistent fishing we’ve had all season there after the first few months of the season were really slow.  Sure, there were the occasional times when this panga or that panga had some off-fishing but for the most part, it was all-around great fishing for a variety of species all well that just got better as the week went on.

Sorry, no tuna, but the dorado sure came to play with consistent 10-25 pound fish and on a few days, there were easy and early limits with dorado pandemonium hitting the fleet with double and triple hook ups ripping the anglers.  But, on top of the dorado, by the end of the week we were also getting bent by giant squid, jack crevalle, roosterfish, some wahoo, a few marlin and sailfish, pargo, cabrilla, sierra and lots of bonito.  This made for a lot of tired arms and backs by the end of the day and mostly some big grins and smiles!

For our La Paz fleet, not as many dorado as Las Arenas, but what it lacked in quantity made up for in quality.  The La Paz dorado were generally larger with some fish in the 30 pound class hitting the fish boxes.

You can tell it’s getting cooler and the seasons are starting to change a bit.  Breezes are starting to blow and the shadows are longer. Waters are getting cooler as well.  A bit early this year.  It will be interesting to see what happens to the fishing in the next few weeks.  This week is supposed to be pretty windy with a good chance of rain showers here and there.  As I write this Sunday night, we’re watching Tropical Storm Paul that’s going to give us a little brush so we’ll have to see how that plays out. Click the link for more info:

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=zmw:00000.1.76405

Hopefully, it’ll just be a nuisance.  What a crazy year it has been.

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

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

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine  CA  91903-1149
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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

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


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

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Rod Brown is our good amigo from Wrangell, AK. He’s already made two trips to see us this year and was one of the guys who was able to post up a nice wahoo in what has been the best wahoo week in two years! Captain Jorge helps with the photo.

Captain Gerardo lends a hand to Jeanette and “Big Jimmy” Lee Gilman from Utah. First timers to fish with us, they won the trip by guessing how many bobbers were in the ice chest photo below when they came to the ISE Sportsmans show in Salt Lake City, UT last March! Talk about beginner’s luck…they got 5 nice dorado, a wahoo AND….two roosterfish that went 40-50 pounds! And outstanding day for anyone!

Lee Gillman in the photo above attended the Salt Lake City International Sportsmens Show in March and correctly guessed that there were 1934 bobbers in the marine ice chest above and won a 5 day/ 4 nights/ 2 days fishing trip with Tailhunter here in La Paz.

Hank Gonzalez and Captain Lorenzo flank happy angler, Robert “Blue” Nuss with his personal best bull dorado he caught out of Bahia de Los Muertos.

It was a pretty good week for sailfish! Chris Pallemaerts from Washington gets his buddy Josh to give him a hand with this big sailfish he caught fishing our Tailhunter La Paz fleet north of the city. They attempted to release the fish but were unable to revive it after it swallowed the hook. They donated the fish.

Our amigo, Charlie Gibson from Northern California, is here on his 2nd trip to La Paz this year and shows off one of his dorado he caught fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet north of the city.

Talk about a great day! Joe Hussin barely had a line in the water off Punta Perrico when he got his first wahoo! Then, in the next hour, he caught 2 more of the nice ‘hoo’s! Three wahoo in an hour! Best of the year so far.

We had quite a few of our amigos who were on their 2nd trip of the year to La Paz to visit us including Leif Dover who lives in Atlanta GA and “commutes” to Hong Kong, China for work! Leif crossed “sailfish” off his bucket list with his first ever sailfish fishing with Captain Pancho off Las Arenas. The fish was released.

It’s always great when the kids get their first fish! Check out the two dorado that Julian Valdez caught out of Bahia de Los Muertos! Felicidades, amigo!

Bob Solee from the Portland, Oregon area was actually on his 3rd trip of the year with us and always does well. Bob holds up one of his La Paz dorado. Bob make some incredible custom fishing rods! Check them out at http://www.bandbcustomrods.com/

Curt Desjardins from Temecula CA was fishing with us for the first time and pulled this beautiful bull dorado while fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet.

