La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Jan. 26-Feb. 8, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Five for the cooler ready to be filleted! Drs. Beltran and Santiago took some time from their offices in La Paz to fish with us and caught these working the waters with yo-yo iron for these yellowtail.
Not a bad morning. Raul Chollet from La Ventana was out fishing with us and nailed these thick yellowtail just off Punta Perrico.
Mostly locals fishing right now and a great catch is to get into a school of tasty sierra. If you hit a spot, you can load up pretty fast! This one fell to the blue Rapala still stuck in the mouth.
Trophy fish on a dark purple Rapala trolled over th rocks. Raul with a big cabrilla and knowing Raul, every bit of this fish is gonna be part of dinner!
It was chilly and cold again this week but there were finally some opportunities to fish which has been rare the past weeks with lots of gusty winds. However, this past week, the winds let up for about 3 days or, at least didn’t start blowing until late. Since we’re really not having to go very far to get to fish right now, it at least allowed anglers to get in a few productive hours of fishing early before the winds kicked in.
Not many fishermen at all this time of the year. It’s mostly locals or captains fishing for their families.
However, literally within 20-50 years of the beach, there’s a good jag of yellowtail that have shown up near Punta Arenas near Punta Perrico where the old Hotel Las Arenas used to be. The fish are a nice hefty grade of 18-25 pound fish that are taking alot of guys into the rocks.
Sardines are working when you can get them, but it’s often difficult getting live bait because of the winds and the bait guys can’t get to the rocky or sandy areas where the bait usually holds out. Waves either scatter the bait or make it hard for the bait guys to get into the rocky areas which are treacherous.
When, there’s no sardines, the guys are using the yo-yo iron. It’s tiring work, but productive dropping the iron and lifting and reeling back to the boat. Alternatively, trolling lures like Rapalas and Yo-Zuris are also working and producing other species like sierra, jacks, cabrilla and barred pargo.
CDC and COVID TESTING
In case you hadn’t heard, as of Jan. 26th, the CDC has mandated that anyone traveling by plane into the U.S. must show they have had a negative Covid test within 72 hours of their trip. This only applies to air travel. You are NOT required to quarantine once you get into the U.S. although it has been suggested.
Nevertheless, the new rules sent everyone in the tourism industry from airlines to hotels and folks like us into a mad scramble. We were all just on the verge of rebounding after a difficult 2020.
However, the government and tourism boards made rapid adjustments.
Testing facilities have been set up at all international airports including Cabo, La Paz and Tijuana as well as others around the country. According to the Cabo Board of Tourism, all hotels and timeshare operations in Cabo San Lucas now offer testing services and more laboratories and testing facilities are popping up all over.
The test only takes 15 minutes and costs between $20-25 dollars. Results are returned within an hour and you receive either a printed result or get them online to show before you board your flights.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of Jan. 4-12, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Crazy variety for a few hours of morning fishing for Fernando, his brother and son. On the rack…dorado, big sierra, snapper, pargo liso and cabrilla.
They’re early! The big pargo liso (mullet snapper) normally don’t start schooling up until spring-time but they’re already here and hunkered in the rocks and reefs and will bust you up!
It’s January, but yes, those are wahoo on the cutting board along with dorado, cabrilla and tasty white bonito.
Some big sierra crusing around right now like this tasty fella caught by amigo, Gary Wagner, from his Rancho Costa there in Bahia Muertos.
Nothing wrong with these items. Tasty cabrilla (Mexican seabass) posed with Jason and Alisa..
Not many folks fishing post-holidays, but town is pretty busy with escapees from the colder weather in the U.S. and Canada. However, this contrary to the gusting winds normally associated with this time of year, there were some incredibly pretty days right out’ve a postcard this past week. Winds settled, skies cleared and day-time temps reached into the 70’s. We could not have asked for better weather and a great window to get on the water.
That being said, it allowed folks to get out in the bay to swim with the whalesharks finally. The shallow water just inside the bay has been holding 6-10 baby whalesharks to swim with, but often it’s too windy and choppy to find them.
With the fishing, it’s been confusing and mixed…in a good way!
Normally, this time of year, when we can get out, we’re hitting mostly cold-water species inshore because well, the waters are cooler and it’s often too rough to get too far out.
However, not only did anglers find the cooler water species like cabrilla, snapper and some unusually big sierra, but a bit crazy because they also hit dorado, white bonito, wahoo and even a few marlin were seen and hooked!
This is indicative of some warm water still holding over so maybe these species will stick around. It’s making for a great variety of fish. Also with abundant sardines for bait, the fish are ready to chew.
One noticeably event seems to be that the big pargo liso (mullet snapper) that we don’t see until later in the spring have already shown up and are schooling over the rocky areas like Cerralvo Island and Punta Perrico. These tough fish are really difficult to wrestle out’ve the rocks and can test both angler and his gear, but are spectacular fighters and great eating and look like giant goldfish.
Also, flights are now coming in directly from the United States to La Paz now for the first time in 14 years. American Airlines from Dallas and Phoenix has been bringing folks now for almost a month.
Nice to have American Airlines now flying directly from Phoenix and Dallas to La Paz. First time we’ve had direct flights in over a decade. No more long drives up from Cabo. The flights have been very popular since they started a month ago. Easy flights into the uncrowded La Paz Airport then it’s just a few minutes to your hotel.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of Dec. 25, 2020 – Jan. 3, 2021
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Find the right spot and there’s still some water water areas holding dorado between 5-15 pounds as waters get cooler.
