La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 12-19, 2018
Mexican Minute Video Report
Week at a Glance
Weather – Warm and sunny. Highs all week high 90’s. Nightime dropping to high 70’s. Pretty humid. Not unusual to get some electrical and thunderstorms and showers here and there. Nothing lasts long or affected the fishing .
Water – Blue with surface temps high 80’s. Great snorkeling and diving time. Some thermoclines down 30′-40′ much chillier by 5-8 degrees.
Fishing – More football-sized tuna showing up in the 10-15 pound class, but big bruisers still around. Dorado are 80% of the catch, but the bite is often later in the day for the dorado.
Catching – The bigger the fish, the more we lose. Lost some wahoo and billfish this week. So, no photos, but the fish are there!
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST OF THE STORY…
Eric Hill visiting us for the first tim from Colorado rocked it with a hefty yellowfin tuna off Punta Arenas .
After you’ve been fighting a big fish in the hot sun for a long time, it’s kinda hard to lift it for a photo as Jules found out in this photo. Punta Arenas and Cerralvo Island in the distance.
I couldn’t get a photo of Donovan Ackerman and his big dorado, but I do have a photo of the big dorado with Captain Ramiro on the beach at Muertos Bay.
Laura Hernandez with another fat fat yellowfin just off the beach at Arenas. Laura is from San Diego.
Amigo, Roger McCracken from Oregon was fishing with Shelly Donnell north of La Paz when they had a good day on the dorado and even a football tuna.
The right kind! Nice football tuna double-fisted by Mark Buchanan from San Diego.
We had more of a fairly typical summer fishing week these past few days. Temperatures in the high 90’s with night temps in the high 70’s. Days start often with clouds then the Baja sun busts through giving way to stronger breezes and the return of clouds in the afternoons and even some thundershowers that cool off the evenings.
Waters have settled and are mostly blue and holding some pretty decent fish!
We still have those larger model tuna off Punta Arenas that seem to average about 40-50 pounds and have really been tough dogged sport these past few weeks and schooling a lot of anglers in how powerful these fish can be. Especially, when success tips in favor of the fish since they are mostly eating light 25-40 pound test which really puts a strain in the angler and his gear. We sure lose a lot of them.
However, this past week, we saw fewer of the larger fish and more football tuna seemed to have taken up station. These fish are much much more manageable to most angler since these footballs are 10-20 pounders. They’ll pull hard, but at least they don’t kill you!
Rounding out the box, there’s some nicer 10-30 pound dorado that have moved in. Most surprising are the pargo, pompano and some other cooler water species we normally do not see this time of year with the waters so warm. Maybe the waters are already cooling?
For our La Paz Tailhunte fleet, the bay and around the islands north of town, dorado are still the mainstay with limits or near limits most days. The problems is about finding the spots. It seems the concentrations of fish move around, but once located, it can be crazy off-the-chart fishing.
Just a heads-up that the best bite is later in the day or afternoon so be patient. The fish are more willing to feed sometimes just about the time much of the fleet is heading back in. But, our Tailhunter pangas have been staying out a bit later to take advantage of the later bite .
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug 5-12, 2018
Mexican Minute Video Report
Week at a Glance
Weather – We had Hurricane John that bounced in and bounced out. Some flooding, but honestly nothing serious as it headed out towards the Pacific, but enough that we had a few days of winds, rain and waves. Enough to cause a nuisance and shut down fishing for 2 days. But, even after it technically went it’s way the days in the aftermath still were cloudy…some rain…some thunder and lightning and winds. Very unpredictable and erratic.
Water – Did not take as bad a hit as after other storms where the water is very turned over and dirty. Since there wasn’t torrential rain, there wasn’t enough run-off to dirty the water. Waters relatively blue and clear at 83 degrees.
Fishing – Week started pretty well with big tuna, and dorado. Then the storm hit and you always wonder what it will do to the fishing. How long will the fish take to recover. Surprisingly, the fish were fair good to us. Not great, but not as bad as other times. We still had action although we had to work harder for them, but everyone caught fish. Surprised to see cooler water fish like pargo and pompano showing up. Are waters getting colder already? We usually don’t see these fish except in late winter and spring!
Catching – Still losing the majority of those big tuna; a couple of wahoo bites; and more dorado than we should! But that’s fishing! Everyone took home meat that wanted meat.
The Big Picture and the Rest of the Story…
Big tuna for Laura Hernandez and Mark Buchanan from San Diego who battled the big fish just off Punta Arenas. The fish were measured at about 50-55 pounds each.
A good reason NOT to be out fishing! Waterspout off Cerralvo Island during the storm! (Taken from the beach!) . Thanks for the shot, Rusty Cain!
Little vide of the beginning of Hurricane John.
Even after the hurricane “left” we still had localized and intermittent shower and thunderstorms all week. Pretty shot! Thanks, Mark Buchanan!
The fishing rabbi from Portland Oregon, our amigo, Sheldon Donnell used to have a temple in Orange Co, but retired to Portland and often came to fish in La Paz with Tailhunter Sportfishing. He got this nice bull just off the rocks near Punta Arenas.
One of our favorite all-time families! Diego and Kelly Sanchez from Loveland, Colorado brought granddaughter, Selena down who had a great time fishing. Here’s one day’s fun of tuna, dorado, triggerfish and pargo! Plus they released jack crevalle and bonito.
Bryan Forward from Carlsbad wasn’t fishing for roosterfish just north of La Paz, but while fishing in a dorado school with Captain Rogelio from the Tailhunter Fleet, this big boy popped up and chewed his bait and the battle was on. The fish was released.
I think one day, Al Sandstrom will probably move down here. He just has too good a time fishing! Dorado in hand caught with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet.
Skies are still cloudy but the smiles are real! Captain Jorge with Mark Hawkins and Harry Hsu posed with 3 of their 5 yellowfin on the beach at Muertos.
That’s alot of mahi mahi for Mark Buchanan and wife, Laura Hernandez from San Diego. Always in the fish!
He’s a little tired! Tony Smith has 4 big tuna on the table. First time down here and he had a good time.
Lee Carlson with Captain Moncho of the Tailhunter Fleet is from Denver. He hooked this roosterfish not far off the beach near Punta Perrico near La Paz and fought it for over an hour on light tackle and said “The fish did me in!”
The best is when someone catches their first fish ever! Rob Forward of Carlsbad and Captain Rogelio with his first dorado!
So crazy unusual to be catching pargo liso because normally, they are cooler water fish we catch from Feb. to April! But, Shelly Donnell got this one off the rocks at Punta Perrico. Great eating! Tough fighter too!
Hope came to visit us from Idaho for the first time and got her first dorado showing here on the beach at Balandra! Great to have her down!
Colorado friends since college, these two have been Tailhunter amigos for many years. Always smiling, Frank Kunze and Lee Carlson with a pretty good day out’ve Muertos Bay of tuna and dorado.
This one weighed out at over 52 pounds for Laura Hernandez. These are beast fish! Check out how close she is to the beach at Punta Arenas!
Football-sized yellowfin tuna showed up later in the week that were alot of fun and surely easier than the 60 pounders earlier in the week. San Diego boys in the house!
