La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 29-Aug. 4, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST OF THE STORY…
His first roosterfish was a dandy. Dave Payan visited from Roy, Utah and was out with us and right-off-the-bat hooked this big roosterfish not far from the Las Arenas lighthouse. The fish was released.
Joe Treves from Los Angeles gets a hand from son, Matt, and Captain Gerardo of the Tailhunter Fleet in La Paz with an 80-pound tuna he wrestled off Cerralvo Island just east of Bahia Muertos that ate a live sardine on light tackle.
Marco and Steve Holguin have been visiting us for years and always good to see them. Their first day started with a nice rack of dorado from Las Arenas.
San Diego in the house with Rick Carlton and Bruce Husson with a rare white marlin! I think I have only seen 3 the whole 25 years I have been here. The guys released it to swim strongly away! Cerralvo Island in the background.
Ryan Sallee and Shelby Pope via San Diego first-time fishing with us got a ice variety of great eating pargo, snapper and a dorado!
What a pig of a fish! Largest dog-tooth snapper of the year hooked by Shelly Donnell from Beaverton OR with a happy Captain Pancho trying to hoist it up on the gaff.
Another nice one in the boat and this time a nice huachinago on the gaff for Utah amigo, Dave Payan.
Couldn’t resist the smile of Allie Tutino from San Diego with her only dorado, but there’s a couple of nice pargo on the table in front of her!
Now THAT’s alot of sashime, but these guys know how to fish! Long-time amigos who come several times a year got these hefty yellowfin tuna at the south end of Espirito Santo Island where a number of these horse fish have broken rods and hearts! Kevin SHIOTANI (sorry about that brain fart, Kevin…I kneel in apology! But at least I didn’t write CACA VERDE!) and Rick Hosmer doing it like a boss!
Nice bull dorado for our first-time visitor to La Paz Marco Martinez posing on the sand for us at Bahia los Muertos.
Three generations of the Mammott Family…Jeff…Jesse…Christy and Paden with some of their dorado.
Just another day on the water for amigo, Shelly Donnell and sister Gaby, both from Oregon with dorado and pargo ready for the fillet table.
Might be my favorite photo of the week! My two friends, Roger McCracken and Joe Treves goofing with their big “sardines.”
Dorado can be voracious feeders! But here’s the rule when a dorado picks up BOTH baits! Whoever’s hook is deepest in the mouth gets the fish! I think Gaby’s hook is deeper than her brother’s hook! But Sheldon will argue the point!
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Still crazy trying to figure out our fishing. It seems we move two steps forward then one step back each week. Get get excited about jags of fish like dorado, or marlin or tuna. And just when we’re all fired up, things change again!
Every day, you can take your pick of words to describe the fishing…everyone has a different adjective for the day and it runs the full gamut from awesome and fun to erratic, anemic, or crummy! And the boats can be right next to each other and you’ll get completely different results from boat-to-boat; location to location and from day-to-day.
Everyone arrives and says, “How’s the fishing?” And all I can give them is a shrug of the shoulders. Bottom line, everyone is catching fish. But not everyone is catching fish ALL the time!
Here it is August, and it’s still more like late May or June fishing. It’s deceiving because the waters are blue; the days are hot and humid; it feels really tropical…I mean it looks like summer. It feels like summer. But the fishing isn’t summer. It’s more like springtime fishing.
Just check out the variety of fish. We should be catching mostly bluewater/ warmwater fish like dorado, tuna and billfish. And indeed, the dorado are probably 60% of the catch. But, it’s hardly wide-open on the chew. Dorado are scattered and we’re picking them up here and there.
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Good start of the fishing grip for Louie Mogabgab with some nice bull dorado and an amberjack to show for it!
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However, we’re still getting cold water fish like the big mullet snapper (pargo liso); sierra (winter fish); snapper, cabrilla, amberjack and even an occasional yellowtail.
Captain Pancho helps pose a pargo liso for Gaby Donnell
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Mix in the occasional billfish plus bonito, jack crevalle and even the sporadic beast tuna of 50-100 pounds and there’s action to be held…most days…most boats. Here’s the deal…if you’re only coming down and fishing 1 day…you could have a great time or be that boat that just misses it. If you’re fishing 2, 3 or 4 days, you’ll have an off-day or two, but you’ll be going home with fish!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 21-28, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Landon Verhoven shows off his first striped marlin with Captain Armando. The fish was hooked on a little sardine, and they had a double hook-up going on marlin with two fish leaping and heading in opposite directions at the same time. Both fish were released. Cerralvo Island in the distance. Landon is from Los Angeles.
She looks a little tires! It’s her biggest roosterfish! From Loveland, Colorado, our amiga, Kelly Jimenez, has been fishing 8 years with us. She landed (and released) this big roosterfish just off the shore near Bahia Muertos with Captain Pancho. She and her daughter caught and released 14 smaller roosterfish as well.
Lots of bull dorado for Taylor Kooiman and Geoff Wilkinson from Los Angeles. Fishing with the Tailhunter Fishing Fleet in La Paz, they said they hooked another 12 fish and released them all before 9 a.m.
Lucien and his dad Jacob Sanders started off their trip with a boatload of dorado! They had two solid days of dorado fishing. They’re from Bellflower CA.
Yea…that’s the right kind! Captain Pancho smiles with Brandon and Tanya McGarr all the way from Rock Springs, Wyoming with a great mix of dorado and snapper/ pargo.
Three generations of the Rudloff family with Captain Adolfo. Bob, son Jason and grandson, Jacob with dorado and…check out the nice snapper and pargo lisos!
Trevor Hefner pulled this nice dog-tooth snapper (pargo Colorado) out’ve the rocks near Bahia Muertos fishing a sardine just outside of Bahia Muertos
Paul Zuelke with Captain Victor and a giant pompano he caught off Bahia Muertos! Paul was on his first visit with us from Washington.
Double handfuls of mahi-mahi forJustin Grasmeyer Tommy Groe who got quick limits and released alot of their fish as well.
Nicely done on the spinning rod! A great photo of young Lucien Jacobs.
One of our long-time amigos, Diego Jimenez, with grandson, Roman from Colorado with a nice rack of dorado to start out their trip!
Mahi fillets headed for Wyoming! A table-full of dorado for Brandon and Tanya McGarr. Always good to see them!
First dorado for his daughter, Mikaila, Diego helps with the pose!