An incredible experience to get in the water and snorkel with the whalesharks in La Paz Bay.
It’s been rather quiet and subdued this past week for the holidays. It still has been festive, but like much of the world, things are just at a lower key and lower volume. Most folks coming to town are not looking to fish. They’re just spending vacation time for the holidays and hoping for a little sunshine and and put their toes in the sand!
The glitch in that this week was that it was actually been a bit chilly along with the normal seasonal gusty winds from the north. In fact, it’s been that way for well over a week now. Daytime temperature struggling to get out’ve the 60’s. Night temps dropping to the crazy 40’s! Yes, even in Baja, it can get chilly.
Tourists are still in their shorts and t-shirts, but La Paz residents are talking about 2-3 blankets at night and folks are wearing long pants and jackets.
For fishing, there’s still some dorado around. Most 5-12 pound school-sized fish indicative of the probably the last patches of warm water still lingering around. Inshore, there’s a good smattering of snapper, jacks, seabass (cabrilla) and some barred pargo. For most folks simply looking for a day on the water and a bit of action, these fish are perfect and alot of fun. Plus provide some good fish to take to a local restaurant. Everyone is happy.
Honestly, most folks coming to town intent on some time on the water are mostly here for either swimming with the whalesharks in the bay or headed to a whale-watching trip.
The whalesharks in the bay are mostly 10-12’ juveniles in shallow water only minutes from the Malecon. The only problem is that if it’s windy and choppy it can be difficult to find them.
In the shallow waters of La Paz Bay, the whalesharks are usually 10-15′ long “babies”.
On the other hand, the official start of whale-watching season has started as the annual migration of grey whales has seen them starting to arrive over at Bahia Magdalena where they’ll enjoy the warm shallow water, breeding and calving before heading back north to the Bering Sea around March.
So, we’re booking trips now for the grey whales, swimming with the whalesharks and the occasional fisherman.
THE NO SHOW – NO SHOWS in 2021!
We will surely miss the packed aisles of friends this year!
Normally this time of year, we’re hitting the road beginning our 3 month road-tour to all the biggest and best fishing/hunting expos in the western U.S. With our Catlyn (our rescue cat); the booth, thousands of brochures and lots of winter clothes and tire chains; our road vehicle is packed floor-to-ceiling and right about now we’re on our way to our first show of the year at the Denver Convention Center…then followed the next week in Sacramento at the State Fairgrounds. Each week, a different show to see all of you!
We’ll see you for a cold one in La Paz in 2021!
In 2021, that’s not to be the case, unfortunately, as Covid restrictions have shut down all the shows. So for the first time in about 30 years, regretfully, we won’t be in our booth.
That just means, you’re all staying safe and you’ll have to contact us directly to book trips ( jonathan@tailhunter.com) and come visit us in La Paz!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Bahia Suenos Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 17-24, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Happy Trio! Jim Stahlman from Idaho on his 2nd trip with us this year; Jim Morelli from Oregon and Captain Jorge show off some of their dorado catch on the beach at Muertos Bay.
Mark Whisler with his first-ever billfish…actually our first sailfish of the year. Caught north of La Paz with Captain Luis. The fish could not be released and meat was donated. Mark is from the Carmel area of California on his first trip with us.
If I ever need a good photo with a big fish, it’s Roger Thompson who hooked one of the rare wahoo of the season. Fishing with his Captain Hugo.
New Tailhunter friends! First time visitors from Arizona with us, Frank and Jadwiga Francuzik had a nice week of dorado fishing. Here with Captain Adolfo and some nice bulls.
From Cambell CA, Rob “Leon Chilibean” Martinez holds up one of several roosterfish he caught and released out’ve Bahia Muertos.
Long time, Tailhunter amigos, we have watched Sean Rose coming here with his dad, Dave for many many years and always good to see them. The Rose’s are from Washington.
Brandon McGarr had a banner day on the roosterfish catching and releasing 3 big fish like this one! Brandon is from Rock Springs, Wyoming. (Thanks again for the jalapeno pickles, Tanya!)
If you look really carefully, you’ll see Greg Saubolle giving a thumbs-up with a big bandaged thumb! Nice catch of dorado and triggerfish for the day.
If you only have one day to fish together, this isn’t bad for Dan Millikan and Mari Benson who fished with our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet and Captain Alfredo who put them into a school of dorado.
Our San Francisco amigos, Mich Nekota and Paul Nagata added more dorado to their fish box.
These guys are always goofing. Andrew Harrison and Jon Eide with Captain Gerardo.
Greg has some nice variety for the day including a few dorado, some triggerfish, snapper and cabrilla. All great eating!
It’s been a pretty good week of fish and weather down here. Everyone who wanted fish, caught fish! Everyone who wanted to bring home fish, brought home fish! Whoever wanted to jump in the ocean or play on the beach; dive or snorkel; dine at a La Paz restaurant was pretty much covered and went home with smiles!
I guess I could end the report. That says it all!
Air temps were in the low 90’s in the day and night temps were in the high 70’s. Both unseasonably cooler than normal, but made life much more pleasant than normal too with less humidity as well. We did have some afternoon thunderstorms pass through that were very tropical, but they blew through quickly and were generally after the fishermen were already back from being on the water.