Captain Gerardo photo-bombs a dorado photo of Cal Lambert from Colorado trying to pose with one of several nice dorado caught just before the storm hit!
Harry Hsu and John Land with Captain Jorge and a nice haul of dorado and triggerfish.
Alex Moser from San Diego and his amigos with a big 50 pounder that took over an hour to land!
Laura has a knack for getting big fish! Nice bull dorado off Las Arenas Point!
We had a strange and crazy week. Things were going pretty nicely and then out’ve nowhere, what looked like a week of intermittent showers and occasional rain suddenly got a name and turned into “Hurricane John!” It got us scrambling!
These things are un-predictable and although it was only a “Category One” storm, we’ve seen them do some erratic things over the years and while the storm path didn’t have John barreling directly into us, it was going to glance off the southern tip of Baja and bounce out pretty hard.
The storm warnings went out and the clouds, wind and rain came in. Thunder, lightning and even water spouts! Some flights got diverted and although we never got the heavy hit, it was enough to have the Port Captain shut down the port and ban all boat traffic. Big waves and strong winds didn’t help.
Of course, that meant cancelations; no fishing; and lots of schedule juggling. It’s too bad because fishing had been pretty good.
Then the storm left. Sort of.
The port opened, but for several days, we didn’t know if the port captain would change his mind and shut things down again. So there were days when we had everyone ready, but also telling them they might have to head back to their rooms if the port captain shut things down again.
Because while “John” moved off, it never really completely left and almost each day, we had threats of wind, rain and big seas and occasional thundershowers and left everyone wondering what the next day would be like and days when we went fishing and still got wet.
Fortunately, the waters didn’t take too hard a hit from the storm and fishing the rest of the week was a lot better than I thought it would be although it still was not quite as good as it had been.
Everyone still got fish!
At Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay for our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet, the big tuna were still around although a bit pickier. However, smaller fun football sized 10-20 pounders showed up right off Punta Arenas not far from the lighthouse. Also, decent dorado up to about 25 pounds rounded things out and surprisingly we got pompano and nice big pargo liso snapper that usually we only catch in the springtime. It makes me wonder if cooler waters are already moving in! Several roosterfish also hooked and released in the 30-50 pound category.
For our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet, dorado were centerstage again. Most of the fish were 5 to 20 pounders, but if you find the right spot, it could be crazy frenzied fishing. Most days, the boats got limits or near limits although some days the bite didn’t take off until late in the day. If boats left too early they sometimes missed the bite.
So, overall, not too bad given the weather. It could have been a lot worse!
TAILHUNTER OUTREACH – GRACIAS!
Diego Jimenez and his family from Loveland CO
Wes Perkins and Roger Hall from Oregon
Matt Chase, Terry Biggs, Mitch Embry and Rich Keogh
I’m sorry I don’t have ALL the photos of everyone who brought donations or school supplies, clothes, shoes, hygiene and other needed items for our Tailhunter Outreach Program. But, e are so grateful for the generosity. This year alone, we’ve collected over 1000 pounds of much-needed items that we distribute to the community. Some of the photos above are just from the last week and all of this went to the school and orphanage in Los Planes near Las Arenas. With school starting this week, the supplies and clothes were much appreciated!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 28-Aug. 5, 2018
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT FOR THE WEEK
WEEK AT A GLANCE
Weather – Hot hot hot. Even us locals think so. Dangit…stay hydrated! Beer is fun, but doesn’t count. With the humidity you have to keep knocking back the waters or you’ll get sick. On the other hand…hot weather = best fishing!
But, weather will change this week. Intermittent rain, thundershowers and lightning predicted on-and-off all week. Not sure what that will do to the fishing. Weather reports change several times a day. Not sure when or how hard it will rain or what days.
Water – Pretty blue. Surface temperatures are perfect for swimming, SCUBA and snorkeling! It’s about 80-83 degrees on top!
Fishing – Everyone caught fish! If not big tuna then great on the dorado. The tuna continue to be big and we’re losing most of the big fish. But dorado have been making up for it just to have fun.
Catching – Losing 70% of the big tuna. That’s why they’re big. They are gorillas and make strong men cry!
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST OF THE STORY…
Rhett Riley and his grandfather, Herb Preszler from the Sacramento Area, tied into several big tuna off Cerralvo Island near La Paz on live bait with Tailhunter Sportfishing. They each hooked and fought a fish over an hour before lines broke then re-baited and tied into these two nice sluggers and fought then well over another hour before getting them into the pangas.
From Oroville CA, our amigo, Terry Biggs has made numerous trips to fish La Paz with Tailhunter Sportfishing. He had never caught a big tuna. He hooked one fish and fought it almost 2 hours before it broke off then hooked this big one estimated by Captain Armando as being in the 70-80 pound class. He was using only 40 pound test. Terry works for the railroad and is about 6’2 and 275 pounds and he wrestled this tuna almost 90 minutes and “it whupped me pretty bad.
One of our favorite new amigos, Matt Chase, was just great to have down this week! Even when he lost fish, we was like a kid in a candy store! He did get a nice batch of dorado, however. Here with Captain Boli on the beach.
If he looks a bit disheveled, Mitch Embry from Texas has a little help and a smile from Captain Armando lifting up this tough tuna he fought in the hot sun off Cerralvo Island.
Schoolie dorado for the Bartas who were staying with Gary Wagner at Rancho Costa in Muertos Bay.
Rhett Riley started out a good week of tuna fishing with this plug of a yellowfin tuna.
Another dorado in the boat is a nice bull north of La Paz near Espirto Santo Island for Terry Biggs.
Well-deserved handshakes for Wes Perkins and Roger Hall who fished with Captain Victor and took a box of dorado and a big yellowfin. Our good amigos are from the Portland OR area and have visited us for many seasons.
First timer amigo, Mark Durham, poses on the beach at Muertos with another fat tuna.
Captain Jorge does the honors on a nice dorado with Rich Keough and Mitch Embry. Note all the other dorado on the cutting table in the foreground .
It was a pretty decent week of fishing. Everyone who wanted fish caught fish. Can’t argue with that. Some boats did better than others on any given day, but that’s fishing. If you fished several days like most of our folks then you might have one slow day, but the others surely made up for it.
At Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay, the big tuna off Cerralvo Island were again, the name of the game. These 40-80 pound gorillas are made more formidable by the fact that they’re eating relatively light lines (as tuna will sometimes do). So, using 25-40 pound test line can turn into quite a battle and most of these fights are at least an hour to almost 2 hours in the hot Baja sun!
For some, the strain is just a little too much for the angler or the tackle and beast fish that have non-stop motors. We are losing about 70% of these fish for those reasons. One day, we hooked 10 fish and only 2 got boated. It is what it is. Everyone wants a shot at these homerun fish, but if you don’t knock it over the fence, there’s a good chance you won’t get any other chances at another or for other species because it’s already too late in the day. But the challenge is there and very compelling. . .and fun!
It’s hard to know if there’s other species around the area because everyone is chasing the tuna, but we did hoo up some dorado and billfish. Roosterfish have been scarce this year. But, again, hard to know because not many folks have been chasing them.