It feels like summer! Hot, humid Baja the way it’s supposed to be…finally! Very tropical conditions with daytime temps in the high 90’s to low 100’s now and lots of humidity. Everyone has their AC going which has caused some intermittent short power outtages in town, but overall a nice time to be on the water and hitting the beach.
With the tropical conditions, we are getting some brief, but sometimes very strong rainstorms with flash flooding, lightning and thunder in the later afternoons and evenings that blow through certain areas then quickly dissipate.
Afternoon storms like this one are not uncommon this time of year. We had two of them this week that swept in and swept out within minutes but flooded streets. Then the sun came back out. Everyone was done fishing when the storms hit!
These storms can be pretty ferocious and noisy when they blow in. Very tropical. Then, they blow right back out! They can get pretty noisy with thunder and lightning. This is the view in front of Tailhunter Restaurant. We got strong winds, but only a few drops of rain. The other side of town got totally flooded for about an hour!
For the fishing, the dorado are finally the focus of our fishing efforts as the waters have finally warmed and turned blue, although there’s still some colder green patches around. Schools of dorado or individual fish ranging from 5-30 pounds have been the norm. If you find the right spot, you can load up on limits in short order and/or catch-and-release as fast as you can let a fish go and hook up another one!
Roosterfish are still around although not as many showing up in the counts. That could be the result of more people targeting “meat” fish like dorado and other species so there’s not that much attention being paid to roosterfish which all get released because they don’t eat well. We’ve had some 30-60 pound roosters, but then other days when it’s not uncommon to catch up to a dozen smaller roosters from a school and release them all.
We’re still getting an unusual number of big pargo liso (mullet snapper) that are normally cold water fish from the late winter and early spring. I’ve never seen so many this late in the season, especially when it’s this warm. But that is probably because there’s still some cold patches of water here and there. These are tough mean powerful fish and make for great sport and eating.
No tuna or wahoo to speak of although tuna keep popping up but head down quickly unwilling to bite or disappearing before we can get on them. A few marlin hooked and released.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of July 14-21, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Not a bad start! Leif Dover (right) celebrating his bachelor party with Brian O’Neil kicked off their trip with a load of dorado and snapper out’ve Las Arenas. Both guys are long-time Tailhunter amigos and are from Atlanta GA.
Crazy to be catching these big mullet snapper (pargo liso) so late in the year, but Diana Hernandez and Mark Buchanan from San Diego pulled several of these tough fish out’ve the rocks.
They were done fishing early with limits of dorado. Kennedy Dixon poses with fish on the beach at Bahia Muertos.
Don has big smiles and a big rooster ready to photo and release just off the rocks at Punta Perrico.
Captain Rogelio with a great photo and tasty pargo mulato with Grayson Richmond from Colorado near the cliffs off Espirito Santo Island.
Jim Looney has a nice bull dorado just outside of Bahia Muertos.
Her biggest rooster after so many trips with us, Angela Farrell from Oceanside CA, with her favorite captain Moncho. Estimated size was 60 pounds and Angela released the fish.
Another good day with meat for the ice chest, Brian O’Neil and Leif Dover showing dorado, snapper, pargo liso and cabrilla. Quite a variety! They said they lost some huge pargo in the rocks and just couldn’t get the big fish headed up.
Pargo liso for Diana. Good eating members of the snapper family, they usually spawn and school up in the spring. Unusual for us to be catching them in the summer.
Beautiful beach shot of Don and his jack crevalle off Punta Arenas. The fish was released and are members of the jack family. Same as the roosterfish without the mohawk fin.
Family day, Captain Pancho’s family out for the day (Carlos y Marisol), nailed the dorado and a big fat pargo. You better catch fish when it’s your own family!
Our Colorado, buddy Bill Richmond, with some inshore light tackle pargo in flat seas.
Big jack crevalle for Brian. Fish was released.
It’s finally feeling more like summer-time with both the weather (hot); the waters (warmer and bluer) and the fishing (almost there!). We still had some flurries of crazy winds, but overall, it’s seemingly more typical overall. It’s just that it seems like this fishing season, it’s taking it’s sweet time getting up to speed.
Dorado AND pargo? One is decidedly a warm water fish. The latter is a cold water fish! And catching them the same day? Sometimes in the same spot? Crazy!
Surely, the dorado are the best indication since these are the hallmark of our warmer months. We’ve had them on-and-off with out La Paz fishing fleets, but strangely, it’s not been quite so good with our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet until about a week or so ago when the dorado seemed to have finally got into the game.
This past week, some boats were limiting on the dorado by mid-morning with most fish in the 10-25 pound class. Catches were rounded out with bonito, skipjack, jack crevalle, and rockfish like cabrilla and snapper. Or, in a few cases, the folks just figured they had a good day and came back to shore early to have lunch and lay by the pool or beach! Either way, a good day.
However, just a note that there must still be some cold water around and lingering wisps of springtime insofar as we’re still hanging some big dog-tooth and mullet snapper that normally, we stop seeing about April and are usually spawning in schools during the springtime. It’s rare to have them this deep into the summer. But, anglers were still catching them or at least hooking these powerful fish and getting broken off in the rocks.
No wahoo to speak of this week. We had a few tuna hooked up, but lost and billfish as well. Most folks were concentrating on the easier dorado bite. Only a few roosterfish as well, but again, that’s probably a function of the fact that the dorado are taking over everyone’s focus.
It’s feeling really tropical lately. Humidity is way up and some sporadic brief rainshowers, especially, in the afternoons are not uncommon . Time to get the trashbag and cut out some holes for your arms and head!
TAILHUNTER COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Because we’ve been filled with so many fishing photos, I’ve been slacking on something even more important in the big scheme of things. Every year our Tailhunter Tribe member bring hundreds and hundreds of pound of donations to us for distribution in the community.
It’s a program that my wife, Jilly, started and it’s been incredibly successful because of our amigos like you. The need is real and so are the smiles. These are just some of the big-hearted folks who have brought stuff to us (I’m sorry I don’t have everyone’s photos), but the gratitude is huge.
Justin and dad, Adam, Larson.
The Toeniskoetter Family
Brian brings down several full suitcases every year stuff with clothes and other needed items.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of
July 1-7 ,2019
WEEK at a GLANCE
Water – Calming down and getting bluer and warmer. Surface temp about 80 degrees. Colder thermocline 30-60 feet down drops another 5-15 degrees. Still choppy some days especially in the mornings.