The fishing was steady-to-good! Again, dorado were the main catch with fish scattered all over wherever the warmer water was located. It could be a pick day with a fish-or-two here and there and at the end of the day you had a good box of fish. Or, anglers could run into a nice school and it would be crazy pandemonium with fish slashing all over and quick limits.
Surprisingly, roosterfish up to about 50 or 60 pounds are still here as well. Most of the fish are around Las Arenas and all our fish were released. But normally, these fish are long gone for the most part. It could have something to do with the cooler temperatures.
Other species included the random (and rare) wahoo that must be hanging out with the tuna that still have not shown up. Plus, inshore species like pargo, cabrilla, snapper, bonito, jack crevalle, cabrilla and even “cold water” sierra.
We did get our first sailfish of the season. Normally, by now we are usually smack in the middle of billfish season, but there have been very few all year. Same with tuna. Just haven’t been around this year…yet!
Honestly, with all the variables, this seems more like late June/ early July fishing. Crazy year.
Surprisingly, some of those species like dorado are right here in La Paz Bay only a few hundred yards off the beach and within minutes of leaving the beach.
HUGE NEWS…DIRECT FLIGHTS STARTING TO LA PAZ!
For the first time in almost a decade air service will be coming directly from the U.S. to La Paz! American Airlines has announced flights beginning this December through April. Then again for the summer. This is huge big news!
For almost 10 years, we have had most of our folks having to fly to Cabo San Lucas then have us shuttle you all up 100 miles to La Paz and a 3-4 hour van ride! Also, if you don’t have to drive that route and can fly directly, that’s a huge savings (more beer and fishing money available!)
At this time, flights are only from Dallas to La Paz. However, American is huge and this hopefully, will mean that other airlines will follow-up or American will add routes from other U.S. cities.
BOOKING FOR 2021 – CHECK YOUR CALENDARS!
Dates for 2021 already filling!
With many folks having to cancel their trips in 2020 because of you-know-what…many have already given us new dates for 2021. Many dates are already filling up. So, give some thought to your calendar, especially if you want a certain date…hotel…or your favorite captain!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 10-17, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
There’s a number of photos this week of roosterfish with Dan Stewart from Bishop, CA. They are NOT the same fish! Dan had a banner few days chasing the big gallos and caught a number of them like this fish in the 50-pound class! All fish were released.
Could not find a better roosterfish shot than Paul Nagata and Captain Pancho with this big-headed bull. Paul has a knack for putting good fish in the boat every year.
Johnny Lucero from the Rancho Costa there in Bahia Muertos was trolling the marlin lures and hooked THREE wahoo like this one!
One of our new “best amigos!” This is Bruce “White bread and baloney” Blumenthal who made his first trip down to see us and started off with a nice table o dorado to put in the freezer!
Fishing with out Tailhunter La Paz fleet, Eric shows off one of his mahi. He had 2 good days of fishing with us.
If she looks grim, Tanya McGarr from snowy Rock Springs, Wyoming it’s not because she’s unhappy! This big roosterfish not only busted her chops before she beat it, but she’s struggling to hold the big head up for a photo. Captain Pancho helps out. The fish was released!
Campbell CA, amigo, Rob “Leon Redbone” Martinez shows some of the crazy variety that is still around with a sierra in hand plus dorado, pargo and cabrilla on the cleaning table. All great-eating fish!
Dan has another big rooster and it’s a slug! Cerralvo Island just behind him and Captain Gerardo with the thumbs-up!
Texas in the house y’all! Randy Moe and Kevin Preuss from Thrall TX started out their fishing week with a mess of dorado fillets for dinner. Thanks to Randy who brought Jilly and I some big Texas steak from his ranch!
Goofing for the photo…Andrew Harrison, Captain Gerardo, Joe Vondrak and Joe Eide.
GAK! Captain Victor with the scourge of the sea…a big needlefish.
Kevin, Bob and Dave made it down to see us again this year from L.A. and really worked hard to get tuna and wahoo. However, they were alot more successful with the dorado!
This time wife, Becky, gives Dan Stewart a hand with another roosterfish for the camera before releasing the big fish.
Steve Bryan is too fun. No stress. Just easy fishing while hanging with us almost 2 full weeks here in La Paz! Captain Jorge helped get Steve into a day of dorado.
Jim Glaze has the gaff. Bruce Blumenthal holds the fish. They were with Captain Joel and our Tailhunter La Paz fleet for two days and had fun with the dorado schools.
Dan has yet ANOTHER rooster!
This past week was the exact opposite of the previous week.
We started excruciatingly slow with a picky bite at best. Had to really work hard to get fish and find fish.
However, as the week progressed, fishing picked up speed. Still not fast, but compared to the week before, it was nice to have folks come back to shore with big smiles and fish in the box.
Dorado were once again center-stage. Most got limits or near limits on most days. Not every boat on every day did OK, but for the most part every boat still came back with daily fish and if one particular boat had a slack day, the next day made up for it. Locations and schools kept changing, but overall, the fish were nicely cooperative this week.
The dorado were schoolies-sized fish. Most were 5 to 15 pounds with the occasional fish in the 20-pound class. Lots of smaller fish were released. The fish hit live bait mostly, but would also hit trolled lures or cut bait.
It was also nice to see a few wahoo in the counts. We haven’t seen many this year and the wahoo that were caught this week were taken by anglers who were trolling lures trying to catch something else when the wahoo bit. But, I would still say, it’s been a down year for the speedsters. Same with tuna. We should be thick in the tuna, but after several years of tuna biters, we’ve not seen any at all. There’s some tuna biting to the south of us so hopefully, they’ll start swimming north.