Fortunately, if the tuna aren’t going, we do have our other fleet out’ve La Paz and the dorado have been lighting it up . Most days there’s limits or near limits of fish running 10-20 pound and some larger. If you hit the right spot and find the school, it can be utter madness as fish crash all around and every rod is bent. You fill the box quickly!
Other times, you get 1 here…2 there…1 here…and a longer, but still productive day.
Weather advisory…looks like intermittent and localized thundershowers with lightning are predicted most of the week. Not a hurricane. Just tropical stuff. Not sure how that will affect fishing, but we’ll be watching. It could rain one spot, but not another. It could rain at night or afternoon. The reports change daily. Hopefully, the port captain doesn’t shut thing down.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 22-29, 2018
WEEK at a GLANCE
Weather – It changed every day. Sunny…cloudy…windy…humid…broiling hot. Take your pick or combine any two or three of the above.
Water – Mostly pretty blue, but find the cleanest warmest blue water currents and your chances of finding fish increases. Stay away from cloudy water.
Fishing – Tuna are big and mean. And we lose 3 out of every four fish. They are eating light line and taking a 40-80 pound fish on 25 or 30 pound test is a battle that can last 1-2 hours. It’s a slugfest. The dorado are all over, but not always willing to bite. They’ll jump the baits, but won’t always eat. You have to be patient and let them swallow the baits. Then, there are days when they’ll eat anything you throw in the water.
Catching – The bigger the fish, the more we lose. And we’re losing alot of fish. It’s not bad fishing. It’s bad catching. These fish are seriously testing us. But that’s what makes it fun. You have to find them first. Then, you gotta get them to bite. Then, hold on!!!
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST OF THE STORY…
These two know how to pull on fish! Spike and Jamie Ivins hooked 5 of these tough fish and 3 pulled but got these two fatties to to the deck. Spike was one of the most awesome deckhands on the San Diego long range boat, Red Rooster. Great to see them!
Captain Armando help with photos duties on two big yellowfin tuna caught by Bill and Pam Eggleston. The fish were caught near Cerralvo Island and fought each fish over an hour!
Beautiful bull dorado caught on the other side of La Paz Bay by Brian Reid of Waco, TX. The big bull chowed on a live sardine.
Craig and Cathy Corda, our good amigos, had quite a week with us. Oh this particular day, Cathy hooked one tuna and fought it for a long time and the hook straightened. She hooked another one and a shark ate it. Then, she hooked another and Craig hooked this one and they had two on at one time…and a huge whaleshark swam in between them! You just never know what’s going to happen on the water.
Captain Jorge with our good amigas, Verda Boyd from the S.F. Bay Area and Pam Bolles from Loreto’s famous Baja Big Fish Co. and famous flyfisher. The ladies nailed a limit of dorado that day.
Nathan Anaya has his hands full with this stock yellowfin tuna. These fish are thick, heavy and powerful.
Barbara and Les Campbell started their trip out with an ice chest full of dorado fillets fishing with Captain Adolfo.
Daughter, Jessie Reid, just has the knack for taking down big fish…even when she’s 6 months pregnant! No big deal! She was fishing with captain Victor with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet when she stuck this big bull. Jessie lives in Waco, Texas.
It has been many years since Kenny Duong fished with us and, in fact, caught an IGFA world record 16 pound triggerfish the last time he was with us (I stopped him from cutting it up and eating it!). But he got this good-looking yellowfin tuna off Cerralvo Island late in the week when the tuna came crashing.
This is such a great photo despite one of those cloudy days we had mid-week. Captain Adolfo and Les Campbell with another yellowfin tuna for the camera and the ice chest.
I need to frame this photo! Jamie Ivins pulls hard on a big roosterfish with Captain Pancho looking on. The roosterfish photo is below.
Swimming off strong! Spike Ivins jumped in the water to photo the release of Jamie Ivin’s roosterfish. Great shot!
Big smile from first-time visitor, Tom Grindle who was fishing north of La Paz City with Captain Rogelio and got a load of nice dorado including this colorful bull.
Luis Arandia and Raul Rodriguez pulled a number of dorado out near San Juan de la Costa. Luis had an unusual method of getting the fish to bite. See the video at the end of the fishing report!
She’s a tiny little gal who can pull on fish. Jamie Ivins poses with one of her yellowfin tuna on the beach at Bahia de los Muertos.
Captain Pancho with one of the big tuna this week on the beach at Muertos.
Yes, even I get to go out sometimes! Double dorado with my son-in-law Brian Reid from Waco, Texas who had quite a week of fishing.
It can be a long hot day when your rod is bent on a single powerful fish for a long long time! Bill Eggleston holds on as a big tuna rips more line! See the fish below.
Nothing pulls like a tuna! Bill Eggleston got this one up after more than an hour on the rod. With Captain Armando.
Triple biters of yellowfin tuna for Captain Adolfo with Barbara and Les Campbell.
One of our funnest long-tme amigos, Bob “Pops” Henke shares a laugh with Captain Alfredo posing with two of their Las Arenas dorado.
1..2..3…LIFT for the camera! Noel Santoyo holds up one of his 4 fish they took that day. Yellowfin ranged from 40-80 pounds.
Frank Cruz gets a hand from Captain Adolfo and Captain Archangel with his striped marlin on the beach at Muertos. They were unable to release the fish but donated the meat to everyone.
On his way to college at Oregon State next year in the marine biology program, Ian Grindle has himself a good-looking bull! He and dad got limits of dorado on Captain Rogelio’s boat.
MUST SEE VIDEO –
Luis Arandia wasn’t getting bit so he decided to think outside the box and do a special “fish dance.” Turn up the sound and check this short video out. Right after this, two nice dorado bit the lines!
It was a week of unpredictable full moon fishing this past week here in La Paz waters. Everyone got fish, but trying to figure out where and what and how were elusive. It was impossible to figure out the bite this week.
One day the dorado would go crazy. The next day in the same spot, the dorado would be finicky. Another day, the tuna would bite like mad dogs and the next day, they acted like whipped puppies. Roosterfish were the same. So were the inshore fish like pargo and cabrilla. But everyone caught fish!
It was the same with the weather. One day hot and sunny with blue waters like a picture postcard. The next day, it would be cloudy and choppy. The next day, cloudy but still and oppressively humid followed by sunny and windy days. And this affected the fishing too.
The best thing was just let the captain take you to whatever is biting. The folks most impacted by the erratic fishing were folks who just fished one day…like freelance folks or folks who walked into our office right off the street and wanted to fish one day. That day COULD be a funky day or the funky spot of fish or the funky weather.
If you were fishing with us, like most of our anglers, for 2, 3, 4 or more days, you probably got into several really good days of fishing and a nice load of fish to take home.
Several variables to note, however.
Yes, the tuna came back at Cerralvo Island off Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay. If you looked at the “number” of fish we caught, you would think fishing was bad. But, if you knew the whole story, fishing was actually pretty good. We’re losing 3 out of every four tuna that we hook.