Weather – Consistently highs in the mid-90’s and nighttime cools to mid-70’s. Feels warmer some days, but then the afternoon breeze cools things down. Very tropical
Wind – Mostly better than other weeks. Calming down hopefully. Did have one day at Las Arenas/ Muertos where a baby storm went through and made it tough to go out for about an hour or so, but then it blew out and the folks got out on the water. We just waited it out.
Fishing – Lots of variety, but more of the warm water-water fish like dorado becoming more prominent. No wahoo, but fish caught this week included lots of big roosterfish (Las Arenas); dorado (La Paz); pargo, cabrilla, jack crevalle, skipjack, bonito, amberjack, pompano, yellowtail, palometa, snapper, baja grouper, marlin, sailfish.
Fish Scale of 1-10: A solid 6
MEXICAN MINUTE WEEKLY VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE AND THE REST of the STORY…
Captain Gerardo gives Erik Foraker from Washington a hand with a big roosterfish caught and released off Punta Arenas. The fish was released and 3 were caught that day off the panga.
Mike and Jacquiline Aguilar caught 3 big roosterfish including this beast on a single day. All fish were released.
Miles and Sydney Wagner with big-time bull dorado there at Bahia Muertos staying at their dad, Gary’s place at Rancho Costa.
One of my favorite photos of the week. Captain Jorge gives a thumbs-up to Will’s big roosterfish. Will is from Denver and released the fish.
That’s alot of fish for an 11-year-old, but Levi Moore from Encinitas CA did the job on this big roosterfish then took the photo and let it go to swim strong!
Our buddy who never stops smiling! Rick Kasper has a handful if dorado for the camera then the grill. Rick is a hunting guide and TV personality in Wyoming and Arizona.
Just off the beach, Anabel, holds up a pretty roosterfish for the camera before letting it go.
And another roosterfish for Erik and captain Gerardo doing the great photo-bomb for the camera!
Deno and Mark Buchanan with the big tuna of the week hooked off Cerralvo Island.
Beautiful and rarely caught Baja Grouper or Golden Grouper taken by Vern Marschall who spent the week with us and fished two days . He caught this one off Espirito Santo Island.
The roosterfish is almost bigger than Jacqueline!
Colorful shot and another rooster on deck for Eric Ryan who released the fish.
Headed back to the hotel grill with two legit dorado, Jason Wagner took these fish working that area just outside of Bahia Muertos.
Big smile for Nick Gatelein with his first roosterfish at dawn off Las Arenas. Good way to start your day!
Incredible colors on this big dorado caught by Anabel not far off the rocks at Punta Perrico.
The tired satisfaction of besting a big fish is evident on our buddy, Ed Mitoma, who finally got his big roosterfish then realeased it . He also had another one on the line that got away. Punta Arenas in the background.
Another one for the camera! Levi Moore was on a roll with another roosterfish caught-and-released.
All the way from Kansas, Lilly Korbach, has a pretty smile for a pretty jack crevalle. She was staying at Rancho Costa there in Bahia Muertos.
1..2..3…LIFT! It’s a handful for 14-year-old Seth Moore and his big rooster almost as long as he is tall! Despite it’s looks, the fish swam off strongly upon release.
From Paso Robles, CA and on his first venture with Tailhunter Sportfishing, Scott McGuire put quite a few dorado like this on the hook.
Kris Korbach poses another big one for the camera shot then quickly released the big roosterfish.
That is one giant needlefish! Andy Lauber from New Orleans took this beast.
Weather was a little more agreeable this past week although we had one bit of a bump. We caught a lot of different species again as well including: snapper, pargo, jack crevalle, pompano, marlin, sailfish, several types of bonito, yellowtail, tuna and others. However, the hotshots this week all came down pretty much to two species: Dorado and roosterfish.
Pompano still biting. Jacqueline Aguilar does the honors.
First day out…first day on the water…first marlin! Andrew Tawaroski from Florida with Captain Gerardo . Andrew released the pretty fish.
Jules caught this football tuna off Bahia Muertos.
DORADO
For the most part, this is the time of year when we should be swarming with dorado. However, this year started pretty sluggishly with these warm-water species as waters have been taking their time getting warmer and no thanks to the pestering cool winds that have plagued us for months.
But, it seems like the fishing is finding it’s stride.
There are still patches of cold green water. There are still erratic currents that push the bite and the baits off the mark. But, this past week it was a lot more consistent although still not fully up-to-speed. Nevertheless we saw more and larger dorado in the counts, especially for our Tailhunter La Paz fleet that fishes north from the city towards Espirito Santo Island and around Punta Coyote and Punta Mejia.
Those areas not only produced some great shallow-water fishing for the pargo, cabrilla, amberjack and snapper, but the shallows also produced dorado without having to go too far off or venturing to some of the other high spots or finding floating sargasso weed the dorado could also be found.
What a great shot and check the colors of Lauren and her dorado off Espirito Santo Island. Great smile too!
It wasn’t full turbo and not every panga caught fish every day, but over-all pretty consistent on the dorado. It could be a day of picking off a fish here-and-there all day. It could be a day where one panga found the dorado and the boat next to it couldn’t buy a bite. It could be a day where it was slow for hours then all heck-breaks-loose in a frenzy of action…then it dies. Just no way to tell.
That’s the right kind! Bull dorado headed for the fish box for Andy Lauber from New Orleans. Check out the flat ocean behind him! Like glass.
You could run into a school of firecracker-sized dinks or a group of larger bigger fish. Or, it could be one big fish of the day. But, the dorado are definitely around.
You don’t have to go far for bluewater sportfishing here! Eric Ryan caught this pretty dorado right off the rocky cliffs of Espirito Santo Island in shallow water.
ROOSTERFISH
The bigger story continues to be the roosterfish.
As one of our guys told me,
“I’ve never seen so many roosterfish in one spot. We were hooked on two of them but others that looked like giants were boiling right next to the panga. We could have caught all we wanted all day long if our arms held out!
Firs roosterfish for Taryn Mitoma! Punta Arenas beach in the background. Taryn did a great job in releasing the fish.
In all my years here, I have never seen this kind of rooster season. We are catching and releasing as many fish in one week as we might catch in several months of fishing.
One more rooster! Seth and Levi Moore!