FISHING ATTEMPTS TO REBOUND AFTER LAST WEEK’S STORMS WITH WAHOO DORADO BILLFISH!

La Paz – Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of Sept 30 to Oct. 7, 2012

A week after we were hit with a hurricane, an earthquake and and floods from a tropical storm, things got back a little more to normal this past week.  Temperatures and skies could not have been prettier.  Definitely spectacular postcard-pretty weather.  However, the waters are taking a little longer to get back on track as runoff from the big rains cooled some areas of water or made it greener or murkier. 

 

But, as the week went on it steadily got better although fishing still did not get up to where it usually is this time of year.   The biggest danger was just fishing 1 days.  You COULD be the one or two boats that didn’t do well while the rest of the fleet was hooking fish.  Every day, about 80 percent of the boats did OK to good and a few just couldn’t get on the bite.  So, if you only fished one day, you did stand the chance of getting only a fish or two.

 

On the other hand, fortunately, most of our clients are here fishing 2, 3, 4 or more days and by the end of the trip, even with a slow day or two, they left with an ice chest of fillets and good Kodak moments!

 

There was no shortage of variety that’s for sure.  I think things are changing.  Of course, we had the usual dorado bite where probably 70 percent of this week’s bite were dorado.  Fish ranged in the 10-15 pound class, but there were larger fish up to 40 pounds well.  The problem was that there was no rhyme or reason as to where the fish would bite or why they would bite one day and not the next.  One “hot” captain would just smoke the fish and the next day that same captain could not get a single biter!   Or vise versa.  A captain on a slump would suddenly be the king of the beach the next day.

 

But, in addition to the dorado, we also saw our best week of wahoo.  Get this.  Some of the wahoo were smaller than big sierra!  I have NEVER seen some wahoo so small.  They were like miniature wahoo.  I’ had never seen 5 pound wahoo!  So, don’t get too excited.  But there were also some 20-30 pounders as well.  Again, like before, some of our pangas would hit the wahoo off Punta Perico and then the next day everyone would go to that spot and they would get skunked.  It was hit or miss, but given we’ve not had any wahoo for 2 seasons, we got more wahoo this week than in the past 2 years combined.

 

There were also some other good biters as well. Roosterfish are still prowling the shallows near the beaches and we got and released roosters in the 5-50 pound class all on live bait.  Larger baits produced larger fish!  There were also pargo, sierra, jack crevalle, lots of bonito and a stray tuna or two.

 

Additionally, it was a good week for sailfish and marlin with several being hooked each day and most released.

 That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

 

Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter International Website: www.tailhunter-international.com Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

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

 

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

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

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

 

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This is the kind of bite we see in March and April…maybe not even THIS good! But with water temps dropping low, the yellowtail came roaring back near Espiritu Santo Island north of La Paz. 17-year-old, Emiily Duncan poses on the beach at Balandra with the catch taken by herself, her dad and friend Jorge. They were back on the beach by 10 a.m. this morning!

From Pocatello, Idaho, on his first trip to La Paz, Troy Lenhart takes a knee on the beach in front of La Concha Beach Resort with just a portion of his catch for the day. The fish were 20-50 pound slugs and they put 11 of them in the box, and lost several others. Their captain said, “We could have had 20 fish easy!” They were done by 10:45 in the morning.

Our first official wahoo of the season…FINALLY! Also turns out to be Dave Rose’s first wahoo as well. Dave DROVE all the way down from Colorado as he does several times a year. Dave initially had one wahoo come off, but came back and gave it another shot and put this nice one in the boat just south of Cerralvo Island on a dark Rapala CD 18.

It’s always nice to put a “check mark” next to an item on the bucket list. Ed Hoffman lives just north of us in Loreto and came down specifically to catch a trophy rooster and got this beauty just of the Las Arenas lighthouse first thing in the morning! Just what he ordered! The fish was released.