After several weeks of no roosters, it’s good to know they are still out there. Normally, this is too late in the year to see the roosters around, but several fish running 25-60 pounds were caught and released. Just when I thought they were gone after not seeing any for a few weeks, the big boys came back.
If you go outside-the-box, there’s not many folks fishing the structure around the reefs and rocks because most anglers are chasing the blue-water species, but there’s big triggerfish to be had as well as cabrilla, pargo, snapper and even sierra!
E-MAIL SNAFU at TAILHUNTER
If you’ve tried to reach us the last few days, our server has been down that handles all our e-mails. Apparently, it either got hacked or corrupted so the brainy-guys in New York are working on it.
However, that means for the past few days, we have not been able to receive or send e-mails! GACK! That means we’ve been dead-in-the-water with our communications and unable to respond with our usual speediness! We apologize and are on hectic damage control!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 27-Sept. 2, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Sherry Cady from Denver CO, had a pretty good week on the dorado. This is one of the larger mahi of the week she caught fishing with Captain Raul with our La Paz fleet.
Big smiles and bucket list fish for Mateo Rangel from Atascadero CA with captain Jorge and his first roosterfish.
Rob Markarian from Camarillo CA with one of the larger dorado of the week. He and his amigo, slammed dorado all week.
One of our funnest regular amigos, John Washington started his week with a nice load of dorado. He’s from Carson City NV and planning to come back to visit next month!
Somewhere behind that mask, Gary from Florida got himself a big roosterfish outside of Bahia Muertos. Thanks to Gary Wagner from Rancho Costa for the photo.
Mike Welch and his bunch of crazy firefighter friends with just a small sample of dorado from their first day. They started with quite a bang..
More dorado! Rob Markarian and Tom Worrell found some nice schools of mahi north of La Paz near Las Cruces.
When Mateo catches a fish he’s always got the big smile!
Kevin and Tom with a nice load of dorado ready to fillet and bring back to La Paz to our FUBAR Cocina Cantina.
Good day on the flyrod! Ron and Sherry Cady with another dorado day.
Amigo Gary Wagner with yet another nice rooster for the gallery. The fish was released. Gary owns Rancho Costa there at Muertos.
Tom Worrell and his rather large variety of needlefish! That’s a beast. Espirito Santo Island in the background.
A double-fist of dorado! Ron Cady was fishing north around Las Cruces with Captain Raul and got some nice bulls.
NBA All-Star Clifford Ray was staying out at Rancho Costa for a few days and caught this colorful roosterfish as well as dorado. The rooster was released. Clifford played alot of years with the Bulls and Warriors and won and NBA championship in 1975 wit the Warriors.
Well, knock on wood, we seem to have mostly dodged a three chubascos. Two weeks ago, it was Guenevere. This week, it was Hernan and Isella. It’s that time of year.
For the storms, however, that came through…
Although they closed the port, neither did more than bring cloudy skies and a few drops of rain. Actually, the cloudy skies were kinda nice if you were on the water as it was alot cooler and more comfortable than blazing sunshine. Most of the week has been cloudy or given us sporadic sunshine.
It’s been that kind of year, however. Both air and water temps are cooler and it’s made fishing, a bit different than normal.
Even with the cloudy skies, fishing actually seemed to improve. Fortunately, the storms didn’t push alot of wind when they came through so waters stayed pretty flat and the fish seemed to wake up a bit from what they were doing previously.
Big roosterfish are still around off Las Arenas, but it was the dorado schools that seemed to turn on.
Nothing spectacular, but alot of fun 5-20 pound dorado for both our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet and our Tailhunter La Paz fleet. Especially, this past week, we had alot of first-timers and couples so having some great dorado fishing plus add in pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle, bonito and triggerfish and there could be some really fun action.
Live bait was best and included sardines, cocineros and mackerel.
Not every boat did great every day. There’s still some areas of off-color cold water and without as many boats as normal for all the fishing fleets, it’s hard to cover all the spots every day. However, if they were fishing several days, everyone went home with fish and it definitely was better fishing than the week before.
Still no tuna or wahoo showing which is unusual for this time of year, but I hear there’s some biters to the south of us so hopefully, the schools will come north.
BAHIA MAGDALENA
A couple of our regular good amigos from San Diego, Daniel Bovee and his dad, Jim…who’s already fished with us once this year, took a few days to head out to our Bahia Magdalena operation on the Pacific about 4 hours from La Paz. First day they fished inside the mangroves for cabrilla, pargo, snook and other inshore species, but the next day went outside to the ridge and really jumped some nice fatty dorado and legit dorado!
A table full of good fillets coming up…tuna and dorado!
THE BIG WHOOP!
We’re pretty excited here with the news this week that many of the covid restrictions are being eased. For many of us, it’s been 5 months of closures and strict protocols.
Initially, back in late March we were in pretty much full closure at RED LEVEL 6.
June 15th, we dropped to ORANGE LEVEL 5. Better, but still meant only 30% occupancy of hotels, restaurants and businesses. Beaches and the waterfront Malecon were closed. Masks still required. Social distancing maintained at 6 feet.
Well…this past week, the governor reduced us to LEVEL 4 which is great news.
Masks are still required, but that means social distancing was cut in half. Our waterfront Malecon is now open until 11 p.m. at night. Restaurants do not have to serve food in order to serve drinks. That means bars can open.