Fish are running 10-70 pounds and actually schooling in big groups and boiling on the surface in feeding frenzies! Anglers coming down to just catch one fish for the bucket list end up hanging 2 or 3 in a single day and losing others.
“I fought two roosterfish for almost an hour each and that was it! It was still early and I wanted to back to the beach. If we never caught another fish the rest of the week, those two fish made my trip. Seeing them swim away was awesome!”
Will from Denver holds up another one for the camera.
He’ll grow up to be a monster! Nick Gatelein on deck at sunrise .
Pretty much all the fish are getting released and they’re really close to shore in shallow water. Using mostly the large 12-inch ladyfish for bait, some of the battles are lasting well near an hour-or-more and exhausting anglers, especially first-timers having fun, but not used to the strain these big fish can put on arms, backs, legs and fingers!
“I finally got the roosterfish off my bucket list. But, I paid the price. A big blister on my finger and sore arms. Never thought a fish could be so strong. Great time!”
Mike Aguilar has another!
Right on top of the rocks! Vern holds up his rooster.
Almost all of these fish are being caught by our Tailhunter Las Arenas fleet and the fish are scattered from the Punta Arenas lighthouse down to Boca de Alamo then also around Espirito Santo Island.
Of note, at the beginning of the week we did have a “torito” (small bull) hit around our Las Arenas area. While La Paz stayed flat calm, when our boats at Muertos Bay were ready to go out, suddenly the torito hit which is essentially a small localized wind/rainstorm almost like a baby hurricane. They come out’ve nowhere with no warning. It whips the winds and waves and no one could get off the beach.
But, they can blow over quickly. We kept everyone in the vans and decided to wait it out rather tha come back to town. Surely enough, about 90 minutes later the winds died and, although the waters remained choppy, our anglers finally got out on the water. Fishing was less than stellar, but fortunately, the big roosterfish stuck around!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of June 23-30, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO FISHING REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY….
Dave Lester from Temecula CA with another beast roosterfish for the camera before putting it back in the water. Dave and his 3 buddies estimate they hooked and released 31 roosterfish over 4 days.
What beast is this? DJ Bovee from San Diego fishes with us several times a year and hooked this massive bull dorado, the likes of which we have not seen in years!
Enzo Moreno is just 11-years-old from San Antonio, Texas. He caught and fought a marlin all by himself; he caught numerous other species including dorado and put this hefty yellowtail in the box as well.
Zach Smith had an eventful 2 days of fishing with us. His first day he hooked this pretty striped marlin. The fish could not be released and Zach donated all the meat to the local folks who welcomed the fresh fish
Our fun amigos for many years who always do well, Tim and Angela Farrell from Oceanside, CA with their favorite Captain Moncho and a handful of tough-fighting pargo liso and yellow snapper!
Pretty as could be. Joe has another pretty roosterfish to the boat to photo and release. The roosters were sure thick this week.
This might be my favorite photo of the week. Nina Moreno and Captain Rogelio mug for the camera with Espirito Santo island right behind them just a stone’s throw away.
Big fish…big mouth! The kind that can inhale a 12-inch-long bait! Ron Burgess gets a hand from Captain Moncho. Fish was released.
That’s a handful of pargo liso for Dave Gee from San Francisco who grimaces to hold the stout fish for the camera. Great eating meat!
From Florida, our long-time amigo, Al Burgess needs to take a seat after battling this 100 + pound yellowfin tuna off Cerralvo Island for almost 2 hours!
Kim Hunt and Gabe Lao are doing their best to subdue this feisty rooster so they can take a photo and release it, but the rooster is having none of that and smacks them all over the place. Great effort by Kim and Gabe who caught 4 roosters this day.
Shaka sign from Captain Luis and Cathy Boos from Washington posing with one of her La Paz dorado.
Tom Hoey and Terry Hawk with the right kind of dorado! They hooked this legit pair off Muertos Bay. Some of the largest dorado of the season!
This is a great photo. It’s not often over the 2 decades that we’ve gotten Captain Arcangel to smile, but we got him here with Jonah Voigstberger from Bakersfield and her first rooster. Caught and released.
No shortage of fun and crazy fishing when the schools of jack crevalle move in like this one caught by Alise Ferguson from Colorado Springs CO. Las Arenas Beach and lighthouse nearby.
Victor with some tasty pargo lisos.
Nothing like starting off your day with a trophy catch of a roosterfish right off the bat for Joe and quickly released.
Zach Smith and Captain Fili give Nick Tovar (right) a hand posing with his sailfish on the beach at Bahia Muertos. Nick was not able to release the fish and donated all the meat to local families.
These fish might not look big, but hit and fight like freight trains. Kent holds up a colorful pargo liso he managed to pull from the rocks.
An incredible shot! Off Cerralvo Island, Captain Moncho poses with one roosterfish while Ron Burgess already has another big rooster on the line!
Alot of good eating and variety on the fish cleaning table including big triggerfish, pargo, yellow snapper and cabrilla (seabass) for Jonah and John Voigtsberger.
Captain Gerardo with the thumbs-up photo bomb of Dave Boos and his roosterfish.
From Kentucky, Chase Wallis staying at Bahia Muertos in the Rancho Costa Resort got himself and big striped marlin after a good battle. He donated all of the meat to the local families when the fish could not be revived.
I love photos that are different and kooky like Nick and his big amberjack while he sports the cool beard and mustache face garb!
Fishing with us for years, Terry Hawk, has caught and released quite a few roosterfish with us.
Two great guys. Dave “Splash” Lopez and nephew Nick Gatelein from Los Angeles wit two pretty dog-tooth snapper.
Yes, pompano are still biting and yes, they are the largest I have ever seen down here in our waters in 25 years. Zach Smith has this one under control and released it.
Good amigo and owner of Rancho Costa Resort in Bahia Suenos, Gary Wagner with his son, Jason took this long roosterfish just outside of the bay. The fish was released.
The parade of weird and unusual fish continues. We’ve had milkfish…blue treval;y and now an island trevally. Another member of the diverse jack family. In 25 years, I’ve never seen one down here and neither had any of our captains.
I want to say it was really a great week of fishing. But, I can’t. So many times, I thought we were right on the verge of it, but then it got crazy again. For sure, we had some spectacular fishing and maybe one of the best if not the best fishing of the season.
However, the fishing is still all mixed up and unpredictable. Many folks caught the fish of a lifetime; or their largest; or their first or the most they have ever caught and that was great.