First timer from Idaho, Amy Lenhart, was on her first day fishing and just off the beach at Las Arenas put the wood to this super nice grouper! The fat guy was put in the boat by Captain Victor who poses with Amy. She also got her first roosterfish as well the same day.

Our amigo, Jorge Romero, does the gaff honors with Bob Duncan of Santa Barbara on a day that they put 11 of these nice fish in the panga west of Espiritu Santo Island. Daughter, Emily, fights another fish in the stern. This week, waters were again green and dirty but for some reason, the yellowtail came roarding back!

Our buddy, retired fireman, Craig Braswell, grunts to lift up two of their limits of yellowtail as he stand in the shallows of Balandra Beach.

Sacramento amigo, Dave Frausto, should be happy about the 10 yellowtail they landed! But here he hoists two of the nice yellows they put in the box one of the banner days this week that the yellowtail went crazy.

A look at the Terrafin sea temperature satelite maps (www.terrafin.com) show some encouraging signs. Much of the water near Las Arenas is inching up into the high 70’s and low 80’s. A vast improvement over the past several weeks when the waters were in the 60’s and showing blue/green on the satellite maps. Hopefully, the warmer waters will burn off all the cloudiness in the water and also bring back the sardines as well.

YELLOWTAIL in JUNE? CRAZY BITE MARKS WEEK OF FISHING!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of June 3-10, 2012

Who could have imagined.  It’s June. Last time I checked, it’s summertime on most people’s calendars.  In southern Baja and here in La Paz this is the time when we should be sticking dorado like crazy as well as marlin, sailfish, tuna, wahoo and other warm water species.  However, on the contrary, water temperatures in the Sea of Cortez and around the southern Baja fishing “hot” spots that are traditionally on fire this time of year have fallen off the charts!  In a bad way.  Instead of 80 degree water temperatures, anglers have been facing cold, green, dirty, cloudy waters down in the 60’s!  On top of it, getting bait has been like finding a needle in a haystack!

Needless to say, like many areas, the fishing around La Paz has been less than stellar.  In fact, it’s been really difficult. Using lures, larger baits like live and dead mullet, mackerel and other species, we’ve been able to scratch up roosterfish, some jacks, the occasional dorado and a few other species.  And that’s been it.  Lots of disappointment. But what are you gonna do?

You’re gonna keep fishing!

And then things kinda took a little upswing this week! Earlier in the week, for our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet, we got into some nice jags of wahoo at the south end of Cerralvo Island.  We also got some great quality roosterfish up to about 50 pounds plus got into some pretty decent pargo and cabrilla. We also hooked a few striped marlin as well.  Still not up to snuff, but surely way better than what we had been doing most of May and early June.

And, with waters still cold, green and cloudy…when we were giving up on warm water species…a surprise.  No warm water fish, but instead, we had a late week eruption of 20-50 pound yellowtail!  This is crazy!  Yellowtail season is March and April. We haven’t seen yellowtail in over a month.  But this week for our Tailhunter La Paz fleet, they not only got into yellowtail, they had some of the best snaps of yellowtail we have ever seen!

Boats were coming back by 10 or 11 a.m. with limits of 10 big slugger yellowtail.  They would tell me they lost 4, 5, 6…8 other fish to the rocks.  Captains would tell me they could easily have taken 20 or more yellowtail.  The fish were eating in about 40 feet of water and taking the larger cocineros and live mackerel we were catching in La Paz Bay.  Folks didn’t know what to do with so much fish.   When you have 10 fish that are 40 pounders…you suddenly find yourself with about 150 pounds of fillet!   Kind of a good problem…especially when many of our anglers were geared to really having to scratch for any fish at all and finding that by 10 a.m. they were too tired to pull on another fish!

As the week closed out, the yellowtail got a bit more elusive.  One day on and next day off.  But, I stopped trying to guess where and when.  We were just glad they showed up!