Hotels, restaurants and other businesses can observe 40% occupancy instead of 30%.
Gyms, churches, spas, salons and other “non-essential” businesses can open with some restrictions. Many have been closed for 5 months.
With restrictions, some of the beaches are now being opened!
The town is pretty elated. People have to work and eat and it’s nice to have a little more space and places to go! We just can’t abuse it. The government warns that they could still reverse things if folks don’t respect the rules. However, they’re optimistic that soon we could be dropped to Level 3 YELLOW.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Aug. 20-27, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
The BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Almost looks like a poster! Hard to find a better photo than Mark Bonsack and his 66-pound roosterfish. He had it on a scale before releasing it. He got 3 this day.
Orrin Grant has some nice fillets to take home to Utah.
Big smiles from Brad. He caught and released 3 roosterfish. Cerralvo Island in the background.
They are big and they’re not in very deep water. Roosterfish almost to the boat. Great shot by Mark Bonsack.
Start of 3 days fishing wasn’t too bad. Tom Worrell and Rob Markarian with 4 bull dorado at Bahia Muertos. Next day they slammed ’em.
If Brad looks a little gassed, this was his 3rd roosterfish of the day. Caught and released.
You may not recognize him, but that’s NBA Hall or Famer Rick Barry who won the NBA championship in 1975 and has himself a dandy bull dorado. He was staying at Rancho Costa at Gary Wagner’s place.
Gary at Rancho Costa with another NBA All-star Clifford Ray who played center when Rick Barry was with the Golden State Warriors.
Another one for the photo gallery! Brad with another rooster before releasing it.
Mark with another monster roosterfish that hit the 60 pound mark on a scale before Mark released it.
Pretty cool underwater shots of Pancho and Brad and a seriously bent rod and a roosterfish at color.
Almost to the boat!
We sure don’t see many amberjack in August. These are normally cold-waterfish but great eating. Mark Bonsack is taking this one home!
I guess in a weird way, I’m glad we didn’t have many fishermen this week. About 1/2 the week we had weather issues with Hurricane Guenievere that came up the Pacific Coast. Inititial forecasts predicted as much as a category 3 or 4 blast. It wasn’t supposed to make landfall, but brush into Cabo then veer up the Pacific side of Baja with 3-4 inches of rain.
By the time it hit it had been downgraded to a category 1 and didn’t slam as hard as predicted, but down in Cabo there was extensive flooding and for the rest of us, alot of wind and waves that kept us off the water for a few days and had the city of La Paz locked down pretty tightly. As it was, here in the city, it didn’t even rain hard enough to clean the dust off my car windshield, but it probably wasn’t very comfortable to be out fishing.
So, about 1/2 the week was pointless.
The rest of the week gave us sporadic cloudiness and sunshine and a mix of dorado and inshore fish that surprisingly included cool water fish like amberjack and sierra mixed with jack crevalle, bonito, cabrilla, snapper and pargo. Decent action, but nothing spectacular to be honest, as the waters settled back down.
Thankfully, again, there were the big roosterfish. Not good eating, but the beasts still slugged it out with fish in the 20-65 pound class along the Muertos/ Las Arenas beaches. All fish were released.
Heads-up! There’s a couple of weather disturbances to the south of us. They’re not fully-formed yet and are not hurricanes or tropical storms, but we’re keeping an eye on them. Right now, they look like they might bounce west out to the Pacific, but might still bring some afternoon thundershowers over us by the end of the week.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for June 1-12, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Dennis Gaetz lives in San Pedro near Bahia Muertos where we usually launch our pangas and got out for a day with his wife. He shows off a tasty pompano.
Debbie Gaetz with a jack crevalle she caught while fishing with her husband (photo above). Too bad the jacks aren’t real good eating. Although sportfishing is prohibited right now, locals are permitted to subsistence fish. Apparently there’s alot of bait and they saw alot of roosterfish, but the roosters wouldn’t bite.
Our folks in Bahia Magdalena who work with us were out catching some food. Captain Saul was out with family and has a nice pargo on the line.
Some really good eats! From the Bahia Magdalena shallows in the mangroves an ice chest with some fat grouper.
It looked like there was a ray of hope there for a bit regarding opening Baja for tourism again. Indeed, there was a bright spot as June 16th was repeatedly bandied about as the day the quarantine and lockdown would be lifted.
Health inspections were taking place. Businesses were sending employees to classes to learn about new health protocols. Hotels and restaurants were digging themselves out from almost 3 months of dusty Baja darkness.
It seemed there was a green light in the distance and everyone was moving towards it.
But wait. Not just yet.
That green light still sits at the end of the tunnel, but it’s gotten a bit dimmer. Or perhaps it’s because it has moved further away.
I waited to post this latest update and report because I knew that last Wednesday, Governor Carlos Mendoza Davis, the governor of Baja Sur, was going to post a new state address about the re-opening. He was going to give a more definitive word about what was going to happen after June 15th.
Well, last Wednesday, the governor broadcast the message and all it did was leave alot of us scratching our heads; others pulling their hair out; and others just laughing at the ambiguity of the message. I sort of get it. I’m glad I’m not a politician right now.
In a nutshell the government has broken down re-opening into six “traffic light” segments based on how bad they think the infection situation is. Here’s the chart. See if it makes sense:
The governor’s new “traffic light” chart. Every business will get assigned a color which will be announced after June 15th. The chart tells you what a business can and cannot do.