Gabe Lao, Elk Grove CA Roosterfish off the beach. Released.
But, there was just no getting a handle on what was biting . One day the bite was in one spot and the next, it was shut down. Clear blue water one day become green dirty water with current the next day. One panga rips up the fish and the boat next to it can’t get a bite. It was that kind of week.
I’m not sure where to start so let me break it out with our two different fleets. The fact that we have two fleets fishing two different areas often made the difference between having a good day or a so-so day!
For our La Paz Tailhunter Fleet
The week started well. This is where we’ve been getting yellowtail, amberjack, pargo and cabrilla and snapper. Plus lots of great eating white bonito. Really weird because these are all coldwater fish, except for the bonito! And it’s already 100 degrees and the end of June and beginning of July. For example yellowtail are a fish we usually don’t see much of after April or so!
However ,yellowtail between 15-25 pounds have been biting now for almost 3 weeks. By far our La Paz fishing north of town has been the most solid fishing most of the month.
If you wanted to just have a solid day of fun and action, this is where I had you fish. I could really depend on it doing well and everyone having fun.
Espirito Santo Island. Sy’s first dorado experience was a good one.
No, that’s not Richard Branson, but Rick Kasper has been on many TV shows and had his own hunting show for many years. He’s an old hand at fishing with us down here.
The weird thing, however, is that almost in the same spots where we were hooking the cold water fish, we were also hooking dorado which are warm water fish! The dorado ran 10-25 pounds and these are the kinds of fish we should be hooking this time of year. But with the presence of both fish, this means there’s a thermocline in the water column with warm waters about 81 degrees at the surface, but below that is a very chilly thermocline holding colder waters. This was confirmed by our scuba divers who ran into the colder water about 20-40 feet down.
Very unusual! But, like I said, everyone catching fish.
Until about mid-week. The fishing really died down. My captains told me cold green water with lots of current and strong winds kicked the bite to the curb. However, as the week went on…the bite came back little by little as temperatures rose again (we set a record 107 degrees Saturday) and waters calmed with dorado and other species once again getting active.
Nina hooks another one!
For our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet…
The week was mostly slow. But let me clarify.
Jack crevalle “Toro” Captain Fili and Zach Smith
There were fish biting! No doubt. There were lots of those cool white bonito. And pargo, jack crevalle, cabrilla and amberjack and (Needlefish…yuk).
Dave and a pretty and big yellow snapper.
But, the big pargo liso were schooling! These huge mullet snapper are 10-30 pounds and are really difficult fish in the shallow waters, but these fish are normally schooling in these big groups in the colder waters of March and April.
Among the toughest and most difficult fish in our waters, pargo liso frustrate many an angler and frustrate strong men. However, Tim and Angela Farrell with Captain Moncho yanked these bad boys out’ve the rocks.
All of a sudden, here they are. The thing with them is that they are tough tough tough to catch. I have often told folks that if you get 10 hookups and get 2 or 3 to the boat, it’s about par.
So, folks were coming back saying what a tough day they had. Then, I’d find out they really hooked 6, 8, 10 pargo but busted them all off! That’s GOOD fishing…but bad CATCHING!
Pargo liso for Joe! Great eating.
Similarly, we had some tuna biting…and these were all 100+ pound beasts! 1 and 2 hour battles ended up with broken lines. In one case, our guys had the fish right next to the boat ready to stick the gaff after an epic battle and suddenly a huge shark rolls up and in two bites completely wipes out the fish!
Striped marlin waiting to be carted off to local homes.
Oh…and marlin and sailfish caught too finally although a couple of nice fish broke off. Best billfish bite of the season!
But the best part of the week…(drumroll)…ROOSTERFEST!!!
Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay is known as the “Roosterfish Capital of the World.” World record roosterfish up to 150 pounds have been caught on this beach area.
Well, this week, I’ve never seen the roosters go off like they did. I estimate almost 100 roosters were hooked and released between 5 and 70 pounders!
Captain Armando and Dave Lester in the Baja sunrise with an early big roosterfish released.
On a single day alone, our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet had 8 pangas on the water and got 35 roosterfish! That’s unheard of! One of our boats caught and released at least 10 fish. This doesn’t even include the fish that were lost or broke off!
From Denver, Adam Tarowoski got his first roosterfish this week. Fish was released.
Then, at the end of the week, another surprise. We have not had many dorado caught this year around the Las Arenas area. Most of the fish have been around La Paz. Other than an occasional dink fish, not much to speak of.
Wow!! That’s huge bull dorado! Whoa…Jen Wilson from Colorado Springs CO with one of the largest dorado of the season.
Well, all of a sudden we have bit 20-45 pound bull dorado in the water! Where’d they come from? We haven’t seen dorado of that size in 3 years.
It’s a strange strange season! Oh…and we broke heat records this week too. 107 degrees over the weekend.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for
Week of June 16-23, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY. . .
My hero of the week! Enzo Moreno is only 11-years-old from the San Antonio area of Texas. He hooked this marlin with Captain Armando. He fought the fish for 2 hours on 30 pound test line! He refused help and battled it all by himself. He got the fish to the boat…took the photo…and released it! AWESOME!
The tuna popped up again after being somewhat absent the last few weeks. Bob Lederer from Massachusetts with Captain Jorge and a nice rack of footballs and some larger models!
San Diego birthday girl, Michele Conklin, was just off Punta Perico and dozing off when this big boy rooster hit her bait. Her largest rooster and she was able to release it!
That’s alot of cabrilla meat. This big seabass was taken by Dave Gee from San Francisco.
A legit La Paz dorado! Gary Lunger poses with a pretty mahi caught north of La Paz.
Captain Pancho strikes a pose with Justin Larson! The young man from San Diego caught and released 4 big roosters the same day!
A pretty good day and a pretty photo of the Steele Family…Ashley, Dan and Zach and some nice yellowtail headed for the cutting board.
Crazy to be catching yellowtail in June! These are cold water fish and normally, we don’t see them after about April. However, Dave Gee holds up another one with La Paz Malecon in the distance.
Happy Fella! Captain Jorge with our amigo, Dave Conklin and a hefty rooster taken not far off the Las Arenas sand. The fish was released.
Pretty photo with great colors! That’s a big yellowtail and Jackie Laes from Oregon enjoying some sunshine and some fun fishing.
Captain Raul gives 8-year-old Alice Wiebe from Bradley CA with her yellowtail.