Don’t know if this will hold or it’s just a blip on the radar, but it surely saved a crazy week!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

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

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

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


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

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Ryan O’Connor holds up one of the big tuna that showed up off the south end of Cerralvo Island and surprised us all late in the week. Ryan is from Miami. This fish was close to 100 pounds and he and his dad put 4 nice fish in the boat!

I was as surprised as any when Chuck Eaves and Captain Jorge pulled this huge slugger out’ve the fish box on the panga! WHOA!!! Close to 100 pounds and not only the first tuna of the season, but the largest as well. Great way to start! The fish initially were found running with porpoise. More video of Chuck below this weeks’ photos!

Good start for their first day of fishing for Curt Weiss and Henry Hernandez from Florida who pose with 4 of their big yellowfin tuna in the shallows at Punta Arenas. These fish were the first tuna run of the season we had seen!

Ben and Kendra Gillette usually spend their anniversary in Hawaii, but opted for La Paz this time. Ben had wanted to use his flyrod, but when these big tuna showed up he wisely put down his flyrod and grabbed the bigger conventional guns! Big smiles to go along with their nice fish!

Rick Walker from Washington, has had better trips to see us but ran into some of that tough fishing early in the week. However, he did put the largest dorado of the week aboard one of our pangas. The dorado are here, but the bite has been scattered. One day on…next day off!

Nelson Kwok was spearfishing on the north end of Cerralvo Island when he stuck this monster amberjack which was scaled at 87 pounds. This beast is a cousin to the yellowtail and makes great eating. Water temperatures around the island are about 83 degrees right now. North Cerralvo has traditionally been a hot spot for finding amberjack. (Thanks for the photo, Hawk!)

Again…thanks Hawk for all the photos you get me! He got me another photo of Nelson Kwok from N. Cal with one of the yellowtail he got go go along with the big amberjack (shown above). We thought the yellowtail had left us over a month ago, but with water temperatures all over the place, yellowtail are showing up in the cooler waters.

Video Clip:  A short video clip of Chuck Eaves’ big tuna being pulled from the panga.  My video camera went on the fritz right after this or I would have had more video footage of all the tuna we got!

FLURRY OF NICE TUNA HIGHLIGHT OTHERWISE  UNUSUALLY SLOW WEEK!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of May 20-27, 2012

This past week was perhaps the strangest week of the season.  Maybe it was a continuation of last week. In word, maybe “strange” wasn’t strong enough…it stunk!   We have jokingly been blaming the eclipse and big waves generated from the hurricane hundreds of miles to the south, but nothing adds up.  More likely, it’s been a combination of a number of factors. 

 

It would seem the conditions are all good.  Water temps are in the low to mid 80’s and air temperatures have been in the mid-80’s to mid-90’s.  Perfect vacation weather!  But you really have to look closer at what the satellite readings are telling us about the surface temperatures.

 

Around our Las Arenas/ Cerralvo Island areas, the surface water temps are in the 80’s.  Good warm water for species like dorado, wahoo, billfish, etc.  But north of La Paz around Espiritu Santo Island, the water temperatures are around the mid-70’s!  Those are more like cooler spring-time temperatures that produce yellowtail, pargo, cabrilla, sierra, and more inshore fishing.  But…75-80 degree difference… That’s quite a change.  Plus there are fingers of warm water in the cold areas and fingers of cold water in the warm areas.  I can only speculate what it’s like UNDER the surface!

 

So, I think the fish are all messed up!  I think they are ready to take off and go, but we’re just going through a really rough transition time between our spring and summer conditions. Add to that the fact that there’s a huge bank of cold water down as cold as the mid-60’s hovering off Cabo San Lucas and the East Cape to our south that’s really hurting those areas AND threatening to move up into our area and we end up with a real “chop suey” of conditions!

 

So, not only are the fish confused, but moreso, it has affected our bait situation.  Some days bait is almost impossible to get.  This is mostly with our Las Arenas fleet which has resorted to using frozen ballyhoo, cut squid, live pilot fish, caballito jacks and liso (mullet).  It’s pretty hard to chum with these species and I especially feel badly for many of the flyfishers who come to La Paz this time of year when normally we have tons of sardines to chum up the fish for them. 