Every business or entity will be judged by and given a “light.” That will determine if they can open and then, in what capacity they can operate. All of this, of course, is also based on how badly the pandemic is doing at that particular time. And, just because you have a certain “color” designation does not pre-clude that your color can be changed at any time. Kinda like a kid’s game board…up…back…sideways. Do not pass “Go.” Skip ahead 2 spaces…etc.
Shutting down again is not out of the question…just like the rest of the world.
However…Governor Mendoza Davis is not going to tell anyone their color UNTIL JUNE 15th…NEXT MONDAY!
It begs the question…how is anyone going to monitor this?
That hotel gets a green. The one next to it is a yellow. One restaurant is red. The other is an orange. Who is counting the number of people on the beaches or parks to make sure that only a certain percentage are on the beach or park at a given time? Who is measuring the distance between tables in a restaurant?
And this is based on so many conflicting reports. Just in the last few days here’s what I pulled from Mexican news sources. Many contradict their own stories:
Some World Tourism Organization declared Cabo to be the first “safe” destination on Baja’s Pacific Coast (but no one has heard of this organization)
But…Health officials say the virus is spiking again and thing are opening too soon
Many businesses have received their official “health certification.”
But…Health officials say the the peak of infections has not yet hit and Baja Sur is one of the new hot spots in Mexico
Some tourists are already filtering back into Cabo
But…most hotels cannot yet open
The government says the curve has flattened according to the statistics
But…other groups says the numbers are skewed and falsely reported in order to get the businesses open again
The severe lockdown is still in place for locals and non-essential businesses
But…many people are ignoring it. Businesses found in violation are simply given a warning. People in violation are told to go home.
And on and on…
The lifting of the Baja quarantine was predicated upon the diminishing number of infections in the area. Compared to the rest of the country, Baja, as a whole, was doing pretty good. Only a handful of cases compared to other areas.
However, in the past week or so, there has been a steady up-surge in Covid infections attributable possibly to a number of variables.
For one, about 2 weeks ago, local residents largely ignored social-distancing and came out in numbers for parties related to Mothers’ Day as well as Childrens Day. Police busted hundreds of secret parties. Numerous groups where chased off the beaches.
Add to that the fact that locals have just been antsy. Police can’t stop everyone. They can’t be everywhere.
So, out everyone went. Social distancing be damned and folks just started getting out. Vendors started selling. People were out shopping. Folks were eating out. As soon as police cleared one beach, folks just drifted off to other beaches or other areas. Social media was used to warn each other about areas to avoid where police might be checking. A big game.
And to some degree, the police either stopped caring or realized the futility of too few resources for too big a job.
And, so up go the numbers.
Many businesses that had planned to open after mid-June are now saying that they will wait for an “official” word to re-open. Others have not even started to open. Others don’t care. They have to work and so they open and hope not to get caught. Most stay closed.
As one business owner told me, “I can’t afford to bring back all our staff and pay them to clean up and sanitize our place and take health classes. Then, they will only have to sit around waiting for a real opening date. Or I send them home again. I can’t afford to do that nor do I want to do that to my employees.”
So, he will just wait.
In fact, Baja’s government is now being accused by health administrators of covering up their true infection numbers so that they could jumpstart the economy.
In the rest of the country, the virus appears to be raging, especially in urban areas where social distancing is difficult and medical attention is already inundated.
The government says the worst is over. The curve is flattening. Health officials scratch their heads and say, Mexico is just heading into the worst of it as bodies stack up in hospital storage rooms and morgues still not officially reported Crematoriums can’t keep up.
The entire country…all the Mexican states…have been painted red by the health ministers. Red as in “Code Red.”
However, the individual states are being left to decide for themselves whether and when they will make their moves to re-open. Like everywhere, it’s a precarious decision.
For now, as far as I can discern from the numerous new reports that emanate daily, Baja is on hold. Wait-and-see. Until after June 15th.
Ports and marinas are slated to be open by June 16th. The border closing is supposed to terminate (driving only) by June 22. Beaches are supposed to be open June 30th. But wait-and-see.
International Terminal 2 at the Cabo Airport, maybe not until July.
But, if there’s no hotels, airlines, restaurants or other services open, it’s going to be very difficult to ramp up the tourism machine…just yet.
Head towards that green light in the distance, but pump the breaks and slow it down a bit. We finally have tickets to fly home June 23rd. But, that may change if we have no place to live and hotels aren’t open yet.
Personally, I think things won’t be back until July. I can guarantee one thing. Probably everything you just read and saw on this report will change by the time you’re seeing this.
IN OTHER NEWS...
Social distancing? What’s that? Beer is flowing again!
Breweries have been re-opened and have been deemed “essential” to business and are now trucking out cases as fast-as-they-can to re-fill shelves and refrigerators after many weeks of no beer sales! Yes…even THAT beer with the unlucky name of a certain virus is back on the shelves too!
YES! It is indeed essential!
No matter what…please take care of each other and be good to each other! These are trying times indeed.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of March 23-30, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Captain Pancho got out one day with his son and were dragging a Rapala when they hit up this big husky yellowtail.
Visiting his dad in Bahia Muertos, Miles Wagner from Colorado Springs, Colorado has time off from school so he’s been fishing the last two weeks and found a some sweet spots of pargo on the far east side of Cerralvo Island near La Paz. This is that time of year when the big pargo liso like this come into the shallows to spawn.