Another fish we don’t see very much this late in the year, but a feisty ferocious fighter is the pargo liso (mullet snapper). Dana Jacklin wrestled this pretty fish out’ve the rocks.
First roosterfish for Ramy Shatara who gets a hand from Captain Arcangel. Ramy released the fish and caught it on light tackle.
Bob Lederer gets the tail-end of this striper he hooked just outside of Bahia Muertos while fishing with Captain Armando!
Big cabrilla like this lurk in rocky structure and reefs making them a difficult fighter, but Jeff Morgan got this tasty seabass into the boat.
Best week of roosters that I ca remember. Here’s another one for the photos gallery taken by Adam Larson. Adam released the fish which swam off strongly.
The man behind the mask is Dan Steele who gets a hand from wife, ashley on a thick pretty rooster he hooked not far off the shallow rocks at Punta Perrico then released it after the photo. Check those colors!
There’s alot of good-eating on this table. I see cabrilla, triggerfish, snapper and pargo including the one being held by Mark Jacklin.
Craig Hoffman from Phoenix AZ and brother Bryan, all the way from London got into the tuna bite with a table-load of yellowfin tuna.
These are tough fighters on hook and line…among the hardest to pull in for alot of our anglers. Ramy Shatara at the La Paz municipal pier off-loading some of his bonito
Family day! Desmond and Julia Sjauwfoekloy from Los Angeles with Julia’s cabrilla.
Keith Paulson gets a grip on double bull-dorado that he caught with our Tailhunter La Paz fleet.
With his first roosterfish, Bill Eggleston makes the photo gallery. The fish was released and he was fishing south of Bahia Muertos.
Lots of hard-fighting jack crevalle kept rods bent and reels screaming! Michele Conklin with big smiles and Captain Jorge.
Kyle Eggleston has to be one of the funniest first-timers we have had down here so far! First day out he got in on the rooster bite!
Captain Arcangel with Jonathan Hicks from San Francisco and yes, the big pompano are still biting.
Another rooster on the books for young Justin Larson, caught and released. He had a spectacular day.
Dan Steele, again behind the mask, with another yellowtail!
Strange fish of the week! Related to roosterfish, amberjack, pompano and jack crevalle, this is the first time we’ve had a Hawaiian trevally show up! Just goes to show you what a crazy season we are having! Tom Dietz does the honor.
Hefty amberjack (pez fuerte) for Miles Wagner and Kris Kobach coming in late with dinner at Rancho Costa.
It was like Jekyll & Hyde Week. It was also a week of strange fishing on so many other levels.
The first part of the week, cold winds, choppy seas, off-color water and strong currents really had us all working hard to get fish. After a pretty decent previous week, it was like “What next?” On top of it there was a full moon.
For our Tailhunter Las Arenas Fleet…
Las Arenas fishing virtually shut off the first 3-4 days this week. Some snapper and pargo and cabrilla. Lots of bonito. Jack crevalle kept rods bent. But not much else.
Our buddy, Doug Oclassen from Colorado right off the sand with a nice jack crevalle.
Thankfully, we had the roosterfish!
The rooster cruising the shallows! Pretty pretty pretty!
What a week for roosterfish…maybe the best I have seen in 25 years. We had fish running 10-70 pounds. Some pangas caught, 2,3…4 fish each day and lost several others! Fish were literally schooling up like we have never seen them.
Dennis Adair’s rooster was so big the photographer (Glenn Oclassen) couldn’t back up any further to get the whole fish. Captain Ramiro on deck!
Justin and Adam Larson with another gallo.
Many anglers took their first or largest roosters ever! I can’t tell you how often folks came back from fishing with big smiles but asking me for a band-aid for the blisters on a thumb or inside index fingers from reel with folks fighting a single fish from 15-45 minutes. Then doing it all over again! It was crazy!
Also remarkable were the mullet snapper (pargo liso) on the backside of Cerralvo Island. Normally, these big scrappy pargo school-up in huge undulating crashing pods in March and April!
But all of a sudden, here they were! Fish up to 20-30 pounds were busting guys off as they watched this schools crashing the surface. So many fish were lost and frustrating so quite a few anglers as these powerful fish took them into the rocks!
These pargo lisos can be beasts. Captain Ramiro at Muertos.
About Wednesday, it seemed like things changed. By Thursday, it was like someone threw a lightswitch.
The winds died down. The temperatures kicked into the low 100’s. Humidity rose. The sun blazed and the waters turned bluer.
He’s bent! Ramy shows good form on a fresh one on flat waters!
And the fish suddenly got into the game!
Tuna started crashing with yellowfin as small as footballs, but as large as 40-pounds. Most fish caught on the banks near Cerralvo Island. We have not seen many tuna in about 4-6 weeks.
Fun brother and sister Nina and Enzo Moreno from Texas with a double pair of yellowfin tuna!
A pretty “football” yellowfin tuna with Chad Oclassen
Marlin also got active with a number of fish caught and released. All the fish ranged from about 100-130 pounds.
Oh yea…marlin on the line!
For our Tailhunter La Paz Fleet…
Fishing was much better than Las Arenas if you just wanted to fill the ice chest and wanted some good rod-bending action.
The areas around Espirito Santo Island and Punta Coyote and Punta Mejia were productive for a number of species.
Stephon and Jason Munroe with some La Paz action in the panga
Zach Steele and a tasty Mexican cabrilla
Desmond and Joshua with his snapper and a big smile. Cool sunglasses!
No shortage of both tasty white bonito and hard pulling skipjack (barriletes). Plus inshore, lots of snapper, pargo, cabrilla, trigger fish and amberjack. You could have fun all day with that.
It’s mine and I caught it! Zach has his bonito in the boat
David Goodman has another tough bonito.
Plus add in the dorado that are roaming around and getting better every week with fish running 10-25 pounds to put in the ice chest and you can have a full day of fishing.
Pam and Bill Eggleston with a few of their dorado.
However, just like the unusual pargo liso near Cerralvo Island that popped up in big schools (a cold water fish), we had yellowtail show up! In my 25 years down here, I’ve never seen yellowtail in June. Normally, by April, we’re all done with any yellowtail in these waters. Just like the pargo liso, they are cold water fish!
Dave Gee rocking the yellowtail!