 

For our La Paz fleet, the bait has been a little easier, but still tougher than normal.  We’re getting some sardines but supplementing that with mackerel and caballitos. 

 

Bottom line is that there’s not many bullets for the guns!

 

But, we are getting some fish…

 

For our La Paz fleet, we have been surprised by the re-emergence of yellowtail again.  We had a great bite going for 3 months that just simply fell off the boards about a month ago.  Then, with the re-emergence of cold water, we suddenly have yellowtail biting again as well as pargo, cabrilla and little flurries of dorado and marlin in the warmer areas.

 

For our Las Arenas fleet, with even tougher bait stocks, the fishing was reduced to some bonito, some roosters and the occasional pargo and cabrilla.  I mean, “STINK” doesn’t even begin to describe it!  There were some nice amberjack at the north end of Cerralvo but then that was it!  Guys were really working hard and our captains were even staying extra hours on the water to do their best to get fish for the clients!  (But hat’s off to the fishermen who really put in the time and kept up the good attitudes and kept smiling through it all without a whole lot of whining.  Good sports!  Honestly, many of our clients the past week or so are regulars so they know how goood the fishing can be and are as perplexed as we are about the lack of bite!)

 

But then the highlight of the week, on Friday off the south end of Cerralvo Island…

… a big school of moving dolphin came through.  A few of our boats chased them and got immediate hook ups on slugger-sized yellowfin tuna.  Other boats joined in.  Instead of moving off with the dolphin, the tuna stayed…and bit!  And for a few great hours guys had bent rods on 40-100 pound yellowfin that just spanked the guys!  All our pangas got 1-4 fish each but all of them lost 2-5 other nice tuna as well.  They were pretty tired at the end of the day but these were feisty hard-charging fish.

 

The next day, most of the guys didn’t want to chase tuna as they were pretty beat up so it’s hard to know if the tuna stayed around, but inshore, the guys found roosters between 10 and 70 pounds as well as some small dorado and a few marlin and sailfish hookups that were either lost or released.  All roosters were also released.

 

So…I don’t know where that leaves us, but I’m encouraged by what we saw at the end of the week and hope things settle down!

Happy Memorial Day week and weekend everyone!  God bless all you vets for your service!

 

 

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jilly

 

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

.

Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

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

 

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That's ALOT of fish! Oregonian Don White had a knack for big cabrilla and other rockies this week including this hefty pair shown here with our Captain Alfredo. Don was fishing north of La Paz around Espirito Santo Island.

Bob Solee, come down several times a year to see us here in La Paz and seems to always get a personal best or something unusual. Yellowtail were on his "bucket list" and as luck would have it, he took one of the few yellowtail of the week fishing with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet. Bob is from the Portland Oregon area and is a custom fishing rod maker specializing in 3-pc. travel rods.

Yes, I do get out now and then and we had our 11th Annual Cabin Fever Classic here in La Paz and it was a blast. This dorado turns out to be the first of the season and quite a big boy for so early in the year! But it was swimming through a school of bonito when we spotted it and threw a live bait and it! A great catch. I'm standing on the beach at Bahia de Los Muertos.

Easy to see why this is called a dog-tooth snapper. We call 'em pargo. John "JD" Drucker from Arizona is one of our La Paz regulars and comes several times a year. He had other fish that they never moved out've the rocks!

First timer from Oregon, Sheila Maloney, had a big smile for this cubera snapper and a bunch of others she picked up working the east side of Espiritu Santo Island using a combination of sardines and live mackerel.

It was another good week for roosterfish as the fish seem to be coming on stronger. Dave Swanson and Captain Joel pose with a nice pez gallo before setting it free. We would have more rooster photos, but most fish fortunately are let go so we don't get many photos! Dave got this near Espirito Santo Island.