Prime time ceviche if I know what Gary Wagner will do with this nice sierra. Despite being a member of the mackerel family, sierra have a delicate white flesh that is incredibly tasty.
Captain Luis fishes with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet and has been fishing with family north of La Paz but was out alone and stuck this pair of slugger yellowtail towards Espirito Santo Island using live bait.
Gary’s got another yellowtail to put in the fish box!
Mixed weather conditions but generally flat seas and a decent bite on yellowtail and other species. Just no one really fishing except locals and captains with family and friends.
Temps are warming up into the 80’s and so is the fishing. The yellowtail have been biting in a number of areas and are taking sardines, mackerel, ballyhoo live baits as well as chasing slow trolled Rapalas, Yo-Zuris or jigging with iron. The fish have been chunky at times too! Some of the fish running up into the 30-pound class.
In those same areas, we’ve also had amberjack biting with some hefty fish over 50-pounds. Plus pargo, cabrilla and snapper are willing to bend rods as well. Plus add in bonito, jack crevalle and sierra and there’s no shortage of biters. Offshore a few yards, the possibility of dorado and even tuna (rumored) plus big squid are in the area.
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BREAKING UPDATE…Just as I was finishing this up, Gary Wagner sent me this story about tying into a tuna he estimated at 300 pounds:
“..last Thursday was the only day of the week that was fishable. So Miles and I ran out to Cerralvo Island. After catching some Pargo, white bonita, Cabrilla and all the Skip jack you could ever want, we tied into a Tuna. Not just any tuna but the Tuna from Hell. In our 6 hour and 15 minute fight we got to see this 55 gal drum about 10 times. Over 300 lbs, we hooked the Tuna at 8:30 in the morning in 50 ft of water, and then the Tuna headed for Mazatlan. Took us due East 2 miles then turned and headed right back to where we hooked it. Then out again, the fish turned and eventually broke us off in the rocks on the North end of the Island. We were using a top shot of 30# Flouracarbon with 50# braid, so we really couldn’t pull his lips off. One heck of a father and son memory, we both could use a Chiropractor right about now.”
Here’s Miles Wagner just a few hours into the fight…
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But, like I said, there’s no one around. Things are pretty quiet. Hotels have staff on reduced hours or skeleton crews. A few hotels are either closing or in the process of closing. Bars are closed if they are just selling alcohol, but restaurants remain open…or trying to stay open and hoping to stay afloat with food delivery.
The Marina in Cabo was closed this past week to all boat traffic and water activities and it is expected that La Paz might not be far behind. We’ll see. Changes coming daily.
JILL JONATHAN and LA PAZ
Jilly and I are still in the states dug in and hunkered down like everyone else. Our last two fishing/ hunting expos in Salt Lake City and San Diego, respectively, got canceled so we’ve come off the road and are in the same “wait-and-see” mode like most folks.
The few reservations we had for late March and April have all postponed until later in the year. Flights down are limited or non-existent as airlines have drastically curtailed flights. But, even if we went back home to La Paz, what then?
Not only are there no fishermen, but town is pretty empty. Mostly, it’s our captains fishing with their friends and family to put some meat on the table. Although there’s generally no mandatory closures in La Paz, since no one is around, many places are shuttered. New regulations have closed down bars that only serve alcohol, but restaurants like Tailhunter have been allowed to stay open because we also serve food.
However, we’ve had to move tables apart and found it necessary to severely curtail hours and regretfully, have had to let some of our employees go. Hopefully, we can remain open and keep our employees working. Just like in the U.S. we’re trying to augment business with take-out service and food specials.
Baja is taking the virus pretty seriously especially because of the state’s reliance upon tourism and the handful of cases in Baja have mostly all been related to folks who traveled or came in contact with travelers.
Mainland, Mexico, on the other hand has not been very quick to re-act. President Obregon has told the people that it’s not time to panic and they should continue with social activities, eating out, and getting together. He says Mexico is ready for anything should the virus blow up, but even one of the governors came out this week and said, “Poor people are immune from the virus.”
However, Mexican health authorities are bracing themselves. Mexico has serious problems with diabetes (10% of the population); obesity (right up there with the United States); hypertension; heart disease and other health issues. However, it does not have the ability to cope with an outbreak. Mexico City alone has 15 million people, but only 400 ICE beds in the whole city. Plus, especially in the cities, social distancing will be very difficult because of the population density with many people living in close proximity. Plus, even if closures are put into effect, something like 60-70% of the working population live day-to-day and hand-to-mouth in small mom-and-pop stands or tiny businesses. If they don’t work, they don’t eat.
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CAVEAT: WITH THINGS CHANGING SO RAPIDLY ANYTHING WRITTEN HERE IS DONE WITH THE FACTS AT THE GIVEN MOMENT. BY THE TIME YOU ARE READING THIS THINGS COULD HAVE AND PROBABLY WILL HAVE CHANGED. I ONLY CLAIM ACCURACY FOR THE FISHING PART! AND OUR WISHES THAT YOU AND YOURS STAY WELL!
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So, with Jill and I, we do not want to be the ones who perhaps bring an infection to our friends, family and employees. It’s about social responsibility. Although we feel fine, we could be carriers. Even if not, we could easily pick up something in the airport, a car, the airplane…this virus is so resilient that I have problems with anyone going down to Mexico right now “for fun.”