These fish are beasts to most people. They are tough, savage 40-80 pound fish. Everyone wants to catch one. Few folks have ever had the experience of catching one! It’s one thing to want to catch one and another to be bent over in the sun for an hour or two on a straining rod and tortured line on a fish that yanks off 100 yard bursts in a single run. It’s heartbreaking then to lose a fish like that…and we lost many of them! And to hook one then get another one and lose it after a long battle can just crush you. Or to get it so close where you can see the fish then have it pull lose…and there’s nothing you can do.
One other thing is that these fish are biting LIGHT LINE! We’re using 30-pound fluorocarbon leader so you’re already at a disadvantage on these fish as well. It would be nice to hang fish on heavier line…even 50 pound test would make a huge difference, but then you won’t get bit!
After a day battling tuna, I got comments like:
“Please, Jonathan, for the rest of my trip, I only want to catch small dorado!”
“My arms and back are still sore from 3 days ago!”
“Thirty minutes into the fight, my fingers started to cramp and I started seeing white spots in front of my eyes!”
“Tuna fishing is fun, they said. I think childbirth is more fun!”
As for the dorado, we caught a lot of them this week. The thing about them is that they were all around, but not always ready to eat. They normally take a bait voraciously, but this week, it seemed like they would run with a bait and drop it. Or they would literally attack baits and toss them around and play with them. To hook dorado, you really had to restrain yourself from setting the hook. You had to let them run…and run…and run…until you were sure they had swallowed the bait before pulling the trigger with a solid hookset.
Lastly…it looks like we might get some thundershowers late this week. It might force some cancelation of fishing days. Make sure you purchased travel insurance!
MUCHAS GRACIAS!
Chelsea Roos and Don Vegter brought down an entire set of outfits, gear and uniforms for a youth soccer team!
Bill Eggleston and Les Campbell hauled down a load of great school supplies for the kids at the orphanage.
Our Tailhunter Outreach program keeps rolling thanks to folks like our Tailhunter amigos and tribe members who find space to bring down great things for our donations. Thanks to all of you!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 1-8, 2018
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
Sorry about the audio quality. It really wasn’t THAT windy, but I forgot my wind-screen microphone and I had to do this all in one take because I was almost out’ve batteries on my camera! Hope you can still understand it! With apologies for being an idiot!
WEEK AT A GLANCE
Weather – Hot and humid for the most part. Day time in the mid-90’s and nights in the low 80’s. In short, perfect fishing weather. We did have a little bit of drizzle one morning for about an hour then the sun came blazing.
Water – Getting warmer and bluer each week. Plus sargasso weed is building which co-incidentally has alot to do with the better dorado bite.
Bait – Not an issue for our La Paz Fleet. Still hit or miss sometimes with our Las Arenas fleet
Fishing – Not so many big tuna this week. They were there and sometimes would chew and other times not. But dorado, wahoo and roosterfish helped fill the slack. Some days better than others. Some boats luckier than others.
Catching – The bigger the fish, the more we lose! Lost some big marlin, big dorado, bit tuna and big dorado this week.
THE BIG PICTURE & THE REST OF THE STORY…
Happy fella! Darrell Manginelli from Ventura CA shows off a rack of nice dorado plus two nice snapper after a day fishing out’ve Bahia de los Muertos.
First day is a good day! Captain Jorge with Mike and Marta Shaw showing off some quality tuna and dorado near Las Arenas.
Whoa! Nice bull, Jason! Yes, you made the report, amigo! Starts off his trip with a quality bull dorado. Jason is from the San Diego area.
Glenn Rowland has a habit of dozing off on our pangas then his rod goes off all by itself and he reels in big fish like this nice wahoo that ate a Rapala while fishing with Captain Pancho . Glenn is from Ventura CA
Bennett Clegg has a habit of visiting us at Tailhunter each year and sticking some nice big fish like this big bull he caught while fishing with Captain Victor.
A little cloud mid-week down here, but the dorado bit for Jeff Klassen who got limits in the box and poses with two on the beach.
Like I said above, Bennett Clegg from Santa Rosa CA seems to always find big fish and was fishing light tackle 12-pound test in a school of medium dorado when this huge roosterfish blew up on his sardine and battled him on a very light rod for over an hour! The fish was photo’d and released strong. Bennet…not so much. He called it day after that and came in! Fish estimated at 50-60 pounds by the Tailhunter Captain.
Christina Morales from Lakewood CA has never been fishing and is about as tiny and petite as a button. She and her family came to fish with Tailhunter in La Paz and her very first fish ever is this pig tuna she wrestled over an hour in the sun in a spinning rod with Captain Arcangel. But, she got it in with no help although Captain Arcangel did a great job maneuvering the panga and was as proud as Christina to get the big fish.
I’ve seen this guy with so many nice fish over the years that he has caught with us. Sam Sybesma hold up one of his limits of dorado. He said while he battled this big bull, his buddy, Jeff caught 4 others!
If his tongue is hanging out, it’s for good reason. Mike Shaw from Oceanside CA battled this beast of a freckled roosterfish over an hour when it slammed his live bait north of La Paz fishing with the Tailhunter Fleet. The fish was caught not too far off Punta Coyote and was released. Estimated at over 70 pounds!
Darrell Manginelli is from Ventura CA and fishes with us every year. Captain Pancho poses with him and one of Darrell’s wahoo.
Nothing like having kids hook up! Eleven-year-old Fernando Balderrabano was with his dad, Manuel, when they got a nice pair of bulls plus a bunch of other dorado in the box while fishing north of the city with Captain Rogelio.
Great colors on this dorado that Alicia Clegg caught among several others fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. Check those flat waters!
Light tackle monster for Dan Shay of San Diego who was fishing with a spinning rod when he knocked this fat amberjack.
Captain Armando with Greg Ponte and a great eating barred pargo taken off the rocks.
Mike Shaw on the beach at Muertos Bay with the tail of a nice yellowfin tuna. The fish is bigger than it looks. Mike’s a tall guy!
Great photo and a nice dorado for smiling Alicia Bennett.
Glenn Rowland with the 2nd of two wahoo he caught while fishing with Captain Pancho.
All the way from Sweden! Mike Sjosvard had a few roosterfish hooked, but got away. He still got a nice jack crevalle…close cousin!
The Morales Family…Ruby…Christina and Jesus from Lakewood CA with enough to fill a few ice chests including dad’s wahoo and two big tuna.
Incredible colors here on this bull dorado with Darrell Manginelli.
First-timers Scott Van Essen and Joel Warners have their hands full with a couple of schoolie dorado.
It was croaking according to Bennett Clegg who caught this near Espirito Santo Island. Jack crevalle are tough fighters and yes…they do make a croaking noise!
One of the happiest guys to visit us. Glenn Rowland from Ventura CA had himself a nice week of big fish.
Hope you had a great 4th of July holiday week!
For us…
It wasn’t a great week of fishing, but it wasn’t too bad either! For sure… The fish are there and the highlight was the appearance of a nice grade of dorado.
The thing about the fishing this week was that it could still be spotty here-and-there. One boat could get fish and another right next to it would struggle. One boat can’t get bit and the two next to it are bent all day. No rhyme or reason. It’s just fishing!