Matt Gesler has to be one of the funniest and happiest guys we can remember. Always laughing. For a first-timer he slammed fish for 3 days including these nice cabrilla.

Rod Brown really wanted to catch a yellowtail and finally got one on the last day of the last hour of fishing. Rod hails from Alaska and makes 2 trips a year to visit us.

She's the pargo queen! Carol Darby put 7 of these barred pargo in the panga compared to just one for her husband who said "She was on fire!" These are tough fish and this is quite an accomplishment. She stands here on the beach at Muertos Bay.

We had a blast this week with our 12th Annual Cabin Fever Classic. It was a bit smaller than usual, but no less fun as we had 3 days of fishing...one day of snorkeling at the island...and lots of great dinners and good times. Thanks everyone! It was a blast! (Where's Mike?)

INSHORE SPECIES DRAW MOST ATTENTION WITH BIG CABRILLA AND PARGO ROCKING ANGLERS

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for Week of April 22-29, 2012

An interesting week of fishing down here in La Paz.  I think our yellowtail bite is officially over although we’re getting a few punky firecracker yellows that aren’t any bigger than 5-10 pounds. And…every now and then, especially north of La Paz, a nice little jag of the bigger fish jumps up and goes on a chew.  But, for all intents and purposes, things are changing and it’s best not to lament what’s NOT biting and concentrate on what IS biting!

 

Basically, it’s turning into your typical spring smorgasborg of fish species.  Frankly, it’s a lot of fun because from day-to-day, you’re never sure what’s going to hit. Sometimes it changes within the hour.  I believe this past week alone we got over a dozen keepable species of fish! 

 

This included our first dorado of the season, a nice 25 pound class mahi picked up on live bait right in the middle of swarming bonito schools.  This also included some really nice action on roosterfish that are hitting in numerous spots around the La Paz fishing area.  As well, cabrilla, grouper, sierra, amberjack, jack crevalle and all three members of the pargo family (barred pargo / pargo liso/ dog tooth-snapper) were all taken this week usualy in the areas around underwater structure.

I gotta tell you…take a look at some of the photos from this week.  Don’t blow off fishing for cabrilla or pargo.  Some of these fish are HUGE! Try stopping some of these bad boys before they get to the rocks.  I was on the water a number of times this past week and I would guess that about 2 nice pargo or cabrilla were caught for ever 10 hook ups.  Imagine a fish that can swallow a whole mackerel or a whole small needlefish that we’re using for bait.  That is a BIG fish with a BIG mouth!  One day, I personally lost at least 8 and only putting 3 aboard…and then again ONLY after amping up my gear from 40 pound test to 60…then to 80 pound test and basically my trolling sticks!

It sounds silly, but if you can’t turn their big heads of these guys, you might as well just throw bait in the water and watch them blow up on the surface and tear it up and forget fishing.  You’re just feeding the fish!  But, it’s incredibly exciting when you’re slow trolling a bait through blue clear waters and you can see the bottom just a few feet below.  You start chumming baits and out of nowhere, 20, 30 and 40 pound fish start going ballistic behind the boat…and then your line screams!  

The biggest factor this week was the darned wind!  I tell you…one day we had barely wind and had a great day.  Next day, the winds ripped us apart and we could not even get bait.  The best we could do all day was troll Rapalas all day for less-than-happy results.  When we went after yellowtail north of La Paz, it took us two hours in heavy winds and seas trying to catch a dozen mackerel for bait.  After getting enough bait, we hit the yellowtail spot and it was like fishing in a washing machine. The current was so strong we couldn’t even get the mackerel down deep enough to the fish because the pangas were getting blown off the spots.

Hopefully, usually the winds keep diminishing but it’s not over until it’s over.   I’m really excited about seeing so much sargasso weed floating around out there!  Given that we got that first nice dorado, if we get a little more water temperature, schools of dorado can’t be far behind.  Some commercial guys are seeing them as well as marlin sitting on the surface just sunning and not quite ready to go on the chew.  Give it just a tad more temperature and the big boys should come flying!