Yellowtail headed for the freezer for Ramy
So, here we are almost at the end of June and at the technical beginning of summer and our boats are coming back with 2, 3 or 4 yellowtail and losing more in the rocks. Fish going 10-20 pounds…totally legit.
Weird thing is that often they’re in the same spots as the dorado which are warm water fish! That leads me to believe that there’s warm water on the surface then a chilly thermocline down deeper that brought the yellowtail up from colder deeper waters to feed on the abundant bait. At least, that’s what I’m speculating. But no complaints! These are fun good-eating fish!
La Paz -Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of May 12-19, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT (a little longer than normal!)
The Big Picture and the Rest of the Story…
All by herself!!! Peggy Miller’s first time and she rocked this big 70-pound-class tuna all by herself for almost 90 minutes! She and husband Ken are from Montana on their first visit to La Paz!
Captain Armando helps pose with a happy Dave Schiefelbein of Colorado who was on his first day of fishing and battled this 80 pound-class yellowfin tuna for almost 2 hours. His first ever!
Jed Hinkle from MONTANA (Thanks, Jed!) seems to have a knack for big roosters every time he visits. Just off the Las Arenas lighthouse he caught and released this rooster estimated (by the captain) and 95-pounds. It’s bigger than it looks! Jed is a really tall guy!
So many first-timers did so well this week. Laura Brunell hadn’t even fished before until about 2 weeks before her La Paz trip and her very first fish right off-the-bat is this hefty yellowfin she fought for almost 90 minutes all by herself. Boyfriend Blake Warren got a 55-pound rooster caught-and-released as well.
We had an incredible week of big pompano and this is one of the biggest! Nina Le from New Mexico holds up this tasty species of the jack family!
Tom Mullican has been visiting us for a number of years now twice a year and after catching this nice bull told me he had NEVER caught a big bull dorado in all that time! Tom’s from Dallas, TX.
A Washington smile from Jerry White who only had one day to fish but made it a good one with about 5 species of fish including his first roosterfish. The fish was released.
Two firsts! Kyndall Hinkle from Montana gets her first marlin with Captain Gerardo and also our first marlin of the season as well! Just outside of Bahia de los Suenos/ Muertos. On live bait! The fish could not be released.
These two had a great 3 days of fishing. Jeff and Patty Killian from Oregon show off a day of variety fishing over the reefs that produced pompano, snapper, white bonito, amberjack and pargo!
Captain Armando was on fire this week! First-timer from Arizona, Russel was on this fish over 3 hours! His arms were “rubber!”
First roosterfish is a good one. Right off the beach, Ken Miller, caught and released this nice fish!
Tom Reed was able to squeeze in a short trip that produced this quality yellowfin on the first day that he brought back to Tailhunter Restaurant for some poke and sashime!
Kyndall and Jed Hinkle were part of an incredible week of big pompano fishing. Great eating fish! That’s Punta Perrico in the background.
First-timers had it going on this week! Brian Dang’s first time trip kicked out this nice yellowfin tuna and a big smile on the beach. Brian is from New Mexico.
Captain Armando, Patty Killian and a nice barred pargo!
One off the bucket list for Tom Mullican. He has an amberjack in the left hand and a rainbow runner in his right. The rainbow runners are related to yellowtail. This is a big one!
Captain Victor helps Wayne Krafft from Washington with his rooster that they released after the photo. Roosters were center stage this week.
Another big pompano in the boat for Nina! First thing at sunrise!
Christoper Le and Captain Jorge with a thumbs-up on a nice rack of pompano on the cleaning table!
I was worried this week when I saw the full moon and the probability that it would also combine with strong winds…again. I’m not usually so worried about the moon phases as I am with wind, but in tandem they can be havoc with tides, currents and consequently the fishing.
However, we might have had one of the best weeks of the fishing season!
In all honesty, we did not catch as many fish as previous weeks, but what we lost in quantity, we made up for with quality with the largest fish of the season. And, frankly, if you’re tied onto a single big fish for 1 or 2 hours, you don’t have time to catch a bunch of small fish! But that’s exactly what happened.
We still had a tremendous amount of variety in terms of species that included amberjack; yellowtail; 3 species of pargo (pargo liso / pargo mulatto / dog-tooth) ; cabrilla; yellow snapper, red snapper, bonito (common and white bonito); jack crevalle and wahoo (caught, but not landed) .
We also got our first marlin of the season!
However, we also got into several days of the largest pompano I have ever seen in several decades here with big hefty 10-pound fish.
In those same areas, the roosterfish came on strong with fish between 40 and 90 pounds getting caught and released. By far our best roosterfish week of the season with some sightings or entire schools of roosterfish crashing baits along the beaches. One of my captains said, there could have been “hundreds” of big roosterfish in one school!
The big highlight was our first solid week of tuna. And these were NOT football fish. There were those mean 40-100 pound yellowfin that have a tendency to even break strong men! Most of these fish took 1-3 hours on our lighter live bait tackle and most of the fish taken in shallower water.
The fun thing was that it seemed that many of the larger fish were hooked by first-timers or the wives and girlfriends! It was great to see them grit it out and all of them enjoyed it! There were even larger fish that were battled and came unbuttoned or the lines broke after long fights!
For alot of folks, it was their biggest fish…or their first fish…or a new species they had never caught…or the longest fight…
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of April 14-21, 2019
MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…
Paul Nagata from San Francisco makes at least 1 trip a year with Tailhunter in La Paz. He was fishing off the south end of Cerralvo Island with Captain Pancho of the Tailhunter Fleet in an area that had been producing some yellowtail in the shallow bank at South Point. Not having much luck on live bait, they decided to make one more drift over the spot although it was already late in the afternoon. The big tuna bit and towed the panga for 2 hours on 50-pound test, but a very light rod! Paul and Captain Pancho handed the rod back-and-forth every 20 minutes.
Big fish in the rocks! Even Pancho got to pull on some fish this week. A solid cabrilla going onto the grill.
Paul had quite a week taking 8 different species of fish including this trophy cabrilla over the reef .
Variety on the cutting table! Cabrilla, pargo liso and snapper!
We had a schitzophrenic Easter Week of weather and fishing. Although the sun was out, we had 4 days of windy rough conditions and 3 days that were reasonably fishable.
Consequently, the fishing reports reflected the conditions. The days when the weather smiled, we had some banner fishing with lots of variety that included some fantastic inshore fishing including trophy-sized cabrilla and pargo ( big mullet snapper and barred pargo) as well as yellowtail, yellow snapper, several species of bonito and jack crevalle. Most caught either with live bait or slow trolling Rapalas over the rocky shallow areas close to shore.