Most of our folks who fish with us fish for 2, 3, 4 or more days . There could be an off-day or two. But, the good days usually more than made up for the down days with big fish or plentiful action . The biggest problem might be with folks who were walk-in clients or only scheduled one day of fishing. They could be the boat that just happens to have a slow day or the boat that loses their biters as often walk-in clients don’t have a lot of experience.
But, overall, some nice fishing this week for the most part.
Our Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Tailhunter Fleet found the tuna a little closer to home base this week. The tuna were found off the south side of the big island negating the run all the way up to the north end of the island. The fish are quality 40-60 pounders. The issue is that they did not always want to bite. Some days, the went on the chew. Other days, especially when bait was tougher to find, the fish had lockjaw or guys saw then boiling or they were fast movers and just didn’t want to eat.
Wahoo made up for the slack on some of those days with some quality 30-40 skinnies that ate the Rapalas or Mega Baits or bit the live bait. Also, some big roosterfish and better quality dorado between 15 and 40 pounds helped ease things.
Still, for the most part, fishing Las Arenas/ Muertos area got you big fish or not much.
The better action was still with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet. Encouraging to see more schools of dorado gathering up. Especially if you can find the patches of sargasso weeds floating on the surface or the right current line. Nicer fish in the 20-30 pound class showed up too.
Some days, you’d pick-pick-pick getting a dorado here and there or, if you found the honey hole, then it could be dorado rodeo with every rod bent non-stop.
Some holdover amberjack and yellowtail are still around in the rocks as well as pargo, cabrilla, snapper and jack crevalle. Some unusually big roosterfish too!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 24-July 1, 2018
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
WEEK AT A GLANCE
Fishing – Still lots of big fish around like tuna, wahoo, dorado and billfish. Good on smaller species too like pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle, bonito and still some yellowtail and amberjack around too. But the bite has been erratic. Sometimes fish like dorado and tuna all around, but won’t eat!
Catching – Sure lost alot of big fish this week or fish in the rocks. The big fish are tough. The smaller fish make it tough by being in the rocks and having attitude.
Weather – Sunny days in the low to mid-90’s mostly. Humidity seems to be climbing. Nights are cooled by the Corumuel breezes down to the high-70’s
Water – Still some cloudy cool waters around, but getting bluer. Finding the blue water is key.
Bait – Las Arenas it’s hit or miss. Mackerel and really small sardines. No problem for bait with out La Paz fleet.
THE BIG PICTURE and THE REST OF THE STORY…
Rob Baird from Oregon showing the nice grade of yellowfin tuna we got this week around Cerralvo Island.
From Carmel CA, Bill Mitchell fishes with the Tailhunter Fleet at least once a year and on a quick get-away with his flyrod fished La Paz and got this nice roosterfish just off the rocks as well as several others plus jack crevalle and bonito. He released all his fish.
Kurt and Brenda Gallow from Washington have come down several times to fish with the Tailhunter Fleet in La Paz. While fishing with Captain Armando, they always do well. Five minuts after dropping back some Rapalas near Cerralvo Island, Brenda got this fat wahoo followed by Kurt with the 2nd wahoo.
Another nice fish for our amigo, Gary Wagner and Miles Wagner from Colorado Springs. Gary owns the Rancho Costa Resort and also the Giggling Marlin Restaurant in Cabo.
Captain Armando with Jason Veberette and Greg Ponte from Herald CA showing off a first-day catch of wahoo and a dorado.
Captain Jorge, with Rocky Schneider and John Teply and a trio of nice yellowfin.
First-timer, Andy Kelly from Florida had never been fishing but battled this big tuna in the sun for over an hour! When it came time for the photo, his arms and hands were still shaking so he asked Captain Gerado to do the honors! Good job, Andy!
Our amigo from Loreto, Steve McGavern, put this big tuna on the boat at the 11th hour, but it’s a good one!
Miles Wagner from Colorado Springs CO had himself a pretty good week showing off another wahoo in the boat .
Favorite photo of the week! We call this “Dorado Envy.” From yesterday, Kevin Ritchie caught looking at Jason Beverette’s dorado is classic!
Rocky Schneider had the “touch” this week on tuna!
Check out the flat water and the big fish that Andy Bautista of Corona CA caught!
Another Oregon amigo, Mike Keser got the biggest amberjack of the week.
It was another of those weeks of either highlights or lowlights and not much in between. There were big fish and there were assorted smaller fish (for fun) and then…well, not much in that middle area. You either got fish…or you didn’t!
The big fish were big. No doubt! If you got one, it could make your day. Or your trip!
At Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Tailhunter Fleet, the action around Cerralvo Island and Punta Perrico again focused on the bigger grade of tuna that popped up about 3 weeks ago. And these fish were not pushovers! The tuna were big and grumpy. The smaller fish were 40-pounders. The larger fish (we caught) were 60 pounders. Anyone who’s fought Baja yellowfin of that size knows these aren’t little “football” tuna.
And we lost probably 60-70% of the fish that were hooked either through inexperience, busted lines or hooks…or simply bad luck because well…that’s fishing! Good fishermen lost big fish. Rookies caught big fish. No rhyme or reason. But either way, heart-breaking when you’re on a fish for up to an hour or two and it busts off.
And you never see it the fish…just hours with a bend rod…straining line…sore back and arms…wondering what you have on and praying just to get a glimpse.
Or it’s “at color” right next to the boat and “BINK!” The line snaps.
Or the fish just unbuttons.
Or someone gets over-anxious in the hot Baja sun and loses their patiences and tries to horse a big fish to the boat. And the fish is just too hot and green and strong to come in. And breaks off.
Some days, if you just looked at the numbers, it looked like a terrible fishing day. Very fish coming in.
But after you talk the anglers, almost all of them had a shot at a fish or two…or three! And dumped the fish! Good fishing…bad catching.
And, there were also days when the fish were crashing and breaking and just not eating.
On top of the tuna there, we also had a nice jag of wahoo as well . Some nice speedy ‘hoo meat. The wahoo were chewing on Rapalas and we did get some fish up to 50 pounders. But, again, fish were lost.
But, that’s part of fishing! Add in a lot of pesky feisty bonito, jack crevalle and a few others including a few marlin and there was still some action to be had even if no fish were put in the coolers.
For our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet…again, this was the fun area to fish. Not much in the way of big fish, but there wer some school-sized dorado. In the rocks there’s lots of snapper, big pargo and cabrilla and even some hold-over cooler water yellowtail and amberjack. Lots of fish lost in the rocks, but you could easily have 10-30 biters a day even if you lost most of those fish, you still got a nice chest of fish at the end of the day. I think I counted about a dozen different species out’ve La Paz.
La Paz- Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 17-24, 2018
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
WEEK AT A GLANCE
Weather – High 80’s low 90’s and mostly sunny. Had some tropical afternoon clouds and a few raindrops fell but just very nice as it blew through. The afternoon corumuel tradewinds cool things down nicely. Still a bit breezy out there during the fishing day
Water – Got a bit cooler after last week’s storm, but little-by-little, the warming waters are burning off the algae bloom. Find the blue water and you have a better chance of finding fish. Cooler waters are green and a bit dirty so get away from it.