 

 

That’s our story!

 

Jonathan and Jilly

 

Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter International

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745

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

Phones:  from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

.

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

Tailhunter YouTube Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

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

.


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Whoo-hooooo! Parks from Colorado came up with this nice yellowtail just outside of Bahia de Los Muertos where flat waters kept the hot yellowtail bite rolling with 15-30 pound fish!

Uno mas! A fat jurel (yellowtail) for Bob Day who scored with this off Cerralvo Island. Ideal conditions this past week helped keep the yellowtail bite on the roll, especially around Cerralvo Island.

James "Hawk" Davis is getting to be a regular poster child on the Tailhunter Fishing Report. Thanks to him also so often for such great photos like this one with another yellowtail over the rail.

Close cousin to the yellowtail (and some people say better table fare!) amberjack are also on the feed around Bahia de Los Muertos. Some of these fish can get over 100 pounds. This one by our amigo, Esteban Romero, isn't quite that big, but it's the right size for his grill!

The yellowtail have arrived a bit early this year, but the pargo are also in numbers inshore and on the spawn. Cindy Hunt holds up a tough hard fighting pargo liso (dog snapper). These fish are literally in just a few feet of water and catching one out of the rocks is quite a conquest!

A long way from North Carolina, Floy puts the gaff to one more yellowtail this past week.

Click the link above to get a video-clip view from the inside of the Tailhunter booth this past week at the International Sportsman’s Expo show at the State Fairgrounds in Sacramento.  Thanks to everyone who came by to say hi and book their 2012 fishing trips to La Paz!  The Tailhunter Road Show now heads north up to the Pacific Northwest to the Washington State Fairgrounds at Puyallup, Washington going on through Sunday.  Stop by to say hi and pick up this year’s Tailhunter DVD and 24 page action brochure!

YELLOWTAIL and BIG PARGO KEEP BITING AS LONG AS THE WIND STAYS AWAY!

La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for the Week of Jan. 15-22, 2012

Great inshore fishing continued to dominate the La Paz/ Las Arenas fishing scene this past week again with continued bent rods on the featured yellowtail and pargo.  The fish are surely here a bit earlier than normal.  Fish of this quality and quantity usually don’t show up for another month or two!  No one’s complaining…except those anglers seeing the reports lately and wishing they were in La Paz waters getting into this great bite.

The week started a bit sluggish for the big boys, but still some nice action on the bonito, cabrilla and smaller pargo.  Buy any standards, half-way decent fishing action for this time of year!  However, by mid-week the yellowtail were again crashing just off the inside waters around north and south Cerralvo Island plus a nice jag of fish just off Punta Perico in that  rocky areas between Muertos Bay and the Las Arenas lighthouse.

These were a nice grade of yellowtail.  The larger fish up to 30-40 pound seemed to be closer to the spots around the island.  “Smaller’ fish (up to 30 pounds) were the ones taken near Bahia de Los Muertos, Punta Perico and Boca de Alamo just to the south.

Mackerel seem to be the prime bait, but sardines and casting yo yo iron on the fast crank using blue/white; brown bait; and scrambled egg patterns have been steady producers.

In addition to the areas of yellowtail those same rocky areas are still kicking out early-season pargo as well. Some of the fish appear to literally be mere feet from the rocky cliffs and shorelines.  But that’s because they ARE that close.   I often tell folks it looks like a Japanese kio pond with 10-50 pound fish gone on steroids as the big pargo (snapper) start roiling and boiling in the chum lines and many large fish we never see simply because they are too big and the rocks beneath the surface are too close and can shred mono leaders like mere thread.  They’re a frustrating fish!

I’m still hearing reports from the commercial guys of some fast-moving tuna at the north end of Cerralvo Island with fish up to 100 pounds greyhounding.  But, none of the sport pangas have been able to get on them.  We’ll keep you posted!

That’s our story!

Jonathan and Jill

 

Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International

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

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

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


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

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