Typical catch this week…yellowtail…pargo liso (mullet snapper)…cabrilla…yellow snapper. All tough fighting fish inshore on the rocks.
Additionally, blue water species like dorado and wahoo also bit and one of our anglers nailed a big 108-pound yellowfin tuna (he had a scale) on a caballito that he fought for 2 hours.
On the days when the winds slammed, we were reduced to trolling because bait was impossible to obtain. Winds also prevented us from getting to some of the hotter fishing spots.
This coming week looks a little more promising. We have alot more folks fishing this week as more anglers start coming into town and the season opens up. Will hopefully have more and better photos in the next report!
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Apri. 7-14, 2019
THE MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT
THE BIG PICTURE and REST OF THE STORY…
Now this is a yellowtail! Just off Espirito Santo Island, Desmond Sjaufoekloy took this hefty beast earlier in the week.
Cabrilla like this tasty trophy are on the chew right now in the rocky areas. Jeff Brown poses with a beauty.
Desmond took this fat cabrilla to dinner at our Tailhunter Restaurant.
Captain Joel with Rod Brown and a nice mix of yellowtail, barred pargo and snapper.
Just when we were getting all comfortable and figured winter was done with us, I had a feeling she still had a few gusts left in her. Sure enough, like “Game or Thrones” winter came back to remind us we’re not quite out’ve range yet.
The week started out sort or OK. But we could tell it was going to ramp up again. Our folks got a nice mix of fish including yellowtail, some big fat cabrilla and other species plus a smattering of dorado.
But, with each day, the winds got stronger. Towards the latter part of the week, it was not just gusting, it was ripping and even the La Paz Port Captain shut down all boat traffic. No fishing…diving…swimming with whale sharks…no boats coming in and out.
And, I get it. Can’t blame him. It was blowing white caps even in the bay, even with the sun out. Better to err on the side of safety. Heck, even on the “calmer” days our folks were getting bounced and wet.
It did calm down just a tad by the end of the week, but not much and about the only thing we could raise in the rough water was bonito.
The coming week, it looks a little better. Fingers crossed.
That’s our story! Happy Easter everyone. Have a safe and blessed holidays.
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of March 24-31, 2019
The Mexican Minute Video Report
The Big Picture and the Rest of the Story…
Fishing brother Rod Brown from Alaska and Jeff Brown from Minnesota get together once a year in La Paz to fish with us and scored limits of yellowtail and other species fishing north of La Paz near Espirito Santo Island.
Gary Wagner, owner of Rancho Costa, rocked this big thick yellowtail on the north end of Cerralvo island on the east side with a live mackerel.
That’s a trophy! Big tasty cabrilla headed no doubt for the dinner table caught by Miles Wagner from Colorado Springs CO.
Our own Captain Joel has a big smile posing with Jeff Brown and some of the limits of yellowtail they caught and lost many others in the rocks.
Yes! Roosterfish are starting to show up! Right there in Muertos Bay, Miles was working live sardines on light tackle and had a blast catching and releasing these smaller early-season roosters. The big boys should be close behind!
Nothing better than light tackle fishing and big fish. Check out this pretty cabrilla that Russ Whitmarsh nailed on a bass rod just close to the rocks where these guys hang out. Nice catch!
What a difference a week or two makes!
We’ve gone from some of the harshest and toughest winter fishing in a long time several weeks ago to some of the nicest conditions and fishing so far this season. Still not completely up-to-speed and I’d be crazy to say we’re completely done with winter and the pesky winds, but this past week was sure a nice time to be on the water.
With the first true week of springtime and temperatures in the high 80’s to low 90’s. the winds weren’t completely done with us and there were some episodes for several days, but overall, Mother Nature was good to our fishermen for once.
With some perfect candy-sized mackerel for baits for both our Tailhunter La Paz and Las Arenas fleet, the big story were the yellowtail. They popped up in several places including the upper east-side of Cerralvo Island; south point of Cerralvo and Punta Perrico. We also had quite a bite going around the high spots around Espirito Santo Island.
Most of the fish weren’t huge, but that’s because so many of the fish were hovering and feeding in shallow waters close to the rocks, shore or over structure. Lots of the bigger 30-40 pound mossbacks threw hooks or broke lines in the rocks plus quite a few missed bites! But the ones that were landed were respectable powerful 20-25 pound fish.
I”ll let our amigo Rod Brown tell it:
“We had one of our best La Paz fishing days ever today. The yellowtail started biting as soon as we started fishing in the morning and were still biting when we quit a little before 1:00 – ran out of mackerel. We landed 10 medium to large yellowtail, missed a lot of good strikes, and lost some in the rocks. They are STRONG fish and bent 0ur heavy poles in a 90 degree arc and made several powerful runs each. Good thing we ran out of bait. We were buggered and Joel had to get home to watch his daughters play football. Some largish swells, but a beautiful day.”
Rod Brown from Alaska with smiling Captain Joel
Not to be completely outdone, we also had some incredible cabrilla fishing tight inside to the cliffs and rocks with some trophy-sized fish being landed on bait, jigs and slow-trolled Rapalas and YoZuris as well as pargo and assorted rockfish.
Our amigo, Rod Brown again:
“Another great fishing day. The yellowtail weren’t biting at first, but we landed 7 large barred pargo and 4 large cabrilla. They immediately dive for the rocks and are strong, so we lost a lot of them – and a lot of fishing tackle. Around 11 the yellowtail started biting and we landed 3 nice ones. By noon we had used all our mackerel (62 of them) and spent an hour fishing with spinning gear and sardines for smaller yellow pargo along the shore. Caught several of them.”
We also saw action on lots of bonito on light tackle, jack crevalle and even some early season roosterfish! All-in-all some solid biters and some of the best variety of the young season!
HAPPY TRAILS 2019
Well, we finally came to the end of another awesome road trip. Our 25th year going from one show to the other. This year 12 states and 11 incredible shows meeting and talking to so many awesome folks and old friends!
Thanks to everyone who came by to chat and all the hospitality and also all of you who booked with us to fish in La Paz with us in 2019. We’re are ready to fish! Bring it on. We still have some spots open so get in touch with us, but judging from our bookings this year, we’re gonna have a bang-up year!
Tailhunter Fish Report 