Fishing – Las Arenas holds the bigger fish…and seemingly not a whole lot else. La Paz fish aren’t so big, bit there’s alot more fish so alot more action.
Catching – See above! Bigger fish are harder to catch. Hence losing more fish too!
THE BIG PICTURE and REST of THE STORY…
Mark Brown, from Vernal UT, had traveled the world for 5 years trying to get a roosterfish going to places like Costa Rica, Panama and various parts of Mexico unsuccessfully. He thought he’d give it a try with Tailhunter in La Paz and only had one day. And it was after Hurricane Bud had blown through. Waters were dirty and turned over. And they were only able to catch one single ladyfish for bait. But it was enough! With his wife, Toni, they got this dandy pez gallo just outside of Bahia de los Muertos estimated between 50-60 pounds. The fish was released.
Zach Smith was up at the north end of Cerralvo Island and got one fish for the whole day, but it was one of the nicer tuna of the week. It’s a fat one. It’s a bit of a run to the north, but if you get one of these fish, it’s well worth it.
Dave Frausto from Sacramento has been a good amigo for many years and made a last-minute trip to fish with us for a few days. With Captain Adolfo, he scored a nice wahoo and topped with with a tasty amberjack as well.
On vacation from Sequim, Washington, Kim Tomajko, got the big fish of the family their first day on the water with a nice bull dorado fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.
Big smiles for Toni Brown who brought this nice yellowfin back to the beach and headed for poke and sashime at our Tailhunter Restaurant. She’s from Utah, but lived in Hawaii and knows her tuna!
First time in Mexico. First time in La Paz and first time fishing for Dani who put this dorado on the boat as her first. Zach Smith helps with the fish and photo! The also got other dorado and a nice mix of pargo and cabrilla.
Speedy ‘hoo for Janc, who poses with his wahoo while staying out at Muertos Bay at Gary Wagner’s Rancho Costa Hotel.
Captain Raul helps Alicia Tomajko give a kiss to her big bull dorado.
It takes two hands on these hefty yellowfin right now. Mark Brown pulled this guy out near Espirito Santo Island fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.
Just off the rocks at Espirito Santo Island, Zach got another nice dorado using live bait.
It was an OK fishing week for the most part down here. I’m a little disappointed that it’s taking longer for the waters to bounce back after last week’s Tropical Storm BUD came through. Fishing had been pretty decent prior to the storm and initially just after the blow, I had been pretty optimistic. It looked like conditions had re-bounded.
But, not quite as fast as we had wanted or thought.
Waters around Muertos Bay, Punta Arenas and Cerralvo Island still aren’t quite back. My Tailhunter captains are telling me the water is still a bit cloudy and turned over and it’s been reflected in the fishing. There just hasn’t been a lot going on. The main issue is the bait. It’s been difficult at best to get consistent bait.
On top of that, with nagging winds post storm Bud, the waters are slow coming back up to snuff. There have still been some nice grade tuna hanging out as well as some billfish, dorado and wahoo. But, you either get a big fish or nothing. It’s home runs or a strike out.
One boat finds bait. The next one struggles. One boat finds fish. The one right next to it can’t get anything to chew.
Our best and most consistent fishing has been with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet.
Maybe not so many big fish, but in terms of action…in terms of funner fishing…in terms of variety, fishing with our La Paz fleet has been much less erratic.
It’s not surprising for one of our pangas to come back with a half-dozen species of fish that included dorado between 10 and 30 pounds; some smaller yellowtail and amberjack; several species of pargo; several species of snapper; and some nice cabrilla. Add in action with jack crevalle, skipjack, white and common bonito and it makes for a nice day on the water. PLUS, bait is much easier to find or buy!
MUCHAS GRACIAS!
To all our good folks who brought more donations for our various charities down here. In just the last two weeks alone, we’ve collected more than 100 pounds of goods to add to our already growing pile. The Tomajko family below and also thanks to Dan Armstrong, John Tepley, Rob Baird and Rocky Schneider who brought stuff, but I did not have a chance to take their photos!
The Tomajko family (and Jill’s hand) holding some great stuff for the kid’s orphanage at Las Arenas including school supplies and boxes of toothbrushes and more!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of May 3-10, 2018
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
WEEK AT A GLANCE
Weather – Got cloudier later in the week as bits from distant hurricane Aleta took away some of the sunshine. (It blew out to sea hundreds of miles away) But with the cloud cover, the humidity and heat rose. Days are in the high 90’s. Nights in the upper 70’s. Thankfully, every night the Corumuel Breeze blows through and cools things down . Hurricane Ben coming up behind, but we’re keeping an eye out. Might give us a few showers and wind later in the week.
Water – Blue and mostly calm. Summer conditions. Weeds burning off. Water about 82 degrees on the surface.
Fishing – Bigger 30-100 pound tuna bent rods and broke hearts this week. Everyone focused on those sluggers. But, dorado, pargo, big jack crevalle, some roosterfish, cabrilla, and several species of bonito around for anyone who wanted.
Catching – Bigger fish meant more losses. Everyone WANTS a big fish until they’re fighting in the hot sun and realize they have a beast. Some anglers fighting fish 1 or 2 hours and losing them, but that’s why they’re BIGGER fish! More fish lost than caught. But you’ll never catch one if you don’t put a line in the water!
THE BIG PICTURE and THE REST OF THE STORY…
Our amigo, Tom Mullican, from Idaho comes twice-a-year for 10 days at a time. Fishing with Captain Jorge, he got the 60-pound tuna then fought the 100 pounder for 2 hours! He said his arms were too tired and shaky to hold the fish up for the photo!
Craig Wong, Mark Buchanan and Laura Hernandez with quite a hault of yellowfin tuna and red snapper. They’re all from San Diego areas.
Captain Boli with Gene and Travis Harp from chillier climes in Oregon showing off one of their nice big bull dorado inside La Paz Bay.
Tom Hinmon, from Laguna Beach CA, had himself quite a week. Here’s one of his good days with Captain Pancho and a load of big yellowfin.
Our new amigos from North Caroline, Shanon Spivey and Steve Gray with Captain Archangel do the beach pose with their big tuna and a dorado. One day, I will get Arcangel to smile. He’s been with us 23 years so maybe there’s still hope!
Last minute trip for Desiree Winn and Ryan Bottensek from Florence Beach, Oregon produced these nice tuna with Captain Armando.
Victor from Wiconsin had only 1 day to fish, but squeezed it in and got himself one of the largest yellowtail of the season plus a big tuna.
When the tuna weren’t on the chew everyone seemed to get hung with these big schools of jack crevalle that really tore things up! Tom Hinmon poses with one of the big grunts before releasing it.
One of the few amberjack we got this year and caught by Gary Galbreath from Huntington Beach CA off Cerralvo Island. Note the big tuna at his knees also! Amberjack are great eating down here. Like sweet yellowtail meat and can get over 100 pounds.
Big smiles from big guys! Captain Gerardo grins with Jude Martinez and Scott/ Steve Ellis from San Diego with a trio of solid tuna and a couple more in the foregrounds. Grey skies already coming in!
This might be the largest bull dorado so far this season which is just getting underway, but Vince Acosta put the hurt on this flyer while fishing with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet in La Paz Bay.