I’ve had e-mails from folks asking me about going down “because the fishing is good; airline prices are cheap; and there’s no one else on the water!” Just my personal opinion, that until we get ahead of this thing, folks who go down right now could be the one that’s responsible for killing someone. And they’ll never know it. No way to know who is contagious because the virus can be completely asymptomatic.
So, we’re hunkered down for the time-being just like you. We’re working like crazy from home (reservations for later in the year are still coming in). Jill is making big batches of soups and casseroles to store for later. She’s organizing her office. I’m cleaning out the garage and trying (failing) to get in some work outs! We’re not hoarding, but we’ve got enough toilet paper. We’re watching movies we’ve never had time to watch together and catching up on a bit of reading and staying in touch with family on FaceTime.
Trying to stay well and keep others well. I hope you are well and stay that way also! Please take care of each other and let’s take this seriously so we can get back to normal and hopefully catch some fish!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay/ Fishing Report for week of March 16-23, 2020
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
The BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Miles Wagner is always on fish and he put the wood to several yellowtail at Punta Perrico as well as Cerralvo Island including this hefty yellow. Miles lives in Colorado Springs CO.
Yes, that’s our Captain Chito and Captain Luis out with family members and big load of meat including a big amberjack, yellowtail and dorado. This group knows how to fish!
Good guy, Gary Wagner, owner of the Giggling Marlin Bar in Cabo and Rancho Costa in Bahia Muertos with one of several dorado he took last week.
For real now, there aren’t many anglers or much of anyone in town. There weren’t many to begin with insofar as November to April is off-season, but usually this time of year, there’s an influx of spring breakers that descend on southern Baja and more snowbirds finally tired of cold winters north of the border.
However, that has pretty much come to a halt. Springbreakers understandably abruptly left. Actually, it was canceled. Lots of visitors have returned to their respective countries. Locals are hunkered down at the suggestion of the local, state and federal authorities. It’s kind of eerie out seeing much of anyone on eat beaches, streets, water, restaurants or bars. Much like the U.S. although to date, there has been only 1 confirmed case of the virus in Baja.
As we all know, changes have been almost daily, if not hourly and whatever you’re reading here could well have changed by that time.
Of course, as Murphy’s cruel law would have it, we probably just had one of the best fishing and weather weeks of the year.
Sardines and ballyhoo showed up for live bait. Even squid for the first time in years, got the commercial squid fishermen out to catch squid that came up from the deep trenches for the markets and for bait!
Go figure! For the first time in years, the squid came up from the deep trenches! Thanks to Gary Wagner for this photo of the commercial squid fishermen out on the bay at Muertos.
Winds settled down as well. So, with very few visiting anglers, captains were out catching fish for food and families taking friends, locals and family members out to fish.
With the good conditions, the production of a variety of fish was pretty remarkable. Yellowtail up to about 30 pounds were hitting off the structure and drop-offs. In those same areas, some 30-60 pound amberjack were also racked.
Over the reefs, some of those big tough pargo liso in the 15-20 pound range were getting hooked as well as an abundance of cabrilla and snapper plus bonito, jack crevalle, sierra and even some tuna were hooked (but not confirmed).
Later in the week, the winds came back and waters got colder and greener and the bite softened a bit, but overall a pretty good week to have been on the water!
Daytime temps are already in the low 80’s and supposedly the virus can’t survive in humidity and temperatures over 65. We’ll see. We can only hope.
JILL and I and TAILHUNTER STATUS
After almost 4 months on the road, Jilly and I returned to our house in the U.S. to a completely different world. Alot has changed since December as we all know.
Many of you who have followed our 2020 TAILHUNTER TOUR know that our last two shows in Salt Lake City and in San Diego got canceled so were involuntarily came back two weeks early to re-group and figure out what’s going on. Like you, we see things changing daily or even hourly. Like you we’re just waiting to see how this all plays out.
We did figure that in the last 3 months, we’ve probably come in contact with about 250,000 people in close-quarters while attending all these shows. We’ve been high-fiving, shaking hands, hugging and there’s hardaly any social distancing! We have stayed in hotel rooms and eating in restaurants every single day and night. That’s ALOT of contact!
We FEEL FINE. However, we don’t know if we might be carrying.
So, we’ve basically self-quarantined so we don’t infect anyone else. At least 14 days, we’re hunkered down just like so many of you! We’re hoping to return ASAP to our home in La Paz.
As far as fishing trips, many of you heard about the mutual agreement between Mexico and the U.S. to prohibit all non-essential travel. And everyone who was there visiting, has largely left to come home…or plans to stay for awhile. Alot of things are empty.
This obviously puts a big crimp in our fishing season which should have been just kicking off right now.
We have not gotten many cancelations. Most of our reservations for March, April and much of May simply postponed their trips to later dates and we are all just waiting-to-see what plays out. No one has lost their deposits or funds. Everyone is still credited if they have changed dates or postponed or, in the case of a rare cancelation.
In the meantime, I don’t know how often I’ll be posting fishing reports for a bit. I’ve only missed like…6 weeks in 24 years! But, hopefully, we can all get a handle on this and do the difficult things so we can get back to some normalcy as soon as possible.
If you’ve got a trip planned anywhere this year…BUY TRIP INSURANCE! We’ve recommended it to our clients for years. Even if coronavirus had not occurred, trip insurance is very economical and covers unforseen things like injuries, bad weather, flight cancelations, getting sick on a trip, etc. Look into it and purchase it ASAP!
Tailhunter Fish Report 