Captain Victor looks on as a tired John Gaskins hold up another yellowfin with 2 more YFT’s on the cutting table at Muertos Bay.
Some prize! Craig Wong from San Diego with a hog of a cabrilla that he pulled off the rocks!
Two of our favorites! Captain Jorge and Vince Acosta ham it up for the camera with 4 nice tuna on the beach.
A good day for tuna for Craig Wong and Mark Buchanan from San Diego to add to their boxes going home!
Steve McGavern from Loreto drove down for a quick two days of fishing just at the start of the tuna run with us holding two fish ready to be cleaned and packed up.
Steve/ Scott Ellis and Captain Gerardo are two big guys which gives you some perspective on the nice size of the tuna Steve caught.
With the steep cliffs of the north end of Cerralvo Island in the background , Tom Hinmon put the gaff to this yellowfin tuna not far from the lighthouse rock.
There’s some nice grade dorado around north of La Paz! Randy Forestiere with Captain Raul hold one up for the camera!
Yes, you have three of them! Nice day of tuna for John Carser from Huntington Beach.
Fat tuna and big smiles from Laura Hernandez from San Diego who boated this one outside of Bahia de los Muertos.
They might not have been long, but these fish were plugs and big round bombs when they hit the lines like this one caught by Gary Galbreath.
Our long-time buddy Ricardo (Ranchero) Sawaske with Captain Raul and a young bull fresh on the gaff and going to dinner!
Favorite photo of the week. John Carser and Mark Rodman. Thanks, guys. Enjoy all the fish you brought home this week!
As we watch cloudy gray skies move in on us that might eventually bring us some rain later in the week, it’s been a good week for fishing. Not a great week for a lot of fish, but a great week for BIG fish!
There’s still a lot of pargo and cabrilla around and more and more dorado, but everyone eschewed the fast action and ability to fill an ice chest to go for the bigger boy tuna that showed up at the north end of Cerralvo Island. Everyone had shots at these quality tuna that were as small as 30 pounds, but some in the 60 to 100 pound class!
Not everyone caught fish and the week started a bit slow. But the fish were there. Everyone eventually who wanted fish went home with full coolers of slabbed ahi. One boat would get them and another boat next to them would miss. One guy would hit two or three and his buddy would only run interference and pick off bonito. Or needlefish.
Like I said, these fish were powerful and strong. Stronger then most of our anglers had ever tangled with. Fights of 1-2 hours were not uncommon. More heartbreaking were the stories of fish that broke off after long fights or came unbuttoned. Tougher still were stories of even larger fish that straightened a hook or broke a rod. For some of our anglers…1 fish was enough for the day! Careful what you wish for.
There were funny stories about guys tossing a mackerel and immediately getting slammed. After a long fight and a swig of water, they would routinely just toss in their 2nd bait of the day. WHAM! Bit again and on for another long long battle. And regretting it!
No doubt there were more fish lost than were caught!
Live mackerel were the ticket so we had to get out there early and it’s a long run to the north end of Cerralvo Island. But even with few baits, somedays every bait would get bit…and that was enough when you’re battling big fish for a long time! When macs didn’t work, yo-yo iron also produced fish for the guys that knew how.
Still some variety around as well. But, like I said, most of the focus was on the tuna grounds. So more tuna than anything else showed up in the boxes. Nevertheless, when the tuna weren’t biting hefty jack crevalle put on a show that had guys shaking their heads with the power of these fish. Not good eating, but made for great sport.
Also, there’s a few yellowtail and sierra still lingering and for our La Paz Fleet, dorado, pargo, cabrilla and snapper
We’re keeping an eye on the weather. A category 4 hurricane named “Aletta” became the first of the season far far south us by hundreds of miles and blew itself out to sea, but did send gray skies over us this past weekend and ramp up the humidity. However, a 2nd blow by the name of “Bud” might bring us some bitty showers later this week and some worrisome winds. We’ll have to keep an eye out for it.
U.S. Mailing Address: Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA 91942Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
.Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report: https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/Tailhunter YouTube Video Channel:
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of May 20-27, 2018
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
WEEK AT A GLANCE
Weather– Could not have been nicer. Sunny skies and nice breezers. First week without crazy winds. Got hotter and more humid as the week went on. You could definitely feel it!
Water – Getting warmer. Find the blue water you find the fish. About 80 degrees in some spots. Getting bluer and clearer. There was some big swell from the south for a day or two.
Fishing – Best fishing of the season in terms of quality fish. Lots of BIG fish…wahoo…tuna..marlin…sailfish…dorado. No roosterfish per se mostly because no one was chasing them! Not much inshore pargo or cabrilla either. They went for the bluewater species and trophy fish! Lots of BIGGER fish lost!
Catching – Could have been better. We lost so many big fish! But that’s why these are BIGGER fish! They’re stronger and tougher on the anglers as well as the gear! Great stories of fish that were lost!
Fishing got tougher later in the week as increased pressure on the fish plus a full moon seemed to lockjaw the fish. Much better earlier in the week.
BIG PICTURES and THE REST OF THE STORY…
YEA! Now this is what we’re talking about! Captain Victor with Jennifer Robinette and Kenny Thompson from Utah with a great trio including tuna and to big dorado!
Wahoo family! Captain Armando with Krista, Anthony and Anthony, Jr. of the Schmidt Family and some of the great wahoo this week! The family is from Lehigh, Utah.
Two of the best amigos and two of the best anglers! Fat wahoo…look at this log! For Roger and Donna Thompson!
It’s hard to get Captain Gerardo to smile, but he’s got double tuna for Steve Ritz and Larry Chastain!
Whew! Haven’t seen dorado like this in awhile! However, Kenny Thompson hikes up this pretty bull mahi with Captain Victor with all it’s great colors!
Texas in the house! Larry Dodson with this gorgeous striper that ate a trolled Rapala and swallowed it deep so it couldn’t be released! However, the meat was donated around to La Ventana.
Taylor Murphy with a huge cabrilla and her grandma who’s no slouch either and a big time barred pargo! Check those colors!
Pretty incredible catch with this big wahoo she handled by herself…Krista Schmidt from Utah with Captain Armando and an armful of speedy ‘hoo!
Yup…there’s still some cold-water fish around! Hard to believe! But Jennifer has herself an amberjack and Kenny has the biggest sierra I’ve seen all year!
Great colors on this dorado caught by Jeff Correia from San Diego and gaff honors by Captain Joel.
1…2…3 LIFT! Roger Thompson fishing with Captain Hugo poses with a thick slugger yellowfin tuna!
Another big smiles from Captain Gerardo and a legit yellowfin tuna for Steve Ritz and Larry Chastain!
La Paz Bay yielded some nice dorado not too far out like this one for Tim Weaver of San Diego!
Andale Captain Hugo! Hard to believe the size of some of the wahoo this week!
Our Texas visitors really had a good week! No shortage of fish taken home to the lone star state! Tami put the hurt on this big ‘hoo.
Captain Jorge from our Tailhunter Fleet lends and assist to Anthony Schmidt posing with another big wahoo and a good dorado as well as Jordan Schmidt.
Oregon friends just had one day to visit us but managed to hang a nice wahoo at the end of the week when the bite was diminishing. This is Zeb and Katrina Jensen from Oregon.
On the beach at Muertos, Captain Gerardo and Steve Ritz with some of that good-eating wahoo. Doubles!
The Pantuso boys from Colorado hung this nice striped marlin. The fish could not be released but the meat was distributed.
Early morning…nothing like starting out with a big wahoo for your fishing day! Another ‘hoo in the box! Al Dodson from Texas!
As the week went on, fewer fish, but the tuna still hovered around.
It was all home-run hitting this week. We had the best weather of the season and probably the best fishing of the season as well. Honestly, there weren’t many fish caught. And it got tougher as the week went on and more boats and fishing traffic hit the area as word got out. But the quality of the fish was outstanding, especially early in the week.
The anglers could have caught a lot more fish if they had opted to go small and fish inshore for all the cabrilla, jacks, pargo, bonito they wanted. However, as the week started, things blew up for our Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay Tailhunter Fleet.
Nice fat 30-60 pound yellowfin tuna showed up. Wahoo in the 20-60 pound class blew up the rods. Dorado up to 40 pounds came crashing and even marlin and sailfish!
So, when this happened, everyone came-a-running!
It was swing-for-the-fences and hit a home run or nothing! But, folks got their largest fish ever or their first fish ever of this quality. Some folks got them and others didn’t. But, everyone wanted to take a shot. Also when you fight a fish for 45 minutes to an hour and it beats you up…for some, that was all they needed. For others who hooked up and had long battles…then lose the fish…just bad luck! That’s why these are bigger fish. It’s not bad fishing…it’s bad catching and we lost probably half the big fish that were hooked! Many of our anglers didn’t have that kind of experience on big fish or simple were over-powered or under-gunned in their gear! All part of the fun! It’s one thing to WANT a big fish and it’s completely different to actually HAVE a big fish on the line and you’re 10 minutes into the fight and realize the sun is blazing; your hands are already cramping; the line is stretched to breaking; the rod is completely doubled-over; and you’re sweating bullets! And the fish is STILL pulling line off the reel!
That’s fishing!
As I said, some boats got into them and a boat right next to them would blank. Next day vise versa.
But, al the fish were BIG! And as word got out, more and more boats came out and traffic on the spots increased. That scattered the bite and drove the fish down. So, the bite diminished a little bit each day although there were still some scattered fish. Also, the full moon came up with the weekend.
However, for those who got into it, they caught fish of a lifetime!
GRACIAS!
The season is ON! And many thanks going out to our Tailhunter Tribe members who have been bringing in donations for our Tailhunter charities! We have already distributed several hundred pounds of school supplies, clothes, shoes and other items! You’re the best.
Thanks for Tom Ames from Idaho (who also donated to our scholarship program) and brought a big box of kids toys and gear; The Sawaske and Forestiere families who brought school supplies and Jim and Brenda Bovee from San Diego who hauled stuff this week. God bless you all!
Jim and Brenda Bovee from the San Diego area came in with two ice-chests full of kid’s clothes!
That’s our story and hope you had or are having a great Memorial Day Weekend! God bless all who gave…all who served…and their families!
U.S. Mailing Address: Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA 91942Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
.Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report: https://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/Tailhunter YouTube Video Channel:
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of May 13-20, 2018
Mexican Minute Video Report
Week at a Glance
Weather – Best weather we’ve had of the season. Still some wind here and there and mornings are chilly and breezy, but the sun busts out later and it’s in the high 80’s most days. Nights are comfortable.
Water – Water getting warmer but there’s still currents and some green and brown water around, but clearing up and getting better.
Fishing – Still alot of variety with warm and cold water fish still mixed up and fishing changing daily and from place to place. Some days better than others.
Catching – Some big tuna, roosterfish and dorado lost and the pargo and cabrilla took alot of folks into the rocks!
THE BIG PICTURE AND REST OF THE STORY…
Doctor Desmond Sjauwfoekloy from Los Angeles, is a heart specialist and literally ran out’ve surgery…jumped on a plane…fished a few days and jumped back on a plane and right back to the hospital. In the meantime, he put tuna, dorado and this slugger rooster fish in the panga fishing with Tailhunter Sportfishing in La Paz. The rooster was released.
Captain Armando with a hefty 40-pound class yellowfin tuna that gave Jordan Schmidt quite a workout. Two other larger fish were lost!
We normally don’t see quality dorado like this until a bit later in the year, but they’re already here just around the La Paz Bay. Nice pose by Blake Warren!
Best week of the year, so far, for roosterfish. Nice fish for Josh Hobgood from San Clemente. His first rooster ever and was fishing with the Tailhunter Fleet out’ve Bahia de los Muertos using live bait. The fish was released.
I’m not sure the yellowfin have ever left since last year! They keep popping up just off the rocks in relatively shallow water like this one here caught by Desmond.
Peter Holland is spending several months traveling on a motorcycle from Australia and had just one day to fish! He hit it out’ve the park fishing with our La Paz fleet taking several great species including this fat yellowtail that ended up as sashime and poke at our Tailhunter Restaurant
Not sure what our Captain Victor has in the bottle…maybe salad dressing? Or marinade? Homemade maple syrup? But Randy Choate, our Idaho amigo has himself a nice bull dorado.
Western Outdoor News Editor Blake Warren from Capistrano Beach CA came down from some RNR vacation time in La Paz and got his biggest rooster fishing with the Tailhunter Fleet using a live lady fish for bait. The fish was released.
As pretty a picture as you’ll see of a fully-lit dorado with great colors! Gorgeous fish for Desmond just off Espirito Santo Island.
That’s a fun day of action fishing and a great expression and pose to go with it! Blake Warren has himself a mess of snapper, pargo and seabass headed home to Orange Co.
Shakedown cruise for our amiga, Sandra Wellborn and the first fish caught on her new cruiser “The Harmony.”
Conditions are improving with every week, but we’re still getting some jags of winds and off-color water as we move into warmer conditions. However, overall, it was maybe the best weather of the season with mostly great sunny days and generally flat seas.
It wasn’t a great week of fishing, but wasn’t bad either. As we transition into more pelagic warm-water species, there’s a lot of variety in the water. Cooler water species like yellowtail and amberjack seem to still be lingering around and we got some up to about 20 pounds. Other cooler-water species like pargo, snapper and cabrilla also made for some great action.
However, the presence of more species like tuna, wahoo, dorado and billfish are evident of the changing conditions. There’s not a lot of blue water stuff yet, but we’re getting a few here and there and seemingly more with each passing week. Also more big-time rooster fish are showing up as well in the 40-60 pound class.
The biggest issues is that fish are everywhere! But the problem is that they are not everywhere ALL THE TIME! Conditions can be so erratic that what’s biting one day doesn’t necessarily mean they will bite the next day. Or, one fishing hot spot can suddenly go cold as fast as the currents change and the water colors change. Or, a spot that’s great for pargo, will turn into a jack crevalle spot the next day or conversely one of our boats will be bent on fish while a boat a few yards away can’t get a single chew! It’s ever-changing and changing daily and hourly!
Tailhunter Fish Report 